La Roux’s Elly Jackson has said she believes that the success of the Skream remix of ‘In For The Kill’ “showed that people don’t want mindless happy crap” from their music.

‘In For The Kill’ was voted Best Dancefloor Filler at the Shockwaves NME Awards last night. Speaking to NME.COM in an exclusive video interview you can watch on the right, Jackson praised Skream - real name Oliver Jones - for transforming the song.

“What it did for me, it… re-gave birth to the real meaning and atmosphere of the song as we wrote it,” she explained. “What he did with the song is what we would have done if we’d been brave enough. We wanted to make a pop record and that just isn’t a pop thing, what he did to it.

“He left it sparse and exposed and dark. It showed that people don’t want mindless happy crap. They want something that makes them feel and that remix really does. Skream did an amazing job, thank you again and again.”

She also said: “For the mainstream crowd ‘Bulletproof’ is the hit, but for us and for a lot of our original fans, maybe more NME-type fans, ‘In For The Kill’ was always the one so it’s nice for it to get re-recognised. Although it never got to Number One it sold more copies than ‘Bulletproof’.”

nme.com 26/02/10

Scroobius Pip has announced that he is releasing a poetry book.

Called Poetry In (E) Motion, the project started back in 2008, when Scroobius Pip asked fans over Myspace to help him illustrate a series of poems that he’d written.

“It was in equal parts torturous and joyous,” Pip says on his MySpace blog. “Realising that such talented people on the other side of the world were taking such time over a little project I had dreamed up in my bedroom in Stanford le hope, Essex, just added to the excitement of it all.”

Including a foreword by Shaun Of The Dead actor and “hip-hop enthusiast” Nick Frost, Poetry In (E) Motion will be released in March.

Meanwhile, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip will release their new album ‘Logic of Chance’ on March 14 and will begin a tour of the UK with a show in Cambridge on March 15.

nme.com 26/02/10

Stadium proggers Muse have spoken out after their label Warner Brothers pulled the band’s music from streaming sites.

The impact of the internet on the music industry is still causing tremors. Struggling to adapt to shifting financial currents, many had thought that free streaming sites such as Spotify offered record companies a way out.

However Warner Brothers recently took all of their acts away from free streaming sites, arguing that they simply weren’t generating enough money. Warner Music CEO Egdar Bronfam revealed last week that free streaming services were “clearly not net positive for the industry” and “is not the kind of approach to business we will be supporting in the future.”

Signed to the label, British stars Muse have spoken out on the issue. “It’s like taking your song off the radio isn’t it?” bass player Chris Wolstenholme said. “You’re instantly taking your song away from a group of potential listeners.”

Continuing, the bass player insisted to American magazine Spinner that these decisions are not taken by the band’s themselves. “The corporations are setting the rules on these things because they’re clutching at straws,” he said.

“I do sometimes feel that this whole restriction that’s been set on how your music can get out there these days doesn’t ever really come from the bands. It’s coming from the corporations behind everything.”

“As far as bands are concerned you just want people to hear your music whichever way they can.”

clashmusic.com 25/02/10

Jamie T has beaten Lady GaGa and Florence And The Machine to the Best Solo Artist award at the Shockwaves NME Awards tonight (February 24).

The London musician also fended off competition from nominees Julian Casablancas and Dizzee Rascal. He picked up the award from guest presenters Mark Ronson and Agyness Deyn at the O2 Academy Brixton in the UK capital.

Collecting his award, Treays referenced his illness earlier in the year, which forced him to postpone his UK tour.

“I’d like to thank all the fans - we’ve had a stop-start year,” he said. “I’d also like to thank all the inspiration in this room, from The Clash to The Specials to Blur to the Arctic Monkeys to The Maccabees.”

Finally, Treays said “fuck all of you!” good-naturedly to the audience, before leaving the stage.

nme.com 24/02/10

Sick of praying for good weather at festivals and getting wet and muddy anyway? Sick of the wind making bands sound awful? All Tomorrow’s Parties is a boutique festival for music lovers at which a famous curator picks a line-up of artists old and new, famous and obscure for a unique festival weekend in which you and your friends stay in your own private apartment on-site complete with beds, bathroom, tv (and kitchen on the self-catering option) and experience amazing performances in intimate indoor venues with brilliant sound. What’s more the accommodation for three nights is included in your ticket price!

And this year it is being curated by none other than Matt Groening, yes Matt Groening, the creator of the most popular dysfunctional family, The Simpons.

Bored of getting squashed and lost amongst 150,000 other people? Our event holds just 5500 people giving you a far more inviting and relaxing atmosphere.

Butlins, Minehead looks out across a superb sandy beach. The site is equipped with a supermarket, newsagent, cash points and restaurants. Onsite facilities include a free Cinema, Splash Water World - a sub-tropical environment that has a huge wave pool, a swimming pool, 3 flumes and also a flume based raft ride - Ten-pin bowling and amusement arcade. Sports include Archery, Football, Basketball, Darts, Petanque, Fencing, Kwik Cricket, Netball, Rounders, Table Tennis, Outdoor Bowls and Crazy Golf.

All Tomorrow’s Parties - Curated by Matt Groening
Butlins, Minehead - 7th-9th May 2010

For more information about this and other ATP events please visit www.atpfestival.com

Giggs’ 10-date UK tour, which had been set to start tonight (February 23), has been cancelled following a consultation between promoters and police.

The Metropolitan police said that they had met with the promoters of the London gig, set to take place at the O2 Islington Academy on March 4, and that potential risks were highlighted. The rest of the controversial rapper’s tour was subsequently pulled, reports BBC Newsbeat.

“Police advised that there were concerns about potential risk to the event, if it took place,” a spokesperson for the force said.

The spokesperson said it had been the decision of venue chiefs to pull the show, but Giggs claimed that the police subsequently contacted bosses at the other venues on the tour to say there was a risk.

“I just want to thank the police for all this great promotion that they’re giving me,” he said. “All these cancellations and that is just making me more powerful.”

The Met responded by saying, “We routinely exchange intelligence and information with other police forces but any police decision to advise a venue about a planned event would be taken at a local level.”

nme.com 23/02/10

The Oxford have named the album ‘Total Life Forever’ and will release it on May 10, they have revealed on their MySpace blog at Myspace.com/foals.

The band also wrote that “something pretty, pretty, pretty good will be happening on the airwaves this coming Monday (March 1)”.

Foals have also revealed that they are set to play gigs at the Berlin Columbia Club (April 12), Amsterdam Paradiso (14) and Paris Trabendo (15).

‘Total Life Forever’ was recorded in Gothenberg with producer Luke Smith (ex-Clor). It will be the follow-up to the band’s 2008 debut album ‘Antidotes’.

nme.com 24/02/10

New London-based independent record label, One Bird Records, was founded by Laura Scott and Natalie Shaw following stints in music journalism, PR, events promotion and DJing. After meeting at a gig they were both reviewing, they decided to extend their combined polymath into the birth of this new label.

One Bird is a digital singles label, started with the aim of pushing the borderline between record label, A&R, events promotion, artist management, digital consultancy and PR by way of a full service package to bands. After years of covering gigs, the founders developed a keen eye for discovering up and coming bands. They will be putting this experience to use in order to help establish One Bird as a label the taste-makers look to for music trends.

All singles will be sold only through digital distribution, but with a twist and set at two price tiers. Fans can choose to simply buy the standalone single, or alternatively purchase the single with limited edition liner notes designed by up and coming artists. One Bird wants to bring a tangibility back to the ever-present digital download, and make the single precious once again.

Come celebrate the launch of One Bird Records

Wednesday 24 February, 7-11pm
Puregroove, 6-7 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9JX

http://www.onebirdrecords.com
http://www.twitter.com/onebirdrecords
http://www.facebook.com/pages/One-Bird-Records/242872669951?ref=ts

audiotube newsdesk 23/02/10

Writer-director of the Oscar nominated, The Messenger, Oren Moverman is in talks to direct Universal/Working Title’s as yet untitled Kurt Cobain biopic. Invariably this will be exciting news to some, for others a grimace inducing prospect.

After an extensive three years of gestation, David Benioff has adapted Charles R. Cross’ controversial book, ‘Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography Of Kurt Cobain’ into a working screenplay. Cross’s biography was heavily criticised when published for containing what many perceived to be half-truths and emotional bias. Couple this with the fact that Courtney Love (Cobain’s widow) is pencilled in as executive producer, it’s hard to expect a film without inconsistencies. However, biopics are notoriously difficult to pull off and when one is dealing with the tragic death of one of the 20th century’s most influential voices in music it’s an even harder job.

Since his death, there have been no official Cobain movies, although many have been mooted. Gus van Sant’s obtuse and muddled Last Days, was a thinly-veiled reference to the singers life but it was a clumsy offering. Here’s hoping Moverman makes rather a better job of things!

clashmusic.com 23/02/10

Welsh rock trio Manic Street Preachers have slated Radiohead during an intimate Glasgow show.

The acidic wit of Manic Street Preachers knows no bounds. Perhaps the bitchiest band in British rock music, the Welsh trio seem to arrive for interviews with a machine gun volley of quotes.

Aiming vitriol at many of their peers, Manic Street Preachers performed a special show in Glasgow at the weekend - and took no prisoners onstage.

The band blasted through a series of hits and rare cuts at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut - celebrating its 20th anniversary. One of Glasgow’s most important venues the trio last performed at King Tuts more than a decade ago.

Joking with the crowd, Manic Street Preachers performed the classic track ‘This Is Yesterday’. Singer James Dean Bradfield pointed out “as you can see it’s just the three of us tonight, so when you hear the songs that are supposed to have strings and keyboards on them, you’ll just have to imagine them.”

Nicky Wire then said: “And when you hear the songs with backing vocals, you’ll hear my God-awful out of tune attempt.”

Dredging through the archives, Manic Street Preachers played the little known 1990 EP track ‘Strip It Down’ which they performed during their last show at the tiny venue - back in 1991. Joking with the crowd Nicky Wire said: “19 years on and I actually play it worse than I did back then”.

At the end of the show Nicky Wire then slated Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, continuing an ongoing dispute between the two. “Apparently Ed O’Brien called me a wanker, I’m really fucking scared, go back to your boarding school you cunt!” the bass player shouted.

Manic Street Preachers played:

‘Strip It Down’
‘Your Love Alone Is Not Enough’
‘Motorcycle Emptiness’
‘From Despair To Where’
‘Peeled Apples’
‘This Is Yesterday’
‘Kevin Carter’
‘Tsunami’
‘Found That Soul’
‘Little Baby Nothing’
‘Jackie Collins Existential Question Time’
‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’
‘Donkeys’
‘The Everlasting’
‘You Love Us’
‘No Surface All Feeling’
‘Masses Against The Classes’
‘All Or Nothing’
‘Motown Junk’
‘A Design For Life’

clashmusic.com 23/02/10