L&Q Weekly
Jeremy Tuplin's heavenly new single, Portishead nearly reform, oh Morrissey, the L&Q podcast, nostalgic for Gorillaz, Thom Yorke will teach you a lesson!
Track of the Week
Jeremy Tuplin has spent his career getting nothing but 9s from Loud And Quiet writers, but ‘Stranger in the Garden’, the latest single from his forthcoming album Planet Heaven (coming 7 Oct via Trapped Animal), gives the heebie jeebies on another level. There’s kind of a chorus buried in there somewhere, while the Somerset musician’s shoulder’s presumably shrug to the chug of his fuzzy guitar, recalling Mac DeMarco’s Rock and Roll Nightclub EP… but about nature. If Tuplin is looking to go one point better and snag the perfect score for Planet Heaven, ‘Stranger in the Garden’ flings him down the right path.
I ain’t happy, I’m feeling glad
For a generation who grew up with the early Internet, Gorillaz were the perfect obsession, but what does that childhood fandom feel like now? Oskar Jeff went to see the band play their self-titled debut in full to find out, and was reminded what a strange album birthed the worldwide mega hit. Read here
Roundtable podcast: Ethel Cain, Mac DeMarco, Water From Your Eyes and MGMT’s misfire
Back again for another look back at 3 key releases from the past month, Gemma Samways, Sam Walton and Stuart Stubbs discuss new albums from Ethel Cain, Mac DeMarco and Water From Your Eyes, with just enough time to reconsider MGMT’s willfully difficult second album Congratulations, release 15 years ago. Was it as bad as everybody said back then? Has it got better with age? And what’s it like to be a label who has to reject an album? Listen now
The Drift: the best in weird and experimental music
Cal Cashin, in the best mood of his life, rounds up the month’s best in strange and avant-garde sounds from around the world. Read now
Back in stock! 20 Years of Loud And Quiet tee
Liz Hurley’s Versace dress, Lady Gaga’s meat ensemble, Alan Partridge’s badge and blazer combo. Truly iconic clothing doesn’t often come back for seconds, but the 20 years of Loud And Quiet commemorative T-shirt has. Available in all shades of black and all sizes. Order yours
Metronomy pub quiz with special guest host
Metronomy are celebrating the release of their Greatest Hits album with a pub quiz themed around the band on 8 September at Signature Brew, Haggerston. There’ll also be a Q+A with the group and a signing session. The best bit is that the night will also raise money for a funding foundation set up by bassist Gbenga’s son, Ravi, which aims to raise £250k for two brain tumour charities (Ravi is already close to £150k). Is it too much to say that an even better bit is that I, Stuart Stubbs, will be the quizmaster for the evening? Sign up
Albums for your diary announced this week
I. JORDAN – Free Falling (17 Oct, Ninja Tune): Just because summer is in the bin, we don’t only have to listen to Bon Iver until March. House producer I. JORDAN’s new EP is a collection of love songs, “And I'm not mad about it!" they say. First out is ‘Without You’.
Kelly Moran – Don’t Trust Mirrors (1 Oct, Warp): ‘Don’t Trust Mirrors’ is, objectively, a fantastic album title, from a composer who can make the piano sound like it was invented yesterday. I mean, just take a listen to ‘Echo In The Field’.
Pictureplane – Sex Distortion (31 Oct, Music Website): If you’re in the mood for something that sounds like Depeche Mode in slow mo goth trance… err… mode, ‘Weeping Sky’ off Pictureplane’s forthcoming album is for you.
Rumour of the Week: Radiohead to play nothing but ‘Creep’ to “teach fans a lesson”
“I got the idea from bad dads in the ‘90s,” a pleased-with-himself Thom Yorke was reportedly overheard saying to a friend at the Oxford branch of Bills this week. The ‘Creep’ singer (56 and 11 months) went on to say, “Y’know how when dads used to find their kids fags and make them smoke the whole packet to teach them a lesson, that’s what we’re going to do with fucking ‘Creep’. They all want us to play it all the bloody time, so we’ll play it alright. All. Night. Long.” Leaning back on his chair with his hands behind his head, onlookers heard Yorke proudly pronounce that fans would be so sick of ‘Creep’ by the end of the night, “it’ll all be The King Of Limbs from then on, baby!”. Yorke is said to have to ignored his dining companion’s insistence that no one actually cares that much about hearing ‘Creep’ anymore. When passed the card machine to pay his half of the bill, Yorke is thought to have said to the waiting staff, “I suppose you want me to try to play ‘Creep’ on this things, don’t you!?” Ticket for Radiohead playing nothing but ‘Creep’ this autumn go on sale 12 September.
Also this week
The most melodramatic boy at school, Morrissey, has said that he’s selling all of his business interests in The Smiths, stating, “I am burnt out by any and all connections to Marr, Rourke, Joyce.” Andy Rourke has been dead for 2 years. Not much of Morrissey’s babble is clear, as it keeps using the word “All” when describing exactly what he’s selling – “All Smiths songs lyrically / musically”, “All Smiths recordings” etc. – when in fact Johnny Marr owns 50% of all of The Smiths. I’m sure his team will explain everything if you email the address the singer has given: eaves7760@gmail.com. Looks pretty legit.
Portishead haven’t reformed, but nearly. The Bristol trip-hop gods have taped a new performance of ‘Roads’ (a song that Beth Gibbons has been nailing at solo shows for the last year or so) that will be shown at the Brian Eno-curated Together For Palestine benefit concert on 17 September. Other IRL performers will include Damon Albarn, James Blake, Jamie xx, Sampha, King Krule, Hot Chip and seemingly hundred of others.
It turns out that an electric version of Bruce Springsteen’s album Nebraska (the musician’s LP that’s legendary for being a one-man, bleak affair and a curveball in his discography) really does exist. For a time, he didn’t think it did himself, but Nebraska ’82 will be released as a ginormous boxset on 17 October. This week he released this very early version of ‘Born In The USA’.
