Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and Noel Gallagher perform together onstage

Over the weekend, during a benefit concert for Teenage Cancer Trust, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon and Noel Gallagher teamed up to perform a version of Blur‘s Tender together. Check out footage below:

The coming together of the once feuding Britpop luminaries didn’t go down too well with Noel‘s brother Liam though, who decided to take to Twitter to tweet the following:

I presume the ‘war criminal’ comment refers to Noel’s invitation to Tony Blair‘s Number 10 party in 1997. And by BLUE, he clearly means Blur.

He’s not going to let it lie is he?

Joey Santiago uses an iPhone as a guitar slide

What’s that? An iPhone used as a guitar slide?

Over to the Pixies‘ guitarist Joey Santiago to explain more – “I’ve tried all the smart phones as a slide for my guitar and the iPhone beat its competitors hands down!!! The tone has such purity. And it captures moments. This video was from last night in Hampton Beach. The tune is Vamos. Enjoy”.

Check out the footage below:

Frank Ocean covers Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ live

Late last week Frank Ocean played a short set at a Spotify press conference at New York City’s Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.

During his set Ocean performed an abridged cover of Radiohead‘s Fake Plastic Trees. Check out the (rough) video footage below:

Watch clips of Stephen Malkmus performing Can’s Ege Bamyasi

The weekend before last, Stephen Malkmus celebrated the 40th anniversary of Can‘s classic Ege Bamyasi album by performing it in full at Week-End Fest in Cologne.

Malkmus was backed by Cologne natives Von Spar and met original Can members Jaki Liebezeit and Irmin Schmidt after the gig.

The festival filmed Malkmus’ set and has announced plans to release it as a full-length concert film. In advance of that possible DVD here’s some clips of Malkmus performing three of the album’s songs:

‘One More Night’

‘Pinch’ and ‘Soup’

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry announces short UK tour

Jamaican music pioneer, inventor of dub and general madcap reggae genius, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry has announced a short new UK tour set to take place this coming February.

Perry will be playing seven intimate gigs across Britain – and it’s the chance to catch a true music legend in action.

Check out the tour dates below:

09/02/13 – Jazz Cafe, London
10/02/13 – Jazz Cafe, London
15/02/13 – Holmfirth Picturedrome, Holmfirth
17/02/13 – Eric’s Club, Liverpool
18/02/13 – Band On The Wall, Manchester
19/02/13 – Band On The Wall, Manchester
20/02/13 – The Junction, Cambridge

You can buy tickets here.

Shabazz Palaces – new tour

Slacker Shack alt-hip-hop favourites Shabazz Palaces have started a new tour that takes in dates in Denmark, Germany, Belgium, France, and Switzerland as well as gigs in the UK and the US.

The tour started in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday night and was followed by a gig in Hamburg, Germany tonight.

Here’s the forthcoming dates:

05-11 Kortrijk, Belgium – De Kreun
06-11 Clermont-Ferrand, France – La Cooperative de Mai
07-11 Lorient, France – Festival Les Indisciplines
09-11 Nimes, France – Paloma
10-11 Fribourg, Switzerland – Fri-Son
11-11 Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik
12-11 Munich, Germany – Hansa 39
13-11 Berlin, Germany – Festsaal Kreuzberg
15-11 Liverpool, England – Kazimier
16-11 Dublin, Ireland – Twisted Pepper
28-12 Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
18-01 Birmingham, AL – Bottle Tree
19-01 Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
20-01 Pensacola, FL – Vinyl Music Hall
22-01 St. Augustine, FL – Cafe Eleven
24-01 St. Petersburg, FL – State Theater
25-01 Orlando, FL – The Social
26-01 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder
27-01 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
28-01 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
29-01 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
30-01 Saint Louis, MO – Firebird
31-01 Bloomington, IN – Bishop Bar

01-02 Chicago, IL – The Shrine

The Stone Roses reunion so far…

So, how’s The Stone Roses reunion shaping up as we count down to their Heaton Park gigs in just over a week’s time? Well, it all looks fairly promising. Six gigs in and no-one’s left yet. But it’s all a bit nervy isn’t it?

For those of you, like me, who’re desperate for the Roses to pull off a stunning comeback, the nerves aren’t helped by rumours of Reni storming off stage at their recent Amsterdam gig, Ian Brown calling him a c*nt and whispers that management are desperately trying to keep the peace in the Roses camp and make sure they complete their 20-odd gig schedule. And that’s before fans can even start to dream of ‘new material’.

There are plenty of positives though. All of their comeback gigs in Warrington, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Sweden and Denmark have been well received. The snatches of footage I’ve seen and heard show a band enjoying performing the tunes that first set the UK alight over 20 years ago. Ian Brown is in fine voice and there’s lots of smiling too.

But are they really happy? The tour is clearly their chance to make some serious money and the amount of nostalgic love being generated in Manchester alone shows how excited people are about the renuion most thought would never happen. But is that enough? Reni and John Squire have spent almost 15 years away from music and the pessimistic side of me keeps wondering whether they’ll both make it through all the gigs. And then there’s the music press who will no doubt be sniffing for stories of arguments and disharmony.

Join with me in crossed fingered hope – love spreads…

(The illustration above, ‘The Resurrection Starts Here - The Stone Roses’ is by Howard McWilliam and features in the June 2012 edition of Word magazine).

New Stone Roses song?

During the soundcheck at The Stone Roses recent ‘secret’ Warrington gig a song was heard that may (or may not) be one of three or four new tunes the band have recently recorded.

Some fans think it’s a fake, roughly recorded by another band with the express intention of motivating the ever growing Stone Roses rumour mill. Others reckon it’s just Ian Brown improvising over a rough run through of Sally Cinnamon.

Check out the tune below and see what you think:

If that is Ian Brown and it is a new tune, one thing’s for certain he’s definitely singing, “The monkey’s me” at the end. Which sounds like a great song title given the hilarious King Monkey stories that circulated in the British media around the time the Roses were recording their second album in the early 1990′s.

Here’s hoping some better quality leaks whet our appetites sometime soon – or even better a new album by the end of the year (we can but dream).

Animal Collective – tour dates 2012

Animal Collective have announced a two month world tour which starts in Seattle on the 18th September and finishes in Zurich on 20th November.

The band have stated that they will be doing a pre-sale starting tomorrow and that all UK and European dates will be on sale at 9am BST. North American Dates will also be on sale at 10am EST.

They also sent a message to fans who aren’t living in the cities featured on the tour, which reads, “don’t worry, it’s only the beginning.”

Check out the full list of tour dates below:

Animal Collective‘s new album, Centipede Hz is released on 4th September.

Pharoahe Monch set to play Manchester this month

For those of you in the UK with even a passing interest in hip-hop, prick up your ears. In just under two weeks time, New York underground rapper, Pharoahe Monch is playing Manchester.

The ex-Organized Konfusion rhyme-slayer (and the man Kool Moe Dee ranked as 26th in his best MCs of all time list, from his book, ‘There’s a God on the Mic‘) will be playing Sound Control in Manchester on Saturday June 16th (as well as gigs in Brighton and London on the 14th and 15th too) and tickets can be bought from Dr. Herman’s in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Gaffs corner shop in Fallowfield and at Piccadilly Records. And they’re only a tenner too!

Support comes from Dr Syntax, Dayse & Aver Live Band, Red IQ and Northern Exposure.