Happy Sunday! Grovel Grovel...

Jaz awoke to mild panic that we'd forgotten Mother's Day among all the past week's gig overload this morning. Alas, it's not til next week so we have some time for ample fishy preparation. But cue our apology to all you wonderful blogees for the slower week that's just passed. There is much to make up for it in store: Groove Armada, Mumford & Sons, Local Natives... In addition, Jaz was invited to watch Kate Nash's first gig in two years last night. The review is pending publication and will be with you very soon :) And if that wasn't enough, we'll be chatting to those cheery Editors blokes in Glasgow this week. If only time would stop for just five minutes...

On that note, we leave you with a modern classic: Stillness Is The Move by Dirty Projectors from last year's Bitte Orca. Absolutely sublime - even Beyonce's sister Solange is a fan...



Jaz x

My Beloved Monster And Me

A brilliant day of Tweeting with Ellie Goulding, going out for sushi, catching Michael Cera and Steve Buscemi in a side-slapping movie (Year In Revolt) was this evening perfectly topped off with a soul-swelling experience watching Mumford & Sons play their biggest date ever. Does it get better than that?! Well, yes actually. Jaz can now share with you the one, the only... La GaGa! She came, she saw, she conquered...

Seriously, why debate the merits of introducing sex education in primary schools when you can escort your child to watch a former burlesque performer cavort around a Warhol-inspired backdrop of multi-coloured dildos singing lines like “Inject me… I like it rough… take a bite of my bad girl meat”? ‘What’s that mummy?’ is not a question easily avoided when you’re staring a 50-foot projection of a leather-clad gimp in the face. 

... and she's in full review on Who's Jack: http://www.whosjack.org/?p=4496

Enjoy - we know we did!

xxx

P.S More from Mumford & Sons to come. And don't worry - we haven't forgotten about that Groove Armada interview... we were just too busy trying to catch a certain Marcus Mumford's eye.

Introducing Freelance Whales

Is it a banjo? Is it a harmonium? Is it a glockenspiel? Apparently it's all three. As someone not quite old enough to remember the Medieval Times and thus not qualified to correctly distinguish such instruments, this is good news for Jaz. It's also good news for fans of that multi-instrumentalist Arcade Fire-esque anthemic aura. From Queens, New York and currently milling around the blogosphere quite nicely are five-piece Freelance Whales (what were they thinking... would there really have been something wrong with In-house Hippopotami?! ). With more hushed vocals than Arcade Fire's Win Butler, the sound is much gentler and slightly infused with a hint of Postal Service, The Shins and that other marine-titled outfit Noah And The Whale. Perfect for a Juno-type soundtrack or a Channel 4 documentary, their finger-picked folk will pluck at your heartstrings.

Single Generator Second Floor from debut album Weathervane is set to land in the UK on 22 March. It comes courtesy of the same people who gave us glorious first releases from the assured talents of White Lies and Mumford & Sons.

For more information head over to the mecca of MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/freelancewhales



Jaz x

It's Ch-ch-ch-Tuesday Folks!

Did Mumford & Sons awaken your inner folkie with their newfound success last year? Are you rambling through forests making friends with woodland creatures and becoming "at one" with nature? Have you discovered a strange affection for bearded men? Or, do you just like a decent lyric and a shakey rustic vocal? North Carolinian trio, The Avett Brothers are ones to watch. Two brothers (with the surname Avett, funnily enough) and their big bass-wielding buddy are to release their major label debut with the help of Def Jam Records' founder, mogul producer and Rabbi chic Rick Rubin in late March. Grab your parka, it's "fuh fuh fuh freeezin'".



Jaz x