Hell's Belles

Jack White Announces Solo Record. Internet explodes.

TT — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:16:05 +0000

Lovely bit of news to wake up to: Jack White is doing a solo album. The first track, Love Interruption, is to be released as a 7″ vinyl through Third Man on February 7th. The album, Blunderbuss, is due on April 23rd, via Third Man / XL. Bring on the wave of ebullient bloggers.

The extremely nerdy amongst you will notice that the 7″ is via Third Man only, so that might convince you to click the pre-order link on Jack White’s website now. I did, and I discovered that for a mere $53.90, I could have this in my hands and onto ebay pretty much instantly.

(NO, I WOULD NOT DO THAT. I did actually order it though.)

What’s more interesting is that this is off his own steam – while I rate all of the Dead Weather members highly on their own, I thought the album kind of just sounded like a jam band with really amazing tone.

Anyway. Below is a little video thing for Love Interruption. Enjoy.

Crunchy Frog takes Crunchy Club Londonwards

TT — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:52:09 +0000

Danish purveyors of garage rock goodness Crunchy Frog (they who brought us Jon Spencer‘s Heavy Trash and The Raveonettes) are bringing their fuzztastic trash palace to London for three wondrous Thursdays at The Wheelbarrow in Camden from February 23rd. Joing the mayhem will be PowerSolo, who have already graced this site’s pages, Snake and Jets Amazing Bullit Band, Thee Attacks, Lars and the Hands of Light, and more to be announced.

I’m also extremely honoured to have been asked to join the ranks of the Crunchy Frog DJs for the first show with Thee Attacks and Lars and the Hands of Light on February 23rd. Expect even more fuzz, filth and tittyshakers between the bands and beyond.

The shows look a little something like this:

23 Feb Thee Attacks + Lars and the Hands of Light (facebook event)
08 Mar Snake and Jets Amazing Bullit Band + support TBC
04 Apr Powersolo + support TBC

Thee Attacks’ debut album, That’s Mister Attack To You (produced by Liam Watson of Toe Rag studios, and the White Stripes’ Elephant) is a slice of Scandi fuzz par excellance. Sample one of its delights here:

Thee Attacks – Love in Disguise by hells-belles

Please write to Congress to stop this bill.

TT — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:37:53 +0000

UPDATE : Both PIPA and SOPA have been dropped by Congress! Over 13 million people flooded Congress with their protests.

The MPAA (the lobby for big movie studios which created these terrible bills) was shocked and seemingly humbled. “‘This was a whole new different game all of a sudden,’ MPAA Chairman and former Senator Chris Dodd told the New York Times. ‘[PIPA and SOPA were] considered by many to be a slam dunk.’”

“’This is altogether a new effect,’ Mr. Dodd said, comparing the online movement to the Arab Spring. He could not remember seeing ‘an effort that was moving with this degree of support change this dramatically’ in the last four decades, he added.”

—-

You know those stories of 12-year-olds being arrested for downloading mp3s? Or that family who were nearly sued because they uploaded a video of their baby dancing to a song on the radio in their kitchen? If this bill passes in the US, expect that sort of thing to increase. It is essentially proposing to give the entertainment industry the power to censor the internet. The entertainment industry already has the law on its side in fighting piracy. They don’t need carte blanche to put a gag order on – or more specifically, put into prison – regular people and small companies that they feel are infringing copyright. The courts are already set up to allow them to fight copyright infringement. This bill will effectively allow them to use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Saturday (tomorrow!) : Elvis B’day special at Shake, Rattle & Bowl

TT — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:36:33 +0000

Tomorrow night’s the first Shake Rattle and Bowl of 2012, and since it would’ve been The King’s 77th birthday at the stroke of midnight, we thought the perfect way to shake off the January blues would be a big ol’ Presley-a-Thon.

Betwixt our usual stellar (if I do say so myself) mix of rock ‘n roll, r’n'b, popcorn, soul, psych and garage, we’ll be dropping a whole lotta Elvis – from the early rockabilly days right through to the 68′ Comeback*. And we will TOTALLY play Do The Clam. It’s a floor filler. FOR REALS.

Tweet me @hells_belles with any special Elvis requests, or you can post them in the comments here if you’re not on twitter.

To top it all off, there’s drinks specials for SRB members (sign up here for a badge), including a special Rock-A-Hula cocktail that the lovely bar blokes at the Holborn All Star Lanes have made in honour of the King, we’ll be screening some classic Elvis videos on the monitors, and there’ll be a free raffle of Elvis DVDs, buckets ‘o beers, and bowling.

Entry to the party is free. Raffle kicks off at 11pm, so get there by 10pm to grab a free ticket, and make sure you’re in the DJ room by 11pm for the winner announcement.

68′ Comeback Special action for you right here, and some more obscure Elvis download love below:

Elvis Presley – Adam & Evil (MP3)

* SRB is normally strictly 50s and 60s, but I’m sure Suspicious Minds will make an appearance anyway.

Click the image for a larger map.

Saint Saviour – Old Man (Neil Young cover)

TT — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:11:39 +0000

It’s not the first time a young woman has covered Neil Young’s “Old Man” (hello, Wilson-Phillips??) but I’d definitely say it’s the most beautiful. Becky’s giving this track away on her Souncloud page now:

Old Man (Neil Young Cover) by Saint Saviour

Her debut album is now completed, thanks in part to a record-breaking Pledge campaign (target reached in less than 24 hours), and she’s doing rather well in the MTV Brand New Unsigned competition, so if you like this, give her a vote here.

Scandi Garage Punk Love Affair : PowerSolo

TT — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:36:22 +0000

Two Scandi gems courtesy of Danish mentalists PowerSolo, signed to Copenhagen label Crunchy Frog. Lo-fi, shouty, with tons of strut and squirm-inducing videos. Of course I’m going to love this.

Powersolo – Got No Fear by hells-belles

Mark Stewart – Nothing Is Sacred (feat Eve Libertine and Slope)

TT — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:59:23 +0000

Photo: Chiara Meattelli/Dominic Lee

As promised a couple of weeks back in my post about Mark joining St. Vincent onstage to cover one of his classic early Pop Group tunes, I have here a free MP3 procured from his website, www.markstewartmusic.com. Said tune is a raging disco funk diatribe, Nothing Is Sacred, which is the AA of that super-limited Children of the Revolution 7″ that came and went on Black Friday, and it beats the snot out of the current crop of bedwetters bleating about lacklustre sex.

It comes backed with a rapid-fire cut-n-spliced video that includes an arresting image of a tittyshaking Obama amidst scenes of rioting and destruction, giving the juxtaposed classic film and cartoon footage a demonic edge. Somehow I don’t think this video will be garnering much praise from the major US websites.

“Nothing Is Sacred” is the spawn of sessions for Mark Stewart’s new album (title as yet TBA), which is due in spring 2012. The Quietus reports that it contains collaborations with a canon of mercurial luminaries who generally don’t do collaborations, including Kenneth Anger (!), Richard Hell, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Primal Scream, Gina Birch (The Raincoats), and young buck noiseniks Factory Floor.

Mark Stewart – Nothing Is Sacred (featuring Eve Libertine & Slope) by hells-belles

Real Wild Child

TT — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 15:51:03 +0000

I adore the geeky vocals on this cover of “Wild One”, courtesy of Crickets drummer Jerry Ivan Allison, with, I believe, Buddy Holly on guitar. The original is by Aussie Johnny O’Keefe and has been covered tons, most famously by Iggy Pop, and most disturbingly by Alvin and The Chipmunks, as well as Lou Reed, Brian Setzer, Billy Idol and Jerry Lee Lewis. I dig the dork the most, though:

Ivan – Real Wild Child by hells-belles

*That dork thing was semi-intentional.

St. Vincent & The Pop Group & Mark Stewart & The Bug

TT — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:54:02 +0000

If you’re a fan of Nick Cave, The Birthday Party, Fucked Up, Alec Empire, Primal Scream, !!! and many, many other purveyors of politically-charged musical rage, you owe Mark Stewart a pint. Joining you in the queue at the bar will likely be Annie Clark aka St. Vincent. She’s been cranking out covers lately that are a surprising foil to her haunting, ethereal pop – “Kerosene” by Big Black and most recently, a very hot version of The Pop Group’s “She’s Beyond Good and Evil”, which she busted out on US TV show Jimmy Fallon last night. It’s sending the internet all aflutter, and with good reason. Her unhinged version more than does the original justice. It’s prompted a twitter exchange between Annie and Mark (who fronted The Pop Group as a teenager), which in turn has prompted rumours that the man himself will join her onstage at tomorrow night’s show at the South Bank Centre in London. Which would be incredible. Unless I can’t get in, in which case, LALALALAICAN’THEARYOOOOUUUUU.

Although the track covered here is 30 years and a bit old, Mark Stewart is one of those rare artists that has not only remained steadily prolific over the course of three decades, he continues to inspire and with apocalyptic results. The next one in line is a limited 7″ AA release later this month for the Black Friday Record Store Day, which works on so many levels, I don’t know where to start. The A is a cover of T.Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution”, recorded over many miles and years with The Bug (Techno Animal, King Midas Sound). The AA is “Nothing Is Sacred”, a collabo with Eve Libertine from Crass. The record is limited to 500 copies, which in Record Store Day terms means it might as well have “rarer than rump steak still on the cow’s ass” stamped on it, and each record sleeve is an individual piece of Mark’s bombart. The queue starts, like, yesterday.

In the meantime, here’s both St. Vincent’s and The Pop Group’s versions of “She’s Beyond Good and Evil”. I’ll post the new Mark Stewart stuff sometime after black Friday. Check his YouTube channel for more.

The Pop Group – She’s Beyond Good and Evil

UPDATE: They’ve only gone and done it as a DUET. I tend to think of “duets” as more like Lee & Nancy, Dolly ‘n Kenny an’ that, so this is on another plane altogether, even if it’s just on a phone:

It’s Fireworks Night!

TT — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:07:14 +0000

Do you like lovely haunting melodies? String sections in popular musical combos? Exotic folk-noir chamber-pop and other hyphenated musical genres? Records released on days other than the iTunes and mainstream radio musical chart designated days of Monday, Tuesday or Sunday if you’re going for a jump on a chart position with a boost from digital-only sales? Do you like STUFF THAT EXPLODES? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have a free download for you that will fulfill these fantasies and a plethora of fetishes too varied to list here.

Fireworks Night release their third album proper, One Winter, One Spring today, November 5th. Not entirely coincidentally, this day is also known in folklore and Proper British History as the night Guy Fawkes failed to blow up The Houses of Parliament, and Britain has been celebrating this failure by gleefully blowing things up ever since. So strike that match as you strike the play button on “Amongst The Disappeared”, and surround yourself in a glorious explosion of seductive strings and exhilarating melody.

Fireworks Night are celebrating the album launch in a double-barreled headline act with Bleeding Heart Narrative and support from Bastardgeist at the Wheelbarrow in Camden on November 17th. Advance tickets are cheaper at £4 from We Got Tickets. Or pay £6 on the door if you’re the commitment-shy type.

You can buy the album from all the usual good independent record shops, and some of the larger chains, or direct from the band at the Organ Grinder Records website.