The Review - MUSIC - grooves with RóISíN GADELRAB Published: 9 April 2009
I WAS among the journalists invited to the first play of Placebo’s new album Battle for the Sun, which is out on June 8. The pre-hype has all pointed to the album being a sign of happier, more optimistic times for the band. But it’s still heavily laden with the darkness that fans expect. Single Battle for the Sun appears to show Molko’s internal struggle – the words point at him fighting to overcome the blackness and reaching for the light. But this album, with references to suicide and us all being damned, just shows that the shadows win out in the end.
* I mentioned last week that Peter Doherty will be playing Proud soon. Well it’s all confirmed for April 22 when he’ll be playing songs from new album Grace/Wastelands. Tickets are £20.
* Graham Coxon has just announced a short UK tour. He stops at the Lexington in Islington on May 13.
* Top records that have landed on the Grooves desk this week: Bastila by Bastila: You’d never know these boys come from the Isle of Wight. Imaginative, carnival, mariachi, Brazilian samba beats with vocals reminiscent of The Coral. Kill It Kid by Kill It Kid: Here’s the other most exciting band, steeped in deep blues with inexplicably compelling lead vocals – intriguing. Listen to Seashells; They Know Everything by Davey Macmanus with The Crimea: Davey’s stunning, vulnerable side project is interspersed with David Holmes-like samples, difficult to switch off. It’s Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Includes stunning single Zero.
* Madness are set to pay the ultimate debt to Camden, with a series of gigs at secret locations during the Crawl. And you don’t even need a Crawl ticket to see them.
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