Don’t know what anyone else’s take was on Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury - It’s not my music of choice. There is a place for it but not on the Pyramid stage as a headline act. Personally, I felt coming on to Wonderwall was the perfect put down to Noel!!!! The version is terrible, but give it a view on this clip which also includes Oasis from 2004. Leave your comments below - I rest my case.

MP3: Oasis - Wonderwall

- Mark

This is a short post, I’m kinda feeling pleased with myself!!!!

I first introduced The Ryes from here in the UK about eight months ago to you Rocksellouters. I was really taken by the style of clever lyrics and catchy melodies. In fact, some of you may remember I conducted an interview with the band in a toilet backstage at La Scala last December. I have always felt confident that these boys would get a break before long, and imagine my pleasure when I had an e-mail a couple of weeks ago from Tim at Safe Management to say the boys had been signed to 14th Floor Records.

All of this following a session on the popular Dermot O’Leary show on BBC Radio 2. The single “How Come Loretta” will be released 11th August. Last week it was featured on the Chris Evans drivetime show on BBC Radio 2 as his Jukebox jury choice. I’m pleased to say that among the 7 million listeners it was declared a smash with Chris himself being blown away by it as well. This follows some support slot’s with Scouting For Girls. You can catch the guy’s on a forthcoming UK tour - head over to the bands myspace for details.

MP3: The Ryes - Hideaway

- Mark

The fabulous Supergrass have released yet another single from their latest album, Diamond Hoo Ha. The single, ‘Bad Blood’, comes complete with a video with enough camera-shaking to make even the sturdiest stomach a bit queasy.

MP3: Supergrass - Bad Blood

TOURDATES:7/9 Seattle,WA Key Arena @ Seattle Center
7/10 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
7/12 Los Angeles, CA Avalon (Supergass only)
7/14 Morrison,CO Red Rocks Amphitheater
7/15 Morrison CO Red Rocks Amphitheater
7/17 Oklahoma,City Ford Center
7/19 Kansas City,MO Kemper Arena
7/20 St.Louis,MO Scottrade Center
7/22 Grand Rapids,MI Van Andel Arena
7/23 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
7/25 Cleveland,OH Quicken Loans Arena
7/26 Pittsburgh,PA Peterson Events Center @ Univ of Pittsburgh
7/29 E. Rutherford,NJ Izod Center
7/30 New York,NY Webster Hall (Supergrass only)

- Sean

20 years ago I was one of a 100,000 voices at Wembley Stadium calling for an end to the brutal apartheid system in South Africa. I joined a global TV audience of 1 billion also demanding the release of Nelson Mandela and honouring his 70th Birthday. When I left that night little did I realise how events would unfold in Africa. Maybe we had an impact…who knows.

Last night I was both honoured and humbled to be a guest at the celebration of Mandela’s 90th Birthday at the 46664 event in London’s Hyde Park. The 46664 Charity is a foundation set up by Mandela to fight AIDS in Africa amongst children. The significance of the numbers is this - Mandela was the 466th prisoner of 1964. Whatever your political persausion you cannot fail to be moved by a man who has given his whole life to fighting injustice and oppression.

(Before I get onto the review I must thank “Outside Line” and Nicola in particular for the guest tickets as well as Live Nation.)

The event was hosted by Will Smith, and the bill was both varied and entertaining. I can skip several of the artists as they did not rock my boat, however, the world famous Soweto Choir provided wonderful soulful backing to many of the acts. I know I’m going to get shot down in flames here but one of the stand out performances was Leona Lewis! That girl can belt out a song live make no mistake. Johnny Clegg and Joan Baez provided a moving moment with a fantastic duet before Mr. Eddy Grant looking a sprightly 60 years young got the crowd moving to “Give Me Hope J’onna”. Introduced by Peter Gabriel as potentially “the new Bob Marley”, former boy soldier Emmanuel Jal from Sudan - whom I’m so going to find out more about - turned in the performance of the night for me.

Despite the many rumours of ‘would she or wouldn’t she’ show, the real Amy turned up in top form belting out ‘Rehab’ and a cracking delivery on ‘Valerie’. She looked and sounded the most together I have heard her in months. Queen with former Free singer Paul Rodgers on vocals were the headline act. Despite my reservations regarding the Sun City appearences by the band, I was keen to see them. For me it does not work - you cant replace the iconic figure that was Freddy Mercury. It was kinda like Queen meets the X-Factor.

On a more positive note I was moved to see Simple Minds perform ‘Mandela Day and a real stonking, show-stopping version of ‘Dont You (forget about me)’. Jim Kerr still knows how to work a crowd. The finale was a fitting rendition of ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ complete with Neville Staples and Amy Winehouse taking the lead vocal. Overall I had a great night, but for the life of me can someone please explain why the Sugababes were on the bill??

MP3: Emmanuel Jal - Shadow of Death
MP3: Simple Minds - Don’t You (Forget About Me)

A clip of the show:

- Mark

Glenn Campbell will follow in the footsteps of Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash by introducing his music to a new generation of listeners this fall. The album will be titled Meet Glenn Campbell and will hit store shelves on August 19. The release will feature covers of songs by The Replacements - “Sadly Beautiful”, Velvet Underground - “Jesus”, Travis - “Sing”, and U2 - “All I Want Is You”.

“I really like all of the songs and I had a great time recording them,” Campbell, 72, said in a statement. “While I didn’t write these songs, this sounds like a Glen Campbell album, which is important to me.”

I’m not sure about you, but I think it’s long overdue that the horrible memory of that drunk driving mugshot be replaced with something positive which returns the American pop icon to higher ground.

Download: Glenn Campbell - “Witchita Lineman”
Download: Glenn Campbell - “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”

Remember a few years ago when Gnarls Barkley decided to cover the Violent Femmes’‘Gone Daddy Gone’? It seemed odd, but turned out to be a great choice. Well, the Femmes have decided to return the compliment (under the psuedonym Violent And Crazy), and cover the Gnarls track ‘Crazy’. They turn it into…well, the Violent Femmes. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

And grab it while you can, as I’m sure that sucker will be taken off ZShare in no time flat. You can purchase the track off iTunes or limited edition vinyl here.

MP3: Violent Femmes - Crazy via ZShare
MP3: Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
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- Sean

Sebastien Tellier - who was robbed, ROBBED I say in the recent Eurovision contest - has finally announced a US release date for his album, Sexuality. The manner he has chosen to deliver it might be considered a little unorthodox:

Record Makers is proud to announce an agreement has been reached with American Apparel, which will make Sexuality available at all American Apparel locations throughout North America in an exclusive pre-release beginning July 22nd (full release to follow in October). This is the first time in the history of the Los Angeles based clothier that music will be sold at store level, whilst marking the first foray of the Parisian indie-label Record Makers (founded in 2000 by Marc Teissier du Cros and Stéphane Elfassi) into the world of clothing retail.

This unique collaboration began with a special pre-release of the album at the retailer’s German locations, before expanding to the rest of Europe and now North America. Sexuality will be available on CD and vinyl LP formats alongside the new single Divine (7″ and 12″ versions) in store and online at www.americanapparel.net. To promote Sexual Sportswear, the album’s first single, American Apparel created two exclusive garments - the SexualiT and SexualiTank - which will be in stores for a limited time only.

Viva Radio, American Apparel’s in-house radio station, will be showcasing Sebastien Tellier content throughout, programming tracks for in-store play and offering album preview streams online. In addition, Sebastien will be contributing select content for the Viva Radio airwaves in-store and online.

Of course, this might not be that unorthodox anymore. After all, in recent months we’ve had LCD Soundsystem and M.I.A. representing Converse, McFly joining forces with McDonalds, and Santogold lending songs to Bud Lite Lime (as well as the aforementioned Converse). And how many artists have released CD’s at Starbucks in the last 5 years? (Though they won’t be anymore).

Santogold had this to say about ’selling out’:

“Everybody wants you to sell a lot of records, but it’s not considered a failure if you don’t. The record labels know that most of the money nowadays is made in licensing. On MTV, their whole approach is to put your songs in their programming now—they’re even [looking into] some new technology, like TiVo, that will record the music played on a show and then give you the option to purchase it. So where before it might have been, ‘Oh, you’re gonna sell out?,’ now it’s how we make our money.”

With the current state of the record industry, it’s hard to fault artists for seeking out new and creative ways to get paid for their music. And it doesn’t change the fact that Tellier’s album is one of the best of the year. So whether you buy it from AA or Astralwerks, it’s worth it.

MP3: Sebastien Tellier - Sexual Sportswear (Donovan Remix)

- Sean

The Verve leaked the first single from their forthcoming album earlier this week. The song is titled “Love Is Noise” and can be streamed on their Myspace page. The track is from the band’s forthcoming full-length, Forth, which will be released on August 18 in the UK. Fans from the States will only have to wait one day longer (Aug 19th) for the release via their imprint On Our Own.

Forth Tracklisting:
Sit and Wonder
Love Is Noise
Rather Be
Judas
Numbness
I See Houses
Noise Epic
Valium Skies
Columbo
Appalachian Springs

What others are saying about the band and “Love Is Noise”:

30 seconds in and I’m blown away” - Zane Lowe

“Ashcroft and McCabe, the twin lightening conductors of the band, are finally in accord and the results are nothing short of astonishing. The Verve are back-literally-with a bang. This is music? This is seismic.” - NME

“The Verve are here to provide you with an immaculately calibrated rock experience that will change your life forever…” - Spin

Download: The Verve - “Sonnet”

News revealed last night, Oasis will be releasing a new single “The Shock Of The Lightning” on September 29th. Their new album, Dig Out Your Soul, will follow on 6th October .

Dig Out Your Soul sees Dave Sardy return to the producer’s chair following his work on their 2005 album, Don’t Believe The Truth. Recorded at Abbey Road and mixed in Los Angeles, all four members once again contribute tracks, but the recording marks a new approach for the band. Now, although I’m not as excited as I once might of been at this news, I will be interested to see what the new approach will be. The last few years has been a desert for the band with little in the way of a musical Oasis as far as I’m concerned. If they can reach the former glories remains to be seen. I have always felt that the hunger and desire seems to have gone in recent years. Hopefully this new direction will be a positive move as without a shadow of doubt they carved a niche in British popular culture. Definitely Maybe and What’s The Story Morning Glory provided the anthems for a generation, so watch this space. In the meantime, enjoy this mp3 of Noel and Gem from last year’s acoustic tour.

MP3: Noel and Gem - “Rock N Roll Star”

- Mark

On 29th September, Mercury Rev will release their extraordinary new album, Snowflake Midnight, on V2/Cooperative Music.

A set of nine luminous and astonishing new songs, both epic and lush, Snowflake Midnight is easily as thrilling as their other milestone releases, specifically their 1991 sprawling avant-psych debut Yerself Is Steam, and their 1998 masterpiece Deserter’s Songs, which signaled their rebirth as purveyors of a cosmic brand of the popular American songbook… Snowflake Midnight, given it’s inject of both vintage and present-day electronics, is perhaps less a rebirth than a reboot; but it sounds like a brand new Mercury Rev.

Few bands can reinvent themselves even the once, but Snowflake Midnight is the sound of lightening striking again. Not only that, I have just read that the band will also be giving away an 11 song free download album on the same date!

Festival dates:

August:
29 - Hydro Connect Festival, Inverary Scotland

September:
13 - End of the Road Festival, Dorset

November:
04 - Mandela Hall, Belfast
05 - Academy, Manchester
06 - Academy, Leeds
07 - Academy, Birmingham
09 - Academy, Newcastle
11 - Corn Exchange, Brighton
12 - Academy, Bristol
13 - Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
14 - Academy, Oxford

MP3: Mercury Rev - “Hercules”

- Mark