Angus and Julia Stone have announced their second UK tour, this December. The duo who are currently enjoying the success of their album ‘Down The Way’ return to the UK, after a sold out tour finale at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London this spring.

The sibling’s profile is on the ascent over Europe, having sold 30, 000 copies of their current album, they plan to perform across Switzerland, Germany, France and Holland ahead of their UK tour. Angus and Julia have recently taken part in a week of collaborations and gigs put together by Communion (label and night club), and the fruits of their labour will be available to sample on a compilation album later in the year. The duo’s critically acclaimed album has received astounding praise, described as “Velvety, dusty, derelict folk…magical” (the Guardian).

The tour dates for Angus and Julia Stone are as follows:

4th BRIGHTON, St Georges Church
5th LEEDS, The Wardrobe
7th GLASGOW, Oran Mor
9th LONDON, Royal Festival Hall
10th FALMOUTH, Princess Pavillions
11th BRISTOL, Trinity Centre

Are you ready to be Freddie? Freddie For A Day is an organisation set up in order to both honour the man himself Freddie Mercury (always taking place around his birthday), and to raise funds in order to support the continued fight against HIV AIDS worldwide through the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

It was an initiative dreamed up by city worker Liz Swanton, who spent a whole working day dressed as Freddie. After publishing online her experience of the day, Liz was overwhelmed by the public response, and it was then decided to make FFAD an annual event.

Freddie For A Day will take place this year on September 3rd. It’s simple to join in, all you need to do is dress up as Freddie and get your friends, family and colleagues to sponsor you – they can do so online at www.justgiving.com, or alternatively by sending cash or cheques to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. For information on what to wear and how to get involved, visit the Mercury Phoenix Trust website: www.mercuryphoenixtrust.com. And have fun being Freddie!

After the massive sleeper hit that was the Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan was for some time pegged as the new auteur on the block. Fast forward several years and he’s struggling to retain the merest shred of credibility after directing such stinkers as ‘Signs’, ‘The Village’ and ‘Lady In The Water’. What happened? Well, there have been various theories. That he started to believe his own hype, that he may be a better storyteller than he is director (if you like big plot twist endings). Perhaps no-one has been bold enough to advise that his projects of late may have been a little misguided?

With the first reviews of his latest feature ‘The Last Airbender’ leaking across the web, it doesn’t look like he’s managed to redeem himself in any way as yet. However, despite a deluge of detractors there has definitely been some excited chat over a project that he’s just produced called ‘Devil’, the first film in his Night Chronicles series.

Written by Brian Nelson, the man behind the atmospheric and genuinely creepy vampire flick ’30 Days Of Night’ and directed by the up and coming Dowdle Brothers (Quarantine, The Poughkeepsie Tapes), the premise is a simple one. No plot spoilers here…it’s all in the title. It’s a chiller whereby some office workers become trapped in a lift in their office block. However, everyone is not as they first seem and it appears that old Nick himself may be stuck in there with them. Unlucky. But which character is it?

Such supernatural/horror movies usually benefit from simple concepts, well executed. And no-one can say that ‘Devil’ is convoluted in the plot stakes. So it’s good news all round (certainly to the Clash team) that Shyamalan is keeping his grubby fingers well away from both camera and pen whilst lending what weight he retains to a movie that would probably linger in straight to DVD hell otherwise. Here’s hoping.

‘Devil’ is due for a UK release in Autumn.

Read more…

Seminal Bristol post-punk band The Pop Group have announced their reunion and four intimate live dates.

The original line-up, Mark Stewart (Vocals), Gareth Sager (Guitar, Keys, Sax), Bruce Smith (Drums) and Dan Catsis (Bass), will play two London dates, at The Garage on the 11th and 12th September, and two dates in Italy with the possibility of more to come. The gigs are intended to “blow the dust off the old songs and pick up where we left off.”

The band only released two albums in their original lifespan, ‘Y’ and ‘For How Much Longer Must We Tolerate Mass Murder’, but remain a significant on the bands that followed their 1981 split.

Speaking about the reunion and live dates the band issued a statement reading: “There was a lot left undone,….we were so young and volatile….Let’s face it, things are probably even MORE fucked now than they were in the early 80′s…..and WE are even more fucked off!”

Tickets for the two intimate London shows taking place at The Garage on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th September 2010 are priced at £17.50 + booking fee and are on sale from today via www.atpfestival.com

Soul music legend Mavis Staples has spoken of her joy on hearing Tom Jones has covered The Staple Singers’ ‘You Don’t Knock’ on his new album:

“Really? Yes, I find that surprising. But then not really. Tom Jones went down to Memphis one time to do an album – I don’t know what happened to it – but he actually had another song that he liked by The Staple Singers called ‘Getting Too Big For Your Britches’. I don’t think it ever came out. This guy in New York was producing that. But it just makes you feel so good to know that. That is surprising that Tom Jones has recorded ‘Don’t Knock’ – I would love to hear that! That is wonderful to hear. I love Tom Jones – he has always been great, and for him to want to sing one of the songs that Pops [Staples] wrote is a double plus.”

The praise for his back to basics album will be welcomed following the criticism directed his way by the head of his own record label who labelled it a “sick joke” (read ClashMusic’s news story about it HERE). Tom Jones new album ‘Praise And Blame’, featuring his versions of many classic soul, gospel and traditional songs, is released on July 26th.

The full interview with Mavis Staples will appear in Clash in September, to time with her own new album, ‘You Are Not Alone’, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.

Read a previous Clash interview with Mavis on ClashMusic.com .

The next installment of the Twilight film saga, ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’, opens in cinemas today and ClashMusic has three new clips for you to watch.

The official synopsis of this third film, based on the books of Stephenie Meyer, is “Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.”

The film also boasts a decent soundtrack with Metric, UNKLE, Fanfarlo, Muse, The Black Keys and Band Of Horses all contributing.

Watch three new scenes from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ below:

Read more…

Returning ‘nu-rave’, Mercury Prize winning band Klaxons have announced details of a new single, ‘Echoes’, and a three date UK tour.

The band, who claimed the prize with their ‘Myths Of The Near Future’ debut album in 2007, will release new single ‘Echoes’ on August 16th on cd, backed by ‘Sorcerer City’, and 7″ vinyl, backed with ‘Birdman’.

Their three date live jaunt takes place in July with dates in Glasgow, Manchester and London. The full details of the shows are:

July 13th – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut – Glasgow
July 14th – The Ruby Lounge – Manchester
July 27th – Village Underground – London

Buy ticket to see Klaxons live HERE.

The band’s new album, ‘Surfing The Void’, follows the single release on August 23rd through Polydor. The track listing for the album is:

Read more…