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Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey, two of the founding members of The Saints, are set to reunite for a set of residencies in Australia this May. Kuepper will join Bailey to play a set of stripped-back and reworked material covering not only Saints tunes but also their extensive respective solo catalogues. The pair were last seen on stage together as The Saints at the All Tomorrow’s Parties’ festivals in 2009.

The tour will cycle through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne over Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays during May:

Wednesday 12th May – The Vanguard, Sydney
Thursday 13th May – The Troubadour, Brisbane
Sunday 16th May – Bennetts Lane, Melbourne
Wednesday 19th May – The Vanguard, Sydney
Thursday 20th May – The Troubadour, Brisbane
Sunday 23th May – Bennetts Lane, Melbourne
Wednesday 26th May – The Vanguard, Sydney
Thursday 27th May – The Troubadour, Brisbane
Sunday 30th May – Bennetts Lane, Melbourne

Tickets for all shows on sale Monday 12th April via Moshtix or the venues

33⅓ is a series of books, each of which examines an important or influential album in depth. The series is edited by David Barker and published by Continuum Books.

‘It was only a matter of time before a clever publisher realized that there is an audience for whom Exile on Main Street or Electric Ladyland are as significant and worthy of study as The Catcher in the Rye or Middlemarch … The series is freewheeling and eclectic, ranging from minute rock-geek analysis to idiosyncratic personal celebration’
-The New York Times Book Review

Albums covered in the series since its inception in 2003 include: Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited; James Brown Live at the Apollo; Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane over the Sea; Dusty in Memphis; A Tribe Called Quest’s People’s Instinctive Travels…; Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality and, to the surprise of some, Celine Dion’s Let’s Talk About Love.

Now the series turns its attention to Facing Future by Israel ‘Iz’ Kamakawiwo‘ole. The book is written by Dan Kois, film critic for the Washington Post and writer for New York magazine. It tells the story of Iz’s life, career and impact, focusing on the album that originally featured his beloved breakthrough medley Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World and which continues to be discovered by new audiences several years after its release.

Facing Future will be available in the new year.

Via Feel Presents:

It is with regret that we announce the cancellation of all Ed Kuepper performances in November. Ed has recently suffered injuries to both hands resulting in his not being able to play guitar. Rather than suffer any long term damage, Ed has decided to cancel any shows for the moment. Refunds for all shows are available at the point of purchase.

We wish Ed a speedy recovery.

Originating in the UK in 2005 as an offshoot of the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival, the Don’t Look Back concert series presents selected artists’ classic albums performed in their entirety. Artists who have played Don’t Look Back shows include Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation), Public Enemy (It Takes a Nation of Millions…), The Stooges (Fun House), John Martyn (Solid Air) and Ennio Morricone.

Now Sydney Festival in association with ATP and Feel have announced a live double header featuring Dirty Three, who will reprise last year’s Mt Buller ATP show by performing their Ocean Songs album, and Laughing Clowns, who will play History of Rock ‘n’ Roll Volume 1.

The show is scheduled for the 26th of January 2010 at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown, Sydney.

More details from the Sydney Festival website.

This Thursday night at 11.30pm, ABC1 in Australia will broadcast a live set by Laughing Clowns, recorded at the Basement in Sydney in May 2009.

The band has hinted that they may announce some more live dates soon, so watch this space…

Ed Kuepper has announced that he will take his current group Ed Kuepper & The Kowalski Collective out on the road this November. The shows round off a busy year for Ed which has seen him play with the reformed Saints at the ATP festivals, get his post-Saints group Laughing Clowns back together to triumphant effect, join Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for a string of acclaimed European festival appearances and also release live material on his own reactivated Prince Melon imprint.

Ed’s latest venture, The Kowalski Collective (most recent release: Jean Lee & The Yellow Dog), is currently a four-piece and features Jeffrey Wegener on drums, Peter Oxley on bass and Alister Spence on keyboards. The upcoming shows include dates in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before an appearance at the Queenscliff Music Festival. Tickets for all shows go on sale on the 24th of August.

Full gig listing:

25 Nov 09 - Notes, Sydney
26 Nov 09 - The Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne
27 Nov 09 - The Palais, Hepburn Springs
28 Nov 09 - The Gov, Adelaide
29 Nov 09 - Queenscliff Music Festival, Victoria

Update: unfortunately these shows are now cancelled; see here for more details.

Reading some of the press coverage around the release of the new a-ha album Foot of the Mountain, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the group were just the latest in the lengthening roster of 80s has-beens jumping on the bandwagon by reforming and hoping to milk the nostalgia market. In fact, although their profile has not always been high internationally, they have been working as a unit continually since their 1985 debut hit single Take on Me (Foot of the Mountain is their ninth album), apart from a seven-year hiatus when they worked on solo projects.

The first of these solo projects was singer Morten Harket’s Poetenes Evangelium, an album of songs based on poetry from Harket’s native Norway, set to music by Øivind Varkøy and released on the independent label KKV. Poetenes Evangelium is a record informed by spiritual faith - Harket studied theology and reportedly considered entering the priesthood before pop stardom beckoned. More info here.

a-ha tour northern Europe this autumn:

27 Oct 09 - Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
28 Oct 09 - O2 World, Berlin, Germany
30 Oct 09 - Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
31 Oct 09 - Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
2 Nov 09 - The NIA, Birmingham, UK
3 Nov 09 - MEN Arena, Manchester, UK
4 Nov 09 - O2 Arena, London, UK
6 Nov 09 - Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
7 Nov 09 - Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
20 Nov 09 - Ice Palace, St Petersburg, Russia
22 Nov 09 - Olimpiysky Arena, Moscow, Russia

Exciting news for fans of Battlestar Galactica and Bear McCreary’s superb music for the series. Copies of the Battlestar Galactica: Season Four double-CD set have landed in the UK and are now available to order from us.

Don’t forget that you can get the soundtrack CDs from all the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series from us: the Mini-series, Seasons One, Two, Three and Four, plus the spin-off prequel Caprica

Bear McCreary presents The Music of Battlestar Galactica live at the House of Blues in San Diego this Thursday - Saturday, July 23, 24, and 25.

Read all about it on Bear McCreary’s blog:

Each night of our shows will be a little different, but the Thursday night performance will be extra special. Not only is it the first place on Earth to get autographed Season 4 CDs, but you’ll hear world-premiere performances of new Galactica music from “The Plan” before anyone else.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - with guest guitarist Ed Kuepper - have been confirmed for some more shows this summer, including a second-to-headline slot on the main stage at Glastonbury.

Here’s the latest rundown:

12 June - Norwegian Wood, Oslo, Norway
13 June - Where The Action Is, Stockholm, Sweden
14 June - Provinssirock Festival, Seinäjoki, Finland
19 June - Southside Festival, Germany
20 June - Hurricane Festival, Germany
21 June - Junge Garde, Dresden, Germany
27 June - Open Air St. Gallen, Switzerland
28 June - Glastonbury Festival, England
3 July - Roskilde Festival, Denmark
4 July - Werchter Festival, Belgium
9 July - Traffic Festival, Turin, Italy
10 July - T in the Park, Scotland
11 July - Oxegen Festival, Ireland
16 July - B1 Concert Hall, Moscow, Russia
17 July - Stereoleto Music Festival, St Petersburg, Russia
19 July - Latitude Festival, England
29 July - Presidentsland Music festival, Brisbane, Australia