Pavement Re-union Update

With eight sleeps till the release of the band-compiled Quarantine The Past LP, you'll forgive us for going a bit Pavement centric this week.

Tidbits of news are now slowly creeping onto the wonder web, not least from the group themselves.

Spiral Stairs has posted a nice note about the rehearsals on the Matador site which you can read here

I've just re-discovered this weird clip from V97 i think i was there but at the Leeds site, and Pavement played for about half an hour before mumbling something about the sound and walking off...think they split up a few months later...but yeah, its worth it for the awkward Damon Albarn, S.M. chat with a ridiculously coiffured presenter, fucking hippy.

Anyway, enjoy x

Nick Kent Rough Trade Instore March 3rd

Yes, we thought he was dead too...but no, far from it. Rock journalism's creeping Jesus Mr Nick Kent has a new book to promote. Apathy for the Devil is in it's own words 'an eyewitness account of the dangerous excesses of the 1970s rock scene' so expect plenty of drugs, tantrums, semi-nakedness and well, some pretty good music by all accounts.

Kent has long had a reputation as the demi-god of rock scribes, one of few who've actually made it past the maxim that all music journalists are frustrated rock stars and actually lived like one himself, often outdoing his subjects in the debauchery stakes.

Kent will be reading from his book from 7pm on Wednesday...should be a blast!

Five-A-Day

ENJOY!

The Soft Moon - When Its Over

A group somewhat at odds with the rock and roll fairy tale town they call home, San Francisco's The Soft Moon are to release their debut 7" 'Breathe the Fire' next week on Tally Ho's favourite uber-label Captured Tracks. The single is a gem and will surely excite fans of Blank Dogs, New Order and moody 80's synth work outs.

Eager to learn more, after checking out their Myspace we found something beautiful...

'When It's Over' floats along on electric currents, starting up like the Interpol we used to all know and love, as ghostly voices punctuate smoke-machine synths and an uncertain guitar stutter. Then just after the three minute mark when you think you've got it sussed, a piercing sonic boom crashes in that sounds like it should soundtrack the final moments of Danny Boyle's movie 'Sunshine', when the burning light of the dying sun consumes the sole survivor in glorious technicolour. The effect of this invasion of sound is all at once invigorating, unsettling and strikingly beautiful...try it with headphones.

http://www.myspace.com/thesoftmoon

Roky Erickson New Album

After hearing that psych godfather Roky Erickson is to release his first album 'True Love Cast Out All Evil' for fourteen years on April 20th, we've been on a bit of a YouTube pilgrimage to the troubled Texan.

Take a look at some of these interesting interviews spanning one of rock's most turbulent careers.

The Tapes of Wrath

There is a great article over on Pitchfork about the rise and fall and rise again of the humble cassette tape. You can check it out here

Strange co-incidence or no, Tally Ho! will soon be unleashing our own cassette compilation on the world.

Featuring promising new UK bands Treasure, Grasshouse and The Nicholas Cage as well as a shed load of US talent from both coasts including the likes of The Fresh & Only's, Frat Dad and Wounded Lion, this particular cassette has got us all giddy with excitement as we come closer to its inevitable release.

It shall go by the name Heavy Medicine and it shall be FREE!

So watch this space for more news over the next two weeks...

Band of Horses & DeerHunter London Shows Announced

That's right, Wonder Rock powerhouse Band of Horses have announced they'll be paying a visit to Koko on 12th April 2010.
Tickets are £15 (IMHO they should pay you to go to Koko, the sound is SHIT) and they're available this friday 26th February 2010.

















If that wasn't enough to have you all excited, Atlantan dream poppers Deerhunter have also announced a return to London this May! They join Yeasayer and the growing number of alt bands booking gigs at Heaven, where they'll play on 6th May 2010. Tickets are available here now

Laura Marling

It's not often Tally Ho towers sways gently in the wind to the sounds of a folk chanteuse. Indeed, we're usually found with our heads in the speakers as some west coast, wave-punching 60's heads smash the shit out of their instruments.

But Laura Marling's latest LP 'I Speak Because I Can' has inspired much introspective contemplation within these four walls.

Its only her second full length but it's as pretty as it is assured and defiant. Coasting between the ocean conquering pomp of first single 'Devil's Spoke', with its galloping instrumentation, reminiscent of Rum, Sodomy & The Lash era Pogues; to the rueful yet optimistic vibe of 'Goodbye England (covered in snow) the record is a true gem.

Check out the video for Devil's Spoke below...

Hiatt Zhao - Photography

Back when i was just a malchick in awe of the world, i took time out after further education, to travel across the United States on greyhound buses, a truly scary but oft beautiful experience.

Along the way myself and my travelling companion, (the Sancho to my Don Quixote) Andy, encountered lots of characters. Some threatened our lives, some enriched them.

Well one such lovely dude was the young rascal Hiatt Zhao who is hands down the most polite, most chilled and talented person i recall ever having met.

The details are hazy and unimportant but we shared some cool times in Austin, Texas and i remember Hiatt buzzing when we went to see The Good, The Bad and The Ugly at the local picture house there, all the audience hooting and hollering and booing like real cowboy miscreants as the intro credits rolled.

Hiatt took a lot of photos back then and he has now blossomed into a really interesting photographer. His website www.hiattzhao.com is really cool.

Featuring almost psychedelic, hypnotic images of modern architecture, his close up take on what from a distance are probably standard big city office block fare, gives his subjects a new element of artistry that can be lost in their familiarity.

Not that i know a thing about photography, but they sure are pretty and i think you should check them out!

Martin Amis: Father like Son

Martin Amis has been up to his usual tricks by talking to anyone who will listen. The move always coincides with the release of one of his books, and must undoubtedly keep his publishers happy. They might as well send the marketing team home.

This month, it appears the shameless Amis-PR-machine has worked overtime. Anybody with eyes will have seen the countless interviews he has given to the national, and even regional, press. These are often followed up, the next day, with 'exclusive' revelations from an old flame claiming to be the skinny one in his latest book - The Pregnant Widow.

Here at Tally Ho Towers we have picked our favourite Amis-mumbling. It came this week in comments made to the Guardian, in which Amis Jr announced he is his father. You can read into that what you will - but the crazy motherfucker went to town on this one.

'Relax: I'm already Kingsley,' Amis Jr claimed. 'In truth, this is easily the most unusual thing about me. I am the only hereditary novelist in the anglophone literary corpus.' Yawn. He also went on to claim he is the Prince Charles of English letters. But then he could have just been drunk, he is his father after all!