I Am Kloot’s tour and a Mercury many years too late

It’s always refreshing to see, in between the polished shapes of the puzzle that is the music industry, some pieces that quite don’t fit. I Am Kloot is one of those weird-shaped pieces. Too old for teen rebellion, too rebellious for settled life, too settled to be hype, and yet nominated Band of The Year in the Mercury Prize. The crowd of old timers hardcore followers, and they are not a few, received the news with cynicism. For them, after 10 years and 5 albums, I Am Kloot is well above the Mercury.

They might not be “big”, but I Am Kloot have forged a successful and sustainable career at a cult level. Singer/guitarist John Bramwell has been compared to Morrissey and for many critics, fans and musicians, notably Peter Doherty and Elbow’s Guy Garvey between them, he is one of the country’s greatest songwriters. But the band remains relatively unknown thanks to Kloot’s succession of disasters that saw they go though seven managers and five record labels in one decade, leaving a trail of unreleased singles and undersold albums.

The Mercury Prize nomination, together with the fact that Sky at Night, their fifth album, is their most accessible to date, will take the band to a new larger audience. There is no compromising, however. I Am Kloot’s rich musical palette is still pretty much there and their personalities remain with the same explosive components. If Bramwell and co ever get to the mainstream, it will be in their own terms.

I Am Kloot’s UK tour dates: Portsmouth, (Sep 26), Brighton (27 Sep), Bristol (28 Sep), London (29 Sep), Newcastle (Oct 01), Glasgow (Oct 02), Liverpool (Oct 03), Nottingham (Oct 05), Sheffield (Oct 06). The winner of the 2010 Barclaycard Mercury Prize will be announced on September 07.

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Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan return for one-off London gig

What was regarded as an unlikely partnership, back in 2006, has now proven to be a heavenly marriage. Scot Isobel Campbell, the ex Belle & Sebastian chamber pop muse, and Mark Lanegan, former lead singer of the grunge band Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator, are releasing this summer their third and most anticipated work to date, Hawk, also featuring  the young singer-songwriter Willy Mason and Smashing Pumpkins’ guitarist James Iha.

As in their previous releases, the 2006 Ballad Of The Broken Seas, nominated for the Mercury prize, and the 2008 Sunday At Devil Dirt, Hawk brings the alternative country style that has become a familiar sound in the indie folk/rock scene in the past years. The duo has been called the Beauty and the Beast, and its odd charm compared to celebrated female/male collaborations such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin and Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.

In this case, however, the Beauty is in charge. Campbell produces and writes the songs, and alongside her ethereal voice is Lanegan’s deep vocal, adding more weight to the tales of loss and echoing an American nostalgia. Even though worlds apart, from Glasgow to Los Angeles and back, their duets aim to reach a timeless place, where darkness sits comfortably with light.

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan plus special guest Willy Mason are playing at The Barbican on September 10.

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Clear sky for Jonsi's UK dates

When Sigur Ros, one of the leading bands of  Post Rock phenomena and famous for putting Iceland in the cultural map alongside Björk, announced their indefinite hiatus, it wasn’t exactly a revelation. Although a great frustration for fans, cold reviews of their 2008 album, Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust, suggested that perhaps time has come for those side projects to flourish in order to keep ideas flowing. The group’s combination of apocalyptic and ethereal music and the monumentality of their live performances became somehow overused in a number of nature TV documentaries like those involving the ashes of a certain volcano.

Released this year, Go is Sigur Ros’ frontman Jonsi Birgisson first solo work and the second post-hiatus – a collaboration with artist Alex Somers resulted in the album Riceboy Sleeps. Initially conceived as an intimate acoustic project, Go carried on from where the group left and simply “exploded”, in Jonsi’s own terms. In a natural evolution of their epic and plush productions, Jonsi has created a work that balances elements of accessible pop with the familiar theatricality and a certain amount of chaos that were Sigur Ros’ trademark, to the delight of the group’s followers.

Jonsi plays the following UK gigs: Manchester (Sep 06), Leeds (Sep 08), Birmingham (Sep 09), Bestival (Sep 11), Bournemouth (Sep 13), Brighton (Sep 14).

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Bring Me The Horizon new tour dates and same old manners

Once an underground phenomenon, in recent years metalcore bands have emerged as a commercial force and received mainstream attention in prominent festivals such as Ozzfest, Warped Tour and Download. Interestingly, in a traditionally American niche, it is British bands that have been hailed for redefining the sound of modern metal and taking it a step further, grabbing the limelight with live performances that are a carnival of sweat and teenage angst.

Noisy guitar riffs, grunting vocals, dark lyrics, tattoos, tiny jeans, troubled minds and emo hairstyles – Bring Me The Horizon has all it takes to be part of this select and celebrated group of UK metalcore bands. Their soon to be unleashed third album, There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret, promises to consolidate the talented Sheffield band as a thrash, messy and profane group. The album might also catapult Oliver Sykes and co to worldwide domination. Just don’t expect them to say thanks; lack of manners is just another of their charms.

BMTH new album, There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret, will be released on Oct 4. They are playing the following UK gigs: Oxford (Sep 21), Norwich (Sep 22), Birmingham (Sep 23), Glasgow (Sep 24), Leeds (Sep 25), Manchester (Sep 27), Colchester (Sep 28), Brighton (Sep 29), Exeter (Sep 30), London (Oct 01). They will also support Bullet For My Valentine in their upcoming December arena tour.

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Eels world tour lands in the UK

It doesn’t come as a surprise that Eels songs were included in soundtracks as disparate as American Beauty and Shrek. Since their first single, Novocaine For The Soul, the group enjoys a cult status within the many worlds it inhabits. Mark ‘E’ Everett’s quintessentially American indie group is now touring their ninth album, Tomorrow Morning, released this month. The new work is the last of a trilogy of fall and redemption that started with Hombre Loco and was followed by End Times, released only eight months ago.

As in most of Everett’s lyrics, the trilogy speaks openly about his personal life, with stories of loneliness and loss. What might be perceived as self obsessive can also be seen as an open and honest take on the relationship between art and life. On the account of his family history, at times tragic and with tales of mental illnesses and suicide, the artist penned an autobiography, Things the Grandchildren Should Know, with excerpts read during live performances. This is the first Eels UK tour since 2007 and Tomorrow Morning brings a renewed and more cheerful Everett, who seems to be emerging from the darkness (and a failed marriage) to see things from a parallel point of view.

Eels is performing at London Brixton Academy (Sept 1) and Manchester (Sept 4).

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