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He certainly seemed hyped and, despite the loose thread running through his speech, he came across as genuinely affectionate, particularly for Chicago. Nice cheesecake too

There was a guy who gave a speech of thanks just before, and as an introduction to, the final act, The Fiery Furnaces. He also drew parallels between London and Chicago in his speech that most in attendence, including the band, found funny, particularly when he used that comparison to shoe-horn in the band's introduction ("both cities have wrecked by massive fires, creating furious heat and energy..... and out of the ashes comes another furnace, the almighty FIERY FURNACES!!!"). I'm not sure that was Tim Tuten but, given the length of the intro, it sounds like it might have been. If you've

I went to the first night - with the better line-up of the two - of the London 15th Anniversary shows. And as a teasey taster here is a review of what I saw and heard. You guys should have a blast, it was brilliantly diverse event, plus you get a whole host of acts that we didn't in London.

Arbouretum - Signposts and Instruments Caribou - Mix Suburban Knight - Shape Shifter Spiritualized - Feel Like Goin' Home Bola - Aguilla

So far, my good: 1.

I went to see them a couple of weeks back in London. There was no Dan or Neko, but Kathryn Calder did an ace job of filling in Neko's part (please overlook any rude connotations in the last part of that sentence). She's got a really good voice and also brings the added bonus of lowering the average NP's age by a good 5 years . Her band, Immaculate Machine, is pretty good too and their latest album, Fables, is a treat: very New Pornographers. Still in the absence of Bejar they did at least play a few of his tunes (Myriad Harbour, etc) for their intro and outro music. It sounds as though y

Tried this a few years on a budget set-up. We tried a lager type brew (that's like a paler type of ale) and it turned out okay if a little on the flat side, but we managed to induce a bit of fizz using some carbonated pellets or some such. I know you can get fancier type devices that give your brews a real soda stream type pep, but that was way beyond my means at the time. The best part about the whole homebrew process is, obviously, the tasting. Because you don't have, or rather we didn't have, any way of measuring the alcoholic content we just had to sit there and drink glass by glass dec

Indie rock has never meant anything to me. I don't know what it means. I don't like it. I don't use it. So in that sense I guess it's a bit like crack in my school playground. All I know is that it forms part of rubbish lyric in an equally rubbish song by the Killers (New Order on downers). The same applies for the following words/phrases: "new wave", "post-rock" and "angular". Journalists? Get yourselves some new reference points.

NP: Still the Radiohead. Is In Rainbows now considered pass

NP: The Radiohead

Or that the latter day Beatles did: Richard Manuel sings Helter Skelter

"Is it a bird? Is it a bloke? I don't know, Sorry I spoke."

We are finally getting this here in the UK, starting with a preview tonight. I'm looking forward to it. Have any of you guys seen Eagle vs Shark? The guy from Conchords with the glasses stars in it (he's Eagle) and it's very funny, particularly him as a character who's kinda similar to Napoleon Dynamite in that he's a geek with a very high opinon of himself, only distinctly more unlovable, with almost no redeeming qualities.

Some good gear dat!

I quite like it. It does fall into the trap of being a bit formulaic - ie plenty of songs including lyrics that start with 'When I', 'If I', etc, with a few tropical/spanish moments chucked in for good measure. As with Cripple Crow a lot of the songs do sound similar to one another, but the fact that it is all a bit knockabout and not too serious means you can have a listen and actually enjoy it. A lot of it reminds of those Mighty Boosh songs that Howard and Vince make up between themselves, only in a studio and sounding a lot more expensive.

The whole of Caribou's Andorra was also being streamed on his myspace too. Don't know whether it still is though. Worth a cheeky free listen for the uninitiated at least. NP:

Have just published the review of Wales' annual Green Man festival. If you care for a read to see how Stephen Malkmus, Robert Plant, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Bill Callahan, Dead Meadow, Vetiver, Richmod Fontaine and more went down then click here: Green Man 2007 It was a real blast, so much so that it saw a marginal thawing of the ice in my admiration of Miss Newsom. She's still a long way to go though.

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And also Birmingham Carling Academy on Nov 4th. Which is a great little venue, caught the Flaming Lips there last year and you can get really close to the band. http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user?query=sear...mp;search=wilco

Possibly just behind Patrick Wolf too, but on a par with Arcade Fire.

A review of the complete festival has now been written, check it out here: Latitude Festival review It comes complete with pictures and, as well as Wilco, there's coverage of Arcade Fire, The National, The Hold Steady, Andrew Bird, CSS, Magic Numbers, Patrick Wolf, Gruff Rhys, Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Midlake, Bat For Lashes and many more. Enjoy.