Stuff to do tonight
If you’re in Newcastle, go and headbang to Mastodon at the O2 Academy or swoon to the rarefied indie-rock of Merchandise at The Cluny.
If you’re in Glasgow, sign up for an emotional mauling from Sharon Van Etten at The Art School.
If you’re in London, take it back to the old school with Joey Bada$$ at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire or get drunk and slovenly with Mac DeMarco at The Forum.
If you’re in Bristol, get orchestral with John Grant and the Northern Sinfonia at the Colston Hall.
And if you’re in Manchester, see if you can spot superfan Daniel Sturridge in the crowd at Banks’ Ritz show.
At the cinema: Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Tommy Lee Jones’ The Homesman, Jemaine ‘Conchords’ Clement’s What We Do In The Shadows and James Brown biopic Get On Up.
On telly: Champions League, Masterchef, Psychobitches and Penelope Keith.
I’ll leave you with Mogwai’s trepanning-tastic video for Teenage Exorcists. Night!
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Video verification zone
Parks & Rec’s Nick Offerman is becoming an indie video regular. Here he is pretending to be German while fronting the new video from Portland twee team Decemberists. Coincidentally, it’s the first song of theirs I’ve vaguely enjoyed.
Oh look, another indie video featuring a TV comedy actor… but that’s cos Zooey Deschanel is in the band.
This next video really doesn’t suit the song. I assumed from the retro fluorescent styling that Petite Noir was going to be some kind of ironic hipster rapper a la Spank Rock, but instead he turns out to be a compellingly bereft bedroom crooner in the vein of Majical Cloudz. Really good, this.
Rae Morris is getting the big push at the moment – expect to see her box-ticking sub-Florence schtick clogging up all the Sound Of 2015 lists – but she’s not doing anything for me, however much she waggles her arms about imploringly.
Whereas the equally tipped Juce have got a bit more about them; it’s hard to imagine Rae Morris agreeing to cavort around in a pet shop. No snakes were harmed, I hope.
Franco-Rogen wrestling
James Franco and Seth Rogen continue their bromance in this new trailer for The Interview, out here in Feb. On this evidence, it doesn’t look like their finest work – and didn’t Team America do all the North Korea jokes a decade ago? – although the Stalin/Stallone gag still raised a chuckle.
Have a featurette while you’re at it.
Christmas stuffing
The BBC has unveiled its festive telly lineup. I’m gonna say it’s an improvement on recent years, based largely on:
The House Of Fools Christmas Special (“Vic and Beef can’t wait to start the party, but Bob’s celebrations are cut short when a special present is unexpectedly engulfed in flames”)
Bobby Ball returning as Lee’s dad in Not Going Out.
Charlie Higson’s adaptation of The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, starring Harry Hill, Vicki Pepperdine and David Mitchell.
The Top Gear twats getting chased out of Argentina.
There’s a Rik Mayall tribute show helmed by Simon Callow, and Al Murray hosts a season of classic British spy films. Of course all the usual suspects are there too: Mrs Brown, John Bishop, Doctor Who, Gareth Malone, Miranda, Call The Midwife, Citizen Khan etc etc. Plus a weird Brucie vehicle: “Sir Bruce Forsyth will also present Bruce’s Hall Of Fame, in which he takes to the stage alongside Jessie Wallace, Jamie Cullum, Jason Manford, Ben Miller, Alfie Boe and Jon Culshaw at the world-famous London Palladium, to celebrate the artists who inspired their careers.”
Peruse the whole lineup here and then let us know who you think is missing.
Don't put the gas away yet
On the day Utopia won an International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series, creator Dennis Kelly revealed to the Independent that Channel 4 turned down a Utopia special when cancelling the series.
I think we all knew it was coming. The people who liked it really liked it, but the ratings were just bad. I don’t know why. I think going out in the summer didn’t help. It’s gutting not being able to finish the story. We did want to do a special. We said to [Channel 4], ‘I could finish it off with a two-hour special,’ but they weren’t going for it. I understand, though. It was a risky show to do.
A crying shame, since we all wanted to see how Wilson’s power-trip pans out and if Arby manages to stick to his cous cous diet. Maybe they’ll come back to it, Arrested Development style, when years of geek-referencing reaches a critical mass? Or maybe David Fincher will tackle the post-Milner years in his HBO remake?
Anyway, here’s Kelly’s acceptance speech, in which he elicits a few gasps from the assembled by referring to Utopia as a “dirty, nasty, dark little twisted bastard of a programme”.
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Do it like a doodle
Australian not-for-profit radio station FBi is currently raising funds by auctioning off a bunch of canvases doodled on by various indie luminaries as they’ve passed through the station. Some are pretty rubbish – yes, we’re looking at you Mount Kimbie – but the likes of Banks and Iceage turn out to be handy with a pencil. See the full collection and start bidding here.
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More rappers talking sense
Throughout the whole sorry Ferguson shooting debacle, one of the most inspiring voices has been Killer Mike of Run The Jewels. Following last night’s Grand Jury decision not to indict Michael Brown’s killer, he made this emotional speech on stage St Louis.
That’s some way to start a show.
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Protect Ya (Turkey) Neck
Have to confess I never got a big ‘Meat Is Murder’ vibe from the Bobby Digital albums, but it turns out that RZA is a committed vegan. We know this because the Wu-Tang schemer has just made a video message for PETA, urging us to cut out meat for “a better tomorrow”. The ultra-cynical among you will note that he’s managed to sneak the title of his new album – out next week! – into the missive, but otherwise the man speaks truth.
Turns out RZA’s not the first rapper to rep for PETA. Here’s a super-cute video of Waka Flocka Flame urging us not to mistreat dogs.
Man in the Mirror
New photos have emerged of the Black Mirror Christmas special, airing on Channel 4 on Tuesday Dec 16. The 90-minute show, sure to be stuffed to the gills with seasonal cheer, comprises three different story strands, all of which will feature Jon Hamm AKA mendacious ad-man Don Draper. Also starring: Rafe Spall, who was brilliant as a fey psycho gang enforcer in The Shadow Line, and Oona Chaplin, whose Game Of Thrones run was cut brutally short at the red wedding.
In a mysterious and remote snowy outpost, Matt (Jon Hamm) and Potter (Rafe Spall), share a Christmas meal together and swap creepy tales of their earlier lives in the outside world. Matt is a charismatic American trying to bring the reserved, secretive Potter out of his shell. Are both men who they appear to be? Along the way we see Jon Hamm offering an unusual form of romantic guidance to an inexperienced young man, watch Oona Chaplin thrust headlong into a nightmarish world of ‘smart’ gadgetry, and explore what might happen if you could ‘block’ people in real life, just as you can on Facebook or Twitter. All three stories are bound together into a suitably unsettling whole. Fans of eerie Christmas stories are in for a treat…
That’s what the press release says anyway, you know Charlie Brooker’s script will be sharper than that.
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Breach of the Peace
Mornin’. All the indie excitement last week surrounded Ride’s reunion to play Primavera, Field Day etc. But whither the modern-day Ride? Well, they’re right here folks. Peace have both the fringes and the louche tunes, and their forthcoming second LP (due Feb) ought to see them consolidate their position as the intelligent lad band of choice. Here’s a taster.
