I Want To Find You And Tear Out Of All Your Tenderness

So, a few links and what-not from the last week:

My friend and occasional partner-in-crime (more on which in the next few days...) Rowan Woods has a fantastic interview with Florence Welch (of ...and the Machine fame) up at Dummy Magazine. If you like top-flight music journalism, you should check it out. Right now.

Among a handful of my pieces that went up last week on The Playlist was my review of Inglourious Basterds, which opened over the weekend. As a counterpoint to my rather negative viewpoint (and as a little nod to the commenters there...), I wanted to point you towards an excellent piece by Karina Longworth, one of the best critics out there, who having panned it in Cannes, saw it for a second time and had a completely different view. I disagree with some of what she says, but it's a brilliant bit of writing, and it's inspired me to check it out for a second time.

Finally, Pitchfork last week debuted its Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s. Like any list of its sort, you won't agree with all of it, (although there's something to be said for a list that large in terms of covering all possible bases...), but any list which has two James Murphy songs in the top 20 gets my vote. I'm a compulsive list-maker, so my own Top 100 may surface in the near future...

I'll Do Anything To Be Happy

It's New Release Monday again, and the big album of the week, as plugged fairly heavily last week, is Arctic Monkey's Humbug. And on first listen? It's pretty strong. It's a huge step forward, certainly - the kitchen sink lyrics are mostly gone (although Alex Turner gets a big gold star for the reference to Des'ree's ghost/toast rhyme on Cornerstone...), with a more drug-fuelled, psychedelic vibe replacing it. I'm going to let it stew for a bit, and may come back to it, but it's certainly highly recommended. 

Single wise, the pick of the week is Noah and the Whale's Blue Skies, out today on download, and a very limited 7' at Pure Groove records (where the band are playing an in-store tonight), from the band's second album The First Days Of Spring - the release of which next week will be accompanied by a film directed by the band's frontman Charlie Fink. 

The first Noah and the Whale Album was a little disappointing, but the follow up sees them meeting their potential, with a broader sound, and stronger vocals from Fink. Blue Skies adds a slightly Arcade Fire-ish choir and a lovely piano riff to the indie-folk mix, and the single's backed up by a couple of top remixes; one by ace New York band YACHT, the other (and superior version) by Brazil's ever-reliable The Twelves, which dumps everything except the vocals, and it turns the song into into a Chic-ified disco floor-filler. Download's below, and both the single, the album and the film all come highly recommended. 

Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies (The Twelves Remix)

I Could Eat You Up I Love You So

The New Yorker has an extract from 'The Wild Things', Dave Eggers' sort-of-novelization of 'Where The Wild Things Are', as well as an excellent interview with the writer. Eggers wrote the script for the upcoming film version (which, quite frankly, is the best script I've ever read, and from the looks of the trailers, the finished product could be even better), and 'The Wild Things' is a sort of expansion of that, and Maurice Sendak's original source material. The book should be published in October, around the same time as the US release of the film (we have to wait til December to see it in the UK), and the brilliant dust jacket can be seen above.

Don't Worry. Everything Is Going To Be Amazing.

Bit of a change of pace today. Olly Moss is a sickeningly young and brilliant graphic designer, who's been making waves since his 'Spoilt' t-shirt design swept the Internet. Amongst the many highlights on his site are the Video Game Classics series, as seen below, which reimagine games as Penguin Marber Grid book covers, and the Saul Bass-influenced Black and Red film posters, like the Die Hard one above.
Go and have a browse on his site, and on his Flickr page, and hire him to design something for you...

It's Been Done Before. C'Mon, Do It Again!

This being new release Monday and all, I wanted to give a little heads up to Neon Gold Records. They've got some of the best ears in the business, having already released singles by Passion Pit, Marina & The Diamonds, Yes Giantess and Wolf Gang, and are pretty much defining what the cool kids listen to in 2009. 

Their latest release is out today - Learnalilgivinanlovin' by excellent Australian singer/songwriter Gotye. The original version's a timeless Northern Soul stomper, and it's backed up with a Passion Pit remix that's equally good. If you head down to the label's blog, you can download both, or you can pick up the shiny 7 inch at Pure Groove Records from today. 

You Occupied The Bench Like Toothache

Hi. So, this is Show and Tell. Interesting/exciting things, normally film/music/TV /theatre/book/design related, for your viewing pleasure. When I'm not posting here, you can find me contributing at The Playlist. 

To kick off, today sees the release of 'Crying Lightning', the first single off the new Arctic Monkeys album, 'Humbug'. The 7 inch is available exclusively through Oxfam, and it's well worth getting a copy. The A-side, as I'm sure you've heard, marks a departure for the band, slinking and stalking through the most menacing 4 minutes the band have ever produced. The B-side, meanwhile, is a surprisingly pacy cover of Nick Cave's Red Right Hand, the live version of which can be downloaded above. 

The album's out next Monday, and I can barely wait...