Mr Ben Folds writes and sings and records some brand new songs which are right here for your enjoyment.

Thr333 songs (three, 3, trois, tres, tre, drei, etc.) from Mr Ben's latest 'n' grrrrreatest long-playa, Way to Normal. There's un petit peu de confusion as to the exact nature of the songs that have so far leaked, the good folk of wikipedia speculating that some of the songs ain't real. The only one I can vouch for as being the genuine article is this one:

mp3: Ben Folds - Hiroshima

He played this 'un @ Glastonbury, and it was instantly happy-making. It's so darned catchy you start to wonder whether it's a cover of a nursery rhyme or something. The crowd noises in the background may be off-putting at first, and they may still be off-putting after several listens, I don't know, but it's an undeniably fun and instantly memorable ditty on a subject not oft written about (falling off the stage at your own show, bleeding over the keyboard, and getting an x-ray of your head). So, y'know, yay.

mp3: Ben Folds - Cologne

Ooh, a six-minute ballad. Who knows if it's 'the real thing', but I figure it is (my high level interweb scouting has unearthed facts and figures suggesting that this song at least shares the same lyrics with a song Ben recorded a video for recentement). It's kinda really good, in all seriousness. I love the lyric: "I'm wondering if you read that story too / And if we might be having the same imaginary conversation." Affecting stuff, even if it goes a bit bombastic @ the end. Muito recommendado.

mp3: Ben Folds feat. Regina Spektor - You Don't Know Me

The single apparently. I love love Regina Spektor, but I can't quite bring myself to fall for this track just yet. Has an interesting vaguely funky beat, but not quiiiite instant enough for the first single? Maybe? I dunno, that's just, like, *my opinion*, man (talking of The Big Lebowski - have you seen this? I *need* it...). What I do really like is the spoken-word-y conversation-y bits, where Ben says something about not wanting to say something for fear of it being distorted, and then Regina says "say it". And actually, as I listen to it for a four-and-a-half-th time, I kinda am starting to really like it. So, y'know, yay. In other news, it pretty much definitely is gen-u-ine; if there are two people who can imitate Folds and Spektor and someone managed to get them in a room together a sing a song that matches the title of the forthcoming single by those two artists, then I salute them.


In other other news, I saw Ben Folds at Glastonbury. Yay for me. Oh wait, I said that already :(
Well, he was good, on average. It was a show of three thirds. The first part was kinda disappointing actually, then he brought on Amanda Palmer off of Dresden Dolls, which was nice, and then he killed it in the third part by playing 'Landed', 'Army', and best of all, 'Bitches Ain't Shit'. Woop woop.

Catch up on yo' Folds-age with some compact discs from tha amazon.

Glastonbury Part II - Kings of Leon - New Song 'Manhattan'

Kings of Leon have three - soon to be four (September 23 I believe for Only By The Night) - really solid albums, and they've managed to change and develop as a band without either going off the rails or making their earlier material seem comparatively weak. If you look back at pictures of 'Youth and Young Manhood'-era Kings of Leon, they're almost unrecognisable:


Compare that to the shorn and honed version of today - pretty far cry, no?


'Honed' definitely seems like the right word. They've turned into a 'proper' rock band, the tunes have got bigger, and the live show as tight as hell. Like the jeans. They played 23 songs in their 90 minutes, opening with a new one ('Crawl'). Sure the set was no-frills; I accidentally mistyped that first time around as "no-thrills", but I don't think that was a meaningful slip, coz personally I found it pretty thrilling, as did 70,000 or however many there were (a lot by all estimates, hence Panic at the Disco's lack of audience over on the Other Stage in the same slot). There just wasn't a bad song in the whole time. I kinda wish they'd play 'Soft', but whatever dude.

I dunno, kinda feels like I'm acting the apologist, because as much as I love them, they still don't quite feel like a headline band at Glastonbury. They have the songs, it's just the sense of theatricality that they're a little light on, and in all probability always will be. But the fact that the crowd seemed to love it kinda suggests that despite this, they don't need any apologising.

Aaaaaaaaanyways - new song, y'all! The new album is definitely something to be excited about. This is what Rolling Stone has to say about Only By The Night:
The first indication this record is ready to kick some ass? It’s got a track called “Sex on Fire” that features kinky lyrics like “I know they’re watching” over twangy bent-note guitars and a thrumming bass groove. That’s just one of the 12 hotwired but extremely loose tracks that range from brawny Zep-style rockers (”Crawl”) to spooked-out blues ballads like “Cold Desert,” on which frontman Caleb howls “Jesus don’t love me/ No one ever carried my load.” The tentatively titled “I’ve Got a Notion” sounds like pure Nineties alt-rock with liquidy guitars reminiscent of Kurt Cobain’s riff from “Come as You Are” and a crystal-clear bassline that’s pure Pixies. Drummer Nathan goes to town on “Seventeen,” a song that dates back to their Aha Shake Heartbreak days and boasts a bunch of massive fills, but one of the better cuts has to be “You Somebody,” a soaring power ballad that strangely enough sounds like a badass version of Journey’s “Faithfully.”

I'm in. Here's Manhattan, live at Glastonbury:

mp3: Kings of Leon - Manhattan

Glastonbury Part I - Jay-Z

OK, no posts for aaaaaaaaaages, sorry. But that's gonna change, nah mean? Well yes, of course you "nah mean", it's really rather obvious that I mean that there shall be several posts in the next few days. Well, here's the first:





I <3 that video. Seriously, the first ten minutes of Jay-Z's set on Saturday night were off the hook. Right from the beginning there was no question that the crowd were totally enthralled. For the record, I'd always thought it was rather funny - and unquestionably A Good Thing - that the choice of Jay-Z as a headliner could annoy sGlasono many people. But seeing as it's been such a talking point, there's really not much point going over it again, it's everywhere on the internets. All that remains is to let you sample the set itself in mp3 form. Woop woop:

mp3: Jay-Z - Wonderwall/99 Problems (Live at Glastonbury 2008)