For editor Mary's coverage of SXSW 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of Liverpool Sound City 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of the Great Escape 2013, go here.
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With a title like ‘I’m Shakin’, I think we can expect the Jack White video to go with it to involve some kind of dancing. Maybe not in the way you thought, but no matter. This song is full of swagger and the video has some really nice retro touches. And man, what a riff! Watch it below.
Jack White is set to tour the UK and Ireland in late October into early November. Tickets are on sale now.
Wednesday 31st October 2012 – O2 Dublin Arena
Friday 2th November 2012 – London Alexandra Palace
Sunday 4th November 2012 – Bridlington Spa Theatre and Royal Hall
Tuesday 6th November 2012 – Blackpool Empress Ballroom Arena
Wednesday 7th November 2012 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Thursday 8th November 2012 – Edinburgh Usher Hall
Outside Lands is an annual music festival every summer in San Francisco that I’ve never bothered with because the line-ups always underwhelm me. However, here are some interesting videos from over the weekend.
As a festival organiser, what do you when someone like Jack White pulls up in his van at your event and decides to take to not a normal stage but the woods to do an impromptu performance? Film it, of course. White played with an all female-ensemble and banged out ‘Broken Soldier Boy’, ‘Love Interrupted’ and ‘Hotel Yorba’. Watch them all below.
‘Freedom at 21′, Jack White‘s latest video, is a bit of a free for all. Which I guess should be expected, because didn’t we all want to run wild upon reaching that age? (For those of you who are under 21, trust me. It’s really not that great getting old.)
The song appears on White’s ‘Blunderbuss’ album that John reviewed here.
Getting laudatory across the board for his solo album ‘Blunderbuss’ released late last month (John’s review of it here), we thought it was about time we posted the video for Jack White‘s ‘Sixteen Saltines’, one of the harder rockers on the album. Watch it below. Note: we don’t condone any of the hooliganism of the video, although I think we can all agree throwing the bread on the ceiling was harmless and funny.
‘Blunderbuss’! I mean, what a name for an album; it conjures up images of old fashioned battlefields and a wall of sound thundering towards you. Now *that* is what I expect from the album then, you’ve got yourself a hard sell their Jackie boy! That said, this is Jack White, stepping out on his own for the very first time, to record his first solo record.
On first listen, it’s classic coming out music: the lyrics are all about collapsed relationships and loves lost. It begins with some classic Jack White honkytonkery. It goes on to be a bit more miserable throughout, describing his love life as a battered affair of break ups and broodiness.
Throughout the theme seems to be that Jack has given up on the more dangerous (female) of the species. For one, the track ‘Missing Pieces’. “Sometimes someone controls everything about you / and when they tell you that they just can’t live without you / they ain’t lying, they’ll take pieces of you / and they’ll stand above you, and walk away / that’s right, and take a part of you with them” – sounds like a man whose given up on love, it seems. But a man still with that fine eye for music that you just don’t find everywhere anymore.
It seems though that while the White Stripes are dead, some of the brilliance born from that fatal mismatch of character still goes on brilliantly. The guitar keys are none too familiar to anything that we’ve heard from Jack in the past and good on it, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? His of the wall almost proggy riffs are what we have come to love about the Tennessee songsmith, while his complete disregard for classic musical structure is almost his biggest charm as a musician. Throughout ‘Blunderbuss’ you’re treated to a musical tapestry, from his cover of Little Willie John’s ‘I’m Shakin’ to his simply fantastic mastery of an electric guitar throughout the record.
Frankly it’s difficult to find fault in this piece; the only criticism is something which has always been to do with Jack White. That is, his music is marmite. You either love the pale faced crooner on this album or any other of his works. Or you simply can’t stand to listen to the Southerner’s squealing guitar.
I, for one, am a massive fan and I can see ‘Blunderbuss’ for sure being the start of an exemplary solo career.
9/10
‘Blunderbuss’, Jack White’s first album as a solo artist, is out today on XL. White plays the HMV Forum in London tonight and sorry folks, it’s sold out. Below is an interview Jack White did with NPR about the new release.
There Goes The Fear is where we tell you about the latest tours, gigs, and music we love and think you should too.
We love music that has its heart on its sleeve, tells a story, swims around our head all day or makes us dance like idiots.
The blog is edited by Mary Chang, who is based in Washington DC. She is joined by writers in the UK and America. It was started up by Phil Singer in Bristol, UK.
All MP3s are posted with the permission of the artists or their representatives and are for sampling only. Like the music? Buy it. If you want a track removed, email us and we'll sort it ASAP.
