Sorry for the prolonged absense. New menu bar? Meh… Here’s some new music out and about that you must rush down to your local almost-in-administration record store and pick up for a discount price. Like two copies of Nintendo Fallacy for £2 each

The new 7″ vinyl only single from Midasuno, “Don’t Drive Faster Than Your Angel Can Fly”, is out now and available from HMV in a limited edition signed version. Someone cocked up though and it DOES NOT feature The Crimea’s very own Davey MacManus as planned. I’m assured he will be making an appearance on the soon to be released Songs In The Key Of Fuck album.

This next one is the greatest record I’ve heard in a couple years. My Disguise is a mini album released by Welsh indie band Halflight. Yes they did feature Owen Hopkin on their first release. What… you wanna hear it? Oh hear you go then: Halflight - Where The Pins Drop. Bear in mind that the new album blows it to hell. If “When We Danced” is not the greatest song I hear all year I’ve been playing far too much Ash.

Aberystwyth favourites The Hot Puppies have plenty of new stuff out, including a collection of old singles and a brand new one too. A browse around their site should tell you more than I can.

Here’s a vid of stuff by my second favourite Austrailian artist Lecia. I’m told the drummer only learnt the songs the night before and apparently the stuff sucks. I’d hate to think what that says about my musical taste cos only Julz is better than this. New album out soon too. Maybe I should just go back to the Club and Tim Wheeler.

Ahh I knew there was something I were missing… Crimea chums, gig support, and the only band I’ve ever seen get a 0 / 10 review (and that takes bloody effort, they’re no Hadouken but give em a break eh?), Swound! have just released their new single Disco Siberia. No sign of Crimea favourite If A Shark Stops Swimming but there’s plenty more to listen to on MySpace. And they have better t-shirts than you.

Now please excuse me while I switch hosting / servers. No updates / comments while we move please…

She looks so young too Must be getting slow in her old age though cos I’m sure I ain’t heard her play that fast since It’s from 2002 and yes, yes, I know. Who?

One of the biggest Crimea fans I know (other than myself, obviously ) is the lead singer of Midasuno, Scott Andrews. No surprises then when he roped in Crimea lead singer Davey MacManus to provide some lyrics and backing vocals on Midasuno’s new album.
Released 6th June 2007 on Sugar Shack Records, the album Songs In The Key Of Fuck features Davey reciting a small 30 second verse in the religiously inspired lead single Don’t Drive (Faster Than Your Angel Can Fly). Here’s what Scott had to say about the duet…

”I’d played guitar on a track at a Crocketts gig a few years back, and being one of my favourite bands, I tried to stalk and keep in touch with them. Davey joined us onstage during our cover of “Lucifer” at Cardiff’s Compass Point Festival in 2003, and since then the seed was planted with the idea that he might join us on a recording in the future. Being a massive fan of Davey’s songwriting and especially his lyrics – I heard the “Someone’s Crying” (Taken from The Crimea’s “Tragedy Rocks” Album) and realised that the sentiment was lyrically very similar to that of “Don’t Drive….”. That cemented my idea and having approached him, he kindly accepted and helped contribute to one of the proudest moments I have had since the band started – not a lot of people get to work with their heroes…”

For previews of Midasuno’s previous ‘Til Death Do Us Party EP, check out their MySpace page.

There I was, checking out Regina Spektor’s website forum to see if anyone’s mentioned The Crimea yet, when I come across a few people slightly confused over exactly what connection she has with the band. Well, far from some kinda English-Russian love orgy, she happened to meet up with the band waayyy back in 2005 (see photos) and recorded a small poem of Davey’s which features on an old gig recording (available here as Opposite Ends (Live at St. Louis) ). Originally the band planned to include the recording on the new album, but this never happened due to legal reasons (a DMCA takedown would be enough no doubt, damn yanks). Feel free to discuss legal issues surrounding the inclusion of an individual’s voice on a non-commercial album release in the comments. But you never know, one day maybe some clever, mpaa/riaa hater will edit the stuff back in. Now I just gotta get this site’s hosting moved outta the States…

Not known to keep my dirty affairs with non-Crimea bands secret, I’ve been surprisingly quite about other musical groups lately. That’s because I’ve been invited to advertise them over on Vox blog We?Music. So far I’ve managed to get out posts on Halflight, Sia, and Aberystwyth minions Da Grubby Adipose Flange, but there’s plenty of other great band recommendations by others too. Eventually there’ll be some Crimea stuff, but not until the new album release. Speaking of which, tune in to Radio 1 tonight if you just can’t wait.

My new old new favourite band Halflight say:

We’re supporting The Crimea @ The Queen’s Hall in Narberth on 26th May. Yay! x

Yay indeed. Have a listen to their gorgeous song Worship on their Last.fm page.

PS. Another Colin Murray Crimea track in just over 3 hours.

Last Thursday The Crimea’s lead guitarist Andy Norton performed live with ex-Ash member Charlotte Hatherley during her Radio 2 session with Janice Long. You can check out the show’s tracklisting and listen again (up until this Thursday, when I’ll stick some MP3s up) at Janice’s web page (skip to 30 mins in). Andy only really speaks once, mentioning The Crimea recording their album in Latvia and Janice says they could come in a play a session once it’s released. Thanks for the info, Phil.

Owen lent his percussion skills to Halflight a couple years ago for their first EP release. I hadn’t listened to them for ages until a couple days ago when I heard ‘Worship’ on last.fm. Fucking hell, I feel my first album purchase in years coming on… Check out more on their MySpace page. Gotta go, I’m burning my tea and my free fon router just turned up :o)

First time I’ve seen this in a while… The Crimea were played on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 show (albeit ages ago, Jan 10th) thanks to Gary from Snow Patrol who hosted the thing while Zane was away. The tracklisting says he played Man, which you can hear over on The Crimea’s MySpace page.
Keen inaudible.co.uk readers who happen to both live next door to The Windmill in Brixton, and read this within the next 30 minutes - Joe should be playing with Morton Valance during their gig tonight. Hopefully anyone near heard it on myspace ages ago. I heard I died on myspace ages ago. Just waiting for it to come true, like. Meanwhile YouTube unfortunately says very little on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Just need to find me some pixelated LED light art and both my wishes come true at once. Kabooom :o)
And while they’re up, get vids of Louise Wener (ex-Sleeper front lady) on Celebrity Poker Club while she’s they’re hot. That has nothing to do with The Crimea by the way. But lord knows I don’t write anything about them any more. Maybe I’ll get a Crimea tatoo. It’ll remind me. Get infected. Writhe on the floor in agony. Listen to Eels. Why do I keep missing Mock The Week? Fucking stupid TV schedules…

London Sprawling! Fancy A Slice?

Bethelehem! Madrid! Riga! Ashby De La Zouche! Can you hear us?

We’ve a few freak-fests coming up before we pile on the pounds at Chrimbo. There’s the Snow Patrol date, a show at swanky new venue Neighbourhood and our own XXXMas show at The Enterprise. Here’s the details, spread the word of the lords…

18 December - Neighbourhood, London
Free before 8pm, a fiver before ten and seven after that. We’re on-stage at 10.15pm. There’s even talk of some record spinning, but ask yourselves one question: are you ready for Saxon’s ‘Wheels Of Steel’ or Budgie’s ‘Breadfan’? Of course you are. More details about the club here: http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/info_club_729.html

19 December - Wembley Arena
With Snow Patrol. All hail Gazza Lighbazza. This show is sold out though. Sorry for getting your hopes up. We’ll probably be getting jacked up and hitting the stage at about 7pm. We were born to play arena rock.

20 December - Enterprise, Camden
As we don’t get invited to normal Christmas parties, we make up for not being able to photocopy our arses or make inappropriate passes at our boss, by having it large at Camden’s finest jar emporium. Tickets are ?5 on the door, in advance from the pub, or on the phone: 020 7485 2659. It’ll be the stuff of legend. Again.

Buy Now! Pay the morning after.

Lots of love
The Crimea.

Also from that page: “We Love You - Lats And Lats”

“We’re in Latvia. The album’s almost done. It’s bloody freezing. Still, there’s a table tennis table upstairs, a hardy Welshman (Greg Haver) mixing downstairs and a lot of hair-pulling as the final bits of recording get done by everyone else in the live room. Seven more days and it’s done. In the can. You’ll be blown away. And that’s a guarantee, chief.”

And one other thing from Myspace…

News that the Coopers Arms has reopened under new ownership: http://www.myspace.com/ycwps

Okay, make that two…

People who’ve been to gigs in Aber within the last few years might be familiar with Pagan Wanderer Lu, purveyor of fine back-bedroom indie with a nice line in lyrics. Everyone else should check him out too, as he finally has a label-released CD out — details and sample tracks here: http://myspace.com/paganwandererlu

Well this is way OT but you need it… The single GREATEST band EVER to exist on the history of this planet (and we’re talking musically here - have you heard davey play solo?), Little Blue Crunchy Things, are performing two reunion shows on January 19th and 20th 2007. Seriously, these lot are the best thing I’ve ever heard. Want proof? Check this list of awards. See 96? ELEVEN Wisconsin WAMI nominations, in every category you can name. Five albums, two live, and not a damn single song on them is anything other than great. I listened to a single one of those albums for six months straight. Every night. No kidding.

Here are three examples of their greatness, should you need any more persuading:

LBCT - Angels
LBCT - Florence
LBCT - Licorice

Just one small thing. They only play the USA. Friday Jan 19th in The High Noon Saloon, Madison and Jan 20th in Shank Hall, Milwaukee to be exact. Trust me though, they’re worth the strip search. Check out their MySpace blog for more.

Now, anyone got a spare plane ticket?

Yesterday I was gonna post a message along the lines of “what the fuck? where’d all the fun stuff go? why’ve i not been to a crime gig in years? why’s there still no one using the message board? where’s the old crox army…” Then I though no, that’s just exaggerating…

But Fuckit, cos I just found out that one of The Crimea’s most loved venues, former home-from-home to The Crocketts, Murry The Hump, The Hot Puppies, and every other band ever to grace the green green grass of Aberystwyth, Y Cwps / The Coops / The Coopers Arms pub owned by Glynys and Brendan Sommers has been shutdown.

WHAT THE FUCK? Please, make your way over to www.myspace.com/ycwps and voice your support for the only music venue I’ve willingly spend more than a couple hours in. Hit More for the closest thing to a press release you’re gonna get then check out images page on this site for countless pics of The Crimea playing there and for god’s sake, arbed Y fwcin CWPS!! (i sooo hope that’s the right “save”…)

Denyer: I’d echo the WTF — the Cwps has always been one of the most welcoming places in Aber, to visitors and the student population as well as local people, a real melting pot of music and cultures. It’d be a great shame if the town lost either it or its current owners. Here’s hoping there’s something we can contribute back…
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The Crimea say: “random one this, and it’s a long story so we won’t bore anyone else, but if you’re from China (originally, or if you live there now) please get back in touch.” I say: wtf? E-mail owen.hopkin@mac.com if you are. Listen to Deerhoof if you’re not. Actually, they’ll be lucky if anyone from China can even access MySpace where the original message was posted. One just hopes it’ll be banned here too someday…

Ah what the heck, even the BBC’s getting in on the hype, and this is better than the indie pop shite they chose for the official song… We Got Snakes (no idea who it’s by, but it was on the official site…).

Very OT, but what the hell, if it keeps you interested… Love Is Thunder by one time Crimea support Weapons. Out sometime in September, and they’re playing Leeds tonight, as if I have the guts to go :o(