the fyrehaus

1. There is a new, full-length Franz Ferdinand track. Bitch. Yeah.  You can listen here and it’s just as awesome as you think it would be, the kind of poppy, old-school Franz song that is going to be ridiculous fun to dance to at concerts. (Thanks to Jess for the tip.)

2. New Lily Allen! Someone ripped her new track, “Fuck You Very Much”, which is sweet and poppy and angry, like we love her, and slapped it up on the yubes. (via ONTD)

2a. Apparently Lily has a feud amping up with Katy Perry. This is MAGNIFICENT. It should end with Lily kicking the everloving hell out of Katy Perry.

3. October is going to suck. How is it possible that there are four shows I want to see on October 11th? (Panic in San Jose, Cobra Starship in New York, Tragedy in New York, and something else.) Plus Beck + MGMT the day before, which I couldn’t get tickets for anyway. (Look at me being a big girl and not complaining that my favorite artist since pubescence is playing 7 blocks from my house and I can’t go.) And how is it possible that Panic at the Disco is playing Bridgeport the same night that Gym Class is playing NYC. Aren’t they on the same label? Did it not occur to them that they might have overlapping fanbases? Bridgeport’s easy to get to from the city, and tickets for it went on sale a week before Gym Class dates were announced. Feh.

4. Much coming. I need to pimp Tragedy to you (heavy metal Bee Gees cover band!!) and post my recap of last week’s Bloc Party show (summary: Webster Hall sux).

• Kylie to ditch the famous gold hotpants for her next tour. Apparently we are seeing her “grow old gracefully.” (DS)
• Lily Allen claims she broke it off with Ed Simons because he wouldn’t commit. She also thinks you should watch her show; she’s working really hard at it. (DS)
• T in the Park will include Kaiser Chiefs, Ian Brown, The Prodigy, The Pigeon Detectives, and The Raconteurs. (DS)
• California DJ/Producer AmpLive has released ‘Radiohead Rainydayz Remixes’ as a free download. “It’s not up to you, it’s free.” (via NME)
• Aretha Franklin is pissed at Beyonce for introducing Tina Turner as “The Queen” at the Grammys. I think we should stop endowing royal titles on our celebrities, it just leads to confusion and pain. (NME)
• New reality shows starring washed up hip-hop stars. I would totally watch Coolio’s cooking show. At least once, for sure. (Idolator)

Damon Albarn says Blur won’t reunite because the rest of the band hates him.

The singer admitted that he met up with all the band recently, but insists he won’t reform the group because he doesn’t “need the money”.

“I had dinner with the guys recently and it was a laugh but there’s no way they want to work with me again - they all hate me,” he told The Sun.

Also, his label wanted him to work with Lily Allen, but that didn’t go over so well.

He told The Sun: “The record label thought it would be a good idea. She came down to my studio and she said normally she would just sit around and listen to a musician and come up with some ideas.

“I jumped on the piano and played some mad stuff and she just looked at me - it didn’t exactly go well. She’s a really talented kid but it was a bad idea.”

Tony Naylor asks why modern rock seems to be prejudiced against the posh musician. And if it is, whither Vampire Weekend?

Historically, rock’s cool kids have been of solid working class stock: Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Mike Skinner. Intoxicated by the glamour of the street, the authenticity of the shop floor and the romance of poverty, rock’s tastemakers - generally white, middle-class boys full of self-loathing and wildly patronising ideas about life outside Oxbridge - have idolised Britain’s guitar-toting Everymen, while giving their own wealthy, well connected kind, the Lily Allens and Jack Penates of this world, all sorts of stick.

Personally, I thought we give Lily Allen stick because she pretends to be street, but I can’t say I’ve ever followed her career with any kind of regular attention. But the best part of this conversation is the argument on whether Pink Floyd has any influence anymore, and can the working class appreciate posh tea? As the Tony chimes back in to defend himself:

Right then…

1) I like the distinction between bourgeois and middle class above. “Class” is about culture and conditioning as much as it is your parents’ bank balance. Although, I’m not sure the sons and daughters of the bourgeoisie, no matter what foibles they have picked up from mummy and daddy, couldn’t make some damn fine, burning-with-frustration music. Joe Strummer’s dad was a diplomat, no?

2) Pink Floyd. Do they exert some influence? Yes. Jesus, The Libertines claimed to have been inspired by Chas ‘n’ Dave. Any band no matter how bad and/ or discredited will have their followers. However, pick up this week’s NME and read the new bands profiles. You’ll find 11 new acts referencing everything from Kompakt Records to, erm, King Crimson… but no mention for the Floyd. Thankfully.

3)The Strokes. This is precisely what I was talking about in the original blog piece. Did the Strokes hide their background or just not advertise it, for fear of the sniping which would/ did then ensue in the press? Moreover, I really, really can’t begin to care how they exploited their connections or not to get a deal (with Rough Trade, remember). Should I not listen to what, at the time, sounded like the most exciting thing in music for 10 years until I’ve scrutinised who said what to whose dad, who might have known so-and-so A&R man blah blah blah. Is the music stunning? If so, I don’t care how it came into being.

4) Now this is the most important bit… tea. I am a ponce in many ways, but I couldn’t tell Darjeeling from English Breakfast. I like proper tea: Yorkshire Tea or, currently, Morrisson’s own-brand organic Fairtrade bags. If you want to apply a class analysis to all this, I suppose I’m betraying my working class roots by not buying Typhoo.

Lily Allen is asking for a little New Year help from her MySpace friends. The 22-year-old singer would like her many online mates - she has more than 44,000 “friends”, so she won’t be short of a few - to suggest a title for her forthcoming show on BBC3, provisionally titled Lily Allen and Friends.Allen’s web friends will also have the chance to suggest questions for her guests, be part of the audience and even perform live music on the show, which is expected to air in mid-February.

- Francesca Martin in the Guardian

ETA: James Anthony over at the irreverent blog side of things, has some suggestions.

Pete Doherty has apparently hired himself a personal trainer and has been seen jogging around London.

Pete, at the end of last year (known by the soubriquet 2007), had been spotted running on the streets of London. This seemed to contradict his reputation as a self-destructive junkie, but also conform to his image as a contrarian sort who would never do anything you’d expect him to.

This conundrum is only put into greater relief by today’s news, as reported by the estimable The Goss column in the Daily Star, that Pete has hired himself a personal trainer in the way of, say, an investment banker who’s reached the age of 30 and realises that they may have money and the perfect house in Fulham but their body is the equivalent of the slops from a fishmonger’s floor.

Reports the Goss: “Pete is so serious about getting fit - with plans that include running the London Marathon - he sees a personal trainer called Jess six days a week.

“Our mole said: ‘Peter works out with Jess every day [Pete observes the Zoroastrian six-day week]. They run together, do weights and three times a week work out with Pilates moves.’”

With all that exercise going on, how will he fit in the smack?

You know, if he can kick smack and get in shape, can’t we all?

Click over to see further updates about Amy Winehouse and her tan, and Lily Allen who fucking hates text speak.

No, not that pregnancy. (Though, for the record: this is why abstinence-only education does. not. work.)

Lily Allen is reportedly pregnant, and the father is Chemical Brother Ed Simons. The prospective parents are thrilled. Since they’ve only been together since September and there’s a 15 year age gap, I can’t see how these two crazy kids won’t make it work.

ETA: Sarah has done the math, and with Lily being 12 weeks gone, Ed must have shot and scored the first time out or something.  37 years old and hasn’t mastered the use of condoms? Attention famous people: you CAN get pregnant the first time, and contraception is not that hard to manage. 50 Cent says condoms are cool.