Possibly the best radio station ever?

BBC - 6 Music, a digital radio station, funded by my TV license.

The target audience is certainly older than that of my old haunt triple j, which I still turn on and turn up for the Saturday night (morning) house party.

I was tipped off to the existence and philosophy of 6Music by an opinion piece in The Word, where over two thirds of a page Lynsey Hanley expressed her disappointment in the station and its directors for appointing a new young mainstream presenter.

While I wasn't looking for a young catch phase dispensing presenter I was interested in the rest of the station, and must say I have been rewarded since tuning in.

Like every other station 6Music has a high rotation playlist, between these tracks the DJs play and talk about whatever they like. Their passion for the music they play is undeniable making the station addictive listening.

The weeks two most played artists are The Cure (20 times) and Hot Chip (19) with CSS and Justice also in the top ten list it is hard to see how it took me and the Bawley crew so long to find this internet radio gem.

As I write this piece I am listening to the last ever episode or Marc Riley's Brain Surgery, playlist

The Bromhead Jackets - Speaker Box
The Bromhead Jackets - Clear To Me
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Radiohead - Bodysnatchers
Scarlett Johansson feat David Bowie - Falling Down
Robert Forster - Deamon Days
Bearsuit - Minerals Made Me
Roy Obison - Domino
David Cronenbergs Wife - Runaway Pram
The Bromheads Jackets - These Boots Are Made For Walking
The Bromheads Jackets - She'll Wrap Her Arms
Micha P Hinson - The Fire Came Up to My Knees
Can - Mushrooms
Super Fury Animals - Ice Hockey Hair
Cate Le Bon - Sailing In Sick
Restless List - Buttlin Breaks
Rufus Wainwright & The Propellorheads - In With The Ladies
Bearsuit - Stop What You're Doing What You're Doing Is Wrong
Winston Samuels - Be Prepared

Coming up after the news Wire, The Fall and then at 9pm it is Radio Hour with Bob Dylan. (yes that Bob Dylan) followed by Bruce Dickinson's Rock Show (yes that Bruce Dickinson)

Listen on-line here http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

My TV licence: £150 well spent.

Guest Blog: Subterranean Waterlogged Alien

Bawley's first ever guest blog comes from a long time friend and desperate Radiohead fan.

Our newest writer has a long history of filling bars with tales of classic concerts and life changing albums in this a Bawley exclusive he shares the tale of one wet night on Radiohead's In Rainbows tour.

The weather was bloody awful for Radiohead's 11 May sold out show at Nissan (as in the car!) Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia, and despite a great set from the band, it will probably dominate my memory of the evening. It rained heavily for hours before, during and after the show and some people got into the venue late or didn't get into the venue at all because of flooding. The lawn area where we stood in a few inches of water, was probably only half full at the most. Everyone, including those in the undercover area, were obviously drenched, cold and exhausted for most of the show. Nonetheless, Radiohead played a superb gig and kept everyone mesmerized by their performance.

Whilst In Rainbows material naturally filled about half the extensive set list, they played at least one track from each of their post-Pablo Honey records. They cranked through the songs at a blistering pace and their versions of Paranoid Android, Karma Police and Everything in it Right Place were greatly received by the crowd. Other highlights included Faust Arp (on the third try by Thom after a couple of false starts), Jigsaw Falling Into Place and Fake Plastic Trees, which was apparently included in the set list at the last minute as a thank you to the fans, especially those that didn't get in. I was impressed by the sound quality of the venue, which stood up well to the wet and windy conditions, and the light show. The stage presence of the band and Thom Yorke's banter on US politics, the weather and how we should keep warm after the show made those of us up the back feel like we were in a much smaller, dryer venue.

So overall a great show, although sitting in the car afterwards for three hours as we waited to get out of the venue, on the one road that wasn't flooded, I decided that I would only do it all again for Radiohead.

Check out some clips from the show:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=B7SDj6u3eXM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DvBg-TFADJ4

For the record, the entire set list was as follows:

01. All I Need
02. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
03. Lucky
04. 15 Step
05. Nude
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. Myxomatosis
09. Idioteque
10. Faust Arp
11. Videotape
12. Paranoid Android
13. Just
14. Reckoner
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Bangers and Mash
17. Bodysnatchers

encore 1:
18. Like Spinning Plates
19. Optimistic
20. Karma Police
21. Go Slowly
22. Planet Telex

encore 2:
23. Fake Plastic Trees
24. The National Anthem
25. House of Cards

More guest blogs to come as Bawley ramps up for the northern summer tour circus.

Nine Inch Nails give us The Slip

Last week Nine Inch Nails released the single disciple for free download, and teased their audience to return to nin.com on May 5th.

This morning Nine Inch Nails have gone one better and released there whole new album for free download.

The album is called the slip and you can get it here.

Nine Inch Nails - The Slip (Halo 27)

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. letting you
4. discipline
5. echoplex
6. head down
7. lights in the sky
8. corona radiata
9. the four of us are dying
10. demon seed

Come back later in the day for a review of the new material.

Update--->>>

The first half of The Slip gives the listener a real ear bashing crammed full of distorted guitars played at a sweat inducing tempo with the only slight a release coming from the hugely catchy dance around with your shirt off single Discipline.

At the heart of album is a delicate ballad Lights in the Sky consisting of no more than Trent Reznor’s haunting lyrics and a piano the track provides some room to breathe and recover before Corona Radiata and The Four of Us are Dying deliver you to a very dark place not dissimilar to that covered on last month’s Ghosts I-IV instrumental album.

Album closer Demon Seed picks up the pace again spitting out some more determined anger before its abrupt finish closes the album.

While some of the same frustrations are present in the lyrics the album does not feel like the second instalment of Year Zero that many were expecting, to compare it to any previous nin releases I would say it fits best next to 2005’s With Teeth.

The Only One

Having delayed the release of their still untitled double disc 13th album for more than a year now The Cure, currently on a massive string of North American dates have finally set a schedule for the albums release.

To celebrate the 13'ness of it all the first single The Only One will be released on May 13th, the second Freakshow will be out June 13th, a third on July 13th, and forth on you guessed it August 13th. Each single will have a new b-side that will not appear on the album which will be available from, Yep, September 13th.

A double album, 4 singles plus all new b-sides Robert and Co. are either sitting on a whole lot of new material or could this be the closet clean out that signals the end of The Cure as a recording band?

What does the new material sound like...um, well, The Cure. Go here for a tiny snippet of a sample of The Only One.