Top 5 New Thing Covers

One of the most common ways of paying tribute to an influence or idol is to cover one of their songs. Today, The New Thing brings you our Top 5 nifty cover versions, old and new.

//

5. Goodnight And I Wish - 'Foundations' (Kate Nash)
4. The Horrors - 'Jack the Ripper' (Screaming Lord Sutch)
3. Project:KOMAKINO - 'Totally Wired' (The Fall)
2. The Horrors - 'Crawdaddy Simone' (The Syndicats)
1. Neils Children - 'Lucifer Sam' (Pink Floyd)

It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it.

EIOH EP//Band spotlight: ddd

The Shareholders Meeting, the debut EP from Electricity In Our Homes, is finally on its way! The 200 pre-order copies were sent out to the expectant shareholders today, according to Modern Pop Records, and should arrive tomorrow (so, only eleven days late). We at The New Thing will be reviewing it as soon as we get our hands on it, and the review should appear in our first print fanzine, due out in a couple of weeks. Watch this space!

In other news, our band spotlight shines today on ddd, a London duo who are set to play at the Experimental Circle Club's first birthday party in November. Ddd have been making experimental electronic noises, with distorted guitar and jerky vocals - in fact, they sound a little like the paranoid, edgy cousins of The Errorplains - since 2005, when the band was a solo project. They've since added a member, released three sold-out singles, and made various appearances on some almost sickeningly hip compilations. 'Can't Explain', the A-side of their first single, is available for download from myspace. Go and see them at Exp. Circ. - they're very good.

ddd MySpace

Theoretical Girl needs a bassist

Theoretical Girl is looking for a new bass player, since Samantha Valentine has pulled out of her backing band to concentrate on 'other educational and musical commitments' - presumably Ipso Facto, among other things. Applicants have to be female, 'very commited, willing to practice regularly, a competent player, and a confident performer', London-based, and 'somebody lovely'. Anyone who wants to apply (which could mean playing Brixton Academy next month) should message Theoretical Girl on MySpace.

Boosh and Brazil//A Small Update

Rumour reaches our ears that the new series of The Mighty Boosh, starting at the end of November, will have a guest feature not only from The Horrors, but also from synth-pop pioneer Gary Numan. (The bad news is the rumour also includes an appearance from the Towers of London, but I personally would put up with them for a bit of Numan.)

In other news, Boys of Brazil are having their current London shows filmed, apparently for a television programme. Taping took place at their show tonight at Rockstar @ The Ghetto, and their show at Glo-Ball Hypercolour on October 12th, with The Errorplains, is also going to be filmed. If you fancy getting on the tellybox, then why not shuffle along? (And even if you don't, you should still go and see them. They're fantastic.)

Nick Cave's Birthday Party

Today marks fifty years since the birth of Nick Cave. We hope he's having a good party.

In completely unrelated news, The New Thing will shortly be producing a printed fanzine, featuring an interview with those lovely Spanish promoters The Junkettes, a review of the Electricity In Our Homes EP (if it ever arrives), and some other articles, features, and lists. More details to follow. Watch this space.

Band spotlight: Project:KOMAKINO

We really have no idea how this one managed to slip under the radar. Project:KOMAKINO, the one-man musical project of Kris Kane, is another in the crop of bands that emerged from Junk, so by rights we at The New Thing should have picked up on him a long time ago. It's our loss that we didn't, because his music is some of the most beautiful I've heard in a long time.

That's right - beautiful - and that's not a word we throw about a lot. It's reminiscent of late Joy Division, around the time they recorded 'Atmosphere' - sharp, echoing percussion and bleakly gorgeous synths, with cryptic lyrics and deep bass vocals, mixed low. In fact, Kris Kane sounds eerily similar to Ian Curtis, though his voice is also reminiscent of Andrew Eldritch (of The Sisters of Mercy).

He's got an official release coming up on Mute Irregulars, but for now, do yourself a favour and visit his MySpace immediately. You will not regret giving his music a listen. And go and see him live as soon as you can - we're told he's just as amazing on stage as in the studio.

Project:KOMAKINO MySpace