CMU Planner

CMU Planner – w/c 29 Apr 2013

By | Published on Monday 29 April 2013

Michael Jackson

So, the news this week (and not just music news) is likely to be dominated by the trial to examine the Jackson family’s claim that AEG Live was responsible for the death of Michael Jackson in 2009. Yes, the wait is finally over. As well as that, there are many festivals taking place this weekend, which we’re taking to mean that festival season is officially open. In CMU features this week we’ve got an interview with TV On The Radio, a playlist from Sam Amidon and more.

And here’s a look at some of the news stories, events, new releases and gigs coming up this week…

Jacksons v AEG Live trial starts. This has been a very long time coming, with plenty of pre-trial legal scuffles along the way, but now the jury has been selected and The Jacksons v AEG Live is ready to go. The Jackson family, should you need reminding, says that AEG Live is responsible for Michael Jackson’s demise in 2009 because it hired Conrad Murray, the doctor found guilty of causing the singer’s death through negligence. AEG counters that Jackson chose and managed Murray himself, the company just paid the bills.

Bull & Gate’s final weekend. If you have a burning desire to see a gig at the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town, you’d better get on and do it this week. Come 4 May, the venue will no longer be, it closing down to make way for a new gastro pub. Ed Harcourt will headline a farewell party on Saturday night.

National day of mourning. This Sunday, if you’re in New York, you can watch The National perform their song ‘Sorrow’. And not just once, approximately 108 times, by my maths. The band are playing at the MoMA PS1 exhibition space as part of an art performance piece by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson called ‘A Lot Of Sorrow’. And as titles go, you don’t get much more descriptive than that.

ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror curated by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be playing and curating the latest edition of ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror festival at Alexandra Palace in London this Saturday. As well as playing themselves, they’ve drafted in the likes of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Locust, The Field and Dirty Beaches amongst others.

Liverpool Sound City. Liverpool’s music showcase festival and conference, Liverpool Sound City, takes place from Thursday to Saturday this week. Artists performing include Noah And The Whale, The Walkmen and Enter Shikari, while amongst the speakers at the conference are Andrew Loog Oldham and Tracey Thorn.

SPOT Festival. One of our favourite city-based festivals, SPOT takes place in Denmark’s second city, Aarhus, on Friday and Saturday this week. Loads of great Nordic acts fill the line-up, including MØ, When Saints Go Machine, Hamferð and The White Album.

New releases. This week Rudimental release their debut, Groove Armada’s Andy Cato releases his solo debut, Neon Neon return with their second album, Iggy & The Stooges are back with the first album to feature the surviving members of the original line-up since 1973’s ‘Raw Power’, Sean Nicholas Savage releases his eighth album in as many years, and Os Mutantes are back with their latest instalment too. Our top tip for this week though, is the excellent debut from House Of Black Lanterns, ‘Kill The Lights’.

Gigs and tours. Launching their new album, ‘Praxis Makes Perfect’, Neon Neon will be taking up residency in the National Theatre Wales Warehouse from 2-5 May for a series of shows. If you can’t get to one of those, then maybe instead you could check out performances by Beyonce, Leona Lewis, Major Lazer, Bring Me The Horizon, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in addition to ATP IBYM), Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Angel Olsen, Chvrches, Mt Wolf, Deptford Goth, R Stevie Moore or Van Dyke Parks. You could even head down to the Ed Banger label’s birthday party or the London launch of Sweden’s Way Out West festival.



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