July 26th, 2010

Liam Fray, frontman of Manchester’s The Courteeners, is to play a special acoustic set at Salford Lads Club. The gig has been organised by UK digital radio station XFM, and will take place on August 18th.

The Purple One Returns, Rated PG

“From the heart of Minnesota, here comes the purple Yoda” is a line from “Laydown,” a bonus track that is 77th, after silent tracks 10-76, on Prince’s latest release, 20Ten, and it exemplifies the overall feel of this sanitized funk/pop/rock/soul album. Included as a covermount in the Daily Mirror and the Daily Record in the U.K. and Ireland on July 10, and as an add-on in Rolling Stone’s German issue on July 22, this marks the 33th release for the Artist in the U.K. It’s a decent pastiche of pop-rock tunes with spiritual lyrics, but certainly lacks the panache Prince is known for.

To celebrate the opening of London’s first Pretty Green ‘pop up’ store on Carnaby Street Live4ever is giving away a camo parka like the one Liam Gallagher wore during his interview and photo shoot with us (courtesy of Pretty Green). Runner up will receive an autographed 8×10 glossy of Liam performing with Oasis at MSG.

Kings Of Leon were forced to cancel a gig in St. Louis on Friday night due to a barrage of incontinent pigeons.

The xx’s brilliant debut record rises to the top of this week’s UK Indie Album chart following it’s recent Mercury nomination, while The National’s ‘High Violet‘ also climbs two places to re-enter the top ten. Outside the top ten, Canadian indie band Tokyo Police Club land at #18 with their second album ‘Champ‘. British rapper Example retains the number one spot on the UK Indie Singles chart for another week, and ‘Summer Snow‘, the latest in Ash’s singles series, is at no.7.