Way back earlier this year, when the rabbits were still bounding around and easter eggs were being gobbled up, I wrote my review of Client’s debut album. Well, they’re back. City will be released on 27 September 2004.

Mmm.. chocolate.

50 Foot Wave’s first official bootleg was released earlier this week. Recorded in Seattle at the Crocodile Café on 22 April 2004. It’s downloadable from the Throwing Music store: http://www.throwingmusic.com/catalog. There are 14 live tracks and full CD art (CD label and a variety of inserts to choose from) for $10. As per the 1st Mini Album, Bug, the artwork was design by Throwing Muses drummer David Narcizo, who now runs his own graphic design company.

There’s also news on the 2nd Mini Album, slated for release by end of January 2005:

Unofficially named Pneuma (that’s what Kristin calls it, but it’s not got an official name yet). The track listing, but not running order, is:

• Golden Ocean
• Ginger Park
• Bone China
• Sally is a Girl
• Petal
• In the Air (aka Pneuma)

Nice to see that Petal is in there. It’s a monster! The sessions for this release also recorded El Dorado, Diving and a version of Your Ghost (originally released on Kristin’s first solo album Hips and Makers).

BTW, for those who didn’t want to jump through hoops for the video to Clara Bow when I mentioned it some time ago, it’s now more easily accessible here (17.7 MBytes).

An unashamed plug for this EP that came out today that I purchased through 4AD’s digital download service. High quality MP3s without DRM.

I must admit I bought this primarily because of the cover – it’s just so lovely. Rachel Goswell used to be in 90s shoegazer’s Slowdive, which is how I know of her. Slowdive then mutated into Mojave 3 after they were dropped by their record label Creation, and got signed up to 4AD. Mojave 3’s principle songwriter Neil Halstead released his solo album Sleeping On Roads in 2002 and it was probably this that kicked Rachel into writing her own material. So this EP is a taster for the forthcoming album Waves are Universal due out in June 2004. It’s a very organic EP recorded largely without electronic effects, using natural methods of adding reverb. You know: caves etc. Honest! It’s kind of folky in nature — Heidi Berry springs to mind — but there’s variety and a sense of musical expression that’s not found in such music. Mostly we have guitars, strings, organ and non-typical percussion. What we have a lot of, however, is Rachel’s extraordinarily wonderful voice. I know I bang on about vocals a lot, but Rachel’s voice is just wow, especially on the opener Plucked. If you get it from 4AD it’ll cost you just £3.00. Bargain.

Track Listing:

1. Plucked
2. Sleepless & Tooting
3. Flying With Gene
4. Stickin’ With Grace
5. Come Rescue Me

I’ve just seen the music video of the year. It’s all shiny and bright and dark and light and it’s fabulous! It’s a deceptively simple video that oozes class, and keeps hitting you over the head. There are actually a lot of very clever visual effects in it, including one I didn’t notice until I’d watch the video for about the fifth time. Kristin and Billy’s middle son Wyatt makes a guest appearance too as a dancing loon. Those who’ve read my other posts will doubtless guess whose it is: 50 Foot Wave.

It’s a video for Clara Bow off their debut EP, and it’s currently only available for fans who’ve signed up for the Throwing Muses newsletter. So, if you want to see it, you’d better do the following:

1. Go here, and register as a new user.
2. Then login to 50 Foot Wave and go to Your Account.
3. Click on the icon labelled Newsletter Subscription and in the new page, sign yourself up for the newsletter. Alternatively there are the Archived Mailers at the bottom of the page. You need to click on the Preview for the first newsletter.

I don’t think new newsletter subscribers get sent the current newsletter when they first subscribe. But, hey, I didn’t design the website So you’ll still need to click on the Preview link as I mentioned above.

The video is in three different formats. Those with ADSL will love the largest version. You can also download some live MP3s taken from a radio session.