The Independent - Features RSS Feed

Images of Elvis Presley before he was famous

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Not many photographers can claim to have said "Elvis who?" but when the photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer was given an assignment to photograph the 21-year-old Elvis Presley in 1956, the year that Elvis truly became a star, he had no idea who he was.

Images of Elvis Presley Before he was famous

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Caught in the net: 'Ambling Alp' – a new peak

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

In recent years there has been a wealth of David Byrne-inspired US bands, such as TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, MGMT and Vampire Weekend fusing experimentation, art-rock, a head for great pop tunes, and the occasional African musical inflection. Though in the case of the Vampire Weekend the influence is more Paul Simon than Mr Byrne. Yeasayer (left) are another band that can be lobbed into this grouping, though they haven't quite recieved the same amount of acclaim or notice, despite their 2007 debut album 'All Hour Cymbals' being well received and containing at least one perfect pop song in "2080". Now they return with their second album 'Odd Blood', released on 10 February. The first single from it is "Ambling Alp". It doesn't drastically alter their style from previous efforts, but has a more stripped-back, electro feel. While not scaling the heights of "2080", the song is worth a listen nonetheless (and on repeat listens it grew on me), and it's a free download from Yeasayer's website – yeasayer.net.

Selling Cheryl Cole

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

She scored the fastest-selling single of 2009 so far and sailed to the top of the charts last week with her debut solo album, 3 Words. The successful launch of her solo career marked the culmination of a phenomenal year for 26-year-old Cheryl Cole, cementing her status as national treasure. Having notched up seven million album sales in the UK, a massive 20 consecutive top 10 singles, two number one albums and four Brit Award nominations with the pop band Girls Aloud, Cole's debut solo performance on The X Factor broke audience records for the show, drawing close to 15 million viewers.

Observations: Musicians rip it up and start again for Destroy Rankin

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

If you had your portrait taken by Rankin, would you turn round and destroy it? Didn't think so. And yet, that's exactly what 73 musicians have done for Destroy Rankin, part of the 10th anniversary celebrations for Youth Music Charity. Alex James has given an old Dazed & Confused cover a lavender and thyme hairdo and beard; Alanis Morissette has burned a hole in hers, and Alex Zane has used his medical-school training to turn half his face into a colourful skin and bones zombie.

Observations: Flaming Lips keep it in the family with the man from uncle's band

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Flaming Lips are keeping it in the family as they tour their latest album. In support are the previously unheralded Stardeath and White Dwarfs, though look closely and you will find uncanny similarities between the two bands. Their young singer's high-pitched, childlike quality owes much to Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and, indeed, shares his surname. For Dennis Coyne is none other than Wayne's nephew.

Can Rachid Taha rock the Casbah?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

My gaze is glued to one of today's most eccentric rock'n'roll rebels as he stalks the stage in front of the flirtatiously grand Mairie de Paris like a demented scarecrow, a defrocked undertaker, a panto miscreant of the kind that haunts young children's dreams. Rachid Taha is probably the most recognizable person on that bursting stage in the collective eye of the 18,000 strong French crowd, who are both tired and ecstatic after a six hour orgy of African and western musical coupling under the hot Parisian sun.

Grizzly Bear - Out of the woods, into the light

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Ed Droste is settling into the bar of his east London hotel with his Grizzly Bear bandmate Daniel Rossen, to attempt to explain their sky-rocket of a year. All but unknown this spring, the band's third album Veckatimest went straight into the US Top 10 and UK Top 30. Their fans include Paul Simon, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, who giddily announced on-stage that they were his favourite band, and Jay-Z, who attended their free Brooklyn show last month with Beyoncé and, watching the 12,000 crowd, announced: "they can push hip-hop back a little bit." The only question about their appearance in 2009's end-of-year polls is how high in each Top 10 they'll be.

Party Of The Week: Monday night with Jonathan Ross

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Russell Brand made a bee-line for Noel Gallagher at a champagne reception before the Music Industry Trusts' awards in London on Monday night.

Cultural Life: Russell Mael, musician

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Barometer: Alicia Keys; Bryn Terfel; The Soft Pack; Brett Anderson; The Mountain Goats; X-Ray Spex

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The ten best diaries

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:15 GMT

Chosen by Holly Williams

The Agitator: 'I have deceived my friends, and I had millions of them'

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:50:50 GMT

The 2nd of November, like each of its 364 essential cousins of calendar, is almost inevitably twinned with an historic anniversary snoozing somewhere in the catacombs of history

The growing pains of Julian Casablancas

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:03:08 GMT

Julian Casablancas is confused. "Teetotal," he says, rolling the word around in his mouth.

The boy in the corner: Why is Will Young in therapy?

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

There are certain things that strike you when you meet someone famous. In the flesh they are, invariably, fatter, thinner, taller, shorter, uglier, prettier than they look on telly. Will Young? Much, much fatter. So huge, in fact, that it's impossible not to do a double-take as he emerges from behind a rail of clothes in his dressing-room.

Free Brett Anderson download compilation with We7

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:33 GMT

The Independent is offering readers an exclusive opportunity to hear and download eight Brett Anderson tracks, including four from the highly anticipated album, Slow Attack, which isn't released until Monday.

Electricity in the air at the Electric Proms

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:21 GMT

In the true tradition of the BBC's Electric Proms, acts performing this year were challenged to reinvent their music.

Gaymers Camden Crawl live launch with War Child

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:04 GMT

The Gaymers Camden Crawl, scheduled for Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd May, is pleased to announce it's partnership for 2010 with Camden based International charity, War Child. To celebrate, the festival will be hosting a very special launch gig on Wednesday November 4 at brand new Camden Town venue, The Blues Kitchen.

Caught in the Net: Russell comes back to life

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The best song I've heard this week is a previously unreleased track recorded by Arthur Russell (left). Best known as a pioneering disco producer in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, Russell fell into obscurity before his death from an AIDS-related condition in 1992, but his reputation has been ressurrected with numerous releases in the last ten years. Alongside disco, his instrument of choice was the cello, while also he tried his hand at pop music and all manner of experimental and avant-garde musical endeavours. He left behind 1,000 tapes of his work, so there is still music to be unearthed, like this folky track, "Come To Life". Channelling Nick Drake, the song has gorgeous vocals from Russell and an unnamed female singer, with a lilting electric guitar and a great horn section popping up here and there. It was recently released as a limited edition split seven-inch vinyl single with the debut song by CANT, a side project of Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. The track is streaming on the Gorrilla vs Bear site, found at tinyurl.com/yfyu5ks, and the MP3 can be purchased at tinyurl.com/yheuck6.

Just another Manic Street Preachers road trip

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Movie-Land, Chicago, the cab crawling through the rusted beltway, crossing Racine (where Sean Connery's "Irish" policeman lived in The Untouchables) and making a left on West Addison (the false address, you'll recall, that Elwood Blues gives to the police in The Blues Brothers) with the crowds growing thicker and noisier, fluorescent-jacketed police directing traffic at intersections, Klieg lights splitting the night sky, a sense of excitement crackling in the cold air too as showtime draws near and then suddenly there it is – Wrigley Field Stadium (where, you'll also recall, Ferris enjoyed part of that fine day off) lit up like an ice castle.

The Diary: Chrissie Hynde; London International Mime Festival; Marian Keyes; VOBO awards; National Portrait Gallery

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Brett Anderson - A slow walk to freedom

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

You only have to look to the shift in the sound of Brett Anderson's music for a sense of how he has moved on from his past as the wayward front man of Suede. His last collection, Wilderness, featured just piano and cello, and his new release, Slow Attack, is a beautiful space-filled album with elements of film soundtracks and folk.

Nerina Pallot - A degree of pop success

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

We are sat in the studio Nerina Pallot shares with husband Andy Chatterley, under a neon pink flamingo, a suitably outré adornment beside the saggy sofas and Abigail's Party bar.

The Barometer: Sin Fang Bous; Chapel Club; Weezer featuring Lil Wayne; Marj J Blige; Metric Help; Michael Jackson

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Dark Side of the Moon revisited

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:19:56 GMT

Last night Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album cover was beamed across London’s skyline.