Arctic Monkeys have won the Mercury Music Prize for their album “Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not. The Mercury is one of UK music’s most prestigious awards. They are contributing the £20,000 prize money to worthy causes. They are to record their new album on Friday. So they say possibly sozzled on Radio 1. They say they are still doing the same as always, just in a different context so don’t anticipate and worry about writers block.

Previous winners:

2005 :Antony and the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now
2004: Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
2003: Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner
2002: Ms. Dynamite – A Little Deeper
1992: Primal Scream – Screamadelica

Tags: UK Music by Mike Smith
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>> Bansky produced some faked / remixed Paris Hilton albums (Update: 40 Minute long Remix that you get when you buy the Bansky Version: mp3) with some truly bizarre artwork involving dogs and photoshop and he proceeded to have them distributed around various music stores in the UK. 500 copies in 42 UK stores. They are going for hundreds of pounds on Ebay. [BBC] [Pic’s of the photoshopped album @ Flickr]

>> My show, Take Your Medicine Podcast 10 has been out for a few days and I’m getting some great feeback, so give it a whirl. Either go to the TYM homepage and download the mp3 or if you have Itunes, click this link to go the page in Itunes which allows you to subscribe and recieve the show automatically each time a new one is released. Which I like - it means if you stop listening to the show Itunes should remember you’re place, so you can pick up where you left off!

The tracks I played were….

(Intro tune - by Tim Young)
Emmy the Great - Absentee
The Bridge Gang - The Money Will Roll In
Thomas Tantrum - Trust rhymes with crust
Frank Turner (from Million Dead (RIP) - The Outdoor Type (cover)
Tim Young - The Start of Something (Cover of the Voxtrot Tune)
The Wombats - Lost in the Post
Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing! (3rd Podcast Play in a row)
Malajube - Montreal -40C
Johnny Flynn - Hello Hello (Track of the month)
Hope’s Gone Home - Set Sail
Brad Sucks - Making Me Nervous
The Sound Team - Fastest Man Alive / It’s Obvious

>> Think Gran Turismo meets the Sony Bravio ad. One thousand cars bouncing around a track. The Moby soundtrack really makes it.

>> Cassette Generator (here’s mine)

>> I don’t often download torrents, but after an incredible performance by Broken Social Scene on Friday night at the Sheffield Leadmill (with support from Sky Larkin) - which was the best gig I have ever been too - I was compelled to download some live music from them. Dize A Dozen (which requires free membership) have a fantastic live show by the group recorded at Olympic Island, Toronto available to download.

>> The Times: Rock Music Boosts your Brain Power - “Those played rock music required less mental energy to carry out the task successfully… the music primes the brain to perform certain tasks more efficiently.”

Tags: UK Music by Mike Smith
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Berlin, a German wondeful city, I’ve been a couple of times and will go again and again. Berlin, a track by a UK band (what more would you expect from a UK music blog) called Strange Idols making pop music with electric guitars and quite possibly a drum machine. It’s sweet, C86 era indie-pop, and you’ll be happy to know the rest of their music of a similar high calibre. It’s music you bump into in a club you’ve never been to with friends you hardly know. You all get on really well, go home have panda pops and watch Logans Run until the early hours. What’s a Panda Pop? Who is Logan and what is he running from? Well that’s the fun of it…

mp3: Berlin

What is your Strange Idol? Mine would be my own personal, plastic Jesus with wheels on the bottom of his robe. Answers on a postcard and/or in the comments.

Tags: UK Music by Mike Smith
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>> Stencil Art in Beirut [above]

>> Colour Player: It’s a music player with functionality to organise your collection in an easily accessible way. Colour Player is the result of a study into how we associate music with different colours. It turns out that most of us are able to create, with explanation, a strong link between a piece of music we are listening to and a specific colour.[screen shot] What colour is Indie-Rock? I think a pale green, or sky blue…

>> Runied Music: …perhaps the worst thing about the breakup is the fact that music gets caught in the fallout. Everyone has a song, album, artist, or band that’s been ruined by an ex (or, more accurately, by memories of an ex). Ruined Music is the place to talk about the music you’ve lost

>> Myspace Soapbox today: Brian May “THANKS SO MUCH folks….for the fantastic supportive feedback you have given me on the subject of the theft of my identity that is going on in MYSPACE.

It seems to be a bigger problem than I realized … it’s obviously a fad that has broken out like a rash … some people must think it’s clever or funny.”

>> Bowie to play “inventor and electrical wizard Nikola Tesla, who is approached by one of two competing magicians for help in pulling off the ultimate magic trick in 1878″ in film

>> Hope of the states have thrown in the towel [NME]

>> I have the pleasure of sharing my new abode with a rat. Any suggestions for names? I’m thinking of Mr Tom Chaplin.

Tags: UK Music by Mike Smith
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August was indie-pop month. At least, there was a lot of good indie pop music around. Here are my five favourite tracks of the month. As always, all the artists are British born, or making music in Britain.

Track of the month:

Emmy the Great - Paper Trails (Read Post)

Runners up:
Johnny Flynn - Hello Hello (Read Post)
The Musical Beeches - Telescope (Read post)
Hot Silk Pockets - Body Clock (Read Post)
Good Books - Turn it back (Read Post)

Tags: UK Music by Mike Smith
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