Currently writing a feature about the life and times of Dylan Carlson and Earth, and I’ve been hitting some of those old Sub Pop records hard. Everyone always goes on about 2, which is basically Earth in their most distilled form, but an album I’m really now only discovering in earnest, despite having owned it for a few years now, is Phase 3: Thrones And Dominions, which veers between drone heaviness and some really beautiful ambient moments. It’s strange, isn’t it, how Earth’s most abstract albums are also their most celebrated.

While it’s hard to get around all the mythology - Kurt, heroin, guns - it’s fascinating to uncover how Earth’s music has always been built on firm conceptual groundings and an interest in exploring sound, not merely creating it. I recently interviewed Dylan and he talked about how the new stuff was all about uncovering the drone sounds inherent in country and blues. Hex and Hibernaculum are as good as anything. It’s great he’s still making music.

Posted by Louis Pattison on Thursday, April 26th, 2007
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ok, so while we in the UK have ashen-faced parents lamenting MySpace ‘house rape’, other nations have used virtual peer-to-peer networking to do something a little more polite and less debauched, maybe, but rather more creative…cosplay flash mob GO!

Posted by kicking_k on Thursday, April 26th, 2007
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i’m playing guitar tonight in the vitamin B12, we’re supporting a solo set by Roger Turner. Turner’s a pretty spectacular improvising percussionist, i saw him once with Mats Gustafsson and Pat Thomas and another time with Phil Minton. Both compelling performances. For some reason it’s not easy to find improv stuff on youtube that isn’t marred by daft in-camera video effects, but here’s one of him with alan silva and johannes bauer.

whoops, forgot to mention, it’s upstairs at the open house pub in brighton, just over the footbridge, behind preston park station.

Posted by Andrew Clare on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007
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We’re delighted to announce that Plan B will be available on general distribution at Barnes & Noble and FYE stores in the United States for the first time with this issue (April 07, Electrelane cover). From the May issue, we will also be available in Borders, too.

It will be on sale from the end of April, and retail at $9.99.

For info on your nearest stockist, email chris@planbmag.com.

Posted by Chris Houghton on Thursday, April 5th, 2007
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