Ban This Filth? Quite the opposite. Just fucking release this filth.

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Terry Gilliam made a brilliant film. Some idiot disagreed. A fight ensued. Gilliam won the battle but the war is doomed to failure.

Entertaining stopgap collection from Dulli and Lanegan.

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A collaboration between grunge survivors Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs, Twilight Singers) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees and far too many others to list), Gutter Twins released their debut record 'Saturnalia' last year. If you haven't heard it, go get it now. It's ace. Describing themselves as the Satanic Everly Bros, it's surely the most sombre record ever made as an excuse for two mates to hang out and shoot the shit. This week the band released a nine track EP, available on ITunes only (legally, anyway!). All proceeds go towards cancer research charities, the record itself being dedicated to Natasha Schneider, who sadly passed away from said disease last year. Natasha was one of those people who turned up everywhere in alt-rock. You may know her best as the sexy Russian voice on Queens of the Stone Age's 'Songs For The Deaf'. Gutter Twins perform a song by her previous band Eleven (Chris Cornell's backing band on his first solo album) in tribute. Comprising seven covers and...

A view from the edge (of a field full of twats)

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Sunday, bloody Sunday. As Alan Partridge points out, that U2 song really does capture the frustration of a Sunday. Particularly if you went to sleep in a partially muddy field and woke up in a much muddier field.

The long awaited follow up to Politics in Sport

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A couple of years ago there was some debate about Paulo di Canio. Paulo, y'see, gave, what some would call, a "fascist" salute to Lazio fans. Lazio fans, and the club as a whole, had a reputation for being a bit right wing. His actions, no matter how innocent he claimed them to be, could have had huge repercussions. The real debate arose when it was pointed out Christiano Luccarelli often gave the clenched fist salute to Livorno fans in solidarity with his own, and that clubs, socialist beliefs. One rule for them and one rule for the others was the cry from the Italian right. I wrote an article about this at the time. My own viewpoint being that, in an ideal world, sport and politics wouldn't mix but they always will. Luccarelli's clenched fist salute did not bring with it connotations of Mussolini's Italy, Nazism, racism, ethnic cleansing or social exclusion whereas di Canio's did so Luccarelli caused no harm and his was not as serious. But that's what happens when...

Keep Rollins, Rollins, Rollins. Yep, bad Limp Bizkit joke there.

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Saturday morning is best spent doing some light housekeeping and then admiring the glorious view from your patio. This is best aided by some good company and a large ice filled jug of some heavenly cocktail that tastes of exotic fruits, love and world peace. That's how Saturday began for us at Leeds.

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July 1936. The Olympic Stadion. Berlin. The 1936 Berlin Olympics was meant to have been a celebration of Nazism but by the time Jesse Owens had won four golds (in the 100 and 200 metres, the long jump and the 4x100m relay) the myth of Aryan supremacy had been exposed right in front of Hitler. Owens's achievements also exposed racism at home in America. "When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus. I had to go in the back door" Surely Jesse, Muhammad Ali and others like him helped kick start the civil rights movement in America and the world with their achievements. March 1997. Liverpool v SK Brann. European Cup Winner's Cup Quarter Final http://www.alternativenation.net/gallery/files/1/fowler797.jpg

Mud, mud, glorious mud. No tiger feet in sight though.

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Leeds is a good festival, I really enjoy it. Unfortunately it's badly organised, lacks proper security and attracts a lot of people who you wouldn't generally want to associate with.

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A bleary eyed Stanhope, sporting a fledgling mullet, field cap and battered pilot's jacket, edges his way through the throng at the bar of this tiny, crowded basement venue, politely acknowledging pats on the back and hands thrust out for shaking, and takes the stage to whooping and clapping which treads close to sycophancy. He's virtually unknown on these shores, yet he boasts a tiny and fiercely loyal fanbase (“My fans are like excessive-pubic-hair fetishists,” he later quips “there's not many of ya, but you're a loyal bunch”). It's not difficult to explain his lack of mainstream success, Stanhope is a man utterly unafraid of his mouth, there's not a topic he won't tackle. That said, he's not a shallow merchant of offence, there's a profoundly human message in there if you're willing to look for it. As he asserted in an interview with The Guardian in the wake of his being banned from the Kilkenny comedy festival (the, somewhat unfair, allegation was that he'd said Irish...

Long, interesting, intellectual child porn

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Why the director and fans of The Tin Drum gave us one more lesson that was left out the film.

5 bands, mixed feelings.

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I hadn't had the best day ever, so when I walked into Barrowlands 2 on Friday I needed a bit of a pick-me-up. The Fusiliers, first act of the night, did the job nicely. They were lively, they sounded good, they were a sign that all is not wrong in the Indie sector. Had I not failed as a Glaswegian and gotten lost on my way to the venue, I'd be able to say a lot more about them, but alas they were off almost immediately. Following on their heels, something completely different. Antikythera Machina, a band for whom heckling consisted of “Pronounce yer name!” are a largely instrumental rock-metal band with a progressive streak thrown in for good measure. They weren't afraid to try different sounds and change the direction of a tune suddenly and without warning. Whilst this occasionally gave a clumsy sound akin to that of someone skipping through a long CD track in search of their favourite parts, at other times this gave their music intensity, the latter effect becoming...