"Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin..."
Thursday, March 13, 2008

"...but a bottle of gin is not like love," as The Magnetic Fields sang.

So, for the Song Chart group, I made this:



But then after a while it struck me that here both love and gin are equally dissimilar from one another, which doesn't seem in the spirit of the song, so I think this second attempt is more accurate:



Anyway, you can listen:

The Magnetic Fields: Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin (MP3, 1.7MB)

Labels: chart, graph, love is like a bottle of gin, magnetic fields, mp3, music

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So So Modern
Thursday, January 24, 2008

I went to go and see So So Modern with a pal the t'uther day:



Really quite good boppy electro stuff, with loads of on-stage energy. Here's an MP3 for your enjoyment - it has that instant classic feel which makes me feel as if it's actually a thinly disguised version of a more famous tune, but is probably just an indicator of deep awesomeness.

So So Modern - The New Internationale

Oh, and a cover version for Krystyn:

Act Dead covering A-Ha: Take On Me

Labels: a-ha, act dead, music, so so modern, take on me, the new internationale

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by:Hook or by:Crook or by:Larm
Sunday, January 20, 2008

By the by, I'm going to by:Larm in Oslo in a month's time, gadding about, enjoying some sweet Scandinavian tuneage, and talking for A WHOLE HOUR about music, technology, culture, history, sex, death and A-Ha. Probably.

Labels: bylarm, music, norway, oslo, presentation, travel

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The CD Cover Meme
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Quite a cute little meme on Flickr: take the title of a random Wikipedia page, the last four words of the final random quotation here, and the third random image from Flickr's Explore, and make your own little album cover. Mike suggests the logical extension of turning it into an actual song, which I might just have to take him up on. Anyway, see mine, and many many more.

Labels: album cover, design, flickr, meme, music

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Building a business on free presentation
Tuesday, November 06, 2007

So last night I had the pleasure of speaking at Building A Business On Free. I kicked things off by talking about the music industry from an outsider's POV, comparing and contrasting being a new artist with being an internet startup. I have to say researching this talk was an eyeopening experience. To any new online startup who thinks they've got it hard, imagine if your VCs ran your ops team and could decide to just stop promoting or manufacturing your product, and in fact could stop you from manufacturing it or marketing it too! Scary business, huh?

My Building A Business On Free presentation is here.

This was followed by a great panel discussion which I learned loads from, not least from the insightful Andrew Dubber who had a great no-nonsense take on things, completented by Kieron (who runs the small label that owns Nizlopi) and Davey from The Crimea, who recently gave away their album for free, and so were able to bring practical insight to the discussion.

It was an interesting chat - we spent a lot of time talking about strategies for success for individual acts (mostly of the Godinesque "remarkability" flavour) although it would've been great to discuss what new equilibrium we thought the industry as a whole might find. I'm sure I'll be able to read about on Andrew's blog sometime though :-)

There was also this guy who seemed uppity that we weren't acknowledging the role of music producers in the process. My own personal response is simply that it doesn't pose a particularly interesting problem (at least from my POV) - no matter how bands make money or what they do with their music, they'll still want to make great sounding records, and they'll still need producers, so I don't really see what the matter is. He also criticised music retailers for "not doing enough to sell music" which is perhaps true (he produced an act that merged jazz and hip-hop sounds and HMV pointblank refused to stock the album in both section, a perfect illustration of endemic pigheadedness) but then he praised the supermarkets and other retailers constantly doing new things to drive the price of goods down and get customers buying. This struck me as a terrible example, because if there's one set of producers getting shafted more than musicians by major labels, it's farmers getting driven to the point of bankruptcy by major retailers insisting on lower and lower prices.

All in all, a mind expanding evening, and one that's apparently left Jey plotting to get to Xmas #1, something I entirely support, as long as a get a cameo in the music video.

(One thing I did learn in terms of presenting is how much the space matters - I kind of had a bar in my way and then had to lean on it to get near the mic, adopting the "conversational barman" pose, so it was hard to get into the right frame of speech and restrain myself from chatty rambling. I think it was alright, though, but something I'll watch out for in the future!)

Labels: business, music, panel, presentation

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Building a business on free
Friday, November 02, 2007

I'm talkin' 'bout my generation, and also about Building A Business On Free, this coming Monday (November 5th) at The Worship nr Old Street/Moorgate. It's a presentation and panel discussion thang, and should be really interesting, so come along. It's free, and allegedly you can register somewhere on the CIDA website, although I can't work out where, so it's probably best to email them, or call Jessica Green on 020 7247 4710.



Thanks very much to Toks Majek-Akisanya from CIDA and Jonathan Robinson from Musictank for putting the event together and inviting me to speak. I'll be putting my presentation online after the event, like my rock'n'roll storytelling one.

Tootles!

Labels: business, free, music, presentation

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Uff the coff
Thursday, October 11, 2007

I'm so glad I live in a world where this exists:



But the warm-happies are subdued somewhat by this sort of thing:



I've been listening to In Rainbows. It's pretty good, but I'm not getting all that much from it yet... to my uneducated ear, it's sort of a poor man's The Eraser. Experience has taught me that it'll inevitably become my most favourite thing ever after further listening.

PSFK has a post that neatly encapsulates my thoughts on record labels: they'll end up being like venture capital firms for musicians. That is to say, I don't think they'll die, because I think they have useful things to offer (cash, connections, power, etc) although organic and self-sustaining growth will become not just a possibility for bands, but, in many cases, the prudent and sensible option.

Labels: crystal cave, in rainbows, music, national geographic, psfk, radiohead, tales from the bog

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Home on the range
Sunday, September 02, 2007

I'm kicking back at the family crib, and hence listening to:

Bobby Malone, Please Come Home (MP3) - Casiotone for The Painfully Alone This is the definitive tune then, all about scuttling back home after an abortive scrap with the big wide world, tail between your legs. Muted robot drums, echo-y old piano, and "a couple of months on the couch, while you figure things out." CFTPA's material is almost purely dedicated to failure, disappointment, youthful folly and the sharp sting of defeat - your enjoyment depends, as one review puts it, "on how interested you are in the tales of sad-sack twentysomethings." It won't surprise you to know that I keep it on heavy rotation then. (While you're at it, enjoy Young Shields (MP3) and New Year's Kiss (MP3).)



Homecoming (live?) (MP3) - Kanye West ft. Chris Martin / From the forthcoming Graduation album. That's some bouncy fucking shit, right there. What this song makes abundantly clear to me is that I should really have tried harder as a kid to establish this sort of relationship, which would probably make returning to suburban Hampshire a little more tolerable. Although I did use to chill with this girl when I was 3 years old, but the last I heard she was an anorexic ice-skater.



Homecoming (MP3) - The Teenagers / No relation to the above, this is the hilarious, sweary tale of a mercifully brief transatlantic romance. Don't forget to send me a friend request! Ha-ha-bloody-ha. Remixed to within an inch of its life elsewhere online.



To Go Home (MP3) - M Ward / Fantastic, joyous, and stompy. "God, it's great to be alive, takes the skin right off my hide, to think I'll have to give it all up someday..."



Home Altars of Mexico (MP3) - Art Brut / A cute little b-side from the Good Weekend single about clutter, mementos, and stuff - "I've got so many things left over, I don't know where they should go - it's not a mess, it's personal! Like the home altars of Mexico..." I, on the other hand, am on a mission to pare stuff down, having thrown away most of my belongings when I moved.



In This Home On Ice (MP3) - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / THIS IS A BONUS TRACK AND HENCE REQUIRES NO INTRODUCTION (Read: I can't be bothered to write an introduction)

Labels: art brut, casiotone for the painfully alone, clap your hands say yeah, home, kanye west, m ward, mp3, music, the teenagers

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There's damage, but at least you're alive
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Weekly tuneage. Listen and love, my friends.



Crashlander by Adem (from the album Love and Other Planets) is the dense blackness of falling asleep after an ordeal, like the girl on the helicopter flying away from Jurassic Park; the sense of what's done is done, well captured by the word strikhedonia, which refers to the pleasure of saying "to hell with it."



Drinking With You by Jonathon Coulton (from his extensive oeuvre) is an ever so charming ditty taken from this lovely video. Also recommended from JoCo's awesome musical treasure chest is I Feel Fantastic (free download) all about the not-so-subtle charms of mood-altering prescription drugs.

Labels: adem, crashlander, diazepam, drinking with you, jonathan coulton, mp3, music, zombies

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Prinzhorn Dance School
Sunday, June 17, 2007

Prinzhorn Dance School are totally my new band of choice:



Very minimalist dancepunk type stuff... Ikara Colt stripped down to The Kills, maybe. Behold:

MP3: Eat, Sleep
MP3: Up Up Up
MP3: You Are The Space Invader

Enjoy!

Update: fixed link to You Are The Space Invader.

Labels: music, prinzhorn dance school

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Music is my radar
Thursday, January 25, 2007

So, two exciting things happening in February:





Yes, somehow the online, bedroom-rocker fraternity has seen fit to hold not one, but two "make a record in 28 days" challenges in February. Of course, if you think about it, it's all the more convenient in a two-birds-in-one-stone sort of fashion. Anyway, I'm very excited as it should let me tick a few things off the 101 things list, namely 51, 54, 55 and 56. Top trumps!

Also, check out Best Of Bootie 2006, in particular You're The One That I Want In The Next Episode (in the bonus tracks on the left) - truly a thing of beauty.

Labels: 101things, fawm, music, rpm challenge

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