media – and so she thinks

BBC Introducing – Musician’s Masterclass 2013 – need to know

admin — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:21:14 +0000

On March 21^st the BBC ran sessions around the UK inviting musicians, industry experts and fans to learn about the industry, in a day of advice sessions, expert panels, and conferences. Here are some of the highlights and learnings. Some are obvious, some may change the way you have considered things, all are worth reading. (Plus, it will save you the two and a half hours of your life that it will take to listen to the videos here).

–          Be persistent and hungry, and show that hunger. Don’t bug people, but show them you want to succeed and love music, and they will react.
–          No one is going to bump into A&R, they will take years to find you. It is about making waves with your music…it all starts with one ripple etc…
–          If your music is good enough, people will find it. Record companies are perfectly right to expect you to have done something yourself – the tools are there. The label can take you from 20 to 100, but you have to do 0 to 20.
–          The record deal is one tiny bit – it’s all about what you do before and what you do after that really matters, so don’t just hold out for that deal and think it will change everything.
–          The industry is shrinking, all falling apart, as people don’t work together – if the thing we love is music, let’s keep listening to each other and moving forward.
–          There is no money for new artists – you have to enjoy what you do.
–          This means that most musicicans needs work elsewhere to finance themselves. Pick flexible jobs that will teach you skills that will help. Spreadsheets, plans and accounting may sound irrelevant, but as an independent artist you will have to do it all. Even The Beatles worked – dirty finger nails, starving hungry, breakdowns in the middle of the night – all are part of it.
–          Make sure monetise your live dates – be members of PRS, and submit your set list.
–          Consider syncing – it’s not a dirty word any more as there are so few ways of making money.
–          Share your music via Spotify and radio etc – the reach of exposure from one and better compensation from the other balance out.
–          Similarly, although more people may download a song, you make more money from CDS at gigs – £5 rather than 79p – so don’t forget them. Make an effort with the CDs – make them different, eye catching, and easy for people to listen.
–          Give your band page and website personality – not a robot. Just be normal, and respond to people in real time. Complete conversations and journeys, and have them wanting to come back to listen to you, rather than just push out content.
–          All bands need a website – it is all very well having ‘enigma’ but you need a way of communicating with fans.
–          Build up a profile amongst your local scene – if can sell out 300 seats in local town, promoters will believe that you can do elsewhere and take a risk on you.
–          Hand to hand flyering can’t be beaten – if something is in your hand you have to look at it.
–          There’s no such thing as an official single launch any more – the music is there for people to find.
–          In a manager you need trust, to be going in broadly the same direction, they need to be someone you can battle with but not too businessy – but you do need to be able to trust them and their capabilities.
–          Pushing yourself forward is all about having momentum with right people who have same passion.
–          Your friends will always be your biggest fans, but it is important to go out of your comfort zone and communicate with people who aren’t your friends and reach new people.
–          All of your friends have a network, hook up with other artists, do a cover – you are getting into other networks and reaching new people.
–          Making amazing music matters more than having hits. Easily forgotten.
–

The best Christmas present yet?

admin — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:14:43 +0000

Pulp – After You

It’s All Happening loved their socks, were rapt at the gifts of cheap aftershave, and utterly delighted with the sixth tin of Family Circle biscuits, but this post from Jarvis and the gang has got to top all the presents. The enviably lucky attendees of Pulp’s recent Sheffield homecoming show were were given Christmas cards with a download code for ‘a little present’ which was to be submitted to the band’s website on Christmas Day. Written in Jarvo’s satirical style, fans were instructed not to peak, as that would be ‘naughty.’
After You track was first demoed by the band during the sessions for 2001’s We Love Life, but this version is a new studio recording produced by James Murphy in the last couple of months, during their Coachella gigs. Plans for 2013 include ‘sailing off into the sunset.’ In a recent interview with Q Jarvis Cocker concluded that whilst ‘we’ve played for a while and it’s been really good…you can’t keep doing that forever.’
Until next time, we’ll take After You and be estatically grateful. Ta, guys.

Photo via Bar Italia

New video from Beneath The Wave

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 10:34:47 +0000

Despite having only lived here for four years, and spent 14 months of that looking for houses elsewhere in London, and 22 months on trains and buses back from other places in the city, a certain level of pride swells up in me when I hear a band from West London. So it is with Beneath The Wave. Angular math rock softened by glistening pop melodies, this is danceable intellectual indie, that cites references as wide spanning as Igor Stravinsky to Steven Stapleton, and includes samples EP from Professor Brian Cox, Phillip Glass, Charles Manson, Duke Ellington and the film American Psycho. Second Circle is the lead track from their debut EP Ubiquitous Meter, which is available at any price you want to pay from their bandcamp.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqLCNEz5BuQ]

Spring Offensive – Not Drowning But Waving

admin — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:33:35 +0000

It’s always nice to see a band doing things their own way, and Spring Offensive are certainly a band who do just that. The excellent new single ‘Not Drowning But Waving’ has a video that was created and directed by the band themselves.
Spring Offensive guitarist and video creator/ director Matt Cooper states “The video takes the song’s narrative beyond the central event, investigating the burden and consequences of guilt; the main character’s reenactment of the drowning by wearing the dead man’s clothes and filling the bathroom with things from the beach, could stem from this or from a desire to experience what it is like for the victim”. You can watch the video for yourself, here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4b0HYxOSvI&w=560&h=315]
Not Drowning But Waving is available digitally now and available to pre-order on vinyl from 10th September 2012.
The band will be embarking upon a huge tour from the end of September to the middle of November, you can catch them at any of the following dates:

20.09 (NLD)    Utrecht, Tivoli
21.09 (DEU)    Hamburg, Reeperbahn Festival
22.09 (NLD)    Zwolle, Hedon
24.09 (NLD)    Heemskerk, Lokaal
25.09 (LUX)    Luxembourg, Rockhal
26.09 (BEL)    Leuven, Welcome Festival

27.09 (BEL)    Kortrijk, Den Trap
28.09 (BEL) Brussels, Mme Moustache
29.09 (CH)   Geneva, La Graviere
30.09 (CH)   Porrentruy, Secret Show

01.10 (CH)   Bern, Ono
03.10 (CH)   Baden, Merkker
04.10 (CH)   Basel, Hinterhof
05.10 (CH)   Zurich, Exil

06.10 (CH)   Wil, Gare De Lion
15.10 (ITA)   Milan, Transito
16.10 (ITA)   Trieste, Tetris
17.10 (ITA)   TBC

18.10 (DEU)   Munich, Feierwerk
19.10 (DEU)   Freiburg, Raeng Teng Teng
20.10 (DEU)   Stuttgart, Keller Klub
21.10 (DEU) Bedroom Disco Secret Show

22.10 (DEU)   Dresden, Ostpol
23.10 (DEU) Leipzig, Theater Neues Schauspiel
25.10 (DEU) Berlin, Secret ‘Wohnzimmer’ show
26.10 (DEU)   Berlin, Secret ‘Wohnzimmer’ show
27.10 (DEU)   Berlin, Lido
02.11 (DEU)   Berlin, Magnet
03.11 (DEU)   Hamburg, Molotow
05.11 (DEU) Munster, Pension Schmidt
06.11 (DEU)   Hannover, Glocksee
07.11 (DEU)   Cologne, Stereo Wonderland
08.11 (DEU)   Heidelberg, Haell
09.11 (DEU)   Mainz, Schon Schoen

16.11 (UK) All UK dates announced soon…

www.facebook.com/springoffensive

www.twitter.com/springoffensive

www.springoffensive.co.uk

Once More With Heart – a song of the summer

admin — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:10:33 +0000

Entries have been coming in thick and fast for Music Jobs’ Sounds of the Summer mixtape, and Secret Rivals are one of the lucky ten to have been chosen. Once More With Heartjoins songs from Benoit Viellefon Hot Club, Dead Social Club, Hattie Murdoch, No F In Irony, Woosley Cone, Jibilicious, HOWE, The Hobos, The Stowaways, Himan & Fever 105, Scorzayzee, Ridney, The Crosswires, The Banana Sessions, Jo Lewis, Astrolab and Baby Taylor.
As they stay, check the links, buy the songs, see the shows, support the artists. Keep music alive!

Electric Eden – rare songs from England's greatest

admin — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:03:22 +0000

In 2010 Rob Young published through Faber & Faber Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music, a narrative survey that mapped out a native British musical voice that reflected the complex relationships between town and country, progress and nostalgia, radicalism and conservatism. To accompany the acclaimed book he has handpicked 36 songs that are ‘designed to follow the flow from acoustic to electric folk in the late 60s and early 70s, a magical time in British music’ to be released on Electric Eden, out now on Universal.
Featuring a mixture of rarities, unheard versions, familiar names and those that slipped by unnoticed, he is ‘particularly proud of including a rare original version of A Sailor’s Life by Fairport Convention, literally the first time a rock drum kit was ever used on a traditional folk song. History in the making!’
The track listing is as follows, and you can hear the offerings from Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Bill Fay and Traffic now.
CD1
ACOUSTIC EDEN
1. Peter Bellamy – Oak, Ash and Thorn
2. Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die
3. Bert Jansch – The Waggoners Lad
4. Fairport Convention – Stranger to Himself
5. Archie Fisher – Reynardine
6. Bread, Love and Dreams – Brother John
7. Bill Fay – Garden Song
8. Water Into Wine Band – Stranger in the World
9. Tudor Lodge – Willow Tree
10. Comus – Diana
11. Meic Stevens – Yorric
12. Magic Carpet – The Dream
13. Sweeneys Men – The Pipe on the Hob
14. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – False Knight on the Road
15. Dr Strangely Strange – Dark-Haired Lady
16. Albion Country Band – I Was a Young Man
17. COB – Music of the Ages
18. Roger Nicholson – The Carmans Whistle
19. Bridget St John – Fly High
20. John Martyn – She Moves Through the Fair
CD 2
ELECTRIC ALBION
1. Richard Thompson – Roll over Vaughn Williams
2. Steeleye Span – The Lark in the Morning
3. Unicorn – Country Road
4. Fairport Convention – A Sailors Life
5. Trees – Glasgerion
6. Fotheringay – Gypsy Davey
7. David Bowie – Black Country Rock
8. John Martyn – Glistening Glyndebourne
9. Mike Cooper – Paper and Smoke
10. Shelagh McDonald – Mirage
11. Spirogyra – Disraelis Problem
12. Mick Softley – Time Machine
13. Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band – Murder of Maria Marten
14. Pentangle – Jack Orion
15. Incredible String Band – Painted Chariot
16. Nick Drake – Voices

A Sunday afternoon in Reading – Festival 2012!

admin — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:50:38 +0000

A little bit corporate, somewhat dirty, with its big wire fencing, dusty paths, and discarded chip trays, Reading Festival isn’t one I usually cite as one of my favourites, sometimes lacking the spirit and joie de vivre that percolates smaller festivals. However, with a big reputation, big bucks, and a big profile, it does attract some of the world’s biggest names and often has a line up glittering with long time stars and those rising up. This year was no exception, and with a Sunday day ticket and one heck of a hangover, we set out to Berkshire.

Django Django inspired some of the best dance moves of the day, with the jerking chicken dance coming out for Default, and some brilliantly synchronised Egyptian style moves for Cairo. At 2pm on a lazy Sunday afternoon, their slot probably wasn’t the best one for such infectious party music, but the NME tent still want off with a bang. In what can only be described as a Bolanesque sequined ensemble Johnny Lloyd, lead singer of Tribes, led the band in a vital and intense performance showcasing their new album Baby. Their rougueish spirit was evident, and Sappho and We Were Children in particular wrapped the crowd into their tearaway fold.
Next it was a dash to the BBC Introducing session, to watch the lovely Rachel Sermanni entrance the crowd. Rich and warm vocals, tantalising strumming, all enhanced by the ‘girls’ and their supporting strings, Miss Sermanni managed to captivate even the most unassuming members of the crowd just looking for a place to sleep off the night before, with one member of the audience articulating what everyone was thinking when he shouted out ‘I want to give you a cuddle!’ Selected by the BBC’s Ally McCrae, and about to embark on a European tour, Rachel’s debut album Under The Mountains is out on September 17th, and this performance will have driven a fair few new fans to purchase.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AWv7ATa34]
Those familiar with It’s All Happening will know that wherever The Joy Formidable are, we’re not far behind, and today was no exception. The fandom of a certain Mr Grohl has certainly done them no harm, and it was great to see thousands of people singing out long time live favourites such as Austere and The Greatest Light… From the first quivering notes of Whirring, to the final elongated feedback drenched chords of the set, Ritzy, Matt and Rhydian did what they always did – made one heck of noise, but also experimented more with volumes and tempos than previously, soothing and softening before another fuck off massive crescendo, creating glacial soundscapes that explode on a moment, perhaps a sign of what is to come from the forthcoming second album.

2:54 are dark, brooding and visceral to listen to and to see live, and Collette Thurlow’s warm and charming pleasure at seeing the crowd moved by her music made the Thurlow sisters performance all the more disarming. Kicking off with new single Sugar, they slinked and stomped through the set, all thundery skies and gritty basslines, their sweet and sinister songs proving a highlight of the afternoon.
‘Guess who’s next’ Dan asked, ‘I’ll give you a clue. It’s coming up in several months. ‘
Christmas?
My birthday?
Er, a holiday?
It was ‘winter’ and the band Zulu Winter. Dreadful game to play, brilliant band to watch. Swimming has been one of It’s All Happening’s tracks of the summer, introduced to us by the lovely Amazing radio, and its hypnotic halcyonic vibe is not alone in Zulu Winter’s live set. Bolshy and defiant drums underpinned smooth electronic feeling melodies, in what was something of a surprise stand out, full of refulgent splendour.
The respective members of Deaf Club don’t look like they should be a band, nor capable of emitting such menacing and mesmerising indie noir, but their lack of contrived image only serves to highlight the truth – that Jen Long has definitely picked up on of the UKs most talented new bands. Also on the BBC Introducing stage we caught the end of Dinghus Khan, an 8 piece band whose stage set up is almost confrontational, lining up in a row to face the crowd and deliver their raucous and rambunctious pop.
Ricky Wilson is always an entertainer, and The Kaiser Chiefs performance got any of the festival site who weren’t yet in the party spirit ready for a riot. A scratchy throat meant that some of the vocal delivery wasn’t as strong as it could be, but since the slight musical decline post their debut album, The Kaiser Chiefs are all about having fun and putting on a performance, and thus didn’t disappoint. Another band who whack up the fun factor are King Charles (and not just due to the questionable hair styles inspired by the band’s namesake) but a result of their shambolic sea shanty style tunes that had the whole of the Festival Republic stage tent bouncing and bounding.

Having gone through an image change with the release of last year’s album Skying, The Horrors played an epic charge of songs that brutally assaulted the senses whilst fully immersing and swooping you up within them. Somewhat alone in the current climate, they make intelligent and intense rock that absorbs layers from the musical canon, fused together to make their own original output. Watching The Horrors live feels like a natural negotiation, tugging and pulling at the gut and the heart, a tangle of bittersweet vocals, driving bass lines and bristling energy.

2:54 – Sugar

admin — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:21:05 +0000

To get everyone heading to the forthcoming gigs (see below) and in the mood for brooding nocturnal powerful pop, 2:54, sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow have revealed their video for new single Sugar. Immerse yourself in this deliciously dark dancefloor gem.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LvgRz92gUg]

7 / 27 Camp Bestival, Dorchester

24/8 Leeds Festival, Leeds

26/8 Reading Festival, Reading

8/ 19 Beacons Festival, North Yorkshire

8/ 31 End Of The Road Festival, Salisbury

9/04 Admiralplast, Berlin*

9/06 Cirque D’Hiver, Paris*

9/ 07 Bestival, Newport

9/10 Shepherds Bush Empire, London*

9/11 Coal Exchange, Cardiff*

9/12 Usher Hall, Edinburgh*

9/17 Bitterzoet, Amsterdam

9/18 Gebaude 9, Cologne

9/19 Hall (Ex-Teufal), Heidelberg

9/20 Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg

* With The XX

Free download from Glitches.

admin — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:37:48 +0000

Glitches

Dust & Shadow

If the name ‘glitches’ was a song, it would sound like this. All electro squeezes, dashing arrangements and shadowy vocals. And it would be free to download. Ta da, enter Dust & Shadow, a free download from Whitechapel based band Glitches, to celebrate the release of their new single Leper on 8th Oct.
[vimeo 46574960 w=500 h=281]

Dust & Shadow (Live) from Glitches on Vimeo.

Hungry Kids of Hungary – Escapades

admin — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:12:08 +0000

Released August 20^th on Mucho Bravado Records

Not Hungarian at all, but Australian. Possibly hungry. We don’t know. Debut EP Escapades from Hungry Kids of Hungary will be out in the UK on August 20^th, courtesy of Mucho Bravado Records. Lead track Wristwatch is a bouncy and rhythmic tune, proving that healthy doses of Vitamin D does make everything better, and when released back home one the Best Alternative Song of the Year at the Triple J Song Awards. Building to a crescendo of a ending. Jangly and dexterous, they navigate the fretboard bubbling away between slinky and spangly, and nowhere more so than on Scattered Diamonds, which is reminiscent of The Holloways bounce, although conducted with less simple songwriting skills and slower track Coming Around is full of Britpop choruses and lilting oooh’s. Already having released two EPs and an album of the same name down under, there is plenty of back catalogue to investigate should you like.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA5cwBmSWkE]