New New Musical Express - February 2008

* Journal: New Music February 2008, by Nialloleary
* Exposure: Pete and the Pirates
* The Beatles Across The Universe To Beam Across The Universe
* Sci/Tech: Is DAB radio the next Betamax?
* Sci/Tech: Ofcom agrees to public radio spectrum sell-off
* Hot Chip Album
* Guillemots Unveil 'Kriss-Kross'
* Video: Does It Offend You, Yeah? - We Are Rockstars
* Video: The Duke Spirit - The Step and The Walk
* Later... with Jools Holland celebrates 200th show
* Last.fm Free the Music - follow up Q&A
* Video: Clinic - Free Not Free
* Journal: A Brief History Of... series by BadgerJohn31
* Journal: Why the Major Labels Should Be Dancing in the Street., by Woodshed1
* Journal: A Brief History Of...Metal, by BadgerJohn31
* Sci/Tech: Personalised Radio
* Blog: Why Social Ads Don’t Work
* Journal: Madonna - 'Filth and Wisdom' debuts at Berlinale 2008, by Babs_05
* Next Big Things - Highlights Feb 08
* Exposure: Tigerstyle
* Exposure: SugaRush Beat Company
* Exposure: The Imagined Village

Page 2

* Exposure: Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong
* Video: The Imagined Village - Cold Hailey Rainy Night (Live on Later)
* Exposure: The Gutter Twins
* Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree on MySpace
* Journal: A Brief History Of...Punk, by BadgerJohn31
* Journal: A Brief History Of...Post-Punk, by BadgerJohn31
* Journal: A Brief History Of...Old-School Hip-Hop, by BadgerJohn31
* Business: Little harmony in music download debate
* Exposure: Emily Loizeau
* Entertainment: EMI 'accidentally' release Art Brut single
* Track: DJ Finn - That's The Way, by Cowfoot
* Journal: M83 – New single, New album, New tour, by Champersnova
* Exposure: The Opiates
* Tea Break: Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child
* Journal: A Brief History of Post-Disco, by BadgerJohn31
* Exposure: NEON NEON
* Exposure: DJ Dolores
* Exposure: Cadence Weapon
* Charity - Crisis Consequences
* Free Downloads - Various Artists in contemporary classical, avant-garde, jazz
* Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
* The Kills - Midnight Boom
* Beach House - Devotion
* Autechre - Quaristice
* Exposure: Correcto

Page 3

* Exposure: Human Bell
* One More Grain - Isle of Grain
* Exposure: The Coal Porters
* Exposure: Melody Gardot
* Exposure: Hotpants Romance
* Exposure: The Young Republic
* Exposure: Grant Campbell
* Exposure: Aidan John Moffat
* Exposure: Dawn Kinnard

With the debut album, 'Little Death' released this month, it's about time I said a-plenty about them.
They define everything that still exists as a good thing in indie music: confidence, attictiveness and hand-claps.
Although not yet breaking through into the mainstream, it could be for that reason that their fan-base ranges so wide.
They're a big favourite of the essential alternative music magazine, plan B.
After a few listens to their debut, it's a definite purchase and more than just that - it could go down as one of the best British releases this year.

That's all you need to know so far although you'll be inevitably finding out an awful lot more in the coming months...

PETE AND THE PIRATES - COME ON FEET

Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) may end up to radio what Betamax was to video, warns a report published today.

The report, by media and telecoms specialist Enders Analysis, said the launch of the second national commercial digital radio multiplex, headed by Channel 4, might exacerbate the problems rather than solve them, and warned that media regulator Ofcom would face a public outcry if DAB failed.

Enders Analysis added that the high cost of DAB transmission and slow growth in revenue had combined to undermine confidence in the new medium and led to the closure of a string of national digital stations.

... "The exodus of stations from the DAB platform is starting to look like a stampede," said the Enders report, written by Grant Goddard.

"With three of the largest radio groups having reduced their commitment to the DAB platform in recent months, their stations having been replaced by a mix of ethnic, religious and non-commercial broadcasters, the future health of the DAB platform must be under question."

Goddard's report ends with a chilling prediction from Richard Wheatley, the chief executive of the Local Radio Company, to analysts last month: "DAB is the Betamax of radio."

National digital stations that have closed include GCap Media's Core, UBC's Oneword and Virgin Radio's Groove. GCap's Chill and Fun Radio have also been scaled back, while Virgin scrapped plans for a new national digital station, Virgin Radio Viva.

The report said the launch of digital stations such as Polish Radio London, Rainbow Radio and BFBS Radio, owned by the British Armed Forces, had worrying echoes of the decline of the AM waveband at the end of the last century.

"The DAB platform of 2008, particularly in London, is already starting to resemble the AM platform of 1998, suggesting that DAB might have already been written off by the sector as a means to reach the 'mass market' audiences that national advertisers desire from the medium," it added.



Goddard said the launch of the second national commercial digital multiplex, headed by Channel 4, was unhelpful at a time when the first - run by Digital One - was struggling to fill its capacity.

"Channel 4 is faced with the task of imminently launching a brand new DAB multiplex in the middle of a snowstorm around the future of the whole platform," his report stated.

"By the end of 2007, it was evident that the 'masterplan' for DAB which the radio industry had clung to since the mid-1990s was simply not going to work.

"The closure of two longstanding national digital-only stations - Core and Oneword - combined with reductions in the service of several other digital brands helped to crystallise the problems: too much spectrum, not enough consumer hardware takeup, and not enough enthusiasm for DAB from listeners or advertisers."

Goddard said the issue of DAB overcapacity had to be "urgently resolved" by Ofcom, Digital One, Channel 4 and transmission business Arqiva. He added: "Put bluntly, can the UK commercial radio sector really support two DAB multiplexes?

"Ofcom faces a public outcry if the DAB platform were to fail, with owners of the 6.45 million DAB receivers sold to date demanding a refund of their purchases (remember ITV Digital?)."

A working group on the future of digital radio set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport was due to meet for the first time this week.

Source: The Guardian

Hi All,

Interested in your thoughts on the NME review of the Hot Chip's-Made In The Dark album (6/10)-I'm sure you've all heard it by now & imho it's pretty good. But I can't escape the nagging feeling something is lacking. I think the feeling in NME is & I quote "they have swapped the songwriting-for "a higgledy-piggledy tappestry of musical ideas"

In terms of an opening track of an album - it beats 'Little Bear' hands down despite the hidden beauty of the latter's climax.
Here, the opener of new album 'Red', Fyfe Dangerfield can only describe it as "massive". I'll make more sense of it. It's got a Spanish feel to it, it sounds in places like the soundtrack to 'The Mummy', it has a delightful typically-Guillemots chorus, Fyfe Dangerfield goes abnormally high pitched. But yes, it is MASSIVE.

Expect the whole album to have tracks with individual strengths, but none as stunning and jaw-dropping as those on 'Kriss Kross'.

Ridiculous name but my word, what a choon this single is! It's like math rock meets electro.

We Are Rockstars is the new single taken from Does It Offend You, Yeah?'s debut album, 'You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into', due for UK release 17 March.

I've put two versions of Let's Make Out in the new February Streamers playlist. Legal to download if you want them.

Video

Later... with Jools Holland has been my music show of choice right from the start. I always liked Jools, from when he was with Squeeze, to when he presented Channel 4's The Tube through to today. He's a good guy with interesting and varied tastes. Thanks to him, my own musical horizons expanded to incorporate styles such as Amadou & Mariam, Seasick Steve and fado from Mariza.

Jools celebrated his 200th show* last Friday (1st Feb) with guests including Cat Power, Feist, Radiohead and Dionne Warwick. Dionne Warwick didn't sing, unfortunately, I'd have liked that, but the others gave us flawless performances. I'm going to indulge myself and anyone who shares my tastes with a few clippets care of YouTube. Enjoy.

* UK viewers can watch the show again online until Friday. click here


Cat Power - New York (the best version I think I've ever heard)

Video


Cat Power - Lost Someone

Video


Radiohead - Bodysnatchers

Video


Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Video


Radiohead - 15 Step

Video


Feist - Sealion

Video


Dionne Warwick - Walk On By

Video

New single from Clinic, Free Not Free, out today.

experimental rock? Maybe art rock? Just as the Guillemots new single, Kriss Kross, meanders through genres (above), so does this one.

Clinic's new album, Do It, is due in April.

MySpace

Good video. They're still wearing masks but we can see a little more of their faces.

Video

Why the Major Labels Should Be Dancing in the Street., by Woodshed1

Extract:

There are two things I'm a nerd for: music and economics. I should be in hog-heaven with all the music biz statistics flying around at the moment. Unfortunately, the facts are being used so badly I just end up screaming with rage.

I don't suppose many people will be as interested in the statistics, so here's what you normal people can take away: if an article mentions how far revenue has fallen in the music business, they are bullshitting you. If an article tells you physical sales are going down or gives you the impression total sales are falling, they are bullshitting you.

... The amount of music sold ROSE in 2006 and 2007. More music was bought in 2007 than in 2006, more was bought in 2006 than 2005. 14% growth may not be as good as 19% but it's still pretty fantastic. The economy of China (the world's currrent economic miracle) is growing at 10% per year.

Technology killed the radio star

The days of turning on the radio to hear inane DJs rambling, or the same irritating adverts being repeated hour after hour, could almost be over.

New gadgets capable of learning your musical tastes and piping relevant songs to you via the internet have arrived.

Logitech’s Squeezebox Duet (£279, available in March) plugs into your hi-fi and connects wirelessly to your computer using a home wi-fi network. You will then need to set up your computer to receive songs over the internet from a “personalised” station such as Last.fm (www.last.fm). Older Squeezebox models may also work, though a bit of tinkering may be required.

Last.fm works by tracking what you’re already listening to with your computer, whether that’s on iTunes, on CD or online. It then compares your musical choices to those of 20m people around the world and, when it finds someone similar, automatically selects new songs that you’re likely to enjoy from a library of more than 3m, creating a station tailored for you.

Other personalised radio stations, such as Mi-Xfm (tinyurl.com/2yubkb), need a little more interaction, asking you to rate each tune they play and altering their playlist to match.

A million Brits are now tuning in to personalised stations online every week, and many are also tuning out traditional radio. Logitech’s new gadget takes it one step further by allowing you to listen through your hi-fi instead of through your computer. If you want your own personalised programme, though, you’ll have to pay Last.fm a £1.50 per month subscription for the privilege.

Making the leap from the PC to the living room will give a huge boost to the new radio services, believes Christian Ward of Last.fm: “The move this year is all about getting personalised radio into the home, in a simple way, and then onto mobile phones and beyond.”

The sound quality of Last.fm is acceptable – every bit as good as that of the best DAB stations.

Taking personalised radio fully mobile, although it’s available only in the US for now, is Slacker.com’s Portable Radio Player (from $200/£100). Launched this week, it comes preloaded with up to 40 stations containing thousands of tracks. As you rate individual tracks, Slacker learns your tastes and refreshes the player’s built-in memory with other songs, using your wi-fi connection.

A 4in screen lets you browse playlists and view album artwork – although it will also screen a couple of adverts each hour if you don’t upgrade to a $7.50 (£3.75) monthly fee. The subscription also allows you to skip tracks or save them to the player to listen to again. Slacker.com doesn’t yet know how soon its service will be on offer in Britain.

Personalised broadcasts of the future will probably have either advertising or a price tag attached, just as they do today. But once your radio knows exactly what you want to hear, the idea of a human DJ – however cheeky his banter – might start to sound a little dated.

In Germany last week, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), the service that offers easier tuning and catchup facilities to radio listeners, had its funding cut because of poor take-up. One reason was that consumers were switching to listening online, a classic case of a new technology being overtaken by an even newer one before it has had a chance to take hold (remember how laser discs were overtaken by DVDs?).

In Britain, a survey by Rajar, the research organisation, revealed that one in six listeners to personalised radio were listening to less live radio than ever before. Might this all signal the beginning of the end for music radio as we know it?

Source: Times Online

Madonna - 'Filth and Wisdom' debuts at Berlinale 2008, by me.

Extract:

The first screening of Madonna's directorial debut, Filth and Wisdom, a romantic comedy / musical, took place earlier this afternoon, 13 February, at the Berlin Film Festival 2008, followed by an international press conference.

The questions asked were pretty bog standard and disappointing by and large, but a few elicited interesting responses. Most of the music featured in the film was by Eugene Hütz's uncle. Also featured in the soundtrack is Britney Spears. The press picked up the scent like wolves but Madonna deflected them by saying Britney and other featured artists were all friends of hers and weren't going to charge her too much to use their music. (Madonna also used her own music, Erotica, because she wasn't going to charge herself.)

Madonna said she's looking at new ways of releasing the film, possibly via the internet first.

Tigerstyle are two Scottish brothers who have been fusing hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, two-step garage and desi sounds, particularly folk traditions of punjabi music, for over a decade. They have produced mixes for artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent, M.I.A. and Busta Rhymes. More recently, they've been collaborating with guest vocalists such as Gunjan and Canadian rapper Blitzkrieg, and musicians to mix it up even more.

From their MySpace:

Tigerstyle are one of the few Asian acts to have ever recorded a live session for the legendary late Sir John Peel. They were given the opportunity to showcase material from their forthcoming album supported by a full band at the first ever BBC Electric Proms in September 2006, and were selected out of 1000s of bands to perform on the first ever BBC Introducing Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in July 2007.

More tracks on their MySpace. I've attached a few videos below.

Live performance by Tigerstyle at the BBC Electric Proms 2006 - Maiya, slow, over 8 mins long, the singer is Gunjan.

Video


From the same performance, Jadhoo, which brings in R&B.

Video


Mele Wich Wajde, which is more bhangra.

Video

Also on the Jools Holland show were The Imagined Village, the biggest yet most coherent fusion project I think I've ever come across.

The Imagined Village, who appeared at Womad 2007, are a project led by Simon Emmerson, with contributions from folk royalty across the cultures, reflecting multiculturalism in the UK. They include: The Copper Family, Sheila Chandra, Benjamin Zephaniah, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Paul Weller, Transglobal Underground, Tunng, Chris Wood, Billy Bragg, Tiger Moth, The Gloworms and Dhol Foundation.

At first, you hear all the different sounds individually, then they start to flow into and around each other so they gel, creating a new sound. I can't wait to hear more.

There was an album released last October, The Imagined Village, which isn't available in Last.fm yet. As soon as it is, I'll tag it 'my gang 08'.

Amazon.co.uk

There are a few videos in YouTube, one introducing the collective, the second a music video, the third a live performance. I'll upload tonight's performances when they're available in YouTube over the weekend.

Introduction

Video


Tam Lyn (retold) (9 mins) (folk meets trip-hop)

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Hard Times of Old England Retold (Live performance recorded just before they went on stage at Womad 07)

Video