After a three-year hiatus, Erol Alkan and Richard Norris’ side-project Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve are about to drop another psychedelic tab on us all, right on time for the summer months.
Their latest single, ‘Black Noise’, is more of the freakbeat-remix sensibility that BTWS pioneered on their 2008 album, Ark 1, along with a string of EPs; Birth, Spring, George and West.
Erol and Norris have gone back to the record box again, sampling The Byrds ‘Eight Miles High’ on top of the finest vocal and drum loops of the psych-garage vintage.
The release date for BTWS’ new 12” vinyl is set for May 28 on The Third Mynd Recordings. Tracklisting has been announced as:
A. Black Noise
B. Door To Tomorrow
Keep your eyes peeled on Substance.tv for more details.
In the meantime, you can listen to a preview for ‘Black Noise’ here:
A response to Rosamund Urwin, the Evening Standard hack whose article tested my rage-o-meter by cosying up to indie-pop vermin King Charles
Dear Rosamund Urwin,
Writers whose work inspires strong feelings – whether it be love, compassion or rage – should be praised. So it is credit to you that I could only steady myself to respond to your article about King Charles in the Evening Standard after spending the month since publication shooting heroin into my eyeballs. Now that I’m feeling relaxed enough to type, let me congratulate you on writing an article that filled me with more rage than if your newspaper had hired a team of zoo keepers to hold me down while their prize rhinoceros emptied its bowels into my mouth.
There are only two possible explanations I can come up with as to why an apparently well-educated, experienced, eminent young journalist such as yourself would write such bilge:
1. Someone connected to King Charles’s father in the banking industry, i.e. one of the Standard’s editors, put a gun to your head and made you do it.
Maybe that’s the only reason I can think… wait, no, here it is:
2. The above is obviously a hyperbolic and simplified account of the multitude of factors which contribute to the shittiness of your article and my gagging response to it. The truth, as always, is more complex. But the idea that you prostituted yourself, or were simply following orders (depending on how you want to spin the old concentration-camp-guard scenario) is essentially true. So if we’re going to break your article down into its precise components of awfulness and why it enraged everyone I know who has read it, here we go:
* Your evaluations of King Charles, based mostly on the praise other people have attributed to him, shows you are unqualified to be writing about music. And it also proves, if proof were needed, that a paper’s financial desk should be kept well away from the arts pages, with cattle prods if necessary. Your evaluations are based on the artist’s current market value, rather than the quality of his art. You mention “devoted fans”; “gig venues getting bigger”; “2012 looks set to be King Charles’s year,” as though he’s a stock to be traded, not an artist to be (in this case) sneered at. And let me tell you, even if he were a stock to be traded, he’d be subprime – the kind of crap that will sink the music industry.
Your biography on the Standard website says that along with working on its City desk, you have a “fashion obsession,” which explains the totally unnecessary cataloguing of your subject’s clothes in paragraph 5: “He’s wearing skinny jeans, a cream jacket and a pale blue shirt unbuttoned almost to the waist when we meet. The shoes are vintage Fendi, left open to reveal red socks.” I nearly overdosed when I read this. Do you profile the head of the Royal Bank of Scotland by saying he’s wearing a single-breasted pinstripe suit with a starched white shirt, 100% silk blue and burgundy tie (Windsor knotted), and the finest Italian loafers a multi-millionaire can buy? No. You admire the plumage, but ignore the stench of the bird.
On the spare occasions you mention the subject’s music, it’s as though you consulted Musical Genres For Dummys: “His songs draw on many different genres: he calls his style “glam folk” but there’s Afro-beat, hip-hop and country influences, too.”
* King Charles himself is, of course, reliant of the kind of puff pieces you wrote to parachute him into the consciousness of people who don’t really like music, but sustain the industry by buying whatever gets enough plays on the radio – uncritical, mouth-breathing drones. Nobody who really likes music would give him the time of day, so he’s relying on pieces such as yours to get him into the mainstream. (And the puffery of your piece is no better highlighted than by the fact that the restaurant in which you conducted the interview is not only mentioned in the body of the text, but a link to its website is included in the photo caption.)
If anyone with a knowledge of music wrote about King Charles, he’d be like a fish in a barrel waiting to be speared. But you have swallowed every piece of spin thrown at you about his talent and uniqueness, when you should have flagged it up as bullshit. King Charles appropriates a number of genres and purées them into baby food. He mushes them up into something so polite and gooey that it becomes an insult to the musicians who operate within the genres you have associated him with. Fans of afrobeat and country music aren’t appreciative of the publicity they receive when they’re sung out by a M.O.R. guffball like King Charles, who incorporates them as a cynical P.R. manoeuvre to appear to have ‘eclectic influences’. He’s a fifth-rate industry cheeseball masquerading as a Devendra Banhart-style dandy who should be selling crystals and bath salts for a living.
* I appreciate that a business orientated paper such as the Evening Standard shouldn’t be saddled with too many expectations when it comes to music journalism or arts criticism of any sort. But as a regional newspaper which claims to ‘serve’ London, you would do well to look beyond the industry’s marquee names when informing your readers of the city’s cultural landscape. In London, there are at least five folk clubs, each with twenty singer-songwriters a hundred times more talented, passionate and deserving of your coverage. Try this guy, or this girl, or this band just for starters. You could do them and your readers a service by covering them instead of a guy whose record company can already afford billboards to advertise him. London has one of the ripest music scenes of any city in the world, so it gripes me and my peers to see my city’s only newspaper signposting its readers towards the most embarrassing people playing music in London, as though this is the best it has to offer.
* Music writing used to be a vehicle for softball approbation of big-name stars. That was in the 1950s, when music reviews looked like TV listings – informative and uncritical. If you were writing in the 1950s, your article would have served its purpose. But readers nowadays demand more from music writing. The fact that the majority of your readers probably don’t care that much about music or its criticism doesn’t matter. A writer or critic is supposed to be more knowledgeable and discerning than her readers, and has the platform to inform and educate as well as entertain. It’s an insult to people who take music seriously to read the kind of dross you contributed.
The sans-culottes stormed the Bastille in 1789. Now in 2012, the socialist French presidential hopeful Francis Hollande is trying to storm the banlieue. And how?
With ‘Niggas in Paris’ of course.
There’s nothing wrong with politicians using hip soundtracks for their campaigns. Obama took the 2008 election flanked by The Boss, Beyonce, Will.I.AM, Janelle Monae and – his ace in the deck – Celine Dion.
In Britain our politicians get by using music they haven’t asked permission for. In 2010 Cameron’s Tories showed how in touch they were by using a Keane song at their manifesto launch. The band then vowed not to vote for them. I’m not sure which bit is more embarrassing, and for who.
Musicians’ endorsements have become a cringey fact of life on the 21st-century campaign trail.
But when that campaign takes you into the French banlieue (suburbs/outskirts), the infamous inner-city neighbourhoods populated by disaffected, often angry black and Middle Eastern immigrant communities, you need to be a bit more careful with song choices. Does Hollande’s team really think bragging about his “niggas” is a wise election move?
We’ll have to wait and see if Hollande can push Sarkozy out but beware. He’s definitely not in his zone just yet.
Last week London saw shows by two of the stars of the electronic avant-pop world in 2013, as both Money from Manchester and When Saints Go Machine from Copenhagen separately headlined shows. Money were supported by Great Waves and another band Kult Country were scheduled to play but didn’t feel London was ready for them. As all three hail from Manchester, are firm friends and are really, really good they will soon have a scene named in their honour.
When Saints Go Machine are more exposed but still a bit of a secret although from the look of last week’s sold out Hoxton Bar and Kitchen that will change when they release new material later this year and their next album early in 2013.
On Friday they also won an award at the Danish version of the Brits/Grammys. A sort of best newcomer/one to watch award. They therefore got to play a big TV show and you can see that performance here.
Here are links and downloads for all three bands. Listening is highly recommended.
MONEY – SO LONG
MONEY WHO’S GOING TO LOVE YOU NOW
WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE – BITTER SWEET SYMPHONY (DOWNLOAD VIA SOUNDCLOUD)
On last night’s Newsnight, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson made an extraordinary claim: that the way the police handled last summer’s riots was “a tribute to policing in London.” We don’t need a recap of the anarchy that went on in 2011 (see previous blogs) to offer a picture not so deserving of trumpets and medals of honour. But here’s an interesting and not to mention amusing video which highlight’s the Mayor’s unique approach to policing: Boris himself conducting dawn raids on suspected crack dens.
When I blogged on August’s Riots at a time when they were still spreading through the capital (never mind Birmingham and Manchester), people got very het up about two words: “social causes.” People seemed to find it more comfortable to sound off about remarks about dogs, scum, animals, urchins, monsters. It was an ugly episode in our recent history for more than just twocked tellies and burned-out furniture shops.
But look how it changed. This video remembers when the riots were still a Tottenham phenomenon, and the rioters were being called “demonstrators”:
Photo credit: StuartBannocks
Now the last in a long series of reports and investigations have presented an undeniable body of evidence that policing, poverty, socio-economics and opportunism all played their part in the disturbances.
This report is probably the most important simply because it’s published by the Riots Communities and Victims Panel, the “independent” panel appointed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg to survey the causes of August’s riots. They finally published their final report – After the Riots – this morning.
It’s a cracking read. Having visited 22 communities – some that rioted and others (Newcastle and Luton) that didn’t – the panel offers chapters full of recommendations on how:
The Government’s Troubled Families Programme needs to reach out to the 500,000 “forgotten families” because it doesn’t at the moment.
Young people need to “build character” to resist the temptations of skiving, gangs and riots, and making “poor decisions.” Schools need to step in.
“Big brands” need to advertise responsibly (and less) towards young people, and think more about corporate social responsibility
The media needs to stop discriminating against young people
In a statement on the report, Chairman Darra Singh said: “The causes of the riots were complex and there is not one thing that will prevent them from happening again.”
It’s nice to hear this from government officials for once. At least he’s not dismissing all this rioting nonsense as “criminality, pure and simple” (Cameron’s words, definitely not mine) or the work of pumped-up black youths who listen to “hip-hop” and don’t know what the Cenotaph is. Dogs, scum, animals, urchins, monsters.
The riots happened because of a complex mess of social and economic problems behind the scenes but never hard to spot; and Thatcherism, New Labour and the Cameroons have all played their part in creating it. This is above party politics.
And yet it’s not surprising that as an “independent” body appointed by the government, some of the RCVP’s findings fit nicely with the government’s official line.
So it blames social media and TV, and the government wants to limit social media use during times of crisis and emergency. Funnily enough, it also vindicates the government’s decision to punish Facebook users who created groups and events during the Riots. Two men from Cheshire – Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22 – both got staggering four-year jail terms for inciting riots (that never happened) through Facebook.
And this proposal becomes a bit indicative of the whole report by the end, to be honest. Does the RCVP expect “big brands” to actually kickstart a more responsible marketing strategy aimed at young people. 80% of interviewees in the RCVP survey felt advertising put pressure on young people to possess the latest products but, I’d argue, a similar percentage of young people said (after the riots) they were out to get something for themselves surrounded by a society that had already rewarded the buccaneer capitalism of investment bankers, Westminster millionaires and private healthcare companies. If they haven’t all let go of what they know is a good market, will the advertising companies?
It would be a massive shame that the only legislation to come out of the riots – rather than a Budget addressing £80 billion a year corporate tax evasion, or more support to the frontline services (youth clubs, for example) that were cut weeks before those “five days in August” – would be a fogeyish and autocratic “emergency measure” on social media.
We haven’t learnt much yet, but it’s high time we did.
Cassetteboy just got himself some hot competition. Australian lawyer and video maker Hugh Atkin has just dropped what we believe to be the finest political/musical mash-up ever, slicing and dicing Eminem with this year’s US presidential candidates. This is prime stuff.
Before watering down his dance-music roots to make advert muzak on the gazillion-selling Play (and beyond), Moby made some great records. The irritating little vegan’s first single, ‘Go’, was a euphoric dance anthem that sampled ‘Laura Palmer’s Theme’ from Twin Peaks and was one of the most soulful pieces of electronic music of the 90s.
Since then, Moby’s best work — and there’s not a lot of it — has had something to do with to his headfucker friend. Their ethereal dreamscapes compliment each other, as evidenced by Moby’s instrumental track, ‘Shot in the Back of the Head’, whose video Lynch directed. The track he donated to the David Lynch foundation, ‘Poison Tree’, wasn’t bad either.
After years in the cultural recycling bin, Moby is back working with the Twin Peaks-creator-turned-music-maker, whose debut album, the bonkers and scary Crazy Clown Time was released this year. Moby is doing a remix of the Lynch track ‘Noah’s Ark’, which is released on April 21st. Let’s hope the guy who scared us to death with Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire has filled his buddy’s head with the kind of nightmares that inspire good music once more. We’ll have the stream as soon as it arrives.
The last we heard of legendary British crooner Engelbert Humperdinck, there was a rumour flying around he was dead. Not the case. He’s actually alive and well, and representing the UK in the Eurovision song contest this year. Artistically, entering the E.S.C. is usually short-hand for ceasing to exist. But his song kind of rocks, if you’re into music like Lee Hazlewood, Frank Sinatra and, well, Engelbert Humperdinck. ‘Love Will Set You Free’ has Spanish guitar, lush strings, Engelbert’s velvety voice, and praise the lord, not a synth or 4/4 beat in earshot. The video is also surprisingly tasteful.
It says a lot about Eurovision that entering with a decent song by a guy who can sing is regarded as a ballsy choice. But it is. And there’s no point in being snobbish about Eurovision, either. A lot of people watch this shit, so it must have something going for it besides the cringe factor. On the rare occasions that an artist we like enters Eurovision, we get behind them. Like we did with Sebastien Tellier singing for France in 2008 with his electro-pop song ‘Divine’, which he made even better by inhaling helium from a balloon before hitting the high notes. Engelbert is too old-school for any gimmicks, which may run against him in this freak show. But for once, we’re happy to see the song and the artist speak for themselves.
It became pretty obvious – if it wasn’t already – that the Guettho-dance-pop had eaten itself the moment Will.I.AM, J-Lo and Mick Jagger came together on “T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever).”
Mick Jagger growling incomprehensibly and bopping around in front of an interstellar landscape was like watching the final minutes of an infirm dancing bear pumped up on medical-grade amphetamines. It all served as a handy metaphor for the current pop-dance scene – intergalactic in out-sized ego, over the top, cheap and all a bit silly.
Now there’s a chance for something new.
While pop producers like Will.I.AM and David Guetta have been churning out low-grade ‘90s techno for mass market (and club) consumption in the charts (and bragging about how much they like to get pissed like a bunch of damp Grantham teenagers), the retro sound has started rubbing off on the underground.
A string of DJs and producers are coming up with this revamped early-‘90s Detroit-tinged house; fresh air to those of us who’ve tried our best to ignore the radio-friendly “party” music of the last few years. (And yes it’s been that long.)
Along with the likes of Jamie Jones, Joris Voorn and Seth Troxler, Joy Orbison (amongst others) has used the dubstep meat-grinder to create his own kind of bass-heavy house wobble that links today right up to Chicago/Detroit while keeping it totally modern.
Bristol’s Julio Bashmore, meanwhile, has been setting off dancefloors up and down the land armed with huge piano-house tracks like ‘Battle for Middle You’ or his Classixx remix (feat. Karl Dixon), ‘Into the Valley,’ along with a deeper sound as seen on his latest EP, Everyone Needs a Theme Tune.
The fact is, this new wave of “21st-century house” has all bases covered – a more poppy sensibility in Disclosure and the mass appeal vocals of Jesse Ware, while the clubs will be more than happy with Bashmore, Troxler and co.
2012 is going to see a sea change in dance music. Guettho-dance-pop best be watching its back.
