Blogs
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Stop Polluting Public Places With Crap Music!! Playing tunes on mobile phones gets my goat...
By Jon Thomson on 2 March 2009
It’s official - society is in terminal decline. How will humankind survive when some still think it is acceptable to play music out loud on their phones? Fair enough, some people are ignorant and stupid, but we catered for those placing signs around public areas requesting that they don’t commit this unforgivable sin. Failure was inevitable - the simple English proved too strenuous on the offenders dwindling IQs. So we drew simple pictures to compliment the sign - they turned a blind eye and turned the tunes up. The braver of us took a stand, asking politely if they might cease with the noise pollution – to those fallen souls, our thoughts are with you.
It’s unclear whether they are completely oblivious to the rest of the world, or if they yearn for a reaction from others. Perhaps they imagine passers-by will commend them on their taste in music, or maybe inquire as to how the sound quality of their phone got to be so incredibly grainy. It’s like a revival in the 80’s obsession of ghetto blasters over the shoulder but with too much treble and much worse music. It’s a shame really, I’m sure there would be far fewer complaints, and therefore deaths, if mobile abusers were to opt for some soothing classical symphonies for example.
Anyway, mobiles are just one exceptionally irritating example of how it is increasingly difficult to find solace from the day to day audio assault. In the cities the problem is compounded, wherever you go an endless barrage of speakers seem to confront you. To make matters worse they are apparently programmed to spit out your least favourite song the moment you come within audible range. Stores and stalls, cabs, lifts, toilets, Fight Like Apes gigs - there is no escape from unnecessary and bothersome music.
As a man whose frame of mind is easily swayed by his environment I have always been meticulous about the music I am listening to reflecting the setting I find myself in. Naturally, this makes me particularly prone to being angered by having others tastes inflicted upon me – not that I’d take a stand against mobiles, I’d still rather have tastes inflicted than actual bodily harm. It seems the only way to avoid the daily aural savaging is to poke your own ear drums out and bury your head in the ground to be sure.
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When Bands Attack Their Own Fans! Shocking verbal and physical attacks during live shows...
By Scott Colothan on 24 February 2009
Last week a video surfaced online of Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx heartlessly reducing a female fan to tears by using threats and calling her a “fucking whore” (alongside other obscenities) after she threw a water bottle towards him. Extremely hypocritical, the bottle in question was the exact same one he tossed into the crowd moments earlier. Despite him issuing a half-baked apology, he still came across like an idiot.
The whole sorry episode got me thinking of other times rock stars have attacked their fans – either verbally or with physical violence - during live shows. And there are some right shockers.
From squeaky-cleam Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong drop-kicking someone in the front row, to Henry Rollins beating seven shades of shit out of a troublemaker, to GG Allin smearing his own blood on a poor fan, this list has it all.
Admittedly, the vast majority are in retaliation to something a fan has done first.
Just flick through the videos below - but note some may be NSFW. If you can think of any more examples, post your links at the bottom of the page.
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The Juno Soundtrack Is For Wimps! Harrowing film soundtrack alternatives, not for the faint of heart!
By Paul Reed on 24 February 2009
There are few things that I love more than immersing myself in a great film. At its very best, the medium can be every bit as life affirming, emotionally arresting and enriching as listening to a favourite album or going to a live show. They are both essentially about escapism and providing compelling storytelling so that we may understand the human experience a little more.
Even better is when a film also exhibits an appropriately jaw dropping soundtrack. The music augmenting the images is every bit as integral as characterisation, dialogue and direction in my book.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t about the greatest film soundtracks in the world ever…That has been done to the death and would probably amount to the equivalent of a general anaesthetic to you, dear readers. If it was, I would have featured such predictable greats as O’Brother Where Art Thou, Lost in Translation, Pyscho, Clockwork Orange, The Jungle Book etc..
No, this is a riposte of sorts to the absolute uproar caused by the Juno Soundtrack last year. Although an enjoyably average American Indie flick, the OST to Juno was very overrated. Despite featuring such musical talents as Kimya Dawson, Belle and Sebastian, The Moldy Peaches and Yo la Tengo, it was just too insipid to leave a lasting impression. It simply wasn’t the perfect marriage of visual and musical atmospheres that all good soundtracks should be.
So, if you aren’t afraid or too much of an Indie wet blanket, check out these harrowing film soundtrack alternatives: Not for the faint of heart!
1) Fantomas – The director’s cut
This definitely wins the coveted prize for most brutal sounding and downright disturbing film soundtrack covers album of all time. Though what else did we expect from a collaborative project featuring Mike Patton, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo and King Buzzo from the Melvins?
Sounding not unlike The Locust systematically tearing apart the set of Jonathan Ross’s Film 2009, the LP features fantastically terrifying noise metal versions of themes from The Godfather, an Ennio Morricone score, Cape Fear and The Omen. Be warned, the latter will make your entire day feel like a scene from a Resident Evil nightmare even if you’re happily skipping in a summer meadow, so use with extreme caution.
All in all, it is equivalent to a nice romantic night in with Dr Hannibal Lector. The Twin Peaks theme cover is utter balls though. Speaking of David Lynch…
2) Blue Velvet
Of all Angelo Badalamenti’s brilliant scores for David Lynch films, this remains the most haunting. It couldn’t be any more ‘Noir’, short of featuring shared guest vocals from Raymond Chandler and Humphrey Bogart from beyond the grave and the sense of unease is both palpable and unrelenting throughout.
Although the soundtrack stands alone with Russian inspired orchestral compositions sitting alongside the most bizarre use of Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’, it is the perfect foreboding accompaniment to Lynch’s Hitchcock-inspired visual masterpiece.
Badalamenti somehow conjured up the pathos, voyeurism and rage at the heart of Dennis Hopper’s ‘Frank’, the unparalleled psychopathic screen villain role that launched his career.
3) Bloodsport
O.K., time for a bit of fun. It would take a very cold heart to not fall in love with the combination of power ballads and pure cheese on offer here. Paul Hertzog’s soundtrack to the ultra violent 80’s story of Frank Dux (a.k.a Jean Claude Van Damme, of course) is a winner every time. Although a bit of a video nasty at the time, I used to watch the film everyday on the sly as a kid and I turned out alright. Didn’t I? Saying that, I used to watch wrestling a lot and still now have to try hard to convince myself that I’m not Ric Flair so maybe parental vigilance should be exercised. ‘Bloodsport’ is an undisputed martial arts cult classic though.
The anthemic ‘Fight To Survive’ and ultimate tear jerker ‘On my Own’ are both sung by Stan Bush, a man that makes Lionel Ritchie sound like Sonic Youth.
In short, this soundtrack is bold as brass with more fine cheese than Borough market. It will apparently fetch you a few quid on e-bay too, due to a limited pressing. All together now- “Kumite, Kumite, Kumite!”
4) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Lets be perfectly clear- I’m talking about the original 1974 film here, the grimmest, most grotesque film ever made on a shoestring budget that has inspired an entire culture of spin offs, remakes and widespread unnatural fear of insane sledgehammer wielding men wearing masks of human skin. What's the matter now, a bit squeamish? Go back to Little Miss Sunshine and hiding behind the couch when the Daleks appear on Doctor Who then.
The fact remains; this is a great film score. It is full of tension and unpredictable composition with a theme that may not be as iconic as the original ‘Halloween’ but is equally bone chilling and memorable.
The combination of woozy synths and atmospheric dread apparently inspired Animal Collective in their formative years so perhaps they should soundtrack the next inevitable remake instead of a bunch of hulking poser metal retards that will no doubt be waiting in the wings? The horror, the horror…
5) ‘The Wrestler’ by Bruce Springsteen
I’m not going to include the entire OST for this but instead focus on the key track. Although tacked on to the end of the Boss’s recent lacklustre ‘Working on a dream’ album, it is easily the best song on there.
“Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me can you ask for anything more?”
An absolutely perfect encapsulation of Darren Aronofsky’s very human story of suffering and redemption, it also happens to be one of Springsteen’s finest characters portrayals of the disenchanted, the shut out and the run down. It is The Boss at his least showbiz with the sheer empathy and Dylan-esque inhabitation of characters striking a truly resonant note at the film’s conclusion.
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Evolution Songs: Celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th Birthday From David Bowie to Amy Winehouse...
By Scott Colothan on 12 February 2009
To mark what would have been legendary British naturalist Charles Darwin's 200th birthday this week (February 12), I present a collection of songs to mark the occasion!
Darwin also published his seminal book 'On The Origin of Species' 150 years ago this year, so I've come up with as many (loosely) evolution-related songs as possible. If you can think of any more, post them below.
David Bowie: 'Changes' – Nice and succinct, Bowie sums up evolution perfectly
Bruce Springsteen: 'Part Man, Part Monkey'
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The Dreaded Credit Crunch - A Musician's Perspective I'm skint but always have been...
By Julian Velard on 10 February 2009
The Credit Crunch. I never heard the term before I moved to England. Now I hear it all the time, read it daily in the headlines, see it smattered across scattered pages of the latest London Lite on the tube. The BBC has a way with words. Poetic descriptions seem to float out the TV set every 15 minutes. Last week it was ‘Siberian Winds’ and ‘Flirting with Hypothermia’. But the dreaded ‘Credit Crunch’ has been their favorite phrase of the past six months. New programs pop up nightly on BBC 3 about how to save while shopping locally. Last week I watched Gordon Ramsay teach men with Moobs (that’s Man Boobs for Americans) to eat cheap and healthily, sandwiched between segments of him shouting expletives at McFly and running the London marathon. All this commotion caused by something that sounds a lot like my favorite sugary breakfast cereal. To be honest, I’m not too fussed. In fact, it’s the only time in my life I’m glad I’m a musician.
I’ve been playing music professionally for 10 years. It hasn’t been the easiest road. So many days I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and grab that curly haired 19-year old kid, shake his shoulders, smack him up and down and convince him to do something reasonable with his life, something where there’s a guaranteed cheque on Friday. I’ve had to work my fair share of jobs to make ends meet. Waited tables for years, bartended, even taught elementary school gym. By day I led vicious gangs of kindergarteners in jumping jacks and squat thrusts. By night I sang my songs in every hole in the wall club, hotel, bar and restaurant New York had to offer. Countless evenings I’d come home at 2 in the morning, lug my 45-pound, 88 key digital Piano up a 4 story walk-up, only to wake up at 7 AM and head off to 8 hours of pounding basketballs and twirling hula-hoops. I vividly recall frothing at the mouth while singing My Funny Valentine to a group of noisy investment bankers slurrping Beefeater Martinis in a midtown cabaret bar. They talked through the entire song, a brave, drunken few shouting that most sacrilegious of requests, Billy Joel’s Piano Man.
One thing a recession teaches you is there’s no such thing as a guaranteed cheque on Friday. This past fall I recall watching footage of ex-Morgan Stanley employees aimlessly idling at Canary Wharf, flocks blue-shirt oxford boys looking like deer in the headlights. These guys knew exactly what they were gonna do with their lives. They had a 10-year plan: work 100 hours a week till your 30, then sit back and watch the cash roll in, a steady stream of bonuses whether their clients make or lose money. And here was a generation of Gordon Geckos standing around like Footballers at halftime. Brilliant.
Being a musician offers something that few career paths do: purpose without money. Apart from a few notable, extremely talented exceptions who are typically self-absorbed (Sting, Chris Martin), self-righteous (Springsteen, Bono), pompous (McCartney), or bloated egomaniacs (Kanye West) who look at music as a path to fame (Beyonce) and use songs as marketing slogans (Jay-Z), most musicians make a modest living at best, and at worst live off credit cards and take-out menus for the bulk of their lives (that was me before my record deal, and may still be me in the future. Time will tell. I’m praying I get to become one of the self-absorbed, pompous, egomaniacal ones!) The one thing we are never want for is purpose. I find most musicians so wide-eyed and naïve that they actually believe quality will prevail, and their goal is to be a part of, or get as close to that quality as possible. Money is just an afterthought. I suspect that’s why the music business is full of sharks and opportunists. Musicians are a biggest bunch of suckers I know, myself included.
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Lux Interior: 1948-2009 A tribute to The Cramps frontman...
By Jamie Bowman on 6 February 2009
“I loved The Cramps. I was into them right from the beginning. They had such great style and they were funny as well. They knew there was loads going on and they took it to the extreme. Taking it to the extreme is always important.” Steve Severin, bass player, Siouxsie and the Banshees.
The news that legendary front man of The Cramps, Lux Interior had finally got to meet his maker will come as an ironic surprise to the legion of fans who had always worshiped him as a member of the undead. Like Vicious, Morrison or Cobain, here was a man who was clearly not supposed to be long for this world and yet unlike so many fakers before and since, Lux survived, prospered and left a ton of sleazily wonderful tunes to boot. Respect is undoubtedly due.
Miles Copeland’s IRS label soon came calling and perhaps fittingly The Cramps were sent off to their spiritual home in Sun Studios, Memphis with legendary producer and ex Big Star man Alex Chilton. 1980’s Songs The Lord Taught Us followed containing such ugly gems as Garbageman, I Was A Teenage Werewolf and Strychnine. Lux himself was becoming a legend especially in the live arena where the sight of his leather thong, high heels and Iggy-esque self harming caused primeval delight for a generation of punk fans looking for the true spirit of degeneracy.
Remarkably given the sheer squalor and dark humour contained, The Cramps grew to become icons, virtually inventing the term psychobilly along the way. Their classic compilation Off The Bone became an essential part of any young punk’s collection and looking at my copy today with it’s 3D cover (the free glasses long since lost) I can’t help but thank them for introducing me to so many killer tunes from rock n roll’s past. Long forgotten heroes like Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee and Ricky Nelson were icons to Lux and he treated their Devil’s Music as an excuse to journey into the dark stuff of early rock n roll. The stuff that was too often forgotten after Elvis joined the army. It comes as little surprise to learn that one particularly ardent fan was serial killer John Wayne Gacy who sent Lux paintings from Death Row.
Never mainstream, Lux nevertheless left an indelible stain on pop culture. Listen to The White Stripes ‘ take on feral blues or the Von Bondies’ aping of raw rock n roll for musical proof. Bobby Gillespie, Kevin Shields, Jason Spaceman – the list goes on and it’s a good one.
These days Iggy’s selling us home insurance and Johnny Rotten butter while Lux is in a box. Truly there is no justice. Frightening, maniacal, terrifying. Lux Interior meant it man.
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Introducing... The Temper Trap Latest signing from the man behind Muse, Foals and Green Day...
By David Renshaw on 5 February 2009
Without wishing to sound too cold you should pay attention to The Temper Trap for one very good reason. It's not their catchy songs, great music skills or anthemic qualities, it's the involvement of Mr Korda Marshall.
Marshall has been involved in the careers of the likes of Muse, Foals, Madonna, Green Day, James Blunt and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has worked with massive labels like RCA, Warners and Atlantic but has now opted out to restart his Infectious Records imprint and focus on running a succesful indie label.
That is where The Temper Trap come in. They are the first new signings to Infectious and have already featured on the Gigwise tips for 2009 and the BBC Sound of 2009 longlist. Their inclusion is not merely through strong connections though. The band have been compared to TV On The Radio and U2 amongst others and it's clear to see why. Their 2006 self titled EP is a glorious blend of modern beats and instrumentation mixed with an old school emotive soul mainly deriving from Dougy Mandagi's excellent vocals. A single, 'The Sweet Disposition', is due for release soon and an album is being recorded with Jim Abiss (Arctic Monkeys, Ladytron).
Definitely a band to keep a keen eye on.
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Waxing Lyrical: Are Songwriters Getting Worse? Yes, if the Ting Tings are anything to go by...
By Jon Thomson on 4 February 2009
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Lyrics, they’re not easy, but when you get them right...
“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away” - McCartney, ‘Yesterday’
“She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair and from your lips she drew the Hallelujah” - Cohen ‘Hallelujah’
Throughout popular music many lyricists/poets have graced us with some of the most touching and significant work ever put to paper. So how are we getting on today?
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A Playlist For A Day In The Snow Wrap up warm and listen to these great tracks
By Daniel Melia on 2 February 2009
If you're anywhere near the south-east of England today then you'll be no doubt looking out of the window and seeing several inches of snow, or even a foot if you're lucky.
Many of you will be stuck at home not being able to get to work or even stuck in work wishing you were at home.
To help you brighten up the hours until the white stuff turns inevitably into a grey slush we've put together a playlist of tracks relating to today's weather event.
We even put it on Spotify, you can listen and add to the playlist HERE
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Bob Dylan And Iggy Pop, What Are You Doing? We know you're in it for the money...
By Jon Thomson on 30 January 2009
The music industry is in crisis! The last time someone bought a CD ‘Brothers in Arms’ was at number one, legal downloads are about as popular as Karen Matthews, venues are closing down left right and centre and blah blah blah blah blah... You get the idea. So what can artists/groups do to maintain there living expenses and their integrity? Whore your-selves of course!
Of course it’s not the first time he has licensed tracks. Over his lengthy career Dylan’s music has featured in many campaigns. Most recently he allowed the use of songs from ‘Modern Times’ to promote iPod and Agent Provocateur. Personally, I have no issue with this, but can we all just be honest about the reasons why, no more sugar coating and “believing in” pointless brands. I would have a lot more respect for anyone who just came out with, “well they offered me a huge cheque”. Having said that, all the money in the world cannot justify the rumours of a Pepsi advert featuring Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’ and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas – yep, you read right, Will.I.Am. Actually, it appears that rumour has just been confirmed – see the news section.
In Europe and Asia it’s not uncommon for US artists to sell their music, and them-selves over and over and over. They will promote any old crap safe in the knowledge that the bulk of their audience is US based and will therefore never see what lows they might sink to for a “quick buck”. Shows you what high regard foreign audiences are held with.
Looking at some of the recent controversial ad campaigns currently being discussed we have Courtney Love releasing the rights to the Nirvana back catalogue. I’m holding out for a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk advert using ‘Milk It’, or maybe replacing Groove Armada on the M&S adverts with ‘Tourette’s’. No? ‘Lounge Act’ for DFS? How about ‘Territorial Pissings’ for cat litter? I’ll stop.
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Lady Gaga, Madonna, Bono - When Music Stars Fall Over! 
Codeine Velvet Club Hit The South Coast - Photos
Paloma Faith Sparkles At KOKO - PHOTOS