GRAMOFOAM | Some new music stuff… Awesome Tapes from Africa #kill6music - a Gareth rant #kill6music - a Gareth rant No music first thing this morning from me, I want to use the time to have a brief rant about BBC 6 Music’s ‘Primal Scream week’ which has been promoted across all BBC stations this morning (including non-music station Radio 5). It’s a widely-held myth that 6 Music is the home of independent music on mainstream radio, and now they are being incredibly blatant about it. So why do it? The current 6 Music A playlist includes records from four major record labels and four of the biggest indies (Beggars, Domino, Warp, PIAS). For me, it’s pathetic. Of course, this is just my point of view, Anthony is probably disagreeing with all of this after Tristram got a play in the daytime schedules on 6 Music yesterday. Gareth Main The BBC have responded to this article .
BRITTICISMS | “Little People (Black City)” by Matthew Dear ... 33% Of Internet Users Paid For Digital Music Online According to the results of a survey conducted by The Pew Internet organization, 33% of Internet users have paid for digital music online. It's hard to say. Is this newly released statistic surprising or upsetting? At first, it's impressive to think that anyone buys digital music, considering the prevalence of file-sharing. However, in looking at the broader scope of the study, which is to determine how many people are paying to access or download digital content, it's good that music tops the list along with software and apps. Rock isn't dead – it's just resting Out for the count ... Who will be the next band to revive rock? Few things have taken a battering quite like rock this week. After Music Week announced on Monday that the percentage of rock songs in the singles charts fell to the lowest level in half a century, commentators have been sizing up studded drapes to line the coffin of the genre all week. Only a contrarian would deny 2010 was a year dominated by pop in its myriad forms (which may explain the large marketshare). But as a rock fan of 20 years, I can't help feeling like I've been here before. Despite the Music Week statistics, rock still maintains a healthy prescience within the live arena; the likes of Bring Me the Horizon, Bullet for My Valentine and Enter Shikari all play to 5,000-capacity crowds. Elsewhere, the traditional rock set up of vocals, bass, drums and guitars is assisting pop acts in their success like never before. It's rock fans who are buying music magazines too.
White Heat Records Reappraisal OPE 000. | Mint Magazine. Most people will be familiar with the Tuesday night club White Heat, it has seen some of the finest underground, leftfield and even familiar bands grace its stage over the last seven years, that’s not to mention the ever evolving late night club that seeks to push the boundaries of what an indie disco can be. However, there was at one point another facet to its underground empire that included a prolific record label which saw releases from the likes of Comanechi, Fanfarlo and Trencher. Not a lot of people know about White Heat Records these days, it went the way of most small indie labels and effectively died a death but while it existed it really did signify that a belief in something is worth more than anything. In it’s wake it has left one of the most innovative back catalogues of its time, a perfect summation of the diversity and quality of the bands in that all too brief period from 2004 to 2008. These are my personal highlights and memories of the Label: This entry was tagged as .
XL Recordings, the record label that's tearing up the rule book Unless you're an obsessive fan of Kicks Like a Mule's 1992 rave hit the Bouncer – and let's face it, that leaves about three of you – then chances are you won't recognise the man sat sprawled across a big brown leather couch in his Ladbroke Grove offices. If, however, you are a fan of innovative new music, then you probably should. For this is Richard Russell, the boss of XL Recordings, a label that has bucked the trend for gloomy music industry stories over the past decade by breaking a stream of commercially successful yet critically drooled-over artists. The Prodigy, Dizzee Rascal and MIA have all made music on XL, showcasing exactly what the label does best – taking innovative music into the mainstream. "The small release schedule is fundamental to what we do," says Russell of the label he helped launch in 1989. Doesn't he want the company to grow? Certainly, XL's history does not read like that of your average FTSE 100 company. But there is more to it than that. Really?
November's best new music from across the MAP Each month, the Music Alliance Pact – a team of 34 music blogs from around the world, including this one – simultaneously post tracks chosen by each blog. To download all 34 songs in one file, click here The Guardian Music BlogTrophy Wife - Microlite (acoustic) Exclusive acoustic version of the Oxford indie-dance trio's debut single, out on Moshi Moshi Records now. "Four minutes of limpid loveliness that suggests – with its gently insistent electronic pulse, swathes of shimmering synths and aching perkiness – Vampire Weekend playing New Order", says the Guardian's new band of the day writer Paul Lester. "It's our old friend, sad disco - something to dance to even as you ponder the vapidity and meaninglessness of frivolous self-expression". Alvy, Nacho y Rubin Interpretan a Los Campos Magnéticos is the result of a singular process of research, translation and reimagining of Stephin Merritt's songs. Who The Bloody Hell Are They? Meio DesligadoLabirinto - Anatema SoTBThe Satellite - El Sol
BIG DEAL! Why the Pulp Reunion Isn’t Just Another Cynical Rock ’n’ Roll Cash-In | VF Daily Pulp were always the smartest and most moral of the important British bands of the 90s, so it’s not really a great surprise that their reunion, inevitable as it was, seems so cool-correct. They will play several European rock festivals in the summer of 2011, two of which have already been announced: Barcelona’s Primavera Sound and London’s Wireless. First, Pulp waited an appropriate amount of time—nearly a full decade, which in our accelerated culture feels like an eternity. How is this for some perspective: The Libertines (who reunited in August) went from Next Big Thing to Heritage Act to Remember When, to Reunited on the Cover of the N.M.E. and Playing the Old Songs to 20,000 People Standing in a Field in under seven years. The Strokes now have festival-anchoring gravitas, playing their “vintage” material. Second, they aren’t repairing any career damage. This is the “classic” Pulp line-up, which is also commendable.
A Crash Course in Rap Lyrics Through 'The Anthology of Rap' For one reason or another—dorkiness, Oregonianism, spiritual daintiness—I find myself, at age 33, functionally hip-hop illiterate. Aside from a feverish adolescent fling with my brother’s MC Hammer tape, I have spent almost zero percent of my life voluntarily listening to rap music. Part of this is genetic: As the child of folk-singing hippies, I have ear canals specially angled to detect and enjoy warbly guitar ballads. (Simon and Garfunkel reunite every day to play nine-hour private concerts in the coffeehouse of my mind.) I have never, to my knowledge, heard a song by 2Pac, Nas, Lil’ Kim, Lil Wayne, KRS-One, DMX, Kanye West, Cam’ron, 50 Cent, or the Wu-Tang Clan. Normally I don’t mind being out of the pop-cultural loop—I’ve even learned, over the years, to wear my ignorance with a certain musty old-man pride. This is why I’m so evangelically excited about The Anthology of Rap, Yale University Press’s monumental new collection of rap lyrics.
10-step Guide to Making a Mix(tape) by worriedaboutsatan As you may have noticed, we're running a special promotion with BlackBerry Torch and Mixcloud, to win stuff if you share a mix(tape) you've made and people like it. Or simply if you share a mix tagged DiSis10 that you happen to like. (lots more info here). It's a wet Sunday here in London, so maybe you have time to make your entry today? 1. Start with music that you love and that you know really well. 2. Don’t try and imitate another DJ, find your own style and hunt out the best tracks you can find. 3. Go for a beatless section in the mix, change tempo, grab the mic… play around with different mixing techniques and genres of music. 4. A DJ friend of mine has a secret weapon. 5. Throw in a rave horn, a hip hop acapella, films quotes, some crazy ass scratching, a ‘re-wind’ and then fire up a Boney M tune… 6. There’s always room to go nuts and start throwing in obscure drone in with a techno mix- throw some 70s prog in there whilst you’re at it. 7. Please god make sure they beat match! 8.
Music Fantastic Mr Fox made a mix for The Guardian in honour of their New Band A Day column. It’s a good beginner guide to the recent years in new uk music with the likes of Jam City, Joy Orbison, and Girl Unit all getting a shout. For the uninitiated, there’s a Fantastic Mr Fox rework too, taking on Zed Bias and comeback girl, Tawiah. Listen to it below and read our chat with the man otherwise known as Stephen Gomberg here . 1.