The sounds.

Will We Ever Be Nostalgic For The CD?

2010-04-23T07:41:00.001-07:00

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 15/04/10 at 06:49:13 pm

“Our culture has become… utterly in love with its parent. It’s become a notion of boredom that is bought and sold, where nothing will happen except that people will become more and more terrified of tomorrow, because the new continues to look old, and the old will always look cute.”

That’s not a Justin Bieber lyric. It’s something Malcolm McLaren once said. He despised nostalgia. Which perhaps explains why the arch provocateur became such a fringe figure in recent years - because these days nostalgia is pretty much the only game in town.

Whether it’s Record Store Day, with its trainspotterish reverence for the days when hunched loners spent bleak Saturday afternoons pawing at dust-jacketed skiffle 12”s (as opposed to ordering online and then doing something less tedious with the rest of their day), or the much blogged-about cassette revival (actually involving about six people, most of whom write for Gorilla Vs Bear), musos are in agreement: music was better in them days – them days being, in almost every case, when they were teenagers, and music bewitched them for the first time.

continued...

Yet there’s one format that’s curiously resistant to nostalgia. In the MP3/streaming era, no-one seems to be mourning the death of the CD. Why is that? Has not enough time elapsed for a reappraisal to kick in (surely not: the noughties revival has already begun, after all). Or is there something fundamentally unlovable about this slice of polycarbonate plastic that dominated our listening habits for two decades?

There’s no shortage of theories. Some say the CD is undemocratic. Cassettes had a DIY, grass-roots quality that made them feel potentially seditious – hence the BPI campaign, “Home taping is killing music” – whereas compact discs were, from the start, nakedly a tool of the industry: the first CDs went onsale alongside the first CD players, in 1982. The technology behind both was developed in part by Sony.

From that point, the music industry’s jaw-dropping profitability for the rest of the 20th century was driven by middle-aged people upgrading their existing collections from vinyl to CD (providing almost pure profit for the labels).

The first bands to benefit from the CD age were already-successful arena-fillers like Dire Straits and U2. For that reason, the CD arrived with a kind of in-built fustiness – the leathery whiff of 50 quid man - even though the technology was glintingly new.

Consequently, we now associate CDs with the music biz in its blockbuster phase. Many of the enduring cultural phenomena of the ‘80s – Live Aid, Q magazine, the rise of suit-wearing yuppie pop stars like Phil Collins and Robert Palmer – were direct products of the CD age.

So: the CD never seemed like it was on the side of the fan. Home CD-ing never really took off. By the time the copying technology was widely available, we had MP3s instead. And besides, there was no magic to it. Who ever whiled away a happy weekend making and decorating a compilation CD-R?

And so on. The thing is, I’ve heard all these arguments, and I know what I ought to think in 2010 - but I just can’t bring myself to hate the compact disc. It’s time someone stuck up for this maligned format. CDs are basically brilliant, and here’s why.

1. They’re beautiful
Hold it up to the light: a gleaming arc of prismatic colour. Tilt it towards you and you can see your own idiot face staring back. Clever, no?

2. They don’t deteriorate
Record bores bang on about the ‘warmth’ of crackling vinyl. Cassette geeks hymn the palimpsestic quality of tape (ie you can hear the faint traces of what was there before). Meh. These are things music snobs say to make themselves feel superior to regular people. Personally I want to hear an album the way it was intended. CDs provide the purest, unmediated way to experience music.

3. They’re technological marvels
It’s an everyday miracle, how pouring liquefied plastic into a hydraulic press can produce something that blasts ‘The Holy Bible’ into your earholes. Just think. Before 1960 no human being had ever seen a laser beam. Thanks to CD players, by 1990 the technology was in practically in every home. Lasers in your living room! Come on, that’s impressive.

4. You can smear jam on them
This was a major early selling point, thanks to an episode of Tomorrow’s World in which a Bee Gees CD was shown to play after being covered in jam. It’s not clear why this was deemed a good thing – I’ve never handled a CD while making toast. Still, it’s good to know that it’s possible, should the need ever arise.

5. They are NOT ‘cheap’ or ‘plasticky’
People who say this are thinking of the packaging, particularly the jewel case, with its middle-bit that helpfully shatters into a thousand pieces if you look at it funny. But not all CDs come in jewel cases. Digipaks can be things of tactile gorgeousness. Indeed, (and this may be the most boring sentence I have ever written) I’m convinced that if the Digipak had become the industry standard, the CD might today still be in rude health.
So there you go. I started out railing against nostalgia, and ended up mired in gloopy affection for the past. But my basic point still stands: CDs rule. We used to think they were worth £16 each. And now we begrudge paying a penny for them. It’s a shame. But one day we will mourn their passing. Just you wait.

I think I’m one of the few people out there that still love CDs very much. I would love vinyl if I had a player to play them, they are more artistic, but they degrade after a while, and CDs seriously last forever. I love stripping the plastic off a jewel case, and opening the case, flipping through the booklets, and taking a brand new CD out of the case and popping it into the player and hearing that clear, undistorted music that blows my mind.

2010-04-02T08:19:00.001-07:00

I have a Tumblr now!

I’m not sure what to do with this blog tho. I might keep it for music articles. And Tumblr for more photos & personal stuff. No idea yet. But can’t seem to post multiple photos in a post in Tumblr. But I can’t stand the layout of this blog. So much white! I’m def a black kind of person. Haha.

Nothing much at Tumblr yet besides lyrics and a picture of Jim Parsons (yippee)!

theenglishway.tumblr.com

The url isn’t meant to sound like I’m damn angmoh or whatever, its a Fightstar song that I love! Name of the Tumblr is Plug In Baby (currently my favourite Muse song)!

New CDs from Gramophone/CD-Rama sale

2010-04-02T08:13:00.001-07:00

Total = $130.

So worth it. 12 albums for $70 (Gramophone). 4 albums for $60 (CD-Rama). My only regret is two albums I got from CD-Rama for $10 each were going at $3.95 at Gramophone. Lol. But good deal anw. One of them came with a free tee (L size tho-I’m gonna use it as a nightgown). Haha.

The greatest front men of all time

2010-03-25T07:17:00.001-07:00

Neil McCormick

Is Liam Gallagher of Oasis really the greatest front man of all time?

Readers polls are a bad advertisement for democracy.

The new issue of music Q magazine has a list of the best front men of all time, as voted for by their readers.

Here’s the top 20. Gird your loins
1) Liam Gallagher
2) Bono
3) Freddie Mercury
4) Damon Albarn
5) Chris Martin
6) Matt Bellamy
7) Jim Morrison
Bob Marley
9) Paul McCartney
10) John Lennon
11) Robbie Williams
12) Debbie Harry
13) Mick Jagger
14) Morrissey
15) John Lydon
16) James Brown
17) Bruce Springsteen
18) Robert Plant
19) Tom Meighan
20) Joe Strummer

So there you have it. It’s the triumph of Britpop. Not only is Liam Gallagher of Oasis the greatest frontman of all time (official) but we’ve got Blur and Coldplay in the top five. Of all time! And the current crop of Brit rockers Muse and Kasabian see off the claim of Roger Daltrey (with The Who) and Jimi Hendrix (The Experience).

Anyway, the criteria seem quite confused. Not sure if Debbie Harry ever considered herself a frontman. And if she counts, where’s Janis Joplin? Which throws up the whole slightly confusing issue of solo artists. If Robbie Williams and James Brown can be counted as frontmen, then where’s David Bowie and Prince? Or for that matter Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson? And if you start counting them, where do Lady GaGa and Beyonce fit in? And if we’re talking all time, what about Louis Armstrong, Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra. And that’s only going back a century

So, to restore some sanity to this, I have provided an alternative top ten of the greatest band front men and women in the history of rock, only including those solo artists who perform as part of a regular group. And we’re talking live performance here and really fronting the music, which, I think, discounts The Beatles, as obviously great as they were.

Think of this as a public service (and pray that Q’s readers are too young to vote in the general election).

1) Mick Jagger
2) Bruce Springsteen (with the E Street Band)
3) Jimi Hendrix (with The Experience)
4) Bono
5) Jim Morrison
6) Freddie Mercury
7) Liam Gallagher
8) Janis Joplin (with Big Brother & The Holding Company)
9) Robert Plant
10) Roger Daltrey

And actually I accept that Prince and James Brown may be better frontmen than the lot of them, but they are both really solo artists. And hovering at the edges of my list were Johnny Rotten (with The Sex Pistols), Bob Marley (with The Wailers), Iggy Pop (with The Stooges), Peter Gabriel (with Genesis), Joe Strummer (with The Clash), Morrissey (with The Smiths) and David Byrne (with Talking Heads). And I love Debbie Harry too, but I saw Blondie quite a bit back in the day, and believe me, she went a hell of a long way on sex appeal …

OK, I’m battening down the hatches now. You can tell me what you think. Just remember … this is NOT a democracy!

2010-03-22T10:32:00.001-07:00

I’m constantly frustrated with my lack of iPod ever since I lost my iPhone last year. Been using Jon Ho’s Creative player ever since, but it kind of conked out a few days ago, right before the D1M3 performance, and I was using the player for the performance since I’m the sound op. Had to resort to using CDs instead.

Its not easy to listen to music without a good player with a large memory, since I somehow naturally get new music every day, and its necessary to have a player to listen to, to decide what I like and what’s not worth listening to again. Can’t always do so on the computer, its not like I bring it around 24/7.

Sometimes I feel bad listening to music that I downloaded (illegally), which is most of my music, since I can’t afford to buy CDs at the rate I consume music. The list of albums I wish to own is never-ending, and until now I don’t own many albums that I’d like to own, like albums from Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Electrico…

I can’t consciously stop myself from downloading because that would mean I’ll get so frustrated that I’d buy albums, even though I can’t afford to, and that’s totally irresponsible of me. I remember having to depend on buying albums for music. It sucked big time. I would bring 20 CDs on an overseas trip and not listen to anything cos’ I was so sick of everything.

Plus, downloading’s the only way to obtain certain rare tracks. Well I just got Mika’s new song, Kick Ass (from the movie Kick Ass), and that’s pretty much unobtainable.

Most Cobra fans would also know that certain Cobra tracks are extremely rare and cannot be found on any published album (I Kissed A Boy, Hollaback Boy).

Some people would wonder, why tear yourself up over such a trivial thing? But its not trivial at all. Artists that have poured their souls and hearts out into making good music deserve to get paid. I agree with that. Too bad I can’t afford to get everything that I think is good. At least, not at the moment. I have to factor in merch (proudly representing the bands I love), overseas trips, and other daily things as well. And yeah I do splurge on random crap sometimes.

So, what to do? I guess I’m just justifying my actions, but I think its something that I need to do for myself.

The Go! Team

2010-03-18T23:24:00.001-07:00

I saw The Go! Team last night at Esplanade Theatre Studio (Heineken Music Club)! Yep I went alone, cos’ there’s no one I know that knows this band, and most Singaporeans are boring in that they would never pay a reasonable amount of money just to check out a band that’s interesting. The only song I sorta know is Huddle Formation, but I don’t even know the lyrics. But I went to see how they play live, and how they are on a stage. And they are REALLY good. Really unpredictable, unexpected. Two drummers at all times, a banjo, recorder (yes those that we play in primary school), a harmonica… Can’t classify any of them as vocalists/drummers/guitarists cos’ they’re all vocalists, drummers and guitarists, and sometimes bassists and keyboardists. Talk about a versatile band. Well if you want me to put a label to their music, I would describe them as indie hip-hop. Which already seems like an oxymoron cos’ indie and hip-hop don’t go together. Indie fans usually despise hip-hop/R&B (me included). But they’re good. The rapping goes together. And I really wouldn’t call it rapping, its more like singing/speaking. And the frontwoman is FREAKIN’ AWESOME. Her stage energy is amazing and infectious. And they work up the crowd pretty good too!

They had an autograph session after that, and they were really nice. I managed to get a copy of their first album there (second album sold out) so I got them to “sign” it. I put “” because most of them didn’t exactly sign it. They drew pictures. And some lucky people got the setlist from that night, cos’ some roadie randomly gave it out. All in all it was a pretty good gig, crowd was pretty good, and it was fun. Priced at $43, a perfectly reasonable price considering there’s one free drink.

Hope I can spread the word around about this really good band.

2010-03-12T18:34:00.001-08:00

25 musical alter-egos

http://www.nme.com/photos/25-musical-alter-egos/167613/1/1

17 gratuitous rock star sex faces

http://www.nme.com/photos/17-gratuitous-rock-star-sex-faces/167057/1/1

Metallica riot!

http://www.nme.com/news/metallica/50193

2010’s hottest albums:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/32513074/spring_music_preview_2010?utm_source=weekly-newsletter&utm_medium=email

Why Pink Floyd Are Right To Stand Up To iTunes

2010-03-12T18:31:00.001-08:00

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 10/03/10 at 06:00:06 pm

What's your favourite album of all time ('Grace', since you ask)? Let's assume, for the sake of argument, it was released pre-iTunes store, ie before 2003. I'll bet there were songs that didn't hit you immediately, songs that you only grew to love over time.

Now imagine you'd bought that album post-iTunes, with the option to preview and purchase individual tracks. Would you have bought every song? Honestly? Or would you have just cherry-picked the ones that sounded good on first listen?

It's an old argument, all a bit Word Magazine - but it's been yanked abruptly back into focus by (sorry, there's just no way to make this sentence interesting) Pink Floyd's decision to sue their record label EMI in adispute over online royalty payments.

continued...

Their beef? Pink Floyd don't want their albums parceled up into individual track downloads. Now, you might say it's a little unfair of the band to target EMI - as if they don't have enough problems already, what with being dollars of dollars in debt - rather than iTunes.

After all, it's the retailer, not poor EMI, who insist, using their monumental industry clout, that single tracks must be made available. No arguments. If you don't play ball, your music won't be stocked.

Faced with the implacable market-leading might of iTunes, even Radiohead relented in 2008, having previously been fiercely opposed to having their albums broken up.

All of which quarries some pretty fundamental questions about what music is. Are albums sacred entities that need to be upheld in their original format? Which is the critical form - the album, or the track? And who gets to adjudicate?

Call me a tweedy, reactionary twat, but I'm with Pink Floyd on this one. Sure, it might seem high-handed of the band to deny the wishes of consumers. If someone wants just one song, they shouldn't be forced to buy the entire album.

On the other hand, music isn't like cornflakes, or home insurance. This is art we're talking about, not commerce - 'consumer rights' only go so far. Why should one digital retailer define the limits of what constitutes the 'work'? Isn't that for the artist to decide?

Pink Floyd's attorney Robert Howe describes the band's albums as "seamless pieces." No-one who's heard 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' would quibble with that. The band are not being unreasonable here, or disdainfully old-school; they're defending their art in the face of cold, hard, multinational business reality.

And their logic is sound. If you extended the iTunes model to other art forms, and allowed people to purchase only the bits they fancied, you'd have to sell The WireDVDs containing just the Stringer Bell scenes, or boxsets of Mad Men featuring only episodes in which something actually happens (it wouldn't leave you with much).

This is a stand worth taking. The iTunes era threatens to dismantle the whole concept of the "classic album" - the great work (and yes I know I'm bandying that work round like I'm Brian bloody Sewell or something) as an irreducible entity that needs to be appreciated as a monolithic whole.

Post-X Factor and Glee, there's a danger we're hurtling towards a world where people buy the tracks they've heard on TV, and ignore the rest.

'OK Computer'? Sure, I could probably live without 'Climbing Up The Walls' and 'Electioneering'. And I guess, even on 'Grace', the absence of 'So Real' wouldn't break my heart.

But my life is richer for having lived with those lesser-loved songs for 15 years. Sometimes, it's not all about what we want as consumers. It's about what we ought to accept, as adults and serious music fans.

Twitter.com/lukelewis

Lady Gaga's 'Telephone' Video - How Many Products Can You Spot?

2010-03-12T07:36:00.001-08:00

By Abby Tayleure

Posted on 03/12/10 at 12:52:23 pm

The video for Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s new track 'Telephone' is full of girl-on-girl action, murder, and … product placement. And just as Gaga kills again in the video, it seems that she is a repeat offender with slipping brands into her videos too.

We counted nine separate products - no wonder the video's so long, it had to be to cram in all those plugs. We've listed them all below. Have we missed any?

1:34: Heartbeats earphones.
2:06: Virgin Mobile.
2:17: Diet Coke.
4:15: Virgin Mobile (again).
4:24: HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Editon’ laptop from Monster.
4:28: Plenty Of Fish dating site.
4:44: Chevrolet.
5:37: Polaroid.
6:24: Wonderbread.
6:36: Miracle Whip.
8:31: Polaroid (again).

continued...

But it's not the first time Gaga has sold ad space in her videos. In 'Bad Romance' we found eight separate examples of product placement.

0:12: Parrot by Philippe Starck.
0:18: Ukrainian vodka Nemiroff.
0:39: Heartbeats earphones.
1:59: Burberry trench coat.
2:44: Nintendo Wii.
2:45: HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Edition’ laptop from Monster.
3:28: Alexander McQueen outfit.
3:47: White Safari Carerra sunglasses .

Meanwhile, we gave up counting how many times Campari appeared in the video for 'Love Game'. It also includes lingering close-ups on Chanel shoes and a Baby-G watch.

Can't wait for the next video. Which luxury brands will she try and flog us then, we wonder?

Storm The Charts - How Music Fans Are Taking The Power Back

2010-03-10T07:48:00.001-08:00

By Kate Wellham

Posted on 03/05/10 at 05:24:23 pm

When daft Facebook groups on behalf ofsausage rolls and pickles can rack up over 1 million members each, it's tempting to conclude that the whole notion of the Facebook campaign has become a bit of a joke.

But they're not all like that. There's one group, Storm The Charts, that's not only enormously ambitious; it also posits a radical alternative model for the music industry.

The goal? Nothing less than a chart revolution, replacing the Cheryl Coles and Alexandra Burkes of this world with new, unsigned bands.

continued...

Spearheaded by Wes White, Storm The Charts, and its more modest sister group Let’s Get A Genuine Unsigned Band Into the Charts, are hoping to tap into the same disillusionment with pop - and the same collective urge to cause corporate-bothering mischief - that saw RATM make Christmas Number One.

The idea is to collect and then whittle down a diverse list of unknown artists who have put themselves forward or been put forward by fans, and throw them all at the charts in the same week.

Unlike the RATM4Xmas campaign, however, these groups want to take truly independent and previously unknown artists – ie those with no major label support – and buy them into the Top 40.

I’m fully supportive of the campaign, partly through curiosity, partly through mischief and partly becauseMiddleman are in the running, but it does raise some testing questions about how the charts ‘should’ work, and whether they matter, as well as whether supporting independent bands in protest makes the charts more political than musical.

But at the heart of Storm The Charts’ intentions is simply a cheeky reminder that as consumers we're now far less resigned to sitting at the end of the conveyor belt with our mouths and wallets open. The campaign aims to find and re-engage those very dedicated music fans who seek out new music all the time, yet who feel helpless and disconnected from the charts, as well as the artists they've found.
I'd argue, too, that Storm The Charts is symptomatic of a broader shift in our attitudes to music. Social networking is coming into its own for music lovers, and has handed back to us the power to send a band viral, to directly influence their success, and maybe even make a bit of money from it.

Take Scars On 45, a Bradford band whose fans awarded them a total of £15,000 via Slice The Pie, ultimately putting them into a position where they were picked up by Atlantic Records after being played on US TV.

OK, they’re on a major now, but arguably that wouldn’t have happened had we – music fans, web 2.0ers, the general public – not put them there. And all those who invested in Scars On 45 pre-deal are about to cash in on their support.

Slice The Pie offers fans the chance to invest in a band, and they will receive a return on their investment if the band do well. This makes a lot of sense. We want to take ownership over the artists we support, because it’s a deeply personal thing. Songs are not units to us.

Where will this fan-funded revolution take us? Excitingly, we could be heading towards a future where, rather than labels investing in music they think they can sell, we could instead invest in music we like, and then tell labels where we think they should put their money.

It also means, of course, that major labels may be out of a job altogether. Then there’s the potential for artists to keep more of their money, avoid restrictive contracts, and share profits with their fans in some sort of Utopian paradise… or an overcrowded post-apocalyptic wasteland in which The Saturdays are cloned many times over. We’ll see.

The Fallen

2010-03-07T00:35:00.001-08:00

Just check out the biblical references. Amazing song. Only a few days ago I began to read up more on Franz Ferdinand, and I realised the lyrics of this song have so many biblical allusions. I wonder how the writers managed to write this at all, its ingenius. I’m not sure who wrote it, most probably Alex Kapranos (frontman)? Well he is trained in theology.

Some say ya troubled boy
Just because you like to destroy
All the things that bring the idiots joy
Well, what's wrong with a little destruction?

And the Kunst won't talk to you
Cause you kissed St. Rollox adieu
Cause you robbed a supermarket or two
Well who gives a damn about the profits of Tesco?

Did I see you in a limousine
Flinging out the fish and the unleavened
Turn the rich into wine as you walk on the mean
Well the…
Fallen are the virtuous among us
Walk among us
Never judge us
Yeah we're all---

Up now and get 'em, boy
Up now and get 'em, boy
Drink to the devil and death to the doctors!

Did I see you in a limousine
Flinging out the fish and the unleavened
Well,
Five thousand users fed today
Oh as you feed us
Won't you lead us
To be blessed

So we stole and drank champagne
On the seventh seal you said you never feel pain
"And I never feel pain, won't you hit me again?"
"I need a bit of black and blue to be a rotation"

In my blood I felt bubbles burst
There was a flash of fist, an eyebrow burst
You've a lazy laugh and a red white shirt
I fall to the floor,
Fainting at the sight of blood!

Did I see you in a limousine
Flinging out the fish and the unleavened
You turn the rich into wine
Walk on the mean
Be they Magdalene at Virgin you've already been
You've already been,
Already seen,
That the fallen are the virtuous among us
Walk among us,
Never judge us,
To be blessed

So I'm sorry if I ever resisted
I never had a doubt that you ever existed
I only have a problem when people insist on
Taking their hate; placing it onto your name

Some say ya troubled boy
Just because you like to destroy

You are the word, the word is 'destroy'
I break this bottle
Think of you fondly

Did I see you in a limousine
Flinging out the fish and the unleavened
To the whore in a hostel
Or the scum of a scheme
Turn the rich into wine,

Walk on the mean.
It's not a jag in the arm
It's a nail in the beam.
On the barren Earth
You scatter your seed
Be they Magdelene or Virgin
You've already been
You've already been
You've already seen...

You've already been,
You've already seen
That the fallen are the virtuous among us
Walk among us
Oh if you judge us,
We're all damned.

“Franz Ferdinand: Starting a new music revolution” from cpyu.org (I think its a Christian organisation)

2010-03-04T07:00:00.001-08:00

By Walt Mueller

If you’re like me, many of the facts, details and dates you had to memorize during your years in high school history class are no longer available for withdrawal from the “bank” of your brain. Sadly, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned back in the old days. There are, however, some unique names from history that remain familiar. I think it’s the strange sound and ring of his name that’s kept the former Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire in that category for me. His name was Franz Ferdinand and history remembers him as the man whose assassination in 1914 during a visit to Sarajevo was the spark that ignited the First World War.

Over 90 years have passed since Ferdinand’s death, yet a growing number of teenagers worldwide know his name. But instead of serving them as a reference to the historical figure whose death triggered the start of an international conflict, today’s teens know Franz Ferdinand as a musical quartet from Glasgow, Scotland, that’s turning around a stale popular music scene and igniting a new music revolution marked by a sound that’s fresh, energetic and original. Franz Ferdinand’s been called “the U.K.’s coolest rock band” (Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 8/22/05) and “the most refreshing and original U.K. band today” (Mikel Jollett, Filter, Fall 2005). They’ve stated their mission as being a live band that makes “music for girls to dance to.” But they’ve accomplished far more than that by making music that’s caught the attention, ears and dancing feet of a collective youth culture audience that’s far more diverse and expansive than just the girls.

Meet the second Franz Ferdinand (FF), a band that—because of its successful debut album and critically acclaimed recent sophomore follow-up—demands our attention. Since millions of young ears are tuning in to the music of FF, we should be listening, too. Why? Their words and music are connecting to a generation looking to connect with an expression of their adolescent experience. Their music offers those of us who have long since moved beyond our adolescent years insight into the issues, struggles, values and reality of what it is to be a teenager living in today’s world. FF, their story, and their music takes us to a place that shows those who care to look, a glimpse into the heart of contemporary youth culture.

What is it about FF that’s allowed them to connect so successfully with the emerging generation? Is there an explanation for the fast-paced rise of their unique brand of music? What’s the worldview and message communicated through their musical package? Can FF help us understand anything about the questions and life issues young people wrestle with in today’s world? Can they offer us insight into the hearts, minds, motives and behaviors of children and teens? And, is there anything FF can teach us about effectively ministering to kids?

The Franz Ferdinand Story

“We are just four ordinary guys who got in a band together” (The Sun, 9/8/04) is how 33-year-old lead singer Alex Kapranos summarizes the history of Franz Ferdinand. While that’s basically the story of the quartet, there are other details that offer a helpful peek into the history of where the band came from and who they are today.

The Spring of 2002 saw the creation of Franz Ferdinand as a band. The group arrived at that point after a series of strange and coincidental encounters. As the story goes, Mick Cooke—a friend of Alex Kapranos—gave Kapranos a bass guitar and told him to “do something useful with it.” In turn, Kapranos handed the bass guitar to his friend Bob Hardy and taught him to play it. Kapranos and Hardy began playing with guitarist Paul Thompson, who previously had played drums with a group called Yummy Fur. The trio expanded to a quartet after a now legendary encounter Kapranos and Hardy had with a fellow named Nick McCarthy at a party. It seems Kapranos and Hardy had arrived together along with their own bottle of vodka. McCarthy, who the pair didn’t know at the time, was drunk and began to argue with Kapranos over the bottle. An all-out fight ensued that stopped only when Kapranos asked McCarthy, “You don’t happen to play drums do you?” A drunken Nick McCarthy—who did know how to play guitar—lied and said “Yes.” McCarthy was invited to join the band as the original drummer. Eventually, McCarthy and Thompson switched instruments, with McCarthy now playing guitar and Thompson taking over on drums.

The group’s first gig was at a private art show in the hostess’ apartment attended by 80 young women. The response was so positive that word quickly spread around the Glasgow music scene and the band began playing a relentless local schedule. They threw huge rave-like parties combining music and art in an abandoned upper-floor Glasgow art-deco warehouse they dubbed “The Chateau.” As FF played their music, the guests would dance and enjoy exotic lighting effects that illuminated the dance floor and the avant-garde art-covered walls. Eventually, these increasingly popular parties were shut down by the police. No longer able to throw parties at the warehouse, the band changed venues to an abandoned jail they also called “The Chateau.”

As word about FF spread, the band found themselves playing more widely in the U.K. music scene. By the summer of 2002, the band had recorded enough of their own music for an EP they hoped to self-release. But while on tour in London, the band stopped for a drink at a local pub, where they had a chance meeting and conversation with Swedish music producer Tore Johansson. Impressed by the band, he invited them to Sweden to record their debut album. The buzz on the band was so big that independent Domino Records signed them in the summer of 2003. In the fall of that year, FF carried through on their original plans and self-released their EP, Darts of Pleasure. Then, in the beginning of 2004, Domino released the band’s debut self-titled album. A distribution deal with Epic Records facilitated strong sales in the United States. The band further secured a spot on theU.S. music scene with a strong performance at the March 2004 South by Southwest Music Conference. In October 2005 they released their second album to rave reviews.

The band attributes much of their popularity and initial commercial success and growing U.S. fan base to their aggressive touring schedule and the fact that the Internet put their music on the map. In addition, the individual musical talents and backgrounds of each member of the band play into the group’s collective unique signature sound and rapid rise to fame.

Lead singer and guitarist Alex Kapranos is the group’s main spokesperson. Born in England, he moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, with his law professor father and housewife mother at the age of seven. After the move he found it difficult to fit in, leaving him feeling like an outsider. The other kids teased him for his funny accent and strange last name. He was pushed a year ahead in school, leaving him smaller and younger than the rest of his class. As a youngster, he decided to embrace being seen and feeling like a freak, something he does to this day. “For years, I felt miserable about being an outsider,” says Kapranos. “But then I suddenly embraced it. I saw the value of being an outsider. It was liberating. You didn’t have to worry about trying to fit in or losing your insider status. It also encouraged you to challenge and provoke the status quo” (Los Angeles Times, 10/2/2005). Perhaps it’s not surprising that Kapranos grew up embracing and spending time alone with music, particularly the Beatles. After all, his mother had given him the middle name “Paul” in homage to Paul McCartney. At age 14 Kapranos began to play the guitar in an effort to learn as many Beatles’ songs as possible. During his teen years he played in a variety of bands and learned how to record his own music. Along with his love for music, the teenage Kapranos developed an interest in theology and pursued theological and divinity studies. While he never desired to be a clergyman and he found Christians to be disappointing, he still pursued the course of study just because he was interested in the subjects. Eventually, music won out and Kapranos dropped out of theology school. By the time he reached his 20s he was booking acts and playing in bands on the local Glasgow pub circuit. Known as the determined member of FF, Kapranos holds an undergraduate degree in English and an M.A. in computer science. He’s been named as one of Esquire magazine’s best-dressed men, writes a food column for London’s Guardian newspaper, and is in a relationship with Fiery Furnace’s singer Eleanor Friedberger.

Born in England and raised in Germany, 30-year-old guitarist Nick McCarthy is a classically trained pianist and double-bass player who studied at the Munich Conservatory. Known as the band’s “positive” member, he holds an M.A. in music, and has played in a variety of orchestras and jazz ensembles. While he admits to sometimes smoking pot, McCarthy says the band tries to live a clean life when they’re touring on the road (only an occasional drink). A married man, McCarthy differentiates between his commitment to the band and his commitment to his wife: “It’s (marriage) not a commitment you make lightly. It’s a commitment for life, whereas being in this band is not necessarily a commitment for life. It’s (the band) all about the present for me: it’s about having fun, having loads of fun. I don’t mind what we’re doing, as long as I know what time it finishes and what time I can go to bed” (Guardian, 10/1/2005).

Bass guitarist Bob Hardy (age 25) is a painter who graduated from the Glasgow School of Art. Amazingly, he had never played an instrument before meeting Kapranos and receiving the now-famous bass guitar. Hardy is known as the sensitive member of the FF quartet.

Thirty-year-old drummer Paul Thompson rounds out the band’s lineup. The group’s only native Scot, Thompson learned to drum as a child, and most recently had been employed as a live model at the Glasgow School of Art. The married drummer is known to be the most humorous of the band’s four members. Thompson’s small trap set is reminiscent of the drum kits of the ‘60s used by the Beatles and other early rock bands.

The entire band has embraced Kapranos’ feelings of being an “outsider” and it has shaped both their place in the music world as trendsetters, and their rapidly growing following of listeners who identify with the label. Kapranos says of the band, “We were all always outsiders. Paul was the Glasgow kid in Edinburgh, Nick was the English guy in Bavaria, I was the half-Greek, half-English guy growing up in Scotland, and Bob was always the working class kid at a really posh school. I think if you ever find yourself in that sort of situation, you’re faced with a choice of either being defiant about it or being completely submissive about it. And if you choose defiance, it sets you up for the rest of your life. You’re more likely to do the unpredictable” (Filter, Fall 2005).

The “unpredictable” begins with their adoption of the “Franz Ferdinand” moniker. The band gives two reasons—one random and one more pointed—for naming themselves after the assassinated Archduke. On the one hand they say they were inspired when they saw a racehorse named “The Archduke” on television. They’re more direct when they say they set out to choose a name associated with an event that had an impact on the world. The quartet likes to think that one small band—like one small and seemingly insignificant act in history—will change the world. The world Franz Ferdinand wants to change is the current world of popular music—a stale world in which few bands write their own music, and pick up instruments and play them themselves. That’s what Franz Ferdinand is doing. In a world of “predictable” music, Franz Ferdinand is truly unpredictable.

That unpredictability has fared well with critics and fans alike. At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards the band received a nomination for the MTV2 Award and took home a moonman by winning the Breakthrough Video Award. That same year they won the coveted British Mercury Prize for the U.K.’s best album, an award given for talent rather than commercial success. In 2005 Franz Ferdinand received five Brit Award nominations and took home honors for Best British Group and Best British Rock Act. They also were selected to perform at the 2005 Grammys.

Franz Ferdinand’s music

Original, eclectic, trend-setting, adventurous and creative—these are a few of the adjectives that describe FF’s aural and lyrical musical elements. The band’s eclectic sound comes together in a combination the group hopes will do to listeners what electronic music does, only live and with depth. Kapranos describes the band’s hopes for their music: “The most important thing our music can do is move you primally. The whole point of music is for some human beings to provoke a reaction in other human beings, and as long as you remember that, I don’t think you can go wrong” (mtv.com). He says, “We want our music to do what music was intended to do: make you move” (rocknews.com, 8/25/2004). The band also hopes their sound brings out people’s emotions.

FF doesn’t want to be pigeon-holed genre-wise. They’ve achieved that goal with a mixed bag that combines elements including jazz, electronica, sixties pop, funk, guitar-driven rock and even disco. The FF hybrid might best be labeled as art-funk, art-punk or art-rock, but even those tags are limited. “If you’re going to create something new,” says Kapranos, “you’re going to have to take inspiration from everywhere. You can’t just draw from one narrow niche. All four of us have different personalities and each one of us adds something else into the mix … We take everything from everywhere and pour it into our own” (Independent Newspaper, 1/24/2004).

Kapranos—who shares most of the songwriting duties with McCarthy—says that in the FF songwriting process they work “to be radical in our arrangements and radical in our approach to everything that we do” (mtv.com). He says that “every song we write has to be an event. We’re intolerant of mediocrity” (Saturday Telegraph, 4/3/2004). Unlike many other fabricated music icons, FF is committed to writing and playing their music their way by maintaining creative control in an effort to keep improving on whatthey’ve already done. Kapranos says, “you can write a song anywhere. We sit on the back of the tour bus, sit in hotel rooms or backstage at venues, with an acoustic guitar, strumming some chords. And then we’ve got the basis for a song” (mtv.com).

Because the band’s influences are so many and because they are committed to making music that’s always new and fresh, listeners are always hearing bits and pieces of new influences on the boys in the band. Included are everybody from the Beatles (circa Sgt. Pepper), the B-52’s, Brian Setzer, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and David Bowie among others. Just when you think you understand them, the next song reveals that you don’t. Perhaps that’s by design as Kapranos is “annoyed by comparisons” (Sunday Times, 8/15/2004). It all combines in a sound that brings “adventurous ideas and challenging concepts to a mainstream audience through the undeniable power of catchy tunes” (Michael Krugman, Rolling Stone, 3/25/2004). Other reviewers says FF makes “ass-shakin’ music without the electronic crutch of drum machine and synthesizers” (Brian Wallace, mtv.com), “visceral rock songs with disco beats and brain-eating choruses” (Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 8/22/2005), and “jerking beats, scissoring guitars, and manic vocals” (Jim Farber, NY Daily News, 10/2/2005).

The band’s lyrics, says Kapranos, are “about the extremes that we feel in life” (Los Angeles Times, 10/2/2005). Most of their songs’ subjects are drawn from people and events in their lives. Kapranos says that for him, “pop music is music that moves you without engaging the brain and then allows you to engage the brain afterwards. You dance and feel the passion, and then you can sort through the grander ideas which the music suggests” (Rolling Stone, 3/25/2004). While they don’t want to make music that needs to be analyzed too much, many of FF’s songs are somewhat cryptic and difficult to understand. But the listener should not fear. In true postmodern fashion, Kapranos says that “whatever someone takes from it is completely valid. I don’t like it when guys say, ‘Oh you don’t understand what I’m saying.’ Man, it’s got nothing to do with you anymore!” (Urb, 9/2005). “I don’t think the artist should ever dictate to the listener or the person who’s ultimately consuming what you create. It’s not up to the creator to dictate the terms upon which their creation is appreciated” (npr.org, 10/24/2005). Even though Thompson says he and the band are “simple people” trying “to make music that’s direct” (mtv.com), the music is marked by some lyrical complexity.

On the concert stage and in their music videos FF is consistently over-the-edge inventive. Their visual package is creative, fun and energetic. They dress in an artsy style that can be described as thrift-shop ‘60s retro. Because they are making music for their listeners, they even have made it a rule to maintain eye contact with their audience at all times.

Engaging the music of Franz Ferdinand is like walking through a crowded art gallery covered in new and unusual art that assaults your senses from every angle. Not only that, there are surprises around every corner.

Franz Ferdinand

(March 2004)

The band’s 38-minute debut album climbed to #3 on the charts, yielded five single releases, and has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.

The album opens with “Jacqueline,” a song about a 17-year-old friend of the band. “Jacqueline is a friends of ours,” says Kapranos, “and she told me about an encounter she had with an older man. When she described it, I could see the embarrassment and rejection he suffered as he realized how she actually saw him, compared to how he thought she saw him” (rocknews.com, 8/25/2004). The song’s first verse describes the moment when Iver (the man) looks at Jacqueline and what he feels as he sees himself through her eyes: “Sometimes these eyes forget the face they’re peering from/When the face they peer upon/Well, you know that face as I do/And how in the return of the gaze/She can return you the face/That you are staring from.” What follows is a chorus that seems to be totally unrelated. Yet, it stands on its own as a philosophy of vocation reflecting current “everybody’s working for the weekend” attitudes that are so prevalent in our culture: “It’s always better on holiday/So much better on holiday/That’s why we only work when we need the money.” The song’s nihilistic and hopeless second verse speaks of a man named Gregor who is lost in drunkenness and purposelessness and inviting someone to kill him: “Gregor was down again/Said come on, kick me again/Said, I’m so drunk I don’t mind if you kill me/Come on you gutless …”

The raw and retro-sounding “Tell Her Tonight” is reminiscent of the harmonies of the ‘60s era Mamas and the Papas. About infatuation and obsession, the singer tries to talk himself into telling her about these feelings: “She only blinked her eyes, but I saw it/She only swung her hair, but I saw it/She only shook her hips, but I saw it/She only licked her lips, but I saw it/Gonna have to tell her tonight …” Timid adolescents who share this experience and its feelings will readily identify with the song’s theme.

“Take Me Out” (See lyrics on page 7.) is a single and video release that found itself in heavy rotation on MTV. The band sees the dark and doomy tune as the song that fostered their breakthrough in North America. Listeners will wonder if the song has a double meaning as the title can refer to asking for a date or asking to be murdered. The former is the most likely scenario with the language of the latter being employed for the purpose of illustration. The singer has no hope as he says, “I know I won’t be leaving here with you.” There’s a begging and desperate quality to this song as he asks for an answer but fears that the waiting might lead to “this” dying. The band released two video versions of the song. In the more mainstream MTV version a colorful and creative visual collage effect is employed, with some scenes featuring a Franz vs. anti-Franz boxing match. That said, could it be that the song is about the battle between good and evil that rages inside human beings? The MTV2 version is an animated depiction of Star Wars characters playing the members of the band while showing the transformation of the lead singer from Anakin Skywalker to the evil Darth Vader. In this version, the song lends itself to an interpretation about personal transformation.

In “The Dark of the Matinee,” the singer plans his day so he can “accidentally” bump into the girl he desires (“I time every journey to bump into you accidentally”) in the hope that he can convince her to follow him and meet him in “the dark of the matinee” that’s “mine.” In the song’s final verse, Kapranos sings of making it in the music industry and how easy it is to laugh and smile since his dream’s been realized.

The post-breakup frustrations of love are addressed in “Auf Achse”: “You see her/You can’t touch her/You hear her/You can’t hold her/You want her/You can’t have her/You want to/But she won’t let you.” He likens what she’s done to him by leaving to a crucifixion: “Now I’m nailed above you/Gushing from my side/It’s with your sins that you have killed me/Thinking of your sins I die … I’m ripped and hang forsaken/Knowing never will I rise again.” Listeners who have been surprised and hurt by a breakup will identify with the feelings FF describe in this song.

Mutual cheating and infidelity lead to “goodbyes” on “Cheating On You”: “I’m cheating on you/I’m cheating on you/I’m cheating on you/You’re cheating on me.” In this schizophrenic song the singer’s conflicted feelings lead him to go back and forth between leaving and staying: “Goodbye girl/Because I’m lonely/Goodbye girl/It isn’t over.” The song eventually ends with a final “goodbye girl.” Kids who feel the painful emotional two-way pull of a breakup will identify with feeling like and not feeling like leaving at the same time.

The single and video release “This Fire” is a musical account of experiencing anger and rage to the point of venting in destructive ways. Kids who feel angry and out of control with nowhere to turn will find an expression of their feelings in this song: “Eyes/Boring a way through me/Paralyze/Controlling completely/Now there is a fire in me/Fire that burns/Fire that burns.” The anger boils over into destruction that consumes not only what’s around him, but himself as well: “This fire is out of control/I’m going to burn this city/Burn this city/If this fire is out of control/Then I’m out of control/And I burn.” The song’s video treatment portrays the band’s members plotting together in a war room reminiscent of WWII era Nazi Germany or cold war era Communist Russia. Viewers watch as the band works to spread a global message. But what is the message? As the video winds down, the purpose and result of the crusade is stated visually with the words, “Global sex mania follows mass hypnosis phenomena.” The video ends with the successful crusaders toasting each other for their victory.

“Darts of Pleasure” (See lyrics on page 7.), the band’s debut single release, is a lusty tune about talking a girl into bed. The singer attempts to seduce a girl who’s just one in a line of his sexual conquests: “Latest contender, latest adventure.” The poisoned “darts of pleasure” are the “words of love” that lure the girl into his bed. The translation of the unusual German line sung at the song’s end reveals the phrase to be nonsensical: “I’m called super fantastic, I drink champagne with smoked salmon.”

The single release “Michael” (See lyrics on page 7.) is a homoerotic song about an encounter Kapranos witnessed between two male friends. “Michael is a friend of ours. He got it together with someone on the dance floor in a spectacular way, so we wrote about it,” says Kapranos (rocknews.com, 8/25/2004). The song has led some FF listeners to believe that the band is gay. The fact is they’re not. However, the song has led many homosexuals to embrace the band.

In “Come On Home” the singer misses and longs for a lover who is far away. Still, he embraces the pain of her absence because it motivates him to appreciate and love her more: “Although my lover lives in a place that I can’t live/I kind of find I like a life this lonely/It rips and pierces me in places I can’t see/I love the rip of nerves/The rip that wakes me.” His need for her prompts him to tell her to “come on home.” But once she’s there, he reminds her to “don’t forget to leave” so that he can once again yearn for her to return.

The album ends with “40,” a song the band says is about flinging yourself into dangerous situations. The song depicts the singer standing on the edge of a 40-foot drop. In the first verse he comes to terms with falling and experiences calm: “The coldest calm falls through the molten veins/Cooling all the blood to slush that congeals around the brain.” Forty feet “remain” in the second verse as he stands there so long that his skin is burnt by the sun and his sweat turns to salt scales. He keeps “looking down, looking down.” The songs plays well to a generation numbed by the pain of relational brokenness that’s looking to feel something. In many cases it’s the rush of adrenaline (from extreme sports and other high-risk behavior) that makes them feel alive.

The band’s debut album includes a bonus disc with five additional tracks. The first track is “This FFFire,” a faster and louder dance version of “This Fire.”

“Van Tango” is a narrative song about a man named Van Tango who works the night shift as a security guard at the opera house. He works by himself and watches “the girls go by.”

“Shopping For Blood” is one of FF’s most cryptic and confusing songs. The first person song describes someone who is “New Scottish Gentry” and very concerned with his appearance. He buys “leather for leisure and a Velcro for sport” and “It’s a first appearance and a new suit for court.”

Some of the historical facts surrounding the assassination of Franz Ferdinand are the subject of “All For You, Sophia.” The song begins, “Bang bang, Gavrilo Princip/Bang bang, shoot me Gavrilo/Bang bang, the first six are for you/Bang bang, the seventh is for me/Bang bang, Gavrilo Princip/Bang bang, Europe’s going to weep/All for you, all for you, all for you, Sophia.” Those who know their history remember Gavrilo Princip as one of the three men sent to assassinate Franz Ferdinand. Each of the men was given a revolver, two bombs and a vial of cyanide. They were instructed to kill Ferdinand as he passed by in his car. Then, they were to kill themselves. Princip fired the shots that killed Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. Princip was arrested while trying to turn his gun on himself.

The bonus disc ends with “Words So Leisured,” a song about the subject of the earlier song “Darts Of Pleasure” who is the “emotion avenger” who “knows that you will surrender.” The song describes the seduction in detail: “Yes, she’s in her black mood tonight/Watch her dye your black hair white/Rob you of your muscles, slacken all the skin that was so tight.” In true postmodern fashion, the song ends describing how the addition of intellectual reason to the seductive process kills the feelings of unbridled passion: “Ask for any reason/Ask for the one reply for the one reply/Try for reason but passion never lives/It dies with reason/Try for reason then die …” The conclusion: leave reason out of the picture and function only at the level of feelings.

You Could Have It So Much Better

(October 2005)

Recorded live in Kapranos’ house, the band’s second album finds them fulfilling their mission to expand on their creativity and make music that isn’t a simple rehashing of prior songs and sounds. They deliberately set out to write and record an album that doesn’t have the studio sound. Rather, they wanted it to sound like the four of them sitting in a room and playing music together. The band says the album’s title is “the antithesis of ‘you’ve never had it so good’” (muchmusic.com).

Right at the outset, Franz Ferdinand’s tendency to write cryptic lyrics comes through loud and clear in “The Fallen.” Although the song has several levels of meaning, Kapranos says it’s about a friend who “did a few things that caused him to be almost a social outcast—he’d fallen from grace. He’s a very enigmatic character” (Rolling Stone, 7/11/2005). The song includes numerous references to the Messiah and events in the Gospels (feeding of the 5,000, turning water into wine, etc.) as it imagines “this character coming back as Christ and what he would do if he was Christ and comparing the judgmental attitude of the people and how they would have placed the same judgment on Christ if he had come back” (Kapranos in Filter, November 2005). The band’s view of Christians and the contemporary church (hypocritical and Pharisaic) as stated in the song is worth listening to as it reflects widely held opinions: “So I’m sorry if I ever resisted/I never had a doubt that you ever existed/I only have a problem when people insist on taking their hate and placing it on your name.”

“Do You Want To” (See lyrics on page 8.) is the disc’s first single release and video. It’s a great example of how the band melds sounds such as sixties British rock, disco and punk. Kapranos took the lyrics of the homoerotic song from a drunk friend’s rantings at a Glasgow art gallery party. The video treatment captures what happened that night in the gallery. The song is filled with sexual come-ons including invitations to participate in oral and anal sex: “Do you want to go where I’d never let you before/Do you want a go of what I’d never let you before … Your famous friend, well I blew him before you.”

Franz Ferdinand sounds like the B-52’s in “This Boy,” a tune about a cocky, selfish and materialistic character who sings his shallow philosophy of life: “It’s time that I had another/I’m always wanting more if there’s another one/Give me some more/I’ll have another one/I’ll have a slice of your mother … I want a car … I see losers losing everywhere/If I lose, I could only lose the damn I gave to another … If I have one set principle then it’s to stand on you brother … I’m always better than you.” The song casts “this boy’s” lifestyle in a negative light.

“Walk Away” (See lyrics on page 8.) is the disc’s second single release. In this song, Kapranos’ voice bears an eerie resemblance to The Doors’ Jim Morrison. The song follows a romantic tragedy and breakup, with the singer celebrating their breakup and convincing himself to walk away from the relationship—even though it’s difficult—because he knows it’s the best thing to do.

“Evil And A Heathen” is a song title that captures who the singer says he and his lover are as he sings about their relational/sexual encounter on “the night of our lives.” They spend the song’s first verse talking a lot. In the chorus, he proclaims “I’m evil and a heathen like you,” and because of that, anything goes. In the second verse, he says that their encounter is redemptive and brings life: “I like how you pretend that the end will be the end/So fill your thirst/Drink a curse/To the death of death instead.”

Relational breakdown is the subject of “You’re The Reason I’m Leaving.” The song’s lyrics are foggy enough to warrant application to a lover’s breakup and/or the singer’s “leaving” his life through suicide. The singer struggles with feelings of hate toward the other: “I don’t know you/I don’t want to/You’re so awkward just like me/I have no idea that in four years/I’ll be hanging from a beam behind the door of number ten/Singing fare thee well/I am leaving/Yes, I leave it all to you/You’re the reason I’m leaving.” As the song ends, the singer admits to the other that “I’m the reason you’re leaving.”

The influence of Paul McCartney and the Beatles on Kapranos comes through clearly in “Eleanor Put Your Boots On,” a strange love song and fantasy written by Kapranos to his girlfriend. In the fantasy, Eleanor runs to Coney Island and leaps into the waters of the Gulf stream. She also climbs the Statue of Liberty and leaps into winds of the jet stream. In both instances, Kapranos says “I could be there when you land.” In the end, he tells her to put her boots back on and “run—come on over here.”

The band sings about breakups and relational confusion once again on “Well That Was Easy.” While it was easy for the singer to leave a girl named Hannah, he realizes, “how I miss you now.” When they were together he used the Codeine she had to kill the pain in her back to kill the emotional pain he felt from being together in their relationship. Now, she’s gone and the pain is the pain of missing her. The song concludes with the singer explaining his emotional confusion: “So come on kill me now because I’m leaving you/That was easy/But how I miss you.”

A soured relationship leaves the confused singer asking his former lover what she meant by the things she said in “What You Meant”: “Said we’re cold as the step cement/But I just don’t know what you meant.”

“I’m Your Villain” is inspired by a strange sexual encounter a friend described to Kapranos. “Someone I knew told me about a romantic encounter they had. She was lying naked on her back, and this guy tipped a bag of crisps on her belly and then poured a can of lager over them and started licking the soggy mess” (Sunday Herald, 9/11/2005). The song is sung by the male in the encounter who sees the female as serious and miserable. Even though she doesn’t like him he doesn’t “give a damn” if he’s her villain or not. He’s still going to satisfy his sexual hunger through her. The song ends with him bluntly singing “see you later.” The encounter is selfish, purely physical, and lacking in intimacy or commitment.

The disc’s title track is a rallying cry to apathetic youth. “You Could Have It So Much Better” is a motivational speech from FF encouraging kids to take responsibility for themselves, to get motivated and to experience a better life. Kapranos tells his young listeners, “It won’t be alright/Unless you get up/Come on and get up/Well I’m just a voice in your earpiece/Telling you NO it’s not alright/You know you could have it so much better/You could have it so much better/If you tried.”

In typical FF fashion, the love song “Fade Together” is filled with conflicting and confused emotions and expressions: “Once you have loved someone this much/You doubt it could fade despite how much you’d like it to/God how you’d like it/You’d like it to fade.” He feels the push and pull of their relationship and is confused by it: “If we get away you know we might just stay away/So stay awake/Why the hell should I stay awake?/When you’re far away/Oh God, you are so far away.” In the end he confesses “I’m starting to fade” and he invites her to “fade together” as that would make it so much easier to simply end things.

The album ends with “Outsiders,” a song that could serve as a theme song for the band and its fans. In the song’s opening lines, the band tells listeners that their fame won’t lead them to compromise: “We’ve seen some change but we’re still outsiders/If everybody’s here then hell knows we ride alone.” They say “the only difference is all I see is now all that I’ve seen.” They urge their fellow outsiders, “don’t feel so weak about being such a freak or alone.” Time will pass, “love will die and lovers fade, but you still remain there.” The song ends with the band proclaiming to remain themselves: “The only difference is what might be is NOW.”

What’s the draw?

Why have Franz Ferdinand and their music attracted and held a growing audience? There are several reasons that can serve to give us insight into the heart and soul of young people growing up in today’s youth culture.

First, Franz Ferdinand is a breath of fresh air in a popular music industry gone stagnant. In a world marked by rapid change, the world of popular music has been stuck in neutral for a long time. The last big thing was hip-hop, and it’s been the last big thing for years. Listeners have been waiting for something different and new. FF has stepped up and filled the void. FF’s Bob Hardy humbly states that “rather than it being something completely extraordinary that we’ve done, it’s more the state of … the music industry. The charts—popular music—is so drab and boring. All that Pop Idol manufactured stuff is just dross … it is karaoke” (Scottish Evening Times, 1/2004). From the way they dress to the way they play, Franz Ferdinand is like nothing seen in recent years.

Second, the band’s music is original and creative. FF is a band that’s committed to making artful music that’s always new and consistently getting better. Being signed to an independent label has allowed the quartet to maintain the creative control they wouldn’t have if they had signed with a bigger record company. The band loves the creative process of writing new music. In fact, they say that process is actually equal to or better than the experience of playing in front of a large crowd. Their commitment to creativity has caused them to connect with a growing legion of fans who value inventive originality.

Third, Franz Ferdinand brings a depth and thoughtfulness not usually seen in popular music. Their style of writing gives listeners something to think about, a trait that’s caused some to refer to the quartet as “the thinking man’s band.” Their lyrical and musical complexity has found a welcoming audience among those tired of pop music’s tried and tired formulas.

Fourth, the members of the band are genuine and real. Alex Kapranos says, “We’re four guys totally removed from the pop industry machine” (NME, 3/24/04). In a world where the emerging generations value authenticity, “plastic” performers will increasingly be out while “real” performers will be in. Franz Ferdinand has not only controlled the creative process that’s resulted in music that’s true to who they are, but they have also remained true as individuals to who they are. A growing legion of young fans have embraced them because they see Franz Ferdinand as real people, just like themselves.

Fifth, the band lives an attractive spirit of community. The emerging generations hunger for, are drawn to and value community. Franz Ferdinand’s life together both on and off the stage is marked by a tight knit, warm and trusting love. With no big egos to battle with each other, the band comes across as a group of equals who value and embrace their individual uniquenesses and complementary strengths. Their humble spirits and onstage warmth serve to “invite” listeners to join their community.

Sixth, the music is filled with emotion, moving people at their core. In a postmodern world in which feelings and emotions are important, Franz Ferdinand’s music is emotionally charged both sonically and lyrically. This is by design. “We want to make music that people can react to emotionally,” says Kapranos (Zoo Magazine, 9/24/2004). He says, “Music should be primal. It should force a subconscious reaction—you should feel it with your body. When you hear it, dancing should be as impulsive as feeling fear at the sound of a roar or getting that funny feeling down your back when someone scratches a blackboard … With the best music, you feel emotions as well as sounds—the music just brings them out” (The Independent, 1/23/2004).

Seventh, the boys in the band haven’t let their success go to their heads. They’ve made a deliberate effort to not allow their sudden fame result in big-headed rock star arrogance and lifestyles. In fact, they are somewhat shy and embarrassed by their fame. Kapranos says, “The thought of fame frightens me. I feel distinctly uncomfortable with the whole idea and believe it is very unhealthy to get ambitious in that direction. You lose sight of what you are doing and it is addictive. You see all these people who are hooked on it and can’t function or live without it. It’s weird” (The Sun, 5/26/2004). “Problems arise when you become famous and no longer believe you’re just an ordinary person” (The Times, 12/17/2004). For Franz Ferdinand, it’s not about fame and fortune. Rather, it’s about remaining true to themselves, staying humble and making good music.

Eighth, Franz Ferdinand helps the despairing to dance. Much of the band’s lyrical content is marked by confusion, pain and hurt. In most cases, the cause is relational breakdown. In today’s youth culture, these realities combine with the hunger for heaven caused by living the creation and fall without experiencing redemption, to bring despair to the surface in ways that leave the lost looking for any escape—even if it’s only temporary. By laying lyrics that reflect this reality over danceable tunes, Franz Ferdinand allows listeners who see themselves in the lyrics to lose themselves—at least temporarily—in music that moves them to move their bodies in communion with others who feel the same way. While the escape may only be temporary, those who long for it see it as better than no possibility of escape at all. Franz Ferdinand has created a musical package that plays well in a nihilistic, postmodern world.

Ninth, the band’s postmodern approach to their lyrics fosters connections in our postmodern world. The band encourages listeners to freely approach their songs looking for individualized deconstructions that personalize the song’s meaning for each individual listener. By doing so, each song “speaks to me on my terms,” rather than on the terms of the song’s writers.

Tenth, listeners can identify with the group’s lyrical themes, particularly when it comes to romance and relationships. Any observer of youth culture knows that the teenage dating, relating and break-up scene is increasingly complex. By singing about these realities and the spectrum of feelings associated with each, Franz Ferdinand builds connections with listeners by putting into words what they’re feeling.

Finally, radio and MTV airplay have thrust the band into the youth culture spotlight. Because they’ve been embraced by the outlets funneling new music to young listeners, Franz Ferdinand has earned and been given a youth culture presence that gives every kid the option to like or dislike the band. With sales and airplay figures on the rise, the band is sure to continue for some time as one of the most popular groups on today’s music landscape.

How should we respond?

How then, should parents, educators and youth workers respond to the music and message of Franz Ferdinand? Can we use their music as a tool for understanding today’s youth culture? What can they teach us about the emerging generations and our ministry response? Let me offer the following analysis and suggestions:

First, we should celebrate the band’s commitment to creativity and their strong work ethic. By constantly working to create music that’s fresh, innovative and new, Franz Ferdinand reflects the image of God (as co-creators) inherent in all humans. While it’s safe to assume FF isn’t on a conscious mission to bring honor and glory to the one true God, they do so (albeit unconsciously) by using their God-given gifts and abilities and by enlisting the creative process.

Second, the contemporary church should learn from Franz Ferdinand’s creativity. Our “creative” track record—particularly when it comes to art and music—is all to often a sad trail of “knock-off’s” (“Christian” versions and duplications of what’s been successful in the mainstream art and music industries) or low-quality originals (original art and music done poorly but typically embraced, sadly, as valuable and good not because of artistic merit but for the sole reason that it’s made by Christians). The church would do well to examine Franz Ferdinand’s commitment to originality marked by both complexity and uniqueness, and begin to enlist the same resolve, standards and practices as we engage in the creative process.

Third, celebrate the band’s commitment to community. Our selfish culture of individualism fosters a “me-first” mentality that’s far too prevalent as a worldview promoted by music and media. Franz Ferdinand’s spirit of communal cooperation is one we should both model and promote to the young people we know and love.

Fourth, celebrate their commitment to be themselves. God has made each of us unique and different. Sadly, Madison Avenue has created false standards to which we aspire. Franz Ferdinand’s commitment to be satisfied and content with their uniqueness is refreshing. “When I knew I was a freak, around 13 or 14, I embraced it,” says Kapranos. “I despised people who were desperate to be cool” (Guardian, 10/1/2005). We can use FF as a catalyst for discussion on conformity to the world’s standards versus acceptance of who we are.

Fifth, we can celebrate Franz Ferdinand’s relative commitment to “clean living.” While there are elements of the band’s lyrical package that should cause us concern, we can and must cite their conscious decision to avoid the typical rock-star excesses of alcohol, drugs and groupies as refreshing.

Sixth, understand the power, significance and place of emotions for the emerging generations. Franz Ferdinand reminds us that today’s children and teens are emotional beings who place a premium on their feelings. As we look over their shoulders at the reasons for their pursuit of good and positive feelings, we must dig deep to understand why this pursuit is so intense. Many are so numb due to the relational brokenness in their lives that they long and look to feel something. Sometimes it’s an adrenaline rush. At other times it’s the feeling of short-lived intimacy that comes during the few minutes of a random sexual encounter. Or, it might even be the experience of pain that allows them to feel alive. We must realize that each of these pursuits is at its root an attempt to satisfy their hunger for heaven. As such, we must work and pray to see their emptiness filled by the only true Redeemer who can once and for all fill their God-shaped void.

Seventh, we must embrace the self-described outcast and outsider. More and more young people are coming to terms with the fact that, like Franz Ferdinand, they lie outside the mainstream as freaks and geeks. While Franz Ferdinand does these kids a service by encouraging them to embrace their status, the band’s music does the church a service by reminding us of our need to embrace them by welcoming them and loving them as Jesus would. The church must intentionally become more aggressive at seeing the answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?” in the eyes of the young outcasts and outsiders who live in our midst.

Eighth, we must bring the light of God’s Word to bear on the particular issues and problems raised by Franz Ferdinand’s music. As a mirror, the band’s music clearly reflects the issues burning in the hearts and minds of the emerging generations. By looking in the mirror of the band’s music, followers of Christ can see where to build bridges from Christian truth into the realities of young lives. Franz Ferdinand’s music reminds us that we must teach the truth about sexuality, homosexuality, pride, lust, consumerism, materialism, marriage, dating, breakups, vocation, etc. in response to the lies so many young people believe.

Ninth, engage students and learn from them by asking them what the music means to them. In a postmodern world, each individual deconstructs musical expressions in ways that mean something to them. For many kids, music puts into words personal realities they find difficult to express themselves. If the kids you know and love are listening to and embracing Franz Ferdinand, discuss the music with them. Allow them to invite you into their world by asking them how the music of FF speaks to them and for them.

Tenth, we must teach our kids to evaluate all music and media from a distinctively Christian perspective. Franz Ferdinand offers a wonderful opportunity for lively and profitable parent/teen discussion about the power of music and the need to make wise music choices. I would encourage every parent, teen and youth worker to filter Franz Ferdinand’s music through CPYU’s How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3-D Guide to Making Wise Music Choices. (For more information, check out the resource center at www.cpyu.org.) It’s a great way to practice thinking Christianly about music and media as their music is full of references to the realities of life in today’s world. Together, a decision on whether or not to listen and how to listen can be made.

Finally, Franz Ferdinand challenges the church to look in the mirror. The band’s song “The Fallen” serves as an urgent and sobering reminder of our failure to represent Christ on His terms, and not our own. When we are truly honest with ourselves we must admit that the band’s criticism of our hypocrisy and Phariseeism—and the resulting stereotype of contemporary Christians—is dead-on and well-deserved. If we hope to answer the cries of the young for redemption, we must conform to the will and the way of the Redeemer as we represent Him in His world. We must stop living a dualistic separation from “the world” and start living our faith in the world. Remember, Franz Ferdinand’s reluctance to love—as reflected in much of their music—is indicative of a deep fear of being rejected … again. How are we representing Christ when we just become one more “rejecter?”

The greatest ambition of “one of the most exciting acts in the world” (Irish Times, 9/10/2005) is, as Alex Kapranos says, “to continue to be thrilled and excited by this” (Sunday Herald, 9/11/2005). The band says that if they ever feel that they’re being “dishonest, watered down, or any less intense” they will decide “to do something else” (Sunday Herald, 4/4/2004). With that resolve, it doesn’t look like Franz Ferdinand will be closing shop anytime soon. We should continue to keep our eyes and ears focused on their music as they will serve as a powerful directive force, guiding kids through adolescence, while giving those of us who love and minister to kids a guided tour of their world.

Lyrics:

Take Me Out

So if you’re lonely/You know I’m here/Waiting for you/I’m just a cross-hair/Just a shot away from you/If you leave here/You leave me broken/Shattered I lie/We’re just a cross-hair/Just a shot then we can die/I know I won’t be leaving here with you/I say don’t you know/You say you don’t know/I say take me out/I stay you don’t show/Don’t move time is slow/I say take me out/I say don’t you know/You say you don’t know/I say take me out/If I move this could die/If eyes move this could die/I want you to take me out/I know I won’t be leaving here with you/I say don’t you know/You say you don’t know/I say take me out/If I wait this could die/If I wane this could die/I want you to take me out/If I move this could die/If eyes move this could die/Come on take me out/I know I won’t be leaving here with you

Darts Of Pleasure

You are the latest contender/You are the one to remember/You are the villain who sends a line of dark fantastic passion/I know that you will surrender/I know that you will surrender/I want this fantastic passion/Will have fantastic passion

You can feel my lips undress your eyes/Undress your eyes/Undress your eyes/Words of love and words so leisured/Words are poisoned darts of pleasure/Die and so you die

You are the latest adventure/You’re an emotion avenger/You are the devil that sells a line of dark fantastic passion/I know that you will surrender/I know that you will surrender/I want this fantastic passion/Will have fantastic passion

You can feel my lips undress your eyes/Undress your eyes/Undress your eyes/Skin can feel my lips they tingle/Tense anticipation/This one is an easy one/Feel the word and melt upon it/Words of love and words so leisured/Words are poisoned darts of pleasure/Die/So I die

Ich heisse super fantastische/Ich Trinke champers mit lachsfisch

Michael

This is where I’ll be/So heavenly/So come and dance with me Michael/So sexy, you’re sexy/Come and dance with me Michael/I’m all that you see, you want to see/Come and dance with me Michael/So close now so close now/Come and dance with me/Come and dance with me/So come and dance with me

Michael you’re the boy with all the leather hips/Sticky hair, sticky hips, stubble on my sticky lips/Michael you’re the only one I’d ever want/Beautiful boys on a beautiful dance floor/Michael you’re dancing like a beautiful dance-whore/Michael waiting on a silver platter now … and nothing matters now

This is what I am/I am a man/Come and dance with me Michael/So strong now, it’s strong now/Come and dance with me Michael/It’s all that you’ll be, you’ll ever see/So come and dance with me Michael/I’m all that you’ll be, you’ll ever see/So come and dance with me Michael/So close now/You’re close now/Come and dance with me/Come and dance with me

Do You Want To

When I woke up tonight/I said I’m going to make somebody love me/now I know that it’s you/You’re lucky lucky you’re so lucky/Do you want to go where I’d never let you before/Do you want a go of what I’d never let you before/He’s a friend and he’s so proud of you/He’s a friend and I knew him before you/He’s a friend and we’re so proud of you/Your famous friend, well I blew him before you/Here we are at the Transmission party/I love your friends, they’re all so arty

Walk Away

I swapped my innocence for pride/Crushed the end within my stride/Said I’m strong now I know that I’m a leaner/I love the sound of you walking away/Mascara bleeds a blackened tear/And I am cold, yes I’m cold/But not as cold as you are

Why don’t you walk away?/No buildings will fall down/No quake will split the ground/The sun won’t swallow the sky/Statues will not cry

I cannot turn to see those eyes/As apologies may rise/I must be strong stay an unbeliever/And love the sound of you walking away/Mascara bleeds into my eye/I’m not cold, I am old—at least as old as you are

As you walk away/My headstone crumbles down/The Hollywood wind’s a howl/The Kremlin’s falling/Radio 4 is static

The stab of stiletto on a silent night/Stalin smiles Hitler laughs Churchill claps Mao Tse Tung on the back.

Lady Gaga - Why It's Time To Give The Fame Monster A Rest

2010-03-04T04:17:00.001-08:00

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 02/03/10 at 03:30:59 pm

Roll up, roll up, for the Lady Gaga media circus. There she is in The Sun, heading out for a spot of lunch with a lobster on her head (must try that look next time I visit Beckenham Nando’s).

Turn around and she’s on the cover of Q, posing with a plastic dong crammed down her pants. Not explicit enough for you? Fear not - Holy Moly are raking in the search traffic by publishing photos of her exposed labia (it’s funny cos people dun sed she had a willy LOL).

continued...

Arrgh, make it stop. Has there ever been an artist so relentlessly pawed over and leered at, so scorned and over-praised simultaneously, as Lady Gaga? More to the point, what is it about this artist that makes otherwise intelligent journalists come over like a gaggle of tittering fourth-formers scrawling bell-ends on biology textbooks?

There is no escape. Already relentless, the Gaga hype machine has reached a hysterical pitch with the arrival in the UK of her live show, which – as every review has slavishly reported, with a journalistic gravitas usually reserved for meetings of the UN’s Security Council - features zombie wank-orgies, an animatronic sea-monster, and an outfit that resembles a “yeti crossed with a lampshade”.

Is that good? I don’t even know any more. I’ve become so inured to these kind of outlandish details, if I came across a headline tomorrow that read, Lady Gaga Rides Papier-Mache Unicorn To The Moon, I’d probably just nod solemnly and go, “Huh. Figures.”

Trouble is, there’s an infuriating blank at the heart of this wall-to-wall Gaga worship: her music. Funny how the reviews gloss over that part.

There’s a howling gulf between the claims the media makes for her (she’s a Bowie-esque pop chameleon! A Situationist prankster playing the press at its own game!), and the sound that actually comes out of the speakers, which is production-line, R&B-tinged, faceless robo-pop, of a kind that her producer RedOne has knocked out for countless acts, from Akon to Cassie.

Indeed, notions of Gaga’s zeitgeist-grasping genius tend to break down when you look beyond the Kermit The Frog overcoats and examine her actual lyrics, which consist primarily of pre-linguistic babbling (”Ra-ra, ah-ah-ah, Ro mah, ro mah mah” - so true!), hip-hop-inspired bragging (”Check this hand ‘cause I’m marvelous”), and lame double intendres (“Bluffin’ with my muffin”).

Recently, a Rolling Stone journalist attempted to tease out the allusive subtleties of that last line, as though he were parsing a particularly knotty TS Eliot stanza. Fortunately, Gaga explained it for him: “Obviously [‘Poker Face’] is a metaphor…it's my pussy's poker face.” [Slaps forehead] Of course! The mystery is solved.

Of course, Gaga herself is only too happy to encourage such pseudo-intellectual analyses of her work. “My art is liberation… I want to free you,” she opines earnestly in Q, before going on to explain that her current tour is about “fear of alcohol monster, fear of sex monster” - which is no way to talk about John Terry.

Truth is, the closer you examine Gaga, the less there is to see. She’s a cipher, a blank canvas on to which the media can daub any narrative it likes. Feminist critique? Step forward, Hermione Hoby in The Guardian. Family values why-oh-why-ing? The Telegraph. Giggling about camel toes? 3am.co.uk. Angry directionless rant? That’ll be, er, me.

So many layers of artifice, so little substance underneath. We know next to nothing about her private life, the inner world behind the exploding bras. It’s not so much, 'The emperor has no clothes', more, 'The emperor is nothing but clothes'. Consequently, there’s something heartless and robotic about what she does. It’s visually exhilarating but emotionally cold - all surface, no feeling.

She’s also a product, I’d argue, of a mainstream press that requires its female stars to be self-promoting, photographically arresting, a bit ‘mad’ (cf Courtney, Florence). Get on with the serious business of writing songs – as opposed to playing the game, supplying wacky soundbites, stripping off for magazine covers - and you’ll be dismissed as bland and boring, as Ellie Goulding is discovering to her cost.

The most downloaded artist of all time, Gaga holds up a mirror to our brutally accelerated web culture. Offering endless opportunities for snark and lolspeak, she’s a pop star for the Perez Hilton age, the ultimate search term, an icon that generates a torrent of cheap clicks, but little in the way of passionate engagement. And now I’m stoking the bonfire of Gaga tedium with this blog. Bugger.

More than anything though, Gaga’s planet-engulfing success says a great deal about the featureless abyssal plain that is modern pop. Let’s be honest about this. Is she really worthy of the attention we collectively lavish on her, day after day? Or is there, in truth, simply so little else going on in music, she appears exotic and enthralling by default?

Twitter.com/lukelewis

2010-03-04T04:11:00.001-08:00

Latest music news: Mika performing at Glastonbury.

Some tweets abt it:

buffystar @glastowatch Mika for Glastonbury on Radio 2 fuck bollocks crap poo I could go on....

chris_hirons Please! please! please! please! can Mica NOT go to Glasto this year....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

GlastoWatch Someone out there must like Mika. Everyone else seems to want to drop him down the Longdrops if he turns up at Glasto.

Rodimus_Prime @GlastoWatch. Yep, I'll stick my neck out. Mika is actually one of the better confirmations so far. There, I said it.

al_green *Shudders* Mika at Glasto. Revel in the campness if you must... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDJhtlu2QDo

My tweets abt it:

melissa31291 @GlastoWatch Mika is an amazing artist.But I do think Mika and Glastonbury don't go tgt.Like how Gaga and Glasto didn't go too well tgt.

melissa31291 Yeah seriously #letsbereal Mika does not go well with #glasto.

Glasto is an indie alternative festival. Oasis is one of those “traditional” Glasto bands. Jay-Z’s headlining two years ago was not received well by most. But the crowd did go mad for him. Lady Gaga’s set at Glasto was just weird. She was playing to a bunch of crazy indie fellas who didn’t shower in a few days and were covered in mud, and were there for good ol’ rock n roll and Arctic Monkeys, and all those other alt bands. Her conical bra that shot out fire was just bizarre in those circumstances. Wrong crowd man. Just like how Mika’s “happy” pop doesn’t mix well with Glasto.

Don’t get me wrong, its been my dream to go to Glasto. It still is. One day, I’ll be there. But in my humble opinion, Mika’s music doesn’t fit with the Glasto spirit. But who am I to say anything right..? Since I’ve never been there, I’m not even English.

But Mika still pwns okay? I’m still a huge fan of his.

2010-03-02T09:02:00.001-08:00

Being broke sucks big time.

7 Mar: Paramore

18 Mar: Placebo

17-18 Mar: The Go! Team

18-19 Mar: Kings of Convenience

26-27 Mar: Timbre:Rock and Roots (Blues Train, Buddy Guy, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, Gipsy Kings, Gugun & Blues Shelter, OPSHOP, Jools Holland and His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, The Fray)

13 Apr: Jamie Cullum

12 May: Deep Purple

If I hv some dough, I’ll just go for The Go! Team and Jamie Cullum still, as much as I want to go for Placebo and Timbre: Rock and Roots. I wanna see Jools Holland! Not so much The Fray (I’ve never liked them). Most well-know English bands have been on Jools Holland! Sigh. I’ll stick to $40 tix for The Go! Team and Jamie Cullum! Hopefully I’ll get my pay soon. I think I’m gonna work as a flyer distributor after I’m done at SDT. Need the $ man. Not so much need it, more like want it so I can get CDs (gonna blow $300 at Gramophone), merch (from getupmerch.com) and a shirt I’ve been eyeing for 2 months at Cotton On, and tix to gigs! Sigh. The price I pay for loving music (legally). And seeing good bands that I’ll probably never have the opportunity to see again.

Stop The Clocks from Oasisinet.com

2010-03-01T07:09:00.001-08:00

“They came into our lives in April '94, as the body of Kurt Cobain lay newly dead, like a star-shaped tambourine shattering through a window. This, the very first Oasis 'Best Of', is the definitive sonic document of how Oasis transformed everything, how they kick-started the real 90s, how line by line, riff by riff, sneer by leer, the spirit of rock 'n' roll rose again like an unholy, invincible spectre, versed in shimmering riffs, two fingers in the air and this time it was from Manchester.

In the end, it's all about the songs - beyond the story, above the hair, further than the formidable attitude - and most of those songs are here, living inside our souls like the best friends you ever had, who kicked your backside, kept your dreams alive, made you stay up all night, consoled you in the morning and dared you to live forever. From Definitely Maybe ('94), we've the debut single, of course, Supersonic, where swaggering insolence, doused in gin, saw a generation rise from its slumber, sprint out its front door and disappear for quite some time. If Cigarettes & Alcohol then laid out the bounty like some demented felon spilling his bag of swag, Rock 'n' Roll Star identified the dream, while Slide Away drove the tour bus, the crusading, six-minute friendship opus which defined Oasis as the anthem-band of the dreamer's generation, bar none, a generation whose aspirations were exactly the same as theirs; aspirations for a better, funnier, bigger way of life, lives rising up from concrete rubble like beanstalks of glittering belief. Live Forever, meanwhile, is the closest the 90s came to an actual hymn, the towering, poignant, definitive exaltation in telling mortality where to stick it.

It's testament to Noel Gallagher's staggeringly prolific gift that the '94-'95-era Oasis - when life was fairly “busy” - would become the peerless champs of the inspirational b-side. And c-side. Releasing Whatever as a stand-alone single between the first and second albums, here's the much-loved b-side, Half The World Away, emotive, melancholy guitar-pop at its most curiously chipper, theme-tune not only to 'The Royle Family' sit-com ('98-2000) but a world of wistful, misplaced souls. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? followed, where the Some Might Say EP gave us three, unique, undisputed classics: Some Might Say itself, a searching, dreamscape paradigm, Acquiesce, where wall-of-sound pandemonium built the lyrical bridge to brotherly love, before collapsing all over again (to some, the greatest Oasis single which never was) and the delicate, melancholic, profoundly poetic Talk Tonight which saw Noel the soul-man laid-bare. No wedding today is complete without the groom and his mates hand-clapping through its romantic melodies, at 4 a.m., still singing in the bar, 'bout how she saved his life… (What's The Story) Morning Glory? gave us four, count 'em, colossal Oasis epics, the title track itself a master-class in driven, raucous, throat-shredding cool while Champagne Supernova, in 7 and a half minutes, rose upwards from a raindrop in the dew into a star-burst constellation overhead. Standing on the stage at Maine Road Stadium in April '96, as the Knebworth legend approached, Liam Gallagher surveyed the world Oasis had created and believed, momentarily, “I am the cosmos!” Champagne Supernova made the rest of us feel exactly the same way. Don't Look Back In Anger, meanwhile, the beloved live centre-piece, is practically the real National Anthem while Wonderwall is, quite simply, one of the greatest songs ever written. The haunting hymnal for the mystery of love itself, here were cellos the size of oak trees, a voice the size of Saturn and a soul the size of infinity. Its b-side, The Masterplan, was good enough to front the '98 compilation album of the same name, the song which saw Noel turn philosopher-mystic, sort of, a melody which sailed into legend like a ship of hope on an ocean of orchestral longing…

At the turn of the millennium, Oasis were No.1 all over again, with Go Let It Out, the brooding, rock 'n' roll dynamo with a minstrel's edge (from Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants) and were still No.1 five years later, twice, with the mosh-pit bedlam of Lyla and the optimism exuberance of The Importance Of Being Idle, both from 2005's Don't Believe The Truth. In between came Songbird, from Heathen Chemistry (2003), the first Oasis single written by Liam, which saw the Kryptonite frontman at his most playful, tuneful and enigmatically tender. Around about now, a new generation was growing up and waking up to the spectacular force of nature which had shaped the previous decade. And some of this new generation, besotted with guitars, has created its homage to Oasis already, by standing on a stage, near you, today. There could've been more: Shakermaker, Cast No Shadow, D'You Know What I Mean?, Gas Panic, Little By Little, but these 18 songs, spinning in and out of no natural order, through 12 unforgettable years, are the songs the whole world sings, and will sing forever, songs which define the very point of being alive, which fill our souls with hope, escape, friendship, love, laughter, sex, beauty, oblivion and the timeless freedom of the rock 'n' roll dream itself. These could be the best days of our lives.

And they were. And they still are.”

This was written in the CD booklet. I’ve always remembered how inspiring and wonderfully-written it was. I’m so proud to be an Oasis fan.

Owl City from powerofpop.com

2010-03-01T05:04:00.001-08:00

OWL CITY Ocean Eyes (Universal Republic)

“I despair of the mainstream in 2010.

Sure, I can understand the rappers and Lady Gaga and how they figure in the grand scheme of things. But not Owl City.

I mean is this guy for real? The press releases try to paint him as the great white hope of indie pop. The fact is Owl City is as mainstream as they come. With auto-tuned, pre-fabricated crap that just happens to be presented in electronic format and suddenly this guy is “synth-pop”?

His sanitized vocals annoy the hell out of me, with every electronic sound so clean and perfect, this is how synth-pop would sound like if it went Disney!

So this is the mainstream’s answer to “indie-pop”? Emasculated and soul-less, saccharine and dumb? I guess so…

Sure, its popular and commercial, which is fine with me. Just ease up on the hyperbole. As long as you can ignore the awesome electronic music that has come before, you can put this on and pretend that Owl City is the absolute bee’s knees.

Me? I’ll be listening to my New Order singles compilation.”

I couldn’t agree more. This guy’s vocals annoy me like hell, there’s no way that’s considered real synth-pop, just cos’ he uses a hell lotta auto-tune and a bunch of electronic stuff. Gosh, seriously, what’s with the world nowadays?

Talkin’ About My Generation from powerofpop.com

2010-03-01T04:48:00.001-08:00

vs.

Pop music is a generational thing. Which is why we have “oldies” radio stations. Somehow, pop music seems to be classified into decades and so you have categories like 60s or 90s music. For most people, their music-listening period begins with the onset of puberty and ends roughly when they hit 30. A good 15 years, give or take. After that, most people will only listen to the music of their generation.

Thus, if you’re in that 15-30 age group currently, you might listen to the Editors, the Killers, Green Day and Muse and be totally oblivious to Joy Division, the Psychedelic Furs, the Clash and Rush. Those of us who grew up in the 80s might be aghast that fans of the former group are not aware of or even bothered with the musical debt owed to the latter group. Which is their prerogative.

Without putting too fine a point on this, these people are not music lovers. They view music as a functional entertainment item – like film or TV – but nothing more. So any talk of rock history will simply go over their heads. Which I must emphasise again is their prerogative. My concern is that as a society, not enough people are blessed (or cursed, take your pick) with the interest or passion to see pop music as an art form worthy of study. Without this, we will not be able to provide pop music as an entertainment platform that may be exported worldwide.

You know the spiel – we are a small nation without natural resources and thus, all we have is our creativity to set us apart. And yet, we are severely lacking in the creative arts – which includes pop music, still a major player in the entertainment industry. There is not enough information-sharing or education in this key area. So we are perpetually shooting in the dark. Look at our half-cocked attempts to fabricate a pop idol.

Whatever you may think of the likes of Black-Eyed Peas or Lady Gaga, much work has been invested into putting together a highly marketable and commercial product, and it succeeds. Pop music is a business after all. Yet, it is a business that we approach here without the technical know-how and somehow believe that we can make it work in the same way!

What we need is an overhaul of our mindset toward pop music. Raise the standard of songwriting and performance of pop music (in all forms) and educate the public about the intrinsic value of pop music, made in Singapore. Only then perhaps, we have a glimmer of hope in moving forward.

… still there’s more …

2010-02-26T23:28:00.001-08:00

Just an update on my week. Listening to Skream’s Remix of In For The Kill by La Roux by the way. It won Best Dancefloor Filler this week at the NME Awards. Elly Jackson from La Roux said its a lot darker. And yet its very popular. Which shows people don’t want happy mindless crap. They wanna feel.

Monday I went to Little India to get flowers (fail). Then to work.

Tuesday-work.

Wednesday-Work + met Yee Kei for dinner after.

Thursday-Went to work, rehearsal got postponed, went to Chinatown with Ching Ting (Stage Manager) to get flowers (fail) + went to SMU to drop off supporting documents + met Manda for dinner. Had a really nice time catching up!

Friday-Went to Tanjong Katong to get flowers (win) + mailed LASALLE application + went to work + CBSI + supper after.

Sat-Went to MJ’s house to get my laptop and see her rabbit (thats not really hers) + met Nic for lunch. And here I am! Gonna update my props list, do some stuff for work. My dad’s friends coming over later to look at his plants. Including the guy that got me my job at SDT! Going to Pasir Ris with Nic after. Dinner with Tim Seet. Sending Nic off. Meeting Junjie for coffee later.

Sun, tomorrow-Church + Joo Chiat Complex after to get flowers + sunday dinner.

In case anyone felt neglected this week, this is the reason why. Packed schedule. Hopefully this coming week will be the calm before the storm, the storm referring to performance week. But then again we have to pack everything this week that we need at Victoria Theatre. Highly unlikely that it will be calm. Its Nic’s field camp this week too! I doubt I’ll have the time to worry about him anyway.

Okay, off to do work (as always)!

NME Awards 2010

2010-02-26T23:03:00.001-08:00

The Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 winners and nominees were:
Godlike Genius
Paul Weller

Teenage Cancer Trust Outstanding Contribution To Music
The Specials

Best British Band (supported by Shockwaves)
Winner: Muse
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Kasabian, Oasis

Oasis should have won, they’re a Brit band through and through. As with Arctic Monkeys. Muse may be British but their music is very international. But then again Oasis didn’t release an album last year.

Best International Band (supported by 4music/T4)
Winner: Paramore
Nominated: Green Day, Kings Of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Whats the big deal about Paramore? I don’t get it. They’re just another normal rock band with a teenage fanbase. On the other hand, Kings of Leon and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are totally awesome and groundbreaking.

Best Solo Artist
Winner: Jamie T
Nominated: Dizzee Rascal, Florence And The Machine, Julian Casablancas, Lady Gaga

I’m just glad Lady Gaga didn’t win. But I wish Julian Casablancas won. He is the frontman of The Strokes after all.

Philip Hall Radar Award
The Drums

Best New Band (supported by USC)
Winner: Bombay Bicycle Club
Nominated: The Big Pink, Mumford & Sons, The xx, La Roux

La Roux and The Big Pink are totally awesome new bands, but Bombay Bicycle Club is pretty good too anyway.

Best Live Act (supported by Tuborg)
Winner: Arctic Monkeys
Nominated: Kasabian, Muse, Radiohead, Them Crooked Vultures

Muse wins hands down. They have the best live shows. I can testify to that.

Best Album (supported by HMV)
Winner: Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys – 'Humbug', Muse – 'The Resistance', The Cribs – 'Ignore The Ignorant', The Horrors – 'Primary Colours'

I think Muse should have won this. The sheer magnitude of their music shows they’re more than deserving of this award. Look at Exogenesis Symphony. But West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum is a terrific album.

Best Track (supported by NME Radio)
Winner: The Big Pink – 'Dominos'
Nominated: Animal Collective – 'My Girls', Arctic Monkeys – 'Crying Lightning', Florence And The Machine – 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', Jamie T – 'Sticks N' Stones'

Yay! I love Dominos!

Best Video (supported by NME TV)
Winner: Biffy Clyro – 'The Captain'
Nominated: Arctic Monkeys – 'Cornerstone ', Kasabian – 'Fire', The Maccabees – 'Can You Give It', Oasis – 'Falling Down'

Oasis’ Falling Down was absolutely awesome. With the whole political rhetoric on English royalty. Concept was awesome.

Best Live Event
Winner: Blur at Hyde Park
Nominated: Jay-Z at Alexandra Palace, Muse at Teignmouth, Oasis at Heaton Park, The Dead Weather at Shoreditch Church

I’m an Oasis fan. I don’t like Blur.

Best Festival
Winner: Glastonbury
Nominated: Download, Reading And Leeds Festivals, T In The Park, V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler
Winner: La Roux – 'In For The Kill' (Skream Remix)
Nominated: Dizzee Rascal And Armand Van Helden – 'Bonkers', Florence And The Machine – 'You've Got The Love', Lady Gaga – 'Poker Face', Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 'Zero'

Yay!

Best TV Show
Winner: The Inbetweeners
Nominated: Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Peep Show, Skins, True Blood

Best Film
Winner: Inglourious Basterds
Nominated: (500) Days Of Summer, In The Loop, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Where The Wild Things Are

Best DVD
Winner: The Mighty Boosh – Future Sailors
Nominated: Kings Of Leon – Live At The The O2 Arena, Flight Of The Conchords – Complete HBO Second Season, The Killers – Live From The Royal Albert Hall, Nirvana – Live At Reading

I have Nirvana’s Live At Reading DVD but I’ve yet to watch it, supposed to watch it with MJ and Wee Peng. The Killers are pretty good too. Watch on YouTube! But The Mighty Boosh is crazy awesome! Cos of Noel Fielding!

Giving It Back Fan Award
Winner: Lily Allen for her Twitter ticket treasure hunt
Nominated: Kasabian and Noel Fielding for free 'Vlad The Impaler' video, Danger Mouse for leaking 'Dark Night Of The Soul', Arctic Monkeys for their Oxfam golden tickets, Vampire Weekend for giving away 'Horchata' from the album 'Contra'

Hero Of The Year
Winner: Rage Against The Machine
Nominated: Beyoncé Knowles, Noel Gallagher, Matt Bellamy, Alex Turner

I don’t know why Matt Bellamy and Alex Turner were nominated. Not like they did anything outstanding, unlike Beyonce and Rage Against The Machine. Yay for Rage Against The Machine for winning the battle against X-Factor! For once they broke the stranglehold X-Factor had of the Christmas charts.

Villain Of The Year
Winner: Kanye West
Nominated: Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher, Simon Cowell, Lady Gaga

Kanye’s an ass, but he’s right, in my opinion. LOL. Well Liam did cause the break-up of Oasis, but it was Noel who left. They’re both to blame. They’re both villains! But I still love them!

Best Dressed
Winner: Lady Gaga
Nominated: Liam Gallagher, Noel Fielding, Florence Welch, Karen O

Worst Dressed
Winner: Lady Gaga
Nominated: Matt Bellamy, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, Elly Jackson (La Roux)

Seriously none of the nominees deserve to be nominated. They dress well, in my opinion. They don’t even wear really outlandish outfits that deserve criticism. I’m glad Lady Gaga won this. But she won Best Dressed as well. Which should have gone to any of the others. Liam has his own awesome fashion line after all!

Worst Album
Winner: The Jonas Brothers – 'Lines, Vines And Trying Times'
Nominated: Green Day – '21st Century Breakdown', Lady Gaga – 'The Fame', U2 – 'No Line On The Horizon', Arctic Monkeys – 'Humbug'

Yes! But why are the Arctic Monkeys nominated?

Worst Band
Winner: Jonas Brothers
Nominated: Green Day, Oasis, Paramore

Yes! But whats with Oasis being nominated? They have made an invaluable contribution to music.

Hottest Man
Winner: Matt Bellamy (Muse)

He won this last year! Yay for him! I wish Dominic Howard (bandmate) won though. Dom was in the lead at first. Dom deserves some attention.

Poor Chris Wolstenhome.

Hottest Woman
Winner: Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Yes!

Best Website (excluding NME.COM)
Winner: Muse.mu
Nominated: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Greenday.com

-_- How can Muse.mu compete with YouTube, Facebook or Twitter?!

Best Album Artwork
Winner: Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'
Nominated: Muse – 'The Resistance', Green Day – '21st Century Breakdown', The Cribs – 'Ignore The Ignorant', Manic Street Preachers – 'Journal For Plague Lovers '

Best Band Blog
Winner: Radiohead (Radiohead.com/deadairspace)
Nominated: Muse (Muse.mu and Twitter.com/muse), Noel Gallagher (Oasisinet.com), Los Campesinos! (Loscampesinos.com), Paramore (Paramore.net)

Brits - The Awards They Should Have Given Out

2010-02-19T21:06:00.001-08:00

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 17/02/10 at 11:20:58 am

So this is the best of British music, is it? Two awards for a bunch of back-flipping boyband berks (what are they called again, JJB Sports?); a performance from an artist so lacking in natural talent she can’t evenmime convincingly, let alone sing live; and a lifetime achievement gong for a UFO-obsessed has-been who thinks tugging the corners of his mouth down and hectoring the crowd to “bounce” constitutes entertainment.

It’s a stinging irony that, on a night that was supposed to celebrate British talent, the best performance by a mile was by two yanks, Jay Z and Alicia Keys, singing a song about New York; and the biggest winner, with three awards, was Lady Gaga, whose charisma, weirdness, and sheer megawatt star power generally made Cheryl Cole look like a Butlins Redcoat in comparison.

But let’s not get carried away singing Gaga’s praises, either. It’s become the consensus view, trotted out by serious rock hacks and broadsheet types, that the ‘Poker Face’ singer has blazed a comet-trail of excitement through pop culture. “She’s revivified the charts”, they say, steepling their fingers solemnly, “and injected a note of alien, Bowie-esque glamour”.

Meh. Personally, I don’t care if she’s come dressed as a Sherbert Dib-Dab/Somali pirate/upside-down exclamation mark - she still makes the kind of heartlessly clinical modern R&B you’d switch off Flava TV to avoid. Who gives a toss what kind of dress she’s wearing? What are you, Gok Wan? Ooh, she’s styled her hair in the shape of a triangle, what a daring and important artist she is.

continued...

Let’s be honest - last night’s show was dismal. The Brits have become a dreary eulogy for a bygone age, the last hurrah of the old music industry, a nostalgic overhang from a time, pre-downloading, when Annie Lennox and Chris Rea sold millions, and Des’Ree won awards with impunity. Hence, the after-show parties last night offered a blessed opportunity for the music biz to party like it was 1999, glug Veuve Clicquot by the jeroboam, and pretend that EMI didn’t just post a £1.75 billion loss.

People love to bang on about the shambolic Brits shows of the 1980s, when Mick Fleetwood got drunk and waggled his cock at The Four Tops (or something). But the truth is, it was the random element that made it worth watching. I’d rather sit through two hours of excruciating, knuckle-chewing incompetence than what we get these days, which is a slick, well-oiled ITV conveyor belt, with carefully scheduled windows for ‘controversy’ (step forward, Liam).

Anyway, based on last night’s events, here are the awards I’d give out.

The ‘Shilling In The Name’ Award For Services To The Finance Industry
The Pet Shop Boys made some much-needed cash (they must be strapped, poor lambs, they’ve only sold 50 million albums) by advertising Mastercard in the ad breaks - prompting Ed Simons from The Chemical Brothers to Tweet his outrage: “Not for all the money in the world would we play in someone's kitchen to sell credit cards.”

Numpty Of The Night
Never mind, Tom Meighan from Kasabian, so you tripped over and looked a bit silly – it’s not like millions of people were watching or anything.

Outstanding Achievement In The Field Of Auto-Tune
Well done, Cheryl Cole. Even though you present a TV show in which the ability to sing live is the only criteria for success, you couldn’t be arsed to do so yourself, instead turning in a mimed performance so badly dubbed it resembled a ‘70s kung-fu movie.

Lifetime Underachievement
Let’s hear it for Robbie Williams, emitting industrial levels of oily self-regard, moist-eyed phoniness and needy desperation since 1994. Wow, he can hold a microphone out and tell the audience to ‘sing it’ – what a showman.

The ‘Phone It In’ Award For Presentational Mediocrity
Could Peter Kay have looked less arsed about the whole thing? He slagged off past winners, mocked current winners, compared Lady Gaga to Sue Pollard. OK, we don’t want Grammys-style reverence, but if even the compere doesn’t take this shit seriously, why should we?

Twitter.com/lukelewis

How Indie Rock And Roll Failed At The Brits

2010-02-19T21:04:00.001-08:00

By Tim Chester

Posted on 17/02/10 at 12:04:08 pm

There was a moment last night when the Brit Awardscame tantalisingly close to subversiveness. Oasis had just won the award for British Album Of 30 Years for ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’. Liam had just proved how blasé and indifferent to the whole thing he is by giving up his Tuesday night with the kids to travel in the rain to Earls Court Exhibition Centre, pick up the statue and throw it in the crowd.

With it went his microphone and by the next ad break organisers were pleading with the crowd for its return. “We need that back now please” a runner demanded with the intensity of a harrassed headmaster “or the next act won’t be able to perform”. (Did they really think the crowd would fall for that? The idea that something as stage-managed as the Brits would have just the handful of mics, asking Liam if he wouldn’t mind passing it to JLS if he saw them during his backstage travels?)

continued...

Unfortunately, whoever got the mic duly returned it and relinquished all hope for hi jinx. Which is a shame, as the possibilities for mayhem were infinite. Some extra live vocals during Cheryl’s mimed extravaganza? Naughty shout outs to the naughtiest Spice Girls? Passing it toDizzee so he could shout “boobs” every few minutes? Hell, even some squeaky fart noises from time to time would have done. It would have beaten Peter Kay’s end-of-the-pier air horn pranks and hilarious misnaming of the acts.

But despite the organisers’ attempts (booking rent-a-blunder Sam Fox, putting Courtney in a room with free alcohol and microphones) this year went without a ‘moment’. And Liam’s pathetic two fingers to a brother that was too blasé and indifferent to be there (or probably even watch) was the sharp end of indie rock and roll’s painfully poor showing.

Yes the yanks trounced us. Gaga, despite blubbering like a spoilt child in need of a slap as she picked up her third award, retooled her set at the 11th hour and still made Cheryl look like a contestant not a judge, at the same time introducing us to the world’s greatest instrument.

Alicia Keys stomped all over every single one of our Big Female Hopes without every trying, and Jay-Z was out of the room by the time Robbie hit the stage, dancing to his own records at Chinawhites while our Outstanding Contribution to Cabaret was plodding through his hits.

But it was rock's piss-poor showing that really stood out.Liam's outburst was so inevitable they probably had it on the backstage running order, Florence gibbered and thanked everyone in her life from her mum's midwife onwards, and Kasabian - who threatened before the show to splatter JLS with fire extinguisher foam - celebrated their award by Tom falling over on the stage. And their “incendiary” run through of ‘Fire’ was little more than a row of bunsen burners lit by orange spotlights that had nowhere near nothing on this.

OK so Animal Collective were never going to trump Gaga, but The Brits gave credible artists a handful of chances last night, and they blew them. An embarrassing night for us Brits, yes. But an even more shameful affair for rock and roll.

2010-02-19T21:00:00.001-08:00

Simon Cowell is apparently very keen to sign up Noel Gallagher to replace him as a judge on American Idol. The ex-Oasis star, however, would be in contention with US radio host Howard Stern and Piers Morgan for the role. "I know Noelquite well," Cowell claimed. "I like him. He is very funny and a brilliant songwriter - it's a possibility"

As if Noel would ever do it! He will elevate himself above this nonsense. Lol.

30 bizarre facts about the Brit Awards:

http://www.nme.com/photos/30-bizarre-facts-about-the-brit-awards/165151/1/1

Some of the facts: There have been a number of confrontations at the Brits, but one of the best was when Westlife's Brian McFadden tried to start a fight with members of So Solid Crew by throwing water at them. They returned fire with a hailstorm of glasses and bottles.

Prescott isn't the only politician to have had a hard time at the awards. When Tony Blair stood up to speak in 1996 he was jeered – by members of the Conservative Party.

The Brit School in Croydon, which is funded by the government and the British Record Industry Trust, has given the world a whole host of pop acts, from Amy Winehouse to Leona Lewis and The Kooks.

Jamiroquai and Radiohead haven't been so lucky. They've both received 15 nominations at the awards but have never won any.

In 2008 Jason Orange was refused re-entry to the event because one of his friends swore at the security guard. They were only allowed back in once Orange contacted the guard's superior.

Before the 2009 Brit Awards, Lady Gaga went for three spray tans in one day.

25 Most Downloaded Songs Ever

2010-02-19T20:50:00.001-08:00

http://www.nme.com/photos/25-most-downloaded-songs-ever/165383/1/1

2010-02-18T08:42:00.001-08:00

Mika with Beth Ditto singing Love Today (Mika’s) and Standing In The Way Of Control (The Gossips’s) (which is an amazing song too btw)!

Liam’s infamous thank-you speech that did not feature Noel. Plus him throwing his mic and award into the crowd. Typical ungrateful c***. Ahh how I love him. Haha. Check out his typical arrogant standing position at 2:05-2:06. His exact same pose is drawn in the Masterplan video (which is animated, and has a full-on Liam swagger).

The Masterplan is the greatest B-side of all time, in my opinion. Noel is most proud for writing Don’t Look Back In Anger, Live Forever and The Masterplan. Even Liam said he wish he wrote it. It even has an orchestra! Definitely in my top 5 favourite Oasis songs. It might be #2 or #3, behind Don’t Look Back In Anger or Let There Be Love. By the way if you listen real closely in the last 30 seconds of the song or so, you can hear Noel/Liam singing I Am The Walrus in the background!

Another awesome B-side by Switchfoot!

Another unbelievable B-side by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Just another vid to end on an amusing note!

I got carried away posting B-sides, as I was listening to B-sides more came to my mind.

2010-02-18T07:14:00.001-08:00

Mika joined Danielle De Niese on ‘Pop Star To Opera Star’ last Friday to perform an operatic
version of ‘Rain’.

The stunning rendition was greeted with a standing ovation from both judges and audience alike.
Mika’s big supporter Perez Hilton has posted a video of the performance on his website so you can watch it over and over again.

Mika is looking for volunteers to take part in his live shows and it could be you!

He wants…

Lollipop girls - for the petite girls (max size up to UK 12)
Big Girls – for the medium to large ladies (UK 16-24)
If you’re up for it read on…
All you need to do is turn up at the stage door of the venue with your ticket at 5pm on the day of a show and ask for Mika’s Tour Manager. All applicants will then be met and performers will be chosen within 30 minutes.
If you are chosen here’s what will happen next:
- You will be fitted with your costume, do a run through, be given a call back time and receive a pass that will get you to backstage at the appropriate time later on.
- You’ll need to “cover up” your costume whilst in the house with an overcoat or jumper.
Please have your best pair of “dance shoes” with you as this will make it much easier – no shoes with heels or trainers please.
You can then get back in the queue and enter venue and watch first part of the performance - since your participation comes towards the end of the show, you will not be able to view the last half of the performance from the house as you will be needed in the backstage area to get dressed and prepare for your part.
Costumes will be provided.
Please note all applicants must be 18 years of age or over (sorry, this is for legal reasons) and have a valid ticket for the show (we will buy this back from you if you are chosen and miss a lot of the show).
The full list of Mika’s tour dates are:
Feb 18 - O2 Academy, Sheffield
Feb 19 - Apollo, Manchester
Feb 21 - O2 Academy, Leeds
Feb 22 - O2 Academy, Glasgow
Feb 24 - O2 Academy, Newcastle
Feb 25 - O2 Academy, Birmingham
Feb 28 - Hammersmith Apollo, London
Mar 1 - Hammersmith Apollo, London
Mar 3 - Centre, Brighton
Mar 4 - Colston Hall, Bristol
There are still a few tickets left for some of these dates, but they’re selling out fast.
Click here to snap up the last of the tickets now.

I WANNA LIVE IN LONDON AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

2010-02-16T22:00:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until 1503, and mother of King Henry VIII of England.

“There are theories about who the court cards represent. For example, the Queen of Hearts is believed by some to be a representation of Elizabeth of York—the Queen consort of King Henry VII of England, or it is sometimes believed to be a representation of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. The United States Playing Card Company suggests that, in the past, the King of Hearts was Charlemagne, the King of Diamonds was Julius Caesar, the King of Clubs was Alexander the Great, and the King of Spades was the Biblical King David (see King (playing card)).”

2010-02-16T21:42:00.001-08:00

Brand new Muse track at

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=122&p=7985&more=1

Making of Muse’s Resistance http://www.nme.com/video/bcid/66244946001/search/NME

Kesha’s pre-Tik Tok days

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPWzYDnbkzc&feature=player_embedded

Robert Smith’s (The Cure) new track for the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack

http://stereogum.com/archives/robert_smith__very_good_advice_114741.html#more

Franz Ferdinand’s new track for the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_H9gpw7Uw

BRIT Awards

2010-02-16T21:39:00.001-08:00

The BRITs 2010 is over. Lady Gaga went home smiling with three awards, the best showing for an international act since Scissor Sisters in 2005.

Kasabian bagged one and shared their band philosophy with Tom telling us all "If you want to make omelettes, sometimes you've got to break eggs" and Liam, well he didn't break any eggs but did thank the Oasis fans for being the "f**king best fans" before disposing of his BRIT for Oasis' Album of 30 Years Award and the microphone into the audience, not quite a Jarvis or Chumbawumba moment but certainly not dull either...

Here's a quick re-cap on the nominees and who got what:

Already announced pre-Awards night:
Ellie Goulding took the Critics Choice, Robbie Williams bags a gong for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

BRIT Awards - February 16, 2010

British Male Solo Artist - Winner - Dizzee Rascal
Nominated:

Calvin Harris
Mika
Paolo Nutini
Robbie Williams

British Female Solo Artist - Winner - Lily Allen
Nominated:

Bat for Lashes
Florence & the Machine
Leona Lewis
Lily Allen
Pixie Lott

British Breakthrough Act - Winner - JLS
(Initial five selected by Voting Academy; winner chosen by listeners of Radio 1)
Nominated:

Florence & the Machine
Friendly Fires
La Roux
Pixie Lott

British Group - Winner - Kasabian
Nominated:

Doves
Friendly Fires
JLS
Muse

MasterCard British Album - Winner - Florence & the Machine for Lungs
Nominated:

Dizzee Rascal - Tongue n'Cheek
Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Paolo Nutini - Sunny Side Up

British Single - Winner - JLS' Beat Again
Winner selected by UK Commercial Radio listeners.
Nominated:

Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
Alexandra Burke Ft Flo Rida - Bad Boys
Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love
Joe McElderry - The Climb
La Roux - In For The Kill
Lily Allen - The Fear
Pixie Lott - Mama Do
Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart
Tinchy Stryder Ft N-Dubz - Number 1

International Male Solo Artist - Winner - Jay-Z
Nominated:

Bruce Springsteen
Eminem
Michael Bublé
Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist - Winner - Lady Gaga
Nominated:

Ladyhawke
Norah Jones
Rihanna
Shakira

International Breakthrough Act - Winner - Lady Gaga
Initial five selected by Voting Academy - winner picked by MTV viewers.
Nominated:

Animal Collective
Daniel Merriweather
Empire of the Sun
Taylor Swift

International Album - Winner - Lady Gaga's The Fame
Nominated:

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D.
Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Critics' Choice - Ellie Goulding
Nominated:

Delphic
Marina and the Diamonds

Outstanding Contribution to Music - Robbie Williams

BRITs Album of 30 Years - Winner - Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
A special category for the previous top 10 selling albums that also won British
Album category over the past 29 years. The winner was be chosen by Radio 2 & 6 Music listeners.

Nominated:

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
Dido - No Angel
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Duffy - Rockferry
Keane - Hopes & Fears
Phil Collins - No Jacket Required
Sade - Diamond Life
The Verve - Urban Hymns
Travis - The Man Who

Brits Performance of 30th Year - Winner - Spice Girls - Wannabe / Who Do You Think You Are? (1997)
Nominated:

Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive/How Deep Is Your Love (1997)
Bros - I Owe You Nothing (1989)
Coldplay - Clocks (2003)
Eurythmics and Stevie Wonder - Angel (1999)
Girls Aloud - The Promise (2009)
Kanye West - Gold Digger (2006)
Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head (2002)
Michael Jackson - Earth Song (1996)
Paul McCartney - Live And Let Die (2008)
Pet Shop Boys - Go West (1994)
Robbie Williams and Tom Jones - Full Monty medley
Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama
The Who - Who Are You'(1988)

British Producer - Winner - Paul Epworth
Nominated:

Jim Abbiss
Ethan Johns
Steve Lillywhit

Seriously, what is with JLS bagging so many awards? I guess the Brits don’t always have better taste than the Americans. Well at least Oasis got the best album of the past 30 years. I don’t really like Dizzee Rascal, anyone else getting it would have been better, in my opinion. But Muse really should have gotten best British group, instead of Kasabian (though Kasabian’s really awesome too). Overall pretty good results anyway.

2010-02-13T04:59:00.001-08:00

“While I've got your attention, Douglas Coupland in last Sunday's "New York Times":
NYT: How would you define the current cultural moment?
DC: I’m starting to wonder if pop culture is in its dying days, because everyone is able to customize their own lives with the images they want to see and the words they want to read and the music they listen to. You don't have the broader trends like you used to."
NYT: Sure you do. What about Harry Potter and Taylor Swift and "Avatar," to name a few random phenomena?
DC: They're not great cultural megatrends like disco, which involved absolutely everyone in the culture. Now, everyone basically is their own microculture, their own nanoculture, their own generation.”

How true. And sad. And yet wonderful. There’s no longer a trend that dictates our lives. But we’ve all clammed up and lead our extremely individualized lives through the internet.

Great covers!

2010-02-13T04:17:00.001-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year y’all!

PETE WENTZ: "I CAN'T PREDICT I'D EVER PLAY IN FALL OUT BOY AGAIN"

2010-02-02T09:23:00.001-08:00

Alternative Press - Tim Karan on 2/2/10 @ 10:21 AM - altpress.com

Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz took to his blog last night to address the vague state of his band, who have been on a"break" since November. In the meantime, frontman Patrick Stump has announced that he's working on a solo albumand drummer Andy Hurley will be playing with his hardcore band, Burning Empires. Both Hurley and guitarist Joe Trohman are also in a band called the Damned Things with Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and Keith Buckley of Every Time I Die.
Wentz's blog indicates that Fall Out Boy may actually reform without him and that the members "grew apart." Wentz said:

"I dont know the future of fall out boy. its embarrassing to say one thing and then have the future dictate another. as far as i know fall out boy is on break. (no one wants to say the "h" word). as much as i dont have a solo project, i also cant predict that id ever play in fall out boy again. not due to personal relationships as much as a band we grew apart. in this statement id like to include there is the possibility that fob will play again with out me or i will be a part of it when everyone is on the same page. it is no ones fault and there is no animosity about the decision. i felt as fans you deserve to know. there is no singular reason for this. the side projects or bands are supported by all members of the band. i am the single biggest fan of fob and if this is our legacy than so be it. i am proud of it."

UPDATE:
Hurley also addressed the topic on his messageboard: "I really wish I could tell everyone if we were done or not. But I just don't know. It's not looking great right now, but when we went into the break it was for sure that we'd come back in 2 or 3 years. I still think we will come back, but I just don't know. There's no official decision one way or another. Pete loves fob. I love fob. Patrick loves fob. and Joe loves fob. It's just that we're in different places right this very instant. which is why we took the break.
I honestly think all the pressure of people asking stuff like they are on Twitter every five seconds is more damning to the band than anything. The whole point of the break was to just get away, and not think about it, and in 2 years or so, come back and decide where to go from there. I believe in us, and I believe we will get in a room, hash out the bullshit like in Some Kind Of Monster (haha) and we will be super stoked to do another record. I know all of us are already, but just not at this exact moment."
The band's most recent full-length is 2008's Folie a Deux and FOB released a greatest hits compilation, Believers Never Die, this past November.

2010-01-31T07:20:00.001-08:00

I can just imagine you and me
Running out of steam
Going through the motions
I have no idea how you know
When I dip my toes
In other peoples Oceans

I cannot imagine growing old
To have and to hold
Till death do part each other
And right now I could stroll back 20 years
Spending time at hers
And talking to their mother

La Roux

2010-01-31T03:20:00.001-08:00

I don’t often write a post about fashion (I leave that to Manda at thatsecretside.wordpress.com). But I mean, seriously, say what you want about Elly Jackson’s looks, but her fashion sense seriously rocks. Or maybe, her stylist is just fantastic. Mainly lots of blazers, jackets, simple tops, long chains, and gorgeous leggins and simple shoes (Cotton On-esque).

My favourite outfit on her is one of the many that she wears in the Bulletproof video, and I bet most people have heard the song, considering it’s been blowing up radio charts everywhere, including Singapore’s. I love La Roux’s music. I do like synth-pop and electronica (NOT TECHNO) and 80s-inspired music, so its little wonder that I love the album. The outfit I like can be seen in the video below, where the video is frozen. It can also be seen at 1:13. All her outfits are really nice and simple (they just look complicated cos’ of the prints). I don’t like ankle leggings personally, but hers are awesome!

As most of you can probably tell, I suck at writing about fashion, but its okay, I’m not going into fashion journalism just FYI. Lol. Just saying.

Goodbye Britpop: The Oasis Story

2010-01-31T00:48:00.001-08:00

So, farewell then, Oasis. Britpop extraordinaires. Rock 'n' roll luminaries. Siblings at war.

Since 1994 they have dominated the airwaves, selling over 50 million records, achieving numerous number 1 singles and albums, not to mention Brit awards, Ivor Novellos, Mercury Prizes and general critical acclaim.

I grew up listening to Oasis, to their swagger and arrogance, their commitment to escapism, the can-do above the cannot. For Be Here Now, I was there then. That album, much lambasted, affirmed my love for these Madchester madcaps. I adored Liam's croon, Noel's hooks, the soundbites, the live sights, the street fights. At their peak, Oasis defined the mood, nay the epoch, of an entire generation, and at their worst they still gave us something to talk about.

The critics, and there are plenty (and not all unwarranted), point to a formulaic policy of chord progressions and average lyrics, of the same Gibson Epiphone guitar making the same slide, the familiar beat, the traditional process of verse-chorus-verse-chorus. They are wrong. Just one listen to Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants will demonstrate Noel Gallagher's ability to mould and shape a song with more than just a guitar, bass, drums set-up. Here is an album of psychedelic charm and gothic acknowledgments, of slap-bass, gospel choirs, electric organs, flutes and synth. Musically, it is by far and away the most complex Oasis album, with syncopated rhythms and time-signatures, odd but appropriate key changes, and genuinely impressive instrumentation. People forget this album, this backwater of 2000's belated post-Bonehead, post-Guigsy comeback, but ultimately it is a fine piece of work that helps illustrate that Oasis were not just about four chords and an uplifting chorus.

Being a self-declared muso, a lover of many forms and genre, I will not be arguing that Oasis have stood above and beyond other artists over the past fifteen years. I will not suggest they were artistic revolutionaries (though politically and culturally they may have been). Nor are my affections held solely by Oasis. After all, I am sat here writing about the brilliance of Oasis while my Ipod is currently playing Everything Is Borrowed by The Streets (more on Mike Skinner's genius another time). Yet after the news last weekend of Noel's departure, of one final brotherly barrage, it is only appropriate to pause a moment and reflect on all that Oasis were and represented. So, in the words of Mike Skinner (and I'm sure you all enjoyed how I segwayed back into him): "Relax in your sitting position and listen; it's fitting."

During the early years of Oasis, from 1994-1997, they defined an era. Every decade since The Beatles has had one or two era-defining bands. Think The Beatles and The Stones in the 1960s, The Who perhaps for the 1970s, maybe Michael Jackson in the 1980s, and so on. Oasis were that band for the 1990s, capturing the mood of a UK hit by a recession (sounds familiar) and an uninspiring government who had clung to power for too long (sounds even more familiar). Unemployment was rife, crime high, and England weren't very good at football. Then Definitely Maybe came out, with its tales of living life "for the stars that shine", of just wanting to fly, living forever, feeling supersonic, of looking for some action when all that existed were cigarettes and alcohol. The guitars were turned up high, the reverb was left on, and five lads from a council estate in Burnage, Manchester, dreamed of escaping, of something better than what they had experience so far. Rock'n'Roll Star, the first track on the album, is less a statement of intent and more a call to arms. "Wake up England!", it rasped. "Let's get going."

Oasis encapsulated the mood of change, of increasing optimism that surrounded the birth of Tony Blair's New Labour. The summer of 1995 was like 1969. Knebworth. History. Right here, right now, they said. Years of Tory rule was about to end: the people would remove the chains of traditionalism and embrace a new liberal cultural of free markets, innovation, inspiration, aspiration. And whilst this sea-change in emotional, social and political opinion increased, Oasis released records with a zeal and vigour that matched the people's drive. If Noel and Liam can roll with it, so can we. If they have a masterplan then we can have one too.

This, of-course, is representative of the exterior Oasis, the chart-topping band of critical acclaim. Yet Noel Gallagher's songwriting has always contained subtleties that people today, in 2009, often dismiss. Back in the mid-1990s, Noel clearly knew his band were destined for, well, destiny, but often let his most prosaic offerings take a back-seat as b-sides and album tracks. Half The World Away, immortalised by the BBC comedy The Royle Family, strives for the same escapism of larger-than-life numbers like Rock'n'roll Star and Morning Glory, but in a far more reflective way, almost quietly noting that the madness surrounding the band and its individual members was transitory, whereas nobody could give Noel Gallagher the dreams that were his all along. It's a wonderful song, simple but so effective, still talking, almost desperately so, of something better ("I would like to leave this city/This old town don't smell too pretty/And I can feel the warning signs running around my mind"), but equally very personal: "You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway." Similarly the arrogance of Oasis came later. 1994 b-side Going Nowhere longs for "a motorcar, maybe a Jaguar, maybe a plane or a day of fame" but ends with a negative refrain: "Here am I, going nowhere in the rain." Perhaps the adulation ruined Oasis. They were fine when there was something to strive for, but once that was achieved, one they were there then, the interest faded.

This is what makes Be Here Now so fascinating, not just as a piece of music in its own right, but where it sits in the lexicon of British culture. Released just two weeks before the death of Princess Diana in August 1997, to an hysteria last seen when Abbey Road was released, it sat perfectly as the epitomisation of new Britain. The Labour landslide was still being enjoyed, the weather was hot, the country basking in the warm and comforting glow of progress. This is why it is such a genius album title, almost as if Oasis knew that this was the highest, the biggest, they would ever be, arm-in-arm with a period of time on a societal level that could not possibly last. Be Here Now makes perfect sense and, crucially, tense: the Gallaghers were offering a final rallying-call - to join the party while it lasted, not because they were going to all of a sudden become incompetent and stop releasing great records, but because trends, by their very nature, are transitory, and deep down everyone knew this. If you weren't there then, and many were sadly not, it is likely that today you regard the passing of Oasis to be nothing more than the latest in a series of daily celebrity news stories, a fleeting by-line to a bygone era.

Be Here Now is full of imperfections and lyrical inconsistencies, from the confidence of It's Getting Better (Man!) and D'you Know What I Mean? to the heartfelt and tender insecurities of Don't Go Away (a genuinely moving track that should be on any Best Of compilation) and Stand By Me. Today it may not sit together well as a long-player, but take each track on its own for a moment, and it deserves to be listened to again. There are few better Oasis moments than seeing Liam spit out the words to My Big Mouth, as they have done live recently, a song that acts as a microcosm for the whole album: staggering arrogance mixed with genuine concern for the future - "Guess who's gonna take the blame for my big mouth, and my big name, I'll put on my shoes and walk you slowly down my hall of fame."

Without knowing it, the band became the first winner of The X Factor before Simon Cowell had even thought it up. People liked Oasis because of the aspirational attributes of the personnel and the music they played. They dared to dream, and through them so did many of us. It is why the Knebworth gigs were so triumphant, so epoch-defining, because they represented rags-to-riches in startling detail, like a real reality TV show. "This is history. Right here, right now. This is history," bellowed the band on that Hertfordshire stage.
So where were you while they were getting high, while they were providing the soundtrack to millions of people's hopes and dreams, loves and hates, highs and lows? It is easy to pick holes in Oasis, to criticise for criticism's sake, to jump on an increasingly popular bandwagon of counter-culturalism, reactionary attempts to play down what they signified and how good they were, almost as if we are embarrassed. Ultimately, folks, you simply cannot sell that many records if you are no good. Somewhere, beyond the in-fighting and the drugs, the press attention and the celebrity lifestyles, at the heart of it all, lies the music, and when you list the multitude of famous, radio-friendly songs you have to concede that these guys knew what they were doing.

"I think you're the same as me,
We see things they'll never see,
You and I are gonna live forever."

2010-01-26T07:08:00.001-08:00

Limited Edition Muse Live In Singapore gig poster by Malleus Rock Art Lab in Italy. Silkscreen 3 colour print on heavy cardboard. (Not for sale)

from LAMC Productions FB

Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Muse, Oasis up for Shockwaves NME Awards 2010

2010-01-26T07:03:00.001-08:00

The shortlists for the Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 tonight (January 25). Arctic Monkeys,Kasabian, Muse, Oasis and Biffy Clyro are among the nominees.

Voting is now open atNME.COM/awards. See below for the full list of nominations.

Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian are leading the nominations field, both being up for six gongs including Best Band, Best Album and Best Live Band. Muse have also fared well, being up for Best Band, Best Album(for 'The Resistance') and Best Album Artwork.

A new award, the Giving It Back Fan Award, has been launched this year to note acts who go the extra yard for their fans. Vampire Weekend, Lily Allen, Kasabian and Danger Mousejoin Arctic Monkeys on the nominations list.

The nominations for this year's event, set to take place at the O2 Academy Brixton on February 24, were announced at a launch party at the London Tabernacle venue. The Maccabees played live at the event.

Last year Oasis were crowned Best British Band at the ceremony whileMuse won three awards including theBest Live Band gong. SeeNME.COM/awards for a run-down of last year's winners.

The Shockwaves NME Awards 2010 nominations are:

Best British Band (sponsored by Shockwaves)

Arctic Monkeys

Biffy Clyro

Kasabian

Muse

Oasis

Best International Band (sponsored by 4music/T4)

Green Day

Kings Of Leon

Paramore

Vampire Weekend

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Best Solo Artist

Dizzee Rascal

Florence And The Machine

Jamie T

Julian Casablancas

Lady Gaga

Best New Band (sponsored by USC)

The Big Pink

Bombay Bicycle Club

Mumford & Sons

The xx

La Roux

Best Live Band (sponsored by Tuborg)

Arctic Monkeys

Kasabian

Muse

Radiohead

Them Crooked Vultures

Best Album (sponsored by HMV)

Arctic Monkeys – 'Humbug'

Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'

Muse – 'The Resistance'

The Cribs – 'Ignore The Ignorant'

The Horrors – 'Primary Colours'

Best Track (sponsored by NME Radio)

Animal Collective – 'My Girls'

Arctic Monkeys – 'Crying Lightning'

Florence And The Machine – 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)'

Jamie T – 'Sticks N' Stones'

The Big Pink – 'Dominos'

Best Video (sponsored by NME TV)

Arctic Monkeys – 'Cornerstone '

Biffy Clyro – 'The Captain'

Kasabian – 'Fire'

The Maccabees – 'Can You Give It'

Oasis – 'Falling Down'

Best Live Event

Blur at Hyde Park

Jay-Z at Alexandra Palace

Muse at Teignmouth

Oasis at Heaton Park

The Dead Weather at Shoreditch Church

Best Festival

Download

Glastonbury

Reading And Leeds Festivals

T In The Park

V Festival

Best Dancefloor Filler

Dizzee Rascal And Armand Van Helden – 'Bonkers'

Florence And The Machine – 'You've Got The Love'

La Roux – 'In For The Kill' (Skream Remix)

Lady Gaga – 'Poker Face'

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 'Zero'

Best TV Show

The Inbetweeners

Never Mind The Buzzcocks

Peep Show

Skins

True Blood

Best Film

(500) Days Of Summer

In The Loop

Inglourious Basterds

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Where The Wild Things Are

Best DVD

Kings Of Leon – Live At The The O2 Arena

Flight Of The Conchords – Complete HBO Second Season

The Killers – Live From The Royal Albert Hall

The Mighty Boosh – Future Sailors

Nirvana – Live At Reading

Giving It Back Fan Award

Kasabian and Noel Fielding for free 'Vlad The Impaler' video

Danger Mouse for leaking 'Dark Night Of The Soul'

Lily Allen for her Twitter ticket treasure hunt

Arctic Monkeys for their Oxfam golden tickets

Vampire Weekend for giving away 'Horchata' from the album 'Contra'

Hero Of The Year

Beyoncé Knowles

Noel Gallagher

Rage Against The Machine

Matt Bellamy

Alex Turner

Villain Of The Year

Noel Gallagher

Liam Gallagher

Simon Cowell

Kanye West

Lady Gaga

Best Dressed

Lady Gaga

Liam Gallagher

Noel Fielding

Florence Welch

Karen O

Worst Dressed

Lady Gaga

Matt Bellamy

Katy Perry

Liam Gallagher

Elly Jackson, La Roux

Worst Album

Green Day – '21st Century Breakdown'

Lady Gaga – 'The Fame'

The Jonas Brothers – 'Lines Vines Trying Times'

U2 – 'No Line On The Horizon'

Arctic Monkeys – 'Humbug'

Worst Band

Green Day

Oasis

Jonas Brothers

Paramore

JLS

Hottest Man

Head to NME.COM now to rate possibles including Alex Turner, Liam Gallagher, Peter Doherty, Matt Bellamy, Brandon Flowers and Julian Casablancas

Hottest Woman

Head to NME.COM now to rate possibles including Lily Allen, Alison Mosshart, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Florence Welch and Karen O

Best Website (excluding NME.COM)

Muse.mu

YouTube

Facebook

Twitter

Greenday.com

Best Album Artwork

Muse – 'The Resistance'

Green Day – '21st Century Breakdown'

Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'

The Cribs – 'Ignore The Ignorant'

Manic Street Preachers – 'Journal For Plague Lovers '

Best Band Blog

Muse (Muse.mu and Twitter.com/muse)

Radiohead (Radiohead.com/deadairspace)

Noel Gallagher (Oasisinet.com)

Los Campesinos! (Loscampesinos.com)

Paramore (Paramore.net)

Talk about an awesome set of nominees for every category! Check out the Best Dressed and Worst Dressed lists, some people are in both lists, I guess its all about perspective. How about Hero or Villain of the Year? Those are awesome categories. Noel Gallagher is in both. I don’t think he’ll win, especially since Kanye’s in the Villain nominee list. Plus Liam is definitely more of the villain than Noel, since everyone blames him for the Oasis split. I really can’t say who I’d like to win, especially since I’d have to choose between Oasis, Muse and Arctic Monkeys for certain awards. Haha. I can’t wait to see/watch who’ll win!

Gabe and Bianca’s 4th Anniversary!

2010-01-23T09:34:00.001-08:00

Its incredibly difficult to get a clear and good picture of Gabe and his girlfriend Bianca. Yes I would know, there are 232 photos in my Cobra Starship folder in My Pictures. LOL. Well, I never liked Bianca with Gabe the way I like Lauren and Alex together, but they do look pretty fierce (gosh I’m reading too much of pinkisthenewblog.com and watching too much of America’s Next Top Model) here.

Gabe and Bianca!

Lauren and Alex! (Who recently got engaged, congrats!)

I also found out just yesterday that Victoria has a boyfriend, from this article:

It says so in that little orange circle. Lol. Well I’m not surprised, she’s so hot (she’s been in Maxim!) and talented, who wouldn’t want her?? Plus her aunt was engaged to Paul Mccartney and her dad is chairman of some huge music company like Sony or smthg like that. Talk about family connections man.

Sorry this post turned out to be a whole lot of CS stuff. Well I guess I’m just sharing what I love. Haha.

Well here’s my fave song from the album Hot Mess by CS. Its slow and weird. Enjoy!

MySpace Exclusive: Tracklisting for the "Alice In Wonderland" soundtrack released!

2010-01-22T02:49:00.001-08:00

The rumors swirled. You heard that All Time Low and Avril Lavigne would appear on it. And that a collaboration between Mark Hoppus and Pete Wentz would, too.

“Well, we're hear to tell you: Those rumors were totally true.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, as you can see now that we have been able to exclusively reveal the album's tracklisting. On top of the groups mentioned above, you'll also get Metro Station, Owl City, Robert Smith from The Cure, 3OH!3 (pictured above),Franz Ferdinand and plenty more re-imagining songs from the Disney classic.

Take a look, this thing is pretty stacked:

1. "Alice (Underground)" performed by Avril Lavigne

2. "The Poison" performed by The All-American Rejects

3. "The Technicolor Phase" performed by Owl City

4. "Her Name Is Alice" performed by Shinedown

5. "Painting Flowers" performed by All Time Low

6. "Where's My Angel" performed by Metro Station

7. "Strange" performed by Tokio Hotel and Kerli

8. "Follow Me Down" performed by 3OH!3 featuring Neon Hitch

9. "Very Good Advice" performed by Robert Smith

10. "In Transit" performed by Mark Hoppus with Pete Wentz

11. "Welcome to Mystery" performed by Plain White T's

12. "Tea Party" performed by Kerli

13. "The Lobster Quadrille" performed by Franz Ferdinand

14. "Running Out of Time" performed by Motion City Soundtrack

15. "Fell Down a Hole" performed by Wolfmother

16. "White Rabbit" performed by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

The album, which is being called Almost Alice, will be in stores in March 2nd, while a video for the soundtrack's first single, "Alice (Underground)" by Avril Lavigne," is due in early February.”

The line-up looks pretty good, not so much the pop-punk bands on it, but the more indie/rock bands like Wolfmother, Franz Ferdinand and Robert Smith. But if the artist of the lead single ie. Avril Lavigne is any indication of the album’s quality, I think this album is gonna sink big time (in terms of musical value, not album sales. It will sell well considering All Time Low and Owl City’s on it.)

Sales-Week Ending-1/17/10

2010-01-22T01:25:00.001-08:00

from Lefsetz

3. Ke$ha "Animal"
Sales this week: 66,783
Percentage change: -56
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 218,782

Top Forty radio needs shit like this.
Don't get your knickers in a twist. She's just part of the endless sideshow, she'll be gone soon.

4. Lady GaGa "Fame"
Sales this week: 63,688
Percentage change: -3
Weeks on: 64
Cume: 2,517,117

Unlike Madonna, GaGa has musical talent.
She'd do better to focus on this.
Madonna's talent was testing limits, making people uncomfortable. Can you still really do this when high school students are sexting nude pictures to each other?
Take the high road GaGa. And remember the Beatles released an album with NOTHING on the cover. After ditching their matching outfits. Lead, don't follow.

56. Ringo Starr "Y Not"
Sales this week: 7,965
Debut

Bad strategy. He needs one single, written by Paul McCartney, just for him. That'd have much more impact. Hell, we'd all give a single a chance!

139. Leona Lewis "Echo"
Sales this week: 3,567
Percentage change: -13
Weeks on: 9
Cume: 165,179

What, Simon Cowell's all over TV telling every act they suck and he can't come up with hit material for his "X Factor" winner?
She plays the Olympics.
Then she's forgotten.
And there, in a nutshell, you have the modern era.

85. Dashboard Confessional "Alter The Ending"
Sales this week: 2,362
Percentage change: -11
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 76,581
Remember when emo was the rage, when "Screaming Infidelities" ruled MTV?
Well, that audience grew up, got jobs and got married. Maybe Chris Carrabba needs to too.
Not on chart:
Heidi Montag "Superficial"
Sales this week: 658
Debut

Heidi engineered a media blitz even Tommy Mottola and Clive Davis would be envious of. But the public looked at the before and after pictures and did not buy the album.
In other words, publicity isn't everything, music is. And no one wants to hear Heidi's music, why would they?

The public knows what's real. And they know the Top Forty dreck isn't real, don't worry.

And all this boils down to a sick music business. Because if you don't have the hearts and minds of the public, you're screwed.
As for all you weenies bitching that your music hasn't been properly recognized...let me say it one more time, since your parents and friends won't...you suck. Just because you can catch a ball doesn't mean you can play in the major leagues, just because you made a record, that doesn't mean we should care. We know it when we hear it, and we don't.

You can market it, but that doesn't mean we have to buy it. Isn't that what Heidi Montag proved here?

Nominations for Brit Awards 2010!

2010-01-19T07:59:00.001-08:00

British Male Solo Artist

Calvin Harris

Dizzee Rascal

Mika

Paolo Nutini

Robbie Williams

British Female Solo Artist

Bat For Lashes

Florence And The Machine

Leona Lewis

Lily Allen

Pixie Lott

British Breakthrough Act

Florence And The Machine

Friendly Fires

JLS

La Roux

Pixie Lott

British Group

Doves

Friendly Fires

JLS

Kasabian

Muse

British Album

Dizzee Rascal – 'Tongue 'N' Cheek'

Florence And The Machine – 'Lungs'

Kasabian – 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'

Lily Allen – 'It's Not Me, It's You'

Paolo Nutini – 'Sunny Side Up'

British Single

Alesha Dixon – 'Breathe Slow'

Alexandra Burke featuring Flo Rida – 'Bad Boys'

Cheryl Cole – 'Fight For This Love'

Joe McElderry – 'The Climb'

JLS – 'Beat Again'

La Roux – 'In For The Kill'

Lily Allen – 'The Fear'

Pixie Lott – 'Mama Do'

Taio Cruz – 'Break Your Heart'

Tinchy Stryder featuring N-Dubz – 'Number 1'

International Male Solo Artist

Bruce Springsteen

Eminem

Jay-Z

Michael Bublé

Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist

Lady Gaga

Ladyhawke

Norah Jones

Rihanna

Shakira

International Breakthrough Act Supported by MTV viewers

Animal Collective

Daniel Merriweather

Empire of the Sun

Lady Gaga

Taylor Swift

International Album

Animal Collective – 'Merriweather Post Pavilion'

Black Eyed Peas – 'The E.N.D.'

Empire of the Sun – 'Walking On A Dream'

Jay-Z – 'The Blueprint 3'

Lady Gaga – 'The Fame'

BRITs Performance Of 30 Years

Bee Gees- 'Stayin' Alive'/'How Deep is Your Love' (1997)

Bros - 'I Owe You Nothing' (1989)

Coldplay - 'Clocks' (2003)

Eurythmics & Stevie Wonder - 'There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)' (1999)

Girls Aloud - 'The Promise' (2009)

Kanye West - 'Gold Digger' (2006)

Kylie Minogue - 'Can’t Get You Out Of My Head' (2002)

Michael Jackson - 'Earth Song' (1996)

Paul McCartney - 'Live And Let Die' (2008)

Pet Shop Boys - 'Go West' (1994)

Robbie Williams & Tom Jones - The Full Monty medley (1998)

Scissor Sisters - 'Take Your Mama' (2005)

Spice Girls - 'Wannabe'/ 'Who Do You Think You Are' (1997)

Take That - 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'/ 'A Hard Day’s Night'/ 'She Loves You' Beatles medley (1994)

The Who - 'Who Are You' (1988)

Say What? : Justin Bieber

2010-01-18T06:18:00.001-08:00

Say WHAT?: Justin Bieber

Have you ever heard a song that was totally ridiculous? And we're not talking ridiculous in a good way. Some lyric ideas should never see the light of day, but now we're gonna give it the spotlight it deserves. Sometimes we wonder why we do these things to ourselves....

This week: Justin Bieber.

In case you've had MTV turned off permanently (I know I have), you've seen this pint-sized kid making generic hip-hop/pop. This kid is Justin Bieber. Yeah, he got famous by being a self-taught musician who posted videos on YouTube, but his video for 'One Time' really took the cake. It was an opposite-pedobear thing, full blown and for the world to see. You get to see a pre-pubescent kid try to chat up a girl who's obviously what, 5 years older than him?

Even the worst of cougars wouldn't take that bet.

But here's one song of his that really provokes a 'WTF????' reaction, and it's called 'Love Me'. Hold on tight kiddos, we're about to enter a world of pain for which you are not familiar.

Sample lyrics:

"Tell me you love me love me say that you love me
Fool me fool me, oh how you do me"
"And every time, I hold you near, I never wanna let you go. Ohh ohh"

Now do you know why MTV is dead? First, it samples The Cardigans. Yes, The Cardigans. And when sung by a 15-year-old who looks like he's 12, it's just so wrong. First off, 'My money is yours, give you a little more because I love ya'. Let's disregard that Justin Bieber is a star and put this into context that a 15-year-old is singing this. WHAT MONEY?? Your average 15-year-old is pretty dang lucky if his parents let him have RM30 to top up his phone after sweet talking his crush for too long the day before. AKA, unless your parents are rich, the only money you'll be giving her is RM1 so she can buy sweets at the canteen.

Second. 'Oh how you do me'. If you don't think this is wrong in every way possible, I suggest you head to the closest sanitarium and plead insanity. Justin, who probably was 14 (13, maybe) when this was recorded, should not even be thinking about doing the nasty. The notion alone scares me. At 14, yeah, sure you notice girls, but mostly you're too busy playing football or running off to the cybercafe to be going heels to Jesus. Good grief.

Finally, 'I hold you near, I never wanna let you go'. Wow, I don't know how to say no to that. Any girl in her sane mind would probably run screaming from this proposition. It probably ranks up there with The Police's 'I'll Be Watching You' in terms of sheer creepiness.

But, the flipside is that if you're a young female of age 13-17, then go ahead. Justin Bieber is probably perfect boyfriend material for you. Heck, he probably could make good on the 'give you all the money you want' promise.

from junkonline.net

Carrie Underwood

2010-01-14T08:38:00.001-08:00

by Bob Lefsetz

She's cardboard. Two-dimensional.

Carrie Underwood's not a star, she's commerce.

Oh, don't get your panties in a knot. But all you people e-mailing me that Carrie Underwood won "Idol" and is now a star...you're focusing on facts, not emotions. And emotions are the key to stardom.
In the controlled world of Nashville/country music, Carrie Underwood is a star. I like her records. But they have nothing to do with her, all she does is sing them.

Now that everybody's got a computer, even country music has fallen precipitously in recorded music sales. And, as terrestrial radio fades, will the small coterie of pooh-bah handlers truly be able to control the country market? Does the public really want all this me-too drivel? Which used to be about drinkin' and druggin', wastin' and womanizin', and is now about driving the kids to school in your SUV and lamenting that some theoretical person died overseas?

Yes, I support the troops. To the point where I believe they should come back home so they don't get killed. But let's not get off point here. Too much of what passes for country music today is fodder made for a market. Carrie Underwood is just the best exponent of this. She's no Dolly Parton, writing her own material, never mind singing it. No Loretta Lynn. She's a product.

And a product is never a star. Because a product doesn't have emotions!

Who is Carrie Underwood? What does she stand for?

If she's got opinions, which I doubt, other than what dress to wear, she's not uttering them, for fear someone somewhere will be offended.
It's rough edges that endear fans to you. And nowhere were rough edges evident like they were in country music, the real country music, the old country music.

Come on, has anything Carrie Underwood ever done in her real life comported with the lyrics of "Last Name"? Are the tabloids full of her falling down drunk and acting ridiculously on impulse?

No.

I don't approve of Kid Rock's Waffle House adventures, but he does seem to be the person on his records. And that's why he's one of the biggest acts today. Not only in rock, but country.

We like 'em authentic. You may not start out that way, but once you own your identity and speak your mind, like Hank Williams, Jr., we're on your team.

Carrie Underwood a star?

If you e-mailed me this you've lost the plot, you've been in this business too long, you've got no reference points, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Yes, for the time being certain Nashville forces are making money selling Carrie Underwood records. But underneath the sticky sweet exterior, there's nothing...except maybe a good voice. And that just ain't enough. Not enough to make us love you through and through.

2010-01-14T08:36:00.001-08:00

“This focus on auto-tuning, on getting everything exactly right in the studio is working against us. Live music disappears into the ether, that's its magic. The key is to capture the inspiration, the energy of a great performance in the studio. Massage it too much and you miss it.”

“Today's audience sees music as background, not foreground. Aural grease in a club, not something you sit on your floor and listen to again and again as it fulfills your soul.”

“From: RZA (Wu-Tang Clan)
Re: World Domination
Not a bad view. Yet don't overlook that all the above could be by design. Music cost to makes so it should have a turn around. Even a corner beggar with a guitar or voice makes coins and dollars with his music. Music being free on the internet is a subtle way of stealing from the artistic community. Music is free to be herd by any one but recorded music done by a recording artist should have a point of compensation from the listener of the recorded product. Especially if the product becomes part of the listeners possession such as in his I pod or laptop etc.
The main thing I think we all are over looking is the fact that black music has been the victim of robbery for decades and according to the artist of the 60's we just started getting our due in the 90's with the emergence of hip hop and rnb. Now the hip hop generation is on the brink of extinction. Yet these internet free sites such as napster myspace and you tube just to name a few has sold for billions of dollars. I once read that the music industry was a 4 to 6 billion dollar a year industry and that money was spread out across many labels publishers and artist. Now that money has been put into the hands of just a few individuals who figured a way to get the product to the public for free yet the banks reward them for stealing our culture with supreme wealth. I mean how is napster one moment a guy who just wanted to do something for free end up with nearly a billion dollars. All the music he stole probably produced that much in royalties or pub. Yet the artist got nothing. Same for you tube. I have seen my song l a rhumba get nearly 5 million views yet I haven't received a dime for it because you tube suppose to be a free domain yet it sells for a billion. Now many artist who were feeding their families off music now must tour more or find ways for income when the thieves walk away with wealth.
This is just some more food for thought. Peace.”

“1. Susan Boyle "I Dreamed A Dream"
Sales this week: 136,566
Weeks on: 6
Cume: 3,103,828

TV didn't sell this album, the narrative did.
My point is, just because you're on television, that doesn't mean anybody will want to buy your music. Otherwise, Snooki would be number one!
But here we have a story. Unattractive wannabe makes it solely on her talent. In a world topsy-turvy with haters, frustrated by those blessed with good looks or good money, is it a surprise that the public wants to root for an underdog?
Does this portend an end to the bitches and ho's hip-hop ethos? I.e. I'm rich and I fly on a private jet and party with an exclusive class, buy my record and by the way, fuck you? Turns out, being humble just might be the answer to success these days. Hey, isn't it interesting that the Dave Matthews Band was the number one touring band of the decade?

2. Lady GaGa "Fame"
Sales this week: 82,148
Weeks on: 62
Cume: 2,387,666

Is the same thing that's made her famous going to be her downfall?
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is not without talent. But her notoriety is based to a large extent on her sartorial adventures. And does anybody want last year's fashion collection?
Furthermore, Stefani makes dance music. The club hits tend to drive booties to bump, but don't insure long term careers.
The Spice Girls showed us people will want to see a hit act once. But thereafter?
For GaGa to have legs, she needs to risk. Because this paradigm has nowhere to go. Next year at the VMAs, you change outfits twenty times? In other words, maybe she has to sacrifice short term success for longevity. The same way after purveying soft rock hit after soft rock hit John Mayer formed a blues rock trio and shredded. The result may not have played well on Top Forty radio, but it did wonders for his credibility. And live business.

6. Justin Bieber "My World"
Sales this week: 51,837
Weeks on: 7
Cume: 727,914

Just like milk, this comes with an expiration date. It's just a matter of when.
So, if you can time your efforts to his career arc, you can make a ton of bread before you get out. But he won't be playing a month straight at the Beacon years from now.

34. Adam Lambert "For Your Entertainment"
Sales this week: 17,236
Weeks on: 6
Cume: 433,834

The story overwhelmed the music. Adam Lambert was seen as a celebrity more than a musician. His exploits chronicled on gossip as opposed to music blogs. AI losers are better off following the Daughtry paradigm. Start with the music.”

“Don't think about how you can placate radio, think about how you can placate fans.”

“People don't need music, but they want it. When it's great. When it speaks to them. When it's seen as integral to their lives.”

2010-01-14T07:18:00.001-08:00

Now you’ll never see, what you’ve done to me
You can take back your memories there no good to me
And he’s here’s all your lies,
You can look me in my eyes
With that sad sad look that you wear so well

When you see my face hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that’s worth a damn and treats you well
Then he’s a fool, your just as well, hope it gives you hell

2010-01-12T08:45:00.001-08:00

SHANE: IT'S DOWN TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH SIMON!

Posted on 09 Jan 2010 by webmaster

0 Comments

We slagged off Simon - shoes and high trousers before anybody knew who he was
IT may have been a grim 12 months for Westlife but Simon Cowell's favourite band are looking forward to a great 2010.

And the key to that will be keeping their most famous fan happy.

The lads, still our top-selling boy band after 11 years, are pop guru Simon's breakthrough success story.

And they constantly remind the record company chief he was not always the stellar name he is today.

In the final day of our Westlife series, Shane Filan reveals: "The big reason we still do so well is down to our relationship with Simon.

"We have worked together for 11 years and things go from strength to strength. Simon speaks highly of us, which means the world."

But Kian Egan points out: "We used to slag him off about his shoes and his high trousers before anybody knew who he was.

"We used to slag off the shoes so badly, the big heels. Cobbler's shoes, we called them.

"We used to pull his trousers down lower and pull the T-shirt down and rip the p**s out of him, mocking his posh accent.

"As soon as he got on TV, people saw exactly what we saw and started to do the same thing."

Shane adds: "We were one of the first bands on Simon's S Records label, which he sold to BMG for £22million.

"He got a lot of money then before TV took over."

Despite almost 50million record sales, 14 number one songs and a host of sold-out tours, Westlife are still hungry for more.

"We're pocket change to what Simon makes annually but we've got history with him," says Shane.

"The hardest thing to do in our situation is sustain success.

"Every year is like a mountain to climb for us, even though people expect us to succeed now. We s**t ourselves before the midweek chart - we are still so ambitious."

The past year has seen the band rocked by tragedy. They have been hit by what they call "a big wave of death" that has struck their friends and family.

The recent loss of close pal and Boyzone singer Stephen Gately hit them hard, but Kian also lost his father, as did bandmate Nicky Byrne.

But with their usual upbeat, positive attitude they are now even more determined to appreciate everything they have and continue to enjoy life to the full.

Westlife have spent the best part of a year out of the spotlight, but in my interview with Shane, Kian, Nicky and Mark Feehily it was obvious they have used this testing 12 months to grow stronger.

Kian told me about the terrifying moment they discovered their good pal Stephen had passed away and Shane, 30, says: "Until then, we hadn't really thought about people from our generation not being here.

"As singers we are always thinking about the next album, the next tour, the family growing.

"You don't think about being dead. You would never think that about someone in your own band.

"If one of us died... it's a terrible thought but that would be it. Over. We couldn't carry on as a band.

"For us, it makes you realise how important the other members of the group - your dearest friends - are to you, and it makes you appreciate life an awful lot more."

Kian, 29, adds: "I had been out in the local with mates, gone home and fallen asleep on the couch.

"A mate rang me and told me about Stephen and I thought it was nonsense. I rang Louis Walsh (Boyzone's and Westlife's manager) and sure enough got the same response. It was truly awful.

"It has been a really tough year. On top of that both my dad and Nicky's dad died either side of that. My dad was 64 and had been sick for a year.

"My mum said to me we are at that age now where we start losing people.

"My grandmother, my wife Jodie's grandfather, Nicky's dad, my dad, Stephen...

"My mum said in her life, death sadly comes in waves and we are experiencing one of those big waves now. At the funeral of Stephen the four of us sat together with our partners.

"Brian (ex-Westlife member McFadden) happened to be sat in front of us. I remember looking at Brian and just feeling so sad, realising life is too short.

"We all felt the same - like we all needed to give him a big hug. I felt so sad towards him.

"Once the Boyzone speeches came out we were in pieces."

Shane adds: "It was after 1am when I found out about Stephen. I rang Louis and it was like 'boom'.

"He told me it was right and said he couldn't speak. I will never forget it as long as I live.

"In Ireland Stephen was a massive icon, a true pop star. He was one of us and he was dead.

"It just doesn't happen, so it was truly upsetting and tragic.

"We appreciate each other so much more since.

"We're thankful for what we've got and for having each other because life is so precious, and sometimes you can forget that.

SOURCE/CREDITS: THE SUN

My Latest Buy! +65 Indie Underground (A compilation of indie songs from local bands)

2010-01-09T08:13:00.001-08:00

+65 Indie Underground

Did I nag you about getting +65 Indie Underground yet?

review by Kevin Mathews

Have you got +65 Indie Underground yet?

If not then, I strongly suggest that you do, as soon as possible. It is a veritable treasure trove of S-ROCK goodies, which you’re NOT going to find anywhere else. Out of the 3 CDs, my personal favourite is the third disc. Not only because Watchmen is featured (though that doesn’t hurt) but it brings together some of the truly classic S-ROCK of the 80s and early 90s.

Not only that but the sheer range of the music is impressive. From the folk-rock of Humpback Oak’s, the shoegaze of the Pagans, the metal growl of S.U.D.S., the synth-pop of Convent Garden to the psychedelic blues of Nunsex.

But I would like to highlight a couple of standouts from a magnificient list. Radio Station is the first S-ROCK anthem as Joe Ng went from sensitive electro to flag-waving rocker. The lyrics still resonate – “We’re so young/Have we got time?” – the song is worth the entire price of admission.

Listening to Zircon Lounge’s Guide These Hands, it’s amazing to consider that Chris Ho and gang recorded the song in 1984, when post-punk/new wave was not mainstream fare at all in Singapore. That said, I want to clear up that misconception that Zircon Lounge was the first alt-rock band in Singapore – that honour rightfully belongs to Transformer, right, Chris?

Disc 3 also features a couple of nostalgic nuggets like Oddfellows’ Unity Song (although I’d argue that Lost My Head would have been the better choice), Nonames’ My Mama, Twang Bar Kings’ Daddy in the Lift (with Leslie on helium) and Daze’s Sexy Little Boy (a #1 hit!)

Ah, memories… more to come on discs 1 & 2 soon…

Did I nag you about getting +65 Indie Underground yet? Go NOW!

reviewed by Kevin Mathews
courtesy of powerofpop.blogspot.com

CD Review from rockinthefinecity.blogspot.com

2010-01-09T08:09:00.001-08:00

VARIOUS ARTISTS- The Substation 10 Years & Counting (Rock The Garden) CD
(The Substation Ltd 2000)

“The thunderous clouds are always loud, the lightning a mere symbol to behold. The late Kuo Pao Kun is dearly remembered as a pioneering arts activist who brought The Substation, amongst many of his other contributions (more of theatre), into prominence. Founded in 1990 from a disused PUB power station at Armenian street, this community-funded, non-profit arts centre serve as a platform to nurture local artists for workshops, concerts, exhibitions and lectures, and it became the first and only independent contemporary arts centre. After he passed on, The Substation underwent a major revamp and the memorable colourful courtyard covered with shady trees where local bands once jammed their tunes to impressionable audiences seated and standing everywhere is now sadly turned into a commercial ploy known as Timbre frequented by yuppies and pretentious bourgeois bohemians.

This CD that I am reviewing is The Substation's commemorative tribute to the scene, and the bands who haunted the “Rock The Garden” era 10 years and counting, from 1990 to 2000. The liner have special notes from the great Kuo Pao Kun himself as well as our dear X'Ho. Altogether 10 bands are tied into the disc for the 10 years of great rocking, and albeit a seriously screwed up tracklisting on the compilation, any fan of local music can instantly recognise the familiar sounds from our familiar bands on the disc. This compilation is a fairly eclectic mix of new and old bands, and it covers across a wide genre from metal to ska, from indie rock to avantgarde. The CD features the following bands and their songs in the correct order: Fishtank- “Restless” (great laidback ska track with very gelek trumpeting), Nuradee- “I'll Remember” (folksy roots ballad), Humpback Oak- “Normanton Park” (the legends's song with an uncanny semblance to Red House Painters' “Grace Cathedral Park), The Ordinary People- “Big Surprise” (brash, energetic indie rock from another legend), Plainsunset- “Priorities” (indie punk rock), The Edge- “Funk It Up” (brilliant metallic funk rock ala RHCP), Concave Scream- “Fiction” (brilliant fret taps and cool U2 vibe from our local legend), One Man Down- “Forsaken” (grating angsty raw nu-metal), The Oddfellows- “Lost My Head” (cult cult live performance from the godfathers of Singapore indie rock), and last but not least Corporate Coil- “Hokkien Girl Blues” (noise, artistic noise from the legends!).
The current S-rockers and their proponents, groupies and managers can “Rock The Sub” in all its pomposity; for those who remember, the spirit of Singapore music as a creative force of a native, as opposed to national would find meaning in “Rock The Garden” of the '90s, an exciting passionate time of the past where the vital interactions of Singapore music and their audience came alive in a spirited firework that short circuited and started a bonfire. I was this anonymous teenager in flannel shirt seated right at the back of the garden, a distance away from the frenzied crowds doing half-baked moshings and secretly pulling a bodysurf every now and then. I've witnessed showy bands, favourite ones, mediocre ones, hopeless ones, technical faults, crazy antics, crazy groupies, rabid responses, accidents, tauntings, cold treatment, total moshing and illegal stuffs, in the cool airy proximity at the foot of Fort Canning where you can kick back, drink some beer and smoke all you want with a good view, brilliant sound and excellent ambience. What great fond memory. This CD will bring you nostalgia-heads back to the aforementioned.”

Take note of the words highlighted in bold. LOL.

2010-01-08T09:57:00.001-08:00

I have 9 more Lefsetz posts to read. And my eyelids are drooping. Its 1.42am. I’m going to sleep.

Oh, by the way, I got 39 points for IB! I know most of you will know that I’m sounding more excited than I really am. I don’t think 39 is a good score. But I think God’s fair. I deserve it. I didn’t give my best and I let things get to me before the exams. My will and determination is still weak-ass and my self-motivation voice is an utter failure. But still, I’m trying. Learning to thank God. Because I know I should.

I just started doing QT again, with the start of this year. And I must say, the book I’m using is simply amazing. Its like every day God speaks to me. Which is such a fresh change from me feeling like a dry desert spiritually.

Yesterday, my QT started off with “Are you bored with your spiritual life?” I couldn’t help but stop and pay immediate attention. Well turns out I’m bored because I ain’t applying anything that I hear in church and read in the Bible. If I’m doing so, I wouldn’t have the time to be bored at all. It said, that’s why some people wander from church to church, looking for a fresh message or sermon that will be interesting. Well, there’s nothing I can do but try.

Sloth, that’s what’s affecting me. It’s a sin. And after re-reading the article on Dante’s Inferno on Wiki, I can’t help but get my ass off the bed and move. Those who have the sin of sloth are in the fifth circle of hell. Well we all know that’s not really true, based on the Bible. But considering Dante’s placement of sloth at the fifth circle, when there are nine circles, the first being the least severe and the ninth being the most, sloth must be pretty bad. And I can kinda get why it is. Couple of interesting illustrations below, on Dante’s Inferno. I’ve just read finish the Iliad by Homer today. Finished The Odyssey last week. Now I just gotta finish the last 10 chapters of Paradiso of The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso).

Well I haven’t even started on the list of artists that I should check out, that I posted earlier. The internet has just led to an incredible wealth of music available, that now we’re no longer subject to the producers at MTV and radio stations. Which is amazing. Because I don’t think I can take it if I had to listen to 987fm or watch MTV to listen to music. There’s so much R&B and rap that its unbearable. To me, at least. I’ve just downloaded Caesars-Paper Tigers (yes those Jerk It Out fellas), The Beach Boys-Sounds of Summer, The Sounds-Living In America, the latest NME mixtape, Puddle of Mudd-Vol 4: Songs In The Key of Love and Hate. Some aren’t that good, but I haven’t listen to all these fully yet. As I’m typing, I’m downloading all the Bowling for Soup albums too. Yes, illegally. But those who know me know that I try to buy the albums that I like and albums that I think deserve the respect of being paid for (but sometimes my financial situation doesn’t allow it).

Well I kind of digressed, but anyway, I should go do my QT for today!

The Apple Paradigm by Bob Lefsetz

2010-01-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

Insanely great products a handful of times a year.

Imagine if Apple introduced a product no one wanted. Something lame. And held a press conference every other week to trumpet its features.

Then you'd have the music business.

What's the lifespan of excitement on a laptop?

Certainly not a year. Maybe nine months at most. Which is why Apple updates them before they get long in the tooth. To drive excitement. To drive desire.

Want a new iPod?

You know there's going to be a new lineup in September.

Just like you know there's going to be a new iPhone in June.

Just like you know once every twenty four months or so, Steve Jobs is going to blow our minds with a whole new category.

In between these announcements? A dearth of information.

Well, not exactly, the minions online are constantly debating what's in the future, the same way we used to get excited about the coming albums of our favorite artists.

Instead, we now see these releases trumpeted in advance in magazines and newspapers. Singles are leaked. And when they stiff, new tracks are proffered. Then, an album comes out, with more music than anybody wants to listen to. And we're supposed to play this same damn album for two or three years until there's a new one, while the act goes on the road and cleans up. Huh?

First thing Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple a decade ago was trim the product line, to make it comprehensible.

Time for you to do the same thing. Only release great stuff. Until you're in such demand that people want the other stuff. And don't hype the other stuff the same way you do the great stuff. Maybe you sneak out the "album tracks" unannounced on your Website, for fans only. And, I hate to scare you, but album tracks are for fans only anymore anyway.

And either make yourself totally available or cloak yourself in secrecy. The latter works, especially if you're a happening/in demand act. No one foresaw the "In Rainbows" promotion. That was its genius, not the name your own price feature. How suddenly, there was a Website, and not that much more. The band didn't give interviews, the public went crazy and built the story.

Steve Jobs is bigger than any rock star. Not because he's better one on one, but because he seems to hover above us. Delivering what we don't even know we want, but makes us so happy. Like the Beatles with "Sgt. Pepper".

We laugh at Lady GaGa because she substitutes outfits for charisma. It's the gooey center we're interested in, not the wrapping. The twenty first century is not about flash, but substance. If you want to last.

My Screed by Bob Lefsetz

2010-01-08T09:34:00.001-08:00

I'm sick and fucking tired of people telling me to be more positive. To focus on solutions rather than problems. Don't you get it, it all comes down to the MUSIC!

That's what I love about this business. You're either a player or a supporter. There's a clear divide. That's the difference from the movie business. Even a five year old can tell you what's wrong with filmed entertainment. The acting was bad, or the story wasn't believable, or the sets were phony. But ask a fifty year old about a record and he'll shrug his shoulders and say he liked it or he didn't. That's about as far as it goes.

So, you're sitting there trying to be a manager, or a booking agent, even starting a label. And you're frustrated, and dipping your toe in social media, reading marketing books. I'm gonna tell you, that's all bullshit. Find one great act and the doors will open to you.

The major labels triumphed because they had the best acts. But then they got greedy, the execs started thinking they were the talent, they broke the cardinal music business rule, that we all bow down to the creator. If you're really that talented, make your own damn music. This happens in the movie sphere, producers become directors. But when was the last time a record company president became a best-selling artist? When did he even make a record?

And for you frustrated artists, I'll say it one more time... Your lack of success probably comes down to the fact that you're just not that good. Sorry, the truth hurts. And if you're the king of klezmer or the new Philip Glass and want to complain that you're not on "American Idol"? Wow, how do you cope every day, are you really that far from reality? Just because you're good at something, anything, that doesn't mean the whole world needs to pay attention.
What does the public like? Melody. A good voice. A beat. These aren't immutable rules, and it's the cutting edge that we tend to become enamored of, but if we can't sing your song and think you can barely sing it either, GIVE UP!

Or practice a ton more.

Yes, practice. That's how you get better. Sure playing every night in a bar helps. But you've also got to challenge yourself. You've got to test your own limits, learn more than three chords, not so you can use them so much as you become aware of the POSSIBILITIES!
If you're a musician, listen to a lot of records.

If you want to write lyrics, read a lot of books.

Doctors go to school to become M.D.'s. Why should you be able to be a world famous music star without putting in the work?

The hardest thing to do in this business is find a hit act. You can be the best manager, the most tenacious agent, but if you don't have a hit act, you're doomed to failure. Speak to a concert promoter. He'll tell you there's no way you can get people to come to see a stiff act. Even if you pick them up in limos and give them good seats.
A great act can make a ton of business mistakes, have a less than great manager, a rip-off label and STILL make it. A third-rate act with the best team is still a third-rate act.

I think it's great that you're looking for innovative ways to do business, that you want to challenge old models. But some things never change. And what never changes in this business is it all comes down to the music. More than ever. In a world where anybody can make a record and the audience doesn't concentrate on one outlet, not even one format. Some people listen to NO radio. Others watch NO television.

But that doesn't mean greatness will go unnoticed. We're all looking for quality. And, if we find it, we tell everybody we know. So, a great act gets traction. But takes a long time to make it. Shit, the Kings Of Leon would have been gargantuan right away fifteen or twenty years ago. Now it takes that long just to get people to pay attention.
And maybe KOL weren't that great in the beginning. To think that talent needs to emerge fully-formed is to think that babies can do calculus. It's a long hard road to becoming a musician. Short cuts might deliver success sooner, having your songs written by the usual suspects and working with an experienced producer might give you a leg up. But there's no real foundation, you're going to fall back to earth if you don't do the work.

Everything I write, all the innovation, it only applies to GOOD ACTS! The question is, what choices do you make if the act has talent. If it doesn't, GIVE UP!

You're not entitled to a gig in the music industry. People don't need records the same way they need food. If you can't associate yourself with a good act, you're going to starve, no matter what your desire.

Finding great talent and bonding to it is a skill unto itself. Don't rail against Irving Azoff or Jimmy Iovine, this is what they do BEST!
And until you do it as well as they do, you're gonna be broke.
Sorry.

Rock Stars by Bob Lefsetz

2010-01-08T09:13:00.001-08:00

Did the Beatles plan on dominating the world?
No, they just wanted to escape a life of drudgery in Liverpool.
But their music became a mania. Suddenly, not only were they rich and famous, they had innumerable groupies beckoning.

Like Tiger Woods.

When the Beatles hit, even into the heyday of Led Zeppelin in the seventies, if you wanted to get rich, you were a rock star. Baseball's reserve clause had not yet been broken. The NBA did not yet have Magic and Bird, never mind Michael Jordan, it was almost a sideshow. As for golf... Arnie Palmer was a swinger, but he was more about endorsements than lifestyle, and at the time, nobody wanted to be icy, pudgy Jack Nicklaus.

No, you wanted to be like the English cats. Or the players from San Francisco. Who'd practiced for years so they could now get up at noon, do drugs and get laid seemingly whenever they wanted.
It all came down to the music. Jimmy Page didn't pick up the guitar with a desire to be famous. No, music was a calling. And after seeing the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan", boomers picked up instruments, took lessons. They did not get plastic surgery to appear beautiful, take media training so they could expose themselves well. It was all about the tunes.

It hasn't been about the tunes in eons.

Sure, there were starmakers all the way back to the days of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis. But what drew us to the stars of the classic rock era was the seeming lack of manipulation. Playing by no rules, creating opuses sometimes an album side long, these musicians put the music first. Unlike athletes shilling for Aqua Velva.

Things turned bad with corporate rock in the midseventies. Too calculated, it was supplanted by disco and then in late '79, the whole business imploded, only to be resurrected by MTV, which evidenced completely different values from the FM radio that preceded it. Suddenly it was all about image.

And now MTV might be dead, but conventional wisdom is image triumphs. That's what TV wants. That's what the magazines want. That's what TMZ and Perez want. Radio was something you listened to. All the foregoing media enter through your eyes.
So right now, Mariah Carey might be parading around Aspen, but she's not staying there based on her new album's sales, they stink, she's living off the past. Even Alicia Keys. All these heavily-hyped artists, the Cliveisms, they're built for stardom, but today stardom doesn't permeate every nook and cranny, and so many are turned off by the hype, and music sales suck. And seemingly the more popular you are on the hit parade, the fewer people want to see you live. Dave Matthews hasn't had a radio hit in eons, but he was the biggest tour grosser of the decade.

But, of course, Dave Matthews has been around for fifteen years, he was the beneficiary of the old game. What about new artists?
What about new artists?

If you want to be a "rock star", be an athlete. Or a tech entrepreneur. That's where the money is. And groupies like money.
If you want to be a musician, you must flush image down the toilet, be three-dimensional, write from the heart and make yourself accessible to fans.

Yes, today's musicians are the opposite of the titans of yore. As opposed to being crafted with no edges, sculpted to perfection like Janet Jackson, who also can't sell a record, they're lumpy, with warts, they're completely human. And they write about their humanity. And they make themselves available on Twitter and other social media.

I'm not talking marketing. This isn't so much about selling as a redefinition of what a musician is. Sure, first and foremost you play music. But how do you get an audience?
How do you get friends? Real friends?

It's very difficult staying alone in your room, not interacting online. If you want to be part of the community you must venture out, whether it be into the real world or cyberspace. You must make yourself available. You must be ingratiating. You must be open and willing to share.

Who does it right?

Taylor Swift. Her songs couldn't be more personal. They're not bland statements denuded to the point where they can be sung by and related to by everybody, rather they're distinctly her.

John Mayer tweets his personality. Go to http://twitter.com/jOhnCmAYer and read, you'll end up thinking you truly know him. Furthermore, on his blog he stood up for James Cameron, who called a fan an asshole (http://www.johnmayer.com/blog/permalink/5379). Mayer didn't believe it was a fan, but an e-Bay whore. But the point is, Mayer took a stand. That's how you grow your audience, by having a personality, just like them.

Will musicians ever become rock stars?

Not like the athletes. The athletes have got all the money and all the TV time. If you want to get rich and screw, start shooting hoops. And isn't that fascinating, no one thinks they can play in the NBA without a wealth of court time, but people think they can succeed in the music game without paying their dues whatsoever.
And athletes don't succeed by revealing their inner lives, they make it via their robotic skills. The opposite of musicians. And did you ever think that whoring yourself out to corporations works for athletes but not musicians for this very reason? Because it's not about who athletes are so much as how skilled they are at their sport?
In other words, if you're pursuing the rock stardom that's bandied about in public today, you're pursuing artistic and commercial death. A "rock star" today is someone who's winning in the commercial world, which is the opposite of art. A true rock star is beholden to nobody. Hell, these athletes play for a team, or their sponsors. Which is how the major labels killed music. Because you were playing for them instead of playing for yourself.
Sure, eventually new acts will grow and dominate. But the ascension will be very slow. The rocket to outer space paradigm of MTV is history. Shit, isn't that the point of reality TV? Anybody can be famous for fifteen minutes?

You want to be famous for much longer than that.

Old thinkers will use the old tools. Radio and TV.

You're not opposed to those, but you focus on a direct connection with your fan.

Do your friends abandon you willy-nilly?

Of course not.

Then again, you think twice before you screw a friend, before you cancel plans.

So put your fans first. Establish trust. And practice!

Because it begins and ends with the music.

2009-12-27T07:17:00.001-08:00

Christmas is over, and I got back fro my trip to Bangkok. It was a pretty crazy trip, with lots of shopping every day for 10 hours and massages every day. Had quite a lot of fun shopping, but it was once again a rude awakening to the state of affairs/relationships in my household. It was more of a rude awakening to my parents rather than me, since I realised it a long time ago. Well now we’ll just happily live our separate lives. I hope.

2010 is a few days away, and there’s tons of activities and things to do, like going to St. John’s Island tomorrow with Wee Peng and MJ, YA Thanksgiving at night, VS hostel event on Tues, 2K class chalet on Tues, Watchnight Service, countdown… So many things to do, so little time. Oh plus an outing with Jenna, and mahjong at Ziyang’s place. Can’t wait! Hope I don’t dream of mahjong tiles this time.

So many things have changed, people and things are so bizzare-ly different that sometimes I still can’t wrap my mind around it. I’m not quite sure what to make of/think of certain recent developments. We’ve both moved on, which is good, definitely. But everything’s still so incredibly messed up.

You talk about life, you talk about death,
And everything in between,
Like it's nothing, and the words are easy.

You talk about me, and you talk about you,
And everything I do,
Like it's something, that needs repeating.

I don't need an alibi or for you to realize,
The things we left unsaid,
Are only taking space up in our head.

Make it my fault, win the game
Point the finger, place the blame
It does me up and down, it doesn’t matter now.

Lists

2009-12-18T09:26:00.001-08:00

All the lists NME have made, which include Top 100 Albums of the Decade, 50 Best Albums of each year in the noughties, 50 Best Tracks of 09 etc- http://www.nme.com/list

2009-12-18T09:22:00.001-08:00

Why you should buy the Rage Against The Machine single

A few weeks ago Rage Against The Machine fan Jon Morter set up a FaceBook group to encourage rock fans to buy the LA political metaller’s 1992 hit, Killing In The Name, as a protest against the perceived monopoly reality TV show the X Factor has over the Christmas singles market.

Morter told Kerrang! last week that he “snapped” while watching the show one night and set up the group to see who else agreed with him. When K! started covering the story earlier this month, the group had just under 60,000 members. Now it boats a staggering 868,552 members, and 306,115 of whom have purchased Killing In The Name this week putting it just under 9,000 copies ahead of X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s cover of Miley Cyrus' The Climb according to mid-week chart reports.

While it is mildly amusing that a song which features the refrain ’Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!’ might be the festive Number One, as it was with The Darkness’s attempt at a Christmas hit in 2003 with Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End), there’s a much more important reason why rock fans should care about this seemingly pointless chart battle – the future of rock music itself.

With reality TV shows such as X Factor, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent etc. providing record companies with a wealth of fame hungry wannabes that they don’t have to spend time or money promoting or developing because they come complete with a ready made audience who will buy their records regardless, they have stopped signing rock and metal bands who, traditionally, take years to make any significant financial returns for record companies.

“These reality TV shows really puts the blockers on new up and coming bands who write and perform their own stuff because the labels focus on channelling their marketing spend into these (mostly) short term, 'sure-fire' TV-fuelled successes,” a senior music industry figure, who wishes to remain anonymous, told K! “It really isn’t about music, quality of music or longevity for any resulting reality TV show artists or bands.”

“Also these reality TV show artists are deemed a priority within the label and so the newer bands perhaps do not get the true attention and push to radio / press etc. that really need to make their mark, or indeed the financial support to enable them to tour,” our source added. “And what’s worse, this is happening on a global level.”

While the vast majority of comments on this website have been supportive of the Rage Vs X factor campaign, there are still a few disillusioned posters who feel that an X Factor victory is inevitable - it is not! According to figures released by The Official Charts Company, Rage Against The Machine have been significantly ahead of Joe McElderry every day this week.

You’ve still got until 11:59PM tomorrow (Saturday, December 19) to make a difference. And, even if you own it already, you can purchase Killing In The name form a number of online e-tailers for as little as 29p.

Take a stand people, your music needs you!

2009-12-18T09:02:00.001-08:00

I just realised I haven’t updated in forever. Kind of forgot to. Well a lot has been happening lately, with so many outings, my birthday, Jayne’s party, and a whole lot of other things. Thanks for all the b’day greeting and presents btw, I really appreciate it :) I’m too tired to type out everyone who wished me, but you guys know who you are. So, thanks for everything! Thanks to Nic, Lu, MJ, Wee Peng, Wei Yang, Joel Tan and Pin Lang for coming to my birthday dinner, I really appreciate it!

I’m off to Bangkok tmr, and when I’m back, it’ll be Christmas time! So I’ll just leave y’all with this Christmas song from Band Aid 20:

2009-11-30T02:33:00.001-08:00

"I'M VERY SAFETY CONSCIOUS AND ALL THAT..."

“Westlife's Mark Feehily on comebacks, covers and cries for help...

Hello, Mark. This must be the end of a day of various interviews.
Yeah, we’ve just been doing group interviews where everyone butts in front of everyone and all that kind of stuff, so it’s nice to have a quiet room by myself now. Everyone’s off doing solo interviews and I got stuck with Popjustice… Oh, I mean Popjustice got stuck with me. (Awkward laugh)

It must be quite exciting to come back with a new album to talk about in interviews but there must also be a point, probably about two interviews into your first major day of press, when you think, ‘fucking hell, have I got to do this all over again?’
Um… Yeah. To be honest, I think I’ve got something exciting to talk about now, and that in the past hasn’t always been the case. Before that you knew it all already before you even got to the interview, but now it’s kind of, well, it really is a fresh sort of start for us. I mean I’m excited in these interviews more than I would have been because I’ve just got more to talk about.

That’s a very Noel Gallagher-esque approach to the ‘new album’ interview: “the last album was shit, the new one’s amazing though”.
Hahaha, yeah. Our new album is genuinely a move in a certain direction. I mean, it’s definitely not the predictable same old thing, covers or whatever. You know, I’m talking to Popjustice, I might as well be real. You know I’m not here to kind of fluff the edges or whatever, you know.

Obviously the first single is a cover, which you’ve had a bit of flack for…
You know, it is a cover and… Would we have preferred a brand new original song to be our first single that Simon [Cowell] loved and thought he could launch an album off? Yes. Um… That wasn’t exactly the case you know. We love this single, we genuinely do, and if you heard some of the suggestions that were put to us before this, well, you’d kind of understand why we’ve done this and why this is kind of a relief. There were many songs which I would be even scared to mention, you know, that were suggested to us which we turned down. There were many cover versions and many original songs that were either terrible or we would’ve been sort of trying to do a cover version of one of the best songs of all time that you’d just never touch.

What was the worst cover idea that was put to you?
There was loads of stuff through the years, like ‘You Are Not Alone’ by Michael Jackson…

And now of course that’s the X Factor finalists’ single.
Yeah, so Simon’s basically convinced somebody to do it, and it wasn’t us! Put it this way: there’s been times over the years where they’ve suggested stuff and we literally have gone ‘right, okay, don’t even go there…’ But then there’s other times when we have to find a reason. With Simon we don’t want to just go ‘no’ or whatever, we try and give him a reason, and sometimes it is a bit harder to give a reason why not to do it. And sometimes there’s a song where there is no reason not to cover them, you know.

Of course in the time you’ve been around, cover versions have become very cool. Jo Whiley built a very credible radio feature around cover versions and now you can’t move for people covering each others’ tunes, usually quite badly. Westlife set the trend Mark.
(Laughs) I think it’s just become the thing to talk about with Westlife, you know, ‘cover, whatever, blah blah blah’. I think, hopefully, if anyone actually genuinely wants to have an opinion, they’ll just give us the benefit and listen to our album before they make their minds up on it. So people can just listen to it and then after that, then if they wanna say “oh boring old predictable Westlife,” fine, but I’d just ask them to listen to the album first, because we’re just starting fresh.

If you had infinite time, a different record label and a different sort of ‘machine’ around you , what would be the album that you’d ideally make? If you didn’t have a fanbase to please, what would you want to do?
Well right now, honestly, we’ve gone through the full circle of what we feel. Sometimes we’ve felt more rebellious and gone, you know, ‘fuck you, label, we’re not doing that, we’ll do whatever we want’. I think we’ve realised after ten or eleven years that the most important thing is that everybody in the equation is on the same page, because if that doesn’t happen, then one of the kind of triangle of ourselves, management and the label loses interest, and without three people behind it, it never kind of reaches its full potential, so this time around, it’s the first time ever apart from probably our first album that everybody has felt the exact same about the album. Simon texted me when I was driving my car through Central London, and of course I pulled over to read the text because I’m very safety conscious and all that. But I literally nearly died, because Simon texted me and said ‘oh my god, guys, I have to tell you – hats off, your album is amazing. Your instincts were right, you’ve followed your instincts and you’ve really come out on top and this is the best album that we’ve ever made together’. And I practically shed a tear I was so happy, because I already knew I was happy with it and the rest of the boys were, and Louis was – but to find out that Simon was happy with it was like the final piece of the jigsaw. And it meant that, you know what, if this album flops then we’ve given it our best shot and everyone’s been fully behind it, so we can’t use the excuse of ‘the label weren’t really behind it fully’ or whatever.

What’s on the album then?
There’s a song that I’m really proud of myself which I wrote with Shaznay Lewis and Chris Braide called ‘Reach Out’ that I’m very, very proud of because I’ve always strived to write but I’ve always been a bit scared because it can be quite frowned upon sometimes, especially in the past for us to even mention the word ‘write’. I kind of went off and did it in my own time and then once I had a good demo, I brought it to the label and they liked it… I did it that way instead of going in and meeting them and saying ‘do you mind if I write and could you put me in with someone?’.

What’s the song about?
Um…well it’s kind of… I wrote it about something personal actually and I don’t really want to say what it is. But it’s just that kind of thing when someone’s in trouble and they’re not really saying anything about it. It’s quite a straightforward sentiment really. There’s also a song called ‘Shadows’ that we’ve done with Ryan Tedder that was written by him and AJ from the Backstreet Boys which is quite R&B vocally…

Does the chorus go “shadows, shadows, shadows” in a Ryan Tedder-esque kind of way.
I’m actually trying to think what the chorus is like for a second. (Incomprehensible humming) Actually it’s only got ‘shadows’ once, it’s not like ‘Halo’ or anything like that. We have another song called ‘Where We Are’ that we’ve done with Ryan that is a bit more like that ‘Halo’ kind of beat and everything.

You said at the start of this interview that you’re more into this album than you’ve been with past albums.
Absolutely. Basically the kind of final piece of the jigsaw is when you’re on the stage, and it’s the whole thing about believing in what you’re singing – I don’t mean like you’ve written the lyrics and it’s about a personal experience, but I mean believing that it’s good and standing there being proud of it, like performing ‘What About Now’ on The X Factor in front of 15 million people I was proud of that song. I was able to sing properly because I was proud and happy with it.

When were you last proud of an album? Let’s not forget your masterpiece, the rat pack covers album ‘Allow Us To Be Frank’.
Let’s forget that actually. (Laughs) That was a weird time in our career, really. I’m not making excuses for it, but Brian had just left. We kind of didn’t know what to do… Even when Brian was still in the band, people didn’t know what to do with us! But Brian had just left, everyone was a bit like ‘well this can’t be some kind of mediocre pop album’, and you know Robbie [Williams] had just gone out with his and when we heard the idea first, we were just like ‘well Robbie’s just done this, why don’t we just come up with our own little twist instead of doing something like that?’ We eventually bought into it and I have to say as a singer I enjoyed the experience of recording the album, but obviously you have to promote for six months and then you tour and stuff, so by the end of the tour we were ready to put that one behind us.

Alright, so that one was shit. ‘Back Home’, was that quite a good one? I’ve lost track.
I think ‘Back Home’ was kind of the beginning of this new album in a way. We’d been quite wary because Simon was starting to have huge success in America and we didn’t want Simon to turn around and go ‘they’re crazy, I don’t really know what they’re doing, they’re all mad in the head. They’re trying to be something they’re not.’ So it was a case of gradually, slowly but surely… It was the first time in a while that we’d done something that wasn’t predictable.

And how do you move forward from this, because even if this has given you a bit of renewed energy and excitement and you enjoy promoting it, you must be a bit bored of this now. But it is too late to do anything else? Are you stuck in Westlife forever?
Well I’ll always be a member of Westlife. Something that I learned in the time off was that I really do love Westlife and I need it in my life to be happy because it’s very much part of who I am and ten years later, it’s like… You know, as you said, you’re so far into it that it’s always going to be a part of me. And I am very proud of it. But part of the motivation to make the best pop album ever was: if we’re going to do this, if we’re going to do even one more album, let’s do it right, let’s not just wheel them out every year. We’re moving forwards, hopefully the next album will be even better, do you know what I mean? It’s just step by step, you can’t get there straight away, you have to take things one step at a time. I don’t believe in black and white like you have to be solo or you have to be in the band. On the year off, I’d done a lot of writing… I’d done a song with a guy called Steve Anderson who works with Kylie a lot - I’m quite good friends with him because he MD’d our live tour a few times and stuff like that. I did a song with him literally for the laugh, we said ‘let’s try it for the laugh,’ it’s called ‘Talk Me Down’ and I just put a vocal on it – and it ended up on the album. My point is… Well actually, I can’t remember what my point was now. (Laughs)

What’s the worst song on the new album?
The worst song? Um… I’m just trying to think of what I think would be the worst song… (Extended silence) It would be a lot easier for me to answer this from previous albums. Um, I think the song that would be least likely to be a single would be a song called ‘Sound Of A Broken Heart’ but that’s just because I think the other ones are just better than it. When you’re this connected to something it’s hard – you’d need a stranger to say, ‘alright, that’s shit, that’s shit, and that’s shit’…

You need to be at a distance, don’t you, sometimes, to see how shit something actually is.
Yeah, I don’t believe anything on the album is shit, but I’ve just put all my heart and soul into it. But I don’t know. Maybe that’s for someone else to decide. I’m not going to say it’s the best album of all time, I’m just saying that we’ve tried to make the best album we could, and we haven’t done a lot of covers and it’s not all predictable, so if this doesn’t make people happy then maybe we just never will.

You know what you should say to the haters? Just say to them, ‘hey, whatever.’
(Laughs) Well maybe not, Simon Cowell wouldn’t say that. He wouldn’t like us to say that. We’re supposed to say ‘Mandy’.

Let’s be fair, he did have a point - ‘Hey, Whatever’ was something of a low point.
Yeah, it was us trying to um, sort of, we didn’t know how to fight back and we just kind of went ‘bleaaaagh’. Now we’re kind of a bit more mature about things and we’ve learnt a bit more, but back then it was almost like a cry for help.

It seems Westlife have now got to a point where it’s not really worth people using their energy disliking you, in the same way that it’s not really worth your energy trying to please them. After over a decade you’re not going to suddenly become Vampire Weekend just because people complain about you doing nice ballads quite a lot, and nor do you really want to.
I know, it’s strange! Twelve years later and people still have a problem, and I’m like, well, you’re never going to like us. You know, you’re a fucking electronica fan or a house fan. You know what I mean? It’s like, you’re never going to like Westlife, you know, so…

So fuck off.
Yeah, so whatever! Stop annoying me about it, go and tell someone who gives a shit.”

From popjustice.com . This interview kind of disappoints me, and comes as a great shock, especially since I’ve spent the day reading NME. Its like they’ve been pushed around by Simon their whole lives! Since their first album, now with their 10th album too. And I’m pretty glad Mark said Allow Us To Be Frank was shit. Ha, cos it kinda is. Haha.

Anyway, yeah I’m still blogging lots, but its more like taking articles from somewhere else and dumping it here. Not really for the whole rambling and sharing right now.

2009-11-29T23:55:00.001-08:00

I’m not really sure anyone who usually reads my blog can keep up with the flurry of blog posts. That’s if you actually pause and read the Cobra posts. Lol.

This is on Adam Lambert’s new album, released on 24th Nov. The song is written by Muse, which explains my interest in it. It sounds like it should have been on The Resistance.

Just listen to Muse’s Guiding Light to hear the similarities. Not saying Adam is a rip-off, Muse gave the song to him after all. But I don’t think the song shows off Adam’s vocal range, especially since Matt Bellamy’s falsetto is freakin’ amazing.

Gabe Saporta on Rivers Cuomo’s MTV interview

2009-11-29T20:02:00.001-08:00

Weezer - Rock The Deuce - MTV Shows

We are using Rivers from Weezer's speech about us as part of the intro that we walk out to for our live show.

When we first saw this video last week, our minds were totally blown (I honestly thought it was some kind of app, or a flash program that could make Rivers Cuomo speak whatever you type). And I kept watching it. And it kept blowing my fucking mind!

It’s not the fact that’s he’s saying nice things about us (there are plenty of people who have said nice things about us—and I of course have always been deeply and sincerely appreciative of all the love we’ve been lucky to receive and have done all I can to pay it forward). But it’s the fact that one of my idols (one of the people who has written some of my all-time favorite songs, someone I grew up listening to, looking up to, and whose work has influenced not only my own work, but also my outlook on life) –not only does he know who the hell we are (which is a win in itself), but more than that: he actually likes what we do!!?

But it get’s better, because not only does he likes us, but he hits the nail RIGHT ON THE HEAD! It goes without saying that our band is a bit out there; we don’t really fit neatly into anyone genre. And that has always been an obstacle for us. But it has also been something we have worked towards: to separate ourselves from the rest of pop music, yet somehow finding a way to penetrate it and help shape it. And what he said in this video shows to me that he gets it. He just really GETS us!

He accurately articulates philosophies about our band that we consciously set-down as principle building blocks when we started Cobras three years ago. And I know I’m babbling, but at the end of the day, words can never truly express what it feels like to have one of the first people that you truly admired—someone that has been a constant source of inspiration; I can never fully explain what an amazing feeling it is to hear someone you revere so highly, flip the tables and praise YOUR work.

Sorry to sound like a fucking cheeseball. But this is a 1^st for me. And here’s the thing:

I am one jaded-ass, cynical motherfucker. I am not impressed by celebrities. I don’t care how much money you got in the bank, and I don’t care who your daddy is. And sadly, even if a “new” Rivers Cuomo were to come out today, I feel like I may be just a bit too “over-it” to even pay attention. And please do not interpret this as me thinking that I’m better than anyone; this is just something that I see happening to a lot of us as we grow up—we begin to develop our own answers and our own world views, and we are not as reliant on our “idols” for these answers.

I mean, I still love music, but the sort of idol worship that lead me to elevate a person like Rivers or Civ or Ian MacKaye and place them atop such influential pedestals could only have really occurred in my formative years. That’s because music was the most important thing in my life when I was 14/15/16 (actually, it was pretty much the only thing in my life). When the world I thought I knew started to disintegrate, when I was slapped in the face for the first time with some of the harsher realities of the world, and when I was forced to face some of the uglier truths of my existence.

And it was at this point in my life—when my parents just didn’t get it, when my teachers couldn’t give a shit, and worst of all, when I started to realize that even my friends were not who I thought they were—it’s at this point that music became my only salvation. It’s at this point that music exuded this uncanny power to truly affect who I was and who I could become. And it was at this point that it did. Because it’s at this point that someone you don’t even know can say something that will change the course of your life, or at the very least just give you a new perspective on your struggles.

And Rivers Cuomo was that person for me. Weezer was that band for me.

And last week’s experience—to hear one of my childhood idols who helped me through some of my roughest years say that he believes in me—made me feel like a kid again. It made me feel excited in a way I haven’t felt in years!

And yes of course, it’s a bit childish. But it’s real. And it’s rare. And it’s an amazing emotion to be able to feel.

So a couple of days ago, we sound-checked our new intro (with Rivers’ audio in it) and we saw a couple of people roll their eyes. So we talked about it later on the bus:

“hey, do you think that putting that as part of our intro is too egotistical; too self-aggrandizing? Should we not do it?”

We contemplated this seriously, because despite how sassy we act, and despite how much shit we talk, or how many times I grab my crotch, we honestly all do strive for certain virtues: to be humble, modest and grateful, and to always remain normal, approachable people. And it is not an unfair criticism to say that by using Rivers’ speech as our intro we are just turning into a bunch of self-involved, self-masturbatory douchebags. After all, it’s not some great piece of musical work we wrote, or some hilarious joke; it’s just some guy talking about why he thinks we’re cool. Is that really something the entire crowd needs to hear before we go on stage?

I contemplated it thoroughly. And I could see clearly how easily the intro could be construed as us showing off. But then I thought about the guiding principles of our band:

- to not take ourselves too seriously

- to make music we love

- to crack ourselves up on stage and have an amazing time playing shows

- to shred

- to shows kids these sides of us, with no inhibition and no bullshit,

- and to spread that positivity, that carefree spirit, and to make kids have the time of their lives

And when we hear Rivers sing our praises before we go on stage every night, the rest of the world just disappears. All our problems vanish. And the only thing left before us is this amazing opportunity to play a show for kids who support us, and to show them our deepest and most sincere level of appreciation for their love. Because doing what we love, what we have been doing for 3 years straight with the help of all our fans, has somehow, bizarrely, brought us to the attention of someone who inspired us to start playing music in the first place. And that. Is. Fucking. Insane.

To hear Rivers every night before we play fills us with so many emotions: excitement, gratitude, humility, bewilderment, pride, and joy. But most of all, we hope that seeing us huddle-up together, geek-out and fanboy over our metaphorical trophy will inspire some kid in the crowd to go follow his dream. To do what he truly wants; to do it with heart, and to know that if it can happen to a bunch of schmucks like us, it can definitely happen to you.

Wet Hot American Summer Home Video

2009-11-29T20:00:00.001-08:00

2009-11-29T19:51:00.001-08:00

an open letter to record labels and their 'fan clubs'

cobra has gotten so big because of the message boards (and leighton meester helped a whole fucking lot). think about it. on lj we were all the ‘biggest fans’ and shit and the people who cobra would always make shoutouts to. they knew that the haters and fans were on livejournal.com. places like suavez and dgs were the ‘fanclubs’ and we were all somewhat organized there. now with the fucking forum, you’ve got way more 12 year olds wearing cobra merch screaming about how much they want gabe saporta to marry them. if you did that shit on lj you would get your ass mocked till you left the fucking site. but on the cobra boards, that sort of behavior is tolerated and even encouraged.
they know us by our ljs and by our daily haunts. victoria has a livejournal, ryland used to have one, gabe namedrops livejournal. this fan club has done nothing but further alienate fans from the band by mass producing this feeling of comradery that already existed on livejournal, something that cobra doesn't want to do. i'm sure it fucking sucks having to run back into your bus because you'll get mobbed if you hang around by the merch table.
the corporate bigwigs made an eye-rapingly ugly forum and said THIS SPACE RIGHT FUCKING HERE IS FOR YOU TO DO XYZ. well we already fucking had XYZ and then some on livejournal—this is all fan-created content, something that no corporation can help truly inspire in people. the ‘fans’ created by this corporation are basically consumers. the message board is just a way to make money, which is why gabe saporta so vehemently tried to stop it from happening. i mean he’s trying to turn it into a positive thing with all the contests and shit (not gonna lie i’m benefited from the boards/contests--HELLO HOT MESS VIDEO SHOOT) but he knew that this was yet another way for FBR to make money off of HIS band. why not just keep people talking and discussing the band on lj? FBR has no way to truly profit off of what we do here so they make us all talk over on the message boards. ‘true fans’ are naturally suspicious of this gimmick but newbies to the whole cobra starship thing eat that shit up immediately.
everything’s all for these new fans too. have you seen the new and improved cobra starship story? no traces of gabe tripping balls on peyote and having an epiphany anywhere. because seriously, cobra starship is the direct result of a bad trip. it’s too much for these 12 year olds whose daddies buy the (still horrendously god-awful) merch. they see drugs and they refuse to drop a cent on this band (because merch is the one way bands actually DO make money). on the message boards, everything is nice and controlled and filtered by FBR. they can control what goes into and out of the message boards. the mods there are different than the mods here. on suavez/dgs pm the only rule is ‘no fanfiction’ which is the most reasonable rule i’ve ever heard. but the message boards have a different set of rules and if you fuck up you’re banned—despite having paid for membership.
i might be rambling. you might not agree. but the message boards are BAD NEWS for people who would call themselves true fans. we are the people who came together on lj, we are the people who make and fuel the gossip, we are the people who start the communities, we are the people who organize gifts and books and meetings and events, we are the people who show up hours before the venue opens and stay long after it closes. we are the people who fucking got cobra off their feet in the first place. this whole catering to the latest passengers on the corporate bandwagon, while profitable, is downright insulting.
my love for cobra starship isn’t any less, i’m just frustrated. yeah i’m one of those people who are bitter about them getting big. feel free to disagree, i’d love to see what your counterarguments are! (and yes i am aware that gabe’s been making music for like 10 years etc we should all be happy for him but he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere if it wasn’t for the tiny solid core of people who supported them from the start, and those people for the most part exist on livejournal.)
please, feel free to add to this and pimp it everywhere. this isn't a complete list of things that are wrong with the whole fanclub idea so if you would like to say something i want to hear it. there's gotta be a better way, you know? if they see that we're unhappy with this fanclub bullshit maybe things can change.

2009-11-29T19:29:00.001-08:00

See the label NC16? Ahahah. I’m gonna tweet Gabe abt this. This is what he said about the parental advisory sticker they got by the way- “So we are putting the finishing touches on our album (yes, we will be breaking hearts like cusak for all you shelf kids„„ but it will be hidden…), but the fuckin legal department at the label tells me there are too many fucking curses on the record. so not only am i gonna be slapped with my first parental advisory sticker ever, but i also had to go and re-record certain lines in our songs to be able to make a “clean” version of the record for certain stores and for itunes.. fucking bullshit! but instead of getting bummed out about it, i decided to look at it as a positive thing and have fun with it.

since when is “cock” a bad word anyway!??!?!? !WTF!!!!”

A Decade In Music – Did The Internet Save The Industry, Or Kill It?

2009-11-28T07:21:00.003-08:00

If you can't remember life as a music fan in 1999, you'll have to imagine it. No iTunes. No iPods. No Spotify. No bottomless quarry of music clips on YouTube. A new album cost £16.

Fred Durst was the biggest rock star on earth, Campag Velocet were on the cover of NME, and about the most fun you could have online was clicking around a Compuserve chatroom at 3am, wishing you were dead. Or maybe that was just me.

Now look: a torrent of music, never more than a keystroke away, much of it free. Music surrounds us as never before. Meanwhile, the process of making it has been democratised.

Artists no longer need record labels. For those willing to exploit it, the web represents, in Thom Yorke's words, "the most amazing broadcasting network ever built". Lucky us, right?

continued...

Not exactly. We may listen to more music than ever, but our connection with it is shallower, more fleeting. The past ten years of online free exchange have created a paradise for consumers of music, and meant catastrophe for the people who make and sell it.

Indeed, at the risk of sounding like a Jan Moir editorial, you could build a strong case for the internet being the worst thing that ever happened to music.

Some figures. Global sales of recorded music have halved, from a historic peak of $37 billion in 2000, to $18 billion in 2008. The videogame industry overtook the music business in 2007, and is projected to utterly dwarf it by 2011.

So what happened? Just as iPod culture boosted the importance of single tracks at the expense of albums, piracy caused the market value of those songs to plummet to near-zero.

Consequently, the CD – the magic format that kept the industry's profit margin at a blockbusting 30% throughout the '80s and early '90s - has been steadily displaced, first by the MP3, and then by the death of ownership itself. In the next decade we won't download, we'll stream, mostly on our mobile phones.

Social media has played a part in this – though not in the way you might think. In 2005, the press decided en masse that Lily Allen and Arctic Monkeys owed their success to Myspace. This was largely a fantasy.

Lily Allen had the benefit of Parlophone's marketing budget before she ever posted a blog – and Arctic Monkeys were hardly social media gurus: according to Alex Turner they had "no idea" what Myspace was, leaving it to fans to create the page and upload the songs.

What was radical and prescient about the band's early rise was the simple fact they gave their music away for free.

But they were critical in other ways, too. Arctic Monkeys were the last new band to have an explosive, full-spectrum impact, uniting musical tribes, thrilling critics and record-buyers alike.

Increasingly, the net has eroded such universalities, replacing broad consensus with an infinite number of competing viewpoints. That's why it's impossible to pin down precisely what the noughties have meant, musically.

In the 80s there was post-punk, synth-pop, rave; in the '90s there was Britpop. How would you symbolise the past decade? A skinny tie? A Spotify logo?

When Taio Cruz hit Number 1, did you even hear the song? The web makes a mockery of the 'mainstream', sheltering us within our own chosen niche. Yet, curiously, this atomisation has led to a narrowing of diversity. Hype Machine aggregates thousands of blogs, yet somehow Radiohead are always at the top.

After a while, recipients of 'blog buzz' all start to sound alike – vaguely Flaming Lips-y, wonkily eclectic, a bit short on tunes. There's even a genre, 'pitchfolk', to describe the kind of earnest acoustic acts championed by indier-than-thou US bloggers.

More dangerously, blog culture has led to an acceleration in the turnover of new bands. It's an old criticism that NME builds them up to knock 'em down – but our supposed fickleness is nothing compared to the startling speed and ruthlessness with which the blogosphere hypes new acts only to discard them weeks later.

Pity the poor members of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, or Annuals, or Cold War Kids, trying to book a tour once the buzz has dissipated, wondering forlornly where all the good reviews have gone.

Recorded music is no longer profitable. To plug the gap, artists are forced into corporate tie-ins which rob them of their dignity.

When Gallows are tacitly sponsored by Relentless Energy Drink, and Blur and Iggy Pop star in Lego Rock Band, it's hard not to feel that rock and roll's status as an outsider discourse - a release-valve for youthful passions - has been undermined.

Meanwhile, the shift in power from record labels to giant promoters such as Live Nation means the industry is increasingly dominated by a narrow clique of super-league heritage acts.

How to sum up an entire decade? Let's attempt a crude evaluation. Things we've lost: fans queuing at midnight to buy a new album; mixtapes that took an entire Saturday to compile; labels with the budget to take a punt on endless new bands.

What we’ve gained: instant access to a limitless universe of cheap music.

Which is healthier? I know what I think. In 2002, David Bowie predicted music would become a utility, like running water. He was right. The trouble with water is, it has a habit of slipping through your fingers.

Taken from http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=10&p=7587&more=1

2009-11-28T07:21:00.001-08:00

I know this is friggin cliche, but isn’t life a rollercoaster? Everything’s just up and down. Every part of my life. The core of my being. Maybe not so the rollercoaster, but more so the inconsistency. As Hot Hot Heat puts it so nicely in Middle of Nowhere, I’m consistently inconsistent.

Is it really necessary
Every single day
You’re making me more ordinary
And every possible way
This ordinary man is broken
You did it and you don’t even know
You’re leaving me with words unspoken
You better get back because I’m ready for

More than this
Whatever it is
Baby, I hate days like this
Caught in a trap
I cannot get by
Baby I hate days like this

Its funny how Mika makes me cry. Yes, you didn’t read wrongly, its MIKA. The amazingly happy Mika, whose lyrics are so tragic that if they had an appropriate melody, would make us weep and be the soundtrack to our emo moments.

By the way, today I published like 10 different posts, each with different articles, so if you wanna read them, just click on older posts at the bottom. They’re all really very interesting, if they weren’t I wouldn’t re-post them right? So take a look. Its worth the read.

10 Best-Selling Singles Of The Noughties Revealed

2009-11-28T06:32:00.001-08:00

By Luke Lewis

Posted on 28/11/09 at 11:26:35 am

Historians of British pop will look back on the noughties as the decade a once-vital, progressive and unifying cultural force ran out of ideas, sold out to the TV industry, then shriveled into irrelevance.

Either that, or they'll just laugh with sheer derision. Here are the singles that sold the most in the last ten years:

1. Will Young - Evergreen
2. Gareth Gates - Unchained Melody
3. Shaggy - It Wasn't Me
4. Tony Christie/Peter Kay - Is This The Way To Amarillo?
5. Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas?
6. Hear’Say - Pure And Simple
7. Shayne Ward - That's My Goal
8. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
9. Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It
10. Atomic Kitten - Whole Again

continued...

So that's four from ITV talent shows, two charity singles (both of them cover versions), one juvenile novelty record for toddlers (two if you count 'It Wasn't Me'), and one genuinely good song (that'll be Kylie, although 'Whole Again' has a certain schmaltzy charm).

It's worth noting that 'Unchained Melody' - the Robson & Jerome version - was also the second best selling single of the '90s: dispiriting proof that Simon Cowell's dominance of the pop industry has now spanned two decades.

I don't want to sound like a tedious reactionary, clanking my chains and wailing "Pop is dead!" - but come on, this is fucking awful: a genuinely shaming roll-call of unremitting musical dreck. It it were a horror film, it'd be called The Blandening.

Compare the past decade's biggest songs with the corresponding list from the 1980s, which encompasses acts as high-minded, original and downright weird as Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Human League and Dexys Midnight Runners.

What's even more embarrassing is that this creepy hollowing-out of pop is a purely UK phenomenon. America's list features Shakira, Britney Spears and Katy Perry, with not one cover version between them. OK, it's not like Nick Cave's in there - but in terms of quality and adventurousness, it makes our Top 10 look shockingly amateurish and gaudy.

I know what the counter-argument will be: the Top 10 is not representative, there's been plenty of great British pop in the noughties, Xenomania, Girls Aloud yadda yadda. And yes, there have been occasional flares of brilliance. But these are droplets in a desert.

The fact is, the pop charts were once a window onto Britain's exuberant, eccentric, uniquely accelerated cultural life - an enthralling rogues' gallery of freaks and outsiders. Now they're a wasteland.

Cobra Starship-Dance Dance Revolution

2009-11-28T02:36:00.001-08:00

Even if you’re not a Cobra fan, please read this. I read this interview a while back and never got to repost it thanks to my laptop internet crashing, but this interview is amazing. It really made me have newfound respect for Gabe Saporta. A lot of what he says makes a hell lot of sense, especially about the subconscious revolution part, how the entire revolution has been repackaged for the masses. Its like how so many pop artists nowadays don’t write their own songs, they can barely sing, they just have the looks and are packaged and marketed by their label. Its terrible. So just read this, and let your mind try to wrap yourself around it.

Written by Shahlin Graves

Tuesday, 02 September 2008 22:44

When I say COBRA STARSHIP, you say ultra-fluro-fashionista-dance-commanders. Suave social commentary, is probably not the first thing that comes to mind... While the music industry teethes from traditional models to survive meeting the cut-throat ultimatums of modern society, band success is still measured by outdated norms. Even before the merchandise stalls opened for business, despite Panic At The Disco support bands; Cobra Starship and The Academy Is... being represented by just as many hearts on t-shirts as the headliner, an orthodox eye would assume that their local demographics are non-existent. Attention-deficit teenagers are not loving bands in the same ways that their parents did. Instead, teens are loving their favourite bands beyond their parents imaginations.
Gabe Saporta, is no fool. "It's hard, especially for bands like us who have fans of the young demographic who have grown up never listening to the radio and not bowing to paradigms." Get familiar. The world is primed; dance floors, basements, your city. Killing time, pining for electric rule. Perfect for the likes of savvy, sassy Cobras such as these. Will you sleep? Will you take to the streets? Will you drop it on a dime? Get familiar, in our exclusive New Zealand interview...

"What modern liberalism really should do, is put a blank piece of paper right in front of you, so that you realise it's not about what you see in the mirror. It's about what you can project onto this piece of paper."

COUP DE MAIN ( @coupdemain ): In Alternative Press magazine, you stated that the vibe with Cobra Starship is that "there's no revolution". But in another interview you also said that "artists are always supposed to be able to give you a perspective outside of the social norm. It's a responsibility of ours". Do you think that Cobra Starship represents soliciting subconscious revolution? Especially in your last two singles, with the rhetorical questions in the lyrics of 'Guilty Pleasure' and the lyrics of 'This City Is At War'?
COBRA STARSHIP - GABE SAPORTA: Actually, I think that's exactly what it is. I can't believe that you figured it out. The thing is, a lot of people talk about revolution. But the last time there was a revolution, it was in the sixties and seventies with music. Basically, anyone who lived in America was all about the revolution in the sixties. Then everyone just sold out and became yuppies. There was no revolution. The reason why is, the system we exist in is like 'The Matrix'. The minute there's a break in 'The Matrix', a little hole, it bandages by itself and makes sure all the capitals stay in-tact.
The sixties freethinking, the forward movement, the progression, what happened to all these things? All the parts of the 'revolution' that were marketable and could be sold, were repackaged and sold to the masses as the 'revolution'. It had no substance. People would buy into revolution thinking it was cool. But nothing really happened.
People do change and evolve globally. Americans, Western Civilisation, we don't really have a need for revolution. If you're born into a country that has real oppression, where your being exploited and there's people coming to kill your family, if the people don't get it together and start a revolution you're going to keep getting oppressed. Then you have a cause for revolution. That's real revolution. It's like in 'Fight Club'. What problems do we have? We don't really have anything to rebel against. All our problems are psychological problems.
We are born into the world with every comfort that we could ever imagine. Think about sixty years ago. People were wiping their ass with their hands. There was no toilet paper. Now we have everything. We have every modern comfort. We have electricity, we have the internet. We have everything we could ever need. But we're the most neurotic society in the history of civilisation. And why is that? It's because we have nothing to fight for. We have nothing to live for. So what does that mean? There's a subconscious revolution that needs to happen. The problem with the subconscious revolution is that it's not something that can just happen. I can't just say to my friend Michael Guy Chislett; "yo we should become aware of ourselves and start a psychological revolution". It doesn't happen. It's a very personal thing that needs to happen. I need to think about my own problems and think about the world and fight my own truth. And he needs to do that for himself. Maybe we can help each other but we can't do it holding hands and thinking;fight the power. It's a different kind of revolution. It's just not going to happen that way.
But having said that, kids today they grow up. They're jaded at fifteen. They don't believe in things when they're fifteen years old. They're already smarter than your parents were. And the idea of cool? Your parents were cool. They were the ones into revolutionary rock music. It's not cool, to be cool anymore. Being anindie-rock hipster? That's not cool. What's cool about that? It just means that you're old. If you try to be cool, you're old. So what's the real thing that you can do that's different? That's the real generation gap that I think is happening now between parents and their kids. Their kids go online and reveal everything about themselves online. And their parents wonder; why is my fifteen year old daughter taking naked pictures of herself and putting them online? What does that psychologically mean? That's the real generation gap. That's a real revolution. That's why it's all messed up now. We're in a very transitionary time in the evolution of human consciousness on a global level.
People going through real oppression have purpose. They may never be happy. They may never have enough food. They may always be starving. But they have purpose everyday. They know that they're going to fight for freedom. We have no purpose. What's my purpose? To play in arenas? That's my purpose? What's the purpose in that, if I don't really inspire people to do something positive? That's the hard thing. You can't be like; yo man you guys gotta listen to me. You guys gotta hear about the revolution. No-one believes it. The minute you say something, the media grabs onto it and diffuses it. That's what happened in the sixties.The media diffused the revolution.
The last revolution that happened in music was hip-hop. All throughout the eighties, hip-hop was revolutionary. People were talking but the media did not repackage and sell hip-hop. Why? Because the media was owned by all white people. All the people in charge were racist against black people. And that was actually great for hip-hop because it allowed it an incubation period where it was allowed to become a real movement. Then in the nineties, they realised they should pay attention or lose out on all this money. In the nineties, you had a lot of hip-hop artists selling music to suburban white kids. The revolution was lost. That was the last revolution that happened in music.
When I was a kid, I thought Nirvana was a revolution. But now that I'm a grown man and I'm a little smarter, I see that was all manufactured too. The thing is, kids that live today? They see through that instantly. So if you try to talk to kids about revolution and you have a label that is trying to sell your revolution. It doesn't work that way. So you can't talk about revolution. If you have revolution, it has to be subconscious and people have to dig for it exactly like you said. Which is amazing that you pointed that out.

CDM: In 'Prostitution Is The World's Oldest Profession (and I, Dear Madame, Am a Professional)' off your latest album 'iViva La Cobra!', you have the lyrics; "Prostitution is revolution". The young generation would like to think they are modern liberals, but do you think that political correctness keeps us conservative?
GABE: I have a lot of faith and hope for the young generation. The young generation is smarter than my generation. They're cooler. They're jaded at a real young age. I was jaded when I was a little older, so I had to go through the process of being a kid. I was really politically correct. I was all into equal rights and not saying things that would offend people. Then I realised as I became older, that the problem with modern liberalism is that it makes you hold a mirror up to yourself and assume that what you see is beautiful. That who you are is great. That you need to project that to the world and make sure people respect that. The only thing that's going to happen, is that you're going to force people to identify who they are with what they see in the mirror.
What modern liberalism really should do, is put a blank piece of paper right in front of you, so that you realise it's not about what you see in the mirror. It's about what you can project onto this piece of paper. Regardless of what you look like, where you come from, economic status, your colour, or what country you're from. Nothing. None of that matters. It's what you project to people.
The problem is that there's differences between people. I have a penis, she has a vagina. I'm Jewish, he's not Jewish. There's a black dude there, you're asian. We're all different. If you try and hide that and walk on eggshells around people like, okay I gotta respect her cuz she's Asian, I can't bring that up because then she might get offended... we're all going to walk on eggshells and the only thing that we're going to do is repress our evolution and repress any kind of progression. The differences between us which are really superficial, stupid and mean nothing, are going to manifest themselves in weird ways. That's what happens now. We have these people who are really politically correct but everybody's still racist.
I think we give words too much power. Words don't mean anything by themselves, words point to something. What they point to, can't really be expressed unless you're feeling it. You can feel things by projecting. We have no emotional IQ. Our IQ is very rational and scientific, there's a piece of that that's important but you can't understand anything else beyond that. It's all repressed, too sensitive. For every problem you have, there's a drug that's going to solve your problems. Nothing evolves when you become like that. You just become numb to everything. People don't feel anything.

CDM: At sixteen, you were pressing your own 7-inch singles for your first band: 'Humble Beginnings'. Do you think that society doesn't take teenagers seriously enough?

GABE: I don't think society takes anybody, or anything seriously. When I turn on the news or watch anything, I feel like people think I'm an idiot. I feel like the masses are just completely asleep and things are just being marketed to them and sold to them. It's cool whatever, God bless. If you want to sleep, sleep soundly. For a long time, I wanted to sleep too and I slept great. But one day, you're going to want to wake up. It may be when you're fifteen, or it may be when you're fifty-five. It may be on your deathbed that all of a sudden you have a revelation. But like I said, I can't hold Michael Guy Chislett's hand and think; yo, we're going to wake up together. It's not the way it happens. Everyone has to find their own truth. It's not even society. It's the media. The media is what runs society. You can't escape it. Any problems that we have, are media induced paranoia. What real dangers do we have? All this airport stuff, yeah this some messed stuff but the media makes it worse. Why? To make you shut your mouth. So that the people in control can keep doing what they need to do.

CDM: But at the same time, maybe teenagers bring it upon themselves by crying 'wolf'? For example the FBR Trash Livejournal community and their; 'Gabe Saporta is dead' stunt.

GABE: That's two different things, I'm talking about a much broader thing. The great thing about Fueled By Ramen Trash and all these things, is that they exist outside of the media. These are kids creating their own news and their own stories and they don't consider what anyone else says and that's great. I really don't turn on CNN that much, I don't catch much of the news, I live in my own world. I think it's great for people to live in their own worlds but also, if there's some way... I think the future is going to be like every kid can have their own world and have their own truth, but still be connected to each other. I don't know how to solve that challenge. But that's where the next revolution is going to be.
Think about music. If you wanted to make music fifty years ago, you needed to bring a group of musicians together and play all their instruments. And you needed to have people to listen to it. Now music is made by a producer in a room, for people to enjoy on their own on their headphones. It's the digital abstraction. Everything is digital. Everybody is completely isolated from each other. Everyone is in their own little world. In their own little place where they are completely abstracted from any sense of context.
So the question is, how do you take all these people who have created their own little worlds, their own livejournal communities, whatever they have, how do you bring them all together and how do you make them think about what's happening in the world at the same time? How do you make people care about Africa without trying to live vicariously through their struggle? When someone tells me they're going to Africa for the Peace Corps and to help other people, I can respect that's very virtuous. But at the same time I feel that you couldn't be more lost. You're not going to solve those people's problems and fill your own problems. You've gotta face your own problems. Everyone is born into their own problems that they've gotta deal with.

CDM: Are you trying to bring about awareness with your participation in Citizens For Our Betterment?

GABE: No, absolutely no. That's not my job. I used to feel like that was my job for a while. But the problem when you feel like that's your job, is that you develop a Messiah complex and you feel like it's your place. I've been lucky enough to have gotten that outside perspective that we were talking about before. I've been able to step outside and see the whole thing for what it is and walk behind the wizard. I feel like I really understand it. Now I have a duty to express it to everybody else. The problem when you feel like you have that duty, is that you develop a Messiah complex and you want to stand on a hilltop and shout to everyone and open everyone's eyes. But you can't do that.
I can only do what I do and lead by it. It's hidden for the people that want it, it's there. And if you don't want it, your never going to find it. Michael Guy Chislett will tell you, he's Christian. When the Armageddon comes, the people that will be saved are the ones that are understanding. There's always Armageddon.There's always been Armageddon. There's always been general catastrophes. And the people that are aware enough and know what's going on, see the way the world is going and will be able to move out of the way. I know that's pretty dark but that's really what I think.

CDM: I heard you opened a New Zealand bank account...

THE ACADEMY IS... - MICHAEL GUY CHISLETT: Really? Why New Zealand?
GABE: I'm telling you bro, the Armageddon. I really don't have a lot of faith in what's going on in America right now. I feel like it's all bad. If Barack Obama doesn't win, I think I'm really going to have to leave America. Even if he does win... this is what I really think is going to happen. I think he's going to get elected and everything will be really good for a year. The dollar will go back up and everyone will have a lot of faith in America again. Then he's going to start going on a roll. Then his ego is going to get kind of big and he's going to try and do the right thing for the people which is revolutionary. Then someone is going to assassinate him. And then it's going to be all over.
Here's the thing that's really weird about presidents. People think that you're the President of the United States, you're the most powerful person in the world. But what people don't understand is, you're the dude that comes into something for eight years max. There's oil companies running the whole world providing everyone with their energy that have been their for thirty years before you and are going to be there, for the next hundred years after you. You're nobody. You're the president? You better learn to play ball. That's what happens. That's the learning curve of a President.
Not only that, there's agencies that have been there for fifty years with the same people in charge that are doing all the coercion. The whole United States from the beginning of its inception has all been about these secret societies, these organisations that really control everything. I don't mean to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but the only thing you want, is to just have hope that the people in control are really looking out for the betterment of the people. I've heard of dudes in Russia that control electrical power for parts of the country and they get into a political fight with someone and they'll just shut off the power for the country for three days. Don't mess with us, or we'll shut off your power.
That's kinda what happened in the United States in the past couple years. The minute that the House of Representatives and the Senate became Democrat and became very green, oh we're going to do everything not for the Government but for the environment, gas prices went through the roof. Why? Because oil companies were in control. Basically the way it works, is you have a democratic leadership who doesn't play ball. The real people in control, the businesses just ignore you. We're just going to boycott you, we'll wait until we have someone who we like. And they just sit out on their asses and wait. The fact that petroleum is so expensive in America, is only because the gas companies say we're going to charge you more money because your messing with us.
Here's the craziest part, ready? A barrel of oil has three sections to it. The bottom section is the really crude stuff. The middle section is the diesel and that makes up more than fifty percent of it. The top section of the barrel, that's what's used for petroleum for cars. The oil used for cars is so minimal. They skim the top off. They used so much diesel for airplane flights, for boats, for electricity, that they need the barrels. They need to bring lots of barrels in and take just the diesel for the middle part and they skim the top off. That's what goes to the people. They can't get rid of it fast enough. They have so much excess. They have warehouses full of just barrels with the top part that's used for cars. Cars don't consume that much. But they're just like, ignore it dude. If the government is not going to help us do what we need to do to protect the people,we're just going to raise the prices for the people and we're going to ignore them. That's what happening now. That's why everybody's getting pissed off. The whole oil thing is so messed up.
I like the idea of moving onto sustainable energy, that's awesome. but it's not going to happen overnight. The internal combustion engine was invented in 1914. And it took ten years for them to build roads and then after they built roads, it took another twenty years for them to have a car. It took fifty years for them to convert the whole system to cars. Today, if you found the right technology, which we don't have still... it's not ethanol. I'll tell you that right now. We don't have the right technology, somebody's gotta find it. But even if you found it today, it would take fifty years to convert it. We're not going to stop using oil right now. We need to have oil. The whole world, society is built on oil. Now, no-one wants to drill in Alaska, no-one wants to drill off the shores of Florida. Environmentalism is very weird. I'm going to have a bomb-shelter with five years of food and that's all I gotta worry about.

CDM: ...and your bank account in New Zealand...

GABE: That's what I'm saying. My bomb shelter is going to be here. That's why I'm opening a bank account.2012, it's over. I got three years. I'm going to open a bank account, slowly move all my money over to here, buy a little mountain, a little house on there, build a shelter on the middle of the mountain for when it all goes down. Victoria, you wanna come with me? You're down.

COBRA STARSHIP - VICTORIA ASHER: I want to buy a volcano.
CDM: Stereotypically, musical talent is acknowledged as 'serious musicians'. For example, elite indie artists. Are you out to prove that Cobra Starship can be FUN, yet still musically profound?

GABE: I'm not out to prove a thing. The only people I give a worry about in this order; are my family, my girlfriend and then my band. They're my brothers. The only thing I give a worry about is that we like what we do. We're pretty good at it. I just feel like we're all in on the good fight. We're fighting against so many odds, to just be able to do what we love for a living and not have to get boring jobs. We've all had bad jobs except Victoria. I don't think Victoria has ever had a bad job.

VICTORIA: I've had so many bad jobs.

GABE: Yeah but just for fun, so you know what it's like to be a normal person.
I never got into music to be a musician. I'm a modern musician. I've always liked music. Everyone likes music. Music is always a part of life. Music is the biggest thing in the world. You can't escape music, it's everywhere. It's the biggest part of your life. I was always listening to music as a kid but it wasn't until Nirvana came out that I wanted to be a musician. They made me feel like it wasn't about your proficiency. It wasn't about your actual talent, it wasn't about how you were raised. You could buy a guitar and set up in your garage and start a garage band and you could be huge. You could do it, if you loved it. If you had the heart and you had the will, you could make it happen.
That's why I started playing music. Not because; oh I'm going to be the best thing in the world. Or, I'm going to be the best bass player in the world. No man. I just want to be the truth. I want to go out there and have an outlet to speak the truth with, to inspire other people to find truth in themselves. That's all I give a worry about. Music saved my life. I feel like the story of Dumbo. Where it's the Gabe and the little feather. And he flew because of the feather. But then it's revealed that the feather is a lie. You could always fly. That's how I feel about Nirvana. I love and hate them. They inspired me to be like wow, I can do whatever I want. But then it's like, wow this is untrue too. It's life. The things that inspire you, also at some point disappoint you. But if you can accept all these things and embrace them, you can really enjoy life. And that's the point that I feel like I'm at now.
CDM: Who is the real 'Papi'?

GABE: Hahaha I'm the real Papi.

CDM: ...Really?

GABE: No, we have a friend of ours who basically takes care of all our internet stuff cuz sometimes when we're on tour we don't get internet every day. It's very hard. We only get it at the show venues, so he's the one making sure that is going straight on myspace and stuff. It's our friend, I've known him for eight years. He's a very good dude. He's a Cobra.

CDM: Victoria, what's happening with your side-project: 'Not In Town'?

VICTORIA: Nothing. It's not in town. My friend Frankie and I work on stuff whenever we can, when I'm back home. But he was working on stuff with his band 'Big City Rock', which have now actually broken up. But whenever we're in town, we'll put something together. But, we're not in town at the moment.

CDM: What happened to your arm?

VICTORIA: We got in a car accident last night. I always, always wear my seat belt. This is the one time I didn't have it on and we got in a car accident. My arm was up on the handle bar and we hit a car. I went flying forward and my arm was still on the handle. I twisted my arm very poorly. I spent all night in the hospital. It's severely sprained. I was all excited to go out last night, it's a shame I got messed up.
CDM: If G.A.B.E. was a real acronym, what would it stand for?

GABE: Giant Abnormal Baby Elephant. G.A.B.E.
CDM: Tell me about your poker playing days...

GABE: When I was living in New York between Midtown and Cobras, I was writing music and it was kinda slow-moving and I didn't have money. So I was really into playing poker. Have you ever seen the movie'Rounders'? There's all these underground poker clubs in New York that are all run by the Mafia and basically I would go there and I was really patient and would spend a lot of time there. I never had a job between bands. I just made money from playing poker. I don't gamble, I don't play roulette, I only play a little bit of black jack. But the thing that I love about poker is, that you're playing the house. The odds aren't against you. You have the same odds as everyone at that table and especially with Texas Hold 'Em.
There's five cards on the table and the only thing that separates me and you, are the two cards in my hand. That's the only thing different between me and you as a person. There's two cards. It's a metaphor for life. You have all these people in life with the same odds and you're all standing facing each other. Sometimes they're your friends, sometimes they're your opponents. You're trying to win. When you play with friends at the same time, it gets very tricky. The psychology of it is insane. It's all about the psychology of the poker game. It's all about reading the person. What are you projecting to me? And do I believe what you're saying to me? Are you better than me? Is your hand better than me? Or are you lying? Is there something underneath your front? Or are you playing stupid so then I think you don't have anything and then you're going to try and take me over. That's what life's about. Learn how to take it.

COBRA STARSHIP's latest album 'iViva La Cobra!' and THE ACADEMY IS...'s new album 'Fast Times At Barrington High' are both in-stores now.

2009-11-28T02:11:00.001-08:00

Rivers Cuomo on Adam Lambert Team-Up, Favorite Pop Stars

11/2/09, 6:06 pm EST

Photograph by Jeremy and Claire Weiss for Rolling Stone
Tucked in the middle of Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment track list, squeezed between songs written by Lady Gaga and producer Max Martin, there’s a tune called “Pick U Up,” credited to a surprising name: Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo. “He has the kind of voice I convince myself that I have,” Cuomo tells Rolling Stone in our new issue. The team-up is just the latest in an ongoing stream of collaborations that began with the hootenannies Cuomo hosted on Weezer’s 2008 tour.

As Cuomo started to move into a poppy direction — he tells RS he sought out everyone from Dr. Luke to Aly and A.J. — another of his collaborators, Butch Walker, told him, “I want ‘My Name Is Jonas, not Nick Jonas.’ ”

Rivers Cuomo’s Surf Wax Adventure: photos from the Weezer frontman’s RS shoot.

The results of Cuomo’s sonic exploration are all over Raditude (read the RS review here). Weezer recruited Lil Wayne for “Can’t Stop Partying,” though the two parties never met: “He snuck into the studio while I was away,” Cuomo tellsRS. The All-American Rejects’ Tyson Ritter co-wrote “Put Me Back Together,” and told RS, “If I die tomorrow, I’ll have one of the biggest shit-eating grins on my face.”

Cuomo has also spent in the studio penning a song with Katy Perry, Sugar Ray (the band’s recent Music for Cougars featured Weezer’s “Love is the Answer,” a song now bound forRaditude) and Shirley Manson (”It was a master class in pop writing,” Manson tells RS). “I really like all the female pop stars,” Cuomo tells Rolling Stone. “Miley Cyrus is my favorite.”

For more on the birth of Raditude and how Cuomo managed to start a family and commune with the universe without losing his geek-rock mojo, check out the feature in our new issue, on stands now.

2009-11-28T02:07:00.001-08:00

Well, this is just for Cobra fans. Namely, me.

Gabe Saporta

The Cobra Starship front man will buy the shoes off your feet

By Julie Vadnal | November 04, 2009 3:00 p.m.

Photo:

In 2006, Gabe Saporta formed pop-rock band Cobra Starship much to the delight of the neon-Wayfarer-wearing MTV set. Since then, they’ve released three synth-heavy high-energy albums, and their latest, Hot Mess, quickly became radio fuel thanks to the anthem, “Good Girls Go Bad,” which features Gossip Girl actress (and now, part-time pop singer) Leighton Meester. This month, Saporta, collaborated with merch maker Glamour Kills to produce his own clothing line, Overnight Sensation, so girls and guys everywhere can sport his sense of humor. (One shirt reads, “Gabe Saporta slept here and he even made me breakfast!) The 30-year-old sat down with ELLE to discuss reality TV, his on-stage style, and why he’ll buy the shoes off your feet.

ELLE: Is it true you were on the Real World at one point?
GS: When I was a little man, I was on a couple episodes of the Real World, when it was back in New York.

ELLE: The second New York, right?
GS: Yeah, I’m not that old, geez. I’m not talking about The Grind. Eric, Eric, what’s his name, Eric Nies?The Grind was the best show ever.

ELLE: MTV’s not what it used to be.
GS: Well nothing’s what it used to be. You guys started putting celebrities on the cover of magazines instead of models, you know? I watched The September Issue.

ELLE: Did you like it?
GS: You know, it wasn’t as heartwarming as the Valentino movie. I’m just kidding, I didn’t see the Valentino movie.

ELLE: But are you into fashion?
GS: Oh yeah. My girlfriend works in fashion, and her sister works at Glamour. I’ve been trained very well.

ELLE: And you looked nice at the VMAs.
GS: I thought I looked pretty dapper. With that suit, I wanted to look like I walked off the set of Mad Men. It was Balenciaga! It’s weird cause now that we’ve started doing stuff for fashion magazines, we’re definitely fashion geeks. I have a love-hate relationship with it because I love to look good and I love clothes, but I’m also a guy. Sometimes I just like to put on the same thing every day, you know? You love it, but you don’t want to be a slave to it.
JV: And sometimes you don’t want to pretend that a $1,000 pair of shoes is okay for everyone.

GS: Right. I mean there’s a guilt factor. I’m also a Jew, so I can’t bring myself to spend money on stuff like that. So it’s like, yeah, I can afford a $6,000 suit, but I could use $6,000 in so many better ways.

ELLE: Don’t you always wear hoodies on stage?
GS: I used to always wear hoodies, but I stopped. When we started, my style on stage was very Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I was really big into bringing bright colors back, especially because we came from the punk scene, which was, at the time, like three years ago, really emo, with wearing all black and eyeliner. And we were like, “Yo, cheer up kid. Let’s have a good time.”

ELLE: Cobra’s style seems very Japan-inspired.
GS: Yes, like the Harajuku girls. I’ve been to hip-hop clubs in Japan, and it’s really funny. It’s totally chill and everyone has crazy shoes on. One of my first times there, I was in Shibuya. At two in the morning I see this kid wearing these Demonia high top shoes. I’m like, “Oh my god. I saw these in magazines but never in real life. I want to buy these from you right now. How much do you want?”
JV: You wanted to buy them off his feet?
GS: Oh yeah. I’ve done that before to people when I see something cool. Usually it’s something we can switch. I’ll be like, “ Yo, I’ll give you my t-shirt and twenty bucks.”

From http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Movies-TV-Music-Books/Gabe-Saporta

Jon Foreman: Goodness Precedes Greatness

2009-11-28T02:05:00.001-08:00

I write songs for a living, which is to say that writing songs helps me to live. The song becomes a place where melody and tempo can cover some truly volatile topics. God, women, politics, sex, hatred, disillusionment- a song or a story can be a deeper vessel and more forgiving than most conversations. Poetry can get under the skin without your permission, and music can offer perspective or hope that might have been hidden before. And so the song becomes a vehicle to cover some serious ground.

These days I have a hard time writing a song that feels bright or hopeful. The unemployment rate is edging up even further and spending is down. Foreclosures are way up and stocks are down. Our headlines are full of war, natural disaster, and corruption. So I go looking for songs of hope and stories that remind me of the incredible privilege of living another day. I suppose I’m looking for a hero of sorts. Someone who rises above the situation and does something incredible.

Remember the guy who threw himself on top of the passenger who had suffered a seizure in the New York Subway? As the train was approaching he jumps down onto the tracks and risks his life to save the life of a complete stranger whose convulsions had thrown him into the path of an oncoming train. Incredible. Have you seen Team Hoyt, the dad who pushes his disabled son through all the marathons? They’ve even done the Iron Man competitions together as father and son, which makes me tear up. Or the story of Mother Teresa, a woman who gave her life to the less fortunate day after day after day. These are the stories that I want to sing about. These are stories of hope.

Such sacrifice, such patience and such goodness is rare and rightly called heroic. But these are not the heroes of our times. Wesley Autrey is not a household name and neither is Team Hoyt. If you want to know the heroes of our society, follow the money, look at the posters on the wall. We pay them seven digit salaries, we put their songs on our playlists, and follow them on Twitter. These are the heroes we emulate.

Let’s face it. Mother Teresa doesn’t look that good in a negligee. And Team Hoyt won’t sell beer commercials to the networks. But when the ball players and the supermodels end up in rehab, we end up asking esoteric questions about what makes a hero. In the movies the good looking actor who gets the girl is easy to point to. But after he gets the girl, then the house, and then a few kids and then a divorce and then another girl. Then what? After all of the special effects are gone, we’re left with an aging mortal who looks a bit awkward on the talk shows. Perhaps we’ve set our goals too low. Or perhaps we’ve got it backwards.

I would like to suggest that the best parts of our human nature can be seen in sacrifice or surrender. A mother sacrificing her time for her child, a teacher devoting her afternoons to help students off-the-clock. These are truly our most incredible moments as a species: moments of unmerited kindness. Goodness. Virtue. Nobility. Grace. Morality. These are the truly remarkable moments. Perhaps our current economic climate of debt needs a fresh perspective on worth and value. Maybe our monetary crisis indicates a broader loss of perspective.

We live in the land of plenty, the land of milk and honey, where the lottery of birth has given us the advantage of education, of wealth, and of opportunity. Ammon Hennessy puts it this way, “You came into the world armed to the teeth with… the weapons of privilege.” A trip south of the border can be an incredible reminder. We are living in the land of entitlement, one of the wealthiest nations in the history of mankind. And yet, money cannot buy us the true wealth of happiness, or peace, or of a deeper form of a meaningful life.

Perhaps the current climate of uncertainty would be the appropriate time to ask the question: what are we aiming for? Our technological achievements as a species are impressive. Our cities, our advancements in flight and our iPhones are all fairly remarkable. But there is nothing heroic about my cell phone. There is nothing sacrificial about it. Where is the song that’s worth singing? What is our measure of success? Renown psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl says that “success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a byproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”

Maybe the fix is not the money. Maybe two and a half hours in a theatre isn’t enough time for a hero to be born. Maybe it takes a lifetime- a lifetime like John M. Perkins. John Perkins is a man who devoted his life to those around him in simple and profound ways. He was quick to forgive, quick to utilize resources to help those in need. He has been a tireless civil rights worker who has endured beatings, harassments, and even prison for what he believes. With the help of his wife, Vera Mae, and a few others, he founded a health center, leadership development program, thrift store, low-income housing development and training center in his hometown of Mendenhall, Mississippi. His is a story of reconciliation, of forgiveness, of patience. He endured the suffering, holding on to a cause greater than himself.

John Perkins has is a song I want to sing. A song of a great man, the story of a legend. How do you replicate this goodness? Do you monetize it? Do you subsidize it? No. It’s bigger than Washington, it’s bigger than Wall Street. And it looks better than Hollywood. His is the story of a hero, a song of hope. His is a story that reminds me of a goodness beneath the system. Though Perkins was a devout Christian, he was quick to point out that this goodness is bigger than stale religion. Mr. Perkins once said that “many congregations do nothing but outsource justice.” John Perkins said it right- you can’t outsource justice. You can’t farm out goodness to someone else. Your life is yours alone. Those decisions are yours to make.

I am the system. You are the system. We, the system of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, choose goodness. Yes, the system is flawed. Yes, the church is flawed. Yes, Wall Street and Hollywood Boulevard are all fatally flawed. Yes, there will always be those who take the easy way out. But that ain’t your game. Your choice is yours alone. Goodness precedes greatness. Maybe the mother will always have more power than the atomic bomb. Maybe under the skin there is a song of hope and meaning waiting to break free. Or maybe not. It’s our story. You and I decide with our actions. It can be as small as simple courtesy. Or get involved in your hometown. Find out what the local food bank looks like. Look up the localHabitat for Humanity. What is the world you want? You choose it with every breath.

In our current climate of fear and debt I am reminded of what I hold most valuable in this life: the human souls closest to me. We need each other. Human beings will always be the most valuable natural resource on the planet. The human story is still unfolding. We are telling it as we speak. The human song is still weaving its way towards a chorus, through the suffering, through the fear. We need each other. We need heroes. Let your life be a beautiful song. We need hope. Tell a good story with the way you live. What is the world you want?

- Jon Foreman

2009-11-28T02:04:00.001-08:00

A band for every year of Glastonbury? This could go horribly wrong …

Space, Jools Holland, a five-year-old Emily Eavis on violin: over the last 40 years the festival has played host to some woeful acts. Here is the worst possible anniversary lineup ...

Glasto Hall of Shame ... Jools Holland in 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8. Photograph: Reuters

So Glastonbury 2010 has sold out in a day. You poor fools. What did it? Was it because it'll be the festival's 40th anniversary? Was it that Michael Eavis has promised "a band from each year of the festival's history"? Because, honestly, that's not really a guarantee of quality, is it?

Yes, 2002's festival might be remembered for the White Stripes, but you might just as easily get Rolf Harris panting Stairway to Heaven from behind his tatty old wobbleboard. And don't just blithely assume that Eavis will rope in Radiohead to fill the 1997 slot. You know who else played Glastonbury in 1997? Murray Lachlan Young. If you can remember him, you'll know what a terrifying and soul-draining prospect that is.

Over the last 40 years Glastonbury has played host to some scientifically woeful acts, and any number of them could turn up next year. So here, plucked from history*, is the worst possible Glastonbury lineup that you could ever expect to see. Way to blow £185 guys!

Friday

Jamiroquai (1993)
Keith Christmas (1970)
Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (2005)
Paddy Ashdown discusses the issues of the day (1984)
Space (1998)
Brand New Heavies (2000)
Funkapolitan (1982)
Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (1998)
Kate Nash (2008)
Peter Gabriel in a full beard playing African music with a bassist wholooks exactly like David Hasselhoff (1979)
UB40 (1983)

Saturday

Nigel Kennedy Jazz Project feat. the Jarek Smietana Band and Z-Star (2005)
Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (2002)
Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (2003)
Aswad (1981)
Ned's Atomic Dustbin (1992)
Level 42 (1986)
Emily Eavis, aged five, on violin (1985)
The Communards (1987)
Edgar Broughton Band (1971)
The Marley Brothers present the 30th anniversary of Exodus (2007)
Phish (1997)
Roger Waters making a self-indulgent noise like a spaceship farting in a trumpet factory for three consecutive hours (2002)

Sunday

Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra (2000)
Gay Dad (1999)
Tom Jones singing nothing but his cover version of EMF's Unbelievable 13 times in a row (2009)
Hothouse Flowers (1989)
The Spin Doctors (1994)
Skywhale, whoever Skywhale are (1977)
Nik Turner's Sphinx (1978)
Adamski (1990)
Evan Dando making everyone wait for two hours, then staggering on, slurring like a tramp and getting booed off (1995)
Joss Stone (2004)

* There seems to be little recorded history for the 1972-76 festival, but we can assure fans that the four remaining slots will be filled with a Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra marathon

2009-11-28T02:03:00.001-08:00

May The Circle Be Unbroken – The Continuing Success Story Of Vinyl

By Hamish MacBain

Posted on 07/10/09 at 10:45:29 am

“It’s high time someone took a look at the way records are being sold and distributed and changed it. People,Third Man Records is all about the future. For us, the future means democracy, fellowship, community and – God help us – bespoke vinyl.”

A manifesto there taken from the website of Jack White’s just-this-year-opened label and record store in Nashville. Their slogan is ‘Your Turntable’s Not Dead’. Snigger if you like, as many have done, at The White Stripes' leader’s supposedly Luddite ethics. But the truth is, as time goes on and the music industry descends further and further into a quagmire, the views of purists like Jack are making more and more sense.

continued...

One only has to look at the fact that – in stark contrast to every format – worldwide sales of black plastic have been on the increase. Through the first five months of 2009 alone, sales of vinyl are up 50 per cent on 2008. And this shows no signs of slowing down.

It’s a fairly simple equation: with digitisation and specifically the rise of file-sharing and Spotify, music is becoming increasingly disposable. Everyone knows this. The major labels are right now looking into ways of reversing the situation, but the simple truth is that once people can get something for nada, no matter how draconian you get about it, they’re not gonna go back to paying for it.

In this environment, accepting that yer casual music fan is now out of the equation, the only way to make any money is to appeal to the fetishistic sensibilities of the obsessives, who still view music as art and releases as artefacts. These people – the people who actually give a shit, who actually see music as something tangible and something to show off in one’s living room – are the only true “consumers” left in “the marketplace”.

Witness all those preposterously lavish ‘Deluxe Edition’ boxes that are popping up – a trend begun withRadiohead’s ‘In Rainbows' and utilised most recently for the reissue of ‘The Stone Roses’. In truth, though, a set of 600 CDs, 12 vinyls, a USB stick and a 50-page book may be over-egging it. With the most space-efficient way of presenting music now reached – the MP3 – there won’t be any more formats being created. Thus we can now look back at all of them – eight-track cartridges, cassettes, MiniDiscs, CDs and so on – and decide which is the most aesthetically pleasing.

And the winner, hands down, is the gatefold 12-inch vinyl. Bulky, impractical in the extreme, easily damaged… but beautiful. And, as Roger Daltrey of The Who adds: “With a CD, you start with a nice plastic box and end with a scratched plastic box. It has no character whatsoever. But with vinyl, we threw away an art form that was so much more than the record… Sometimes the covers were more important than the music. The more fingerprints you got on it, the more it was a part of you.”

Of course, this is still a niche thing rather than a revolution. Sales of vinyl still ultimately account for less than 1 per cent of overall album sales. Recent figures from Nielsen Soundscan may have suggested that vinyl sales had risen while CD and digital album sales have fallen, but the scale is worth noting to anyone who might be getting carried away. Vinyl sales have risen from 700,000 in 2008 to 1million this year. And in 2009, 121.8million CDs have been sold, versus 33.2million digital albums, compared to 151.01million CDs and 27.52million digital albums for the same period last year. So yeah, still a drop in the ocean.

But give it 20 years, and what’s going to happen? Is the love for vinyl a generational thing that won’t stretch to the music fans of the future? Quite possibly. But it feels more likely that – while CDs are totally and utterly forgotten – vinyl will inhabit a similar place that comic books do, with a select group of people obsessing over the medium as much as the content.

Hopefully, anyway.