Clash Music Blog, The Word on the Street from Clash

Maps Recording Advice

Clash Music — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:17:21 +0000

Hey guys and gals.

Hope you're all doin well. The nice people at Clash magazine told me I could write a blog on whatever I wanted. Seeing as all I really do is make music, smoke a lot, and very occasionally venture into doomed relationships with girls, I thought it would be better to write about music to prevent this from being the most depressing blog ever :) SO, I came upon the genius idea of writing about electronic music and the fact that I personally believe you don't need a computer to make it. This is all coming from my own experience I guess but it's kinda something I feel pretty strongly about. So here goes!!??

I first started making my music at 18, armed with just a 4-Track Cassette Recorder, a Roland DD5 Drum Machine (the guy who sold it to me described as a 'toy') and a really basic Yamaha SU10 Sampler. But it really was all I needed. All I wanted to do was get some songs recorded that I had in my head. And the fact that I didn't really know what the recordings were gonna sound like made it more exciting. The way I see it, the more limited your equipment is, the more likely you are to come up with an 'original sound'. I don't really see the point in getting exactly the same equipment as everyone else cos then, I think, there's a danger of SOUNDING like everyone else.??

Over the years a lot of people told me I HAD to get a computer and and I HAD to use Cubase or Logic. I did give it a try for a bit but really couldn't get my head around it. It just all seemed too complicated. So, instead of investing in a laptop, I bought a Yamaha AW16G 16-Track Hard Disk Recorder and a Yamaha synth and drum sequencer (RM1x) and that's pretty much, give or take a few effects pedals and other little gadgets, what I still use to this day. This was way back in 2004 and most of the stuff I use now they don't make anymore. Which is kinda cool as well because it means not many people are gonna come up with the same sounds that I come up with.??

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't be fooled into thinking you have to use Pro-Tools on a laptop just because that's how it's mostly done. Pro-Tools is great and works for millions of people but, for me, there's too much choice there. Endless effects, synths, drums and so on to get lost in. Which means you're gonna find it hard to define your own sound. I just found that the less equipment you have, and the more experienced you are with it, over a few years you'll come up with something unique. It does take years but I it's worth it. DJ Shadow made his entire album 'Endroducing' just using a Yamaha SU 700 Sampler (and decks obviously). That's one of the greatest albums ever made.??

Just go looking on e-bay for interesting looking stuff that takes your fancy and looks simple to use. Don't feel you have to follow the same path as everyone else. Find your own. That's my advice. I am a pretty simple guy though I guess :).??

So, until next time,

Maps.

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Clash Guest Blog: Moby

Joe Zadeh — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:02:16 +0000

Clash Guest blog returns with the gentle godfather of radio friendly techno: Moby. We managed to correspond with the man himself straight from his current tour which, for now, his him planted right in the centre of Latin America. So, here is Moby on Mexico.

Moby writes...

I'm writing this from Mexico City, where I'm currently on tour. Mexico City fascinates me... It's gigantic (I'm going to guess that it has a population of 20,000,000 people) and it's crowded, and the air is kind of grimy, and it's one of the few cities built inside of a volcano.

Ok, I should preface my musings on Mexico City by stating that I don't really know what I'm talking about. Well, apart from the fact that I'm here and I've read a few things about Mexico City over the years. I could go to Wikipedia and look up 'Mexico City' and be better informed, but I'm generally pretty comfortable with my ignorance, especially if my ignorance gives rise to non-factual information that might actually be more entertaining than the facts themselves. Facts should be immediately tossed out the window if they're not actually very interesting. Unless aforementioned facts pertain to medical procedures or driving directions.

Mexico City used to be a lake. A gigantic lake. Apparently in places... it's still a lake. And apparently the city's kind of floating over what used to be a gigantic lake. Most of that is probably true. Some of it might not be. But whenever I fly into Mexico City I look at the walls of the volcano in the distance and try to imagine Mexico City as a giant lake. It still kind of looks lake-like, although instead of being filled with water it's now filled with cars. Cars are kind of like water. Well, actually they're not at all like water. Maybe on a quantum level they are. Sort of. Again, probably not.

Mexico City is old. A few years ago I had a day off here and I went to some of the Incan (or Maayan. Or Toltec. Or i don't know) pyramids nearby. Fourty five minute drive and you're inside huge Native American pyramids. Fourty five minute drive from London and you're watching someone eat a curry. Fourty five minute drive from New York and you're on Long Island. Fourty five minute drive from Mexico City and you're looking at ancient stone carvings of jaguars. That's pretty cool, if you ask me. And our guide gave us some stones that had magic powers. They were probably polished rocks he'd bought at Wal-Mart, but i'm pretty happy working under the assumption that they were magic stones that helped me to commune with my ancestors.

Mexico City was called such by Andre Breton, the father of surrealism, 'the most surreal city on the planet'. I wonder if that was a compliment or an insult. The former, probably. A lot of the surrealists came here when surrealism tapered off in Europe. And trosky was killed here. Or nearby. Not that he was a surrealist. Or maybe he was, accidentally.

Mexico City is chaos. But yet everything sort of works. It's like someone very large was juggling 20,000,000 people and all their stuff, and then sneezed and scattered everything randomly. It's a city that shouldn't work, but yet it does work. Slowly, usually, and usually involving traffic congestion on mind-numbing scale. Tomorrow I have a show here. And then another show here the day after that. Two chances for me to try out my utterly dysfunctional Spanish. But apparently my accent is Ok. That's what they tell me. But people here are unfailingly polite, so my accent is probably crap. Ok, that's all i have on Mexico City.

Thanks,
Moby

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Wave Machines - Day Four

Robin Murray — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:08:14 +0000

We saddle up to Bristol via Worcester, where we stay with a dear friend who welcomes us in with Talisker for Tim and Bells for the rest of us. Bloody favouritism. Our groggy morning heads are fed sausages and put back into the van along with the rest of our bodies, and we point ourselves in a southward manner, down the M5.

Having already played Bristol twice this year, we're really excited about tonight's gig in The Louisiana. Last time we were here was for the Dot to Dot festival - the place was rammed, bouncy, sweaty - and we're hoping for more of the same.

There's a good music scene going on here in Brizzle. Tonight, Wild Beasts are playing down the road at Thekla, and some of our audience are sweating like balloons before we even play a note, having just legged it from that gig to ours. They arrive just in time to see us take to the stage. Your bonus points are in the post.

One of these gloriously sweaty bodies belongs to a chap who we heard about recently... "There's a tall, curly haired fella who goes to all the good gigs in Bristol - if he's not there, you're nothing...". We recognise him from his jubilant, frenzied dancing at our Dirty Boots Glastonbury performance, and here he is, going for it again! This immediately puts us in a very good mood and the gig gets to boiling point by the second song and stays there.

I don't think we've ever heard Punk Spirit sung back to us with quite as much gusto as tonight's crowd muster, which is a fantastic way to close the set. Afterwards, someone sneaks onstage and nabs our masks, then has the audacity to ask us to sign them. We oblige, and are then presented with a box of cakes with our faces on them and a big rubber Satan head. Should we eat our own faces, or cannibalise a bandmate?

Tricky question.

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Wave Machines - Day Three

Robin Murray — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:36:57 +0000

After recovering from the disappointment of P.Doc's no-show, we load ourselves back into the van and head off to Brighton via Portsmouth, where we drop off some Strange Death of Liberal Englanders and manage to catch last orders in 'The Duck', or was it 'The Dog'...? Maybe it was both. Anyhoo, we make it to Brighton at about 3am and pass out within minutes.

Brighton is one of our favourite places to play. Apart from being a lovely place with a vibrant arts scene and about 20 times more sunshine than Liverpool, the friends we stay with are fantastic and really know how to look after us. They make us a delicious meal which we devour after soundcheck, and their kids demand a performance of Punk Spirit. Tim obliges and we have a lot of fun turning a dinner table into a percussion set and the kids sing along to the chorus, bless 'em. We miss out the swear word.

Before the gig there are photo shoots to attend, so we get to mess about on the rocky beach and then, when it gets dark, we go to the fairground, but it's closed. Bugger.

We have played Brighton a few times this year and rather pleasingly, the audience keeps growing. By the time we jump on stage the place has filled up nicely. There's even some folks who've travelled down from London because they had to miss our Hoxton gig - good on you! The gig itself is brilliant, one of the most fun shows we've played this year, but we notice our sound man keeps looking over to the side because the venue has one of those little noise activated light meters on the wall. If the band make all the LEDs light up for more than a few seconds, the power is cut to the stage, but luckily we made it through the gig with all of our 240 volts still intact.

The audience then convinces us & the venue managers that an encore is necessary, so we start up ''Water Dries Upon Her Back'. Halfway through the tune, we're obviously enjoying ourselves too much, it's getting louder and the power cuts out. Gutted, Carl raises a middle
fingered salute to the gods of electrical audio judgement, but all in all, it was a good way to go...

We're then taken out for some drinking practise and introduced to a drink called Tuacca (or something like that) which is only available in Brighton pubs - it's very nice. Things start to get fuzzy...

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The Wave Machines - Day Two

Robin Murray — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:52:15 +0000

We're in Southampton tonight. It's 6.40pm, an hour before doors and there's already a huge queue stretching down the street outside the venue. It's got shit all to do with us though. In a bizarre twist Peter Doherty has been added to the bill, relegating us to support and bumping the ticket price up to £17. Interesting. Actually we're thinking this could work out pretty nice for us. Within hours of the announcement the gig sold out so we're guaranteed a full house to play to. The other support bands have been booted off too so it's just us and P.D.

Curiously enough we met him earlier in the year at the Storaas Festival in Norway. He was headlining the Saturday night and ended up back stage in the dressing room next to us, popped his head over the dividing curtain, said hello and offered us some of his pizza. We
declined the food but engaged him in some polite conversation. We were a little nervy because he's so famous and has been in Heat Magazine loads so the conversation was a bit stilted. Then he gave us a load of his beer and some moon shine and disappeared...

I realise that's not the most interesting story ever told, but the point is we were looking forward to saying hello again as he was undoubtedly a charming fellow, and cheeky and roguish and all that stuff you're led to believe in the press. So the night's shaping up to be pretty entertaining.

We get on stage at 8.30pm and play as tight and loud a we can. By the time we play I Go I Go I Go we're thinking there's more people in here that know the album than we first thought and we've got some dancing and singing happening in the audience. It's all up hill from here on in and there's lots of lovely compliments and handshakes afters. Someone tells me I look like the bass player from Spinal Tap and asks if our album is called Smell The Glove.
We clear a space on the stage before heading up to the dressing room for a drink and catch up with some friends.

It's about another hour later that Carl hears the promoter in his office making the kind of sounds you might make if you just found out you had to let a lot of people down. There's still no sign of P.D. and we're starting to think he's not going to show. He doesn't.

If you've never had the thrill of spending £17 on a ticket for a gig with a high chance of a no show, we've captured the moment of disappointment for you (you'll have to imagine the standing around for an hour and a bit beforehand):

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Wave Machines - Day One

Robin Murray — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:20:19 +0000

This is the first time in a while we've done a Liverpool show and it's about this time of the evening (8.30pm) that you get to appreciate the various perks associated with gigging in your home town. I'm only a ten minute walk from the venue so I can relax in the flat, drink a drink and write some pre-gig blog whilst gently humming along to a vocal warm-up CD. This makes a pleasant change from struggling into a sweaty shirt in the back of a van, parked on a high street in full view of the pigeons.

It's all made extra nice by the fact that we're headlining the downstairs room tonight so we get to set up in relative calm and leave most of our excessively bulky equipment on stage. Compared to most gigs this is pure luxury. Lifting amps into confined spaces and plugging in leads at high speed is the norm - gifts of space and time are accepted with thankful, open arms.

On the way to the O2 Academy I walk through Lime Street station. The video wall is rotating brightly coloured Sky News headlines, in particular: "Lily Allen not quitting music." It's terrifying to think about what else won't be happening in the world while we're playing tonight, yet comforting to know Sky are on hand to keep us informed.

The gig goes well. We got a good hearty shout for an encore which always makes us feel extra special.

With the show over the proximity of home fosters a lack of urgency to get anywhere. The presence of boozy mates turns the load-out into an excessively long and wobbly affair.You either go with it or resist the chaos. We are off on tour on Tuesday for a couple of weeks and there's loads of coughs and sneezes floating about so I'm playing it safe and going home early. We have a tour to do and I can't get ill.

Everybody else goes to the pub. I am guessing they all had a tremendous amount of fun.

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Clash Guest Blog: Emmy The Great (Glastonbury Special)

Joe Zadeh — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:30:05 +0000

Glastonbury is the daddy. And since our Emmy is such a keen literary, we have split her review into two parts. What follows is a descriptive account of Glastonbury, bands eye view. Come back tomorrow for Saturday and Sunday.

- - -

Emmy writes...

Glastonbury
Thursday

I drive to Waterloo to pick up my brother. He’s like our roadie, but he rarely carries anything. His jobs range from providing a helpful party atmosphere by milling about with a drink in his hand, showing up for five seconds in videos, and giving people high fives. This weekend he will be official cameraman for the next video, by which I mean he will be filming one of our shows onto his mobile phone. It’s not a big role, but it’s important that he comes. Glastonbury was the first thing that informed my life outside of school, and now that he’s finished his A-levels I want him to have the same experience. Of course he’s a lot more urbane and adult than I was, and he’s already been last year, but still, for my own personal enjoyment, I imagine I’m passing on some kind of secret baton. My first Glastonbury happened as an accident, and the people who brought me and showed me the ropes were people who had been going so long they were now a fixture of the festival. I see them every year, and it feels like family. I want my brother to see this. My brother would very much like to meet hot girls and get drunk for four days.

On the way home, I try to get 6music on my car radio, to listen to the festival coverage. My brother explains the concept of digital radio, but I tell him my radio is only 15 years old, and it always picks up Radio 4, so maybe it is he who is wrong. This war with technology is significant, because I am supposed to be helping start a Twitter campaign for Wateraid this weekend, and I cannot muster the will to figure out what Twitter does, or how it’s used. Radio, though, I thought I knew. “What about this button?” I ask, pressing something and discovering an exciting new channel called Capital, which is not even from the BBC.

The news comes on my new channel that Michael Jackson has been rushed to hospital in LA. Within minutes, my phone rings. It is our best friend Dan, calling to say that Michael Jackson has died.

“How can you possibly know before the radio does?” I ask him.

“It was on Twitter,” he says.

Great, I think, Even Michael Jackson is on Twitter, and he’s dead.

Friday

We have no shows till tomorrow, so meet at a leisurely pace in a bus park in king' Cross. This is our first time on a Nightliner, and our manager has celebrated by accidentally booking a Nightliner from 1978. It smells like school trips and puberty, and I imagine the sexual confusion of many a boy scout. People keep laughing and pointing as they walk past, not least since the company logo, emblazoned on every surface of the bus, is ‘Y-Not’. To me, it might as well say 'Y'.

There are three new members starting today, including two female singers, Jenny and Caroline. Sometimes on the road I am totally starved of female company, so this is amazing for me. We separate the bus into boys and girls, but the boys accidentally claim the section with the bunting in it, while we have control of the fridge full of beer. Not wanting to seem old-fashioned, we stick with our areas. The conversation drifts inevitably to Michael Jackson, and whether or not we should honour the occasion with a cover. Earth Song would obviously be the most fun, but someone else is more than likely going to do it better than us, and practicing would mean interacting more than we already have to. My suggestion is to just sing his contributions to We are the World, with all the gaps in between where other people might take up the verse. It would sound something like this:

…….

‘the woooooorllldlddd”

……

“yeah we areeeeeeeee…”

We stop at Westfield to get the Best of Michael Jackson. (History lesson – back in June 2009, this was still a novelty.) On the way back out we see Lily Allen.

"Is that your tourbus out there that says 'Y-Not'?" she giggles as she passes.

Later we discover that Lily Allen took a helicopter to Glastonbury.

After many hours, we arrive, and disperse, with the agreement that we will all make it to all our shows tomorrow, whether or not there is a clash with a band we wanted to see. I drift in the direction of Dead Weather, listen to an exuberant Jamie T from a distance, and end the night at the Strummerville campfire, missing Neil Young for Q-tip in a sudden urge to go against type. He does not play Earth Song, but I discover a huge talent for rapping.

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Clash Guest Blog: Emmy The Great (Latitude Special)

Joe Zadeh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:06:12 +0000

This summer we asked Emmy to review every festival she graced with her live performance, and her reply is an in-depth artists point of view, covering everything from Kendall Calling, to Glasto. Today we are in the depths of Suffolk, for Latitude Festival...

- - -

Emmy writes...

We have a show in London tomorrow, so Latitude is supposed to be in and out. However, because it’s one of our favourites, we negotiate a bit of time before and after the gig. I spend the time before in the catering tent, filling myself with food that is neither from a motorway service station or Marks and Spencers, and telling anyone who will listen that I saw Vivienne Westwood on the train, in the standard carriage, with all the normal people. No one is that impressed by my story, which I find uncivilised.

After feeding, we wait in the dressing room area. Mika is performing a one-off acoustic set before us and there is entourage everywhere, making special Mika hats and filling things with confetti. I have a suspicion that we will be late on stage. Also that some of the audience will be distracted. Thankfully, I’m only a bit right. We are ten minutes late and have to cut some songs from the set, but the crowd is here for us, and most of the leftover Mika fans are in grouped in a corner, waiting for him to sign things. When our set is done I climb down into the arena to find my friends, and someone comes up to me with pen and paper.

“Do you want an autograph?” I ask.

“Yes, please,” he says, “from Mika.”

After the loadout, we sit in the dressing room and celebrate two years as a band. Latitude 2007 was the first time Tom and Euan and I played together, with the rest of the band coming very soon after, and we count it as our first show. Tom is now writing an album with his band Three Trapped Tigers, and tomorrow will be his last. We make cocktails out of a watering can from the production office, and I give him a gift and a long note, which doesn't say enough, but which he promises to open tomorrow.

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Clash Guest Blog: Emmy The Great (Festival Special)

Joe Zadeh — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:47:15 +0000

We've said in the past that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. It is rumoured she is lighter than one feather and her whistle attracts bluebirds. Emmy The Great is officially the darling of indie-folk.

This summer we asked Emmy to review every festival she graced with her live performance, and her reply is an in-depth artists point of view, covering everything from Kendall Calling, to Glasto. Today is the South's most mystical bash, Secret Garden Party...

- - -

Emmy writes...

The last time I went to Secret Garden Party was not for a performance. It was on a whim with two of my friends. The morning after we arrived, I woke to find one of them attached to my steering wheel by her handbag, counting little purple animals that weren’t there. Since then I’ve had an idea of this festival as one where you can leave someone for five minutes and return to find her face down on the ground with a group of half-sentient strangers. As a result, I am apprehensive about playing. I know this festival as a fun factory, a place where you can dress up and indulge your urges to act like a kid, and I wonder where watching music factors into all this.

Turns out, I needn’t have worried. The festival has grown and become more organised since I was here. It’s won an award for the best small festival, and it’s streamlined its activities to work alongside the music. People are still having a lot of fun, but it’s less chaotic. We wander around the site for an hour and find people engaged in groups. Some are making a communal fruit salad, some playing giant jenga. Some people are wheeling each other about in wheelbarrows, and some are having mudfights. There is a sense of the communal, and of being in a giant dress-up box. I can see why people love it here. We stop in a tea tent and catch a couple of songs from Alessi’s Ark, which is lovely, then we play a set of our own to a crowd made almost entirely of people we’ve made things or been to school with. It is our new keyboard player Glenn’s first time playing with anyone but me, but he's amazing, making no mistakes. That night, the band send me a picture. It’s of Glenn soaking wet and naked except for shorts and a towel, sometime after midnight. He was supposed to go home straight after the show, but instead stayed behind and jumped in the lake. "I think it was my initiation," he tells me later.

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Summer Sundae Guest Blog Takeover: Micachu & The Shapes

Joe Zadeh — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:00:15 +0000

The Summer Sundae Weekend kicks off in almost 24 hours and the blog keeps rolling ,with today's entry from indie poppers - Micachu & The Shapes.

- - -

Today I am sitting in my flat despairing about the feat of domestic responsibility I have to undertake. I thought when I got home from tour I would be an adult; I can't decide what to wear as I have none of my own clothes, and always wear my girlfriend's or my flat-mate's. I haven't been shopping in years, might go today - need a new guitar and a new amp and some pedals as my gear was free or cheap and hasn't lasted the test of time at all - this will cost hundreds of pounds.

Been listening to lots of Big L-what a sick rapper! And boring my friends rigid about bands that I like. Also DJ Premier and Grandmaster Flash beats. I made a music video yesterday, it's nice to be at home to get some actual shit done. I might write a song later. Writing lots of 4/4 and dubstep loops, really like Pinch at the moment, amazing production. Weather is moderate but blueish sky, not that usual ambiguous white/grey that's usually there. Got really into BBC Radio 4 recently, courtesy of the infamous tour manager Will Parish, I'm actually getting an education!

I reckon a year of intensive listening and you could make a living out of winning pub quizzes around the country. Read some Adbusters on the toilet (kindly donated by Matthew Herbert) which made me feel guilty and stupid... and now trying to work out how we are going to turn our relatively simple small sounding band into a headline show act...

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Bowman's Blog (July)

Joe Zadeh — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:27:59 +0000

Hello dear readers!

So glad the summer is back! Here’s how I’ve been spending mine...

Make Mine A Large One…

I’ve been doing a few DJ gigs recently, it’s really nice to be out and about again and see the whites of people’s eyes. Well, maybe slightly bloodshot. I never profess to be any kind of superstar DJ. I like to think of myself more as a human jukebox. Anyway I really have to have a word with myself as I’ve been falling back into the arms of JD; him and his Coca-Cola and ice mates are enticing me back to my dark ways. When I’m stuck in the middle of a stage alone with only a bag of CDs and he’s waving at me from his lovely square bottle, he’s my only friend. It’s not hard really; I just need to stop refilling my glass. Last week in Sheffield I kept ‘cheers-ing’ the crowd and ended up sleeping the entire journey home. Sorry JD, but thank you Sheffield for a great night.

Ooh Ah... Did I Really Say That?

Yes I did. I told Eric Cantona to his face that I loved him. What was I thinking? Well, he was my hero when I was a teenager and well into my football. My dad would, through persistence, drive us down to Manchester at least a dozen times a season. I’d religiously chant his name for ninety minutes as he formed his tapestry on the pitch to perfection. I never thought in a million years that I’d have my own radio show, with one of the guests being Eric Cantona. I love my job. He was everything I wanted him to be and more; intense, funny and he’s still well fit. There were times I couldn’t look him in the eye, but I could feel his stare warm the room. The half-time oranges definitely calmed my nerves. He is in the new Ken Loach film, 'Looking For Eric'; go and see it, you will come out feeling really, really happy. Did I mention that I got him to do keepy-ups with me? It’s on the Radio 1 website if you want to check it out. Probably my proudest moment...well, after having my little boy, of course.

We’ve All Had One…

Another film for you to go and see is The Hangover. It’s nothing new really: a small group of blokes head to Vegas for a stag do and lose the groom. I don’t know what else to tell you about the film, other than it will make you laugh, a lot. What I will tell you is that I think Zach Galifianakis, who plays Alan in the film, is my new favourite funny man. He’s got that furry cuddly thing going on, that I quite like in my funny men. If you like him or want to see him do more funny stuff, check out his piss-take on a chat show called 'Between Two Ferns', and see how uncomfortable interviews can really be.

The Other Half

I wouldn’t normally do this but I’m putting on my music fan hat, as you know I do each issue. I am utterly blown away by the new album from Editors, ‘In This Light And On The Evening’. Not enough bands progress like this, develop their sound whilst still holding onto the seed of what their fans love. I, for one, will be raving to this one down the front at a few venues this year.

New on the iPod

Band Of Skulls - ‘Fires’. See them playing at Latitude!
The Joy Formidable
The Blizzards - ‘Buy It, Sell It’

Email me: edith@clashmusic.com
Twitter me: edibow

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Bowman's Blog (June)

Joe Zadeh — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:01:22 +0000

Hello, dear readers!

I‘m about to get mega busy with all the festivals, but in the meantime, here’s what’s been happening with me...

Monkeys Eat Cake

I’m a big fan of cake and you can imagine my excitement when 'King Monkey' was very eager to partake in some birthday cake eating recently. I was delivering cake and champagne to my other half, it was his birthday and he was at the studio where Editors are recording the new album. And Mr Ian Brown just happened to be downstairs, also working on new material. My night consisted of watching the first leg of the Man Utd vs Arsenal (European Cup semi-final), followed by sharing cake. Top night - check out the group picture.

I Introduce To You...

If you are heading to a festival this summer, there will more than likely be a BBC Introducing stage. Please check it out, you will probably find your new favourite band; I did. Bombay Bicycle Club were playing at One Big Weekend and I think they are fabulous. I’ve been ploughing my way through a lot of new bands who will be playing on the Introducing Stage at T In The Park, it’s been real hard to whittle it down, there is SO much good stuff out there. What was nice in Swindon, was Florence and her Machine playing a special little acoustic set to say thanks for all the support from BBC Introducing.

Friends Like These

Jack Penate has a new album on the way, and from what I’ve heard I really, really like it. What I did learn recently was that Jack went to school with Florence and also Felix from Maccabees. Wow, anyone else wish they’d been in that class? One other thing... Orlando from the fabulous Maccabees is doing the artwork for Jack’s new album - I for one can’t wait to see it. If you haven’t yet, please check out ‘Wall Of Arms’, the new album from Maccabees, it’s one of my albums of the year.

More from me later this week. So check back soon!

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Clash Guest Blog: Alec Empire

Joe Zadeh — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:24:33 +0000

Be us naive. Be us foolish. But... We decided to let a headstrong and philosophical Alec Empire commandeer the blog today. Expect juxtapositions of love and hate, an insight into German music, and reflection on the "Bush era". It left us shaking our heads, laughing (occasionally from humour, occasionally disbelief), confused and dismayed. All in equal proportions.

Time to stop quoting and start creating!

Let me introduce myself; I am Alec Empire and I was born in West Berlin. I believe that I am the only “true” Berliner in the current music scene. As far as I can tell, all the others claiming Berlin as their home, moved there to boost (or kill?), their careers. To be honest, I don’t think it matters that much... or shouldn’t in our age. I find myself talking to people from other continents more than those belonging to the so called local scene (I’m not really sure there is one and even if there is I’m not sure it’s what people would like to believe it is). Whatever, I suppose we all gain from the myth that comes with Berlin. Reality follows our imagination... Let’s hope so.

But it’s not about local scenes or absorbing something intangible from the air in Berlin. If you want to know your future you have to erase your past.

Please excuse my English. I have been touring recently and my crew and band are from France & USA. Somehow we all speak this weird mixture of languages. It’s hard to switch back to normal you know?

I am used to change. Dramatic changes in the case of my country. When I was a child I always sensed that post-World War II vibe - even decades later. Everybody has seen it in a film or read a book; but there are aspects Berliners have never really talked about in public. For example: how many women were raped at the end of the War? We can barely imagine that deep pain and its consequences on society. Then there’s the GDR and the Wall finally coming down. On the surface Berlin looks cool; parties, clubs like nowhere else in the world but to me it always feels like children celebrating themselves, dancing on a mass grave, not knowing, innocent... The beginning of Lord of the Flies.

Where I come from, the majority is a potential threat to the individual. The silent majority can decide over life and death of real people, just because they ignore political news on that day of the football match.

Change... Some feel threatened by change and others actually fear it and would become über-active just to stop it from happening. It makes them so nervous. I associate change with new opportunities and taking chances.

But I believe things are really changing. Right now! For the past nine years the music scene has reminded me of a dying dog, bleeding to death, bleeding dry and trying to bite its attackers who stand just out of reach, watching...

Hopefully by now, the majority of people have understood that doing nothing is the most powerful and damaging action they can take these days. Not buying a car, not buying music, not voting. Years ago I went on what most would call a “date” and the girl didn’t know anything, she looked good, but that night I realised I was bored with that shiny surface of everything in our society. When I first heard John Coltrane I knew instantly that there was so much more than I could understand on the first listen. Music can store information and emotions that words and images fail to describe.

With most music that came out during the “Bush Era” you could dig and dig and discover absolutely nothing. The past nine years have been a black hole - we can admit it now that this era is coming to an end. Musicians were scared, scared of not selling, of not being “accepted”. The social networks reflect that perfectly. Become popular at all costs. Lie, fake your profile (I am not talking about making it look the best it can be, but pretending you are someone else), use bots to get that snowball rolling, survive the download madness. If you are reading this and don’t know what I am talking about, compare the past few years with the 40’s or 50’s.

The music scene has been doing the same as the financial world; the exact same. Investing in non-existent capital, trying to create ‘value’ out of thin air. And most people have been busy making sure that they are on the “right” side of things, where most people gather, than listening to their inner voice. Because being alone or out of step seemed to be the worst thing that could happen.

It was safer to quote others. Just don’t take the risk to be the first to try something that you might regret later. That is the worst environment for true creativity.

It has become obvious that capitalism has not brought us what it promised. Short term thinking, maximizing profits only works for a little while and then the whole system collapses.

I am fascinated how the game industry tricked kids into buying Guitar Hero. Do you want to play the guitar? Press this button. Pop Idol - it’s the same thing. Get to the top without skills and do it fast. The real pleasure of playing an instrument is the learning process, and then applying it. To then face your judge: the mob, the audience, the crowd.

I learned everything I know about music in the “underground” scene. This is where people helped each other. If there is a great musician, who is so innovative that non musicians fail to see it, then everyone helps pushing, giving credits until it is understood (The Crystal Castles hypocritical slogan on the NME cover last year “we get sounds that nobody else gets” while stealing them without crediting couldn’t describe better what I am trying to say here).

In the past, major record labels couldn’t live without the Indies, because they were unable to discover the new talent which had the potential to shape the future of music. It strikes me they have learned to love each other. Shrinking sales have made majors adapt marketing techniques which were first explored by the Indies, and the lines have been blurred so much sometimes it’s difficult to tell them apart. It’s like a boxing match where both contesters are just hugging each other. Boring to watch. No tension.

This is about to end now. I love how blogs challenge the traditional music press. The information is going up so fast, you are forced to think! Is that really true? Is that some bullshit hype? Who paid for that???

New music pops up here and there and by the time the machinery wants to grab it to package it and sell its tiny little soul, it’s already gone.

Philosopher Gilles Deleuze comes to mind... Imagine a tree with Red Hot Chilli Peppers sitting on top, Metallica and all the other mega bands just below. In the past every band wanted to climb that tree and take their place, like the monkey chief. In the future there won’t be any trees, friends, there will be only grass. And a lot of it. Fifteen minutes of fame reduced further to the length of a mouse click. In a globalised world, pop music like we used to define it, has no future. What an exciting opportunity this holds!

Alec Empire on Myspace

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Clash Guest Blog: Kissy Sell Out (DAY 3)

Joe Zadeh — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:05:05 +0000

Hey peeps,

Me again, with more pearls of wisdom/mundane rants of a madman!

I went to the Radio 1 "dj dinner" last night - most notable for not having any dinner - oh, and also because everyone there, apart from me, is a famous celebrity pretty much, hehe! A popular misconception about my attempt at pretending to be a radio presenter is that i'm at radio 1 quite often. The truth is, I'm only there for about half an hour before the show starts and then i'm off to mega mega mega as soon as i sign off! This means I don't actually know the other djs that well, and thus being thrust into a small courtyard with people like Grooverider - whose music provided the soundtrack to my giddy teenage memories of summer evenings with a bottle of White Lightning - is a terrifying experience. I think a particular low point of my star-struck self-conscious rambling was saying "it's been an honour, thankyou so much" to Grooverider as he left instead of just saying "bye".

Almost everyone is genuinely really nice at Radio 1 though, which is a piece of background info I feel very proud to be able to report. Watching Judge Jules, Tim Westwood and Annie Nightingale stand listening to Bobby Friction talking about asian beats is a beautiful sight.

Once I got home i watched that film 'Anvil!: The Story of Anvil', which was an awesome film. On the subject of awesomeness, I'm well into this band called "Art Vs. Science". If you get a chance, check them out! ;-). I'm off to dj in Cambridge tonight... Wish me luck!

Until we meet again ravers,

kissy x x x

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Clash Guest Blog: Kissy Sell Out (DAY 2)

Joe Zadeh — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:44:27 +0000

Hey peeps,

Just woke up this fine morning... feels so nice waking up in my own bed for once!

I was still in Scotland on Monday, waiting for my cheap flight home from Rockness Festival. It was a really cool dance line up they had there this year. I got to have a good natter to Sinden about his new remix for Bob Sinclair (!?), to Riton about his recent mysterious musical movements, Erol Alkan about his Nirvana t-shirt (note: the psychedelic band not the more famous namesake), Rob Da Bank - also about his (very sparkly) t-shirt. I even tried to speak, without nervously stuttering, to The Prodigy lads whilst endlessly considering whether I should introduce myself to James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem/DFA) as he kept walking past - only to give up and watch the Cuban Brothers (Ed - Do Cuban Bros play every festival?) instead, haha!

So back to the present morning and two things are on my mind, firstly I've only just been told that The Sunday Times Culture called "Youth" - my debut album out now - the "electro album of the year" (!!!!!) - which is beyond my wildest dreams. The other is that Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie's 'Moombah (Afrojack Mix)' is a freaking awesome track for the dancefloor!!!

Until we rant again, lots of love,

Kissy x x x

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Clash Guest Blog: Kissy Sell Out (DAY 1)

Joe Zadeh — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:09:32 +0000

This week will see Kissy Sell Out takeover the Clash blog with his contemporary mullet and charming use of emoticons. The Clash team managed to catch Kissy Sell Out live at Rockness over the weekend for a jumping showcase of their new album, including a bleepy/squeaky cover of the EMF classic 'You're Unbelievable'. We have the keytar wizard from now until Saturday, so don't miss his daily updates. Over to Kissy...

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Hey peeps!

Nice to be here today, thanks for having me! Big day for me yesterday... my debut album "Youth" got released - arrrrghhhh scary! I guess I'll only be able to say that once!

My album is called "Youth" and took about a year and a half to make. It's all about my childhood growing up in Essex - drinking on fields and snogging behind bike sheds - that sort of thing hehe! The overall sound of the album is very post-modern which I'm very proud. There are some specific things taken from moments in musical history, like the 80's synths from Tears For Fears and Simple Minds, but the vocal style is more stacatto like modern indie vocals. The tracks have all been mixed and compressed in the Kissy studio with insanely complicated melodies and no guitars. I wrote the songs on the album with my cousin Danimal Kingdom who provides the lead vocals - unfortunately I'm not especially talented in the singing department, but I do make a few cameo appearances on the mic. The album captures a real snap-shot of time in my own life and is very personal - I already don't think I could write another album like this, which is quite a special feeling!

If you feel like trying out some fresh jams today you can get my album from HMV, Play.com, Amazon and iTunes too ;-). I designed all the artwork for it too, with pictures of my friends in a school photo so I hope you like it!

Have a nice day folks, see you tomorrow ;-)

Kissy x x x

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Clash's RockNess Blog

ClashMusic — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:27:45 +0000

CLASH'S ON-SITE SCRIBES WILL BE UPDATING THIS PAGE WITH ACTION FROM ROCKNESS AS AND WHEN IT HAPPENS...!

Robin's thoughts on arrival...

Well of course I’m biased.

Wouldn’t you be? A picture perfect site near your home town, with nothing to worry about except sunburn. RockNess is possibly Scotland’s wildest party, a place where sub bass mixes with fiddles and naturally as the sea meets the shore. With rumours of boat parties, tent parties and just plain parties RockNess is one long orgy, a place where inhibitions are lost and favoured memories are gained.

The site is, as always, perfect. Nature’s amphitheatre, the Muses of music have provided us with a wonderful landscape to play with. Now dotted with tents, tepees and all manner of contraptions the countryside has removed itself from blank fields and become something of a community.

Need help with your tent? Here’s a peg. Need a drink? Here’s a swally. Welcome to Scotland my friend, and don’t forget the suntan.

Flaming Lips

Wayne Coyne is a bona fide nutter. The Flaming Lips rattle through a euphoric set as night begins to draw in, drawing on the full reserves of their back catalogue. As ever, 'Do You Realize?' steals the show, but the band are almost upstaged by as group of Tellytubbies dancing onstage.

Yes, Tellytubbies. Sometimes seeing is believing.

Saturday 3.15pm

Having seen The Wallbirds - skiffle pop to soothe the soul - a quick jaunt to the main stage is in order. Dance punks Chew Lips are just getting the party started, with their singer literally shining in a pair of silver trousers. Careful mate - you get arrested for things like that in the Highlands.

Next up - the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Frightened Rabbit and the much talked about boat party. Anyone got any water wings?

Sunday!

Ah Sunday, the day of rest. Unless you're at RockNess, that is.

Saturday disappears in a blur of variable weather and typically thrilling music. Frightened Rabbit get an enormous crowd for their slot, and as ever the Selkirk lads do not disappoint. Sure, their melancholic streak might not fit the weekend's debauchery, but the rip roaring anthems tear the roof off the tent.

Dizzee Rascal is perfect for summer. Loud and outrageous, his continual exhortions to the crowd send Rockness into ever ascending hysteria. Orbital bring the spirit of '89 to the event, hidden between immense walls of technology the Hartnoll brothers never lose sight of the crowd. A stunning return from a truly seminal act.

Joe's Sunday

So the final day of Rockness has arrived, bringing with it a mass collision of interests. Toddla T or Mylo? Kissy Sell Out or Japanese Popstars? Erol Alkan or The Prodigy? Sprinkle that with the fact that even the smaller acts are discreet treats in themselves. Do I want to vibrate my booty to a dubstep storm or flip out some 2 step 80's grooving to the sound of Kissy's keytar? I can't decide, but en route to the Clash tent, the rather unknown Ray Summers can be seen whipping up near frenzy at the SoCo stage, and The Whip manage to provoke the earliest sightings of topless youths throwing each other around in a lovingly aggressive manner. Its only four o’ clock and its blatant that a general respite is beginning, with everyone pretty much sipping on energy drinks, resting in prep for what is expected to be a momentous Prodigy performance. And after that? Dubfire, then maybe Silent Disco… Choices, choices.

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RockNess Friday Gallery

RockNess Saturday Gallery

Watch Clash TV's interview with The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne HERE.

Check out a gallery covering the weekend at RockNess HERE

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Clash Guest Blog: Datarock

Joe Zadeh — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:44:17 +0000

Mr Scruff, Chess Club Records and now Datarock. The Clash Guest Blog is turning the tables on the Norwegian dancemeisters this week, and asking them to do the writing. We're sick of writing (our hands are tired from commenting on Eminem's tea bag incident). Its all wordy and stuff. So, Datarock decided to shower us in the underground sounds of Scandinavia. Free downloads included.

Datarock write...

Say hello to our very own label... Yap Records.

One of the great frustrations for a new band is finding a label. In 2004, we found ourselves in that exact position. Our ethos had always been a DIY one, so to take our independent strain a bit further and release our own music seemed only logical. Thus Young Aspiring Professionals was born. With the help of independent distributors company VME (Voices Music Entertainment) the first YAP release became reality in the first quarter of 2005.

Our very own EP on our very own imprint!

Apart from releasing our own material, we had a vision of helping out other bands that shared some common ground with us. Our first signing was a Bergen based punk/new wave trio called Quasimojo. The trio combine the raw power of punk-rock with the intricacies of bands such as DEVO, Talking Heads and B52's. Soon after signing Quasimojo, YAP also started working with instrumental hard rock pioneers Noxagt. Datarock's debut album, Quasimojo's debut EP "Gettin' up 'n Goin' Ova" and Noxagt's self titled third album all recieved critical acclaim. Just as YAP was shaping up, Datarock's international touring schedule basically took us out on the road for two solid years. To be honest, we almost forgot the whole label.

Eventually the seven piece punk/noise/impro collective Syntax Terrorkester redirected our attention, and by now their first full-length album 'Familien Min Forstar Ingenting Av Det' was released. That was just the start of our brand new master plan. Starting in October YAP is releasing a series of 10 limited edition 7", featuring primarily debuting artists, all out of our hometown of Bergen. All the A-sides are produced by Datarock and the B-sides will be dedicated to live takes and remixes. You'll wanna smell 'em while they're fresh out of the oven.

Speaking of fresh, our latest single 'Give It Up' is out now. We got three free remixes from a pick of the best rework wizards on the scene - Chateau Marmont, Fan Death and Kissy Sell Out.
(On a Mac hold Ctrl +click and select 'Save link as...')
(On a PC right click and select 'Save link as...')

'Give It Up' Kissy Sell Out Remix

'Give It Up' Chateau Marmont Remix

'Give It Up' Fan Death Remix

On other fronts, we recently put out the album "Ashes To Gold" by Swedish stellar singer/songwriter - Karin Park, to critical domestic acclaim back in Norway. As with Datarock´s first singles off "RED", the whole album was produced by ourselves at Wendyhouse in London. Karin is working with both Ungdomskulen and Ralph Myerz on the songwriting side. She is outstanding and highly recommended if you like artists such as Bat For Lashes, The Knife / Fever Ray, Robyn, Lykke Li, Bjørk, etc.

Links

Bergen based punk/new wave trio,Quasimojo on Myspace

Instrumental hard rock pioneers, Noxagt on Myspace

Seven piece punk/noise/impro collective, Syntax Terrorkester on Myspace

Swedish stellar singer/songwriter, Karin Park on Myspace

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Eminem Vs Amy Winehouse = Amynem

Nick Annan — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:59:54 +0000

While Eminem and Amy Winehouse might not be collaborating in the real world, thanks to his mention of her relationship with jailbird husband Blake Fielders-Civil in the lyrics to his comeback single 'We Made You', Cookin Soul have created a neat mash up of Em's 'Cleaning Out My Closet' and Winehouse's 'Rehab' entitled 'Rehab Vs Relapse'.

Taken from his new album 'Relapse' (read ClashMusic's review HERE) which topped UK charts with record first week sales (read news story HERE). 'We Made You' contains the lines "You're my Amy, I’m your Blake / Matter fact make me a birthday cake / With a saw blade in it to make my jail break / Baby, I think you just met your soul mate" while the video sees the appearance of an unflattering Winehouse look-a-like.

So while that team up looks set to be kept on ice, you can enjoy the fruits of their talents as 'Amynem'.

Check it out... 'Rehab Vs Relapse' by Amynem

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Bowman's Blog

Joe Zadeh — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:46:48 +0000

The Clash Blog is proud to present yet more guest writers. This is a week in the life of a Radio One DJ and TV presenter, straight from the thought deposits of Edith Bowman's brain.

He’s Black. He’s White.

Anyone else very excited about the potential of seeing Michael Jackson live? Okay yeah, he’s gonna mime a heck of a lot of the way through the three-hour show, but c’mon, this is probably going to be the only time we see him. I would be happy to see him moonwalk his way through just one song. Do you think he’ll do a greatest hits set or are we more likely to get a self-indulgent montage of new material?

Log On

Seriously, will you please stop me from signing up to anymore networks, blogs or flipping animal named sites?! Just because they have cute names, don’t let that fool you; they will grab the very little time you have left to yourself of a day and hypnotise you into updating every nanosecond. I’m bloody Twitting in the back of cabs, before I turn the light off at night, during the radio show and even when I’m trying to do a power plates class. If I am to get anything out of my time on Twitter I’d very much like for Jonathan Ross to ask if he can teach me to play tennis and for Stephen Fry to become my own personal Life Tutor. Right - back in a moment; just got to tell my little Tweets what I’m doing... Shit, I’ve just found McLovin on Twitter!

Jaws 3D

...is the last 3D film I think I can remember seeing, apart from something I saw at EuroDisney that involved me thinking I’d swallowed Nemo. Last week I went to a screening of the new Dreamworks animation Monsters vs Aliens, with voices done by Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland amongst others. The film’s good, but in 3D? AWESOME! I did look ridiculous but I’m never one to worry what I look like! I’d have worn them out, but the lady from the film company was literally standing by her 3D glasses detector by the door of the cinema. Rubbish.

Sweaty Kisses!!

Really chuffed to see The Maccabees back, and the new album is cracking. ‘No Kind Words’ is one of the best things I’ve heard in the past month; the video is very funny with Matt Horne - check it out below. I went to see them this month at the Barfly and phew, I didn’t see that coming! It has to be the hottest and busiest I have ever seen that place, and I’m there pretty often. Well done lads - top gig and really excited about the new album. Also, does anyone think Orlando with his new hairdo looks a wee bit like Jonny Depp? Not a bad thing, really not a bad thing... I was going to take some pics for us but I couldn’t get anywhere near the front. No one, not even with a tin opener, could have got through that crowd.

See you next time! x

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