Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:25 | By

CMU Artists Of The Year 2010 – #10: Sleigh Bells

Artists Of The Year

They may be at number ten in our run down, but Sleigh Bells are possibly the band that “of the year 2010” most applies to.

The duo formed in 2008 when former Poison The Well guitarist Derek Miller met one-time member of short-lived teen-pop group RubyBlue, Alexis Krauss, who was by then a primary school teacher. He was a waiter in a restaurant where she was eating with her mother. He happened to mention that he was looking for a female vocalist for some tracks he was working on, and her mother instantly volunteered her. It sounds like the basis for a Human League song.

Mama Krauss’ matchmaking complete, the duo got to work on their industrial pop sound. Not dissimilar in a number of ways to experimental hip hop duo Dälek, Miller creates tracks with everything pushed into the red. Distorted hip hop beats underpin piercing, scratchy guitars, biting synths and heavy, heavy basslines. Krauss’ vocals then spring out clean and sweet-sounding from this angry concoction.

By 2009, this sound had not only pricked up the ears of several bloggers, but also MIA, who first asked Miller to co-write and produce a track on her ‘/\/\/\Y/\’ album, ‘Meds And Feds’, before signing Sleigh Bells to her NEET Recordings label. The band’s debut album, ‘Treats’, was then released in the UK via a partnership with Sony’s Columbia in June this year.

From the opening track, ‘Tell Em’, it’s an almost unrelenting barrage of noise. The only time they let up is for the acoustic guitar-led ‘Rill Rill’, though this is quickly followed by the album’s two harshest tracks, ‘Crown On The Ground’ and ‘Straight A’s’. But the noise is no turn off. The fact that the music is so loud and so heavily compressed just makes it more exciting to listen to; Krauss’ vocals beckon you in before Miller boots you into the air.

Live they’re a force to be reckoned with, too. Standing in front of a wall of Marshall Stack amps, and with all but Miller’s guitar on backing track, Krauss’ pop training really comes out. She works the stage and the crowd like she’s playing to a bunch of screaming teenagers, which only highlights further the juxtapositions in Sleigh Bells’ songs, making you feel like you’re watching some kind of zombie pop group.

As I said at the start, Sleigh Bells may be the most “of 2010” act in our round-up of the year. Their music is so immediate and so sudden in its approach that it’s hard to think beyond the now and into the future. But they’ve kept us highly entertained all year, and ‘Treats’ is an album that will continue to find its way onto the CMU stereo on into 2011, thanks to its mix of bone-shuddering wake up call and unadulterated fun.

Website | iTunes | Amazon | Spotify

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:24 | By

Over 70 sites targeted by America’s anti-piracy crackdown

Business News Legal Top Stories

Over 70 American websites were taken offline late last week as part of an anti-piracy push by Immigration & Customs Enforcement, a division of the US Department Of Homeland Security.

As previously reported, we already knew that three music sites – RapGodFathers, OnSmash and Dajaz1 – which primarily linked to audio content on other sites, most of it unlicensed, were hit by the ICE offensive. The federal authority took over ownership of the offending websites’ domain names and pointed users to copyright enforcement notices.

But, according to Torrentfreak, over 70 sites allegedly involved in piracy were targeted in total. Although some, like RapGodFathers, provided links to copyright infringing digital content, most sold bootleg DVDs and other counterfeit goods, and it seems to be those more commercial and physical-product-based kinds of intellectual property violation that this campaign was attempting to quash, rather than file-sharing. Even though RapGodFathers, it would seem, was mainly linking to free mixtapes released by MCs and hip hop producers as promotional tools, while another targeted site, Torrent-Finder.com, is a simple torrent search service.

Although initially quiet on the action, ICE yesterday issued a press release revealing its actions were timed to coincide with one of the American internet’s busiest online shopping weekends, coming after the big post-Thanksgiving shopping day that is Black Friday.

ICE Director John Morton told reporters: “The sale of counterfeit US brands on the internet steals the creative work of others, costs our economy jobs and revenue and can threaten the health and safety of American consumers. The protection of intellectual property is a top priority for Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. We are dedicated to protecting the jobs, the income and the tax revenue that disappear when counterfeit goods are trafficked”.

Attorney General Eric Holder added: “By seizing these domain names, we have disrupted the sale of thousands of counterfeit items, while also cutting off funds to those willing to exploit the ingenuity of others for their own personal gain. Intellectual property crimes are not victimless. The theft of ideas and the sale of counterfeit goods threaten economic opportunities and financial stability, suppress innovation and destroy jobs. The Justice Department, with the help of our law enforcement partners, is changing the perception that these crimes are risk-free with enforcement actions like the one announced today”.

Although sites which assist in illegal file-sharing do seem to have been periphery and possibly mistaken targets in this round of piracy fighting, as previously reported proposals are currently being considered in US Congress which would give the country’s Department Of Justice power to act over websites that exists primarily to enable copyright infringement, replacing the need for costly and drawn out litigation like that used by the record and movie industries to target the likes of Napster, Grokster, Kazaa and LimeWire over the years.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:22 | By

Deerhunter man reveals “Sony think they own my bedroom”

Artist News Business News Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound had a rather confusing couple of days last weekend after Sony Music issued a takedown notice against his own blog on Friday, over two albums of his own bedroom-made demos which he had uploaded for his fans to download for free. This was confusing because Cox is not and has never been signed to any Sony Music label. Deerhunter are signed to Beggar’s 4AD while Atlas Sound release via indie label Kranky. 

And in case you thought perhaps there were grounds for a takedown notice regards a publishing rights violation (there’s at least one cover in the demos collection), firstly it was Sony Music (Sony’s record company) and not Sony/ATV (Sony’s publishing firm) which issued the takedown, and secondly the notice specifically referenced a violation of the major’s sound recording copyrights. 

The file-hosting service to which Cox had uploaded his music, Mediafire, complied with Sony’s takedown notice, issued under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, preventing Cox from giving away his own music, and prompting the music man to joke “apparently Sony Music owns my bedroom”. But the major admitted to Billboard yesterday it had made a mistake and that it had made Cox, his manager and Mediafire aware of this fact. 

Although this was presumably an administrative error, content owners do need to be careful when issuing takedown notices, because some – including Google – have accused big music companies of being heavy handed when demanding allegedly infringing content be removed, often listing content they don’t actually own on takedown lists. Said people often use this as evidence as to why content owners shouldn’t be given new legal powers to have allegedly infringing websites taken offline, such as those currently being considered by US Congress.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:20 | By

EMI trys to stop EFF contributing to its MP3tunes case

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

EMI has asked the federal judge overseeing its ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit against digital locker service MP3tunes to not let the Electronic Frontier Foundation submit a so called ‘friend of the court’ brief to the proceedings. This is where a third party not specifically linked to a lawsuit provides information which it believes will help the judge in considering the case. 

The brief the EFF wants to submit to court is believed to discuss the wider implications of ruling in EMI’s favour in this case, in which the major claims MP3tunes is liable for copyright infringement by letting its customers host their MP3 collections on a central server and access them from any net connected device, especially given the possibility the MP3s uploaded to the service by users were obtained illegally. The EFF will argue that if EMI wins this case it will harm the emerging ‘cloud storage’ market, including the music service being developed by Google, which includes a locker element. 

According to Digital Media Wire, EMI say the EFF’s brief does not fulfil the definition of an acceptable ‘friend of court’ document, that it pursues a political agenda, “contains unsupported speculation” and exceeds the court’s page length restriction. 

But Sherwin Siy of lobbying group Public Knowledge, who contributed to the EFF brief, says it is important the court sees it. He told Wired: “Especially when it comes to cutting-edge tech and internet issues, it’s easy for courts and attorneys for the parties to focus on the specific facts of the case at hand, when the decisions made in that trial can affect the way people use all sorts of technology all across the country. We’re disappointed that the plaintiffs think that the court is better off without the larger technological and policy perspective laid out in our brief”. 

As previously reported, MP3tunes owner Michael Robertson has claimed that EMI has no legal case for its action against him and his company and has called on the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:18 | By

Lily Allen sues Daily Mail

Legal Media

Katie Nicholl from the Daily Mail got off lightly just being called “a cunt” by Lily Allen at the weekend, her bosses have been hit with a legal action by the singer come fashion lady after pictures of her home in the Cotswolds appeared on the paper’s website earlier this year. Allen is suing for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. 

Allen’s lawyers Atkins Thomson said in a statement: “We have today issued proceedings on behalf of Lily Allen against [Daily Mail owner] Associated Newspapers for copyright infringement and breach of confidence. This action is in relation to an article published in the Mail Online on 14 Sep 2010”.

It’s been a litigious year for Lily, having successfully sued French magazine So Foot earlier this year for fabricating comments about Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole. She also won damages from The Sun for republishing some of the So Foot article.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:14 | By

System Of A Down reform

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

As expected, System Of A Down announced yesterday that they will reform next year for a European tour, which will include a headline performance at the Download festival.

In a statement the band said: “We are excited to announce that System will be playing some dates together in 2011. We also want to thank you for your loyalty and support, not only to System Of A Down, but to all of our solo efforts as well. We have no master plan – we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans”.

Confirming that the band would be playing Download, Live Nation’s Andy Copping said: “After the huge success of this year’s Download, where over 100,000 fans came to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Donington, I am pleased to say that Download 2011 is already shaping up to have another stellar line up. To have the mighty System Of A Down headlining next year after a five year break is just fantastic, they’re a world class band and I’m personally very excited to have them on the bill”.

You can find more information of SOAD-related stuff at www.systemofadown.com.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:12 | By

Single Review: Kano – Spaceship (Bigger Picture Recordings)

Single Reviews

Kano

Despite having four albums all of his own, east Londoner Kano’s biggest hit to date is probably as the rapper on Chase & Status’s excellent single ‘Against All Odds’. But on this single, lifted from his fourth album ‘Method To The Maadness’, that dynamic production duo return the favour, so might this prove to be bigger?

Probably not. ‘Spaceship’ is a downtempo social commentary on celebrity and fame, but sadly it’s all a bit bland. The energy and dynamism seem to be lacking, not only from Kano’s vocals, but from Chase & Status’s backdrop too, which is a mediocre downbeat generic dubby/grime affair.

The single does come with remixes by Trolley Snatcha and Hot City which might fix some of the problems, but I’ve not been sent those, so I can’t tell you whether that’s the case. All I can say is, based on previous collaborations, Kano and C&S are capable of much greater things than this. PV

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:12 | By

Editors announce unedited boxset

Releases

Editors have announced that they will release a boxset, entitled ‘Unedited’, next February. As the name suggests, it will feature everything they’ve ever recorded all in one place, spread over seven heavy weight twelve-inch LPs and seven CDs. 320kbps MP3s of every track and a book looking back at the band’s career to date will also be included in the pack.

The band’s frontman Tom Smith told fans: “We’ve been picking through the archive recently, looking back at our three records, many many b-sides and some material that has never seen the light of day. It’s been addictive. We can’t leave it alone, much like picking a scab, and we’ve decided to package it all together and share it with our fans, officially. We’ve raided the vaults, searched through old CD-Rs, cassettes and photo albums and gathered it all together. We’d like you to have this music on any and every format we can produce and also share some photos and memories of the last six years in a volume that you can keep forever”.

The box will be available to pre-order from 2 Dec, ahead of its release on 28 Feb, from www.editorsofficial.com. There will also be special content available to download from the website in the run-up to the release.

As for the future, Smith added that the band would soon begin work on their next album with producer Flood: “It won’t be long until we’re together again as a band rehearsing the first ideas for album four. Obviously it’s a big task but we have songs now and the wheels are well and truly in motion. The idea is to record in stages over 2011 but first things must come first and we need to get into a room together and play, see where the ideas take us”.

Editors bassist Russ Leetch put together a Powers Of Ten playlist for us way back in February. It’s a good one, you should check it out:www.completemusicupdate.com/playlists/editors.html

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:11 | By

Jamie xx remixes Gil Scott-Heron

Releases

In February this year, Gil Scott-Heron released his first album for thirteen years, the acclaimed ‘I’m New Here’. Next February he’ll release a new version of the album remixed by The xx’s Jamie Smith, entitled ‘We’re New Here’.

The album will be released on 21 Feb, and will be preceded by a single, ‘NY Is Killing Me’, which you can hear now at werenewhere.com.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:10 | By

Gallows announce details of Christmas show

Gigs & Festivals

Gallows have announced some details about their previously reported Christmas show, which they promised would be “epically epic” back in October. Now they’ve revealed that, 17 Dec will see the band play two shows in Camden, performing both their albums in full.

The band will play their debut, ‘Orchestra Of Wolves’, at Dingwalls in the afternoon, followed by ‘Grey Britain’ at the Electric Ballroom in the evening. Tickets are on sale now.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:08 | By

Sunday Girl to headline XOYO tips for 2011 show

Gigs & Festivals

Everyone’s whacking out their tips for 2011 at the moment, it’s that time of year. New-ish east London venue XOYO has, however, managed to get all its tips under one roof at the same time. Or at least it will when it stages a Tips For 2011 show on 15 Dec.

Headlining will be upcoming popstress Sunday Girl, with support from The Milk, Jagga and Talking Pictures.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:05 | By

Simple Minds forest hits tour

Gigs & Festivals

Simple Minds have announced details of a greatest hits tour which would be nice in itself, but this tour is of those lovely forests they use for gigs these days, so that’s doubly nice. Weather permitting I suppose, though these are next June and hopefully the snow will have stopped by then. Dates as follows: 

10 Jun: Bedgebury National Pinetum, Kent
11 Jun: Thetford Forest, Suffolk 
17 Jun: Westonbirt National Arboretum, Gloucestershire 
18 Jun: Sherwood Pines Forest Park, Nottinghamshire 
24 Jun: Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire 
25 Jun: Cannock Chase Forest, Staffordshire 
3 Jul: Delamere Forest, Cheshire 

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 15:02 | By

MasterCard continue BRITS sponsorship

Awards Brands & Merch

The BRIT Awards may be having a revamp ahead of their upcoming move to the big fat dome of the North Greenwich wastelands, but MasterCard will still be buying lunch. Yep, the financial services firm has re-signed as sponsor of the big awards bash and its TV airing over on ITV1, home of shit.

And if you’re sitting there thinking this sounds suspicious because if MasterCard was really renewing its sponsorship of the BRITS then the company’s Head Of Brand, Sponsorship & Digital Marketing, Shaun ‘The Dude’ Springer, would have said so, then you’re going to feel very silly when I start typing the next paragraph. 

MasterCard’s Head Of Brand, Sponsorship & Digital Marketing, Shaun ‘The Dude’ Springer, told CMU: “The MasterCard commitment to The BRITs is very special and an association we value highly. Furthermore, we hope our involvement brings more to the event than just the title sponsorship; recent innovations such as this year’s ‘mypricelessgig’ online promotion to celebrate 30 years of The BRITs and the Priceless Dance-Off in 2008 provided creative digital content and myriad social media opportunities and interaction to engage the public in a relevant and meaningful way”.

He added: “And we don’t intend to slow the pace any time soon… We will be announcing shortly the details of further digital innovations and developments in 2011 intended to bring even more sparkle to The BRIT Awards, such as the exciting new iTunes partnership”.

I’m not sure what that iTunes partnership is all about but I hear it’s “exciting”. Well, that’s what Shaun just said, isn’t it? And if Shaun were to lie, well, then the world would be a much less happy place than I always assumed.

The BRIT Awards 2011 will take place some day next year.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 14:58 | By

UK Music and MMF to present to select committee on creative industry finance today

Business News Management & Funding

As previously reported, UK Music’s Feargal Sharkey and the Music Managers Forum’s Brian Message will both put on their snow shoes later today to attend a hearing of the Business, Innovation & Skills Parliamentary Select Committee to discuss the challenges faced by creative entrepreneurs seeking finance for their ventures. 

Well, I say previously reported, the snow shoes bit we haven’t previously mentioned. But that’s because we didn’t know it would be snowing today. And I’m not sure Sharkey and Message would be taken all that seriously if they arrived wearing snow shoes on a lovely sunny day. 

But what we did previously note, when last reporting on this scheduled select committee booking, was that both Sharkey and Message have previously called on government to provide more assistance to independent music companies, with Message in particular seeing initiatives such as the enterprise finance guarantee scheme as a possible alternative to the traditional major label record deal for managers looking to build a viable business around their new acts.

Pre-empting what he might say during the select committee hearing later today, Sharkey just paused from polishing the aforementioned snow shoes to call CMU HQ and say this: “The music industry is a hive of innovation and creative talent, populated by hundreds of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs who give the UK a unique cutting edge on a global stage. Along with our other creative sectors, we have massive potential to drive economic growth. However, our own evidence would suggest that creative entrepreneurs are persistently encountering barriers to growth. Particularly when accessing finance. This is especially unfortunate when others, and especially government and the CBI, are recognising the role played by our industries in manufacturing creative goods and exports”.

Sharkey adds that while the select committee review of creative industry funding is welcome, the Labour government of 2001 already undertook such a thing and what was really needed now was for government to take action. He continued: “The government’s Department Of Culture, Media & Sport actually published a report in 2001 entitled ‘Banking On A Hit’, which acutely recognised many of the challenges faced by the music industry. This was all well and good, but we cannot have another ten years of procrastination. Our music industry is the creative envy of the world. However, if we are to realise our full aspirations, then it is imperative government engages with us and acts now”.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 14:56 | By

83% of America’s biggest songs of the moment artist written

Artist News

This is interesting. Digital Music News has been reviewing the databases of US collecting societies ASCAP, BMI and SESAC and has concluded that 83% of current new songs have been in part written by the artist performing them. 

Actually, that probably makes this research sound more in-depth than it possibly was – they checked out the songwriting credits for the 100 songs in BigChampagne’s most recent Ultimate Chart, which tracks all sorts of online airplay and exposure for tracks, I think. But either way, the quick survey confirms that in this day an age more artists than ever, including pop artists, are writing their own music. 

Though DMN admit that some pop star’s songwriting credits appear as part of a team and therefore may well be more about getting a cut of valuable publishing royalties that actually having a huge amount of creative input in the making of the songs they sing, applying that famous pop star manta of “write a word, get a third [of the royalties]”.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 14:54 | By

Absolute launches noughties station

Media

There was me hoping that, as we headed into a decade that may possibly be called ‘the teens’, we could forget that anyone ever called the last ten years ‘the noughties’ and start using the much less offensive historical standard ‘the twenty hundreds’. But now Absolute Radio have now launched Absolute Radio Noughties, or Absolute Radio 00s if we are being totally correct. 

The latest digital spin-off from Absolute Radio, the new service will play the best rock and crossover urban music from the last ten years, namechecking Coldplay, The Killers, Kings Of Leon, Outkast, Black Eyed Peas and Eminem in their press blurb. Available on the digital network in London and via a mobile phone app nationally, the new service will include an extra hour of the Christian O’Connell breakfast show in its first month on air because apparently that’s a good thing. 

Absolute CEO Donnach O’Driscoll told reporters: “Absolute Radio believes in a digital future for broadcast radio and we are seizing the opportunity of DAB in the UK, especially in London. Our recent station launches and the RAJAR performances they have achieved proves there is an appetite for good content on digital radio – the rest of the commercial industry needs to follow our lead and invest in content on these platforms”. 

Yeah, rest of the commercial industry, why aren’t you following their lead and investing in content on these platforms? Though don’t use the ‘noughties’ word if you do, will you?

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 14:50 | By

Orion appoints staff ready for Heart network withdrawal

Media

Orion Media has put a new management team in place at its East Midland’s FM outpost as it prepares to cease being part of the Heart network. 

As previously reported, Orion has been running a Heart station as part of a franchise deal with the network’s owners Global Radio, which sold various Midlands-based stations to its smaller rival last year. But earlier this month Orion bosses announced they’d take the station out of the Heart network at the start of next year and relaunch it as a locally-based FM service called Gem 106. This means filling out the schedules, most of which currently come from the Heart HQ in London. 

To make that happen a new management team has been appointed. Mike Newman, currently with Orion’s Mercia FM service, will become the new station’s Programme Director, while Kiron Willacy, previously of Global’s soon to be defunct Galaxy network, will become Sales Director. Orion bosses say they are making a “considerable” investment in the new station both behind the scenes and on air.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 11:57 | By

Thirteen Minutes To A Telly Ban: Leto on getting his new video on TV

Media Releases

Jared Leto has revealed that the latest 30 Seconds To Mars video has been banned from US TV, and not just because it’s thirteen minutes long.

Most TV networks, it seems, are a little nervous about the sexual imagery in the pop promo come short film, which definitely has bondage as one of its themes. MTV did air a slightly censored version, but quite a bit more censoring is going to be needed for it to get mainstream airplay, it seems. Though Leto says he’s not entirely against such edits providing the full uncut version can stream on the net.

Talking about the video for ‘Hurricane’, he told EW.com: “I had always planned on having an explicit version and then a version that was not so explicit. The version that we were trying to get on broadcast is not the explicit version, and that’s still having a really difficult time. I’m not interested in provocation for provocation’s sake. I just think it’s interesting that when you turn on the news, or whatever else catches your interest, how much violence and negativity is available out there. As soon as it comes time for sexuality, it’s a big shock that people are sexual beings. It’s an interesting double standard to me”.

On the proposal he create a mainstream telly friendly version of the video, he continues: “You know, at another time I would say, ‘absolutely not’. I would refuse 1,000% to change what I felt was important. But with this film, I’m not so sure I would cut off the nose to spite its face, so to speak. There are creative solutions to every problem. Certainly it would be difficult for people to air a thirteen-minute-long music video slash short film, regardless of the content. I think people have dealt with this in different ways in the past. People have made cuts. People like Mark Romanek have gotten creative and had ‘scene missing’ cards [for Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’]. That [creative challenge is] a great opportunity, and we’re going to take full advantage of that”.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 11:54 | By

Elton John disses Oasis for screwing up American chances

And Finally

Elton John reckons Oasis could have broken America big time had one of the Gallaghers’ squabbles not led to a crucial tour being cancelled in 1996, and for screwing that up John reckons the brothers are “stupid sods”. 

Oasis did actually enjoy some prolonged success Stateside, but certainly never became anywhere near as big over there as everyone expected them to in the mid-nineties because, John implies, they never had the work ethic required for non-native bands to truly make it in America.

Speaking to Absolute Radio, he recalls of 1996: “They were enormous in Britain, they were enormous in America and they went over there and argued between themselves and cancelled the tour and they never broke America. You only get it once, and if you blow it, it’s gone. You can’t not regret that. I always thought, ‘You stupid sods. You’ll never get that opportunity again'”. 

Praising other British rockers who have become truly big in the US, he added: “It’s only the cream that rises to the top. It’s always the ones with the best work ethic and the best material and the best attitude. You know, it’s the boys from the men. Coldplay, Muse, U2, Police, all those bands. They’re the men, and all the rest are boys”.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 11:53 | By

Pink wants to name baby after whiskey

And Finally

Pink has decided to name her new son James, after her favourite whiskey. Not that she’s actually given birth to the child yet, or found out what gender it is. 

The singer told Access Hollywood, “My dad’s name is James, and my brother’s name is Jason. [My husband Carey Hart and I] are both Irish, Carey’s middle name is Jason, [put James and Jason together and you get] Jameson – we like whiskey. That’s a no brainer. We’re all over the place. I’m all about meaning, and Carey feels like he had a girl’s hair cut and a girl’s name, and he doesn’t want kids to have a weird name. I have to get him on the boat for originality, so I’m working on him”.

I’m not sure Jameson is that original a name, really. If you want to be original you really need to make up a whole new word. Maybe Pink could name her child Rinthshurenterly. That sounds a bit like something you might say if you drank a lot of whiskey, so that connection is still there. Everybody’s happy. 

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 11:51 | By

Bob Geldof: Do they know it’s awful?

And Finally

Bob Geldof has admitted responsibility for two of “the worst songs in history”. It’s alright, you can stop trying to remember the name of more than one Boomtown Rats song, he reckons that his contribution to the world of charity singles, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, and its American spin-off ‘We Are The World’, are a horrible bloody racket.

Geldof told Australia’s The Daily Telegraph, Geldof said: “I am responsible for two of the worst songs in history. One is ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, the other one is ‘We Are The World’. Any day soon, I will go to the supermarket, head to the meat counter and it will be playing. Every fucking Christmas”.

He added that he can’t even escape the Band Aid single by refusing to leave the house, as carol singers turn up and perform it outside his front door: “They think ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ is as old as ‘Silent Night’. Sometimes I think that’s wild because I wrote it. Or else I am thinking how much I want them to stop because they are doing it really badly”.

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Tuesday 30 November 2010, 11:07 | By

Approved: Josephine (Best Of Approved 2010)

CMU Approved

Listening to ‘I Think It Was Love’ by Josephine Oniyama, or just Josephine as she is known on stage, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled upon some lost classic soul recording, rather than a young musician from Manchester yet to release her first album. Her voice is something incredible; warm, wise, confident and able to stop even the hardest of cynics in their tracks.

She recorded her first demos with Elbow’s Guy Garvey and released her first EP, entitled ‘In The Labyrinth’ and recorded with producer Ben Hillier (Blur, Doves, Depeche Mode), in December 2008 via Universal/Island. Now preparing for the release of her debut album, due out via Ark Recordings next year, Josephine releases her new single, ‘A Freak A’, on 20 Dec, and you can catch her live at The Slaughtered Lamb in London on 1 and 8 Dec.

www.myspace.com/thisisjosephine

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:58 | By

Album Review: Fabio and Grooverider – Masterpiece (Ministry Of Sound)

Album Reviews

Fabio & Grooverider

A compilation of influences followed by a back-in-the-day mix from two of drum n bass’s biggest names. Hasn’t this format been flogged to death already?

This offering from MoS is spread over three discs. The first shows off Fabio’s influences, which is basically records from his rare groove collection. On the whole it is fairly hard to engage with – the stand out cuts being from Deodato, Willie Bobo, The OJs and Maze – but it defines his background clearly. Groove goes for more of an acid house collection, interestingly mainstream at points with Pete Heller’s ‘Big Love’ making an appearance and some dance classics which hit the charts also in there, including LFO’s earth shattering ‘LFO’, Orbital’s stunning ‘Chime’ and Leftfield’s ‘Not Forgotten’. Anthems ‘Strings Of Life’ and ‘Can You Feel It’ also appear.

Then onto the main event, the new drum n bass mix, which on first listen was standard fare for this type of compo – a crowd of usual suspects, and a couple of questionable ‘classics’ thrown in. Though on repeated review it improve. Highlights are Doc Scott’s ‘Far Away’, and the rework of Goldie’s awesome ‘Ghost’, then the killer bass of Dillinja and Lemon D’s ‘Angels Fell’ and ‘City Lights’ and the seminal Tom and Jerry (4hero) cut ‘Maximum Style’. It also drifts into more mellow territory with Uncut’s ‘Midnight’ and Carlito and Jaheim’s cuts.

On the whole, a diverse and interesting package, but not quite a masterpiece. PV

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:40 | By

Five Day Forecast – w/c 29 Nov 2010

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I woke up this morning to the news that Leslie Nielsen is dead. He was 84 and still appearing in films regularly, though none as iconic as the two he’ll mainly be remembered for, ‘Airplane’ and ‘The Naked Gun’, where he proved himself as one of the great comedy actors and made a huge impression on me as a child. I went to see a screening of ‘Airplane’ followed by a live Q&A with Nielsen at the BFI Southbank earlier this year. Sadly, he had to cancel after was hospitalised following a fall. That was the point that it occurred to me that he might actually be getting old. In place of the Q&A, the BFI screened ‘Forbidden Planet’, which may not be a comedy, but is a film that deserves to be thought of alongside those mentioned above. If you’ve never seen it, that is your task for this week. Here are some other things that will happen this week.

01: Coming up in CMU Daily. Okay, this is less of an update on what’s happening over the next five days, more the next three weeks, but it’s my daily news bulletin and I’ll change the rules on a whim if I want to. As the end of the year approaches, these top bits will be a changing. Chris and I will still be here on Mondays and Fridays, but replacing the Same Six Questions will be CMU’s ten chosen artists of the year. The Approved slot, meanwhile, will look back at some of the best new acts that were approved in 2010.

02: Elton John Guest edits The Independent. Elton John will guest edit the paper on 1 Dec, ie this Wednesday. This, of course, is World AIDS Day, and John’s edition of the paper will raise awareness of that fact. He will also edit the recent Indy spin off, I. All circulation revenue from both papers that day will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.03: CMU Training. It’s the final CMU training event of the year this Wednesday, and this is the big one – business models. The full day seminar will concentrate on how to make money out of music – both now and in the future, with a look at alternative investment and revenue streams, and a new approach to monetising artists and their music. Space is very limited, but not so limited that we can’t fit a couple of you in. Click the link or email events@unlimitedmedia.co.uk for more info.

04: New releases. Well, I suppose I’d better mention that Duffy‘s new album, ‘Endlessly’, is out today. But don’t think that means I’m endorsing it, because I’m not. I am however endorsing the brilliant ‘Hollow Realm’ by Talons, ‘Quest For The Sonic Bounty’ by Horsepower Productions, ‘La Paraiso De Las Tortugas’ by Ernesto Ferreyra, Jenny and Johnny‘s ‘I’m Having Fun Now’ and the final part of Robyn‘s ‘Body Talk Trilogy’. If you’re looking for something shorter than an album you’re also in luck, as Black Kids side project Gospel Music and Mount Kimbie both have new EPs out, and there are new singles from No Age, I Like Trains and Stateless, plus my personal favourite, ‘Limit To Your Love’ by James Blake.

05: Gigs. Wow, gigs go big this week, as we head into December. Most exciting in my book is the return of Janelle Monáe, who will be playing some headline shows after supporting Vampire Weekend at Alexandra Palace. Also kicking off tours of the UK this week are Scissor Sisters, Belle & Sebastian, Pendulum, and Arcade Fire. Meanwhile, Gary Numan will be playing two shows in Manchester and London, and let’s not forget that it’s All Tomorrow’s Parties’ Nightmare Before Christmas at Butlins in Minehead this weekend.

So there you go. See you back here in seven days by which time Christmas will be getting very close indeed. In fact, if you’re especially nice to me, I’ll bake every one of you a mince pie next weekend to eat with next Monday’s Daily.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:38 | By

The Pirate Bay three’s first appeal fails

Business News Legal Top Stories

The Pirate Bay

Three of the men behind The Pirate Bay lost an appeal against their convictions for copyright infringement in Sweden on Friday.

As much previously reported, TPB founders Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, and one of their key funders Carl Lundstrom, all appealed the 2009 ruling that ordered them to each serve a year in jail and pay mega-damages to the music and movie companies that sued them for enabling mass copyright infringement by running The Pirate Bay file-sharing search and tracker service.

All three men have vowed to fight their convictions all the way to the Swedish Supreme Court, though their first appeal relied on pretty much the same arguments as the original trial – that the running of TPB was too chaotic for any one person to be liable, that they didn’t actually host any infringing content on their servers, and that they had been led to believe their service was legal. None of which are great defences against the pretty standard copyright violation that is contributory infringement.

Appeal judges did cut the prison sentences the three men are yet to serve from one year to 4-10 months, but also increased the damages they must pay by a neat £1.3million, taking them to a massive £4.1 million. Though realistically only Lundstrom could afford to pay anything nearing seven figure damages.

Sunde has already confirmed his intent to continue appealing this case through to the Supreme Court, making Friday’s ruling more of a formality. None of the three men will serve any time or pay any damages while appeal options are still available.

The third Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm did not attend this set of appeal proceedings, officially because of ill health. His appeal is due to be heard separately, though some have said he hopes to postpone any appeal proceedings until after the Supreme Court has ruled on his colleague’s appeal. It seems unlikely Svartholm would actually be able to put off his appeal that long, though he is not currently residing in Sweden.

Welcoming Friday’s ruling, the top man at UK record label trade body the BPI Geoff Taylor told reporters: “This decision confirms that, far from being a harmless act of digital rebellion, The Pirate Bay is a criminal enterprise to enrich its owners at the expense of musicians and other creators”.

“Real music fans will stay away from illegal sites like The Pirate Bay, and instead support one of the 70 legal music services that reward artists and underpin investment in new music. Following this clear decision, we call on Britain’s internet providers to act responsibly and stop providing unfettered access to this criminal website”.

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:33 | By

US authorities take content linking sites offline

Business News Digital Legal Top Stories

Three websites in the US that provided links to music content on the web, in the main unlicensed music files, have been shut down by various federal organisations, including the Department Of Justice, the Department Of Homeland Security and the IP Rights Coordination Centre.

Most attention has been given to the closure of RapGodFathers, which had 150,000 members and provided links to rap and hip hop content, some legit but mostly unlicensed, though a chunk of the illegal stuff was mixtapes commonly used in the hip hop community – at both the grass root and mainstream ends of the market – to promote new producers and MCs. The other websites hit by the action were OnSmash and Dajaz1.

According to reports, servers used by all three services were seized on Friday, and their domain names were transferred to federal government ownership and pointed to copyright infringement notices. According to TorrentFreak, the raids were undertaken under a warrant issued by a US court on 23 Nov.

Owners of the RapGodFathers website insist that the vast majority of the content their site linked to was of the promotional mixtape variety, and argue that they had always removed links to content when they received takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If that’s true, they were arguably operating within US copyright laws.

It’s not entirely clear under what laws these actions have been taken, given the seeming lack of civil proceedings from the record industry, though TorrentFreak claim this is not the first time sites that provide links to copyright infringing content have been targeted in this way. In many territories laws do already exist – sometimes under copyright regulations, sometimes via conspiracy to defraud laws – that enable authorities to take websites offline if they believe individuals are profiting from infringement.

As previously reported, moves are afoot in the US to introduce a new system that makes it easier for the Department Of Justice to force offline websites that primarily provide access or links to infringing content, even if said sites are not profit making. The new system would overcome the issue for content owners that – while the courts usually find in their favour when they target file-sharing set ups like LimeWire – under the current system it takes years of costly litigation to achieve anything, by which time most targeted services are falling out of common usage anyway. 

Those proposals were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week though will now go to US Congress where some opposition is expected to be expressed by the web community.

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:32 | By

Lady Gaga to stage digital death for World AIDS Day

Digital Top Stories

Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Usher will all sign off their respective social media profiles later this week as part of a fundraising effort for Alicia Key’s chosen charity Keep A Child Alive. The deal is they won’t return to Facebook or Twitter until $1 million has been raised. Personally, I think we should all call their bluff and not donate a penny. Children may die, but at least there’d be less tedium on Twitter.

Though such a solution does fail to recognise that Keep A Child’s work to support families affected by HIV and AIDS in Africa and India is rather marvellous and definitely deserves some high level fundraising support. Perhaps if we all donate $2 million Gaga, Timberlake and Usher could commit to quit social media permanently?

The charitable social media boycott is timed to coincide with World AIDS Day on Wednesday. Participating celebrities have all also recorded videos where they lie inside a coffin and announce their (albeit temporary) ‘digital deaths’.

Keep A Child Alive co-founder and president Leigh Blake says the videos are tongue in cheek, but pose an interesting question, saying: “We’re trying to sort of make the remark: ‘Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying [from AIDS and HIV]'”.

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:28 | By

Willie Nelson arrested for cannabis possession

Legal

Willie Nelson has been charged with cannabis possession again after six ounces of the drug were reportedly found on his tour bus by a state border patrol.

According to a police spokesman, Nelson and two others were arrested in connection with the drugs, but the country star was subsequently released on a $2500 bond. Nelson’s spokesman declined to comment when contacted by Associated Press. The singer-songwriter is well known for his cannabis use, and recently supported narrowly defeated efforts to legalise some aspects of the drug’s use in California.

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:26 | By

Police call for witnesses at Leeds Motörhead show

Legal

Yorkshire police are trying to work out if an incident at a Motörhead gig in Leeds last week was linked to a murder that took place in the city later the same night.

It is known that Andrew Crawford, a builder who was beaten to death in Leeds on Thursday night, had earlier that evening been to the Motörhead show and that, while there, one of his friend’s hair was set alight by another gig goer. It is not clear if the hair burning was deliberate or accidental, but police are appealing for witnesses to that incident in case it is linked to Crawford’s subsequent murder. They are already looking at CCTV footage and talking to security at the city’s O2 Academy.

A police spokesman told the Yorkshire Post: “There will have been around 2000 people in the O2 Academy and someone must have seen Mr Crawford’s friend’s hair being set alight. If you can help identify this person, please get in touch”.

It is thought two men attacked Crawford, aged 44, after the Motörhead show. He suffered severe head injuries in the attack and died later at Leeds General Infirmary.

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Monday 29 November 2010, 12:21 | By

Thom Yorke takes climate change campaign to Brighton beach

Artist News

Thom Yorke and Radiohead artwork maker Stanley Donwood joined a team of climate change campaigners on Brighton beach this weekend to create a ‘human sculpture’ of the eleventh century Viking King Canute who, legend has it, once tried to stop the tide coming in, albeit slightly up the coast from Brighton.

The human sculpting was part of the 350 Earth campaign, which instigated a series of large artistic projects around the world ahead of the United Nations meeting on climate change that kicks off in Mexico today. The aim of the artwork programme was that each piece could be seen from the sky. It’s part of a bid to convince political types more action should be taken to stop climate change right now.

Canute was a rather clever choice really, given his reputed failure to stop the sea from encroaching, though I have to say of all the artworks created it was possibly the hardest to work out what was actually being depicted by the carefully distributed blue-coat-clad participants.

Anyway, you can see photos of Thom’s Canute thing here.

And photos of a load of other 350 Earth creations at here.

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