Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:24 | By CMU Editorial

The Beach Boys to play Wembley Arena

Gigs & Festivals

The Beach Boys will play a one-off concert at the Wembley Arena on 28 Sep, this being a means of plugging Brian Wilson, Mike Love et al’s forthcoming album, the band’s 29th studio LP overall, ‘That’s Why God Made The Radio’.

The latter is released on 4 Jun, and tickets for the Wembley date will be available from 1 Jun.

Maximo Park arrange Academy tour

Gigs & Festivals

Playing three low-profile shows next week by way of preliminary promo for their new LP, ‘The National Health’, Maximo Park have now disclosed the listings of a major tour to take place in November.

And they are:

1 Nov: Liverpool, Academy
2 Nov: Glasgow, ABC
3 Nov: Newcastle, Academy
5 Nov: Sheffield, Plug
6 Nov: Manchester, Ritz
7 No: London, Shepherds Bush Empire
9 Nov: Birmingham, Institute
10 Nov: Portsmouth, Pyramids Centre

Bo Ningen announce tour

Gigs & Festivals

Japanese psych division Bo Ningen have plotted out dates for what’s to be their first headlining tour of our British shores. Far from doing things by halves, the band will play an exhaustive fourteen shows (and two festivals, Cambridge’s Wish You Were Here and Cardiff’s SWN) in the space of nineteen days.

Dates as follows:

8 Oct: Bristol, Fleece
9 Oct: Southampton, Joiners
10 Oct: Brighton, Green Door Store
14 Oct: Leicester, Bar Academy
15 Oct: Sheffield, Harley
17 Oct: Manchester, Ruby Lounge
18 Oct: Chester, The Compass
20 Oct: Preston, Mad Ferret
22 Oct: Glasgow, Stereo
23 Oct: Newcastle, Cluny 2
24 Oct: York, Stereo
25 Oct: Hull, Fruit
27 Oct: Derby, Victoria Inn
28 Oct: Liverpool, Mello Mell

Festival line-up update – 30 May 2012

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

DOUNE THE RABBIT HOLE, Duncarron Fort, Scotland, 24-26 Aug: Brand new bookings Malcolm Middleton, Miaoux Miaoux and more are destined to descend Doune The Rabbit Hole this year, and join co-headliners The Phantom Band, King Creosote and Hidden Orchestra plus Pram, Kid Canaveral, Aidan Moffat & Bill Wells, Sparrow & The Workshop, Three Blind Wolves, Bwani Junction and Holy Mountain. www.dounetherabbithole.co.uk

GREEN MAN, Glanusk Park, Powys, Wales, 17-19 Aug: With just announced headliners Mogwai now sharing the topmost part of the roster with Feist, Van Morrison, The Walkmen, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and Yann Tiersen, further Green Man additions include Dexys, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Lower Dens, King Charles and Cate Le Bon. www.greenman.net

SUMMER SERIES AT SOMERSET HOUSE, London, London, 7-17 Jul: Cold Specks, Alt-J, Emmy The Great, Seye and All The Young are amongst those artists just confirmed as auxiliary acts to this year’s Summer Series’ programme, headliners of which include Charlotte Gainsbourg, Paloma Faith, The Enemy, The Temper Trap, Anna Calvi and M83. www.somersethouse.org.uk/music/summer-series-2012

Warner considering options for new CEO, say reports

Business News Labels & Publishers

So, anyone fancy running the Warner Music Group? Anyone? Go on, you’d get to work with Stooshe. Yes, according to the New York Post, current owners of what will soon be ‘the mini-major’ are reportedly sounding out possible contenders for the job of CEO at the music firm, with incumbent Stephen Cooper seemingly keen to hand over the reigns at some point soon-ish.

Cooper was put into the top job at Warner after it was bought by Access Industries last year, replacing the much more high profile Edgar Bronfman Jr, who was eased out of the CEO and then Chairman roles at the major once he ceased to be a shareholder.

But Access man Cooper was, the Post says, always put in place on a temporary basis to turn around the company’s fortunes (aka cut costs), and, the paper adds, Access chief Len Blavatnik intends to appoint a more permanent Warner CEO in due course. Cooper would likely then continue to oversee Warner as Chairman, it’s thought.

It’s not clear if an internal or external appointment is more likely. If the former, then Lyor Cohen, currently overall boss of the Warner record companies, would probably be a lead contender, but some reckon the major is more likely to find a new CEO from outside its ranks. Some have already speculated what Cohen’s next move would be should that happen, though presumably his decision would be greatly influenced by who was given the Chief Executive job.

PPL announces new international partnerships

Business News Deals Labels & Publishers

Recording rights collecting society PPL has announced six new international alliances, meaning the rights body will be able to collect public performance and broadcast royalties for UK labels and recording artists in those territories. The new countries where agreements between PPL and local rights organisations now exist are Croatia, Estonia,Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Portugal.

Says PPL’s Director Of International Laurence Oxenbury: “Signing these new agreements with our European counterparts is great news and shows our commitment to maximising the rights of our members. We already cover a significant part of the global market by value of collections; we are now looking to fill in the gaps and ensure that our members are being paid from all of the smaller markets. 2012 is already shaping up to be a very encouraging year”.

Samsung launches music service with 7Digital

Digital

Samsung has launched its own music service that can be used on the all new, singing and dancing (well, it can play music and vibrate) Galaxy S III smart phone, which has just gone on sale.

The Samsung Music Hub, which is powered by London-based 7Digital, is both an a-la-carte MP3 download service and a streaming platform, with some digital locker shenanigans going on too. At launch it will be available in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the UK. Commenting on the Music Hub, Samsung’s TJ Kang told reporters: “When you ask yourself, ‘what do I want to listen to?’ there is now one simple answer, for every mood, every place and everyone. With the new Music Hub, we’re bringing the joy back to music – listening, collecting and sharing”.

Meanwhile, 7Digital chief man Ben Drury told CMU: “Being selected as the global music partner by Samsung is a major coup for 7Digital. We are now in the position to provide our partners with a global digital music download and streaming platform, with a catalogue of close to 20 million high quality tracks. The initial European launch of Music Hub is just the beginning, and we expect the service to become a global offering very quickly”.

He continued: “Samsung is the world’s leading mobile phone and smartphone company, and we’ve been working closely with the headquarters in Korea for over three years, and with the major and key independent labels, to develop the Music Hub. The company is serious about competing in the digital music space”.

I’m glad Samsung is “bringing the joy back to music”. Frankly, I was beginning to wonder exactly why we bothered listening to the stuff.

Grooveshark launches new data site

Digital

Grooveshark has launched a new music data service called Beluga, which I am assuming must be a particularly groovy whale.

The new site combines Grooveshark streaming data with fan research undertaken by the often controversial digital music firm, giving us insights about the demographics and location of an artists’ fan base, and revealing that 97% of Ben Folds fans file their tax returns via the web, 97% of Justin Bieber fans own a nail repair kit, and that 96% of Mumford & Sons’ American fans are AAA members. And I’m sure there are some business opportunities in all those facts.

Launching the new service, Grooveshark CTO Josh Greenberg told reporters: “Any artist with music on Grooveshark can leverage Beluga’s revolutionary data to learn about their fans, route their tours, sell merchandise, work on building a following, and take their careers to the next level. Beluga opens doors for advertisers and brands to partner with artists who connect with their target audience, presenting endless opportunities. Best of all, we provide all of this market research information entirely for free”.

Grooveshark is, of course, currently being sued by all four major labels over its streaming service which, by allowing users to upload music, often hosts large amounts of unlicensed content. The Groovesharkers insist that by operating a takedown system for content owners their service is legal, and dispute allegations that staff members at the digital firm also upload unlicensed tracks.

It has long been assumed that Grooveshark’s owners hope that they can ultimately overcome legal squabbles with the music industry by having a sufficiently large user-base, and finding ways to make that audience useful to rights owners, and the new ata service could be seen as a move in that direction. Though at the moment the majors don’t seem likely to forgive and forget past issues, even if Grooveshark is offering the most fantastic artist-related user analytics in the world – and however much money can be made from the Ben Folds online accounts package, Justin Bieber nail repair product, and the Mumford & Sons/AAA brand partnership.

Flagging record industry forcing Metallica to tour

And Finally

You see, Lars Ulrich told you this would happen, take one stupid internet and a bunch of pesky file-sharers, and now we have a never-ending Metallica tour.

Kirk Hammett, guitarist with the metal band, has told Rolling Stone that he and his bandmates would quite like to take a rest from touring, but with record sales income so mediocre these days those poor stadium filling rockers need to keep playing live shows just to keep them in plectrums. Of course if you’re a cynic you might wonder why a band who tours at the level of Metallica aren’t making enough cash from their live work to fund the occasional year off. And if you’re a cruel cynic, you might add that Metallica might see bigger pay outs from their records if they didn’t spend their studio time making shit art projects with Lou Reed, but whatever.

Says Hammett: “The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist anymore. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album, and you have a windfall maybe once or twice but not the way it used to be – a cheque every three months. We’ve been a live band, we’ve had to get out there and play, play, play… nowadays that was the area we wanted to kind of lay back on a little bit, and kind of enjoy our families and things. But, you know, it is what it is, and we can’t change that”.

Eddy Says: An open love letter to Sheffield

Eddy Says

Over recent months, Eddy has been expressing his love for certain labels and their amazing founders who ensure, in each case, that they create more than simply another record company. But for this week’s Eddy Says, the focus is geographical. Eddy explores an incredible history and explains how the Steel City stole his heart.

The Wall Of Sound co-host that I wrote about last week was such chaotic brilliance, and in amongst the madness, while I was chatting to Martyn Ware of Heaven 17, there was a moment that really got me thinking. Martyn is from Sheffield, and proud of it, as everybody from Sheffield always is, and quite rightly so. I’ve long held a theory that there is something in the Sheffield water supply that churns out phenomenal musicians, because this city really punches way above its weight when it comes to influential bands.

Think about it. These things are always subjective of course, but speaking personally, that city has influenced me more musically, pound for pound, than any other city that I can think of. My art A-Level was completed almost entirely to the sound of early Human League and ‘Penthouse And Pavement’ by Heaven 17. When I left school and went to London University it was Cabaret Voltaire who showed me the way forward, my first really deep inspiration in sample culture and the coolest electronic/crossover band of the time.

I was a big metal head when I was younger too, and for me the best 1980s ‘hair metal’ album was ‘Hysteria’ by Def Leppard. The production and the songs were incomparable. If you listen to that album without allowing perceptions about silly mullets get in the way, it’s like a lesson in how to write great songs. Almost every track has what sounds like three choruses. Unbelievable. And it still sounds great today.

Meanwhile, one of the acts that soundtracked my early clubbing life was Chakk, a band that came out of the FON Studios scene. At the time I heard a rumour that FON stood for Fuck Off Nazis, which I always admired.

And it doesn’t stop there. I’ve confessed here in the Eddy Says column before that three bands I’ve seen live have moved me to tears with their performances. While none of these were from Sheffield, only one band has ever made me cry just on CD – and they were a Sheffield act. A live performance can be a very emotional thing. A place, an event, so many variables that can illicit emotion, but for something as dry as a plastic disc with binary code on it to suck tears out of a grown man, that has to be something really special. That band was The Longpigs and their song ‘On And On‘.

And while I’m not an Arctic Monkeys obsessive, at this point I have to acknowledge how good they are, and how important they have become in a relatively short space of time. And for the purposes of this piece, they are a peerless example of the Steel City’s more recent sphere of influence. Though more key for me, and my world, is a character involved in their first album, who was soon spotted by Wall Of Sound’s legendary head honcho, Mark Jones, and signed shortly afterwards.

Martyn Ware, one of my heroes through his involvement in Heaven 17 and British Electric Foundation, chose a song by this fellow Sheffielder as his favourite Wall Of Sound tune last week. The tune was ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The World’ by Reverend And The Makers. And I’m so glad he chose it. The Rev, Jon McClure is one of the finest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to call a colleague and the honour to call a friend. He’s quite simply the most honest, honourable and passionate man you could ever hope to meet. His word is more cast iron than any contract, an old fashioned, proper gentleman and prolific talent.

I remember our mutual friend, the brilliant Jagz Kooner, calling me up one day, years ago, to tell me I should come into the studio to hear this new band he was producing at the time. He said: “Eddy, you’ve got to hear this. It’s like we’ve made a record just for YOU”. When I got to the studio, met the band, and heard that song, along with a few others, I booked them to headline my tent at Secret Garden Party that year.

Many thought I was nuts for asking a band that hadn’t even released their first single to headline, but I knew it’d be a good move. By the time they hit that stage, they’d had a couple of hits, and were worth about fifteen times what I’d paid for them. It was an incredible show. I recall Jon being drenched to the skin with his own and other people’s sweat, and that tent had never been so rammed.

Jon is always buzzing with ideas and exploding with side projects and interesting collaborations: Mongrel, Reverend Sound System, Instigate Debate etc. I think of Jon as the unofficial Mayor Of Sheffield, and as their cultural ambassador. He is the perfect reflection of that amazing city. Most people would probably go for Jarvis Cocker, but I think of Jarvis as more metropolitan, more at home in a Primrose Hill pub than one in his birth city. Though he is, of course, another product of whatever it is about this Yorkshire town that creates musical greats of so many different kinds.

And all these names come right off the top of my head. Look closer into the electronica world and you’ll find this city is also home to some other gems in yours and my electronic collection: All Seeing I, LFO, Moloko, Toddla T, Olive and Oris Jay – one of dubstep’s founding fathers. And before I stop all this listing, I must also mention Stephen Jones of Babybird too, who charmed me silly in the 1990s with some brilliant music and lyrics.

But let’s stop listing now and think about all this some more. I just checked the population of Sheffield and it was just over half a million the last time anyone checked thoroughly. At the same time, Leeds measured around three quarters of a million.

Do me a favour right now and try to think of a band from Leeds as influential as, say The Human League? I’ve racked my brains all week and I can’t think of many. Soft Cell and The Sisters Of Mercy shone brightest for me. Sunshine Underground don’t count because they’re actually a bunch of lovely Brummys despite calling Leeds home. There’s Utah Saints, of course, and Andy CMU just reminded me of Gang Of Four, but with respect to all, you’d think that with a quarter of a million people more than Sheffield, we’d be able to think of a hell of a lot more musical greats?

Try to do the same with comparable cities in Yorkshire. York? I can’t even think of one artist! Bradford makes me think of Southern Death Cult, New Model Army, and Terrorvision, who made me laugh in the 90s and provided a foil for Britpop. I’ll probably kick myself when I get the inevitable “but what about [insert name of seminal York or Leeds band here]” emails and tweets from many of you reading this, but I am really struggling here, whereas the Sheffield bands just keep rolling off my tongue.

And I can’t mention Sheffield without also bigging up one of the greatest record labels ever, one totally at the cutting edge, which has provided such huge inspiration for so long: Warp. Sheffield’s ethos in one label right there. And that means you can almost count incredible artists like Aphex Twin as being honorary Sheffielders!

So what is it? Is it the water, or perhaps the people who live there. Certainly I have always noticed, over the years, what a quality crowd populate a great venue like The Plug. I always get such good song requests – people there really know and love their music.

But really, I have no idea why it is that, from my point of view, this city produces such cracking humans and so many more phenomenal bands than they mathematically ought to, but whatever it is, and however long it lasts, Sheffield, and all who sail in her, I salute you.

X eddy

Approved: Crewdson

CMU Approved

When not performing with jazz outfits Saltwater Samurai and Hello Skinny, or as part of Matthew Herbert’s live band, South London producer Hugh Jones also somehow finds the time to create solo work under the name Crewdson, releasing his debut album under this name, ‘Gravity’, via Slowfoot Records last June

That record nudges glitchy beats, snatches of jazz and garage, and an array of bright samples from numerous sources together. Using a delicate touch rather than heavy-handedly forcing all of these different elements together, Jones created a fine balance between them all with brilliant results.

This week sees the release of the first new Crewdson material since ‘Gravity’, a single called ‘Sandstone’. The track, currently available only via bleep.com, manages to lean in the opposing directions of Hot Chip and early Jamie Liddell. It’s infectious and entrancing, very much worth playing on repeat a few times so you can start to slip underneath its various layers.

Check out the video for ‘Sandstone’ here:

Voice founder will review show with BBC

Media Top Stories

Ratings for the UK version of ‘The Voice’ franchise have been “a little bit disappointing”, the original creator of the format, John de Mol, has admitted, as he meets with the BBC to discuss making changes to the programme before a second series.

As previously reported, when ‘The Voice’ – somewhat controversially bought in by the BBC in a bid to compete with the Simon Cowell-led talent shows on ITV – first aired earlier this year it performed well, especially when it went head to head with Cowell’s ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. So much so, Cowell and ITV pushed their show back in the schedules to avoid any overlap with their new rival.

But as the first series of ‘The Voice’ progressed, and especially once the unique bit of the franchise (the ‘blind auditions’) were over, the BBC show started to slip in the ratings, while ‘BGT’ grew its audience. The most recent edition of the Beeb’s show, a semi-final, had just 4.5 million viewers, while the recent ‘BGT’ final drew in 11.9 million people.

According to The Guardian, De Mol says that he is generally pleased with how the first series of the UK version of his talent show franchise has gone, but admits: “We are due to have a big meeting after the final and will talk about what we should change for the second series … There may be a few slight changes”.

Asked whether that meant new judges for series two, De Mol stressed that he was very pleased with how Jessie J, Tom Jones, Danny O’Donoghue and Will.i.am had turned out, but confirmed everything is up for review, saying of the judging line-up: “That’s part of the discussions we will have with the BBC after the final. The question is, do the coaches want to continue”.

He added that the US version of the show might also have some new features added for its next series, which could also be incorporated into the UK edition. As well as discussing how to improve the main programme, De Mol is also set to meet with BBC chiefs to discuss a kids’ version of the singing show.

Willis Earl Beal arrested for assault

Legal

Willis Earl Beal was arrested after a performance at Le Guess Who? festival in The Netherlands this weekend. The singer was held overnight by police in Utrecht after he reportedly kicked a man in the face from the stage.

According to reports, Beal became annoyed by two men, described later by RTV Utrecht as being “under the influence of drink and drugs”, drumming their hands on the stage during his performance. The Guardian reports eyewitnesses as saying that he then told them: “If you disrespect my profession, I disrespect your face”, before doing exactly that.

Shortly afterwards, Beal cut his performance short, telling the audience: “Because of a few bad apples, we all miss out on one more glorious, fantastic, lovely performance. I love you, and I even love the guy whose face I kicked in. I love him, too. He’s a good guy! He’s just drunk a little too much”.

He then called another audience member “a prick” and asked everyone else to buy his merchandise. By this point the police were presumably getting ready to take the singer into custody. Meanwhile, thanks to the wonder of the internet, you can watch it all on YouTube right here:

Del Rey cancels gig because of exhaustion

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

Lana Del Rey has had to pull out of a planned gig in Tokyo because of exhaustion. The show, due to take place yesterday, had already been postponed once from earlier this year.

Confirming that the gig would not go ahead yesterday, the gig’s promoter said: “It is with great regret Lana will not be performing in Tokyo today, she is suffering from exhaustion and the show had to be cancelled. Lana says: ‘I am really sorry to not have made it over to Japan again, I would love to be there to sing and look forward to performing a show that the fans deserve'”.

Del Rey later apologised directly to her fans via Twitter, saying: “Wish I could be with everyone in Tokyo but I’m really sorry I am sick. Thinking of you and I will come back soon”.

Iron Maiden top HMV’s favourite British album poll

Artist News

HMV has announced the results of a public vote it conducted ahead of the Queen’s ‘hey, look how long I’ve been Queen’ party this weekend to identify Britain’s favourite British album and film.

Or, perhaps more likely, to identify which British cultural phenomena have the most committed and web-savvy fanbases. Which is probably why Iron Maiden and Depeche Mode topped the music list published yesterday, ahead of the more usual suspects of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen, who come slightly lower down the top ten. It’s also presumably why Monty Python do so well in the films list.

Commenting on the poll, HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo told reporters: “The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent. Since then, the Queen has presided over the richest period of ultural achievement in our nation’s history, so it’s only right that her Diamond Jubilee, which ironically also encapsulates sixty years of the official charts, should be a period when we reflect on the greatest British albums and films of the past six decades”.

Meanwhile, responding to the news his band had topped the music poll with their 1982 album ‘The Number of the Beast’, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson told CMU: “We’re astonished and delighted to hear ‘The Number Of The Beast’ has been named number one in HMV’s Diamond Jubilee survey for the greatest British album category. Some of the most influential and classic albums from the past 60 years were in the running so it’s a testament to our incredibly loyal and ever-supportive fans who voted for us. Iron Maiden is a proudly British band, so to win this category as voted for by the British public, in Jubilee year, is very special. Thank you to all our wonderful fans!”

And here is Britain’s favourite British albums according to the HMV poll (with percentage of overall vote in brackets):

1. Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (9.18%)
2. Depeche Mode – Violator (6.30%)
3. The Beatles – Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (5.69%)
4. The Beatles – Abbey Road (5.67%)
5. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (5.23%)
6. The Beatles – Revolver (4.01%)
7. Queen – A Night At The Opera (3.98%)
8. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (3.91%)
9. Adele – 21 (3.07%)
10. The Beatles – White Album (2.60%)

And here’s the film list:

1. Trainspotting (6.00%)
2. Monty Python And The Holy Grail (5.48%)
3. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part Two (4.79%)
4. Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (4.78%)
5. A Clockwork Orange (4.37%)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (4.29%)
7. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (3.69%)
8. The Italian Job (3.11%)
9. Shaun Of The Dead (2.95%)
10. The Kings Speech (2.66%)

Second Watch The Throne album planned

Releases

US producer Mike Dean has revealed that plans for Kanye West and Jay-Z to record a second ‘Watch The Throne’ album are in the works.

In an interview with Quiet Lunch, Dean, who co-produced seven tracks on the pair’s first record together, said: “[I’m] working on ‘Watch The Throne 2’. It’s not started yet, but it’s coming”.

He also revealed that he’s been working on new Kanye West solo material: “Just, you know, regular shit that we put down on the machine every two years. Just doing the cycle”.

Watch the full interview here:

Liars stream new album

Releases

Liars have handed over their new album, ‘WIXIW’, to NPR. And what did NPR do? Only put it online for everyone to hear a whole week ahead of its release. Showing off the band’s new wholly electronic sound, it also gives you time to learn all the words for a big singalong at Field Day in London on Saturday afternoon, where Liars are due to play.

Listen here.

Dan Le Sac unveils new video

Releases

Dan Le Sac has put a video for his CMU approved single ‘Play Along’ online. Which is nice. Featuring vocals from Sarah Williams White and due out on 6 Jun, the track is the first single taken from the producer’s debut solo album, ‘Space Between The Words’, which itself is due out on 9 Jul.

The album will feature yet more guest vocalists, including a delightfully dark turn from Emmy The Great, plus Merz, B Dolan, Joshua Idehen and former Pete & The Pirates frontman Pete Hefferan.

Watch the video for ‘Play Along’ here:

A Place To Bury Strangers release video

Releases

A Place To Bury Strangers have released the video for ‘You Are The One’. Due out on 25 Jun, the song is the first single from the band’s third album, ‘Worship’. Released via Dead Oceans, the new long player will follow on 11 Jul.

The video, I shuld warn you, comes marked ‘Not Safe For Work’. Unless, like me, you’ve been left alone in the office, in which case knock yourself out. The same goes if you work on your own anyway. Or if you’re working at home. Or, in fact, if you work somewhere that doesn’t mind you watching videos that include not particularly graphic violent and sexual imagery. So really it comes marked ‘Not Safe For Some Workplaces. It Really Depends Where You Work’.

Glad we got that cleared up. Now watch the video here (depending on where you currently are):

Oh, and the band have also published the tracklist for ‘Worship’. You might as well have a look at that too – it’s totally safe for work (depending on you employer’s internet usage policy and how sternly they enforce it):

Alone
You Are The One
Mind Control
Worship
Fear
Dissolved
Why I Can’t Cry Anymore
Revenge
And I’m Up
Slide
Leaving Tomorrow

Acid house documentary to be screened in Shoreditch

Artist News Gigs & Festivals

‘High On Hope’, a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of acid house in the late 80s and early 90s, will be screened at Village Underground in Shoreditch this Saturday. The screening will be followed by acid house DJ sets from Farley & Heller and Ralph Lawson, plus a secret special guest.

Tickets for the night will cost you £10, part of which will go towards funding licensing of the music used in the film in order for it to be commercially released. More information from www.highonhope.com

Watch the trailer for the film here:

Final ever Westlife show to be screened in cinemas live

Gigs & Festivals

The final ever concert by Westlife will be beamed live into cinemas across the world (mainly in the UK and Ireland admittedly, but some cinemas in South Africa, Australia and various other European countries too), I think so representatives from the United Nations can check for certain that they really actually do bid the world farewell once and for all, as long promised.

BBC Worldwide and a company called By Experience will film and transmit the concert, which takes place at Dublin’s Croke Park on 23 Jun. Tickets for the final show sold out within five minutes. Tickets for seats at those cinemas already confirmed to screen the live broadcast will go on sale today, with more cinemas to be confirmed in due course.

Say the group in perfect unison, presumably from four neatly aligned stools: “It is bound to be a hugely emotional night and we expect to have tears in our eyes for nearly every song. The fact that the show will be beamed to our fans in cinemas around the world only adds to our excitement”.

Sean Paul announces London show

Gigs & Festivals

Jamaican dancehall bod Sean Paul will be over in London next month to play one of those live show things. The performance at IndigO2 in the Millennium Dome complex will take place on 26 Jun. Tickets are due to go on sale this Friday, 1 Jun.

Paul will also appear the weekend before the IndigO2 show at Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend, which will be his first show in London for almost a year, and therefore the first opportunity for Londoners to see him perform tracks from his ‘Tomahawk Technique’ album, which was released earlier this year.

Here’s the video for one such tracks, ‘She Doesn’t Mind’:

Benga and friends to take over Koko

Gigs & Festivals

Dubstep producer Benga will headline a show at London’s Koko this Sunday, premiering some of his new material. He’ll also be joined by Joker, Youngman, Dismantle and CMU approved pop duo AlunaGeorge.

Benga is also due to release a new single, ‘Icon’, which features vocals from Bebe Black, on 24 Jun. Watch the video for the track here:

Torche announce UK shows

Gigs & Festivals

Floridian metallers Torche have announced that they will be over in the UK for a run of shows this September. The band released their third album, ‘Harmonicraft’, back in April.

Here are the dates:

13 Sep: Manchester, Moho Live
14 Sep: Nottingham, Rock City
15 Sep: Glasgow, Captain’s Rest
16 Sep: London, XOYO
17 Sep: Brighton, The Haunt
18 Sep: Southampton, The Cellar

LoveLive expands

Business News Media

LoveLive, a company that develops and makes usually live-music based programming for media, artists, labels and brands, has announced a number of senior appointments as part of continued expansion.

The new appointments include Will McGillivray, formerly of MTV and Ginx TV, who becomes LoveLive’s Head Of Content & Formats; Abby Newell formally of Warner Brothers Entertainment, who joins as Commercial Manager; Paul Watkins, former financial planning man at the Perform Group, who becomes Finance Director; and Cherry Collard of Red Light Campaign, who joins the firm’s social team.

The new recruitment spurt coincides with the announcement of a new alliance with New York-based music and entertainment marketing company Giant Step, which will work with LoveLive on US-based projects moving forward.

And, if you’re looking for some official comment on all this activity, then it’s your lucky day. Music Week quotes LoveLive CEO Richard Cohen as follows: “I’m thrilled to have such remarkable talent joining the LoveLive team at such an exciting time in our development. Our recent growth has been extraordinary and Will, Abby, Paul, Cherry, and indeed the team at Giant Step, are perfectly placed to support the company’s ongoing expansion”.

So where exactly did the bogus “$72 trillion” claim come from?

Digital

RIAA

So, as previously reported, last week a link to a news story was doing the rounds of the social web bearing the headline ‘RIAA Thinks LimeWire Owes $72 Trillion in Damages’.

It was an intriguing title because [a] it looked like the Recording Industry Association Of America was being an arse again, and that’s always amusing, [b] the RIAA and LimeWire actually settled more or less exactly a year ago, so it would be interesting to know what went wrong, and [c] $72 trillion is more money that there is in the world.

So intriguing was the headline, in fact, that the NME picked the story up and ran with it, citing as its original source for the bold claim a website called ComputerWorld.com. And once the NME had run the story, several other sites repeated it (actually, it’s possible some of them actually ran the story before the NME) and so it became ‘proper news’. But there were two important facts about the original Computer World story worth noting. First, it was over a year old. And second, it wasn’t a Computer World story. Well, not exclusively.

As noted on Friday, the Computer World report that the NME and various other media linked to dated from March 2011, something the date stamp at the top of the story confirmed. At that time the record industry, having defeated its long time P2P enemy LimeWire in the US courts the previous year, was preparing its damages claim.

The RIAA noted that, under US copyright law, a court can award up to $150,000 in damages for every infringement a third party commits. LimeWire was being held liable for all the infringement committed by its users, and the trade body reckoned at least 11,000 of its members’ tracks had been illegally shared via the service. As technically damages were due for every single time a file-transfer occurred, that’s how the record industry trade body argued that trillions in damages might be due.

As it happens, the judge hearing the case said that size of claim was ludicrous, and LimeWire and the RIAA subsequently agreed last May to a more modest settlement of $105 million.

So, a fourteen month old story does the rounds on Twitter and gets picked up by news media for a second time, those journalists forgetting [a] that we all wrote about this story a year ago and [b] to check the date at the top of the source story. Simple. Though, as some CMU readers have pointed out, the Computer World report that was incorrectly picked up as a new story didn’t actually carry the eye-grabbing $72 trillion figure. Rather, it spoke about the RIAA pushing for “trillions” in damages; which is still a ludicrous claim on the trade body’s part, but not more money than exists in the world.

So where did the $72 trillion figure come from? The author of the original Computer World story, noting this discrepancy in a new article this weekend, proposed: “The NME picked up [my] story from last year and for some reason ran it this week as a new one, albeit with an additional twist. The website, based apparently on some of its own calculations, concluded that the RIAA was claiming it was owed $72 trillion in damages from LimeWire for music piracy”.

But was it the NME which lumped for the $72 trillion figure? Interestingly, at the same time Computer World ran its original RIAA damages story last March other media were, obviously, also reporting on the trade body’s claim, and in some of those other reports the figure $75 trillion was bandied around, in particular in this article on the similar-sounding-to-Computer-World website PC World. And, actually, it was the PC World article, and not the Computer World piece, that we here at CMU saw being touted around on the social networks 24 hours before the NME story first appeared.

So, perhaps the NME piece not only reported on a fourteen month old news story as if it were new, but also didn’t credit the right source. Although that wouldn’t quite explain how the 2011 story went with $75 trillion, while last week’s reports said $72 trillion.

Anyway, to reconfirm, the RIAA is not going after LimeWire for more money than there is on the planet, or indeed any more money than that it agreed to with the now defunct file-sharing company last year. Instead the trade body that everyone loves to hate has been enjoying the opportunity to be justifiably high and mighty about the way it has been misrepresented on the internet.

Its spokeswoman told Computer World: “This was disturbing to see. We would hope that there be basic standards that reporters and bloggers adhere to, like doing original research, checking with sources referenced, before just re-posting a story and accepting everything as fact. That means also actually attaching a byline to a post too. The standard should not be ‘we’ll post whatever and correct it if it’s wrong’. Get it right in the first place, do the homework”.

Though, as the trade body that pursued an incredibly expensive and totally counterproductive sue-the-fans policy against file-sharers for so long, arguably setting back the whole digital music market five years, and a policy that even the body’s own former chief has subsequently admitted was misguided, perhaps it would have been better if the RIAA had said, more simply, “see, everyone makes mistakes”.

Classic FM launches new website

Media

Global Radio’s classical music station Classic FM has launched a new website which it claims will become the “world’s biggest online classical music destination”. New features include a diary of classical concerts, lists of recommended listening, a database of audio, video and images featuring key classical composers and performers, plus the ability to buy music listeners have heard on air.

Confirming the new look site, Classic FM MD Darren Henley told reporters: “When Classic FM launched in 1992, we rewrote the rulebook on how people listened to classical music on the radio. Two decades on, we’re reinventing the way listeners engage with classical muic in the digital world. And this is just the start. We have a whole host of exciting new innovations that we will roll out on classicfm.com during the year ahead”.

Pop stars follow footballers in sharing naked photos of groupies via their Blackberries, says The Sun

And Finally

According to The Sun, a number of “top music stars” have formed a “sleazy sex ring” via their Blackberries, through which they exchange explicit photos of groupies.

The secret group is reportedly called PMB, short for ‘Pimp My Bitches’, and has similarities with a Blackberry-enabled naked-photo-exchange-network allegedly set up by a group of premiere league footballers, and revealed by The Sun last week. Which means male pop stars are now as misogynistic as footballers, which can’t be good.

Though, by naming no names, The Sun’s report does mean we can all join in the fun here, not by leering at naïve and possibly unsuspecting poor girls, but by trying to guess which pop stars are part of the PMB network. It apparently includes the members of one “hugely famous British band” and two solo artists, one from the UK and one from overseas. And if it helps, one act has a “squeaky clean” image. And for some reason, one of the sporty misogynists in the aforementioned footballer’s photo exchange network has also been allowed to join the pop version.

The Sun quotes a source as saying: “Some of the best known celebrities in this country – be they in sport or music – are caught up in these sleazy groups. They treat women like pieces of meat and have no respect for them. These women and girls have no idea naked snaps of them are being circulated. It’s disgusting. What gets me is one of the acts trades on a squeaky clean image. Their fans would disown them if they knew what they were up to. All three acts have massive followings among young girls. It’s a bit like with the footballers – they think they are untouchable”.

So, there you go, this just in: arrogant chauvinistic bastards can sing songs as well as kick balls. Who knew?

Five Day Forecast – w/c 28 May 2012

CMU Planner

I think we can safely say summer has started, then. Although my phone tells me it won’t hold out as far the long Jubilee weekend.

My phone is a notorious pessimist though, it’s always moaning about something. “Oh, all my buttons have stopped working”, “Oh, my screen is scratched”, “Oh, I was created under poor working conditions on the other side of the world to satisfy the West’s insatiable appetite for cheap technology”. Shut up, phone. Summer is here to stay. And here are all the summery things we can enjoy this week.

01: Amanda Palmer Kickstarter deadline. Can it be a whole month since Amanda Palmer started her latest Kickstarter fundraising effort? No, not quite. You have a few more days to help her reach $1 million in funding ($900,000 more than she originally asked for). Many are saying this is the project that validates fan funding once and for all and has seen the system come of age. Whether that’s actually true remains to be seen, but it’s still pretty exciting to watch.

02: Primavera Sound and PrimaveraPro. This week the Primavera Sound festival will be taking place in Barcelona, and at its conference side, PrimaveraPro, the future of music festivals in general will be a key topic up for consideration, with reps from Womad, SxSW, Eurockéennes and the UK’s Association Of Independent Festivals all confirmed to take part. Amongst the specific festival themed topics to be explored is how to survive in the competitive festivals market, the importance creativity plays in success, and the positive role major music events have on their host cities or regions. There’ll also be a just announced focus on indie labels, including representatives from British record companies Domino, Bella Union and Rough Trade.

03: Field Day and Apple Cart. Preparing Londoners (and anyone else who wants to travel from out of town) for two days off on Monday and Tuesday, Field Day and its calmer sister festival Apple Cart will take place this Saturday and Sunday. Franz Ferdinand will headline the former, and Noah And The Whale the latter, with plenty of brilliant new and not so new artists on before them. So that’ll be fun.

04: New releases. Blimey, where to start this week? Well, people seem quite excited about the new Sigur Rós and Alt-J albums, which are both out now. And Laurel Halo‘s debut, which is excellent. In addition to that, you can find new long players from The Scissor Sisters, Producers and Rumer, plus singles and EPs from Beck, Becoming Real, Novella, Florrie and Savages.

05. Gigs. Julia Holter is playing Field Day this year, which is great news. Although I do worry that she might not be a ‘festival act’. Luckily, she’s playing Café Oto in London this Friday too, and I think we should all go. Also playing one-off London dates this week are Girls, Doldrums, Poliça, Japandroids and former Gallows frontman Frank Carter’s new band Pure Love. Meanwhile, following two London dates this week, The Hundred In The Hands will actually make it as far as Cambridge. Everyone else will have to make do with Coldplay.

Andy Malt
Editor, CMU

Approved: ILLLS

CMU Approved

ILLLS’ forthcoming debut EP, ‘Dark Paradise’, represents the collaborative fruits of an almost two-year partnership between Slow Talk’s Steven Ross and Jim Barrett of the once CMU reviewed Young Buffalo. A six part amble between various rock and psychedelic touchstones, it’s attuned to the pet sounds of Oxford, Mississippi’s Cats Purring collective, sharing something of its unkempt all-American timbre with the music of CP associates like Dent May and Bass Drum Of Death.

The band’s scene credentials aside, frowsy rock junket ‘Bathroom Floor’ and the thrift-store macabre of ‘Teeth’ – as will both feature on ‘Dark Paradise’ upon its release on 17 Jun via Sounds Of Sweet Nothing – can only bode well for ILLLS’ prospects.

Preview those tracks in order of mention here:

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:24 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: The Beach Boys

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:23 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Maximo Park

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:21 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Bo Ningen

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:18 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Doune The Rabbit Hole | Green Man Festival | Summer Series At Somerset House

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:16 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Access Industries | Len Blavatnik | Lyor Cohen | Stephen Cooper | Warner Music

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 11:15 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: PPL

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 10:38 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: 7digital | Samsung

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 10:36 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Beluga | Grooveshark | Josh Greenberg

Wednesday 30 May 2012, 10:34 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Kirk Hammett | Lars Ulrich | Metallica

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:51 | By Eddy Temple-Morris

READ MORE ABOUT: Eddy Temple Morris | Jon McClure | Martyn Ware | Reverend And The Makers | Sheffield

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:50 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Crewdson

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:49 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: BBC | John de Mol | The Voice

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:48 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Willis Earl Beal

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:43 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Lana Del Rey

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:42 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Gennaro Castaldo | HMV

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:41 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Jay-Z | Kanye West | Mike Dean

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:39 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Liars

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:37 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Dan Le Sac

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:35 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: A Place To Bury Strangers

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:33 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: High On Hope | Village Underground

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:29 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: BBC Worldwide | Experience | Westlife

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:27 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Sean Paul

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:22 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Benga

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:20 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Torche

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:18 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Giant Step | LoveLive

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:11 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Computer World | Limewire | NME | PC World | Recordings Industry Association Of America (RIAA)

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:07 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: Classic FM | Darren Henley | Global

Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:04 | By CMU Editorial

READ MORE ABOUT: BlackBerry | The Sun

Monday 28 May 2012, 11:53 | By Andy Malt

READ MORE ABOUT: Amanda Palmer | Apple Cart | Field Day | Primavera

Monday 28 May 2012, 11:52 | By Aly Barchi

READ MORE ABOUT: ILLLS