Wednesday 30 January 2013, 12:39 | By Aly Barchi

MGMT talk weird new LP, June release, alien parasites

Artist News

When last we saw MGMT, they were craving the approval of baby cats by playing them their new music. Since said baby cats didn’t look pleased – at all – to hear it, the band’s Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden have instead played it to Rolling Stone journalist David Browne, who’s apparently less discerning than a kitten.

According to Browne’s RS article, Goldwasser and WanWyngarden (minus the live band they collaborated with circa 2010’s ‘Congratulations’) have been “holed up in a woodsy cabin … cherry-picking the best parts of their free-form jams to construct tracks that reflect the Aphex Twin and house records they’ve been listening to”. The very tentative date by which that may all be released is a tba day in June.

“We’re not trying to make music that everyone understands the first time they hear it”, says Goldwasser of the new record, whilst VanWyngarden adds: “There’s no illusion on [our label’s] part that we’re going to turn into a top 40 band. That’s kind of comforting”.

Well, it’s nice that he’s being realistic re Maroon 5-style chart popularity, especially given that one of the tracks that may/may not feature on the LP, ‘Alien Days’, is “about that feeling when a parasitic alien is in your head, controlling things”.

Eric Clapton to release Old Sock

Releases

Eric Clapton is releasing ‘Old Sock’, a covers compilation that also features a pair of new tracks of his own devising, on 11 Mar. Alongside the original songs, ‘Every Little Thing’ and ‘Gotta Get Over’, the likes of Paul McCartney, Chaka Khan, blues great JJ Cale and Clapton’s ex-Blind Faith pal Steve Winwood will guest on some of his covers.

Details and a tracklisting are available here.

Wavves give new record release date

Releases

Hey, the CMU Approved Wavves have illuminated us all as to what their hip hop and woodblock-featuring new LP will look/sound like when it’s released on 25 Mar.

The band’s Nathan Williams defines the tone of ‘Afraid Of Heights’, thematically a less positive record than his last one ‘King Of The Beach’, as one of “depression and anxiety, being death-obsessed and paranoid of impending doom”.

He adds: “I feel like the narration is almost schizophrenic if you listen front to back; every word is important, even the constant contradictions and lack of self-worth. That’s all a part of this record-questioning everything not because I’m curious, but because I’m paranoid”.

This is its tracklisting, followed by a play of a track it mentions, ‘Demon To Lean On’:

Sail To The Sun
Demon To Lean On
Mystic
Lunge Forward
Dog
Afraid Of Heights
Paranoid
Cop
Beat Me Up
Everything Is My Fault
That’s On Me
Gimme a Knife
I Can’t Dream

Peace share LP info

Releases

Alt-pop pacifists Peace have just loosed a flock of white doves (okay, a press release) to say that they’re releasing their first LP ever, a ten-track titled ‘In Love’, via Sony/Columbia on 17 Mar.

But what does the quartet’s Harrison Koisser have to say about that, and falling ‘In Love’ in general? Well, this, actually: “If watching thousands of romantic movies and singing billions of love songs throughout our lives hasn’t left us thinking that getting really, really in love is something we want, need, hate or don’t give an F [‘a fuck’] about then maybe ‘In Love’ is about to. I guess as an album it feels like an antidote or something. I’m not sure what for but can you really be sure about anything? It’s 2013 and it’s time to find out”.

Yes, that it is. Now, in the loving spirit of giving and sharing, please have an ‘In Love’ tracklisting and YouTube player featuring a new re-taping of Peace’s 2012 single, ‘Follow Baby’:

Higher Than The Sun
Follow Baby
Lovesick
Float Forever
Wraith
Delicious
Waste Of Paint
Toxic
Sugarstone
California Daze

Smashing Pumpkins to tour Oceania

Gigs & Festivals

Bald Billy Corgan and his Smashing Pumpkins are touring in the strange wake of their new ‘LP-within-an-LP’, ‘Oceania’, soon.

Word is they’ll be deploying “new technology in video mapping to create something new and previously unseen”, so that’s nice.

The band have just released the applicable dates for us all to look at, so, for Billy’s sake, do so now. They’ll go on sale Friday at 9am.

1 Jul: Manchester, Academy
2 Jul: Glasgow, Academy
22 Jul: London, Wembley Arena

A$AP Rocky adds $how$

Gigs & Festivals

Rapper A$AP Rocky is to take his recently-released LP, ‘LongLiveA$AP’, for a Britain-based spin. In related news, Rocky’s Skrillex-featuring new single ‘Wild For The Night’ will be in shops from 25 Feb.

Bypassing any additional info on that, it’s straight to the dates:

22 May: London, Brixton Academy
23 May: Birmingham, Institute
25 May: Manchester, Academy 1
26 May: Glasgow, ABC

Unknown Mortal Orchestra set new dates

Gigs & Festivals

Psych wizards of NZ Unknown Mortal Orchestra have promised to play lots of shows to coincide with their appearances at Liverpool Sound City, Live At Leeds and ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror in May. If only so they have something new to show off, the band will release new LP ‘II’ on 4 Feb.

This is UMO’s Ruban Nielson playing one of its tracks, ‘Faded In The Morning’, for The Fly:

Tour dates:

1 May: Glasgow, King Tuts
2 May: Dublin, Academy 2
6 May: Manchester, Deaf Institute
7 May: Bristol, Thekla
8 May: Birmingham, Temple Room
16 May: London, Village Underground

Festival line-up update – 30 Jan 2013

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

Several of today’s FLUUs are Yorkshire-based, as it happens, so why not start with those.

First, alphabetically, is indie-fest Beacons, as has just named Django Django, Eats Everything, Egyptian Hip Hop, Floating Points and David Rodigan amid its very nice initial ‘phase’ of artist additions. Meanwhile, Leeds’ city-central pop/rock do Live At…well, Leeds, oozes allure via first-confirmed guest players like AlunaGeorge, Peace, King Krule, Laura Mvula… and Darwin Deez. Likewise – in terms of being in Yorkshire, that is – this year’s familial and machine-themed Deer Shed ensigns its first names; specifically Willy Mason, The Milk, solo Supergrass man Gaz Coombes… and Darwin Deez (again). The kids really love Darwin Deez.

Keeping far away from Yorkshire (and Darwin Deez) this FLUU season is Oslo’s Øya, which – according to a list of its new bookings – is to host Slayer, Azealia Banks, Disclosure and Alabama Shakes alongside Blur, Angel Haze, HAIM and co.

Also worth a mention, is that Finland’s Flow Festival, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, is offering a 10% discount of tickets to UK residents. The festival announced its first run of acts last week, including The Knife, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Solange, Azealia Banks and Of Monsters And Men. More ticket details available here.

Now to a summation of all the above line-up announcements, plus new info on Turkish dance delight Sunsplash Antalya and sleepless Dutch stay-over Motel Mozaique:

BEACONS, Funkirk Estate, Carleton, North Yorkshire, 16-18 Aug: Django Django, Theo Parrish, Moon Duo, Floating Points, David Rodigan, Ben UFO, Egyptian Hip Hop, Oneman, Eats Everything, Bicep, Dutch Uncles, Machine Drum, Bondax, Esben And The Witch, Andres, Chad Valley, Channel One Soundsystem, Move D (DJ set), Jon K, Hookworms, Childhood, Temples, Drenge, Wolf Alice, Jaws, Thumpers. www.greetingsfrombeacons.com

DEER SHED, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, North Yorkshire, 19-21 Jul: Darwin Deez, The Milk, Willy Mason, Gaz Coombes, The Unthanks, Public Service Broadcasting, To Kill A King, Zervas And Pepper, Kitty The Lion, Blue Rose Code, Gaz Coombes, Marconi Union, Tubular Bells For Two. www.deershedfestival.com

LIVE AT LEEDS, various venues, Leeds, 3-5 May: AlunaGeorge, Darwin Deez, Everything Everything, Little Comets, Peace, Rudimental, The Pigeon Detectives, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Staves, Tribes, Arlissa, King Krule, Laura Mvula, Lewis Watson, Ryan Keen, Soley, Swim Deep, The 1975, The Crookes, The Neighbourhood, Theme Park, Wave Machines, Battle Lines, Blackeye, Charles Bruno, Charlie Straw, China Rats, Dan Croll, Dancing Years, Department M, Fawn Spots, George Ezra, Happy Daggers, Harry George Johns, Hudson Taylor, Hunting Bears, Indiana, Jacob Banks, Jagwar Ma, Joe Banfi, Joel Baker, Jordan Allen, Marika Hackman, Marsicans, Nick Mulvey, Ofei, Pete Roe, Peter & Kerry, Post War Glamour Girls, Roo Panes, Saint Raymond, Sam Smith, Seasfire, Sj Bravo, Skaters, Sons And Lovers, Sweet Baboo, Swimming Lessons, The Family Rain, The Glass Caves, The Grand, The Struts, Thomas J Speight, We Were Frontiers, Witch Hunt, Yadi. www.liveatleeds.com

MOTEL MOZAIQUE, various venues, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 5-6 Apr: John Grant, AlunaGeorge, Daughter, Sinkane, Stornoway, Jah Wobble & The Modern, Matthew E White, Jazz Ensemble, Brasstronaut, Ethan Johns, Submotion Orchestra, Valgeir Sigurdsson, TEEN, Jaga Jazzist & Sinfonia Rotterdam, The Growlers, Daley, José James, Retro Stefson, The Broken Brass Ensemble, Rocketnumbermine, Jacco Gardner, Marble Sounds, Jagwar Ma, The Milk Carton Kids, Night Works. www.motelmozaique.nl/en

ØYA, Gamlebyen, Oslo, Norway, 6-10 Aug: Slayer, Alabama Shakes, Azealia Banks, Disclosure, Jupiter Bokondji & Okwess International, Atlanter, Kvelertak, Metz. oyafestivalen.com

SUNSPLASH ANTALYA, Hillside Su Hotel, Antalya, Turkey, 2-9 Jun: Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay, Kirk Degiorgio, Koreless, Phil Asher, Rainer Trueby, Martin ‘AtJazz’ Iveson, Lefto, Ahu, Zaf Chowdhry, Djsoulprovyder. www.sunsplash-festival.com

Rejigs and redundancies as Universal/EMI consolidation continues

Business News EMI Sale Timeline Industry People Labels & Publishers

More rejigs, revamps and redundancies have been incoming this week as Universal Music properly absorbs the record company formerly known as EMI.

First to Latin America, and Mexico where two former EMI execs have been given senior roles overseeing the combined Universal/EMI operations in the country. Alfredo Delgadillo, formerly Commercial & Music Services Director at EMI Mexico, will become GM of the combined Universal Music Mexico company, while EMI marketing man Fernando Grediaga becomes Marketing Director for the consolidated business.

The new appointments follow the departures of the former chiefs of both EMI and Universal in the country, EMI’s Robbie Lear and Universal’s José Puig. The former plans to extend his education work, and also launch a new venture in partnership with Universal. The latter is said to be departing the music major for “personal reasons”.

Elsewhere within the Universal Music Latin America division, Universal man Manuel Peña becomes MD of the firm’s business in the Andean Region (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru), Central America and the Caribbean, while EMI man Ernesto Vicente becomes SVP Strategic Marketing for the entire Latin America unit.

Over in Australia, the Universal/EMI merger has also come into effect this week, following the departure earlier this month of Mark Poston, Chairman of EMI Australia.

It’s thought Universal will retain an EMI label within its Australian business, with some EMI A&Rs and marketers staying within that unit. Other EMI staffers may be offered roles in Universal labels, while back office functions will be merged into their equivalent UMG departments. Overall, though, it is thought around 20 EMI employees will be let go.

And finally back to the US, where the former flagship EMI label, Capitol, now a Universal division being led by Steve Barnett, has appointed long-term Universal exec Todd von Mende to the role of Chief Financial Officer.

SeeTickets faces union dispute as it withdraws from trade group

Business News Live Business

SeeTickets, the UK ticketing company formerly owned by Andew Lloyd Webber’s company but now controlled by Universal Music parent Vivendi, is facing a strike in a dispute with union BECTU over working conditions at the ticketing agency, according to The Stage.

It seems the dispute between See Tickets and the union, which represents technical staff across the media and entertainment industries, began last October. See has now given notice that it wishes to terminate its voluntary recognition of the union, and the organisation’s right to negotiate collectively for its members on employment issues.

BECTU Supervisory Official Patrick Styles says that concerns were initially raised last year about the workload being placed on See employees and the environment in which staff worked. Unimpressed with the response of management to those concerns to date, Styles said last week that if no movement could be made in the near future regards the issues raised he would ballot union members about striking.

He told The Stage: “I met with members and reported the unreasonable and unhelpful stance taken by See Tickets about refusing to enter into constructive dialogue, instead giving three months’ notice of withdrawing from the voluntary recognition agreement. Members were shocked to hear that their senior management was not interested in discussing the legitimate concerns they have raised, and it was unanimously agreed that I should pursue these matters further”.

See’s dispute with BECTU comes as the company has also decided not to renew is membership of the Society Of Ticket Agents And Retailers, the ticketing sector’s trade body, that also operates a code of conduct which it says reassures ticket buyers that their interests will be protected. STAR’s Jonathan Brown told The Stage: “I don’t know what the reasons are for them not signing up, but it seems a real pity when the code is there to help protect consumers and they are not participating in it”.

Björk launches Kickstarter campaign to extend app availability

Digital

Björk has launched a campaign on fan-funding site Kickstarter in a bid to make the apps that featured in the iPad version of her 2011 album ‘Biophilia’ available on more platforms.

When the multimedia version of her last album was originally launched in 2011, the singer came in for some criticism for only making the apps available via Apple’s iOS operating system. However, she said at the time that because the software was open source she expected hackers to find a way to make them available on other systems (presumably because, while that’s not legal, the budget wasn’t there for her to do it herself).

However, that never happened and since then Björk has been promoting the apps as educational tools to teach children about music and science, and says that she now wants to extend that not-for-profit project by making the applications available on more devices. Via the Kickstarter campaign, Bjork hopes to launch Android and Windows 8 compatible versions, and also apps for use on Mac computers.

Says the lady herself: “The Biophilia Educational Programme is a new way to teach children about science and music. It has met with success in many cities, sparking interest from kids and educators from all over the world, from South America to East Asia to Africa. The most interest has come from students from low-income households and schools with underfunded art budgets, and the only way to bring the project to those people is to have Biophilia reprogrammed for Android and Windows 8. The Biophilia educational project is strictly non-profit and volunteer-based, and that’s why we need your help”.

Aside from the warm glow of supporting a not-for-profit educational initiative, Björk is offering those who support her scheme via Kickstarter early access to the Android apps, t-shirts and DVDs and, for those who donate more than £800, VIP tickets to forthcoming ‘Biophilia’ live shows.

Bieber accused of boob grab in fan photo

And Finally

Poor Justin Bieber can’t do anything right lately. First there was the dope smoking photos, then he was accused of misbehaving at the gym, and then a police report was filed after he hit a security guard with a sponge ball fired from a nerf gun. And now he’s been accused of being a pervy groper after a fan posted a photo of herself with the star in which it looks like the Biebster is groping her left breast.

But the fan who posted the photo insists it’s all much more innocent than some have suggested. She tweeted: “I’M DYING HAHAHAHHAHA, IT LOOKS LIKE JUSTIN’S TOUCHING MY BOOB IN THE PICTURE AHAHAHAHHA… Let me clear this up for people who can’t read, NO I did NOT ask Justin to touch my boobs… I whispered that it was my second time sneaking in and he kissed me on the cheek in the picture and& it looks like his hand is there. People can think what they want but I know what really happened and Justin does too, so everyone else’s opinions don’t matter to me”.

So, consider that clarified.

O’Connor calls on Gallaghers to make up, claims Noel once proposed

And Finally

Sinead O’Connor has claimed that Noel Gallagher, in a drunken stupor back at the height of his Oasis days, once proposed to her at a festival. The Irish singer makes the claim in an interview with Uncut magazine, when answering a question apparently submitted by Liam Gallagher.

The Beady Eye frontman’s mini-missive to O’Connor read: “You’ve always been effortlessly cool. How do you manage that?” O’Connor replied: “Oh, that’s sweet. I’ve never seen myself as cool, but I’m flattered. Actually, Liam’s brother Noel once asked me to marry him, just before he married Meg Mathews. He won’t remember, as he was off his face at a festival in Amsterdam”.

The singer continues by calling on the estranged Gallagher brothers to bury the hatchet, if only to please their mum. O’Connor: “I am so glad to hear from Liam because I, as a mammy, am not happy that him and his brother aren’t getting along well, and their poor mammy must be very upset. Tell Liam I love him and his brother and I’d like them to get on with each other. Do it for mammy’s sake, yer feckers!”

Styles provides cheeky message for pap’s daughter

And Finally

One Direction’s Harry Styles wrote a cheeky message when a photographer waiting outside the popstar’s London home asked the 1D-er if he’d sign something for his daughter Ella.

Jovially agreeing, Styles scrawled on a piece of cardboard: “To Ella, please tell your daddy to go away. Love from Harry x”. Which seems fair enough to me.

Though next time he might want to add the PS, “and please ask daddy to not flog a photo of this message to the KP Pictures agency”, because that’s how they end up in The Sun.

Q&A: Frightened Rabbit

Artist Interviews

Frightened Rabbit

Initially a solo project for singer-songwriter Scott Hutchison, taking his mother’s childhood nickname as a moniker, Frightened Rabbit grew into a band over three albums: namely 2006’s ‘Sing The Greys’ and ‘2008’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, and 2010’s ‘The Winter Of Mixed Drinks’.

Having released those first three records through indie label FatCat, the band then signed to Warner/Atlantic in November 2010. A year later, and with guitarist Gordon Skene added to create the current five-piece line-up, the first release under that deal was released in the form of ‘A Frightened Rabbit EP’, with a second EP release, ‘State Hospital’, following a year after that. And now, on 4 Feb, the band’s first major label album, ‘Pedestrian Verse’, will be unleashed. Later the same month the band will head out on a rapidly selling out tour of the UK, including a show at The Forum in London on 13 Feb.

Before all of that kicked off, CMU’s Andy Malt spoke to Hutchison about the new album, his views on Mumford & Sons, and the future of the music industry.

AM: It’s over two years since you signed to Atlantic. Have you been writing and recording ‘Pedestrian Verse’ all that time?
SH: The new record took about eighteen months in total to make. The process was longer than with previous albums, mainly due to the fact that we worked collaboratively on the music this time. Writing within this new framework, it took us a while to hit our stride.

AM: So what was the process on this album, and how did it compare to previous albums?
SH: It was very different. We wrote the music collaboratively from the outset this time, rather than my traditional method of writing in solitude and almost completing the songs before the band had even heard a note of it. And once we got into the studio, we were adamant that we wanted to perform the basis of each track ‘live’, with the five of us playing together in the room. That had never happened before, and it adds an energy that had perhaps been missing in previous efforts. Our producer Leo took the songs that stage further, adding a beautiful level of detail to each track in the studio.

AM: Was it a conscious decision to do things differently this time, or did it happen organically?
SH: We did consciously push ourselves, and pushed each other I suppose. It became about a collective vision and ambition for each song rather than simply my own, and that meant that the songs took various twists and turns on the road to completion that none of us could have anticipated. It was definitely organic and certainly exciting.

AM: You seem to have settled on a line-up now. Do you think this is what will one day be referred to as the ‘classic Frightened Rabbit line-up’?
SH: Ha! Who knows? It’s the only line-up I can imagine having from now on. It’s the best incarnation of Frightened Rabbit in our relatively short history, I’m sure of that.

AM: The title of the new album potentially gives critics a free derogatory remark to use. At what stage did you settle on that title and why did you choose it?
SH: I settled on that title almost from the outset for that very reason. I knew that it left me open to easy criticism, so it was effectively a challenge set by myself to be a better lyricist and to avoid cliché and dull, pedestrian writing at all costs. I hope it worked. Time will tell…

AM: Conventional wisdom is that bands aren’t now allowed to develop over a series of albums before coming to more mainstream attention, but you seem to be doing just that. After releasing three albums on independent labels, how has the experience of moving to a major been for you?
SH: We’ve never had more time, space or freedom to make a record. It’s been such a fruitful period for us, and I think the label has been very understanding of the ways in which we wanted to grow. They realised that allowing us to explore new ideas in the right environment would yield results, and they didn’t meddle with that process at all.

AM: ‘Pedestrian Verse’ comes out as HMV battles for survival. Does the potential death of mainstream music retail on the high street concern you?
SH: Yes and no. It’s worrying that we are rapidly moving towards a time in which music may not be available to buy on our high streets. That’s definitely a negative thing. But on the other hand, record sales have never been a financially supportive aspect of our band. Luckily we are able to keep the band going by touring, and although it’s a hugely competitive arena, it’s still a very strong potential revenue stream.

AM: How do you feel about the music industry as it currently stands?
SH: The industry (mostly the business end, ie labels) will have to adapt or die. It’s pretty simple. There is still a demand for music, that will never change, but the industry will need to diversify and find other ways of making money, just as many floundering industries have for decades. Quite how that will work, I’m not entirely sure. Streaming is a tricky issue. On one hand, it makes your music easily accessible to millions of listeners; on the other, it doesn’t feel like it places much value in the product. Time will tell on that one too!

AM: As we speak, the internet is currently chattering hard about comments you made after being compared to Mumford & Sons. But do you think such comparisons are inevitable as your popularity grows and the pool of bands at your level and upwards shrinks?
SH: Perhaps the comparisons are inevitable. That whole thing was borne out of a throwaway comment I made that a couple of publications made a needlessly big deal out of. Perhaps I’m too used to magazines and websites not giving a shit about what Frightened Rabbit think and therefore I have been able to say what I like and have it go unnoticed. It would appear that this has changed. I’ll just keep my mouth shut in future! It was far less about Mumford’s music and more to do with having to hear that name mentioned in every single interview we did, being compared to them again and again. Ironically, I’ll probably be hearing many, many more questions about them as a result of the wee rant. What a fucking idiot I am.

AM: Sorry to bring all that up then! Someone you’re clearly more of a fan of is Aidan Moffat, who guested on ‘Wedding Gloves’ on your ‘State Hospital’ EP last year. How did that come about and what was he like to work with?
SH: A lot of the content on the album was hugely influenced by Aidan’s writing. I had written a chunk of the lyrics for ‘Wedding Gloves’ already and each time it came to recording the vocal I could just hear his voice. So I emailed him and asked if he’d like to lend a vocal and some lyrics. And he said yes. I couldn’t believe my luck! It was a joy and a privilege to work with him.

AM: And finally, are you excited about getting out on tour and playing the new songs? Do your songs continue to develop and change as you play them more?
SH: We are indeed excited. We’ve finished all the tour rehearsals and we’re ready to unleash the new songs. I’m sure the new numbers will take on a slight metamorphosis over time. That’s natural and healthy. I’m looking forward to it.

Approved: Milk Music

CMU Approved

Devo had a gut one, and the Black Eyed Peas had a very approximate one about going out clubbing. New in a grand lineage of artists singing about ‘feelings’, it’s Fat Possum-signed hairballs Milk Music and their new track ‘I’ve Got A Wild Feeling’.

Shaved off the band’s sophomore LP, ‘Cruise Your Illusion’, it bears the claw-prints of a bonelike Dinosaur Jr relic in its scrawly, near-derelict guitars. But thus-mussed as it is, this isn’t any old junk – nor new junk strutting as such. Lyric by lyric and lick by lick, it packs a ton of heart and earnest, and sounds like something that felt really real (and wild) to the band at the time, and most likely still does.

‘Cruise Your Illusion’ is released on 1 Apr.

Arrests made in investigation into Brazilian club fire

Business News Legal Live Business Top Stories

Police in Brazil have made three arrests in relation to the club fire that killed 230 people this weekend. It is thought that the three men arrested include the owners of the venue destroyed in the fire, and possibly members of the band playing when the fire occurred. A fourth man, thought to be another owner of the club, is also wanted by police. Though officers stressed that the arrests so far were for “investigative purposes”.

As previously reported, a fire destroyed the Kiss Club in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, in the country’s Southern-most region of Rio Grande do Sul. As with similarly tragic club fires in recent years, including that in 2003 in Rhode Island, it is thought the blaze was started by pyrotechnics on stage, and spread quickly when soundproofing materials caught fire.

Reports suggest that, as materials in the club started to burn, toxic fumes spread, adding to the death toll. Eyewitnesses also say that fire extinguishers in the venue didn’t work, and that the evacuation of the building was hindered because security guards – not realising what was happening inside – wouldn’t let people leave the club before they had settled their tabs, the venue seemingly operating a special card-payment system.

Amongst those quoted about the incident in local media was guitarist Rodrigo Martins, whose band Gurizada Fandangueira was playing at the time of the fire. He told Radio Gaucha: “We had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning. It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, and our singer tried to use it but it wasn’t working”.

Funerals began yesterday for some of those who died in the fire. Because the club was hosting a student event, most of those who died were aged between sixteen and 20.

Indies hit out at all new MySpace

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Top Stories

Having been left out of the party in the early days of digital by the likes of Apple, YouTube and MySpace, the indie labels have experience in dealing with tech types who preach independent spirit while concurrently screwing the musical independents, but since the bigger indies launched digital rights agency Merlin such cold treatment from digital start-ups has become much rarer.

But then MySpace got bought by some advertising guys, who are relying on Justin Timberlake for music business insights, and the all new music-at-its-heart version of the former social network launched earlier this month without Merlin on board. And then MySpace management told the Merlin labels who discovered their content was still on the relaunched site, despite the lack of a licence, to submit their takedown notices for each rogue track they find.

Which is why the new look MySpace – keen to re-establish itself as a platform for new artists looking to engage fans – was very much enemy number one at a meeting of indie labels at MIDEM in Cannes yesterday. In fact, it felt like 2003 all over again, with Alison Wenham of the Association Of Independent Music and World Independent Network on top form.

According to MusicAlly, the AIM chief said of the new MySpace: “There is an impression, a complacence, and I would suggest an arrogance which is offensive, that you do deals with the majors, and the independent sector should be somehow grateful for the promotional value that these services will apparently bring to your artists and to you. If you follow that to its logical conclusion, all your activities would be promotional benefit”.

On MySpace’s seeming nonchalance towards its non-deal with Merlin, and the continued presence of Merlin label content on its platform, while also noting that’s its not entirely clear what happened to the majors’ equity stakes in the old MySpace Music subsidiary when News Corp sold the digital firm to Specific Media (ie are Sony, Universal and Warner shareholders in the new MySpace?), Wenham continued: “It’s absolutely repugnant to the spirit of cooperation and the balancing of interests commercially that this should have been MySpace’s response”.

So, take that Timberlake, and get your digital house in order before you try to reclaim your seat on planet pop. Read more about the indie labels’ MySpace wrath in MusicAlly’s full report from MIDEM here.

Rick Ross escapes drive-by shooting

Legal

A car in which rapper Rick Ross and his girlfriend Shateria L. Moragne-el were travelling was fired on in a drive-by shooting yesterday morning, according to reports.

The couple asked not to be named in official statements on the incident, but eyewitnesses and (it seems) unnamed police sources have confirmed their identities. Although no one was injured, and the car, a Rolls Royce, was also unscathed, the windows of several nearby businesses were hit by bullets.

The shooting took place in Fort Lauderdale, where Ross has reportedly recently bought a house. Last year he denied claims that he had cancelled a number of gigs due to gang threats.

Destiny’s Child not performing at the Super Bowl, says Williams

Artist News

So, one, Destiny’s Child released a new best of compilation this week, complete with their first new song for eight years. And two, Beyonce is booked to perform at the Super Bowl this Sunday.

It therefore doesn’t take the wildest imagination to assume that this means the group will have a little live reunion at the big sporting event. But this is not so says Michelle Williams. She has other plans already. The singer told WRUG Radio: “That’s not confirmed. It is rumoured. I’m gonna be in the musical ‘Fela!’ I hate to disappoint the people and tell them that it’s not true”.

This almost certainly means it is true. Watch the interview here:

Azealia Banks now planning just one single to placate waiting fans

Releases

One of our CMU Artists Of The Year 2012, Azealia Banks, is to push her debut LP, ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ – which is still sans a release date, by the way – into the population’s faces via an official new single.

After a “BIG CHANGE OF PLANS” (Banks initially said she’d release two tracks, ‘Miss Amor’ and ‘Miss Camaraderie’) it’ll be titled ‘Yung Rapunxel’, and apparently features “prod” by ‘seapunk’ DJ Lil Internet. Seapunk, I ask you.

‘Yung Rapunxel’ has been given a provisional buy-date of 12 Feb, so add that to your diary, if you like. In pencil. Very lightly.

New LP from the Haxan Cloak confirmed

Releases

London-based label Tri-Angle Records has revealed it’ll release ‘Excavation’, the new LP by minimalist instrumentalist The Haxan Cloak – real name Bobby Krlic.

The sequel to Krlic’s eponymous 2011 debut, it’s defined as a deathly abstraction of “an archetypal Heaven or Hell scenario”, and is – apparently – “awash with serrated beats and cavernous sub-bass, meshing with the classical drones and ghostly details The Haxan Cloak fans will have already been accustomed to”.

So, something for us all. Especially noose fans.

‘Excavation’ will arrive in shops and tombs on 15 Apr. In the interim, its tracklisting and a SoundCloud play of new track ‘The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)’ are freely available to all parties/ghouls:

Consumed
Excavation (Part 1)
Excavation (Part 2)
Mara
Miste
The Mirror Reflecting (Part 1)
The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)
Dieu
The Drop

Elton John working on musical for children

Artist News

Elton John is working on a children’s musical, his partner David Furnish has told Hello! Magazine. And later this year he will also begin filming his previously reported biopic, ‘Rocketman’.

Furnish told the publication: “Later this year we begin filming ‘Rocketman’, a biopic of Elton’s early life. Towards the end of the year we are also planning to open a children’s musical on Broadway”.

So there you go. Furnish and John recently became parents for the second time, when their second son Elijah was born to a surrogate mother.

The Who to tour Quadrophenia

Gigs & Festivals

The Who will mark it being 30 years since ‘Quadrophenia’ was first released by playing a number of special shows this summer. Not only will Daltrey, Townshend and co reprise the 1973 LP in its entirety, they’ll also add lots of archive classics to the end of the set.

Pete Townshend, who claims he has no idea what those archive classics are going to be, says: “Roger and I now stand almost alone together, representing not only the original band, but also its mod audience, and of course all our other early fans. We are connected by it, in what is the most clear cut prayer for redemption, and it feels like an acknowledgment that rock music has managed to deal with the highest emotional challenge: spiritual desperation”.

Ah, that’s nice. And now, the dates:

8 Jun: Dublin, O2 Arena
10 Jun: Belfast, Odyssey
12 Jun: Glasgow, SECC
15 Jun: London, O2 Arena
18 Jun: Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena
20 Jun: Newcastle, Metro Arena
23 Jun: Manchester Arena
25 Jun: Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
28 Jun: Birmingham, LG Arena
30 Jun: Liverpool Echo Arena

Yeah Yeah Yeahs announce shows

Gigs & Festivals

Thrice-affirmative Brooklyn band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who yesterday confirmed they’d be hosting and playing atop ATP’s springtime festival I’ll Be Your Mirror (4-5 May), have also promised to play a couple of additional British shows.

As noted earlier this month, the band are all set to release new record ‘Mosquito’ on 15 Apr. Anyway, I digress. Back to the live dates, tickets for which are on pre-sale now via this link.

1 May: Manchester, Apollo
2 May: Leeds, Academy

Festival line-up update – 29 Jan 2013

Artist News Festival Line-Up Update Gigs & Festivals

So, while London’s Camden Crawl is shifting back to an Autumn slot in the festival calendar, its newish Dublin spin-off Camden Crawl Dublin has been confirmed for 3-5 May. But what else is changing in the Euro FLUU scenery?

Well, Glasgow has gained a series of new live shows under the banner Summer Sessions. The first of said shows will feature obscure Detroit MC Eminem, who was last seen in Scotland when he played T In The Park back in 2010. Other artists appearing on other dates, plus the dates themselves, will be published – says “delighted” GSS boss Geoff Ellis – “soon”.

All Tomorrow’s Parties has also invited Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Grizzly Bear to co-host its two-day I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in May. RSVP-ing on request so far are Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Walkmen, Black Lips, Real Estate and Cass McCoombs, with extra guests still tba.

And finally, it’s to the Isle Of Wight Festival, which has made space on its Stone Roses, Killers, Bon Jovi and Happy Mondays-headlined billing for the reunion no one was asking for, that of The Boomtown Rats, who’ll be playing their first set as a band since 1986.

“Playing again with The Rats and doing those great songs again will be exciting afresh”, intones frontman Bob Geldof, adding: “We were an amazing band and I just feel it’s the right time to re-Rat, to go back to Boomtown for a visit”. ‘Visiting Boomtown’ just about works, Bob. ‘Re-Rat’ not so much. You might want to work on that before June.

Anyway, let’s now to a look at today’s total collation of FLUUs – as also features new additions to Belgium’s Rock Werchter, the Tewksbury-set Lakefest, and Dutch dance happening Lente Kabinet:

ATP’S I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR, Alexandra Palace, London, 4-5 May: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Van Dyke Parks, Black Lips, The Walkmen, Tortoise, Anika, The Field, Real Estate, I Break Horses, Dirty Beaches, Cass McCombs, King Khan & The Shrines, Mick Harvey. www.atpfestival.com/ibymlondon2013

BEARDED THEORY, Kedleston Hall Park, Derby, 17-19 May: Stiff Little Fingers. www.beardedtheory.co.uk

GLASGOW SUMMER SESSIONS, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, Scotland, 20 Aug: Eminem. www.gigsinscotland.com

ISLE OF WIGHT, Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, 13-16 Jun: Boomtown Rats. www.isleofwightfestival.com

LAKEFEST, Croft Farm Waterpark, Tewksbury, 9-11 Aug: Ocean Colour Scene, The Beat, Duke Special, Arthur Brown, Jim Lockey & The Solemn Sun, Wille and The Bandits, Ruffanti, Gaz Brookfield, Frazer Kennedy, Funmilayo. lakefest.co.uk

LENTE KABINET, Het Twiske, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1 Jun: Four Tet Floating Points, Levon Vincent, Jacques Greene, Boddika, Soul Clap, Mala In Cuba, Bicep, Casper Tielrooij, Malawi, Metro Area, Oneman v Jackmaster, Steffi v Prosumer, Thomas Martojo, Tom Trago. www.hetkabinetfestival.nl

ROCK WERCHTER, Rotselaar, Belgium, 4-7 Jul: Sigur Rós, Bloc Party, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Two Door Cinema Club, The Script, Phoenix, Jessie Ware, C2C, Richard Hawley, Graveyard, Disclosure, Django Django, A Day To Remember, Band of Horses, Passenger, Asaf Avidan, Alt-J, Of Monsters And Men, Airbourne, Netsky. www.rockwerchter.be/en

Taylor Swift to flog Diet Coke

Brands & Merch

Coke in the US has confirmed a “long term partnership” has been struck up with Taylor Swift, because, you know, you can’t eat pizza without a can of Diet Coke. Swift will appear in TV, print and online advertising peddling the fizzy syrup this spring.

Says Coke’s Katie Bayne: “Taylor’s unmatched business savvy, talent and drive to succeed are an inspiration to everyone. She’s an extraordinary individual and a wonderful symbol of achievement. Taylor tells us that every day Diet Coke plays a small part in helping her stay extraordinary. It’s one of the many reasons she’s the ideal partner to represent our brand”.

Meanwhile Swift has assured us all of the crucial role Diet Coke plays in her life, revealing: “I’ve said for years that Diet Coke just ‘gets me’ and my lifestyle”. Which finally explains the big Taylor Swift/Harry Styles split – he’s a Pepsi Max boy for certain.

CD sales rise in Japan in 2012, but digital future still key

Business News Labels & Publishers

Oh Japan, you contrary music market you. According to the Recording Industry Association Of Japan, labels in the Japanese market saw CD shipments rise year-on-year in 2012, with the number of units shipped up 9%. Didn’t Japanese music fans get the memo that CDs are in terminal decline?

According to local trade mag McClureMusic, this is the first time CD shipments increased year-on-year since 1998. Though, of course, physical music sales overall are still significantly down on the 1990s, and the growth in sales in 2012 has been put down to just three releases, and in particular CDs sales generated by the local girl group franchise phenomenon that is AKB48.

As previously reported, when it comes to digital Japan is someway behind Europe and North America, mainly due to local labels that are both powerful and digitally resistant. To date the most successful digital services in Japan have been mobile-based though, just as mobile music is taking off elsewhere in the world, sales in that domain were down in Japan last year.

Labels in the Japanese market will now likely be hoping that those digital services that have prospered in Europe can finally gain some traction there too. Sony Music Japan finally licensed its catalogue to Apple’s iTunes in the country last year, and launched its Sony Music Unlimited streaming service too.

Other subscription platforms are now also plotting Japanese launches, label licenses permitting, with both Spotify and Rdio thought to be getting close to launching there. Indeed Spotify is recruiting for its Tokyo office as we speak.

Indie label community steps up global efforts

Business News Education & Events Labels & Publishers

The globally-focused indie labels grouping the Worldwide Independent Network yesterday announced the formation of a global council made up of key independent music players in a bid to add “weight and authority to WIN’s global stature”.

The new council was unveiled at MIDEM in Cannes as the body also published a new manifesto which, it says, “sets out a clear view of the basic, unchanging beliefs and values which together bind the global independent music sector”.

The new initiatives follow a dramatic year for the independent domain, which saw its two biggest rivals, Universal Music and Sony Music, both significantly enlarged through their respective acquisition of the EMI record company and music publishing business. Officially the indie sector opposed both acquisitions, though some key players in the independent community broke rank, especially once Universal chief Lucian Grainge made promises to sell off a chunk of EMI’s label assets in Europe to independent players.

Nevertheless, the new global council and manifesto reunites indie chiefs from both sides of the debate on the EMI issue, with one of the most prominent independent bosses, certainly in the UK, Beggars’ Martin Mills telling CMU: “These days independents offer a very different route to market to artists than the majors do – and it’s great to have that down in words, and to spell out what matters to us”.

The inaugural WIN council is as follows:

Michael Gudinski, Mushroom (Australia)
Michel Lambot, PIAS (Belgium)
Stephan Bourdoiseau, Wagram (France)
Emmanuel de Buretel, Because (France)
Mark Chung, Freibank (Germany)
Oke Gottlich, Finetunes/VUT (Germany)
Florian Von Hoyer, Altafonte (Spain)
Jonas Strostrom , Playground (Sweden/Scandinavia)
Laurence Bell, Domino (UK)
Doug D’Arcy, Songlines (UK)
Daniel Miller, Mute (UK)
Martin Mills, Beggars (UK)
Daniel Glass, Glassnote (US)
Jim Selby, Naxos (US)
Darius Van Arman, Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian (US)

Meanwhile, the WIN Independent Manifesto reads thus…

1. We, the independents, will work to grow the value of music and the music business. We want equal market access and parity of terms with Universal, Warner and Sony, and will work with them in areas where we have a common goal. We will work to ensure that all companies in our sector are best equipped to maximise the value of their rights.

2. We support creators’ freedom to decide how their music may be used commercially, and we will encourage individual artists and labels to speak out directly against unauthorised uses of music as well as commercial uses of music that stifle that freedom. We support creators’ right to earn a living from their work, which should be respected as a basic human right.

3. We support independent music labels that treat their artists as partners and who work with them on reasonable commercial terms, noting that labels are investors who deserve a fair return alongside their artists.

4. We promote transparency in the digital music market; artists and companies are entitled to clarity on commercial terms.

5. We oppose further consolidation in the recorded music, publishing and radio sectors since this is bad for independent music companies, their artists and fans, as it reduces market access and consumer choice.

6. We support initiatives which confront market abuse, and which aim to adapt competition laws to promote independent market access and foster collective responses by independents to potentially anti-competitive conduct by large operators.

7. We recognise that all independent music businesses contribute to local culture, diversity, jobs and export opportunities, and multiply the economic success of related industries. We will ask governments to promote and support the independent music sector in securing access to finance and tax credits, and to local and international markets.

8. We hold that collecting society revenues must be allocated and distributed accurately and transparently. This includes distribution of unclaimed money that logically belongs to the independents. We will push for the independent sector to be formally represented in the governance of collecting societies, with trade associations being eligible for board seats.

9. We support the creation of a worldwide track-level sound recording rights database, subject to neutral governance and ownership, to ensure accurate distribution of rights revenues to their rightful owners.

10. The independents will, as always, actively encourage and support new commercial opportunities for music, and will continue to support and develop new, legitimate business structures and partnerships.

EDM community launches new trade organisation

Business News Education & Events Labels & Publishers Live Business

Well, if there’s one thing the music industry needs, it’s definitely another trade body. I mean, at last count we were down to 24 here in the UK.

Although for a brief moment on Sunday morning in Cannes it did feel like we should abolish them all, and instead form an orderly queue behind the mighty Martin Mills, our compassionate and impassioned yet forceful leader, as he delivered a call to arms in the form of his Billboard Icon Award acceptance speech.

But then someone pointed out that Martin had a record company to run and didn’t have time to single-handedly fight the dark forces of the digital world (aka Google), so that plan had to be abandoned. But worry not, we can still rely on AA-ABO-AFO-AIF-AIM-ASTA-BASCA-BPI-CPA-ERA-FAC-FMS-ISM-MIA-MMF-MPA-MPG-MU-NAA-PPL-PRS-PSA-STAR-UK Music to fight our various corners.

Or perhaps not if you happen to be working in that recently expansive suburb of Pop City called EDM, because the dance community – presumably reckoning their interests aren’t fully represented by the aforementioned 24 music industry organisations (and their counterparts worldwide) – yesterday launched The Association For Electronic Music. And it’ll be an interesting grouping, bringing together as it does agents, promoters, retailers, labels and managers, operating at both the corporate and grass roots end of the market, united by their genre specialism.

The founding board of advisors for the new “global advocacy and lobbying group” includes Beatport’s Matthew Adell, Cream/Live Nation’s James Barton, Insomniac’s Carlos Correal, Positiva’s Jason Ellis, Little Empire Music’s Stephanie LaFera, WME’s David Levy, CAA’s Maria May, Big Beat’s Liz Miller, AM Only’s Paul Morris, Ultra/Sony’s Patrick Moxey, Armada Music’s Maykel Piron, ID&T’s Duncan Stutterheim, ATM Artists’ Amy Thomson, IBZ Entertainment’s Danny Whittle, the Windish Agency’s Tom Windish and John Truelove. Meanwhile legendary producer Nile Rodgers, currently working with Daft Punk, will serve as the first AFEM Ambassador.

The new organisation is being coordinated by manager Ben Turner, who has already been busy uniting the EDM community for a few years now via his International Music Summit in Ibiza, and entertainment lawyer Kurosh Nasseri, who has specialised in the electronic music genre for two decades. With a global focus, the new body will have offices in the US and UK at launch.

Commenting on the new organisation, and their motivation to set it up, Nasseri told CMU: “This is an historic day, the launch of the first international trade body representing a single genre since the Country Music Association began in 1958. Our motivation is wholly positive – to ensure electronic music gets the recognition and status it deserves. It is time for the many companies and individuals involved in our business to speak with a unified voice to represent the genre and to address the issues. And that is the mission of the Association For Electronic Music.

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