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Power To The People!
A big thank you and congratulations to everyone who bought the Rage Against The Machine single ‘Killing In The Name’ thus ensuring it reached number one in time for Christmas 2009. This unprecedented event seemed to have everyone involved; even radio dj’s seemed to have the tone of naughty schoolboys and girls as they announced the winner. Sales far exceeded the amount necessary to hit the number one spot, outselling the X Factor single by about 50,000 copies. This is the first download only number one in the UK charts, and the first that has been a record not recently released (the Rage track is 17 years old).
So what is the lesson or the victory here? A good summary of the intention behind the campaign can be seen at http://saveourmusicindustry.com/ stressing that this was not a campaign directed at Simon Cowell personally, or little Joe and his distinctly average single. The whole point was to break the monopoly the X Factor has had in recent years when it comes to the Xmas number one single, and to re-introduce the fun we traditionally had, waiting to see who the winner would be.
Simon Cowell appeared on Newsnight last week, doing his best ‘I’m a nice person really’ impression, which he then completely spoiled by showing his total ignorance. To my horror (and the horror of the presenter) he suggested that a future project could well be a political show where issues are debated then voted for by the public. We all know already that ‘lowest common denominator’ politics would be a disaster; sometimes the correct political decisions are not necessarily the popular ones. Surely we pay our politicians to be experts in matters we don’t fully understand, and vote them in to make difficult decisions that they are more qualified than us to make. Cowell’s proposed format could result in scary scenarios such as a campaign to bring back capital punishment, or deport recent emigrees. We all know that ‘public opinion’ can be fickle and easily swayed or brought to hysteria by recent news stories or media over-sensationalist tactics, so anyone who thinks this is a good idea is frankly stupid!
Finally, the whole ratm4xmas campaign has given food for thought. Although people are already suggesting records to rival next years’ X Factor release, I am unsure as to whether this could work again, or whether it was a one-off. RATM’s track is an extremely potent song that captured the imagination of thousands because it somehow had the ‘Zeitgeist’… the right title, sentiment and lyrics to unite everyone behind it. It does provoke the question of what we could do en masse if we could only all agree on other matters so easily; perhaps we could actually effect some real political changes or stop the war in Afghanistan, for example. We just need people with the imagination to start the campaigns and generate the passion.
Until then, let’s just celebrate this small victory and enjoy the fact that sometimes, the people will have their say, and look forward to the promised free gig that Rage are set to play in 2010. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Whilst the bedroom producer can compose music with just the click of a mouse, some hands on interaction with your music software will definitely help with the creative process. The keyboard is of course the most common MIDI controller, and they often come with a few knobs, buttons and sliders that you can assign to the parameters of your music software. Whilst this is great for previewing and tweaking your sounds, not all of us are any good at playing the piano. Or you may work mainly with beats or loops and find you don’t have the control you’re after with just a keyboard. Thankfully, it seems there is no end to the types of MIDI controllers out there. Here are a few of the more unusual ones that are out there at the moment…
The Zendrum
The Zendrum is a funny looking portable MIDI percussion instrument that you wear round your neck (or put on a stand), plug into your laptop, and then you have yourself an electronic finger drum kit. This is great for those percussionists that want to take their electronic beats to the live arena, or for those composers that are just looking for a new toy to help them with their beats. The early designs of the Zendrum in the early nineties by drummers David Haney and his friend Kim Daniel, caught the attention of Peter Gabriel whilst he was on tour. He asked them to design a percussive MIDI wireless system which could be moved around the enormous stage. They did this within three months it was promptly incorporated into the U.S leg of the tour. This led to the birth of the Zendrum Corporation, and generated interest from artists such a Mick Fleetwood, Earth Wind & Fire, and Billy Cobham not only for its visual possibilities on the concert stage, but also the unlimited array of sounds it offers to drummers and percussionists. The key to this is its clever ergonomic design and the extremely velocity sensitive buttons and pads. It has 24 of these buttons and they are all fully assignable to your music software. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to run out to the shops to buy one of these. Each one is custom made, handcrafted, carved from fine woods, assembled and tested by the inventors at Zendrum Corporation. A lot of care and attention goes into the creation of these instruments and for those drummers that want to express their creativity in rhythmic and expressive ways this is definitely worth checking out.
Yamaha Tenori-On
Major Japanese multimedia arts star Toshio Iwai has teamed up with Yamaha to create the Tenori-On, a 16 step, 16 channel music sequencer. At first glance, this looks like a cheap plastic toy with lots of flashing lights. At £599, this certainly isn’t cheap. But its the flashing lights that make this one of the most sought after instruments that is intuitive and provides the user with a “visible music” interface. Select your performance “mode”, press the 16×16 buttons, watch it light up and start making your music. As far as its synthesizer capabilities go, its not the most powerful, with just one oscillator per channel. But if you are looking to creatively combine using a step sequencer into your live performance, this will certain do the job. You can assign separate notes and voices to each “layer”, of which you can have 16 playing all together. Once you have your layers, this then creates a “block” which you can flick between during a live performance. Again, this can be synched to your music software, but is perhaps best for triggering beats, samples and loops rather than using it as a synth. Since its release in 2007, it has generated huge interest from artists such as Bjork, Yoko Ono and more recently little Boots. It is certainly a very striking instrument, and its no surprise that it recently won a place in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Eigenharp Pico
Eigenlabs have recently unveiled their Eigenharp Pico, an ultra versatile instrument that offers new and creatively inspiring ways to play your music software. Imagine a cross between a MIDI controller, clarinet, guitar and keyboard, and you get the Pico. It has 18 keys, a breath pipe and a strip controller, and can be used to record loops, program beats, create arrangements, alter tempo, all while playing live. For such a small instrument, it is amazing what this thing can do. Again, all of its controllers are fully assignable to your music software, although this is limited to smug Mac users at the moment. The keys are touch sensitive and are also sensitive to pressure in both directions. So you could, for example, play a note and wobble the key one way to get a vibrato effect, wobble it the other way and you bend the note. Or change these parameters to any others of your choice. As another example you could assign the breath pipe to a wah effect and the strip controller to filter cutoff. Another great feature is that you can assign the notes to play in a particular mode. So you could set it to play only the blues scale, flamenco, major or minor scales, and then every note you play will be in that scale. You might think this is cheating, seeing as you don’t have spend hours learning your scales anymore, but it definitely makes creative composing and improvising easy, even for someone who has no musical training. The Pico is available for £349 at the moment (due to go up to £399 in Feb 2010), and if you fancy taking it one step further, then look at the Pico’s older brother, the Eigenharp Alpha. This is abut the same size as a guitar and has the same and many more buttons and controllers than the Pico. But as you would expect the price also reflects this, retailing at £3950. I can understand why Eigenlabs claim that this is the instrument of the future. They are currently running a competition for Pico players to win an Alpha. Check out their website at www.eigenlabs.com.
In the continuing battle for the Xmas number one between Rage Against the Machine and The X Factor’s Joe, latest figures show RATM to be about 10% ahead. However, Joe’s single ‘The Climb’ will be available in shops tomorrow as a physical release, enabling shoppers to purchase it, so the battle is far from over.
Meanwhile, Tom Morello of RATM has said he will donate earnings from the single to Youth Music, a scheme helping young musicians in the UK. In addition to this, the RATM 4 Xmas campaign is asking for donations to homeless charity Shelter; so far £38508.66 has been raised.
So the choice is clear.. line the pockets of Satan Cowell and Miley Cirus (who originally recorded ‘the climb’) or make your presence felt and benefit 2 charities at the same time. And don’t worry about Joe, remember that he will be having so much money spent on his record and promotion that he won’t see a penny from sales, possibly ever, as he will remain unrecouped for a long time to come.
Current chart information shows the two tracks to be neck and neck at the moment, so keep buying the Rage Against the Machine single! Some people have pointed out that both tracks are through Sony BMG, but that isn’t the point. The point is to show that we can think for ourselves, and will not be dictated to or act like sheep. Also, bear in mind that X factor winners will be on a terrible royalty rate, and that they are a completely manufactured act. Rage Against the Machine paid their dues and wrote all their own songs. So don’t forget to buy the track!
support the rage factor!
At last! join the campaign to stop the X Factor xmas number one! I found this through the Kerrang! page on Myspace: http://ragefactor.co.uk/
It’s a campaign to get everyone to buy Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ in order to prevent the x factor from manipulating our minds and wallets into parting with our hard earned cash for the usual xmas dross they produce.
Kerrang have the following to say about it:
X Factor mogul Simon Cowell has blasted the campaign to make Rage Against The Machine the Christmas Number One calling it “stupid.”
A few weeks ago Rage fan Jon Morter set up a FaceBook group to encourage fans to buy the Rage Against The Machine classic Killing In The Name – made famous by it’s Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me refrain – digitally through iTunes or We7 between Sunday, December 13 and Saturday December 19 to try and prevent the winner of this year’s X Factor from going to Number One at Christmas. The group currently has over 550,000 members.
“If there’s a campaign, and I think the campaign’s aimed directly at me, it’s stupid,” said Cowell at press conference in London this afternoon (Thursday, December 10).
“Me having a Number One record at Christmas is not going to change my life particularly,” he added. “It does however change these guys’ lives and we put this opportunity there so that the winner of The X Factor gets the chance of having a big hit record. I think it’s quite a cynical campaign geared at me which is actually going to spoil the party for [the three X Factor finalists]. I also think it’s incredibly dismissive of the people who watch and enjoy the show to treat our audiences as if they’re stupid and I don’t like that.”
“The X-Factor has bagged the last four Christmas Number Ones and I think it’s killing one of our country’s great traditions,” Jon Morter told Kerrang!. “I’m totally fed up with this and during a chance viewing of the show, I snapped. I made a Facebook group to see if there were any others who agreed with me.”
“The response has been incredible,” he added. “Killing In The Name is the perfect song. How good would it be to have Rage Against The Machine at the top of the charts instead of a Simon Cowell act?”
We wholeheartedly agree Jon. The time to act is now, people! Join the revolution at www.ragefactor.co.uk.
I’ve done a lot of recording over the years; back in the old days it was mostly in a 24 or 48 track studio, but more recently it’s been at home on Logic, one of the many good software packages available for the would-be recording artist. It occurred to me that there are a few basic rules and guidelines you need to follow to get good, professional sounding results on the vocals, so here are a few tips for the inexperienced producer and vocalist.
The first thing you should be aware of is that on a recording, the vocals are the most important thing. This may sound obvious, but if you think about it, when you do a gig, the drums and bass are much more important; primarily because they are the most audible thing, as guitar and vocal frequencies are high and are the first thing to go from your hearing when you are deafened by loud music, but also because getting people to feel the rhythm is an important ingredient in winning over the audience. Also live, the odd dodgy bit of tuning on the vocal won’t be remembered if the visual performance is good. However, on a recording, non-musicians will be listening primarily to the vocal and can play your tune repeatedly, so any imperfections will be noticed and preserved for all time! So don’t spend hours, days or weeks on the instruments and run out of time on the vocals; a good vocal will cover a multitude of sins on the musical backing.
It’s a good idea to set up a good vibe before you start; some soft lighting and pleasant surroundings can go a long way to getting you in the mood. Do a few warm-ups to make sure your mouth shapes will be properly annunciated, and tight to the beat. People forget that vocals need to groove just as much as the music.. tight timing on your delivery is very important. Rehearse your vocal several times before you record it; practice where you are going to take breaths, and the exact vowel shapes you are going to use.
A good mic to use is the Shure SM57, but an SM58 or good copy will do. Sometimes you can get interesting results using old microphones, like the ones that came with old-fashioned tape recorders. I even knew a singer who recorded vocals through a telephone rigged up with a jack lead!. If possible, put the mic through a mixer with phantom power.
When you’re ready to start, record a couple of run-throughs just to check the sound, and to see if you want to change the delivery in any way. Then just go for it; do several takes, as the beauty of recording on a computer is that you can ‘comp’ the vocal, ie. take the best lines from each take and compile a perfect rendition. Don’t forget to really try and put emotion and expression into the vocal; in some ways singing is like theatrical rather than tv acting, as in what seems like an over-the-top delivery to you will seem like a tiny variation on the recording, so go for it! When you’ve done a few takes and you think you have some good versions, do one more take with extra exaggerated delivery, you never know, the odd bit might sound amazing like that.
If you think your voice doesn’t sound full enough, you can get good results by double tracking; that’s why it’s a good idea to always breath in the same places and have your timings rehearsed; then all your takes should fit together if you want to comp two tracks for the double track effect. It can be a good idea to have the main vocal louder, and the double track lower in the mix. This gives the effect of thickening up the sound without sounding like Bananarama!
When you are mixing the track, don’t bury the vocals in the music… you may feel embarrassed to start with and cringe when you hear them back, but this will soon wear off and is preferable to not being able to hear the words.. you’re a lead singer, so go ahead and lead! If you want to hear more of the tiny inflections it’s a good idea to slightly over compress the vocal track, and add some top to the EQ. You can get that classic ‘radio’ sound that Muse use a lot by adding lots of top mid and treble frequencies, and removing the bottom end completely. A bit of reverb will help to sit the vocal in the track nicely, but don’t overdo it unless you are going for an extreme. Finally, don’t let the experience destroy your confidence; a famous producer once told me ‘it doesn’t matter if you’re the best singer in the world or one of the worst; the most important thing is to sound like yourself and no-one else… that’s what will get you known’!
Cowell aka Satan, raking in the cash again
So here we are, nearly at the culmination of this year’s X factor, and is it just me or does anyone really care any more? Haven’t our heartstrings been tugged at so many times in the recent past that they are now dangling loosely around our knees, incapable of responding to the incessant plucking by Simon ‘Satan’ Cowell? And what about Cheryl Cole? Has she lost the plot or what? So many things are wrong with the format that I can’t resist having a rant.
Firstly, re Miss Cole; surely half the attraction to a pop star is an aura of mystique and a certain elusive quality? That gets blown out of the water when we see and hear too much of someone, not to mention the ridiculous dresses.
Secondly, if there’s one thing the recent ‘Subo’ fiasco proves, (backed up by the success of JLS) is that it is completely irrelevant who wins the X factor, or Britain’s Got Talent because longer term market forces will determine whether there is an appetite for something, not a contrived arena like a prime-time tv show.
I fear that Simon Cowell is in danger of destroying what’s left of the music industry at this point; by subjecting potential stars to a one-shot-at-the-big-time in front of baying crowds, he is deterring real stars form even trying; traditionally many of our best musical stars have been shy, retiring and uncompromising individuals who magically come to life in front of an audience; who have something to say and a message to convey. The X factor hand-fistedly weeds out any glimmer of individuality by forcing the contestants to cover a variety of tacky genres, erasing any uniqueness they may have had to start with…. Can you imagine Johnny Rotten being asked to sing a Michael Jackson song?
And what about the title of the show? Its called the X factor, which by definition refers to an elusive, unquantifiable quality, but a couple of weeks ago, Danni Minogue was asking in confusion ‘is this a singing competition?’ before eliminating the vocally poor but x factor rich Jedward. Actually that’s all the X factor is now, a great big Butlins style singing competition, and it should be renamed accordingly. Perhaps something like ‘Britain’s most inoffensive singers’ would be more appropriate!
Which brings me to this year’s contestants. I’m sure they are all very nice people but I’m struggling to remember any of their names. I’ve never seen such an average bunch, with the possible exception of Stacey, who would be perfectly happy with a career singing in hotel bars or on a cruise ship, and who seems somewhat overwhelmed by the position she finds herself in. Sure, she has a lovely voice, but seems ill equipped for life as a sleb. The most likely winner is probably Joe, who does indeed have a beautiful voice, but who seems vacuous and bland. But then that’s probably what Mr Cowell prefers; someone he can manipulate and squash into whatever hole he perceives needs filling in the industry this week.
I have a dream.. one in which Simon Cowell wakes up and realises that he has turned us all into a bunch of cynical, instant gratification junkies with the attention span of a goldfish. Then he apologises to the world and gives up the music business to work with deprived orphans…… fat chance!!
the famous Pop Group t shirt, recently sported by Agyness Deyn
The word ‘punk’ embraces many genres of music, united primarily by their DIY ethic and rejection of the mainstream, major record label way of doing things.
The godfathers of punk as we know it today came from the USA in the 1960’s and 70’s; bands like Iggy and the Stooges, the MC5, Patti Smith, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Velvet Underground, Television, the Ramones and the New York Dolls all pioneered the raw, agressive sound and rebellious stance that came to be known as punk.
The British punk scene was born in London in 1976; teenagers began rejecting the old rock ‘dinosaurs’ that had been dominating the band scene with their virtuoso musicianship, and forming their own bands where the only qualification to join was the right attitude. The fanzine ‘Sniffing Glue’ produced by Danny Baker with Mark Perry of early punk band ATV proved highly influential and spawned many imitations. Punk music itself had no rules although usually it was loud, aggressive and amphetamine-fuelled.
The Sex Pistols were born in Chelsea where a young John Lydon, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock used to hang out at Vivienne Westwood’s boutique, and met Malcom McLaren who had previously managed the New York Dolls. Under his direction, the band was formed and the rest is history. Other faces on this new scene included Siouxie Sioux (later of the Banshees), Adam Ant , and Billy Idol to name but a few. Also worth a mention are X-Ray Spex, The Slits, Crass and Bristol punk band The Pop Group whose famous t shirt bore a picture of Margaret Thatcher with the words ‘We are all prostitutes’ emblazened across it. The Pop Group’s Mark Stuart went on to collaborate with producer Adrian Sherwood as Mark Stuart’s Mafia and is credited with inventing the ‘Bristol Sound’, still alive today in the music of Massive Attack.
Many independent record labels sprung up at this time to release the new music, creating a whole new infrastructure to record, release and distribute records without involving major corporations. Artists have frequently found themselves much more fairly treated by these indie labels. However, some punk bands maintained a non-conformist stance whilst signing big deals with major labels.. eg the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Quite a few bands gained recognition through the punk scene by adopting the style and attitiude of punk, including the Police, the Jam and the Stranglers, even though their excellent musicianship had more in common with the old school musos that punk supposedly rejected.
The ‘anything goes’ attitude of punk also paved the way for a rich and diverse post-punk DIY music scene. In the late 1970’s, the Industrial Records label was set up by experimental band Throbbing Gristle which in turn spawned a whole scene of its own that still exists today in the music of bands like Sonic Youth. More side effects of punk could be seen when Rough Trade records signed Joy Division, the Fall and the Smiths and Fiction records released proto-goths the Cure.
The Grunge music scene evolved in America in the late 1980’s in much the same way as punk; young bands unconcerned with commercial sucess playing music to entertain themselves and each other and releasing their material on small independent labels. Influenced by late 70’s/early 80’s punk acts like the Ruts, the Butthole Surfers, NOFX, Swans and the Dead Kennedys as well as British post-punk, the Pixies were one of the first grunge bands and inspired many bands that followed; from Nirvana to Dinosaur Junior to L7. More recently, Green Day have achieved massive success with their own brand of pop punk, inspiring hoards of youngsters to pick up a guitar and learn those first 3 chords.
O'spada bringing you cool electro funk from sweden
Swedish electro funk band O’Spada make dance music that will make you want to lip synch into the bathroom mirror. Hailing from Stockholm, they have been creating quite a stir recently after releasing two great singles in quick succession, and making them available for remixing, producing some fantastic results. Their latest release “Ten Strikes” combines upbeat funk with soul and jazz, and pieces it all together with some crisp 80’s sounding production. No wonder their label describe them as “a bastard child between Prince, Jackson 5 and Justice”. Synth stabs, wah guitar, and slap bass all groove tightly with the drums, providing the perfect backing for the melodic and soulful vocals of Julia Spada. If you’re looking for the kind of tune that you can dance to, clap to, and sing along in your best falsetto to, then you must get a copy of this. This is the second single released this autumn from their forthcoming (as yet untitled) album due for release in 2010, which if “Ten Strikes” is anything to go by, should be a cracker.
O’Spada formed in 2006 and soon gained a reputation for their recordings and live performances in their local Stockholm. Despotz Records, an independent label specialising in electronica, acoustic and pop music soon took an interest and decided to sign the band in 2008. Since then, they have been busy in the recording studio and released their first single “Time”earlier this year. This takes you back to a 1980’s disco, and you can hear influences of Ready for the World and the classic “I can’t wait” by Nu Shooz. With their retro sounding funk and catchy choruses, both releases really sound like they are classics from twenty years ago.
They have certainly created a buzz on many blogs, and after being featured on Radio 1, they quickly gained recognition all over Europe. But they didn’t stop there. They asked their fans if they thought they could top the wondrously produced version of “Time” by setting up a free online remix competition, which was of course met with huge interest. The lucky winners, electronic dance duo Suck Shaft (also from Sweden) provided some dirty analogue synth basslines with the chopped up vocals of the original, mashing it up with some heavy beats and bleeps. This provides a great alternative club version of an what seems to already sound like a classic tune. They did such a good job on this they were asked to remix the other single. Both are easily recognisable as being remixes of the originals, but they have done some interesting tricks with its rhythm and have provided some alternative basslines that go surprisingly well with the vocal melodies. All of these remixes and the originals can be heard on O’Spada’s myspace page at www.myspace.com/ospada
So there we are, a funky pop single for you from an upcoming band. If you hear this and you’re staying in for the night you’ll be singing into the hairbrush, if you’re in your car you’ll be singing along at the top of your voice, and if you’re out you’ll have to get up and dance.. O’Spada’s two singles can both be heard/downloaded on the usual sites – spotify, itunes, myspace and numerous other blog sites. And its not just the sparkling production of their two singles that gives them their sound – seeing them perform live you will think they have been around since the eighties and have practised every week since. They have three dates booked performing in the UK in London on the 18th and 19th December. Check out their myspace for more details. Enjoy!!
Thatcher.. seemed like a good idea at the time!
You can hardly have failed to have heard, seen or read something about the recent MPs’ expenses scandal with the onslaught of media coverage on the subject. We all agree that generally, the system has been open to abuse for far too long, with MPs claiming for the most ridiculous things; from a box of matches to horse manure. It can only be a good thing that this incessant liberty-taking has finally been exposed, and obviously something needs to be done, but as usual the ensuing hysteria has obscured the main point of all this, and sensible solutions are as far away as ever.
The blame for MPs taking the p**s in the first place rests squarely on the shoulders of one Margaret Thatcher and her cronies; back in the 80’s and early 90’s she kept MP’s wages down so that the perception was that MPs were tightening their belts along with the rest of us, but she let it be known to Parliament that members could top up their salaries with expenses claims and a laissez-faire policy was unofficially adopted with regard to this. The inevitable result was the situation we have today… politicians are unfortunately only human, and most people will push it a bit if told that the scrutinization process won’t be too strict, so there’s nothing surprising in that.
The current salary for an MP is £64766, which is hardly excessive for someone entrusted with helping to run the country. It is well below the amount received by a busy GP or management level banker, but the biggest problem with the current system is that many MPs have additional private income from trust funds or private business arrangements which in many cases will far exceed their salary as a member of parliament.
Surely the fairest system would be to means test MPs so that the ones that give their full attention to the job in hand are rewarded for their focus, altruism and dedication, whereas the ones that have ‘divided loyalties’ and potentially ulterior motives for their decisions based on their own business interests, are not. it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone to question the fact that some MPs main motivation for having a second home in London may be that they have other work in the capital, and therefore there is no way that the taxpayer should be meeting the cost of this accomodation.
It’s about time someone showed some common sense here; let’s set up an agency to go round assessing whether MPs spend enough time on the job, and means testing them to see if they merit being given expenses… its the only fair solution!