TooEmoForMyShorts

Joe McElderry vs Rage Against The Machine

2009-12-17T02:47:00.003Z

A veritable storm has been brewing in the charts this week, and it's all down to The X Factor and a Facebook group.
A few weeks before the winner of this years X Factor was announced, a group popped up on Facebook entitled "RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE FOR CHRISTMAS NO.1", urging people to buy the bands song 'Killing in The Name' the same week as the X Factor winners single is released, in an attempt to get ‘Rage’ to the top spot in the charts for Christmas instead of the winner of the singing competition (a winner voted for by the public).
Last week the winner of The X Factor was announced as 18 year old Joe McElderry, from South Shields, Tyneside. After going largely unnoticed throughout the early stages of the competition, Joe proved to be the dark horse and, after consistently outsinging his rivals on the show, was eventually announced as the winner of the one million pound record deal.
The point of the Rage Against The Machine Facebook protest is, according to its founders, to prevent The X Factor from claiming its 5th consecutive Christmas number one and undermine the predictability of the current Christmas number one race.
Many members of the protest group have said that buying Rage Against The Machine instead of the X Factor winners single gives power back to the people, and proves that we don’t all have to buy what we are told to by corporations and people like Simon Cowell. Which makes no sense whatsoever. The X Factor is voted for by the public, and it is the public who decide who wins. No one forces those members of the public to watch the show. No one forces those members of the public to vote. And no one forces them to buy the winners single. What the group has failed to take in to account is that, whilst many people look down on pop music or reality tv, a lot of people enjoy it, and will buy Joe’s single not because anyone is telling them to, but because they want to. If people don’t like the show, they don’t watch it. If they don’t like the winners song, they don’t buy it. It doesn’t seem to have crossed the group’s mind that the reason the X Factor winners single gets to number one every year is because people like the show, and it is those people who chose the winner, and it is those people who go out and but the single. Not because anyone makes them, but because they want to.
The biggest problem with the protest though, in my opinion, is that, actually, The X Factor won’t be at all affected by the protest. Next year, The X Factor will return the same way it always does. It will dominate Saturday (and now Sunday) night viewing for months in the run up to the final, and when the winner is announced they will release a single and will, as usual, be hot favourite to scoop Christmas number one. The show itself and the way it works will be in no way affected by whether McElderry or Rage Against The Machine hit the top spot this year.
The Facebook group also claims that it is not aimed at Simon Cowell personally, which is lucky for them, as Rage Against The Machine happen to be signed to Epic, a subsidiary of Sony Records. Know what other label is a subsidiary of Sony Records? Syco, the label owned and run by Simon Cowell and the label which will release McElderry’s, and any further X Factor winners, singles. So, Simon Cowell benefits either way.
So, who exactly IS going to be affected by this protest?

One of my biggest problems with the protest is the fact that the only person who will be at all affected by it is 18 year old Joe McElderry. Being the first X Factor winner not to reach number one with his debut single sets a pretty bad precedent for the rest of his career. X Factor contestants are generally expected to fade in to obscurity after a couple of years anyway, but having this hanging over his head gives him even less chance of people ever taking him seriously. I think it's quite sad, as Joe always came across as such a nice person on the show and it seems a shame that the slim chance he had of a successful career as a singer is being cut even shorter by a group of people, many of whom have admitted not paying any attention to the charts any other time, who have chosen to make some sort of 'stand' against people with different tastes to them at the expense of what seems to be a very sweet kid. And let's not forget, Joe won The X Factor for a reason: he's a very good singer, and whilst his single isn't going to change the world it's a perfectly enjoyable song, which for a lot of people is enough.
So, if you don’t like Joe’s single, don’t buy it. But don’t jump on the bandwagon and ruin it for those of us that do enjoy The X Factor and want to see people we have come to care about do well.

Updates

2009-12-17T01:51:00.002Z

I don't use this blog nearly as much as I should, but I'm going to attempt to change that. Watch this space...

The Cheryl Cole single: a retraction.

2009-09-09T22:50:00.000+01:00

It's definitely a grower.

Brand new Brand New album 'Daisy' has leaked

2009-09-08T18:25:00.006+01:00

I've made no secret of the fact that the follow-up to 2006's 'The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me' has been my most anticipated album this year, so there's really no point in me pretending that I haven't already downloaded this and listened to it non-stop.
'Daisy' is exactly what I had hoped it would be: it's loud, exciting, experimental, emotional and exhilarating (alliteration non-intentional, I suddenly had a mind block on all words not beginning with the letter 'e').
Album opener 'Vices' begins with an archive recording of a woman singing an old hymn, before punching you full in the face with a seriously heavy guitar riff and lots of screaming. It's certainly an effective way to set the tone.
'Bed' is definitely this album's 'Jesus Christ', and probably the best track on it. A complete departure from the opener, this track is more mellow and sung in the soft, whispery voice Jesse Lacey first showcased on second album 'Deja Entendu'.
Other highlights include first single 'At The Bottom', 'Bought a Bride' and the title track. There's also the wonderful 'Be Gone' which really shows how far the band have come in thier willingness to experiment; the lyrics seem to play backwards over the music.
Overall, it's not as big a departure from 'The Devil and God...' as that album was from 'Deja Entendu', but that's probably for the best. As the old saying goes "If it aint broke...".

Brand New play Wembley Arena January 23rd. For tickets go to: Seetickets

'Daisy' is released September 21st in the UK (22nd in the US). Pre-order through Play.com here: Daisy Pre-order
(You can probably find a link to the leaked version fairly easily but if you do I suggest buying it through official channels too. It's worth it).

Sorry about the crap pun in the title by the way. I couldn't help myself.

So here's the Cheryl Cole debut solo single

2009-09-08T18:14:00.004+01:00

Sadly, I'm not keen.
It doesn't even sound like her half of the time, and the chorus is a tad repetitive. However, I like the bit near the end where the backing music (me displaying my encyclopedic knowledge of musical terms there) falls away for the bridge before crashing back in for the chorus (something whch was done to perfection earlier this year on Jordin Sparks' incredible single 'Battlefield').
Cheryl was one of the members of Girls Aloud I was last interested in hearing solo (along with Sarah and Kim), and this single has done nothing to change my opinion.
Overall: 6/10. Call me when Nicola releases something solo.

Michael Jackson has died at age 50

2009-06-26T00:16:00.003+01:00

Whatever people thought of him as a person, no one could deny that Michael Jackson was one of, if not the, greatest musical icons of all time. This is very sad news.

Michael Jackson at his very best:

RIP.

Pet Shop Boys 'Did You See Me Coming?' video

2009-05-16T10:54:00.003+01:00

Here's the new Pet Shop Boys video for 'Did You See Me Coming?'.
It's fine. That's about all there is to say really.

The Killers 'A Dustland Fairytale' live on Letterman

2009-05-12T14:15:00.004+01:00

A couple of weeks ago The Killers confirmed that the third singles from their latest album 'Day & Age' would be 'The World We Live In' for us in the UK, and 'A Dustland Fairytale' in the US. Why they chose to release different singles for both conuntries I have no idea, but I really hope they release 'A Dustland Fairytale' as the fourth UK single, just so we get some performances like this one (though that would mean not releasing 'Neon Tiger' at all. Maybe they can do 5 singles from this album?).
I always look forward to bands I like performing on Letterman and this didn't disappoint. The backing orchestra was a nice touch, and though Brandon Flowers vocals can sometimes be a little patchy live he seems to have improved a Hell of a lot for the live performances from this album, making this a really great performance of one of my favourite songs from 'Day & Age'.

Girls Aloud aren't so 'Untouchable'

2009-05-07T14:41:00.003+01:00

'Untouchable', Girls Aloud's 21st single, has become the first of their career to miss out on a spot in the Top 10. It has already been advertisied in both the programmes for their current 'Out Of Control' arena tour and in the advertising for their limited edition singles boxset that 'Untouchable' would be their 21st Top 10 hit. This, I think, is part one of the problem 'Untouchable' had.
Fascination, Girls Aloud's record label, seemed convinced that 'Untouchable' would go Top 10 no matter what. Whether they believed that it would scrape its way in based on the girls loyal fan base who wouldn't want to see the Top 10 run broken, or simply because it's a great song (and really, it is), is unclear but the problem is that they became complacent. They assumed it would go Top 10 no matter what, so no promotion was done for it. Besides one performance of the song on Dancing On Ice more than a month before it was released there have been no TV performances of the song to help it make its way in to the public consciousness. Had I not been a huge Girls Aloud fan, as well as a user of the Popjustice forums, I wouldn't have even known 'Untouchable' was out last week. Fascination needed to realise that even when dealing with a group as huge as Girls Aloud, there's no point in expecting a single to go Top 10 when no one even knows it's been released.
Part two of the problem was the song itself. 'Untouchable' is an incredible song, there's no doubting that, but to release it as the follow up single to 'The Loving Kind' was a big mistake, in my opinion. The tone of these two songs is too similar; they're both kind-of-ballads-but-kind-of-not, fairly melancholic and quite frankly, too grown up. They don't have the same sense of fun as previous singles such as 'Love Machine' and 'Long Hot Summer', and whilst that would have been fine for one single it was foolish to release this kind of single twice in a row. If you ask me 'Love Is The Key' would have been the perfect third single from 'Out Of Control'.
I'm sure this will be written off as just a blip, and when they return after their break next year their come-back single will undoubtedly be billed as the '21st Top 10 single', just not the 21st consecutive one, and 'Untouchable' will be all but forgotten. This is a huge shame though. 'Untouchable' didn't deserve this, and had it never been released as a single it could have remained an epic fan favourite as it appears on the album.

Girls Aloud 'Untouchable' video

2009-03-25T22:34:00.003Z

So the new Girls Aloud video for 'Untouchable' premiered tonight, and whilst the video itself is okay I'm very unhappy with what they've done to the song.
For those that don't know, the original version of 'Untouchable', which can be found on the girls newest album 'Out Of Control', is rather lenghty for a pop song hoping to get major radio play without the DJs getting bored and talking over the last 2 minutes, clocking in at just over 6 and a half minutes. When it was announced as the follow up single to the wonderful 'The Loving Kind' it was obvious there would be a radio edit of some kind, despite protests from Popjustice.
All they needed to do was make it a little shorter for the radio, that was all.
Now we discover that for some reason they have not only made it shorter but added vocoder effects to the vocals and given some of Nicola's parts to Sarah!
There was no need for any of this, so I urge thse of you who have only heard the single edit to track down the album version and bask in its true glory.

Testing, 1... 2... 3...

2009-03-09T19:46:00.003Z

Pet Shop Boys "Love etc"

Enjoy the amazing new Pet Shop Boys single, 'Love Etc' whilst I attempt to work embedding from Myspace Video.

Edit: It worked! How marvellous. Must have just been The Killers 'Spaceman' video that didn't want to work. Still not entirely sure why though.

Shockwaves NME Awards winners

2009-03-09T19:12:00.004Z

I'm about two weeks late with this and therefore completely irrelevent, but the Shockwaves NME Awards took place at Brixton Academy on February 25th, with the winners including Muse, MGMT, The Killers, Oasis and Kings Of Leon.
Girls Aloud didn't win anything, in fact they weren't even nominated for anything, but Sarah and Nicola showed up to the event, Nicola looking flawless as ever and Sarah making a disgrace of herself, as ever.
A few of the awards went to the people I'd hoped, though the fact that Oasis managed to win Best British Band only to be booed by those in attendance proved that not all of the winners were necessarily popular, or deserving.

The full list of winners, then:

Best British Band: Oasis (I'd slated Muse to pick this one up).

Best International Band: The Killers (Glad they won this after walking away from the BRIT's empty handed).

Best New Band: MGMT

Best Live Band: Muse (Did anyone else really stand a chance?)

Best Solo Artist: Pete Doherty (As the man himself pointed out afterwards, he hasn't even released any solo material yet!)

Best Album: Kings of Leon Only By The Night

Best Track: MGMT "Time To Pretend"

Best Video: Last Shadow Puppets "My Mistakes Were Made For You"

Best DVD: Arctic Monkeys At the Apollo

Best Album Artwork: Muse HAARP

Best Venue: London Astoria

Best Live Event: Glastonbury

Best Blog: Noel Gallagher

Best TV Show: The Mighty Boosh

Best Dressed: Alexa Chung

Worst Dressed: Amy Winehouse

Godlike Genius: The Cure

Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Elbow

Hero of the Year: Barack Obama

Villain of the Year: George W. Bush

Worst Band & Worst Album: Jonas Brothers

Sexiest Male: Matt Bellamy

Sexiest Female: Hayley Williams

Best Website: YouTube

Philip Hall Radar Award: The Big Pink

Now, I'm not suggesting that readers of the NME might actually like Disney sponsored pop-rockers The Jonas Brothers, but giving them awards for both Worst Band and Worst Album seems a little odd. It'd be like the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards announcing Radiohead as their worst band. The Jonas Brothers are so far removed from the world of the NME, it doesn't make sense to me that they were even nominated. I would have liked to see who NME readers thought to be the worst band in the 'indie' world, instead of picking a group I doubt even enter the consciousness of most NME readers most days.
I think I'll choose to ignore the selection of Muse's Matt Bellamy as Sexiest Male over the beautiful Keith Murray of We Are Scientists.

A quick note

2009-03-09T19:04:00.003Z

I'm not entirely sure what most of this means, but due to their failure to reach an agreement with the Performing Right Society (PRS), Youtube will now be blocking those of us in the UK from viewing music videos on the site.
The full story of what happened can be found at the BBC News site.
This means that any official videos I have already posted will no longer be viewable. I'm trying to get to grips with embedding videos from Myspace video but Blogger doesn't seem to be having this, so until I've got everything sorted, any official music videos I post will be in the form of links that will take you to Myspace video.

I've changed my mind

2009-03-09T18:58:00.003Z

This video is actually kind of brilliant.
At first I was slightly stunned by how bizarre it is but the more I watch it, the more I like it. It's fun and lighthearted and, given the theme of the song, I think I'm just glad it isn't set on a spaceship. Now THAT would really be shit.

That was quick: Those videos I was telling you about

2009-02-19T00:02:00.002Z

The opening and closing performances from this years BRIT Awards.

U2: Get On Your Boots

Truly awful, I think you'll agree. Luckily, the evening was saved by...

The Pet Shop Boys with Brandon Flowers and Lady Gaga: PSB medley

Wonderful.

BRIT Awards 2009: Bookended by two incredible performances.

2009-02-18T22:41:00.003Z

I should state that when I say incredible, I am using it in two different contexts - Incredibly good, and incredibly bad.
The BRITs are a bit of an ordeal pretty much every year and from U2's opening performance tonight, I assumed this year would be the same. I don't know who told Bono that wearing eyeliner and dancing like... well, whatever it was he was dancing like, was a good idea, but you'd think he'd be old and wise enough by now to know when someone is taking the piss.
Thankfully, things moved swiftly on and we were introduced to the hosts for the evening - Kylie Minogue and two men who have only ever been funny in a television series and should not be allowed to speak outside of it: Matthew Horne and James Corden. Things weren't looking good at this point.
Luckily, it seems the awards organisers were using that age old technique of 'start with something terrible to lower expectations, then people will be pleasantly surprised', and I must admit, I was.
Awards were given, nothing terribly surprising happened and there were no major upsets, award wise. There were a couple of good performances by Coldplay and Duffy, some really good performances by Girls Aloud and Kings Of Leon, a frankly bizarre performance by Take That, and then the aforementioned incredible ending.
The Outstanding Contribution to Music award this year went to the Pet Shop Boys, who definately deserved the award and who I must admit I'm a little obsessed with at the moment. Before the final ad break (after which the Pet Shop Boys would take the stage) the always insufferable Fern Cotton announced that PSB would be joined on stage by Lady Gaga (which I already knew and was incredibly disappointed about) and then, to my surprise, Killers singer Brandon Flowers. At this point I almost exploded. However uncool or out of touch it may be to say so, The Killers are still one of my favourite bands (plus Brandon Flowers makes me feel more than a little fangirly).
I don't really know what could be better than a medley of all the best PSB singles, plus an appearance by the singer of one of my favourite bands (who looked so full of joy just to be onstage with his heroes). It could maybe have been improved by taking Lady Gaga out of the whole thing, though she didn't actually prove too awful this evening, so I'll let that slide. (Edit: I've worked out what could have been better: less Gaga, more Being Boring. My favourite PSB song and they only did one line).
It turned out to be one quite possibly one of the greatest moments in BRIT history, and probably would have been even without the guest vocalists.
All-in-all, it was actually quite good. Oh, and Girls Aloud won their first ever BRIT!!!
Full list of winners below, a couple of my predictions/hopes were right, though how they deemed Katy Perry better than Beyonce I'll never know. At least Scouting For Girls didn't win anything, that's something I suppose.
I'll post videos of U2 and PSB as soon as they're up on Youtube.

:: Mastercard British Album – Duffy ‘Rockferry’

:: British Group – Elbow

:: British Single – Girls Aloud ‘The Promise’

:: British Male Solo Artist – Paul Weller

:: British Female Solo Artist – Duffy

:: British Breakthrough Act – Duffy

:: British Live Act – Iron Maiden

:: International Album – Kings of Leon ‘Only By The Night’

:: International Group – Kings of Leon

:: International Male Solo Artist – Kanye West

:: International Female Solo Artist – Katy Perry

:: Critics’ Choice Award – Florence & The Machine

:: British Producer of the Year – Bernard Butler

:: Outstanding Contribution to Music – Pet Shop Boys

I joined Twitter

2009-01-30T18:06:00.000Z

I don't really get it, it's just one giant Facebook status update.
However, I do enjoy knowing every single detail of Stephen Fry's life, so there are some upsides.
Anyway, I can be found at www.twitter.com/JordanMcDeere

NME Awards 2009

2009-01-26T23:39:00.001Z

Ahh, the NME awards. If anything is capable of making me feel old, even at the age of 20, it's the NME awards. There was a time a few years ago when, to me, everything printed in the NME was gospel; everything they thought was cool, I thought was cool. Everyone has their own vrsion of this at some point, but for me it was the NME, and I always loved seeing the nominees for the awards every year.
Now that I feel so painfully out-of-touch with it all (I've only just discovered that Glasvegas are actually quite listenable) they don't mean so much to me, as I usually haven't heard of most of the people nominated, but I'm starting to feel like maybe I underestimate just how much of it actually sinks in. I've heard of most of these.
So, here are the nominees and, as with the Brit awards, my suggestions for who should win (in bold and italics this time, as it wasn't that clear on the BRITs post), and possibly even a little explanation; we'll see how it goes

Best British Band supported by Shockwaves
Bloc Party
The Last Shadow Puppets
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(They may not have done much this year, but Muse will always win this category for me).

Best International Band supported by 4music
Crystal Castles
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
(Am I at all predictable?)

Best Solo Artist
Ladyhawke
Laura Marling
Lightspeed Champion
Jay-Z
Pete Doherty
(It was very close between Ladyhawke and Jay-Z, but 'Paris is Burning' was too good not to be recognised)

Best New Band supported by Bench
Glasvegas
Late Of The Pier
MGMT
Vampire Weekend
White Lies

Best Live Band supported by Red Stripe
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
Muse
Oasis
Radiohead
(Muse should continue to win this award every year from now until the end of time).

Best Album supported by HMV
Bloc Party – 'Intimacy'
Glasvegas – 'Glasvegas'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Kings Of Leon – 'Only By The Night'
Oasis – 'Dig Out Your Soul'
(Since I deprived them on the BRIT awards list, I'll give this one to The Killers, as I loved 'Day & Age).

Best Track supported by NME Radio
Kings Of Leon – 'Sex On Fire'
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'The Age Of The Understatement'
MGMT – 'Time To Pretend'
The Ting Tings – 'That's Not My Name'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'
(Surely no explanation needed?)

Best Video supported by NME TV
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'My Mistakes Were Made For You'
Late Of The Pier – 'Heartbreak'
Oasis – 'The Shock Of The Lightning'
Radiohead – 'House Of Cards'
Vampire Weekend – 'A-Punk'
(It pains me to do this. I HATE Radiohead, but that is one damn good video)

Best Live Event
Glastonbury
Isle Of Wight
Reading and Leeds
T In The Park
V Festival
(Because it's the one I go to every year)

Best TV Show
Gavin & Stacey
The IT Crowd
The Mighty Boosh
Never Mind The Buzzcocks
Skins
("Down with Thatcher!")

Best Film
The Dark Knight
Juno
Quantum Of Solace
Twilight
Wall-E
(Juno: one of those films that seemed alright at the time, then you look back and go "Wow, that girl is intensely annoying").

Best Dancefloor Filler
Bloc Party – 'Mercury'
Crystal Castles – 'Courtship Dating'
Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris – 'Dance Wiv Me'
Friendly Fires – 'Paris'
Late Of The Pier – 'Bathroom Gurgle'
(I've actually heard that song! Good video too: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tw-E-JOTgE ).

Best DVD
Arctic Monkeys – 'At The Apollo'
Foo Fighters – 'Live At Wembley Stadium'
Kaiser Chiefs – 'Live At Elland Road'
Muse – 'HAARP'
The Rolling Stones – 'Shine A Light'
(I haven't seen any of these so shan't cast an opinion, but I can almost guarantee Muse deserve it)

Hero Of The Year
Alex Turner
Barack Obama
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher
(Because anyone who thinks Noel Fielding deserves this more than Barack Obama needs to grow up)

Villain Of The Year
Amy Winehouse
George Bush
Gordon Brown
John McCain
Pete Doherty
(...Sarah Palin, anyone?)

Best Dressed
Alex Turner
Alexa Chung
Brandon Flowers
Noel Fielding
Noel Gallagher
(I do love a nice suit. Particularly if it has a bit of added flair. Sequins, for example)

Worst Dressed
Amy Winehouse
Brandon Flowers
Johnny Borrell
Katy Perry
Pete Doherty
(He dresses the same as Pete Doherty, but Pete's a crack addict. What's Borrell's excuse?)

Worst Album
Britney Spears – 'Circus'
Coldplay – 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'
Jonas Brothers – 'A Little Bit Longer'
Razorlight – 'Slipway Fires'
Scouting For Girls – 'Scouting For Girls'
(Possibly the worst band of all time. The Jonas Brothers are pretty offensive also)

Worst Band
Fall Out Boy
Jonas Brothers
Oasis
Scouting for Girls
Tokio Hotel
(Give it a rest, would you?)

Sexiest Male
Carl Barat
Keith Murray
Matt Bellamy
Miles Kane
Pete Doherty
(Add lots of exclamation marks to that. Possibly the most beautiful man in the whole entire world ever).

Sexiest Female
Alison Mosshart
Hayley Williams
Kate Jackson
Lykke Li
Stephanie Dosen
(Not even a contest)

Best Website
Bebo
Facebook
Last FM
MySpace
YouTube
(Because if I'm going to fail my degree for anything, it may as well be amusing videos).

Best Venue
Brixton Academy
Manchester Apollo
London Astoria
Glasgow Barrowlands
London O2 Arena
(I've only ever been to the Astoria. Are they actually expecting fair voting on this? I wonder how many people have actually been to all of those places).

Best Album Artwork
The Cure – '4:13 Dream'
Guillemots – 'Red'
The Killers – 'Day & Age'
Muse – 'HAARP'
We Are Scientists – 'Brain Thrust Mastery'
(Because it's the only funny one)

Best Band Blog
Foals
Lightspeed Champion
Little Boots
Noel Gallagher/Oasis
Radiohead
(.....?)

The Godlike Genius award is being given to The Cure, who deserve it after all this time.
Voting is open on NME.com now and the awards take place at London's Brixton Academy on February 25th.

The Killers 'Spaceman' video

2009-01-24T20:33:00.001Z

I love The Killers, which is why it saddens me so that they continually make crap videos, like this one, which in no way reflect the amazingness of the songs. 'Spaceman' is definately one of the best songs from their new album (which I love) and I was looking forward to the video, but this is just bizarre (are the other 3 band members even in it?), though it was directed by Ray Tintori, the same guy that did all of MGMT's videos, so it makes sense that it would look like this I suppose.
In my opinion they'd have been much better off releasing this as the official video.

My new favourite website

2009-01-24T19:14:00.001Z

PassiveAggressiveNotes.com
Dedicated to that greatest of traditions: the leaving of passive-aggressive notes. A large majority seem to be notes left in shared apartments and offices, usually intended to discourage people from stealing/encourage people to clean.
I think I might start leaving these just for fun.
All of which reminds me of Dylan Moran and his views on people leaving notes:

Drowned In Sound

2009-01-21T22:50:00.001Z

Now I'm in my second year at uni I'm looking to get a lot more work experience in the music industry, as my course doesn't really focus on anything music related so it seems this is something I'll have to work at on my own. This got me thinking about the week of work experience I did with Drowned In Sound, an independently run website and record label, in 2006.
The website is made up of news, reviews and features on indie music, and they also run a record label for signing good new bands (their first ever signing was the Kaiser Chiefs). It was a fun week, and I enjoyed seeing how the website was run and contributing to it myself.
This is some of the stuff I wrote for the website during the week I spent there:

News Story: Victoria Bergsman leaves The Concretes (read it here)

News Story: Placebo announce December tour dates (read it here)

News Story: Animals become men at 18? Young Knives announce shows... (read it here)

News Story: Little Barrie keeping themselves busy... (read it here)

Single Review: Panic! At The Disco - 'Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off' (read it here)

Single Review: My Awesome Compilation - 'Awake' (read it here)

Single Review: Moneen - 'If Tradgedy is Appealing, Then Disaster's an Addiction' (read it here)

I like to think my writing has improved a lot since then, though that My Awesome Compilation single did desrve the mauling I gave it. Truly a terrible song.
To browse DrownedInSound.com for yourselves, click the picture at the top of the post.

The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

2009-01-21T22:43:00.001Z

I hear rumblings that the new Brand New album is almost finished and I cannot wait. They've consistently improved with every album and if the new one is as much of an improvement as the jump from 'Deja Entendu' (still a good album for what it is) to 'The Devil and God...' was, it will quite probably be the best album of 2009.

(The song 'Jesus Christ' from 'The Devil and God...' performed live on David Letterman)

The Brit Awards 2009

2009-01-21T22:15:00.001Z

The nominations for the 2009 Brit Awards were annoucned last night and, well, there's a lot of Scouting For Girls in there. Who on Earth deemed them award worthy, I couldn't tell you, but they're nominated in 3 categories (British Single, British Breakthrough and British Live Act).
I've been a bit out of the loop when it comes to new music this year, as none of it appeared to be very good, and this shortlist of what was supposedly the best 2008 had to offer seems to cement that feeling. Anyway, here is the full list of nominees, with who I think should win in bold.

British Male Solo Artist
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
The Streets
Will Young

British Female Solo Artist
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
M.I.A.

British Group
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That

British Single
Adele - 'Chasing Pavements'
Alexandra Burke - 'Hallelujah'
Coldplay - 'Viva La Vida'
Dizzee Rascal ft. Calvin Harris - 'Dance Wiv Me'
Duffy - 'Mercy'
Estelle ft. Kanye West: 'American Boy'
Girls Aloud - 'The Promise'
Leona Lewis - 'Better In Time'
Scouting For Girls - 'Heartbeat'
The X Factor Finalists - 'Hero'

British Album
(I haven't actually heard any of these albums, so am basing my decision on the singles that have been released from each)
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Duffy - Rockferry
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Ting Tings - We Started Nothing

British Breakthrough Act
Adele
Duffy
The Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
Ting Tings

British Live Act
(No Muse this year?)
Coldplay
Elbow
Iron Maiden (Without Muse someone needs to fill the epic-ness void)
Scouting For Girls
The Verve

International Male Solo Artist
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve

International Female Solo Artist
Beyoncé
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold

International Group
AC/DC
Fleet Foxes
The Killers
Kings of Leon
MGMT

International Album
(I've only heard one of these, The Killers, and it's damn good. But in the name of fairness I will do the same as for British album and base the decision on the singles)
AC/DC - Black Ice
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
The Killers - Day & Age
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

British Producer of the Year
(Do Xenomania not count becuase it's more than one person or something? I haven't a clue who to give this to, so I'll go with Bernard Butler... because I loved Suede.)
Bernard Butler
Brian Eno
Steve Mac

Critics' Choice Award
Florence and the Machine

Outstanding Contribution to Music
Pet Shop Boys (Good choice)

The awards take place on the 18th of February and there will be performances from Take That, Coldplay, U2, Kings Of Leon, Duffy, Girls Aloud and Outstanding Contribution winners the Pet Shop Boys (who are rumoured to be collaborating live with The Killers, something which would make me very happy indeed).

Morrissey V the NME again?

2008-12-19T18:28:00.001Z

I originally posted this on my media studies blog a little while ago but I also quite wanted it to be on here too, so I'm just going to do a repost.
Morrissey has just given an interview with the NME which said publication has now labelled "his most contentious interview in years".
We'll see.
Some people may remember, others (like me) may just have heard about it, but in 1992 the NME and Morrissey had a falling out after the former accused the latter of being racist. You see, Morrissey had appeared onstage at a Madness reunion gig in Finsbury Park, draped in a Union Jack flag at a time when far-right xenophobes the British National Party were on the rise. Around this time there were no such things as internet forums, so there was no real nationwide discussion amongst music fans about what had happened. All there was, was the NME, and it's glaring headlines. The front page read "Morrissey: Flying the flag or flirting with disaster?". The only opinions given on the subject were those of the NME writing staff and the readers who wrote to the magazine. It was all pretty one sided, and Morrissey and the NME ceased all relations for 13 years.

(The original, 1992 front cover)

Until 2005, when Morrissey was promoting his 7th solo album, 'You Are The Quarry'. Charge of the NME had changed hands, and the current editor was the young Conor McNicholas, who was keen to reconcile Moz and the publication. The interview went without a hitch, the NME went back to hanging on the singer's every word, and Morrissey got the publicity he wanted for his album.
It would seem, however, that McNicholas was not as different to his predecessors as he would have Moz, and us for that matter, believe. This week the NME have run another front page interview with Moz, leading (very predictably) with the headline "Bigmouth Strikes Again!" and it looks likely that the feud will be rekindled.
In the interview Moz complains that there is no longer a sense of British identity, that he has no problem with immigration as such, but that when you compare England with countries such as Germany or Holland, we have much less sense of identity.
Unlike in 1992, this time there are internet message boards for people to discuss the issue on, and (also unlike in 1992) this time the votes seem swayed in Moz's favour.
The problem is, the NME doesn't have the same sway in the music world now as it did 15 years ago, and recently it has become the subject of much ridicule for becoming too 'glossy'. Under McNicholas' reign it has changed from newspaper format to glossy print, become sponsored by hair products and included a 'tabloid' section, in which they report on the personal lives of the musicians featured. Because of this, the NME is now seen as something of a joke, and McNicholas a man who will do anything to generate publicity and make a name for himself.
Today, the day the newest issue was released and the day people first had a chance to read what it is that Moz actually said, some emails between McNicholas and Morrissey's manager Merck Mercuriadis have surfaced. In them McNicholas attempts to explain to Mercuriadis that the magazine decided to publish Moz's quotes so they could make a stand against what he said and, in his own words have "the NME's position made very clear".
McNicholas seems to believe that the NME is a publication responsible for taking a stand against artists whose comments could be seen perhaps as slightly inflammatory, rather than a music magazine responsible for reporting on music.
The general attitude towards the article is much more against McNicholas than against Morrissey, which couldn't possibly be what McNicholas had intended. The main view seems to be that this is just a shameless attempt on the NME's part to generate publicity for a magazine which seems to have become irrelevant in todays world of internet forums and music based websites.
Taking this stance is also an unwise decision for the magazine itself. An ongoing feud with Moz may have got people talking seriously about the NME for the first time in years, but they don't seem to have thought through the damage this could cause them. Statistically, sales of the NME rise by 30-40% when Morrissey is on the cover, something that is unlikely to ever happen again.
Even the journalist who conducted this particular interview requested his name be removed from the article as he did not agree with the direction the article was being taken in.
Could it be that in this age of widely available technology a one sided accusation like that against Moz in 1992 just won't cut it anymore? I believe it's simply the case that people have much more access to means of expressing themselves now, and that they see this not only as some desperate attempt by the publication of trying to get people interested in buying the magazine once again, but a rather cynical attempt by one man to make a name for himself as an editor who is not afraid to tackle serious issues (despite having 'dumbed down' the magazine in the eyes of many).

He also seems to have forgotten that Morrissey likes suing people.

(Click HERE to read the emails sent to Morrisseys manager by Tim Jonze, who conducted the interview, and Conor McNicholas. There's also a lovely letter sent to the NME from Moz's lawyers. I told you he likes suing people.)

New blog

2008-12-19T17:54:00.002Z

I've always found blogs to be a bit self-indulgent, making the assumption that people actually give a crap and want to read about your life, but I've been having to keep one for my university course and have found it more fun than I was expecting, so I've decided to set up this one so that I can put whatever I want on it, not just uni stuff.