Here is a cover idea for solo project The Willow album. I took it with the iPhone, then worked it a bit in PS4. The best thing about it for me is that the shot is upside down - yet only looks it so after a while, such was the fine weather on the river that day…
Poster from forthcoming exhibitions by the Ho Hum fave photographer Pete Williams. A wonderful photographer…
The KUMO remix of the Custom Blue track “Autumn Flight”.
A lovely remix which follows the original in terms of length and timing, however is far different. Where the original is acoustic, this is modular, with theramins thrown in for good measure.
You can hear more of KUMO at the excellent METAMONO place here
From the forthcoming Lauren Pritchard EP “Painkillers” here is a bonus dub from Flotilla - sad sun drenched roots, with Lauren’s vocal flying about with a Perry-like fervour.
Yes. This is good.
Sardinia..Wonderful.
Books read:
- “The Old Man and The Sea” by Ernest Hemingway
- “The Great Gatsby” by F Scott Fitzgerald
- “Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” by Murakami
Music played:
- “Tales from the City…” by PJ Harvey
- “Michigan,” “7 Swans” by Sufjan Stevens
- “For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver
- “Sketches of Spain” by Miles Davis
- “EP3” by Custom Blue
- “Court & Spark” by Joni Mitchell
- “Arthur Verocai” by Arthur Verocai
- “The Letting Go,” “Beware”, “I See A Darkness” by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
- “On The Beach”, “After the Goldrush” by Neil Young
- “The White Album” by The Beatles
- “Hell Among the Yearlings” by Gillian Welch
Holidays….A week is not long enough..The way I spend my hours on holiday is totally different. I like the me on holiday much more actually.
Nice blog, work in progress but so far Noah K has taken a photo of himself, every day for 6 years. I find that quite fascinating. Whilst it’s not a hard thing to do, any commitment takes courage, nice…
Flotilla press shot…
Just the best news I have had in a long time!
Something so special about committing music to the cut. Here is the lovely lathe at Sound Solution in London, cutting the b-side to the forthcoming Beth Hirsch 7” release on Ho Hum Records, “So Many Things” Beth Hirsch & The Willow.
Nice.
The Willow gig, Union Chapel….
Cat out the bag a bit…But an interview with me in FACT magazine highlighting a wee electronica project you may like. You may not.
Nice to get a mention here, to do with a production we have recently finished with Beth Hirsch, a lovely 7” coming soon on Ho Hum Records.
Sonicbids, filters and ownership..
I was asked to add my two penneth on a Sonicbids debate on whether or not music needs more filters to allow better consumer buy up.. My take on this and also more on the current state of the industry.
The filter argument: The biggest crisis facing the music business isn’t pricing, of either music or concerts, but the lack of a filter telling people what to listen to.”
My answer:
We live in a time where the industry is getting over a collapse, and for good reason. Whilst the over-paid and under-talented swathes of music ‘aficionados’ lick their leather-skinned wounds whilst pondering on the next way to facilitate a pop-star on a reality TV show, the indie label scavengers are all ferreting about and looking at new ways to reach the public whom are and never have been that dumb, but are slightly further from their grasp.
I remember the Nirvana “Nevermind” fiasco. Suddenly an indie band were bigger than Michael Jackson. This was, by all accounts, a complete accident with Geffen having to speed through production of the album to meet demand. I am a little cynical to this now. But I do believe their explosion was more about fan power than marketing nouse. The album was also pretty good..
I remember SKA and punk and suddenly musicians were more important than chat shows. I know The Beatles were bigger than Jesus at one point and indeed in London fans in the 60s declared Eric Clapton “is God”. So where are these fans now? Are they all accepting of the mean of the pop song and it’s boring inline TV marketing structure? Nope, they are not. They are still out there looking and trying to find the music which makes them forget and escape. How to find them is a task which is harder every time a new way of marketing is released, however reaching this lot is not going to give your company or music longevity, you need the new breeds coming through also.
The worry is with this new generation of music fans. The worry is the Spotify model for me especially and potentially the beginning of the end of ownership.
It doesn’t matter how much you apply filters, if by owning a subscription to a service such as Spotify you can effectively own any song EVER and ANYWHERE, then why would you want to own the vinyl/CD? DJs these days switch from heavy vinyl bags to less heavy laptops for very practical reasons, so why wouldn’t a consumer? Meanwhile, musicians/labels get paid an absolute pittance for plays on such a model.
We have to work out ways to improve the chances of people wanting to buy in to and own a brand/musician/product. Applying filters to tell them who is where and why is only the start of the problem. The challenge is set and I am in for sure, but it is a big one.
Link to debate: http://panosbrew.sonicbids.com/is-lack-of-filters-the-“real-music-business-crisis”/comment-page-2/#comment-8903
