Whatever it is about Girls' album Father, Son, Holy Ghost but it sounds like I've already heard it. I was singing along to songs midway through despite the fact that I was on a first listen. I'm not quite sure if this is a good thing or not because it may mean I'll get sick of them very quickly. Clearly influenced by music from the 60s and 70s there is nothing strikingly original about them but are refreshing nonetheless. There's been a lot of hooha about them but whether they'll stand the test of time, I'm not so sure. But who needs longevity? I'm all about the here and now these days.
This track, Honey Bunny is written about lead singer Christopher Owens' mother. It has a nice surf rock vibe to it. The video features some questionable fashion choices that reminds me of the line 'indeterminate sexual preference, something retro on my necklace' from the Being a Dickhead is Cool is viral:
This second song is a slow burner and has a real Pink Floyd feeling to it. The videos for both this and Honey Bunny feature all-American cars; a Chevrolet Corvette and a '66 Mustang respectively. I suspect the band might be big car fans.
I'm guessing they'll be doing the rounds at festivals next summer.
Azealia Banks heralds the return of urban hip hop proper. This twenty year old funky lyricist from Harlem, NY has temporarily moved to London to complete her first album and has been signed to an undisclosed major label (my totally random guess is she's been signed to Interscope).
Extensive use of an explicit word beginning with the letter 'c' makes 212 a tune that is not for the lyrically close-minded. But if you're not fazed by these things you'll have to agree she's a rhyming genius. Structurally I love this track; the use of a really nice middle eight forces you to reflect and beautifully prepares you for the heavy bassed climax.
Azealia Banks '212':
It's also good to see that a great video can be made on what I imagine is a relatively low budget.
I will admit that back in the early 2000s when the like of Popstars and Pop Idol were launched I watched with eager anticipation to see who would win. Very quickly the novelty of these so called 'talent shows' wore off because the contestants were below par. At the start the hopefuls were bearable, but the talent pool dried up very quickly and in an attempt to mask the substandard quality of the entrants, X Factor UK now includes these horribly cringey and utterly talentless characters that feature purely to increase ratings and voting income. Prime examples include Wagner, Diva Fever and Mary Byrne. Yes. Mary Byrne, that lovely lady from Ballyfermot. Accuse me of being cynical but I am convinced she only made the live shows to get more of us Irish on the voting bandwagon. And this year that little urchin Janet Devlin is the token Paddy who is pretty mediocre and is quite obviously a lame attempt to rip-off Ellie Goulding.
Which brings me nicely on to my second major gripe; In Janet's initial audition she performed Elton John's Your Song. I'm no Elton fan but it's a great tune, possibly his best. Needless to say she performed it in her wavering, faux-innocent, child-like, cute little Irish girl way. The judges gushed. The audience roared. She was through. She was commended on the originality of her interpretation. How beautiful. Pure genius. Eh hello?! Despite the fact that these people work in the music industry they fail to mention that Janet's version of Your Song is remarkably similar to Ellie Goulding's. Now, I'm not suggesting they don't know Ellie Goulding's version, what I am suggesting is they clearly want to portray her as amazingly unique and different. Go X Factor!
This isn't the first time this has happened either. Cast your memory back to the year 2002. Remember Will Young? (where's he's gone?!). In case you can't remember back that far, he was the winner of the very first Pop Idol. Aaaaanyway, quite a few times during the competition Will performed Light My Fire by The Doors which led to ridiculous amounts of praise for his original interpretation of the song. I still remember how irked I was by this. There was absolutely nothing original about his interpretation as it is identical to that of Jose Feliciano's.
Here we have Will Young's 'original' interpretation:
And Jose Felicano's version, released in 1968:
Despite my disillusionment with X Factor UK, I have a soft spot for the American X Factor. Shock horror the American version actually has people that can sing on it! Who knew? But we all know that the vast majority, including the winners, will disappear into obscurity once the show is over. Why is this? My theory is that even though these people may have excellent vocals, ironically they do not possess the X Factor.
Take Melanie Amaro for example. Her performance of Beyonce's Listen is near pitch perfect. Yet, it misses that j'ai ne c'est quoi. Actually it's not a certain something, I think I know exactly what it is. First off, she hasn't got the looks. I know it's cruel, but let's be honest with ourselves the music industry is superficial. Beyonce on the other hand is absolutely gorgeous, no arguments there. Secondly, Melanie Amaro's voice is very consistent but unfortunately isn't distinctive. Whereas, Beyonce's voice is multi-dimensional, ranging from gravelly to complete tonal lucidity. It also possesses an incredibly unique timbre that is immediately identifiable.
Melanie Amaro singing Listen:
Beyonce singing Listen (few keys lower):
Having a unique voice is almost a prerequisite to success. Name any truly successful solo artist and they will all have very distinctive voices. Some examples that come to mind are: Elvis, John Lennon, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Florence Welch, Lauryn Hill, Neil Young...you get the point.
In 2010 when Marina and the Diamonds released her first album The Family Jewels I couldn't get enough of it. I loved her vocals that bounced, snapped and almost warbled their way through the songs. In terms of production it was polished and refined with synth featuring heavily, but it was also punctuated with strings, piano, brass, catchy guitar riffs and solid drums which gave her music quite a unique indie-pop sound. While it was close to mainstream, it was too left of centre to receive widespread radio play, but that was ok because she was a zany cartoon-themed lyrical feminist carving a niche for herself.
Fast forward a year and a bit of success later and it seems that any individuality she previously possessed has been sucked out of her. I blame this almost entirely on her collaboration with leading pop producers. Now admittedly I've only listened to two songs off her forthcoming album (entitled Electra Heart) but there has been quite a genre shift towards to what I can only describe as 'Rhianna'. The vocals, the production, everything about it stinks of Rhianna and it's hardly surprising given the fact that those behind this Rhianna-ing of Diamandis is no other than Norwegian production duo Stargate responsible for other Rhianna crimes such as 'Don't Stop the Music', 'S&M', 'Take a Bow', 'Rude Boy', 'Only Girl (In the World)' and 'What's My Name?'.
Ok, ok, maybe it's a bit harsh to refer to Rhianna's music as 'crimes' as they are amazing feats of production, are undoubtedly catchy and have topped the charts across the globe. But the overt sexual references and commodifying of her sexuality is both unnecessary and cheap, particularly when you consider that the vast majority of her fans are in their teens or younger. Whether these overtones will be applied to Marina's new album is unclear, although a demo leaked earlier this year was called 'Sex, Yeah' so my guess is that she may be towing the Rhianna-line.
If this is the case, I think it's kind of ironic because to quote Marina in 'Oh No'; 'I know exactly what I want and who I want to be...', maybe that's not quite the case anymore...
Here's her new single, Radioactive:
And the other one is Fear and Loathing which has a more Katy Perry sound to it. It's really not great:
I was introduced to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros when I was in the States recently and they will definitely be worth checking out at the Picnic. They're a band with a ridiculously large number of members so it would be interesting to know how many of the ensemble will be present in Stradbally.
Their style is almost retro and is reminiscent of a Cash-Carter sound:
Foster the People aren't around that long and their debut album Torches is the kind of foot-tapping indie-electropop that's so catchy it's infectious. Their harmonies and the overall feelgood summery vibe you get from them is just too much to resist.
I love this post-apocalyptic video with its evil kids. Must've cost a fortune to make:
Even though these guys have been around for quite a while I only recently discovered them and what a pleasure it's been. Pitchfork's Ian Cohen is infamous for being overly harsh with his reviews and has lived up to his reputation with his scathing critique of their latest album, Penny Sparkle. I have to say I fundamentally disagree with his review, it's a beautiful album.
Kazu Makino's vocals are just angelic and so wonderfully soothing; this creates an ethereal sound that floats along, wrapping you up in a dreamy electronic reverie. But not only does it do that, their music also evokes feelings of expansive open spaces filled with meloncholy and sadness.
This song is a particularly good example. So full of woe:
Oslo isn't exactly upbeat either but I tend to zone out on the lyrics on this one and just listen to the melody.
I found out today that I will not be able to make the picnic because of family issues. So disappointed that I won't get to see Blonde Redhead but there will be other gigs :) Going to continue with my online mixtape regardless.
Listening to Mylo's Destroy Rock and Roll really brings back memories of finishing my degree which feels like an eternity ago at this stage... Since then he's only really done freebie stuff for Mixmag which I actually haven't listened to. Hopefully he'll be bringing out a full length album soon because he's a legend. Like, who can make Dr. Beat by Miami Sound Machine sound so cool? A one-time PhD student from the Isle of Skye, that's who.
Bethany Cosentino really seems to have an obsession with cats; from album covers with cats to videos featuring cats. Now I love our little feline friends but I think the boundaries between pets and music needs to be firmly delineated. The other thing about Best Coast that I don't get are their lyrics. Have you ever listened to them? They're so bad! A five year old could write them.
Here are some of the lyrics from Boyfriend:
'I wish he was my boyfriend
I wish he was my boyfriend
I'd love him to the very end
But instead he's just a friend I wish he was my boyfriend'
Jaysus.
But cats and poor lyrics aside her jangly singalong music has some endearing qualities to it.
It's amazing that Marcus Lambkin, aka, Shit Robot, is in his forties and only released his first album last year. The story goes that this Wicklow lad became friends with James Murphy while DJing in New York which subsequently led to him being signed to DFA.
Being signed to the label resulted in album contributions by other DFA artists, and the two songs that I've chosen from his debut album feature Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip (Losing My Patience) and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem (Take 'Em Up).
Losing My Patience is directed by Fergal Brennan and I'm proud to say my friend Karl worked on it as a modelmaker.
Maybe Lambkin wants to showcase Irish directorial talent as this second video featuring Nancy Whang using some really nice stop-motion was directed and produced by Eoghan Kidney.
It's not surprising that this Philly native has been likened to M.I.A. because the two have worked with some of the same people and also have the same influences (and because they're both female right?).
Unlike M.I.A. her music doesn't have any political undertones and dare I say it, is a helluva a lot better than anything produced by M.I.A - who's a bit of a one-trick pony if you ask me.
My favourite track from her 2008 album, Santogold, is Lights Out:
She's also done a few collaborations and this duet with those BKLYN legends Beastie Boys is a cracking tune. Beastie Boys have never disappointed on the video-front and this is another to add to the creative collection:
Her new album is supposed to be released sometime over the coming months, no doubt we'll get a sneak preview at the picnic!
Seeing that Electric Picnic is just around the corner it's only appropriate that I would blog about some of the bands/acts that are to grace the stages of Stradbally. So...over the next two weeks I'm going to post my own recommendations and in doing so create a little online mix-tape of sorts.
First off is Russian-American songstress Zola Jesus (real name Nika Rosa Danilova). Her dark, almost haunted vocals which are accompanied by synths and lots of reverb give rise to a mysterious and eerie sound. She denies the 'goth' moniker but the musical and stylistic parallels are too close to be ignored. But in saying that, pigeonholing her in the gothic genre is unfair as her music is far superior to any gothic music I have ever been unlucky enough to listen to.
My two choices from her album Stridulum II (no idea what that makey-up word means) are The Night and Sea Talk.
Whether social media has reached saturation point has been bandied about for some time now, but no one can predict where social media is headed. In saying that, eMarketerpredict a slowdown in social networking in developed countries over the coming years but there is definitely still room for growth as penetration is still low for many segments of the population.
But mobile is really where we’re seeing growth, recent research by Amarach (May 2011) found that 37% of all Irish mobile phone users owned a smartphone and this is only going to increase. Right now people are using their smartphones to purchase music and apps but this is going to change, soon consumers will be using their smartphones as a replacement for credit cards or cash. In fact, Mastercard are working with mobile manufacturers and operators to embed tags on mobiles which may render plastic dead.
Smartphones also allow consumers to receive notifications of discounts depending on where they are located at any particular time. For example you might be at a particular location and get a message saying that the coffeeshop next to you is offering two coffees for the price of one or something similar. This market is nowhere near fully optimised and will experience huge growth in the coming years. Related to this are digital discounts and vouchers. These work either as discount coupons downloaded via iPhone apps (O2 are already utilising this as part of the O2 Treats offers) or as barcodes sent to mobiles offering free products or gift vouchers. The nice thing about this is that it is cost efficient, trackable and paperless. This will create rich data for brands as they will be able to track specific locations, towns and times of day that coupons were redeemed.
QR codes are also an exciting mobile development, they’re going to move from experiment to an essential ingredient of the marketing mix over the next few years. In terms of marketing, QR will become widely used in advertising as a means to direct users to online content, thus making advertising much more engaging, rather than the consumer passively receiving content.
Mobile is also to be positively effected by Augmented Reality (AR) – AR can be used to promote products via interactive AR applications. AR will allow smartphone users to get information about their surroundings, translations or street signs – or even access the social profiles of passers-by! Disney have already used this at the premiere of Prince of Persia. Android and iPhone users who were standing near one of the outdoor film posters could play the movie trailer and play an augmented reality game. In return for this they received value points for playing the game.
So all and all, mobile is going to grow hugely. All of these new developments will force more and more consumers into the smartphone market as they will find it increasingly difficult to do even the most basic tasks without one. In order to stay afloat marketers must embrace these changes as technology is going to become a serious differentiator of competitive advantage. Technology is going to become the business.
Traditionally account management, creative and media were the three powerhouses of an agency, however in the 1970s ad agencies in the UK recognised the need for an additional function that sought to bring together these elements in order to drive strategy and focus for campaigns. This led to the development of what we now refer to as Strategic Planning or Account Planning and is pivotal to the advertising process. Account planning can vary from agency to agency, but typically account planners are concerned with the consumer’s point of view and insert the consumer’s viewpoint all along the advertising strategy and creation. They work closely with the creative team and through research and insights they serve as the voice of the consumer. The kind of person that makes a good planner is one who understands what makes consumers tick, they ‘get’ what they’re into and have strong research skills. Unlike a market researcher who post hoc will assess the success of a campaign, a planner has input at every stage of the process.
So what’s the big deal? Are planners not just glorified qualitative researchers? These are the kind of criticisms that are commonly levelled at the planning function. Pardon the cliché, but we now live in an information age so there’s an even greater need for this information to be distilled and disseminated so that it is meaningful and useful in isolating key trends and developing campaigns.
For digital agencies, it is key that strategists are part of the production process so that digital platforms are developed that take clients into the future. Account planners/strategists use information to develop campaigns that are relevant to their audience which in turn increases engagement and develops communities for the clients’ customers and fans. And because planning is literally about thinking ahead and embracing change, it becomes an even more essential function in the dynamic and ever-evolving digital agency.
Very recently I was at a wedding in Italy (fabulous in every sense of the word), but while there I got thinking about the kind of music that people choose for the afters of their nuptials. See, the thing is, quite often the whole music set-up is not great. If there's one thing that makes a wedding for me is the fact that I can get up and dance around like a mad eejit for two or three hours. I'm not particularly fussy either; I'll dance to any old cheese, in fact the cheesier the better. But unfortunately many weddings fall short in the music department.
Now this is not because the bands have lacked musical talent or anything like that; it's generally because of other things going on. For example, I've been to numerous weddings where there were only a small handful of people getting their groove on because everyone else had congregated in an entirely different room (most probably close to the bar). It doesn't matter how good the band are, no amount of talent can make up for the fact that it's no fun dancing with just one or two others. Or there was another wedding where two very talented boys played all their heartfelt tunes on acoustic guitars. I don't fault their musicability, but seriously, who wants to hear that kind of music at a wedding? This is not at all conducive to a boogie and a complete and utter party killer. There have also been weddings where I can't remember the music at all. Maybe I was a little inebriated? To be honest, that's unlikely to explain my memory loss as no matter what the wedding I'm likely to be fairly merry. Also, there have been a few weddings where I've been completely blown away by the entertainment so drink can't be blamed for any forgetfulness.
Top of the list has to be the wedding where Smash Hits played. The place absolutely rocked, people raving, moshing, doing the whole 'big box little box' moves and generally just going a bit mental. Shame I was in a velvet dress (don't judge, it was classy) because I was a sweaty mess (which is not at all classy). Or more recently, at the wedding in Italy they had a local band playing loads of hits followed by a playlist of all our own music we'd compiled via a Facebook group. Everyone likes having a sense of ownership eh? Another great one was an impromptu band named Wed, Wed, Wed. In their younger years they'd done a few gigs together and they used to do a few songs of their own but on the whole they mostly did covers. Needless to say they never went anywhere because they were a bit crap but as a wedding band they were amazing! Not always in tune, not always in time either, but their sheer energy and their random comedic injections were the source of much hilarity and fun having.
Fortunately I'm not in the market for a wedding band so I don't have the pressure to choose a band that creates a night to remember. But in the event that I do, I think I'd go for a band that guarantees the best craic. That seems to be the common denominator.
Written while listening to my Cheesey Rock Playlist - songs include: Need You Tonight (INXS), Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns n' Roses), We Built This City (Starship), Straight Up (Paula Abdul), Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode) and Raspberry Beret (Prince) to name a few...
One thing I've noticed about Google+ is that it does not give you notifications in the Tab in the same way that Facebook, Twitter or even Gmail does.
Take a look at the image below (you might need to click on it to make it a bit bigger), check out the Gmail tab and you can see that I've just received one new mail, as it happens, this email is a Google+ notification, yet, the Google+ tab does not include a (1) on it.
However a clever little extension developed by antimatter15.com integrates Google+ into Chrome. So...if you look to the right of the address/search bar you will see a little '1' in red box and that's my notification.
I really don't know what it is about DFA, but I tend to really like everyone that's signed to them. My most recent crush is YΔCHT, an electropop duo from Portland, Oregon. While they seem to be around for quite a few years, they only came to my attention after the recent release of their fifth album Shangri-La.
Given the layered, post-punk electro vibe of their sound, I'm assuming their influences include Blondie, Talking Heads and quite definitely LCD Soundsystem - the granddaddy of their label. Claire C. Evans contributes most of the vocals on this album which bear similarities to Annie Lennox's contralto tones (albeit not nearly as tuneful). However, in Paradise Engineering she assumes the role of a female rapper which leads to obvious comparisons to Debbie Harry, or to James Murphy himself. In fact, the beats (e.g. cowbells) and bass on this track are almost identical to LCD's Us v. Them on Sound of Silver, or to Pow Pow on This is Happening.
As a starter point I would recommend Dystopia; this is a track that grabs hold of you in an almost visceral way and stands out as an obvious single. Unfortunately for YΔCHT, rumors have been flying around the internet that the main hook in Dystopia makes reference to a song called 'Fire, Water, Burn' by that awful rap/rock ensemble the Bloodhound Gang which, needless to say, has been wholeheartedly denied by YΔCHT. Mind, after having listened to 'Fire, Water, Burn' I can see the lyrical parallel between the two but I'm sure this is just a coincidence as I cannot for the life of me see why the likes of YΔCHT would want to associate themselves with a band who are almost their antithesis in every way.
One hugely redeeming feature of this song is the nicely animated two-track video of Utopia and Dystopia which can be viewed here (this is the clean version):
DJs extraordinaire, 2manyDJs launched Radio Soulwax today which is a 24-hour mashup masterpiece. It can be accessed directly through their site, http://www.radiosoulwax.com/, or through their iPhone and Android app. The app is particularly cool as it provides a download option as well.
As with Blogger, Google+ is really nicely integrated with YouTube, but what would you expect seeing as they own both? Image here:
I'm sure it's deliberate in that they didn't want to clone Facebook entirely, but there's no 'Like' button. Instead they have a +1 option which publicly shows what you like, agree with or recommend. Unlike the traditional Like button, if a person was to happen upon the content that you '+1'd' (is that a new verb now?), they will be linked back to your profile. You can also make all your +1s public to people in your circle on your profile, however this is not a default setting.
As expected you can directly access Google+ anywhere in Google by clicking on the 'Yourname +' button on the top left-hand corner of your browser. Although for some reason this isn't the case for Calendar, you have to access it via the Sharing section on the top right hand corner.
Which brings me onto the Sharing function, I really like that you can share (status update if we are to use Facebook terminology) from anywhere in Google, without having to have open a separate tab/window.
When in Google+ there is no Home button and I very presumptuously jumped to the conclusion that the UI was a little clunky, however, I just discovered that you can revert back to your stream by clicking the Google+ no matter where you are - neat!
And finally, I'd just like to make a correction to my last post - I had assumed that you cannot see what your profile looks like to other users. Apparently you can by going to https://plus.google.com/settings/privacy or, and this is a lot easier than Facebook's version, you can go to your Profile and underneath the Edit Profile button there's a 'View profile as' option, all you need to do is enter the user's name and voila!
Apart from feeling quite privileged to have it (yes, I'm a complete nerd), I really don't know what I think about Google+. Now, this isn't because there are a very limited number of people on it, and activity is definitely slack, it's because I think it lacks some of the functionality that Facebook offers.
Firstly, you cannot hide 'all posts from this user', the only options it gives are 'Report abuse', 'Mute this post' and 'Block this person'. Maybe this is a feature that'll be added later, who knows. See image below:
You also cannot see what your profile looks like to different people in the way Facebook does (this point is corrected and discussed in my next blogpost).
One nice thing about it is that it seems to be very open in the way Twitter is so there's no need for friend requests, you can just add people to your circles as you wish and they can reciprocate the gesture if they like.
While watching the insanely accurate/funny Being a Dickhead’s Cool for about the millionth time, I decided, ironically, that I would start my own blog.
The purpose of this blog is to comment on new (and old) music, emerging trends in digital media and also to randomly waffle about anything else that takes my fancy.
So to get the ball rolling, here is the offending video which led me to this:
