In a sad attempt to up my street cred, I have gone a step further and reviewed NEXT WEEKS top 10 (taken from the official charts website). Yes, I am even more down with the charts than the kids are!

From my limited experience of the current top 10 (which comes from watching a few episodes of X-Factor last year) I shall predict that much of the music here was decided upon by the suited man in this KitKat advert. Considering the original advert was made 31 years ago it is quite depressing that the music industry hasn’t learnt anything since then.

Okay, here we go. I shall be listening to each track and then writing the first thoughts that come to my head. Prepare to be offended…

01 HOT RIGHT NOW – DJ FRESH FT RITA ORA

Bloody hell, this is just awful, not a good start and it’s number one! This sounds exactly how I imagined most of the charts to sound today, tuneless, repetitive vocals and numerous mentions about being ‘hot’ in the ‘club’ with ‘your hands in the air’. There’s been loads of awful records like this in the last few years. Only binge drinking underage teenagers would like this rubbish. I wonder if DJ Fresh’s Dad works at Universal Records as this stinking pile of over-stylised tripe offers nothing new and has a dreadful video that looks like a KFC advert to match. I don’t believe this is really number, someone has paid for this to shoot up the charts. Very poor start…. Turn it off now… Next….

02 NEXT TO ME – EMELI SANDE

Now this young lady has been on every TV show in the last few months. I saw her on Jools Holland (oh no, I’ve admitted to watching it) and she wasn’t too bad to be honest performing some track that sounded very similar to Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Sympathy’, this on the other hand is pretty bland. Wonder if the record label wanted to get on Radio 2, Steve Wright and Chris Evans will love this. It may be boring but it’s a massive improvement on DJ Fresh.

03 SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW – GOTYE FT KIMBRA

Another record that compared to DJ Fresh sounds like Mozart, but again it’s just plain boring. This song takes ages to get going and again simply lacks a tune. Despite this I’m pleasantly surprised a record like this is in the charts, it’s like a boring Band of Horses rather than what I expected it to sound like (another DJ Fresh). Do I want to listen to it again though? No, I struggled to get to the end of it once and the girls vocals are annoying. Why do they have to over emphasise every emotion? It makes them sound slight psychotic. I’ve noticed this video has 72 million hits on YouTube, why?

04 TITANIUM – DAVID GUETTA FT SIA

Imagine making music like this in your mid forties (I just looked up his age on Wikipedia), I could think of better things to do with my life. What I’ve heard of his music before is very annoying, and he doesn’t fail to deliver again. This is like a Tesco Value Daft Punk with Sia from Zero 7 fame singing over the top. Again a record that goes nowhere, totally foprgettable. Fractionally better than DJ Fresh but still completely boring. Do you get this free with some Alcopops or something? Next….

05 WILD ONES – FLO RIDA FT SIA

What’s this? Sia, again? 11 years after her success with Zero 7 she finds herself with two records in the charts. This time with Flo Rida whom I think, he thinks, he’s some kind of bad boy. Shame he can’t sing or rap, I’m not exactly sure what his contribution to this record is, if it was me I would definitely refuse to put my name to it, this is truly awful, this is giving DJ Fresh a run for his money in the shit stakes. Poor Sia must be really skint to want to sing on this. MAKE IT STOP NOW…. PLEASE…. Next….

06 DOMINO – JESSIE J

Now I know who Jessie J is, she had that terrible song about the price tag last year. Whenever I’ve seen her interviewed on TV she always come across as really likeable girl, sadly her music is dreadful. It’s music designed to be sung on X-factor auditions. She’s the Sinitta of her generation. I had actually heard this song before and thought it was Katy Perry, which is the problem with a lot of these female artists, they all sound the same. Sorry Jessie, but this song is boring and with 32 million YouTube hits I doubt you give a toss what I think. Next….

07 ALONE AGAIN – ALYSSA REID FT JUMP SMOKERS

Oh dear, now we are really scraping the barrel. A half arsed cover of an 80s power ballad (Heart – Alone) with some guy attempting to rap the verse. This would have been rubbish in the 90s when there were loads of records like this in the charts, it sounds truly terrible now. The chorus is repeated so often I couldn’t get to the end of this as it became so annoying and repetitive, a bit like a child’s musical toy. Go back to your day jobs. Next…..

08 ONE THING – ONE DIRECTION

I know who One Direction are, I’m not completely out of touch. They are permanently trending on Twitter which is why you very rarely look at whats trending these days. This video is where every 12 year old girls favourite band attempt to become the Monkees in their new video and one of them even plays guitar! The song sounds a bit Bryan Adams, again it suffers from the same problem as the rest of the charts so far in the fact the song is so bland, however by the end of this song despite having never heard it before, I could pretty much sing along so at least its catchy. I just hope I never hear it again. This is another case of marketing over music here (am I sounding old enough yet?). Next….

09 T.H.E (THE HARDEST EVER) – WILL I AM/JAGGER/LOPEZ

Now I am in shock, this is where the barrel is not only scraped but the bottom has fallen out of it. The budget for this video must have been phenomenal but the music is awful, it sounds like someone just messing around in the studio. Did someone release the wrong track? I’m guessing this guy was only in the Black Eyed Peas (see I know who he is!) to make the numbers up because there is really nothing going on here musically. This is no surprise for J-Lo but am very dissapointed in Mick Jagger whom I guess they’ve only employed for his moves, this is worse than his duet with Bowie at Live Aid. Even more embarrassing than the music is the fact that Will I Am owns an HTC, he must be really down on his luck!

10 I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU – WHITNEY HOUSTON

If you don’t know this song you must be under 15 years old and will no doubt hear it soon. Poor Whitney, never was a fan of her music but surely she deserved a better life than the one she chose, living the life of a junkie when she had all the options the world could offer. Hopefully she’ll find some peace now. At least she could sing in her heyday unlike the rest of the current charts.

So that’s it. I do feel slightly violated that I’ve had to endure most of these videos, the charts truly are in a bad place. It’s like the late 1980′s all over again. Apart from Whitney Houston and maybe Emilie Sande I can’t imagine anyone listening to any of this chart in 20 years time other than to laugh.

The band begin a UK tour starting at the Norwich Arts Centre on February 17th.

School of Seven Bells

After the disappointing ‘Disconnect From Desire’ two years ago, School of Seven Bells looked like their best days were behind them. My feeling is it was rushed and released too soon to the wonderful ‘Alpinisms’. 2012 sees a trimmed down line-up with the band now a duo but the music has apparently stepped up a level with many saying this album is actually better than the their debut album ‘Alpinism’.

The new album ‘Ghostory’ is out February 28th and you can hear a track below. You can order the album by clicking here.

Veronica Falls

Veronica Falls have been in the studio since Christmas recording new material and after last years debut album (which was easily my favourite album of the year) I am looking forward to hearing more material from them. Given their worldwide tour schedule (they finally play my local venue Norwich Arts Centre on Friday January 27th) I have no idea how they ever rest.

Below is a new track called ‘Bury Me Alive’. You can order the debut album by clicking here.

Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters

It’s nearly five years since Ulrich Schnauss gave us his last album ‘Goodbye’. That album gave us some of the best songs of his career in my opinion (with the likes of Never Be The Same, Stars and Medusa) however it had some real filler in the middle. In the first half of 2012 we get two new albums from Ulrich in the shape of a collaboration with Mark Peters which sounds close to his solo debut ‘Far Away Trains Passing By’ and then there’s his fourth solo album which is due in April.

Underrated Silence is out on February 3rd and you can order the album by clicking here.

Sleigh Bells

The debut album by Sleigh Bells ‘Treats’ in 2010 was a surprise favourite of mine, I’m not usually a fan of Pitchfork hipster albums but it remained the only album I listened to in my car for many months. It was the kind of album that you had to listen to in one go as you were either in the mood for their chaotic sounds or not. One track from their second album is not enough to get too excited yet but I shall look forward to hearing the new album.

Reign of Terror is out on February 20th. You can order the album here.

Sennen

It’s album number four from Sennen and I’m pleased to say the band seemed to have stepped up their game following the slightly disappointing ‘Age of Denial’. On the last album it felt like they were going through the motions and were a little lost, this album however has a new sound backed up with lyrics that have a real tinge of sadness with a feeling of loss and despair. Fingers crossed this album will get them the attention their expanding back catalogue deserves.

‘Lost Harmony’ will be released in April, there’s a track (nowhere near the best track either) from the album below.

Here’s what I’ve been listening to in the last twelve months….

Veronica Falls

The thing I love about Veronica Falls, is the fact they specialise in the one thing that many mainstream artists forget about these days… and that is songwriting. Their shows are incredibly undertstated as they appear extremely nervous despite the fact they have been touring loads this year. All this though makes me love them all the more, rather like Belle & Sebastian or My Bloody Valentine when they released their debut albums, it’s just the music that does all the talking. When you’ve got songs as good as ‘Beachy Head’ and ‘The Fountain’ you don’t need any gimmicks.

Factory Floor

Heaping praise on Factory Floor has become such a cliche, everyone flippin’ loves them and it’s so easy to see why. Live they are one of the best bands I’ve ever seen just by the sheer volume of their sound and they’ve got one of the best drummers since Keith Moon, but the records take you somewhere else. It’s a genius idea, Factory Floor make dance music for people who like experimental guitar music, Imagine if Sonic Youth had decided to make an acid house record, this is it. Their debut due out Spring 2012 will no doubt be the best album we’ll hear next year.

The Primitives

Featuring The Primitives in a ‘Best of 2011′ list is somewhat strange as it’s nearly a quarter of a century since their heydey, but last years tour seemed like more of a celebration than a nostalgia trip and their debut album ‘Lovely’ sits perfectly alongside many of todays bands. A new EP (their first in 19 years) was released in the spring which gave us a teaser of what their forthcoming covers album may sound like. The EP featured two covers and two new Paul Court songs, but it was the Toni Basil cover of ‘Breakaway’ that stood out and hopefully nods a hat towards the new album….

Katy B

99.9% of pop music is rubbish, fact. The charts and my taste in music are so far apart these days it’s just like the late 1980′s when every track in the top 20 was produced by Pete Waterman. Only one chart album interested me this year and that was Katy B’s wonderful ‘On A Mission’. Reminiscent in attitude to The Streets’ debut ‘Original Pirate Material’ every track on ‘On A Mission’ had enough hooks for daytime radio while keeping clubbers (that includes retired clubbers like myself) happy. Let’s hope her follow up album is better than anything Mike Skinner did after his debut.

Hollie Cook

I stumbled across Hollie Cook’s debut single one night on 6Music and immediately was hooked. The obvious comparison to Hollie’s music is Janet Kay’s 1979 hit ‘Silly Games’, that summery regggae sound really reminds me of being a child dropping one of my aunties back to her flat in Hackney and the occasional trip down Petticoat Lane. When I got her debut album in the summer I loved it. It was nice to see her finally get some recognition the other week with an appearance on Jools Holland’s normally dull show.

Washed Out

As Ulrich Schnauss doesn’t seem to want to finish his forth solo album, Ernest Greene stepped in with his debut proper long-player ‘Within and Without’ which bizarrely charted at 26 in the US Billboard charts. Despite a very boring instore at Rough Trade the album supplied much of the soundtrack to my summer.

Gil-Scott Heron and Jamie XX

Someone we said goodbye to this year was Gil-Scott Heron. I must be honest and say his music had previously passed me by. The only association I had with him was shouting his name during LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Losing My Edge’. It took Jamie XX to make me go out and buy his new album which I was listening to when the boring royal wedding was on.

The Field

I flippin’ love The Field, I know the second album was seen as a dissappointment by many, mainly because it had a cheesey cover version on it, but it still featured some great tracks. The third album caught me by surprise this year as I hadn’t anticipated anything new from him for a while yet. My wife hates The Field.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

I was really looking forward to the second album from Pains of Being Pure at Heart despite the bridging single ‘Say No To Love’ being very weak, I was however won back by the first two singles from this album ‘Heart in Your Heartbreak’ and ‘Belong’. Both singles were so good my expectations were just too high. It was nowhere as good as their debut but it still had it’s moment. I’m sure I’ll get into it properly one day….

Amy Winehouse

The passing of AMy Winehouse in the summer would take a cold person to not at least recognise her contribution to music so far this century, unlike the dreadful X-Factor conveyor belt (I still watched it too) Amy Winehouse took music and fashion from the 50s and 60s and made it sound contemporary. Her contribution to fashion can only be compared to that of the Gallagher brothers the previous decade, you only have to walk around Shoreditch in 2011 to see that 5 years after the release of ‘Back to Black’ her legacy is still truly alive and kicking as the place is packed with clones. The new ‘Lioness’ album reminds you how sad it is that we’ll never get a third album from her.

Other releases I liked this year but I’ve not enough time to write anything about…

SBTRK
Balam Acab
Jamie Woon
Sarabeth Tucek
Peaking Lights
Yuck
Summer Camp

]]> http://www.stewart-nash.co.uk/2011/12/my-soundtrack-to-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.stewart-nash.co.uk/2011/11/creation-records-documentary-from-1994/ http://www.stewart-nash.co.uk/2011/11/creation-records-documentary-from-1994/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:36:34 +0000 Stewart http://www.stewart-nash.co.uk/?p=531 I originally taped most of this show from the radio way back in 1994 and it’s a far superior documentary than the 2004 one broadcast on Radio 2. This was originally broadcast on Radio 1 before the era when Creation became Oasis’ record label and all the fantastic bands that made the label great were cast off on the scrapheap as they didn’t sell enough records compared to their new signings, as a certain group once said ‘Money Changes Everything’.

Creation always had an edge over its peers in the ’80′s and early ’90′s as it seemed like a community just like Motown did in the ’60′s and Douglas Hart’s amazing videos sent their music off into another planet. Creation also knew when to call it a day unlike Motown who later gave us ‘Hello’ and the truly awful ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’.

Recently someone very kindly sent me the opening section I had missing which includes a lot of the great pre-Mary Chain bands. Personally I love the label for their work between ’88 and ’92, although most of the music was innovative it still teased the mainstream without letting its core audience down. For me Sugar (which coincided with the Sony deal) was the start of the decline as they were just dull. I won’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy seeing my favourite label produce one of the biggest bands of the decade but as independent record labels go, Domino seemed to handle the success of the Arctic Monkeys a lot better a decade later as have XL with the likes of Adele, but maybe they learnt a lot from Creation.

Enjoy….

It’s that time of year again with the August Bank Holiday weekend to say goodbye to the festival season for another year. Last year whilst watching the Reading Festival on TV I finally got round to writing my review of the 1992 festival headlined by Nirvana.

Spike Island

There’s been much in the press lately about the forthcoming death of HMV, with many people saying this cannot be allowed to happen. Their argument usually revolves around the fact that there won’t be anywhere to buy music on the High Street, I believe the opposite would happen and it could be the start of the return of the independents.

In 1996, my local High Street opened a huge HMV superstore, it was massive. I remember my first visit there, I couldn’t believe I had a shop like this within a few minutes walk from my house. It was like a local version of the flagship store on Oxford Street in London… a shop that I loved so much as a teenager and would travel to London just to visit.

In 1996 we had we 6 other small independent record shops in Norwich and a Virgin Megastore alongside several second hand record shops, within 4 years all the independents except 1 had gone. Now I know there are various reasons for this, the supermarkets started selling cheap chart cd’s and you would get the occasional cd online from Amazon but despite what people tell you, between 1996 and 2000 the internet had very little impact on why my city lost most of its shops.

I blame the HMV superstore

In 2011 all but 1 of the second hand record shops remain, so how come they could survive but not the shops selling new music? In the 11 years since, we all know that Virgin Megastore has closed leaving HMV and one independent that only sells drum and bass white labels to pillheads. Meaning that any music fans in our city are left without anywhere to buy new music.

So what is currently so bad about HMV?

Pricing – What on earth are HMV up to with this? One week a CD is £10, the next it’s £22 and the next it’s £6 and then it goes into the ‘Two for £10′ section. It’s all so random and all over the place. I don’t think anyone minds paying an extra £1 compared to online prices as you know the overheads are higher but HMV really take the biscuit sometimes to the point where you just don’t bother even looking and just order online. What also bugs me (and this has happened more than once to me) is you go to the section for the band you are looking for and the CD is a tenner. After paying as you leave the store you notice the same CD is in another section in the ‘Two for £10′. Now hang on, that’s just plain dishonest, charging one person more for something than another. Another reason to shop online… do I really need to search the whole shop to make sure I get the best deal?

Service – Record shops are famous for bad customer service, HMV have done very little to buck that trend. Although the staff are nowhere as bad as Jack Black in the scene below, this is something they aspire to but the reality is you can’t be cool working in HMV when 90% of the stuff you sell are either games or cut price DVD’s to chav’s and pensioners. Yet they literally push you out of the way when they want to restock the shelves (although there’s one really nice woman who works in the Chapelfield branch in Norwich) and the beardy blokes literally show the customers nothing but contempt. On top of this, there’s the queues…. as soon as it’s only 5 people long half the staff behind the counter clear off almost as if there should be a queue.

Product – Now HMV had an opportunity to really seize this market when Zavvi/Virgin went under in 2009 as they no longer had any competitors on the High Street. No, they decided they would realign themselves with some new competitors. You may be thinking, “what is he on about?” 18 months ago HMV found themselves in the situation of being the sole remaining music retail chain, lucky devils. So with sales of vinyl [source] growing, the chain decided to stop stocking it in the majority of its stores! Madness…!!! Instead they decide to go heavy with DVD’s and computer games which you can easily get elsewhere. There are already many stores selling games on the High Street and the market is falling from the value of these, the majority of people now refuse to pay more than a fiver for a DVD whilst they are buying milk and bread at their local supermarket. If I wanna watch a film I can also watch it via my set top box for £3, so why would I need to go into a HMV and pay £16. I’ll pay £3 now and if I love the film I’ll get the DVD for less than a fiver in a few months from the supermarket. HMV’s strategy is clearly not to be a market leader, they are just chasing anything they can find.

Community – This is another area HMV could clean up, sell music by local artists! One band I released an album by in 2008 got great reviews in all the music monthlies and a big review in NME. There were 2 other releases that week that got similar press. The bands local HMV had big displays of the other 2 releases but only ordered 1 copy of the local band and that was sold by 9.05am. THEY DIDN’T BOTHER TO STOCK A SUCCESSFUL LOCAL BAND! Just who is doing the buying for HMV? They do not know their customers. Yet another wasted opportunity. Are you beginning to pick up on my frustration yet?

Point of Difference – And this is where the problem really lies, what is HMV’s point of difference? There isn’t one anymore, they are chasing the supermarkets but the supermarkets will happily lose money on music because they’ll make money elsewhere. Unless HMV start selling food they are frankly finished. There’s no nice way of putting it, the shops look chaotic and cheap, there’s posters and balloons everywhere which look trashy, the layout is cluttered with piles of stickered junk everywhere, nothing in the shop feels special and something you really must own, it all feels disposable. Half ot it will be in Oxfam or a landfill site in 2 years. Just why clear out space that could be used to sell quality products for hundreds of cheap books about Justin Beiber or JLS which retail for £1 each?

Do I want to see HMV fail? No. I don’t want any of the staff to be made redundant and I don’t want there to be less places to buy music but it just doesn’t feel like a good place to shop anymore, it’s a mess and you can get everything in their from ASDA, Tesco or Sainsbury’s. But more frustrating is the fact it doesn’t sell anything I want, I buy music but I can never find anything in HMV I want to buy, it’s all mainstream crap. Instead of catering for the music geeks who buy stuff regularly, they cater for the average joe who buys 1 album a year (usually in ASDA). If they sold more niche products they’d have a more loyal customer base. I hope someone at their head office reads this and at least thinks for 5 mins about what they are doing. If the shops are anything to go by I doubt it, they’ll be too busy reading Heat or Reveal magazine.

Finally, just to show not all service in HMV is bad, here’s proof.

Factory Floor – ~(R E A L L O V E) (Optimo Remix)
First up, we’ve got one of my fave bands of last year with what could be the best tune of the year. Imagine Lil’ Louis meets Nico and you’ve got some idea of what to expect, an industrial psychedlic house track. Woah! Factory Floor are one of the loudest bands around and I hope the manage to build on what have been a few greats records with a corking debut album…

Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
Next up, one of the best live bands around at the moment with the title track from their second longplayer. ‘Belong’ starts off sounding like ‘Waterfall’ by the Stone Roses, then bursts into ‘Cherub Rock’ by Smashing Pumpkins with vocals by Stephen Pastel and backing from St. Winifreds School Choir. If that hasn’t put you off you’ll bloody love it. I’m still unconvinced the new album is a patch on their first but I’ll have give it a little more time….

Primal Scream – Screamadelica
In some ways you have to feel sorry for Primal Scream, from 1990 until 2002 they made some really, really, really good records with Vanishing Point, Exterminator and the often overlooked Evil Heat. The last two albums though were a major step backwards especially Riot City Blues which offered nothing, it just seemed a really lazy album lacking in any originality or even songs, I always wonder why the band have to make these poor Garage Rock albums everything few years (1989′s self titled and 1994′s Give Out and Don’t Give Up) when they aren’t very good at it, it’s opbviously where their heart is but makes for a poor listening experience. Currently though the band are touring their 1991 album Screamadelica and enjoying a huge surge in popularity.

I remember when Screamadelica was released I initially dismissed it as a compilation of their recent singles with a few filler tracks (although the singles were amazing) but I still lapped up the live shows of this era. Glastonbury ’92 and the miners benefits to a half empty Sheffield Arena were two gigs that I can remember alongside the traditional Brixton date every album they release. After a few years the anorak in me forgot what were singles and I now listen to the album as whole. Last week saw the release of a box set with 4 cd’s, vinyl and a long overdue release of the VHS video on DVD. There’s not many box sets I would buy these days but this was one I couldn’t say no to. I did consider the recent Ride reissue of ‘Nowhere’ but decided against it because

• a, it’s too expensive.
• b, there’s no new material included.
• c, the whole package looks cheap compared to the Screamadelica box set.

Anyway, below is a clip of the band playing ‘Damaged’ from 1992. Anyone got any other footage from this era?

The Primitives – Never kill A Secret EP
Discussing new releases by The Primitives in 2011 wasn’t something I anticipated a couple of years ago. I loved their early singles and their debut album ‘Lovely’ is near perfect but after this they quickly seemed to lose their identity and become just another major label band. After they reunited in 2009 Fortuna Pop! (the coolest label in the world at the moment) have stepped in to release their first new record in 19 years.

The ‘Never Kill A Secret’ EP includes new tracks ‘Rattle My Cage’ and the title track alongside a couple of cover versions. Now before I heard the EP I wasn’t interested in the cover versions especially as one is of a Toni Basil (yes, the same Toni Basil) number, but for me this turns out to be a highlight. I do like a bit of Northern Soul and The Primitives don’t dissappoint with their cover of ‘Breakaway’ in which Tracey Tracey surprised me by hitting all the right notes. I couldn’t find The Primitives version on the net to share with you today, so here’s the original.

For those of you hoping to hear one of the new tracks by the band, here’s the video for ‘Rattle My Cage’.

Yuck – Holing Out
Finally today I give you a band who have from some quarters been getting loads snide remarks, not from me. I’ve really enjoyed their debut album with a mixture of Dinosaur Jr. meets Teenage Fanclub meets Yo La Tengo. Who cares if they are a bit pop and are were once signed to a major record label, I’m too old to care about stupid rules like that….

Until next time….