Sad times

I was pretty sad to see this Facebook postfrom the exceptionally talented British musician Whitey. I suppose it's the same situation as many exceptionally creative yet perhaps not chart-topping artists face these days. Lots of people love them, fellow musicians respect them and they generally have credibility streaming out of their ears but it doesn't transfer into big fat dollar signs for big fat record label bosses (or even quite skinny ones on microbiotic diets i would imagine). I'm not going to try and dissect a situation I don't know much about beyond this meagre blog post but all I know is Whitey can really write what to my ears, is a wonderful beautiful pop song and so for him not to get a record deal of any worth sucks balls big time. Onwards and upwards as I so very often say. Oh yeah, and the spirit of his punk rock attitude and true creativity he's stuck his fingers up at the record labels and will instead have his album available for your listening pleasure as of Saturday the 19th May here. Happy Birthday to me (well a day late but who's counting?)

King of Kindness

This is the truly marvellous Adam Bainbridge - otherwise known as Kindness. Oh and a cute little boy called Ramon (good name). This video is like Gonzales meets the best bits of Sesame Street sprinkled with a little bit of Dad-humour, cool and magic. If you haven't already seen Kindness live please do so as it's one of the most exciting and refreshing things to come out of the UK music scene in a very long time. Whether or not he will sell millions of records remains to be seen (good taste is not high on the musical agenda these days it seems) but who cares.. if he stays as a hidden musical gem I will be happy. Provided he gets paid handsomely and lives a happy life of course.

New year. New reunion.

So the original Sugababes are back together but can't actually BE the Sugababes because a bunch of stage school Barbi dolls have the name even though they wrote none of the songs and none of them are original members.
Seems a bit rubbish doesn't it?

On the upside though, the original dream team are allowed to produce stationery with the name Sugababes on it so not all is lost.

Either way, I don't care all that much but I do think this song is pretty awesome and if the 'real' Sugababes can pull some more hits out of the bag that are anything like this then they are back in serious bizness.

And anyway, these are women nearing 30 years of age. I think Sugababes is a little bit inappropriate.

Goodbye to the Queen of Camden Town

As female British pop music of late goes she was definitely the top of my list.
Amazing look (the best hair in decades - be it real or otherwise), amazing voice, heartfelt, heartbreaking songs, very funny and the sort of troubled tragic soul that really sincerely wished would get better as you just knew she had so many more great songs to share with the world.
I don't want to put her in the Pete Doherty pile as a drug addict loser - she was obviously a drug addict but ultimately she fell in love, got in with the wrong crowd and I suppose had an addictive personality that took her down a very dark path. It's really really sad and I wish someone or something could have helped get her out of it.

But on the upside there are all the brilliant, beautiful songs she's created to enjoy.
She is Camden's very own Janis Joplin and I truly hope she can rest in peace x

In the words of another Stevie: "happy birthday to ya"

Those searching for a middle ground between tough and ethereal might have found their Dream Girl in Stevie Nicks. The rock n' roll icon struck a delicate aesthetic balance between earth and air, captivating fans onstage with her music - and offstage with her style. Last month marked Nicks' 63rd birthday. Happy belated Birthday to an icon and a legend.
And if you haven't read the tell all book by Carol Anne Harris then I suggest you do so immediately.
As the woman to follow in Stevie's footsteps with Lindsey Buckingham she was always going to try and paint Stevie as a bit of a lunatic but really she just comes across as the coolest white witch around.
Long live Stevie.

Scotland in the 80s

A massively underrated song by one of Scotland's finest Simple Minds.
Can't claim to be a fan of Jim and co post 80s but this song is an amazing underrated gem.
And what a video. Jim's trousers alone deserve high praise!

Video Portraits no. 1

Video Portrait 1 - Kev Soar from danny sangra on Vimeo.

Number one in an ongoing series of video portraits. Created by the genius and all-round-lovely-lovely-man Danny Sangra
These video portraits will culminate in a very beautiful exhibition in the near future.

The sound for all of these films is created by music magician Matt Waites

World turned dayglo

"Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard..” Poly Styrene was the iconic lead singer of punk band, X-Ray Spex - a breath of fresh air in an oversubscribed genre. Poly sang about the plastic nature of consumerism with her seemingly untamed voice which she would distort to emit a rather frightening scream. Now she is back with new album, ‘Generation Indigo’…
RIP.

Afternoon delight

INQ Afternoon by OhJuliette

Some nice afternoony music to help you get through your hard working (or otherwise) day.

Morning: The Musical

INQ Morning by OhJuliette

During the megafun parade that is the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona amongst other things (I shall post some pics very soon) we created some mood music to play in the bar and stand areas for INQ Mobile.
Here for your listening pleasure-orama is Part 1: morning music.
Part 2 and 3 will be up imminently.

Lovely quality ear time.

Fashion people care too

I did my bit (ish) for charity last week and helped my wonderful, dear (they sound like my grandparents) old pals at Odd with a very last minute project they were creating for Fashion Relief.
It was a pop-up shop at Westfield - the haven of shops, shops, food, more shops, then some more shops - to raise money for the Haiti Relief.
The shop was selling exclusive Haiti relief t-shirts designed by Vivienne Westwood which were modeled on the catwalk at Fashion Week by none other than Naomi Campbell.
I think you can still buy the t-shirts online but I'm not quite sure where so I'll have to get back to you on that.
Odd managed to design, produce, install, staff and provide entertainment with less than a week which I think is rather marvelous. Oh and with literally no money.
So really, a bit like Challenge Anneka without the annoying blonde in a jumpsuit.

Some kind of wonderful

Muzak

Unless you are devoid of eyes and ears you probably know all about the Red Bull Music Academy that's happening in London and around the UK until mid March.
It's music, education and fun all rolled into one. Nice.
I've been working with them on the creative side of things - helping to find artists, writers and suchlike for the endless projects they have going on for the Academy.
One of the stupendous talents I shared with them is this person.
He's been reviewing pirate radio stations, slagging crap stuff off (probably) and sharing his truly essential grime glossary.
He is also responsible for this magnificent doggy doodle you say before you.

For more info on Music Academy go to the website of hunt down one of the daily newspapers.