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Five Day Forecast – w/c 31 Oct 2011
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 31 October 2011
Happy Halloween everyone! Or should that be miserable Halloween? I’m never sure. At least it’s an opportunity to make bulk purchases of sweets that you can pretend you intend to give to children. About half the children of Hackney are going to have to make it past the security doors of my block of flats if they’re going to clean me out of the Haribo I’ve currently got in my living room. And that assumes I’ll hear them knocking, which I’ve already decided I won’t. Still, they can cheer themselves up with these other things that are happening this week.
01: The EMI sale. You know, part of me hopes Citigroup doesn’t find a new owner for EMI for a few more weeks yet, so I can keep putting this entry into my Five Day Forecast for a bit longer. Sure, you might be finding it a little tedious after four weeks, but give it a few more and it’ll start to be funny. Promise. But, all that aside, will this be the week when Citigroup makes its big EMI announcement? Everyone still seems certain an announcement is imminent, though with both Warner and Universal reportedly walking away from negotiations to buy the EMI record labels last week, who knows?
02: John Peel Lecture. Pete Townshend will give the first ever John Peel Lecture tonight, a new event that aims to become an annual institution at the radio industry’s big conference, the Radio Festival. Staged in association with BBC 6music, which will broadcast the speech, Townshend will consider how artists can prosper in a digital age where people want music for free, and whether the internet is better or worse than traditional radio at championing the sort of artists John Peel would have played on his legendary radio show. The lecture will be introduced by Peel’s son Tom Ravenscroft, on what is the first day of the three day conference.
03: Songfest. BASCA’s Songfest, the annual event for songwriters, makes its second outing this week, starting today and running until Wednesday. This time round it will take place at The Bedford in Balham, with the likes of Chris Difford, Sway, Nerina Pallot, Kim Appleby and Steve Levine speaking, among others. Topics for discussion will include what makes a number one record, the craft of songwriting, common pitfalls when signing deals, tips on bedroom recording, and the ins and outs of promoting and monetising your music.
04: New releases. For some reason I said that Lou Reed and Metallica‘s ‘Lulu’ album was out last week. It wasn’t. I think listening to it fried my brain. It is definitely out today though. Something else I said was out last week was Active Child‘s debut album. That was correct, but a deluxe version with an exclusive bonus track is out on iTunes this week. This week you can also purchase new albums from Florence And The Machine, Joker, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Mike Patton, Adam Ficek‘s RKC, Tycho, plus the Manic Street Preachers‘ singles compilation, Gold Panda‘s DJ-Kicks mix, and Sonic Youth‘s new best of. As well as that, Kele Okereke has a new EP out, and there are new singles from Mazzy Star and Friends.
05: Gigs. PJ Harvey is playing the Royal Albert Hall tonight. I’m not going. What the fuck is up with that? Oh well, at least I’ll be able to watch it online, that’ll have to do. Also this week, Nitin Sawhney has two shows at Islington’s very fine Union Chapel, and staying with church gigs Gotye will play London’s St Stephen’s Church tonight, while Cant (aka Grizzly Bear vocalist Chris Taylor) will play his first UK show at Cargo (not a church) tomorrow. Doing that whole touring thing this week are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tinie Tempah, Tori Amos, The Big Pink, Anna Calvi, Lana Del Rey, DOOM, Emeli Sandé, Sleep ∞ Over, The Miserable Rich, and Dananananaykroyd on their last jaunt before splitting.
Oh, and going back to Halloween briefly, don’t forget to check out our special Halloween edition of the CMU podcast. It is definitely a Halloween special, I distinctly remember making a vague reference to it somewhere near the end.
Andy Malt
Editor, CMU
