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This week there's been the most discussion about flags I've ever seen outside a documentary about America. Earlier this month the organisers of the Reading and Leeds festivals, which kicked off today, discretely announced, in a tiny note on the festivals' websites, that flags would be banned this year. This week, the man in charge, Melvin Benn, told the BBC about why he'd made the decision and suddenly everyone had an opinion. I already had my opinion, though. I'm a long term hater of flags at festivals. It's not so much the flags, I guess. It's the people who hold them. Because those people also like standing right in front of the main stage. A few years ago it was okay. There were a few flags dotted around, but they were more a curiosity than a nuisance. I could just never understand why anyone would want to spend a weekend holding a flag. More recently so many of these weirdos have started appearing that it's got to the stage where unless you're standing right at the front (probably holding a flag), it's impossible to see anything on the main stage, particularly at Glastonbury. Some have said that banning flags isn't in-keeping with the festival spirit. But Reading and Leeds aren't really 'festival spirit' kind of deals, are they? I mean, the actual festivals are contained in sealed arenas, which are closed to ticket-holders between 11pm and 11am, forcing them to go back to the entertainment-less campsite and set fire to each other for fun. This makes it easier to ban flags, of course, given that everyone has a daily security check before they can see any music. But at a massive, sprawling beast like Glastonbury, it would be much harder. The only option (as far as I can see) would be to mount flame-throwers on the front of the Pyramid stage and blast any flags out of existence. Okay, some people might die, but that's the price you pay for a spectacle. And what a spectacle we have for you in this week's CMU Weekly. Oh yes. We've broken the last seven days in the world of music down into its constituent parts, categorised it all, thrown away the crap bits and put it all together in a form that actually improves it by 16.5%. As well as all the usuals, this week we've got more reviews from this year's Edinburgh Festival (courtesy of our sister publication ThreeWeeks), and a competition to win deluxe reissues of some Saint Etienne albums. Drink it all in, friends, as we'll be taking a little break next week. CMU Weekly will be back in a fortnight. Right, I'm off to make a massive placard to hold up in protest against flags at festivals. |
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CHRIS BROWN SENTENCED Chris Brown has received his sentence for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna, receiving five years' probation, 180 days of community service and a year of domestic violence counselling. He was also ordered not to come with 100 yards of Rihanna (except at music industry events), an increase from a previous order of 50 yards, despite calls by the beaten singer and her lawyers to relax this rule. Informing Brown of his amended restraining order, the judge also made it clear to him that any violation of this, or any other part of his sentence, may mean time spent in prison. She said: "Any violation of this protective order is a violation of your probation. [The sentence] does come with a potential of state prison if you should violate in any way". As previously reported, Brown beat Rihanna unconscious and left her on a pavement in LA after an argument as the couple drove home from a pre-Grammy party in February this year. |
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C-MURDER SENTENCED A BIT MORE Rapper C-Murder, real name Corey Miller, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of a nightclub owner and bouncer. This follows the life sentence handed down earlier this month after he was found guilty, for a second time, of the murder of a teenage fan. This latest sentence relates to an incident at the Baton Rouge club in Louisiana. Miller refused to be searched as he tried to get into the club in August 2001. In the ensuing argument, he fired shots into the club at the club's owner and the bouncer who had stopped him. The ten year sentence will be served concurrently with the previously reported aforementioned life sentence Miller received after being found guilty for the second time of the murder of teenage fan Steve Thomas at another Louisiana club in 2002. Miller is planning to appeal against the murder charge but, due to his sentence coming as part of a plea deal, not the Baton Rouge incident. |
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ELLIE GREENWICH DIES Songwriter Ellie Greenwich has died aged 68 from a heart attack, following a bout of pneumonia. Born in Brooklyn in 1940, Greenwich, with her husband Jeff Barry, became known as one of the most successful pop songwriters of the 60s. Amongst a string of hits, she and Barry penned songs such as 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and 'Then He Kissed Me' for The Crystals, 'Chapel Of Love' for The Ronettes (written with Phil Spector), 'Doo Wah Diddy Diddy' for Manfred Mann, and 'River Deep, Mountain High' for Ike & Tina Turner. One of the couple's most famous songs was 'Leader Of The Pack, a collaboration with producer Gordon 'Shadow' Morton, which was a hit for The Shangri-Las in 1965. In 1984, many of her 60s songs were given a new lease of life by the musical 'Leader Of The Pack', written by Anne Beatts, with a story based on Greenwich's life. |
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OASIS FORCED TO PULL OUT OF SECOND V HEADLINE Oasis were forced to pull out of the Chelmsford leg of the V Festival on Sunday because Liam Gallagher had come down with viral laryngitis. Various V-goers lined up to tell the BBC that they were majorly disappointed that the headliners were not playing, and when Snow Patrol - who were parachuted into the headline slot in Oasis' place - mentioned the Gallaghers there was a bit of booing in the crowd. Though Gary Lightbody et al did do a couple of Oasis covers, so I'm sure that made up for it. The Sun's Gordon Smart quickly leapt to the conclusion that the band were on the verge of splitting up, and told everyone so in his Bizarre column. Liam responded via Twitter, saying: "Reports in Smartarse's column about Oasis' last British gig ever. The kid's talking out his arse". |
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SPOTIFY IPHONE APP APPROVED BY APPLE Spotify's long-awaited iPhone app will appear on iTunes in the next few days after making it through Apple's review process, seemingly without any significant changes from the original submission. Spotify chief Daniel Ek said yesterday: "Yes, I can confirm that Apple has approved the app. We're happy but have had a great dialogue with Apple all the way. They've been great!" And, although it's not yet available to the public, he posted 'I Gotta Feeling' by Black Eyed Peas to Twitter using the app. It's not clear if this is because he was hinting that there's more news on the horizon, or if he just has terrible taste in music. The app will allow Spotify premium subscribers (that's the seven or so people who've opted to pay £10 a month to get the service ad-free) in the UK, Sweden, France, Spain, Norway and Finland to not only stream music, but also cache playlists for offline listening. |
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REVIEWS This week we've been checking out Radio 2-friendly soul, 90s indie-dance and brain-melting bass guitar. Not all at the same time, you understand. No, we insisted that everyone listen to their respective CDs in separate rooms, just to be safe. The result is reviews of Florence Rawlings, Saint Etienne and Squarepusher, which you can read right here. |
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Want more? Want daily in-depth music news? Want all this for free? Well, ha, you're in luck. Click here to subscribe to the CMU Daily. |
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WIN SAINT ETIENNE DELUXE REISSUES 'So Tough', the group's second album, was originally released in March 1993 through Heavenly Recordings, reached number seven in the UK charts and spawned the singles 'You're In A Bad Way', 'Avenue' and 'Hobart Paving'. 'Sound Of Water', released in 2000 through Mantra Records, and Sub Pop in the US, marked a shift in direction for the band - featuring arrangements from the High Llamas' Sean O'Hagan and Berlin based post-rock trio To Rocco Rot, the album was much more experimental than previous work. |
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We have two copies of each of the new versions of 'So Tough' and 'Sound Of Water' to give away to two lucky readers. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning them is email your address to competitions@unlimitedmedia.co.uk by 4 Sep.
You can pre-order both releases from iTunes and Amazon
Look what they won...
Well done to Tom Perry for winning last week's Edge Festival competition in CMU Weekly!
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Calvin Harris at The Edge Festival. Despite his lofty claims, Calvin Harris did not create disco, nor has he really changed the shape of dance music at all. But catch the boy live and this is just an afterthought. What matters is that his band transform budget bedroom sounds into stadium filling stuff. Even if you think he's bland on 4.72 inches of disk, you'll find him utterly enthralling on 100 square metres of stage - more | |
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MJ Hibbett: Dinosaur Planet at Medina & Negociants. A one-man acoustic rock-opera about dinosaurs from space starring Deborah Meaden from 'Dragon's Den', in theory, is one of the most ill-conceived performances to ever reach a stage. Luckily, MJ Hibbett doesn't take himself too seriously. While we're all familiar with the Hollywood clichés, Hibbett revitalises cinematic parody in his own ramshackle way - more |
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The Magnets at Udderbelly Pastures. Audience participation is key when watching The Magnets. Whilst the aim is to relax and have fun, expect to clap, shout, sing endlessly and dance embarrassingly. The premise is simple: six guys, six mics, and a lot of music. The Magnets blend piercing harmonies and jaw dropping human beatboxing whilst performing genre spanning tracks from Lady Gaga to AC/DC - more | |
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Out Of The Blue at C. These guys are an a cappella juggernaut of pop deconstruction and, despite that phrase, their mashups, solos and all-round flair are very, very impressive. Sounding at times like a mix of Bobby McFerrin, the Beach Boys and Girl Talk, they're another league past a lot of vocal groups performing at the Fringe. Their singing is of brilliant quality and their sense of composition is awesome - more |
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Lady Carol: Tomorrow Is My Turn at Pleasance Courtyard. It's a fascinating recipe: take one delicate, tortured soul, add achingly beautiful vocal chords, sprinkle some self-deprecating anecdotes and finally toss in a ukulele. The result is a unique, funny and intimate portrait through story and song. The feathery twang of Lady Carol's ukulele perfectly frames her vocals which tackle a frightening number of octaves - more | |
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Mazaika In Cabaret at The Bongo Club. It's rare to see a two-person band fill a room quite like Mazaika. In little under an hour, they took the small but appreciative audience on a dizzying musical world tour, beginning with Russian folk music and taking in tango, jazz, gypsy and even Italian opera along the way. To listen to Mazaika is to hear a triumphant celebration of world music, played with wit, passion and virtuoso skill - more |
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Q1 How did you start out making music? BITTER THINGS: "We were all given little guitars for Christmas when we were seven" |
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Q2 What inspired your latest album? THE HEAVY: "'The House That Dirt Built' is influenced by the I-can't-seriously-believe-what-I'm-seeing-and-hearing-let-alone-feeling blues. A meander through the corridors and rooms in our heads while we've been touring 'Great Vengeance...' is a lot to do with it" |
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Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track? NOAH AND THE WHALE: "I don't really have a process, it's quite erratic. Although for this album I had the whole thing mapped out on a big document. Starting with a bare structure for how the story was going to go and then adding narrative ideas for the songs and then finally came the lyrics, the melody and the song itself" |
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Q4 Which artists influence your work? OCEAN REID: "We always had music on at home as a kid, lots of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Band, The Stones, Dylan, Baez and stuff like that. It took a long time to get my hands on a CD player, but when I did, I seemed to buy stuff from years ago, like Pixies and Nirvana. Now I seem to be listening to Josh Rouse, Josh Ritter and Regina Spektor. I can't listen to music when I'm making music. It's like following the Fibonacci sequence whilst people shout random numbers at you, why the hell would you do that? That's just sick" |
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Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time? DAKOTA: "Hopefully sit back, relax and enjoy. The album is very personal to me as all the songs have a very personal story behind them. I would like to think the album is a snapshot of my life at that time" |
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Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest single, and for the future? MY TIGER, MY TIMING: "The support we've received for the single and the band so far has been brilliant, we're really excited to get back into the studio (we've just finished recording with Joe Goddard from Hot Chip and we're about to work with Andy again) and we hope to have the beginnings of an album by the end of the summer" |
Q. How many Robbie Williamses does it take to change a lightbulb? A. One. One to change the lightbulb. |
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