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MUTE IS INDEPENDENT AGAIN, ALBEIT WITH EMI AS A BEST MATE Through a series of deals between its founder and EMI, one time independent record company Mute is becoming indie all over again. Founder Daniel Miller has continued to head up Mute as an EMI imprint ever since he sold his record company to the major back in 2002. He will now set up a brand new label, licensing the Mute name back from EMI, and taking much of the Mute catalogue with him, again via a licensing deal, though leaving Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Richard Hawley, Kraftwerk and White Rabbits with the major. It's all a bit complicated. |
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CHARLATANS DRUMMER DIAGNOSED WITH BRAIN TUMOUR Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes has been diagnosed with a brain tumour after he collapsed and stopped breathing on stage in Philadelphia last week. Brookes received treatment in the US and his condition was initially said to be improving, though the band postponed the rest of their American tour. Now back in the UK, Brookes has had more tests and his diagnosis was confirmed by the band yesterday. The band will proceed with the rest of their planned touring schedule with Verve drummer Pete Salisbury. |
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ZUTON CONVICTED OF ASSAULT Zutons frontman Dave McCabe has been convicted of assault for breaking a man's nose when he headbutted him outside Liverpool's Korova venue earlier this year, after one of the man's friends suggested that the hood on McCabe's girlfriend's coat made it look like she had a beard. The man, Peter Appleby, said that McCabe had singled him out and attacked him because he was laughing at the comment, McCabe said he acted in self-defence. He will be sentenced on 29 Oct. |
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LADY GAGA SPEAKS AGAINST 'DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL' On Tuesday, Lady Gaga gave a speech in front of over 4000 gay rights activists, calling on the US Senate to vote in favour of a bill that would scrap the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy which prevents openly gay men and women from serving in the US Army, on which the US government's upper house was due to vote the same day. Despite Gaga's protestation (and support from President Obama, who promised to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' when he became president), the bill was blocked by the Senate. What's that, an opportunity to post a relevant Bill Hicks clip? |
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AFFLECK ADMITS PHOENIX HIP HOP CAREER A HOAX Casey Affleck has finally admitted that Joaquin Phoenix's bizarre efforts to launch himself as a hip hop star, and the accompanying fly-on-the-wall documentary film directed by Affleck, 'I'm Still Here', are one big spoof. The big reveal comes very soon after the film's US release, and before almost anyone has seen it, meaning we won't be able to join in with the "is this for real?" thing that is surely core to the whole movie. Which makes the timing of Affleck's announcement as weird as Phoenix's hip hop persona. |
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LONDON'S 100 CLUB FACING CLOSURE The 100 Club venue on London's Oxford Street is facing closure at the end of the year unless a buyer or major sponsor can be found, as costs rise out of control. The venue, which has occupied its current site in various forms since 1942, is noted for putting on early gigs by bands who have gone on to fame and fortune and was a focus of the late seventies punk scene. But in recent years it has reportedly seen rent rise to more than £13,800 per month, plus another £4000 per month for rates payments. |
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Producer and DJ Wrongtom has been involved in many musical projects, though in recent years became best known as Hard-Fi's in-house remixer and tour DJ.
Two years ago, Tom was asked by Big Dada to turn in a remix of 'Buff Nuff', the first single from Roots Manuva's 2008 album 'Slime & Reason'. However, so impressed were the label's people with the result that they asked him to do some more, eventually adding a whole bonus disc of Wrongtom mixes to that album, before asking him to create an entire remix album spanning the rapper's career.
In creating that album, 'Duppy Writer', Tom tried to re-imagine each track as an 'original' version from an earlier decade, taking the Roots Manuva's 21st century music back through 80s dancehall to classic reggae. He and Roots even found time to record a brand new track, 'Jah Warriors', which features guest vocals from Ricky Ranking.
With the album now out, we asked Tom to put together a Powers Of ten playlist for us. The ten tracks he chose are eclectic, to say the least; everything from The Smiths to Slick Rick and Lou Reed gets a look in. Listen here, and read on for Tom's thoughts on each of these songs.
| WRONGTOM'S TEN | ||
| 01 | The Kingston Trio | Tic Tic Tic |
| This is where it all began for me. My dad used to play their 'Live From The Hungry I' LP all the time when I was a little kid and the two calypso tracks were my favourites. I'm pretty sure I can trace my thing for both Caribbean music and story telling songs back to this track. | ||
| 02 | The Beat | Over & Over |
| This is a bit of an anomaly for the 2 Tone scene. It's great how all the bands gave the style their own spin but there was always something particularly different about The Beat's material next to all the nuttiness and knees-ups which the brace-twanging fans frustratingly expected. 'Over & Over' is probably one of their more post-punk moments with steel pans clattering around a quasi-calypso beat and Dave Wakeling's typically chilling imagery. | ||
| 03 | Prince & The Revolution | New Position |
| More steel pans, and I'm pretty sure the only time Prince has used them was on 'Parade'. I'm a bit of a die hard Prince fan, I own doubles of everything from the 94 East album through to 'Diamonds & Pearls'. I've even got the Mazarati and The Family albums (and I even listen to them). | ||
| 04 | Eugene McDaniels | Unspoken Dreams Of Light |
| Following the skinny-funk of 'New Position', we're now at the other end of the spectrum with McDaniels' brand of agit-soul. I'd be a fan of any artist that had their wings clipped by the Nixon administration only to bounce back and top the charts on a number of occasions, but when you couple those odds with proto-rap like this then I'm double sold. | ||
| 05 | BDP | Stop The Violence |
| Speaking of rapping, this is the record which won me over. I'd been listening to hip hop for a few years but something about this track really resonated. It's the antithesis of what the media of the late 80s would've had you believe was all guns and hoes, plus KRS reworked Winston Riley's 'Super Rock' rhythm for the backing track, which is perfect if you're an 80s dancehall fan like me. | ||
| 06 | Slick Rick | Children's Story |
| Slick Rick made the first record I ever bought. I almost put 'La Di Da Di' on here but 'Children's Story' is actually a better track. He set the benchmark for story telling in hip hop here - funny, compelling and catchy without even needing a hook. He was born in Wimbledon too - Womble forever. | ||
| 07 | London Posse | Original London Style |
| I listened to this album inside out for years, one of UK hip hop's few masterpieces and full of nods to dancehall and reggae. I was gonna do a straight up dub selection to tie in with 'Duppy Writer' but figured stuff like 'Original London Style' was more fitting, as it bridges the gap between reggae and rap perfectly. | ||
| 08 | The Smiths | Paint A Vulgar Picture |
| This might seem like a bit of a jump from London Posse but Morrissey always sounded like an MC to me. Another great story, which should be force fed to anyone planning on a career in the music industry just to keep them in check. | ||
| 09 | Lou Reed | Andy's Chest |
| Somehow I didn't hear 'Transformer' til a few years back but this one's stayed with me ever since. More story telling (see a pattern forming yet?) with Lou sounding like a drug addled nursery school teacher attempting to wow the kids with a tale plucked from the haze of rehab. | ||
| 10 | Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln | Freedom Day |
| It didn't occur to me til the last track just how homme-heavy this selection was, so rather than go back and rethink it I decided to leave you with this beautiful song by Abbey Lincoln who sadly passed away recently. Though it's far from an obscurity I always felt like this album was overlooked by the peace-jazz fans next to the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Gary Bartz and their ilk. Maybe I'm mistaken, but who cares - it's great. | ||
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Phoenix. French fancies Phoenix have made the multi-track recordings for every track on their most recent album, 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix', available to download for free ahead of the final two shows of their current US tour, allowing fans to create their own remixes. The band told fans: "You've made every moment since the release of 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' superb, and we want to thank you" - wearephoenix.com/completemultitrack/ | |
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Talons. Having previously appeared in this space earlier this year, Talons have now announced the release of their debut album. Entitled 'Hollow Realm', it will hit stores on 15 Nov via the Big Scary Monsters label. To mark the occasion, and their upcoming tour dates in September, October and November, the band have made a track from the album, called 'Peter Pan', available as a free download - bit.ly/TalonsPeterPan |
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Frontier(s). After his former band, Elliott, split in 2003, frontman Chris Higdon went on to form Frontier(s), a band which, thanks to his distinctive voice and guitar sound, is not a million miles away from Elliott. Retreading old ground, perhaps, but to hear new material from Higdon is nonetheless very welcome. The band's debut album, 'There Will Be No Miracles Here', was released in the US last month - myspace.com/frontiersband | |
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Niki And The Dove. Fronted by singer and main songwriter Malin Dahlström, Niki And The Dove is name you may have seen flashing up in various places of late, generally accompanied by gushing praise. The band's debut single, 'DJ, Ease My Mind' is a forlorn song pleading for the present to be blocked out by a happier past, but disguised as one which could be mistaken for euphoric - youtube.com/user/nikiandthedove |
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Surf City. The first time I heard Surf City, I assumed they were an old Flying Nun Records signing from the 80s that I'd just not come across before. It turns out they're much newer on the scene than that, but they don't half sound like some of the bands once signed to the Kiwi indie. And they've got all the finest fuzzy guitar pop heritage of their home country running through every note they play - facebook.com/killsurfcity | |
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Katy Perry on 'Sesame Street'. Katy Perry's upcoming appearance on 'Sesame Street', singing a reworked version of her song 'Hot N Cold' with the show's character Elmo, has been cut after a number of angry parents complained that she showed off too much cleavage. Of course, now you're just going to be staring at Perry's breasts anyway, but please try not to. Especially if you're a toddler - youtu.be/YHROHJlU_Ng |
The other day I was becoming mildly concerned that no one seemed to be arguing very much this week (aside from 50 Cent with his dog, Oprah, on Twitter, but that was just silly). Then, what may well be the Beef Of The Year happened.
On Wednesday morning, Chris Moyles turned up at work in a bad mood. Well, it happens to all of us sometimes. Although not many of us are paid to entertain several million people every weekday morning. Not even Chris Moyles, it turns out, as that was the cause of his anger.
Revealing that he had not been paid by the BBC since July, due to complications with his new contract with the organisation, Moyles dedicated the first half hour of his show to ranting about this fact. And when I say 'dedicated', I mean he played no records during this time at all; it was one half hour long tirade against his employers.
He added that the situation showed "a huge lack of respect and a massive FU to me".
Although he said that he'd decided to come in and present the show "for the listeners", he later turned his anger on one of those listeners, who sent in a text message suggesting that someone who earns hundreds of thousands of pounds a year shouldn't moan about missing a couple of paychecks. Moyles referenced, as he had done earlier in the show, the fact that he was staying on a friend's sofa (having recently split from his girlfriend), which clearly wasn't helping matters.
Moyles told the listener: "You know nothing about my life. And by the way, what, because I get paid more than you that means if I don't get paid for two months I should just do oh well, harumph? And, by the way, I slept on someone's sofa last night so don't speak to me about my life. You have no idea, my friend. If you have a problem with that I'll pay your licence fee and you can switch off and listen to someone else. Go and read the Daily Mail, you miserable fart".
Yesterday morning he opened the show in a more jovial manner, saying: "Hello to all the new listeners who are tuned in, all the journalists who have tuned in to hear me losing my mind".
He added: "Quite occasionally, once in a blue moon, I can be a tad moody first thing in the morning, that was it. I had a rant about the fact I haven't been paid; everything I said yesterday I stand by, that shouldn't happen".
Apparently the pay issues are now being resolved, so we can all rest easy.
Unfortunately Radio 1 failed to join in with the beef, with bosses there showing concern rather than anger for their prime time host after his rant. Nevertheless, some insiders reckon the incident won't do the 36 year old DJ any favours next time his contract is up for renewal.
Some radio industry commentators reckon pressure is mounting on BBC bosses to force a Matthew Bannister-style revamp of the nation's favourite, culling a big chunk of its aging presenting team, who are increasingly out of touch with the station's target youth audience. Although Moyles' ratings remain strong, he is increasingly out of place at a station that is meant to be targeting new music fans and teenagers, and some reckon he'll be gone from Radio 1 by the end of 2011.
Quite where he'll go is anyone's guess. Radio 2 is currently full up with former Radio 1 deejays, and you can't see any other BBC station being interested. Given Moyles' TV career has generally tanked, a return to the commercial radio sector he publicly hates seems most likely. Which is all a bit gloomy. But still, at least that upcoming double pay day should cheer him up.
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