currybetdotnet Music archive

Daisy dares you to be young
I can't remember who pointed me to it, but earlier this week I was directed to a free download of a track by Daisy Dares You - the project of 15 year old Daisy Coburn. In order to get your free mp3 you need to sign up for some permission marketing. I always like to see a well optimised form, and so it was good to see 'United Kingdom' and 'Ireland' head the list of territories. There had obviously been...

Michael Jackson's death sweeps BBC expenses from the front pages
"Michael Jackson's death spares the BBC" What would have been on Friday's front pages.

Idlewild's post file-sharing blues
Last week the new CD by Idlewild - "Post-Electric Blues" - arrived at our house. Like several bands before them including Marillion, the recording and pressing of the album was financed by getting their fan base to pre-order it in return for a physical CD and a mention inside the sleeve. As well as a booklet featuring my wife's name, the CD came with a small note imploring fans not to upload the album to file-sharing sites. "Thank you very...

BBC Radiophonic Workshop Q&A at the Camden Roundhouse
On May 17th I went to see an evening with 'The Radiophonic Workshop' at Camden's Roundhouse, which was part of their Short Circuit festival of electronica. Yesterday I posted my review of the gig. Photo by Stickpeople Before the show started there was an hour long Q&A session with 5 members of the Radiophonic Workshop, which I was lucky enough to attend. Here are some of my notes from the event. The conference circuit Thanks to their involvement with Doctor...

BBC Radiophonic Workshop live at the Camden Roundhouse
"BBC Radiophonic Workshop live" Read my review of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop gig at Camden's Roundhouse, along with my notes from the Q&A session which preceded it.

Idlewild go iPodwild in Camden
On Thursday I went to Dingwalls in Camden to see Idlewild play two of their albums in full, as part of a three night residency they were doing there. We were standing behind the sound desk, and it was interesting to see a real contrast in the technology on display. The mixing desk incorporated a touch-screen control panel, and looked worth a fortune. However, the poem by Edwin Morgan that closes one of my favourite tracks, 'The Remote Part /...

"The look and the sound of The Voice" - Ultravox at The Roundhouse
It may seem to the casual observer, that, having recently seen The Cure and ABC, I'm trapped in a desperate mid-life crisis retro cycle of watching 80s bands live. I did nothing to dispel that illusion the other week by going to see Ultravox at Camden's Roundhouse. They were the first 'modern' band that I went to see live. In 1984 I wasn't old enough to go to a gig on my own, so one of my friends got tickets,...

The computer print-out Evangelists of the future
It is twenty years since The Shamen released their second album, "In Gorbachev We Trust". This was the album that saw them move from being a psychedelic indie four-piece band, to being a duo experimenting with acid house. [1] The main single from "In Gorbachev We Trust" was "Jesus Loves Amerika", a stinging rebuke to right-wing evangelists in the USA. It features vocal samples from several American televangelists, including an opening quote from James Robison stating: "I'm sick and tired...

ABC's "Lexicon Of Love" live at the Royal Albert Hall
In the unlikely event that a) I'm ever on Desert Island Discs, and, b) that they've changed the format so that you can only take one album with you, I would be faced with a tough choice between two contenders. I suspect that Talk Talk's "Spirit Of Eden" would probably provide longer lasting spiritual nourishment for the soul and greater depth of listening. However, I'm pretty certain that I would in the end opt for ABC's "The Lexicon of Love"....

Their greatest album?
The new U2 album is being promoted by a TV spot in the UK, using a chunk of the middle section of "Get On Your Boots" - the first U2 lead single from an album to miss the UK Chart Top 10 since "Gloria" in 1981. The TV ad quotes Q's opinion of "No Line On The Horizon" "Their greatest album - *****" I'm unsure where the quote comes from. Try as I might, the only line close to this...

"You are what you measure" - why the music industry should adopt user-centred charts

"It feels like one hundred years..."

More like 'pop your clogs' than 'get on your boots' for the U2 iPod

Poised over "The Pirate Bay"

The evil of searching for 'Gary Glitter'

I wouldn't be voting for this as my interaction of the year

A young person's guide to science fiction by Cliff Richard

"You've lost your place in the queue" - the battle to buy Depeche Mode tickets from Ticketmaster

Will The Telegraph's tie-up with eMusic expose the staff's guilty pleasures?

Goodbye Google Eye

Will last.fm ever ask for the last time?

Nostalgic decorations at ULU

"The year 2525: Were Zager & Evans right?"

The Verve - limey w%$ker c*&£s with bad teeth?

Music from Slab!'s iron lung

'Lost playlists' and Chipwrapper in the Guardian's Music sections

Download 'A lifetime of lost playlists'

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 12 - Pretending to see the future

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 11 - It's more fun to compute

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 10 - Wired for sound

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 9 - Gimme dat thing

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 8 - Mixed up

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 7 - Revolution #9

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 6 - If you buy this record (your life will be better)

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 5 - Poised over the pause button

John Fogerty at the Royal Albert Hall - comments follow-up

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 4 - Forever changes

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 3 - Watch the tapes

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 2 - The kids are alright

A lifetime of lost playlists: Part 1 - Pump up the volume

Being an extra on John Fogerty's Live at the Albert Hall DVD

The Daily Mail's moral stand over 'Emo' protests

When does it stop 'being' Kraftwerk?

Promoting bands online in 1995 - Telwhat Mutelibtech to where?

Sony finally ready to disconnect music store

Vote Super Furry Animals!

Response to my 'DRM for vinyl' article on Idolator

Audiophile pressings - where the maufacturing process is more important than the music

Dynaflex - RCA's 1970s ultra-thin vinyl

Quadraphonic: The forgotten surround sound of the 70s

Copy-protection for vinyl in the 1970s

This year's digital Christmas number one

I'm gonna spend my Christmas with a Dalek

Voting for your American Idol in Greece

Finding, sharing, and playing with that Tony Palmer BBC rejection letter

It is so hard to be a Depeche Mode completist these days

Sister Ray's vinyl footprint

Pay what you want for Radiohead's new digital album "In Rainbows"

The London freesheets and the web - Part 1: Music reviews

Between a Northern Rock and a hard rock place

Sony closes the door on the European CONNECT store

Reckless Records RIP - Part 11: Afterburner

Reckless Records RIP - Part 10: Expansions

Reckless Records RIP - Part 9: Keep The Customer Satisfied

Reckless Records RIP - Part 8: Future Sound Of London

Reckless Records RIP - Part 7: Television Personalities

Reckless Records RIP - Part 6: Digital Penetration

Reckless Records RIP - Part 5: OK Computer

Reckless Records RIP - Part 4: Computer World

Reckless Records RIP - Part 3: High Fidelity

Reckless Records RIP - Part 2: Happiness In Magazines

Reckless Records RIP - Part 1: An End Has A Start

iTunes Miniatures playlist

A tour of Tour De France news sites - Prologue

'Cancel' just doesn't seem to mean 'Cancel' for iTunes 7.2 on Windows

Musical social networking (slight return)

Tweaking my old Glastonbury articles in response to searches

Can We7 fare better than Sigue Sigue Sputnik in making people listen to adverts?

No Beatles digital downloads on Sgt. Pepper's 40th anniversary

How much did shingles cost in 1963?

The Rhino Hi-Fives reinvent the 'Greatest Hits EP' for the digital era

It was twenty years ago today...The Beatles CD reissues from 1987

Sony Connect music download store relaunches in Europe - part two

Sony Connect relaunches with improved information architecture for browsing

Vodafone relaunches their web music store in the UK

Slacker equivalent already on the market in Europe - meet Sony and Vodafone's Radio DJ

Playing with the Virgin Radio player beta

Why not be accessible Instead - trying to buy Onetwo's new album

Idlewild using Channel 4 footage as an incentive to pre-order digital downloads

eMusic subscription changes = price rise

Buy the so-called "Complete" Depeche Mode iTunes box set? No thanks, Apple

Thoughts on being locked out of my iPod's content by Apple's DRM

Beatles digital downloads facing a ticking copyright time-bomb

A "scientific" equation for musical piracy

BBC News in a copywriting fix over copyright

Why people download music legally

The anonymous CD sleeves in 3's music download advertising campaign

DRM protecting me from playing my new video clips

Getting Sony's SonicStage for Christmas

Sony loses DRM court case in France over the Sony Connect store



Search this site

Get free updates


Email icon   RSS icon

Sign up for free email updates
  

Posts of the moment


Michael Jackson headlines

"Michael Jackson's death spares the BBC"
What would have been on Friday's front pages.


Martin Belam presenting at the Social Media Summit

How major publishers are using social media to drive traffic
An article based on my presentation at May's International Social Media Summit.


London IA Mini

"London IA Mini II"
My write-up of the recent London IA Mini Conference at the Sense Loft in London.