Can We 'Save' 6music?

If the BBC has to make cuts they are bound to upset sections of its audience. That audience happens to be me right now with the now confirmed suggestion to close the radio station 6music.

I love the BBC. It is a unique offering which no other public service broadcaster can match anywhere else in the world. There is something there for everyone, be it hugely popular television programmes (that I don’t much care for) such as EastEnders or Strictly Come Dancing, or some highbrow arts content (that again I don’t much care for) across Radio 3 and BBC Four. That it does make some quite astonishing television should not be forgotten. Bringing back Doctor Who was a masterstroke, showcasing some of the finest creative talent in the country and entertaining millions.  The BBC News and sport websites are particularly compelling as well.

There are of course a lot of things I don’t like about the BBC and everyone has their opinion “given the unique way in which the BBC is funded”. It is ours. 

Most of the services from the BBC that I like just better versions or alternatives to commercial offerings elsewhere, not just because they don’t have adverts.  

6music is something very different indeed.  

It may have a (relatively) small audience but it is a very passionate one and more importantly it is culturally significant. Its target audience is the 30 and 40 something demographic* where I fit in quite nicely; those who are still engaged by creative, popular music and a passionate about the creative and artistic inspiration it creates. 

I’ve listened to BBC Director General Mark Thompson last week suggesting that because of the relatively low audience it does not give value for money. He talks of investing more in 6music running the risk of it increasing its audience! He makes its point in reference to it competing against Radio 1 and 2. Well, Mr Thompson, 6music does not compare to either of these two radio stations, who have their very large and worthwhile audience.  

Radio 1 is aimed at the U.K.’s youth and while there are specialist shows it is very much a popular mainstream product. It’s a very good one, except it doesn’t appeal to me any more the way it did in my teens and 20s.  Although Radio 2 has evolved into more contemporary station, adapting its music to appeal to adults who grew up in the 70s and 80s it remains a mainstream offering.

Radios 1 and 2 are replicated in the commercial sector. 6music is not. The closest we ever got to a 6music was the original XFM which was superb. Even after Capital Radio took it over tit still had some great talent like Ricky Gervais and a fantastic breakfast show with Christian O’Connell. But even then it was a commercial station and had to be driven by commercial factors. As such, at times of peak listening it had to be watered down.  More Fall Out Boy than The Fall. 

6music has no such commercial incentive. Its brief fits within the entire remit of the BBC to provide culturally important, stimulating entertainment. 

Thompson just ended up last week looking foolish:

I’m not sure that Thompson actually understands the outcry.  The BBC’s Will Gompertz also doesn’t seem to appreciate the cultural significance:

“As I understand it 6 Music fills a gap between Radio 1 and Radio 2, mixing old with new across a wide musical spectrum from indie to jazz and most stops in-between.” 

Yes he really has prefaced a sentence which doesn’t grasp the value of 6music with ‘As I understand it’. You’d think he’d be more informed.  Will Gompertz is the BBC’s arts editor.

Look at the playlist. This is not replicated anywhere in the commercial sector, nor does it overlap to any significant degree with Radio 1 or 2.  Yesterday Andrew Collins played The Wedding Present.  Over the last 10 years 6music is the only UK station I know to have played Juliana Hatfield.  I should rest my case there. 

It is one of only two radio stations I listen to, the other being the BBC’s 5 live. There is some nonsense going on at that station too, by the moving of its entire operation to Salford. An idealistic move, designed to allow the station to be more nationwide by having a base in the North of England is all very honourable but given the core output of 5 live seems really daft. It works best as a rolling sports and news station. It excels when there is a breaking news story with a political bent. Most of these news stories it covers have their origins in the capital city London. The talent that 5 live has at present will probably be able to conduct interviews and without face-to-face contact to the degree that the audience won’t notice, in much the same way as it does now. However there is no way that this service is going to be better when almost all of it is done this way. 

Anyway, I digress. Back to 6music. The talent on that station is phenomenal. It is full of people I’ve grown up with both in print in music. These are people I respect, these are people who mean a lot to me. I’m talking about Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Jarvis Cocker, Gideon Coe, not to mention the annual winner in my most ideal woman in the world award; Lauren Laverne. 

If the BBC has to cut costs, 6music should be at the bottom of the list. 

6music is music. 

BBC Trust, do the right thing.

Linkage:

Email the BBC Trust 

Visit the BBC Strategy review site  

Sign the petition at 38 Degrees 

Join the Facebook group (but I suspect this won't have any impact other making you feel better about yourself.  The BBC Trust are unlikely to pay attention to a social networking group) 

Follow a bunch of other links and background info at the excellent love6music or helpsave6music 

Juliana Hatfield - Peace and Love

Juliana Hatfield has often said that her albums are a reaction to their predecessors.

This century she has released the demos turned indie-pop songcraft one, the alt-metal noisy one, the polished AOR one, the abrasive angsty one, the live one, the country collaboration one and the ambitious multi-layered statement of genius one.

It follows, almost naturally, that 2010 is time for the DIY acoustic one.  Say hello to Peace & Love.

The sound of the album will be familiar to fans who downloaded songs from Juliana’s Honor System project in 2009 and her contribution to the Mark Mulcahy tribute album.

Created exclusively at home, with apparently no external influences, this is Juliana’s most personal album in every sense.

As much as it is a reaction to How To Walk Away it still shares that album’s overwhelming message.  This is an artist at peace with her work, more confident than ever with her talent and unashamedly proud.

The sleeve proclaims that the album was  “composed, arranged, performed, produced, engineered and mixed by Juliana Hatfield.”  As much a statement of confidence as it is fact.

​It is an album of largely minimal instrumentation but with just enough nuances in texture and creative techniques to avoid sounding bland after its 12 songs - a risk that any acoustic album has to take.  

Juliana’s trademark multilayered vocals are used extensively, and in the limited acoustic setting this effect is noticeable and often used for inspired harmonic appeal.  The electric guitar makes an occasional, if understated, appearance too.

The album opens with the title track Peace and Love.  The theme of the record is captured here.  As the lyrical tone expands to familiar Juliana territory of personal introspection over the following 11 songs, Peace and Love  is significantly placed at the start to inform the listener that whilst hurt, pain and frustration remain such emotions can be accepted if not embraced.

I won’t give up on Peace and Love

If acceptance was also key to the lyrical success of How To Walk Away, this album expands this to emphasise hope.  As an album opener it is an inspired choice and as good a scene setter for the acoustic and harmonic subtleties that follow.

The End Of The War is a reflective look on confrontation and its life affirming qualities, matched by the music’s subdued rhythmic energy.

Why Can’t We Love Each Other introduces a simple piano and drum machine rhythm section.  Lyrically there’s no surprise given the song’s title. It’s Juliana gone hippie - you know, all Peace & Love.  

Some fans will already be familiar with Butterflies from the previous year or two, not least as it has previously appeared on a Daytrotter session. As Juliana mentions in her track by track notes, the song was inspired by a dream where she was surrounded by butterflies. Here, she brings them back to life. The music captures that ethereal dreamworld quality with delicate touches and her voice hitting some near breathless high notes.

Juliana returns to behavioural introspection commonplace throughout her career on What Is Wrong.  She doesn’t have an answer for sadness or lack of communication in herself and others.  But this is not despair. It just asks the question - why?  

By track 6 we hit a first for Juliana.  An instrumental, appropriately titled Unsung.  Pedants who have pointed to 1993‘s Batwing and  2007‘s This Is What I Think Of You should note that there are vocals if not words on them. Unsung is her first instrumental.  Blah. 

There’s electric guitar here too, but not how you’d expect.  

​Juliana & Evan a million years ago

A pleasant little diversion before the album reveals its most surprising lyrics as it moves on to Evan, dedicated to Juliana’s frequent musical collaborator for more than two decades and Mr Lemonheads himself, Evan Dando.  There’s no ambiguity about the perspective of the songwriter or who the song is intended for.  Juliana has never written lyrics quite like this before.  Somehow, with its delicate tone and bittersweet lyrical touch the listener avoids feeling like an aural voyeur and is drawn into the content with affection and warmth. It’s one the most beautiful songs Juliana has ever written.

I’ve tried to write you off but can’t so I’ll give up.
Evan, I just love you I guess. 

After a delightfully casual electric guitar solo, Juliana returns with vocal emotion to repeat the last line.

Let’s Go Home is the most ‘DIY’ sounding track on the album with a simple drum machine loop prominent in the mix.  Unlike the other tracks it doesn’t sound quite finished and to these ears is the most disappointing song here. These ears are not James Parker’s though who describes the song positively in his evocative style that spreads across the rather splendid liner notes.

Then to I Picked You Up, already an established fan favourite after its appearance on 2008’s Live at Lime session. Some fans wondered if it would survive Juliana’s selection for the album given its genesis in her personal past, but with hindsight it just had to appear on Peace & Love.  A song about fate, love and hope it fits perfectly.  It still sounds gorgeous.

Faith In Our Friends is perhaps the album’s most accessible song with an immediately catchy melody, driven by an acoustic guitar rhythm in parts and some nice little dynamics.  Again, the theme suits the album. In times of need, in times of sadness, there is always your friends.  

Hatfield aficionados / trainspotters / nutcases will note that I’m Disappearing contains musical traces of I Wish from the 2009 Honor Downloads.

The track finds Juliana, not for the first time in her career, singing about anorexia. She’s written and sung about her personal suffering from the disorder before.  One hopes that in the future she may not need to revisit this theme but if so her audience will again be there to listen and empathise.  Whatever you need, Juliana.

The album closes with Dear Anonymous addressed to a stalker from the recipient’s point of view. With a mix of questions and wish to understand the stalker’s motive the song on first analysis appears a curious choice for the last one.  However, as it reaches its own conclusion so does the album’s overall theme:

I’m just singing into the void, just trying to say my piece/peace 
I thank god I got no real enemies
I killed them all with kindness so we could live in peace

As Juliana once sang: 

Forever and ever.
Amen.

(This review first appeared on liveontomorrow.co.uk - a Juliana Hatfield fansite)

Ride - 20 years on

I've written here before on Leave Them All Behind by Ride being my favourite ever song.  Ride's album Nowhere remains the best debut LP I've heard.  

To mark the 20th anniversary of their first EP, there's a nice article and interview with the band members in the latest edition of Nightshift - a free monthly Oxford music magazine.  You can download the magazine as a pdf from Nightshift (click the January 2010 edition) but if that link ever dies I've archived the pdf here.  

Ride didn't just change Oxford music forever.  They impacted on my life and many others around that time. 

The article is a good read for fans of the band but as a spoiler here's the last paragraph which addresses the nostalgic question we all want to ask.   

Hope springs…

Joy

 

Info here

Note to self: Stop writing about Sugababes

You'd think that with Keisha leaving Sugababes I would stop mentioning them.  But how can I resist this? 

I haven't made up that picture.  There really is a website called www.sugababeslovewindows7.com  where the Sugababes...

...showcase just how simple Windows 7 is and how it helps them manage their busy showbiz lives. 

The videos are a very natural recreation of a typical conversation from these showbiz lives.  Of course they are. Judge for yourself.

If you can bear the prospect there are another 5 videos like this.

In the post Keisha Sugababes era it is good to know that new member Jade brings more than new vocal talent to the group. She can probably help Heidi with a diagnostic scan of her laptop's registry key settings.

All my Sugababes fantasies now appear plausible by comparison.

Described by popjustice as "very clearly the worst thing of all time", the site tries to promote a radio station event, the new lineup of a once great girl band, and the latest iteration of the world's most ubiquitous computer operating system.  That it fails to deliver on all fronts is, in a way, genius.  I love that the photos link on the site is just a Bing image search giving old pics of Mutya and Keisha.

At least when John Lydon advertised butter it was meant to be ridiculous.

Keisha, you got out just in time.

Natalie Imbruglia album disappears (again)

nThe new Natalie Imbruglia album – Come To Life has been delayed at the last minute.  It should have been out by now but is, in the UK at least, now shelved until at least February 2010.

Record companies delaying releases is nothing new of course but Natalie's musical career seems to have been particularly blighted here, resulting in just 3 studio albums being released over the last 12 years.  

The reasons are not clear and other than a few seemingly throwaway and awkward comments made by Natalie in interviews citing promotional reasons concentrating on other territories there has been utter silence from her 'people' and no justification for it at all

This is an album I've been looking forward to like all her others.  To have it pulled only a matter of days before the release is irritating to say the least.  After all we've had a run of promotional activity in recent weeks leading up to it.

A 'pre single' video was shot for the (admittedly awful) Wild About It in July, live shows including the V Festival in August, a video and single proper release of Want in September with press and TV appearances, a one off show last week at London's Heaven – all leading up to Come To Life's release.

The album was trailed on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere with pre-ordering available.  

I only heard that the album had been delayed by Amazon, not by Natalie, despite subscribing to her RSS feed on the website (which had been constantly updated with news about her appearances) and her Twitter account which had become more active.

Although the CD was pulled some people have it, including fans in Europe.

On Monday (October 5) the album appeared on digital download sites in the UK (including iTunes, Amazon MP3 and 7digital).    But 24 hours later, it was gone. As I type this it remains on Spotify but I suspect it will disappear from there soon too (UPDATE - it has)  The Japanese version has an extra track and that seems available at a price.

A total mess.

The official website confirms the new release date but there has been no mention on the RSS feed, and nothing in the news section.

Fans posting on the official forum are in the dark and nothing is still being said.

Natalie might not be the most popular singer these days but she does have a fanbase and they are almost universal in their state of being mightily pissed off right now.  I know I am.

So what has happened?  The most likely explanation is that the promotional work has not paid off as the label / management had hoped.  Want was not a big seller and had limited airplay.  Fans have argued that it was not a good choice for single, citing the monotonous nature.   I love the track and feel it is a good pop single, but is is a little unrepresentative of the rest of Come To Life and certainly not the strongest track.  This is the same company that thought Wild About It was worthy of promotion after all.

Releasing the album now with a lowly chart position and no follow up single could lead to the album being lost in the run up to Christmas.  Maybe it is felt the album will have a better chance in the New Year with another single released and a fresh batch of promotion.

The album is not as electronic as interviews have suggested and while this is not necessarily a bad thing I am disappointed that the version of Scars which appears is an acoustic one and not the uptempo version which was leaked as a demo last year.  

Fun would have been my choice for the single.  This is one of the Chris Martin tunes and has all the soppy sentimentality of Coldplay at their best (for some their worst) and suits a female voice like no other Martin song.  It is gorgeous.  

The album is really strong if you ignore the last track, which I'm still trying to.

If it ever does get released in the UK I'll write a full review here but I'll be damned if I'm going to review something which isn't officially available.

If the album bombs so be it.  I want it to be successful of course but surely rule 1 of commercial success is to not piss of your most loyal customers -  Natalie's long term fans.

The CDs are ready.  They've been pressed – the artwork is complete and packaged.  Some lucky people have already received theirs.  Some shops outside the UK have them in stock.  It was on digital download for a couple of days.  Now it has gone.

The die hard fans (not those fond of Bruce Willis – old joke) have been led down the promotional excitement path and are ready for the final candy delight. 

This all looks suspiciously like a record company or Natalie's management acting out control freakery.  No-one expects a commercial company to act with altruism but the music industry is still clinging to the idea that they hold all the cards when it comes to content distribution.  They don't and they still can't adapt.
 
You may have noticed that I've commented on the album.

How is this possible?  The interwebs.  Perhaps no-one has told Natalie's label that this is 2009, not 1989.  File sharing is a concept they maybe should have heard of.  

Ironically, the album leaked online almost to the day that its official release was put back 5 months.
It is out there. Delaying it is a nonsense.  

People who really want this album can get it now.  For free.  People who really want this album are Natalie's biggest fans.  Natalie's biggest fans are the most likely to want to purchase the album to support her.

Q, E and effing D.

So now I'm left in the ridiculous situation of having an album that I want to pay for but can't!

People access their music differently these days, and for the better.  Cross promotion, recommendations on sites like last.fm, and freetards who seem to like browsing on YouTube with all it's poor quality audio. All choice. If you like a song you have the option of buying it a la carte on digital download.

This is now a world of immediacy.  Spur of the moment impulse buys can happen at any time now.  Natalie was on ITV's This Morning earlier today, performing Want.  Anyone interested in her music might, just might have gone to iTunes after seeing her on TV looking not just for Want but for her album.  On not finding it there what's to say they may have then downloaded the leaked version.  This is madness.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the album being leaked (ok they are all wrongs) Island Records can't ignore that it is there.  Record companies should learn to distribute their music digitally once it has been leaked however hard to swallow this is.  Marketing and promotional schedules have to, in the digital age, become a secondary priority.  

As an artist, Natalie is entitled to pull the album at the last minute for whatever reason she chooses, even if she doesn't want to make that reason public.  If this is the case Natalie, I apologise here for speculating and damning your management and record label, particularly if there are personal reasons for the delay.  

Fans do not have a right to demand their favourite artists release their music and my post here is largely a rant and an uninformed rant at that.  Like the best of the internet.