Be among the first to hear Paul McCartney's cheeky new album
This is the album that Paul McCartney always wanted to make with the Beatles. It's his 15th solo LP – his first for almost five years – and comprises 12 cover versions of songs he grew up listening to in Liverpool, such as Bye Bye Blackbird and It's Only a Paper Moon, which perhaps his father would play on the piano.
Oh, plus two originals.
Listen out, as well, for guest contributions from Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton.
The album's title, Kisses on the Bottom, comes from lead track I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, originally a hit for Fats Waller in 1935.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Is Lady Gaga just trying too hard?
The singer's early hits felt fluid and instinctive. Now it all looks a bit like hard work – and she's not hitting the sweet spot
At the end of last year I held a poll of pop fans and in one of the categories asked what people wanted from Lady Gaga in 2012, with two options: more or less. The promo campaign around last year's album release had not, shall we say, been one characterised by its subtlety.
The result of the poll was a 44%-56% split, which at first seemed contradictory and useless, but then it occurred to me that these two demands did not necessarily present Gaga with a dilemma. It was possible for an artist to do more at the same time as she did less, making fewer things more impressive, making smaller statements count for more and so on.
Now Gaga's extravagant album campaign seems to be winding down, the problem at its core seems obvious. Her early hits Just Dance, Poker Face and even Bad Romance all felt fluid and instinctive, and seemed simply to appear one day in a quite unselfconscious way.
This new star was singleminded in her vision and she wanted to be a success, but it was not the fact that she slaved over her music that appealed. It was the feeling that she delivered great music so easily. These days the results might still be exciting, but it all looks a bit like hard work.
When they are really on fire, great popstars hit a sweet spot where they look as if they are trying hard enough, but not too hard. You find this spot in an album that sounds a bit different from its predecessor but similar enough not to feel like a reactionary change of direction, or in a performance that looks effortless in a good way, not a bad way.
Lana Del Rey is just about getting it right, but her self-styled nonchalance could at any moment be derailed by the actions of someone trying too hard to appear as if she's not trying too hard. Her recent appearance on Saturday Night Live was widely derided for its (actually quite adequate) vocal performance, but it was the way she ambled around the stage that blew it for me: she would raise her hand, or walk a few steps, but for no apparent reason. She should have moved more, or less.
Adele is the current queen of the sweet spot. While her peers find themselves forced by labels to embrace social media via a desperate series of attention-seeking hashtags, Adele eventually took control of her Twitter account with the announcement that she was eating an apple in bed. She gives interviews, but it doesn't feel as if she's hawking her wares to anyone who will listen.
The more you think about this sweet spot, the more you see it, and the more you notice when performers miss it. There is a way in which Rizzle Kicks can stand motionless staring gormlessly at the camera and still pack more of a pop punch than an entire choreographed extravaganza from Pixie Lott, a popstar whose persona suggests she would take three guesses to name which month it is.
This sweet spot lies at the heart of the thing that in the days before The X Factor we used to call x factor, and in the days before Cher Lloyd appeared on The X Factor we used to call swagger. How, some hapless performers might fume, can Michael Bublé saunter — not even stroll — on stage, in much the same carefree and phlegmatic way one imagines he must approach his drinks cabinet, and dominate the stage? To some, the quest for that persona sweet spot makes the search for the lost chord look like hide and seek in a greenhouse and, of course, if you're looking for it, you're trying too hard and you've already failed.
In the same way that average music is arguably more dangerous than bad music, so trying too hard seems worse than not bothering at all. As a rule it is best to avoid people desperate to be liked, and this is as true in pop as it is in the playground, office or changing room.
For popstars, it's attempting dance routines they can't quite manage, naming their fanbase ("Monsters", "Heartbeats", "Beasties" and so on) when they don't want to be named. Some stars seem to melt into their haute couture creations while others look like they're in fancy dress. Justin Timberlake could wear a hat and look sophisticated and sexy; Olly Murs just looks like someone wearing a hat.
Anyway the good news is that the sweet spot isn't set in stone. You can mark on the timeline of most great musicians the point where it stopped coming easy and started getting hard. Bowie: 1993. Madonna: 2008. Matt Cardle: 2011. The bad news is that it hardly ever goes the other way, and if you start off making it look like hard work, it's unlikely to start looking any easier, and trying to change things will just make it look worse. Some popstars, in other words, are just really crap.
At the end of last year I held a poll of pop fans and in one of the categories asked what people wanted from Lady Gaga in 2012, with two options: more or less. The promo campaign around last year's album release had not, shall we say, been one characterised by its subtlety.
The result of the poll was a 44%-56% split, which at first seemed contradictory and useless, but then it occurred to me that these two demands did not necessarily present Gaga with a dilemma. It was possible for an artist to do more at the same time as she did less, making fewer things more impressive, making smaller statements count for more and so on.
Now Gaga's extravagant album campaign seems to be winding down, the problem at its core seems obvious. Her early hits Just Dance, Poker Face and even Bad Romance all felt fluid and instinctive, and seemed simply to appear one day in a quite unselfconscious way.
This new star was singleminded in her vision and she wanted to be a success, but it was not the fact that she slaved over her music that appealed. It was the feeling that she delivered great music so easily. These days the results might still be exciting, but it all looks a bit like hard work.
When they are really on fire, great popstars hit a sweet spot where they look as if they are trying hard enough, but not too hard. You find this spot in an album that sounds a bit different from its predecessor but similar enough not to feel like a reactionary change of direction, or in a performance that looks effortless in a good way, not a bad way.
Lana Del Rey is just about getting it right, but her self-styled nonchalance could at any moment be derailed by the actions of someone trying too hard to appear as if she's not trying too hard. Her recent appearance on Saturday Night Live was widely derided for its (actually quite adequate) vocal performance, but it was the way she ambled around the stage that blew it for me: she would raise her hand, or walk a few steps, but for no apparent reason. She should have moved more, or less.
Adele is the current queen of the sweet spot. While her peers find themselves forced by labels to embrace social media via a desperate series of attention-seeking hashtags, Adele eventually took control of her Twitter account with the announcement that she was eating an apple in bed. She gives interviews, but it doesn't feel as if she's hawking her wares to anyone who will listen.
The more you think about this sweet spot, the more you see it, and the more you notice when performers miss it. There is a way in which Rizzle Kicks can stand motionless staring gormlessly at the camera and still pack more of a pop punch than an entire choreographed extravaganza from Pixie Lott, a popstar whose persona suggests she would take three guesses to name which month it is.
This sweet spot lies at the heart of the thing that in the days before The X Factor we used to call x factor, and in the days before Cher Lloyd appeared on The X Factor we used to call swagger. How, some hapless performers might fume, can Michael Bublé saunter — not even stroll — on stage, in much the same carefree and phlegmatic way one imagines he must approach his drinks cabinet, and dominate the stage? To some, the quest for that persona sweet spot makes the search for the lost chord look like hide and seek in a greenhouse and, of course, if you're looking for it, you're trying too hard and you've already failed.
In the same way that average music is arguably more dangerous than bad music, so trying too hard seems worse than not bothering at all. As a rule it is best to avoid people desperate to be liked, and this is as true in pop as it is in the playground, office or changing room.
For popstars, it's attempting dance routines they can't quite manage, naming their fanbase ("Monsters", "Heartbeats", "Beasties" and so on) when they don't want to be named. Some stars seem to melt into their haute couture creations while others look like they're in fancy dress. Justin Timberlake could wear a hat and look sophisticated and sexy; Olly Murs just looks like someone wearing a hat.
Anyway the good news is that the sweet spot isn't set in stone. You can mark on the timeline of most great musicians the point where it stopped coming easy and started getting hard. Bowie: 1993. Madonna: 2008. Matt Cardle: 2011. The bad news is that it hardly ever goes the other way, and if you start off making it look like hard work, it's unlikely to start looking any easier, and trying to change things will just make it look worse. Some popstars, in other words, are just really crap.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Track Of The Day: Charli XCX - Nuclear Seasons (Hackman Remix)
Today's Track Of The Day isn't brand-spankin' new—it came out back at the end of November—but, given the tendency of end-of-year records to get lost in the shuffle, I thought it was worth giving a little extra attention to. Charli XCX is a young British singer on the rise; MTV has singled her out as one of 10 nominees in their Brand New For 2012 campaign, and it's hard not to imagine that this could well be her year. She worked with producer Ariel Rechtshaid (a collaborator of Glasser and Diplo) on her debut single "Stay Away," a darkly sumptuous electro-pop tune that should appeal to fans of Austra, Glasser, and Fever Ray. She followed up with collaborations with Alex Metric and Starkey, and remixes of her solo work have come from a wide range of artists, including drum & bass' Phaeleh, witch-housers Salem, and the UK funky-oriented T. Williams. Which brings us to the subject of today's post: a blindingly good remix of her latest single, "Nuclear Seasons," by the UK house producer Hackman. His productions so far, for labels like Greco-Roman and PTN, bring together the best of UK bass and classic house in tight, punchy tracks that remind me a bit of what the Futureboogie crew is up to. His "Nuclear Seasons" remix proceeds in the same vein, but it's got that extra something that makes it immediately stand out. Her voice is looped and layered until you feel like you're floating in thin air; the synth/bass interplay is to die for. At 115 BPM, it's easily one of the sultriest cuts I've heard in ages. Simply put, it's a stunning piece of work—keep reading to check out audio samples.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
New Munich Trade Fair: analytica 2012
2012, the New Munich Trade Fair once again presents the 17th analyticaVom 04/20/2012 to place on the grounds of the New Munich Trade Fair Analytica, the international trade fair for the latest laboratory techniques and pioneering biotechnology instead. For four decades covering the analytica like no other exhibition in the world, the topics of the laboratories in industry and science in such a breadth and depth, and in this order from. In five halls (A1 to A3 and B1 and B2) is the choice of topics here on 55 200 sq meters as subject-specific and comprehensive. Total presented in 2010 on the last analytica nearly 1,000 exhibitors from 37 countries (in 1038 participating companies) and there were over 32,000 visitors from 126 countries (with a 37% share of international visitors) recorded, which is around 99% of trade visitors acted.
Analytica is composed of three major areas. First, the fair offers a large exhibition area, of course, which focuses on topics laboratory technology, measurement and testing, instrumental analysis, biotechnology / diagnostics and startup programs at the center. Second, the "Forum Analysis", the "Analytica Conference" organized, what constitutes an optimal adjunct to the traditional exhibition space and essential, that helps the analytica has established itself as a prominent meeting place for the industry. At various scientific conferences führende researchers report from around the world about the latest developments, trends and visions of the future. Analytica 2010 counted 140 Renowned Speakers. Furthermore, Analytica also provides a comprehensive program that we want to present in detail below.
Analytica is composed of three major areas. First, the fair offers a large exhibition area, of course, which focuses on topics laboratory technology, measurement and testing, instrumental analysis, biotechnology / diagnostics and startup programs at the center. Second, the "Forum Analysis", the "Analytica Conference" organized, what constitutes an optimal adjunct to the traditional exhibition space and essential, that helps the analytica has established itself as a prominent meeting place for the industry. At various scientific conferences führende researchers report from around the world about the latest developments, trends and visions of the future. Analytica 2010 counted 140 Renowned Speakers. Furthermore, Analytica also provides a comprehensive program that we want to present in detail below.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Yolanda Music - Levels (Skrillex remix)
Wuhu, a first for the indie-bloggers: The first article about a Skrillex number. I've just verified again, but it seems as if we are the young men with the Emo hairstyle has not actually had the repertoire. Nor Avicii, where it is less surprising, however, as that of his character even more in the mainstream sector, and thus known to us for sooo not relevant. Now, the first reporting on the indie-bloggers is not the only similarity between the two musicians:
Both are youthful for her age (Skrillex is 23, Yolanda 22) already among the top players in their genre, both of which are (probably) just at the peak of her career and be lauded as a musical genius. But soon both must also prove that they can still pushing forward and not only are ephemera.
With their first collaboration, they want to build a bridge between progressive house and dubstep: the Skrillex remix of Yolanda's hit "Levels" is a prime example of a modern dubstep number, the vocals sound in my opinion in the Skrillex version even better. But I must confess that the original of "Levels" for me is such a small "Guilty Pleasure" number. Will hot: I listen to at times so - just admit it, I'd not wink icon Yolanda levels (Skrillex Remix).
Because of that: Thanks Skrillex that you've packed this number for me in an acceptable form - which I can also conveyed to my hipster friends!
Both are youthful for her age (Skrillex is 23, Yolanda 22) already among the top players in their genre, both of which are (probably) just at the peak of her career and be lauded as a musical genius. But soon both must also prove that they can still pushing forward and not only are ephemera.
With their first collaboration, they want to build a bridge between progressive house and dubstep: the Skrillex remix of Yolanda's hit "Levels" is a prime example of a modern dubstep number, the vocals sound in my opinion in the Skrillex version even better. But I must confess that the original of "Levels" for me is such a small "Guilty Pleasure" number. Will hot: I listen to at times so - just admit it, I'd not wink icon Yolanda levels (Skrillex Remix).
Because of that: Thanks Skrillex that you've packed this number for me in an acceptable form - which I can also conveyed to my hipster friends!
Lissi Dancefloor Disaster - Pop Musiiic
That Josefin Lindh and Johan Tilli from Uppsala in Sweden to hear Le Tigre and Little Dragon, are to pop music and computer games, you can hear that. Together, the two are Lissi Dancefloor Disaster and produce electro-pop with call type-rock influences, the sounds, not only because of the slight accent in Swedish. Despite their 2011 EP released "As we plz" has been heard in Germany they have hardly anything. The same is true with Lo-Fi-Fnk, the one track, namely, have made "Pop Musiiiic" remixed it and thus a bit more danceable. The whole EP is really worth hearing, especially for those who have "previously" heard like LCD Soundsystem and then switched to FM Belfast are.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)