Thought I’d share this as I know not everyone is on Twitter and it’s been keeping me entertained this week.
Poo Lady’s feed (Oh yes it is! Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is!)
Poo Lady’s web site with commented out Twitter link. (View Source and scroll down to the Social Networks bit).
Get yer free music here.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this lot before. I’ve been listening to “Idiot Jones Will Have His Day” for several years, dating back to the days when they still had a “pay what you want” scheme still going on their website (which, of course, I promptly used). Since then they’ve recorded five more EPs.
Definitely worth a listen if you like anything vaguely seventies, art-rock flavoured, although they label themselves “progressive pop”, whatever that means. The vocalist reminds me of Marc Bolan quite a lot and the shorter songs have a classic T Rex flavour to them in places. There’s elements of Roxy Music, Pink Floyd and all sorts of quirky goodness in the mix as well.
And did I mention that it’s all free?
Nothing illustrates why the music industry is in a sorry state better than the Brit Awards. This year was particularly dreadful, but what really caught my eye was the list of nominees for “Best Album Of 30 Years”.
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
Dido – No Angel
Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms
Duffy – Rockferry
Keane – Hopes & Fears
Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
Phil Collins – No Jacket Required
Sade – Diamond Life
The Verve – Urban Hymns
Travis – The Man Who
Is that really the best they could come up with? Was that list put together by Trevor in Accounts over his lunchbreak?
So here’s the challenge. Please submit a list of classic British albums, one from each of the last thirty years. To avoid the temptation (mainly on my side) to list worthy but obscure albums, the objective criteria are that the album must have charted and sold a reasonable amount of units, i.e. there must be a chance that Joe and Jane Public have heard the record in question. Proof (e.g. Wikipedia) must be provided, if challenged.
Let the banter begin!
Off to see Rammstein tonight at the NEC. Looking forward to lots of this …
(Edit)
If you do nothing else, skip forward to about 2:30 or so …
This year, we win!
Catch up now while you still can.
Stargate : Universe (possibly the heir to BSG, stars Robert Carlyle)
Flash Forward (”Shakespeare In Sci-fi”, doing well in the US)
Lie To Me (probably uncomfortable viewing for managerial grades).
Fringe (Season 2 seems even more out-there than the first one)
and of course, my hero …
Who cares, I just wanted to post up her picture really. More proof if ever you needed it that women get more beautiful as they get older. Now we must have that conversation about the peeque brand sometime.
The good news is that there are now 32 GB and 64GB versions of the iPod. Which is great news for people like me who store lots of podcasts and audiobooks alongside my music. And with podcasts now moving to videocasts we will need the space.
The bad news is they cost £229 and £299, which is an enormous rip off. You can understand their pricing policy, there are few competitors out there (for now), and they have to generate big year on year increases to keep their shareholders happy. Their raison d’etre like any other corporation is to maximise shareholder returns. But this is a rip off. We need new entrants in this space.
Anyone know of any alternative makes and models who are offering the same stuff cheaper ?
Yet another (probably futile) attempt to encourage people to listen to something other than reality show pap and cliched songwriting, but whatever …
At the moment this is the first thing I listen to every morning. By happy coincidence, it’s also been nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. Of course, I actually managed to pick the winner last year, although I’m not so confident that this year I’m backing the winning horse, but this would be my choice.
So the labels have just realised that their big money-spinners are albums, not singles and that customers are cherry-picking songs from albums that are 90% filler, now they can do so from download stores like iTMS.
I can’t help thinking – wouldn’t it be simpler to promote album-based artists in the first place, rather than wasting all the promotion budget on an act with one dodgy but “radio-friendly” single to their name?