And while “beige against the machine” is a cute and retweetable one-liner, it’s nothing more than a cheap shot based on a faulty premise: that something went wrong with music in 2011. That musicians gave up en-masse and just made safe, ineffectual and dull music.
There are quite a few problems with that idea. I’m just going to mention just three here, but you’ll no doubt think of your own too.
1) You can’t complain about a dull year in music if all you do is report on the pile of CDs that ended up on your desk as a result of public relations and major label marketing. If you were looking for urgency, relevance and innovation in that lot, you’ve misunderstood the process. No matter how much you shout “Challenge me!” at your stereo, it’s not going to oblige if you keep putting Coldplay CDs in it.
2) Even if you are looking outside the pile, chances are you’re still looking in the wrong places. Things that sound like (or aspire to sound like) the music that did make it to the minor landfill of compact discs cluttering your desk are not likely to be any better. After all, it’s no longer the job of rock music to be urgent or important. And it’s certainly not the job of mainstream rock music. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but guitar, bass, drums and vocals is no longer by default a counter-cultural lineup. The same can be said for R&B and mainstream hip hop. It’s possible to do radical stuff in those musical domains, but it’s certainly not the norm.
3) IF IT’S BORING, DO NOT WRITE ABOUT IT. In fact, write that on a post-it note and stick it to your laptop screen. Writing about boring is contributing to the boring.
I went for a cycle along the canal today. It’s the first time I’ve done that in ages. It was a fairly dreary, overcast sort of day – but even that can look nice when you’re out and about on your bike.
I took this photo coming over the bridge to the Kings Norton junction.
If you like cats, or stories about cats – or if you just like stories – here’s a Christmas gift from me to you (and your kids, if you happen to have any).
I made a ‘cartoon for radio’ about 15 years ago. It’s about cats – well, specifically about one cat, Ashley, who finds himself transported out of the world of humans, can openers, laundry baskets and suburbia – and into a magical world of castles, dragons, princesses and wizards. A world run entirely by cats.
If you’d like a taster before you grab the whole thing, you can check out the first 14 episodes on Bandcamp.
Or you can just dive straight in. All 50 episodes of series one are here for you to download as free mp3s. Merry Christmas.
Just thought I’d say a quick Merry Christmas before the yuletide activities kick off here in the Dubber house. A quiet one this time: friends over for dinner tonight, and then since Jake’s away in India and we Skyped today (he’ll have no internet for the next day or so), we’re probably going to eat delicious food and watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy all day tomorrow.
Hope you have a great one, made better by this perfect Christmas song, in which my friend Rhodri reworks the Smiths into a cheery, festive masterpiece. Enjoy.
One of the things I’m going to be working on over the next 12 months is developing a research project into the network of independent music collectives in Brazil, known as Fora do Eixo (Off-Axis).
If it’s new to you, they’re an affiliation of ‘cultural producers’ (promoters, managers, labels etc.) who use the internet to connect and organise, work together and try to make a sustainable independent music and performing arts sector.
Joining live music venues, artists and festivals as well as labels and studios around the country, the collectives have developed a separate economy from that of the mainstream music industry… to the point where they now actually have their own currency. Really.
They’ve just released their end of year figures on their blog (it’s in Portuguese, but I ran it through Google Translate for you).
All in all, I’ve had an pretty good year that’s taken me to a lot of interesting places – both literally and metaphorically. I thought that rather than go over it here (there’s really rather a lot) I thought I’d talk a bit about where the process of reflection has brought me to.
My motto for the past few weeks has been “Keep it simple – no, even simpler – now simpler still…” and that’s more or less how I’d like to go into 2012. As a result, I’ve been stopping all sorts of things.
I’ve played my last Soul Food Sunday DJ session at the Hare and Hounds, I’ve closed my Facebook account, I’ve deleted all but the most essential apps off my iPhone (down to 2 pages from 8), reduced the number of projects I’m working on from 42 to 18, and I’ve already said no to a whole bunch of travel and public speaking in the new year.
I have several books, articles and other things to write. I plan to approach this by writing less, more often – if that makes sense. Brevity has not been my strong suit in the past. I plan to work on that.
There are, of course, things that I won’t be able to say no to. I’ve happily agreed to go back to New Zealand, Norway and the USA next year – and I’ll be visiting Africa for the first time. But for the most part, my default position will be to say no, and then just keep plugging away at the task at hand.
I thought I’d do a ‘top five albums of the year’ (that is to say, my five personal favourites), rather than a top 10 or twenty or anything like that (I did a top 100 one year, if I recall correctly). Five seems manageable. They’re all on Bandcamp, as it happens.
They’re in no particular order, and of course, there are plenty of other albums that I’ve absolutely loved this year – but these are the ones I keep coming back to over and over again.
I’ve written a good deal about music this year – including about these specific records – so rather than justify my choices, I’ll just let you listen to them. Hope you find something in here you like…
I had a wonderful time at #brumsanta this evening. It was very simple idea: a Christmas get-together with some people from Birmingham who are on Twitter, with a (somewhat) secret Santa element to it – but the twist being that the maximum spend on gifts was £0.
About 35 people came along – lots of unfamiliar faces, and lots of people whom others only recognised by user name. I’d made name badges for everyone, as well as a compilation CD for all attendees. The nice thing about that was the fact that all of the artists on the compilation had agreed to have their music included.
Not very secret Santa
At around 8:30pm, we did the present swapping thing – and rather than keep it a secret, I thought it would be nice if people actually gave their gift in person to their allocated recipient. Other than a couple of no-shows and some creative, hasty gift-reallocation for perishable goods intended for people who weren’t there – it all seemed to go very well.
Steve Thornton (@stevetea) did a great job DJing classic soul & funk tunes – starting with Gil Scott-Heron and ending with Bill Withers… and the Hare and Hounds staff were all lovely, as usual.
As I’d organised the present swap, I hadn’t put myself down to receive a gift, but @catharker (who I had never met before this evening) very kindly and thoughtfully made me the above hand-stitched Christmas tree decoration. On one side, it has a pohutukawa flower. That’s the New Zealand Christmas tree, you know…
Some friends in New Zealand are involved in a massive 700-strong Twitter secret Santa. I think it’s a great idea, and thought it was the kind of thing the people I know from around here might be interested in doing.
Reluctant as I am to organise anything (and as much as I should not ever be put in charge of anything), I thought I’d see about organising something a little more modest for folks around here.
So I hereby announce ‘Birmingham Twitter Secret Santa’. Or #brumsanta for the sake of a hashtag.
But times are tough, so I thought it would be nice to add a home-made, handmade element to it.
Rather than spend a maximum of £5, you spend a maximum of £0. The gift you give should be something that you made. It can be a cake, a mixtape, a handcraft of some kind, perhaps a voucher for some sort of service or kindness you can perform – or anything that you know how to do.
I’ve been seeing a lot about Pay A Blogger Day bouncing around the internet today. It’s on November 29th, and it’s a campaign to promote Flattr – a service that allows you to donate small amounts to websites and services you like.
I won’t be putting a Flattr button on my site and I do not want you to give me money. Not for this anyway.
I have a bit of a problem with Pay a Blogger day. If you’re tossing me coins because of the ‘creative work’ I do in the public domain, that makes me a busker. I am not here to be a busker. I am here to have conversations.
And you wouldn’t tip someone at a party because you thought they were interesting, would you?
