Thursday 30 September 2010, 14:27 | By Marc Samuels

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Album Reviews

The last two albums in the series of St Et Deluxe Edition reissues then; first up is ‘Good Humor’. Recorded in Sweden with a live band, it’s very much a reaction against both the Britpop years that preceded its release (in 1998) and the group’s earlier, more synthetic material. Whilst there are no classics here (lead single ‘Sylvie’ always was and still remains superior in its Trouser Enthusiasts remixed version), it’s a consistent album that holds up surprisingly well, and the second disc is awash with typically excellent b-sides and rarities from the era.

‘Tales From Turnpike House’, meanwhile, is the trio’s most recent album and arguably their most fully realised yet. An album with a loose concept, it’s a tenement symphony housing everything you’d want from a Saint Etienne album – pulsating synth-pop, with two Xenomania productions, impeccable retro credentials by way of Tony Rivers’ gorgeous Beach Boys-style vocal arrangements, spooky ambience (‘Birdman Of EC1’) and quirkiness, with its David Essex vocal cameo.

The bonus disc includes nine unreleased tracks (with two corkers in ‘Another Cup Of Coffee’ and ‘Must Be More’) but the omission of three tracks from the period (‘Oh My’, ‘Dream Lover’ and brilliant b-side ‘I’m Falling’) is nothing short of criminal, frankly. Still, those concerned more with enjoying effortlessly fine pop than with the strange vagaries of record company compilers will do well to get hold of both of these albums, the latter in particular. MS

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The BBC is looking for new music TV formats

Business News Media Top Stories

The BBC is looking to develop a new flagship music telly programme but, and this is very important, I want you all to write this down, it will not be ‘Top Of The Pops’.

According to The Guardian, the Beeb’s king of yoof Andy Parfitt took time to defend BBC TV’s commitment to music yesterday, saying it was “absolute rot” to say there was no music on the Corporation’s telly channels. Responding to criticism from some in the music industry and elsewhere that, since the demise of ‘TOTP’ in 2006, the Beeb has basically shunned musical output on its TV network, Parfitt pointed to the ‘Later’ franchise and the Corporation’s summer festival coverage.

But, perhaps accepting ‘Later’ is a niche show and that the Beeb’s festival coverage is isolated to a few weekends (and is, actually, decreasing), Parfitt admitted there probably should be a more regular, more mainstream music show somewhere in the BBC TV schedules and revealed thought was being given to what that might be. But he stressed that this did not mean a ‘TOTP’ revival was being planned.

According to The Guardian, Parfitt told a breakfast gathering of the Broadcasting Press Guild: “We are working on it. It would be great if we could get a new popular music-based programme with a new format, a new kind of offer that really worked for the audience”.

He continued: “But we are not trying to relaunch or reinvent ‘Top Of The Pops’. That is kind of a red herring. TOTP are four letters that immediately bring out all levels of prejudice. But should we be looking for a programme? Of course we should, and we are. Would it be a good thing to try to persevere and work with producers to identify a new format? Yes. That’s what television does all the time. [Commissioning Editor] Jan Younghusband is actually leading that process and I am closely involved with that”.

Knowing the BBC, they’ll probably come up with a great new format and then have Fearne Cotton present it and it will be awful. Then they’ll excitedly relaunch ‘TOTP’ in 2017.

Former Jacko manager wants access to estate accounts

Legal Top Stories

Michael Jackson’s final business manager has asked that unedited copies of financial records relating to the late king of pop’s estate be made public, or at very least be provided to any remaining creditors.

Tohme Tohme reckons that because the courts have allowed the estate to seal certain contracts and financial reports, creditors like him may be deprived of what they are owed. The estate has been able to keep some documents sealed, despite major agreements needing court approval, because the judge accepted commercial confidentiality was required on some deals.

Many of the people Jackson owed cash to at the time of his death have now been paid, though many others have not. Tohme’s case is more complicated because he claims that – because he negotiated the contract between Jackson and AEG Live for the never-to-happen ‘This Is It’ shows – he is due a cut on any revenue generated by that franchise.

That, he argues, includes a cut of the ‘This Is It’ film release and DVD profits, which he reckons would be at least $2.3 million. He can’t work out quite how much, he says, because the required financial information has not been made public. With that in mind, his lawyers have filed a legal motion with the court overseeing the estate asking for access to revenue, expense and profit information.

Reps for the Jackson estate say they are yet to see the motion so don’t currently have any comment to make. A judge is due to consider the motion on 7 Oct.

MGMT deny piss and control issues

ASCAP lose twice in appeal court digital royalty hearing

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal

A federal court in the US has delivered two rulings in favour of digital music providers in the States to the detriment of publishing collecting society ASCAP.

The first related as to whether a performance royalty was due on downloads in addition to the mechanical royalty already paid to publishers and songwriters. It’s an important distinction in the US because performance royalties and mechanical royalties are handled by different collecting societies there, whereas in the UK it all falls under the banner of PRS For Music.

To be honest, it is hard to see why a performance royalty should be paid on downloads, but ASCAP had a good go at trying to argue that it should. But the organisation failed to convince judges at the Second Circuit Court Of Appeals who, backing an earlier judgement in a lower court, ruled this week that the downloading of music online does not constitute a “public performance”.

The other ruling related to the royalties paid by Yahoo! and such like on streaming services, where a performance royalty is due. That royalty structure is also based on an earlier lower court ruling, but on that count the lower court got it wrong, the appeal judges said.

The court said it felt the system was currently unfair on digital providers like Yahoo! because it failed to account for their business models, and the way royalties were calculated were “unreasonable” and “imprecise”. The appeals court sent the whole thing back to the lower court asking that it rethinks the way streaming royalties work.

Tinie v Labrinth rivalry turns out to be invented

Artist News

This week, Tinie Tempah released his first single not produced by Labrinth, ‘Written In The Stars’. Angered at this slight, Labrinth went and released his own debut single, ‘Let The Sunshine’, on the same day.

The scuffle looks set to go to the wire, with sales of both tracks neck-a-neck in the race for number one. It is presumably planned that the pair will now meet in a south London carpark later this week to sort it out like men.

Well, according to Labrinth, this is not the case. He told The Sun: “It’s funny, everyone keeps asking if there is beef between us. There isn’t. We’re really rooting for each other. I helped make him. My success is his success and his success is my success. Whoever gets to number one, we’ll be going out together to celebrate”.

However, it’s a different story for Adele. Her new single, ‘Make You Feel My Love’, is also rocketing up the charts, and both Tinie Tempah and Labrinth are reportedly furious. Both were overheard inside my head just now plotting to smash her guitar up and spread a rumour that she’s stolen all her songs off Duffy.

50% of Abba consider reunion

Artist News

Abba’s Anni-Frid Lyngstad has said that she and bandmate Agnetha Faltskog have considered performing together again.

Lyngstad told the Daily Express: “It would be great to do something with Agnetha. [But] if we did, it would be hard to avoid all the pressure because of Abba. It could never be low-key”.

Ronson may quit live performance

Artist News

Mark Ronson has said that he may give up performing live on the grounds that it’s quite difficult and he’s getting on a bit.

The musician told The Independent: “I do try to focus on the music and not get caught up in all the other shit, but… Well, I’m 35. I’m probably in the last five years of performing on stage. That’s the ideal. To do well enough that you just don’t worry about dipping out of the game for a year and having everyone forget you”.

He added: “I get nervous before I go on stage because I’m not a born performer. I only started playing guitar three years ago and I only started singing, like, yesterday. I do think I throw obstacles in my own path, and ratchet up the neurosis that way. But there are worse problems to have, I think”.

N-Dubz upping the pace again

Artist News

N-Dubz are attempting to up the intensity of their sound on material for their next album, the group’s Fazer has told the Daily Star. Partly this has been achieved by adding more of a dance influence, he said.

The rapper told the tabloid: “Every record we do is better than the one before. We try to up the levels. Someone said to me the other day: ‘You’ve gone from ground zero to ground ten million’. It’s a very dancey album but it still has an N-Dubz element to it as we have gone back to the roots a bit with this one. A lot of artists make the mistake of making one album then they think they can go away for two years. Not us man, we wanna do an album a year”.

He added that he’s come up with a way to cheer himself up if the intense workload ever starts to get him down: “I’ve got a ‘warming room’ in my house so if I feel depressed I go in and the plaques from going gold and platinum are there. That helps me reflect and realise that everything is all right”.

Where exactly is ground ten million, by the way?

The National expand High Violet

Releases

The National have announced that they will release an expanded edition of their ‘High Violet’ album, which was released earlier this year, on 22 Nov. The new version will feature a bonus disc with alternate recordings, live tracks, b-sides and two brand new songs.

The band will be back in the UK for a sold out tour in November. Phosphorescent have just been announced as the support act.

The tracklist for the new ‘High Violet’ bonus disc is this:

Terrible Love (Alternate Version)
Wake Up Your Saints
You Were A Kindness
Walk Off
Sin-Eaters
Bloodbuzz Ohio (Live on The Current)
Anyone’s Ghost (Live at Brooklyn Academy Of Music)
England (Live at Brooklyn Academy Of Music)

School Of Seven Bells and Active Child announce split remix single

Releases

Super exciting news, now. CMU favourites and Active Child have announced that they are to release a split seven-inch single, with each side featuring one remixing the other, via Lefse Records.

The disc will be available exclusively through the Lefse website – www.lefserecords.com – and will be released on 26 Oct. It’ll also be pressed on mixed-colour vinyl, meaning no two records will be alike.

SVIIB have chosen to remix Active Child’s ‘I’m In Your Church At Night’, while Active Child has put his spin on ‘Heart Is Strange’, which you can also download for the very cheap price of free here.

Deftones fuck about with tour dates again

Gigs & Festivals

So, you remember when Deftones announced another London date on their UK tour earlier this week? Yeah? Well, forget it. That’s not happening any more. Due to “scheduling conflicts”, the gig will now take place at UEA in Norwich, instead.

The press release for this suggests that the second London date has been moved, but doesn’t say when to. I hope they don’t change these dates around again, because I’m going to post them now, and formatting tour dates is one of the most tedious things known to man.

Actual, definite Deftones UK tour dates:

12 Nov: Glasgow, Academy
13 Nov: Leeds, Academy
14 Nov: Manchester, Apollo
15 Nov: Southampton, Guildhall
17 Nov: London, Brixton Academy
18 Nov: Norwich, UEA
19 Nov: Nottingham, Rock City
20 Nov: Birmingham, Academy

Gold Panda confirms headline UK tour

Gigs & Festivals

With his debut album, ‘Lucky Shiner’, out on 11 Oct via his own NoTown label, Gold Panda has announced a UK tour, which will take place in November. Support comes from Banjo Or Freakout.

Tour dates:

11 Nov: Brighton, Audio
13 Nov: Newcastle, The Cut
14 Nov: Constellations Festival
15 Nov: Manchester, Ruby Lounge
16 Nov: Glasgow, King Tuts
18 Nov: London, Corsica Studios
19 Nov: Bristol, Start The Bus
20 Nov: Norwich, Arts Centre

Azoff responds to tension at top rumours following Diller’s resignation announcement

Business News Live Business

Live Nation’s Executive Chairman Irving Azoff has taken to Twitter to respond to the news that the live music conglom’s Chairman Barry Diller is stepping down.

There has been speculation that relationships between Diller – head of Ticketmaster’s former parent company IAC – and the top executives at the merged Live Nation Ticketmaster – so Azoff and Michael Rapino – have been less than perfect. But, as reported yesterday, Diller insists he always planned to step down from the Chairman’s role a year or so after the Live Master merger.

Hitting out at press coverage that says Diller’s departure shows tensions at the top of the music firm, Azoff said on Twitter yesterday: “As usual the press reports are ridiculous. It was always Barry Diller’s intention to step down from LNE [Live Nation Entertainment] COB [Chairman Of The Board] during first year after TM/LN merger. I look forward to continue to work with him during his time on
the board. I thank him for the many years of dedication and loyalty to everyone at TM”.

Diller’s own statement issued yesterday says: “I have always said, since the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, that I only planned to stay as chairman through the transition and integration of the two companies. It’s been almost a year and I informed the board today that while there was no rush, the board should start the process now to appoint a new chairman”.

Q&A: OMD

Artist Interviews

Formed in 1978 by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark released their debut single, ‘Electricity’, through Factory Records in 1978, with their eponymous first album following in 1980, released through DinDisc.

After enjoying success throughout the 80s, the band became fragmented in the 90s, with numerous line-up shifts. But in 2006 the ‘classic’ 80s line-up of McCluskey, Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper reformed. They released their first album for fourteen years last week and began a month-long UK tour last night. We caught up with McCluskey to ask the Same Six.

Q1 How did you start out making music?
I started out as a bass player. I got everyone to give me money for my sixteenth birthday and went out and bought a second hand bass. So that’s how I started playing. Then Paul and I discovered we liked the same music. I got into Kraftwerk but had a shit record player, while he had built his own stereo, because he was a bit of an electronics buff. So I went round to his house to listen to my records. And from there we both set off on a musical journey together.

Q2 What inspired your latest album?
There was a feeling that we kind of left the stage a bit grudgingly in the mid 90s, at the height of Britpop, and that given we had been afforded the opportunity to tour again, and were getting great audiences and good reviews, and with ‘electro’ back in fashion, and having heard we were apparently a bit cool again, we decided to do the stupid thing and make a record. Which really is a stupid thing. Because everyone likes to hear the old songs. No one wants to hear the new songs. But fuck it. We felt like we were teenagers again. We made a record because we wanted to have a conversation with ourselves in the language of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark.

Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
The music always comes first, usually inspired by a noise or drum pattern, or a sample or something. But I do have ideas about songs I want to write, lyrically or thematically. In the early days I was Mr Anorak, I had a ring binder full of proposed song titles and ideas that I tried to marry with the music we made and I’d go, “Oh, that might go on that”. So the music always comes first and the words go on top.

Q4 Which artists influence your work?
Records sound very different to how they used to sound, there’s much more presence. There’s more bottom end, they’re a lot drier than they used to be. So we had to try to explore something that was definitely OMD but being aware of the sonic qualities of modern production. We listen to a lot of modern music. The whole electro thing is terribly current, though we only like some of it. But when you listen to what you like and analyse the sonic profile of it, that’s how you’re going to make your own record sound.

Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
In the old days, I would have tried to get them to throw away their preconceptions. It might be electronic, but it’s not boring, it’s not robot, it’s not inhuman. But I think people know that nowadays. So I just want them to listen to the record and hopefully they’ll find something in there that they didn’t have before they listened to it. Whether it be a lyric, a melody, a feeling, something to dance to, I don’t care as long as they get something out of it that they didn’t have before they listened to it.

Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album and for the future?
We have very limited expectations for this album. Which is a good thing. know everyone says, “I just made this album for myself”, but we really did. That was the way we made our earlier records as well; we just did what we wanted to do. And then we were surprised when we sold millions. Now, this isn’t going to sell millions, but we are very happy that we were just allowed to do what we wanted to do. The record will sell enough to pay for itself. We will go on tour and will sell enough tickets to be able to tour again. And so, effectively, we’re right back where we started 30 years ago. We’re just having a conversation with ourselves in the language of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. And if other people want to join in and listen, then great, and if they don’t, well, we’re having fun. And we made our best music when we had that mentality.

MORE>> www.omd.uk.com

Former V2 boss launches new label

Business News Labels & Publishers

David Steele, formerly MD of V2 Music, has announced he has launched a new music company called Hi Tone Music which will operate as both a label and management company. The venture opens its doors with two artists already on board, three-piece Tape The Radio and singer songwriter Jess Hall.

Commenting on his new venture, Steele told CMU: “I was very proud of what we achieved at V2 with our artists. I have always believed in signing artists who have the ability to have long and successful careers and it is those principles at the core of Hi Tone Music. I have been fortunate to have found two music loving investors David Salsbury and Nick Yalden to enable Hi Tone Music to develop our signings on our own terms and with our shared vision”.

On his artists, he continued: “Tape The Radio, I believe, have the ability to become a highly successful global rock band and Jess Hall has incredible ability for someone so young with the most amazing voice that her potential is unlimited. So a pretty good start!”

BPI appoint new public affairs muggins

Business News Industry People Labels & Publishers

UK record label trade body BPI have a lovely new Director Of Public Affairs to lead all their lobbying activity, pushing for stronger anti-piracy laws and such like. In these days of 4chan attacks, it’s a job that should possibly come with (virtual) danger money.

The new lobbying man is Theo Blackwell, who has previously worked on the agency side of political PR for Mandate Communications and Connect Public Affairs. In his agency life he worked for a number of tech clients, which probably makes him a good hire for the BPI, know the enemy and all that.

Confirming the new appointment, BPI boss Geoff Taylor told CMU: “We are delighted to be welcoming Theo as the BPI’s new Head Of Public Affairs. I have no doubt that his wealth of parliamentary experience and understanding of digital and new media issues will help us to represent our member labels effectively in the political debate going forward”.

Blackwell himself said this: “I am delighted to be taking up my new role of Director of Public Affairs at the BPI. The recording industry contributes significantly to the UK’s creative economy and I will seek to communicate the challenges, needs and advancements of this important sector to government, media and the wider creative industries. I look forward to working closely with the BPI’s member companies and politicians alike to achieve the optimum framework that will see the UK’s world-class music market continue to flourish and grow”.

Blackwell replaces the BPI’s former public affairs man Richard Mollet, who led the record industry’s lobbying efforts on the Digital Economy Act. As previously reported, he’s off to the top job at the Music Publishers Association.

Taylor again: “We are grateful to Richard for his outstanding work over the last few years and we wish him every success in his new role. I am sure we will be working even more closely with the Publishers Association in the coming years”.

MSN Music UK to close

Digital

Microsoft’s existing UK download service MSN Music will soon be replaced by the Zune Marketplace, which, as previously reported, is due to launch in the UK later this year. Microsoft’s Zune branded digital music player and download store has only been available in the US until now, meaning MSN Music continued to operate over here, even when the white label download platform that powered it – the OD2 system eventually owned by Nokia – shut down in 2009. But the Zune Marketplace is now due to arrive in Europe, providing music services for the Xbox and Windows-powered mobiles and PCs. The 37 people who still use MSN Music will be encouraged to switch to the Zune service – which offers both a la carte downloads and a subscription package – once it’s live.

Reznor Year Zero TV series plans moving forward

Media

Trent Reznor has long wanted to make his 2007 ‘Year Zero’ concept album into a TV series, and now through a partnership with HBO and BBC Worldwide that might just happen, though he himself admits the project is still in its early days.

Confirming the HBO partnership, Reznor has told the LA Times: “It’s exciting. I probably shouldn’t say too much about it except that I understand that there’s a thousand hurdles before anything shows up in your TV listing. It’s been an interesting and very educational process and it cleared the HBO hurdle a few months ago and now we’re writing drafts back and forth. So, it’s very much alive and incubating at the moment”.

It was originally rumoured that Reznor planned to work with director Quentin Tarantino and producer Lawrence Bender on the project. Bender is involved in the HBO production, though there’s no mention of Tarantino here. Daniel Knauf, writer of HBO series ‘Carnivàle’, is currently working on a first draft script.

West cans free track Friday after album tracks leak

And Finally

Kanye West has suspended his previously mentioned free music promotion GOOD Fridays in retaliation for certain blogs leaking unfinished songs from his in development next album. I think he’s just stopping the freebie track thing for this week, though that’s not 100% clear.

He tweeted thus: “Due to blogs leaking unfinished songs from my actual album, I’ve decided to pass on GOOD Fridays this week. It’s messed up that one hacker can mess everything up for everyone. I love to take a year to finish my songs and deliver them to you guys in their most completed form. It would have seemed like since I give [away] free music every week even the lowest form of human being would respect that enough not to leak unfinished songs from my real album”.

So, take note you lower than the low bloggers.

Approved: FM Belfast

CMU Approved

We’ve long been fans of FM Belfast’s lo-fi electronica at CMU, having been instantly won over a few years ago by their cover of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ and fantastically deadpan version of Technotronic’s ‘Pump Up The Jam’. We’ve never managed to catch them live, though. So, when we saw their name on the line-up for the Reeperbahn Festival, we made sure we were free to see their rather late night show.

Considering that in London they pull small audiences to back rooms of pubs, we weren’t quite prepared for the packed club that met us when we arrived. We also weren’t prepared for the fact that, while on record the band are a bit, well, twee, live they push everything into the red and deliver a bass-heavy dance set. It’s something that needs to be seen (and not in the back room of a pub with 30 other people). If you’re heading to Iceland Airwaves next month, you can catch them on the Sunday, headlining Nasa.

www.myspace.com/fmbelfast

Eddy Says: Something good is going to happen

Eddy Says

Several years ago, when I hosted the Breaksday tent at the much-missed Glade Festival, I saw a familiar, smiling face pressed up against the barrier towards the end of my set. It had been yet another triumph ending, as tradition dictated, with some live edit/remixing of Rage Against The Machine (a pre-Losers version), played to a big crowd of very munted people, many of whom had been up for three days. Covered in sweat, I squelched over to the fence to be greeted by a dear old school friend whom I’d lost touch with decades ago, Andrew Try.

Andrew was one of the best looking boys in my school, and I was always a little bit in awe of him, so when he clocked me, with a grin the size of Berkshire, I was somewhat taken aback. He explained that he was putting on a miniature festival in a forest near his home, and that I’d be the perfect DJ for it.

We exchanged numbers and over the next half dozen years he tried to get me there to play. Each year I wanted to do it, but the request would come in too late and I’d be playing somewhere else. This year we re-connected earlier and I asked my agent to please not book any other gigs that weekend.

My god, I should’ve done this YEARS ago. As I write, it’s the day after and I need to share this with you, because it’s special; special enough for you to block out this weekend in your diary for next year. I feel like I felt the first year of Secret Garden Party (and we know how amazing that turned out to be). I’ve discovered something secret, something known only to a select few, and which must be kept close to our bosoms, I think. Let me attempt to describe it for you.

THE SITE: Ancient woodland near Windsor, at the end of a long private road. The garden of an old, ruined, royal residence, and the site of some kind of palatial Roman building before that.

THE SCENE: Beautifully lit Palladian ruins, immaculate lawns, jaw droppingly old oak forest, campfires, beautiful people of all ages.

THE OCCASION: Autumn Equinox, in other words the last day of the year where night and day are the same length. Michael Eavis celebrates this with a party at Glastonbury. It’s the official wave goodbye to summer and hello to winter, until the Vernal Equinox, which happens to be my family’s (and all pagans / Zoroastrians / Iranians) New Year.

I turned up to behold glowsticks hanging from the branches of all the trees in a magical forest walkway leading up to the site of the party, a clearing in the forest at the apex of a big hill and the convergence of major ley lines, like the one at Glastonbury Tor. At the exact apex of the hill stands an oak tree that is over one thousand years old. It’s mindblowing to think that a young Richard the Lionheart could easily have pissed on this trunk 850 years ago, before he set off to attempt to conquer the Holy Land.

There were lights everywhere, projecting images onto screens, bubble shapes onto raised igloos, spattering shapes and colours all over the thick foliage above our heads and even the forest floor. It was captivating, mesmeric, confusing, and beautiful all at the same time. The main tent area with booming sound system had a wonderful, alien shape, reflected in the awnings, and stretched out material screens all over the site. And it was tiny. We’re talking about 300 people. Small enough to get to know almost everybody there, at least enough to smile and nod.

There were fires to congregate around, hay bails to sit on – not straw, but real, fresh, green hay. There were bands, and DJs playing dub reggae off rare seven-inch vinyl, or blissed out house off twelve-inches. There was a food tent knocking out BBQ food, toasties and yummy cakes at normal, village fete (not stupid festival) prices and a bar where you never had to queue for a drink.

I did my DJ thing, played a bit more old skool than normal, and had a wonderful time. I stayed there, eating, drinking and making merry under this colossal, ancient oak, until morning, enjoying every minute of the last night of summer.

I talked to Andrew at length about the back story to the event. This was where he grew up, he’d frolicked in these ruins as a boy and been a naughty teenager in its ruined wine cellar, he’d climbed the trees and lit fires here an age ago. He had no interest in starting a proper festival, certainly not in the way that Bestival, or other formerly lovely gatherings, ruined by greed, have gone. He just wants to have ‘something truly special’ happen there, once a year. He’s got absolutely the right idea.

This year it was open to the public for the first year ever. Just 50 tickets were made available. I think I can persuade him to up this next year so more of us can experience this. The last night of summer deserves more, and so does Andrew, in a sense. Like the Secret Garden Party, there is no VIP area, we all just muck in. There’s no backstage, no exclusivity, we are all humans enjoying a shared experience, a proper meet-and-greet.

Imagine if next year we made a few hundred tickets available here, no advertising, just word of mouth. I persuade a few bands and DJs, the kind who would want to be there anyway, to come and play. Most people there would loosely know about half of the people present, and be like minded souls. I think that’d be rather special. There were quite a few crew there from other festivals, who looked on this as a sort of British Summer Festival aftershow, and I think that’s a really strong pull for a lot of nice people.

I’d love to see the SGP/Glade/Festinho/Standon crews there next year to have a proper party where nobody is working any more, just cutting loose and having a great time.

The promo video for this year features music by two of my dearest chums in music: Utah Saints – the hit they made with Van She, after I’d persuaded them to reform for The Secret Garden Party many years ago. That lyric, “feels like something good is gonna happen” is prophetic, I think. It really is. Watch this space and see you there next year (don’t tell anyone though, this is between you and me, and only PLU – People Like Us)

youtu.be/GSf3ZUW0F_8

x eddy

Click here to see this edition of the Eddy Says e-bulletin in full

Album Review: Elliott Smith – An Introduction To… Elliott Smith (Domino)

Album Reviews

The suicide of Elliott Smith in 2003 robbed this generation of one of its finest singer-songwriters. Seven years on, this Domino-released compilation can hardly be described as a cynical exploitation but more a celebration of Smith’s prodigious talents.

The fourteen tracks here are compiled from Smith’s seven studio albums, from his early independent releases (‘Roman Candle’, ‘Elliott Smith’) to the flirtations with the mainstream (the Oscar-nominated ‘Miss Misery’ from the film ‘Good Will Hunting’ and the Dreamworks-released ‘XO’ and ‘Figure Eight’) that immediately preceded his death. For those familiar with his output, ‘An Introduction To…’ will serve as a reminder of Smith’s impressive body of work that seldom dipped in quality, but it’s those who missed Smith first time around who are the most probable target audience for this compilation.

Whilst innovation might not have been high on Smith’s agenda, what he did with great expertise was write consistently accomplished songs, composed with much sensitivity, empathy and heart, best demonstrated by the likes of ‘Waltz #2’ and ‘Twilight’.

He may never have been able to successfully overcome his demons (depression and drug addiction), but Smith bequeathed a terrific body of work, which, thanks to Domino, we’re now able to reappraise. KW

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Live Nation chairman to step down

Business News Industry People Live Business Top Stories

Barry Diller will stand down as Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, according to Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter. Given recent rumours of run-ins between Diller and Live Nation’s top two executives, Irving Azoff and Michael Rapino, his departure will not be a surprise to anyone really, though Diller is seemingly insisting he always intended to only lead the board of the ticketing and live music giant for a short time anyway.

Diller was at the top of the Ticketmaster tree prior to its merger with Live Nation at the start of the year, his company IAC having bought 50% of the ticketing giant in 1997 before taking complete ownership in 2002. He spun the ticketing firm off from the IAC empire making it a standalone entity in 2008, but he stayed on as an influential board member, seemingly getting on well with the newly independent Ticketmaster’s chair and CEO, Terry Barnes and Sean Moriarty respectively.

Soon after gaining its independence, Ticketmaster bought leading artist management agency Front Line and its chief, Irving Azoff, was given a senior executive role at the ticketing firm. Azoff subsequently increased his influence there, so that when it announced its merger with Live Nation in early 2009 it was he that became the ticketing giant’s representative at the top of the combined company, working alongside Live Nation’s top man Rapino.

Many of the other Ticketmaster top guard, including Moriarty, departed as the merger took place. And while Azoff, in theory, is the top executive at the merged enterprise, his interest is in artist development rather than selling tickets, so control of the ticketing operations at the joined-up company has fallen to former Live Nation rather than Ticketmaster executives. Live Nation, as you may remember, was in the process of launching its own ticketing agency before merging with Ticketmaster.

All of which, some reckon, has pissed off Diller somewhat, who reportedly increasingly sees the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger of having been, in reality, a Live Nation takeover of his ticketing firm. Some have also noted that while Diller played a key role in placating Ticketmaster investors during the Live Nation merger, he was nowhere to be seen when investment types recently got all stressed about the slump in the US live sector.

It’s thought Azoff will become Chairman when Diller departs.

Sky say they’ll no longer cooperate with ACS:Law

Business News Legal Top Stories

BSkyB has said it will no longer cooperate with London-based ACS:Law in any of the law firm’s sue-the-fans litigation, after the much hated legal outfit allowed private information about thousands of Sky’s internet customers (8000 at the last count) leak onto the web.

As previously reported, ACS:Law – which specialises in suing file-sharers on behalf of content owners, including a number of porn companies – was last week the victim of a so called ‘distributed denial of service attack’ by file-sharing supporters in the 4chan online community.

Somewhere along the line, a spreadsheet containing private information about thousands of alleged file-sharers who had been targeted by the law firm got published on the web. According to some tech blogs, it was actually IT people at the law firm who inadvertently published the spreadsheet while they tried to get ACS:Law’s website back online

The spreadsheet included the names and addresses of thousands of web users that have been targeted by ACS:Law, plus information on what content they were accused of illegally downloading, a lot of it pornographic. Details of conversations between the lawyers and the accused, plus in some cases the file-sharer’s credit card details, were also included.

When ACS sue an alleged file-sharer they need the accused’s internet service provider to reveal their name and address, because the agencies the lawyers use to monitor file-sharing can only identify the IP addresses of copyright infringers. ISPs will only hand over this information if a court order is obtained, though such orders are relatively easy to get these days. Clearly ACS has been getting an awful lot of them of late.

But, following the leaked spreadsheet debacle, BSkyB has now said that it will not hand over the details of any more customers to ACS – court order or no court order – until the company is assured no future breaches of data protection rules can occur.

A spokesman for the broadcaster and ISP said yesterday: “Following recent events, we have suspended all cooperation with ACS:Law with immediate effect. This suspension will remain in place until ACS:Law demonstrates adequate measures to protect the security of personal information. We continue to be very concerned at the apparent loss of data held by ACS:Law and by the actions of those who have sought to publicise the identities of individual customers”.

They continued: “Like other broadband providers, Sky can be required to disclose information about customers whose accounts are alleged to have been used for illegal downloading. We support the principle that copyright material should be protected and we cooperate with court orders requiring disclosure. Because the security of customer information is also a high priority, we only ever disclose such data in encrypted form. In addition, we have an agreement with ACS:Law that requires data to be stored and used safely and securely”.

TalkTalk, the most vocal of all the ISPs when it comes to the content industries’ efforts to combat file-sharing, has also issued a statement. It says it has never handed over the details of any of their customers to ACS:Law, so is not affected by this, but adds that the whole incident gives kudos to Talk Talk’s argument that those methods currently being pursued to combat file-sharing – so ACS style sue-the-fans litigation and BPI-backed three-strikes – are fundamentally flawed.

Says Mr TalkTalk: “[The ACS leak is] a stark reminder of the dangers of giving out customer details to third parties in trying to combat file-sharing. While we do not condone illegal file-sharing, we have consistently argued for better ways of combating copyright theft. Handing over customer details to law firms to seek ‘compensation’, based on accusations from rightsholders, is not the answer”.

The statement continued: “Tracking down illegal file-sharers is complex and the current approach isn’t working. The first problem is around detection: if you can only see what’s being downloaded at each connection, how do you know which of the several users has actually infringed copyright? Secondly, we’ve demonstrated before how it’s possible for connections to be hacked by serial file-sharers. Again, this can result in false accusations being made against subscribers and is the key reason why we’ve refused to hand over our customers’ details to ACS:Law or any other law firm working in this way”.

Doherty charged with cocaine possession

Legal

Pete Doherty has been charged with cocaine possession, following his arrest in March in relation to the death of Robin Whitehead, heiress to the estate of Teddy Goldsmith, in January this year. The musician had originally been accused of supplying class A drugs to Whitehead.

Whitehead had been working on a documentary about Doherty at the time of her death. Her body was found by Doherty collaborator Peter Wolfe, aka Wolfman, in his east London flat, though he denied that she had been using drugs. Wolfe has now been charged with possession of and supplying cocaine, while another musician, Alan Wass, has been charged with possession. The flat’s owner, Gill Samworth, was also arrested in March, but has not now been charged. The other three men will appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court on 18 Oct.

Limp Bizkit drummer diagnosed with pneumonia

Artist News

Limp Bizkit drummer John Otto has been diagnosed with pneumonia after falling ill during the band’s European tour. Fred Durst and co cancelled a gig in Norway on Monday, due to Otto’s then mystery illness. He was then admitted to hospital in Oslo.

Confirming the drummer’s condition, Durst told fans via Twitter: “I am sorry to inform you that John Otto is diagnosed with pneumonia and has been admitted into a hospital here in Oslo… Please send him positive vibes! We wish you a speedy recovery brother… We’re hoping he is better in the next couple of days”.

The band are next due to perform in St Petersburg in Russia on 1 Oct.

Charlatans drummer hoping to be well in six weeks

Artist News

Another poorly drummer, The Charlatans’ Jon Brookes, is hoping to be well enough to rejoin the band for the Australian leg of their current world tour in six weeks, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this month, the band’s frontman Tim Burgess has revealed.

As previously reported, Brookes collapsed and stopped breathing on stage at the Johnny Brenda’s venue in Philadelphia two weeks ago. He received treatment in the US and was initially said to be improving, though the band postponed the rest of their American tour. Back in the UK, he underwent more tests before doctors reach the tumour diagnosis.

Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Burgess remembered Brookes’ collapse: “Jon just stopped playing. Myself and Mark [Collins, guitarist] didn’t know what to do. We looked over at him and he gave us a really distant look. Our tour manger walked on stage and took his drumsticks out of his hands”.

He continued: “A doctor saw what was going on and said, ‘Let me on stage I’m a doctor’. Jon then started to faint. The doctor told everyone to get off stage and call 911. I think Jon would have caused quite a lot of damage to himself if [the doctor] hadn’t have been there. At first we all thought it was dehydration but then things seemed to take a turn for the worse”.

But he said Brookes could be back with them again soon: “He wants to go to Australia, which is in six weeks time. I think that’s the most realistic way to look at everything. At this moment in time things are looking on the up”.

In the meantime, The Verve’s drummer Pete Salisbury is standing in for Brookes as the band continue with their touring commitments.

ARIA noms out

Awards

The noms are out for this year’s ARIA Awards, which are the Aussie version of the BRITs. And no less that five acts have six nominations each – they being Angus & Julia Stone, Sia, Birds Of Tokyo, Guy Sebastian and Megan Washington.

There are 26 categories in total (considerably more than the BRITs, about 3917 less than the Grammys) so artists being on numerous shortlists is common, but still, well done them, every single one of them.

Also getting multiple nods in the shortlists this year are John Butler, Tame Impala and Temper Trap, who each get five noms, while Powerfinger – who have already won sixteen ARIA Awards and probably don’t need any more – are up for four.

For the first time the ARIA Awards will follow the lead of the BRITs this year and let normal people decide the winners of some categories, which is never a good idea. The Best Single, Best Album, Best Artist and Best International Artist awards will be voted for by punters on the ARIA Awards website.

The lists of nominees are online here.

Ibiza DJ awards presented

Awards

Last night it was the Ibiza DJ Awards in, well, Ibiza, obviously. And as well as the genre awards, special gongs were handed out to Mike Pickering, Ben Turner and the crew behind the Ibiza Rocks franchise.

Turner, the boss of London-based artist management and music partnerships company Graphite and one of the founders of Ibiza-based dance music conference the International Music Summit, got an Outstanding Dedication prize. Turner told CMU: “I’m honoured to receive this award for Outstanding Dedication from my peers in the electronic music industry. I’ve attended this event for many years, and run electronic awards shows myself over the years, so it’s an honour to be on the receiving end. It’s 20 years, in 2010, since I first worked [in music] at Melody Maker, so it’s a special year for me to get this when you also consider all that is happening to electronic music culture around the world”.

The full list of winners were as follows:
House: Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso & Axwell
Techno: Marco V
Trance: Armin Van Buuren
Electro House: Deadmau5
Tech House: Luciano
Minimal: Loco Dice
Progressive House: Sasha, D-Nox & Beckers
Downtempo & Eclectic: Mixmaster Morris
Deep House: Phonique
Psychedelic Trance: Liquid Soul

International DJ: Deadmau5
Newcomer: Stimming
Breakthrough: Riva Starr
Ibiza Resident DJ: Nima Gorji

Track Of The Season: Butch – No Worries
Dance Nation Of The Year: Egypt
International Festival: kaZantip
Media: Ibiza Sonica Radio

Outstanding Dedication: Ben Turner
Ibiza Rocks
Lifetime Achievement: Mike Pickering

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