| CMU Daily - on the inside Wednesday 7th May |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Qtrax sign up Universal
- Mail On Sunday to give away irritating Paul McCartney
- Pete is back on the streets
- Britney granted more time with children
- Foxy Brown warrant recalled
- 50 Cent necklace thief detained
- Hendrix's brother disputes sex tape
- Coldplay single downloads hit two million
- NKOTB announce new single
- New Beck album imminent
- New Oasis tracks leaked
- A Place To Bury Strangers too loud for vinyl
- Common to star in Terminator Four
- Last Shadow Puppets for Reading/Leeds
- Radiohead planning more studio time
- No bands booked for Boosh festival
- The Police announce final show and buy trees
- Kidzapalooza leaves parent festival
- Single Review: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
- More US debate on net neutrality - RIAA comment
- NBC sign up to Zune
- Amazon to make deleted albums available via disc on demand service
- NME Radio to have some Gervais during test transmissions
- Talksport sack James Whale over Boris support
- Album Review: John & Jehn - John & Jehn
- Usher. Glastonbury. Jay-Z. Noel Gallagher.
- Cliff Richard cheated out of Eurovision win
- Ricci too short for music
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TOP BIT -THE GREAT ESCAPE IS NEARLY HERE
Hey, it's May, in case you hadn't noticed. That means it is Brighton Festival time. The Brighton Festival is a brilliant three week frenzy of theatre, comedy, dance, musicals, art and music. Actually, lots and lots of music. CMU's sister publication ThreeWeeks is covering it all, and you will be able to check out our coverage from later today at http://www.threeweeks.co.uk, and from tomorrow here in the CMU Daily. Woo. Actually if you are in Brighton go out and look for a copy of the ThreeWeeks Guide To The Brighton Festival, which is available in venues and pubs and cafes all around the city.
Of course the big music event at the Brighton Festival is The Great Escape, which is now just one week away. This is the three day convention for all you music business types, organised by the Barfly people. Over those three days all kinds of very fine industry people will take to the stage to discuss the ins and outs of the modern music business, while in the evenings more bands that in would ever be possible to list here in the Daily will play in venues all across the city.
Among the daytime events this year are a panel debate on music publishing, an online v print debate, a keynote from Nettwerk Music chief Terry McBride, a day of digital music sessions from Music Ally, the one and only Annie Nightingale celebrating two decades of acid house, a panel on the Japanese market, plus Martin Elbourne's 'reality check'. Among the bands due to play in the evening are Vampire Weekend, Iron And Wine, The Futureheads, The Young Knives, The Ting Tings, The Wombats, The Hold Steady, Late Of The Pier, The Black Lips, Lightspeed Champion, The Subways, Black Mountain, These New Puritans, The Automatic, Glasvegas, Santogold and Sam Sparro. Woo. Again.
Not only that, but we, that is Team CMU, will be in town on the Thursday - 15th May - hosting our own Great Escape events in the basement of The Globe, a lovely little pub around the corner from the main convention venue. And this is what we'll be doing...
12.30-2.00pm - CMU & unicornjobs.com Guide To Making It In Music
A beginners guide to working in or with the music business, for anyone looking to work in the industry, or hoping to make it as an artist. Find out how the music industry works, what jobs are available, and who aspiring artists should be looking to meet, and where they'll find them. Run by Chris Cooke, Co-founder and Editor of music business news service the CMU Daily, and Publisher of unicornjobs.com, the new graduate careers website. To come to this free workshop just email your name and number to [email protected]
2.30-5.30pm - CMU-Tube from the Great Escape
Come and hear from artists and industry people who are appearing elsewhere at The Great Escape this year. CMU Daily Editor Chris Cooke will be interviewing both artists and industry people for the all new CMU-Tube video clip service, coming soon to the CMU Music Network website. Any Great Escape wristband holders are welcome to come and nosey, and even throw in some questions.
6pm-8pm - Come Say Hello to CMU
Come meet us. Yes, us. And we'll tell you all about our tenth birthday celebrations, which will take place over Summer 2008.
To buy your tickets for The Great Escape, go to this URL. And we'll see you there!
http://www.escapegreat.com/buyTickets/
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SNAP OF THE DAY: DAN PRIDDY
Currently nearing the end of a residency of sorts at London's Soho Revue Bar, where CMU caught him last month, Dan Priddy is about as unashamedly pop as it gets, dealing in infectious future chart botherers that might at first deter the more image conscious muso. See him live, however, and I guarantee you'll be sold on Priddy's ramped-up funk, best exemplified by 'CiNNaMon' on his Myspace, a brilliantly high octane Prince sounding number that's piled high with synths, funk guitar and a number of inspired exchanges with his backing vocalist. Saying that, his most popular offering seems to be the piano-led balladry of 'Breaking Up Story', which although likable (and the probable hit amongst his current repertoire) lacks the verve of its funkier brother. But then that might just be the image conscious muso in me talking. Decide for yourself at the link below.
http://www.myspace.com/danpriddy
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QTRAX SIGN UP UNIVERSAL
Qtrax, the company attempting to get a legit P2P file sharing network (ie one that's approved and licensed by the music companies) off the ground, has announced its first major licensing deal. In a press release released yesterday the company said it had signed a deal with both the recording and publishing bits of the biggest music company in the world, Universal.
Qtrax captured the headlines at the start of the year after holding a press conference at Midem announcing it had all the majors on board. It quickly became apparent they had, in fact, got none on board. It was all a bit embarrassing. But negotiations have continued ever since, and some key indies and some of the major publishing companies - Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing - have since confirmed their involvement.
But getting the whole of Universal Music on board is a particular coup, and will probably mean the other three major record companies will follow, eventually. According to Wired, a Windows only pilot of Qtrax is operational with music from US indie TVT Recordings, to which music from Beggars is due to be added soon, while a Mac version should follow shortly afterwards.
To be honest I haven't had chance to check it out myself, and as it won't work on the Mac I'm writing this on I can't go look now. But assuming Qtrax will overcome its Midem embarrassment and get the whole music industry on board, it will be interesting to see how the service works, how the advertising that will fund it is integrated, and how it will compare to pay-per-track and subscription download services, and the other ad-funded operations which are appearing on the scene like SpiralFrog and we7. Also whether a legit licensed P2P service - talked about ever since the original Napster was at is peak - really can take off. Watch this space.
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MAIL ON SUNDAY TO GIVE AWAY IRRITATING PAUL MCCARTNEY
The Mail On Sunday's next full album covermount promotion will be with Paul McCartney, which is quite a coup, though probably as much for Macca as for the tabloid, given that the former Beatle never has quite the record sales you might imagine given his profile, iconic status and sell out stadium tours. While last album 'Memory Almost Full' did better than most given the clever partnership with Starbucks, Music Week report that current UK sales sit at about 100,000 - pretty small compared to the 3 million copies the MoS will distribute. Whether the free Macca album will provide a sales spike for the paper remains to be seen - arguably the 100,000 potential extra readers who might have bought the paper for the CD already have it.
The free CD will come with the 18 May issue of the Mail, and was, alas, announced on the same day a music website declared Macca as the most irritating musician of all time. The surprising stat, given all the positive press for McCartney during the whole Mills divorce debacle, came from a poll of 2000 music fans by CD exchange website Music Magpie. Macca was voted more irritating that James Blunt who, of course, is a more predictable choice for the pop star that gets on people's nerves.
The top ten most irritating pop stars according to the survey were...
1. Sir Paul McCartney
2. James Blunt
3. Lilly Allen
4. Robbie Williams
5. Amy Winehouse
6. Bono
7. Cliff Richard
8. Pete Doherty
9. Joss Stone
10. Craig David
Commenting on the survey, Music Magpie's Craig Dawson told CMU: "It's easy for musicians to get very irritating very quickly. Macca has driven people up the wall with his 'holier than thou' approach to his divorce, two-fingered peace gesture and penchant for wearing trainers with suits. Despite being voted most irritating, all of the musicians in the top ten are extremely successful and are some of the best sellers on our site, so they must be doing something right! A lot of this comes down to overexposure and unfortunately Macca's mug has been in the press quite a lot over the last 12 months. On the flipside, Sir Cliff Richard is rarely in the media spotlight but still manages to rub people up the wrong way, which is perhaps down to his tedious Christmas repertoire that we have to suffer through every year".
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PETE IS BACK ON THE STREETS
Pete Doherty has been freed from prison, just 29 days into a 14 week sentence. The singer was released from HMP Wormwood Scrubs at 7.10am yesterday. As previously reported, Doherty was thrown in the slammer for parole violation relating to earlier drug-related charges.
So, now he's out, he can get on with what he's best known for - or may be second-best (possibly third-best) known for - being a musician. Pete's solo Royal Albert Hall show, which was originally due to take place on 26 Apr, has been rescheduled for 12 Jul. All original tickets will be valid for the show. Even sooner than that, though, you can see him with Babyshambles at The Forum in Kentish Town on 13 May.
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BRITNEY GRANTED MORE TIME WITH CHILDREN
Britney Spears has been granted more access to her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, following a custody hearing yesterday. As previously reported, the singer lost custody of her children last October, followed by a denial of visiting rights in January, when she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Her former husband and father of the children Kevin Federline has had full custody of the children since then, but did agree to grant occasional supervised visits in February.
Spears will now be able to see her sons for longer periods "in recognition of the progress that has been made, a progress in structure and stability", Federline's lawyer told reporters yesterday.
Britney's parents also issued a statement, in which they said: "We are so pleased at Britney's progress and we are very appreciative of the court's recognition of this progress".
The singer will be back in court in July for her next progress report.
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FOXY BROWN WARRANT RECALLED
Just in case you were considering a change of career to go into bounty hunting, just hold on a minute. An arrest warrant for rapper Foxy Brown, which, as we reported yesterday, was issued on Monday after she failed to turn up for a court appearance, has been recalled after the court revealed the no-show was due to a misunderstanding. Apparently, Brown's lawyer Laura Dilimetin had asked for the appearance to be deferred to 8 May, but the court didn't get around to changing the date on their calendar. Now everything's all cleared up and things will go ahead tomorrow, as planned, where Brown will face those previously reported charges relating to an assault with a BlackBerry.
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50 CENT NECKLACE THIEF DETAINED
Angolan police have arrested a man, named Bruno Carvalho, who allegedly stole a necklace from around 50 Cent's neck while the rapper performed at the (wait for it) International Peace Festival in Africa last Wednesday. Carvalho's own parents handed him over to police on Sunday, after recognising him in video footage of the theft, which turned up on Angolan TV and the internet. Police paraded the man in front of the press on Monday and informed them that he would face criminal charges.
You can watch the video footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmKMOBffNRY
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HENDRIX'S BROTHER DISPUTES SEX TAPE
Jimi Hendrix's younger brother Leon has issued a statement saying that that alleged sex tape featuring the late guitarist is a fake. As we reported last week, porn production company Vivid Entertainment plan to release the 11 minute video on DVD and claim that they have undertaken a thorough investigation to confirm its authenticity. Leon Hendrix adds his name to a long list of people who dispute that Jimi is the man in the film, although he doesn't actually seem to have seen it.
He said: "The person in that film is not Jimi from what I have heard. Yes, he had many female fans during that time and some may have been filmed. But this one is not Jimi Hendrix".
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COLDPLAY SINGLE DOWNLOADS HIT TWO MILLION
Coldplay's new single 'Violet Hill' has been downloaded two million times since it was made available for free last week. A statement issued by EMI said that demand for the single, which was made available as a free download for seven days on Coldplay's official website, was "staggering" and that it "would have outsold the whole of last week's UK Top 40 four times over". Although that does assume that two million people would have paid for it if it wasn't available for free. We'll see, I guess, as it was released on physical formats this week.
As we reported last week, the track received over 700,000 downloads in the first 24hrs it was online, despite the website crashing due to the weight of demand. This all bodes pretty well for sales of Coldplay's forthcoming album 'Viva La Vida', out 2 Jun.
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NKOTB ANNOUNCE NEW SINGLE
They said it couldn't happen, but New Kids On The Block are back with a new single, 'Summertime'. The single is officially released on 13 May but is being streamed on http://www.people.com now. The group will perform the song live on US TV network NBC's Today Show; their first live performance in 15 years. The release also coincides with the 20th anniversary of their second and most popular album 'Hangin' Tough'.
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NEW BECK ALBUM IMMINENT
Following in the footsteps of the likes of Radiohead and The Raconteurs, Beck is expected to rush the release of his new album within the next four to six weeks. Although, us reporting that does sort of take away the all-important element of surprise. Sorry Beck.
The album, the follow-up to 2006's 'The Information', was apparently produced by Gnarl's Barkley man Danger Mouse and features guest vocals from Cat Power.
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NEW OASIS TRACKS LEAKED
Of course, rushing the release of your album is designed to stop albums being leaked online. So, maybe Oasis should think about that for next time, as some songs from their new album have reportedly shown up on various Oasis message boards and fansites. The songs leaking include 'I Wanna Live A Dream (In My Record Machine)' and 'Nothin' On Me' and began appearing online on Monday and have since made their way onto YouTube. Apparently, steps are already being taken to remove the files from many of the sites involved.
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A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS TOO LOUD FOR VINYL
"The loudest band in New York", A Place To Bury Strangers, have had to push back the release date of the limited edition 10 inch vinyl version of their new single 'To Fix The Gash In Your Head'/'Ocean' after the machine pressing the discs broke because they're too darn loud. Really, that is the actual reason.
A spokesman for the band's UK label Meal Deal Records revealed that the volume on the master recordings exceeded recommended levels, causing one of the few 10 inch pressing machines left in the UK to break. The single will now be released on 12 May.
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COMMON TO STAR IN TERMINATOR FOUR
US rapper Common has joined the cast of the new 'Terminator' movie, which is scheduled for release on 22 May next year. He joins a cast that includes Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin and Moon Bloodgood and will play one of John Connor's band of freedom fighters. Common was also slated to play the Green Lantern in the film version of comic the 'Justice League Of America', but this is now rumoured to have been scrapped. Let's hope the same happens to this one. No, I'm kidding, endless mediocre sequels to iconic films are great.
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LAST SHADOW PUPPETS FOR READING/LEEDS
Here's some exciting news for anyone holding a ticket for either the Reading or Leeds festivals. The Last Shadow Puppets have announced that they will make their live debut at this year's two-site festival when they co-headline the NME/Radio 1 stage with The Cribs. Given that Shadow Puppets Alex Turner and Miles Kane's debut album just went straight in at number one in the UK charts, this is likely to be a show you'll have to turn up very early for, unless you want to listen to it from half a mile away from the tent.
The band's performances are set to take place on Fri 22 Aug in Leeds and Sun 24 Aug in Reading.
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RADIOHEAD PLANNING MORE STUDIO TIME
As they prepare to start their world tour to promote 'In Rainbows', Radiohead's Ed O'Brien has revealed to BBC Newsbeat that the band are already planning to head back into the studio as soon as the tour finishes in October.
The guitarist said: "It's the life blood of what we do, it's the thing that keeps you going. Because by the end of the tour, you're bored of what you're playing. You need more life and energy and the only way to do that is writing new songs". However, despite this speedy return to recording, there are no plans to rush the release of their next album. O'Brien continued: "It could be five years, it could be the end of this year, it's whether it's any good, that's the point. We've just got to do it and see if it's any good".
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NO BANDS BOOKED FOR BOOSH FESTIVAL
The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt claim that they have so far managed to book exactly zero bands for their festival, which, as previously reported, is due to take place at Hop Farm in Kent on 5 Jul.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, Fielding said: "We've made enquiries with some quite big people, people like the Beastie Boys". "But they can't do it." added Barratt. Noel continued: "We've got a wish list, haven't we? I'd like Har Mar Superstar, I've tried to contact him and Peaches but he hasn't got back to me. The Horrors haven't got back to me either. Gary Numan is interested, Serge from Kasabian is interested but I don't think the band will play because they're too big. But maybe he'll come and do an acoustic gypsy set".
Barratt explained that they have only managed to convince other Boosh actors to get involved: "So far, we've just one small tent in the middle where Naboo [played by Michael Fielding] is going to read palms and tell your future and [Bob] Fossil [played by Rich Fulcher] will be roaming loose. It'll just be us dressed as different bands".
The duo also spoke about their plans to appear at various other festivals this summer with a Mighty Boosh band. Fielding said: "We really wanted to play the festivals this year but we wanted to do it as a band rather than comedy, because we kept being offered the comedy tent. Once people found out we had a band, then they started getting quite interested".
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THE POLICE ANNOUNCE FINAL SHOW AND BUY TREES
The Police have announced that New York will be the setting for their last ever gig at a fundraising show for future arts programming in the city later this year. The band have also pledged one million dollars to help the city reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2030. The donation will be matched by a fund set up by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and will help to plant 10,000 across the city's five boroughs.
In a statement, the band said: "We are pleased to contribute to this powerful and historic initiative that will undoubtedly improve the quality of life for future generations. We kicked off our very first American tour at CBGB's in 1978 and this summer, 30 years later, our journey will come full circle as we play our final show here in New York City."
They added: "We applaud Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York for boldly confronting the city's environmental issues and are excited to support their goal of creating a healthier, more sustainable city".
Bloomberg said: "The Police are now part of one of the most exciting elements of PlaNYC - MillionTreesNYC - our initiative to plant one million new trees over the next 10 years. Sting's human right's advocacy is well known, as is his support for the environment, especially the rainforests. Today, The Police have demonstrated their commitment to greening our city".
Greening our city? Er, anyway, further details about the final Police show will be revealed at a later date.
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KIDZAPALOOZA LEAVES PARENT FESTIVAL
Kidzapalooza, a children's music festival set up as a companion to Lollapalooza, will take place at the Hollywood Bowl in California on 28 Sep, organisers have announced. In a statement, festival founder and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell said: "The Bowl is an ideal venue for Kidzapalooza. With its massive space on the site's grounds in addition to a stage platform second to none, the Bowl allows us to fully realize the Kidzapalooza model".
Kidzapalooza was originally introduced in 2005 as an area of the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, featuring family-friendly bands and activities. The line-up for this year's expanded, stand-alone festival will be announced at The Paul Frank Store in Los Angeles on 10 May.
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SINGLE REVIEW: Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes (Lizard King/Atlantic)
Once in a while a new act comes along with a single full of pop suss and quirkiness that really grabs your attention. Santogold are such an act. Essentially a duo (Santi White and producer/songwriter John Hill) with a rather long list of collaborators, their debut album will inevitably be an impossibly eclectic collection of songs that sound like the work of several different acts. Whilst Santogold tread a similar path to the likes of MIA in terms of myriad influences (hip hop, indie, post punk, dub, reggae, pop) combined with the obligatory dose of in yer face female attitude, 'L.E.S. Artistes' is actually just a rather simple new wave pop song with undeniable nods to Blondie and The Police. It's all helped along by an expansive, defiantly sung chorus that, simply, is just pure pop gold and instantly reveals a group who know exactly what they're doing. Such are the times we live in, despite sounding like it was released 25 years ago or so, 'L.E.S. Artistes' somehow still feels incredibly *now*. An impressive single from an act to watch. MS
Release Date: 5 May
Press Contact: Bang On [O]
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MORE US DEBATE ON NET NEUTRALITY - RIAA COMMENT
There was more debate on the issue of 'net neutrality' in the US yesterday, where the topic is being discussed by political types, who are taking representations from all those with an interest in the debate. Yesterday it was those crazy Recording Industry Association Of America types.
As previously reported, the idea of net neutrality is that all content providers have equal access to internet users. Some of the internet service providers, wary of the drain some rich media services are now putting on their servers, are suggesting media firms should have to pay to be able to offer their readers/listeners/viewers high speed access to content. But many object to the plan. The big media firms object because they don't want to have to pay, while grass roots media types fear that once a 'pay-to-serve-content' system is in place it will give cash-rich media firms an advantage over cash strapped independents, and the level playing field that the net has brought to the content and cultural worlds would be destroyed. They advocate a ban on such fees, in favour of so called net neutrality.
Speaking for the US's major labels, RIAA boss Mitch Bainwol yesterday said that he thought it was "a touch premature" to be passing the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, the legislation proposed by US congressman Edward Markey earlier this year designed to protect net neutrality, to a point, and which would put the policing of additional fees charged by ISPs to content providers under the remit of media regulator the FCC. He said people were right to be concerned about net neutrality, but that market place rather than legislative solutions should be considered first.
According to Billboard, he told the hearing on Capitol Hill that "private marketplace solutions [should always be considered] before legislation", but he admitted that "if effective marketplace solutions cannot be reached soon, however, then government regulation may well be necessary..."
Other people giving evidence to the hearing included Walter McCormick of the US Telecom Association, who, needless to say, doesn't like the proposal of legislation to control net provision fees, while Steve Peterman, an executive producer of 'Hannah Montana' and a member of the Writers' Guild Of America West, who also spoke, supported the proposals, saying that the excessive control of just seven congloms in the old media sector had hindered the innovative indie sector, and that controls should be put in place to stop the ISPs and the media majors from colluding so to hinder the flourishing independent market in the web world.
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NBC SIGN UP TO ZUNE
More digital stuff for you, and US TV company NBC has announced it will make its content available via Microsoft's Zune Marketplace, which is only really news because the company withdrew its contents from iTunes, hindering a little Apple's attempts to launch itself as a destination for digital video content. The NBC deal is part of an attempt by Zune to also become the online video destination of choice - an attempt that has also seen Microsoft do deals with Comedy Central, MTV and Turner Broadcasting. Zune, of course, remains a small player in the digital media player market, and is still not available outside North America.
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AMAZON TO MAKE DELETED ALBUMS AVAILABLE VIA DISC ON DEMAND SERVICE
Good news for music fans who have been desperately trying to get their hands on a long deleted album for years. Amazon is launching a new 'Disc On Demand' service, which will only press CDs when an album is ordered, allowing it to offer music where a label isn't willing to invest in a full CD pressing. The service, which has the involvement of SonyBMG and EMI so far, will make available previously out-of-print albums, including Joe Strummer's 'Earthquake Weather', Cake's 'Motorcade Of Generosity' and Henry Mancini's 'Hatari' soundtrack. It will also sell new niche content - again where the niche interest nature of the content means labels may be unwilling to invest in a traditional release. New content will include highlights from KCRW's 'Sounds Eclectic' series. As far as I can see this service is currently only available via the US Amazon service, we'll let you know if it goes UK.
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NME RADIO TO HAVE SOME GERVAIS DURING TEST TRANSMISSIONS
The previously reported new NME Radio service, which launches next month, has announced that there will be a one off radio reunion for Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington during the station's test transmissions.
As previously reported, the digital radio spin off of NME is being masterminded by Sammy Jacob, the original founder of Xfm, and it was at Xfm back in the early days that he first brought Gervais and Merchant to the airwaves.
On his decision to invite them back to his new radio station he told CMU: "Hearing Ricky, Steve and Karl in action again will no-doubt keep me on my toes. I used to bury myself hearing Ricky and Steve on air in 1997 fearing we would lose our license each time they went on. Having Karl on board has only made matters worse. I look forward to some compelling radio".
The test transmissions for NME Radio will begin on 2 Jun, with the Gervais and Mechant show aired at various times after 9 Jun. The station will be available via http://www.nme.com/radio, and will roll out onto Sky and Virgin Media in due course. There are also plans to broadcast the station via DAB digital radio in certain areas, and to stage regular so called RSL broadcasts in different cities which would put the station on FM in that area for a month.
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TALKSPORT SACK JAMES WHALE OVER BORIS SUPPORT
As you may have seen, veteran radio man James Whale has 'parted company' with talkSPORT after he told his listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in last week's mayoral elections in London. His comments on the race for London mayor, which were actually made back in March, breached strict radio rules regarding political bias. His pro-Boris ramblings caused complaints, and led to his axing this week.
A spokesman for talkSPORT owners UTV told Radio Today: "James Whale's contract with the radio station has been terminated after a breach of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code regarding due impartiality. It's very unfortunate. We have investigated the matter and after serious consideration, the station reached the decision that there was a clear breach of the rules and that we had no choice but to terminate his contract".
Whale has been with the national speech station since its launch as Talk Radio in 1995.
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ALBUM REVIEW: John & Jehn - John & Jehn (Faculty Music Media)
Famous couples in rock performing together aren't as common as you might think, Sonny and Cher, John and Yoko, Birkin and Gainsbourg, er, Katie and Peter. I'll no doubt get a list in the post but they are certainly not as common as siblings. You would think that the energy should spark some creativity and that can certainly be said for this French pair, now based in London. This is their eponymous debut of squally indie and sweetly penned love songs with that introspection and philosophy which only the French can really do seriously without it appearing trite. There are moments when it promises to join the new-folk bandwagon but there is more than a hint of Velvet Underground style raucousness here to intimidate the casual listener and beguile those with more patience for that sort of thing. This record exudes cool from its every pore but without being annoying. John & Jehn exist in a world where photographs are black and white, love is something to start the day with like coffee and rock and roll is a lifestyle choice.
Release Date: 28 Apr
Press Contact: Scruffy Bird [CP, RP, NP] Nile-On [O]
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USHER. GLASTONBURY. JAY-Z. NOEL GALLAGHER.
Have we had any comments about Glastonbury, Jay-Z, Noel Gallagher or, preferably, all three yet today? No? Well, let's get things back on track then. Usher has been talking to The Sun about Gallagher's comment that hip hop was "wrong" for Glastonbury. He said: "It really shocked me that he said that. Jay-Z is an incredible artist and headliner. I saw him perform at the Hollywood Bowl in LA, and you're not getting better than that".
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CLIFF RICHARD CHEATED OUT OF EUROVISION WIN
A new documentary claims that Cliff Richard lost the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest because the votes were rigged. The film alleges that Spanish dictator Francisco Franco bribed judges in order to ensure that Spanish entrant Massiel won with his song 'La La La'. Richard's entry, 'Congratulations', was always the favourite to win but was pushed into second place by the Spanish entry.
Eurovision TV director Bjorn Erichsen said, while it was possible the votes may have been fixed, there would be no investigation. Although, I think he might have been talking about something else entirely. He told Reuters: "Just to make Cliff Richard a little happier and the Spanish winner a bit more unhappy? I don't think you should dig up old bodies to prove he was or wasn't the father. It's history".
Oh, by the way, we have an update on that Cliff Richard 'anonymous track' story from last week. We'll run it tomorrow. You know, build up the suspense and all that.
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RICCI TOO SHORT FOR MUSIC
Actress Christina Ricci has revealed that she no longer watches live music because, at five foot one inch, she's too short to see the stage. She said: "I've given up. I'm so small, I can never see the stage. So I figure, what's the point?" I don't think she's really trying.