WORK AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD'S BIGGEST FESTIVAL
ThreeWeeks is CMU's sister media, the biggest reviewer at the Edinburgh Festival, the biggest cultural festival on the planet. ThreeWeeks is based around a unique media education programme involving 100 students each year. Between them they review more shows than any other media at the Festival, ensuring hundreds of grass roots shows that would otherwise go unreviewed get the coverage they deserve. ThreeWeeks runs a four week operation in Edinburgh during August, and is looking for the following temporary staff to join the team.

Office Manager
This person will run the ThreeWeeks Edinburgh offices from Friday 31 July to Tuesday 1 September, helping set up and wind down the office space, manage a team of student volunteers, and manage and in part undertake project administration and logistics. Must be energetic, consciencious, Microsoft Office and email literate, and a real people person. Previous knowlege of the Edinburgh Fringe an advantage. Core offices hours are 9am-6pm. Fee: £1000.

Distribution Manager
This person will handle all the distribution of the ThreeWeeks weekly edition and one other magazine from Tuesday 4 August to Tuesday 1 September. It basically means driving around a network of distribution points across central Edinburgh and dropping off papers. It is a flexible role. A full distribution run is required on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, but 3-4 other drop off runs per week can be timed to suit the Distribution Manager. You will drive and care for the ThreeWeeks van so need a full clean driving licence, and will need the patience required for central Edinburgh driving. Knowledge of the city centre an advantage. Fee: £1000

Junior Designer
This person will assist on the design and production of ThreeWeeks' daily print and online publications - typesetting the former in InDesign and the latter in Dreamweaver. Photoshop will also be used. Will suit someone looking for a stepping stone into a media production career with previous experience using these applications. You will be required daily from Thursday 6 to Monday 31 August from 10am-5pm (11-3pm last Bank Holiday weekend). This job is based in the ThreeWeeks Edinburgh office. Fee: £750

To apply for these roles send a CV and covering note to recruitment@unlimitedmedia.co.uk stating in the subject line the job title of the role you are applying for.

Limited space is available in the ThreeWeeks flat in Edinburgh, so it may be possible to accommodate good candidates not based in Edinburgh who apply for these roles. If you are not based at an Edinburgh address you should state if you would need accommodation in your application.

back to top

DRUG AGENCY INVOLVED IN JACKO INVESTIGATION
So, Michael Jackson's alleged use of prescription drugs remains probably the biggest story in the Jacko file a week on from his premature death. And while the coroner waits for results of toxicology tests to ascertain whether drugs played a role in Jackson's demise, the LAPD are reportedly stepping up their investigation into what drugs the singer was taking on a regular basis and, just as importantly, who was supplying them to him.

As previously reported, Jackson's personal medic Dr Conrad Murray has denied administering any drugs to the singer in the hours or minutes before his cardiac arrest. But a nurse who provided nutritional advice to Jackson and his children, Cherilyn Lee, claims he had previously begged her to get him strong sedatives to help him overcome chronic insomnia. She refused, but said that a few days before his death she received a panicked call from one of Jacko's staff reporting that the singer was ill. The symptoms described, she says, suggested he had taken some sort of drug that affects the central nervous system. Other people close to the singer have made claims about the drugs he took to keep up his strength, and there were reports at the start of the week that police officers had searched his LA home for any substances which may have contributed to his death.

Anyway, according to the Associated Press, the LAPD have now requested the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration in its Jacko investigations. The federal agency provides expertise in and knowledge of common drug abuse, of the sorts of prescription drugs normal police officers may not be familiar with, and of illicit drug makers known as "pill mills". If the aforementioned toxicology reports do show drugs caused Jackson's death, then presumably the police will be interested to know who in the singer's inner circle supplied them to him.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

PHILLIPS REMAINS BULLISH ABOUT JACKO LOSSES - IP SHOULD HELP
The boss of AEG Live, promoters of the fifty night Jacko residency that never was, has again insisted his company will be just fine, despite facing the bill for the millions already invested in the venture prior to the death of its star, and having one of its premium venue spaces dark for a few months.

As previously reported, there has been much speculation as to how much of the Jacko residency was properly insured. Some was, but it was known long before Jackson's death that the promoter was struggling to get insurance for the full fifty-night run, such was the general cynicism in the music industry regarding the singer's ability to fulfil such a big commitment. AEG CEO Randy Phillips has been a bit vague regarding his company's insurance situation, though has admitted that even those insurance policies that were in place for the Jackson project may not pay up if it's shown Jackson died of an existing condition or a drug-based misadventure.

But despite all that Phillips remains bullish. He denies this will bankrupt his company (a result that was never all that likely, given the size of AEG and its venue empire), and says that the negative financial impact is not likely to be anywhere near as big as some commentators are predicting.

That optimism does seem to be based mainly, however, on the value of previously reported recordings of Jackson's rehearsals. Billboard quote him as saying: "We own the intellectual property. It is our responsibility and fiduciary duty to the estate to monetise as much of these assets as we can under the original contract, because the majority of the profit would go to the estate".

Jackson never released a live album, so there is definite value in both the audio and video content AEG compiled during the rehearsal process. Coming so close, as some of it did, to his sudden death, the content also has an extra appeal, if a slightly sinister one.

Whether that content could really cover all of the live firm's losses relating to the Jacko project - which some reckon could surpass £40 million if insurers refuse to pay up, and when lost venue hire revenue is taken into consideration - is very debatable. Especially as distribution and publishing costs would have to come out of any revenue, plus, this being Jacko, it wouldn't surprise me if any IP commitments made to AEG don't turn out to be in breach of some other contract with some other music company somewhere. There's sure to be legal costs aplenty.

And, as we all know, the real big money for premiere league artists these days is in live activity, that's why Jackson signed up to the O2 residency in the first place, the potential revenue was just so much higher than with any sort of recordings-based project. Ironically AEG have previously said they have no intention of following their main rivals Live Nation into the recordings business. Though they have expressed an interest in partnering with major record companies, so some sort of AEG/Sony alliance on Jacko content might make sense, and could be profitable. Though I still don't see it bringing in £40 million in clear profit for the live firm any time soon. Perhaps they're hoping the previously reported 'buy your cardboard ticket for fifty quid' scam will make up the difference.

In the meantime, if you're wondering what sort of content AEG are sitting on, a little bit of it has been given to CNN, and you can see it here.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

PHILLIPS INSISTS JACKO PASSED MEDICAL WITH "FLYING COLOURS"
Phillips has also been talking about Jackson's much previously reported medical examination. As previously reported, prior to Jacko's death, when people like us were already doubting that the singer was fit enough to do one O2 show, let alone fifty, the promoter told reporters the singer was in good health, and that he had undergone a physical exam on the insistence of the company's insurers, which he had passed no problemo.

Following the singer's death, which is sort of a sign that he wasn't 100% healthy, some speculated that no such physical exam had, in fact, happened. But Phillips insists it did. Billboard quote him thus: "He absolutely, 100%, had a close to five-hour physical. The carriers flew in a doctor of their choice from New York and he did an extensive battery of tests. We were obviously never privy to the actual medical reports, because this was confidential medical information between the doctor and the patient. However, we were told that he passed with flying colours".

For me that's the weirdest part of the whole Jacko RIP story. How the hell could he pass a five hour physical exam "with flying colours". I mean, did they look at him? I'm sure the test did happen and AEG and their insurers did get positive reports, but come on, there's either incompetence or corruption going on with those tests isn't there? Surely, once they've ascertained what drugs were involved in Jacko's demise, and who provided them, the authorities must then turn their attention to exactly who it was that, just months before his death, gave him a clean bill of health.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

IS ROWE GOING TO APPLY FOR CUSTODY?
Back to the will and custody and all that stuff now. Not that there's much to report, because while NBC says it has an interview with Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe in which she says she will fight for custody of the couple's two children, her lawyer has again stressed no decisions have yet been made.

As previously reported, there were reports Rowe had vowed to get custody of her two children with Michael, twelve year old Prince and eleven year old Paris, shortly after Jackson's death, but her attorney quickly issued a statement saying her client's only thoughts at that time were for the well being of Jackson's family and all of his children.

Jackson's will, filed with the LA courts this week, expressly left Rowe out in the cold, not giving her any custody rights to Prince or Paris. Custody, according to the will, lies with Jacko's mother Katherine, or Diana Ross should anything happen to her.

Following news about Jackson's will, Rowe apparently spoke to an NBC affiliate and, in a long interview, said she would fight for guardianship of the two children. Responding to allegations reported by TMZ that she wasn't actually the children's biological mother, she said she would take DNA tests to prove that wasn't the case. As previously reported, the gossip site claimed that, while Rowe had given birth to the two children, neither Jackson's sperm nor Rowe's eggs were used in conception.

However, despite that interview, Rowe's lawyer - a different lawyer than the one who spoke last week I think - told reporters: "I am representing to you now; Debbie has not reached a final decision concerning the pending custody proceedings".

A court hearing to discuss the long term custody of Jackson's three children had been scheduled for next week, but will now not take place until the following week.

back to top

R KELLY'S PEOPLE RESPOND TO NEW RUMOURS
Representatives for R Kelly have released a statement in response to rumours that the singer was under police investigation over an alleged 'involvement' with a sixteen year old girl at his home in Olympia Fields, Illinois, where the age of consent is seventeen.

Reports had said that Kelly's home had been raided by police seeking a young woman rumoured to be staying with the R&B star, on the eve of his recent tour of Africa, and sources were quoted as saying that police were "gathering evidence that included signed affidavits from several witnesses within R Kelly's circle".

Police Chief Jeff Chudwin has said that Kelly did indeed come under investigation, but that officers "found there to be no crime and the matters have been closed". Meanwhile, Kelly's people have called the reports "wildly exaggerated and inaccurate", saying: "No police ever showed up at Kelly's house with a search warrant nor was his house ever searched. It is also not true ... that any such girl ever stayed overnight in Kelly's house or that she had been there but left shortly before some mythical police search".

As previously reported, Kelly has been charged of having sexual relationships with underage teenagers before, but was acquitted of those charges last year.

back to top

ABBA TO REUNITE FOR AEG?
This one comes from the file marked I-don't-believe-it, but, you know, The Sun says it's so, so it must be true. According to a report in the tabloid, AEG are attempting to get ABBA to reunite to fill their empty O2 dates left vacant by the demise of Michael Jackson. Well, I suppose it might be true that they are trying to get the band to reform, but I have difficulty with the idea that it might actually happen. Anyway, the paper quotes O2 Arena boss David Campbell as saying: "There's a little foursome out in Sweden we keep talking to", and a 'source' as adding: "There are millions on the table. But there are many hurdles to overcome".

back to top

GROHL, HOMME AND JONES IN THE STUDIO
According to reports, Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones are currently recording together. The news follows rumours that the trio were working together dating back to 2005, and appears to have been confirmed by Homme's wife, Distillers/Spinnerette star Brody Dalle, who says: "I'm not at liberty to talk about it... but I think it is pretty fucking amazing. Just beats and sounds like you've never heard before".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

FOALS CHAP TALKS ABOUT NEW MATERIAL
Foals man Yannis Philippakis has been talking about the material the band are making for their next album, and says they're not soaking up the kind of influences you might expect. He told 6Music: "Basically, everything that we didn't like before, we've got into now. We don't really listen to that much rock music at the moment. We're listening to a lot of hip-hop, stuff like Donald Byrd and some long disco edits, Donna Summer, James Brown, stuff that before we would have always felt was too part of the canon".

He added that he expects the new LP to be ready next year.

back to top

MY MORNING JACKET MAN TO RELEASE HARRISON COVERS
My Morning Jacket's frontman Jim James is to release a six track EP of George Harrison covers that he recorded following the death of the late Beatle back in 2001. Songs appearing on the collection, entitled 'Tribute To', include Harrison's first solo number one hit 'My Sweet Lord' as well as Beatles track 'Long, Long, Long'. The package, which will be released under the name 'Yim Yames', and will be out on 4 Aug via CD and limited edition vinyl, and via download from yimyames.com from 7 Jul. A percentage of proceeds will go to the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary.

back to top

LIL WAYNE POSTPONES EUROPEAN DATES
Lil Wayne has postponed his upcoming European tour dates because he's ill, and has been told to rest. The rap star was supposed to be playing London's Hammersmith Apollo at the start of next week, but those dates will now be rescheduled.

A statement read: "Multi-platinum selling, Grammy Award-winning artist Lil Wayne regrets to announce the postponement of his forthcoming European shows due to illness. Wayne, his band and crew arrived in Europe with full intention of performing but were forced to cancel the dates due to doctor-mandated rest. Management is actively working on rescheduling the shows and expects to have a new set of dates confirmed for later in year. Lil Wayne extends an apology to his fans for the short notice of this postponement, but looks forward to returning for the performances and visitation with his fans. Fans should hold onto their tickets and wait for news of rescheduled dates".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

GRIZZLY BEAR ANNOUNCE SHOW WITH LSO
Grizzly Bear have announced that they will play live with the London Symphony Orchestra at London's Barbican Centre in October, which sounds lovely. I would like to go to that. They will be playing other shows in the UK too, but those ones won't feature any orchestras. Unless orchestras start turning up uninvited.

Tour dates:

18 Aug: London, Koko (Sold Out)
22 Aug: Green Man festival
31 Oct: London, Barbican Centre (with the LSO)
2 Nov: Glasgow, ABC
4 Nov: Manchester, Cathedral
6 Nov: Bristol, Anson Rooms

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

CLINT MANSELL ANNOUNCES LIVE SOUNDTRACK SHOW
Former Pop Will Eat Itself frontman turn awesomely awesome soundtrack composer Clint Mansell has announced an equally awesome sounding live show at Union Chapel in London. He will be performing (with the help of The Sonus Quartet) his soundtrack to 'Moon', the new film directed by Duncan Jones, aka Zowie Bowie. That film sounds awesome too, by the way. And it recently won an award at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

The performance will take place on 20 Jul, with the soundtrack album released the same week on 13 Jul and the film itself out on 17 Jul.

Awesome.

back to top

BLOOM FESTIVAL RELOCATES
Organisers of The Bloom Festival have announced that they are relocating to Chepstow Racecourse for this year's event, which takes place from 14-16 Aug, and will feature performances from the likes of Finley Quaye and Noah and The Whale.

Not sure exactly why the event was forced to move; organisers cite "unforeseen issues" with the original site, and are now apparently quite happy about it all.

Olivia Chapman says this: "This really has been a blessing in disguise. We've discovered that actually, Chepstow couldn't be more perfect for Bloom 2009, it's been a complete silver lining. Bloom is our heart and soul -it's all about the people and we always strive to make it a superb, quality experience. The new location is faultless and we're now even more excited about August's festival!".

back to top

ALBUM REVIEW: Paper Route - Absence (Universal Motown)
Although they hail from Nashville, the home of country music in the United States of course, Paper Route are anything but. This four piece outfit have released three EPs to date on various independent labels but clearly their progress had been tracked by the majors as their debut album has been released by Universal Motown. It's no surprise that the label has taken a punt upon them because there's every chance that the band might crossover into mainstream territory. Their music has already appeared on American TV series aimed at teens ('One Tree Hill' etc) and they've toured with bands who've also associated with such shows. What distinguishes them from these run of the mill, superficially 'indie' bands, though, is their nascent interest in electronic music. Paper Route claim to be influenced by Air and Boards Of Canada (always a good artist to namecheck!) as much as anything else, and these influences lend themselves well to the band's signature sound; rich, swirling, epic - precisely the sort of sound that invites a mass audience. 'Absence' starts promisingly enough; 'Enemy Among Us' begins with a sole piano refrain, then gradually builds into something far more dense and layered; kind of like something The Postal Service could easily record. It's probably the most ambitious track on the album. Certainly most of the remaining tracks fail to stray from a template of generic indie-rock with electronic window dressing ('Carousel', 'Last Time'). In contrast, 'No Sudden Revelations' almost appears to come from nowhere, demonstrating the genuine influence of more esoteric and groundbreaking electronic music. It's very possible we might hear more of Paper Route; this album's intended for mass consumption and even though it has creative ambitions, it's not especially obscure with them. KW
Release date: 6 Jul
Press contact: Darling Department [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

back to top

MICROSOFT SPONSOR NICKELBACK TOUR
Microsoft is going to sponsor an upcoming Nickelback US tour, apparently. The sponsorship deal will focus on the latest incarnation of the IT firm's web browser Internet Explorer. Which figures - shit web browser sponsors shit band. Live Nation is Nickelback's tour promoter, of course, and the Microsoft sponsorship deal extends to another of the live music conglom's ventures, the Bamboozle music festival franchise. Fans will be able to download special versions of IE8 for the Nickleback and Bamboozle websites which come with some free extras or something.

back to top

SHARKEY MEETS WITH THE TORIES' CULTCHA TEAM
UK Music top man Feargal Sharkey met with the Tories' culture team this week, the first time a rep of the music business has attended one of the opposition's regular meetings to discuss the cultural industries. Shadow arts minister Ed Vaizey and shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt were also there. As previously reported, Sharkey has already formed a working relationship with the government's recently appoint culture chief Ben Bradshaw, though, of course, who knows who will be in power in the UK this time next year so it's obviously important for those in the music world with a lobbying role to be courting both sides of the political fence at the moment.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

EDGE, APPOINTMENTS, GOOD PERFORMANCE
Entertainment investment fund the Edge Group has announced it has appointed Sanjay Wadhwani, previously of rival investment types Ingenious, to head up its media investment business. Hey, he should invest in us. Or at least take us all out for expensive dinners to discuss investment. Yeah, the dinners sound like more fun.

Anyway, confirming his appointment to Edge, Wadhwani told CMU: "I have been through a long nine year journey with Ingenious, working with small, fast growing companies, helping build a business from scratch, and I look forward to bringing this experience to Edge to help build the group. [Edge founder] David [Glick] and I share an ambition to create the premier next generation investment and advisory business, serving media and entertainment, one of the most important sectors of the UK economy. We will provide investment from a range of funds together with specialist advice to help promising media businesses achieve their full potential".

Glick added: "The appointment of Sanjay Wadhwani marks the beginning of the next phase of development for Edge's business. To date our investment strategy has been focused on providing finance for entertainment businesses using tax efficient structures. Disruption in the media landscape continues to create opportunities for companies to rapidly build earnings and value, and Sanjay's appointment signals our intent to significantly step up both our range of investment products and our overall investment activity in the creative industries".

As previously reported, while at Ingenious Sanjay Wadhwani was caught up in the collapse of Trinity Street, the music-focused e-commerce company that suddenly went into administration earlier this year. Ingenious had invested into Trinity Street after it had been acquired by David Robson and Andrew Murray. Robson and Murray were fired from the company a few months before its demise, and they launched legal proceedings against Ingenious and Wadhwani personally in relation to their removal. That litigation, as far as I'm aware, is ongoing.

Elsewhere in Edge news, the investment business, which invests in all sorts of mainly live entertainment ventures, has announced that all of its 2006 investors have now made back their original investments, which is pretty good going apparently.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

UNSIGNED GUIDE LAUNCH NEW ONLINE SERVICES
The Unsigned Guide has launched some new free resources on its website which, they say, are designed to "empower bands and musicians and present a clearer picture of exactly what's going on and how things are changing in the UK music industry". The new services are designed to further help unsigned bands make a go of it, in an era where record companies are increasingly expecting artists to have developed their sound and fanbase somewhat before being signed. The site also provides links to companies which offer discounts on services unsigned bands may need, like t-shirt printing and CD duplication. It's not the only online innovation from the Guide. When you buy the latest edition of the printed book you get access to a new beta version of the Guide's directory. More on all of this over there at www.theunsignedguide.com

back to top

SO, WHAT THE EXACTLY IS THE BIG PLAN FOR PIRATE BAY V.2?
The boss of the Swedish technology firm which has paid $7.9 million to buy The Pirate Bay says he will turn to rogue BitTorrent tracker into a legit licensed content distribution operation. Though he admits he hasn't actually spoken to the record companies or music publishers about how he might go about doing that.

I think he's probably in for a bit of a shock when he has his first meeting with them. There have been numerous attempts to legitimise and monetise P2P file-sharing, but the record companies remain unconvinced. Even if they were willing, the royalties they'd demand are likely to be much more than TPB's new owners would be planning to pay. And that's assuming the record companies would be willing to do business at all with their least favourite online enterprise, even if it's under new ownership.

Hans Pandeya, the boss of TPB buyers Global Gaming Factory, has told Business Week that his grand plan for The Pirate Bay is to build a massive worldwide P2P distribution network that could be used by companies looking to get content out to a mass audience but concerned about the bandwidth costs of serving content directly to every single user. Such a network would also be of interest, he reckons, to internet service providers, who are concerned that the increased use of multi-media services by consumers is draining bandwidth, pushing up their operating costs and hitting their profit margins.

A number of video-based content services have previously dabbled with the idea of utilising P2P technologies to ease the bandwidth use and therefore cost of delivering such content - each P2P user becomes a substation in a massive distribution network, so that people downloading content need only connect to a near-by user on the P2P network, and not all the way back to content source. If that makes sense. It sort of works, providing none of the substation owners is on a limited bandwidth internet package, in which case they might find other people use up their monthly allowance.

Anyway, it's that kind of super-distribution network that Pandeya reckons is a viable business, and he hopes to use The Pirate Bay community to build it. In fact he reckons he can make enough money from the service to not only pay content owners, but also the community members who provide a substation.

Pandeya: "The technology will use the community of file-sharers to cut costs of data traffic for ISPs by more than a half. Users will earn money by joining, which can be spent on Pirate Bay's other services [such as music] or transferred to their bank accounts". The other services would also carry advertising, which Pandeya hopes would also help fund the operation.

It's an interesting idea that's for certain. And ambitious. Whether it will work is another matter entirely. Many commentators aren't convinced. Net firms already exchange bandwidth and might not want to involve a third party (and they would, essentially, be buying back their own bandwidth), content owners might not want to work with a company with such a big piracy history (licensing content or using their distribution services) and other ad-funded content platforms are admitting it is taking longer than anticipated to grow ad revenues. Speaking to Business Week, Forrester Research's Mark Mulligan said simply: "This doesn't appear financially viable".

back to top

FUCKED UP DAD
Fucked Up frontman Father Damien has become a dad. Actually he became a dad seven weeks ago, as that's when his son Holden was born. But photographer Jess Baumung has just taken a picture of the pair at Edgefest in Toronto this week. Take a look:

jessbaumung.com/addnews/data/upimages/edgefest_06.20.09_007.jpg

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

U2 MAY BE FINED FOR BEING TOO LOUD
According to reports, the authorities in Barcelona may fine U2 for disturbing the local community with their long and loud rehearsals for their current European tour. The city explained that they were pleased to be hosting the launch of the band's live dates, but had indeed received complaints about the levels of noise generated by their practice sessions, held for a couple of weeks ahead of their first tour performance in Barcelona on Tuesday.

The group were apparently given permission to rehearse until 10pm, but, according to local newspaper El Punt, continued on until midnight at sound levels of 70 decibels. The council have declined to comment on how much the fine might be, but El Mundo said on its website that fines of up to 15,000 euros are possible. A statement from the council said: "The District of Les Corts has fulfilled its duty in attending to neighbours' complaints and has acted administratively in the face of a possible failure to comply with time and noise creation regulations".

Meanwhile, local businessman Alfons Huescar told reporters: "While business outlets cash in on fans flooding in, residents can't even open their windows at home".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

CAREY HUSBAND DENIES EMINEM REFERENCE
Mariah Carey's husband Nick Cannon has said that his wife isn't having a pop at Eminem when she dresses as a man in her promo for new single 'Obsessed'. Responding to the speculation that she cross-dressed in the video to look like the rapper, who, as previously reported, mocked her a bit in a recent track, Cannon told MTV.com: "Honestly, I don't think so. I don't think that she would take her time. My wife doesn't beef. She's Mariah Carey. She's not beefin', she's a vegetarian. I always say I thought the record was about me, 'cause I'm obsessed with my wife. But if somebody's out there and you feel like you might have been obsessed, then the record's about you".

So, yes. That's that cleared up.

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

GAGA BRANDS HERSELF "SOULLESS"
Finally Lady GaGa and I can agree on something. She has revealed that she considers her music "shallow" and "soulless". But she thinks that by doing that she's being clever.

Here's what she told Maxim: "Warhol said art should be meaningful in the most shallow way. He was able to make commercial art that was taken seriously as fine art ... [and] that's what I'm doing too. When you listen to a song like 'LoveGame', is it communicating my soul to you? No... I make soulless electronic pop. But when you're on ecstasy in a nightclub grinding up against someone and my music comes on, you'll feel soul".

back to top

--------------------------------------------------

LA ROUX BRANDS R&B "HOLLOW"
So, while Lady GaGa has been calling her own music "soulless", La Roux's Elly Jackson has been doing the same to other people's. Specifically modern R&B.

She told the BBC: "[R&B is] very kind of empty, like hollow and not rooted in anything good or healthy. Lyrically it's just like really really bad - I think a lot of it just doesn't mean anything. I think a lot of it is, 'Baby I love you, I want to kiss you'. It's just like what are you on about? Shut up. It certainly doesn't make me feel anything special, or doesn't make me think, or go somewhere else in my mind. I just don't get it".

She continued: "The clothes... I just think it's like basically naked. It has been like that since the nineties, it's not just now. I just don't think it's good and there's lots of girls in pop that are 17/18 and they're half naked and it's just 'Why?'. And you wonder if you weren't half naked would you be selling any records? Which obviously is just wrong. You shouldn't be selling records because you're half naked - if you want to do that be a porn star".

She added: "I'm probably expressing my opinion where it's not wanted".

back to top