Never  where you expect them, it seems that the Oxford quintet has decided to stop making album in the future. Preferring the release of songs, one by one, rather than full length recordings. As Thom Yorke said to US magazine The Believer , another album might actually “kill” the band.
More info on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8194778.stm

Continuing our series of interviews for “Being a fan of…”, we meet today with Sarah, a Belgian girl studying in Boston. One of the major rock band of the 90’s and of this decade is definitely Radiohead, impressively improving the quality of their music from Pablo Honey to OK Computer, radically changing direction with Kid A and followers, distracting even more the well established music industry. The following interview recalls great moments of the bands through the experience of a Radiohead fan: the importance of a brother to discover new bands (as for Linkin Park), the misunderstanding of other generations and the amazing feeling of following a band in the most unsafe corner of its career.

When did you first hear of them?
My brother had bought ‘the Bends’, and he made me listen to it. He was a very big Nirvana fan at the time, but I wasn’t so much into this ‘dark’ music. But then when he let me listen to the Radiohead album, I was sold right away. I even made a deal with him that I exchanged my CD of ‘the Verve’ with ‘the Bends’ so that it became mine. I am not sure whether he regretted the exchange in the long run, but I at least didn’t!

What is the craziest thing you’ve done for that band?
Well, I have always been on the phone or internet early enough to get tickets to their show, except for the first time they were touring with OK Computer. I really wanted to go to that show but I was actually a little bit too young (16 or so). Either way, my mum found it pretty funny that it was sold out (because that would stop me whining from wanting to go). But I did not give up and sent an ad to a magazine forum to ask for tickets. I put my phone number in that ad and some random people started calling us for the whole week, just to have fun, but there was also one person that would drop by the two tickets at my home, so that I could go. I was of course very excited to go, so I really wanted to buy the tickets… but then my mum found another excuse: ‘you don’t think that I will drive you and your friend to that gig, do you?’. So then in the end I had to turn down the tickets and I did not manage to see the concert. I did of course not forget the incident , after all the trouble I had gone through to get those tickets.. My mum was quite surprised by me not forgetting the incident, and she ended up feeling a bit bad about not letting me go in the end. So bad that the next time Radiohead was around with Kid A, she actually also booked a ticket and went with me

Do you owe all their albums? Any rarities?
I have bought all their albums, some of them also in record version. And from some of them I have the limited editions from the first press. I also have the ‘miss-press’ of ‘Kid A’. In the first press of this album, you can hear 40 seconds of noise before the first song starts. If you listen to the album at once, you don’t find this very disturbing, but the track numbers are also off by 40 seconds. So when you want to listen to the 2nd song, then you get the first 40 seconds of the first song first and so on. I didn’t know that I had that version until they made a campaign for people who wanted to have that album replaced with a correct print. Of course I was very happy that I had a ‘collectors item’ in my hands and I did not have it replaced

How many concerts of them have you attended?
6 times: 3 times in Belgium, once in Madrid, once in Berlin and once in Copenhagen

Have you ever met them personally?
I bumped into Thom Yorke and the band in the Reina Sophia museum in Madrid in front of the Guernica painting. This was an amazing moment for me because I travelled all the way to Madrid to go see their show. And this is how I also realised that Thom Yorke is pretty small. He came out of a corridor that led to the painting and I wanted to go passed that corridor when we sort of bumped. He was as surprised as I did, and I almost got a heart attack right there.. When we bumped, he looked at me, he looked at the text that was written on my T-shirt, and then passed by. I am happy I didn’t say anything, because it would have been something stupid anyways…
I wouldn’t mind having a beer with the Thom Yorke some evening, but since it is probably going to be one of these awful experiences, I might just rather not. Their music is all I need, although I sometimes wonder what is going on in the head of Thom Yorke.

Does the passion you have for this band has had consequences for your private life ?
Only good things there! I have so many memories to the band and their music, that I don’t even know where to start. They have been sort of like the soundtrack to my life almost.

What do you think about the recent projects covering Radiohead’s songs? OKX a tribute to OK computer, Easy Star all-stars, Songs With Radio Heads, Brad Mehldau, Richard Cheese…
I know that Radiohead supports all these project, so I am fine with it. I am not very interested in these projects because covers or remixes of Radiohead are usually worse than the original.

What was your opinion when they announced the album In rainbow could be downloaded for the listener’s price?
Great! Even me, as the great fan got it for free (shame on me). Either way, I made up for it by buying the album later on when it came out on CD. I think it is a great initiative and I think that most bands already know that they earn more on their tours than on selling CDs anyways. So I think it was a nice statement!

Here are a few tracks that would probably be my soundtrack this summer. Hard to tell in advance but I have the feeling these songs will be on repeat for some weeks. Here’s the list and descriptions int the order you could play them starting late afternoon and going through the night.

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Simply because Grizzly Bear are getting better and better, first single of their latest album “Veckatimest”. Just like a summer breeze over your shoulder.

The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – Pimp

Here’s the song from where 50 cents got his sample. Nice Caribbean feeling, chill out, better appreciated with some ice cubes in your glass, sun glasses, straw hat and a cosy chair.

Empire of the sun – We Are The People (The Golden Filter Remix)

Speaking of summer, here are the people from the sun. Australian duo “Empire of the sun” sent us their first album “Walking on a Dream” during the austral summer, offering us a warm sunshine at the toughest of the winter. Now seasons have changed, time for remixes, Here’s a remix by the Golden Filter from the second single “We Are The People”, nice relaxing at the beginning but still with a dancing feeling. Good for early evening soundtrack.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Neo Tokyo Remix)

A bit later in the evening when it feels more like dancing, this remix of the Passion Pit’s hit will deliver the perfect combination of uptempo beats and nice mood.

Michael Jackson – Don’t stop ’til you get enough (1978 demo)

just discovered this very interesting tracks, this is the demo M. Jackson recorded in 1978 with sister Janet playing on cola bottle and brother Randy on keyboards, the recording took place in the basement of their grandparents’ house. So, this is what MJ’s music sounds like before the work of Quincy Jones, who will write some more songs for the album “Off the wall” (1979). Beware, this is extremely groovy! I really like this version, a bit more raw, I like the laughters at the beginning, I like the saturation on the mic, and the somehow chaotic end. It’s a bit like sitting with them in their basement and seeing them performing, like a private concert.
This version is available on the special edition of “Off the Wall”, released in 2001.

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers

When the party is on, this is the track to play. The crowd goes nuts and wants more. Seriously, what else could you expect when Dizzee Rascal meets van Helden? A dancefloor classic! Bonkers! Put on your dancing shoes and turn up the volume.

Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life

Gui Boratto is a Brazilian architect, musician, composer and producer. Here’s an a track from his album “Chromophobia” (Kompakt, 2007). If you had left out the techno/house scene, here’s a good opportunity to come back to it, with fantastic synthetic melodic waves, slowly growing until the voice delivers the repeated message “What a beautiful life”. And at this point you can only agree and you just wish this atmosphere would transpose into your real life.
Gui Boratto’s latest release is “Take My Breath Away”, out last March.

Dapayk & Padberg – Island Feat Caro (Noze Remix)

Perfect for an after, relaxing but still with a beat. Those who still feel like dancing can still move on that slow moves with their arms in the air, while others, more tired, sit back and enjoy the last moments of this long night.

Songs available on request.
I’ll keep you posted for more tracks coming, don’t hesitate to share your summer songs.

Big shock this morning reading the news, Michael Jackson is dead!

Now most people will remember his fantastic career and just mentioning his “complicated” private life, without judging or giving too much details. Because if you want to tell about his private life, which in the past years had taken over his music career, then you need to tell it from the beginning, since he was about 5 years old. This is the story of a child that did not decide what he would to become. He didn’t know it was impossible for a black person to be a worldwide acclaimed star so he became one.

I’m trying to think how to introduce MJ to someone ignoring everything about him. Where to start? What to tell? Maybe starting by the end, the reactions that his death is generating: former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said: “We lost a hero of the world”, “Lamentable news” according to Hugo Chavez (Venezuela’s president), TV programs being interrupted to announce the news, and the countless fans across the world spontaneously gathering when they heard the sad news. MJ was huge in Asia, in Southern America, in Europe, he was huge everywhere!. And now everybody remembers a concert, the craziness when he came to town, his impressive videos, his amazing way of dancing that inspired so many, the LPs bought in the 80’s… that’s for the reactions.

Now the career: started with the Jackson 5, aged 8, 1966-1984, huge hits with “I want you back”, “Can you feel it”, “ABC” and much more.

Solo career, excellent albums produced with Quincy Jones: Off the Wall, Bad, Thriller. MJ was also a lot about video clip, his solo career coincided with the emergence of MTV and the making of his videos were closer to big movies than to actual TV adds (both for their budget and the special effects involved). In the 90’s, despite still making music ahead of his time, his career became shaded by his commitment in various charities and his “complicated” private life.

Throughout the years, MJ became a monument of music, everything that had to happen in music went through him, he changed the way music videos were made, he changed the way live performance were given, with a special place for dance. Inspired by James brown, MJ is associated with famous moves such as the moonwalk.
I can’t think of another artist that performed as much as MJ did over his life span, he left us enough hits to remember him for a lifetime!
He’s inspired many artists in different genres and lately Justice wrote a song about him, the dancefloor classic D.A.N.C.E. “As easy as ABC, you were such a P.Y.T., under the spotlights, neither black nor white…”

The king is dead. Long live the king.

The Start! festival  is now over and I must say that it did not hold to the expectations. No questions that this festival is getting bigger and gaining in popularity but there was something missing in this year’s edition. The big names did not manage to bring lots of people, maybe this festival is in transition between two types of audience, from being quite underground to a more popular scene. The limited amount of people could also be explained by the CPH Distortion festival  taking place at the same time in the same town. Distortion is getting bigger as well, spreading rapidly in the underground scene and attracting all what Copenhagen counts as indie acts (not only music). I guess these two festivals should communicate more in the future if they want to avoid clashes.

To continue the series of interviews I made during the festival, I selected three of them: 

CALLmeKAT, whose second album came out last year and is definitely worth listening and buying. I’ll write more about her in a later post. I met her prior to the festival and asked many questions, this is only a 3 min excerpt of the interview (required for the festival radio). I’ll probably post the complete interview later on since it is quite interesting. Here’s for now:

C’est tout Martine is the band of Martine Madsen, happy pop in Danish, nice voice, nice melodies, here’s the 3 min interview: 

W’afande is a tall French/Danish reggae/soul singer. I attended his concert and was really impressed by the good vibes that he and his band radiate. Short interview but check his music and concerts.

First week of June in Copenhagen and it’s time for the Start! festival (formerly Vesterbro Festival). Start! takes place about 3 weeks before his neighbour and big brother Roskilde festival. and it also works as the first place to start to get to Roskilde. Lots of bands have their first gig there and/or get signed here. This year’s edition offers slightly more big names than the previous ones, e.g. Diefenbach, Nephew, Mads Langer or Mike Sheridan.

This festival also hosts a radio, powered by Copenhagen university radio. In this regard I am meeting some artists and here are a some interviews I made during the festival.

Apollo : a rock sextet from Copenhagen

Kings of Dark Disco : Electro Disco House

Mads Langer : THE Danish male artist of the moment, very good songwriting and amazing voice, check him out. 

Télé Rouge : A funny Danish band singing in French 

Vinnie Who : Hyped disco/house band

NB: all interviews are in Danish.

Nouvelle vague is back with a new album on June 15th. This new release seems to be slightly different from the previous ones. “Bande à Part” in 2006 and their eponymous “nouvelle vague” from 2004 both contained cover songs from the 80’s and especially post-punk and new wave songs (Blondie, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order, Depeche Mode…). Their covers were quite interesting since they offered a complete different atmosphere from the originals, much more relaxed, bossa nova style. Singing “love will tear us apart” with waves and children playing in the background is somehow adventurous but it made it

It seems that their new release is also a collections of covers but this time featuring some of the original artists, this makes things even more confusing for the listener. One example with the first single (exclusively available on Teardrum), Master and servant featuring Martin Gore from Depeche Mode. 

You can enjoy it at home or on your favourite mp3 player by downloading the song (mp3, 3.1MB).

We were having a convivial and “hyggelig” dinner when Mark raised a problem his son had been given, something like “Are there any cycles in economy?” (His son is obviously studying economy). We started by mentioning a few theories we had heard of, the different cycles, is the current credit crunch just a proof of such cycles? I thought I had to say something about this cycle 30 theory, what if there was also a 30-year revolution time for economic crisis? I explained the theory, that about every 30 years a new musical genre appears, that this is just one branch of a big tree, that this new genre is accompanied by changes in the way people dress, the way they communicate. This new musical genre encompasses the previous ones, reshapes them, changes the musical landscape and the way people listen to music.

The picture above is from Jeff Mills record “cycle 30“, it is introduced with these words: ”Every thirty year, the world of music, art, fashion and literature has an uncanny act of repeating itself within a cycle that is handed down through generations. This futuristic perspective arouses interest of individuality the one naturally possesses. This release focuses on possibilities.” from Axis Records

The emergence of electronic music is set around 1987/1988, also called the second summer of love and, looking back in history, we can indeed see the emergence of Rock and Roll about 1954 (Bill Haley and his comets with “Rock around the clock” is considered as the first rock song in history (some consider “Rocket 88″ by Ike Turner but it’s around the same time). And 30 years before that we are in the early 20’s, which gave birth to new genres such as the twelve-tone composition (or dodecaphony) created by Schönberg in classical music, Bluegrass Music and swing also appeared around that time. The 20’s were also the times of big changes in the way people interact, women dressed like men, wanting more equality, completely revolutionizing the way family was. And this went one step further in the 60’s where women wanted to decide for their sexuality and career, the 60’s also changed the way men and women interact, the way people communicate and travel, just as the digital revolution does, right now.
The music revolutions also came with new drugs (LSD, Ecstasy). Strictly musically speaking there are lots of similarities between Jazz, Rock and Electronic music, they all have sub-genres (some in common) and they all brought something new in music, like improvisation or new instruments (electric guitar, sampler).

We were at these discussions between two sips of mango lassi when Ben told us he disagreed with this view. He brought the case of The Pogues
“_ They kind of created a new genre by mixing traditional Irish music and Punk rock, and since this took place in the 70’s, your cycle 30 theory does not hold…
_  Wait a minute Ben, you just said “mixing”, that is they created a new genre by incorporating elements from two different genres, this, to me, is just one more branch on the Rock and Roll tree, a small branch originating in the punk rock branch and crossing with traditional music, Irish in this case. And this still is on the same tree as rock, not on the one where electronic music seats and not a tree by itself either.”

Rather than splitting hairs, what is important here is the big picture. What can we see by taking more perspective? We see different revolutions and the question is now: what’s coming next? When is the next revolution coming? According to the cycle 30 theory a new movement should appear around 2015-2018, that’s tomorrow! To paraphrase Gil Scott-Heron, “the revolution will not be televised”, it will first occur secretly, underground, so don’t wait for it, anticipate it, be a part of it.

Some time ago, I read that book that really taught me a lot about the history of music. Two decades after the emergence of electro music, “Electrochoc” is a must-read book, written by music lovers for music lovers (unfortunately only in French). Laurent Garnier (LG) and David Brun-Lambert perfectly recounts the story of electronic music through the anecdotes and experiences of LG. How it all started, how it evolved and where it will go. This is the history of a musical revolution that some people just saw as an ephemeral phenomenon of the 90’s. Twenty years later, all these narrow-minded journalists can be proved wrong, electronic music is still there and more than this, it has completely revolutionized the musical landscape. It gave birth to hybrid genres such as electro-jazz, electro-rock, electro-pop…

Electronic music is the latest big change in music, there had been some before and there will be some after. Putting this into a different perspective we can say that electronic music was one branch of a big tree, this branch had many ramifications, named sub-genres such as Jungle, Techno, Drum n’ Bass, House… with each their own sub-genres as well. The tree keeps growing and new genres and sub-genres still appear (recently the Dub step). “Electrochoc” brilliantly tells how electronic music has grown for the last twenty years, starting somewhere in England in 1987/1988 and spreading rapidly to the rest of the world. LG saw it all from the inside: the free parties, the drugs, the dress codes, the difficulty to be recognized as a new musical genre. He brings his knowledge and very privileged situation to describe how this music, which was seen as a minor genre, completely changed the “historical” genres (rock, funk, jazz).

This books brings you down to the roots of the tree of which electronic music is just a branch. This big tree is made of zeros and ones: this is the digital world. The tree started growing in the 70’s with primitive computers and this global digital revolution rapidly changed the way we live, communicate, write or travel. And one of the many interesting points of this book is about the occurrence of such a tree in our history. It refers to a record by Jeff Mills “Cycle 30″, mentioning that similarly to the sun which has a 30-year revolution, a new revolution (tree) appears on earth every 30 years, this is the cycle 30.

To be continued

In this new post we continue our series about “being a fan of…”
This time, Niamh (pronounced [Neeve]), an Irish girl living in England tells about the relation she has with her favourite band Linkin Park . 

What is your first memory from the band? When did you first hear of them?
My brother was really into rock and numetal when I was about 17, and he was learning guitar around the same time. he brought in a compilation tape with ‘Crawling’ on it and made me listen to it. He loved the interesting sounds Linking Park put in at the start of their songs. I was instantly intrigued and made a copy. I don’t think I actually bought an album of theirs until the second one, Meteora, came out in 2003. I loved it so much that I bought the first one, Hybrid Theory, soon after.
What is the craziest thing you’ve done for that band?
I’m not sure it’s that crazy, but my friend Mel and I ditched class one morning to ring ticketmaster to get tickets to a gig in London. We were on hold for 2 hours, and still didn’t get any tickets. Apparently they were sold out within 20mins. :’(

Do you owe all their albums? Any rarities?
As of last week, I own all their non-live albums. I bought their re-mix of Hybrid Theory, Reanimation, last week. They gave the songs to different producers to re-mix as they liked. it’s a fun album!

How many concerts of them have you attended?
I’m still searching for tickets. they so rarely tour, and when they do in the uk, it’s never to a large audience, and practically impossible to get tickets!

Have you ever met them personally? Would you like to?
Meet them? I would love to say that I wouldn’t be star-struck, but I think if I met Chester Bennington (lead vocalist) face to face, I would scream and then fall down and kiss his feet.

Does the passion you have for this band has/has had consequences for your private life (good or bad)?
Not sure how much of an influence it has on my private life, but it has most certainly influenced my taste in music. Before them, I wasn’t very eclectic. Their music and style, collaborations, and variations have introduced me to many different types of related genres. And that has influenced what I listen to and what gigs I go to.