A WHAM! OPERA

So…it was George Michael on the weekend at the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE in London.

He’s back on form and doing the rounds with an orchestra…

It was a celeb-ey ELTON JOHN CHARITY DO..so quite a few elongated blondes in the round, complete with botox lips. Even Kylie was there…and what a  fantastic gig. Why:

- his massive, flawless voice

- amazing visuals on the huge LCD behind him (can’t buy THAT at Radio Shack)

- great song choice…big band covers (e.g “Feelin’ Good”) plus his own hits

The girls around me (well grown women) were largely crying and screaming throughout. You can do the same as he’s TOURING TILL CHRISTMAS. Dates in Europe and the UK. Check it:

http://www.georgemichael.com/tour/

WHAM!

RIOT CENTRAL

So no doubt everyone’s heard about the London riots earlier this month.

This post comes to you from a RECOVERED CITY…

the riots were really a few chavs stealing toasters and Justin Bieber posters…despite the hype, much of the country was unaffected. About 10 high streets in total got hit.

(FYI a ‘chav’ in this country is a person of low moral worth, poor discipline and whacked dress sense)

So why did it happen? Well take unbridled consumerism ( ‘I can’t afford it but I want anyway’). Then add FEARLESSNESS  ( ‘the police ain’t gonna do nuttin’). And suddenly it’s fine to smash windows and grab what you want.

One also wonders if too much airplay for this guy played a part:

Peace.

Tags: London riots Pitbull

BAD PIXIE

So Pixie Lott back with a new synthy-dance vibe, on ALL ABOUT TONIGHT

She hooking up with her gals in the club, texting on her 3G phone, etc. In other words trying to push every button necessary to sell to her demographic.

This synthy party-anthem-thing that’s been going round recently (well the past couple of years) is already feeling old, and it ain’t a great track either…song aside the drums let it down big time.

But there’s one redeeming fact: in it she looks hotter than an African summer.

NAUGHTY PRESS

So the Murdochs’ are on trial…sort of. Someone tried to throw a shaving foam pie in the mighty RUPERT MURDOCH face. And they failed. Nonetheless many a celeb and several popstars are joyous about this spell of bother for News Corp.

The Murdochs’ claim ignorance of the awful depths to which some of their journalists have sunk for the sake of a scoop. NEWS CORP is a massive organisation and when you’re at the very top, it’s conceivable that you’d be unaware of such practices way down the food chain.

However the motivation for such practices is part of a cultural problem that people like Rupert Murdoch started..he and his supporters claim that exposing hypocrisy and injustice is a service that their papers perform. However public service has never been their goal. Murdoch was able to grow from owning one paper in Adelaide, Australia to a $7 billion fortune by throwing morality out the window. He did whatever it took to get the story. If not immoral, then it was certainly an amoral approach.

But some other questions…

- why does a family with only 12% OWNERSHIP of News Corp. still dictate its direction?

- what of this culture of gutter-press tactics that extends beyond News Corp. titles?

Ultimately there IS public demand for the ‘news’ that results, and that’s the problem. Not everyone wants Beethoven, some people just want Taio Cruz.

And that’s why once the dust settles, we’ll be back to normal with the naughty popstars and Hugh Grant across our papers.

Though how long the print newspaper will last as a format is another story…

Tags: News Corp Rupert Murdoch The Sun

2ND ALBUM BLUES

So…I may have in the past mentioned an artist called Olivia Broadfield: a sort of cooler Dido. Electro-ey acoustic pop-soul. Yes lots of genres covered.

Well she has a new album out, the TRICKY SECOND OUTING. How does one feel about it? Well in truth, a little underwhelmed compared to the last.

However it could also be a case of good songs with slightly uninspired production. It’s EARLY DAYS and I’ll give it several listens…you should too. Go HERE to check it out.

Another observation…anyone notice how much shorter tracks are getting? Radio Edits of stuff in the charts coming in at well under 3 minutes. A phenomenon you will also notice on Olivia’s album.

L’ESCAPE GREAT – 2011

The Great Escape 2011

It’s just been and gone. Another GOOD year. Yes Katy B played at Corn Exchange but there was more fun to be had at the smaller venues…

Standouts acts were…

- Queen’s Hotel: FLORRIE drummer turned girlie-popper. Leftfield Kylie?

- Fitzherberts: SONS OF MISCHIEF 3-piece rock with Zeppelin overtones

- Coalition: BAG RAIDERS…Australian DJs with a dark electro-pop flavour

And shout out to the man with white shirt and ponytail…he started a fight at Fitzherberts and was still dancing off his nut at Coalition nightclub five hours later. We deemed him ‘fighting man’ for his efforts

REGAL MUSIC

So it’s Royal Wedding time…and yes some people have indeed been jumping on the tribute bandwagon (good on ‘em) to SALUTE the happy couple and their potential wedded bliss.

Here are three:

1. ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY – Lady Ga Ga-themed tribute with a twist:

2. GEORGE MICHAEL - You & I – straight-up Stevie Wonder cover:

3. F**KSTICKS – not for the faint-hearted, a little distasteful but you decide:

http://www.funnyordie.com/m/5fa6

Amen.

SMALL STUDIO: BIG SOUND

We all know about technology turning music UPSIDE DOWN.

The fact that you can make a track of epic proportions on your laptop, while simultaneously buying panties from ASOS.com

Producer and mixer behind big Guetta hits and Rihanna SANDY VEE does it all on a single PC: http://tiny.ly/7AZy. While this is George Michael’s rather modest home studio: http://yfrog.com/me91lz

So this is the often lauded ‘Democratisation’ of the music industry. If you’re reading this you’ve ALREADY GOT a computer: a few bits of software aside (which you can download in 30 minutes) and you’re sitting in front of all you need to make that hit.

The result of all this? An EXPLOSION in the amount of tracks being offered to the public, with little quality control.

And the result of that? A massive increase in the supply of music, but crucially with NO REAL INCREASE in the demand for it. And so a huge devaluation of recorded music…it’s simple economics innit.

Just a thought… x



RAPCAT

Check his lyrical flow…do note how this is actually quite a slick video.

I’m IMPRESSED

BATSHIT CRAZY

The facts in this video might not be entirely verifiable or true, namely that 45% of women in London aged 25-35 are single.

And supposedly 100%of these women own cats…

However this is worth watching for the moment at 1:23. Ever been attracted to anyone that described themselves as “clingy, bi-polar, batshit crazy”?

Which begs the question…what music does this batshit crazy 25-35 year-old demographic like?

Perhaps soulful dance-pop.