nickdotwatt-blog

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Are You Content? The demise of Team Rock and Print Media

11 years ago I ran a conference at the ICA with Tony Wilson, the legendary Mancunian record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist. Tony came up with the name for the event - Are You Content - which had a double meaning - is the creative output of musicians, journalists, authors, TV, film or game makers nothing more than content, and were these ‘new’ content creators happy about their creative output being called content? The day started with various luminaries and senior folk from across the content industries each having 20 minutes to explain why they would not only still be here in 10 years time, but more importantly why would they be both relevant and profitable. Although most of them seemed to think that although the future would be provide them with some considerable challenges, they would all still be with us, and still relevant. How wrong most of them were. 

Yesterday saw the demise of Team Rock Ltd, a specialist publisher of music magazines, run by supposed music people, not like the ‘suits’ like Time Inc., Hearst or Condé Nast. Team Rock ended the 2015 year with net debts totalling £11.7 million, up from £5.9 million the prior year, however they only generated advertising and copy sales of £6.5 million in the 2015 year, down from £7.5 million in 2014, while administrative expenses ballooned to £12.4 million, up from £9.3 million in 2014. So what went wrong? Were they simply incompetent business people, or is there something else going on out there? 

There are two major problems all publishers are facing right now that suggest a very uncertain future - both copy sales and ad revenues continue are set to decline even further.

In response all the major print and online publishers have been closing titles, or reorganising and rationalising  editorial and ad sales teams (a euphemism for redundancies), in an attempt to remain viable. Pick up any magazine these days, even the market leaders, and you’ll notice that they’re a lot slimmer than they used to be. Why? Well people simply aren’t buying magazines in the numbers they used to, and the ad revenues are slowly drying up. 

This slide from Mary Meeker’s annual trends report perfectly illustrated the problem the industry faces:

The amount of time spent on consuming print media has dropped to 4% - that’s less than Radio, TV, the internet and mobile in the US. We simply aren’t buying or reading magazines and newspapers like we used to, which might also explain why newsagents are closing down even faster than pubs. The other scary piece of the puzzle for publishers is that the ad spend they receive is 4 times higher than it should be for the size of audience it reaches. If you think things are bad now wait and see what happens in the next few years as all the ad agencies and advertisers finally shift their revenues to mobile and other digital channels.

So not only are circulations dropping, ad revenues are also set to collapse. This could see the end of huge parts of the print industry as we know it.

Print publishers invested early in digital (I launched NME.com and then Loaded magazine online back in ‘96), so how come they aren’t reaping in the rewards of their investment? After all they’ve had 20 years to work out how to make money from their online content.  But with no copy sales or subscription revenues to act as a bedrock, they’ve struggled to bring in significant ad revenues, and are still hindered by antiquated thinking, and a lack of real innovation. 

And to compound the problem consumers are being turned off visiting sites due to excess advertising clutter. Too many sites are so full of ads it’s often hard to find the content, with constant interruptions from pop-up ads that shout to try and grab our attention. 

But is the future really as bleak as the picture suggests? Could it get any worse?  

Sadly it could. Google and Facebook set to take 71% of UK online ad revenue by 2020, leaving everyone else scrabbling to grab a share of what’s left. 

However, there is a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

One publication that could provide a model for at B2B and news publishing is US tech site the Information. The online title has  in just three years become profitable by producing just two stories a day, and charging $399 a year or $39 per month to read them – and they take no advertising. It’s whole raison d'être is to publish ‘Content you won’t find elsewhere’, and it works. This article lay’s out how and why it has been a success, and why ‘quality not quantity’ may offer a future for publishing.Another opportunity for publishing, which can offer work for all my journalist friends, is what’s called content marketing. Brands are being told they have to produce content at scale and they need experts to create it. This is the new face of contract publishing, and companies such as Contently - with a freelance network spanning 60+ countries, including over 100,000 award-winning journalists, videographers, graphic designers, researchers, and photographers, could offer a future for great content creators. They aren’t looking for copywriters, they are looking for skilled journalists that can produce engaging content that people want to read or watch, even if they (consumers) won’t pay for it anymore. I’m currently the editor of CMO.com a site for senior marketers and business leaders, which is highly respected in the industry, and employs a number of experienced and respected journalists. The owners aren’t traditional publishers, it’s funded by Adobe. While the biggest parenting site in the world is Babycenter, is owned by Johnson & Johnson not Time Inc. or Hearst. So there is a future, but it’s unlikely to look too much like the one we have now. More newspapers and publishers will go to the wall, and the number of magazines on the news stands will decline. 

 Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. But not.

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Reissues of 2015

Not posted a list of my favourite reissues and compilations of the year before, but thought it was worthwhile, partly because quite a few of these albums were totally new to me, or most definitely not on my radar when they were released. The best example were Led Zeppelin, whose Stairway To Heaven almost put me off the band for life. However, I’ve come to adore Physical Graffiti, while some of the stuff tagged onto the end of Coda with Bombay Orchestra brings a new perspective to what Jimmy Page and co were up to.

 I’m not sure why I didn’t get to hear Hawkwind back in the day, I’m sure I’d have adored them, especially as they were the closest thing we had to a Krautrock band in the UK. The packaging of the This Is Your Captain Speaking …Your Captain Is Dead album which brings together their classic recordings from the 70s  is a bit cheap, but it’s fantastic value for money - 11 CD’s of their finest music for less than £25. 

I also enjoyed the reissue of Gong’s Camembert Electrique, a band my mate Kevin Shewan was into back in the day, but never did much for me back then. I’ve never been a big Bee Gee’s fan (I like the odd thing) but was curious to hear Robin Gibb’s Saved By The Bell: The Collected Works Of Robin Gibb 1968-1970, which included an attempt to re-present his unreleased Sing Slowly Sisters album, which reminds me of the baroque pop of the Left Banke, and even the odd touch of the sort of orchestration you’d find on Scott Walker’s first four solo albums. Worth a listen for the curious.

Some of my real finds, and often totally new to me, included:

Lawrence English’s The Peregrine - stunningly beautiful ambient drones from 2011, based on the book of the same name by J.A Baker

Mariah - Utakata No Hibi Pitchfork claimed “its soundscapes are like those once dreamt by Brians Eno and Wilson”, and you know what it’s not far off. The album was produced by Seigen Ono, who produced three albums for Simon Hopkins who used to run the Venture label at Virgin Records. Great stuff.

Fire Records got around to putting out Noveller’s Glacial Glow and No Dreams in the UK after the success of her excellent Fantastic Planet album. Sarah Lipstate (Noveller) has worked with the likes of Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham, as well as being a member of Part’s & Labour). She’s making some of the most interesting experimental guitar music around today.

I know of K. Leimer’s more ambient new age music, partly from the excellent compilation of his music on RVNG Intl. which came out last year, but I hadn’t come across his music recorded under the name Savant before. The album Artificial Dance, which compiles his recordings from the early 80s was a revelation - think Byrne & Eno’s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, with bits of 23 Skidoo’s Seven Songs, and even King Crimson’s Discipline or Fripp’s Exposure album.

I used to own Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s Press Color, which someone must have borrowed and never given back as I’ve searched high and low for it. It was great to get a lovely coloured vinyl copy of it on t Light In The Attic label, my reissue label of 2015; always beautifully put together and remastered albums, and the packaging is stunning.

My old mate Jeff Barrett at Heavenly put out The Nectarine No.9′s Postcard records album ‘Saint Jack’ on his Heavenly label, and it reminded me just how talented The Fire Engines’ Davy Henderson was. I met him when he had his band Win. His manager was interested in Mixmaster Morris (my then flat mate) in remixing one of their tracks. Sadly never came off but this reissue is exactly what the doctored ordered. Davy’s latest band are the The Sexual Objects.

And also a big thanks to Erased Tapes for reissuing Dawn Of Midi’s Dysnomia, which is kind of like the Necks playing stripped down techno on prepared piano,double bass and drums.

Nice to see some classic reggae albums getting the reissue treatment this year with The Abyssinians – Arise (Expanded Edition), Inturns – Consider Yourself, Congo Natty – Jungle Revolution in Dub, Jimmy Riley – Live It To Know It, Singers And Players – Revenge Of The Underdog, and Mr Spaulding – Twelve Tribe of Israel: Anthology all worth a spin.

On a more soulful and funky tip you should also check out Doug Hream Blunt’s outsider album ‘My Name Is Doug Hream Blunt’, The Notations – Still Here: 1967-1973, Sly & The Family Stone’s fascinating ‘Live at the Fillmore East October 4th & 5th 1968′, and the reissue of Spooner Oldham’s country soul album Pot Luck. And if you were ever a fan of Stevie Wonder you really need to treat yourself to a copy of Milton Wright – Complete Friends and Buddies, think you’ll be in for a nice surprise.

There was also some interesting punk/post-punk era albums that found their way back into circulation this year. The Martin Hannett and Steve Hopkins album Invisible Girls had its moments, although wasn’t quite as revelatory as I’d hoped, but was still as fascinating listen. The Mothmen were also from Manchester and their On U Sound album Pay Attention! got a worthy reissue, sort of post-punk dub with added strangeness. I remember the Normil Hawaiians from Peel, so was interested to hear their unreleased album from ‘85 Return of the Ranters, which I saw at the Independent Label Market at Spitalfields. Wish I’d bought one. There was also three interesting compilations form the era - Cherrystones: Critical Mass/Splinters From The Worldwide New-Wave, Post-Punk and Industrial Underground 1978 – 1984 and [Cease & Desist] DIY (Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82), which both sound like a very fine Peel show from back in the day. The excellent Ork Records: New York, New York compilation on Numero Group brings together lots of mighty fine tracks including, the first Television single Little Johnny Jewel, and early tracks from the Feelies, Richard Hell, The DB’s, as well as Alex Chilton’s Singer Not The Song EP which I bought on a school field trip in Scarborough back in 1978 alongside Fad Gadget’s first single  Back To Nature! 

Anyway, here’s the full list of albums, all are worth your time and attention. Enjoy. All of the following albums are available to listen to on Spotify. Other music streaming services are available, And if you’ve got any money left after Xmas buy a few, and make yourself happy. You know you want to...

The Abyssinians – Arise (Expanded Edition) Anonymous  – Inside the Shadow Charles Cohen – Brother I Prove You Wrong Arthur – Dreams and Images Ata Kak – Obaa Sima Doug Hream Blunt – My Name Is Doug Hream Blunt C418 – Minecraft - Volume Alpha Loren Connors – Airs Patrick Cowley - Musicle Up Dawn Of Midi – Dysnomia Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Press Color (Deluxe Edition) Bob Dylan – The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 12 Lawrence English – The Peregrine Faces – 1970-1975: You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything... Bernard Fevre – Cosmos 2043 Bernard Fevre – Suspense Bernard Fevre – The Strange World of Bernard Fevre Fleetwood Mac – Tusk (Deluxe) Robin Gibb – Saved By The Bell: The Collected Works Of Robin Gibb 1968-1970 Goldberg – Misty Flats Gong – Camembert Electrique Martin Hannett & Steve Hopkins – The Invisible Girls Hawkwind - This Is Your Captain Speaking …Your Captain Is Dead Michael Head & The Strands – The Magical World of The Strands Inturns – Consider Yourself Bert Jansch – Live at the 12 Bar David Kauffman – Songs from Suicide Bridge The Kitchen Cinq – When the Rainbow Disappears: An Anthology 1965-68 Karin Krog – Don't Just Sing: A Karin Krog Anthology 1963-1999 Kosmischer Läufer – The Secret Cosmic Music of the East German Olympic Program 1972-83, Vol. 3 Leatherface – Razor Blades and Aspirin: 1990-1993 Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (Deluxe Edition) Led Zeppelin – Presence (Deluxe Edition) Led Zeppelin – In Through The Out Door (Deluxe Edition) Led Zeppelin – Coda (Deluxe Edition) Mariah - Utakata No Hibi The Mothmen – Pay Attention! Congo Natty – Jungle Revolution in Dub The Nectarine No.9 – Saint Jack Normil Hawaiians – Return of the Ranters Noveller – Glacial Glow Noveller – No Dreams The Notations – Still Here: 1967-1973 Spooner Oldham – Pot Luck Lena Platonos - Galop Jimmy Riley – Live It To Know It The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (Deluxe) Savant – Artificial Dance Singers And Players – Revenge Of The Underdog Sly & The Family Stone – Live at the Fillmore East October 4th & 5th 1968 Mr Spaulding – Twelve Tribe of Israel: Anthology Kurt Stenzel – Jodorowsky's Dune (Original Soundtrack) Sun City Girls – Torch of the Mystics Sun Ra – Gilles Peterson Presents Sun Ra And His Arkestra: To Those Of Earth... And Other Worlds (Mixed Tracks) Taste – I'll Remember Gloria Ann Taylor – Love Is a Hurtin' Thing Van Der Graaf Generator – After The Flood - Van Der Graaf Generator At The BBC 1968-1977 Alan Vega, Alex Chilton, Ben Vaughn  – Cubist Blues The Velvet Underground – The Complete Matrix Tapes The Velvet Underground – Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition Townes Van Zandt – The Nashville Sessions (Remastered Edition) Milton Wright – Complete Friends and Buddies Various Artists – Cherrystones: Critical Mass/Splinters From The Worldwide New-Wave, Post-Punk and Industrial Underground 1978 – 1984 Various Artists – [Cease & Desist] DIY (Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82) Various Artists – Ork Records: New York, New York Various Artists – Sherwood At The Controls: Volume 1 1979 - 1984

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Albums of 2015

Well here you go, I've 'deliberated, cogitated and digested' over 170 albums, which all ended up in my Spotify best of folder this year. However, I've managed to whittle them down to a slightly more manageable 52 albums. I've purposely not put them in any order as it's pretty much an impossible job, especially as my favourites seen to change on almost a daily basis, depending on what I'm listening to.

However, there were two standout albums for me this year - Ryley Walker's album 'Primrose Green' and Floating Points debut 'Elaenia'. Ryley's album was made all the more special by seeing him play twice this year, once solo and once with his band - both stunning gigs. Apparently he's been listening to lots of Alice Coltrane and Roy Harper recently - so can't wait to see where his music goes next. He's playing 2 nights with Danny Thompson in Feb at Bush Hall. Don't miss him if you can still get a ticket. While the Floating Points album takes me to the same place as my favourite Miles Davis album 'In A Silent Way', which is mighty praise indeed.

Checking through my playlist there is a strong representation from instrumental music that would all neatly fit in categories such drone, ambient, electroacoustic or even modern classical. If you like this sort of thing, myself and John Horsley (also known as Longshore Drift, check him out on Spotify) have been curating a playlist called 'Landscapes and Drones', which is now over 58 hours long. 

You can listen to a Spotify playlist which includes a track from most of the albums. I’ve also provided  some links to videos that you can check out for those of you who don’t like or use Spotify (although not sure YouTube are better payers!).

Hope you find something that you like amongst all these, as well as few pleasant surprises. Happy Xmas. 

Joshua Abrams – Magnetoception Oren Ambarchi & Jim O'Rourke – Behold Bjork - Vulnicura Circle - Pharaoh Overlord Lloyd Cole – 1D (Electronics 2012-2014) Colleen – Captain Of None David Corley – Available Light Cosmic Ground – Cosmic Ground 2 Ian William Craig – Cradle for the Wanting Death and Vanilla – To Where the Wild Things Are Deradoorian – The Expanding Flower Planet Eternal Tapestry – Wild Strawberries Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear Floating Points – Elaenia John Foxx – London Overgrown Nils Frahm – Solo Ezra Furman – Perpetual Motion People Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin Gnod – Infinity Machines Rachel Grimes – The Clearing Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf Marcus Hamblett – Concrete Chihei Hatakeyama – Five Dreams Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness JLin - Dark Energy Kathryn Joseph – Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I've Spilled Marsen Jules – The Empire Of Silence Julia Kent - Asperities Sam Lee – The Fade in Time K. Leimer – The Day Unfolds Then Enfolds Lonelady – Hinterland Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Further West Quad Cult Mbongwana Star – From Kinshasa Roisin Murphy – Hairless Toys Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Automaginary Noveller – Fantastic Planet Phantom Horse – Different Forces Duane Pitre – Bayou Electric Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass Max Richter – Sleep/From Sleep Rival Consoles – Howl Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld – Never Were the Way She Was Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell Shuttle358 – Can you prove I was born Suzanne Kraft – Talk from Home The Unthanks – Mount the Air Ryley Walker – Primrose Green Wax Stag – II Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung 10 / Nationalpark The Weather Station – Loyalty Matthew E. White – Fresh Blood

And here’s the rather longer list of 125 albums that didn’t quite make my top52 ...(all are worth a listen)

Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color Alessandro Cortini – Forse 3 Alessandro Cortini – Risveglio Ancient Ocean – Blood Moon Andy Pratt – Do You Remember Me? Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy – Sintetizzatrice Another Fine Day – A Good Place to Be Arovane & Hior Chronik - In​-​between BC Camplight – How To Die In The North Berangere Maximin – Dangerous Orbits Bill Fay - Who Is The Sender Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker  – Land of Plenty Boogarins – MANUAL Bop English – Constant Bop C. Duncan – Architect Carter Tutti Void – f (x) Caught in the Wake Forever – The Places Where I Worship You Celer – How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life Chihei Hatakeyama – Moon Light Reflecting over Mountains Chihei Hatakeyama & Federico Durand - Magical Imaginary Child Chris Forsyth – The Island Christina Vantzou – No. 3 Christopher Bissonnette – Pitch, Paper & Foil Dave Heumann – Here In The Deep Dave Rawlings Machine – Nashville Obsolete Dawn Richard – Blackheart Dean McPhee – Fatima's Hand Destroyer – Poison Season Dmitry Evgrafov – Collage Drake – If You're Reading This It's Too Late Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch – Like Water Through The Sand Emily Portman – Coracle Etienne Jaumet – La visite Express Rising – Fixed Rope FFS – FFS Firefly Burning – Skeleton Hill FKA twigs – M3LL155X Flako – Natureboy Flying Saucer Attack – Instrumentals 2015 Föllakzoid – III Four Tet – Morning / Evening Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress Guy Garvey – Courting The Squall Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf (Deluxe Version) Hans-Joachim Roedelius & Leon Muraglia – Ubi Bene Holly Herndon – Platform Hot Chip – Why Make Sense? Israel Nash – Israel Nash's Silver Season Jacco Gardner – Hypnophobia Jaga Jazzist – Starfire Jamie xx – In Colour Jane Weaver – The Amber Light JD Souther – Tenderness Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – A Year With 13 Moons Jenny Hval – Apocalypse, girl JLin – Dark Energy John Howard & The Night Mail – John Howard & The Night Mail Jonny Nash – Exit Strategies Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation – Horse Dance Julia Kent - Asperities K-X-P – III, Pt. 1 K. Leimer – The Day Unfolds Then Enfolds Kamasi Washington - The Epic Kathryn Joseph – Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I've Spilled Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly Kenneth Kirschner – Compressions & Rarefactions King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Paper Mâché Dream Balloon King Midas Sound, Fennesz – Edition 1 Lau – The Bell That Never Rang Laura Cannell – Beneath Swooping Talons Laura Marling – Short Movie Linkwood – Expressions Low – Ones and Sixes Lubomyr Malnyk - Rivers and Streams M Dwinell – Golden Ratio Markus Guentner - Theia Masayoshi Fujita - Apologues Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Further West Quad Cult Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra – Into Forever Meg Baird – Don't Weigh Down the Light Michael Chapman – Fish Michael Price – Price: Entanglement Midaircondo – IV Moon Ate the Dark – Moon Ate the Dark II Moon Duo – Shadow of the Sun Mount Eerie – Sauna Nils Frahm – Solo Offthesky – Light Loss Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Fraham – Loon Pops Staples – Don't Lose This Prefuse 73 – Rivington Não Rio Rachel Grimes – The Clearing Red River Dialect – Tender Gold & Gentle Blue Richard Thompson – Still Romare – Projections Rozi Plain – Friend Sakana Hosomi & Chihei Hatakeyama  – Frozen Silence Sam Lee – The Fade in Time Samba Touré – Gandadiko SEXWITCH – SEXWITCH Shamir – Ratchet Siavash Amini – Subsiding Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers  – Seasonal Hire The Black Dog – Neither/Neither The Necks - Vertigo The Pop Group – Citizen Zombie Thundercat – The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam Tom Green – Elements Trembling Bells – The Sovereign Self Turzi – C Various Artists - Shirley Inspired Verma – Mul.apin Vessels – Dilate Viet Cong – Viet Cong Visionist – Safe Walls – Urals Wilco – Star Wars William Basinski – Cascade Willis Earl Beal – Noctunes Wire – Wire Worriedaboutsatan – Even Temper Young Fathers – White Men Are Black Men Too Young Thug – Barter 6

[nickdotwatt-blog]

albums of 2014

My album of the year was Ryley Walker's All Kinds of You. 

Check him out playing live for KEXP radio 

This year the first 20 are in aphabetical order, followed by the next 30, then the other contenders that took me up to 130 albums

the Top 20:

Adult Jazz – Gist Is

Aphex Twin – Syro

Melanie De Biasio – No Deal

Bitchin' Bajas – Bitchin' Bajas

The Delines – Colfax

First Aid Kit – Stay Gold

Frazey Ford – Indian Ocean

FKA twigs – LP1

Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Intensity Ghost

Future Islands – Singles

Grumbling Fur – Preternaturals

Steve Gunn – Way Out Weather

Hurray For The Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes

Land Observations – The Grand Tour

The Soundcarriers – Entropicalia

Swans – To Be Kind

Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams

Ryley Walker – All Kinds of You

Scott Walker + Sunn O))) –  Soused

Jane Weaver – The Silver Globe

Africa Express – Africa Express Presents... Terry Riley's In C Mali

Sam Amidon – Lily-O

A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Atomos

Daniel Bachman – Orange Co. Serenade

Beck – Morning Phase

Matt Berry – Music For Insomniacs

Bing & Ruth – Tomorrow Was The Golden Age

Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Piano Nights

Jeff Burch – Jeff Burch

Caribou – Our Love

Neneh Cherry – Blank Project

Deadbeat and Paul St. Hilaire – The Infinity Dub Sessions

Gareth Dickson – Invisible String

Fink – Hard Believer

Alice Gerrard – Follow The Music

Goat – Commune

Gazelle Twin – Unflesh

Jenny Hval & Susanna – Meshes of Voice

Ethan Johns – The Reckoning

Jouis – Dojo

Kiasmos – Kiasmos

Loscil – Sea Island

Mark McGuire – Noctilucence

Kikagaku Moyo – Forest of Lost Children

The Rails  – Fair Warning

Peggy Seeger – Everything Changes

SOHN – Tremors

St. Vincent – St. Vincent

Sun Kil Moon – Benji

Temples – Sun Structures

Alexander Turnquist – Flying Fantasy

Jack White – Lazaretto

Wildest Dreams – Wildest Dreams

51 to 130:

The Acid – Liminal

Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots

Imed Alibi – Safar

Ambient Jazz Ensemble – Suite Shop

Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra – Live on Planet Earth

Mark Barrott – Sketches from an Island

Bear In Heaven – Time Is Over One Day Old

Black Dirt Oak – Wawayanda Patent

Jeff Burch – Jeff Burch

Camera – Remember I Was Carbon Dioxide

S. Carey – Range of Light

Cave – Threace

Ian William Craig – A Turn of Breath

Morgan Delt – Morgan Delt

Deru – 1979

Dorian Concept – Joined Ends

East India Youth – TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER

Emerald Web – Whispered Visions

Lawrence English – Wilderness of Mirrors

Fennesz – Bécs

Fhloston Paradigm – The Phoenix

Fluxion – Broadwalk Tales

Flying Lotus – You're Dead!

Function & Vatican Shadow – Games Have Rules

The Gloaming – The Gloaming

Golden Retriever – Seer

Greg Gives Peter Space – Greg Gives Peter Space

Gyratory System – Utility Music

Hauschka – Abandoned City

Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness of Dancers

Koen Holtkamp – Motion: Connected Works

Jon Hopkins – Asleep Versions

Dylan Howe – Subterranean - New Designs on Bowie's Berlin

How To Dress Well – "What Is This Heart?"

Ibibio Sound Machine – Ibibio Sound Machine

Inventions – Inventions

Damien Jurado – Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son

King Creosote – From Scotland With Love

Daniel Lanois – Flesh And Machine

Last Ex – Last Ex

The Lay Llamas – Ostro

Locust – After the Rain

Luluc – Passerby

James Vincent McMorrow – Post Tropical

Mishaped Pearls – Thamesis

Steve Moore – Pangaea Ultima

Motorpsycho – Behind The Sun

Kikagaku Moyo – Mammatus Clouds

Marissa Nadler – July

Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness

OOIOO – Gamel

Opeth – Pale Communion

Perfume Genius – Too Bright

Linda Perhacs – The Soul of All Natural Things

Petrels – Mima

Plank! – Hivemind

Robert Plant – lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar

Polar Bear – In Each and Every One

Jonas Reinhardt – Ganymede

Rival Consoles – Sonne

Samaris – Silkidrangar

Dylan Shearer – Garagearray

Sinkane – Mean Love

Sinoia Caves – Beyond The Black Rainbow - Original Soundtrack

The Soft Walls – No Time

SUNN O))) & Ulver – Terrestrials

Todd Terje – It's Album Time

Prins Thomas – Prins Thomas 3

Yann Tiersen – Infinity

Christopher Tignor – Thunder Lay Down In The Heart

Tindersticks – Ypres

To Rococo Rot – Instrument

Tycho – Awake

Stein Urheim – Stein Urheim

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There

Warpaint – Warpaint

Paul White – Shaker Notes

Wild Beasts – Present Tense

Christopher Willits – OPENING

Woods – With Light and with Love

We Are Shining – Kara

[nickdotwatt-blog]

This is an article I wrote for Record Collector a few years ago about Krautrock. Enjoy

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Real Time

Click the animation to open the full version (via PennyStocks.la).

[nickdotwatt-blog]

The Ten Albums That Rocked My World

Did this list back in February when I got bored with people asking me to do my Top 10 life changing albums for Facebook. How can you only limit yourself to 10 when you've been listening to music for over 40 years? So I did MY list, and surprise surprise, I managed to come up with 63 albums! Still a cracking list though of life changing records that I'd stand by. Is their some things missing. Of course there is. This isn't my favourite albums of all time. That's not the point. And before you ask the first one I heard and loved the year it came out was Quadrophenia. Sadly I wasn't John Coltrane's first 4 year old super fan...

(click on the link to hear the album on Spotify or You Tube)

1965 John Coltrane A Love Supreme 1967 The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground & Nico 1967 Love  Forever Changes 1969 Townes Van Zandt Our Mother The Mountain 1969 Fairport Convention Unhalfbricking 1969 Miles Davis In A Silent Way 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Déjà Vu 1971 Neu! Neu! 1971 Marvin Gaye What's Going On 1972 Big Star  #1 Record 1972 Sandy Denny Sandy 1973 The Who  Quadrophenia 1974 Gene Clark No Other 1974 Can Soon Over Babluma 1974 Richard & Linda Thompson I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight 1975 Keith Jarrett The Köln Concert 1975 Patti Smith Horses 1976 The Modern Lovers The Modern Lovers 1977 Peter Hamill Over 1977 Neil Young Decade 1977 Kraftwerk Trans Euro Express 1977 Television Marquee Moon 1978 Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians 1978 Ultravox! Systems Of Romance  1978 Jade Warrior Way Of The Sun 1979 Nick Drake Fruit Tree 1979 Human League  Reproduction 1979 Joy Division Unknown Pleasures 1979 Magazine Secondhand Daylight 1979 PIL Metal Box 1979 Talking Heads Fear Of Music 1980 The Associates The Affectionate Punch 1980 Echo & The Bunnymen Crocodiles 1981 Eyeless In Gaza  Caught In Flux 1981 The Sound From The Lion's Mouth 1981 Eno & Byrne My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts 1981 Grace Jones Nightclubbing 1981 Black Uhuru  Red 1982 A Certain Ratio Sextet 1982 The Misunderstood Before The Dreams Faded 1982 Gregory Issacs Night Nurse 1982 King Sunny Ade Ju Ju Music 1983 Tom Waits Swordfishtrombones 1983 Various Artists A Perfumed Garden Volume 1 1984 Scott Walker Climate Of Hunter  1984 Arvo Pärt Tabula Rasa 1984 The Blue Nile A Walk Across The Rooftops 1984 The Smiths The Smiths 1984 Husker Du Zen Arcade 1984 Various Artists The Psychedelic Snarl 1986 Sonic Youth E.V.O.L 1987 Public Enemy Yo! Bum Rush The Show 1987 Prince Sign Of The Times 1987 Salif Keita Soro 1988 Talk Talk Spirit Of Eden 1989 De La Soul 3ft High & Rising 1991 Massive Attack Blue Lines 1991 The Orb Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld 1992 Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works 85-92 1994 Underworld Dubknowbasswithmyheadman 1996 DJ Shadow  Entroducing 2005 Boards Of Canada The Campfire Headphase 2005 LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Albums of 2013

Well after much deliberation, cogitation and rumination I've finally come up with a Top 501 albums for 2013. As my favourite seems to change every day I've done my list alphabetically, however I did get around to picking 11 albums that particularly 'rocked' my world this year. This may change by the end of the week!

Boards of Canada – Tomorrow's Harvest  David Bowie – The Next Day  Bill Callahan – Dream River Grumbling Fur – Glynnaestra  Midlake – Antiphon  Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul  Gary Numan – Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind)  Sankt Otten – Messias Maschine  Tamikrest – Chatma These New Puritans - Field Of Reeds  Jonathan Wilson – Fanfare

I've added in Spotify links so you can have a listen. Sadly the Bill Callahan and the Cian Nugent albums aren't available.

The huge surprise for me this year was Gary Numan's Splinter. Can't say I've paid attention to his recorded output since he released Cars and The Pleasure Principle album back in 1979. However, Splinter is a tremendous record that proves that you really should never write anyone off. I've never been a big fan of 'industrial' music (or it's gnostic lyrical concerns), but Numan has written a bunch of great tunes which grabbed me from the off and wouldn't let go. Who would have thought it.And talking about not writing anyone off, Bowie made his best record in 33 years, which was a fantastic surprise. Boards of Canada took only 8 years to follow up The Campfire Headphase, but as ever it was worth waiting for. Not sure if it was my trip to LA back in the summer but three albums took me back to the hazy period between 1969 and 1971, with Jonathan Wilson, Midlake and Cian Nugent channeling those vibes into something new. Nugent's album is close to being my favourite listen of 2014 - channeling Sailors Life-period Fairport Convention and Television's Marquee Moon into three stunning tracks, two of which were over 15 minutes, and all the better for their lack of brevity. I know little about Sankt Otten other than they deployed two of my favourite drummers - Can's Jaki Liebzeit and Ashra Tempel's Harald Grosskopf - for some prime Kosmische music for the 21st Century. Grumbling Fur were a new one to me, except I was a fan of its two members - Daniel O'Sullivan and Alexander Tucker - which the ever wonderful Quietus described as "distinctly British kitchen sink psychedelia". Yes indeedy. Tamikrest, the desert blues band from Mali, made a highly political yet totally beautiful album called Chatma (or Sisters) about the plight of the their people, and especially the Tuareg women who are facing up to brutal Sharia law imposed by extremist Islamist militia in their country. The album is beautifully produced by The Walkabout's Chris Eckman, and is almost psychedelic in places. What can I say about Bill Callahan's Dream River, well he seems to be turning into Cormac McCarthy channeled through Leonard Cohen. And last but not least Those New Puritans. They will eventually make an album as amazing and transcendent as Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden - this isn't quite it but it's getting damn close. What an amazing year.

And not to disappoint my music geek friends here is the rest of my top 50 albums. Enjoy.

Matt Baldwin – Imaginary Psychology Reissue Barn Owl - V Bitchin Bajas – Bitchitronics V V Brown – Samson & Delilah Anna Calvi – One Breath Carlton Melton – Always Even Cave – Threace Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away Date Palms – The Dusted Sessions   Dawn Of Midi – Dysnomia  Desert Heat – Cat Mask At Huggie Temple  Dutch Uncles – Out of Touch in the Wild  Endless Boogie – Long Island  The Field - Cupid's Head  Fire! Orchestra – Exit!  Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel  Golden Gunn – Golden Gunn  John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts  Steve Gunn – Time Off   Roy Harper – Man And Myth  Holden – The Inheritors  Hookworms – Pearl Mystic  Iron & Wine – Ghost On Ghost  Jim James – Regions Of Light And Sound Of God  John Wizards - John Wizards Lisa Knapp – Hidden Seam  Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle  – Perils from the Sea  Logos – Cold Mission  Lumerians – The High Frontier  Laura Marling – Once I Was An Eagle  The Necks -  Open  OMD – English Electric  Phosphorescent – Muchacho  R.Seiliog – Doppler  Satelliti – Transister  Son Lux – Lanterns  Teeth Of The Sea – Master  Matthew E White – Big Inner  White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade  Wolf People – Fain

The list is now 51 forgot the Nick Cave album, how could I have been so careless!

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and Apple’s new iTunes Radio have become the latest hope for the troubled music business.

[nickdotwatt-blog]

INNOVATE not PROCRASTINATE

This ia a response that I posted on Facebook to a comment by Una Johnston, SXSW supremo in Europe, in relation to a number of posts about Spotify...

"Less than 10% of artists ever made money from selling records Una. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who never recouped on their advances, and therefore made a penny from their recordings, even though outwardly they seem to have had successful careers (e.g. Bill Nelson http://www.jagshouse.com/music/billnelson.html). I support bands by buying music on Bandcamp where I can, especially as I know the artist gets 85% of the money from music sales and 90% for merchandise (unlike the labels, even good indie ones). 

However, even at my maddest I wouldn't have bought 22 albums in one week, so their is no loss of sale here. Me hearing their music is an opportunity that the labels need to somehow grasp and monetize - however the labels business, marketing and sales skills are so hopelessly antiquated (and frankly often incompetent) that I doubt they will ever work out how to monetize the myriad opportunities that digital offers them - they still haven't discovered search marketing as a way to drive sales, for heavens sake!).  Spotify allows me to at least hear the music and give artists some recompense (even if it's a small one) for listening to their music. With some of these albums I will often only listen to them once or twice - finding that they are either not to my taste, or a simply not very good. I'm not sure if this is a symptom of the digital revolution (cheap access to the tools of production, and all that) or the lack of good A&R men (that artists trust, and allow some input into their output), the quality control seems to have gone down quite dramatically, not up. Should I have also been charged to listen to those records in a record shop or on the radio (old school) or via Soundcloud (new school), for example? At least with Spotify the artist and label make some money. When does it stop being promotion and start being a money making opportunity? Spotify and streaming services like it will work, but as Korda Marshall and (surprisingly) Dave Stewart have pointed out, it needs a lot more scale - ie. 60m subscribers globally, not the current 6m they have - to really work and give a 'decent' return back to artists and their labels. Even, though my £9.99 a month will be spread rather thin, that still means that I will spend £119.88 per annum on music just via Spotify, which is about 3-4 times above the national average spend on music. Most people still don't spend on music at all. And add in that I pay for subscriptions for both my sons, our investment in music via Spotify alone is over £350 per annum. Streaming services IMHO are the future, whether we like it or not. Easy to use, portable, and the sound quality will improve as broadband improves (we could be streaming studio quality WAV files by 2020). And I won't have to buy all my music again when the format changes, as we all did in the past. What a con, that was!! And lest not forget a big chunk of Spotify is owned by the (major) labels; how much of the money they get from Spotify do their artists ever see? I suspect none. What still bugs the hell out is that too few people in the record business have taken into account that the world has changed FOREVER, and therefore need to come up with new ideas and new business models that work for consumers first (and not themselves). The old model is bust, the industry needs to create new ones. Their has been a revolution, and the industry decided not to take part. INNOVATE not PROCRASTINATE should be the industry's war cry. Not BITCH and MOAN about the world has changed AND that consumers are passing then by or coming up with solutions you never thought about because you didn't 'get' technology or what consumers really wanted (MOS's Lohan Presencer being the latest court jester to play King Canute). The old model was pretty shit and corrupt when it came to rewarding its artists. It made a few people very very rich, most didn't. The music industry's attempts to reinvent itself in the digital age is still frankly derisory. Music and the people who make it will win out in the end, it's the labels that I don't see a future for unless they wise up and reinvent themselves. Rant over…"

[nickdotwatt-blog]

I was a huge fan of Last.fm, but always found that it lacked the serendipity  that comes with human recommendations, so no surprise that an increasing number of services are going back to basics...

[nickdotwatt-blog]

[nickdotwatt-blog]

What makes a branded mobile app worth downloading and interacting with?

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Gamification How Effective Is It?

Gamification: How Effective Is It?

View more PowerPoint from Social Physicist

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Matt Morrison on the ball as ever about sentiment analysis. Robots suck....

[nickdotwatt-blog]

Twitter offers a less invasive way for advertisers to reach relevant consumers than Facebooks Social Graph?

[nickdotwatt-blog]

The book industry is going through the same problems the record industry experienced, but at a highly accelerated pace. And like the record business it's marketers simply don't have the skills to operate in this new world. Which entertainment sector will be next to be disintermediated by their smarter and faster moving digital competitors?