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MISSION STATEMENT

things to consider:

what you produce An online music magazine, aimed at students

what you do for your customers Try to give the latest news, reviews and features related to popular music.

where you sit in the marketplace online magazines / music fans/ competing with blogs and media websites

the people involved in your business students / artists /

what is your usp By students for students featuring local southcoast artists. completely DIY and unfunded. and free.

the values and philosophy you have n/a

your future plans and objectives get it into print / grow / expand the brand

your vision statement To expand the readership across British universities and improve distrubition, when printed, to wider markets.  

A completely independent online student music magazine working unfunded to bring the latest music news and features for free.

Operating as an online, independent student-ran music magazine, we work tirelessly (unpaid) to bring you the latest music news and features for free. Our emphasis is on concise, to the point journalism with little regard for standards or fact. 

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Need To ask yourself...

EPK FOR ANY UNSIGNED BAND.

1. What is the nature of the communication problem you want to solve?

-how are you going to convince people that your artist should be taken notice of? --Eye catching EPK that shows what they offer that few or no other bands do. (Live experience may be key) -Is being unsigned a problem? --No pr company or label to back them up. show sombody has already put faith in them so you should to.

--WHAT SETS THEM APART

2. Whos is your audience? -Who is their audience? --Teenagers, students, fans of live music. Not chart followers - is it the same as the EPK's audience? --No, EPK will be going out to press and distrubtors. Altho there may be press in their audience at gigs, it is not the group of people they would market themsevles.

3.What is the objective of your communication? --To promote the band, who are currently unsigned. Hopefully boosting exposure so they can sign a deal.

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EPK - Electronic Press Kit

A short film sent out to the industry to promote a new release by an artist.

A script is needed and Friedmann has coined the term 'meta-writing' for this - Finding a way to describe to somebody how your EPK can be created. More on thinking about images than traditional writing. Writing to be made, not read.

Visual writing - making images stand for words

Concept must be created before details can start. This is the key ides and basic vision of the script content. -Handouts give a 7 step model of how to put your EPK's overal idea together.

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Print Vs Online

Not everybody can get their voice heard in print, but text on a screen is a different matter. With blogs and websites being so easy to run these days you can get opinions of every variety on any subject you desire.

Before, the people who had their opinions heard in newspapers were trusted, agreed with and valued. Whereas now, if you don't like what somebody has said on the web about your favourite band, you can just find someone who agrees with you in a couple of clicks. Or better yet, reply with your own view, laced with spite and bile to prove that your opinion is better.

But the major selling factor in all this is price. The internet is free (in a sense) but to read a magazine or newspaper you'll spend upwards of £2 just to read things you probably wont agree with. So everybody gets their views online instead. This has been noticed by magazines and newspapers so now you can get pretty much the whole thing online for free on their website. Shooting themselves in the foot.

Print is dying, fast, and soon it's only going to be the people who like the feel of buying magazines and newspapers left reading them (the same people who buy vinyl or even CD's).

So Ipad and kindle based adobe-style magazines are the way forward if any form of magazine is too survive. 

Otherwise journalists will have to find a second source of income...

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Surfer Blood - Brighton Digital - 8th March

It’s a freezing March night on Brighton’s coast so beach-front club Digital is the perfect setting for beach-bum rockers Surfer Blood to help heat up the night.

No Joy blend stoner rock with Best Coast’s beach-rock pop hooks behind a wall of feedback and distortion. They play a set that never lets up for a rest. Unfortunately, unless you did a bit of research you’d have no idea who they were. Never addressing the audience and only looking up through their curtains of hair to squint skywards reveals their nervous nature (which could be down to the statuesque staring audience). Although, with the bassist constantly chewing his lip and slapping himself, maybe they are just victims of their own stoner-rock genre.

Surfer Blood take the stage a man down in percussionist Marcos Marchesani and open with the second single from Astro Coast, ‘Floating Vibes’. It’s clear from the start that the Brighton audience aren’t much in the mood for any movement beyond some gentle head nodding. Each song gets followed by a gentle ripple of applause with yet more head nodding, and it soon becomes apparent that unless they do something special, Surfer Blood could be in for a long soulless night.

Cue new song, a DIY punk effort that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Wavves setlist. With the crowd suitably woken up, Pitts descended down into the audience for a more carnival sounding ‘Take It Easy’ in an attempt to get someone, or anyone, dancing and singing along.

Pitts was back on centre stage and with the audience finally paying attention, the band launched into ‘Catholic Pagans’ with a new force under their belts. With Pitts screaming out the chorus and TJ Schwarz apparently channelling John Bonham into his drum kit, the night was looking up.

‘Swim’ erupted with more power than was natural for the Florida natives usual laid back surf-rock style and had the crowd who knew the words screaming them along. After the encore everybody was invited for karaoke after the show before the band launched into fan favourite ‘Anchorage’. Schwarz nearly broke his drum kit with some help from Pitts as once again he descended into the audience. But this time he didn’t come back up.

Instead, some unwitting audience member had found himself fronting Surfer Blood using Pitts guitar and leading a free style lo-fi jam session with Pitts screaming his approval up from the front row. Looking suitably confused as he strummed randomly on the guitar, the gig came to an end with Surfer Blood’s new member bowing to the crowd.

The sign of a good band is turning a bad gig into a great one. Surfer Blood aren’t just a good band then, they’re without equals.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Friday 4th Morning Parade- guitar-pop reminiscent of The Automatic that value the sing-a-long chorus above all else. Get Dexter- Lad rock with intelligent songwriting and lyrics, almost an oxymoron but Get Dexter pull it off flawlessly.  Ivienna-unimposing but epic at the same time. Anthemic crescendo's worthy of Bloc Party make up for a genuinely exciting new talent.

Thursday 3rd Nato Jackie Paper - Never more than one man and his guitar, Jackie Paper performs folk that show's a lot more intelligence than the throngs of singer/songwriters at open mic nights across the country.

Wednesday 2nd March The Laurel Collective- No moment is like the next with a math-pop style that's heavy on the pop.  Arp Attack - The Noisette's blended with Ellie Goulding + Two Door Cinema Club for heavy synth laden electro-pop. Alaskin Pipeline-  Etao Shin- 3piece with vocals sitting between spoken word and singing, a long way to go yet.

Monday 1st Identity Thief- Refreshing to hear a female frontwoman to a pop-rock-band that isn't shifting to a faux-american style but also not going completely Kate Nash. Caolin Clay- soulful vocals woven into complex jazz and funk rhythms on the drum and bass. King Of Hearts-energetic heavy rock with a view to play out arena's tracking in the footsteps in the late Stuart Cable's Killing For Company. Spiral Puppet- Electro house dj who's not afraid to play around with sample's until they're near unrecognisable. Shades of Justice, Bloody Beetroots and Scratch Perverts all in one track.  The Survivors Of Fortune City

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Orwell - Lonely Ride (Folkwit Records)

Orwell’s line-up may keep changing, but the principle song-writer Jerome Didelot stays constant.

Three albums have been released so far and the next album, Continental, promises to be a break from the past albums and deliver something new, but still hold some of the themes of the past. Only time will tell.

So, for now ‘Lonely Ride’ is the first glimpse of this new horizon for Orwell fans. After a soothing introduction with only Didelot’s vocals and some electronic synths running up and down to keep you company, you slowly start to hear other instruments making their way into the fold. And that right there is the beauty of this track; it’s the work behind the top layers that you only find when you delve deeper into the song.

The thing about this track is that it is all about how you listen to it. Casually, it’s a capable folk song that’s more pleasurable than not and wouldn’t sound out of place in a musical. Take a deeper look though and you’ll hear the layers slowly build, almost imperceptibly: an organ chime here, a xylophone chord sequence there, until everything comes together to create a classical-pop song with an interesting hook slung on the end of each verse.

This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. If you’re a fan of City and Colour or Laura Marling, this isn’t that. You would have to think more along the lines of Villagers; it’s acoustic folk but with the pop twist that makes it something special to listen to.

Rating: 4/5

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20 Minute Review

Muse at Wembley - Mike Rush

When a band manages to sell out Wembley arena it’s a big thing. But when a band sells out Wembley stadium it’s huge. Muse were the first to pull off this great feat selling out two nights in a row at the 100,000 capacity venue. Problem was, they knew this was big.

The crowd roaring their approval as their three knights rose up from the floor looking up the sky as confetti fell from the heavens. How to follow on from this most pretentious of entrances? Open with your most pompous song to keep the mood going.

  As the wild west styled opening chords that make up Knights of Cydonia chimed in and the anthemic chorusing of voices signalled the start to the evening you come close to forgiving Matt Bellamy and companies ostentatious appearance and start to appreciate Muse’s arena filling majesty.

  Bellamy knows how to play the crowd writhing around the stage as if he’s trying to tame his guitar or just keep it from lifting off. Strutting every centimetre of the stage to assert his dominance.

  As Supermassive Black Hole comes to a close it’s clear that the crowd are starting to lack in energy so a perfectly timed piano section to the set couldn’t be more appreciated, as Chris Wolstenhome gets the crowd recreating Queen’s famous clapping breakdown at the old Wembley in 1985. Feeling Good is the biggest sing along of the evening but never quite reaches the level you dreamed it would live when you heard it through your stereo.

  By New Born, aside from Wolstenhome getting the crowd clapping earlier, you realise that there’s no connection. None of the band again tries to make a link between performer and audience and Bellamy doesn’t even try to make a link with his friends on stage.

  When night falls and Stockholm Syndrome takes off it starts to dawn that you’re not at a Muse gig. You’re at the Matt Bellamy show. Chris and Dominic Howard are resigned to the shadows whilst Bellamy again takes centre stage leading the band into the extended breakdown of the song that is a real highlight of the night, closer resembling a heavy metal band playing out to static and feedback from their instruments.

  All of matt’s alien beliefs come through in one song. Orbital style electronics playing in the song with radar dishes beaming out their space-age green lazers. You almost expect the band to be abducted at the end. Instead flames shoot from the floor and fireworks erupt. Matt finally addresses the crowd for once on leaving the stage, a simple ‘thank you London’. Not bad for 40 quid, no tip for bedside manners though.

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Maps and Legends EP Review

The UK school system doesn’t get enough credit. Without it we wouldn’t be graced with the likes of Bombay Bicycle Club, The Wombats and even Radiohead. So the next export from Britain’s classrooms? Maps and Legends, a four-piece alternative rock band who met at UWE in Bristol and started gigging around the local area, winning local competition after local competition.

The EP starts as it means to go on, first lulling you into a false sense of calm and soft guitar, then driving into a Biffy-esque drum and guitar combo that almost makes you take a step back. Now they say that vocals can make or break a bands chances, if you’re singer isn’t up to scratch, that’s it. Thankfully they couldn’t be better suited to the tracks on this EP, the right mix of Nathan Nicholson (Boxer Rebellion) and Guy Garvey (Elbow).

The second track on the EP, Caught, is probably the weakest of the offerings on show. Although there are some ideas they don’t quite seem to gel. Coming across a little more simple minded in form and lyrical content. Originally this track was a B-side on the Counterfeit Love single release, and it shows.

Storms Across the Bay starts off strong with a stop and start and stutter intro and arpeggiated climbing guitar and bass that both scream their Biffy Clyro influence but it seems to loose faith in the verses. Only picking up to that promised power during and post-chorus.

Arrows is all about juxtaposition. From the intro that combines crunchy lo-fi drums with a sudden shift to crisp clean guitar scaling and lots of snare, to the rise of the arena filling choruses that then leads back to that stop-start drumming.

The last two tracks mellow out and slow down the pace of the EP. Well that is until Curtain Call starts throwing out post-chorus attacks of free flowing guitar and Inside a Circle plays out a chorus of astronomical proportions with the standout lyric of the EP ‘Sit by my side / watch planets collide / like lovers lips on St valentines’. It may be slightly cheesy but you can’t help but not love the metaphor.

All in all a good solid first EP that proves why they won so many of those local band competitions and got them playing at the esteemed Bristol Thekla.

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This is the final version of my page for the Tri-media production assignment. Simple, clean and professional i recon. Just hope whoever marks it thinks the same thing...

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'Fun' writing exercise...

Flaming Lips - Christmas on Mars

sonar....BORED...musical equivelant of screen wipe....groups of different orchestral score style 'songs'...reminds me of 60's to 80's badly acted films...

Turns out it wasn't meant to be listened to like this, was the soundtrack to a film made by the band

Christmas on Mars was a feature film made by the band with the cast made up of members of the band. About the experiences of some major on his first xmas on mars.

Flaming lips are famous for their live performances and trippy, very long, songs with odd titles. Psychedlic rock. Only had one hit in the US with She Don't use jelly. Never breached top 50 in america and been in top 20 three times in uk.

REVIEW -

The music behind Christmas on Mars isn't meant to be listened to on its own, and it shows.

The pyschadelic rock band Flaming Lips decided in 2001 that they wanted to make a movie. And it, being the Flaming Lips, decided to make a movie about the first christmas on a newly colonised Mars. Where the main character, played by guitarist for the band Steven Drozd, decides to hold a pageant for the birth of their first colony baby. Along the way Wayne Coyne becomes a martian Santa Claus and baby's are born out of inflatable bubbles. If The Flaming Lips music was to be given a visual representation, this would be the perfect example.

Pity then that i'm reviewing the music, not the film. The soundtrack to Christmas on Mars was released in 2004 through the bands website and is entirely instrumental. Being a soundtrack to a film the focus is on backing up an image that you are viewing, rather than creating an image for you, this leads to your head running through a thousand images and ideas as you listen. 

The soundtrack opens with 'Once Beyond Hopelessness' and the first image to strike your brain is sonar. And that's about it. It's three minutes of sonar-esque synths droning and bleeping to mimic the emptiness of space, and then it ends.

After what is the equivalent of a musical screen wipe, comes 'The Distance Between Mars and the Earth, Part 1'. 

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Magazine Page Design

So we've just spent the last half hour ripping apart the 2nd or 3rd years attempt at a music magazine(over here).

After turning the gun on someone else we're told to now point it at our own page design. (Which i'll be posting up on this blog friday or saturday).

I've done a first draught on the thing that i threw together in about half an hour but I know how i'm going to make it work. It's an interview i did with chillwave musician Unouomedude. 

It's pretty basic and clean with the title 'Interview: Unouomedude' in the top left. Really haven't put much of what i want to put into it yet, that'll come friday when i start editing about. Found 1 picture i really like for the main pic and a smaller live one that isn't great, probably hunt around for another of those.

I know when i do it what i'm going to avoid though thanks to the audio addict one:

Make sure everything lines up to a grid, nothing off-center or wonky. (draws away attention)

No big white space around items 

Definitely not double line spacing

Keeping text wraps close to the pictures but not encroaching on the image.

Keep it clean and professional...

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Cutoff!Cutoff! - Sing EP - Review

Spontaneous Rhythm dropped a short EP into my lap today from Cutoff!Cutoff!. It’s a small label with only two artists currently signed with 3 EP’s released, two from Diamond Messages and one from the aforementioned Cutoff!Cutoff!.

The Sing EP is a short but sweet 2x2 and is more of a single release with a b-side and a couple remixes than a real EP. But that doesn’t matter.

If you’re a fan of James Blake + other post-dubsteppers you’ll be carried along in the capable hands of Cutoff. The namesake ‘Sing’ is a perfect representation of the notion that a little goes a long way but by no means the star of the EP.

‘T Is To N’ compresses and stretches out vocals over a haunting piano similar to Burial, the master of the medium, to create the sit-up-and-take-notice track.

The Remix’s are easily avoidable however, bland and lifeless they perch awkwardly at the end as merely a formality.

Enjoy the EP from Cutoff!Cutoff! over here.

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Andnowinoudude

Earlier today I had the pleasure of an interview with the man behind Unouomedude, Uno. I’ve raved about him before (see THIS). But in a nutshell he created the soundtrack to this summer, autumn and winter.

And no, I didn’t ask about the name.

-You’re really hands-on when it comes to the internet and your material. Do you feel more artists should be taking a similar route?

I just like talking to people I guess. I appreciate all of the love I get from people, and I’ve met a lot of great friends through my music. I’m kind of at a point right now where there are listeners who are friends, who are acquaintances, and who I don’t know. It’s weird to have people I don’t know listening to my music, so I guess that’s why I like to talk to them. It can be time consuming communicating with so many people, so I can understand when some artists don’t. But at the same time, there will be times when I forget about an artist because they never reply when I reach out to them. So I’d definitely say more artist should communicate with their listeners if they have the time because it is definitely appreciated.

-You’re doing a lot of remixes lately, can we look forward to more of them in the coming months? or is there another focus you’re working towards at the moment?

The first remix I got asked to do was the NazcarNation remix. I had fun working on it and I had always wanted to try my hand at remixing. After that I got asked to do a few more like the Total Warr remix. I kind of like doing remixes, but honestly they take me way to long. I always have to make something that I enjoy at least equally as much as the original so I do quite a bit of brainstorming before and during the process. My computer is pretty slow, so it’s hard for it to handle all of the things I want to do for my own music and remixes especially. I don’t think I’ll be doing any more remixes for a while, but it’s definitely fun while I’m not recording original tracks. I’ve been working on some new releases so I don’t have much time for remixes anyway.

-The ‘Collections - Volume 1’ are very different stylistically to your ‘Marsh’ EP, what brought about the change when you were writing songs?

Well, ‘Collections - Volume 1’ was just a bunch of stuff recorded over a 2 year period, so even in those songs there are some changes. I have taken some larger leaps since then though. I took a break from putting out music for a few months because as I was recording the songs that ended up on Collections, I was growing less fond of the older ones. I decided to just mess around with music and practice more. I started recording ‘Marsh’ knowing that I wanted to make a summer-y record. So ‘Collections - Volume 1’ was basically just a collection of songs I knew some people would still like to hear, and ‘Marsh’ was something I wanted to hear and make. I’m not just “Marsh” though. I have a few other sounds up my sleeve.

-What’s the process for you writing a song? Do you start with a hook and write around that or just fit some sounds to your lyrics?

It varies. For songs like ‘Dream Home’, ‘Island Summer’, and ‘Buildings’, I was just playing guitar and I came up with the riffs on my looping pedal. Later I put it on my computer, remade it, reworked it, came up with some new parts, and then wrote the lyrics. For other songs, I’ll make them up as I record them for the most part. I’ll think of a riff in my head, record it, then add onto it until I have a complete song. It’s rare that I come up with lyrics and music at the same time or that I write the lyrics first. Usually when I write the lyrics first I don’t finish the song or even want to work on it. It constrains me to much.

-Anyone or thing that really inspires you to be creative?

Photographs, dreams, and other visuals usually inspire me. When I hear music, I see a visual, when I see a visual I hear music. That’s one of the things I learned about myself when I took a break from putting out music. If I’m having a writers block, I just look through some photos until I see one that makes music that I’m able to and want to make.

-Who did you listen to growing up?

 I was actually looking through a box that I haven’t opened since 2004 last weekend and found a lot of music from my past. I grew up listening to stuff like Rancid, AFI, HIM, Barenaked Ladies, Prozzäk and MxPx. Listening to those bands taught me a lot about how to write music. 

-Photography seems to be another passion of yours. How is that going lately and is that going to stay a hobby or are you looking to pursue it?

Yeah I enjoy photography quite a bit. I think I’ll continue to do it as a hobby for quite a while. If I’m not able to make a living from making music, then photography would definitely be my second choice.

-Any tips for would-be producers and bedroom artists out there?

Just make whatever form of art you make for you. If you like what you create, someone else will too.

If you want to check out Unouomedude’s music head over to here.