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- Gil Scott-Heron: share your memories
There's something especially heartbreaking about the passing of the godfather of rap
There's perhaps something especially heartbreaking about the passing of Gil Scott-Heron now when, after years of drug problems and jail spells, his career had been put back on track thanks to I'm New Here, his stunning collaboration with XL Recordings boss Richard Russell. In fact, Gil was only just back from touring Europe when years of bad living finally caught up with him.
Still, at least the man whose influence on the music world is immeasurable (especially that of hip hop, rap and neo soul) had one final chance to remind a new generation that his was a voice like no other.
Who could possibly claim to hear On Coming From A Broken Home, the opening track on I'm New Here, without their body freezing on the spot as that voice cut its way towards what Gil himself described as "the absolute marrow" of your bones?Even without paying attention to the lyrics – a moving tribute to the female figures that shaped his, or any man's, life – Gil's voice was as devastating an instrument as you're likely to ever hear. Rather than showing signs of damage after all those years of abuse, it seemed to have aged instead like the finest cask of rye. The album looked away from the swing of Gil's early jazz and soul-tinged releases towards a more skittish, trip hop backdrop, but that didn't mean the record lacked soul. After all, Gil's voice was soul.
You could gauge the vast influence of Gil Scott-Heron without even having to listen to a note of his music. When LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy starts rattling through his list of the most important, underrated figures in music on Losing My Edge (a list that stretches from This Heat to the Sonics) only one figure is worthy of the full on exclamation treatment: "Gil! Scott! Heron!"
Gil will be remembered most, of course, for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the 1970 spoken word track still regarded as one of the greatest pieces of political music ever put to tape.
You will doubtless hear more about that, along with other tributes to Gil, on guardian.co.uk/music over the coming days (Richard Russell has already blogged about the last time he spoke to Gil), but for now we'd love for you to share your memories of how this most unique musical voice moved you…
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Music Weekly: Kate Bush's Tour of Life
Not only has Kate Bush just released the album Director's Cut, but she's even been talking about releasing another one. New material may be on its way, but chances of seeing Bush live are slim; the singer famously only ever performed one tour, the 1979 Tour of Life. It was a no-holds-barred theatrical extravangaza, and this week, the panel hear from two people involved in that legendary experience to find out why it was a one-off.
In Singles Club, the panel hear new music from John Talabot, Black Lips, and Fucked Up, while Michael Hann reprises the Feature With No Name to pour love on Van Halen.
There's also a few words from XL's Richard Russell about being part of Team Adele, who top the Guardian's Power 100 Music Power List and Massachusetts band DOM play us out with a live version of their song Jesus.
That's your lot. Leave a message below, or drop us a tweet @MusicWeeklyPod – thanks for your retweets. You can also follow us on Facebook too.
See fan pictures of Kate Bush's Tour of Life, as submitted by Simon Drake
Переслать - Behind the music: Will record labels and streaming services ever agree?
Former BPI chariman Tony Wadsworth discusses the difficulties involved in securing streaming rights from major labels
In a recent report for Music Tank, Tony Wadsworth challenged the myth that record labels are dinosaurs. At the Great Escape conference in Brighton, the BPI chairman and former CEO of EMI made the case for labels, pointing out that they are now leaner, more diversified and still, by far, the biggest investors in new music.
"They haven't been displaced by other entrants," he says. "Many have tried and many have failed. Investing in artists is empty unless it comes bundled with skills. Live Nation, for example, [struck a $150m deal with Jay-Z] – yet they didn't manage to establish a new business model." The managers Wadsworth spoke to said they appreciate the work a record-company team does, and that it gives them much more momentum and increases the likelihood of success.
Even Radiohead licensed their In Rainbows album, noted for its pay-what-you-like release, to a number of record labels around the world. Maybe this explains why, in a recent survey by ReverbNation, over 75% of independent artists (including 81% of hip-hop artists and 63% of alternative artists) still aspire to get signed to a record label. The survey also showed that major labels made up the top 10 on the wish lists for artists in every music category.
But how do record labels fare when it comes to licensing new music services? UK labels fare better than labels anywhere else in the world, as they've so far licensed 72 digital music services, according to the BPI. Yet a source involved in many digital music licensing negotiations complained of labels raising their rates in recent negotiations. He also asked what new music services have been launched in the UK in the past two years, apart from mflow. I put the question to Wadsworth. "You've put me on the spot there," he replied. "I'm sure there must have been [some]." He adds that his perception is that rates have actually declined. "I don't want to call [the source] a liar – maybe it was just the deals he was involved in. There was a time when labels wanted equity in almost every service they licensed. That, I'm assured, has moved on and is less the case now. The labels know that it's in their interest to enable new services, and they do – but without putting everything on the table and saying 'take what you want'."
A publisher recently told me they had a deal in place with Google's cloud service, which subsequently launched without licenses in place, but suggested that record labels posed a problem. "So what Google are saying is that everybody was fine apart from the people who own the recordings – that they were being really awkward?" Wadsworth retorts. "What's the alternative [to putting up a fight]? Do you just say: 'Whatever you want to do is great, because you do no evil, we believe.' Nobody's telling me that Google can't afford to pay for music at the right rate, and I don't believe that the record labels are asking for an unreasonable rate from Google. What we can tell by the way it's often articulated by Google, and the way it's sometimes articulated by people in government who are close to Google, is that Google see licensing of creative content – and I include books in that – as being an inconvenience. So of course Google thinks the labels are being difficult. You can actually say the same, winding the clock back, about Napster – they just didn't want to pay."
Wadsworth believes the reason negotiations for Virgin Media's proposed music service have stalled is not due to the amount of money the record labels asked for, but the anti-piracy measures the labels wanted the ISP to implement. This brings us to the Digital Economy Act (DEA). "A lot of people in our industry have been saying that the DEA is a lame duck, and I wish they wouldn't. That's one of the reasons I did this report, because a lot of people are talking our industry down."
Among the people "talking the music industry down" and criticising the DEA are Featured Artist Coalition members Billy Bragg and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien (though, after a meeting at Air studios in 2009, the coalition voted to support what was then the Digital Economy Bill, with the added provision that consumers who were proven to repeatedly download illegally would have their internet connection temporarily throttled instead of temporarily suspended). Wadsworth calls them selfish. "These are people who are right in the glory days of their careers, where they have all the cream. They obviously seem unwilling to share it with anybody. It's wrong. They should be thinking about younger artists and writers. Where do writers stand in all this? They aren't selling T-shirts, are they? These people need to grow up a little bit, because it's not standing up and showing leadership – it's playing to the gallery, still. If you call an organisation a coalition, you can be strong enough to not have to play to the gallery."
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Herman Dune – Strange Moosic: album stream
The Parisian duo are back with their 10th studio album – and the songs are as sweet as ever
Herman Dune are back with a new album and, surprisingly, they're still to morph into the kind of proposition that might have Slayer quaking in their boots. Innocent indie pop with a dash of wit is still this duo's raison d'être and they do it wonderfully well on Strange Moosic. Take lead single and opening track Tell Me Something I Don't Know – starring Mad Men's John Hamm and a runaway blue furry thing in the video – which is as simple as 60s-style pop gets, and with a lyric that shines a spotlight on the intimacies of a relationship ("You say why don't you go down to the record store?/ I said every new band sounds like I heard them before/ You say I should have lived a hundred years ago/ And then I go 'Tell me something I don't know!'"). Ah Hears Strange Moosic, meanwhile, sounds almost as spectacular as it did at this year's SXSW when the band performed in church with the crowd on backing vocals.
Let us know what you make of the record below.guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Cook along with Steve Albini
The producer has launched a food blog, sharing dishes he prepares for his wife. But he's not the only indie gastro geek ...
Blog: Comment Is Free cook up some other rock star recipesSteve Albini, founder of Big Black and Shellac, producer of PJ Harvey and Nirvana, has a food blog. It's a good one, based around whatever he's recently cooked for his wife. As with his work as a musician and producer, it's a serious affair – but not without humour. For example, it's called mariobatalivoice, after the impression he does of the noted Italian-American chef when plonking his latest dish on the dinner table.
Recently interviewed about the blog by LA Weekly, Albini said he regarded American food shows as populated by "frathouse cocksuckers with gimmick hairdos", which is much the same way he felt about mainstream US rock in the 90s. It is all the more fitting that a producer so committed to fuss-free recording also appreciates our own Fergus Henderson's equally forthright, no-frills approach to cooking.
Albini's blog is the latest crossover between the worlds of food and indie rock, discussed by the Guardian's indie professor a few months ago. And there is even more where that came from. Foals kebyoard player Edwin Congreave has opted for the Alex Kapranos route, detailing the band's on-the-road eating habits via Tour Bar Blues. Congreave becomes particularly enthusiastic when the itinerary reaches the Mecca of indie foodies: Portland, Oregon. It's a place where you will find former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval hawking Mexican meals from one of the many food trucks for which the city is famous.
We now live in a world where the drummer from Grizzly Bear makes his own pasta and indie musicians are as likely to be interviewed by excellent food website Eater as Spin magazine. And if you want to go to extremes, there's always "dishes inspired by indie-rock albums" of Eating the Beats. As for anyone thinking this is getting silly – you'll be pleased to know that the satirical Portlandia is a step or three ahead of you.
As the indie professor pointed out, both worlds share an interest in "authenticity". Though I'd argue that, as with music, indie foodies sometimes prize dogma over more important ideas, such as deliciousness. An overpriced, poorly executed "artisan" meal purchased in Portland, Williamsburg, or even London's Dalston, being the equivalent of an album you download because it was rated 8.3 on Pitchfork but never play because, on reflection, it's rubbish.
It's also worth paying attention to David Chang, Pavement geek and Michelin-starred chef behind New York's Momofuku, who points out that one of these professions is more like a proper job than the other. Traits required for success in the food world – Herculean work ethic, punctuality, discipline – are not necessarily those celebrated in musicians. So it would be a bad idea to put the newly incarcerated Pete Doherty to work in the prison kitchen ...
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - New music : Beyonce – 1+1
The world's busiest popstar releases yet another song, this one a slushy ballad of the sexy variety
While current single Run The World (Girls) is good for an amazing video and a spectacular live performance or two, it's not really what people want from Beyonce and its chart performance so far has reflected that.
So, it's no great surprise that when performing on the American Idol finale on Wednesday night, Beyonce premiered a new song, the loved up ballad, 1+1. Produced by The-Dream (you can hear his Prince-esque demo here) and featuring the peculiar line "I don't know much about guns but I, I've been shot by you", it showcases a relatively raw vocal performance from Beyonce, presenting a side of her voice she told Billboard she wanted to use more of on her forthcoming album, 4; "I used a lot of the brassiness and grittiness in my voice that people hear in my live performances, but not necessarily on my records."
It's certainly evident in this oddly intimate video shot by husband Jay-Z backstage before the American Idol performance. Filmed in her dressing room with no microphone and simple keyboard accompaniment (and with mum, nephew and various entourage watching), it's a reminder that beneath all the extraneous stuff is a pretty jaw-dropping voice.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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