Lindsey Stirling: Take Flight

I love this video—it's beautiful and inventive. The music's not too shabby either...

The Cure, Kyoto, and music...

As many of you will know, I am a huge fan of The Cure: as far as I am concerned, they are the best band on the planet. And, of course, "Disintegration is the best album in the world ever!"

My parents had Lovecats on 7", but I hadn't really heard any more than that. But, in my first year at Eton, I was wandering back to my room, past the room of the House Head of Games—and I heard this wonderful keyboard riff as the spine of this dreamy, creepy sounding song. Ding-ding-ding ding-ding, ding-ding-ding ding...

Ollie Lane was five years above me—in age and hierarchy—and so, even though he was the older brother of Dom (my contemporary), it took me a few days to summon up the courage to tap, nervously, on his door (as the song was playing again) and ask whether I could borrow the song and record it onto a cassette.

"No," he said. "You can't. You can't borrow the song: but you can borrow—and listen to—the whole album. Bring it back in a few days, and let me know what you think."

I had been brought up on my parents traditional Sixties music—the Beatles, the Strawbs, and similar sounding stuff. And the songs that I had occasionally heard on Top of the Pops (at the fag-end of the 80s—you know, Kylie, Jason, Tiffany, etc.) were deeply uninspiring.

So I admired the album cover (still one of my favourite pieces of artwork), and listened to this album...

And then here were these little worlds: neatly encapsulated dream sequences, Spanish-style hangover furies, hugely absorbing emotion-scapes, and blood, and fury, and tenderness, and...

And I drove my parents mad: my small allowance went on Cure albums (and cigarettes), every present I asked for was a Cure album, and I played them incessantly. Indeed, I still do (and am lucky enough to have a wife who has become a convert—although, possibly, through some sort of survival instinct).

I sailed around university with massive, back-combed hair and baggy suits—plus, of course, an air of alcohol and desperation. I was in my own little world—a world conjured and painted, just for me, by the Cure's varied and beautiful landscapes. And, whenever I listen to their music—my music—I am back in those vividly painted worlds.

Oh, and that first song? It will seem trivial to some of you, and possibly banal to others: but that doesn't alter the fact that there is a very big place in my sensibilities for Kyoto Song, from the classic The Head On The Door album...

And so began my love affair with The Cure—an affair that has yet to end.

Let's be Frank

Via someone on Twitter, I was directed to the Grauniad's pathetic hatchet job on Frank Turner (I hope that my post wasn't the trigger).

The article's author—Michael Hann—claims that he has reviewed Frank's albums in the past, but hadn't realised that Turner wasn't the greatest fan of the state. Presumably Hann skipped Sons of Liberty.

But here is Frank's heinous crime:

Turns out his libertarianism and belief in the power of the people to resist oppression aren't of the leftist sort. They're of the rightist sort.

Right. So, in the world of Hann, belief in individuals is fine so long as you label yourself "left-wing", but that same belief is evil if you don't.

Nice.

Hann then responds to some of the commenters below his article:

The Guardian is a leftwing newspaper. What we do is disagree with the right.

Uh huh. And I thought that a "leftwing newspaper" might be for something. Like the betterment of the working man, or the empowerment of the masses, or better education, or something.

But no: apparently, "a leftwing newspaper" exists to "disagree with the right".

Which is just one of the reasons why normal people are so disengaged from politics: the whole charade is one bunch of highly privileged people disagreeing with another bunch of highly privileged people over rarified philosophies, the outcomes of which always screw the hard-working people of this country—treating them all, rich or poor, as nothing more than cash-cows for the expensive experiments of the pusillanimous, disconnected bigots that inhabit Whitehall, Westminster and Fleet Street.

Frank's reply to Hann can be found in full on his blog—I will quote the most pertinent bits.

My politics are based on principles like democracy, individuality, equality of opportunity, distrust of power and, above all else, freedom, including economic freedom. They’re not the same as when I was 19, or indeed 23 – a few more years kicking around the world has made me adjust my views a little, although the basic principles remain the same. Once I would have called myself an anarchist. These days I suppose the word “libertarian” does pretty well for me, though I suspect it’s a little over-intellectual as a description. I just think the world works better when people are left alone to do what they want as much as possible.

Incidentally, here’s some things I’m not: “Tory”, “conservative”, or “Republican”. If you don’t know the difference between these and libertarians, I suggest reading up a little before slagging me off. I don’t consider myself “right wing” either. I’m just not a leftist.

A lot of people have been treating this as some kind of reveal. Given that the journalist was quoting from an interview from 3 years ago[*] that seems a little odd to me. There’s something about it in the FAQ on here, and Poetry Of The Deed (2009) had a song on it called “Sons Of Liberty” which was about this kind of thing. As it happens, I don’t want my music to be particularly political (as I’ve been saying for ages) so I don’t talk about it that much. But it’s not like I keep it secret either. A lot of the fuss here to me seems to be because some people have had an idea of what they want me to be, and have discovered I’m not that. Sorry, I guess, although I’d say that it’s be much worse for me to pretend otherwise to please them, or sell records, or whatever.

At the end of the day, some people will disagree with my politics. That’s fine. I’m not trying to tell anyone what to do with their lives Most of my friends disagree with me, not least Billy Bragg and Chris T-T. But, being adults, we understand that intelligent people can disagree about stuff. Despite occasionally running my mouth (a bad habit of mine, which I’m working on) I don’t think people who call themselves socialists are evil, mad, stupid or deserving of being attacked; I just see the world differently. In everything I do, I try to treat everyone with equal respect and consideration. I’d hope that the way I’ve gone about my music career would attest to that to some degree. I’ll drink a beer with anyone.

I will state, for the record, that all of the above is absolutely true. I am not going to pretend a massive intimacy—we met through a mutual friend who knew that Frank read your humble Devil.

However, Frank and I have been for a few drinks a number of times and I will state, (again) for the record, that not only is the man himself thoroughly decent but all of those surrounding him—who are of a number of political persuasions—are thoroughly nice too. By their friends shall ye know them (or somesuch).

* In this interview, Frank actually mentions your humble Devil. I think that we had first met a few months before...

I dunno, I must admit I’m friends with a guy. Have you ever heard of The Devils Kitchen? It’s a libertarian political blog. The guy, Chris Mouncey [sic], who runs it became leader of the libertarian party, which is a really small political party. Now, I’m uneasy around fringe parties because it just seems like a fucking waste of time. Having said that, I do agree with what they say. I’ve been talking to Chris because I think they’re using the song Sons Of Liberty as one of their campaign songs or something *laughs*. I don’t know, fuckin’ a. You know what, if there’s a Libertarian party candidate I’ll probably vote for them just to make Chris feel better about his life. It’s difficult because, at the end of the day, politics is the art of the possible. The kind of politics where you sit around in circles discussing abstract theorisation of how society can be run is essentially pointless because it doesn’t change anyone’s life for the better. If you’re gonna take an interest in politics, you might as well take an interest in it that’s actually gonna make a difference to anything.

Well, I'm sorry to have let you down, mate. But—hey!—one can only try...

At best, I was a reluctant politician (I took the job of leader because no one else wanted it) but, then, the idea of being in government—or even trying to get there—is never going to sit well with a libertarian.

I do far more good—and benefit far more people—by doing my day-job well. Which is, after all, why this place has been so quiet of late.

So, all I can say to Frank is "ignore the Guardian and its armies of student wankers, and carry on doing your day-job well..."

My favourite Olympics moment...

... was, without doubt, my friend Frank Turner going the warm-up for the Opening Ceremony with his song I Still Believe.

Why? Because it's a really good song but also because he stood and warmed up the crowd with the line "Come ye, come ye, to soulless corporate circus tops".



One can only admire his cheek!

I met him through a friend, and was thrilled to find that Frank was not only a fan of The Kitchen but also—though once embraced by the left—a thoroughly libertarian gentleman.

But don't take my word for it—just listen to Sons of Liberty (especially the coda)...

So if ever a man should ask you for your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself, tell his friends to do the same.
Because a man who'd trade his liberty for a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them, and neither shall he keep.

I have had lots of fun with Mr Frank Turner—I highly recommend supporting him. Apart from anything else, he's a very nice chap...

Get Real!

As some of you may know, your humble Devil's brother writes songs—many of them pretty damn good—and plays with a band known as Gronk and the Body Doubles.

Here's a video made for It's Not Easy—one of the jauntier numbers* from the forthcoming (self-released) EP, Get Real.



You can hear a selection** of other tracks on Gronk's Soundcloud page.

* Actually, in your humble Devil's opinion, it's a pop treat! However, I might be biased...

** I have 663 songs written or co-written by him in my iTunes. Even allowing for duplicates, live versions, etc., there are probably about 300 original songs, spanning roughly 15 years.

Disintegration

From a review of "the finest albums in the world, ever"*...

A whole lot of this album's appeal is that it's comforting, practically womblike-- big, warm, slow, full of beauty and melody and even joy. The trick, I think, is how well it serves as a soundtrack to that feeling that everything around you is meaningful, whether it's beautiful or horrible or sublime...

I think it remains my favourite album of all time...

* Who said that?

Carnival of Souls: The Evermore Clock

Given that at least one or two people liked the last Carnival of Souls music that I posted, I thought that I would delight those who are interested with the last EP that the band recorded.

The Evermore Clock (And Other Tales Of Wasted Time) was intended to be another 4-track EP, but the band split up before the last two songs could be recorded.

However, the songs here are two of my favourites, and are well worth downloading. They showcase rather well the two sides of Carnival of Souls—the high-energy pop and the dark, introspective side...

1. H5N1
2. The Solomon Clock

An alternative, earlier version of H5N1 was included on Gronk's Tricks of the Light album—under the name Dream On (Hope Springs Eternal) but The Solomon Clock (though a live favourite for some time) was never released.

For those who are interested, The Solomon Clock is a very old, wall-mounted, Dutch-manufactured clock, that depicts the Judgement of Solomon that my grandfather (who was an avid collector of timepieces) possessed and which now sits in my father's house.

My grandfather was a somewhat forbidding character and the clock—with the vignette's moving swords and sceptres—appeared to a young Gronk to chime in the same vein, I think.

In any case, the original recording was done in one night by my brother, and the words—whatever came into his head—were whispered into his MacBook microphone at about 3 in the morning. Most of the words remained in this final release, with only the third verse changed.

Anyway, it's a good song...

Retrospective: Carnival of Souls—Burnt Offerings

A flyer produced by Devil's Kitchen Design (ahem) for one of Carnival of Souls' bigger Barfly gigs.

As regular readers will know, I am a big fan of my brother's music. And there is a lot of it—though none of it "officially" published.

Nevertheless, under the name of "Gronk", I have 468 items in iTunes; as Carnival of Souls, I have 199.

Many of these are remixes, live versions, and other re-workings of variable quality, but I estimate that there are about 400 original songs in this collection—and I know that I'm short a few that he's written this year...

Currently, he writes and records (on his MacBook) as Gronk, and plays live as Gronk and the Body Doubles (here's a short review of their last gig although, alas, the reviewer was unable to stay for the second set).

In this incarnation, his music is more traditional bluesy rock, with a few tracks harking back to his earlier, moodier roots. Here's an amateur recording of The Empty Quarter (the only video that I can find) from a few months ago.



My brother's first band, Carnival of Souls, went through three main incarnations from 1996 through 2006 (I think) and produced some excellent songs and some amazingly atmospheric soundscapes—both live and in their recordings.

Every now and again, I find some song that I haven't listened to in years (or discarded when I first listened to it) and find myself immersed in some epic—such as this eight and a half minute, four movement version of The World Is Bleeding.

Carnival of Souls eventually imploded through a combination of musical differences, personality clashes, and a hedonistic, drug-fuelled rock-star lifestyle with no rock-star income (or even any music deal) to support it. It may be that, one day, they will get back together and play again...

But whilst searching for something to listen to the other day, I decided (for the first time in ages) on Carnival of Souls' last "release"—an EP called Burnt Offerings which, while of more conventional fare, nevertheless consisted of four excellent tracks.

And as I listened (whilst coding frantically), I was reminded of how excellent they were...

The Carnival of Souls fanbase, once quite large for a small band that only once gigged outside London (at Standon Calling), has largely dispersed; most of their music has now fallen between the cracks—which I think is a pity.

So, in the spirit of an historian, if you like, I make my Burnt Offerings (with original artwork by DKD) to the gods of the blogosphere.

1. Embers
2. Just Because...
3. Subject To Change
4. Lilac
5. All four tracks in a zip file for download

I hope that you enjoy the music... and turn it up!

Babybird—Back Together

Your humble Devil was hopping around YouTube and suddenly remembered this song: alas, neither the video or sound are the best, but it's still a great song.



For me, it was a break-up song—sad, yet glorious; melancholy but uplifting. It kept me getting out of bed each day.

That and the drink.

UPDATE: I've also been revisiting some of my brother's older songs, particularly a four-track EP that was "released" as Burnt Offerings—it's really excellent. So, for your aural pleasure, here's Just Because...

Christmas blog post of the year 2009...

... has to be Chris Dillow's learned analysis of the economic fallacies and cognitive biases in popular pop songs, e.g.

Let’s move to Cheryl Cole [YouTube]:

Anything that's worth having
Is sure enough worth fighting for
Quitting's out of the question
When it gets tough, gotta fight some more

The first two lines are acceptable. But the last two, surely, are not. Except in cases of severe duress, which Mrs C is not addressing, quitting can never be out of the question. Sometimes, when it gets tough, quitting is the right thing to do. To think otherwise is to commit the sunk cost fallacy.

It's a genius post of dry wit that made me laugh out loud several times. And the comments are pretty excellent too...

O delicious irony!

We have all watched aghast as the big music companies go after file-sharing pirates and hammer them for utterly unrealistic damages—anyone who has thought that the music companies deserve some comeuppance are going to love this story from Ars Technica.

Because, you see, it seems that the music companies have been quite blatantly breaching copyright, and now artists are planning to take them to the cleaners.

The lawsuit in question goes back to October 2008, but continues to be dragged up in the news because new plaintiffs keep joining the case. Most recently, jazz musician Chet Baker's estate has joined the growing list of musicians and artists who are getting on the music industry's case for their abuse of a certain aspect of Canadian copyright practices—something that the labels themselves don't even deny doing.

As University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist pointed out on his blog, the issue stems from a change to the law in the 1980s that eventually produced something known as the "pending list." Essentially, record companies no longer had to get a compulsory license every time they wanted to use a song for, say, a compilation album. Instead, they went ahead and used the song without waiting for authorization or making payment, adding the song to a list of music that is pending authorization and payment. If you're questioning whether you read that right, that basically means the record industries could use songs as long as they pinky swore they would get authorization and pay the artist for it eventually.

As you can imagine, the business didn't quite work that way. Instead of keeping up with its tab on the pending list, the recording industry just kept adding songs—without obtaining any rights. The pending list among the lawsuit's defendants has topped 300,000 songs from both large and small artists alike—300,000 songs that the labels are openly admitting that they have not secured the rights for. In the complaint, the plaintiffs claim that the record companies have been unjustly enriched by the use of their unauthorized music (they have, after all, been selling the music without permission and not paying out).

Aaaaaaahahahahaha! Take that, you thieving, exploitative cunts!

And don't, for a second, think that the artists are playing softball with the music companies. In a wonderful double irony, they are using the music companies' own assessment of damages—used against individual filesharers—as a measure of how much said companies owe in damages.

The recording companies targeted in the suit acknowledge that the pending list reflects unpaid royalties "in excess of $50 million," but the real extent of the damage could go far higher—possibly to the tune of $60 billion. This is because the class is asking for both statutory and punitive damages for the labels' behavior (as Geist points out, the same standards being used to go after individual file sharers), meaning that the labels could be asked to pay up to $20,000 per infringement.

This could be extremely interesting and most certainly it should be highly amusing to watch. Mind you, I would recommend buying your albums as soon as possible: if the music companies lose, they'll be trying to recoup their losses from you and me...

Sons of Liberty

Frank Turner: boundless energy.

A couple of weeks ago, your humble Devil was invited to watch a concert by an up-and-coming musician called Frank Turner (here profiled in the Evening Standard).

It's been a while since I went to a gig that wasn't James, The Waterboys or my brother—and so it's been an age since I went to a gig where I didn't really know the music. I was pleased to find that it didn't terribly matter...

... as Frank piled into his set with a boundless and furious energy that pulled me in from the moment that it started. The one song of his that I had heard properly (on the radio) was The Road (you can hear it on his MySpace page) and it was even more driving and energetic live than on the recording.

The big sing-along track, though, was Sons of Liberty—the words of which I entirely endorse...

Sons of Liberty

Once an honest man could go from sunrise to its set
Without encountering agents of his state or government
But a sorry cloud of tyranny has fallen across the land
Brought on by hollow men, who did not understand
That for centuries our forefather have fought and often died
To keep themselves unto themselves, to fight the rising tide
And that if in the smallest battles we surrender to the state
We enter in a darkness whence we never shall escape

When they raise their hands up our lives to possess
To know our souls, to drag us down, we'll resist.

Watt Tyler led the people in 1381
To meet the king at Smithfield and issue this demand:
That Winchester's should be the only law across the land
The law of old King Alfred's time, of free and honest men.
Because the people then they understood what we have since forgot:
That a government will only work for its own benefit
And I'd rather stand up naked against the elements alone
Than give the hollow men the right to enter in my home

When they raise their hands up our lives to possess
To know our souls, to drag us down, we'll resist.

Stand up Sons of Liberty and fight for what you own
Stand up Sons of Liberty and fight, fight for for your homes.

So if ever a man should ask you for your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself, tell his friends to do the same.
Because a man who'd trade his liberty for a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them, and neither shall he keep.

Your humble Devil attended the after-show party and had a long chat with Frank (who is a fan of The Kitchen) and he is, indeed, a committed libertarian—an unusual thing in the music industry. It's also rather refreshing—we tend to hear from lefty tax-dodging arseholes like Bono or loony Gaia-worshippers like Sting but few musicians are avowed fans of freedom.

As such, I highly recommend listening to Frank's music and, especially, going to see him live: not only because he is a talented man, but because supporting a libertarian voice in the media is a good thing to do.

And watch out for a possible hook-up between Frank and LPUK in the future...

How appropriate

Guido points out that NuLabour sullied a fine band and a fine song when they played James's Sit Down for Gordo's speech.

What struck Guido was the interesting choice of music at the beginning. “Sit Down” by James which includes the lyrics:

Those who feel the breath of sadness
Sit down next to me
Those who find they’re touched by madness
Sit down next to me
Those who find themselves ridiculous
Sit down next to me

A somewhat insensitive choice for the Prime Mentalist’s entrance…

True enough. Although, it's also worth noting that this excellent song also contains these lyrics...

Now I’ve swung back down again
It’s worse than it was before
If I hadn’t seen such riches
I could live with being poor

I imagine that some of the three million unemployed could probably sympathise with those words, as would anyone who has been otherwise hit by this recession.

Methinks that either someone really didn't think this through, or someone thought it through really, really carefully...

UPDATE: thanks to the heads-up from Gregg Beaman in the comments, I found James singer Tim Booth's reaction when Gordon used Sit Down as his introductory song last year...

We have always been supportive of the Labour Party, as well as Greenpeace, Amnesty and CND, but obviously the machinations of a desperate politician trying to restore unity by using our song is not something we are totally behind. The Labour Party has become quite similar to the Conservative party and it's hard to tell the difference between the two these days, it's certainly not as clear cut as it used to be.

There are some real ironies in the lyrics of "Sit Down", which was played just before Gordon Brown spoke to his conference this week. "Those who find they're touched by madness/Sit down next to me/Those who find themselves ridiculous/Sit down next me." That would have been a nice irony if they had played that line and he had put his hand up. And then there's, "If I hadn't seen such riches/I could live with being poor".

Obviously, I don't subscribe to Tim's politics, for all that I love James as a band (why is it that artists are almost always Lefty twats?), but I think that calling the Gobblin' King a "desperate politician trying to restore unity" is pretty spot on.

If the Labour Party started using it regularly we would have to have some words but as a one off, that's life, isn't it?

Perhaps Tim would like to "have some words"...?

Miscellaneous meanderings

In my day job, I deal with web development projects that require us to achieve very high levels of Web Accessibility*.

More and more of our clients are wanting to be able to put videos on their websites and want to know what is involved in doing so whilst still maintaining Accessibility. One of the things that you need to do is to provide a transcript, so that those who cannot see can understand what is actually in said video.

However, some things are extremely difficult to describe. Let's take the song Daniel, by Bat For Lashes—simply because I discovered it a couple of days ago and really like it. I particularly like the video, which features some rather beautiful, if dark, imagery.


Watched it? Excellent. Now, here's the Wikipedia write-up of this video...

Directed by Johan Renck, the music video was shot in January 2009. The music video starts with Khan in a room, alone, singing the song; and when the chorus sets in, black-clad "shadow" figures come from out of the dark and start to dance with her. Later in the video, Khan appears driving a car, and while she's crying, the shadows start to get into the car and touch her and she tries to fight them off. When she almost gives up, a boy (Daniel) appears in the middle of the street, and so she stops the car, runs up to him and embraces him.

I can't help thinking that it doesn't quite do the video justice. I mean, this paragraph does kind of describe what's going on—although I think that the writer has rather missed the violence in the "dance"—but it just seems a bit... well... limp.

Of course, it doesn't help that the written word has to be Accessible too; any copy on your website should be comprehensible to someone with eleven years of formal state education—so you cannot use sentences of more than fifteen words, or words of more than three syllables. Meaning that, ironically, the word "accessible" is not actually Accessible (and neither is "comprehensible").

Presumably this point would not be quite so restrictive were the state not so absolutely fucking incapable of teaching people to read and write their own bloody language.

As a case in point, the word "despotic"—although of only three syllables—is presumably not Accessible since, apparently, A-level History students are unaware of its meaning, as Deogolwulf points out...

Some of our country’s “advanced”-level students of history have been complaining about a question which appeared in an examination: “How far do you agree that Hitler’s role 1933-45 was one of despotic tyranny?”. The phrase “despotic tyranny” has caused some upset...
...

Doubtless it is sometimes difficult to determine the meaning of the various usages of words and phrases. I, for instance, have trouble understanding what “advanced” means.

What is so distressing about this is not that A-level students might be ignorant of the word—although that is, frankly, pretty fucking pathetic—but that they are cheerfully whining like little bitches with a skinned knee—and simultaneously proclaiming their fucking ignorance from the rooftops. And Laban Tall agrees...

What's at once impressive, pathetic and sad are the self-righteous complaints of the students. Look and despair. These are next year's university intake. And I'm sure they have worked hard, and are no less bright than previous generations. I seem to remember that the Brave New educational world was going to be skills-based, not facts-based - that students would be 'taught to learn' and then they'd be self-powered, self-motivated learners, 'accessing and evaluating a range of sources' etc etc, instead of all that dull rote stuff, those dates and Kings and Queens. Yet here they are shouting 'it wasn't in the book'. Don't tell me that it was all a load of leftie cobblers dreamed up by the Institute of Education the month after some particularly good Colombian arrived ?

As Laban also points out, it was all of five years ago that Batshit Miliband was making grand claims for NuLabour's education strategy.

The "Blair generation" will be the best educated in history, the school standards minister, David Miliband, promised yesterday as he backed a drive to engage parents more in their children's education.

Like every other NuLabour initiative, it seems that the education promises were fruitless, PR-soundbite icing, layered on top of a cake made of bollocks, shit and empty spin.

Because here we are, five years later, with fucking A-Level students pig-ignorant of quite basic vocabulary—and feeling entitled to moan about it—when really they should shut the fuck up and accept that it was their lack of knowledge of a pretty basic word in their own language that has tripped them up. At the same time, these students' teachers should hang their heads—or themselves—in shame.

Having said all of that, I suppose that it is no coincidence that NuLabour is not keen on teaching students words like "despotic" and "tyranny": after all, as is proposed in 1984, if you remove the vocabulary to describe certain things then you remove the ability to think them...

* I know The Kitchen isn't very accessible—it's through lack of time rather than a lack of knowledge. The next template will be as Accessible as I can make it.

BBC: the sound of unbelievably biased bollocks

Yes, yes; your humble Devil knows that he tends to bang on about Apple, but then I do like to witter on about things that I am enthusiastic (and sometimes even knowledgeable) about. But this particular rant is not so much about Apple as the BBC's ludicrously biased and piss-poor reporting.

Apple to end music restrictions

Apple Inc has agreed to start selling digital songs from its iTunes store without copy protection software.

"So, what's wrong with that?" you may ask. Well, despite acknowledging, at the bottom of the article that...

... Steve Jobs, published an open letter called 'Thoughts on Music' in which he called on the three big record companies to ditch DRM...

... the Beeb is giving the erroneous—and very definite—impression that it was Apple that insisted on having DRM on songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store (iTMS).

This is simply not the case: even if one didn't know anything about the negotiations between the music industry and Apple when iTMS was first set up, the fact that Apple have been selling EMI music without DRM for about a year—because EMI agreed to it—might have given an observer a pretty big fucking clue as to where the driver was coming from.

At present, most music downloaded from Apple's iTunes store can only be played through an iTunes interface or iPod.

Ooh, how evil! And, of course, Windows DRM'd files play on everything, don't they. Well, apart from Macs and iPods, of course. Oh, and Linux. Twats.

But it is this paragraph that really gripped my shit. [Emphasis mine.]

The move could potentially spell the end for DRM limited music, which was never popular with users or the record industry.

You fucking what? DRM was never popular with the music industry? Can you define "music industry" for me, you fuckwit? Do you mean "the artists" or are you referring—as I think most people would assume—to the music publishing companies?

Because the latter were really fucking keen on DRM and to try to claim that they weren't is just... well, it's just absolutely fucking barking. The music industry wasn't keen on DRM in the same way as the TV and film companies aren't currently keen on DRM, i.e. they were really fucking keen.

The fact that the music companies have finally fucking realised that DRM not only didn't work, but actively encouraged people to say, "fuck you, you music company shits: I'm going pirating" is a great move, but to try to claim that DRM was "never popular" with "the music industry" is just fucking ignorant.

To try to make it look as though it was Apple that insisted on everything in the iTMS having copy-protection on is stupid, wrong and unprofessional.

Fucking hellski...

Tricks of the Light

Artwork by your humble Devil...

Andrew Ian Dodge reviews my brother's latest download-only album.

Gronk: Tricks of the Light

There is an almost David Gilmor quality to the songs on this album. The lush songs just ooze with feeling and pathos.

It's hard not to be moved by such tracks as Every So Often, which has an almost epic feel to it.

While the orchestration is quite big the songs sound basic and approachable. A lot of effort clearly went into the tracks on this album and it shows.

There is a soundtrack element to this CD that just screams for some of the tracks to be included in the latest American drama. They would work especially well as the show ends in those dramatic emotional scenes.

Why Gronk does not have a deal is beyond me. He clearly has the talent that should warrant such an event.

There is something for everyone on here. Mellow yet still atmospheric and interesting, it's quite an enjoyable trip. Wanderlust would be perfect head-phone as you drift off to sleep on an over-night flight.

Should any of you like the sound of the album (and it is really good), it is only available for download from Gronk's website.

I haven't got around to automating the process yet, but you simply pay your £5 (for fourteen tracks) via PayPal, and you will be sent a link to the download within minutes...

A little light relief...

... after the last entirely cathartic tirade.

The new visualiser in iTunes 8.0, Magnetosphere, is quite simply beautiful, positively hypnotic. So, here is Carnival of Souls' forthcoming web release, H5N1, accompanied by a video of graphics generated by Magnetosphere.


I feel more relaxed now; in fact, I am feeling sleepy...

Tricks Of The Light

I'm not sure that it's finished yet, but here's the progress so far...


I'd forgotten how much I enjoy doing this sort of thing...

Relax...

Sorry, I'm lacking inspiration at present, mainly because pressures of time are preventing me posting something prolix and insulting; never mind, I suspect that a quiet weekend born of waiting for pay day will provide the required space.

In the meantime, I've not been tremendously impressed with the singles that have so far been released in anticipation of the new Cure album (called 4:13 Dream and released on October 13th. Probably): they all seemed a bit average, with Fat Bob's voice sounding particularly thin and shrill.

However, this live track recording of a song called Underneath The Stars is rather lovely, with the dreamy sound reminiscent of the Disintegration LP.


In other music news, my brother has also sent me some new tracks over the last few months, and I am going to start compiling, and doing artwork for, his new solo album, Tricks Of The Light.

Over the last eight months or so, Gronk has written and recorded about thirty tracks, of which sixteen are on the shortlist—the eventual album will probably feature eleven or twelve of those. In keeping with the mood of Underneath The Stars, here is a mellow Gronk instrumental—A Mist of Stars.

In the meantime, I have been looking at some amazing artwork sites recently—such as PSDTUTS—and realised that I have become very lazy with my art of late. For Tricks..., I want to put together one of the really complex compositions, with tens of layers, that I used to do when I first started this designing lark...

Festing

Bribed by a free pass, your humble Devil is chauffering Gronk and some bandmates up to the Standon Calling Festival today, so that they can play their gig...

Posting will be light to non-existent until the evening...