Welcome to my World
Robbie Williams & George Michael: The re-appraisal
Filed in Welcome to my World by Tom Artrocker at 12.27pm on 11 March 10Artrockers,
I am smoking a fag! A big, fat, menthol jobbie. I am doing this at home, not my 'workplace' as such, so don't go calling the cops. I'm allowed, for the time being at least, to smoke in my own home. And as the smoke goes down I say: 'Ooooh, that's lovely!' And as I finish it the stub joins many brothers in my overflowing ashtray. Bliss in the morning. Most of my smoking takes place pre-lunch, I don't know why but the nicotine has less appeal as the day wears on. Where am I going with this? Absolutely nowhere. But I have a funny idea that, in this world of shocks, many people are more shocked by the advocacy of smoking than they are by the advocacy of , for instance, War. Which brings me to Robbie Williams. The 'fat dancer' has been banging the drum for marijuana apparently:
"Weed, it's such a lovely drug. It is such a lovely drug. But it doesn't mix well with me - at all,'' he said. ''It doesn't take much to trigger - I mean, I'll get psychosis from having this cup of tea! Seriously. The caffeine in that's enough. Yeah. A cup of tea will make me feel like s***.''But it's just a shame about weed, because I did love it.'' A statement that has forced me to re-appraise Mr Williams, just as I had to take another look at George Michael, who also likes the odd bifter: "There's not another drug in life that I'm glad I took but grass." Of course Mr Williams apparently believes in UFOs and little green men, while Mr Michael likes to drive his car into things, all of which may not be the greatest advert for the drug, but somehow it makes them more human, more real, more like me.6 Music and Lou Reed
Filed in Welcome to my World by Tom Artrocker at 11.03am on 04 March 10Artrockers,
Let's get 6 Music out of the way first. As far back as 2002 I raved about 6 music in this very mailout, I exhorted you all to rush out and buy DABs so you could all enjoy this wonderful thing. By 2008 the romance was over. What were the factors that made this one time champion of 6 Music lose interest? Mainly it was the playlist, an old fashioned concept possibly suited to Radios 2 and 1 but totally out of place on a radio station catering for well informed music fans and total anathema to the 'new John Peels'. Can you imagine Peel sticking to a playlist? Isn't that what made his show so great? But it was the playlist that made day-time 6 music nigh on unlistenable, that and the 'personality' DJs. I've spent hours reading articles and subsequent comments about the closure, and one thing shines through, the praise is poured on the evening and weekend output, particularly Freak Zone, but there's very little defence of daytime. And they're right, Freakzone is possibly the best music programme anywhere right now - the problem is that ALL of 6 music could be as good as this if they a) dump the playlist b) get rid of the Celeb / Comedian presenters and employ presenters who actually have as much knowledge of the subject as the well informed listenership. Oh, and the other mistake they made was to lose my 7" Vinyl Chart from Marc Riley's show, it was all downhill from there!
Now then, the new issue of Artrocker Magazine is in the shops, you can see the cover somewhere around here. It's full of stuff, as you might imagine, the details of which can be found by giving it a little click.
As you'll see we have Lou Reed exclusive interview, talking about Metal Machine Music, he's over with his trio in April, don't miss it: *Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio plays the Cambridge Junction (April 17), Oxford O2 Academy (April 18) and London Royal Festival Hall’s Ether Festival (April 19). Reed will re-issue a newly re-mastered edition of the 1975 “Metal Machine Music” album on Monday April 19th. Further info: loureed.comQuestions…
Filed in Welcome to my World by Tom Artrocker at 13.15pm on 01 March 10ARTROCKERS,
Some questions for you;
Is it possible to be a cat person and a dog person at the same time?
Do The Tories have ANY policies? If so, will they ever tell us what they are?
Does Paul Weller put on his accent?
Is SxSW the power it once was?
If my company makes a multi-billion pound loss can I expect a bonus?
Am I alone in finding Lady Gaga as vacuous as the scene she comes from?
What's with all the vampires?
Have the global warming lobby given up and gone home?
Has illegal downloading lost it's appeal?
Are we still multi-cultural or has the concept gone out of fashion?
Will the BBC spend millions of our money this summer broadcasting a handful of artists from Glastonbury and ignoring the rest of the festival (film, theatre, comedy etc) like last year?
Did Paul Morley expose himself as a middle aged git in his recent UK Hip Hop feature?
Do people really snort coke that's cut with dog worming tablets?
Easter - when is it again?Yeasayer, The Cribs, Ministry Of Sound
Filed in Welcome to my World by Tom Artrocker at 12.33pm on 18 February 10Artrockers,
what's in a name? Would a rose by any other name smell so sweet? Can you judge a band by its name? It's certainly true that the naming of bands is about the most painful part of the 'forming a band' process, get it wrong and your screwed. Form a Folk band called Cancer Ward, Infernal Death or MC Yardee and you may experience a little difficulty in getting a gig on the 'finger in the ear' circuit. And then you run the risk of thinking up a great band name only to find out that there's a band with that moniker residing in Utah; they haven't released a record for ten years but that doesn't matter, should you ever head out stateside you'll be adding 'UK' to your name, and the only thing UK spells is 'uk!'
Where am I going with this? Well, have a little patience and I'll tell you: Last night I was driving home from a New Heavy Sounds gig at the Gaff with wonderful Radio 1 as company (note to self, must get DAB for the car so I don't have to listen to wonderful Radio 1), mein host was that northern geezer who used to present Sound, you know him, sounds like a member of The Cribs so is probably from Wigan. After a couple of tracks of inconsequential nonsense (wonderful Radio 1) he announced that he was now going to play a track from the most talked about band today - Yeasayer. "Aha!" I thought to myself, "he's right they are the most talked about band today", which is why I've avoided them like the clap, that and the fact that, to me at least, in my delusional state, the name shouted 'prog doom metal' (and yes, I'm sure such a genre exists) from Brooklyn, which is, of course, a ridiculous concept, like Country and Western from The Bronx (oh, hang on a minute, I think they call that Alt Country...). So I turned up the radio and apologised in advance to my companion that this was going to be "a bit heavy and maybe just a tad pretentious". She smiled sweetly, touched my hand and said: "Of course you're not Dear." "Not me, the music" I rejoined, slightly miffed, "Have a listen." And we did, we listened to the new Yeasayer single that the northern chappie was getting Pavlovian about, and, dear reader, we couldn't believe our ears. It turns out that Yeasayer are traders in inconsequential pop froth, they are, in fact, the new Scissor Sisters...like one wasn't enough. Yeasayer? Camp disco? How does that work?
I felt like such a fool, the evening was ruined, my companion cooly asked to be dropped off at her place and, on leaving, slammed the car door just a little too hard.
And I have learned a lesson: what's in a name? Nowt!
PS: I see The Ministry Of Sound is under threat. There is good news out there after all.Emmy The Great, Pink Floyd, Ozric Tentacles and The Single Transferable Purchase
Filed in Welcome to my World by Tom Artrocker at 14.00pm on 11 February 10Artrockers, A new way of buying music is on the horizon - it's called 'Alternative Buying' or 'Single Transferable Purchase'. Here's how it works: You choose the genre of music you're after, with a second choice just in case they don't have you first choice. You can't specify the artist or release, you just have to hope for the best. So, you tick 'Singer Songwriter' because you're after an Emmy The Great CD and tick 'Psychedelia' as your second choice cos your Piper at The Gates has finally worn through to the other side. Then you cross your fingers. After a few days a package arrives containing an Ozric Tentacles album. See how that works? Oh, you're right, it doesn't work at all does it? You wanted Emmy, or the Floyd , and you ended up with Tentacles. Who would be mad enough to think this was a good idea? Ultimately you have no say about what music you're buying, can't specify artist or title, just genre, and even then you'll probably get something awful from your second choice. It's nuts! Just imagine using a similar system to elect Parliament...that really would be bonkers.
ps Nice to see naughty music Bloggers getting a good kicking
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