The return of being a Libertine.....Or is it?

Ahhh the sweet return of The Libertines, a fame found on guerilla gigs and the undenying spirit of if you set your mind to achievement it can literally be done, when The Strokes were swooning around with their VU tones, these guys were in London waiting for a manager to say "Hey, look these guys fit the British bill", 6 years on from the split (the central theme being drugs), Pete, Carl, John and Gary (yes there are 2 other members) have joined forces once again to to bring back the raw style that gripped the indie nation from 2001-2004, but is this a good idea?

When they first broke onto the scene, the implosion was small, back in the days where Conor McNicholas and his team needed to champion a new era these guys were it, no air polishing, no bullshit, this is what they were, 4 guys from London who turned up in pubs, kebab shops, anywhere that would take them, that rawness and openess with die hard fans to stage 'The rooms of Albion' meant so much, and their eponymous debut 'Up The Bracket', with the dancing Mick Jones again just cemented their legacy in the noughties.

Now i'm not going into the ins and out of the split, its been well documented and in the meantime we've seen Babyshambles, Dirty Pretty Things, various solo outings and even Mr.Barat don a fake American accent in his debut in theatre surroundings, but when Zane Lowe and his incredibly annoying voice announced what many had anticipated at around 7:20pm I couldnt help thinking that with all what The Libertines stood for had been diminished, the likely lads who made the relationship between fans and artist possible had agreed to play Reading/Leeds, and i'm pretty sure alot of £££ had something to do with it.

With Mr.Barat explaining earlier in the year that he was 'too busy to reform The Libertines' it makes me even more certain that money was the ultimate heroin (sorry) to play not the hardcore fan base who admired their uniqueness, now don't get me wrong, I think its great that they managed to get together and will undoubtedly played a raucous show far from clean cut, but when I look at the media it gets me wondering, has my love for them subsided a notch.

BBC, ITN showbiz (jeeeeeez), Channel 5, MTV, all these media super powers who wouldnt give a long log about them before the drugs, Kate Moss, Imprisonment now make it a media circus that surely I believe waves away the freedom that they cherished with fans, earlier tonight a press conference at a North London pub, where the questions were not, new material? Up The Bracket in full? Anymore gigs? Future of Carl's solo career? Babyshambles on hiatus? But, 'Pete you still on drugs? Is this helping? Have you talked about the reasons you split? What is it about the £1.5 Million thats so appealing? To which a stout Mr Doherty did intelligently reply "£1.2 Million actually, whats interesting about it is how much will be left after tax". The mainstream media circus has made this less about an influential indie revival band but more about what sells papers, the underlying issues that a genuine music fan doesn't give a solitary shit about, hence why my initial excitement is slowly deteriorating.

I hope they can take back to the good old days, lads if your going to do it, DO IT PROPERLY, don't just announce, few guinesses infront of the mainstream circus and wait till August, lets have the guerilla gigs, the anarchy, albion rooms, pub acoustic sessions, lead us up into a 2001 lave of fun filled debauchery that made us love you in the first place, please whatever you do, take the £££ and ditch the fundamentals that made you so so great, make us believe again in that bands dont have to take a corporate cock shafting to make it, make us believe lads, make us believe.

FOALS - Total Life Forever so far.....

Is this a total release from math rock fury of Antidotes or a V sign to the hype that surrounded them relentlessly when they were first playing house parties in their native Oxford just so long as they had a half decent meal and a sofa bed? Whatever it is, Foals second album entitled 'Total Life Forever' on initial listen to their first 2 singles 'This Orient' and 'Spanish Sahara' seemed to be taking drastic measures in coming across rather spectacularly different to the Antidotes era.

When Spanish Sahara first hit the radio airwaves, I felt like i'd been watching the end of some epic emotional romantic film that only ended in tradegy but 'This Orient' does dispell my theory of love lost with a stripped down version of velocity displayed on Antidotes. A change from the initial hype, behind initial cynicism (lets face we all do it when change comes), I can sense that this could be a landmark year for the 5 piece, much like the formula for great creatives in the alternative scene, a delayed reaction to second album pressures seems to formulate a master piece (just look at Primary Colours in 2009, and we all said it was all about the 28 inch waist and the 6 ft hair).

The secluded hub of Sweden with Clor mainman Luke Smith has seemed to have had a dramatic impact in the direction Foals have headed for their sophomore release, early reviews seem to suggest the ode to being Oxford's Battles tribute band have been well and truely left behind and have found themselves comfortable in moving on, lets hope May 10th brings about a superb second release.....

Tracklisting -

01 Blue Blood
02 Miami
03 Total Life Forever
04 Black Gold
05 Spanish Sahara
06 This Orient
07 Fugue
08 After Glow
09 Alabaster
10 Two Trees
11 What Remains

Single Review - Erol alkan/Boyz Noize - Avalanche/Lemonade

GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT GET IT!

Latest release from Erol alkan in collaboration with german hit makers Boyz Noize in particular Lemonade, released on Beatport a couple of days ago, I'll just say this, it once again pushes the boundaries of electronica to levels that are beyond hardcore but yet commercially appealing, expect this one to be a huge summer anthem, now East and West dance tents at Glasto the list is growing on my dance like a twat to when my drunk ass stumbles to your holy surroundings around 23:30.........PLEASE ME.

A Day for Independents - Ed Banger

Redefining UK dancefloors in the noughties and way into our new decade of future hits, Ed Banger and in particular Pedro Winter have set a master class on how to churn out a outlasting plateau of hits that make dancefloors become sweaty hip t-shirt orgies with the occasional gurn.

Since starting the label in 2002, where the French music scene, internationally anyway was defined by what record Daft Punk was releasing, a year after discovery and we still couldnt get enough of the subtle synth oritentated tones that were asking for just that song 'one more time' and 'harder, better, faster, stronger', but in the midst of this dominance Mr.Winter seeked to bring about the electronic fever pitch in the form of new artists and my word how the success rolled in.

But it wasn't an overnight grandeur of endless success, it took 2 upstarts who received national notieriety in the form of winning a school competition to shape the mould and bring about the Ed Banger magic dust which seems to be sprinkled everywhere in this year 2010, with the help of Simian Mobile Disco and a handy remix of 'We are your friends' the labels stock options (i know there arent any but it popped into my brainbox) sky rocketed, it had reached the mainstream ears of people who seeked an Obama style change in dance music, we had grown a little tired of DP inactivity and the swift turn of the head for the parisian underground but finally...... YES WE HAD FOUND SOMETHING!

Out of the blue its almost as if magic was happening, Uffie, a long time label fiend found success with Pop the Glock, Justice travelled 'Across the Universe' (check out the DVD = AMAZING) in support of that oh so lovely symbol, Mr.Oizo saw a resurgence and we were introduced to new artists such as Krazy Baldhead, Busy P (Pedro Winter) DJ Mehdi and Sebastien, a new fever pitch of noise which seemed to resemble this revolution screaching UK dancefloors until people were forced to engage in throwing down some drunken shapes.

This is a new day for independents, as it appears the premise of mainstream success is to move on to the mainstream labels and that what has recently happened with the labels biggest stars Justice who the world expects a killer second album on the newly revamped Elektra records, in the meantime not to discourage Mr.Winter we have Breakbot who is killing the UK dance scene at the moment with his Baby I'm Yours song in particular the siriusmo remix (below, PLAY), in the meantime lets hope France keeps throwing these gems onto British shores and Mr Winter devles deeper into the Parisian underworld to seek out new talent for nurturing.

In light of a 'potential' closure of 6 Music, great news for Indie bands

You may be vaguely aware that some YouTube videos aren't embeddable on external sites, like ours, or indeed on many blogs. This is because record labels don't get any revenue from their artists' clips that are posted elsewhere - other than the main YouTube website. Aside from, y'know, all that PROMOTION which an embeddable video would cause.

This caused much consternation from bands and bloggers alike, and rightly. If you're going to make a video, you want people to actually watch it, after all. The most prominent of the outspoken artists are those fine makers of viral music videos OK GO, who expressed their disgust and annoyance at the whole thing - and their record label, EMI - earlier in the year.

Thankfully, and finally, things may now be moving in the right direction to this (via Wired), as on YouTube's newly-launched 'Musicians Wanted' channel, artists will be able to make money through video views, including views which are on external sites, with embedded content. A statement, to be posted on YouTube's blog reads:
“Whether you make hip-hop, folk, noise-rock, jazz or a genre of your own invention, we are looking for all types of original music video content.”

However, the videos uploaded to the partner page actually have to be videos, not that old trick of an mp3 uploaded to a background image and no moving pictures. That would be cheating. The sections, devoted to independent music, will be searchable in the aim of helping people sift through the mass of content which will feature.
So, although independent artists may not get the amount of revenue that major labels do, at least it will leave them not having to split the revenue with their record label. All of this is very much A Good Thing.

Glenn Brown, YouTube's head of business said:
“Our goal in all these partner programs is to help people get to that point where they hear the most beautiful words a creative person can hear, which is ‘You can quit your day job,’ and some of our partners have already done that.”
As mentioned previously, OK GO were pretty narked at the whole thing, and wrote an open letter recently. Funnily enough, they were one of the first bands to sign up to 'Musicians Wanted'. Damian Kulash, of OK GO, told Wired:

“What’s tremendously freeing about starting our own label is that we can now distribute our work however we want to, and we can look for new and interesting ways to make a living off of it without constantly chafing against the constraints of a big label with a rat’s nest of conflicting agendas.

“The YouTube Partners Program, and specifically the Musicians Wanted division of it, is a great example. We can distribute our videos the way we want to (embeddable!), and actually make some money off it, to boot. A couple months ago our hands were tied by the embedding restrictions at our label, and the money that was generated from our streams wasn’t winding up in our pocket. Now we’re enabling embedding and we’ll collect a check every month. It’s a pretty obvious win/win.

Credit to Drowned in Sound for the article

GAGGLE + SBTRKT - New artists in 2010

As I click on GAGGLE's Myspace i'm awash with slogans such as scary, sexy, lick, GIRLS! And its band members seem to be SO much different to the norm , this in comparison to the like rubbish we see on TV these days namely shite TV music competitions, and with probably one of the few decent DJ's left on Radio 1 singing your prasies you would think GAGGLE = YES PLEASEEEEE! But on getting my listening game on its hard to think this group wont go beyond a hapless attempt to be so different the alternative fizz will turn into a bottle of coke in the fridge with the lid left open for a couple of days.

For those who don't know GAGGLE are a 20+ piece choir set up by god knows, their brash claims for the alternative are not without credit, I mean where else are you going to see a 20 piece girl outfit who dress like Jesus' disciples and sing in a frightening cohesion, but on listening to 'I hear flies' (their debut single) I can't see the musical differential that an alternative music scene needs more and more of these days as we head on out of the noughties. To be fair I haven't seen them live and I'm sure watching that cohesion on stage would be a sight to see but what I have heard from the medium of many internet sites I found myself bored, and thats a position that no music lover wants to find themselves in. By all means judge for yourself, hey its only my opinion but with all the imagination and innovation in the world to form a band the music has to sound the same also and unfortunately I just don't feel that, below is their debut single, I Hear Flies:-

From the brash and 'innovative' GAGGLE (pictured right if you dont know), we go to Young Turks latest protege in the form of SBTRKT. When The XX first burst on scene with their debut album it seemed we had another label who had the talent to seek out future successes and it seems the A&R squares have found their next artist, in the illusive Dub Step/Electro artist. Much like Burial, SBTRKT has taken the musical formula of hiding behind masks and keeping information scarce on his background, what we do know is that he's from London and his remixes of Basement Jaxx (Scars), These New Puritans (We Want War) and on a more commercial level the ever BRILLIANT! Tinnie Tempah (Pass Out, what else!!) and with his own tunes namely 'Timeless', I get the feeling we could have another illusive artist who makes the neccassary impact on the electronic stage.

Praises heaped on by Mary Anne Hobbs and Giles Peterson add to this illusive artists credibility, the synths and arrangements that he crafts has an instant listenble quality to it and I definately believe the added mix of remixes and own songs will see him get the recognition further into the year we go. Below is one of his own songs, 'Timeless' enjoy -

A Way for Independents in 2010.......Phantasy Sound

Erol Alkan, one of the most important DJ's of our generation, mixmag DJ of the year and pioneer of indie remixes when the whole scene imploded into a guitar based haven with its positive effects (initial) and now in 2010 feeling more saturated than the average Rik Waller meal. But with his work with the likes of Mylo, Bloc Party, Long Blondes, Klaxons, Justice, Daft Punk and also trying his hand at producing the Mystery Jets album 'Twenty One', the DJ (now SLASH producer) has ventured into crafting his own record label Phantasy Sounds.

A fairly underground scene is usually the formula when artists create their own record label, The Beats, Ed Banger, Bingo Recordings and on a guitar based riff level Big Brother (but people probably know that one), but with Erol his music is starting to reach the limited edition mainstream with his mix of alternative indie and early club classics.

Most notably of his 7 (thats right just 7!) releases so far, such songs like Bangkok by German hit maker Boris Dlugosch, Dance Area AA 24/7 and to more extent the shift in change for Late of the Pier (coming from the back end of the tired guitar scene into this), with such releases coming through Phantasy and their first album to be released by Connan Mockasin (reminds me of early Brian Jonestown Massacre), again a lays a shift in the diversity of Phantasy releases.

A continuation of independents throughout 2010 continues, below is the latest release from Late of the Pier 'Best in the Class' AND whats probably gonna be a club record of the year called Lemonade by Mr Erol Alkan and Boyz Noize BUT released on Beatport (more on them next week), AND I could only get a minute + of it because it hasnt been released yet but will be next week.

PHANTASY!!

Theophilus London

Artist Feature -

When 1st and 15th in conjunction with Jay-Z helped to release Lupe Fiasco’s debut album Food and Liquor, there was a sudden but unfortunately brief realisation that hip-hop can be less about expensive tangible assets and more about poetry and story-telling, taking it back to the glorious introduction of hip-hop to a curious worldwide audience. Then with a click of a finger more of the same beckoned our ears much to commercial success looking at Paper Trail and Tha Carter III, the momentary affects of alternative hip-hop diminished somewhat. But looking at Theophilus London I feel we can have a resurgence in the message that hip-hop although the story tells gritty backgrounds can also be about a fascination with lyrics, straight talking Mr.London says his influences range from Kraftwerk to Michael Jackson, hence we have (not a complete one) shift towards a more well rounded hip hop artist, already garnering attention from his independent mix tape releases, the attention has seen him form a group called Chauffeur alongside Mark Ronson, Sam Sparro and Dap Kings (Winehouse’s backing crew).

Songs such as Humdrum Town stays connected with the known hip hop world of today fresh simple beats with a soft pop keyboard sounds see him lay down lyrics which are personal “Lost my girl at an early age, crush my heart when I turned that page”, but with a Matthew Santosesqe chorus renews my faith in hip-hop being meaningful without transcending the musical element of the song, then we turn to Cold Pillow a synth hand clap gem which switches from Humdrum Town in terms of music and comes across as a rich R n B wordplay then from nowhere breaks into a seamlessly effortless flow of word chemistry.

His new mixtape entitled I want you in March seems to have got the underground scenesters wanting more and more, and producing remixes for new mainstream stars like Ellie Goulding and soon to be stars (in my opinion) Penguin Prison, his profile in and amongst the trendy hit making epicentre that is London (sarcasm or not, let you decide), continues to rise.

For fans of Pharrell and Chad Hugo, Kanye West and Santigold add this to your must listen box, safe to say if you’re a fan of hip hop a fresh slice of fresh air is sure to hit your face quicker than you can say 50 Cent.

2011 will be a good year......

Reunion will also be the word of 2011 also, screams of leather jackets and seedy capital debauchery but the music is always there....

Well Up The Bracket, the sophomore was laced with needles and disillusion.

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Get Better (Sunday Best)

With Logic of Chance being released next week (March 15) I had the chance to listen to one of the songs off the newly awaited album which was Get Better and I was NOT impressed by it.

Ok I can understand the transcendental nature of when this band first hit the scene, 2 white guys, hip hop, one looks like a ........(fill in the blank), and with angles the spoken word of hip hop beats seemed like a rip off of De Le Soul, but hey no one has done it in years to my recollection, and with its satirical outlook on many aspects of British Culture it obviously struck a chord with many critics and in parts enjoyed it also.

With Get Better though, I found myself wanting to just turn off, on a similar vein to Thou Shall Not Kill from Angles, its basically nearly 5 minutes of social taboo's that we find ourselves in and a spoken word lecture of the pitfalls of teenage pregnancy, small town syndrome and teenage angst amongst other things (a mention of the Daily Mail in a negative aspect usually differs my opinion on most things), in a nutshell the single (not the album) sounds like people are running out of ideas. Like with most bands/artists who are well known for firstly for their gimmick/persona rather than their music, it can be hard to shake that impression off (SHAVE THE BEARD AND GET RID OF THE PRIMARK TRUCKER CAP!). Lets hope the album delivers more.

http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip to listen on their myspace.

SINGLES - Pantha Du Prince ft Panda Bear - Stick to my side (Rough Trade)

Minimal techno and wind chimes are not exactly an Earl Grey in waiting but I find myself sorely mistaken in listening to Panthu Du Prince and his new single Stick to my side with an added aid coming from Noah Lennox from Animal Collective from his new album Black Noise

Having grown tired with stale indie here in the UK its nice to hear some refreshing although somewhat repeated beats but hey isnt that what minimal techno is at the best of times, a listening haven where in my case a repeated loop can have you staring at absolutely nothing for a good 4 minutes so good job Panthu I stared at a T.V screen whilst listening to stick to my side (I diversified from the wall).

I definately would recommend a listen (a link is provided below) but I must warn you, get ready to transfix your eyes on some newly painted walls, a good return to minimal by Panthu and with his new album out lets hope he returns in some format to the days of Diamond Daze.

P.S DONT JUST LISTEN IF YOUR AN ANIMAL COLLECTIVE FAN, GIVE PANTHA PROPS.

Simply.......

Lets hope that Atoms for Peace make an appearance on UK shores in the coming months, but Portishead done my Mr Jonny Greenwood (Axe factor! Vote! if you listen to 6 Music) and Mr Thom Yorke, simply beautiful.....

A way for Independents in 2010 next....NEON GOLD

From listening to Primary Colours and admiring the glorious affection I have for XL Recordings, who seem to operate a tight ship when it comes to releasing gems, I've decided to look at some of the labels who start off the formidable bandwagon for talent, two words spring to mind independent and limited.

Today its focusing on Neon Gold, principally formed out of New York and London, this record label found its feet in 2008 with Lizzie Plapinger and Derek Davies, a specialisation in hearing future stars and producing limited edition releases that leaves the scensters wanting more and the A&R whipping boys scampering around to find the next gig by these fresh faced future startlets.

I looked at Neon Gold first and foremost because of the talent that has been unleashed onto the public over the last few months, Ellie Goulding reaching the top of the mountain with her lights, Marina dreaming of Hollywood and Passion Pit reeling over surprise successes (sorry for the puns, having a dodgy afternoon). The link between the US and UK/Europe has seen to have done the record label the world of good, and this ear for talent can only bring more success for the record label. With record labels like these, you can still believe that with its music hearing aids set to a high frequency we can unearth some more gems hidden underneath the somewhat stale and frequently insolent reign of the modern day pop charts (Syco, tut......tut).

From being a avid fan of the labels such as Neon Gold, a strong urge is needed to check out some of the talent that they have given a chance to and will no doubt dent some kind of indie forcefield that is relenting from endless guitar based dronings about nothing....

www.myspace.com/gotye

www.myspace.com/penguinprison

Neon Gold, thank you, KEEP IT COMING......!

A GENTLE REMINDER.......

A Gentle reminder of the genius production of Geoff Barrow (although praise to Zinner and Moulder for their work on Strange House) and the influence of Kevin Shields.....PRIMARY COLOURS.

Single of the moment, Caribou - Odessa

If Alexis Taylor was Canadian and the sound of Hot Chip had resembled an acid trip then we would have given birth to a Odessaesq hit. Daniel Snaith aka Caribou, a Musician hailing from Ontario, Canada has given us a gem of a first single off his awaited new album Swim, Odessa has a psychedelic charm about it, a processed blend of haunting sounds and computerised beats/guitar melee makes this song listenable many a time. His vulnerable singing goes hand in hand with the production work that he comprises himself. Part of the City Slang crew that has given credence to among others Arcade fire, HEALTH, Broken Social Scene and Lampchop, the A&R people working for this German Stalwart company deserve a raise (FORGET THE RECESSION) because they have unearthed anther gem in Caribou. Judging by this first single and other singles heard from his last album Andorra including Sandy and Melody Day, his new album Swim (released april 19th) is a sure fire underground hit, definately try and catch him when he plays only 3 UK shows so far being at :-




April 19th - Deaf Institute, Manchester





April 20th - Corsica Studio's, London





June 16th - Heaven, London.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/CARIBOUMANITOBA

NME Radar Tour 2010

The NME Radar tour, each year we have a renewed sense of optimism with regard to new music and this has been displayed through many ceremonies celebrated in the early months of this year (Phillip Hall Radar, Sound of 2010 and if it counts the Brits/labels critics choice), so on the back of this comes tours hence this blog looking at the upcoming NME Radar Tour that was announced this week.

The bands in question are HURTS, Everything Everything and Darwin Deez. A slice of renaissance Manchester mixed in with some New York hippy chic. I must say I feel this selection of bands merits a unusual hats off to the NME, a tour that given its name REALLY salutes new music.

First up we have HURTS formed by Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson late last year, looking at them they look more at home on the front cover of Harpers Bizzare or a French romantic 60's film directed by a very young Anton Corbjin, but the look they have crafted shouldnt put you off the music. As previously mentioned in the Sound of blog think Pet Shop Boys meets Joy Division especially with Arthur Bakers great remix of their first single 'Wonderful Life' and the original song itself adding further claims to this comparison. Having only played their first ever gig a couple of weeks back in London it will be interesting to see what Mr Hutchcraft and Mr Anderson show us on this very opportunistic tour but judging by the moody electro pop sounds, the cheap (their first video only cost £20) yet moving music videos (helps having an Edie Sedgewick character dancing around) and the styled out italian look, this is a group that could be a big influence in the year 2010.

Next up on the Manchester scene is Everything Everything, another pick in the BBC's sound of 2010 (wonder if that'll become more viable IF 6 Music goes and were left with Fearne Cotton pluggin these bands, makes me shiverrrrr), having released limited edition single My Keys Your Boyfriend, I can't help the feeling this band although producing some catchy hook ridden songs are not the right choice to pick up the indie scene where at the moment its as stale as the job market here in the UK. It will be interesting to see them live and with a New Orderesque sound maybe I could get caught hopping, but I'm guessing that I wont be.

When Creaky Boards got on Chris Martin and co's back regarding a song they did which quite honestly resembled Viva La Vida, who would have thought that a part-time member of the band would go on to have medium of early success but thats exactly what your looking at with Darwin Deez. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York I actually dont know if thats the band name or his name but I do know that he waits tables in restaurants while working with the aforementioned band. Catchy first single Constellations was probably the first song of this year which caught my interest, lo-fi guitar/keyboard sounds, Casablancas vocals and an all round happy tune which although has the first line "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are", carries on to have a broad sense of literature. I can probably confirm this band like all bands on the tour will not a mass a grand following but especially with Deez I can sense a more cult following, he is after all got the strangest hair I've ever seen and if you look at his clique you feel they look they raided C&A before its demise and just got their clothes in a particular fashionable mess. This band along with HURTS are the 2 out of the 3 I'm most looking forward to seeing, I feel maybe Mr Deez should give Gordon Raphael a ring have a notepad and pen ready and start taking tips.

The tour kicks off in Glasgow on April 26th and calls at :-

Preston 53 Degrees (27th)

Manchester Academy (28th)

Stoke Sugarmill (30th)

Middlesbrough Uni (May 2nd)

Oxford Academy 2 (4th)

Bristol Thelka (5th)

Wrexham Central Station (6th)

York Duchess (8th)

Portsmouth Wedgewood (9th)

London KOKO (10th)

Norwich Waterfront (11th)

Northampton Roadmender (12th)

6 Music - A necessity in the role of British Music.

"Less is more" "To focus on quality programming" "We want to do less better". The frequent buzz sentences I have heard on the T.V and the Internet this week from the lovable Director General Mark Thompson. First off let me introduce 6 Music, in a world where people crave the £££ hence why you dont find this kind of station on commercial giants such as Global and Bauer, 6 Music provides insightful broadcasting by its DJ's and identifiable music that wouldnt be played elsewhere because its not "popular".

Where else can I join the Black Squadron as I wake up on a Saturday morning (not for the meantime COME BACK ADAM and JOE!), hear such funny piss takes out of skins, great music sessions, insightful musical musings by Laverne during the week, Craig Charles bringing us Funk and Soul, Nemone's voice that gets me everytime and yes although everybody hates the man (and i do understand why with what 6 Music stands for) listening to George Lamb and Marc Hughes
bantering away but at the same time playing great music that in my eyes is very unique.

BUT! hold the phone a niche BOMBSHELL has struck at the BBC, to be more economically efficient it seems that the big wigs at the BBC want to get rid of such a station that serves as a great memory to a man who dedicated his life to music John Peel.

Now having studied Business at University (lord I wish I hadn't) from a commercial prospective although still wrong I can understand a need to lose a station with a niche market, what with advertising etc (sorry people thats just the way business is sometimes), but what I can't get my head around is that the BBC is a PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER and with such programmes doesnt need to focus on ratings and listeners numbers nearly as much as a commercial broadcaster and i've had this answer come from Mark Thompson on Newsnight and Helen Boaden who came to Lincoln to give a talk (when i questioned her about it), IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE.

Another scenario which strikes me as odd is the cost of 6 Music compared to other stations at the BBC. In 2009 the BBC spent £9 million on 6 Music, this compared to £115 million on BBC Three which although at times can be entertaining surely the Beeb could cut costs on such pointless programmes like Date my Daughter, Snog? Marry? Avoid? Young Butcher of the year or the ever magnificent I believe in UFO's by Danny Dyer, is this really what people want to see, I call this a social experiment in humiliation by all acounts.

£3.4 Billion and 6 Music costs £9 million to run (thats a tenth of Mark Thompsons enourmous salary), its not exactly an economic nightmare having 6 Music which brings new music to the masses and brings hope to new bands/artists who's music would never see the light of day on Radio 1 or even 'slippers on' Radio 2, can we honestly say that music broadcasters on the more 'popular' stations would give La Roux, Florence and the Machine and Ellie Goulding (although she has been sucked into the machine) the light of day without 6 Music pushing it right from the start.

Lets hope the many protests which have developed (much praise to the Morters) spark a change with the directors which leads them to reverse this appauling decision. On a final note Beeb dont fear the absolute biscuits that are the Murdochs or a potential new government, maybe look into presenter salaries especially those who's shows are now pre-recorded aka watered down for harassing old men, or presenters who create such art like Car Park Catchphrase, have a good look BBC have a good long look.

P.S Listened to a song by Caribou today called Odessa on Lauren Laverne's mid morning show, I wonder if Scott Mills would play that inbetween pranking a Scottish pizza parlour, hmmmmm quality broadcasting.