Musical predictions for 2011

I’ll make this short, as new music is not really what I would call ‘my thing’. Around the end of one year and the beginning of the next, lots of people try their hand at guessing who will be the definitive ‘sound’ of the year. It’s more like a self-fulfilling prophecy really – publicity = more well-known = chart success. But I digress! – the three artists highlighted below were picked out by a discerning panel (ok, you got me – I lied. It’s just me) from the BBC’s Sound of 2011, and Control The Riot’s Taste of 2011. So you can safely assume I’ve done none of the hard work involved in seeking out these artists. But I likes ‘em.

1. Fenech-Soler

If you’re unfortunate enough to have been on my Twitter feed since late December, you’ll have seen me raving about this band. I would apologise, but they are really good, so I like to think I am doing you a favour. Electro-indie-pop-goodness. They remind me of Friendly Fires (also well worth listening to) but more trancey. I never thought I would use the ‘T’ word after the 90s, but there you are.

2. The Naked & Famous

I would say these are like a cross between MGMT and Empire of the Sun, but with female vocals. Electro, surreal-sounding music (you might be sensing a pattern here – I really love electro-pop/electro-indie music!) I think the best thing you can do is listen to them and see for yourself.

3. Daley

Daley was featured on the Gorillaz song Doncamatic (video above) – I’d be interested in finding out how Damon Albarn found him. No matter – now he’s been thrust into the spotlight I doubt anyone will care. He’s got a distinctive, cutesy voice, and look at that hair… Dare I say it, he’s a little bit twee? And we, the Great British, have liked twee for years. So don’t expect this to go away quietly.

Honourable Mentions

It’s worth noting that Jessie J, who was second in CTR’s list and won the BBC’s Sound of 2011, sounds remarkably like Cher from X Factor. I suppose Simon Cowell was right. The music industry did need a female singer/rapper, just not a spoiled child who threw hissy fits all the time. Jessie J – bless her, with her “Do it Like a Dude” single – is not really my cup of tea but I think she might be worth watching out for. Also, Sunday Girl is rather pleasant to listen to.

It’s tempting to write up a retrospective look at 2010 in terms of music – personal discoveries due in part to working at Absolute Radio in the summer – so if you like this post, let me know and watch this space.

HMV crash

HMV are, according to the BBC, going to close 60 stores nationwide, after Christmas sales are down and shares have plummeted. Interesting that the BBC notes HMV Group are having “trouble meeting the terms of a bank loan“.

Those of us who haven’t the slightest inclination towards business, but who are on the pulse and understand that the world has changed, could have told them this years ago. It doesn’t take a business person to realise that with the invention of the internet, approach to physical goods that can easily be made digital, had to change. Not so HMV. I used to go there every week when I was younger and I remember buying 12-track CDs for about £18. “We’re doing well now, so we’re fine” is the kind of attitude they took. “People are stupid so we can continue charging excessive amounts of money for things they can get free or cheaper elsewhere.” I stopped buying in HMV a long, long time ago and I get almost all of my music online, digitally.

It sounds ruthless and unfair of me to be so blasé and matter-of-fact about it – but business is ruthless and unfair. If you stand still and expect that customers will still be flocking to you when there are people selling music in more convenient and cheaper ways, then frankly, you deserve to fail for being so utterly short-sighted and ignorant of developing customer needs. My only surprise is that they have carried on for so long, blindly and arrogantly believing that once you get to the top you don’t need to fight to keep your place.

The bottom line is, and has been for a while: why pay for music when you can get it for free very easily, or at least pay just 60-90p per track?

Perhaps it is not HMV’s fault. Perhaps it is more the fault of the music business in general – and again I say, why did they not realise what I could have told them nearly a decade ago? Did they think that digital downloads and the internet would simply go away and stop being such an inconvenience? Did they think that people wouldn’t be creative and capitalise on the opportunities the internet presented?

Also, the bank loan. Why, why oh why are companies still taking out loans when they are as big as HMV – and I would imagine that is as big as you can get. This is exactly the kind of greedy attitude that got us into a huge mess in the first place. I watched a small part of This Morning, where a finance advisor was answering viewers’ questions. The top one was “How do I pay off my Christmas debt?” – I am astounded that people are still taking out loans. Have they been living under a rock for the last two years?

With regard to business, I’m all for making hay while the sun shines but have a back-up plan, and don’t expect that things will stay the same year after year. The world has changed, and continues changing – to run successful businesses you need to get creative, adapt and use technological advances to your advantage, instead of simply ignoring them.

Riot Grrrl Power

Kathleen Hanna, Riot Grrrl

Or “Why I love Kathleen Hanna”. I originally posted this on a blog in May 2009 as part of some University assignments … It appears to be unaccessible for the moment so I’ll submit it here. My views on feminism and the feminist movement have evolved – but more on that later!

I was just reading through BUzz when this article grabbed my attention. Whenever I think of girl power, oddly enough, it is not the Spice Girls that I think about. I am reminded of Kathleen Hanna, better known as a singer in Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. I just googled for old times sake, and the band are on an extended hiatus.

What a shame. To me, she epitomised feminism in one of the greatest and most powerful forms. I’m no Germaine Greer but I do feel indignation if someone attaches a negative trait to me just because I am female. (Just as a reference, don’t tell me I can’t play Guitar Hero because I’m a girl, as I will kick your arse at it and make you wish you never opened that fat face of yours.)

Even though I always felt slightly indignant at any suggestion that I was weak due to my gender, when I was younger I used to feel drowned out by extremely strong personalities at school and home. I listened to music a lot, and nobody really “spoke” to me through music about politics and how standing your ground and being yourself is hugely important. So, imagine my pleasant surprise when at 15 I discovered Le Tigre.

My favourite songs were Deceptacon, TKO and Bang! Bang! – a hard-hitting song about the shooting of Amadou Diallo. I also procured, with a strange mixture of disgust and pride, “I Like Fucking” by Bikini Kill. I read about Kathleen Hanna and about the Riot Grrrl movement. I loved it because the girls do what they want, are politically clued up and it didn’t feel like I was trying to be part of some elusive club I didn’t belong to. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Spice Girls as much as anyone else, but I was never skinny and I hated the colour pink. In short, I don’t think pop suited me. But Le Tigre blew my mind way back when. It’s all so anarchic; so “we are female, we have opinions, and screw what you think!” – who wouldn’t love it?

But this has got me thinking.. Do girls nowadays really have any decent rolemodels? Any genuinely intelligent, mentally stable, profit-ignoring role models who aren’t afraid to say what they think? Because I don’t see any. Le Tigre have been gone since 2007, Brody Dalle (of The Distillers fame – another great band, although not Riot Grrrl in the slightest) started a new band, got married and had a baby. Pink is way too popular to be cool anymore (although I do love her, it must be said)… Where are all the decent, strong female personalities for us to listen to so we don’t feel so alone? I don’t think there are any… I spend my time listening to Morrissey, Belle & Sebastian and Placebo, dreaming of the day when I can find another brand new, exciting girl band with more than two braincells between them. (Is it really too much to ask for intelligent music?)

So, for anyone in search of some enlightenment, my advice is this: Listen to Le Tigre and screw what anyone else thinks: