[leithrecords]

Radiohead: A Victory for Mystery

A typical album launch involves making as much media noise as possible. Radio play, reviews, interviews, social media updates and other PR exercises all combine to generate necessary attention in the build-up to the release.

This phase is virtually as important as the recording process itself, and for good reason; no one’s going to listen to your record - or even know that it exists - unless they’re somehow exposed to it. The more exposure the better.

Radiohead, the crafty so-and-sos that they are, have just done precisely the opposite of this. The result? Their new album - “A Moon Shaped Pool” - is arguably the most talked about release of 2016 so far.

As you’re all no doubt aware, Radiohead wiped themselves off the Internet earlier this month. The band’s website slowly decreased in opacity until only a blank, white page remained. They also deleted every single Twitter, Facebook and Google+ post from their history.

While other musicians flood our timelines and persistently clamour for more and more likes, Thom Yorke and co. piqued our collective interest by tapping into the one thing that’s in increasingly short supply in the world of popular music; mystique.

I used to listen almost obsessively to Neil Young - and not just for his music. A huge part of his appeal was his media-shy, brooding and enigmatic persona. He always seemed to carry an air of knowing something the rest of us didn’t. This just served to make his music all the more interesting and his lyrics appear all the more cryptic.

Sadly, this persona - built up over nearly 50 years - has been eroded since Neil launched himself into Twitter and Facebook, never to return. I still listen to his music, but it’s not quite the same. Shame.

Maurice Switzer once famously wrote,

“Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.” 

The handful of artists who live by this adage and maintain an enigmatic air - the likes of Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Björk, James Blake, Tom Waits and, of course, the late, great Prince - get my vote ahead of those whose focus has veered from music to celebrity.

So well done, Radiohead. “A Moon Shaped Pool”: a victory for refinement and mystery.

Words: @gwjgunn

[leithrecords]

When you grow up, you’ll have the stories, and the voice to tell them.

Iggy Pop’s voice has gotten as old as he is. And it sounds brilliant. On his new album, Post Pop Depression, he tells twisted tales about life on the front line of Rock N Roll. A high pitched voice wouldn’t work. You need to sound like you’ve munched nails and pissed rust, but in a walking poem kinda way.

Iggy, or James Newell Osterberg Junior, to his Mum, didn’t always have a mega deep voice. He used to be a Tenor, like Pavarotti. But now he’s a Baritone. The storyteller register.

Just in case you don’t know, male voices are grouped into Bass singers at the bottom, Baritones in the middle, but still low, and Tenor singers up top. And if your balls haven’t dropped or you’ve been castrated, you’re called a Counter Tenor. Like that little weirdo that sang, The Snowman theme.

Baritones and Bass singers have gravitas. If Leonard Cohen read transcripts of Geordie Shore episodes, they’d sound mystical, moving and thunderous.

Aside from Johnny Cash, men’s voices don’t start out gravelly. Tom Waits didn’t always sound like he eats fags. Bob Dylan used to be whiny, now he sounds like an OAP Donald Duck, on the Benylin.

Young and exciting frontmen that scream and shout belong on a stage, but at 3am, with your headphones on, you want an old timer with withered tones singing about the one that got away. The young Iggy used to mainline smack and scream a top C, now he grumbles low notes into his Horlicks spattered mic, and it’s just as engaging.

Maybe one day, when Beiber is old and grey, he’ll be a baritone too and growl about the old days.

@thereisabrian

[leithrecords]

Has Kanye just killed the album as we know it?

It was only a matter of time before we wrote about Kayne. You knew it was coming.

But rather than talk about the sociopathic shitshow that is his Twitter feed, there’s is a lot going on with Yeezy that’s worth discussing.

Specifically, his new album. Is it finished? What’s the album cover? Does it come with a free pair of shoes?  

Kayne’s latest album - The Life of Pablo - is only available on Tidal. Which nobody seems to have, but that hasn’t stopped everyone including your gran from hearing the record. Hey, if Kayne’s pirating, why shouldn’t we?

A few weeks back he threatened to change one of the tracks, and a few days ago he did just that, adding a couple of guest verses and tinkering with the EQ here and there.

Pretty cosmetic changes maybe, but if you paid £15 for the album from Kanye’s own website when it was first released, what do you own now? And worse still, if you found yourself subscribing to Tidal, what are you really buying into if, like most of us, you subscribe to a streaming service?

The decimation of the paid music world at the hands of streaming (touched on in George’s article last week) is also restructuring what we consider a musical commodity to be and how we attribute value to it.

When Frank Sinatra released In the Wee Small Hours in 1955, and all its songs were kind of related to stuff about those titular hours - loneliness, longing, regret… (because that’s what everyone thinks about at 3 in the morning, right?) - the format of the commodity gave the content structure.

You knew what you owned, it was finished. And there was a loose concept behind it, so that in theory you might feel more tempted to listen to that album at that time of day, etc. The product and the experience were closely linked.

Now there’s mixtapes, free downloads, tasters, leaks - everything the digital world does seems to be dismantling the idea of what an album should be. And not for bad, either - as a little known artist once predicted, there are now more routes than ever for musical artists to find ways to their listeners.

There’s a flip side though, and when Kanye talks about his latest release as a *insert quote here*, I fear it’s less about technology enhancing the freedom of creativity, and more about the appropriation of the album as clickbait.

Do the changes Kanye made to his latest fundamentally change it as a piece of content? Not really. Does it make it better? Debatable. But does the fact that he’s tweeted about it increase the chance that’ll you’ll spend more time reading about Tidal today?

Oh, better go, he’s just started tweeting about changing the name again...

@deas_tom

[leithrecords]

Selling Out or Wising Up?

“Jack White has just done a song for Coca-Cola. End of. He ceases to be in the club. And he looks like Zorro on doughnuts.

“He’s supposed to be the poster boy for the alternative way of thinking… I’m not having that, that’s fucking wrong. Particularly Coca-Cola, it’s like doing a fucking gig for McDonald’s.”

Noel Gallagher didn’t hold back when Jack White ’sold out’ in late 2005. Fast-forward a decade, though, and Noel was quite happy to receive a tidy cheque for allowing Aurora to cover “Half The World Away” for John Lewis’s annual Christmas tear-jerker:

Some turnaround. But, to be fair to Noel, the music industry - and the way recording artists are now forced to make a living - has changed unrecognisably over the past ten years.

The model in 2005 (and for 50+ years before that) was a pretty simple one:

Spend money recording a single or album.

Spend more money promoting it.

Make a bit of money by gigging relentlessly around the release.

Make even more money through record sales.

Simply put: step 4 doesn’t exist any more for 99% of artists. Thanks for that, Radiohead.

Recorded music has been throwaway for years now - with Noel himself pointing out that your average music listener today feels affronted at the thought of having to pay £10 for a record (yet will quite happily spend the same on a few coffees).

Streaming services were supposed to provide a solution. But Spotify (don’t get me started) famously paid Lady Gaga just £108 for 1m plays. Fuck that.

And so we we find ourselves in a world where wrinkled punk rockers flog us car insurance, and someone who once famously sang “Don’t be told what you want, don’t be told what you need” tells us to buy a certain brand of butter:

It’s still just about possible for up-and-coming artists to make a full-time living from music. But forget trying to sell 100,000 records. Shareable music videos and Youtube pre-rolls (OK Go rake it in, despite their forgettable music), partnerships, creating unique live experiences and licensing to ads / TV are the new step 4.

The most successful musical artists of the next decade won’t be the most talented musicians. The cream won’t automatically rise any more. The musical ‘stars’ of the near future will be savvy, forward-looking and they’ll wisely modernise the old music business model. Let’s just hope they can write some decent tunes between them...

- - -

Words by: @gwjgunn

[leithrecords]

Going Gaga for Bowie

Save for the odd Youtube comment of praise, Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie at this year’s Grammy’s received an overwhelmingly negative backlash, not least from David’s own son.

Like a Bowie based fever dream, Gaga flaunted around the stage in a range of different costumes, played a pneumatic moving keyboard and cavorted awkwardly with Nile Rogers, who was clearly disappointed that he didn’t have his own spotlight for the whole performance. It was kind of frightening, a strange pantomime to the pop idol.

Back across the pond, the Brits tribute was by and large received as a much more appropriate affair. There was a lovely speech from Gary Oldman, followed by an instrumental medley from session musicians who had worked with Bowie; the empty space at the front of the stage where the artist would have stood a touching moment. Then Lorde sang Life on Mars, not - as Gaga did - dressed as a kind of quasi-Stardust with extra cleavage, but as herself.  

So everyone’s down on Gaga. Because it sort of feels like she’s appropriating Bowie’s creativity, making her tribute just as much about her as him? Who knows. But Lorde’s performance, with the whole stage bathed in red light, no spotlight, seemed restrained and respectful in comparison.

That said, shouldn’t everyone be able to celebrate the artist however they see fit? It’s an unfortunate symptom of our era that we should feel we have the authority to decide whether or not this or that respect or tribute is ‘valid’.

I mean, every tribute is surely worth something if at the very least all it does is remember how much of a legendary figure someone was, and continues to be.

Every tribute.

… right?

@deas_tom

[leithrecords]

Seen That Face Before...

The botched launch of Rihanna’s latest album last week brings with it a 2016 world tour to boot.  

Nice poster. And a bold new direction for Ri Ri. But it’s hard to shake that feeling of deja vu. There’s something in those shoulders…

Of course. It’s Grace Jones. Who else?

The pop icon recently hit out at Ri and others - amongst them Nicki Menaj, Katy Perry and FKA Twigs - copying her style.  

Hard not to agree with her…

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, of course. And it really is testament to Jones’ style that artists and stylists today are still, well, copying her. Her presence continues to tower over the pop world even though she hasn’t released a record in years.

Not to say that Rihanna doesn’t look great in a suit. But next time a piece of pop styling makes you sit up and take notice, take a look - you might just find that Grace got there first…

[leithrecords]

The name’s Yorke...

So there’s been a lot of chatter about Radiohead’s unused theme song for the latest Bond film, not least because Sam Smith’s snide attitude towards the track just made everybody love it more.

Upon its release it took almost no time at all for the Youtube Army to take to their non-linear editors and re-imagine the film’s opening titles with the new track.

Like it or not, it’s an incredible example of the sheer power music has in influencing visuals.

Watched with the official track - its self-conscious strings paying homage to John Barry, Smith’s signature vocals - there’s a strange disconnect between the somber ballad and the creepy visuals. Like they’ve been kept in separate rooms, forbidden from seeing or hearing each other until the last moment. Mesmerising as they are, the visuals seem oddly muffled by a track that doesn’t really link to them in any way.

Watch any of the Youtube edits with the Radiohead track, and those same writhing, swelling visuals take on new meaning, complemented by the darker, eerier palette of the music. In short, even without a proper sync, it just seems to work.

It’s all obviously a matter of option; its not a track that will please everyone. But it’s an interesting exercise in the importance of picking the right track for the right visuals, and one we should all take note of.

You can hear the theme below.

I can’t wait to hear what’s rejected next…

---

@deas_tom

[leithrecords]

Seen That Face Before...

The botched launch of Rihanna’s latest album last week brings with it a 2016 world tour to boot.

Nice poster. And a bold new direction for Ri Ri. But it’s hard to shake that feeling of deja vu. There’s something in those shoulders…

Of course. It’s Grace Jones. Who else?

The pop icon recently hit out at Ri and others - amongst them Nicki Menaj, Katy Perry and FKA Twigs - copying her style.  

Hard not to agree with her…

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, of course. And it really is testament to Jones’ style that artists and stylists today are still, well, copying her. Her presence continues to tower over the pop world even though she hasn’t released a record in years.

Not to say that Rihanna doesn’t look great in a suit. But next time a piece of pop styling makes you sit up and take notice, take a look - you might just find that Grace got there first…

---

@deas_tom

[leithrecords]

Delta Mainline - Vultures

Delta Mainline, whose ranks include Leith’s own George Gunn, launch their debut single “Vultures” this Friday (14/8/15) through VoxBox Music’s new Fox Box Records label. Launched on a limited lime green 7″ vinyl run (and including remixes by Miaoux Miaoux and RememberRemember’s Graeme Ronald), Vultures was recorded at Glasgow’s Chem 19 Studios and mastered at the iconic Abbey Road Studios. The Cairn String Quartet provide the track’s string arrangement.

The single is being launched alongside a music video produced by Danish director Jonas Bak. Shot amongst London’s brutalist architecture. the video premiered on Clash Music this week. Check it out here:

Check out Delta Mainline’s website here: Delta Mainline official website

[leithrecords]

To some, one Bjork is more than enough, but her new vid is pretty smart. 

Originally created for Oculus Rift, it’s a great example of what Youtube can do these days.

Don’t watch it on your computer screen - fire it up on your phone, phablet, tablet and have a spin. 

--

Tom Deas

[leithrecords]

How Music Makes Good Ads Great

Our digital strategist Jim Wolff was recently on a panel at XpoNorth, all about ‘Music Supervision: Using Music To Make You Laugh, Cry or Buy’. Here’s some of the stuff he rambled on about...

To help prepare for XpoNorth I put out an all-staffer and a tweet asking people:

Which ads are made great by their music?

Normally you get a grunt of feedback trickling in, and the odd two fingers in a GIF, but this time the response was massive. It touched a nerve. Or rather struck a chord. I got a deluge of replies, and someone even congratulated me on ‘email of the year’. What an accolade.

It made me appreciate two things: just how crucial good music or sound is to an ad or piece of film, and how much people love it when ads and music go well together.

There are times when the ad and the music are so perfectly matched that they make something better than the sum of their parts. Some of the most popular answers that came back included...

Guinness ‘Surfer’

Featuring Leftfield’s ‘Phat Planet’, this ad heralded their much anticipated 2nd album, arguably better than any music video could. And it did Guinness a world of credibility goodness, that they’ve never topped since. Good to know Leftfield are finishing the sets of their recent tour with this track, nearly 20 years later.

Levi’s ‘Laundrette’

Another classic in advertising history, this was a great bit of creative and film-making, but it wouldn’t have been the same without Marvin Gaye’s ‘Heard it through the grapevine’. It helped push the song back up to number 8 in the UK charts at the time, and is credited with bringing soul to a new generation. It also helped establish BBH and got Levis flying off the shelves. Though Brian in Birmingham didn’t quite get the same response when he stripped off in his local laundromat.

Dunlop ‘Tested for the Unexpected’

Another from the nineties (seems like a theme here), this surrealist masterpiece fit the Velvet Undeground’s ‘Venus in furs’ perfectly, making tires somehow enigmatic and strangely beguiling. Gone are the days of surrealist ads, which is a shame, as they have a knack of nestling into your subconscious and pitching up unannounced in your dreams.

Carling ‘Big Match’

Had to get a Leith ad in there somewhere. But hopefully for good reason. The tune from the 5.6.7.8s practically invented the word earworm, and helped get the ad voted as the number one football ad of all time.

Channel 4′s Paralympics ‘Meet the Superhumans’

Another triumph of film-making and storytelling, with a soundtrack featuring Publc Enemy’s ‘Harder than you Think’ and sound design that takes it to a whole other level. If you care, the original sample is from Shirley Bassey’s ‘Jezahel’. Another belter.

And the list goes on...

MUSIC MAKES ADS MEMORABLE

One of the things that came up on the panel was how music makes things stick in your head better. Sometimes for years. An example that came to mind features an old HEBS ad ‘Stinx’ written by Leith copywriter Chris Watson.

This is still remembered word for word by a few of the more recent starts at Leith who take great pleasure in singing it back to him. Who says public service advertising doesn’t work. 

ADS MAKE MUSIC MEMORABLE

Some ads have helped launch music careers too. Levi’s in the 80s and 90s have a lot to answer for, thanks to Mr Oizo’s ‘Flat Eric’, Babylon Zoo’s ‘Spaceman’ and Scottish band Stiltskin.

There are others too. From Jose Gonzales (off the Sony ‘Balls’ ad) to Dougie MacLean’s ‘Caledonia’ on the Tennent’s ad of the same name, ads help give music and artists exposure they wouldn’t otherwise have. Caledonia’s rocky reworking for the Tennent’s ad for example took the song from a niche folky audience to number one in the Scottish charts. Back when Scotland had charts.

ADS CAN RUIN GREAT MUSIC

But a word of warning. Ads can soil a perfectly good piece of music for good. Think the ‘I believe in Penicuik’ ad for Penicuik windows. Errol Brown is still turning in his freshly-dug grave...

[leithrecords]

Sorren Maclean

We recently chatted to Dòl Eoin MacKinnon who hails from the Outer Hebrides. The Inner Hebrides have produced the likes of Runrig, Aidan O’Rourke and Pictish Trail. Lost Map Records are based on Eigg. Orwell wrote 1984 on Jura.

Mull includes Colin MacIntyre (A.K.A. Mull Historical Society), Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble and his wife Ailidh Lennon of Sons and Daughters amongst just 2,800 residents.

Also from Mull is Sorren Maclean, who’s been turning heads amongst the UK music press since the launch of EP “Way Back Home” in March. Flowing effortlessly between upbeat hooks, wistful acoustic melodies and sparse instrumental interludes, the EP is tied together by a feeling of nostalgia that could only have been conjured by an islander.

A prolific session musician, songwriter and composer, Sorren even provided a cameo in Leith’s recent CalMac ad (see if you can spot him). His eagerly anticipated debut album “Winter Stay Autumn” will be released on June 8th through Middle of Nowhere Recordings. We caught up before the launch:

Hi Sorren, just what is it about the Hebrides that produces and attracts so many musicians and artists?

It has to be the beautiful landscape, beaches, mountains, and the people too. All on remote islands just a few hours drive from Glasgow. With such inspiring surroundings it’s hard not to be creative.

How much has your songwriting style been influenced by life on Mull?

Growing up in Tobermory, my dad, Gordon Maclean, worked in the local art centre An Tobar. As a result, I was able to see and meet so many amazing musicians. This inspired lots of young musicians to start playing. Many of these artists are friends of mine today and they still influence my music.

I’m very lucky that I’m able to do what I love for a living. If I wasn’t able to, I think I’d work on a whale watching boat or something. I’ve got a pretty good eye for spotting them. And play guitar in my spare time of course!

Are there any hidden gems from Mull or other nearby islands you’d recommend us listening to?

Hannah Fisher, better known for playing violin in Idlewild, is a brilliant singer and songwriter. She’s working on her debut album now, definitely one to look out for in the next year or so.

You’ve already toured with the likes of King Creosote, Mull Historical Society and Idlewild. Who would you like to add to that list?

Good question! I’d love to open for acts like The War on Drugs, Real Estate, The Barr Brothers, Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac (mainly so I’d get to watch them afterwards).

Your recent EP received excellent reviews (and deservedly so). Your debut album is out next month. What can listeners expect?

Well, it’s my debut album, which seems strange as I’ve been making albums for years - just never my own. So I’m excited for everyone to hear it. I co-wrote most of the songs with Roddy Woomble for a New Voices commission at Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow.

The rest of the band (Danny Grant, Craig Ainslie and Luciano Rossi) already play with a lot of artists I work with, so it has a real band feel to it. It also features strings by Hannah Fisher, Seonaid Aitken and Su-a Lee and has guest appearances from King Creosote, Colin MacIntyre and Roddy Woomble.

That's a pretty special list of guest performers! And finally, what make the islands such a special destination and why should people visit?

For me, it’s the feeling you get as soon as you step (or drive) off the ferry. You no longer have to lock your car or even take the keys out of the ignition. It’s also the beautiful landscape and secret beaches. There really is no other place like the Hebrides.

Pre-order “Winter Stay Autumn” at iTunes // Amazon // Middle of Nowhere Recordings

[leithrecords]

CalMac and Macanta are Alright

To mark the launch of CalMac’s new campaign, we caught up with Gaelic songwriter Dòl Eoin MacKinnon who stars in the brand music video with his band Macanta. Born and raised amongst just a few hundred other inhabitants on the faraway island of Scalpay in the Outer Hebrides, he has called Glasgow home for the past 12 years.

Although sad to leave at the age of 18, Dòl Eoin’s absence has seen him come to fully appreciate the magical nature of the islands that he still refers to as ‘home’.

“Every time I go to the Western Isles, the whole environment imbues a sense of awe and wonder and it’s just so beautiful. It’s more than just getting away and getting a suntan and a hangover. It really cleanses your soul if you believe in a soul. Even if you don’t believe in a soul, it makes you believe in having a soul and it being cleansed.”

I was reading your bio and there’s that amazing story about the hit-and-run incident that led to aphasia where you forgot how to speak English for a bit…

That’s not true.

It’s not true??

Yeah, that’s right: it’s completely not true. [Laughs] Yeah… it’s poetic license, shall we call it? Incidentally, I did give up English for forty days last year as part of a scientific research study at Glasgow University in which I was the guinea pig. So that’s true.

It was quite a lonely experience. I had headphones in most of the time I was in public places so I wasn’t even hearing English being spoken, plus I wasn’t allowed to read it either. It was kind of like being a prisoner in one sense for a while. But, in another sense, it was liberating because I was only allowed to speak Gaelic. I had to go through several MRI scans, so it was a proper study. It was an interesting experience really. It was enlightening.

So, is Gaelic your native language?

My generation learned bilingually. You can maybe escape English culture but you can’t escape the English language. You’re watching TV programmes and a lot of the analogies in it are alien to you when you grow up on a remote island. There’s no cinema and things like that.

I’d watch TV but I didn’t really like 90s pop music. I had some Buddy Holly tapes and Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, which was very much my education in music. I thought Buddy Holly was alive when I was a child. I was disappointed to find out that he wasn’t when I was about eight or nine. Devastated, in fact. So that was my education in English music. Otherwise, it was just Gaelic songs and stories.

My dad was absolutely obsessive with music and I think I inherited that gene. My great-grandfather was a well-known storyteller in Harris; he lived in Patagonia and South America, spoke Spanish as well, and was just a fascinating guy. They all had a flair for storytelling. I think of being in a band as being a storyteller.

You’ve described your younger self as a ‘disaffected Gael’ when you left. Is that true?

You go through a phase in your teens as almost resenting it for making you different, until you get a bit older and you think that it’s not so bad to be different. It’s quirky or edgy, or whatever. As I set away from who I was, I remember distinctly clinging to Gaelic more. You cling to that as a way of understanding yourself and that’s why I love Gaelic: it helps me understand myself.

There’s a pride and knowledge of place that I think is really starting to disappear from many cultures and languages. People are being disenfranchised. That’s what I love about Gaelic; when you’re speaking Gaelic you’re thinking differently. It’s lovely, it’s quaint, but it also feels very real. I definitely saw the tail end of a kind of socialism. It wasn’t really socialism, it was just the way of life of caring for one another and you wouldn’t let somebody live in poverty. There’d be no question about that.

What make the Islands such a special destination and why should people visit?

The friends I’ve taken to the islands over the years have just absolutely fallen in love with them. I’ve even been reluctant to take any girlfriends there for fear that they were falling in love with Harris more than they were falling in love with me. It’s just a very, very special place whether or not you’re from there.

I go to my granny’s and I can’t phone or get any texts or emails for however long I’m there. I come back and, of course, my inbox is totally full and people are yelling at me. But I kind of like that. It’s good for you. It’s nice to go back to real “face-to-face book” and just seeing people and talking to them. Even if you aren’t from there, there’s just something very special about it.

I recommend taking the ferry and going to Harris. It’s beautiful and there’s something about the landscape. It just makes sense.

[leithrecords]

A Playable Beer Bottle (That Can't Really Be Played)

:: All very good and that, and hats off to Beck's and their agencies in New Zealand, but shame that no one else can actually play it.

That's one expensive drink.

---

Via @erikrva

[leithrecords]

Adam Tensta is Sweden’s biggest hip-hop artist. To promote his song Pass It On, R/GA created a Facebook app that allows only one person to listen at a time before passing it to the next person in line.

It just won a D&Ad yellow pencil. And rightly so.

[leithrecords]

One Million Listens To Unlock Pink Floyd's Back Catalogue

Make fans work for content. Clever work Spotify.

[leithrecords]

The Brave New Future of the Music Video

Worth checking out BravestMan.com, an interactive mobile experience for Bobby Womack's (now old) single The Bravest Man In The Universe.

Once again, it's Google getting stuck in to showcasing what browsers can do, with the help of the ridiculously talented B-Reel on the production.