Links for 07 September 2009

• Smokescreen § Homepage – “How do we get teens to think about online privacy, trust, and identity? TV, films and books haven’t worked – but a game that simulates the internet, with a gripping drama and fast-paced missions definitely could”. “Smokescreen is a cutting-edge game about life online, on a new social network called White Smoke”. Newness from C4 and Six to Start that looks dead interesting
• Soundwalk – “Cutting-edge audio guides in which the listener is able to step into the life of a narrator as they guide you through their neighborhood streets and local hang-outs. SoundTOURS mix fiction and reality in a cinematic experience giving the listener the impression of actually being in a film”
• DNA/How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet – Douglas Adams on why being worried about the Internet is like being worried about cups of tea, our emergence from an interactivity drought and lots more besides in a surprisingly short article. All this from 1999, too
• Dinner at El Bulli: The Greatest Restaurant in the World – The Amateur Gourmet – The best restaurant review I’ve ever read. It’s as if he’s taken his cue from the unexpected presentation of the dishes
• Ars Electronica ’09: Quick Look on Visualization Projects – information aesthetics – “This post mainly focuses on the projects related to the fields of infographics and data visualization”

Links for 12 July 2009

• Social Media Releases for the music industry – MonkeyWatcher – Advice for bands – “send a quick press release by email, and provide a link to a social media release (SMR), or, in other words, a page aggregating the various items you want to share (music, pictures, videos, blog posts, tour dates, etc.)” I get a lot of adjective stuffed press releases from bands’ PR companies too – the essentials with links to further stuff would be so much more useful
• Putt’s Law – “Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand”
• Population : One – One Person is One Pixel – “Every pixel in the illustration represents one person alive on Earth. The first one is you. The rest are everyone else”. Reminiscent of Stans Cafe’s ‘Of All The People…’. It never hurts to get a sense of perspective once in a while
• Birmingham schools named in gang report – Google Maps – Someone’s plotted all the schools named in a report as being “at risk of becoming ‘feeder schools’ for city gangs into a Google Map. No idea which report and the colour-coding is a mystery. Still. As a side note, if anyone knows how to search Google Maps for user-generated maps then please let me know
• kala phool – Mother India – 21st Century Remix – The edit and live soundtracking of Mother India which Kala Phool produced last year was one of the best things I’ve seen in the past 12 months. I’ve just heard they’re taking the show on a UK tour between August and October. No dates yet but you heard it here first
• nycgo / this is new york city – New York’s official website for visitors was relaunched in Jan 09, partnering with Google, Travelocity, Time Out New York and others
• Spotted by Locals – Experience cities like a local – A collection of city blogs, all under the ‘Spotted by Locals’ roof. An interesting idea, not quite realised but still pretty good

Sarabeth Tucek, Doug Walker @ Birmingham Glee Club, 27/02/08

Doug Walker is being groomed for stardom, that much is clear.  The story goes that he spent a morning handing out demos to Radio 1 staff one morning and Chris Moyles took one and ended up giving him 30 minutes of airtime that very morning.  A major label deal followed.

The thing is, would you take an endorsement from Moyles?  Quite.  Doug’s a very likeable character but his songs, with names like ‘Shine’, ‘Shed A Little Light’ and ‘Stay With You’ are blandly aspirational MOR.  The cynic in me says that he’d appeal to the core Radio 2/Radio 6 market of slightly older listeners who, crucially, still pay for CDs.

His frequent banter with the crowd seemed to be fueled by nervousness but there was also the puppyish enthusiasm of someone who isn’t yet used to their growing status.  Unfortunately, his attempts to rope his band into the fun were met with dead-eyed disdain from his charmless bassist.

So Doug Walker wasn’t quite my cuppa.  Even so I certainly don’t begrudge him his likely success, it’s just no coincidence that the better songwriters carry a few scars.  Doug’s smoothed-out sound gave me no edges to get any purchase on.

I knew little of Sarabeth Tucek before this show.  All I was aware of was that she sang on a Brian Jonestown Massacre album (she was in the documentary Dig!) and she was slated by Bob Dylan fans after having the temerity to accept an invitation to open for him.  I took both to be good endorsements (seriously, have you ever met a die-hard Dylan fan you didn’t want to punch?).

She was a very different proposition to her support act.  Whereas Doug took advantage of the intimate confines of the venue to fill it with lively sound, Sarabeth reined things in, almost making you lean forward a little to listen.  Whereas Doug chatted effusively between songs, Sarabeth gave the odd sharp smile.

Her songs were slow-paced, with the consistent elements of her soft, smokey yet precise voice and the excellent riffing of the tall, bearded guitarist with salon-fresh hair by her side.  She also seemed to act the songs out in her head if the changing look in her eyes was anything to go by – in fact there was something very compelling about those eyes.

Truth be told, I’d had a long day, I was tired and if I’d had the choice I wouldn’t have chosen to go and catch some live music.  As it happens, Sarabeth provided an excellent soundtrack to feeling a little weary.  She ran through most of her self-titled debut album with the better songs such as ‘Holy Smoke’ and ‘Something For You’ translating best to the stage.  For an encore she performed a Neil Young cover – his country-rock material providing a good comparison to her own material.

Mainstream success doesn’t seem as likely for Sarabeth as it does for Doug.  Both performers have a traditional and unadventurous style but I much preferred Sarabeth’s ability to conjure an atmosphere, even if it’s mostly downbeat, over Doug’s greeting card sentiments.  Sarabeth Tuck won’t change your life but I found an evening in her company very pleasant indeed.

Gallows @ Birmingham Academy, 16/02/08

Frank Carter can rail all he likes against fans making idols of bands but if he’s a subject of adulation it’s no doubt a result of his thrillingly visceral and menacingly charismatic performances. If there’s a single reason why Gallows have been embraced (if a little cautiously) by mainstream indie and won plays on Radio 1 daytime it’s the force of of his personality. Is he uncomfortable with the constant acclaim his band have garnered or is he wary of suffering a backlash having signed a recent big deal in the States? Read the rest of this entry »

Los Campesinos @ Birmingham Academy 2, 13/02/08

The show ended as it started – from ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats’ with it’s shouty count-in to the final unaccompanied, shouted chorus of ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’. It set the tone for the whole of the show quite succinctly too, with all seven members involved at high volume in a slightly quirky, unabashed and ramshackle manner.There was little time for banter before songs (Gareth later blamed his recent abstention from alcohol) as they slipped quickly into ‘Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math’ and then into a performance of ‘Death To Los Campesinos! that got the already enthusiastic crowd really bubbling up. Read the rest of this entry »

NME Tour – Birmingham Academy, 6/02/08

In past years getting tickets for the annual NME tour was a case of hammering the phone lines as soon as they opened. Tickets sold fast and with good reason – some timely booking secured acts such as Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and Maximo Park when they were on the cusp of national recognition. However, last year was a low ebb (Mumm-Ra anyone?) and this year’s bill didn’t seem to get the juices flowing either; tickets were still available on the door. Read the rest of this entry »

Palladium/Alphabeat @ Bar Academy, 2/02/08

“We’re Alphabeat and we play pop!” Yes, they sure do! Alphabeat are a pop band who are in the habit of stating the obvious. Six fresh-faced, energetic Danes who do exactly what they say they do. There’s no angst, subtle subtexts or navel-gazing, just honest to goodness, perky nonsense with more bounce to the ounce. You may have noticed they were a CDX top tip for 2008 and for good reason seemingly. Read the rest of this entry »

Air/Au Revoir Simone @ Birmingham Academy, 14/11/07

I missed Au Revoir Simone when I went to see We Are Scientists a while back and kicked myself for it. If you’ve not come across their floaty-light ethereal pop tunes, and if that description even half interests you, then I’d urge you to pick up one of their albums. Unfortunately, despite turning up earlier than I usually do I still managed to miss them so this portion of the review comes courtesy of a couple of my friends (hi Kelly and Rich) who I bumped into as I arrived. They’d bought tickets just to see Au Revoir Simone and were going home perfectly happy. I guess that’s a ringing endorsement from them then. Read the rest of this entry »

Good Shoes/Lightspeed Champion – Birmingham Academy 2, 11/11/07

Musical taste is a strange and wonderful creature. Not content to divide bands between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ there’s an annoying subset I call ‘good on paper but you’d rather not actually listen to them, y’know?’. Catchy, isn’t it? These ones tick all the right boxes and should be right up your metaphorical alley but something doesn’t click and the chemistry isn’t there.That was the Test Icicles for me. On paper there was so much to recommend them – they made an almighty, parent-baiting racket, had stupid names, lacked anything approaching professionalism and split after one album. Oh, and theirs is the only wikipedia entry that has ever made me laugh (History, para 3). But for all that my heart didn’t like them as much as my head said it should. Read the rest of this entry »

Kate Nash/Metronomy/Dockers MC @ Birmingham Irish Centre, 9/11/07

I’d never been to the Irish Club before and it was nothing like I expected. If anything it looked like a school hall, only one with a bar on the right-hand side of it. It was probably the murals on the walls that did it but the place is carpeted too which doesn’t tally with my expectations for a proper gig venue – it wasn’t even sticky. Anyway, I missed the first act, Natty, but arrived just in time to catch the end of Dockers MC, a young poet who seemed to be doing a decent job of entertaining the crowd down the front, even if the rest of the crowd were chatting away noisily. What’s not to love about poets as extra support acts? I don’t want to reduce their art to filler but a few well chosen spoken words are a great way to keep the entertainment flowing between bands. Read the rest of this entry »