Bookmarks: The Uncanny Avengers

Meanwhile, over at Every Day Is Like Wednesday...:

Caleb takes issue with leather clad mutants' understanding of indie...

Also, The Decemberists may have been "indie" in 2001, when they self-released their first album, but they've had four fucking albums with Capitol Records by this point.

YouTube, Indies at war

Regardless of the other rights and wrongs, threatening to block certain labels' videos on YouTube unless the label does a deal over a separate product is a bit of an asshatty move by Google.

The BBC understands that even if blocks do go ahead, content from artists signed to independent labels will remain available on YouTube via channels such as Vevo.

Videos which are exclusively licensed by independent record labels, such as acoustic sets or live performances, may be taken down.

Thanks for that, Google. Good to see the not being evil going so well.

Scared To Get Happy tracklist locked down

I don't know why I'm so insanely excited about a compilation album that consists mostly of tracks I already own. Perhaps it's because Cherry Red have effectively curated a collection which spans, for me, roughly what got me through puberty-to-University.

They've not called it that, of course. They've called it Scared To Get Happy. And that's special too.

Jesus, they've made an album which, if you play it through in order, one moment you're listening to Bradford's Skin Storm; the next, you've got The Charlottes.

Here's that tracklist in full:

Disc 1:
1. THE WILD SWANS Revolutionary Spirit
Zoo, 1982
2. GIRLS AT OUR BEST! Getting Nowhere Fast
Record, 1980
3. ART OBJECTS Showing Off To Impress The Girls
Heartbeat, 1980
4. THE PALE FOUNTAINS (There’s Always) Something On My Mind
Operation Twilight/Les Disques du Crépuscule, 1982
5. JOSEF K The Missionary
Les Disques du Crépuscule, 1982
6. THE MONOCHROME SET The Jet Set Junta
Cherry Red, 1982
7. BLUE ORCHIDS Dumb Magician
Rough Trade, 1982
8. MARINE GIRLS Don’t Come Back
Cherry Red, 1983
9. FIRE ENGINES Candyskin
Pop:Aural, 1981
10. TV21 Ambition
Powbeat, 1980
11. DOLLY MIXTURE Everything And More
Respond, 1982
12. THE NIGHTINGALES Paraffin Brain
Cherry Red, 1982
13. SCARS All About You
Pre, 1981
14. JANE It’s A Fine Day
Cherry Red, 1983
15. THE FARMER’S BOYS I Think I Need Help
Waap, 1982
16. THE ROOM Things Have Learnt To Walk That Ought To Crawl
Red Flame, 1982
17. WEEKEND Summerdays
Rough Trade, 1982
18. PREFAB SPROUT Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
Candle, 1982; reissued Kitchenware, 1984
19. THE LINES Nerve Pylon
Red, 1980
20. EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL Feeling Dizzy
Cherry Red, 1982
21. THE HIGSONS The Lost And The Lonely
Waap, 1981
22. BLACK Human Features
Rox, 1981
23. THE DAINTEES Roll On Summertime
Kitchenware, 1983
24. THE BLUEBELLS Happy Birthday
Lyntone, 1982
25. TRIXIE’S BIG RED MOTORBIKE Norman And Narcissus
Lobby Ludd, 1983
26. TV PERSONALITIES A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)
Creation Artifact, 1982

Disc 2:
1. HURRAH! The Sun Shines Here
Kitchenware, 1982
2. FANTASTIC SOMETHING If She Doesn’t Smile (It’ll Rain)
Cherry Red, 1983
3. PULP Everybody’s Problem
Red Rhino, 1983
4. STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE Dark 7
Previously unissued
5. THE SUEDE CROCODILES Stop The Rain
No Strings, 1983
6. GRAB GRAB THE HADDOCK I'm Used Now
Cherry Red, 1984
7. DEL AMITRI Sense Sickness
No Strings, 1983
8. FRIENDS AGAIN Honey At The Core
Moonboot, 1983
9. AZTEC CAMERA Oblivious
Rough Trade, 1983
10. LLOYD COLE & THE COMMOTIONS Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken (Indie Version)
LC, 1983
11. THE CHERRY BOYS Kardomah Café
Crash, 1983
12. IN EMBRACE This Brilliant Evening
Cherry Red, 1985
13. MICRODISNEY Dolly
Rough Trade, 1984
14. THE WOODENTOPS Plenty
Food, 1984
15. THE JAZZ BUTCHER Southern Mark Smith
Glass, 1983
16. THE JASMINE MINKS Where The Traffic Goes
Creation, 1984
17. THE HIT PARADE Forever
JSH, 1984
18. THE JUNE BRIDES Every Conversation
Pink, 1984
19. THE REVOLVING PAINT DREAM In The Afternoon
Creation, 1984
20. JAMES Hymn From A Village
Factory, 1985
21. THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN Just Like Honey (Demo Oct ’84)
Blanco Y Negro, 1985
22. BIFF BANG POW! The Chocolate Elephant Man
Creation, 1985
23. YEAH YEAH NOH Temple Of Convenience
In Tape, 1985
24. THE BODINES God Bless
Creation, 1985
25. BIG FLAME Debra
Ron Johnson, 1985
26. THE LOFT Up The Hill And Down The Slope
Creation, 1985

Disc 3:
1. PRIMAL SCREAM Velocity Girl
Creation, 1985
2. THE WEDDING PRESENT Go Out And Get ’Em, Boy!
Reception/City Slang, 1985
3. THE PRIMITIVES Thru The Flowers
Lazy, 1986
4. THE BMX BANDITS Sad
53rd & 3rd, 1986
5. THE SHOP ASSISTANTS All Day Long
Subway Organisation, 1985
6. THE MIGHTY LEMON DROPS Something Happens
Dreamworld, 1985
7. WE'VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE’RE GONNA USE IT XX Sex (Demo)
Vindaloo, not originally released, 1986
8. MIGHTY MIGHTY Is There Anyone Out There?
Girlie, 1986
9. THE SOUP DRAGONS Quite Content
Subway Organisation, unreleased, 1986
10. McCARTHY Red Sleeping Beauty
Pink, 1986
11. AGE OF CHANCE Motorcity
Riot Bible, 1985
12. THE CHESTERFIELDS Completely And Utterly
Subway Organisation, 1986
13. THE WOLFHOUNDS Cut The Cake
Pink, 1986
14. THE SERVANTS Loggerheads
Head, not originally released, 1986
15. THE CLOSE LOBSTERS Don’t Worry (Demo)
Not originally released, 1986
16. POP WILL EAT ITSELF Sick Little Girl
Desperate, 1986
17. RAZORCUTS Big Pink Cake
Subway Organisation, 1986
18. THAT PETROL EMOTION It’s A Good Thing
Demon, 1986
19. THE WEATHER PROPHETS Almost Prayed
Creation, 1986
20. JAMIE WEDNESDAY Vote For Love
Pink, 1986
21. TALULAH GOSH Beatnik Boy
53rd & 3rd, 1986
22. THE DENTISTS She Dazzled Me With Basil
Tambourine, 1986
23. THE RAILWAY CHILDREN A Gentle Sound
Factory, 1986
24. THE GROOVE FARM Baby Blue Marine (Alternative Version)
Raving Pop Blast, not originally released, 1987
25. JESSE GARON & THE DESPERADOES The Rain Fell Down
Narodnik, 1986
26. ROSEMARY’S CHILDREN (Whatever Happened To) Alice?
el, 1986
27. 14 ICED BEARS Balloon Song
Frank, 1987
28. THE WONDER STUFF A Wonderful Day
Far Out, 1986

Disc 4:
1. HOUSE OF LOVE Shine On
Creation, 1987
2. THE SHAMEN Something About You
Moksha, 1987
3. THE BACHELOR PAD The Albums Of Jack
Warholasound, 1987
4. GOL GAPPAS Albert Parker
el, 1986
5. HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS Love Is Blue
Dreamworld, 1987
6. WHIRL Heaven Forbid
Playroom Discs, 1987
7. THE BRILLIANT CORNERS Delilah Sands
SS20, 1987
8. THE FLATMATES Shimmer
Subway Organisation, 1988
9. THE WAKE Gruesome Castle
Factory, 1988
10. THIS POISON! Engine Failure
Reception, 1987
11. THE DARLING BUDS If I Said
Darling Buds, 1987
12. THE BOY HAIRDRESSERS Tidalwave
53rd & 3rd, 1987
13. THE WALTONES She Looks Right Through Me
Medium Cool, 1987
14. THE ROSEHIPS Room In Your Heart
Subway Organisation, 1987
15. APPLE BOUTIQUE Love Resistance
Creation, 1987
16. LAUGH Take Your Time Yeah!
Remorse, 1987
17. THE RAW HERBS She’s A Nurse But She's Alright
Medium Cool, 1987
18. THE HEART THROBS Toy
In Tape, 1987
19. THE CLOUDS Tranquil
Subway Organisation, 1987
20. THE GROOVY LITTLE NUMBERS You Make My Head Explode
53rd & 3rd, 1987
21. THE SIDDELEYS My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon
Medium Cool, 1987
22. RUMBLEFISH Tug-Boat Line
Pink, 1987
23. THE HEPBURNS The World Is
Cherry Red, 1987
24. BUBBLEGUM SPLASH One Of Those Things
Subway Organisation, 1987
25. THE CORN DOLLIES Be Small Again
Medium Cool, 1987
26. THE KING OF LUXEMBOURG Lee Remick
el, 1987
27. THE LA's Son Of A Gun (Demo)
Not originally released, 1987

Disc 5:
1. THE STONE ROSES The Hardest Thing In The World
Silvertone, 1988
2. INSPIRAL CARPETS Keep The Circle Around
Playtime, 1988
3. THE POOH STICKS Indiepop Ain’t Noise Pollution
Fierce, 1988
4. THE SEA URCHINS Solace
Sarah, 1988
5. CUD Only (A Prawn In Whitby)
Imaginary, 1989
6. THE POPGUNS Landslide
Medium Cool, 1989
7. ONE THOUSAND VIOLINS All Aboard The Love-Mobile
Immaculate, 1988
8. ANOTHER SUNNY DAY I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist
Sarah, 1988
9. EAST VILLAGE Strawberry Window
Sub Aqua, 1988
10. BAD DREAM FANCY DRESS Choirboys Gas (Hack The Cassock)
el, 1988
11. RODNEY ALLEN Circle Line
Subway Organisation, 1988
12. THE ORCHIDS I’ve Got A Habit
Sarah, 1988
13. BRADFORD Skin Storm
Village, 1988
14. THE CHARLOTTES Are You Happy Now
Subway, 1989
15. THE CLAIM Picking Up The Bitter Little Pieces
Esurient Communications, 1989
16. THE POPPYHEADS Dreamabout
Sarah, 1988
17. THE SUN AND THE MOON Adam’s Song (Pour Fenella)
Midnight Music, 1988
18. THE McTELLS Jesse Man Rae
Frank, 1988
19. THE WOULD-BE-GOODS Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook
el, 1988
20. THE DESERT WOLVES Speak To Me Rochelle
Ugly Man, 1988
21. THE RAIN Dry The Rain
Medium Cool, 1988
22. BLOW UP Forever Holiday
Cherry Red, 1989
23. THE FANATICS Suburban Love Songs
Chapter 22, 1989
24. THE MILLTOWN BROTHERS Roses
Big Round, 1989
25. THE SEERS Sun Is In The Sky
Hedd, 1989
26. THE TELESCOPES Perfect Needle
What Goes On, 1989
27. THE BOO RADLEYS Catweazle
Action, 1989

Blimey. How tantalising is that?

Indieobit: Peter Sykes

More grim news, I'm afraid, with a statement from This Many Boyfriends announcing the death of guitarist Peter Sykes:

Our best friend and guitarist Peter Sykes sadly passed away on Tuesday morning. We are all extremely shocked and saddened at the loss of a truly wonderful human being.

We really can't process everything right now as it has been a tremendous shock. We were so very lucky to have even met such a great man and to have shared a stage with him has been a huge pleasure. He was our dear friend and we will miss him.

All our thoughts are with his family at this sad time.

The self-styled "indie pop band from the North" have, understandably, put their plans on hold while they try to cope with the massive shock. Warmest thoughts and commiserations to them.

What the pop papers say: Indie in peril

Perhaps the NME is having a little joke, slapping yet another Libertines cover on the front of an issue in which is frets over the future of indie music.

It's thinky-piece is inspired by another in Music Week, which ran some statistics suggesting "sales of rock and indie [singles] have nosedived" while urban and pop have increased. Nicky Wire's theatrical yawning over the current state of music - a tradition as old and regular as The Queen's Christmas Speech - has also been stirred into the mix.

Naturally, any subscriber to Music Week would simply shrug here; music goes through cyclical boom-and-busts; sometimes Abba does well; sometimes the sales go to Oasis.

In fact, any subscriber to Music Week would not even bother shrugging; telling the music industry that pop and urban are doing better than rock is like telling a baker demand for macaroons is up while eccles cakes are struggling; for them, it's nuances on the total sales, not really a matter of great concern.

The conflation of 'rock' and 'indie' into one great supersegment perhaps suggests part of the reason why guitars are struggling a bit down at the sales floor - they shouldn't be the same thing at all, and yet who can really argue there's a reason to treat Guns N Roses, Kings Of Leon and The Cribs as if they were different beasts? The product line has been shrunk way too far; why wouldn't you expect people to turn away?

Indie doesn't really have any useful meaning any more, except perhaps when paired with a sneering 'schmindie'; if a genre has lost any distinctiveness, of course it will look dead.

Mind you, judging the health of any type of music simply by looking at chart positions and singles sales is a bit dodgy; it's like counting the number of horseshoes sold to try and work out how many people are making journeys in the UK. The loose correlation might have meant something once, but by now, it's frankly worthless as a measure.

Look at how the NME tries to take The Cribs as a test of indie-health:

The Cribs are a case in point - up until Cheat On Me in 2009, their previous singles had all cracked the Top 40. Cheat On Me entered the charts at number 80. Their next single, this year's Housewife, debuted at 105.

There's a few things here - firstly, it assumes that all Cribs singles are equal and equally good.

Secondly, with singles sales quite low, the difference between 105 and 80 - and probably 80 and 40 - is only going to be a handful of sales.

More importantly, Housewife was a "surprise download-only single", so its relatively low sales don't really count. Oh, and none of the singles taken from the first album even troubled the Top 40. And last year's album, Ignore The Ignorant, reached number 8 and went silver, the best performance by a Cribs record yet. So the proof cited here is simply wrong, and even if it was accurate, it wouldn't prove anything anyway.

To be fair, Barry Nicholson does eventually rally his piece, quoting The Wild Beasts' Tom Fleming suggesting Music Week might be a bit irrelevant, and pointing to the buoyant live sales (albeit of The Courteeners), but he still concludes that "indie isn't dead, but it is hurting". But indie is dead, Barry. Interesting music on the margins isn't, and we should be celebrating that the plodding constraints of the mangled indie brandings are finally slipping away.

A little box suggests there's a bright future, and includes The Kings Of Leon in there. Perhaps the NME is having a little joke, like suggesting tumours might be a cure for cancer.

Embed and breakfast man: Mambo Taxi

Having mentioned Mambo Taxi, and acknowledging that there's not quite enough video to run to an entire Mambo Taxi weekend - even one that peters out around Saturday teatime - let's have a Mambo Taxi Breakfast, shall we?

Officially, Mambo Taxi ran for about five years, and it was mostly running. Anjali Bhati left early to join the Voodoo Queens, and then went on to release a couple of sublime solo singles.

This, taken from '1994 UK video zine documentary "Getting Close To Nothing"' is the mighty 'Do You Always Dress Like That In Front Of Other People's Boyfriends'?



Buy
All out of print now, but second hand copies of Poems On The Underground and In Love With... turn up every so often.

More
There's another slither of Mambo Taxi along in a few minutes: Poems On The Underground

Indie guitar routed, says chart company

For reasons that aren't immediately apparent, the official chart company has decided to tell indie rock that it isn't good enough:

"2009 was the toughest year of the Noughties as far as independent guitar music was concerned," said the [Official Chart C]ompany's managing director Martin Talbot.

"We're going through that period where guitar music and electronic-driven pop music is winning through over guitar bands."

Goodness. That sounds like something that might even be worth trying to interest journalists in as if it was some sort of trend. Well, almost. I suppose if your job involved compiling lists of what records were selling slightly more copies than other records, you'd have to be able to come up with some sort of fact that doing all that compiling might reveal. However banal it might be.

But can Talbot explain what is almost certainly just a cyclical change?

Talbot knows exactly were the blame lies. He said, "You only have to look at the charts over the past 12 months to see we're going through a real period in resurgence for pop music.

"The biggest stars of the last 12 months have been the likes of Lady Gaga and Pixie Lott. Dizzee Rascal having three number ones in a year. I can't see that changing over the next 12 months either."

So, Talbot's explanation for pop doing better than guitars is that... pop is doing better than guitars. Watch out, Gennaro, somebody is after your crown for chart commentary.

Hang about, though, Martin - are you sure that it won't change for the next twelve months?

"It's about trends and movements. Sometimes movements can be sparked by one act coming out of nowhere and doing something different to what everyone else is at that particular point in time."

Well, yes, a movement would require someone doing something different for it to start, wouldn't it? If you came along doing the same thing as everybody else, you wouldn't really be in a position to start a movement.

In summary, then: Indie-style guitar rock is now selling relatively less well than other types of music, because other types of music are selling more strongly. It's unlikely that anything will change that in the foreseeable future, unless something happens to make it change.

I only hope that the newspapers haven't yet sent their front pages to print.

Chocolate getting on the Apple: The iTunes bar

The suspicion was that iTunes much-ballyhooed new packaged-album format was little more than a sop to the record labels and their belief that the idea of throwing together seven or eight songs of mixed abilities is a sales proposition.

It looks like that might be the case, as when indie label owner Brian McKinney tried to bring his Chocolate Lab catalogue to the format, he got a response with shrift so short, it was immeasurable:

I contacted the digital distribution manager at my label's distributor. He had a conference call with an iTunes rep and asked how we go about putting an LP together. He was told that LPs aren't being offered to indies and that there are only about 12 LPs being offered right now. They also said that iTunes charges a $10,000 production fee for them as well. So that pretty much edges out the indie market completely.

In other words, by dinging the labels ten grand a time, Apple has merely invented a way to tax record label's beliefs in the album package.

This looks more and more like the results of a brainstorm which tried to answer the question "how can we look like we're doing our bit, but keeping the doomed-to-fail vibe at the heart of the plan?"

Actual indie labels less than thrilled by 50% indie chart

The Guardian's Louis Pattison asks indie labels about the new rules for the Independent Chart.

They're not that impressed:

Allison Schnackenberg of Southern Records, which acts as an umbrella label for Dischord, Kranky, Crass Records and Ipecac Recordings, among others, describes the new rules as "an absolute con". The issue is the "50% or more" rule, meaning that labels can receive a significant chunk of major-label funding and still qualify as "indie". "It's turning the independent charts into yet another marketing ploy for major-funded ventures," she says. "They are blurring the lines to the point that the word 'independent' will be meaningless to the general public. One is either independent or not. You can't be 'mostly independent.'"

Stewart Green from Beggars is a little more welcoming, but has his doubts about indie as a concept:

"Without getting too philosophical, what does 'indie' mean anymore? It's been used and abused to represent a watered-down form of guitar music rather than a totem for original, innovative, challenging music. So work needs to be done to reposition what the term 'indie' actually means – it cannot be allowed to be a term lost forever to a genre of guitar music! The success of the charts and breakers chart will depend on coverage. They need to be embraced by media outlets and given the space to exist alongside the commercial chart. Perhaps only then we will stake a claim to a truly interesting, diverse and meaningful independent chart."

To be fair, though, Stewart, the reason why 'indie' became synonymous with thin-legged boys playing guitars and wearing black jeans is surely in a large deal because that's the sort of music which used to dominate the indie charts? Given that the new big idea is a chart, I wouldn't hold my breath for a change in what that means.

And, from a broader listener's point of view, is there any real value at all in having a term which identified music not by its genre, but by the structure of the company which released the track? I'm pretty convinced that the idea clung to by Sony, for example, that "being on Sony" means something to a consumer is a desperate fallacy; for people who get their music between Chris Moyles' monologues and out the rack at Tesco, what difference is knowing a Bon Iver record is selling more copies than a different album released by a small label really going to make to them?

Indie charts prepare for 1995

It's not like the BPI and the Official Charts Company don't really care about the indie charts, but they've just got round to having the first tweak of the rules for inclusion since 1978.

Yes, the BPI and the charts people are redefining indie:

The initial criteria defined an independent release as any record which was released by a label with independent distribution, in an era when major record companies were self-distributed and smaller labels used alternative routes. Today, however, with even majors outsourcing their own distribution to independent operations, this criterion has become less relevant.

Under the new rules, a download or CD will be eligible for the Official Independent Charts if it is released on a label which is 50% or more owned by an independent (or non-major) company, irrespective of the distribution channel through which it is shipped or delivered.

In other words, your record can now come out on a label fifty per cent owned by EMI, and still be magically 'independent'. It's a fair point that the criteria probably needed changing, but 'half-owned by a major' seems to be an odd compromise point.

Actually, isn't the idea of there being an "official" independent chart slightly odd anyway?

But there's more. A whole new chart:

In addition, two new charts will be launched to reflect "breaking talent". The Official Independent Breakers Charts - for singles and albums, respectively - will be open to independent releases by artists which have not previously been featured in the Top 20 of the Official Singles or Albums national charts.

This is like the old 6Music chart, only with slightly tighter entry criteria, then.

Given that the indie chart ceased to have any meaningful relevance to the average person sometime between the time The Chart Show finished and NME dropped its chart pages, it's probably not especially important that these rules are being changed - although I'd love to know where they feel the demand for an Indie Breaking Talent list is.

Julian Wall, the BPI's Director of International Events & Independent Member Services says, "The independent chart has a long and illustrious history. After 30 years, the time is right to bring it back into a world in which truly independent labels are releasing masses of music that deserves to be heard and recognized. A credible independent label chart for albums, single tracks and new 'break' acts is an important step to achieving this.

"Working alongside AIM, Iain McNay (the chairman of Cherry Red Records responsible for launching the independent chart in 1978) and the Official Charts Company, has been a great experience. The BPI is 101% committed to the re-launch of an authoritative and genuine UK Independent Chart."

Only 101%? Couldn't give it that final hyperbolic extra 9%, could you? Although since the BPI's commitment to independent members is such that Wall has a whole other job to do as well, I'd be interested to see how he manages to overdeliver that commitment on half his time.

It's instructive, though, to discover that the independent chart is vital to provide a showcase for slightly-non-mainstream music to be heard.

But hang on... what's this, in the press release sent out to promote the change?

They will be accompanied by the new Independent Breakers charts. The new Breakers Charts are designed to reflect and bolster music from the independent sector’s newer, developing acts, by remaining open only to artists which have not previously scored a Top 20 hit in the UK – in the first few months of this year, they would have benefited critical darlings including Bon Iver, Friendly Fires, Patrick Wolf and The Horrors.

So these moves mean Friendly Fires and Patrick Wolf will have a platform? But since they're already "critical darlings" (and isn't that a slightly sneery term, a put-down rather than a leg-up?) why do they need a new platform to be discovered? Wouldn't they be brining credibility to the charts rather than the charts offering visibility to them?

It does make me slightly nostalgic for the old days of working through the 94 pages of charts in the back of the Record Mirror during Wednesday night tea, though.

Please Rain Fall - please send stuff

If you must have a revolution, do it for fun.

Meet Please Rain Fall records, a new label which is probably closer to those flexi-and-fanzine labels of the 80s than anything else.

There's an ethos:

Please Rain Fall Records
Please Rain Fall Records is a CDR record label. But it is a little bit different. There is no charge for any of the releases. You will not see any paypal buttons or requests for credit card details. Just e-mail me with your address etc. and I will send you a copy of the CD. In return, you then send something back to me. This could be a mixtape, a drawing, a story, a picture.. anything really. Be creative. The label is an attempt to build a community of like-minded souls. You never know, we might have some fun along the way.

It won't impress Paul McGuiness, of course, in terms of its plans for marketing pushes into the Latin American market, or the five-year-growth piecharts. And PRF's Stephen is probably never going to make it onto the cover of Forbes. But don't let anyone tell you there aren't 'business' models for digital distribution - it's just sometimes the business might not measure its success in pounds and euro.

Indieobit: Steve Dullaghan

Today's Guardian carries an obituary of Steve Dullaghan, bassist with The Primitives.

Dullaghan was a founder member of The Primitives, when the band formed in 1985. He remained a member as original singer Keiron McDermott was moved over to make room for Tracy Tracy, and co-wrote many of the band's songs. When the group was at its peak - the album Lovely had sold a promising number of copies, and they'd just returned from a US tour - Dullaghan chose to step down.

He continued to make music - partly for money, but also for pleasure. He linked-up with fellow Primitives survivor Pete Tweedie in a band called Hate. Steve then returned to Nocturnal Babies, his pre-Primitives band; later, working under the names Big Origami and Means To An End.

Away from performance, Dullaghan would have a major influence on hundreds of other musician's lives. He'd been a strenuous campaigner for the introduction of the New Deal For Musicians, an early measure introduced by the Blair government which attempted to provide a way of allowing unemployed musicians to effectively get benefits while working on their skills. (The idea being that much of the 1980s success of UK music had been funded by guitarists and drummers drawing the dole while honing their skills; New Deal had meant the next generation had been forced to spend their days 'actively seeking work'.)

It's clear from both the Guardian obituary and memories left on the Coventry Music History blog that he was well-loved, and will be much-missed.

Slightly fewer other music blogs are available

It closed (almost) before Christmas, but I'm only now getting through a massive pile of RSS stuff: Farewell, Indiemp3, you will be missed.

Embed and breakfast man: Moose weekend

How better to spend a late autumn weekend than by looking at some of the work of Moose, a band who should have been a lot more popular than they were but somehow managed to be eclipsed by Chapterhouse. Yes, it's more shoegaze this weekend, but superior shoegaze - and we'll dip into the more jangling, countrified stuff, too. The stuff that made Hut drop them like a hot burrito.

Let's kick off with I Wanted To See You, To See If I Wanted You:



Moose loose about the cyberhoose
Wikipedia
Unofficial official site
Last FM

Buy
Moose's entire back catalogue is cussedly out of print, so your only hope is second hand
Honey Bee
...XYZ
Reprise
Live A Little, Love A Lot

More Moose video across the weekend
Suzanne live at the Marquee
This River Will Never Run Dry
Little Bird

MySpace music makes room for some indies

After a barrage of complaints about a deal which excluded independent labels, MySpace Music has signed up with IODA, one of the indie umbrella groups.

So, everyone's happy, right? Not quite - for, while the majors got a slice of MySpace Music pie for jumping into bed with MySpace, IODA aren't. The equity deal was a bit of a duff deal for the labels and the musicians they supposedly represent; the indies are getting something worse.

Glasgow: a million twees bloom

Earlier, news about one of Marine Research. Now, news of an indie club opening in Glasgow. This is only going to confirm the suspicions of those Slayer and Iron Maiden fans, isn't it?

Anyway, Glasgwegians and those prepared to travel, prepare yourself for Half My Heart Beats, on the second Saturday of every month. The team behind it are affiliated with the indie-mp3 blog in some way, which is a guarantee of the quality of what you'll be hearing. And dancing your pretty little asses off to.

Dizzee does it for himself

Who knew that Dizzee Rascal is more C86 than underground grime? He's genuninely indie:

"Dance Wiv Me was the first fully independent song to go to No.1 in 14 years."

He's proud of his achievement - understandably so. The main difference between Rascal and most indie acts, though, is that he's quite keen to remain indie.

And, he tells the Daily Record, he's keen to return to Scotland:

He added: "I think Scotland is very urban in the sense of rough council estates.

"You've got black people in Scotland and always had a good history of black music.

You had Average White Band so there's always been relations to urban.

"You're not that far away from England, know what I mean?"

Dizzee played at Glasgow University during last year's Freshers' Week.

He said: "I went to their ball. It's good to rave with the students.

"It was my 23rd birthday and they mademe feel really welcome."

Ah, yes. You'll generally find the Freshers' ball at Glasgow consists almost entirely of kids from the rough council estates.

Kaiser Chiefs demand interest, excitement, sex music

Ricky Wilson doesn't like modern indie. Not a bit:

"Indie bands are big, so a lot of record companies are pushing indie bands and going 'we've got one and they dress in vests'," Wilson said. "That indie by numbers is boring."

And how are the Kaiser Chiefs going to mark themselves out as different from the indie-by-numbers? By working with Mark Ronson and including a duet with Lily Allen on the new album. Let's hope they can cope with the cold wind of rejected mainstreamism, eh?

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

The Independent On Sunday despairs over the hordes of identikit not-quite-indie bands plaguing British music:

Festival season is in full swing now. Across the land, stages are being raised in city parks, in country farms and on ancient estates for what promises to be Britain's biggest ever summer of music. But if they want to book enough acts to justify the inflated ticket prices in these harsh economic times, once-eager festival organisers have a struggle on their hands. How will they fill that gaping hole on Sunday afternoon? Who's going to warm up the crowd for The Ting Tings? Luckily the current UK music scene has just the thing. Someone has even compounded a helpful term to use when you call the record companies in a line-up emergency; this uninspiring, guitar-gelled Polyfilla – of which The Fratellis are a fine example – is now known by some as "landfill indie".

Embed and breakfast man: Say yes to the best

There's nothing like enough for a full weekend of Man From Del Monte stuff, so instead, as a mini-event, it's Man From Del Monte Thursday evening.

At the time, we thought of them as a poppier Kitchens Of Distinction, but we're now busily reworking that as an ahead-of-their-time Art Brut. They were from the second half of the 1980s, but the use of those fake flowers that vibrated in time to sound would have told you that.

What we didn't know until just digging out their Wikipedia entry was that, if you believe the wisdom of crowds, they were managed by the young Jon Ronson. It probably says a lot about his management nous that there's only two videos by the band surviving on YouTube.

This is My Love Is Like A Gift You Can't Give Back:



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