@aeolianblues / aeolianblues.tumblr.com
goodness me, what on earth did Elis say in his intro last week? I know they mentioned it got cut, they usually touch-and-go on this kind of stuff, but the fact that they mentioned it to next week has just Streisand'ed me curious: what was Elis' big intro following the general election and Wales kicking out all Tories, that Dave found "too balanced for broadcast"? Does anyone know? Because I bet it was asked in the PCD groups.
Grian and Curley dropped by BBC Radio 1 to talk to Jack Saunders about the first single off their upcoming fourth album Romance, which comes out August 2024. I'll grab the audio clip once the broadcast of Jack's show is done. Sorry if this sounds like a blurb off the BBC site, I don't work for them but they should bloody consider that.
[On the lyrics to Fontaines D.C.'s first new single, 'Starburster']
Grian: "I felt a sense of immobility when I was writing these lyrics. I actually had the lyrics written, and was unsatisfied was them. I was on the way to record them and had a bit of a freak-out. I sat down and texted the producer James Ford and said, "I can't do this right now," I had to have it postponed. I sat down and just redid them because it wasn't what it was meant to be. And then it kind of came out in one go. It was sort of the experience of listening to yourself as opposed to expressing yourself."
[On the gasping breaths on Starburster, which Jack described as 'coming up for air']
Curley: I think working on this project breathed new life into us, we were excited to work on new sounds and go for it instead of being safe, which I don't think we've ever done, but on this one, we tried for it even harder.
Grian: You've got to take steps forward. Previously when we were releasing new music, we though that we might alienate some people with what we were going to release, but where in the past we may have thought that we didn't necessarily completely commit to the step, this time we did really jump.
[On the hip hop influence]
Grian: I was really into hip hop as a kid, and as you [Jack Saunders] mentioned, there's definitely a bit of a Gorillaz element to the production [the strings]. The focus came from a place of aggression and frustration, all the vowel sounds came out first and I had to figure out what the vowel sounds were.
[On the band's new aesthetic and bright coloured look, and 'finding light in a dark place']
Grian: The idea of the title is about embracing the necessary delusion in terms of how to function [in everyday life]. I imagine it as a world within a snowglobe, that you can slip into like a warm bath, but within that world is all the madness and the hysteria. It's about embracing that.
[On the album 'Romance']
Grian: We're releasing a new album, it's name is 'Romance'. That track [the snippet posted yesterday] is the opening track and it's also called Romance.
'Starburster' is BBC Radio 1's Hottest Record of the Week.
Update: Full interview
John has a girlfriend?? (Finally! Good for him)
For anyone else who like me lives in a hell world where Instagram has totally blocked access to any account remotely ‘news’ or may have missed the Elis and John clips
Sitting shaken knees pulled up etc because I just listened to an interview on Huw Stephens' Radio Wales show where Daf Ieuean of Das Koolies talked about how he met Gruff Rhys for the first time when they were "younger than 14" and how they basically started drumming for the first time "on the same day" because they were there for some sort of camp. And to think if I was two days too late in finding this interview I'd have never heard it 😞😭
Adam Walton is doing a big look back on Elliott Smith’s career, with tracks chosen by other musicians, that he also says works as a good introduction to Elliott’s music.
I can 100% see Gruff Rhys having chosen Speed Trials. It’s a song so after Gruff’s own style of music, especially solo.
Damon: Nothing's gonna proceed unless firstly Graham is into it.
Graham: I remember listening to the demos and getting a pad and trying to jot down the chords and thinking bloody hell there's a lot of chords here. But good chords. Chords you can really get into. There's such a lot of opportunity for melodic stuff and more emotional things when chords are that much more deeper.
[...]
Graham: Damon has really allowed me on this record, and probably over the years, to play some of my favourite guitar stuff. That's because of his ebony ivories. It's what I was saying earlier on, what is given to you via those chords to explore, and the notes you come up with in the parts you put down eventually after many run-throughs and getting it right.
Damon: When I stopped playing the piano at the beginning of Blur, it was because my chords sound too rich. It's like we are like an indie band, it's not helpful. So I learned to play the guitar, obviously not very well and I still really haven't... I've got a little bit better but not much. But now I'm not worried about playing the piano.
Graham: I think that's a lot of what sets us apart from a lot of the other people that we may have been lumped in within the 90s. The songs are written on a piano, that's a completely different thing.
They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.
If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.
Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!
It’s so much more than just regular radio airplay indeed. Commercial radio does not like taking a chance on anything. They’re 10 years late to every scene, and as time progresses, it’s becoming clear that they’re willing to be 40 years late. They will never prop up new artists.
I was once tagged in an email by a band sending their new single to a bunch of radio stations. Amongst them were a few commercial stations. One of them must’ve accidentally hit Reply All when emailing them back, they were demanding $200 for airplay for the week. Commercial radio will not save your music scene.
There’s only so much local and community radio can do. What coverage on the BBC can do for artists, holistically, is unmatched: airplay, interviews, sessions, artists in residence, introducing stages at festivals, performances with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, the radio documentaries. These aren’t things artists in a lot of other countries have the support or resources to do!
Make big noise about this, I can assure you the BBC Music Introducing network, spread out across the whole country, is the one and biggest reason why the UK’s independent scene is as vibrant as it is. It has no match across the world. Don’t let them kill it! Don’t let philistinism and Tory austerity kill one of the best tools musicians have at the it disposal!
Sorry to make a long post longer but Tom Robinson, one of 6 Music and BBC Introducing’s leading presenters and champions, is asking people to write in in support of Introducing over on his blog, Fresh On The Net, to which a lot of new and unsigned music is submitted and gets picked for airplay across the BBC. Write in if you can! Make a ton of noise about it!
Here were my tags from the original post from a few months ago:
#it's a result of so many cuts to the BBC that they're forced to look for areas to squeeze #it would be really really bad if this was gone. The introducing network is so important #the kind of airplay small and unknown artists can get just by uploading their tracks to the BBC Uploader is insane#their music will be listened to by the radio hosts and DJs in regions where it is uploaded #often tracks get passed up from bbc regional to 6 Music #it's insane to think in this day and age there are avenues to getting your music heard on the basis of talent alone for no extra costs #people don't understand how important something like BBC Introducing is!
It's happened, and I'm so fucking angry about this. The Introducing networks were the backbone of a music industry that has more doors closing on it than opening. A network of 32 shows on local stations around the UK is being reduced to just 20. Do you know what a celebrated fact it was that an artist didn't have to be from London to get discovered, that Teesside could have its own unique sound and scene, that a bedroom producer in Bristol could get airplay on national radio on 6 Music without having to relocate, that Brighton could have a local scene within its own city!
I don't have time today to explain it all unfortunately, so I'm going to point you to Tom Robinson's Fresh On The Net site, where he's explained the axing in more detail.
They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.
If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.
Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!
It’s so much more than just regular radio airplay indeed. Commercial radio does not like taking a chance on anything. They’re 10 years late to every scene, and as time progresses, it’s becoming clear that they’re willing to be 40 years late. They will never prop up new artists.
I was once tagged in an email by a band sending their new single to a bunch of radio stations. Amongst them were a few commercial stations. One of them must’ve accidentally hit Reply All when emailing them back, they were demanding $200 for airplay for the week. Commercial radio will not save your music scene.
There’s only so much local and community radio can do. What coverage on the BBC can do for artists, holistically, is unmatched: airplay, interviews, sessions, artists in residence, introducing stages at festivals, performances with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, the radio documentaries. These aren’t things artists in a lot of other countries have the support or resources to do!
Make big noise about this, I can assure you the BBC Music Introducing network, spread out across the whole country, is the one and biggest reason why the UK’s independent scene is as vibrant as it is. It has no match across the world. Don’t let them kill it! Don’t let philistinism and Tory austerity kill one of the best tools musicians have at the it disposal!
Sorry to make a long post longer but Tom Robinson, one of 6 Music and BBC Introducing’s leading presenters and champions, is asking people to write in in support of Introducing over on his blog, Fresh On The Net, to which a lot of new and unsigned music is submitted and gets picked for airplay across the BBC. Write in if you can! Make a ton of noise about it!
They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.
If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.
Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!
It’s so much more than just regular radio airplay indeed. Commercial radio does not like taking a chance on anything. They’re 10 years late to every scene, and as time progresses, it’s becoming clear that they’re willing to be 40 years late. They will never prop up new artists.
I was once tagged in an email by a band sending their new single to a bunch of radio stations. Amongst them were a few commercial stations. One of them must’ve accidentally hit Reply All when emailing them back, they were demanding $200 for airplay for the week. Commercial radio will not save your music scene.
There’s only so much local and community radio can do. What coverage on the BBC can do for artists, holistically, is unmatched: airplay, interviews, sessions, artists in residence, introducing stages at festivals, performances with the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, the radio documentaries. These aren’t things artists in a lot of other countries have the support or resources to do!
Make big noise about this, I can assure you the BBC Music Introducing network, spread out across the whole country, is the one and biggest reason why the UK’s independent scene is as vibrant as it is. It has no match across the world. Don’t let them kill it! Don’t let philistinism and Tory austerity kill one of the best tools musicians have at the it disposal!
They can't be cutting BBC Introducing. It is literally the ONE leveller new artists in the UK have! Without something like the BBC Music Introducing platforms, the gate will close. Introducing do an insane amount of work for the music scene, they are the reason why the UK alternative/independent music scene is so vibrant! Introducing networks covering every region on radio, giving up and coming artists the airplay in regions where people can go and see them live locally, giving them coverage and studio sessions; the larger Introducing coverage on 6 Music nationally. The Introducing stages at so many festivals, giving artists the first stage where they can get a grip on performing to festival crowds! None of this is an automatic process, and not one to take for granted either.
If only artists that have the time to do their own PR (i.e. artists that don't need one or more day jobs), or those that can afford to pay out people to get some of the opportunities that BBC Music's Introducing networks provides, you're very quickly staring at only a certain demographic being able to make music professionally anymore. I know now, some people get quite cynical over the word "professional" and start saying things like "no one deserves to be a professional, why should my taxes pay for your hobby" 1) gross mischaracterisation of the problem here 2) there are far more worrying things your taxes are paying for that you should be bothered about 3) weren't you the same type of fella loudly complaining in 2012 that there's "no good new music these days"? You have to invest in it. You have to give musicians the pathways to get to the places where you might hear them. You're never going to hear your favourite band if they don't have the time or money to get their feet off the ground. I could go on and on about the place expression plays in your general society, and how you do actually need the people that reflect what's going on in the world around you for a number of reasons, but even just sticking to very surface reasons, you're not going to enjoy music very much if entire voices, entire sections of society, very often working class musicians, musicians from backgrounds that don't get much leverage in the music industry, especially not if they aren't sticking to their stereotypical, industry-assigned genre (which is often just the racism talking) are cut out of music. You're not going to enjoy it, and then you'll be whining again.
Don't let them axe the Introducing networks!
This might be the funniest round of Sound Charades I've ever heard.
From 2022, Series 78, Episode 2 - Stockport, with Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Milton Jones, Andy Hamilton.
Tom Robinson, adding on to TRB’s Sing If You’re Glad To Be Gay:
“The word gay covered every nuance of identity right across the whole LGBTQIA spectrum and beyond. Gay liberation in the early to mid-70s was an inclusive struggle to free everyone oppressed by rigid norms of heterosexual masculinity.”
I had to pause right there are go silent-scream in the kitchen out of excitement because Tom said ace rights/inclusion! Aaaaaaaaaa(ce)! (this is a joke that only works in the written word, by the way)
Anyway, back to the programme: For LGBT History month, Tom lead the three-hour long journey into the history of queer music and musicians, right from 1924 (Ma Rainey, Irving Kaufman) to 2021 (Arlo Parks). He also had an all-queer BBC Introducing Mixtape this month that I’ve gotta work my way through! Anyway, more love to Tom, he’s the best.
You know how you sometimes read something and think, I can hear this in their voice!
Well, reading this piece I can confirm that I not only can hear this in Elis’ voice but also have heard this in Elis‘ voice because Elis James has eight anecdotes.
Listen, I love love Elis and John on the radio, but it took having Lou Sanders sit in for Elis to make me realise just how badly I want two full hours of hearing a woman comedian on radio pleaaaaassseee hire more female comedians!
