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MUSIC

A-Z: MUSIC



Bands & Musicians


HOW TO HAVE A CHRISTMAS NUMBER 1: Audio: Will novelty records make you rich?


DEAR SPIDER: Virtuoso instrumentalist Colin Reid weaves his own web of intrigue.


UNSIGNED AND HUNGRY:Video: Allegedly, success is down to 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Fresh from playing support slots for Akon and Kanye West, hip-hop rapper/producer Jae P reckons it's worth sweating it out.


FREE RADICALS: Curator and producer of underground multimedia events, Arika draws legendary artists from across the globe, and sell out crowds - often to the most obscure and shadowy parts of Scotland.


GET YOUR COAT: Scores of young bands trek hopefully south to the bright lights of London every year, but only a handful come out clutching the Holy Grail: a record contract.


GREEN-EYED MONSTERS: We have a pint with newly-signed Envy And Other Sins to get their take on the current state of play in the industry and hear their tips for getting ahead in the music biz




DJing / VJing


FORMAT JOCKEY: It wouldn't be fair to pigeonhole Chris Keenan, aka Prime Objective, as a VJ.


DESIGNER CHIC:Catherine Bray meets Ricky Haley, the DJ who's using his web design contacts to put together a 15 hour festival of Erol Alkan-headlined music across 11 stages in Nottingham. Welcome to Dot To Dot...


THE JOY OF DECKS: Midlands-based DJ Martin Wright is gearing up to help launch Ibiza's summer season in style.


REACH FOR THE STARS: There may be nothing particularly new about the cut-up technique or plunderphonics, but it's getting easier to produce and distribute by the day.


VIDS IN: Once consigned to a lifetime of playing second fiddle to the superstar club DJ, the VJ, or Video Jockey, has shook off the shackles of its domineering master to become a creative entity in its own right.


LAP OFF: Adam Turkington, Arts officer at Belfast's Waterfront Hall set up NI's first Lap Off - an evening of sonic combat, where svelte PCs are the weapons, and only the meanest beats win.


GET YOUR FIX OF...: Audio-visual artists and performers Addictive TV are working on everything from Hollywood trailers to banging sets at Glastonbury.




Music Festivals


SUMMER SUNDAE: HIGHLIGHTS: Held in the grounds of Leicester's De Montfort Hall, the Summer Sundae Festival continues to propel Leicester's music scene from strength to strength.


GIGBETH 2007: Johnny Marr reports from the front-line at Gigbeth 2007 and finds an intriguing festival with years ahead to grow.


DIY FESTIVALS Video: As scores of local music fans continue to flock each year to gatherings like Oxegen, Electric Picnic and Vital the summer music festival calender remains big business.


A CELTIC CONNECTION: Video: Donald Shaw, founder member and producer of Celtic music giants Capercaillie, recently took up the reins as artistic director of Celtic Connections, one of the biggest events in the World Music Calendar.


CREAM OF THE CROP: Creamfields 2007 saw its first female DJ play the mainstage in the form of spinmeister Cler Lever.


GLOBAL VISION: Lynn Bird sensibly left the children at home and headed off to a muddy Malmesbury field to find out how classical Prom-tastic broadcaster BBC Radio 3 became such an essential part of the WOMAD Festival experience.




MCing / Beatboxing


BEAR NECESSITIES: They say you should never meet your heroes, but when Ravage finally met one of the rappers he'd spent his formative years listening to, the Birmingham MC wasn't reduced to a stuttering star-struck mess.


TOO SHLO: Video: In early 2007 Beatbox artist Shlomo swung by Belfast's Waterfront Hall to mentor members of the Ulster Youth Choir in the tricky discipline of human beatboxing.


BEARDYMAN: Video: He wrote his first symphony at the age of ten. At fifteen he discovered drum'n'bass. Now Beardyman is making his mark in the world of beatboxing.




Music distribution


HOMEPAGE: Going global with the new user generated digital music market.


NOT LOST IN TRANSLATION: For 30yrs Rough Trade shops have given record buyers the new and unexpected. Now they're launching a digital site, giving new bands the chance of a first sale.


MEET THE PRODUCERS: Plotting an alternative hip-hop route for the MySpace generation.


DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: New Music Strategies blogger Andrew Dubber meets the manager of Midas, a band kicked out of the top twenty for using digital technology to 'hype' the charts.


PLUGGED IN: Audio: The future of West Midlands music.


WORTH PAYING FOR... Online music industry digest, Record Of The Day, is renowned within the music industry for bringing the lastest news and tipping unsigned music talent.




Music production


CAFE CULTURE: When youth work met bored and frustrated youths, Stuart Wright found that creative buttons were pressed and an independent music production initiative was born.


ECLECTIC TO A FALLT: Audio: Fallt is tucked away in a sedate Georgian village outside Belfast. Run by a collective, this independent international publishing house specialises in experimental music and cutting edge design.


TOTALLY WIRED: During his 30 years in the music industry, Colin Newman has become a master of reinvention.


ROCK ON THE ROCKS: From playing in bands to producing films, Zimbabwe born Edinburgh raised Mani Shoniwa has had a diverse career in the arts over the last 20 years.




Music video


VIVA MINIVEGAS: Aoife McArdle makes up one third of Mini Vegas, a collective who have since the year 2000 produced a wide range of satisfying multi-sensory work, ranging from 2D and 3D animation to documentary and film.


DIGITAL LOVE: Kris Bird explains what it takes to make a succesful music video.


INTO THE WOODS: Making music vids with Forest of Black.


JUST JACK: Video: He put his foot down when one director said he would have to wear a pair of Y-fronts and lift weights. Just Jack reveals the artist's point of view about making music videos.


VEZ: Video: Ninja Tune video commissioner, Vez reveals how she works with video directors.


PROPER SERIOUS: Some people don't expect the likes of Mighty Mo to become directors. Cieron Magat meets the man on a mission.


GIRLS CAN DO BETTER:How are female music video directors breaking into the male-dominated record industry?


A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN: 20/20/2 Vision is a collaborative project based in Leeds, for Leeds bands. The idea? Take twenty directors, match them with twenty bands and then produce a promo video in two weeks.


VIDEOSYNCRATIC: How do you go about documenting thirty years of a tiny music scene that brought the world Radiohead and Supergrass - on no-budget?




Sound Engineering


ART OF NOISE: Sound engineering is a skilled profession, whether you're dubbing for Gaelic kids television or recording lines for The Simpsons.




Soundtracks


KNOW THE SCORE: Video: Mark Gordon of Score Draw knows how to lay down a scintillating soundtrack.


SHORTWAVES: Audio: Need any sound effects? Shortwaves is a new business providing cutting edge custom music and sound post production to the broadcast industries.


ROBOT IN DISGUISE Matt Gaffiney, singer-songwriter in Birmingham electro-prog-pop group Robot, chats to Dan Davies about transforming his music into TV soundtracks.


VOX POPULUS Two years after winning IDEASFACTORY Soundtracks, Andi Garbi's debut album is out.


21st CENTURY OPERA: Music for games is getting the full works - orchestras, a chorus section, electronic mixed with live... Ella Davies caught up with the pioneering composers.


HIGH SCORE: Video: What's a shoot'em up without the bangs?


MUSICAL CHAIRS: A multi-instrumentalist with an eclectic repertoire of styles, composer Gregor Philp creates music for a variety of media, but his biggest score has been Balamory. What's the story?


ROBOTIC TYPECASTING: Two local record labels share their experiences of getting tracks used in big-budget ads.




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