UP THE HILL AND DOWN THE SLOPE
This, from an excitable Sounds journalist, from an issue circa 1982: "The scene is so hot at the moment, I'm getting more than ten demos a week from all over the country!"
More than TEN! Just imagine!!
I found this copy of Sounds, the now defunct music paper, while I was in the loft filing away CDs, which wasn't quite the cathartic experience I'd hoped it would be. Everyone has their own rules for CD filing I know (in fact the book/film Hi Fidelity explores this obsession at length) but then there's always those bands who come along and mess you about. Where for instance do you put PJ Harvey (under P or H?). Or for that matter Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong? Or - and don't get me started on this - David Cronenberg's Wife.
I had the loft converted a couple of years ago to house the CDs which had started spilling out of what used to be a front room (and is now a makeshift study) and then outgrown the spare room and one wall of the landing. It also has a cupboard which stores old music magazines - hence the temptation to stop and compare Rock Music as it was Then and how it is Now.
The reality of the Now is that there is a sack and a half full of mail downstairs which needs listening to by tomorrow. The Man from Sounds would be wetting himself. And you thought me, being a high-flying DJ, would be spending my week's holiday lounging by a pool in Bermuda!
Actually sifting through the post is probably the best and worst part of what I do. There is still the inherent child-like excitement of knowing that somewhere in this lucky dip there might be the Future of rock and roll. But after about an hour there is also the crushing realization that there are also a lot of runners-up prizes - the musical equivalent of the plastic comb or the infuriating metal puzzle.
As an experiment though, I thought we'd share the process together. Exciting eh? One tip: It's best to make a cup of tea first and suspend your belief that the record industry has any idea what it's doing before you start. Ready?
Here's the first stuff out of the sack:
A single from Get Well Soon (I've already played this on Radio 2, it's quite moody, but they've obviously seen fit to send another one). Next there's a compilation album called Swinging Mademoiselles which goes into the Albums To Listen To Pile. And then a single by The Vivians which goes in the CD player and sounds like a rocky Killers thrashing around in an acid bath.
That's followed by two new singles from the Art Goes Pop label (the one by Pop Up sounds like a nice shy piece of tuneful Scottish indie, which goes onto the pile marked 'possible play on 6Music'). While that's playing there's two packages revealing demos by bands called Captain & The Kings and Dom Keller (which both go on the demo mountain) and an advance promo of an album by Lord Skywave - apparently the non de plume of a former member of Simian Mobile Disco.
They're followed by a Ron Sexsmith single; a band called Retro Crooks (for whom the meaning of retro is the first Libertines album, but quite enjoyable none the less) and the latest Fratellis single. You can imagine the whoops of pure joy when I opened that package.
More interesting is the debut single by The Joy Formidable. For some reason I always thought they were from Manchester but it says Devon on the blurb. But if you like Throwing Muses/Breeders style bass-driven alt-pop this is for you.
Then there's some piece of major label tat I won't bore you with, followed by a demo CDR which doesn't play (I'll spare the band's blushes but next time check there's something on it before you whack it in the envelope) and a really interesting softcore album by The Allender Band which will be making its way onto the show sometime in the next week. It's just gorgeous.
And so it goes. In real time that's about - let me check the clock - 18 minutes of Sunday afternoon. It gets better and it gets worse over the next four and a half hours (some unsurprisingly derivative demos from groups whose Year Zero is either early Funeral For A Friend or the first Bloc Party album and the usual quota of singer-songwriters who deal in life in the northern towns of Britain or far-flung dusty parts of America). As much as this is all great fun - and it is, it's amazing having the opportunity to hear so much music - it also becomes weirdly routine.
There is a danger that after a while that you simply go deaf to all this music whizzing past you; your critical faculties go haywire. You just don't know anymore. I remember when I was invited to Peel Acres that Peelie got round this by having all his Fall albums filed next to his record player so that when he was unsure of his personal benchmark, he'd simply take one out and play it. What a terrific yardstick!
Come to think of it, John also had someone who filed his records for him. I wonder if they know where to put David Cronenberg's Wife?
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good blog steve...
one quick point, as a radio trainee/aspiring music journalist myself i'd like to say that popup were the first band i ever interviewed properly and i am very delighted to hear your considering playing them on 6...
keep up the good work!
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Fascinating insight into your job/life.
This is definitely one of the best BBC blogs.
Thanks!
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