Electronically Yours Vol. 1

Well, it’s been a little while in the making, but is well worth the wait. With our track ‘The Smartest Bomb’ in the honoured position of #3, preceded by Client, we urge you to purchase this collection of brand new female fronted electropop.

Available from MusicNonStop.co.uk

Unlike Little Boots, Lady GaGa, La Roux, et al, this is music written, produced and promoted by the artists themselves – without the help of major labels. (eg, Little Boots co-writer is Greg Kurstin – look him up and decide for yourselves how much Victoria Boots actually wrote herself….Greg on Wiki)

Anyway…I digress slightly! This is a collection of new electro produced by people with a passion for what they do and is the brainchild of Orac of League-Online, a man with a passion for all things electro and prepared to release an album to prove it!

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EMI Press Release:

Here it is – the release of Electronically Yours “EY Volume 1″, possibly the most significant collection of new electronic pop music since 1981’s “Some Bizzare Album” which launched the recording careers DEPECHE MODE, SOFT CELL, THE THE and BLANCMANGE. Featuring synthly the best new acts on Planet Earth, “EY Volume 1″ has been pre-programmed for your listening pleasure!

Electronically Yours started life as a blog in tandem with Secrets Online, both in celebration of synthesizer pioneers THE HUMAN LEAGUE. The thrill of electronic music merged the two sites into one. But then in late 2006, the discovery of Greek electro-maidens MARSHEAUX changed everything…

EY webmeister Rob Windle (AKA Orac)’s belief in the duo’s wonderful analogue synchronicity and Eurocentric charm led to them headlining the first ‘EY Night’ for their live UK debut in London and the aftermath was an enthusiastic union with Undo Records to bring you this CD. Only one condition was specified…all the tracks had to be ‘really good’!

“EY Volume 1″ perfectly captures a fantastic moment in time. The last 24 months have seen a resurgence in what is known to many as ‘electropop’. In the past, it was the mainstay of boys with their toys who were prepared to play the role of ‘outsider’ in yesterday’s tomorrow. What has revitalised the genre without a doubt are the feisty, glamourous ladies who are not only fronting the music but are helping to create it too. No electropop puppets here! 21st Century electro is fresh BECAUSE of the female voices… 80s synth pop never sounded this sexy!

So taking the lead from 21st Century female-fronted electronic acts LADYTRON, GOLDFRAPP and MISS KITTIN, this brilliant compilation brings together the best of ‘neu musik’ for those who still love the sound of synth.

No guitars here and frankly who cares?

Q: We’re #1, so why try harder?

A: Because this slightly too-good-to-be-true competition we’ve entered to play at the Big Chill Festival!

Having launched our campagin on Friday we have rocketed into the lead, thanks to our awesome fans who’ve bought the tracks. The band in the lead on the 5th August get to do a gig at the Big Chill Festival. True story!

And if you haven’t bought our tracks yet, I suggest you rectify this immediately – pop over to Alterhit.com, register yourself as a ‘Friend’ and buy a couple of our tracks. It’ll cost you £3, but we’re donating all proceeds to Looptron’s British Heart Foundation fundraiser.

More details on all this craziness over on the main Cassette Electrik Blog

Micky S and his Orchestra

A song featuring Brockley! How perfectly delightful!

I’d take this over Lady Gaga anyway.

While I think about it, they had remove some tiling from Nunhead Station the other week and uncovered some swell graffiti:

Difficult to get a good shot in the narrow subway, but it looks pretty cool (and not quite so tatty) in the flesh. Has all the nice loops and kinetic movement that the best of NY grafitti has. I like it, I wonder if they’ll keep it or cover it up with boring tiles again.

Card thing: built

Only took a hour, but what an hour!

Instructions by George Hart.

Baroque and Roll (sorry..)

Quick debrief of Monday’s concert at The Barbican with some pictures

Orchestra, adult choir and children’s choir on stage

Big, huh?

Here’s Howard Goodall introducing it all

Howard Goodall (Blackadder, Red Dwarf, etc) is the National Ambassador for Singing, tasked with getting children involved in music and singing in schools. So far he has 15,000 of the 20,000 schools in the UK signed up to the scheme. This is a Good Thing. Listening to music is ok and quite pleasant on the whole, but actually doing it – making and creating music, singing especially – is one of the most uplifting things a human being can do. A fact that is largely forgotten in the ubiqutous immersive soundworld of ipods and tv that we now find ourselves in.

Basses and Altos and Orchestra

I am in the block of basses; seven trillion pounds to the first person who spots me.

Sophie Junker, soprano and Philip Canner, bass-baritone

As well as doing five pieces by Handel, there was a specially composed piece by Harvey Brough, which took themes of Purcell and created a new setting for The Fairy Dream section of A Midsummer’s Night Dream. Sophie & Philip above were Titania and Bottom. Both were very good (as were the other two soloists who were recent graduates of the Guildhall School of Music), but did I detect a bit of star quality with Sophie?? You heard it here first.

Schools

As mentioned the real purpose of the project is to get schoolchildren interested and participating in music, and here is part of the 150 strong choir of children. They were all from innercity schools – paired with the city firms who made up the adult choir – and were excellent. The piece of music Harvey wrote for them wasn’t patronising or ‘easy’, it was a proper piece of music in which they played a key role. And they sung it brilliantly. Props to the kids!

Nicholas Kenyon

Nicholas Kenyon runs ting’s round there at the Barbican. Here he is at the end of the concert saying how splendid it all was and how important the project is, and how the Barbican and the Guildhall are proud to be supporting it.

Too right. The whole thing was a big success – musically I think the massed amateur choirs of us and the kids got away with it, the orchestra played brilliantly, the music was varied and interesting, and a large number of children who hadn’t even been to a classical concert before got to perform at a professional level in one of London’s Premier venues.

Win, win, win, win.

It’s just a pity the world can’t be a bit more like this more of the time.

Richard Frostick – conductor
Richard was great: someone with a true passion for music and the ability to communicate that passion – oh, and to control 300 singers and an orchestra to great effect!

Just don’t get your notes wrong, ok?

Vote!

As extensively covered by the papers it’s voting time tomorrow: Thursday 4th June.

So as a responsible subject of the United Kingdom, I urge you to vote in this important event – the Virgin Shorts Short Film Competition into which Gav & Jas have entered their film ‘Unto Others’.

As I can’t seem to embed the video here you’ll just have to watch the one minute masterpiece on the Virgin site:

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/unto-others/

Go! Vote it the full five points and make them win!

Oh, disclaimer… I wrote the end music. I thought I better mention that in case I  got in Big Trouble for my vested interest.

Whoever you do vote for tomorrow, do try to remember not to vote for the BNP, yeah?

Recommend: Toby Hadoke, ‘Moths ate my Dr Who scarf’

My bro took me on a surprise birthday outing to Greenwich Theatre yesterday to see Toby Hadoke’s one man show ‘Moths ate my Dr Who Scarf’.

Toby Hadoke’s website & tourdates

If you get the chance, you must go see – it’s both funny and heartwarming (without being sentimental) and is about one man’s obsession with Dr Who and how his dedication to the programme over the years has caused him both pain and joy (and mockery).

You don’t even need to be a Dr Who fan to enjoy the show – all Dr Who fact deployment is done with the right level of self deprecation and humour, and are used to support the anecdotes and routines that structure the show.

Like I say, it’s great – go see!

http://www.tobyhadoke.com

Cock! Flavoured Soup!

Ha, ha – oh my – take a look at this picture I took this morning:

Ha, ha! Did you spot it? …the “Cock Flavoured Soup”?!?!

The thing is… “cock” is often used colloquially to mean “penis”!!

You just can’t make this stuff up. What a day!

Maximum Security Toothpaste

As used in the Guantanamo Bay Bad Place:

But I bet you still can’t take it on aeroplanes…

from Times Online

O HAI, CAN I HAS MEME?

If LOLFATCATS.com, created by my chums The Flippers, doesn’t get in B3ta this week then I will need to reassess my understanding of the world.

Update:
Phew, my understanding of the world is correct:
lolfatcats got top billing in this week’s b3ta: b3ta Issue 379
Well done Flippermen and colleagues at Poke!