Video/ MP3: Ahu "To: Love"

Ahu - To: Love. (Official Video) from One-Handed Music on Vimeo.

Excited is not the word. Ahu sent me this track a month ago, produced by Paul White, and I've had it on repeat ever since but couldn't share it with anyone, which was killing me. One Handed Music have graciously decided to give it away for free until 13th September and they've given us a gorgeous video to go with it too! Apparently it's a classic Czech animation.

Shook in South Africa

Oooh pretty. Yep, my favourite magazine is out, the long awaited South Africa special. It's not really a magazine, it's more like a beautiful collectors item coffee table book split in to issues you find yourself re-reading months later. This issue includes Bilal, DJ Spinn and Chicago Footworking, Black Coffee + Culoe De Song, BLK JKS meet Malombo, Sud Electronic, The Routes of South African Jazz, Araminta de Clermont, Busi Mhlongo, Chimurenga Magazine, Thandiswa Mazwai, Spoek Mathambo, Sun Ra Arkestra, Nick Rosen, Champeta – Soundsystem Colombia, Freetown photographs, The Art of Sampling plus all your favourite regulars (Welson Creep, WE ARE…)

All for £4.50 here, from a newsagent or record shop, or if you're in the US from Borders and Barnes & Noble from next week.

(PS, they're not paying me to write this post, I just genuinely love this magazine).

Video: My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women & Hip-Hop

I was not expecting this documentary to be as interesting as it is.

Personally I have always thought Lauryn Hill cast and left such a massive shadow no one has been able to truly get past it. On our shores Miss Dynamite and Estelle were encouraged to find singing voices that weren't really there and were certainly inferior to their skills as MCs, and Trina may have had success in the US but I don't recall her having hits over here in the way many of her mid 90s predecessors did.

Record labels held female rappers up to an icon - by nature and definition impossible to replicate - and in the process stifled the possibility of creating new icons. Until Nicki Minaj who, for all of her ability as an MC and marketer, so far has not yet lived up to any of the labels attributed to many of the women talked about in this documentary (ground breaking, the best of ourselves, trying to change things, innovative, speaking for every day women). We have seen it all before, but Minaj is right at the beginning of her career so it's hard to tell what she'll do next and end up being known for in the end.

I think this is a point at which we could see a resurgence of the female MC. Lauryn Hill has returned to work far less intimidating after a ten year absence, and unless she delivers the perfect and fabled holy grail "Miseducation II", the music industry spell might just be broken. If Nicki Minaj sells a lot of units in November the door (if not the floodgates) will open, but whether it opens for original and empowered innovators, or artists who are particularly good at replication, will be the question.    

Thanks to Yardie

Jamie Woon "Night Air"

I have come to the realisation Jamie Woon is my favourite living singer. I didn't think it was possible to narrow it down enough to have one of those but it seems I have. I know him though so I hope he doesn't read that and think I'm a weird stalker (of the 101,937 views of his song Spirits on Youtube at least 100,000 were me so I suppose I am a bit of a musical stalker).

He is finally releasing a new single in September, and after years of hitting replay on his Myspace page and Youtube videos, there are rumours his album is coming out soon too! I love Night Air, unfortunately I saw the acoustic version below numerous times before hearing the radio friendly version above. It doesn't leave me with quite the same sense of incredulity and intense goosebumps that hearing the song live does, but it wipes the floor with everything in the charts (in my opinion). I will be supporting this campaign with every fibre of my being, so if you aren't a fan you may want to avoid me for the next few months.

Video: Sage Francis "Love The Lie"

I'm personally not a huge fan of Sage Francis musically but I do love this video (ah, robot love). It also illustrates a point I've spoken to a few people about this week - basically I've been ranting about how so many hip hop artists seem to set the creative bar for their work by comparing it to other hip hop artists, rather than drawing inspiration from and comparing themselves to whoever is making the most exciting and innovative art out there regardless of genre or art form. I don't lay the blame solely at their door either - I see so few hip hop journalists, bloggers and industry folk willing to be really honest when a piece of work (particularly from a big name), is bland, repetitive, devoid of meaning, or creatively barren. This is probably a longer post for another day, but for now - thank you Sage, and to all artists who push the creative envelope.

MP3/ Stream: Taylor McFerrin - "Early Riser" preview

I always check for new material from Taylor McFerrin, and this is interesting, I was expecting this project to feature more of his vocals but so far it seems to be largely instrumental (apart from Ryat who sounds very reminiscent of Bjork), and quite diverse stylistically. I particularly like the piano on "Awake To You", and hope to hear more of that on his forthcoming album Early Riser. Enjoy.

Taylor McFerrin - Track Preview from EARLY RISER by Taylor McFerrin

Retourner à Belleville

It never ceases to amaze me how many people still haven't seen this brilliant film from 2003 (I thought I'd told everyone in the world to see it)! I only write about music at PMOI but I think Belleville Rendez-Vous' fantastic soundtrack qualifies a quick post here. I just saw a wonderful new film entitled The Illusionist by the same team behind Belleville and it reminded me of how amazing that film is. If you haven't seen it yet, please do - three glamorous ageing, frog-eating triplet singers have to help Madame Souza and her dog Bruno save her grandson who is kidnapped during the Tour de France, to a brilliant jazz soundtrack...

Download: Ghostpoet ft Rox - To Something

Loving this gorgeous unofficial remix of "She Just Likes To Fight" by Four Tet that Ghostpoet put up on Soundcloud yesterday. "There's Love In You" by Four Tet is one of my favourite albums of this year and Ghostpoet is one of my favourite new artists (or new to me anyway), so I got a little bit overexcited when I stumbled across it. Rox does a great job too - it's just a lovely duet, I've listened about 10 times so far, it's giving me serious chills.

To Something Ft. ROX by ghostpoet

Competition: Dâm Funk x Rustie x Dimlite x Tokimonsta x Paul White @ Koko 4th Sept

Yep, I have TWO pairs of tickets to give away for this quite frankly breathtaking line up. All you need to do is email (info@putmeonit.com) with the subject line "Dâm Funk Ticket Competition" or tweet (@putmeonit) me the answer to the simple question below,  by 6pm Friday 27th Aug and I will pick the winners at random.

"What is Dâm Funk's live band called?"

You can find more info on the event here, it's happening at Koko on Saturday 4th September - don't leave it to pay day to buy your tickets if you don't win the competition, that's blatantly everyone else's plan and they'll sell out!

Just to warm you up a little more, check out this new sampler video for Dimlite's forthcoming EP "My Human Wears Acedia Shreds", sounding so juicy it's almost edible.


Dimlite – My Human Wears Acedia Shreds from Ehstrawlogy Produkte on Vimeo.

Video: Björk – The Comet Song

Björk's song for the Moomins film is finally here! It's basically a summary of the film - a giant comet lands in the Moomins land and they are trying to save it. Erm, anyway the proceeds from the single will go to the UNICEF childrens charities in Pakistan, it was meant to come out on iTunes today but I can't find it yet, I'll update here when I do. *It has now been pushed back to 6th September.

Video: Andreya Triana "Lost Where I Belong" Live in Croatia

Andreya is such a great live performer, and I was really honoured to have her do a short set for PMOI at Soundwave Festival in Croatia in July. This video is actually taken from another set later in the day but I kept the camera rolling, and it was just gorgeous. The ladies doing BVs are none other than Tanya Auclair and Milly Blue, with Jacob Quistgaard on guitar. 

Andreya's beautiful debut album "Lost Where I Belong" came out yesterday, you can (and should), buy it here. The first song on the album "Draw The Stars" is also iTunes Single of the Week so you can grab it for free for a limited time via iTunes.


Huge thank yous to Zainab Adamu for editing & Shernay Latouche for the audio.

Video: Martyn "Great Lengths"

*Inhales sharply*. This is stunning. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled so you have to click the image or this link in order to watch it, but please do. Directed by Dutch film maker Ramón Maria Gieling, the title of my post is misleading for this is indeed a film, "with its own secret story to tell" as Gieling describes his work. Lovely to see an electronic producer get in front of a screen with such confidence.

How to Get Featured On a Music Blog.

I get asked this question several times a week, and though I have a sneaking suspicion it's often an ego stroking tactic or worse a blackmail technique, "but you said if I did this you would write about my music!", I generally take the time to answer in case it's genuine.


My favourite campaign last year, Shafiq Husayn "En' A-Free-Ka" [Plug Research]

Firstly I have to say, this is aimed at emerging independent artists who don't know very much about marketing & PR, and start-up "labels" (who probably have a lot of good will but don't have distribution or a marketing & PR budget, rendering themselves pretty pointless but hey). This list won't work for all music blogs (especially the big ones who run more like online magazines), but it's a start.

Preparation

1. The most important thing is to make sure you're ready. If you send out underdeveloped music you've blown the first impression, and we won't be eager for your next email. Test it out on a few people you trust to be honest with you before sending it out to blogs.

2. The story - who are you and why are you and your music exciting? Where are you going? Who are your peers? Work it out, it's hard but it's important because if you don't know then your press release & campaign will probably be vague and ineffective.

3. Research: if you don't know what kind of press you want, you probably won't get it so find out - especially before paying someone to get it for you. If doing it yourself make a shortlist of bloggers you think might genuinely be interested in your music & familiarize yourself with what they post.

Content

4. Presentation is important! Get some great artwork and press shots done (quality videos too if you can), so that before we even listen to your music we know you're serious and you're artistic.

5. If you are sending out links to your music, make sure we can listen online before choosing to download because our hard drives are groaning.

6. The press release: A lot of bloggers are not writers they're curators, so you need a well written paragraph which gives some interesting key information about the project, not a 2 page press release. Bloggers love quotes and so should you - they get to cut and paste, and you get to talk about the project in your own words to their audience.

The Approach

 7. You don't have to hire a PR, but if you do make sure they're credible - do they get thanked by artists & bloggers online? Do they have lots of followers on Twitter/ Facebook (ie do they know a lot of people)? Do they genuinely like your music, because if they don't you're just a job they'll probably do bare minimum work on. Ask to see previous communications they've sent out, and try asking artists who get good press who they work with. Remember! The best PR in the world will struggle if your music isn't ready and your marketing approach is wrong.

8. DIY PR - great for building up contacts you can keep. Make a shortlist of 20 key bloggers you think would genuinely like your work and send them personalised emails. It's way more effective than sending a blast to a random 2000 bloggers, and you won't just end up in a spam filter.

9. Tip: ask a few key bloggers for their feedback or pitch to offer exclusives a couple of weeks before your music comes out. A lot of us like to support!

Following Up

10. A lot of bloggers get hundreds of emails per day. If we don't reply it's not personal, and we are usually grateful if you send a polite follow up email or two.

11. Say thank you! It's amazing what we'll do for artists who are grateful and friendly (we send your music to other bloggers & influential people for free, put you up if you come to our city, help promote & book you shows...) Bloggers are often people with big on and offline networks and we like to share information - make sure it's good.

12. Harness data and use it. If you put out a project for free, use Bandcamp, collect email addresses and stay in touch with your mailing list, it's probably full of bloggers, journalists, DJs and music nerds, not just fans - it's your PR list. 


What NOT to do

> SPAM. Don't send unidentified links on Twitter, don't promote yourself on our Facebook walls, don't send emails people can't unsubscribe from (use a mailing list provider). We'll just block you.

> Send too much "polyfiller" content: "here's the EXCLUSIVE behind the scenes clip number 278 of the making of the trailer of the prelude to the mixtape!" - we'll stop reading your emails, it's not exclusive, and when you really have something of worth it'll get lost.

> Don't send low quality content: Youtube clips with still images over your track, you rapping to your camera phone, random MP3s with no artwork or press release - come correct.

> Slag Bloggers/ blogging off as a whole online then expect our support. We're nerds. We see all. 

> Think it's us just "hating" for no reason, I promise it's not personal. We love good content - just make some. There's a blogger out there for everyone.

Video: Nosaj Thing - Coat of Arms

Headphones or proper speakers required here - please don't listen through your laptop to this one. This track actually gave me a slightly worrying feeling in my chest, like there was too much pressure on my heart and lungs, so perhaps you should skip this one if you have a dodgy heart. Nosaj Thing will be playing in the basement at the C.A.M.P. on August 25th and the Hare & Hound in Birmingham on the 26th.

DJ Derek Documentary

DJ Derek pt. 1 from Grand Finale on Vimeo.


DJ Derek pt. 2 from Grand Finale on Vimeo.

Annoyingly I can't remember which of my Twitter friends put up a link to this but whoever it was they made my day. DJ Derek is such a legend full of amazing stories, and I could have happily watched an hour long documentary about the guy. Enjoy!

Video & MP3: Cee-Lo "F**k You"

Hahaha. Download here.

Pins and Digits - Julien Dyne

I mentioned Julien Dyne in passing here when his album dropped last year, and I thought it might still be worthwhile to revisit it ten months on, especially after Electric Wire Hustle's recent visit to the UK.

A Kiwi drummer/producer from New Zealand, his sound is all those good swung drums, afrobeat horns and trippy synths. He is also a painter and sculptor.

An informative interview can be found here.

As far as the album goes, there is so much variety, to keep you on your toes all the way through. "Stained Glass Fresh Frozen" is his take on the half swung-half straight soul (featuring Mara TK of EWH), and "Incredulous" has been a favourite of mine to play out for the dancefloor. The minute-long interludes of experimental drum patterns gives a suggestion of how this album came to be - it's a meshing together of ideas and sketches, some more developed than others. I like that looseness and openness.



Cop the album here

By DJ TKO

Download: Bilal "Restart"

So "Airtight's Revenge" is out for pre-order right now, and this is the first single from the album. I don't normally blog music before I've listened but I actually can't listen to it until I post this widget and do the download thing below if that makes sense. So, erm, hope it's good. *I will revisit this post shortly.