Monday 28 November 2016

Stereo Brain // Fairtrade Music



Everything nowadays is instant, people want everything straight away and then quickly shuffle off to the next thing. Being part of the so-called 'iPhone generation' I'm perfectly guilty of this, hopping from craze to craze like an excitable dog in a room full of hundreds of its favourite toys. However music is not a place where I like to rush things.

The anticipation of waiting for a CD to arrive in the post or browsing a record shop not knowing what I'm going to pick up are some of the most exciting feelings for me. When I get the disc I set aside a couple of hours on the day it arrives in my life just to listen. That's how I consume my music, listening carefully and absorbing it slowly, sipping at it like an expensive glass of wine and savouring the taste.

For many these days consuming music is something instant. They open Spotify or Apple Music and it's all there in front of them, and that really means ALL of it. Someone with one of these services can listen to almost any track ever made (provided they have an Internet connection) for something like the cost of an album per month. Don't get me wrong, these services have brilliant advantages and the idea you can listen to anything you want is amazing as a music fan but it's not quite that simple.

As with anything these days the idea that you get what you pay for runs rife in music. I'm sure you've all heard of 'Fairtrade', if not it's a sticker on a piece of food or whatever that means 'if you buy this product the person who farmed/made this gets paid properly'. Seeing this sticker on the food often means it's just that little bit more expensive but you know it's for good reason. Likewise with the 'organic' or 'free range' stickers, you pay that bit more so you know that everything in the process is done properly.

Music, in reality, is no different. Sure Spotify is the cheapest way to consume music. You pay less than £10 a month to get access to all the music you could possibly want. It's a great deal for you but, like buying a cheap shirt from Primark, it's not good for the people who made it.

"Ah" I hear you say, "but it makes it so much easier for small bands to be discovered". Sure... maybe if 'discovered' means having one song picked to appear on a few people's 'Discover' playlists through an algorithm, you might have a point. Of course there are people who listen their 'Discover' playlists pick out the ones they like and put them on another playlist and continue listening but most of those couldn't tell you the name of the song let alone the artist. That's not discovered. 'Discovered' often comes along when a lot of people that know a lot about music feature you on their radio show/dj set/blog/magazine because in reality those are the things that will make or break a band.

Then there's the other obstacle Spotify throws up - it's impact on the charts. A lot people like listening to the same old stuff they always have and, with streaming being included in the charts, it means that it's so much harder for new bands to work their way up into the top 100 let alone top 10. All this while albums like 'Greatest Hits' by Queen have been sat in the top 100 for 72 weeks in 2015 & 2016 - an album which made it's first appearance in 1981 and stays there due to streaming figures.

Even if a new band fights past these barriers and does get 'discovered' Spotify doesn't even help then! It pays artists between £0.0048 - £0.0068 per play. Lets assume it's the upper edge of that and now to pay an artist the normal album price of £7.99 you have to listen to tracks over 1000 times on Spotify to pay them that money - it's crazy

So when all this is considered it leads to the current situation in the music industry where nobody except those bands that have already made it have enough money to keep going and it's become so much harder to make it to the top. This, slowly but surely, is creating a massive stagnation in the music industry. To see this you don't have to look further than Download festival's headliners last year (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden & Rammstein) who have all been around for 20+ years!

However with music it's easy to make a change; stop paying your Spotify subscriptions head down to your nearest record shop or your favourite artists' gig and pick up a CD or a vinyl and get yourself some 'fairtrade music'. Without it musicians won't have enough money to make new music, go on tours and be able to live off of their music - something that's never been easy but also something that is now harder than ever.

Monday 14 November 2016

Stereo Brain // 2016 Awards Lists Part 1

Album Of The Year
Andy Hull & Robert McDowell - Swiss Army Man Soundtrack
Architects - All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us
Black Foxxes - I'm Not Well
Black Peaks - Statues
Blossoms - Blossoms
Biffy Clyro - Elipsis
Daughter - Not To Dissapear
Frightened Rabbit - Painting Of A Panic Attack
The Hunna - 100
Joyce Manor - Cody
The Lion & The Wolf - The Cardiac Hotel
Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost
PUP - The Dream Is Over
Panic! At The Disco - Death Of A Bachelor
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Rusty Shackle - Dusk
Slaves - Take Control
Spring King - Tell Me If You Like To
Tigercub - Abstract Figures In The Dark
Viola Beach - Viola Beach
Yak - Alas Salvation

Debut Album Of The Year
Black Peaks - Statues
Blossoms - Blossoms
Hacktivist - Outside The Box
The Hunna - 100
Jack Garratt - Phase
Milk Teeth - Vile Child
Spring King - Tell Me If You Like To
Tigercub - Abstract Figures In The Dark
Viola Beach - Viola Beach
Yak - Alas Salvation

EP Of The Year
Cassels - You, Us And They EP
Chroma - Chroma EP
Creeper - The Stranger
Estrons - She's Here Now EP
Heart Of Oak - E.P. | One
The King Blues - Off With Their Heads
Montreux Fires - Trying For The Sake Of Trying
October Drift - This Is Nowhere EP
Parcs - Traces
VANT - Karma Seeker EP

Sunday 13 November 2016

Stereo Brain // 2016 Awards Intro...


So in the wake of it slowly coming to the end of the year I'm going to announce the categories for the 2016 Stereo Brain awards.
GENERAL AWARDS
Album Of The Year: Goes to the stand out album of the year
Debut Album Of The Year: Goes to the most impressive debut album of the year
EP Of The Year: Goes to the best EP released this year
Disappointment Of The Year: Highlights the most disapointing album/song/moment by an established artist
Tuuuuune Of The Year: (Yes 5 u's!) The banger of the year! The song that's thee biggest ear worm
LOCAL AWARDS
Local Band Of The Year: The band local to the Cardiff area who has made the most progress and been the most impressive over the last year
Cardiff Festival Of The Year: The festival in Cardiff with the best combination of line up, local artist support and general feel.
Cardiff Venue Of The Year: The Cardiff based music venue with which has had the best shows, nicest atmosphere and been the most progressive in the Cardiff music community
Cardiff Promoter Of The Year: The Cardiff promoter that has both pulled the most impressive acts to the city as well as at the same time supporting local music
If you know of any acts/artists/venues/songs/albums that should be up for these awards that you think I may have missed, let me know! Contact me on fb: @stereobraindj, twitter: @stereo_brain

Monday 7 November 2016

Preview: HOYfest // The Gates Art Centre, Cardiff // 18-19.11.16

Putting on a festival is hard. It's difficult enough running an established festival with a large group of people behind it let alone starting one in the middle of November and running it completely by yourself. HOYfest is such a festival and 2016 is it's first year.

Full Hoyfest lineup
Having already announced The Milk as the festivals Friday night headliner along with The Bulletproof Bomb, Judas and a load of excellent local bands they've finally released the full line up and most importantly the other headliner for the festival.

VANT will be taking that slot, adding the date to their upcoming UK tour in support of their lates EP 'Karma Seeker' and recent single 'Peace & Love'. With an album allegedly on the way next year, they're one of the UK's most exciting up & coming acts.

With The Milk, No Hot Ashes and Bandicoot confirmed already for the Friday night a further 3 acts have been added. The extremely young but promising Parish open up the festival while exciting South Wales bands Monico Blonde and The Moon Birds have also been added to the night.

Added, along with VANT, to the Saturday line up are Cardiff alternative bands The Boradcasts, Nuclear Lullaby and Wetpainttt. The young and exciting The Fused join the festival off the back of their first headline show and a single release. Mirror Gorillas, Trash and Rinse are the final acts added to the lineup.



Tickets are available from the Gates Art Centre site HERE