how long should a band take to release a new album?

Harvey Goldsmith, THE PROMOTER of the century (..some may say..), writes in his blog that these days there are too few superbands developing and they should be given more time. ( see his entry on June 30th 2008 at http://www.harveygoldsmith.com/harvey-blogs.php )

Then I read about MGMT on CMUdaily, a newsletter everyone interested in the music industry should read http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/:

MGMT have told BBC 6music that they’re looking forward to getting back into the studio to begin work on a second album. The duo told the station: “We’ve been longing to get in the studio for a while because we got out of it recording our last album about a year ago. So we’re definitely ready to start working on some new stuff but I think in January we’re gonna start recording and hopefully put an album out next summer.”

I think, by next summer there will still be some people discovering and enjoying the current MGMT album. And there will be enough time to let the band breathe and work on a great follow up for longer after that. Fans must also get the chance to recover and then rediscover the new works by a band.

I do understand that we work in a fast changing industry, but if we keep on pushing bands to release more material faster and faster, there will be an overkill.
These days there sometimes are only a few months between the band finishing their touring for their current album and releasing the new one. That’s definetly too short in my opinion.

Feel free to comment and discuss. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I am right.

new music 0807

I love.

The New Wine. jaundko also spread the love  here.

The Whitest Boy Alive. you gotta love erlend.

MGMT. they have all been right along the way.. sometimes you can believe the hype.

Younghearts. great british fun.

Boy Crisis. go nyc.

Minus the Bear. an old new discovery.

Kids in Glass Houses. still going very strong.

Vampire Weekend. another hype going around. i like it.

and the girls can be very proud of:

Lykke Li – go Scandinavia!

Martha Wainwright’s latest

Joan as Police Woman

have a listen.

thank you to Liebes and MCK.

o2 wireless festival 2008

I just got back from a long weekend in LDN, as some posh Londoners like to call their home. The o2 Wireless Festival was on for four days in Hyde Park. The spirit of the people was great and being able to walk home after a great day out at a festival was quite frankly the best of all!
This year the headliners were: Jay-Z, Morrissey, Fatboy Slim and Counting Crows.

Jay-Z played a similar set to his Glastonbury show, without the fabulous Wanderwall intro though. To be fair, I am possibly the whitest girl alive and Jay-Z was never on my preferred list of music. But he played a great set that even I could ‚bounce’ to (this sounds so wrong coming from me).

Day two saw Hyde Park filled with Morrissey fans and The Smith fanatics that still live in their beloved memories. Morrissey’s appearance is cocky as usual, but the people love it. Wandering around in a playboy shirt with his 20-something band sitting far in the back to have him take over most of the stage. He then holds a short monologue demonstrating his vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. It was something along the lines of: you eat death when eating meat. It was time for me to go.
Good show, Mr. Morrissey, I’ll give you that. But your overly slimy dramatic-ness just isn’t my thing.

Day three was the fun day of glow sticks, neon wayfarers and colourful clothes. Most of the saturday line-up where dance/indie/nuwave bands with Fatboy Slim finishing the night. I sadly was a bit late and only saw a few gigs here and there including the brilliant performance of Berlin’s own Booka Shade. Check ’em out.

http://www.bookashade.com/

The last day I spent on my way back to the pool. No Counting Crows for me.
All in all, a great weekend at an amazing city centre festival!

Have a listen to the following bands I loved at o2 wireless 2008:
Red Light Company – although I wasn’t very impressed with their haircuts at first, they are definitely pulling it off on stage!
Pete & The Pirates – English Indie Rock
Hot Chip – geeky darlings always worth watching live
Roisin Murphy – fashionable as ever with a great live performance
The Fashion – America is coming back with some great sounds
Beck – he is back and the only one that is allowed to wear Wayfarers in my eyes.
The National – I missed it but my friend said it was brilliant!
Robyn – better than expected. she blew me away.
Sam Sparro – rockin his Prince’ness.
Booka Shade – see above.

news of the world

I am back. I was planning to write a lot more…but what can I say.

Today has been eventful. CNN Breaking News reports Yves Saint Laurent has died. I was surprised that I didn’t find a  bulletin by one of my  ‘pseudo’ myspace friends reporting the death of one of the most influential designers of all time. To be honest- I really wouldn’t know. Yes, I love fashion, but I have always tried to ignore the catwalks because I prefer to travel the world than spend a ridiculous amount of money on designer wear. But I have to admit, that fashion can be very exciting. Sadly, the only YSL fashion I really know is the one he hasn’t created. YSL Rive Gauche always has incredible outfits, but they were created after his designing times…

Oh no, hold on, I do remember one thing YSL has created: the suite for women. If only I had incredibly long legs like Nadja Auermann, I would without a doubt, wear YSL suits. All day. I like my masculine style. At times, anyway.

Alright. Moving on. I read an article of a journalism meeting in Copenhagen where they contemplated who will rule the future of written media: the journalists (online + print) or maybe the consumer & the blogger, the average person next door… They didn’t find a conclusion.. I think the journalists will always have their say.

Done and done.

Then I read about Bronfman stating that he believes in 5 music sales platforms within the next 5 years. One of them he is very keen on: mobile sales. Me personally, I would never buy a track over my phone. I like to transfer my favourite mp3s to my mobile (USB or bluetooth) and have them as my ringtone. I wouldn’t pay a penny to do otherwise. And now that I am looking for a new phone, I want a small phone with 3 attributes: UMTS (3G), at least a 3.2 megapixel camera and preferably Bluetooth. It should be able to play mp3s but doesn’t have to have over 1 GB space, because I will never ever use it all. It is a phone after all.

But then I think about a 12-year old friend, who uses almost every aspect of his mobile and mobile downloads. Am I already getting old with 21? Really?

In Asia, especially Japan and South Korea mobile downloads are one of the main platforms selling music. Digital media is huge over there. But will it ever be over here? Costs for mobile internet and transfers are still fairly high. with faster mobile internet connections 3G or UMTS in Germany it might be possible. But it seems to take a while to catch up. My friend Oliver did a presentation on mobile downloads over a year ago, reporting on the success in Asia. Another friend said media on mobile phones won’t be as successful. They will merely be used as navigation systems, and use handy softwares; not entertainment.

I haven’t used either and I would rather plan to use it as a navigation system- in fact, the phone I’ve been keeping an eye on has an integrated navigation system. It certainly sounds interesting! I wouldn’t mind. The amount of times I have sent myself a picture of maps so I wouldn’t get completely lost is certainly higher than ever wanting to buy a track via my mobile….And I am sure it won’t change in future.

I have more to say, more in my head but I will save it for later. Come back soon for more.