I Eat Music

This week it’s been hard to move for news and comment about the BBC’s Strategy Review, and, in particular, the plans to close digital radio station 6music.

And there have been a lot of emotionally charged calls for the BBC to save 6music. But I am a cold and unemotional creature. I was quite happy for Abbey Road to be turned into a kebab shop and I don’t think any band should reform ever. If something’s done with and served its purpose, it should be allowed to die. But 6music is not done with, and it’s still very much in the process of serving its purpose. So, for that matter, is the Asian Network, which is also earmarked for closure.

The BBC tell us that it wants to make cuts in order to focus more on “high quality programming”. Which sounds nice, but actually says very little. You might as well say you want to make programmes that feel more sticky. Plus, you could just as easily find money for more high quality programming by cutting the budgets and number of staff on things like Chris Moyles’ Radio 1 show, which have far too much of both. It makes no sense to completely cut services that are both high quality and incredibly important to their listeners, who are underserved elsewhere in broadcast media.

Also, we’re told that the BBC needs to give its commercial rivals a chance. If that’s the case, why aren’t they closing down Radio 1? And since when is competition a bad thing? Yes, the BBC receives its funds in an unusual way, but that doesn’t mean commercial services can’t produce better material than they can. If the entire BBC shut down tomorrow, would Sky suddenly start making programmes that were actually watchable? Somehow, I don’t think the BBC’s existence is what’s holding Sky back in that area.

And who exactly are these rivals who would thrive if 6music closes? Xfm and NME Radio are cited by some, but these stations do not serve the same audience. Because they’re funded by advertising, they have to go for the more lucrative youth market, with 6music’s listeners more likely to be in the thirty-something bracket. In fact, even Xfm’s Eddy Temple-Morris has called for 6 to be saved (see here).

While it’s true that the BBC could make significant savings in a variety of areas, and use the licence fee more efficiently, the cuts put forward just do not, er, cut it. But all is not lost, the BBC Trust still have to approve these proposals. You should tell them why they shouldn’t, and you can do that right here.

Okay, lengthy rant over, sorry. You can follow CMU’s coverage of this story as it develops here.

This is my editorial from this week’s CMU Weekly, which you can read here. I wrote something similar for the Remix Update, which you can see here.

Channel 4 cut Shane MacGowan’s epic and entirely incoherent introduction to the video for his Haiti charity single, I Put A Spell On You, from their coverage of the NME Awards, which is a shame, because it was one of the highlights of the evening.

Here’s an interview he did with NME Radio’s Jon Hillcock earlier in the evening, when he was a bit more sober:

But, being able to drink dangerous quantities of alcohol is not Shane’s only talent. The group of musicians he managed to pull together for his cover of I Put A Spell On You, which includes Bobby Gillespie, Johnny Depp, Mick Jones, Glen Matlock and Paloma Faith, makes an impressive list. And the song itself is fantastic, as well. A charity single you could actually listen to? That doesn’t happen so often.

The single’s released on 8 Mar. You can pre-order it at 7Digital, here, or by texting SPELL (all in capitals) to 78789 (texts cost £1.50).

When I’m not tiring myself out being nerdy about all things music, I like to relax by being nerdy about all things comedy. First point of call, of late, is something that bridges the gap between both worlds.

The ‘Marsha Meets…’ podcast sees Xfm DJ (that’s the music bit, I wouldn’t want you to miss it) Marsha Shandur interviews one of the world’s very finest stand-up comedians each week, with each giving interesting and amazing insights into their craft. So far Marsha’s met Richard Herring, Brendon Burns, Kevin Eldon, Isy Sutty, Rich Fulcher, Marcus Brigstocke, Chris Addison, and Milton Jones to name but a few.

This week is the perfect week to start listening, as she speaks to the excellent Jim Jeffries, who’s always a great interviewee (further proof of that here). He talks violent reactions to his jokes, getting away with saying “cunt” in America, and his love of musical theatre.

www.xfm.co.uk/onair/podcasts/marsha-meets-the-podcast

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke is set to release a new solo single later this month. But Thom Yorke is such an unwieldy name for a solo project. I mean, what does it really say about the music? Nothing. If he’s going to survive in the music industry, he’s going to need something punchier. Luckily, Adam Buxton (of Adam & Joe fame, of course) was on hand at Latitude to help him come up with something better.

Producer Nigel Godrich videoed the chat for posterity. Take a look:

‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses/The Hollow Earth’ will be made available by Radiohead’s W.A.S.T.E. online store on 21 Sep.

Things for the team behind The Remix on Xfm were all a bit exciting last Friday night. Shortly before going on air, we heard that Akira The Don, who had been working hard on his All Time Top Ten mix for three straight days, was going to be close to Wizard’s record of squeezing 204 tracks into his ten minutes of Xfm airtime.

Now, when Wizard broke that record back in May, we pretty much gave up on the idea of it being broken any time soon. We thought it would take years. The competitive element, we felt, had been removed, because he’d just set the bar too high. Even though Wrongtom still claims he could do a 1000 track ten minute mix. We’ve advised him not to try, for the sake of his health.

But when Akira announced that he wouldn’t be with us in time for the usual 10.30pm slot, things started looking more interesting. He’d been working on the mix almost up until the point we went on air and he’d managed to cram a few more tracks in. So, when he finally arrived in the studio brandishing alcohol and a large grin, we knew something good was about to happen. And happen it did.

Yes, we have a brand new record – 210 tracks in ten minutes. Actually, it was more than that, but it was 210 recognisable tracks with many, many more tiny samples tucked away filling out any space there might have been left.

Akira has put together this YouTube video to accompany the mix:

Here’s the current leaderboard:

1. Akira The Don – 210 tracks
2. Wizard – 204 tracks
3. Wrongtom – 100 tracks [download]
4. Stereo:Type – 64 tracks
5. Slyde – 54 tracks