Posts by Russell Brown
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'Royal Planes', a really cool little Lorde-M.I.A. mashup -- free download.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Dancing Fool, in reply to Venetia King,
I’m pretty self conscious about dancing but last week a friend persuaded me to try a local No Lights No Lycra night – an hour of dancing in the near-dark in comfy clothes with a bunch of strangers. It was great, I reckon I’ll be back. If I get around to making playlist suggestions, there are a few on here that would be perfect!
Fascinating! What's the music like? Is there somewhere nice to sit down and take a break? (I see they're a bit stern about talking on the dancefloor.)
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Hard News: A Public Address public appeal, in reply to Islander,
Kia ora Heather-
if you donate $100 to Russell, it’s your’s-
You wonderful human, you.
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Okay, this is what I have been able to glean about the business side of the Lorde story.
That big 360 deal she signed with Lava? It's a myth.
She's not signed to Lava/Republic. Lava/Republic has the US rights, Virgin/EMI has the record in Britain. Her only contractual relationship is with Universal Music NZ, for the world.
But it's not hard to see why they've gone with Lava/Republic for the US. Republic renewed long-term agreements with Universal earlier this year. At that time they'd recently notched up hits with Gotye, PSY, Of Monsters and Men, The Weeknd, Florence + the Machine and others.
Republic founders Monte and Avery Lipman became Republic's Chairman/CEO and President/COO respectively at the same time. They seem to have been actively involved in with the Lorde record -- along with, of course, Jason Flom.
Also, just before Republic renewed its agreements, a guy called Charlie Walk came on board. He's an executive VP, and oversees press and publicity.
It looks to me not only that Republic is a good fit for Lorde, but that her record is with them at a good time.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Story, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
I was inspired by a quote from the interview where Lorde talked about not having NZ On Air funding for her music videos, saying the NZOA logo as “negative power” for her generation. So I had a think about what the logo signifies and wrote down my thoughts.
That's a fascinating part, although perhaps there's a little of Duncan's own history with NZ On Air in it. He made an OIA request for the correspondence, which is bloody diligent, but I think NZ On Air wanted 'Royals' on a Kiwi Hit Disc more for posterity than bragging rights. They weren't trying to cajole Universal into accepting funding or anything.
As you say in your very good post, most local artists don't have that choice. And if you look at the last round of Making Tracks decisions, it includes the likes of Doprah and Sheep Dog and Wolf, young acts Lorde's into (I know this for something I'm working on).
In the story, she takes the piss out of Joel Little for having been in Goodnight Nurse, the old sort of NZ On Air band. I wonder if that era has more to do with any stigma.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Story, in reply to "chris",
I thought Gary Steel’s
but if you ignore the lyrics, it works.
was a little dismissive,
But that was about one song, which I also find annoying. I don't think any sane reviewer would dismiss her lyrics.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Story, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
The bloke on Jools Holland last night was Willy Moon. Anyone know anything about him?
No. He's been on Kiwi Hit Discs, so I presume commercial radio here plays him.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Story, in reply to Tom Beard,
By that stage I was already more into the problematically-labelled IDM (“Intelligent” Dance Music) genre than dance music per se, and sitting at home listening to early Warp was more my thing than raves.
And I was digging the same thing, but seeing it in a different context to you – or as an extension of a different thing. Interesting.
When I came back to NZ in 1991, I was asked to DJ in support of the Headless Chickens at the Gluepot, and dropped Unique’s 3’s ‘Activity’ at the end of the set. It sounded so great through the big PA. It was the kind of thing no one here would have thought of playing out at the time, but fortunately, I didn’t know that.
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Gary Steel has reviewed Pure Heroine and likes it.
It interesting that while I picked on the me-and-my-gang undercurrent, he identifies the opposite:
Aloneness crops up repeatedly, and is raised to the main theme of the grand finale, the unusually downbeat ‘A World Alone’, which seems to be making the rather clichéd point that despite the incessant chatter of the modern world, “We’re dancing in the world alone… alone.”
The two themes are effectively the flipside of the one thing. She’s an interesting artist.
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