East End Review

Category: MUSIC

Music journalism bootcamp: June – July 2014

Jennifer Lucy Allan: online editor of The Wire

A comprehensive six-week introductory evening course in music journalism, which aims to have you commissioned by the end of the course and will give you the tools to be a great writer, with a focus on independent music writing.

This course with The Journalism School is led by Jennifer Lucy Allan, online editor at The Wire, and will cover feature and reviews writing, pitching and blagging, interview techniques and essentials including subbing, contacts building, and law for music journalism, all with a focus on independent music journalism.

Guest speakers will include Derek Walmsley (Deputy Editor, The Wire), Luke Turner (Co-founder, The Quietus) and Phil Hebblethwaite (NME, ViceUK, The Quietus, former editor of The Stool Pigeon).

No previous experience of journalism is needed.

The course will cover various styles of writing: music news, features, profiles, plus a masterclass on reviews writing, and the all-important ‘dark art’ of the pitch.

We will cover basic journalism law, subbing, editing, research and interview skills (including how to find and approach people for interview, and building contacts).

All questions about how the industry works will be answered en route.

There will be constant feedback and appraisal of your writing throughout the course, and all work and activities are aimed to be as close to real scenarios as possible, with the opportunity for one to one feedback, guidance and contacts.

There is no final exam, as the last piece of homework set will be to write a successful pitch to a publication or website of your choice. Success will be a real life commission!

Full course outline:

Week 1:

Introduction to music journalism

We’ll give you some key dos and don’ts in music writing, cover the essentials of libel and copyright in music journalism, and have a look at specialist research skills – how to find anyone, how to use custom search skills, and how to use and access other resources.

Subbing

You’ll learn the crucial ability to sub-edit your own work and the work of others, how to write headlines and standfirsts, and we’ll also discuss basic style rules.

Week 2

News writing and collecting

You’ll learn how to spot news stories and how to build contacts from majors to bedroom label heads. You’ll use and ‘abuse’ press releases from the music industry, and learn the inverted triangle of news, with a brief introduction to Freedom Of Information requests and how you can use them as a music writer.

Guest speaker: Phil Hebblethwaite, a journalist and editor who founded and ran The Stool Pigeon music newspaper between 2005-2013. He now works as a freelance journalist for The Guardian, NME, Vice and The Quietus. Phil will talk about investigative journalism and music writing, bringing your news copy to life, and how to transcend the confines of a press release.

Week 3

Interview techniques

Get your dictaphones out for a practical lesson on different types of interviews, and how to make the best of geographical limitations with your interviewee! We’ll learn how to deal with difficult or awkward interviewees, and how to ask difficult questions, before looking at basic rules for editing transcripts and using quotes.

Week 4

Reviews masterclass

Writing album and live reviews for print. Common mistakes and misdirections to avoid, and how to write the perfect review.

Guest speaker: Derek Walmsley is Deputy Editor at The Wire, where he commissions and edits around 30,000 words of reviews per month. He has contributed to the magazine since 2004, and has also written for The Quietus and Resident Advisor.

Derek will give an editor’s perspective on how to write album and live music reviews for print. Learn the mistakes that most writers make and how to avoid them. Find out what makes for rock solid music journalism, authoritative criticism and a style that zings of the page. Also covers the fine detail of how to put a review together, strategies that will grab a reader’s attention, and how to make your writing stand out from the pack.

Week 5

Feature writing

We’ll cover the basics of feature writing, including news features, profile interviews and essays, with a 101 on basic structure, which you will learn to play around with. We’ll use an interview transcript from earlier in the course to draft a 500 word feature.

Online music journalism

Guest speaker: Luke Turner is co-founder and co-editor of The Quietus, the award-winning, respected UK online magazine devoted to music, film, literature and popular culture. He has also contributed to Q, The Guardian, BBC, NME, Stool Pigeon, Dazed & Confused, Monocle, Caught By River, among others. Luke will look at the different considerations for online and print journalism, from the nuts and bolts of writing to how to seed that writing, from the basics of search engine optimisation vs shareability, to leveraging social networks.

Week 6

Features recap

We’ll look at a feature you’ve written, write a headline and standfirst, and use your subbing skills learned earlier in the course to mould it into a finished piece of writing.

Pitching and blagging

The final class will cover (arguably) the two most important aspects of music journalism: pitching and blagging. You’ll be given a primer on the ‘dark art’ of the pitch, with focused discussion on what editors are looking for and how to contact them. We’ll discuss internships and how to get one, and by the end of the class you’ll have a pitch ready to write up and send off.

Six two-hour classes for only £180.

Monday evenings 7pm to 9pm at

Celia Fiennes House
8-20 Well Street
Hackney
E9 7PX

Nearest station: London Fields / Hackney Central / Bethnal Green

The course runs from Monday 9 June – 14 July 2014.

[contact-form-7 id=”673″ title=”Get in touch with The Journalism School”]

Course terms and conditions

May 2, 2014
The African Market Bank Holiday Festival at Old Spitalfields Market

Open The Gate is proudly hosting their unique alternative fair, The African Market

Zimbabwean superstar Anna Mudeka will be performing live, alongside DJ Koichi Sakai playing a authentic African, Funk, Latin and Afrobeat music.

One Drum’s drumming circle performance and workshop will teach you how to drum and dance in true Ghana style.  For a taste of the latest African trends, visit the two exclusive catwalks that will be showcasing the leading fashion, homeware designs, jewellery & accessories and kids fashion by the talented designers of the African Market.

The catwalks will also feature looks by award-winning body artist Christelle Kedi, hair styling by Joy Phido (World of Braiding), makeup by Bibish Mbemba (Lady B.) and a head wrapping demonstration by Sista E. of the Calabash Hub.

Plus, explore your creative flair with a number of workshops taking place throughout the day – try making your very own African-inspired mosaic with artist Dionne Ible, immerse yourself in a storytelling workshop with performer Cowfoot Prince Usifu Jalloh, or take part in a face painting and glitter tattoo workshop with the talented artist Kemi.

For full details on activities taking place at The African Market click here or to explore the latest programme of exciting events at Old Spitalfields Market click here.

April 29, 2014
Spitalfields Music Summer Festival 2014

Clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh. Photograph: Naomi Goggin

Spitalfields Music Summer Festival once again brings superb early music, new sonic explorations, innovative music-theatre pieces, family music-making and more to East London’s most interesting spaces including Christ Church Spitalfields, Shoreditch Church and Wilton’s Music Hall.

The programme is led by Associate Artists the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh, who respond to the architecture and history of the local area, including the world premiere of Ghosh’s Spitalfields Suite.

Complementing them are the brightest and best in early music; a series of collaborations between music, theatre and film, and 15 world premieres.

Spitalfields Music also celebrates 25 years of its Learning & Participation programme, one of the first of its kind, with a number of events, including the London premiere of David Lang’s Crowd Out, written for 1000 untrained voices.

—

Spitalfields Music Summer Festival
Booking information
Phone: 020 7377 1362 On the door: 30 minutes in advance of the event start time (subject to availability)
Tickets start from £5 with many events free
Full details at Spitalfields Music

Tower Hamlets residents wanting to make a first foray into the festival may be eligible for free tickets via Spitalfields Music’s ‘No Strings Attached’ ticket scheme.

The scheme allocates tickets ‘gifted’ through donations from Spitalfields Music ticket bookers to members of the local community who might not otherwise be able to attend.

More information via nostringsattached@spitalfieldsmusic.org.uk or on 020 7377 1362

Young players on_Ebor Street. Photograph: James Berry

April 29, 2014
Mom Tudie: the East London producer with a sound beyond his years

A selfie by music producer Mom Tudie

With his subtle use of classic neo-soul samples, a penchant for female vocalists and a varied musical upbringing, East London-based producer Mom Tudie (real name Tom Mudie) is an intriguing and versatile new talent.

At only 18 years old, Tudie’s musical tastes lean towards modern R’n’B, and a huge chunk of inspiration comes from greats such as Thom Yorke. “Recently I’ve got into Drake, James Blake, King Krule, and Katy B. I also like a lot of the stuff coming out of East London at the moment and one of my favourite releases is Southpaw’s Out of Oak EP,” he says, listing his influences.

With so many musical role models, it might be difficult to incorporate them all into a music he can call his own. Tudie, however, has one rule of thumb. He says: “I tend to tell people that my music is a mix of electronic ideas. I’d prefer people listen and make up their own mind.”

Past tracks have a garage-tinged edge, but Tudie’s latest offering, a song called ‘Human Heart’, is strikingly mature. In it he contrasts a sparse and melancholic synth with a glitch-hop driven beat. Added vocals by Bridget Spencer and some electronica infused lounge-jazz brass samples make it a serene but eminently danceable number.

Female vocalists such as Nicola Thoms and Abigail Glasser are prevalent in his music, although he assures that he is definitely not discriminating against the men of the musical world. “I am about to release a track with Tom Misch, who is a male vocalist, and a really talented guitarist and beat maker.”

While fellow musicians gear up for festivals, Tudie’s plans for the summer are surprisingly uncertain. “I am travelling until July, so I don´t know if I am going to have the funds to go to any festivals this year, which is a shame. If I could, I would definitely go to Brainchild Festival – it was amazing last year.”

www.soundcloud.com/momtudie

April 22, 2014
Fernando Messulam: the restaurant owner with a ‘steak’ in opera

Catering for opera: Fernando Messulam. Photograph: Eleonore de Bonneval

Performing arts is part of Fernando Messulam’s life. Originally from Rosorio in Argentina, he used to live in front of the city’s Opera House. His mother was a ballet dancer, as were all his nannies.

Unsurprisingly, he too entered the arts, but in a less traditional discipline – breakdancing. Later, while auditioning for a musical, he discovered he was able to sing opera as a tenor.

But alongside artistic ambitions, he started catering and managed a café located inside the Opera House. His waiters were mimes and there was a tap dancer at the bar. It was “quite a bohemian gathering”, he says. “Beyond food it was about the social experience.”

It is this experience that Messulam decided to reproduce in London. Since last year, he has managed De La Panza, an Argentine steakhouse on Southgate Road. He tries to be different but not “mechanically different”, preserving the local feel of the restaurant alongside the kind of vibe you might find in an Argentine bodega.

Music is a big part of this, and once a month on a Sunday musicians gather to play and sing. “Cinderella here is the Opera” he insists. “It is not rehearsed, there are no numbers. We all know what we are doing, so we just bring it on!”

The next Opera Day is on 27 April when Messulam will be accompanied by tenor Yuri Sabatini and Orpheus Papafilippou on violin. The event will last from 2-7pm and people are welcome to stay all afternoon, as if they were in their own living room. “The only thing is that they don’t have the keys!” he quips.

De La Panza
105 Southgate Rd, N1 3JS

April 11, 2014
Yoko Ono? Oh yes!

Yoko Ono at Cafe Oto. Photograph: Dawid Laskowski

Do some free association on Yoko Ono and what do you get? John Lennon, New York, the Beatles’ split, world peace, dark glasses, bed-ins, Fluxus/performance art. Looming over all of these is John’s shadow, and the fact she may be viewed by many as an appendage to his latent messianic complex. Yoko herself may well be aware of this, as much of the evening involved a febrile self-explanation that at times boiled over into self-justification.

This started explicitly – not just in the sense of the opening video close up of some ambulant buttocks with interstitial vulva in evidence – but with a collaged biopic accompanied by a succinct narration: “Yoko is provocative, confrontational and human”. We saw Yoko playing piano aged around five, the bed-in with swarming press photographers, Yoko the flâneur in New York, and then her naked body being traipsed over by a fly.

Just as the fly was preening itself over her mons pubis, the real Yoko appeared to rapturous applause, a sprightly 4′ 10” in trainers and dark glasses. The expounding then continued, with brief descriptions of her views on fracking and an obligatory nod to some perennial world peace obfuscation, interspersed with instructions on “not to try” when hugging, dancing and making love. In something of a knight’s move, there was a stern word about not taking photos during the show.

Then the music started. Stellar names get stellar backup, and tonight Yoko was joined by Thurston Moore (guitar) and Steve Shelley (drums); both members of recently disbanded Sonic Youth.

Something other than self-explanation next supervened: the fact that Yoko is 81 and in her dotage. This was born out by a ticking wrist watch held to Moore’s neck pickup, to which Yoko plangently listed all the things she might one day miss, “clouds, mountains, trees, snow, city lights”. Shelley joined the throng with rich cymbal swells, before Yoko deflated everything with a long sigh.

This sigh together with her vocal delivery – bridging the gap between narration and music – combined the fly-on-the-pudenda film, led me to the possibly facile idea that in inhabiting the liminal zone between music, performance art and – on this occasion at least – short film, appraisal through the prism of one of these was impossible. It did however allow Yoko to exploit their intersections to maximum effect.

This was exemplified by the next piece. It started with a fragile call and response between Yoko’s octogenarian pulmonary reserve and a tremulous metallic sliver from Moore’s Fender. Both were mirrored physically with Yoko exhorting Moore with outstretched arms, just as his body contorted with every stuttered response. This then built up as the fly decamped to Yoko’s areola, whilst she began to unfurl a spectrum of abstract ‘ahhh’s’ ranging from sarcastic hyena snicker to paroxysmal post-lacrimal gasping. The emerging cacophony plus its associated delivery neatly mirrored what was being projected. The buzz of the fly, Yoko’s scissors cutting black cloth and a purple bra being unclasped were all obliquely recreated by the band.

Things then swirled around on this frenetic inter-disciplinary level before the denouement really sealed things. Yoko and Moore prowled around each other – both wearing but not playing guitars – in a fashion combining some kind of mating ritual with hunching Japanese deference, before they suddenly came together clashing strings with the ensuing feedback abruptly bringing things to a close.

Yoko has been through a lot (bereaved; estranged from a child; never viewed outside prism of John; mauled by popular press), and it is inspiring that at 81 she’s still going for it. If not exactly liberated from this historical baggage herself, seeing her deal with it in her cross-disciplinary way was in itself liberating. Would Yoko Ono be who she is without John Lennon? An answer in the negative would be a truism, not a criticism. After all she’s human – and provocative and confrontational.

Yoko Ono played Cafe Oto, 18-22 Ashwin Street, E8 3DL on 23 March 2014.

April 11, 2014
Record Store Day vinyl countdown in Shoreditch

Feeling Vinyl: Sir Paul Smith. Photograph: Carsten Windhorst / FRPAP.com

A big part of buying vinyl has always been the sleeve design, with the covers of albums such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon being arguably as distinctive as the music contained within.

For Record Store Day this month (19 April), 700 original vinyl sleeves including designs by Dinos and Jake Chapman, Jeremy Deller and Sir Antony Gormley will go on sale for £45 each with the proceeds going to the charity War Child.

The project, called Secret 7”, is now in its third year. Members of the public as well as invited artists design a record sleeve for a song chosen from a list of seven. The tracks are a mix of genres by new and established acts, who range this year from Lorde and Jake Bugg to Black Sabbath.

Secret 7” is so-called because, on the day of the sale at Downstairs At Mother in Shoreditch, none of the buyers will know which artist created the sleeve or which song it is for until they have parted with their money.

Founder of Secret 7” Kevin King, says the project engages with the aims of Record Store Day by fostering an appreciation of the vinyl format. And although there is the option to submit digitally, taking part otherwise means visiting your local record store to pick up a design pack.

“You can do with it whatever you will. We’ve got sleeves made of wood, sleeves made of metal, sleeves that people have put felt on or cut bits out,” says King.

This year’s project was launched on 7 January, and King has personally received 3000 sleeve designs since then. Many of them came through the post.

“It was a bit like Christmas every day with the postman knocking on the door with a handful of sleeves,” he jokes.

The submissions have been whittled down to 700, which the public can view on the weekend prior to the sale.

Secret 7” is at Downstairs at Mother, Biscuit Building, 10 Redchurch Street, E2 7DD from 12-13 April (exhibition) and on 19 April (sale).

April 11, 2014
BB&C at the Vortex Jazz Bar – review

Jazz trio BB&C. Photograph: Peter Gannushkin

Laboured synaesthesic analogy: if main stream Sanborn-esque smooth horn is saccharin or aspartame, then Tim Berne’s sax is something far less instantly accessible and cloying. You know when you eat really strong cheddar and the salt and calcium crystals make your gums itch? That’s what Tim Berne is approaching. I like strong mature cheddar. I think I like Tim Berne- the think outlining the limits of the analogy as much as reluctance to wholeheartedly condone him.

If you listen to Jazz on 3 now and again or check out the jazz press, you will often hear Berne referred to in exalted tones. He is an American saxophonist who made a few records for Columbia (corporate) and since has done his own thing with whoever he pleases. Last month he was in London for the Vortex gig with a trio comprising Jim Black on drums and Nels Cline on guitar.

He started proceedings with a deadpan jibe at the establishment, joking he had two tickets to see Prince at Ronnie Scott’s that he was happy to give away to whoever was interested. There was then a brief entrée with some high register squawking to scare off TAFKAP’s symbol, before things really got down to business, Berne leading the charge with a plastic water bottle rammed in his sax’s bell.

What followed was around 75 minutes of constant noise; a few identifiably separate contrasting motifs but mainly an attention-maintaining cycle of loud/soft/loud/soft.

During the deluge drummer Jim Black played with very open arms, taking the focus away from any immediately bass/snare/hi-hat groove and towards the rhythmically free; Nels Cline shouted into his guitar’s pickup through a strange red tub (conceptually free); Berne put various things in his bell and blew it hard (texturally free). The loud/soft cycle provided an inevitable tension and release. Given the level of abstraction being meted out however, it was sometimes hard to discern this release on all levels (rhythmic/textural/conceptual). Getting all these components in close apposition may be nigh on impossible with such free music, but on the few occasions when it did happen it was sensational.

Back to that analogy: saccharin is synthetic, salt and calcium crystals are natural. 95 per cent of pop music is synthetic; the emotions engendered by Tim Berne are natural. He’s not bullshitting. Too much saccharin has a bitter aftertaste, but too much salt will kill you. Few people know the former; everyone knows the latter. And likewise Tim Berne isn’t as famous as Prince.

The only reservation I have in not wholeheartedly recommending this thing is that when music is too abstruse, it is sometimes hard to get a full handle on it. It also polarises opinion. Most people hate it; a small minority profess to love it, but in doing so perhaps have the same level of understanding as a latter day pogonophile has of Victorian times. I’d say it opens a door it’s worth looking into – I just haven’t gone inside yet.

March 10, 2014
Krista Papista – the sound of ‘sordid pop’

Krista Papista

Krista Papista, 24, is unlike other musicians. Since the age of 14 she has written, mixed and recorded music and done so entirely on her own. Today, operating from out of a small bedroom studio in Dalston, she remains unsung and unsigned, though with the determination and potential to go far.

But that is not all. Papista’s songs are open to interpretation – something she unquestionably advocates.

“My sound unravels elements of Riot Grrl chicness, requiem ballads and film noir trumpets with rabbit hole transitions … my mind is naturally preoccupied by melancholic thoughts and mood swings that manifest in my music,” she says.

The self-coined ‘sordid pop’ musician makes her eclectic tastes and strong sense of self more apparent by using dark, emotive lyrics and deep electronic beats. Her brawny voice echoes the androgynous and otherworldly tones of Karin Dreijer of Swedish experimental duo, The Knife. It is safe to say she is no wilting wallflower.

Papista’s roots are in Cyprus and Australia, and her early experiences growing up in Cyprus led her to discover artists who were non-commercial and far from the mainstream. “I wasn’t particularly interested in anything that was accessible to me,” she says. “I liked punk rock, electronic and pop music, and was never able to see my favourite artists live or even hear the music I liked anywhere. But there are many Cypriot/Greek artists I adore: Soteria Belou, Arleta, Manos Hatzidakis and many more.”

After moving to East London six years ago, Krista is enjoying feeling more settled. “I feel comfortable here. I like the restaurants, I like the gayness, I like the bars, I like the Mediterranean supermarkets and I like the dodgy-ness,” she specifies.

This spring Krista is planning to release her first album (all on her own, naturally) and from there see where ambition takes her. But first comes her morning cup of coffee. “My typical day usually consists of jogging first thing, after that I drink coffee and I either work on my music, read, day dream or get paranoid about everything,” she says.

www.kristapapista.com

March 10, 2014
Boxed In prepares to branch out

Boxed In: Oli Bayston

Oli Bayston may be among those musicians with a ‘2014 one to watch’ tag, but the East London-based producer known as Boxed In is no newcomer to the music game.

After a seven-year stint in a Manchester-based band, he moved to London in 2011 and began earning his production spurs with producer Dan Carey. His early solo tracks betray Hot Chip and electronic dance music influences, but judging by his recent output Bayston may finally have found his niche.

“I’m really excited about this year”, he enthuses. “It felt like 2013 was a preparatory year. The plan is to release the next Boxed In single in March, with the album release in June. Then festivals, then the USA!”

With his debut single ‘All Your Love Is Gone’ released and his following growing, Boxed In is now all about developing a more mature sound. “I’d like to think you could clean the house to it too,” he adds.

Being signed to Moshi Moshi, one of the most influential indie labels around, hasn’t fazed him or hindered his creativity. “They’ve been very open and welcoming of the music I’ve made and recorded,” he says. “They’ve never got in the way of my stylistic choices, but have always offered great advice.”

This is evident from his first official release with Moshi Moshi Singles Club back in November. ‘All Your Love Is Gone’ starts off as a mesmerising, post-indie jaunt and confidently grows into a rich, brazen epic with nods to 70s punk with Oli’s sparse yet breezy vocals taking centre stage.

Working from his Hackney-based studio, it seems the progression of Boxed In has been largely due to learning more about the music technology. “The transition I’ve made in the last three years has been the most fruitful,” he says. “I stopped reading music and started writing for myself. Making music from a production perspective has helped me define my sound. I now feel confident in my own developed style instead of just relying on my influences.”

East London has definitely become the hub for interesting new musicians to develop their repertoires. The prospect of finding a decent base to work elsewhere wasn’t an option. “I think it initially attracted artists because accommodation was cheap”, says Bayston. “Young musicians tend to push the boundaries more readily, and they also tend to be the most skint!”

With so many musicians living in East London, you’re never stuck for a good night out. For Bayston, the idea is to make music that complements the end of a night out when “there’s still the remnant of the night’s beating pulse”.

Although he has finally found a style that he is happy with, his roots remain the same. Ask him what he would choose out of all the instruments in the world, and he would simply answer: “My piano.”

www.moshimoshimusic.com

February 7, 2014