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Five Day Forecast – w/c 20 Feb 2012
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 20 February 2012
I’m back at my desk after a few days in Oslo for this year’s by:Larm festival, which was great. You can catch up with some of the stuff I got up to here, and expect some of the new bands I saw out there to appear in the Approved column over the next few weeks. But that was last week. What’s happening this week?
01: The BRIT Awards. Flippin heck, everyone, it’s only time for the BRITs again already. And this year the ceremony coincides with Shrove Tuesday. I hope there’ll be lots of pancake-themed jokes. James Corden is presenting again, so I’m sure such things are in safe hands. He’s a bit of a tosser, after all.
02: MusicTank. The first MusicTank event of 2012 takes place this Thursday, looking at the streaming music sector, how it works, how it’s fairing, and what kind of royalties streaming services pay, seeking to address various concerns raised by some artists and smaller labels regarding said royalties during 2011. Beggars Group Director Of Strategy and all round digital guru Simon Wheeler and Danny Ryan of Kudos Records, who has been a defender of the streaming services amid discontent from some parts of the indie community, are among those due to speak.
03: Festival crime conference. Reading and Latitude promoter Festival Republic will again host a conference focusing on combating crime at British music festivals this Wednesday. It will be the fourth year that promoters of many of the UK’s music festivals have come together with law enforcement agencies to share intelligence, discuss best practice and “communicate a strong and cohesive message to criminals that their actions will not be tolerated”.
04: New releases. It’s difficult to know where to start with new releases this week, there are so many of them. You should definitely check out Busdriver‘s latest effort ‘Beaus$Eros’, plus Sleigh Bells, and the first and last album from David’s Lyre, ‘Picture Of Our Youth’. Then there’s still new stuff from Soko, Fucked Up, Apparatjik, Sinead O’Connor, Battles, Jesse Ruins, Gorillaz and Lissie to get through.
05: Gigs. Oh Land will play her postponed show at Heaven in London this Thursday, featuring support from AlunaGeorge. Now that is an awesome pop line-up. Also out on the road this week are First Aid Kit, The Phenomenal Handclap Band, SCUM, Cold Specks, Rodrigo y Gabriela, The War On Drugs and Labrinth. And this Thursday you could also head down to the Royal Albert Hall for a showcase of artists on Double Denim Records.
And don’t forget the CMU podcast is back later this week. I’m sure you wouldn’t. Catch up with all the latest episodes at theCMUwebsite.com/podcast
Andy Malt
Editor, CMU
