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Five Day Forecast – w/c 5 Sep 2011
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 5 September 2011
Hello, nice to be back in this slot again after a little break. Although I won’t get too comfortable, as there are changes afoot around here. I’ll say no more now, there’ll be more information coming your way later this week. Look out for that.
But right now it’s time for the good old dependable Five Day Forecast, here to update you with all (or at least some) of the things that will be happening this week in the world of music. It’s a busy week. Look, I’ve not even mentioned tomorrow’s Mercury Music Prize. No, here’s the five things on my mind…
01: Conrad Murray trial jury selection. Jury selection in the trial of Conrad Murray, the doctor accused of causing the death of Michael Jackson, is due to begin this Thursday. It’ll be the second time a jury has been selected for the trial, as proceedings suffered a false start earlier this year when it was decided that the defence hadn’t prepared enough just as things were about to kick off. They’ve now properly profiled all their witnesses, though. So, it’s all about to kick off again. The prosecution, of course, claims that Murray administered the dose of anaesthetic that killed the singer. The defence is expected to say that Jackson administered it himself in an attempt to commit suicide.
02: Second round of EMI bidding. The announcement of a new owner for EMI draws ever closer as the second round of bidding for the major label is due to commence this week. Warner Music, Universal Music and BMG are all thought to be in the running, and it’s thought that current owners Citigroup will consider bids to buy separate parts of the business, as well as the whole shebang in its entirety. Current EMI CEO Roger Faxon would prefer the latter option, of course, so he can continue with his plan to more closely integrate the publishing and recording parts of the business.
03: Music:Response returns to Xfm. This very evening, Mary Anne Hobbs is set to revive Xfm’s classic ‘Music:Response’ show, presenting a cross-genre array of guests, sessions and mixes from Monday to Thursday 8-11pm. The former Radio 1 DJ, whose existing Saturday evening slot launched on Xfm earlier this year, had this to say of her new assignment: “This is such an exciting new challenge for me, an unprecedented opportunity to paint much broader brush strokes on primetime radio, and build on a lifetime’s passion and hunger for new music”.
04: New releases. Now that the quiet summer period is over, this week comes with a veritable glut of new releases. Some that you might want to check out are the new albums from The Drums, The Rapture, Grouplove, HTRK, Fool’s Gold, and My Toys Like Me. Grace Jones is also re-issuing her ‘Hurricane’ album with a bonus disc of dub versions, plus Throwing Muses and Quantic have career retrospectives out. As for shorter form releases, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sanmi have EPs out, and The Dying Seconds release their amazing debut single, ‘Mora Minn’.
05: Gigs. It’s quite a week for gigs, too. Particularly in London. DJ Shadow will taking over Village Underground in Shoreditch from Wednesday to Thursday, The Drums have three London shows in various London venues this week, and Falullah has two, while doing just a one-off thing are Public Enemy, who will be performing ‘Fear Of A Black Planet’ on Thursday, and Chairlift, who’ll be at The Shacklewell Arms on Wednesday. The Rapture, Blonde Redhead and Austra, meanwhile, will be in Manchester and London (though not on the same bill, I should add), and Joan As Policewoman will be touring all over the shop.
And so there you go. If you can’t find something there to interest you, then you should probably have a long hard look at what you’re doing with your life. Or question what I’m doing with mine. One of those things. Or both, if you like. Sounds like you have time on your hands.
Bye,
Andy Malt
Editor, CMU
