How to have a number 1 - the KLF way

Excellent music blog Loudat has posted the KLF's legendary 'Manual'.

Subtitled 'How to have a number one the easy way' it is an absolute gem. Comic, serious, full of bile and useful advice, here's just a taster of the text:

"Firstly, you must be skint and on the dole. Anybody with a proper job
or tied up with full time education will not have the time to devote
to see it through. Also, being on the dole gives you a clearer
perspective on how much of society is run. If you are already a
musician stop playing your instrument. Even better, sell the junk. It
will become clearer later on but just take our word for it for the
time being. Sitting around tinkering with the Portastudio or musical
gear (either ancient or modern) just complicates and distracts you
from the main objective. Even worse than being a musician is being a
musician in a band. Real bands never get to Number One - unless they
are puppets."

The book also comes with a guarantee that if you follow the advice to the letter and don't have a number one hit, they will refund the cover price. If you follow the instructions and DO have a number one, the KLF will take you for a night out in Madagascar.

Excellent stuff.

Here it is.

And here's a reminder of the wonderfully f*cked-up chart topper that inspired the book:

Vinyl CDs

Textured CDs, printed to look like vinyl and put in 7"-style sleeves. Cool for attention-grabbing promo CDs?
More info here.

Cardboard record player

Brilliant marketing idea. How do you make people take notice of your promo vinyl? How about making the sleeve it comes in a fully functional record player?

Genius.

From here.

Music lectures

Head here for videos and podcasts of lectures from some of the most innovative and creative music makers in the game today.

Everyone from A Guy Called Gerald to Steve Reich talking about their music making career and creative process.

Get the lowdown from legends such as Arthur Baker, Hank Shockley, Tony Allen and Shut Up & Dance.

Interesting stuff!

Music from the future

As Miles Davis wisely said: "My future starts when I wake up every morning... Every day I find something creative to do with my life."

In the year 2999 we will certainly have flying cars, robot butlers and houses that know when we want the lights switched on and off. I know this because I watched Tomorrow's World when I was a youngling.

But what will the music sound like?

Well, Peppermill Records are giving you the chance to decide in a new competition.

The blurb:

Description:

It's the year 2999, and what you see above is your future. What exactly is going on? Your job is to soundtrack the above painting by celebrated futurist David Schleinkofer and write a short description of your vision.

This open competition is for a spot on a big upcoming Peppermill release, the chosen piece will be featured alongside many of the most talented forward-thinking electronic musicians around. Their works will be interpreted by illustrators while you'll be doing the exact opposite.

What we're putting together is a futuristic dance album, as the title is a play on the phrase "dance like it's 1999". However this doesn't have to sound like anything humans currently groove to, in fact we encourage you to paint way, way outside the lines.

Bass is necessary though. Deep, deep sub bass. This collection is going to feature songs using a very full range of frequencies, and experimentation with the lower end of the spectrum is a must.

When completed it'll be freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license, as all our releases are, which means people are encouraged to share the music but aren't allowed to alter it in any way or use it for commercial purposes without your consent.

Guidelines:

- interpret the painting above
- the result should be ready to be played on dancefloors 989 years from now
- use a rich range of frequencies including sub-bass
- the title should be fairly descriptive, as the painting and the song are to be a combo
- include a paragraph-long summary of your vision


The link: Clickety click

Why not have a go? And if you do, why not send us your efforts too. If we get enough sent to us, we'll do a showcase post at some point in.... THE FUTURE!!!!

Diary of a free album

Over at Fwonk*, everyone understands the beautiful feeling one gets from giving music away for free.

After weeks and months crafting sounds, sculpting waveforms, noodling with synths, slicing samples and polishing the resulting noise into something wonderful, it is with pride and pleasure that we release our musical offspring into the world to be heard and played and enjoyed.

So we've been following bass music's 'Diary of a free album' with interest.

Baoginga and I.D. - whose album 'Big Monster' provided some of the biggest dancefloor smashing moments of 2008 - have just released a free album. Their diary tracks the process, their intentions in making it a free release and their approach to self-promotion.

It makes a very interesting read and is symptomatic of the changing face of the music industry as musicians sieze the publicity tools and wrestle the creative process out of the hands of major labels.

You can hear a minimix of the album here:
I.D. & Baobinga - Bass Music Sessions Album Preview by I.D.

Read the diary here. And download the album here - it's a no-minimum, pay what you want effort, with all proceeds donated to charity.