Archives for January 2012

It’s testament to their impact on popular culture that, over the past four decades, Kraftwerk have become a byword for all that’s fantastic about electronic music.

Cited by pretty much everyone who’s ever picked up a synthesizer, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say electronic music wouldn’t exist in the form it does today without Düsseldorf’s finest. From house to techno via electro-pop and trance; it can all be traced back to the glowing analogue synths of 1974’s ‘Autobahn’.

Four decades on and Ralf Hutter and his cast of conspirators – some human and, lest we forget, some robot - continue to inspire and fascinate in equal measure. Perhaps it’s the mythology that surrounds them, from the impenetrable fortress of Kling King Studios to the cycling (oh, the cycling!), but most of all it’s the timeless quality and warmth of their music.

This weekend 6 Music celebrates 30 years since Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ hits number 1 in the UK charts. On Friday’s Now Playing @6Music we’re kicking it off by putting together the ultimate Kraftwerk inspired playlist… but we need your help.

We want you to get in touch with your Kraftwerk related track suggestions and stories about the band. It could be:

*your favourite Kraftwerk tracks, b-sides and rarities.

*Music which influenced their sound, from the krautrock of Neu! and Amon Duul II to Can and Faust.

*Acts who’ve sampled or paid homage to their sound; from OMD and Coldplay to New Order and Afrika Baambaataa.

*Bands they’ve influences – from synth pioneers Heaven 17, Soft Cell and Depeche Mode to dance icons Derrick May and The Orb via David Bowie.

*New bands and musicians channelling their unique spirit, from Factory Floor to Joe Goddard.

You can leave your suggestions right now, via Facebook, e-mail, twitter (using the hashtag #kraftwerk6music), drag a track to our shared Spotify playlist or leave a comment on the blog below. Most importantly if you're a Kraftwerk fan remember to tune to BBC Radio 6 Music from 7pm on Friday and keep it locked over the whole weekend. 

Ahead of Jarvis' interview with Leonard Cohen this weekend, we have asked you to help us pick the Ultimate Leonard Cohen Playlisy.



We've had some amazing suggestions - both insightful and thoughtful - and it created an incredible hour of music.



Leading up to that we had the latest digital music news from Soundcloud, Napster, the latest from Wayne Coyne and tracks picked for us by Abeano.



Tracklist

Leonard Cohen – Suzanne



#DigitalDigest

* Wayne Coyne has been Tweeting teasers of the Flaming Lips’ new collaboration album which will come out as part of Record Store Day on April 21.

* Music streaming service Soundcloud passed the 10 million user mark this week – a staggering 50 per cent increase in just six months.

* Gotye’s third album, Making Mirrors, is currently streaming in full at NPR ahead of its re-release next week.

* Napster is back again, positioning itself as a rival to Spotify in the European market.

* Lana Del Rey gave her first ever live UK radio performance to BBC 6 Music on Huey Morgan’s show earlier this week – and you can listen to it here.



#NowPlaying

Metronomy - The Look



#NowViewing

* The Arctic Monkeys have unveiled the video for You and I exclusively on NME.com featuring Richard Hawley.

* MTV have the new video from Sleigh Bells’sComeback Kid.

* Kate Bush has released another animated video set to the music of her song Lake Tahoe.

* Tim Biskup has drawn and directed the heavily animated video for Mastodon’sDry Bone Valley – have a look at NME.com.

* The new video for Wilco’sDawned on Me has been uploaded to YouTube which sees the band turned into cartoon characters alongside Popeye and Olive Oye. There is also an accompanying website – WilcoSpinich.com – which appears to promise Wilco’s own brand of the vegetable soon.



#MPFree

Bear in Heaven – The Reflection of You



#Blog6Music – Abeano

The Shining – Hey You

John Talbort – Destiny

Jagwar Ma – Come Save Me

Azealia Banks – NEEDSUMLUV

Bullion – Say Arr

Bobbie Champs – Lucid



#Cohen6Music – The Ultimate Leonard Cohen playlist picked by you

Leonard Cohen – Famous Blue Raincoat

Judy Collins - Suzanne

Rufus Wainwright - Everybody Knows

Leonard Cohen – True Love Leaves No Traces

Laura Marling - Night After Night

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhatten

Sisters of Mercy - Alice

Hallelujah Montage

Electrelane - The Partisan

Erol Alkan & Boyz Noise ft. Jarvis Cocker - Avalanche (Terminal Velocity)

This week on Now Playing we are honouring a true wordsmith – Leonard Cohen – ahead of his exclusive interview with Jarvis Cocker this Sunday afternoon.



At 77-years of age Cohen is about to release his 12th studio album, Old Ideas - which is streaming in full over at the Guardian - and we want you to suggest tracks, compositions and anything else we can broadcast connected with the Canadian for this Friday’s show.



Part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he’s been described as the “highest and most influential echelon of songwriters” by Lou Reed – but what do you think has to be included in a playlist celebrating the great man?



* Some of his own music – from Songs from a Room to Songs From Love or Hate.

* Artists who have covered him such as Beth Orton, Rufus and Martha Wainwright or Jarvis Cocker himself?

* Related artists, from Janis Joplin to Phil Spector to Paul Simon and Judy Collins

* Other famed musicians who’ve crossed into poetry – or vice versa. Maybe Gil Scott-Heron?

* And of course the issue of whether we play Hallelujah – and if so, which version?



Let us know by leaving a comment here, joining in with the conversation on our Facebook page, Tweet us using #Cohen6Music, e-mail or add to our shared Spotify playlist.



And of course join us on Friday from 7pm and don’t forget to catch Leonard chatting to Jarvis on his Sunday Service from 4pm.

The Boss has new music so it felt only right and proper to celebrate Bruce Springsteen on this week’s Now Playing. 

The New Jersey rock and roll star has been an icon, regularly selling out stadiums and headlining festivals such as Hard Rock Calling and Isle of Wight in 2012.



We also reflected the sad passing of Etta James – an incredible voice and one of music’s genuine legends.



Pigeons and Planes recommended us some new music, and we played a track from The 2 Bears debut EP which is streaming ahead of release.



Tracklist:

Bruce Springsteen – We Take Care of Our Own

Etta James – I’d Rather Go Blind



#NowStreaming

Friendly Fires – Pala (Remixes) (NME)

Nada Surf – The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy (NPR)

Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur (Rounder Artists)

Chairlift – Something (PMA)

The 2 Bears – Be Strong (The 2 Bears)



#MPFree

Santigold – Big Mouth



#NowPlaying

Etta James – All I Could Do Was Cry



#Blog6Music – Pigeons & Planes

Coco Morier – Explosions

Theophilus London ft. Sara Quin – Why Even Try

Nicolas Jaar – And I Say

Blah Blah Blah – Crazy Fools

The Weekend – Dirty Diana

Rustie – All Nite

Star Slinger ft. Reggie B - Dumbin



#Boss6Music – Bruce Springsteen inspired playlist picked by you

Bruce Springsteen – The River

The Gaslight Anthem – The 59 Sound

Patti Smith Band – Because the Night

Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Born to Run

Rage Against the Machine – The Ghost of Tom Joad

The Band – Across the Great Divide

Bruce Springsteen – Radio Nowhere

The Clash – Rock the Casbah

Frank Turner – Redemption

The National – Mansion on the Hill (Live)

Bat for Lashes – I’m On Fire

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band – Tenth Avenue Freeze Out

There’s not many musicians whose nickname is also a by word for their position in the pantheon of rock n roll. But 50 years after his mother bought him his first guitar, only one man in music can legitimately be called The Boss, and that’s Bruce Springsteen. 

The first new material from The Boss in three years We Take Care of Our Own has been made available online today and is the first fruits from his 17th studio album, Wrecking Ball, which is set for release on March 6.



Looking at the tracklist of the forthcoming record it seems Springsteen is as politically charged as ever, with song titles including Land of Hope and Dreams, This Depression and Wrecking Ball. But after 2002’s The Rising provided a rallying call for America in the aftermath of 9/11, can We Take Care Of Our Own strike a chord with a country facing its worse economics crisis since the 1930s?



To celebrate one of rock musics’ most enduring figures this Friday, Now Playing @6Music is compiling its ultimate Springsteen playlist, but we need your help to choose the music. It could be:



* Classics, rarities and B-sides from The Boss’s back catalogue

* Related artists, from fellow New Jersey musicians like Frankie Valli and The Sugarhill Gang to collaborators like Neil Young, Arcade Fire and REM

* Influences on Springsteen, from Bob Dylan, Hank Williams to Pete Seeger and The Rolling Stones

* Artists he’s influenced from Tom Petty to U2 via The Killers, The Gaslight Anthem and The Hold Steady



Let us know what you want us to play by leaving a comment here, posting on our Facebook page, Tweet using #Boss6Music, e-mail or drag a track onto our shared Spotify playlist.



Remember to listen to the ultimate Bruce Springsteen playlist on Friday night from 7pm.

Ahead of the documentaty on Jack White this weekend on BBC 6 Music - Red, White and Black: The Jack White Story - Now Playing dedicated the show to one of modern music's true legends. The playlist was unsurprisingly wild, varied and well, White!

We also wrapped up what had been going on in the online world and Punktastic chose some of their current favourite tracks for us.

Tracklist

The White Stripes - Blue Orchid

#Digital Digest

* At the Drive In announced their return via Twitter. The band who went on hiatus 11 years ago have announced their first reunion performance at California’s Coachella festival in April.

* Elsewhere on the Coachella line up, Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg will perform along with Radiohead, Pulp and Refused, who have also reformed for the festival.

* Spin magazine is to drop full length album reviews after 26 years replacing them with online only 140 character synopses. Claiming “the value of the average rock critic's opinion has plummeted” – all reviews will now come through @SPINreviews.

* Howler’s debut album and The Big Pink sophomore release Future This are now both streaming at NME.com.

* The Shins premiered their single Simple Song on Monday night. The single is the first release from the band’s eagerly anticipated new album Port Of Morrow.



#NowViewing

* LCD Soundsystem have uploaded the trailer for Shut Up and Play the Hits – a documentary about that final show, causing ripple across music blogs of all different genres.

* Jack White’s Dead Weather partner, Alison Mosshart, celebrates a decade of making music in her other band – The Kills – who have just uploaded the video for The Last Goodbye.

* Jack White bought a dead elephant’s head on the History Channel. The programme is called American Pickers and you can still watch it on YouTube.

* Grimes has recorded her track Genesis for Your Truly which has been picked up by Abeano and many more.

#NowPlaying

The Raconteurs - Steady as she Goes

#MPFree

Field Music - A New Town



#JWhite6Music - Jack White inspired playlist picked by you

Son House - Grinnin' In Your Face

The Dead Weather - Blue Blood Blues

Dusty Springfield - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

Electric 6 - Danger! High Voltage!

Loretta Lynne & Jack White - Portland, Oregon

The White Stripes - Black Math

The White Stripes - White Moon

The Dead Weather - Die By the Drop

Brendan Benson - You're Quiet

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi ft. Jack White - Two Against One

Wanda Jackson - You Know I'm No Good

The White Stripes - Conquest

Soledad Brothers - Good Feeling

Jack White - Love is Blindness

#Blog6Music - Punktastic plicking their favourite tunes

Straight Lines - Half Gone

Indian School - Rob Your House

Attack! Vipers! - Raised by Wolves

Our Time Down Here - Black Ice & Bad Advice

Make Sparks - None the Wiser

Marmozets - Realise Real Eyes Real Lies

Is Jack White the closest modern rock ‘n’ roll has to a renaissance man? If he’s not releasing music with one of his myriad of different groups, it seems he’s putting out 7"s by the likes of Laura Marling and Smoke Faries on his very own record label, or twiddling knobs for legends like Loretta Lynn and Wanda Jackson. 

Meanwhile he still finds time to lends his bluesy howl to records by Danger Mouse and Alicia Keys, appear in movies AND be a dapper-dressed man about town.



Just how does he do it?



As 6 Music premiers a brand new documentary Red White And Black: The Jack White Story this Sunday, Now Playing thought what better way to get you in the mood than to put together a Jack White themed show?



On Friday (Jan 13) from 7pm we’ll be playing out 60 minutes of Jack White related musical nuggets - but we need you to choose them. Between now and Friday we want you to suggest your ultimate Jack White related tracks for 6 Music to play. It could be:

*Music which has influenced his sound, from fellow Detroit residents The Stooges and MC5 to blues legends Son House, ‘Blind’ Willie McTell and Ronnie Wood for starters.

*Music from his many bands; The White Stripes, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, plus their associated B-sides and rarities.

*Collaborators and conspirators from Loretta Lynn to Brendan Benson, via Beck, Michel Gondry, Karen Elson, Alison Mosshart and many more.

*Any of the artists on his record label Third Man Recordings.

*Contemporaries and bands influenced by him - from The Strokes to The Black Keys, via The Hives, Howler and Cage The Elephant for starters.



You can get touch via Facebook, e-mail, Twitter (using the hashtag #JWhite6music) drag a track to our shared Spotify playlist or leave a comment on the blog below. Of course we also want to know your reasons why alongside your stories and experiences of the man himself.



Friday 13th is unlucky for some...but definitely not if you’re a Jack White fan or a 6 Music listener.

David Bowie is turning 65 on Sunday, so to mark the occasion you helped us put together the Ultimate David Bowie playlist.



There were so many suggestions of tracks related to the Thin White Duke that we could have gone on forever, but managed to squeeze it down to just 90-minutes of Bowie.



As usual, we also wrapped up the latest music news at the top of 2012 – for example the Sound of 2012 winner, and new material from Scissor Sisters.



Tracklist:



David Bowie - Let's Dance



#Digital Digest

* Two Thom Yorke tracks he made for the Rag and Bone clothing line have surfaced on YouTube, called Twist and Stuck Together.

* Nick Cave’s recently disbanded Grinderman are releasing a remix album in March, called Grinderman 2 RMX. Listen to Nick Zinner's remix of Bellringer Blues on Soundcloud.

* Jack White’s fansite, The White Swirl, have stumbled across a new interview the Third Man Records head honcho has given to MOJO saying his next collaborator in his Blue Series of singles will be Tom Jones.

* The Weeknd’s three mixtapes have been remixed by Slim K – and you can download them all for free from his Tumblr page.

* Michael Kiwanuka has been tipped as the Sound of 2012. The 6 Music favourite has a load of content on the homepage – both video and audio – so head over and check it out.



#NowPlaying

Manic Street Preachers - Design for Life



#NowViewing

* Feist Tweeted footage of her closing 2011 by covering Guns ‘N Roses’November Rain, in Mexico City. She didn’t sing though – she was smashing up a piñata.

* Sugar’s Bob Mould celebrates the 20th birthday of his seminal album Copper Blue this year and the AV Club have got in early with a video interview and session as part of their One Track Mind series.

* Manchester’s Wu Lyf made their US TV debut this week, performing Heavy Pop on Lettermen.

* The Scissor Sisters are already in the running for 2012’s video of the year with their new video for Shady Love.



#MPFree

Frankie Rose - Know Me



The Ultimate David Bowie Playlist picked by you

David Bowie - Queen Bitch

David Bowie - It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City

The Pretty Things - Don't Bring Me Down

Placebo ft. David Bowie - Without You I'm Nothing

David Bowie - Helden

Pixies - Cactus

Simple Minds - Chelsea Girl

David Bowie - The Bewlay Brothers

Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing

Flight of the Conchords - Bowie's in Space

David Bowie - Moondage Daydream

David Bowie & The Pet Shop Boys - Hallo Spaceboy

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

David Bowie - The Laughing Gnome

David Bowie - Starman

Where to begin with David Bowie? Musician, actor, artist, style icon... There can’t be another musician who’s made such a profound and lasting impact on popular culture and who still resonates with artists today.

Although we haven’t heard anything from him since 2003’s Reality, the Thin White Duke seems more relevant than ever. Any 6 Music listeners who caught the ‘lost‘ footage of Bowie performing The Jean Genie on Top Of The Pops or found a copy of Peter Doggett’s The Man Who Sold The World under their tree over Christmas will understand why he continues to fascinate, whilst a cursory glance at the BBC’s Sound of 2012 long list sees Niki And The Dove and Spector channeling elements of his persona.



This weekend Davie Bowie turns 65, so on Friday January 6 from 7pm, Now Playing @ 6Music will be charging its glasses and compiling a playlist celebrating his music and influence over the last four decades . But we need YOU to choose what we play.



We need you to suggest your favourite Bowie - and Bowie related - tracks to play. It could be:

*Your favourite Bowie singles, album tracks and rarities

*Musicians who influenced Bowie - Marc Bolan, Syd Barrett, The Velvet Underground?

*Artists who he’s collaborated with during his career; maybe Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Brian Eno or Nile Rodgers?

*The bands Bowie’s influenced, from Visage to Roxy Music via Suede, Gary Numan, The Pixies and the New York Dolls, to name but a few.



* And, probably the most important question, do we dare play The Laughing Gnome?



You can get touch via Facebook, e-mail, Twitter (using the hashtag #Bowie6Music) drag a track to our shared Spotify playlist or leave a comment on the blog below. Whatever you do, if you’re a Bowie fan make sure you’re tuned in to Now Playing on BBC 6 Music this Friday from 7pm.