As BRIT Awards are being dished out here, NME Awards there and Oscars going to movies with no sound – we thought it only fitting we ask some of our favourite bloggers to take part in the first Now Playing Awards.
The ceremony will take place on Friday on 6 Music from 7pm, with Tom Robinson your Master of Ceremonies as usual – but the categories have a slightly different slant than those handed out at huge arenas or fancy hotels.
So the awards – although subject to change – are:
* Best Tease of the Last 12 Months hosted by The Recommender
* Tomorrow’s Cult Artist Today hosted by The Quietus
* Must See New Band for Summer 2012 hosted by Drowned in Sound
* Most Genre Defying Artist hosted by One For the People
* Unsung Hero – Never Enough Notes
* The Writes Songs Joni Mitchell Would be Proud Of hosted by For Folk’s Sake
* The Album of the Year that you Never, Ever, Skipped a Track on. Ever hosted by SKOA
* Best Free Download Album hosted by The 405
* ‘Superstar DJ’ in the Making hosted by Data Transmission
* The Ultimate Mediterranean Anthem hosted by 6 Mix
* Most likely new artist to still be here in 2022 hosted by the Now Playing Facebook Page.
Plus more we’re announce on our Facebook page and during the show, as well as Lauren Laverne and the 6 Mix.
How you can get involved?
Go to the Facebook and Twitter pages of the various blogs taking part and leave your thoughts on each category and find a bit more out about what they mean.
Each host is going to play things slightly differently so check out what they are doing and remember to tune into the show on Friday and follow #blog6music on Twitter for the most hotly anticipated award show on blogs and 6 Music ever.
When Blur step up to receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music trophy at this week’s BRIT Awards, it’ll be the culmination of a journey which began nearly 25 years ago at Goldsmiths College, London. Since then they’ve traversed numerous scenes and styles, from baggy to Britpop, via an infatuation with college rock and experimenting with world music, but never losing sight that what matters most is a good tune.
When they returned to headline Glastonbury in 2009 after a hiatus which involved everything from cheese to politics, their music felt more vital than ever. Perhaps we’d begun to take them for granted by the tail end of the 90s and needed to be reminded just how good their songs were again?
Whatever, anyone who was on Worthy Farm that evening or at Blur's shows in London’s Hyde Park which followed will know what a special place the British public hold in their hearts for Damon, Alex, Graham and Dave.
To commemorate their BRIT, this Friday night on Now Playing we want you to build the ultimate Blur inspired playlist - but we need your help and music suggestions, like:
* Their own tracks – from classics like Song 2, There’s No Other Way and Beetlebum through to forgotten singles.
* B-sides and rarities, maybe the To The End with Françoise Hardy, their cover of Elvis Costello’s Oliver’s Army or their stomping version of Maggie Amy?
* Other projects the band members have worked on or collaborating be it solo work from Gorillaz to DRC Music,Massive Attack, Elastica or Duffy
* Current bands who Blur have influenced.
Let us know by leaving a comment on the blog, Tweeting us using #Blur6Music, discussing it on our Facebook page, e-mail or add some tracks to our Spotify playlist – and listen to the show on Friday from 7pm.
They’ve broken boundaries between rock and electronic music, produced the best selling 12” of all time and have just been announced as Bestival’s Saturday night headliner. So, what finer time (arf!) to celebrate all things New Order than on 6 Music this Friday night?
Formed from the ashes of Joy Division in 1980, New Order became Factory Records’ flagship band, melding Hooky’s signature bass sound with Barney’s knack for a melancholy vocal line. A visit to New York in 1981 introduced them to the synthesizers and beats which informed Power Corruption & Lies (25 years old this year) but it was a jaunt to Ibiza in the mid ‘80s which really changed the game.
Returning to the UK enthused by balearic beats and club culture, they created Technique, paving the way for the indie dance crossover sound beloved of everyone from Primal Scream to Friendly Fires.
Inextricably linked to the Hacienda - in fact their royalties propped up the ailing nightclub for much of its history - New Order have continued to inspire long after the Hac closed its doors. They may have had more bust ups and comebacks than Hooky’s had broken bass guitars straps, but for anyone who sees them live this summer they’ll be guaranteed top tunes galore.
So on this week’s Now Playing @6 Music we want to create the ultimate New Order inspired playlist... but we need you help to choose them. It could be:
* Your favourite New Order records – from the classics Blue Monday and True Faith to album tracks, rarities, covers and remixes
* Influences and inspirations from Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder to Derrick May
* Collaborators from Arthur Baker to The Chemical Brothers via Billy Corgan, Bobby Gilespie and Scissor Sisters
* Any New Order solo or side projects, maybe The Other Two, Electronic or even Revenge?
Get in touch with us on Twitter using #NewOrder6Music, Facebook, e-mail and drag tracks onto our shared Spotify playlist – and remember to listen to the show on Friday (17) from 7pm.
Have you ever thought what would happen if two electronic super powers joined in a single studio. Say for example someone who largely produced the eighties as a decade, and another duo who dominated the noughties.
Well guess what – it’s happening. Nile Rodgers of Chic and Daft Punk have been in the studio and he’s Tweeted that an album is coming.
What better opportunity then to celebrate the wonderful work and influence Nile Rodgers has had on music from the first incarnation of Chic in 1970, his production work with David Bowie, Diana Ross and Grace Jones right through to his gigs at the tail end of 2011.
Take your pick from things like:
* Chic classics – Le Freak, Good Times and Everybody Dance
* Tracks which have sampled Rodgers’ productions – Sugarhill Gang, Fenech-Soler, Queen and Grandmaster Flash
* Surely Daft Punk need a mention
* They claim the material will be on their favourite R&B – what might they draw on?
* Or other kings of electronic music from the past 40 years – Brian Eno, Chemical Brothers, The Human League or have you still not had enough Kraftwerk?
Let us know what you want to play and why. Tell us your stories and what Nile Rodgers means to you.
To do this, leave a comment on our Facebook page, Tweet us using #Rodgers6Music, drag a track onto our Spotify playlist, e-mail or any other way you think you can get a message to us in time for the show tomorrow.
The world was a very different place 30-years ago, but one thing is for sure: Kraftwerk’sThe Model sounds as incredible, innovative and pioneering now as it did then.
We asked you what you wanted to hear, and also called on Orbital, Martyn Ware of Heaven 17, The 2 Bears and one of our favourite blogs, The Quietus, to pick some tracks for us as well.
Tom wrapped up the rest of what has been going on this week with new material from Jack White and MIA – but frankly it was all about the Germans, and will be all weekend on 6 Music.
Tracklist
Kraftwerk – Das Model
#DigitalDigest
* Neil Young has told a technology conference in US that he held talks with Steve Jobs about creating a vinyl quality iPod before his death last year. Meanwhile, Young has also posted a 37-minute long collaboration with his band Crazy Horse, which is streaming on his personal site.
* U2 manager Paul McGuinness has suggested the reason why artists are reluctant to embrace Spotify is because they don’t think it has any financial benefit, in the same week Coldplay’sMylo Xloto finally appeared in full on the service nearly five months after the band refused permission for it to be streamed in full online.
* Two Beatles have their latest solo albums streaming online this week:
- Ringo Starr’s 17th record, Ringo 2012, is up exclusively on NME.com
- Paul McCartney’sKisses on the Bottom is available to stream via the Guardian.
* Jack White has uploaded his first solo single Love Interruption to YouTube.
#NowPlaying
Lily Allen – Not Fair
#NowOnline
* The Foo Fighters have uploaded the video for These Days to Vevo.
* Beatboxer THePETEBOX has uploaded another of his impressive videos to YouTube – this time covering MGMT’sKids.
* Air’s new album Le Voyage Dans La Lune is streaming in full at NPR.
* MIA has popped up in two new videos. The first alondside Nicki Minaj for Madonna’s new video, Gimme All Your Luvin; and the second is for her own single Bad Girls.
#MPFree
Tanlines – Brothers
#Kraftwerk6Music
Kraftwerk – Radioactivity
OMD – Electricity
New Order – Your Silent Face
Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express (Picked by Martyn Ware of Heaven 17)
Afrika Baambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock
Ride – The Model
Kraftwerk – Ruckzuck
The Normal – Warm Leatherette
Mark Lanegan – Ode to Sad Disco (Picked by The Quietus)
The Passions – I’m in Love With a German Film Star
Kraftwerk – Computer Love (Picked by Raf Daddy of The 2 Bears)
Kraftwerk – Tour de France (Picked by Orbital)
Kraftwerk – Autobahn (all 22-minutes of it!)
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