In Strict Tempo, vol. 82: I Want My MTV
Glastonbury came and went a couple of weeks ago, and unless you’ve been living under a rock you will surely have seen the fallout from the televised Bob Vylan and untelevised Kneecap sets that have landed the BBC in a whole heap of trouble.
Glastonbury has long been one of the highlights of the BBC’s cultural calendar, god knows how many staff they send there, but they film and stream the vast majority of the main stages, with some broadcast live and everything else on-demand. They don’t really touch upon the dance stuff there (unless it’s the big headliners), but otherwise they do a pretty good job of covering what is a massive festival.
I’ve wondered for years why someone like Sky or Amazon haven’t come in with a bag of cash and bought the rights off the Beeb. I wonder now, if once the dust has settled on this years event and whatever inquiries happen afterwards if those conversations will happen more seriously. I doubt it will be good for anyone other than the Eavis’ family bank balance having to pay to watch Glastonbury online, but the march of late-stage capitalism thunders on…
We used to have it so good. Think back to the days of digital television. We had MTV, which was genuinely an exciting and groundbreaking channel before it became an outlet for braindead reality shows. Shows like MTV Unplugged, TRL, Yo! MTV Raps and Amp were all essential viewing for music lovers. Beavis & Butthead offered a unique, if somewhat lowbrow, critique of music videos that you’d never get away with today in an age of zero criticism. You had VH1 for classic rock, MTV Dance, MTV Base, Kiss and Kerrang TV for more niche genres. You even had Channel U, without which the UK underground wouldn’t have anywhere near the same impact on popular culture, and gave the first exposure to a whole load of Grime, Bassline and UKG artists. On top of this you had the Beeb’s high-brow culture programming, plus Top of the Pops, which despite it’s own dodgy history, had a fairly broad remit of what it would cover. You were in the Top 40, you had a good chance of playing to a wide audience, and plenty of smaller dance acts did so.
What music programming do we have now? Looking at the MTV schedule for today it’s wall to wall Catfish: OMG Moments from 11am until 7pm. An hour of music programming between 7 & 8, before it’s back to Catfish UK for an hour. 9pm until 10pm sees an hour of reality shows about rappers children, and to be fair to them, 10pm until midnight sees shows about Nelly Furtardo, Tate McRae, Chappel Roan and Teddy Swims. It’s music content, but is it groundbreaking stuff? Probably not. They’ve also got a suite of other more-music based channels including MTV Music (?!), MTV Live, MTV Hits, MTV 80s & MTV 90’s, so there is the content there, but is the audience? Maybe now we just want to experience the ‘moment’, because it’s ‘Glasto’ and not because of who is playing. Maybe a live stream of Reading or Leeds or a documentary on Olivia Rodrigo doesn’t hold the same interest in this era of experiences. Maybe, and this is something I’ve worried about for a while - the general public is losing interest in music altogether, why bother watching a TV show about it when you can just listen to all your favourites, on repeat, on Spotify forever?
That’s the problem we’re up against.
New Music
ex_libris - ex_libris 001/002 [self released]
Corr… new music from A Made Up Sound, under a new alias. I’ve actually been meaning to include these for a couple of weeks now, but for whatever reason haven’t done so yet. Don’t take that to mean they’re in any way forgettable though, this is proper gear. Taking me back to Chain Reaction and that kind of stuff, this is pulsing, bass-heavy electronica with a touch of dub about it. Used by the right DJ, in the right setting, these tracks will be devastatingly good.
Felix K - Berlin [Nullpunkt]
Another one that slipped me by a couple of weeks ago. You know I’m not gonna not write about a new one from Felix K, this one an ode to Berlin. He could have called it Paris, or Las Vegas, or Bali and it still would recall Berlin instantly. This couldn’t be any more Berlin even if it made you schlep three streets away to find a working cash machine to get a couple of beers.
DJ Persuasion - Delerium EP [Breakbeat Energy]
Oi oi DJ Persuasion is back! This fast & furious EP has more breaks than you think you could possibly fit into a tune. Not many people are doing it better than Persuasion right now, and this EP has the added bonus of a remix from label boss Fear-E
Pink Pantheress - Illegal [Warners]
Take one of the best dance tracks of all time, strip it of all emotion and energy and this is the result. One of the dullest samples I’ve heard ever, it should actually be illegal to listen to this.
Juho Toivonen - Lapsikuninkaan Fanfaari [Discreet]
One of my favourite labels at the moment, Discreet are really pushing the boundaries of interesting music. This new album is the second part of a trilogy that contains icy perma-frost tunes, the sound of shivering on some barren arctic tundra. It’s 30 degrees outside, put this one on if you want to cool down.
Demdike Stare & Cherrystones - Who Owns The Dark [DDS]
Haunting, frightening, nightmarish… every adjective I could throw at this will make you not want to listen to it, but get comfortable and give it a go, because I can promise you’ll be rewarded. You might not enjoy it, but it’ll confront you with your darkest fears, and that’s what challenging music should do really, isn’t it?
Genesis P-Orridge - Early Worm [DAIS]
Apparently lost in their childhood attic, this is a reissue of the earliest, late-60’s, pre Psychic TV, pre Throbbing Gristle work of Genesis P-Orridge. It’s an interesting artefact at best, but worth a listen if you’re in any way a fan.
