4 Fuks Saké

It's Not Rock It's Science

Just written an article on music, brands, sponsorship and 2010 for someone, so why not post it here too. Thanks to John Tyrrell for the gag, 5 years ago.

Download Music In 2010

'The Floyd' On Primrose Hill

 

'Dark Side Of The Moon' album cover recreated on Primrose Hill in London last night.

Why?

So that people watch their 1994 Earl's Court performance of the album this Friday, on Sky Arts 1 HD.

Done by us.

Who Killed Summer?

People sat at desks near me have worked very hard to make something very cool.

Blur's Hyde Park Set List

If this is useful to you...

Talent

The son and heir to 4 Fuks Saké has changed the dynamic of Friday mornings. Pre and post his arrival the net effect is the same. Thursday night drinking has been replaced by Thursday night screaming. The walk to the station is melancholy. Today I long to sit in silence at Chester-Le-Street under two jumpers and switch my phone off.

I spent 90p on The Guardian. 60 minutes later, all change. I was spat out of the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road, spirits lifted, and thinking ‘what excellent value for money.’ What the digital / media debate continues to forget is that I spend my 90p on talent, not on sheets of paper or a format. Talent has a price and it's worth paying for. 

Whilst the parallels are often drawn between the revenue models of news media and music (why pay when you can get music/info for free), the debate also conveniently avoids other entertainment vehicles.

Take sport. Should we perhaps convince Arsenal fans not to spend fifty quid on an Emirates ticket on the grounds that there's plenty of football to watch on Hackney Marshes? It's not going to happen.

So why would anyone NOT want to pay for good writing? Reading isn't a function, it's a pleasure.

For my 90p and mood shift I got Marina Hyde’s clinical knifing of Trudie Styler.

Or Harry Pearson…“An English-style centre-forward,” words which are to football what the phrase “contains mechanically reclaimed meat” is to fine dining."

Try The Eurovision “night of a thousand key changes,” guide.

Or Tim Dowling’s MPs expenses quiz.

Paul Calf once said, “you can’t buy class.” He’s right. Newspapers may change their formats and delivery systems, but as long as they supply collections of high quality, talented writing, people will pay. I don't give a monkeys whether I give my 90p to a man in a shop or I drop the coins in the slot on my computer - I'm paying the brand that brings it to me.

These people are professionals. We are amateurs. They’re worth a few quid. 90p's a steal.

Opera Does MTV (a bit)

A little taster of our work for Sky Arts and their sponsorship of the English National Opera. Opera doesn't have promos - like what you get on MTV to flog singles and stuff - until now. Werner Herzog, Sam Taylor-Wood and Dougal Wilson are the talent....

Popscene

When Blur take the stage at Hyde Park next summer I'll be 36. Dave Rowntree will be 45. I'm sure we're both as relevant as we've ever been.

Allow yourself 3 minutes and pay respect to Blur's forgotten classic.

Age

Am I moving closer to Radio 2, or is Radio 2 moving closer to me?

Completely Irresponsible. Indignant With Rage.

One universal truth about UK kids  is that, by and large, they don't have much respect for their elders. At school, kids develop a canny ability to spot vulnerability in people who should have authority. A successful lesson meant driving a failing teacher to explode in rage, or erupt in tears of frustration via quality goading. They were supposed to be in charge. We brought them down. Result. Perhaps that behaviour explains why our English ancestors led the world in the establishment of liberal democracy. Who knows, and who cares? This blog is about how people sell shit.

Anyway, it's a link into a quality bit of work from EA today in the UK, who have used the same trick to sell a video game to kids. The authority this time, appears to be an "indignant with rage" MP, and a load more "angry residents," queuing to use words like "completely irresponsible." Mercenaries 2: World In Flames available now on Amazon for £24.99 on PS2 features "Venezuelan-style fuel riots." EA offered free fuel to people. It was over-subscribed massively. A "Venezuelan-style fuel riot" then takes place in Hornsey, North London - just like it was in the picture above. Except it wasn't really - it was a bit of a traffic jam. Coverage appears for the game on the front page of BBC Online. It'll be elsewhere too. Outstanding.

The 00's: Remembered For Music, Or Technology?

I saw this question on a forum and it got me wondering, will the 00's (I loathe the word noughties) be remembered for the technological advancements in music, rather than the music itself?

The 50s gave us rock 'n' roll, the 60's pop/rock/psychedelia, the 70's glam/funk/disco/punk, the 80's more punk/more disco/new romantics/hip-hop/acid house/indie/baggy/shoegaze the 90's more shoegaze/more indie/grunge/britpop/trip-hop/gangster rap/trance/techno/post rock etc... (not an exhaustive list by any means) but this decade...Coldplay-esque stadium rock? Won't the decade be remembered for the iPod and file-sharing instead?

Is there an exhaustion? I've struggled to come up with a better answer than electro, which to be honest is merely a sub-genre of dance. When was the last band to come out, and the world just collectively went "....WTF!"? The Klaxons? Maybe, but then I think their sound is just following on from early Acid House.

I guess my point is, where will the next sub-genre come from? Will we look back at the present and say to ourselves "I remember when all you could download was an mp3. An MP3!!!!" Maybe the reason I can't think of where the future of music is going to from is cos I'm sat here in an office, and not holed up in a studio, with Dr. Dre (who's Detox album, I'm very confident, will bend my head) actually trying to find the answer.

Dave Macnamara