Brit Awards 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/20965660
(...) the ceremony at London's O2 Arena on 20 February, which will be hosted by James Corden for the fourth time.

ughhh...

BRIT AWARDS:

Emeli Sande named best British female solo artist

SCUMFORD & SONS FUCK OFF

really really really

Ben Howard wins the charisma award.

not like i'm a huge jessie ware stan but she's better than these blocks of wood surely

and even from a cynical marketing angle she'd make better copy no?

Why was AWinehouse nommed for best female artist when she's been dead for almost 2 years?

You could ask the same about Plan B.

Hello, Lizzie Grant has turned up.

Who the feck is Ben Howard?

he's the best.

well, the best we can come up with right now.

It's David Gray territory.

Shite Ladder

On Wednesday Nick Cave was #1 in the midweek album chart. Was looking forward to writing about that because he’s never gone top before with an album and there’s a lot to say about him.

You know, something DIFFERENT at the top. For a change.

But no – the fucking Brits. Friday midweek update has Emeli fucking Sande at number one – because there are enough solvent retards out there to buy her album still, even though it’s been out THAT long – and Nick will be lucky to be fourth on Sunday behind her, Mumfords and Ben fucking Howard.

So it’s going to be business as usual, The Industry has it all sewn up, NOTHING remotely different or new or interesting is going to be allowed to go to number one because if supermarkets don’t stock your record you’ve had it and people are too stupid and lazy to go elsewhere.

What’s the point of writing about number one albums when this is all there is to “look forward” to? More of the same and the same and the same until Britain drowns or goes broke.

Yes, I’ve been here a million times before and no doubt I’ll be here a million more times but – you know – it HAD to be said.

Midweeks is always a tricky business though, because acts like Nick Cave (and Foals and The Courteenars - to cite recent examples) have fans who will buy an album on the first day of release, it gets high mid weeks, even number one, then 'normal' sales come in during the week and in particular weekend shoppers picking up a cd from Tescos they'd seen on TV and 'normailty' is restored. Bad planning on Cave's label's part to release it on the week of the Brits really, but I do feel sorry that it won't be number one.

(Not telling you anything you don't already know, of course.)

I really hate this Critics Choice award. It's a case of pointing out an artist who the record company have invested heavily and have a huge campaign lined up for, as if to say "You will like this, whether you want to or now". And then in 12 months time as Tom or Dick or whoever collects their awards, the label can say "Well, weren't we clever? We told you last year he was going to be big". Have any Critics Award winner been failures?

tbf MC just write about Nick Cave anyway if you want to. and i wdn't cite him personally as an example of somebody who's done anything different or new for the last 20 years

another pro tip - awards are bollocks and matter to nobody except accountants

Ben Howard has seen a 320 per cent increase in sales of his album following his twin triumph at the Brit awards in London on Wednesday night. The singer from Devon won two awards: British breakthrough act and British male.

Howard said that he was "quite stoked to even come to the awards" and professed his success "amazing". His album Every Kingdom was released in October 2011 but is now on course to return to the Official Albums Chart Top 10 (it is currently at Number 9, and was at Number 46 last week). Only Love, the track performed by Howard, also saw a huge spike in sales of 1,156 per cent in the hours following his performance.

The awards show on Wednesday has already been criticised for its dullness, but talking to the Guardian last year, Howard painted a different picture of the UK music scene.

"British music at the moment isn't boring," he insisted. "Adele has taken over the world and she's not a pop star – she writes songs and she can sing. Same with Mumford & Sons. They're all playing acoustic instruments rather than playing synths and being told what to do. I've never been a fan of all the R&B and vocoder stuff you hear on the radio."

Data from the Official Charts Company, showed Frank Ocean – winner of the international male award – was the second biggest beneficiary of the awards and ITV show. His album Channel Orange – a big critical hit - saw sales increase 136 per cent overnight. Best group winners Mumford & Sons saw their album Babel enjoy a 110 per cent spike, while Muse, who opened the show, saw sales of The Second Law rise by 103 per cent.

This Official Charts data only counts up to midnight on Wednesday night, two hours after the TV broadcast finished. It also showed a 58.8 per cent sales boost to the official Brit Awards 2013 compilation album.

"The fact that Ben Howard's album quadrupled its sales is remarkable given that only two hours' worth of post-awards sales count towards today's numbers," said Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot.

"British music at the moment isn't boring," he insisted. "Adele has taken over the world and she's not a pop star – she writes songs and she can sing. Same with Mumford & Sons. They're all playing acoustic instruments rather than playing synths and being told what to do. I've never been a fan of all the R&B and vocoder stuff you hear on the radio."

tbf MC just write about Nick Cave anyway if you want to. and i wdn't cite him personally as an example of somebody who's done anything different or new for the last 20 years

haha well yes, there IS that consideration, but like I say I don't get to write about him at all on the blog otherwise & it just seems painful that this is his best chance & it's wrecked by the annual school prizegiving ceremony because people just want the same old shit again and again.

but there's a LOT of people I want to write about on TPL under the premise of somebody else's number one & it would be immoral not to do so because some Cowell/Walsh bit of aarghdom was in the way.

And no, the Cave record isn't being stocked at Sainsbury's. Might upset the weekend Heart FM-listening shoppers.

man, was that a Ben Howard quote?

"Adele has taken over the world" = close down world immediately.

Has the Adele album really outsold Thriller or did I just dream that bit?

Apparently Adele now controls most of South America.

It has in the UK, but is only fifth on the list (xp).

man, was that a Ben Howard quote?

yes

wish he posted here

there's a LOT of people I want to write about on TPL under the premise of somebody else's number one

you should come up with some kind of "Captain's log: supplemental" criteria for doing this

I suppose ben howard is no different to those who say they hate guitars etc.
I would love all those attitudes to be left in the 1980s however.

I would like someone to murder Ben Howard, horribly.

If only for not being able to tell the difference between vocoders and autotune.

Was going to say, anyone who slags vocoders is dead to me

But, in spite of being a musician in the music business playing music he obv. does not know the difference

That quote reads a lot like the horrific writing of Brighton Unsigned, actually.

it was from the guardian last year

from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/feb/21/ben-howard-brit-awards-sales
The awards show on Wednesday has already been criticised for its dullness, but talking to the Guardian last year, Howard painted a different picture of the UK music scene.

"British music at the moment isn't boring," he insisted. "Adele has taken over the world and she's not a pop star – she writes songs and she can sing. Same with Mumford & Sons. They're all playing acoustic instruments rather than playing synths and being told what to do. I've never been a fan of all the R&B and vocoder stuff you hear on the radio."

Those comments are from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/apr/22/ben-howard-interview-american-tour

.....Peter Robinson wrote a piece for the Guardian in which he labelled the likes of Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons and Adele as "the New Boring", symptomatic of a culture that ignores flashy stars and innovation for the safe comforts of plainly dressed men and women singing retro music.

It's hard to deny that Howard would fit into that scene – so how does he feel about his musical style being labelled boring?

"I always rise to stuff like that," he says with a wicked grin on his face, before the ranting begins. "Look, when Mumfords came out that was the freshest thing on the music scene by a million miles. Someone playing a double bass and a banjo? That's cool.

"British music at the moment isn't boring. Adele has taken over the world and she's not a pop star – she writes songs and she can sing. Same with Mumford & Sons. They're all playing acoustic instruments rather than playing synths and being told what to do. I've never been a fan of all the R&B and vocoder stuff you hear on the radio."

Is there not just as much skill in making a synthesised pop record?

"There's force-feeding people synthesised music, then there's a skill in technically being able to play an instrument, even if that is some electronic pad."

Surely to a lot of audiences the technical side can be rather dull…

"True," he concedes. "If that's all that mattered we'd all just listen to jazz. I guess I'm talking about a 'heart and soul' side. And that's where 'real' music takes over… people who care about what they're singing about.

.....Peter Robinson wrote a piece for the Guardian in which he labelled the likes of Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons and Adele as "the New Boring", symptomatic of a culture that ignores flashy stars and innovation for the safe comforts of plainly dressed men and women singing retro music.

What does Martin McGuinness say?

Re Tesco's and the mid weeks; do Tesco sales count? I know they didn't used to. In the post iTunes era I wonder which actual shops do count. It used to be a selected 50 shops or.. something.

was it not 500?

Ah could well be!

it didn't seem very many. Impulse Records in Hamilton was actually one of them. The owner Jim told me when I asked him if that scanning thing was for the charts.

The Brits 2013

.. is now by Robbie Williams:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21607274

Robbie Williams says 'dull' Brits inspired new song

Williams, who premiered the free track on his website, has won 17 Brit awards - more than any other artist.

"I got on stage and turned around and looked at a dead hall," he said.

"It's not their fault, but maybe they should have some punters in."

Williams performed his Brit-nominated song Candy at the 20 February event at London's O2 Arena.

The 39-year-old missed out on a nomination for best British male, despite topping the UK album chart with his latest disc Take the Crown.

'A bit dull'

His Brits performance saw him dressed in a blue suit and joined by backing dancers dressed in black and white and holding tubas.

He returned to the stage later in the evening to present a "global success" award to boy band One Direction.

Williams described his own performance as "a bit dull", attributing it to the stage being surrounded by industry guests sitting at tables rather than ordinary fans.

"The performance wasn't amazing," he told Front Row's John Wilson. "I didn't have anybody to vibe off in the audience.

"I'm not saying that's their fault. I'm a professional and should take care of that myself."

Williams' free track, called The Brits 2013, was co-written with songwriter Guy Chambers, co-writer and producer of some of his biggest hits.

It boasts of drug-taking, fighting and sexual escapades and bemoans the Brits as "dull, professional and timid".

In one lyric, he describes himself as a "showbiz chancer".

"Unless you're Paul McCartney, there wasn't anybody at the awards ceremony who's not a chancer," he told Front Row