What I've been doing lately.

[V Knid esq]

I've been doing this:

http://theartsdesk.com

http://www.theartsdesk.com/templates/artsdesk2009/images/theartsdesk.png

Well, I've been involved in doing it, anyway. It's basically a co-operative of journalists who are getting frustrated with not being able to cover the stuff we want in the way we want. Which is not to slag off any of my employers - I do get to do some great stuff but it tends to be very limited by space and format: so the idea here is that the stories are as long as we feel they need to be. It's updated several times every day, gigs etc are reviewed overnights, so it's always fresh, and it's specialists setting the agenda: so underground music is treated as being just as worthy of space and respect as opera, ballet, galleries, television, comedy or anything else.

I've already got mentions of Yee King and London Improvisers Orchestra in there as well as reviews of 2562 / Ikonika / FaltyDL and interviews with Kode 9 and Mary Anne Hobbs (the latter one is massive, and might actually be of interest to some of those here who don't like her)... and a bit of Fleetwood Mac and Cuban jazz to boot. Have a rummage around, I'd be really glad of feedback from you lot in particular, seeing as how you're so fucking hard to please. And if something interests or bothers you, do get stuck in on the comments box!

Apols to those I've pestered already, but this is proper labour of love stuff, and I gotta spread the word. Testify!

[love_tempo]

The review of the Hudson Mohawke, Dam-Funk & Rustie night was interesting. We saw him in Manchester a few months back with a good mixed crowd in a small divey venue and he was great just DJing and singing. And it sounds like he was doing more in London rather than less. That's a shame, I'd be dissappointed if I went, even more so if I was trying to play to a small turnout of the usual young white males. What's the point in people living in a big city if they don't go to this kind of thing?

There were loads of women at the Manchester Dam-Funk gig. There was even a heavily pregnant woman at the Manchester gig and this was during the height of swine flu in typically shitty weather. If the crowd isn't mixed, the dancing is not going to take off!

[V Knid esq]

Yes - and that's why it's been such a fucking joy for me to be able to do club reviews on a par with other arts reviews, and without space constrictions: to be able to discuss issues like that as more than just a passing mention...

[emef]

read the mary interview, really liked it
good luck wi this joe, looks like a good thing
even though the name makes me feel itchy
the arts desk
funny
but, good on ya

was i supposed to dislike mary anne hobbs?
i'm well out of the loop


numerous mentions of garstang made me chuckle
thats my neck of the woods

[thembuzz]

yeah, i had a look at this off your facebook linkummy. it's good shit

[V Knid esq]

read the mary interview, really liked it
good luck wi this joe, looks like a good thing
even though the name makes me feel itchy
the arts desk
funny
but, good on ya

was i supposed to dislike mary anne hobbs?
i'm well out of the loop


numerous mentions of garstang made me chuckle
thats my neck of the woods

:)

Just a few on here have laid into Hobbs before...

Did you see the thing about the Depeche Mode movie? Thought that might be up your street.

[emef]

not seen the depeche mode thing, i'll have a look
i hope your journalist friend mentioned that the horrorist was on the 101 competition winners tour bus
that the best depeche mode gossip+ thing i've ever heard
i nearly had kittens when i met oliver at monox and he was the guy from the dm video, never mind he was the horrorist (which i was also a fan of)

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I read a couple of good articles and there are clearly some good writers in there. The info in the whos who should be signposted more as clearly that's the selling point.

It's really not a good layout though considering the amount of content on there. I click on 'new music' and I mainly see adverts and graphics banners, can only see two article titles.. then there is a long scroll through the articles. It's a bit better if you go into reviews or features but it's still a really claustrophobic and inefficient layout. Considering the level of talent the site should be on a par with the bbc or guardian in usability and design terms... a tall order I know but I think I'm probably quite firmly in the target market (hard to please ;)) and I'd expect really slick presentation and efficient summary upfront.

[emef]

what a surprise, one of the holy duo sez no

del monte

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

Only comparing it to the competition, that's a pretty fair thing to do I think.
Look how much you can take in at a glance on these sites

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music
http://pitchfork.com/

On the arts desk at a glance I see an advert for Swan Lake, a lo res background image of a anonymous rock band and lily allen. Had Knid not told me he was involved I would have probably never gone back cos I wouldn't have dug through as much.

[emef]

fair do's, ai solly
i dont read the competition
i have nowt to fall back on cept your words

[love_tempo]

To be fair to hectic, I did have to do a bit of digging to find the things I wanted. On the other hand there were other really good articles and reviews that caught my eye. Like the one on the Tomasz Stanko Quintet.
I saw the thing about Depeche Mode, looks like a good documentary. I didn't realise Depeche Mode supposedly weren't taken seriously, I take them very srsly :)

One thing that struck me though, was how the usual suspects (Lily Allen) make it very visibly to the front page. That would put me off buying a magazine, and it's probably the same with a website.

But then I like the fact that it covers all the arts, including dance and jazz and classical (and presumably films too?). So I suppose pop is fair game too...

On a tangent, anyone seen the Arthur Russell documentary or read the biography? I saw them in Piccadilly Records today and was tempted to ask for them as xmas presents.

[Martin Dust]

Looks great Joe but get someone to sort the kerning and opticals on that logo, it's shocking :)

[emef]

yeah, sort the kernings and opticoils on your logo

they made me sick into me mums claat

[mdk]

first thing, make the section headers on the right clickable, latest film, latest dance etc..

thx.

more later.

[emef]

and make everyone that posts here the headline of all your stories
or else what fucking use are you?
double agent my arse

[mdk]

and when you go into a section like new music and see that list of stuff, make the pictures smaller. The initial column of text next to the picture only fits 3 or 4 words on average and its really hard to read.

and get rid of lily allen. you can probably get a plugin for your cms 'useless cunt filter' i think its called.

[mdk]

and make everyone that posts here the headline of all your stories
or else what fucking use are you?
double agent my arse

fair point.

he better be reviewing your gigs soon.

[emef]

bummer

[mdk]

i was going to say reviewing my gigs but i dont do any, and the only offer i got i turned down.

[emef]

aww i dun a sadface

[love_tempo]

In the rotating flash (?) banner thing on the top right, with article pictures + short summary, there's text that says Read More> but no actual link on that text. You can get there by clicking the image above, but that was a bit counter-intuitive.

[emef]

are you hearing this muggs?
counter intuitive
haha

[love_tempo]

alright then ffs I clicked the arrow lots. nothing happened.
I scratched my head.
emef, u make my love come down :)

[Spandex]

I can test it in IE5 on a mac for you.

[thembuzz]

lol

[Loz]

I haven't yet clicked the link. But I'm a long-term poster on nofuture, and I'm really quite drunk. So that makes me very qualified to decide that your website probably isn't good enough.

Or it's excellent, and everyone else here is talking out of their arse.


(delete as applicable.)

[V Knid esq]

Thankyou, you're all <s>massive cunts</s> massively helpful.

Some of the layout issues (eg the pictures being too big), but not all, are caused by the fact that it's being shifted around servers but some like the counterintuitive links are worth addressing definitely.

Keep reading, and pls pass it on if you know anyone who is interested in, y'know, <i>stuff</i>.

[Orang Utan]

it's a massively helpful site and i think it's to be treasured - glad that you are getting the freedom and space to do things like the hobbs interview and actual proper gig reviews. fair play! may the artsdesk thrive and prosper!

[Martin Dust]

Sorry Joe, great site, I'll be using it :)

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I like the fact you can subscribe to an RSS feed of a single journalist, so many sites don't offer that.. so I've subbed to Joes feed and a couple of others and the bad design points become moot :) (along with potential advertising revenue though I guess)

[AVX23]

really enjoyed reading the MAH Q+A, cheers !

[Martin Dust]

I like the fact you can subscribe to an RSS feed of a single journalist, so many sites don't offer that.. so I've subbed to Joes feed and a couple of others and the bad design points become moot :) (along with potential advertising revenue though I guess)

Yeah, that's a really nice feature.

[platinum ray]

great idea and there's some interesting content on there. nice one Knid

[Patrick]

The Hobgoblin interview was ace, Joe.

[V Knid esq]

Thankyou all. Specific things have been passed onto the developers, this is all helpful.


Oh, and... what I forgot to mention in the Jeremy Deller interivew: he interviewed Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson about being Depeche Mode fans and will be putting that as DVD extras when the film is released next year :) :) :)

[emef]

oooh des and kev are both well shit now but i like the fact they started out in the DM light

[notorious J.I.M]

Good work Joe, it's certainly a labour of love, that MAH piece must have taken you ages just to transcribe the interview from tape! Looking forward to the DM film coming out on DVD. I knew they were influential to the Belleville 3, I'm amazed Mute never commissioned a remix from any of them back then.

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

Good work Joe, it's certainly a labour of love, that MAH piece must have taken you ages just to transcribe the interview from tape! Looking forward to the DM film coming out on DVD. I knew they were influential to the Belleville 3, I'm amazed Mute never commissioned a remix from any of them back then.

not for DM but there was a great Derrick May remix of Nitzer Ebb... and Juan did a few things for them and novamute didn't he?

[mdk]

i was going to mention the mayday mix of shame.. :)

time to listen to it again. actually theres a new NE album coming out. what are the chances of it being any good? vanishingly small? maybe i'll be suprised...

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

maybe with industrial techno seeming to rise up again recently they might get spurred on

edit: I don't want to sound remotely optimistic though ;)

[mdk]

well all the talk is 'we took it back to basics, kind of like the first album...blah blah blah'

but will it just be an awful pastiche of what was good about the old stuff?

its just released on iTunes for america, i guess it'll ahem, turn up somewhere soon enough.

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I doubt they could write such powerful, naive or (frankly) suspect lyrics anymore. They'd probably end up thinking about it too much :)

[V Knid esq]

Was it one of youse that commented on my Wolfgan Voigt piece?

"Your words trouble me like a peadophile whispering into the ear of a lone child!"

http://bit.ly/1VH2v8

lol:illin:

[Orang Utan]

just read that review - can't believe you found it unpleasant. i was in a state of bliss.

[V Knid esq]

Unpleasant in a really good way.

[Orang Utan]

heheh! forme, it was the closest i've been to nirvana without taking any drugs

[V Knid esq]

It definitely induced some various sorts of superhuman mindstate, but I felt a bit like Lovecraftian ancient nameless ones were consuming my consiousness at points.

Mind you, me and Olv had just bolted a massive meal before sitting down, so we were slightly uncomfortable to begin with :)

[V Knid esq]

Arthur Russell biography extract and interivew up :)
http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=669:arthur-russell-biography-author&Itemid=80
http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=670:arthur-russell-biography-tim-lawrence&Itemid=28
http://www.theartsdesk.com/images/stories/NEW_MUSIC/joe_muggs/Arthur_04-tractor.jpg

ALSO, see if you can get to http://articles.veryverymuch.com

This is MY SITE!!!!!! The one I've been sweating over for months... it's just doing its DNS migration thing so it's not visible everywhere yet, but this is going to be the fucking motherlode....

[mdk]

i can see it :)

nice one joe, looking forward to reading it all..

[V Knid esq]

Wicked. The Mary Anne Hobbs i/view is much longer than the previously published version and has a lot more colour and sense of the way she talks in it...

Vogel and Geiom intervews to go up as soon as they're transcribed :)

[Loz]

is there any chance of having a list of recent articles on your site, or is it a design choice to make you have to flip back like a book? (which is a bit annoying, to be honest)

also, the link to Part 1 on this page (http://articles.veryverymuch.com/page/2) is broken.

otherwise, it's great

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I can't see it yet, boo.

[V Knid esq]

All that's going to be sorted once the migration is complete, it's much easier to do the internal links then....

[Loz]

nice interview with Rob Gordon

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

Arthur Russell articles are great Knid

[Orang Utan]

the arthur russell piece is brilliant joe - it says it's an extract from the book but it also says 'written by joe muggs' which has confused me. anyway, just ordered the book and the DVD from amazon as an early xmas present to myself.

[V Knid esq]

Wicked, I hope you clicked through to Amazon from my article *AHEM*

The film is brilliant, saw it at the ICA last year.

[Orang Utan]

i didn't, sorry!
so are the words in the article yours or tim lawrence's?
have you read love saves the day?

[V Knid esq]

They're his words - they're the intro to the book, in fact. I've altered the title now to make it clearer, hopefully - putting my name on it is automatic, annoyingly, it has to be credited to a registered user...

I'm 3/4 of the way through Love Saves The Day now - it's 100% essential, really good book.

[Orang Utan]

i've just been a sucker and ordered whatever amazon has suggested, so now i have peter shapiro's the history of disco: the rise and fall of disco, vince aletti's the disco files 1973-1978: new york's underground week by week, darryl easlea's everybody dance: chic and the politics of disco and the maestro and paris is burning dvds all winging their way to me.
any more disco literature i should be aware of?
i wish someome would write a book about italo disco, italo house, spaghetti westerns and other exploitation movies, linking them all neatly in a 'continuum' of purely commercial yet occasionally brilliant music and movies.

[Orang Utan]

They're his words - they're the intro to the book, in fact. I've altered the title now to make it clearer, hopefully - putting my name on it is automatic, annoyingly, it has to be credited to a registered user...

ah right, wasn't accusing you of taking the credit or anything. :)

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

Damn it I meant to go see the film at the duke of yorks last year, it was only on for one night and I got lazy.

[V Knid esq]

i've just been a sucker and ordered whatever amazon has suggested, so now i have peter shapiro's the history of disco: the rise and fall of disco, vince aletti's the disco files 1973-1978: new york's underground week by week, darryl easlea's everybody dance: chic and the politics of disco and the maestro and paris is burning dvds all winging their way to me.
any more disco literature i should be aware of?
i wish someome would write a book about italo disco, italo house, spaghetti westerns and other exploitation movies, linking them all neatly in a 'continuum' of purely commercial yet occasionally brilliant music and movies.

I thought you were broke!

That book idea is a good one. Sort of like a Eurotrash Continuum, only not shit.

The RZA's new book 'Tao Of Wu' is brilliant - it's a memoir, and it brilliantly ties together kung fu movies, taoism, buddhism, hip hop and loads of other stuff into a "continuum" wih him as its common thread...

[Orang Utan]

i am, but i get paid on tuesday!

[V Knid esq]

OK we have index. http://www.veryverymuch.com/

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I'm liking the really clean style of the site a lot. The perfect antidote to what I was going on about on the artsdesk.

oh btw, Cumbia mix link is dead Joe.

[V Knid esq]

Thanks! Broken link was just cos I changed the title, it's fixed now.

[V Knid esq]

Check out the Dan Treacy (http://bit.ly/d1mhSZ) interview - everyone loves a glorious fuckup right?

[Orang Utan]

my work's browser does not like the arts desk :(

[V Knid esq]

What browser?

[Orang Utan]

IE - it loads the background but no text or it doesn't load at all. will read it at home.

[mdk]

better not ask him what version or he'll have a technological panic attack

[Orang Utan]

can't remember - think it's version 6. not the latest anyhow.

[soulcheck]

better not ask him what version or he'll have a technological panic attack

lol

[V Knid esq]

If it is IE6, nobody supports that any more, and you should tell yr bosses it's a stupid security risk too.

[Orang Utan]

both the companies whose PCs i use have IE6.
can't really ask them to update so i can watch youtube clips and surf the net!

[joe pinapples]

you can ask them to update because its actually a real security risk though. however, no doubt they wouldn't even look into this if you mention it to them.

[mdk]

Check out the Dan Treacy (http://bit.ly/d1mhSZ) interview - everyone loves a glorious fuckup right?

btw, didnt you do an interview with cris?

seem to remember you saying you had to transcribe it or something..

[V Knid esq]

btw, didnt you do an interview with cris?

seem to remember you saying you had to transcribe it or something..

Yes yes yes, it's half transcribed, freelancing with a baby in the house, as I'm sure you know, takes a bit of getting used to!!

[V Knid esq]

you can ask them to update because its actually a real security risk though. however, no doubt they wouldn't even look into this if you mention it to them.

Totally. It's just stupid to be running it, it's pretty much guaranteed to have internet AIDS.

[soulcheck]

I just imagined Orang telling their it staff to update and ending it with 'respect my authoritah!!'

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

I imagine his tech support think he is a cunt... cos everytime they start talking to him he goes YAWN, PLEASE STOP WITH ALL THE TECHY TALK

[Spandex]

They probably asked him for his email address.. "Email address??? What am I? FUCKING LAWNMOWER MAN??"

[V Knid esq]

Full Tony Thorpe interview up now... http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/279020338/tony-thorpe-part-1-of-2

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5035554353_71b9224ef9_d.jpg

The Cristian one is almost done too!!

[thepigjockey]

Just starting to read it now, I totally agree re. the Moody Boys' 'What Time..' remix, there's really nothing else quite like it :)

[V Knid esq]

I only just discovered today that Si Begg co-produced all the recent Moody Boyz stuff, inc the brilliant Winehouse remix!

[OCD]

Full Tony Thorpe interview up now... http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/279020338/tony-thorpe-part-1-of-2

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5035554353_71b9224ef9_d.jpg

The Cristian one is almost done too!!

Massive props for this. TT has been a guiding star man & boy round these parts since around this time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGYfI9cU69Y&feature=related

[Dal-tech]

I've been doing this:

http://theartsdesk.com

http://www.theartsdesk.com/templates/artsdesk2009/images/theartsdesk.png

Well, I've been involved in doing it, anyway. It's basically a co-operative of journalists who are getting frustrated with not being able to cover the stuff we want in the way we want. Which is not to slag off any of my employers - I do get to do some great stuff but it tends to be very limited by space and format: so the idea here is that the stories are as long as we feel they need to be. It's updated several times every day, gigs etc are reviewed overnights, so it's always fresh, and it's specialists setting the agenda: so underground music is treated as being just as worthy of space and respect as opera, ballet, galleries, television, comedy or anything else.

I've already got mentions of Yee King and London Improvisers Orchestra in there as well as reviews of 2562 / Ikonika / FaltyDL and interviews with Kode 9 and Mary Anne Hobbs (the latter one is massive, and might actually be of interest to some of those here who don't like her)... and a bit of Fleetwood Mac and Cuban jazz to boot. Have a rummage around, I'd be really glad of feedback from you lot in particular, seeing as how you're so fucking hard to please. And if something interests or bothers you, do get stuck in on the comments box!

Apols to those I've pestered already, but this is proper labour of love stuff, and I gotta spread the word. Testify!

My honest opinion. The design is only okay and the content is boring/ uninteresting.

[OCD]

A criminally underrated/undervalued release imo

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Voyager+%282%29

[V Knid esq]

My honest opinion. The design is only okay and the content is boring/ uninteresting.

You are a plum.

[V Knid esq]

Massive props for this. TT has been a guiding star man & boy round these parts since around this time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGYfI9cU69Y&feature=related

I've also got him doing a live panel discussion for an arts festival of Croydon in November - him, Mad Professor, Artwork (aka Grain), Loefah, DJ Chef & Goldielocks. It's gonna be good.

[OCD]

I've also got him doing a live panel discussion for an arts festival of Croydon in November - him, Mad Professor, Artwork (aka Grain), Loefah, DJ Chef & Goldielocks. It's gonna be good.

You've got Arthur out of the woodwork? Good werk.

Where/when?

[V Knid esq]

You've got Arthur out of the woodwork? Good werk.

He's well out of the woodwork anyway - didn't you know, he's having top 10 hits and everything?! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_man

Where/when?

The Black Sheep Fri 19th Nov. It will be free entry for anyone with a ticket to Mad Professor's Croydon Dub Club at The Clocktower.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Are-We-Here/144936715549564?v=wall

[OCD]

hehe no i didn't know - last i heard was that old Artwork thing. Glad (or am i?) to see he's emerged from the shadows..

I may have to pop up for that : )

[V Knid esq]

hehe no i didn't know - last i heard was that old Artwork thing. Glad (or am i?) to see he's emerged from the shadows..

I may have to pop up for that : )

A week Friday, then... 6.45pm - you fancy coming down? I can get you a blag, saving you a whole £2.50 if you like lol






Also, my Cristian interview is finally up: http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/1556384171/cristian-vogel-part-1-of-2

[OCD]

A week Friday, then... 6.45pm - you fancy coming down? I can get you a blag, saving you a whole £2.50 if you like lol

aww thanks - away for this sadly.






Also, my Cristian interview is finally up: http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/1556384171/cristian-vogel-part-1-of-2

Amazing interview - actually one of the best/most informative/incisive i've read in ages, clearly executed with love and respect. Also made me reminisce about the good old (acid) Box days..

[Hectic Cum Balthazar]

yeah good interview

[soulcheck]

Yeah, good interview.

Couldn't agree more with his opinion on the electronic scene in spain. Just had a perfect example this saturday when booking manager in one of the clubs here decided that it's a good idea to put a guy playing electrohouse after shackleton. The best part is that few people noticed the difference. Oh, well.

There are some brighter points. Becool tries to do good bookings even if people don't care and Svreca in Madrid does great job with his semantica, but it could be waay better.

[AVX23]

Good work :)

[proober glombat]

http://soundcloud.com/shanevwf/zwolf-live-at-cai_oct2010

friend of mine recorded my live set from the Mount Kimbie gig a few weeks ago.

[V Knid esq]

I don't know if any of you cared for UK garage at all, but I'm REALLY proud of this:

http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/2451614621/zed-bias-part-1-of-2

n.b. really worth downloading the tracks rather than playing on the soundcloud player, which doesn't do the subs justice at all.

Actually quite a few of you lot might like this interview: http://articles.veryverymuch.com/post/2386479140/kamal-joory-part-1-of-2 - lots of stuff about 90s electronica dork world :)