John Ager's Home on the Web!

Pink Floyd fans will immediately recognise the title of this post as a lyric from The Wall. Writing poetry can sometimes be thought of as rather a dark art, even by those who regularly write prose. Although I enjoy writing, it’s not an area I’ve moved into – even though I’ve wanted to. I love reading poetry, appreciating the well-chosen turn of phrase that paints a picture that sends the mind into the wonderful world of the imagination. Come to think of it, isn’t that what all art seeks to do? The creators of music, paintings, sculptures (and the like) all seek to evoke responses in the mind and of the imagination!

Twitter (with its limit of 140 characters) lends itself to a genre of poetry identified by the hashtag #micropoetry – and today I was inspired by someone I follow on Twitter (whose poetry I find fascinating) to have a go. They are written quickly and can be composed anywhere – my first attempt was in the shower this morning:

The warm embrace of the water/the tingle of the shower gel/ready to face the day.

The others were composed while I was out and about, and posted online from my BlackBerry. Here they are (slight changes have been made so they scan better), do let me know what you think. You can use or reproduce them in the terms of my Creative Commons licence. Thanks.

Music blaring/lights flashing/shoppers rushing/tills ringing/people shouting/Jesus hiding.

Reindeer in a straw-filled pen/Skaters in an open rink/Salvation brass in a ring/…it must be Christmas!

Flowerbed of rubbish/discarded cardboard coffee cup/cigarette end in compost/acutely-angled ale can/symptomatic

Frozen penguins/hog roast/gourmet liquorice/mulled wine/Gregg’s pasty/random verse

xfactor/strictly/celebrity/bigbrother/ephemeral

The BBC have published a high-definition, 1.15-gigapixel picture, which is a composite of 189 images. The full picture measures 81,471 pixels by 14,154 pixels. The field of view covers 200 degrees. Click on the picture to go to the BBC page, then you can move in any direction and zoom in and out to see individual faces in the crowd! You can see the official Royal Wedding photos by clicking here!

This wedding portrait of William and Catherine is from pages 18-19 of the official programme (hence the line down the middle). You can view it by clicking here or download it here! Whatever you think of the Monarchy, I’m sure you will join me in wishing them well for the future.

…this is Part 2 of a post by Thomas Mathie. Click here for Part 1.

There are, however, times when a Label helps. Labels used to stand for something… they used to represent a stamp of quality… and for some… they still do. Consider Sub Pop, XL or Ghostly International, for example.

This is where netlabels come into play for me. A netlabel is a label that represents a stable of artists where the majority of interaction is done via the Internet. Most netlabels tend to give their music away for free… and some offer physical releases to compliment their digital downloads. Again… netlabels tend to deal in obscure and niche sub-genres… areas with minimal commercial appeal but in doing so… act as a stamp of quality.

Take Sutemos.net for example… they have released some of the best electronica that I’ve heard in a long, long time. I think I have all their releases on my iPods (yes… I have 2 iPod classics on the go for all the music I listen to… in addition to my iPhone) and reference them often. There are too many great netlabels for me to point to… so I won’t… but I would encourage you to check them out. Search by genre of music you like and you will find something to your taste. Are netlabels fairtrade? Yes… because, once again, you are dealing with the artist… albeit not directly but through an artistic cooperative, so to speak.

You could argue this point with traditional labels… that they are artistic cooperatives… but their overarching infrastructure isn’t conducive to giving their artists the best deal, imho. Traditional labels are in it for the money… that’s why its called the “music business”. They have to pay for their investment and fairplay to that… I’m not against capitalism, in this regard.

However, there is an alternative way… and this is where my issue comes… when the need for profit comes before the pushing of niche artists. I don’t like the majority of music deemed “popular” these days… and probably have the majority of “the classics” and don’t want to buy them again in whatever format-shifted package that they want to pimp us.

Let’s face it… and it’s a shame to say this… but the music of Ambienteer will never sell in the bucketloads. I really want it to… but it won’t. But the best thing about the music of truly independent artists such as Ambienteer is that they are working within their means… they only have their own costs to cover and don’t have to cover extensive marketing machines. They may be niche… but they have the realistic ability to breakeven or make a profit… unlike artists on the Traditional labels.

I guess they could be considered sustainable concerns, in this regards… and for me that’s a big deal. So the next time you are looking for some new music… turn to the Internet and take a stroll down Bandcamp lane or Netlabel street… and look for the truly cutting edge. They are where it’s happening nowadays.

This guest post comes from my good friend Thomas Mathie, aka @headphonaught on Twitter and elsewhere.

When John asked me to write about Independent Music… I automatically thought of all the indie bands that make up the (capital “I”… capital “M”) Independent Music scene: Oasis… Stone Roses… etc. Independent Music aka Indie is a genre… a style of music worthy of capitalisation… and not necessarily what I intend to talk about.

When I talk of independent music… I talk of the roots of what became Indie (genre)… when folks made music that was released independently of the major music labels. I also think of one of my favourite bands… Fugazi… who are renowned, at least to me, for their frugal DIY tours and fair price policies in the late 80s through the 90s to the present. It was their stance towards their fans that got me thinking about what I wanted to talk about: fairtrade DIY music.

The whole concept of fairtrade is knowing the producers of the product you are buying have been given a fair price for their product. When it comes to music… this is vitally important for me. For the most part… we are moving from the physical to a digital environment, when it comes to the distribution of music. I still buy Records and CDs… and hope HMV doesn’t close because they own FOPP and FOPP is my favourite recordshop chain.

But things are changing… and with this change… the barriers of entry have been lowered considerably for independent musicians. Sites like SoundCloud, Last.fm and Bandcamp give the opportunity for musicians to be heard. My personal favourite is Bandcamp… because you can stream the whole recording before you download it… the formats they offer are excellent (320kpbs as default – higher than iTunes) and their tagging allows for efficient exploration of music deemed similar to that which you are listening to. It’s ideal for the one-man-or-woman-band… low cost to enter… the ability to set a price or suggest to the buyer that they can “pay what you want”… the opportunity to get heard and, hopefully, make some money.

Thing is… however… Bandcamp isn’t enough to get the message out there. I find the majority of my music through recommendations from friends… predominately on Twitter. Folks like guitarist Matt Stevens or ambient soundscape creator James Fahy aka Ambienteer have built up a real community of people (of which I am proud to be part) using tools like Bandcamp and Twitter. I love their work, found out about it on Twitter and happily paid for it once I had had a good listen to it.

Matt and James are truly independent. They don’t have a record label. They aren’t backed by one of the Majors. They aren’t backed by one of the Indies either. They are one-man-bands. Take Matt, for example… to have no one inbetween works in his favour… Matt can deal directly with his fans… react quickly and genuinely promote himself as a truly authentic independent artist. He can sell his physical CDs via his Bandcamp page (or bigcartel, if he wanted to) at very reasonable prices… because he simply doesn’t have the overheads that the labels do. What’s more… he streams concerts via his Cafe Noodle site… and brings others in. He opens the door for others to participate.

The thing is… if you are like me… you do not object to paying £5 for one of his albums… because you have a real relationship with him. This is what the labels so desperately need but can’t get their heads around… the desire for a real relationship. Dealing direct with the artists, in this manner, removes the need for a label. In essence, Matt or James are their own labels… Matt through his solo work or his work with his band… the fierce and the dead… and James through his Ambienteer work.

What is important to note, however… is that both Matt and James’ music is niche. Matt make wonderfully upbeat futuristic flamenco guitar sounds that he loops and tweaks to make a wall-of-sound. James makes droning ambient electronic soundscapes. When I say niche… I mean that the majority of X-Factor-loving drones won’t get it… but then Sigur Rós are “technically” niche and yet they’ve received mainstream acceptance… mostly for their appearance, at one time, on nearly every piece of incidental music on the BBC (see note below).

I guess it is fair to say all music is niche… with some niches bigger than others. What artists like Matt and James have done is to find their niche… and build a relationship with it… and that is extremely important to acknowledge and understand.

To be continued…

Note: Nearly every other piece not by Sigur Rós is likely to be by Brian Eno! (John)

The long-running British sci-fi television series has been a part of my life for nearly as long as I can remember, and so I’m very excited that a new series starts today! I remember watching the first ever episode on an old black and white television in 1963, and (apart from a time when it went off a bit and was dropped) it’s as good as ever. Yes, the format has changed, but the current episodes encapsulate the spirit of the original – scary episodes (hiding behind the sofa is legendary) and great humour, with the latter being far better than it ever used to be. So (I for one) can’t wait until 6.00 pm on BBC1 today!

Update after today’s episode: It had everything in 45 minutes that’s good about Dr Who! As near a perfect episode as you could get, if not perfect! Intelligent, thoughtful, surreal, scary and witty!

A law came into force in France today banning the public wearing of the Muslim veil. It seems to me that this position is flawed, and that anyone should have the freedom to wear what they like in public. If you get past the knee-jerk reactions, Islam can actually feel threatened by the West, and when any group feels under attack their culture and identity is reasserted. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m totally against women being forced to wear the veil culturally or religiously by a male patriarchy – but equally, I’m against a secular state forcing women not to wear it. Many Muslim women, including those I’ve spoken to, wear the veil to express their culture and religion, and are not forced to do so! Indeed, I’ve spoken to Muslim women who’ve had their veils torn off in racist attacks, and the perpetrators are rightly condemned by all fair-minded people. France, by bringing in this new law, are making the removal of the veil from women against their will somehow acceptable. So, putting aside all other questions for the moment, how EXACTLY is the French ban on the veil going to promote peace, love and understanding within society? My Muslim friends and leaders in Leicester fully support the right of Christians to wear crosses. So Christians who support the ban had better think long and hard, because I suspect they might be the first to cry foul if a secular government tried to ban the public wearing of crosses!

I’d been looking forward to watching this movie for a while. I finally watched it last night and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a moving cinematic masterpiece directed by Wim Wenders, and I’m currently working through a boxed-set of some of his best movies that’s been lent to me by a friend. This award winning film is an unusual road movie that tells the story of Travis, presumed dead, who reappears after four years wandering in the desert on the Mexico border as an amnesiac. It’s a slow-burner that holds your attention through an excellent screenplay by the acclaimed playwright Sam Shepard, great acting, lovingly crafted photography and tracking shots, and an atmospheric score by Ry Cooder that’s integral to the whole movie. The story unfolds gently, mirroring the experience of Travis (and those around him) as he seeks to reconstruct his memories, and many of the scenes are so good you’re just transfixed on the screen. This is a movie I can wholeheartedly recommend.

This guest post comes from Sue Thomas, Professor of New Media at De Montfort University in Leicester.

In today’s networked world, many skills which we may already have but not recognise as special are coming to the fore. The Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California, have identified a skill set which they call ‘amplified’. It features qualities such as ‘Cooperation Radar’  - the ability to sense, almost intuitively, who would make the best collaborators on a particular task, and ‘High Ping Quotient’ – responsiveness to other people’s requests for engagement; propensity to reach out to others in a network. You can read all ten of them here. The language may be very Californian, but the skills are ones we would all recognise. And social media is helping us to do them even better.

In 2009 I ran a project called ‘Amplified Leicester’ which brought together 30 very different Leicester people and helped them develop their ‘amplified skills’. That project is now over but this year we’ve been hosting a series of talks and panels at Phoenix Square where we look at ‘amplified’ approaches and discuss how they can be used in specific contexts. So far we’ve looked at politics, police, and crafts (see embedded video), and this month we’re considering faith (or not) in an panel discussion convened by George Ballentyne of the Council of Faiths and called Amplified Communities of Faith or Belief.

George’s guests are a very varied group – Sughra Ahmed of the Islamic Foundation, Richard Hopper of Leicester Secular Society, and Matthew Hughes of Samworth Enterprise Academy, a Church of England school. It takes place at 7.00 pm Wednesday 23 March 2011 at Phoenix Square. Do come along to hear what they have to say and join us in the Screen Lounge afterwards to continue the discussion. It’s free and open to all. Book online here and join the Amplified Leicester community here. We look forward to seeing you! The Twitter hashtag is #ampleic for all Amplified Leicester related tweets.

Note: In the video, David says “anti-feminist” at one point when he clearly means “anti-sexist”, he’s not being allowed to live it down! (John)

I attended a meeting of the University of Leicester Feminists Group this evening, partly in my capacity as a University Chaplain and partly because I believe women’s rights are human rights. But, before I go any further, please banish any preconceived ideas you may have about feminists! This was a group of normal men (yes, men) and women who are concerned with fairness, justice and equality: a group with whom I can identify. I’m also quite happy to describe myself as a feminist, because they are (ultimately) concerned with human rights!

The main issue this evening was pornography and its effect on society. I came away feeling quite dirty having seen some extreme images of hard-core, and (what can only be described as) violent and abusive pornography – which I had to look away from at some points! This was, of course, being inflicted by powerful men upon women who were certainly not enjoying the experience! And that’s not to mention the pornography featuring girls of legal age who were made to appear under-age, with sinister echoes of child pornography!

Yes, this is the extreme end, but the effects of pornography are being felt right throughout society – whether you actually watch it yourself or not. We are becoming a pornified society, starting with the lyrics of songs (some of which are not immediately obvious, but which refer to acts in porn films), through sex in adverts, objectification of women, airbrushing images, music-videos, sexualized images in lad’s mags, and to easily accessible porn (of all varieties) on the Internet! This is affecting men and women’s self-image of themselves, as well as changing what is considered normal within relationships and sexual lives. Men, especially, expecting their partners to go along with what they have seen in porn films, and women feeling pressured to accept it as ‘normal’ rather than the abuse it actually is! There’s also a strong pressure on women to look like those in porn (I’ll spare you the details).

We are all being exploited by part of the music industry and by the sex industry, men and women alike! Pornography manipulates men and degrades women, it takes away our freedom and we should all get very ANGRY about it! What are you going to do?

See also: Why Feminism?