Storm The Charts

Here is an interesing new Facebook initiative. After a Facebook campaign managed to get Rage Against the Machine to number 1, Wes White, formerly of Glastonbury's Emerging Talent Competition has started a Facebook group to storm the whole top 40!

The idea is simply to get a large group of independent musicians and pool their following in order to cross promote other independent artists. If the group can gather enough momentum and its followers then actively buy singles from those artists, we might see a number of independent artists cropping up in the top 40. The dream is to take the top 40 by storm and ideally get 40 independent artists monopolising the chart. This is no easy task as realistically, to knock the likes of Lady Gaga out of the charts, independent artists would need to be selling tens of thousands of downloads a week. At any rate it is a great initiative which will hopefully go some way to changing the face of the British music industry.
Join the Facebook group here: Storm The Charts 

Killing in the Name this Christmas

I love Rage Against The Machine. I remember listening to it alone in my friend’s brother’s room when I was 14 and thinking it was the most inspirational music I had ever heard. I was into metal and rock at the time but this took it to another level. Dirty bass lines and guitar riffs, funk drums and breaks, Zac de la Rocha rapping/shouting (shapping) his angry political musings interspersed with Tom Morello’s weird and wonderfully inventive guitar solos! For me, Rage Against the Machine was a seminal album which certainly shaped my musical outlook today.

The fact that a song called "Killing in The Name" has topped the charts for Christmas is in itself novel but the fact that a Facebook lead a movement that has managed to topple the Cowell Musical Monopoly is is even more novel. What does this mean? Well it confirms perhaps that the UK charts are not really based upon music or its inherent merit. X Factor proves that by using public profile and clever PR to claim regular top 20 positions (the rest of the X Factor hopefuls are at number 12). The fact that Rage Against the Machine is at number one says less about them as a band and their music but more about the fact that there are a lot of people in the UK who seem to be tired of the commercial PR machine that drives popular music (or at least that’s how I interpret it….. and I hope it is true).

My ultimate gripe with the UK music industry is the fact that music seems to count very little. The music industry seems to be more about celebrity and fashion which is a crying shame. There is a world of wonderful and diverse music out there just waiting to be discovered but which people will never hear because they are force fed the latest musical, fashion entrails.

I’ll end my rant there for fear of getting carried away but what this little episode has also shown is the viral power of Facebook and its ability to mobilize the masses! I believe that one day, when Facebook becomes self sufficient and no longer needs humans to sustain it, it may well take over the world!

Croissant Day

Croissant Day is the spear head of Acoustic Jim's campaign to pre-launch the release of the eagerly anticipated second debut EP Show Your Love.

The prevelance of croissants stems from YouTube video posted by Acoustic Jim called "Les Fourmies." The song is in French and with the croissant being french icon - rumoured to replacing the "coq" in 2010 - it seemed the perfect prop for the video. Since then the Croissant Sessions were recorded live in London with the Broken Jokers, the Happy Croissant Day cards have featured a boy riding a giant (and arguably phallic) croissant. Finally the artwork for the second debut EP - Show Your Love - features Boy Wonder offering a croissant to the grim reaper (left)

The obsession has perhaps become a little worrying. Jim discovered his love for Croissants at an early age. As any normal person would he complimented the flakey, pastry treat with an assortment of jams. As he grew up though, he started to experiment with condiments and discovered the seedy underworld of applying marmite. A practice viewed as dispicable by the French and indeed rumour has it that everytime marmite is spread on a croissant, a frenchman dies a little inside. Undeterred, Jim continues to spread the word and challenge those who like marmite to try it on a croissant. There are hundereds of converts around the world although figures are uncertain due to the reluctance of most to come forward and admit such "heinous" practice. So go on! Show your love and spread some marmite on a croissant today!

Milow - Will You Conquer Britain?

It’s weird how some artists conquer a country and others don’t. Ben Harper is a household name in France and the US yet is relatively unknown in the UK. Another example of this is Milow.

He’s a Belgian singer-songwriter who made it big in Belgium with the number one “You Don’t Know.” He then managed to conquer the rest of Europe (excluding the UK) with his Cover of “Ayo Technology” originally by Justin Timberlake and Fifty Pence..... or whatever his name is!

I reckon that “You Don’t Know” is by far the stronger track and I just love this live version played as part of the "3voor12" sessions. He has an amazing voice and his lyrics are great.... especially considering that English is his second language. Special mention too for Tom Vanstiphout who plays dobro (that metal guitar on the front of the Dire Straits album) and provides backing harmonies. Let the music do the talking.

Music I like - Eric Hutchinson

Now far be it from me to ever review albums, it isn't my place, but I can certainly share what I like! Behold...... Eric Hutchison.

I'm always on the look out for new music and sites like Last Fm facilitate this but I get a bit sick of them pushing the same artists and they also seem to think that popularity of an artist is a deciding factor in whether an artist is similar. I found this guy on Spotify and they reckon he is like Jack Johsnon but I don't really hear it. I would even venture that those that like the stripped back sound of Jack might not like the rather busier sound of Eric Hutchinson. I would say he is more comparable to Brett Dennen......

Anyway, I always know it's a good album if I like it on the first listen and this I like. It spoke to me...... it touched me deep....... errr anyway. It's really nicely produced with some busy melodic parts. The whole album is up beat which is nice and there is an ecclectic blend of influences including acoustic, reggae and soul. It's happy music!

The album is called "Sounds Like This." I think the album artwork is cracking too. So many singer-songwriters plaster their face all over the front cover or some cheesy photo of them by the sea. Give it a listen and by all means if you know of any "similar" artists please let me know.

Why Acoustic Jim?

So my musical alter ego is Acoustic Jim. By day I market a website and by night I fight (or commit depending on how you see it) musical crime. There are some people around me who have made it clear that they do not like the name "Acoustic Jim" and indeed ask me when I will change it. My answer is never!

The name came about when a compere introduced me as "Acoustic Jim." He was drunk and didn't know what he was saying but it stuck and 18 months later it is still my handle. One thing is for sure, love it or hate it, it does what it says on the tin. I play acoustic music and my name is Jim. My reasons for keeping it however, are not sentimental, but carefully considered.

Even if you hate the name you engage with it. To engage with it means it is more memorable and when marketing myself (without sounding too much like a commercial whore) making my name memorable is important. All too often I watch acts that I like and can never remeber their names because they simply use there actual and easily forgettable name. Experience has taught me that people find my surname difficult to get their head around let alone remember. Acoustic Jim on the other hand is a name which instantly sticks and often preceeds me.

Here ends today's reading!

I fear that I rarely have enough interesting material to share with the world, which has deterred me from blogging before. I also wonder whether anyone really cares however, this has not stopped many millions of bloggers around the world so I decided it shouldn't stop me. Who is this blog for? Who knows? I will let it evolve organically.