I had rarely used Spotify as a way of listening to music, never mind thought about paying a subscription to stream songs, before this year. Now I am addicted.* Here’s why.
In February, my friend Aled Roberts, the Damwain out of Hap a Damwain, invited me to join his Spotify Music League.
I had no idea what he was talking about and was reluctant at first as I wasn’t a fan of the piss poor levels of return musicians got from the streaming site and didn’t want to ‘join the dark side’ by giving them any money. Once it was pointed out that I could play the Music League with a free account and that The Music League was pretty much a separate entity, I was in.
The idea is that a number of rounds are set up with specific criteria and the players select a suitable song. The first round I played was this one:
Perhaps surpisingly, and definitely wrongly, I didn’t submit a Datblygu track – I thought it was a bit obvious – rather I sumbitted the wonderful ‘The New Adam and Eve’ from Cardiff’s very own Simon Love.
Once all players has submitted their songs, a Spotify playlist was produced and we had 3 days to listen and decide how to use our votes. We each had 40 up votes to use (with a maximum of 8 on any one song), but also 7 down votes we had to use. Sadly, Simon’s song didn’t do as well as it should have, mostly because the majority of other players didn’t know he was Welsh, but I finished a creditable (I thought) 28th out of 45 – it was a huge league!
The game continues over a number of different rounds and as I write we are about to start the penultimate ,11th, round – more on this later. I have even managed to win a round – where we had to submit songs that weren’t in English – quite rightly, my selection of Sakuran Zensen hitting top spot.
Having really enjoyed the experience of being in a League, it was perhaps inevitable that I set up my own. I invited mostly people I know, but also a few online friends and some of the people from the Damwain league, who at least knew what they were doing.
This League has just finished after 10 rounds that included Songs Without Guitars, Songs by Someone And The Somethings, Songs Under 90 Seconds, Sad Songs About Specific Places, etc., etc., and so on. It has been a brilliant way to not only share some of the less well known songs that I think others will enjoy, but also to discover new music myself. As a result of submissions from both these Leagues, I have gone out and bought music in physical form. For example, the CD with this track on it from Ffug.
The inaugural Kicker’s Invitational has been such a success that a follow-up has already been set up and 22 players are ready to get going next week with a round for songs with an imperative in the title. Go figure! Anyway, it would be remiss of me not to share the top placings in the first League, you may recognise the name at the top.
No more to be said about that.
Funnily enough, the reason for me wanting to write about these Leagues, apart from hopefully finding more players for future competitions, is actually down to the current round in the Damwain League.
I have generally found myself making long shortlists of contenders for each round before making my decision except for this current round. The criteria this time is Remixes, and I couldn’t think of anything. I realised that I am not really a fan of the remix, and tend to see it as just a case of stretching out the original unnecessarily. Nevertheless, having been on a bit of a Microdisney deep dive recently, my first thought was this version of the Fatima Mansions song The Loyaliser.
Pretty good, right? But, frankly, not a patch on the original. Looking through my CDs I remembered that I actually have an album called Remixed, by the band Grand Gestures, so that’s where I went next. I really like the original Grand Gestures albums, and the track A Certain Compulsion they do with Emma Pollock on vocals is a particular favourite. This is the remix:
Again, I really like this, but not as much as the 7 minute original.
So, where to turn next? Who do I know who obsesses over the minutiae of different versions of songs, who is somewhat of an expert of the more obscure corners of electronica, who has, in fact remixed (well, redited) my own band Tom Violence, the man behind The Grand Gestures, Dundee’s very own Jan Burnett of off out of the band Spare Snare.
So, I contacted Jan and asked him to tell me his top three favourite remixes. After a full 25 minutes, he came back with this list and a few words about each.
Happy Mondays – Wrote For Luck (Vince Clarke Remix)
Factory trying to give Happy Mondays some credibility and club presence. At the time Vince didn’t really do other peoples remixes, and HM had no hits, they still didnt until Perfecto came along in their original guise of Oakenfold and Osborne, with Terry Farley.
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence (The Quad: Final Mix)
Three original 12″s exist, and three original CD singles… Mute obviously knew this was a big hitter. The Quad final mix pulls together bits of all the other mixes and puts it on a one sided 15 minute 33rpm monster. It’s lovely.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love (Blank & Jones so80s Reconstruction)
Technically not a remix, ie they’ve not added any new sounds or beats, but just used all the original stems to make this epic version. I could listen to it on repeat forever.
Thanks Jan! I was surely onto a winner here now.
But then I felt a pang of something I don’t usually get pangs about. Was this cheating? Could I really submit a Remix I hadn’t actually heard before?
Well, dear reader, with the Remix Round not yet voted for, I had better not say just yet. After the votes are in I will come back to this post and reveal all.
For now, though, you can find the Music Leagues I am currently involved in on the following links. You should be able to access the playlists there, but if not, and you would like to, just let me know below, and I’ll send you a link. By the way, the Stockport League still has places if you’d like to join before 14 May, so don’t delay!
An Accidental League (Cynghrair Damwaineol)
They Might Be A Music League – a They Might Be Giants League set up by Kicker Jr.
*I still don’t pay a subscription to Spotify and buy music on Bandcamp to support the artists I like, but still.
TRUST THE WIZARDS 