The News Review:
- Harada: Hatmaker to the Stars
- n the Beat: David Menconi on music
- Music And Me: Tim Burgess of The Charlatans
- What’s in store for independent music retailers?
Harada: Hatmaker to the Stars
BusinessWeek – Feb 22, 2007
From rebellious student to international trend-setter Harada has come a long way since her conservative upbringing in Japan. Born in 1968 in Nagoya she went to London in 1987 to attend university. But her newfound freedom and the ’80s fashion scene which married street style and punk music fueled her creative energy. She dropped out of school enrolled at the Royal College of Art and had her first taste of hatmaking. "Capturing the Zeitgeist" Today she deals in a dazzling range of styles: Trilbys in shocking pink oversized Bakerboy caps asymmetric Cloche hats in liberty cotton and trimmings of silk leather metal buckles or Swarovski crystal. The style is at once edgy cool and elegant. "Design is about capturing the zeitgeist" Harada says.
n the Beat: David Menconi on music
News & bserver – Feb 22, 2007
Beyond that however a big chunk of both labels’ rosters looks like a college-radio playlist circa Bill Clinton’s first term as president. Durham-based Merge has ’90s notables Teenage Fanclub Dinosaur Jr. American Music Club and even 1970s-vintage punks the Buzzcocks. Based in Haw River Yep Roc has former Husker Du guitarist Bob Mould as well as the Go-Betweens Paul Weller Robyn Hitchcock Billy Bragg and other oldies-but-goodies. An odd assortment of cult favorites idiosyncratic journeymen and meta-legends these acts were more critical than popular favorites. But they all had brushes with the mainstream while dominating college radio in the ’80s and ’90s serving as a major influence on generations of musicians and fans. Nearly all these acts used to record for Warner Brothers Interscope and other major labels only to find themselves downsized in recent years… The first veteran act the label signed was Nick Lowe best-known as the author of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding. ” Yep Roc co-owners Glenn Dicker and Tor Hansen had worked with Lowe at another label. Next they signed Paul Weller whose 1970s British punk band The Jam was an idol of theirs. Then they started “looking at our record collections” to decide whom to go after Dicker says. Ex-Blasters guitarist Dave Alvin X bassist John Doe and Jason and the Scorchers frontman Jason Ringenberg followed. Last year the label released “Spooked” a collaboration between Hitchcock and the Americana duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
Music And Me: Tim Burgess of The Charlatans
Belfast Telegraph – Feb 22, 2007
Power Corruption and Lies by New rder. I started to change from being a punk fan into something that was a little more post-punk. But my parents always liked. My dad always liked "Frigging in the Rigging" by the Sex Pistols… Paris Hilton – not really. It would be Bob Dylan and Karen of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. ne thing that must change in the music industry is. It would be good for people to get some passion back. You might not be the biggest selling artist in the world but at least make records for the right reasons.
What’s in store for independent music retailers?
Belfast Telegraph – Feb 22, 2007
Here in this temple to the romance of rock’n'roll I would swap a batch of second-rate stuff sent by record companies vainly hoping for mention in the weekly newspaper for which I then worked for a voucher to spend in the shop. And name me a record reviewer that hasn’t done something similar at some point. I can still remember the excitement as I mingled with punks looking for the latest Throbbing Gristle EP or hairy prog-rockers thumbing through the second-hand Genesis albums. Here overlooked by posters advertising long forgotten gigs I indulged my own tastes: the early Clash and Buzzcocks singles Iggy Pop Talking Heads Elvis Costello Nick Lowe and anything on the Stiff Records label; oddities like Bowie’s German version of "Heroes". It was a rich period not only of punk and post-punk creativity but in the birth of small independent labels picture sleeves coloured vinyl the re-invention of the EP and the discovery of the 12-inch single. In a world before Borders and HMV I grew up with small independent record shops. The first record I ever owned was Cliff Richard’s "Living Doll" bought by my dad from Greenfields on the Stratford Road in Birmingham; I still remember the 45s stuck to its windows… I can still remember the excitement as I mingled with punks looking for the latest Throbbing Gristle EP or hairy prog-rockers thumbing through the second-hand Genesis albums. Here overlooked by posters advertising long forgotten gigs I indulged my own tastes: the early Clash and Buzzcocks singles Iggy Pop Talking Heads Elvis Costello Nick Lowe and anything on the Stiff Records label; oddities like Bowie’s German version of "Heroes". It was a rich period not only of punk and post-punk creativity but in the birth of small independent labels picture sleeves coloured vinyl the re-invention of the EP and the discovery of the 12-inch single. In a world before Borders and HMV I grew up with small independent record shops. The first record I ever owned was Cliff Richard’s "Living Doll" bought by my dad from Greenfields on the Stratford Road in Birmingham; I still remember the 45s stuck to its windows. Then there was the joy when Virgin Records opened their first impossibly hip shop in Birmingham little realising that it was the beginning of the end for all the others. I still have all my vinyl of course (even the odd Throbbing Gristle EP) although all my music listening now is on CD or through iTunes.