Business End

Business End enables you to have your demo reviewed by a panel of producers, songwriters, musicians and managers. If you want your demo to be heard by them then please mark it 'Business End' and write on the outside of the package the style of music that best describes your work. This month's industry panel is drawn from the MPG (Music Producer's Guild).

	'Track 01' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 02' (1.4Mb)		MP3

Jona Lewie (J Lewie): "I enjoyed the intro in the first piece. It sounded like he was putting a lot of thought into it and it contained lots of textures. He's obviously very much into sound architecture and the architecture of mixing, and he takes it very seriously because he's named the CDs Volume One and Volume Two. Unfortunately it's hard to come to conclusions about such long pieces of music when you only have time to listen to a small clip. With this sort of thing you have to sit it out to understand his sense of pace and timing. There may be some good bits in there and that was suggested by how it was developing a couple of minutes into Volume Two. It might be possible to pick out certain sections to create a single, but without a vocal a single would be difficult — so maybe he should consider adding some vocal interest? As it stands I think he should be thinking about production and library music."

Felix Cemmell (FC): "From the small sample that we heard it is hard to say in which direction it's going. It is easy to make rubbish ambient music but as far as ambient music goes it was quite good. I quite like the dark atmospherics in the first track which seems interesting and quite beautiful. The melody reminded me of The Future Sound Of London. Maybe he should think of a contemporary way to perform it: it would be a good idea to try sending it out with a video and market it that way because a lot of acts on Ninja Tunes and other similar labels are doing that. Their work comes across much better that way."

John Leckie (J Leckie): "I thought it was quite good but I agree that it is probably the sort of thing you have to a sit down for one hour and listen to. He's got two hours of music and he's probably had a lot of fun doing it but I'd suggest that the next time he creates some music he should limit himself to doing a three minute song. He should be able to write some music in the same style that is no more than five minutes long and send us that. There is one very popular ambient hit single that everyone forgets about and that's Laurie Anderson's 'O Superman'. That track demonstrates a way of taking ambient music, condensing it all down and still achieving the same effect but in pop song format — even without a vocal. He's got all the sound and the taste, but now he should focus on the performance."

	'Track 01' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 02' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 03' (1.4Mb)		MP3

JH: "I absolutely loved this demo and I would rush out and buy it if it was released. I loved the arrangements and I think he's recorded some fantastic vocals that are very bold and seem to come from the heart. In track one the vocals were still incredibly strong but they didn't work with the rest of the production so in that respect I didn't think track one was as good as two and three. I like the way he used crackle on track three which added just the right texture. To a certain extent the feel of the music reminds me of The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness."

J Leckie: "Each track seemed to get better. I don't know what his lyrics are about but he seems to have a talent for both singing and piano playing. I don't know if we should be judging his recording skills or use of equipment, but he's probably the sort of guy who doesn't need to use equipment — he could probably sit here now and entertain us quite well. So in that respect it doesn't need anything else. The drums were well recorded and it might have been a real piano, so he's done well to produce so much live material on his own, but the vocals got lost a bit when the strings came in. He should lay off the string synth on the first song.

"I don't think a record company would listen to anything else we've listened to this session but I think they'd take notice of this."

J Lewie: "I would say that he is a far better musician than he is a mixer and he admits that in his letter. It is from the heart but if the tracks were better mixed the emotional quality would come through even more. There is always room for a good ballad in the charts and tracks two and three have that potential. I thought that track two was more successful than track three at this point, but there was a lot of feeling in track three. Track one meandered on a bit, but there are some good solid blocks in its construction. It's a shame the vocals got lost in places because they are so important."

	'Track 01' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 02' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 03' (1.4Mb)		MP3

J Leckie: "The Ghosts have a long way to go. There are probably hundreds of bands in England and Scotland doing that kind of material and the first thing you think of nowadays are the Strokes, or The Velvet Underground or something like that. The reason why a lot of kids try to do this sort of music is because it is so easy to play; you can pick up the guitar and strum a few chords, and if you want to sound like Jim Morrison you don't really have to sing because you can half speak it. They probably get all their mates to their gigs and it goes crazy and everyone thinks the Ghosts are a great band, but as far as the musical talent goes it is pretty minimal. I think it's a shame that the music press and a lot of the record companies have championed this kind of music because the musical exploration is so limited, and I find it really sad that British youth is doing that kind of music rather than broadening their horizons."

J Lewie: "Some of the other demos sounded quite dull in comparison with this, which was really bright and loud, but when they're doing this kind Velvet Underground stuff they are not bringing anything new to the table, and they've got to do that to make a mark. One of the ways they can improve is if the songwriter collaborates with some of the other guys in the band. The first track had no change and in the end and it just went on and on. In that respect it is rather Dylan-esque. Bob Dylan did it well with 'Subterranean Homesick Blues', but these guys certainly don't compare to Bob Dylan. They should have included some changes and made some departures into other areas. I thought the second track was better, but the changes didn't happen soon enough to keep my attention. I think they need to do a lot better. This may be the sort of style that currently appeals to the NME, but the NME doesn't sell records."

JH: "I think the vocals were weak and the music does need to be more challenging. The first track was reminiscent of The White Stripes or the Strokes and that sort of thing is all out there already. Having said that they would probably find a place in the American market."

	'Track 01' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 02' (1.4Mb)		MP3
	'Track 03' (1.4Mb)		MP3

J Lewie: "That was original and inventive. They were just doing their own thing and it was all just coming from their Logic software. if they want to go further I think they should improve their vocal contributions. They do have vocals there which add interest but they could be much more developed. The drumming in track two was very original and totally off-the-wall."

J Leckie: "I thought the most interesting thing about it was the name. The music sounded a bit like an exercise or as though they have recently bought some gear and have been fiddling about with it to show what they can do. They've been creative, but I'm not sure if they've got any musical talent. They have made the best of their limitations, although I get the feeling that these are just experiments with some phrases of poetry over the top."

FC: "Reading their press release you'd have thought it was really fantastic because they use a lot of words like 'ingenuity' and they have written 'in this world of target marketing and buzz-word mania, individualism seems to be seen as a long-shot gamble and most companies look for the easy option of conformism — we choose to be different.' But I don't thing they are being different at all, and I think artists like Kruder & Dorfmeister do it much better. Maybe this was their first go but they were building themselves up far to much with their press release. They are trying to be very arty, but unfortunately it's not done with much style."

This Month's MPG Panel     John Leckie began his career as tape-op at Abbey Road Studios in 1970 and soon found himself working under Phil Spector on high-profile projects like George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band albums. After graduating to engineer, he worked on classics such as Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish you Were Here, before leaving to become a freelance producer in the late '70s. In that capacity he has been responsible for some of the most influential releases of the last 20 years, including albums by The Stone Roses, Radiohead, and Muse. Award-winning songwriter, musician and producer Jona Lewie began his career back in the late '60s, when he played with Arthur Cudup during the British blues boom. He has had numerous solo worldwide hits, most notably with 'You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At parties', 'Seaside Shuffle' and the perennial Christmas favourite, 'Stop the Cavalry', for which he won an Ivor Novello Award. Jona operates his own studio facility and is a member of the MPG and BACS. Felix Cemmell is a graduate in Music Industry Management and Studio Production from the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University. She is also a mentee in the new Music Industry Mentoring Scheme. As an active MPG member, Felix is involved in expanding the membership and contributing to the website. She is currently a reviewer and contributor to The Wire magazine. Jo Harrison entered the industry as fundraising manager for The Market Theatre Foundation in Johannesburg. Having gone on to study music administration in New York, she began working for artist and producer Alan Parsons as his company and studio manager. Her varied role included album project and tour co-ordination. More recently Jo joined Abbey Road as PA to the directors to coordinate industry events including the BBC's Music Live and the Brits Awards Nominations. Jo now works as sales and marketing manager for DAT Productions. Many thanks to DAT Productions who hosted the session. The MPG's web site is at www.mpg.org.uk

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