King_leer's Videos Playlist....Summer 2015

Friday 26 June 2009

MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD !







Many people will write everything upon him. I, just want to recall some lines i wrote when Thriller went 25 years old. You can find it bellow. Also check the two videos (links) i've aired at that time.

He's surelly saying "I Wanna be Starting Something" wherever he is!

"...n this week's show by coincidence it was the 25th "birthday" of Michael Jackson's Thriller. I've tried to avoid the usual coverage so, i used some YouTube material to show the importance of the bloke.

First, a prison in the Philippines where the inmates are forced to dancing to famous tunes, the coreographer is a serial-killer!! The other one is a video from and Indian "Thriller" or sort of. Hilarious..."





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0



Tuesday 23 June 2009

WH(Y) MCA? THE VILLAGE PEOPLE IN THE 21st CENTURY:






















Since 2008 was the year that VP got their Hollywood Walk of Fame star, was also the year that the human rights and all the people rights were mentioned in the "Milk" movie, centred on the gay activist Harvey Milk and his San Francisco struggle and also was the year that the winds of change started echoing in the US , i thought it was the perfect time to talk with the band in the person of the "Icon" that Jeff Olson, the VP cowboy represents. Hope you enjoy the following lines. A great thanks to Jeff, the VP and Mitch at the "Sixuvus, Ltd".

Both the tracks that are mentioned on the interview are available at the blog's media player (audio and video).

Left photo by Angel Morales. Village People © images are property of Can't Stop Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


King_leer (KL):


Now, with a 31 Years background you can surely answer to this one. Since each member of you represented one US Icon, if you could add one more at the present time what would it be?


Jeff Olsen (JO):

Actually, we don’t spend a lot of serious time thinking of adding another member…we’ve been this 6 member group for so long…it just would not feel right!

However…when we joke about it…and if we had to add another US Icon…it might be a Firefighter. It’s a character that, just like the existing members and the Icons they represent, all people of the world can identify with a Firefighter and respect them!


(KL):


One of the things I most care about is to go deeper in the stories behind the lyrics. I believe you all talked a Trillion times about “YMCA” but tell me. After all these years the “gay” approach has been always the first choice on analysing the lyrics. Reading them all over again I can also see a message beyond that. A message to someone who’s facing difficulties and his sent to a place where he can have a choice. I’m I right on this? Also, since we are living another crisis and a huge one, what advise you can give now to a 2009 “Young Man….?”.


(JO):


The truth is…the producer who helped write this song didn’t even know what the YMCA was until it was explained to him…a community based organization helping people in all sorts of ways. And that’s what the lyrics tell about. I’ve belonged to many different YMCA’s across the USA over the last 30 years. They offer fitness programs, day care centers for children, summer camps for teenagers…so many things. It’s an up-lifting song about the very positive things that the “Y’s” do. Any one can read the lyrics and arrive at their own conclusion…many people have. That’s good…as long as it’s helpful!

This is true with so many songs by so many other artists as well.


(KL):


2008 brought again to the common knowledge the story of San Francisco as a key place for the struggle on gay rights through the Movie “Milk” with Sean Penn. Your song “San Francisco” talks about that period, right? Did you get to know Harvey Milk? What was on your mind when you wrote it? Lines like this one were very strong and significant: “Dress the way you please and put your mind at ease it’s a city known for its freedom”.


(JO):


The song does not specifically address anything regarding the politics of San Francisco during that period. It speaks, rather, of the general acceptance of the people of this great city for all types of people and their lifestyles. Remember…the decade before San Francisco gave us “Hippies”, “Flower Power” and the “Love Culture”! San Francisco is a very liberal place to live…I know….I lived there when Harvey Milk was serving on the city council. And…too bad…none of us had the opportunity to meet Mr. Milk.


(KL):


Changes, changes, changes. 2009 was also a year of change in the US with the election of Obama. What are you feelings on this subject? What has really changed until now?


(JO):


President Obama is simply the right person for the right job…that’s why he’s now our Commander-in-Chief. The people believe that he was the best candidate to handle the problems facing our country and the world at this time. We all feel that he has new and fresh ideas, he communicates them well, he’s young and has energy, he’s smart…I could go on but you get the picture?! Time will tell…as it always does…whether he will be successful at accomplishing everything that he has set out to do. He has an enormous amount “on his plate”, but so far…we are all very excited!


(KL):


On you. What are you going to do next? When you put out a new record with originals? Is that a goal to yourselves?


(JO):


We have a very busy “Touring Career” and travel extensively all over the world all year long. There is talk of a new release sometime soon but nothing is certain right now.

Last year we received a “Star” on the Hollywood “Walk of Fame”, we were in an American Express TV commercial… We remain very busy with our work and very satisfied that we’re still going strong! And we thank you all for helping us keep this alive and well! Thank you again, Luis…and we sure hope to get back to beautiful Portugal sometime soon!


THE END


Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA

Official VP links:

http://www.officialvillagepeople.com/

http://www.officialvillagepeople.com/links.php



Sunday 14 June 2009

STEPHEN STREET , "ONE MIDAS TOUCH" - THE INTERVIEW






Well, this is the last chapter around the last Peter Doherty record. Since Graham is busy with Blur’s rehearsals (we’ll talk later with him upon this reunion i hope) it was time to talk with the man behind the wheel. Like the Maestro who conducts the Orchestra, Stephen is one of the most talented and experienced producers. He worked with so many people, so many egos and personalities but delivered us always a great work and a his very own personal view. Hop you enjoy the following lines:

King_leer (KL)

Stephen,

I’ve already done something like this, namely on the last Kings of Leon record.

As a producer, what was your task since the beginning in Peter Doherty Solo record? At any point it was different from your other experiences?

Stephen Street (ST)

Basically, I had to help Peter develop these songs into fully structured songs. Some of these songs had been around for a while and some were very new but the thing that was similar was that they hadn’t really progressed past being ‘sketches’. The only demos I heard of the songs were just Peter singing straight into his laptop, often without a proper start or ending so it was like a blank canvas really, quite different to most of the demos I hear before working with Artists. Therefore it was quite a challenge, but because Peter inspires as an Artist it was easier to develop ideas for arrangements. Also it was incredibly helpful to have someone as talented as Graham Coxon on board from the beginning. His playing is absolutely inspirational and before long both Peter and I were aware that the songs were going in wonderful directions.

(KL)

1) Peter often records demos – as he did here in Porto. You start from there and then you’ll develop the entire sound of the record? I’m asking this because I know that for you the vocal performance is extremely important even “If someone has captured the moment it doesn’t matter if the vocal has a few imperfections” – Quoting 1999 Sample Craze Interview. So, you have to gather what exists and merge it with your ideas, right?

There are simple fantastic string elements together with the electric guitar that create a different environment. I should say there’s a “Cabaret” feeling on this record with major climax moment with “Sweet By and By”. Am I far from the truth?

(ST)

As I mentioned above, I had nothing but the very most basic demos to listen to before the session. I simply sat down with a guitar and tried to work out the chords and made some notes as to some arrangement ideas. These I ran by Graham when I first visited him with a view of getting him involved.

As far as Peter’s vocal performances are concerned, when he is in good shape he is amazing. However, I had to push him along sometimes and coerce him into finishing his lyrics and performances to a satisfactory level, but I do think that Peter appreciates that. There is no point surrounding yourself with sycophants who tell you that everything is ‘brilliant’!

I knew that because this was a “solo’ album we didn’t have to worry about surrounding the songs with the sound of a ‘band’ and therefore it freed us up to try something different for each song like Strings and atmospheric guitars and keyboards.

Curiosity questions 1 (KL):

a) On “The Last of The English Roses”, in the first seconds of this song you can hear something like a cell phone interference. Production or something more than that?

(ST)

The demo for LOTER was the most basic possible. It lasted for about 8 minutes and 6 minutes of that was just the sound of Peter rustling about next to his laptop and his mobile phone causing interference! However, there was something I liked about that “ambience” of Peter on his own next to his laptop that created quite q dark atmosphere so I sampled it and played it alongside a drum loop that I made up and that formed the backdrop for Peter and Graham to play along to when we started recording.

Curiosity questions 2 (KL):

b) 1939 Returning – Who had the idea to add those sounds (some kind of old movie intro at the start and at the end what is it? Seems a merry-go-round environment)

(ST)

Me! Ever since my work with the Smiths I have often enjoyed putting sound effects into the recordings to create the right ‘ambiance’.

A Challenge (KL) – you can listen at the blog’s Player:

The typical pop tune lasts 3 to 4 minutes. There’s at least two that you’ve worked that last longer. It’s difficult to maintain the listener’s attention on a 7 or so minutes track.

Talk to us about this 3 examples. The first are two different songs but at the record, for me, combine as one. The second is perhaps the one I like more, a magnificent tune. The last it’s not yours but probably you already listen to it and it was a surprise for me (If you didn’t heard it, do me that favour.)

a) A Little Death Around The Eyes & Salomé - Peter Doherty – “Grace/Wastelands”, 2009

(ST)

A Little Death just grew into an epic as far as I’m concerned. It started with Gram and Peter playing along to a kind of 60’s jazzy loop I had made up and it seemed to suggest that Scott Walker, / Serge Gainsbourg vibe so we went down that route. Then at the end of the song I made up a little loop from the ‘doodling that Graham and Peter played at the final chord. That seemed to suggest that the song could cross fade with something and Salome fitted the bill perfectly (same key, lovely mellow vibe).

b) Late Night, Maudlin Street – Morrissey – “Viva Hate”, 1988

(ST)

I’m glad you like this track. It is one I’m particularly proud and fond of! Very different to a normal pop arrangement it just grows and grows but in a subtle way. The reason it works as a long track is because Morrissey’s vocal delivery is wonderful and he has a story to tell and the music keeps shifting in subtle degrees.

c) Moment of Surrender – U2 – “No Line On The Horizon”, 2009

(ST)

No sure why you want me to comment on this track! It’s a good track with some obvious Eno trademark production touches and the Edge sounding more like Dave Gilmour than ever before!

Finally (KL):

You’ve worked with at least 3 different generations of bands, songwriters, etc.

The 80’s – Smiths and Morrissey…

The 90’s – Blur, Graham Coxon, The Cranberries…

The 2000’s – Kaiser Chiefs, Babyshambles & Pete Doherty, The Courteeners…

What are the major differences between this “moments in time”?

(ST)

To be honest, there are no major differences as such. A good melody, a great vocal delivery, interesting arrangements/dynamics, neat guitar parts; these things have always been important throughout the years. Certain qualities still ring true and are still the qualities that attracted me to want to work with the artists in the first place.

THE END

Wednesday 3 June 2009

THERE'S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT...REALLY !



Usually i don’t use this space to criticize records. I rather prefer to discover what the artist point of view is. Off course that we all have our favorite records and make out judgments on what we listen. Nevertheless I asked Peter Morén to talk about their last record and specially that fantastic “Nothing to Worry About “video. I’m okay with this and hope you are too, because as I told before, there’s really “Nothing to Worry About “…

 

King_leer:


PJ&J have a new record. Verdicts, we can read all over the press. Explain me in your own words the meaning of this record, your main goals.

 

Peter Morén:

 

We always try to do something different from the record before.

It's important to grow and change even though we have a constant core of classic pop songs   and melodies. But you have to frame them in new and different ways otherwise it would be boring for everyone. There are easily songs on this new record that would have fitted on our earlier ones, but then we would have played them differently. Before we started we talked a lot about rhythms and were discussing about working with them deeper on this records. We listened to a lot of 80's music, synthpop but also mainstream big hits like Fleetwood Mac and Paul Simon. We also listened to a lot of different older African and Brazilian music and also old funk and soul and some early hip-hop. We tried loads of different things in the studio and played the songs in different ways. We wanted to get away from the classic indie rock-sound and do something a bit retro futuristic, sci-fi almost, some ghostly spookiness to it. A lot of people think we used a lot of drum machines and synths, but 90% are acoustic sounds like popping balloons, matchboxes beating on film cans, opening umbrellas, ripping paper etc. We just didn’t use the regular drum kit so much but created beats from unusual sources and then messed around with a lot effects. I think the end-result is really special and unique and although we experimented a lot to me it sounds like a really big pop record with loads of hooks, very accessible perfect for the stadiums we're playing with Depeche this summer. We have always made good songs, but I think as a whole album, as a piece of art I think it's by far our strongest yet.

 

King_leer:

 

On "Nothing to Worry About":

Tell me the story beyond this song and how did the video turned out to be like that. It's awesome - as I told you before.

 

Peter Morén:

 

That was the last song we recorded for the album and it needed a bit of edge so we added the kids chorus at the very last minute.

The video was made by the great director Andreas Nilsson who has done all of the Knifes videos. He had heard about this greaser/biker/rockabilly-gang that met up and danced to 50's rock'n'roll in the parks of Shibuya in Tokyo during the weekends. You know how the Japanese take their subculture very seriously. Anyway he had this great idea of following them around and doing like a mini-documentary. So he did. So there no actors, it's the real deal. I think it turned out great.

  

Links : http://www.peterbjornandjohn.com/

                http://www.nixonnoxin.com/

 

 Now, watch the video:

 



THE END