50 words for …..
I was most excited this xmas when I found out that my 21 year old nephew had had the outline of Kate Bush’s Kick Inside tattooed to his left arm. Good lad I said. And punched him really hard in the arm. Not that i have ever wanted to punch Kate Bush in the face, it just felt like a fun thin to do. I had previously bought 50 words for Snow, and it became our family xmas travel album. My initial response was that it felt very grown up, which isn’t always a bad thing. It progressed and gathered pace. Then Elton John started singing. Oh dear. I tried to pretend it wasn’t him, but the words Lion King kept entering my head. I had to skip. But then that led to the title track, the one that had been getting all the press due to Stephen Fry’s appearance. The one the journo’s had called the stinker. (Journalists dictate what is cool and what isn’t and apparently Stephen Fry is way down the barometer these days. Who’d have thought.) The drums kick in straight off, and within seconds I was taken back to Eno and Byrne’s Jezebel Spirit. Now I’m a sucker for a concept song, and this is exactly what that is. But more than that it is quite simply a brilliant record. Give it 10 years folks when the Frymania has died down, and we are over the backlash and on to something “cooler.” Give it time, and people will realise that this record is a classic. Now don’t let that put you listening to the rest of the album. It’s great, but it’s not aerial in the contemporary sense. It is in fact very grown up. And feel free to mute the Lion King duet….But it is a mad album made by a truly great artist. And one of kind of which there aren’t many left.
And a Happy New Year…
So from here on in, this is where you will find me…..
Out now on Leftroom
Say Nothing
On the 1st January I will be switching off from all online social networking except for my www.lukesolomon.com website which I will update with a journal off sorts, some interesting discoveries, but it will not be a constant barrage of me trying to sell you me as a brand.
I am doing this as part of a creative anti marketing experiment.
I am also doing this as an excersize in creativity.
I will use the time to make music, write songs, stuff, and keep a log of activity.
My reason for doing this is to see if it has a negative effect on my career.
People are so obsessed and consumed with the popularity contest that was once called a skill. The time and effort that once went into perfecting the art of being great at what you do has been reduced to statistics and online presence.
I genuinely feel that people are beginning to get bored by an overload of information relating to said persons job, career and day to day business, an activity that is practiced in order to boost said persons profile, and to help create a brand.
I have started to realise that there is a lot to be said for saying nothing.
I will no longer record podcasts, do online charts, be present on twitter and Facebook . I will endeavour to do this for 6 months.
I will do what is required of me in relation to promoting work that I have forthcoming. This will be selective interesting interviews and posts on www.lukesolomon.com.
If, by the end of this excersize, there is still a career for me, then, well, nothing changed.
If you don’t really care.
My experiment is already working
Love
Luke x
There ain’t half been some clever bastards….
New single , Vinyl only on EAR . Ships 5th December
My new record coming soon on FullBarr
This weekends gigs. On the road with Derrick Carter. Classic is your Friend.
Everyone’s a critic
Everyone’s a critic
I have been unsettled this week.
Last week was the build up to our Classic party in London.
I spent a week preparing, helping Organise, gathering troops. Getting nervous, getting excited. Recording music. Doing everything I could to help make it special.
The night came and I felt 18 again. We met in the pub and walked to the venue like a gang of youths doing it all again for the first time.
The venue: perfect.
The crowd began to build and Rob Mello worked the groove and played a lesson in the perfect warm DJ. Derrick took over and did what only Derrick could do, work people into an energetic frenzy.
Now, usually, I am Derricks personal warm up DJ. I know what to do, how to do it, an how to set him up. It’s been this way for years. In this instance DC wanted to play before me, which was cool. In previous years I would have tried to keep up. Tried to continue the energy, but in hind sight, never really been true to myself. A mixture of trying to please everyone and replicate what I have learnt, only Derrick can do.
Now I am older, wiser, and probably more accomplished, this was about me playing the records that I love in the way that I love too, and making it a party that was representative of Classic.
So that’s what I did. A journey of music that crosses spectrums and that included a lot of music forthcoming on Classic, and that I knew people won’t have heard before.
People danced. I finished 3 hours later.
People cheered. I was happy. We were happy.
Something I was taught by the musical maestro that is Lil Louis. Some advice he gave me once. He said that you will always know in your own heart if you did good or you did bad, regardless of the night or what the crowd thinks.
I have always taken that on board and taken pride in doing good, but if I was bad, I have learnt to learn from my own mistakes. On this occasion, I felt I had done good. I was happy.
I eventually made my way home after a post party wind down. It was late but I felt content.
I turned on twitter so I could send out some love and thanks to all those that came and made for a special night.
Lo and behold, a comment from a random person tagging my name and criticizing my performance. His words, from funky house to boring techno, Luke’s set was confused….
My heart sank.
I went from glowing and satisfied to paranoid and down trodden in an instant.
It has been 4 days and I still feel deflated. Even though I know I did good, and even though I have numerous pats on the back since then, it still bothers me.
Now I am not sure this is about the criticism, or whether this is about wanting to be loved by everyone, I think this is more about the fact that he went out of his way to single me out and make his criticism public. He reacted by saying “why does it matter, it’s one persons opinion and look at your success.”
But that is not the point. My success has nothing to do with human emotion.
You wouldn’t single out a random person in the street and shout out loud that you didn’t like their hair style, or the way they walked. Because I am a public figure, it doesn’t suddenly make that acceptable. You have every right to come up to me and express an opinion, that happens a lot, and I find that courageous and respectful. All that said and done, this party, this occasion, this didn’t feel appropriate. Classic, the record label, prides itself in being different, it prides itself in taking risks and taking chances, it also tries to be a big happy family that does more than just music.
Classic IS your friend. This is our statement.
Throwing negatives into a negative world, and especially in a moment when we are all trying to escape from the bullshit of life and just dance and have fun, well that just makes me sad.
And just so you know, I will keep doing what I do regardless, and so will Classic.
I have had a number of these moments happen in my career. They only make me more determined and more contrary.
And, without wanting to put a downer on the night, as this was a personal issue. It was special, and I would like to thank those that make up every single part of what Classic means to me.
Classic is your Friend