Killing in the Name of is the track concerned, it’s number two off their first album (self titled “Rage Against the Machine”) and is an alt-music classic.

It is centered around a Facebook group, and the groups aim is to stop the “automatic” promotion of the XFactor winner to the top spot.

It’s not a bad sentiment. I think lots of people feel under-represented musically, they’re already tired of the XFactor being blasted at them from all directions and would like the opportunity to have a bit of a say about what happens next.

The pop music charts are a bit annoying because they’re controlled mostly by people who have no real interest in music. The people who normally get songs to number one will buy almost anything thats promoted to them. Thinking about it that must be quite cool because as big record label you’d have quite a lot of control over how successful your artist could be.. hmmn.

Anyhow, it’s not that big a deal lets not try to pretend that the charts are about music because they’re not, they’re about money. Pop music is only a really a pseudo genre in the first place anyway because pop is just short for popular, it’s whatever has been bought the most. Perversely by getting RATM to number one it’s going to become pop music for a bit.

I just think that the under-represented enjoy knowing that they can get a song in there if they care to. Just like anyone can I suppose. A bit like “we’ve put up with this shite on the telly for four months, now have five minutes of this in your face”. Kind of remind people that they still exist, although I don’t think anyone feels that strongly about it.

It’s not a revolution.

I bought my copy for 50p from 7digital and I’ve had a few comments about it being a waste of time because RATM and Joe are both owned by Sony if you go far enough up the company chain and sonys pockets are being lined and blah blah blah.

Put the brakes on and get a fucking grip.

It’s got nothing to do with trying to stop Cowell or Syco or Sony making money, I don’t want to de-rail the XFactor or make any kind of statement, I just think it’d be great to have RATM at number 1. I don’t care that Tom Morello’s going to make a bit of money from it, it doesn’t matter!

Christmas tunes have always been shite.

Relatively recently we’ve had Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder but even before that, the songs that we now call classics like “wonderful christmas time” and that one with Noddy Holder in it, are actually utter cheesefests.

It’s great when they come around and that’s what christmas is about but why not have this wildcard in there too!?

It’s just a simple vote for a song that you like to get it into the charts. What’s the big fuss all about?

“Yeah I’ll be with you in a minute I’m just putting my *garments* on”

A massive amount of cocksucker.

I pontificated about live gigs not too long back using the Prodigy as an example and Rich Budgen, of the Freestlyers Live no less had a bit to say about not being able to beat “the real deal”.

He’s right, you can’t beat the real deal no question. I went up to Manchester to watch Oasis in Heaton park about a month ago and it was awesome, no DVD will be able to capture the atmosphere, not even come close. I suppose my point should have been that with gigs of a certain size the hassle involved in attending the event definitely outweighs anything you get from the live gig.

Even securing the tickets in the first place involves a full morning on the phone to ticketmaster, trying to make sure you don’t end up with 15 tickets whilst managing ten browser windows on three different laptops but it’s more than that. The hype surrounding massive music events is ridiculous, there are TONNES of people out there that can be sold a ticket to something they’ve never even heard of by way of a ten second clip on the radio or a mention in a magazine column.

Total dick-heads who do things for the sake of being able to say they’ve done them rather than because they actually want to, the ones that are looking for something to define them. NEVER go on holiday with one of these twats, because rather than having a laugh and letting the story unfold you’ll be ticking off some kind of pre-determined checklist. “Done all these things, I’m ready to die now!” where’s the fucking originality!

The large event is the exception, I know, there’s no reason not to go and see any number of new bands in your local pub or just bands that aren’t gigantic.

Four years ago I couldn’t imagine being at Glastonbury, total pain in the arse and I don’t feel any different today.

I’d also just like to add that Jo Wiley, what the fuck? Is there a band in the world that she doesn’t *LOVE*? I hope she falls in a massive cow pat on air. Also Blur.. they look really static and awkward on the stage, warmed up a bit now I admit but I’ve turned over to the Prodigy on BBC3 – and by the way it IS a better view than I got at Wembley two months back ;)

imagine that.

Sooorted.

If you haven’t checked out Spotify yet you ought to. The best way of describing it is probably ‘radio on demand’.

Couple of people bailed at the last minute (Jen was nearly one of them due to her tonsilitis!) so we had a couple spare but there didn’t seem to be much demand for them and they ended up going to a tout for a little less than half price – but that’s the game I suppose – turned out to be quite handy because I used the cash to pay for beers since as usual I had none on me and I couldn’t find a cash machine.

The queue to get into the standing section was huge, it went up one side of the building, curved and came back down the same side so it meant you were queuing past people who’d already been in your position, a bit like at Alton Towers. Although it moved pretty regularly it still took over an hour to get through the doors which meant we missed Dizzee Rascal who was supporting which was quite annoying because we could hear him from outside. Boo!

Once we were in, had queued again to be searched and had queued for a beer, we then had to queue up AGAIN in order to get from the main concourse level down into the standing section so after arriving at about 7.30 it must have been 9.15 before we finally got to see the stage.

The gig was great and The Prodigy are a brilliant band and it’s a good fucking job because despite the ease of getting to Wembley Park Station from Waterloo the amount of hassle you had to go through to get into the venue very nearly makes it not worth it.

All the queues, security searches, sky high beer prices, deals with ticket touts and some traipsing in the rain, perhaps I should have just gone to the local for a pint or two then bought it on DVD in a month. The sound would be similar in my small flat with the kit that we’ve got and if there were one or two of us there, the atmosphere could perhaps be decent too?

The speed with which information travels today is phenomenal. So is the speed with which you can transfer large amounts of data. I mean with sites like twitter and brightkite, you can instantly get lots of individual reports about something from anywhere in the world and even make an assumption about how accurate the information you’re receiving is based on the sheer numbers of unconnected individuals stating the same facts.

Five years ago I couldn’t have sent a message any greater than 160 characters to someone describing how enjoyable a gig was. Today I can send them a 160 second video live from the event itself and simultaneously embed it on fletch.cx for the world to see immediately and here’s my thought for today: I wonder at what point the information and data about an event will reach a good enough quality that people stop having the desire to attend the event itself.

Glastonbury Festival is a good personal example. I love watching the highlights on the BBC in the evening, you get absolutely prime seats and can watch every act in HD from the comfort of your sofa.

The biggest example must be MP3′s. They’re nowhere near as good as CDs. You don’t get any physical product, they don’t even sound as good but because they’re “good enough” and because we can get hold of them at our leisure, like “right now” not “next time we go to HMV” we put up with the inferior quality – now they’re the norm.

I think it’s getting that way with big gigs such as this one. Watch my video fullscreen with the volume up after a few beers and tell me you don’t feel a bit like you’ve seen 90% of what the rest of us spent four hours and at least £60 to see.

Hexstatic presents ‘Solid Reel’ – Video podcast from Solid Steel on Vimeo.

I’ve sung the Hexstatic praises loads of times before so they need no introduction. GET TO IT FUCKERS!

Preview and download links above (bleep have been doing none-drm hi-quality mp3 downloads for about 5 years :-))

A lot of regulars that read fletch.cx will dismiss Rodders as “hiphop blah blah blah” but his music is exactly what hiphop should be about – just real life stuff. I know it’s oft repeated but not long ago on his first album he was rapping about cheese on toast and pints of bitter so give it a listen if this kind of thing isn’t usually yours. It is definitely mine.

First single off the album is below if you want to check it out.. or if just get a grip on yourselves and order the album :) There are many live dates see ninjatune.net/live/ although London and Brighton are all sold out. (Paris?)

I like the concept but I can’t see one being parked up for long without some chav poking his finger through your bonnet!

What a gutter it would have been. Yeah I’d have seen the Foos live.. but would have probably jumped off the balcony when I found out that the next night Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones from Led Zep had played with them.

Introducing the pair onstage Grohl said: “Tonight playing here at Wembley Stadium is an honour and if we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity we’d be crazy.

He went on: “We knew from the beginning this wasn’t going to be another outdoor show, we have been planning this for six months so we would like to welcome Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones onstage.”

The Foo Fighters frontman took over stick duties while drummer Taylor Hawkins sang vocals on Rock And Roll for Zeppelin’s first appearance since their London 02 Arena gig in December 2007.

Grohl then swapped places with Hawkins for a crowd pleasing rendition of Ramble On.

BBC Newsbeat

That would have been pretty special :)

There’s no fannying around required to get hold of it either, simply log onto www.rappcats.com/ and download the zip file! No registration, fiddling with torrents etc, it’s just ripe for the picking!

The album is definitely Talib style with Madlib production but if you’re expecting a more Madlib/MF Doom/Dudley Perkins affair then keep your ears greased with this Quasimoto taster, Rappcats Pt 3!

I don’t _think_ this is the anniversary of his death but rather more positively the anniversary of his last broadcast. As such I have recorded a new mix, you jammy little bleeders!

As it happens it turned out to be somewhat peel-esque. I was on the phone a lot during the recording trying to talk to various people about my CV, in fact most of it was mixed just by listening to the noise from the needle.. so yeah in other words it’s mixed badly. Also the levels are all wrong and towards the end I stop mixing entirely, then top it all off I knock the back of the tone arm reaching over to close the window and send the needle skating across the vinyl. I like to see this as charming and not un-professional.

So, on the second anniversary of the great mans last broadcast, I’m proud to present peel-day-2006.mp3 which starts off as a promising electro mix and degenerates into a old-school breaks coated with some Five Penny Piece northern-monkey goodness.

I honestly believe that the UK is the best place in the world to be for good original music. With this in mind, for the first time since I “fucked up my ipod I’m listening to some good music.

The boys from hexstatic have done this weeks solidsteel and it’s a ruddy cracker.

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