the Butterflies of Love

next friday sees the return of the Butterflies of Love to a UK stage - along with Sodastream, Flowers and Darren Hayman - it's going to be quite a thing, and you can get tickets here

i only mention this as Famous Problems are 80% of the Butterflies of Love, and you can get their single here:

wia015001 - the Fairlight Myth release debut single

wiaiwya-7777777 is a seven inch singles club – a very ambitious seven inch singles club. 

“there’s this sadness when you can’t find it on vinyl, because it’s like it’s not proper” - Pete Paphides

Now in its fourth year (of seven), it is a celebration of the seven inch format, as well as all things seven.  210 lucky subscribers sign up, and get seven exclusive 45s in the post. The records are always released on the 7th of the month (one on each day of the week), and 77 days before release date just 77 copies are made available to purchase individually.

“The 45rpm single, the hard, black centrepiece of the teenage revolution” – Bob Stanley

For 2015 we have asked some of our favourite bands and artists to collaborate on a one off single, to try something a little different, and to prove the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. These are then being pressed onto 2 colour vinyl discs, and inserted into numbered reverse board sleeves.

“It was a piece of science as much as it was art and beauty and sex and glamour” – Paul Morley

First up for 2015 we have the Fairlight Myth - a collaboration between Pete Astor and Keith Negus.

Alpha November c/w Love Repeats - one side a call to arms, the other a warm embrace - takes some of the fresh, post Specials POP of the Colourfield, adds some early OMD synth naivety, then drops in some class A Jens Lekman scando-POP, with nod to the melancholy of Abba’s the Visitors.

Pete Astor’s career spans genre defining releases on the iconic Indie label Creation Records, writing for the NME, to publishing research on song lyrics, and a book on Richard Hell’s Blank Generation.

Astor has been making records for over 30 years, firstly with The Loft, then The Weather Prophets, then as a solo artist; The Wisdom of Harry followed and, in collaboration with David Sheppard, Ellis Island Sound. Astor has recently begun writing and playing again as a solo artist, soon to release material on Fortuna Pop!, adding to his output on Creation, Warner Brothers, Matador, Warp, Heavenly, EMI, Static Caravan, Second Language, Village Green, and now wiaiwya.

Keith Negus played keyboards for Cane (Lightning Records), in their post-punk incarnation, and The Coconut Dogs (Rialto Records), before pursuing various idiosyncratic acoustic and electronic projects as Neville Shakespeare. After further stints in obscure and eccentric combos, he drifted into higher education, and is now director of the Popular Music Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published numerous articles on pop music and its industry, covering issues such as musicians on television, globalization, theories of narrative, digitalization, songwriting and creativity. His books include Producing Pop (1992), Music Genres and Corporate Cultures (1999) and Bob Dylan (2008).

 “It's up to the seven-inch single to save pop music from falling into an abyss… It's time to get real again with 45 revolutions per minute, for pop's sake.”  – Owen Adams (The seven-inch turns 60 - the Guardian)

Part 1: Find The Band

as you know, this year's 7777777's form a fully illustrated seven step guide to releasing your own records.

Part 1, as good a place to start as any, is Find The Band - the amazing Tom Humberstone provides the illustration, and Sean "magic ears" Price shares some wisdom. In case you didn't know (what have you been doing?) Sean runs Fortuna POP!, and has released every good record that has ever been released by every good band ever (apart from the ones on wiaiwya, obvs)

where is good band?

Get there early for the soundcheck. Ask Trev if he’s seen the good band. Ignore Trev. Watch the supports. Talk to the supports. Ask your friends if they’ve seen the good band (it’s not their band). Go home. Open demo. Put CD in player, read letter, put CD case on stack, put jiffy bag in box, put letter in recycling, take CD out of player, throw CD in the bin. 15 seconds. Check your emails. No information. <DELETE>. “Influenced by The Libert..”. <DELETE>. Nice, polite email that mentions influences and shows understanding of what your record label might be about. No mp3s. Listen to Soundcloud link. Lose Soundcloud link. Forget about band. Listen to Riley. Listen to John Kennedy. Listen, listen, and listen. Read Anorak Forum. Listen, listen, and listen. Read SoundsXP. Listen, listen, and listen. Who’s playing Indietracks? Who’ve Slumberland just signed? Listen, listen, and listen. Ask Tom if he’s seen the good band. Ignore Tom. Listen, listen, and listen. Follow a link, then another link, across a blog, then round the corner. There they are… the good band! Oh. They’re already signed to WIAIWYA. Get there early for the soundcheck…

Eux Autres sleevenotes too

these are written by Fortuna POP! head honcho, Sean Price:

the sleevenotes for wiaiwya046 have been sent to the printers

yup... Ben Clancy's done a splendid job...

wiaiwya046 sleevenotes front

wiaiwya046 sleevenotes by Ben Clancy

seven sevens are forty nine

last Saturday saw the first SEVEN SEVENS ARE FORTY NINE evening, a series of nights over the year where 7 djs will play 7 records each... thanks very much to Paul and Scared To Dance for having us along... so, the first 7 djs were Nick (Franz Ferdinand), Robert (Rotifer), Ben (Did Not Chart), John (dj downfall), Virginie (the Werewandas), Sean (Fortuna POP! ) and me... here are the 49 songs that were played over the evening... from Love to Sabbath, via the Aislers Set and Bryan Adams... blimey, it's ALL OVER THE PLACE... MARVELLOUS:

Sean and Virginie:
Love - 7x7 Is
Mel Torme - Coming Home
Velvet Underground - Foggy Notion
Third Degree - Mercy
Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times
Etta James - Seven Day Fool
Sugababes - Push The Button
France Gall - Poupee De Cire
the Go-Betweens - Love Goes On
the Chantels - Well I Told You
Chain & the Gang - Unpronounceable Name
Wanda Jackson - Let's have A Party
Robert Wyatt - Stalin Wasn't Stallin'
Chuck Woods - Seven Days Too Long

John
Au Pairs - It's Obvious
the Cure - Grinding Halt
ESG - Dance
D.A.F - Liebe Auf Den Ersten Blick
Equals - Hold Me Closer
Charlie's Angels - It's Never Gonna Happen To Me
the Primitives - Secrets

John
Bryan Adams - When You're Gone
Velocette - Get Yourself Together
Kirsty MacColl - A New England
Maia Hirasawa - And I Found This Boy
Spearmint - Julie Christie
Tatu - All The Things She Said
Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

Ben:
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
The Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You
Pat Powdrill - Do It
The Aislers Set - Hey Lover
The Candees - The Heart Parade
The Jam - Town Called Malice
Dexys Midnight Runners - There, There My Dear

Robert and Nick:
Jacques Dutronc: Les gens sont fous, les temps sont flous
Desireless: Voyage Voyage
The Chap: Nevertheless the Chap
Beach Boys: Good Vibrations
Withered Hand: Heart Heart
Talking Heads: Cities
Django Django: Default
Paul McCartney: Coming Up
Big Audio Dynamite: Harrow Road
The Upsetters: Soulful I
Red Inspectors: I Am The Masterfly
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Midnight Moses
Big Star: In The Street
Black Sabbath: Paranoid

seven sevens are forty nine

during 2012 there will be a whole lot of SEVEN SEVENS ARE FORTY NINE club nights cropping up... let me know if you'd like to organise your own, and we'll promote it from the blog

the idea is simple... seven people play seven records... they can be 7"es, but that's not essential...

the first will be on 28th January, at SCARED TO DANCE, in Kings Cross Social Club, where you can hear 7 HITS each from John Jervis (wiaiwya), Sean Price (Fortuna POP!), Virginie Selavy (The Werewandas), Robert Rotifer (Rotifer), Ben Clancy (The Hangover Lounge), DJ Downfall (Tender Trap) + a SPECIAL GUEST