Hip Hop, historically, has been a draw to impressionable youth because of its anarchical and anti-establishment nature. It was a way for teenagers from all economic and social classes to rebel against authority, whether that be racial and religious intolerance within the lower classes, to rebellion towards ones parents or teachers within the middle or upper classes. Hip Hop has managed to unite all youth under one flag.

However, in this new decade, Hip Hop is losing out to other genres of music. This is not because the American youth is no longer interested in rebellion and anarchy, but because modern Hip Hop has lost its original meaning and purpose.

The foundations of Hip Hop can arguably be granted to N.W.A, Wu-Tang, and Run DMC, all of which rose to fame in the 1980’s. This type of Hip Hop was created as retaliation against the governing powers who, as these Hip Hop artists believe, ostracize and oppress the lower class minorities of the United States. Their original followers were those youths who shared in similar experiences as these artists, hence they found something to identify themselves to. With time, the sphere of influence of Hip Hop artists grew to include impressionable youths from middle class suburban America.

However, today’s Hip Hop within the United States tends to ignore the roots of the Hip Hop movement. For example, instead of lyrics challenging social norms, or attacking the government system which stimulates youth to challenge the government powers, lyrics of modern Hip Hop tend to glorify violence and misogyny, while flashing images of the stars rolling around on Luxury designer bedding with a couple of scantly clad ladies. Lyrics of modern Hip Hop artists ignore the reasons why Hip Hop gained popularity. They tend to focus on the glorification of violence and the benefits of such. They seem to have forgotten the true purpose of Hip Hop: to empower the American youth to challenge authority without the glorification of violence.

Sadly, I was born a few years too late to see The Pixies play live the first time around; while Kim Deal, Joey Santiago, Charles Thompson and David Lovering were out there blowing minds with their progressive, mind-bendingly strange rock songs, I thought Chesney Hawkes was actually pretty damn cool. It wasn’t until The Pixies and Nirvana had been replaced by Radiohead and Muse—not really an equal replacement by any means, it has to be said—that I owned all their albums. I can remember listening to ‘Bone Machine’ for the first time and being completely confused as to what was coming out of the speakers; then the pieces fell into position and something snapped inside my head. From that moment on I listened to The Pixies at every opportunity; every album, even ‘Trompe Le Monde’—the least popular of all their works.

Much has been made of The Pixies going downhill towards the end of the career, but focusing on that seems unfair, I think—the band were only around for a short time and produced more quality songs than most groups do in twenty year careers. Not only that, they were the reason many bands of today even exist. Had The Pixies not came to be, I doubt we’d be where we are today. Music just wouldn’t have been the same without them.

The Pixies would, of course, not have been the same without Kim Deal. Widely thought of as one of the best female vocalists to have ever recorded, Kim could hold it down all on her own or step back and let Charles Thompson scream his head off; best known for his ability to mix disturbing lyrics into songs that fracture, fall apart and then explode like breaking glass, Thompson was an unlikely front-man if ever there was one, and as a result a breathe of fresh air during an era of silly named rock groups which came and went with barely any impact.

Really exciting news about the new band, I just talked to this great company who agreed to give us a sweet deal on the CD packaging, look at thier site and see what you think!

Let’s face it; Maxi Jazz is a pretty cool guy to begin with. He’s handsome, extremely photogenic and has a great voice for singing or for speaking. But how many people could still have managed to look so cool in this music video? Sitting on a sofa with a red snuggle-blanket round you is not a traditional way of bumping up your street cred. However, Maxi carries it off brilliantly. If you watch this enough then you will learn the ancient art of how to look super-cool when your heating is on the fritz.

Anyone with a taste for clever music videos really should take time to check out ‘We come 1’ by Faithless. It’s all such a fantastic concept for a music video; a rave that becomes a full scale riot (complete with mounted police) all within the comfort of your own front room!

There are plenty of powerful images in this (including a young lady being very naughty and kissing a WPC…) and slow motion is used to a great effect. Keep your peelers open for the riot van being tipped over right in front of Maxi’s sofa. It all goes towards another of those ‘how the hell did they do that?’ music videos.

Strobe lights are used in it, but not as much as I originally thought; after watching it a couple more times, I realised that the actual photography comes across as being strobe lighting. Very, very clever indeed.

The whole thing is full of contrasts; the rioters/the police, the joy in the dancing/the hate in the fighting, the neatness of the room/the litter of broken bottles, the frenzy of the mob/ the impassive face of Maxi Jazz. Chaos and calm.

It is unsettling, thought provoking, intriguing and highly energetic.

Mind boggling stuff and absolute genius.

Before I go I need a bit of advice, I have been allocated to set up the stand for the company at the marketing convention next week. Any tips on where I can get some good exhibition stands at short notice?

Morcheeba’s first studio album was the Trippy sounding, ‘Who Can You Trust’ in 1996. It did not fair particularly well in the charts but it certainly brought them a much larger following. Several of the tracks got quite a bit of airplay and Skye Edwards was noted by critics for her dreamy voice. However, their finest moment came in 1997 when they followed up their debut with ‘Big Calm’.

This time Morcheeba went into the studio with far more experience. ‘Who Can You Trust’ had been very good but it had sounded a little too plain in parts. With this second record they changed all that.

Compared to its predecessor, ‘Big Calm’ was a lot more mainstream; but that was okay because it still wasn’t too mainstream. Several of the tracks on this album were very catchy and they were often used as background music on television. One song in particular, ‘By the Sea’ really seemed to hit a nerve with many people and it still crops up on holiday programmes even now.

Each of the album’s 11 songs is really cleverly recorded and the production is lovely and crisp. With the track, ‘Over and Over’ Skye Edwards showed us all what a perfectly pitched voice she had for singing Jazz. The final song, ‘Big Calm’ is an amazingly good piece of music with the vocals of Rapper Nosaj the Great, some superb record scratching and a really meaty bass line.

For me, the great shame of it all is that Morcheeba went on to change their style rather dramatically. They turned their backs on their Trip-Hop roots and went storming towards the Pop scene. This resulted in them turning into a modern day ‘M People’ and losing a large amount of their fans in this ‘Part of the Process’…

On a rather unrelated note, I need to tell you about the most amazing day that I have just had at work. Those people at the top decided to have a team building day to do some Soft skills training. We all just broke off into teams and played a whole bunch of Impro games, you should have seen it, we even managed to break Ellen out of her shell!

I can remember the very first time that I heard ‘Desire’ by Bob Dylan. I had been going through a period of looking into his music and I was becoming very familiar with his classic songs like; ‘Don’t Think Twice’, ‘The Mighty Quinn’, ‘I Shall Be Released’ and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’. However, nothing had prepared me for what I was about to hear… Dylan had always been famed for his protest songs but this album tackled them from a whole new way altogether. ‘Desire’ was a record that Dylan created at the apex of his long career and the overall sound is just as original today.

When ‘Hurricane’ kicked in I sat open-mouthed in absolute disbelief. I knew that Dylan had turned his hand to many different things over his career but this was just amazing. The way that he had incorporated the violin in his music was totally jaw-dropping. By the time that ‘Isis’ came on I was absolutely transfixed. The great Bob Dylan really had out-done himself with this record.

For me, the album is rich with an Eastern sound. One of the best examples of this is the way that Dylan sings on ‘One More Cup of Coffee’. This track, along with ‘Sara’, is one of my favourites. As far as I’m concerned, they are some of the best that he has ever recorded. These two tracks are totally sublime and every single word, instrument and chord change is utter perfection. God alone knows what inspired Dylan to adopt this sound for ‘Desire’ but it couldn’t have worked any better.

If you are new to the songs of Dylan, then forget all about his other stuff (even the classics such as ‘Blood on the Tracks’ and ‘Slow Train Coming’). Get down to that second hand record shop and buy yourself a copy of ‘Desire’. I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

By the way, I just looked up this great company who agreed to give us a good discount on the Tin packaging for the group. I need input!

Leonard Cohen has written some cracking songs over the forty-three years that he has been in the music business. There are probably at least three of his albums that could be described as ‘classics’ but, for me, his greatest work has to be; ‘Songs of Love and Hate’.

A lot of people think of Cohen’s music as being depressing and I suppose that some of it is. Unfortunately, I have probably chosen the gloomiest album from his whole career… Saying this, Cohen’s type of gloom always involves some sort of humour. It may be cynical of self-depreciating, but it is always present.

The overall feel of ‘Songs of Love and Hate’ is apparent right from the start. As Cohen snarls and growls his way through ‘Avalanche’ you can tell exactly what direction this album is going to take. It is going to be a long and rocky road through dark places in the human soul. By the time he gets to ‘Dress Rehearsal Rag’ it isn’t really possible to get any bleaker. This track is full of ‘jokes’ about going through a practice run for the act of suicide. Standing in front of a mirror with shaving foam all over his face, Cohen sings;

‘Now, Santa Claus comes forward; that’s a razor in his mitt,

He puts on his dark glasses and he shows you where to hit.’

Cheery stuff, huh? But we have all had ‘psycho-dramas’ about different things; and they do not all make happy bedtime reading, do they? Above all else, Leonard Cohen is sincere. You can tell that he is singing about real feelings, desires, hopes, dreams and fears in his songs. This sincerity gives his music a great depth that is lacking from the work of many other artists.

‘Songs of Love and Hate’ may not be the sort of album that you would put on at any old time, but when you do listen to it you’ll give it your full attention.

So, as you all know, it is my birthday tomorrow and in case you are wondering what to buy me (that means you Lesley) I have had my eye on that dvd set for Columbo, just in case you couldn’t think of anything…