Delilah

Delilah - Joiners 5th December 

On her first ever headlining tour the lady in red Deliliah wowed Southampton with her show stopping performance.

By 8:30 the first of the nights support acts had taken the mic, simply introducing herself as Kimberly the Amy Winehouse-esque singer serenaded the growing crowd with four Motown style acoustic performances. The stripped back nature of the set allowed for her voice to carry and fill every corner of Joiners.

Quickly following was singer songwriter Charley Macaulay , with a set to rival the headliner, her smooth yet powerful pipes left the crowd’s spines tingling. With three of her own tracks and a cover of Gnarles Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ this lady is well worth another listen.

Then with a sharp change of pace came Influx, the DJ – MC combination failed to wet the audiences appetite further and despite polite woops and claps the only real crowd participation came with a mix of Drake’s ‘I’m Doing Me’.

Accompanied with a drum kit and CDJ-800s Delilah kicked off her set with a relatively unknown tune, with jazzy undertones and sultry vocals it became apparent that there was a raw talent on stage.

The highlights of the seven song set came from ‘Breathe’, orchestral parts merged with understated synths matched Delilah’s soft tones perfectly. Similarly the piano based ‘Syllababy’ was a stunning change of atmosphere, the touching anecdote surrounding an argument between a mother and daughter being the inspiration for the song added all the more depth to the elevating vocals.

New single ‘Love You So’ pulled back the catchy groove that Delilah emits so well, and with the new EP set for release next March this single is set to do well.

The final song and massive crowd pleaser was of course ‘Go’, the poppy glitchy number was sung pitch perfect and ended the night on a high. 

Mikaela Osborne

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Gouranga - Keep Your Colours EP

Gouranga Keep Your Colours

Debuting live in 2010 Gouranga are a young band, so it is impressive to hear this baby taking its first few steps into the musical wildness and manging not to fall flat on its face.

Keep Your Colours is a definite throw back to the glory days of grunge, screaming choruses teamed with overly distorted guitars juxtaposing with soft pulsing verses – the old recipe.

Opening tracks Bile and It came to this offer thrashing, energetic riffs and growling vocals; the choruses are strong and memorable. Rose and Time continues the EP on a similar thread but with a much heavier intro, this intensity seeps through the tune and flows both through the ominous low vocal range and straight into the jumpy percussion. But then Rife Machine comes along, the fifth track on the EP and changes the tone completely, with a mellow guitar piece accompanied by minimal percussion the sound created grabs your attention. Plucky guitars and the simple ramblings of lead vocalist Andy leads you nicely into a melancholic number.

The band have created a sound that wouldn’t feel out of place in early 90s Seattle, there are obvious and prominent grunge influences, the recurrent use of low to high throughout the all of the tracks is reminiscent of early Nirvana. Yet to do justice to the band and besides all the obvious comparisons Gouranga  have a deep and resonating sound, that offers something a little different.

Key tracks, Rife Machine and Bile sum up Gouranga’s sound and range well and highlight their ability to awaken a forgotten genre and fling it into the present – they somehow manage to retain grunge’s self service aesthetics with an electronic current feel.

3/5

Mikaela Osborne

Amy Wyke - Still Breathing

Now really does seem to be the time for strong female icons, with Beyonce cementing her place as a international star, Rihanna getting set to achieve world domination with yet another album release and not to mention the countless other popstresses controlling the charts.

So Amy Wyke's EP is not only well times but well informed. It is clear that this young talent has been influenced by the new music trends: all four songs have a well defined rocky angsty element, cased in very sellable mainstream pop sound.

The title track Still Breathing is definitely one that demonstrates this mix perfectly, with swingy, poppy guitar parts and strong percussion it sits just within the borders of rock, just enough to appeal to the masses of fourteen year old 'misunderstood' teenage girls.

The song is catchy enough, the pop aspect shines through, which all together isn't a bad thing, the sing-a- long factor  makes it memorable, despite it sounding like a bit of a guilty pleasure.

Save My Heart offers a slow and minimalist number, the tone is sombre and the backing track makes this connection with the listener, but it is undoubtedly skip-able.

Track three however, is by far one of the best, musically it's simplistic and professional; the acoustic guitar gives it a raw, almost live sound. The track showcases Wyke's vocal range, and is reminiscent of pop rock icon Taylor Momsen.

Jealously finishes the EP on a similar note, with a slightly more up beat feel. It doesn't quite make the same connection as You And I but regardless of it's cheesy rock ballad arrangement it sucks you in and after a few listens you find yourself singing along.

Still Breathing is definitely a well rounded EP, it offers strong pop tunes as well as classic pop rock style ballads. Within this genre Amy Wyke could come into her own, there are moments where it's dangerously close to a The Pretty Reckless tribute but with enough tweaks she's a recipe for mainstream success.

Mikaela Osborne
3/5

http://www.myspace.com/awyke
http://www.facebook.com/AmyWyke

Slow Magic

Ever imagine what it feels like in those "My life flashed before my eyes" scenarios? ...  Well, It's Slow Magic. 

Everyone loves an enigma, a bit of mystery and that is what this musical newbie offers. Referring to himself/herself as Slow Magic only and with just three major single releases under their belt there is undoubtedly more to show... more to experience.  

Single releases Toddler Tiger, Sorry Safari and Corvette Cassette offer musical escapism at it's best. 

The scratchy undertones of Toddler Tiger, mixed with hearty beats, plucky guitar pieces and mellow sighs transport you to your favourite beach destination, If the sea could make music, this is what it would sound like. 

Sorry Safari has an all together different atmosphere, beginning with an intensifying intro or whirs and whirls seeping into a quiet piano piece. The fluctuations between the almost alien like sequence of quirky sounds and tinkering piano keys somehow works; offering a summer nights feel. 

But the main protagonist is Corvette Cassette. The infusion of so many tinks, twists and tunes creates a melody that is beyond unworldly. The staggered pace and intricate combinations of so many different elements makes this tune a firm favourite.

Marinating in ultimate trendiness and sitting comfortably within a fresh unkempt genre, Slow Magic is perhaps one of many new musical persona's that are brimming with kooky, chill out expressions. 

With a Bandcamp site (http://slowmagic.bandcamp.com/) and Facebook profile (http://www.facebook.com/slowwmagic) both picking up speed there is hope yet that Slow Magic and perhaps others of a similar taste will soon get the recognition that is truly deserved.

http://soundcloud.com/slowmagic

Mikaela Osborne

4/5

Battle of the bands – Tamworth 3/06/2011

Every band has a story, a past, a struggle. In some ways it has become an old hat rock and roll cliché - the troubled artists striving to make ends meet in a desperate attempt to shed the constraints of their home town. Tonight’s band Scarlett are a little less dramatic, but it is clear to see that this band do have some big aspirations of their own.

Third on stage, the three piece made up of frontman/guitarist Shaheen Shaikh and brothers Greg and Nick Baldwin on bass and drums, do well to pull together a respectable crowd of on lookers in the small town venue. Made up of friends and family there is a real sense of support and admiration within the room, which does well to soothe the bands first gig nerves.

The opening to the bands four song set does well to set the pace of their performance, although not the strongest of the four it warms the crowd up and demonstrates the bands skill and musicianship.  This theme of musical prowess continues with the groups mix of stabby guitar riffs and heavy percussion, edging towards a harder scene whilst still emulating a more classic hard rock style.

A cheeky rendition of Ce- lo green’s ‘F**k You’ seals the deal and has the room singing along, their rocked up version works well and is played to perfection. The closing tracks produce again more applause and show off the bands song writing ability; the catchy chorus makes their penultimate song one to remember and encourages crowd participation. They close on a high and leave with their supporters ready for more.

For a small town band, playing the first gig to close friends and relatives the boys have done well and tonight has set a benchmark from which they can only develop from. Though nerves were a guaranteed the trio looked and sounded tight, and were able to play almost unfaltering. With an impressive and hearty start these three can be nothing but proud.

Mikaela Osborne

I Am In Love - I Want You. Single review

I Am In Love. There have been stranger band names, and to be fair to the quintet from Leicestershire it’s very in keeping with their kooky, edgey, cooler than you persona.

There first single ‘I Want You’ encompasses all of this. From the first initial chords, a stabby guitar riff and electronic beat, you are taken back in time to the glory days of the 1980s. It is clear that the band have been influenced by the greats, Prince, The Cure and of course David Bowie; but yet they still manage to create a sound that marries an 80s throwback with a more modern electronic feel.

The soaring, high timbre of the vocals sets off the track and mirrors their trendy electronic style, reminiscent of the Scissor Sisters vocalist Jake Shears. The vocals flit from flowing highs to a chanty chorus, giving the song plenty of twists and edges.

All in all, this band offer something a little unique; although not enough to make them a complete stand out. Their dreamy electronic pop is a worthwhile listen and a change from the usual indie based sounds of many new bands. I Am In Love are quirky, trendy and effortlessly cool... but it’s not enough to make you fall in love with them.

Mikaela Osborne

3/5

What have you learned about design and the way in which it communicates meaning?

Design is a key element to a magazine, as it is what a consumer relates to as well highlighting the type of content that the magazine will include. When designing a magazine it is necessary to consider the target audience as well as the type of magazine you are creating, “You need to analyse the target audience and the aims of the magazine before you embark on the design as different types of magazine require different visual treatment.” (D. Dabner, A Swann, 2003, pg 102) with music and journalism magazines the text content will be high and the structure of the pages usually follow a Column format.

With Kerrang magazine the design of the magazine allows the consumer to be aware of the genre easily and quickly, “The look, shape and style of a publication has an important impact on the way it is viewed by the reader.” (C. Frost, 2003, pg 9) The magazine title is iconic and the basic background colour schemes are always dark, the magazine main genre is rock music ,with major links with metal therefore the dark colours and loud font symbolise this.

Bibliography:

Kerrang.com

C. Frost, Designing for newspapers and magazines Routledge, 2003, pg 9

D. Dabner, A. Swann, How to understand and use design and layout, Adams Media, 2003, pg 102 

What have you learned from Tri Media - how can thi sbe brought most effectively into your journalism?

The use of Tri media within the journalism is, in the current age, a necessity. With continuous developments in technology and the growing expectations of new generations “The basic strategies by which online journalism will become financially viable in the long run are now clear.” (B Mcnair, 2009, pg 146) journalism has spread from its traditional written word format into other branches.

Within Tri media a range of skills are taught and learnt, skills that will encourage and aid in order to create magazines, websites and short video clips. All of the programs used – Finalcut pro, Photoshop and Dreamweaver have prepared me with a sufficient knowledge of how to create something quickly and easily. In terms of the magazine pages for Vibe and the online webzine the skills learnt mean I will be able to offer these skills to future employers, who will be looking for something more than ability to write well within the journalism industry today.

As well as this, the type and style of writing needed when writing for an online medium differs to that used for a print publication. Through creating webzines within Tri media and adding news backgrounders and features to the pages it becomes apparent that with the layout of an online publication only a small amount of text is used and each point has to earn its place on the site.

Similarly through research within Tri media it was discovered that the type of consumer differs from print publication to online, meaning the focus and attention of an web browser needs to be captured almost straight away “For today’ students and journalists, knowing how to build a web site is not enough – knowing how to craft a news story for maximum impact via the web is a must.” (D.A.Craig, 2010, pgs 192) as found within Tri media the content within an online publication is less than other journalism mediums it became necessary to write pieces that would fit to the style and layout of the webzine as well as being interesting and captivating.

Bibliography:

NME.com

Rollingstone.com

B. McNair, news and journalism in the UK, Taylor and Francis, 2009, pg 146

D. A. Craig, Excellence in online journalism: exploring current practises in an evolving environment, SAGE, 2010, pgs 192

What is the difference between fan writing and music journalism?

In some ways there are many similarities between fan writing and music journalism, the basic aim and goal of both is the same, to write about music. However the way in which this aim is reached differs between the two mediums.

Fan writing is written by fans, fans of the artists or genre that they writing about, therefore some of the critical slant that is found within journalism is lost, also as many fanzines are written or edited by an individual the benefit of having other opinions and inputs is removed also.

Yet the basis of the two forms, professional music journalism and amateur fan writing hold the same ideas:

“The fanzine shares much with is professional counterpart  popular cultural journalism, For instance the roots of the popular press in the UK and the US lie not in professionalised journalism but in amateur underground press of the late 1960s.” (K Wahl-Jorgenson, T. Hanitsch, 2008, pg 270)

Therefore the differences that set the two apart are, the professional style of the music journalist, with an edge of reflection and critic, opposed with fan writing and the centred, individual style they offer. Fan writing is seen as the amateur side of music writing whereas the music journalist, with the perhaps more objective view is deemed professional journalism.

Bibliography:

K Wahl-Jorgenson, T. Hanitsch, The handbook of journalism studies, Taylor and Francis, 2008, pg 270

What form to fanzines take today?

Traditionally fanzines were small daily or weekly low budget publications written and organised by fans of certain bands and genres:

“Produced by one person, or a group of friends, working from their homes fanzines are usually concentrated totally on a particular artist or group, and are characterised by a fervour bordering on the religious.” (R. Shuker, 2001, pg 89)

The from in which fanzines take today differs slightly from the original format, this is mainly due to the effectiveness and availability of the internet, “The internet has provided a new medium for the international dissemination of fanzines.” (R. Shuker, 2002, pg 120) The internet provides the facilities to blog, this means anyone can publish their thoughts and ideas, as well this many people now have the skills and programs to be able to create websites and online fanzines that can be quickly and easily put on the web.

Bibliography:

R. Shuker, Understanding Popular Music, Routledge, 2001, pg 89

R. Shuker, Popular music: the key concepts, Routledge, 2002, pg 120

Discuss your work on Vibe magazine, taking into account the editorial focus, market suitability, and magazine content. What have you learned from the process?

Introduction:

The assignment given to us was to form into groups of four and individually create magazine pages that would fit and flow together in order to create a complete 24 page magazine.

Planning and preparation:

In order to create magazine pages of a high quality, that fit the brief in terms of target audience, genre and style, it was necessary to plan the approach we would take to gather the information needed.

During group discussions it was agreed amongst us which pages would be assigned to which members of the group. It was decided that myself and Eloise would create pages 4 and 5, with Nick and Tom creating pages 2 and 3.

Having settled with our separate pages i was then able to begin the planning procedure, this meant I could start to think about the design elements of the page as well as discovering the key elements that are stereotypically found within magazines.

I then created a simple design for my magazine page, using Word, this would enable me to have starting point in terms of the direction my page and allow me to have something basic to add to and improve after researching further.

Research:

When researching for the magazine design assignment I chose to look at and evaluate other established magazines and webzines, in particular Kerrang!, NME and Q. I focused on the page furniture they had, and the layout of the pages. This meant i could start to focus on any patterns or repeated themes and therefore involve them in my design.

The target audiences of each separate magazine seemed to have a significant impact on its design. For instance, Kerrang! Is a magazine aimed at a younger age group, teenagers particularly. This therefore gave it a different feel to a magazine such as Q which is generally aimed at a slightly more mature music fan. With NME there is some crossover in terms of target audience, as they attempt to involve a wide range of ages.

The genre and type of magazine also has some sway over the design of the pages, with Kerrang! Being known as a metal focused magazine and NME a classically Indie inspired magazine it means the audience expect a certain colour scheme or font that compliments this genre.

After looking into these different elements I then started to think about the target audience and the feature i would include. As the magazine is aimed at students on the music scheme i chose a piece that was written about a Solent Student.

Creating magazine page:

To create our magazine pages we used the program InDesign, we were taught the basic principles during lectures which they enabled us to develop our designs.

We spent time discussing the font type and size so that all the pages would flow well and look complete.

I decided to put a slight angle on the image and caption on my page, as after looking at issues of Audio Addict it seemed quite a popular trend within their pages.

A pull out quote was added as this is also a common feature within magazines, and livens the page up; giving the reader more incentive to read the piece as well as balancing the page out.

When choosing the colour scheme it was necessary to consider all the other groups choices, and in particular Eloise’s as our pages would be placed side by side. I chose to add a pastel colour which complimented the image I had. Therefore page 5 was also coloured in a pastel colour allowing for continuity.

Improvements:

There are several elements that could be improved during the process of designing my page; with an extended knowledge of InDesign it may have been possible to create a higher level of design.

Also, with further research more evidence could have been gathered to help shape my design more thoroughly. Similarly with better communication between other groups it would have been easier to choose definite page furniture.

Bibliography: 

NME.com

Kerrang.com

Discuss two music websites and the way they represent race and ethnicity

One music website that offers an interesting slant on the focus of music publications and in particular those that have a niche genre and audience is Vibe. The former CEO Keith Clinkscales has said “We don’t think of ourselves as a Hip hop or R&B magazine. Vibe is a music magazine, the way Rolling Stone is a music magazine... Vibe’s goal is to be as important if not more important than Rolling Stone.” (S.C. Watkins, 2005, pg 56) Yet despite having this objective and belief when looking at the website itself the largely predominant if not only race found within the site is black. For a magazine with the tag line ‘Redefining Hip Hop’ it may be expected that the main target audience are young black males and females, and the publication caters for this well. Yet with the idea of creating a place where Hip Hop and R&B is not solely stereotyped or targeted towards a black culture there is very little to highlight a white target audience, or even news stories involving a mix of both white celebrities as well as other races. In terms of representation Vibe represents a black audience well, the adverts for the website show black actors and artists, yet the there is little found to represent a white audience, the thing being a mention of ‘Paris Hilton’s top sexiest photos’.

So when compared to the Rolling Stone website, it is quickly obvious that the two show almost complete opposites in terms of their representation. Rolling Stone includes video clips of white male fronted bands, as well as news about white acts, however there are snippets of news surrounding acts such as Rihanna and Run Dmc. What Rolling stone manage to do, that differs from Vibe, is keep the classic rock genre that they are renowned for as well as incorporating other forms of genre.

Bibliography:

www.Vibe.com

www.RollingStone.com

S.C. Watkins, Hip Hop matters: politics pop culture and the struggle for the soul of a movement, Beacon press, 2005, pg 56

Website Report - Tri media assignment 3

Introduction:

For our final assignment the task was set to complete an online webzine that would reflect and accompany the magazine created – Vibe. In order to do this Dreamweaver and Photoshop would be used to design and create five linked web pages.

Research:

As our pages for Vibe magazine had already been created the task of putting together a five page website would be helped along due to the fact the general colour schemes, font and style had already been set.

As well as referring to our magazine pages it was necessary to do some other researching, I looked at several popular online publications, such as Kerrang, Nme, Q and Mojo. The styles of these websites seemed to differ slightly depending on whether the publication was a weekly or a monthly, however the basic themes seemed to revolve around a dark background and coloured boxes of information and content.

After looking into ways to create and design a website that would fit in with those within the same field as well as ways to make the website as user friendly as possible I discovered the concept of BWD – Balanced Website Design: “Together with the intrinsic purpose needs of a website, these aspects form three pillars of website design, and hence the BWD methodology ... usability, purpose and aesthetics.” (D. Lawrence, S. Tavakol, 2007, pg 10) the basic ideal of this is to create a website that functions well and looks appealing as well giving the audience the features needed.

Photoshop:

When designing the website the program that was best suited was Photoshop, working with this I was able to quickly pull together ideas as well as alter and add certain elements. By using Photoshop it meant the design could be easily transferred onto Dreamweaver to be created. It was only necessary to create a basic format for the website, focusing on the home page as it is the hub and therefore first port of call for anyone visiting the site; by creating this page all other pages would follow this format and style. Through further research it became aware that there were certain aspects that make up a quality homepage: “At least seven major rules must be considered when designing a homepage for an internet resource or service: purpose, scope, structure, enhancement, links, forms and maintenance. “ (M.D. Harris, 1997, pg 899) Through choosing the general colour scheme and font style, whilst working with the magazine page I’d created earlier I was able to ensure the two could be matched together to a degree as well as working well as a functional website.

One main element of Photoshop is the use of different layers, for each new part added to the page a new layer can be created, this means different layers can be worked on a different times, without affecting any other images of text on the page. BY locking certain layers, colours can be added to background layers or to text boxes made on higher layers.

When the primary design was completed I was then able to begin to transfer the work onto Dreamweaver, in order to do this I used the Marquee tool; this is an aspect of Photoshop that allows images and other components to be traced around and copied onto another program.

Dreamweaver:

By using Dreamweaver I would be able to process a webzine quickly and easily “Dreamweaver provides you with the tools for publishing your site by copying the web document and supporting files from the computer you created them into the web server and make them accessible to viewers,” (Kogent Solution Inc, 2008, pg 18) To make the transition from Photoshop to Dreamweaver it was necessary to make a table that matched the height and width of the design created within Photoshop, to do this I changed the height and width from percentage to pixels on Photoshop and typed in the number into the ‘raw’ code on Dreamweaver.

I added a background to the five pages I had created, I sourced the blue-grey texture from Google Images (www.google.images.co.uk) as it was in-keeping with the pale colour scheme created within my magazine page. Also I used blue and grey colours for the header and navigation bar as well as changing the font colour to grey #ccc.

By using ApDiv boxes I was able to move images and text around easily, I aligned all text to ‘centre’ and focused on making the content appear in some form of columns, symbolising a magazine format. I kept the amount of text small as within webzines the amount of information and news is lesser than that found within the print publication, in some ways it may act as a taster.

I linked all the pages together using by following the website lecture notes on MyCourse. I went to properties and browsed the root folder and setting the target to self; however when adding external links I needed to paste the link and set the target to blank in order to open a new window.

To make the sections within the navigation bar – Home, Magazine, Blog, Video and Feature change colour when the viewer rolls over the word I went to Page Properties and changed the colour of the text  to black and underlined, this meant that the viewer is aware of where the links are on the page.

To add a video to the page I followed an online tutorial, I copied the embedded code from Youtube and changed the page from split to code, I then pasted the video code into the html and refreshed.

Throughout creating the website I viewed the web pages within the live view, by doing this I could check the hyperlinks and get a better and fuller look at each web page. 

Bibliography:

www.Kerrang.com

www.NME.com

http://mycourse.solent.ac.uk/mod/book/view.php?id=184961

http://www.youtubeget.com/yg8.html

M.D. Harris, Handbook of home healthcare administration, Jones and Bartlett learning 1997, pg 899

Kogent Solutions Inc, Dreamweaver in simple steps, Dreamtech Press2008, pg 18

D. Lawrence, S. Tavakol, Balanced Website Design – optimising usability, purpose and aesthetics Springer, 2007, pg 10 

How do magazines such as NME and Kerrang reflect Subcultures and Gender?

NME and Kerrang magazine are both established publications, with back catalogues spanning over several decades, NME was first released as a relaunch of Musical Express in the 1950s and covered many new genres and reached new audiences. (U. Lindberg, 2005, pg 82) Similarly, Kerrang first touched the shelves in the 1980s which a metal themed tinge spreading to cover the majority of consumer needs (P. Honeywill, D. Carpenter, 2003, pg 84)

One of the things that Kerrang are most reputable for is the almost niche attitude towards metal, especially and more so in its early days, “Kerrang, the preeminent heavy metal of the 1980s.” (D.Weinstein, 2000, pg 174) as a genre heavy metal was rife during the late 70s through to the 80s, with many subcultures arising from it such as glam metal, hair metal, thrash metal and many others. One subculture that appears to have taken Kerrang as something of a symbol or element of its identity is Goth “Kerrang magazine, read by Goths and those into metal and nu-metal music, it has recently become the most popular music periodical in the UK.” (T.Waddell, 2007, pg 37) The magazine also reflects this main subculture through its design, style and layout, “A teenaged Western metal fan’s reaction to the typeface, colours and layouts of Kerrang magazine are likely to be roughly the same as other members of that subcultural group.” (M.Barnard, 2005, pg25) Kerrang now has a reputation and background as the original ‘metal magazine’ and focuses on creating pieces for the cultures within this broad meta-genre.

There is also the idea that as more subcultures began to emerge, the writing style and type of writers began to change to fit with the new demands of the audience “With writers guidance new areas that would have stayed concealed started to emerge.” (N Macdonald, 2001, pg 53) niche magazines are also a large part of subcultures, with many focusing wholly on one type of music and reflecting the beliefs and attitudes surround the genre.

NME is a generally indie based publication with some deviation into Rap and Hip Hop but never far enough to outstretch its trendy, adolescent feel. The majority of the bands and artists with the publication are male lead, a lot of indie bands are four or five piece male groups, which are the main focus of NME “The readership of NME tends to be adolescents or young males in their twenties and thirties; the writers of the magazine, adopting the attitude of being ‘one of us’ tend to reflect this group.” (C.W. Jones, 2008, pg 122) therefore the gender reflected within the publication appears to lean towards a male dominated readership and so the content may be focused on this audience rather than a balanced female to male ratio.

A factor within music magazines such as NME and Mojo as well as many others is the lists and collections put together within issues such as ‘100 greatest rock songs’ or ‘ultimate rock list’ the phrases found within these lists and sometimes within other features is ‘Women in rock’ the phrase itself seems to purposefully set apart the genders and highlight the idea of women in music:

 “The very phrase ‘Women in rock’, which features in a great number of articles focusing on female musicians, is in itself problematic. Rather than simply pointing out the activity of female musicians within a particular music genre, the phrase usually works to peculiarise the presences of female rock performers.” (M. Leonard, 2007, pg 32)

It appears to be a general theme within rock orientated magazines to publish a higher amount of content around males than females, perhaps simply because the amount of musicians within the genre is dominated heavily by males therefore giving publications little else to write about. Magazines such as Q identify with and communicate with fans of classic rock, which is a highly masculine genre, meaning the publication has little mention of female musicians, “Where magazines are concerned Bayton (1970) studied 1980s and 1990s publications for guitarists and found that women’s presence in such magazines was minimal.” (J. Shepherd, 2003, pg 233)

The reflection of subculture and gender within music publication therefore depends highly upon the magazine itself, the audience it is targeting and the needs and wants of the consumer.

Bibliography:

M.Barnard, Graphic design as communication, Routledge, 2005, pg 25

P. Honeywill, D. Carpenter, Digital magazine design with case studies, Intellect Books, 2003, pg 84

C.W. Jones, The rock cannon: canonical values in the reception of rock albums, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2008, pg 122

M. Leonard, Gender in the music industry: rock, discourse and girl power, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2007, pg 32

U. Lindberg, Rock criticism from the beginning: amusers, brusers and cool headed cruisers, Peter Lang, 2005, pg 82

N. Macdonald, The graffiti subculture: youth, masculinity and identity in London and new York, Palgrave Macmillan 2001, pg 53

J. Shepherd, Continuum encyclopaedia of popular music of the world, Continuum International Publishing group, 2003, pg 233

T. Waddell, Cultural expression of evil and wickedness: wrath, sex and crime, Radopi, 2007, pg37

D. Weinstein, Heavy metal: the music and its culture, Da Capo Press, 2000, pg 174

Is blogging journalism

Blogging is a reasonably new form of communication online, whereby anyone can create their own blog in order to express their own opinions and thoughts for anyone else searching the web to look at or read.

The very nature and role of blogging is a place where opinion and debate can arise, therefore for many grammar, spelling and general accuracy is not always top of the list. Within journalism almost every piece written is sub edited and proof read to ensure its utmost accuracy and truthfulness, this is therefore a large difference between blogging and journalism as blogging is rarely regulated and allows almost anything to be published online.

Due to this many people find it difficult to comprehend blogging as a form of journalism:

            “I think there’s a misunderstanding when people try to talk about blogging through the frame of journalism. Most political bloggers don’t consider themselves to be journalists but rather citizens participating in a public debate. The fact that it took off in the way that it did and joined the mainstream debate is why people thought of it as journalism.” (R.Solly, 2007, pgs 198)

Blogging offers anyone a platform in which to get views and thoughts as well as work and ideas published, there’s nothing really to take away anything perhaps that wouldn’t be found in publications or forms of online journalism, in some ways this separates blogging from true journalism as there is no process or consideration to it, it can be merely published as  an out-pour of nonsense.

Bibliography:

R.Solly, Journalism, Career F&Qs, 2007, pgs 198

What are the main difference between print and online journalism

Music journalism has over recent years taken form over new platforms, namely the transition from not only print but to online publications as well. For many magazines having just a print version is not enough and to keep up with the demands of a new generation and the growth of technology, there are many online sites that are now dedicated to the online version of publications.

There are some obvious differences between online and print journalism, the platform itself sometimes determines what can and cannot be included within the separate types of publication.

Online journalism can have an infinite number of pages, there is no real set limit as the web can hold more information and it is cheaper to create web pages than to print them, within these pages the information is generally more condensed, a shorter or more concise article may be published “People read 30% more slowly off the computer screen than off paper. And they read less carefully – scanning. You need to convince readers you’re good – and do it quick - to get them to stick. (www.national union of journalists – Paris) the amount of content within online journalism is main difference as the bulk of the news is held at the hub or home page where the attention of the audience needs to be sustained. The separate pages are usually small, 150 to 200 word reviews or features that act as a taster of the magazine.

Interactivity is also a big difference between the two mediums, with the nature of online journalism and websites allowing for fast and easily accessible audience/reader participation. With print journalism the idea is still continued but it a remarkably different fashion “A well-known means for feedback, especially in print journalism, is the Letters to the Editor section. Readers usually write letters as a reaction to media messages. The communication remains reactive, however, not unless journalists or other readers (in subsequent letters) respond to the initial communication.” (T. Schultz, 1999) Therefore online journalism offers a greater level of interactivity with the reader as it is instant and accessible.

Another difference is the structure of the content and the way in which it is read. With print journalism the reader can actually hold the information whereas the information online is virtual, this may alter the way in which the content is taken in:

            “Printed newspapers are known to widen the range of public topics, events and issues their audience is aware of. There are reasons to assume that their online counterparts help increase their audience’s perceived agenda to a lesser extent. The way print newspapers are structured and used is supposed to lure readers into reading stories they may not have been interested in beforehand. Online papers support more activity and control by their users; becoming aware of a narrower range of topics according to one’s individual interests is more plausible.” (K. Schonbach et al, 2005, Chapter 4)

Lastly the layout of print and online journalism differs somewhat, print is only able to be designed in a way that fits to paper, something that can be folded up and looked at time and time again, the general layout of a print copy is columns of writing with fixed images and headline, sub headings and pull out quotes. Whereas the online copy can afford to change this layout to some extent “...the layout and design are key elements for presenting that information, and all media for any photo, video and audio elements that accompany an article.” (Ferguson, 2005, pg48) online journalism is able to incorporate a variety of extra features such as moving images and videos that could not be found within the print publication.

Bibliography:

Ferguson, Journalism, Infobase Publishing, 2005, pg 48

K. Schonbach et al, Online and print newspapers : their impacts on the extent of the perceived public agenda, 2005, Chapter 4

T. Schultz, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 1999, Wiley-online library.

How has your work changed from the first assignment and how has sub editing affected the way in which you view your writing

One of the first things that becomes apparent when writing at a university standard, especially in terms of popular music journalism is the need to change your style from clear cut ‘run of the mill’ essay writing to a focused and stylised form of writing.  In my opinion to become a high quality and successful writer the style in which you write needs to interesting, different and personal. Of course is in some circumstances, such as news backgrounders or small inserts personalising the piece may not be necessary or appropriate but to have a style that is recognisable is what makes your work and writing true to you. However, it is also necessary to be able to write to a ‘House style’ which reflects the paper or publications general theme and tone.

From the first assignment to the second, there is an obvious change in writing style and a better regard for proofing and editing work to an extensive degree before submission. Therefore becoming more aware of grammar and punctuation and sentence structure.

One factor that allows writing to progress and become of a higher standard is sub editing “At a most basic level of sub editing involves quality control, looking for factual errors, typos or literals and solecisms to ensure everything is accurate and well written.” (J. Whittaker, 2008, pg 99) Sub editing allows writing to be tweaked and improved to fulfil a magazine standard and many publications have a vast team of subs to ensure all pieces are of a high quality.

Bibliography:

J. Whittaker, Magazine production, Taylor and Francis, 2008, pg 99

Discuss the work of two music journalists you admire and why

One of the biggest names in music journalism history, for me, is Lester bangs. With a career as notorious as the bands he’s wrote about, Bangs is in his own right a bit of a star himself. Starting his career in 1969 with Rolling stone Bangs soon became a name within his field, yet in 1979 after being fired for a negative review within the publication he moved onto to Detroit’s Creem with whom he gained national recognition (C.H. Sterling, 2009, pg 378) 

Lester bangs opinion has always been what makes him so influential within the music press, and his views on music journalism are apparent “I think a lot of music out there and a lot of the writers who are out right now, they both deserve each other, because they both have no personality and no style of their own and no soul.”(DeRogatis quoted in M, Berube, 2005, pg 129)

The life of Lester Bangs is what makes him so compelling, the attitude and ideals that he exudes make him one of the only music journalists that are and have been able to become as renowned as the people they write about “Lester bangs- the gonzo journalist, gutter poet,  and romantic visionary of rock criticism.” (J. DeRogatis, 2000 pgs 331) As a champion of rock journalism, a musician himself and with a career spanning from 1969 to 1980s he is truly a music press legend.

Another influential and quite remarkable music journalist is Nick Kent, with a career starting at the tender age of 19 and continuing into the 1980s, the back catalogue of Kent is pretty impressive:

        “Kent started writing for the underground magazine frendz as a 19 year old student, and was then recruited by NME late in 1972...he did not disappear from the papers line up of contributors until the mid- 1980s but in practise he was working as a freelance in 1975. In the 1980s in did some work for The face and moved to France; he went onto do television work and write for magazines and dailies such as Mojo and 

The Guardian and publish a book called zonked. “ (U. Lindberg, 2005, pg 205)

It is clear that his career is filled with different types of publications, from monthly publications to dailies and newspapers, giving him a wide knowledge of the music press and the different platforms within it. Not only this, similarly to Lester Bangs, Kent was able to input his personal experiences to his work “Kent took his musician’s career further, having a brief fling with the Sex Pistols and even recording a song with a group called the Subterraneans... On the whole he didn’t just write about rock stars he shadowed them.” (U. Lindberg, 2005, pg 205) Nick Kent is so influential due to his widespread involvement in so many different publications and types of publications, from working as a freelance and to working for individual magazines.Therefore giving him wide and varied experiences of the music press. 

  Bibliography:

M. Berube, The aesthetics of cultural studies, Wiley-Blackwell, 2005, pg 129

J.DeRogatis, Let it Blurt – the life and times of Lester Bangs, America’s greatest rock critic, Broadway books, 2000, pgs 331

U. Lindberg, Rock criticism from the beginning: amusers, bruisers and cool headed cruisers, Peter Lang, 2005, pg 205   

C.H. Sterling, Encyclopaedia of journalism, SAGE, 2009, pg 378

What is the role of music journalism today?

Music journalism has always been a huge part of the music industry, with many writers gaining a high level of recognition throughout their career. Music journalists such as Lester Bangs and Nick Kent were making their mark in the 1970s and in some ways set in motion and became heavily a part of the culture of rock journalism. 

Within this Bangs and Kent gave their own opinions and beliefs through adding their personal tales “Nick Kent and Lester Bangs carefully cultivated public images of themselves, for instance at the start of his retrospective review of Van Morrison’s Astral  Weeks  Bangs places the record in relation to his own personal experiences” (J. Shepard, 2003, pg 255) Through this style of writing the idea of some music journalists becoming a character through their work or giving their writing style a large personality,  perhaps to encourage the premise that they were in an important position as music journalists, “Music reviews and interviews are often littered with obscure of canonical musical reference points, which serve simultaneously to establish the journalists authority.” (J. Shepard, 2003, pg 255)

Music Journalism has changed from its original style and purpose, moving into the realm of journalism that is currently recognisable today “Music and periodicals sprang up dedicated to music journalism which, initially made no distinction between political and artistic matters” (M. Callahan, 2005, pg 34) Slowly, music journalism began to slide into the role its fulfils today “music journalism especially underwent a transformation directly corresponding to the final conquest by the popular arts of preeminent position in cultural production.” (M, Callahan, 2005, pg 34)

It has been argued that the role of a music journalist has changed quite significantly today, with the need and audience changing, “As the landscape for consumer press has changed so has the job, no longer is music journalism the domain of the specialist magazine; nowadays virtually every publication covers music in some form or another.(A. Britten, 2004, pg 105)  Therefore this suggest that the role of journalism has widened and perhaps become something that is accessible to almost everyone; with many different types of publication now having music sections and the idea of music journalism moving from the specialist to the more general. Similarly the changes from early forms of music press to the current role show some significant changes:

“Music journalists are no longer as free as their 1960s-1980s processors who were to tell the unexpurgated truth about something. Interviews became political footballs ; promotional albums kept under lock and key for fear of piracy. May feel the role of music journalism is being whittled away as more and more people download advance copies off the internet.” (A. Britten, 2005, pg 105)

The role of music journalism today may have changed prominently from the earlier description and opinion of music journalism, moving from specialist to widespread and from uncontrolled freedom of writing to a more regulated idea of sharing opinions and beliefs with a new generation of audience.

Bibliography:

A. Britten, Working in the music industry:how to find an exciting and varied career in the music world, How To Books Ltd, 2005, pg 105

M. Callahan, The trouble with music, AK press, 2005, pg 34

J.Shepard, Continuum encyclopaedia of popular music of the word, Continuum International publishing group, 2003, pg 255