The Gareth Main Blog

Designers! Line of Best Fit, Bearded, Quietus Project Design Brief

The bods behind websites The Line of Best Fit, Bearded and The Quietus are coming together to produce a print magazine project. They are looking to invite an artist, designer or illustrator to join their gang in these tender moments of start-up. If you are interested, please complete the following design brief by 30 August 2010.

- Produce an 8 page (inc. cover) booklet including images (photography and/or illustration) and text (headline, byline, copy text). This should be designed as your innovative, forward-thinking music magazine would look. The text and images can be on any subject and are chosen by the designer, you will not be judged on editorial content, only on interesting and innovative design.

- Produce a new logo for either thequietus.com, thelineofbestfit.com or beardedmagazine.com

- Submit a portfolio of work and/or website links

Please note, none of this will be published without permission being granted by you, all submissions will be viewed only by the four people involved: John Doran, Rich Hughes, Gareth Main and Luke Turner

Please submit all of this, including contact details, to garethbearded@googlemail.com before 30 August.

(apologies for lack of posting, this is one of the many things I have going on right now)

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DJing the Cosmic BBQ this weekend

The weather has been hot, and London’s outlook is for another sunny weekend this weekend. What better time to sit around, eat BBQ, drink beer and listen to some good tunes?

If that sounds like your thing, you might not be scared to find out that I’m DJing the Cosmic BBQ at The Windmill in Brixton on Saturday. There are loads of great bands, including BITCHES, who I love but have never seen. So please come down, say hello, and enjoy another hot British weekend.

The event is on Facebook here, and is only £5.

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New Bearded Website online

Not much to say other than go and have a look! It got a great response yesterday, and there are lots of lovely things to see.

New bits and bobs going online over the next few weeks and months, all very exciting

www.beardedmagazine.com

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New This Festival Feeling Column

Two in a day… here’s my new column for This Festival Feeling, recommending bands who are performing at festivals in June. And including some awesome Zun Zun Egui videos. Here’s another snippet:

Researching this column, I’ve discovered that the Glastonbury line-up is really quite awful when it comes to new, exciting bands. Seriously, it seems like a weird 90s revival. Since when were The Lightning Seeds back together? Since when did they get to play The Pyramid Stage at the most illustrious festival in the world? Paul Heaton of The Beautiful South performs too, and Ash headline the John Peel stage. Would the man himself be rolling in his grave? Perhaps, especially when The Drums play between legends Gang of Four and Holy Fuck, who this month released an absolutely storming LP.

Read the column here, you can read my first one here.

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The Negatives of 6Music and why it Should be Saved

My latest column for The Line of Best Fit isn’t quite as recommending as the others, apart for the evening and weekend output of 6Music. Whilst researching the piece, I found a number of gripes I had and hypocrisies I saw in the service. Here’s a snippet:

6Music could really be carving out its own impossible to commercialise niche. Put Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on at breakfast time and listen to some 24-minute long Acid Mother’s Temple track over your Coco Pops, put Craig Charles’ Funk & Soul show on from three till six on weekdays so that the afternoon at work is the most funky time of your life. Saving 6Music is about saving these shows that do put out amazing alternative music, and if it is saved, 6Music should reassess what differentiates it from other stations and act accordingly. In reality, they should be getting 100,000 weirdoes listening in, people who have nowhere else to go for their radio output because it is impossible to commercialise to such a small audience

Read the entire article

You can read all my columns for the site by clicking here.

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Pic n Mixxed…

As previously mentioned on the blog, I did a mix CD for the Pic n Mixx event at London’s Buffalo Bar this coming Saturday.

The event concept is simple: bring along a mix, chuck it in the box, see some bands, and leave with somebody else’s mix. You could leave with mine, with is nicely hand-stitched using offcuts of a 60s dress (see here). Unfortunately I can’t be at the gig due to family commitments, but you should go if you’re in the capital. I love events like this - they resemble everything that music culture should be: sharing tunes you love with like-minded people. You might discover your new favourite band.

You can listen to my mix in the widget below, you can buy tickets for the event here. More info on their Facebook page.

Gareth Bearded: Pic N Mixxed by Independentmusicpodcast on Mixcloud

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How to contact someone about your music

Here’s an email I received this morning:

Hey Gareth

Hope you are well..  I’ve been following you on twitter for a while now (that sounds more sinister than it should…) and have been a reader of Bearded for just over a year and have come to the conclusion that you might like to hear our new single! Hooray!

It is called The Wrong Place and we are releasing it on our own label (Wailing Woo) on 28th June.  If you click on the link below you can hear the track (right click to download…)

LINK

Well, we’d love it if you found some space in your collection.  Please feel free to play it on your excellent podcast you do with the guy from God Don’t Like It too!!

Below is a press release and I’ve included the single artwork in this email…

Oh and thanks for the advice on your blog about getting your promos heard…

Thanks
Tim

PRESS RELEASE

Artist: Panic Attract

Title: The Wrong Place

Label: Wailing Woo

Release Date: 28/06/10

The Wrong Place is the new single from London psychedelic pop band Panic Attract and is three and a half minutes of wonky, dark jubilance. There are folky ukelele strums, dancehall beats and bubble organ. There is a stream of consciousness rant about atheism and intoxication. There is an instrumental funk chorus. The Wrong Place is a peculiar pop song.

The Wrong Place is the followup to the 2009 release The Panic Attract EP, which was picked up by the likes of John Kennedy, Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson. The Wrong Place maintains the swooning melodies and backbeat drums, but things have changed. Original duo Tim Garratt and Greg Heresztyn are now joined by Noel Anderson on guitar and Matt Garner on drums. This first recording as a four-piece is the sound of a band bursting out of a cosy bedroom dynamic and the energy is captivating.

This release is the first of a batch of new recordings the band will put out throughout the year under their Wailing Woo label. 

Praise for the Panic Attract EP (2009)

“lovely swooning pop” - Steve Lamacq

“London Calling chose the band’s E.P. track, Weather Systems, to be record of the week this week. While first impressions suggest a low key, shoe gaze element to the band, the fuller picture is something deeper and much more rich” - BBC Radio London

“Rather gorgeous, a sumptuous sound and a fine example of electro acoustic pop” - Gary Crowley, 6 Music

“a singular strand of music” - Tom Robinson, 6 Music

“Panic Attract has no fear in telling their stories, in mixing sensibility and purity. They deserve multiple listenings to capture all the tones and beauty in their songs.” - Sound Magazine.it

For More Please Contact etc…

Okay, there are so many things that are right with this email I could probably go on forever. Firstly, it’s not too long. Secondly, it isn’t a copy and paste job - it doesn’t start with the press release and it references what I do. You don’t need to know me intimately to know that I am on Twitter, or that I write a blog, or a podcast or that I’ve written about getting promos submitted. You can visit my blog once and know all these things without clicking off the homepage.

It highlights really how a little effort can set you apart from everyone else. At the time of writing, I have had 36 unread messages come in from PR people - I can be certain that none of them with reference anything I’ve ever done, some will be pseudo-threatening ‘give us feedback, or else no more promos’ and most won’t include my name. Obviously I’m not the most important music critic out there, but it means that Panic Attract’s single will definitely be up for consideration when I’m looking to review something or play it on the podcast… and that’s the point, right?

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Mixtapes with Cellmates

Since my CD for the mixtape event later this month (see this ‘ere post), I’ve been making more, but with vinyl. Here’s my latest project - a mixtape of ‘boys with guitars’ that I have on 7”. It’s recorded live, which is why it’s a bit naff. Listen here, read on for more blurb:

Gareth Bearded’s #2 - Boys: 7” Guitar Mix by Independentmusicpodcast on Mixcloud

Read More

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