2011 has been a great year for the Music Matters campaign, and a great year for music! Thousands of music lovers have joined us in our quest to spread the word about supporting artists, not to mention some incredible musicians including Elbow, Bernard Butler and of course The Beatles!
As the year draws to a close we want to know about your musical highlights of 2011 - what were you listening to, where, and how? Help us pull together a list of Why Music Mattered in 2011?
At Music Matters HQ the festive season is now in full swing, and that means we have had the standard christmas pop classics on repeat. But as much as we like to hear Mariah telling us what she wants for christmas, it was about time we found some lesser heard christmas classics to help keep the festive spirit alive.
We asked the Music Matters community to help us put together a more alternative selection of tunes and once again they have delivered a great playlist. Click the link below to hear Music Matters take on a alternative Christmas spotify playlist.
Happy Halloween! You guys helped us come with an especially eerie selection of tunes for our Halloween Spotify playlist. Check it out here - if you dare…. (you can download Spotify here if you need to)
The days are drawing in, the leaves have fallen - it's official - summer's over and winter's knocking on the door!
Fear not, our fantastic Music Matter fans on Facebook have come up with this beautifully autumnal playlist to soundtrack a walk in the park kicking up the leaves, or an afternoon staring out the window clasping a big old mug of hot chocolate!
If you have access to Spotify (You can download it here if you don't) check out the "All the leaves are brown.." playlist by clicking here.
We always want to know what you think. Did we miss out a classic song, is this playlist spot on? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or leave a comment below!'
Posted by: Alex Vanthournout @ Sep 21, 2011 - 12:09
As London Fashion Week is slowly drawing to a close, we went around the shows all week and looked at how designers are using music in their collections and shows.
No one uses music more than true music fan Christopher Bailey, designer of Burberry, who often uses young musicians in his advertisements, created the Burberry Acoustic Sessions and always has a host of artists on his front rows.
This time it was no different: established names like Kanye West, Paul Weller, Ellie Goulding and The Feeling sat next to young talent like Sam Beeton, Misty Miller and George Craig. The soundtrack to the show also featured big names like U2 and Joss Stone next to Kill It Kid.
Have a look at the video of the show below, and let us know: do you think the choice of songs enhances the experience? Or do you think it doesn’t matter?
Alex Vanthournout is a freelance fashion journalist and the author of popular blog www.alexloves.com. Originally from Belgium, she now lives and works in London. Before going freelance she earned her stripes at magazines like Wallpaper* and Elle Belgium, before a stint in PR at the Louis Vuitton press office. Her favourite band is The National.
The Beatles’ music has always been a very essential part of my life from my early childhood, attending university in Liverpool and through to teaching their work as an A level subject.
It is simply impossible to specifically say why The Beatles have had such an impact on my life but their work seems to transcend the world of music and singing. When listening to their early work I often think of my younger life when I would sing along to tracks like “I Wanna Hold your Hand”, “Eight Days a Week” and “Please Please Me”. These tracks are indicative the carefree teen (girl or boy) having a laugh and a good dance to a cracking tune. There are also tracks such as “This Boy” which harbour deep feelings of melancholic love and loss through detailed heartbreaking harmonies; things that almost every teenager could identify with back then, now and always. Further along in the catalogue, songs like “Eleanor Rigby”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and the mystery that is “A Day in the Life” make me think about music in a more grown up way.
Having had to teach the rudiments of the compositions for the last few years I’ve had chance to deconstruct the songs and appreciate them for their beautiful and almost haunting artistic complexity. In short, it is this duality of meaning and tone that elevates The Beatles above everyone else.
If you want a dance and a crazy night out they will Hold Your Hand and if you want to write an academic essay they will allow you to Work It Out.
Nick Whitfield
Above: Nick with his class and his Beatles goody bag prizes. Nick won our Beatles giveaway by successfully inviting friends to join the Music Matters campaign to enter our prize draw - keep your eye out for news of more giveaways soon...
Now that August is officially in our rear-view mirror, we're reminiscing about sunnier days with a Summer playlist – put together with a little help from our Facebook friends.
For those on Spotify check out our Sounds of Summer 2011 playlist for a few summer classics as well as some recent greats. As usual if you think we've missed a song that made your summer let us know on Facebook or Twitter... Enjoy!
My earliest memories are all Beatle flavoured. Holidays in austria to the sound of rubber soul. Our flat in berlin space hoppering to "revolution". Enforced bowl haircuts...
A life long obsession.
The Beatles were my bible. My infant imaginings are scratched and peppered with images of cowboys on rafts with the arrows of indians wizzing past their ears to the sound of "tomorrow never knows". Terrifying mines full of shadows, rubies and eyes - "strawberries fields forever"...
The voices, the chords, the words, the guitars flipping backwards and the sitars... familiar stories on mad cushionings of alien sound.
The Beatles were smiling wizards... sweet, young and mop topped or bearded, flared and weirded... from cuban heals to bare feet and plimsolls they built the foundation of modern pop and the inspiration for my own journey into it. thats why Music Matters.
Writing a short film about The Beatles is one of the scariest things I’ve ever been asked to do. I had a little panic attack that involved standing up, then sitting down, then standing back up again, over and over until my flat mate got sick of it and told me to stop. These guys are seriously important to me, they always have been. They mean an awful lot to pretty much everyone I know. I have had serious bonding moments with complete strangers over a shared love of The Beatles.
At a certain point once I had stabilized my breathing and managed to stand still for a whole 5 minutes I realized this was the point. To make a film about the importance of The Beatles I had to talk about how much they mean to one person and that person might as well be me. Suddenly realizing that I had just written my self into a film about The Beatles I started panicking again.
From here the script came quite quickly. I had a bit of a poke about on the internet to find some Beatles-y illustrators to work on the job with me. Pretty quickly though I realized that I had to make sure I was working with my friends on this one. I wanted to make something personal and full of love so the whole process needed to be very personal.
To keep things as simple and clear as possible I made my animatic, which is a story board timed out to music, using simple stick figures. My intention was to update them with more involved drawings at a later date once my friends and I had figured out a style.
Each of the four songs that I used was written by a different Beatle. I don’t talk about the individual importance of each of the members of the band in the script. They all bring quite different personalities to the table and this comes across in the broad range of emotional experience you can have when you listen to them. Hopefully this comes across through the music and the changes in mood without actually being discussed in my film.
So I made my little preview film and sent it off to my friends at Music Matters. A little while later I hear back that it’s going ahead. Then I hear that Paul and Ringo were quite taken with the stick figures and I go back to having panic attacks. It hadn’t occurred to me that Beatles were actually going to look at the film, let alone give me feedback. Really useful feedback at that.
I had started thinking that there was a lot to be said for the funny looking stick figures but wasn’t sure if I had the balls to suggest that that was how I intended to make the final film. If Paul and Ringo dig it though I thought, then it’s on.
For the dreamy part of the film I was still really keen to use my talented friends. I like the idea of stick figures dreaming of being drawn properly. It was a bit of an international crew. Giles Dill and Darren Turner were in London doodling characters and I was hanging out in Australia at the time with Rick Mereki and Ross Paxman who were drawing the dreamy BG’s. Jason Mildren who did the typography for the Dream Sequence was also in Oz. Being an ace typographer Jason might be keen to distance him self from my decision to use Helvetica for the rest of the film. It’s simplicity and familiarity felt right though.
I didn’t really direct the crew all that much. There was a brief of course but I love their natural styles and wanted them to draw in a way that was personal and not overly dictated.
Disaster struck when Rick got offered the dream job of getting flown all over the world to make a (now very well known) travel film. His schedule was ridiculous and I thought there was no chance of me getting any drawing out of him. It turns out though that Rick is an absolute trooper and he drew for me on every flight between every country.
All the crew wherever they were in the world put in a lot of love. My buddy Hana Davis helped me to cut it all out and I was relieved when I slapped Giles and Darren’s stuff on top of Ricks and Ross’ and it came up looking tops. Massively relieved. I had made the right choice in getting my friends in and letting them do as they please.
So pleased was I with my buddies at this point that I drew them all and popped them in for the Hey Jude sing along at the end. All those guys are my friends. Apart from Bill Murray I just couldn’t resist putting him in there for no good reason. It might seem a little self-indulgent something like that but it was in line with my philosophy for making the film. Make it personal and fill it with love. It’s a pretty good way to approach life in general I think and The Beatles wrote a song or two that suggest they might agree.
Posted by: Lindsay McHale, Head of Music Services, Nordoff Robbins @ Aug 11, 2011 - 10:08
Music has played a massive part in my life since I first started playing the piano aged five. I’d always wanted to be a music therapist but I decided I should get a “proper” job – and took a place on the graduate training programme at Warner Music International. I spent two years there before moving on to be International Product Manager at Decca and finally Senior Product Manager at Universal UK.
I was at a Nordoff Robbins fundraising event with Russell Watson, one of the artists I looked after, when I realised I wanted to become a music therapist. I heard a mum speak about the massive difference music therapy had made to her child’s life and I realised I wanted to do something where I could really be sure that music mattered and made a difference every single day. I left Universal in 2006 to do the 2 year full-time Nordoff Robbins training course and I’ve been a music therapist since 2008.
It’s not easy to understand how and why music therapy works. It has the potential to have such a massive impact on so many people – on babies, children, teenagers and young adults and the elderly. And at Nordoff Robbins, we work with people with all kinds of challenges – those with autism, dementia, depression, mental health problems, those who’ve had a stroke, a brain injury and even those with a terminal illness. For some, music therapy offers physical benefits, for others emotional or social ones. It can help people feel able, motivated, social and self-confident and give hope when times are rough.
One person I’ve been working with is Coco. She’s 8 and has autism. She finds the world a confusing place and simple tasks like brushing her hair or taking a walk can fill her with anxiety and stress. Coco loves to strike up a conversation but finds language really confusing and often struggles to understand what people are saying. She finds learning new things a real challenge.
I worked with Coco for 2 years and she made incredible progress in her sessions during that time. Coco’s mum wrote to me recently, to let me know just how much music matters to Coco:
“You have allowed Coco to be herself and have given her a unique opportunity to express and explore her creativity. Through your music therapy you have given her the freedom to grow and flourish without inhibition. Thank you for these special gifts you have given her. We owe this amazing experience to Nordoff Robbins’ existence and pursuit.”
Nordoff Robbins is proof of just how much music matters - as a charity, we’re 100% reliant on fundraising and donations. The music industry play a massive part in supporting our work and without their support, we would not be where we are today, providing over 50,000 music therapy sessions annually.
But ultimately, what matters more than anything is the music. Music allows us to communicate without words and can fill a silence when someone cannot speak. The power of music is unique and for most of us it plays a huge part of our lives. For people like Coco it provides a lifeline, a way to take part in every day life. Music matters to Coco and to the many thousands of people Nordoff Robbins support. Quite simply, music provides a voice we all deserve.
It's Bastille day, so we're marking it in true Music Matters style - with a playlist!
Check out the tracklisting, and if you have access to Spotify, you can listen to the frenchest songs (in artist, or inspiration) that our beloved Music Matterers could muster here.
I have collaborated with my very talented friend Laura Dockrill to make a short animated film about why music matters, in particular the music of Nina Simone.
I am so happy to be part of this campaign as it’s all about how important music is! Back when Nina started she used it to make political and social statements that were integral to where we are today. It was part of the jigsaw that made people see that segregation and slavery was absurd and inhumane. She and her peers were so courageous to stand up to "the man" and help make these changes which we can still push further today.
I suppose the music matters campaign is all about appreciating music and those that make and listen to it. Musicians throughout history have always moved people whether it be emotionally or socially and I am so proud to be part of something that has such influence.
This campaign is helping to support is the artistry of music. The time and effort put in to making records and recording them beautifully and really thinking about what we are saying needs to be preserved. I hope you like the little film Laura and I made about why I was so inspired by Nina!
Lets all keep listening to and buying great, inspiring music and making statements in our own sweet way!
With the help of our lovely Facebook friends - we've put together a little playlist to celebrate July 4th, and all the great music that America has given to the world.
If you're based in the UK - check out our "Star-spangled playlist" on Spotify. With a touch of irony that Alanis herself would appreciate, our friends from across the pond can't currently access Spotify, but here's the playlist in it's entirety to help your celebrations go with a swing.
Use the comments section below, or get in touch on Facebook to let us know ifyou think we've missed any essential sounds of the States!
I chose to make my film about Phil Lynott because he is not just a hero of Irish music, but an iconic and influential figure in Rock music the world over.
He was also an Irish artist who left Dublin for London to further his career as myself and my brother Eoin (Art Director/illustrator) also did.
Also, Thin Lizzy were perfect as I wanted recognisable, powerful and iconic music to back up the film and being a character animator I wanted a true character to focus on and characters don't come any bigger than 'Philo'.
While writing the film, I found that I had to explain to a lot of people - particularly younger and non Irish/British people - who Phil Lynott actually was, sometimes just the mention of Thin Lizzy was enough, if not then a quick rendition of the line 'Boys are back in town' would always do the trick. This influenced my film to walk a line between a micro-documentary and a tribute so that hopefully some people who previously only knew the music could now meet and appreciate the man behind it.
Philo's music matters to me because I grew up with it and it's as fresh to me now as it ever was and Phil Lynott still stands tall in Dublin.
Philip Lynott,live and dangerous, in the spotlight, audience on their feet, the boys are back in town.
Philip fashioned this imagery after his heroes, that had been his musical inspiration.
That swagger, that ease on stage with his audience, all made for the boy with a bad reputation.
The Philip Lynott I met in the summer of 1973 was really quite shy about his abilities as a performer and writer.
He had grown up in Dublin in the 50s and like most of his generation had been influenced by all things Irish and American.
The traditional Irish music scene and the America of Hollywood.
The characters and scenes he wrote about in his songs would have all featured in the films he saw in the Roxy cinema.
The cowboys lonesome on the range, nightlife in the big city, renegade Indians, wailing sirens, a jailbreak somewhere in this town tonight. The flickering screen was to be his early muse.
The traditional Irish music scene in Dublin was to see a young Philip at poetry readings, learning about Irish folklore that would feature in his early songs. This is where he began to learn his craft from some of the finest Irish musicians and poets.
On a cold winter’s day he would, for the price of a coffee, spend endless hours amongst them in the Coffee Inn on South Anne Street.
He would sit around talking about the when and how there would be an audience for his songs.
It was to be a journey across the Irish Sea with his band Thin Lizzy that would involve me in his life.
The group had signed to Decca records and he had become a musician in search of fame and fortune. I was to be part of that search as his friend and manager I spent 15 years helping him realise his dream and it was to be a dream that endures through his music.
Countless fans around the world listen to his music today because for them, his music matters.
I once went to Glastonbury with a large yellow blanket and 4 cans of Stella...(!) I hitched a ride with a band I barely knew at the time and slept the first night in one of the straw chicks they thoughtfully leave about. Luckily it was a warm night and I found myself a tent for the rest of the festival.
Glastonbury is more than just a festival..its a part of many people's lives...often a coming of age...of real freedom, a place where people first experience feeling love for humanity on a massive scale. It is unforgettable...even though some hours are usually...unrecollectable!
To be opening up the Other Stage at 11am Glastonbury 2011 is a mighty honour indeed. I am excited beyond belief and nervous in the best way possible. I am going to sing my heart out and try to stay present throughout the set to absorb it all as much a possible...There isnt a Glasto 2012 so that makes this one extra special.
Over the years I have cried tears of overwhelming joy, (and probably tiredness) listening to Jimmy Cliff sing "Many Rivers to Cross....", sung along loudly to Radiohead headlining, screamed lovingly at Shirley Bassey, passed out at Sunrise in the Stone Circle. One of the most special experiences in hindsight was stumbling unexpectedly into my cousin, who I had lost touch with for years, under the flags one Saturday night...We have been in touch ever since.
Music brings people together - that's why Music Matters! And Glastonbury, in my opinion, is the best music festival for that.
Alice will be performing on the Other Stage at Glastonbury 2011 at 11am on Saturday 25 June. Find out more about Alice and check out her music at http://www.alicegold.com.
Inspired by Elliot Dear, who was in turn inspired by John Martyn, our marvellous Music Matterers have been telling us the songs that soundtracked their childhoods.
And in case you can't currently access Spotify in your neck of the woods, here's the tracklisting.
On A Jet Plane - John Denver
You Can Call Me A - Paul Simon
Sloop John B - The Beach Boys
Dedicated Follower Of Fashion - The Kinks
Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac
Little Green - Joni Mitchell
Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
Don't Give Up On Me - Gerry Rafferty
How Sweet It Is - James Taylor
Nights In White Satin - The Moody Blues
Pass The Dutchie - Musical Youth
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
Dreadlock Holiday - 10CC
Bass Blues - John Coltrane
Honey, Honey - ABBA
Can I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
Sea Of Sorrow - Alice In Chains
They're Hanging Me Tonight - Marty Robbins
Personal Jesus (Single Version) - Depeche Mode
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Rock The Casbah - The Clash
She Moves Through The Fair - Fairport Convention
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols
May You Never - John Martyn
With so many musical greats in the world, have you ever wondered how on earth we pick who to feature in our animated short films?
Often it’s our wonderful animators, who are inspired by exploring their own musical influences, like when we asked Elliott Dear to get involved with the campaign.
“I had been listening to a lot of John Martyn. He has always been a favourite in our family and I grew up with his music always in the background, my mum listening to it or my brother learning how to play his songs on the guitar.
But it wasn't until I saw recently, a documentary about his life, that I began to realise how interesting he was as a person and how unusual both his personal and professional lives had been. I was fascinated to learn about the contrast between his boisterous and mischievous tendencies and his beautiful, soulful music.
I decided to use his story to pitch my aesthetic ideas for the Music Matters project, as I thought he was a person worth telling people about.“
No, it’s nothing to do with super-injunctions! They’ve all worked with Bernard Butler; an inspiring guitarist, a pioneering producer, and the latest person to support the music matters campaign.
Bernard’s got experience in every part of the music-making process. Since he started recording with Suede in 1992 he’s either played on, written or produced some of the most innovative tracks this country has produced – sometimes all three at once! Who better to be part of Music Matters?
As Bernard says:
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing lead guitar, producing a record or banging away on a triangle at the back of the room. It’s all about being involved in this incredible thing... That’s what’s really important and that’s why music matters.”
Now we need you to help protect the “incredible thing” that you love so much - music.
If you haven’t already seen it, take a few minutes out of your day to enjoy this beautiful Bernard Butler Music Matters animation.
We may not have made it to Brighton's Great Escape for a weekend by the seaside, but we've got the next best thing... well almost.
With a little help from our fantastic Facebook friends and Twitter followers we've put together a little playlist titled "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside". Check out the tracklisting below and have a listen for yourself with our Spotify playlist.
Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) - Squeeze
The Great Escape - The Rifles
Sea Song - Doves
Just Chillin' - Norman Brown
Young Lions, Alternate Version - Constantines
Little Eyes - Yo La Tengo
Sigh No More - Mumford & Sons
The Boys of Summer - Don Henley
Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
California Stars - Billy Bragg and Wilco
Avenue - Saint Etienne
Santa Monica Dream - Angus & Julia Stone
Blue - Stereotypes
Holiday - The Kinks
You Need Better - Lanterns on the Lake
Postcards From Italy - Beirut
Seaside Rendezvous - Queen
Lets Go Surfing - The Drums
Ghost Train - Summer Camp
Margate - Chas 'n' Dave
Think we've missed anything? We'd love to hear your suggestions. Comment on this post or get in touch on Facebook or Twitter.
