B Is For Blog

Sad news: the issue of Plan B magazine that hits shelves on June 1 will be the last.

We’ve come to this decision after a lot of deliberation. The current economic climate, combined with the situation of the music industry - to which, whether we like it or not, the fortunes of a commercial monthly music mag are inextricably linked - has made it ever harder for us to continue producing the magazine the way we want to. To keep going, we’d need to make cuts in staff, content, size, frequency, print quality - and we’re not prepared to do that. We’re still above water, we’re making some beautiful magazines, and we are quitting while we’re ahead.

Thanks to everybody who has supported us these last five years, and hopefully we’ll see you in some other form in the not so distant future.

The US media is not underfond of hyperbole, so to see one of their upcoming composers bookended with  “…the next Mozart?” is pretty standard soundbite/headline behaviour. On the other paw, she is only seven, and has written 130 pieces - each of which complex confections apparently take her five to ten minutes to create.

Child prodigies start dramatically ahead of the curve, but largely settle down well within the high end of normal, as their peers belatedly catch up in adulthood. This may be the case with Emily too, but to have such a compositional bent really does echo Mozart’s effortless, plastic aptitude (in contrast, and for balance, most composers are more like Beethoven, struggling toward an equal greatness through many drafts).

To reclaim some objectivity from the heart of aww, it’s true I find some of her compositions a little chintzy. But at the same age, I was mostly drawing spaceships - badly - so…

Um, this isn’t really going anywhere. It just made me happy. Freakish, preternatural ability might make all us norms feel a little inadequate but it would be vinegary not to salute her talent, or be warmed by her own enthusiasm. Mostly, I’m just glad we’ve moved on enough to nurture talent wherever it shows itself. Clearly, it hasn’t always been this way, and we’ll never know just how many great artists we lost. Boo to that. Yay for her.

Big Dada’s bright hope Speech Debelle performs live in London and Brighton next month.

You may have heard us waxing lyrical about Speech already - she gave us one of our singles of 2008 and Everett praises her confessional vocal style in the current issue (#44).

Big Dada will be releasing her album Speech Therapy with appearances from alt-pop wunderkind Micachu, UK hip-hop daddy Roots Manuva and production from Tunng, Lotek Hi-Fi and Plutonic Lab. It’s an intimate and honest affair by all accounts as she utilises her soft, intricate flow to work through problems, exorcise demons and search for answers. As she says on the title track, This is my speech therapy, this ain’t rap.

Speech Therapy is released on 1 June, but catch her before then if you’re in the big smoke or by the seaside in May:

London Roundhouse Festival (May 10)
Brighton Revenge - Great Escape Urban Stage (16)
London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen - Stag & Dagger (21)

www.bigdada.com

This just in from Palimpsest - sad news, and let’s hope the church is OK…but the Sublime Frequencies show will go on regardless, and looks to be pretty damn good.

“It is with deep regret that we have had to cancel Palimpsest Festival, which was to be held on the 30th May 2009. This is due to a major overrun of planned works at All Saints Church along with asbestos being found at the church. No alternative venue could be found in Cambridge to accommodate the all day event.

However, we are very pleased to announce details of the continuation of the Sublime Frequencies show. THE SHOW MUST GO ON.

A Palimpsest Festival Cut Up with…..

Sublime Frequencies Extravaganza with Group Doueh & Omar Souleyman
plus SF DJs and Film
plus Pete UM + The Doozer

30th May 2009
Unitarian Church Hall, 5 Emmanuel Road, Cambridge, CB1 1JW
Doors: 7PM (with early start)
Tickets £10 advance from http://www.fadedwords.co.uk.

Tickets limited to 150, advance booking advised. No bar, BRING YOUR OWN

Further information http://www.fadedwords.co.uk“