Singles are weird!

Well, Slash Dot Dash went in at number 12. Ironically (is it ironic or just an arse?) our remix of Groove Armada's "I See You Baby" beat us by one place...

When you look at the contents of the top 10 I'm not sure SDD would really look comfortable in there. And it seems the Great British Record Buying Public agree.

Hmmmm.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 4:10:45 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

New Ben Folds EP

Myself and The Missus just listened to the new Ben Folds EP 'Super D'

The man is a fucking genius.

END OF MESSAGE

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 12:52:04 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Slash Dot Dash in the Download Chart

I'm not sure about the whole download chart thinggy, to be honest, but it does seem we've entered at number 19 on this weeks chart [link out of date after 29th September]. I guess the only interesting thing about this chart is that you tend to stay around in it a little while longer than the traditional singles chart these days with it's "new entry at 15 one week, disappeared to number 56 the next" behaviour.

The midweeks predict a somewhat higher entry into the oldskool charts this coming Sunday. Of course, the logic of all this suggests that we won't get as high a traditional chart position as perhaps we might have - based on physical CD/Vinyl sales - as some people are, as demonstrated by this number 19 in the downloads, obviously not buying it in the shops.

So these days having two charts obviously affects your position in both of them. Hmmmm. I knew I had a problem with it....

I mean, yeah, it's "numbers sold" vs "chart position" at the end of the day (Brian) - the thing is with the small numbers that singles sell these days compared to, say, 5 years ago I would suggest the "numbers sold" thing isn't that relevant anymore, so I'd go for a more impressive chart position (and the profile that brings with it) every time....

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 4:20:48 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Stuff on Radio 1

Got a rather hasty call from my mate Pat [hello!], telling me that Zane Lowe on Radio 1 was playing "The Journey" from Palookaville about 7pm tonight. This is only interesting 'cos I'm a bit 'out of the loop' at the moment (lots of real life stuff to deal with) so it was as much of a surprise to me as it probably was to anyone listening....

You can see it listed on Zane's playlist right here [link probably out of date in 24 hours from now, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it, eh?] and it's listed as "the hottest record in the world today" (didn't he say that about SDD?). I presume - if you can navigate your way around Radio 1's archive 'radio player' system (it confuses the hell out of me) - you can listen to whole show again....and hear aforementioned FBS track....if you should so wish.

Yeah, like you all haven't downloaded it already, Oh well.

It's the thought that counts, so I'm told....

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 9:05:42 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

You'll have to forgive me...

...but we've got a new single coming out officially, well, in 9.5 hours or so (presuming HMV/Virgin etc open at 9am on a Monday - I mean I am guessing here cos I have no idea about such things......)

This is quite quite exciting, after all this time...trust me on this one.

Please, go buy it. Now. Like, THIS WEEK.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 11:26:43 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Slash Dot Dash Format details...

For some reason I consider it's my duty to clear up what the final SDD single formats are, as I can still see different details in various places....

And as I have the final copies in my possession right now, you can be sure these are the ones that'll be in the shops on Monday:

CD1:
Slash Dot Dash (Radio Edit)
Close To Home [the O2 Ad in it's original form]

CD2:
Slash Dot Dash (Album Version)
Jin Go Lo Ba (Jon Carter Remix)
What They're Looking For
Slash Dot Dash (Video)

12"
Slash Dot Dash (Album Version)
Close To Home
Slash Dot Dash (Accapella/DJ Delite)
Jin Go Lo Ba (Jon Carter Remix)
Jin Go Lo Ba (Accapella/DJ Delite)

The accapella of SDD was originally supposed to be on CD2 as well (I have a real physical sleeve with it printed on) but chart rules prevented this...

Just so you all know, like.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 9:08:15 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Eeek....here we go...

Apparently, according to a text message from my rekkid-making partner-in-crime, "Slash Dot Dash" is currently number 6 in Japan. And he's off there in a few days.

Of course, it's released over here this coming Monday - the 20th - the same day that the Star Wars DVD box set is coming out, that's very handy in a getting-people-into-the-shops type way, eh?. We've managed to get on to the Radio 1 'A' list [link not relevant 2 weeks from this post] and everything....how did that happen?

I wonder what will happen this time around?

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 8:48:01 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Headlines at 7

Very busy, so all you get is:

1. My prettier half and I were attacked by frozen turkeys at our local Safeway Safeway Compact Morrisons yesterday. A little freaky, basically. No long-term injuries, save for a bit of a bruised wrist on her. We chose not to sue.

2. The SDD video has been 'banned' in Malaysia, because of the 'almost nudity' going on. Sigh.

3. People are still moaning about the change of vocal on SDD. Oh, come on. It's not that major a thing. Really, it's not. Please get over it. We did.

4. Yay Muppets. Yay "Isn't Science Nifty?" type stuff. Dr Bunsen and Beaker voted TV's favourite boffin-types. And so they should be. I do a very good Beaker impression, so I'm reliably informed...

5. Oh, what could have been....



Eh?

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 7:02:33 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Johnny Panic Mk 2

How odd. Despite being a very short-lived pseudonym for Tears For Fears, just for the one track they recorded called 'Johnny Panic And The Bible Of Dreams' (named after the Sylvia Plath book, natch) it seems there's a new band from south London also calling themselves Johnny Panic.

Shame it's rather dull really. The video, at least, seems to be a cross between Soulwax's "Any Minute Now" (top tune, despite most critics saying it's sub-Garbage type stuff), Mansun's "Taxloss" (railways station stuff) and, well, just generally dull-video type stuff really.

"Why fall in love when you can fall from grace?" - a better concept really.

(OK, am being a little obscure now, I know)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 9:13:10 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

OK, so now it's all out there....

Yes as mentioned on www.skint.net and elsewhere, we had to change the vocal sample on "Slash Dot Dash" due to complicated legal stuff (it's not just a case of 'sample clearance' as such, it's much more than that, but the end result is the same, so that's the easy way of explaining it all)

It's predictable, I guess, but I've seen many comments (on www.fatboyslim.net for example) along the lines of "oh, the original was so much better, I hate the new version" etc etc.

To be honest, it's not really different enough for people to justify that sort of "black and white" reaction to it. Yes, it's 'different'. Of course. However, had this new version been the only version people knew, I really believe their reaction to the track as a whole would not have been any more than 1% different to the reaction they had to the 'original' version, as it now has become.

Norman and I like the new version. A lot. We actually, truly, prefer the newer vocal. Why? Because it's slightly odder. A little stranger. Not quite as 'obvious'. And we're sticking by this opinion, thanks very much.

So, yes, the chaos I was alluding to in the post below was related to all this. The way it's described on the Skint website about us (well it only mentions Norman, natch) being "propelled" back into the studio to change it all around....not the word I would have picked ;). Then again, it's another glowing recommendation for doing everything on Pro Tools these days - it really wasn't that hard at all to change one element. If I had been facing the task of remixing the track from scratch, well that might have been slightly more troublesome....

So my week has been filled with having to recompile all the various album masters (UK, US with swearing, US without swearing, Japanese with extra tracks, European version, and vinyl masters for 'cutting' of various combinations of all those) and of course - being so close to their release - both of the UK CD single masters (and, again, the vinyl cut for the single 12"). And having to redo the 'video edit' - which originally was done by Tim Pope's team from a 'not quite finished' edit of mine, from months back. So I had to go thru the whole thing and recreate it, which is always a bit of a strange thing to have to do...

But, I don't mind saying, with 24 hours of hard work from me - aided by lots of help from the Skint team (specifically Laura and Dave) keeping me up to date with what was needed by whom and by when (LONG emails those ones!) - it was all back on track again, pretty much. Yes, the single has gone back a week. I doubt it'll make any difference, in the greater scheme of things.

Phew, etc.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 8:28:49 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

If I told you....

...what's been going on in the land of FBS this week you probably wouldn't believe me. Just as I'm still not quite believing it all myself. And, anyway, I can't actually tell you about it right now, so the point is mute (something which some people suggest I should try!)

Been a crazy few days. And some point in the future you'll be able to work out what all this cryptic nonsense is about, I'm sure.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 2:09:42 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []