All posts tagged no-anchor

  • April 8, 2010

    Mess+Noise story: ‘Guvera Road Test’, April 2010

    Contiki channel on music service GuveraFollowing my interview with Claes Loberg – CEO of new free, advertiser-funded online music service Guvera – for The Vine, Mess+Noise asked me to ‘road test’ the site. I also enlisted the assistance of Ian Rogers from Brisbane doom rock trio No Anchor, and Melbourne electronic artist Faux Pas (Tim Shiel).

    Road Test: Guvera

    A new service called Guvera promises free music in exchange for being willfully marketed to, but is it really the solution to illegal downloading? ANDREW MCMILLEN finds out.

    Guvera is a new online music service. It offers free downloads to consumers in exchange for the “pleasure” of being blatantly marketed to throughout the entire experience. Here’s how it works: instead of interrupting people with annoying ads, potential advertisers can inhabit a personalised channel that people will voluntarily visit (or, more accurately, tolerate) in exchange for 256kbps MP3s of their favourite artists. CEO Claes Loberg describes this as a “reversal of the advertising process”.

    The site launched on March 30 to widespread media fanfare including a spot on A Current Affair, whose audience might not have been aware that “the internet is the electronic equivalent of going to a record store”, as one of the show’s talking heads revealed. However, Loberg admits they’re targeting those who currently obtain music illegally.

    Guvera homepage“The reality is that the people who want to use those [illegal] services still can,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is implement a service that creates an option for the music industry to try and monetise the free stuff that everybody’s already getting, by getting advertisers to pay for it.”

    In theory, it’s an admirable endeavour. But how does the service rate in terms of usability and practicality?

    Full story over at Mess+Noise.

    2 Comments / Music Journalism, Published Writing /

  • January 18, 2010

    Mess+Noise single review: No Anchor, ‘Wolves Bite And Disappear’, January 2010

    No Anchor, 'Wolves Bite And Disappear' artworkNo Anchor
    Track: Wolves Bite And Disappear

    1 Track (2009, Independent) [listen here]

    An introductory cymbal roll heralds the lupine chase, while a lazy beat’s pace is quickened by the crashing of Alex Gillies’ cymbals. The protagonist’s tale of woe – “He runs through the forest, blood on his hands/Blood on his face/Blood on his clothes” – is sighed by Ian Rogers, before he erupts with four desperate, distorted repetitions of the song’s title.

    Brisbane’s No Anchor affect a foreboding atmosphere of tension and release, compacted into barely two-and-a-half minutes. Released as a free download on the ‘They Don’t Know Unless You Tell Them’ compilation, ‘Wolves’ is the product of the band’s last recording sessions as a duo (as of late 2009, they’re operating as a dual-bass trio). With that in mind, Rogers’ double-tracked wattage during the song’s climax is a fearsome indicator of what’s to come. Two high-gain bass guitars playing the same part in unison is appealing enough on paper, but the resultant cacophony stuns the ears into paying attention.

    This, I’m sure, is the intended response. Perhaps Rogers has always envisaged No Anchor’s bass parts mimicked by another; his fondness for double-tracking is evident throughout the band’s short recorded history. Now that it’s a thunderous, improbably beautiful reality – and content in the knowledge that this final outtake remains thrilling after 50 listens – I look to their future output with excitement, and some degree of fear for my ears. Which again, I’m sure, is the intended response.

    [Published on Mess+Noise, 18 January 2010]

    No Comments / Music Criticism, Published Writing /