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John Cage's 4"33' tipped for UK No.1
In a small, stuffy Soho recording studio, the musicians were poised to begin. Headphones on, guitars slung, drumsticks raised, fingers on keys. From the mixing room, came the muffled voice of the producer. "And after three – one, two three and …" Silence. For the next four minutes and 33 seconds the rag-tag ensemble of 40 or so musicians did not play a note. Some couldn't help but move, fooling noiselessly around or swaying to an inaudible beat, others just lowered their eyes.
Why should I do this? Article below
In a small, stuffy Soho recording studio, the musicians were poised to begin. Headphones on, guitars slung, drumsticks raised, fingers on keys. From the mixing room, came the muffled voice of the producer. "And after three – one, two three and …" Silence. For the next four minutes and 33 seconds the rag-tag ensemble of 40 or so musicians did not play a note. Some couldn't help but move, fooling noiselessly around or swaying to an inaudible beat, others just lowered their eyes.
Veteran lefty Billy Bragg, Suggs, Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard, dance act Orbital, and rock-ravers Enter Shikari were among the bands and artists brought together to recreate the sound of silence.
It sounds like an unlikely contender for Christmas number one, but the track – a cover of avant-garde composer John Cage's experimental 4'33", itself the recording of an orchestra not playing – may yet be the most serious competition the forthcoming X Factor winner will have to face.
The song, which has been produced for charity, hopes to emulate the success of last year's Rage Against the Machine Christmas number one campaign, which saw the guitar-heavy, profanity-littered Killing in the Name pip X Factor winner Joe McElderry's weepy ballad to the number one spot.
But instead of loud guitars, fans buying the single – dubbed, with quiet sarcasm, Cage Against the Machine – can expect to hear masterful high-power amp fuzz interspersed with the deliberate click of a slow-shutter camera, set to the muted shuffling of feet and repressed laughter. It is also worth listening out for an air guitar solo, at around the midway point.
Bragg, admittedly, was a particularly unobtrusive figure – his silence emanating from a emotionless Blackberry, as the singer songwriter is on tour in Scotland. Imogen Heap had chosen an iPhone to register her noiselessness.
But others, such as Scroobius Pip and Suggs made their way to the Dean Street Studios for today's recording and as Brit-award winning producer Paul Epworth, who has worked with Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires, brought the 273 seconds of recording to an end, the studio burst into applause and whooping. As the organiser, XFM DJ Eddy Temple-Morris, pointed out, silence does not come easily to these people: "Managing to get this many egos in a room and getting them all to stay quiet is a hell of an achievement," he said. "It felt quite emotional to me. In this age of noise, to hear silence is an inspiring and beautiful thing."
The brainchild of David Hilliard, an art therapy student, the Facebook campaign was started as a joke in the summer, but took on a new life as Temple-Morris and Joe Hutchinson of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool encouraged musicians to get involved.
Raising money and awareness for charity, rather than scuppering the X Factor, was the overriding aim of the single, said Temple-Morris, before adding: "Obviously the delicious schadenfreude of seeing the X Factor beaten by four minutes and 33 seconds of silence would be exquisite."
Whether the single can harness the anti-Simon Cowell feeling that propelled RATM to the yuletide top spot remains to be seen, but the anarchic coalition has already garnered a substantial following, with more than 60,000 fans on Facebook.
And unlike the RATM offensive – which lost some of its rock'n'roll credentials after it emerged that the track was released by Sony, and McElderry's by Cowell's Syco, a Sony subsidiary – the mark of the squarely-coiffed svengali is nowhere to be seen on the track, which will be released on Wall of Sound Records on 13 December.
Calm, a service for young men at risk of suicide, is among the charities that will benefit, along with the British Tinnitus Association, Youth Music, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and Sound and Music.
Sitting at a grand piano, ready to not play before recording started, pop star Mr Hudson, aka Ben McIldowie, explained the track's appeal. "There is already enough noise out there," he said. "This is giving people a little time to think."
Veteran lefty Billy Bragg, Suggs, Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard, dance act Orbital, and rock-ravers Enter Shikari were among the bands and artists brought together to recreate the sound of silence.
It sounds like an unlikely contender for Christmas number one, but the track – a cover of avant-garde composer John Cage's experimental 4'33", itself the recording of an orchestra not playing – may yet be the most serious competition the forthcoming X Factor winner will have to face.
The song, which has been produced for charity, hopes to emulate the success of last year's Rage Against the Machine Christmas number one campaign, which saw the guitar-heavy, profanity-littered Killing in the Name pip X Factor winner Joe McElderry's weepy ballad to the number one spot.
But instead of loud guitars, fans buying the single – dubbed, with quiet sarcasm, Cage Against the Machine – can expect to hear masterful high-power amp fuzz interspersed with the deliberate click of a slow-shutter camera, set to the muted shuffling of feet and repressed laughter. It is also worth listening out for an air guitar solo, at around the midway point.
Bragg, admittedly, was a particularly unobtrusive figure – his silence emanating from a emotionless Blackberry, as the singer songwriter is on tour in Scotland. Imogen Heap had chosen an iPhone to register her noiselessness.
But others, such as Scroobius Pip and Suggs made their way to the Dean Street Studios for today's recording and as Brit-award winning producer Paul Epworth, who has worked with Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires, brought the 273 seconds of recording to an end, the studio burst into applause and whooping. As the organiser, XFM DJ Eddy Temple-Morris, pointed out, silence does not come easily to these people: "Managing to get this many egos in a room and getting them all to stay quiet is a hell of an achievement," he said. "It felt quite emotional to me. In this age of noise, to hear silence is an inspiring and beautiful thing."
The brainchild of David Hilliard, an art therapy student, the Facebook campaign was started as a joke in the summer, but took on a new life as Temple-Morris and Joe Hutchinson of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool encouraged musicians to get involved.
Raising money and awareness for charity, rather than scuppering the X Factor, was the overriding aim of the single, said Temple-Morris, before adding: "Obviously the delicious schadenfreude of seeing the X Factor beaten by four minutes and 33 seconds of silence would be exquisite."
Whether the single can harness the anti-Simon Cowell feeling that propelled RATM to the yuletide top spot remains to be seen, but the anarchic coalition has already garnered a substantial following, with more than 60,000 fans on Facebook.
And unlike the RATM offensive – which lost some of its rock'n'roll credentials after it emerged that the track was released by Sony, and McElderry's by Cowell's Syco, a Sony subsidiary – the mark of the squarely-coiffed svengali is nowhere to be seen on the track, which will be released on Wall of Sound Records on 13 December.
Calm, a service for young men at risk of suicide, is among the charities that will benefit, along with the British Tinnitus Association, Youth Music, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy and Sound and Music.
Sitting at a grand piano, ready to not play before recording started, pop star Mr Hudson, aka Ben McIldowie, explained the track's appeal. "There is already enough noise out there," he said. "This is giving people a little time to think."
Hi guys, as I'm sure you're aware, last year the UK's Xmas no.1 was Rage Against the Machine. This year, we have two hours to make CAGE against the machine the number one track. All it requires is you to "buy" the CATM track on mflow for FREE, legally, using mflow's free promo code. So enjoy and relax with the silence this christmas
LAST MINUTE BUYERS, DO THIS TOO TO REGISTER A CHART-ELIGIBLE SALE, FOR FREE!
1) register or log in at http://www.mflow.com/
2) click on your name in the top right of the screen
3) on the drop down menu click 'redeem code'
4) Type in XMAS to the redeem code box-it then puts £1 credit in your account
5) Search 'Cage Against The Machine' and then click to buy track 1 with the credits.
~ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/0...-christmas-no-1
