Morning Music Notes – Not So Quiet Riot

London Riots Affect Indie Record Warehouse

The riots that started in Tottenham in North London have spread to various other parts of London, leading to looting, violence, and other senseless acts. And who says PHM isn’t political and current? Many generational family businesses have been destroyed throughout London. This all started over the weekend, after police shot a man dead in Tottenham. A peaceful protest in Tottenham on Saturday over the death of Mark Duggan, 29, was followed by violence which spread into this week. NME reports that indie record labels, including XL, Domino, Beggars, and Wall of Sound, have all been affected, as the Enfield warehouse burns down.

“PIAS distribution, which handles releases from XL Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Warp Defected, Sunday Best and Big Brother, saw its warehouse in Enfield burnt down in scenes of unrest that spread across the city, as well as other parts of the UK. The three-storey building was also home to Sony’s distribution base in the UK.”

Check out some bloke giving his play by play of the burning fire from his bedroom window.

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Adele Learns a Valuable Lesson about Alcohol

Adele’s album, 21, might not be named after her age, but after the number of cocktails she had before songwriting. Gigwise notes that Adele admits to having used a ‘drunk diary’ for inspiration.

“I used to have to lock myself away in my house, get pretty drunk and write a drunk diary – and that was the first time I could admit things to myself. A drunk tongue is an honest one in my opinion and the next morning I would read it through with an awful hangover and, in the cold light of day, had to absorb my feelings about myself. I was a bit scared that I wouldn’t be articulate enough,” Adele said.

At least Adele has the wherewithal to write her drunken thoughts in a book, rather than speak to her neighbours and their young children, and receiving no more BBQ invites for the rest of the summer. Listen, stroller races is a perfect safe sport for young children when performed by an excellent driver like me.

Spotify Numbers are In – Not Bad!

Unofficial numbers, as reported by Digitial Music News and denied by Spotify, show that 1.4 million American Spotify users exist, according to stats just shared by the Wall Street Journal. And of that, 175,000 – or 12.5 percent – are premium subscribers. Digital Music News also notes that there are approximately 10.6 million users in Europe, with 1.6 million paying customers. The percentage of paying customers is quite similar in both cases, according to my calculator. Remember that North America users are still from invite only, so expect those numbers to keep growing. I wonder if record labels were expecting a higher percentage, and if they are happy with the returns they are getting from their deals with Spotify. It is better than the zero percent they currently get from torrent and other download sites.

Make Your Ears Happy: New Blitzen Trapper

On September 12, you will be able to listen to Blitzen Trapper on Spotify, or perhaps buy their new album, called American Goldwing. I would be careful of some record shops in London though. You can check out the first single, Love the Way You Walk, a title which sounds like a mix between Eminem and Aerosmith. Fortunately (unfortunately?), it does not sound like a mash up between those two. Give it a spin down below.

Blitzen Trapper – Love The Way You Walk Away by subpop