I am Jacob Rickard, the producer of BBC Kent Introducing (Sunday nights from 8pm, on BBC Radio Kent).
This website contains my own personal views and not those of the BBC.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Christmas list
Buy me these please.
(The list is in no particular order - it's just lots of stuff I want). Probably gets more ridiculous as it goes down.
digital SLR camera
electric drumkit
a car
clothes that aren't falling apart
Canon XL2
colour laser printer
80gb iPod - I've filled up my Nano already
a Macbook
a phone that isn't full of pocket-fluff
a Microkorg
Protools
Mmm! Yes please.
Other brands of video camera, portable music device, laptop computer, synthesiser and industry-standard digital audio editing package are available (but none quite as good as the ones I want).
The week so far has been, as a weather forecaster would say, a mixed bag.
The highlight of the week might easily be Elevator Safety Awareness Week, but coming in a close second is Sunday's show which we presented from the new studio. It went as well as could be expected given the fact none of us were used to the new environment. Probably didn't sound any different to you - but that's a good thing of course!
Today, though, I failed my driving test for the second time. One serious and three minors. It was frustrating enough the first time, but this time it feels like it wasn't my fault (although it probably was). That explains why there's a random photo of a car up there.
Tomorrow I've got a meeting about a career in the police force (don't worry - I'll stay in radio! Just interested).
On Friday it's Seven Story Down and Tom Williams And The Boat at the Twells Forum - really looking forward to it (although would have been better if I could have driven myself there!). See you there... I'll the one in the massive Pudsey outfit. (Not really).
Photo of a cat - called Yawn! - by Flickr user kaibara87. Used under license.
Really tired. Probably something to do with the fact that I got up at 5.30am yesterday and went to bed at 12... and then woke up again at 7am... and have actually done some work in that space of time too.
This is a post I've been planning to write for a while - it's some music videos featuring Kent bands. Have a look around YouTube for some more - and if you know of any I've missed out let me know.
Photo: Halloween pumpkins by Flickr user markhillary. Used under license.
Woah woah woah. I ought to blog more. By way of apology, here's a stream-of-conciousness post about some new music I've been listening to recently...
Razmataz Lorry Excitement Bleepy and hand-clappy 80s dance pop... think Does It Offend You Yeah? meets Friendly Fires. Plus he's a BBC Introducing artist... watch the video of him playing live at Reading. And then listen to Make It Break It.
Killcode Thrashy metally rock from across the pond with Nirvana-esque vocals and lots of rawky attitude and intense guitar solos. Raaah. (Do I sound like a Kerrang reviewer?) Listen to 6am Again.
Sophie Ellis Bextor Idecided the other day that I'm not going to be embarrassed about music any more. Life's too short... and after all, if the music's good then it shouldn't matter. I've also been listening to lots of Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry, which would previously have been 'guilty pleasures' but are now proudly in my top-rated list. Listen to Catch You. Please. Just once. Then tease me about it. And Kent band The Long Weekend Finally getting round to listening to this album properly. I'd heard most of the tracks separately but I only actually heard it all in the right order yesterday. The new single is Record - and it's even got another black'n'white Tap'n'Tin video. Listen to Medway Is The Distance.
That's enough for now... To see more of what I've been listening to, see my last.fm profile.
Next week on the show you'll hear Booda by Tunbridge Wells MC Mr Basista. That's him just up there.
He's been picked as the Music Curator's Choice at this year's NOISE Festival which is the UK's first virtual creative festival. This year the music curator is the producer of Wiley's Wearing My Rolex - a man called Bless Beats (apparently not his real name).
Bless Beats, having listened to Booda which is taken from Mr Basista's debut album Thunk, said: “What I found interesting about Mr Basista was that he actually came up with something very original and very well produced, it had this really feel good track and it was so original and very distinctive.”
First of all there (above) is the video from Maida Vale.
The documentary about our day at the Maida Vale Studios with Tom Williams And The Boat went out on BBC Radio Kent last night - you can hear it here until next Sunday evening.
Now time for a rant about technology: Sorry if you came to visit my blog over the weekend and found that it didn't exist. The lovely people at my web hosting company (who shall remain nameless) forbade me access to these hallowed pages even though I'd just given them £35 for the privelidge. And then when they managed to make it work, they denied any knowledge of it having being broken. Grrr.
Generic image of a policeman pointing at people breaking the law, stolen mercilessly from BBC1's Traffic Cops.
Evening.
Here are the best things in life at the moment:
Gavin And Stacey
I discovered this ages ago when I heard someone talking about it on the radio and thought I'd watch a bit. I've since been quoting all sorts of bits of it and remembering the gags I watched ages ago, but it hasn't been on telly for a while so it's nice to have it back.
In the process of finding that link I've discovered there's a new episode of Sky Cops so that's what I'll watch when I've posted this! Ahaaaa, I'm such an obsessive.
Anyway, when I'm not watching police shows I'm watching geeky live streams.
The posters in NME this week
Nice big Arctic Monkeys poster. Wohoo.
New music I've discovered
I know some people are - as I said before - keeping a stalkerish eye on my music tastes via my Last.fm profile, but in case you're not a member here are some of things I've been listening to which I've enjoyed, followed by my iTunes rating for the track.
The Rapture - No Sex For Ben (5*)
I've always liked The Rapture but somehow only discovered this track. I'm obsessed with it, it's so catchy.
Chase And Status ft Plan B - Pieces (5*)
Arrrrgh I can't wait for the album. It comes out on Oct 13th - the day before my driving test. Those two events make that week the most exciting this year, pretty much...
Hadouken! - Crank It Up (Noisia remix) (4*)
I got this free from the band's email newsletter, and I really like it. It's praahperly filthy.
A few weeks ago I rang up Oliver Burgess, who's the lead vocalist of Medway indie band The Long Weekend. The band take their influences from 60s surf-rock and more modern indie, and now their debut album 20 Minutes, 13 Stops is released tomorrow.
You can hear an exclusive album sampler from the band with Jim and Tom on tonight's show (BBC Radio Kent from 8pm), or if you miss it you'll be able to hear it using the BBC iPlayer up until this time next week.
That's a video of Tunbridge Wells band Tom Williams And The Boat recording some tracks in the BBC's Studio MV4. I sense a bit of friendly rivalry going on between this video and the just-as-unofficial video that I have been working on (which will be 'released' soon). Exciting.
As you'll see in the video, the broadcast date for the Huw Stephens session has been confirmed for the show at midnight on the morning of Thursday 16th October (on the Introducing show on Radio 1).
That means we're aiming to broadcast our own version of the day's events, complete with a Maida Vale behind-the-scenes tour and interviews with the cast and crew, the following Sunday (19th). So here's the BBC Kent Introducing show diary as it stands for the next month or two:
28 Sept - the next show will feature an exclusive album sampler of The Long Weekend's debut release Twenty Minutes Thirteen Stops. It will be accompanied by an audio interview on this blog which will appear at some point before the show, along with an interview with Ben from The Lovedays.
5th Oct - another busy show, with all the usual features including our hottest record and free download track of the week...
12th Oct - an exclusive hour-long documentary, presented by Jim, about Rochester producer Nitin Sawhney. The show will feature some of Nitin's material (old and new) and details of his eighth studio album London Undersound which is released the following day.
As well as an interview with Nitin Sawhney himself, Jim will also speak to Sting. Random.
19th Oct - A usual show, save for the middle half-hour which will feature our escapades at Maida Vale Studios as described above. You'll also be able to hear the four session tracks recorded by Tom Williams And The Boat, just in case you missed them or want to hear them again.
The video diary of our day out will appear on this blog sometime that week (that's a tentative promise however; it's a busy week for me what with my dad's birthday, my driving test, and the release of the Chase And Status album which could be the highlight of my whole year).
26th Oct - Jim and Tom are reunited back at base again with the usual weekly dose of new Kent bands.
2nd Nov - Tom does a show on his own, which includes picking all the music (which will be interesting). Jim and Tom (and occasionally I) mention our favourite bands and songs on the show quite a lot but it's rare to hear them go for a whole show of all-out favouritism.
So if you're in a Kent band... tune in to see if Tom likes you.
Busy stuff! Woo.
I'm off for some ice-cream... it's Monday night after all. I probably deserve it.
BBC Kent Introducing airs every Sunday night from 8pm on BBC Radio Kent. You can listen online at any time or on FM or DAB Digital Radio across Kent. It's a weekly showcase of the best new music from Kent... if you want to get your music heard, email your tracks to kent.introducing@bbc.co.uk.
