JIM CARROLLon music
Enda Kenny knows the score. During the general election campaign earlier this year, a political correspondent attempted to punk the Fine Gael leader by asking him to explain cloud computing, a topic that had come up at an earlier press briefing.
Instead of stuttering and stumbling for an answer, Kenny trotted out a decent explanation and the political correspondents had to look elsewhere for sport that day.
You would hope that the music industry has a similar grasp of what the cloud is all about for their industry.
Given the sorry litany of setbacks, mistakes and errors that have accompanied music’s interaction with technology over the past 15 years, you really do have to hope they know what they are doing.
After all, the cloud is where it’s at for the industry in the short to medium term. CD sales are on the slide (though three out of four US album sales last year were still on plastic discs) and paid-for downloads are not really going to fund anyone’s end-of-year bonus. Instead, it’s all about streams, subscriptions and other cloud-related activity.
Yet, as we saw recently when a crash at the Amazon Web Services data centre in north Virginia caused outages for various sites it hosts, the cloud is a great idea in theory – and in practice, as long as everything works. But problems can and do occur, which is why many see the Amazon snafu as a wake-up call for those moving their activities to the cloud.
For the music industry, there is also the need for some long-term thinking about what comes after the cloud. But, as we have seen again and again, formulating long-term strategies is not something the sector has been too good at over the years.
New music
IS TROPICAL
You can hear right away why Kitsune snapped up these London synth-pop whipper-snappers when you cock an ear to The Greeks,a tune with an infectious, sassy radio-friendly hook at the heart of the action. Debut album with hopefully similar alluring tunes due in the summer. istropical.com
GRETTA GUNN
The Co Kildare-based producer's new three-track EP The Hunt for Alphabet Setis a fine showcase for her wibbly-wobbly punky electropop. The feisty Bop will stick to your ears like bubblegum after just one listen. Grettagunn. bandcamp.com
MY PANDA SHALL FLY
Future-bass goodness from the Sri Lankan-born, London-based producer whose debut EP Sorry I Took So Longfor Dam Mantle's new Growing label is a headspinning symphony of deep-end bleepery. soundcloud.com/mpsf
Now playing
Cassius I Luv U So(Skream remix) (Ed Banger) A summer banger as Skream takes the chic French house garçons to another dimension.
Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part 2(Parlophone) They've still got those mad skills: the Beasties return to Ill Communication good times with fuzzy and grimey beats and rhymes.
Jai Paul BTSTU(XL) The new-school psych-pop nugget from the much- tipped artist gets a fresh lick of paint ahead of its official release. Album is due later this year or early 2012.
Amerie 1 Thing(Columbia) A hopping, skipping and jumping classic for your summertime mix tapes.
Michael Kiwanuka Tell Me a Tale(Communion) Rich, evocative vintage soul from a young London dude with a tender, old-fashioned voice.
