October 29, 2024 • 40 mins
The era of surprise album releases seems to be over, with everyone from Beyonce to Billie Eilish to Charli XCX to Tyler, The Creator opting for modern (and bombastic) twists on the traditional way of hyping LPs before their release dates. Increasingly, it seems the arena listening party in a key tool in connecting conceptual artist and fans, but as Greg shares on this week's episode, they don't always work.
We also get into the week's headlines, including the reformation of The Maccabees, how Lily Allen is making more money from her feet on OnlyFans than through her music on Spotify, and what Helen Mirren wishes Kurt Cobain got to experience.
Greg also shows off about the most famous people he's met.
Further reading/listening/viewing
Listen to our new Beat the Algorithm Spotify playlist
Kanye West Donda listening party
Credits:
Editing by Stuart Stubbs
Mixing and mastering by Flo Lines
Artwork by Kate Prior
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good Evening.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Greg Cochran, Good evening, I'm Stuart Stubbs. We are
a couple of journalists who've been working in independent music
since the days of MySpace.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
One night a week, we become your guides through the
week in music, because, let's face it, the algorithms have
stopped working for most of us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So we're here to share the best new underground music
and the news that you might have missed, as well
as discussing the week's biggest headlines and bringing you interviews
with some of our favorite alternative artists.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
The show is called Midnight Chats.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good Evening, wear Wolves. Welcome to another spooky episode of
Chats Halloween week.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hang on to you, hang on. We're going to keep
going with the whole were wolves thing. Are our listeners
to Midnight Chats? Are we going to refer to them
as were wolves for the rest of time? Now? How's
that been going since we decided?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm going to be honest, no one's taken it up.
It's not gone down. Well, if you missed last week's podcast,
we were talking. The main subject on last week's podcast
was fandom really, and we decided, or I should say
I decided I shouldn't three you under the bus with me. Greg.
I decided we needed a name for you, our listeners,
and I came up with were wolves quite lazily. You
(01:15):
then suggested that all of our listeners should send in
videos of themselves owling, howling like a were wolf. And
it's Halloween week this week, so we were expecting quite
a deluge of of video content and we were going
to play them this week, and we've had none. We've
had zero. Oh, may we park it for now.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Let's park it, let's come back to it, you know,
another year, another century.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I've got a feeling those fan names have to happen organically, right,
I don't. I don't think the fan. I don't think
the artists come up with them today.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No. I think I think our listening community should tell
us what they should be called. Really, it's not, it's
not down to us. So, yeah, if you've got any ideas, Yeah,
let us know what you're thinking. We're at midnight chats
pod just like messages, and tell us what what you
should be called.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah? I did, I mean I did actually do a
specific shout out on our Instagram account to see if
anyone had any suggestions, and yeah, there was nothing, no response,
no response at all.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
We can just we just respect that. We just we
respect that. We respect you, were Wolves, we respect you.
We do we do. What's been happening in the world
of news has been putting a smile on your face
this week.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Everybody's picked up on this thing that Helen mirran has
said about Kirk Cobain, and it was it was an
aside that she said in a podcast, which was the
Evgeny Lebadev podcast called Brave New World, where she said
she's sad that Kirk Cobain never got to experience GPS,
and it's been picked up by everybody, and there's not
(02:51):
much more of a story to it than that. I've
got nothing really to offer. I've got no commentary on that.
I just like the fact that Helen Mirran is is
shouting out Kirk Cobain. She probably could have picked any figure.
I imagine her point was, isn't it sad when people
don't get to experience new things that we now take
for granted, But she picked Kirk Cobain. So the indie
(03:12):
press has picked up on the fact that Mirham is
an Avana fan, perhaps, but I like that I like
anything that involves Helen Miriam. She's from my hometown of
South End on Sea. My mom looks so much like
her that at school we convinced some of the kids
that my mom was Helen Mirrm. So I've obviously got
Google alert set up for Helen Mirram news. So I
(03:34):
got that as it was breaking. But it's been picked
up by everyone. But there's been a few little weird
things like that this week, isn't there.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I like this story about an Indian restaurant went viral
for mistaking a fan for Paul Weller ahead of Wella
playing a gig in Wolverhampton. I love a lookielike story,
people that look like famous people but aren't, but then
just roll with it. So basically, there's this photo of
this fan that looks like Paul Weller having a curry
(04:01):
in Wilhampton along with some staff members from this Indian restaurant,
and they're like, WHOA, Paul Weller's in our restaurant having
a meal before he's gig tonight. Do you do you ever?
Have you ever been mistaken for a famous musician?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, I've been bullied by people in the street, but
not not like in the sense that when I spent
a part of my youth with what you were typically
call an Oasis style haircut. Yes, and I was very
Indie look, and people would shout no, or Liam, or
that's seeing Oasis lyrics to me. Sometimes Richard Ashcroft, sometimes
(04:38):
Vernon Kay in his two four Days.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I can see that one. My one, My one's the
drummer from Cajun Dance Party or Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh okay, I mean you've got to take Justin, haven't you.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'll be honest, if the Cajun Dance Party Dramma walked
in this room, now, I'm not sure I would recognize him. No,
I've never had a I've never had like a real
one Calvin Harris. I had for a while before Calvin
Harris got like buff and good looking. It's not it
wasn't even a compliment. Like now, if people want to
(05:16):
call me, say I look like Calvin Harris, now I'll
take that. Before you know it exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Tonight's you. We're going to be talking about maximalist album launches, specifically,
this trend that these huge listening parties that artists put
on in like arenas and stadiums that seem to be
ever more creative and ever more ambitious in their scale.
Because Tider the Creator has just dropped his new album
(05:44):
and there's some pretty insane looking footage of this listening
party that he's thrown in Los Angeles as we're recording this,
literally like about an hour or two ago, and so
we're going to be getting into that to talk about
like what that's all about, Like why are we seeing
like huge it's doing these things? What does it mean
for albums? Is a good thing? And all that kind
of stuff we've been and also we've got some stories,
(06:06):
right because you and I have been to some of
these over the years and they don't always work. But
if you thought Oasis was the big reunion happening next year, stew,
I think you need to think again, because the Maccabees
have just announced that they're getting back together. He heard
about this, they have, This.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Was trailed last week, and I think actually within like
maybe our immediate circle of you know, our Instagram, the
people were following on Instagram and just the immediate world
of midnight chats is people are much more excited by this.
The Maccabees split up, not that long ago, twenty sixteen,
twenty seventeen, last show in twenty seventeen, announced it in
(06:43):
twenty sixteen, but played final string of shows in London
at Alexandra Palace, and last week they teased some you know,
they teased that they were back together. People got extremely excited.
They cleared out their social media account. Then they dropped
a new new Maccabee's logo. Yeah, and it was quite
(07:05):
obviously some news was coming. And then this morning we
are recording this episode of the podcast on the Monday
morning of the week, it's been confirmed. Yeah, they're kind
of headline All Points East Festival here in London next week.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They're going to end it next week, next week.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Next year, next year, and everybody is very happy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean it's not going to crash Ticketmaster, is it.
But I think that yeah, it's quite exciting. I love
the maccabees. They're sort of a fond I have a
fondness for the Macabees. It's probably the best way of
putting it. But like you say, they've not been away
for that long, and they did kind of go out
in a way that I think lots of people respected,
in the sense that they were kind of top of
(07:49):
their game when they bowed out, and there's something about
that they always sort of think, yeah, fair play, you
know you're going out on top. But they are back
and they are going to be playing the Massive Show
next summer. I'm probably along with lots of other stuff
I would have thought, and selfishly, I I would quite
like I've never seen them play forever. I've known off
(08:10):
that album Given to the World, which is one of
my favorite Maccabi tracks, So I'll be interested in that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
We had Orlando on the podcast that's right, maybe a
couple of years ago now, talking about some of his
solo records and what a lovely man. We spent a
little bit of time hanging out afterwards, and just just
a very nice bunch of lads. I don't know if
you'd call the Maccabeats lads gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah you can. You can scroll back and find that
episode with all Lando weeks. It's a good it's a
good one to revisit. I think in the meantime, you
know how the story about artists and what they earn
from streaming royalties basically just never goes away. It just
like comes back in different forms. We spotted this one
this week. It was both funny and very damning, I think,
because yes, sexy sex sexy really into talking about an
(08:57):
un sexy topic. This is Lily, wasn't it. The story
goes that basically, somebody comes and does her nails for her, right,
does her toenails? You can tell I don't have mine
done and her fingernails done. And they pointed out that
Lily Allen is in like the top one hundred rated
peoples whose feet are lovely on Wiki Feet, which I
(09:17):
didn't realize was a thing, which basically alerted Lily Allen
to the fact that there might be some people that
are interested in her feet. And she started this only
Fans page where you can pay ten dollars a month
and receive pictures of Lily Allen's feet. Anyway, she boasted
a link on social media to her OnlyFans account where
you can go and look at her feet, and somebody
clap back basically saying like, well, this is a bit desperate,
(09:38):
isn't it, Like you're supposed to be an artist, And
she responded basically saying, yeah, it is a bit sad
because I'm an artist that has like eight million streams
on streaming platforms every month, and I'm making more money
from the fact that I'm sharing pictures of my feet.
So what did you make of this? Ge?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, she met. Apparently she makes ten grand a month
in dollars for her only fans, which, as you say,
she started earlier this year around July. I think. I mean,
it's a funny story that I suppose at the heart
of it's got quite a serious issue, hasn't it, which
is the fact that your feet picture's side hustle is
getting more money than your music, which is essentially what
(10:14):
you know she's known for. It. It's not like she
hasn't got any followers. It's like you say, she gets
eight million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and she's still
earning more from her OnlyFans pictures. Apparently the statistic is
own out of every artist that is on Spotify, which
is obviously millions of millions of people, they estimate that
(10:36):
sixty six thousand of them only earn what Lily has
earned with her feet pictures. Ten grand a month is
only actually owned by the top sixty six thousand of
all artists. I don't know where that number is. I'd
be interested to know where that number is like, how
many monthly listeners do you need to get to that
ten grand that she's getting through her feet pictures.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And I think it's really telling that basically on hearing
about this or you dived into the numbers and like
the serious investigative side of things, and I thought, hang on,
I've got feet, like an ewok, so I definitely can't
do this.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We got I think that I think there's probably a
niche market for your feet, like Trotter's, Like, people are
into all sorts of things. It's a it's a wide
world out there, Greg dost rule out your hoofs for
for consideration. On wikife although I went on wikifee.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Oh did you know?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I think it was installed on my computer when I
got the computer, Like there's nothing to do with me.
Wikifee is a great site, like because it's so low
fire and the tagline on it, what is the tagline?
I'll just get it up now just.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
For the purpose of this podcast. Oh, you just got
it there on screen. That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It is in my saved tab somewhere tall bar. The
tagline of wiki fee is the collaborative celebrity feet to website.
So I think you do need to be a celeb?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Oh, that's fine, you fall into that category. I think so,
because my feet are very average, right. I think the
thing is, I think you've got more interesting feet. I
think you've got bigger feet, which I feel like that's
maybe a thing. And if we don't run with the
feet thing, I do. I was trying to think, basically,
how can one of your bodily features make some money
(12:29):
for this podcast? That's what I was thinking. I'm hearing
about this story and I thought, is there an equivalent?
Is there like wiki tash? Like, are there people on
only Fans that would subscribe to a Stuart Stubbs only
Fans channel where you're posting very alluring photos of your
mustache just mustache?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Just it could be in different places, you know. It
could be I don't know, you're snowboarding and you're in
a snowy scene and there's your tash glistening in the mountains.
Here's your tash on a beach, here's your tash on
a night out, all that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It could be like here is my tash propping up
the linen tower piso. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So I want to say thank you to Lily Allen,
I think there's a serious point to this, and the
serious point is how do we make money out of
your facial hair? And also, yes, you're absolutely right. We
have seen the music community coming like to more, like
ever more, increasing the creative ways to basically support their
art because of the lack of streaming money. I'm thinking
(13:28):
of Laura Marlin coming on the podcast the other week
talking about her substack, and like James Blake's obviously been
talking about this loads recently, artists trying to find ways
to own that direct relationship with their fans. Their fans
might be fans of their music, their fans might be
fans of their feet. I think that's where the opportunity
for growth is for our income through midnight chats.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Is your face Okay, fine, I will try anything twice.
I'm absolutely fine with that.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Right after the rate we're going to be chatting about
the explosion of creative album listening parties because it does
feel like they've gone to a whole new high pee
level and what does that mean for albums. I don't know.
I'm interested to get your take on this, So after
this we'll be talking about that welcome back where wolves
no I'm not going to do that. Welcome back everybody,
(14:18):
all right to So as we record this, we're scrolling
through footage of Tider the Creator dancing on top of
a set of shipping containers in the middle of a
sports arena in Los Angeles to launch his new album Chromacopeia.
Looks pretty extraordinary, thousands of people there, til of the
Creators doing some incredible dancing on top of these platforms
(14:39):
with a huge video screen, not technically singing, kind of
performing in a way. But this really caught her attention, right,
because this Tide of the Creator stuff has moved real
really quickly in the past week or so, and it
just got us thinking about these these insane listening events
that seem to be happening more and more.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Right. Yeah, So, I think the reason we wanted to
talk about this really is because albums the way albums
are promoted now have I think they've become much more exciting,
much more fun, much more interesting. Part of that is
this listening party thing. Maybe we start with let's just
start with what a listening party is, right, Listening parties
(15:20):
have been going on like public facing ones where fans
can go and hear the album before it comes out.
Have been going on for about ten years or so
in the world of hip hop especially, but in more
recent years, starting with Kanye West, really they have reached
this new level of size and grandeur. But what a
(15:41):
listening party is for anyone who's unfamiliar is it's not
a gig. It's not a show. There's no live music.
It's a chance of fans to get together hear an
album in full before it comes out, whilst the artist
is there and their present. Tyler the creator has had
one just a couple of hours ago, as Gregg says,
(16:02):
but he announced this on Friday with a very honest thing, saying, Okay,
we're doing a listening party. I will not be performing live.
I'll be lip syncing to the new songs. That's what
I'm going to be doing. So he was very above
board with it. And it was five dollars to get in.
It was only like three pound fifty to our UK listeners. Yeah,
it was just a fiver and guessing to cover the
costs make a bit of cash back. But what I
(16:24):
find weird about him is not like being at a
gig where there's a stage and there are people stood
up they're normally an arenas and it's the seating, so
the seatings full of fans who just want to hear
the album a little bit earlier. And then on the floor,
which is sometimes a vast space, like when Kanye is
doing his he's doing them in American Football stadium, so
it's an American football pitch void in the middle. Yeah,
(16:45):
they're just running around on the pitch or the basketball court, right,
which is kind of mad. Billie Eilish did one of
these earlier this year for her album via Spotify. It
was free for fans. They had to just enter a
ballot and get that ticket and they could go. And
the footage of that. We'll put some links in the
in the show notes so you can just see what
this does look like to try and get an idea
(17:06):
of what it's like to be there. The artist is
just really running around. She was running around with her dog.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
It's like being at a mad house party where somebody
puts on their own music. Yeah, Like Charlie XX did
that one at a sculpture park, didn't she in Upstate
New York a few weeks ago to the Yeah Rat
the remake like Brat and it's completely different but also
still brat. I really liked that one because it was
a little bit random. It was kind of just it
looked a bit like it was just in a field,
(17:35):
but with like a sort of temporary set built, and
she like rocked up as if she was on her
way to somewhere else, got out of the car. There
was a few hundred fans there, all going absolutely bonkers.
She sort of empsed over the top of the of
her album for like whatever forty minutes and then was
like cheers.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
See Yeah, So Kenye is to blame. Yes, as always
for most things he with Donda especially, he had some
really extreme listening pies, including building a replica of his
family home in the center of the Chicago Bears American
Football Stadium. There was what he did, I think he
(18:12):
did three for that album. He pretended to set himself
a lie. Kim Kardashan came out at one point in
a wedding dress. But what I think is fascinating about
is like fans love them. Fans go to these things
because they get to hear the album a little bit earlier,
which that really stoked about, and they also get to
be with other fans, right, But what I think is
(18:32):
interesting about Listening Pies and the way Tyler the Creator
has rolled out his album, which was basically a week
of some really cool videos and just ideas and dropping
out little bits of information leading up to today's release.
It's really a return to how albums used to be
released on a grander scale, but in the sense of
(18:56):
building anticipation, building hype, getting fans excited. Because we went
through a period of time which I really didn't enjoy,
where big artists, especially would just drop their albums unexpected
surprise album releases. Yeah, and that was an era like
you Too onto your Apple iPhone? Yes, Yes, and everyone
(19:16):
was saying you didn't enjoy that. Well, that was a
particularly extreme version, wasn't it, when you were forced to
have an album from you two. I mean it really
started with the first surprise album was It was in
Rainbows really in two thousand and seven by Radiohead. That
started a wave of people just dropping their albums alms
like Lemonade, Beyonce's self titled album, jay Z Did It
(19:39):
Blonde by Frank Cochin, like big artists Drake, they all
went for a stage of because they were frightened that
the album was going to be leaked because it was
at the peak piracy. We're talking mid two thousands to
like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. It became a thing very quickly,
and the first time you saw it was quite I
(20:00):
quite interesting that you woke up and suddenly there was
a great album. Yeah, that was great, but it became
boring because everybody was doing it. It became quite dull,
and I think as from fans, from a fan point
of view, it meant that people couldn't build the sort
of excitement that has been built around Tyler's album or
(20:20):
the way that Charlie XCX has done it. This is
exactly exactly. So it's I think it's great that we're
back in a world of let's big up the album,
get the album going. But I do think it's also
interesting that, you know, we're constantly told the album's dead,
no one cares about the album. But maybe but these artists,
people like Tyler the Creator, who's obviously every conceptual artist,
(20:45):
keeping it, keeping it alive, not even thriving. Yeah, because
they've just gone to this new extreme of doing these
these crazy sort of big events and these like they're
using social media in a really cool way. I like it.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, me too, and I like he's posted saying, when
you listen to this album, turn off all you're of
a social media all, you're of a distractions. Please just like,
don't read the reviews. Just listen to the album. Just
like just make your own mind, but like focus on
it and sort of immerse yourself in it. I really
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Well, that's part of the reason why he decided to
release it this morning at six am, because he feels
it's disrespectful to release something at midnight when most people
are asleep. He thinks that's unfair, So he's just doing
his own thing today and also releasing it, as we say,
(21:36):
at the start of the week rather than the end
of the week. We just when everyone else releases on
a Friday, he has said previously. In an interview last
year with Nadwa, he made a comment about how releasing
things on a Friday is a bad idea because he
feels like people listen passively it weekends, so he wanted
to get it out at the beginning of the week
because he felt people be more engaged with it. I
(21:58):
don't really understand that thinking behind that of releasing it
while you've also got go to work and all these
sorts of things. But maybe there's there's something in it.
It was his hunch anyway, and he's delivered on it.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah. So the closest I've ever come to going to
like one of these audacious, ambitious listening parties is to
go to Sinney World in Luton at the beginning of
twenty sixteen. Do you remember when I did this?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I can't remember what it was for. I know it
was a Kanye thing.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, basically, so people you have to diary your memory
back to the to the twenty sixteen, which feels like
a long time ago. This is before there was an
you know, Kanye has done some really unforgivable things. But
basically he was trailing the release of the album that
would eventually go on to be known as the Life
(22:47):
of Pablo. It wasn't actually called that at the point,
and he was billing it as the greatest album of
all time, and he was no swelling Yes, believe it,
believe it. I know he's usually so sort of humble. Anyway,
he threw this listening by and Madison Square Garden in
New York, world's probably the world's most famous indoor arena,
(23:08):
and there were thousands of people there, and he streamed
it into cinemas around the world concurrently that night to
basically debut this new album, which I think was called
Waves at the time, a strange recollection of that. I
thought it had a good idea. You and I were
talking about this at the time and I said, I'm
fascinated to know who goes to see Kanye West new
(23:29):
album be debuted at a Sinney world on a miserable
February Tuesday night, And ten minutes later, off I go.
Stu waves me off on the train, Bye bye, have
a nice time in Luton. So off I went, and
there I was, with thirty three other people. I walked
into the screen. You know, I could have walked in
and seen the Dad's Army remake or remake. I could
(23:50):
have walked in and seen Alvin and the Chipmunks the
Road Chip. I kind of wish I had. Instead, I
paid eighteen quid to watch the greatest album of all
time Debubi Canue West. But it was a strange one man.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So hang on, I've got two big questions here.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Go on.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
One, how many people are in the cinema? How many
people have.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Thirty three I counted them.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
There were thirty three people big screen or small screen.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Medium screen. It wasn't on the tiny screen.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, medium screen, you and thirty three other people. Yeah,
and what is what is showing on the screen is
why you're watching a live stream of the listening event
as it's happening in Madison Square carlor.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
That's right. So Kanye along with a bunch of collaborators,
he kind of comes out after a bit of a
delayed start. I should add there's like models. It was
kind of like a fashion show. I don't know if
you remember this that there was kind of models walking
along like a catwalk in the middle of the arena
at various points, but not really doing anything. Then Kanye
arrives looking like he's just been decorating the spare bedroom
(24:52):
and with a bunch of collaborators, takes out his laptop
like it's as if he's forgotten his ORCS cable as well,
because he's just sort of like messing around. Well, I
can't get this thing started anyway. Eventually the music starts.
That album's like an hour and ten minutes long or something,
so it's long, and he's just like bopping his head,
you know, he's just with all of his mates, just
(25:14):
like what's.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Going on in the cinema? Are people? Are people?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
We're all sniggering. Yeah, we're all sort of laughing. Because
he dropped a trailer for his like video game in
the middle of the stream as well. It was like,
this is bizarre.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
It feels like, what's happened there is you have I've
been duped, You've experienced all the bad parts of going
to a listening party. I think because.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I'm much preferred to be watching Tyler the Creator in
a baseball stadium in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I imagine if you were there at Kenye's at Madison
Square Garden, right, there's just an that you're getting the atmosphere.
At least did you talk to the other fans, because
I think the main reason for this, I feel, is
so fans can come together and be communal and nerd
(26:06):
out together. And I think I think that's the that's
the reason for the rise of these of these things.
I think there's three things I think they can make.
They make the artists a bit of money, even if
you're even if you're only charging a fiver, you're still
going to make a bit of cash. Even if you're
doing it free through Spotify. Spotify are obviously going to
pay you a lot of money in some way. You're
going to recoup a lot of money from doing that
(26:27):
if you're Billy Iiriish, so you are making money from it.
But I think the main thing about it is it
breeds the cult of the artist because you're essentially going
there to just be worshiped by your fans. It's reminding
you that you're loved by your fans, and your fans
are reminded that that you love them because you're letting
(26:47):
them hear the album. But also it's about meeting You're
at the other fans, right, whereas what you've done is
you've I mean, are you still in touch with anyone
from the cinema?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, the I is that I didn't speak to any
any other fans there because the lights were down and
I didn't notice, but people were leaving quite a lot,
and by the time the lights went up, I think
it was just me and my wife in there. I
was like, there's nobody left to speak to, and there's
just somebody just like sweeping popcorn and like you know,
lollipops off the floor. I was like, ah, this is
(27:21):
truly miserable. I agree with everything you said there, and
it's just it's a moment, isn't It's fun, And I
think it only works with certain types of artists, though
I would that's the one thing I would say, Like
it works for Kanye or Charlie XCX or Tyler the Creator,
I'm not sure it works for. I couldn't imagine the
Rolling Stones do it and Mick Jagger, you know, strutting
(27:42):
along a shipping container in the middle of a stadium
like lip syncing to their new album and that being
some kind of moment. So I do think it's very
artist specific, but I like it. I think it's a
lot of fun. I'm down with it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I'm going to make a prediction now. I think the
next record that will appear fully formed without any announcement whatsoever,
will be the next Frank Coach album.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Oh okay, yeah, when can give me some time scales ste.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I think it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Next Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Let's go for that. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
What I should say is chromagobia. We're not going to
give you our hot take on what we make of
it because it's only been out about thirty seconds. So
we'll maybe come back to that on a future episode
of Midnight Chats. But thanks to Tyler creator for giving
us the fodder to talk about some of our favorite
listening party moments and also just the absurdity and fun
of it all. Stu, should we get to a top
(28:43):
three and beat the algorithm after a few adverts?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yes, let's have some darling adverts and then we'll do that.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I hope you enjoyed those lovely, lovely adverts. Whilst you've
been listening to those, we've been setting up an only
fan page for Stuart's Mustache, so please do get behind that.
If you do scroll down, you're finding the show notes
a link to that. It is just one hundred and
fifty dollars a month to follow Stuart's Mustache on OnlyFans.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And I think you're getting an absolute bargain with that.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I think so so much mustache content that you you know,
live chats with the mustache videos, text commentary requests, a
couple of nudes. That's for the top tier obviously, yeah,
top tier, top prices. Yeah, so Stu, should we hit
should we get to top three time? It's a very
simple top three that I've chosen for you.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
This week. I would like the three most famous people
you've met, Ah, just name drop away, be shameless. This
is your moment. You have to show just how important
you used to be.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Ah, thanks for that, not sorry at all. Taylor Swift
number one.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yes, I knew you were going to take to say
Taylor Swift because I want you to tell listeners what
she said to you, what she said to me in
a way to bond with you.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
She said, you've got curly hair. I've got curly hair,
and I said, we do. We both have curly hair.
That was her opening kind of chat. When I'm mean
to go meet her in a huge, like kind of
very empty hotel suite many many years ago, and it
(30:28):
was one of amongst her like first that sort of
press visits to the UK. This is before she was like,
you know, getting yeah, a long time before she was
literally more famous than the Internet.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Where are you going after Taylor Swift?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Then after Taylor Swift, I'll go to Lady Garga next. Oh,
Madam Gargar, Madame Gargar. Yeah, so again. I met Lady
Gargar a couple of times around the release of her
first album. Before the release of her first album, once
was backstage at the Birmingham nec Arena when she was
supporting the Pussycat Dolls and she was wearing like do
(31:05):
you remember when she was like had like teacups and
big bows in her hair and all that sort of stuff.
Oh yeah, that was the Gaga era where I first
met her. She was an absolute riot, like really really fun,
great interview. Loves like like heavy rock. I remember talking
to her quite a bit about like she you know,
I think she loves stuff like led Zeppelin and Deep
Purple and like classic rock. I should say number three. Oh,
(31:29):
let's just go for one that sort of feels in
the moment. Liam Gallagher, I've met Liam Gallagher? Have you
I've met Liam Gallagher. Yeah, in the context of when
he was a lead singer of the incredible band BDI.
It was backstage at Reading Festival, possibly like not maybe
the first time bd I played it. I think they
(31:51):
played it a couple of times actually, And so it
was Liam and the gang and he was predictably very
down nol among other things. But also Liam Gallagher is
like he's exactly as you would expect, very funny, like
really funny, and you know, yeah, pretty polite and like
(32:12):
you know, just good vibes, like it was a lot
of fun to hang out with him all bit not
for very long, and it was like it was in
a porter cabin backstage of like the second stage at
Reading Festival, which I'm not sure is where Liam necessarily
wanted to be at that point in his career. But yeah,
it was everything you'd hope for from an encounter with
Liam Gallagher. Got a photo with him. It's washing around
(32:34):
somewhere on my hard drive.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Oh, please dig that out so we can we can
share it.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thank you. That was top three, Thanks very much, Greg,
you shameless name drop and that.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Was well you led me into it. Thanks for bowling
me an easy one after the most horrendous few weeks
of top threes for me.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Well, before we go, let's give a few recommendations to
our listeners of things they should be listening to this
coming week.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
The Algorithm, The Algorithms. Yeah, can I start. I went
to see Jordi Greep the other night. He's doing a
solo tour at the moment. Jordi Greek previously of Black
Midy and Midnight Chats. He was on the podcast about
four or five weeks ago. Please do scroll back and
listen to that one, because he was an amazing guest.
(33:25):
I thought you got to go and speak to Jordie,
didn't you to talking all things black media in this
new era that he is embarking on of making solo music.
And that night when I went to catch him, Jordi
and his band were supported by a band called Nats,
which is spout k nats, so not spout with a G,
which I think Nats are normally, and they were brilliant.
(33:47):
I love catching a support band when you're like, oh,
these these are really really good. This is their track
Miz and if you like the sound of that, They've
(34:29):
got an album coming out called Tortuga for Mema I
think is coming out on November the seventh. Go and
check their bandcamp for more details on that. And basically
they're from Newcastle, super experimental. They're built around this absolute
powerhouse duo of a bassis and a drummer. I think
the basis is called stan Woodwood and the drummers called
(34:50):
King David ik Alecchi and those two together are just
like an incredible unit. And I think they're joined by
various other musicians. When they're depending on what they're doing.
But yeah, if you like this kind of fusion of
jazz and howse and gospel and punk and all those
sort of things, then I think that NAT's with a
K might be for you.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Excellent. I'm going to go for something that isn't brand new.
Actually it's a hip hop duo called Paris Texas from
LA And the reason I've gone from this for this
is because when Tyler the Creator announced his world tour
last week in support of this new record, I was
really pleased to see that Paris Texas are supporting on
(35:31):
that tour, that one of the support artists, and they are.
I'm not sure how they're doing back in the States,
but here I feel like maybe they've gone a little
bit under radiar. They released a great record debut album
last year called mid Air. This track is called Panic
(35:57):
Pas Touch week.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I see.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Because you're not going in front time, I can come test.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Excuse me?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Are you guys? And as you can hear that that
a hip hop duo sort of for the hardcore punk kids.
If you're a fan of Jpeg Mafia Denzil Curry, then
I think Paris Texas for you, and I think mid
Air was underrated. It was in our Albums of the
Year at the end of twenty twenty three. I think
(36:32):
it should have been in more lists. So the fact
that Tyler is taking them out on the road, I
think it's a great thing. So that's why I've gone
for them this week. As always, we will put those
tracks on a Beat the Algorithm playlist. It's on Spotify.
There's a link in the show notes. One last thing
before we go, Greg, I was at this this weekend. Gone.
(36:53):
I was at a wedding of some good friends of
ours with some other good friends of ours, and one
of those friends said they were talking to somebody they
know who said, hey, I've been listening to this podcast
that you might like. It's about music. It's called Midnight Chats.
And they were like, no, I know Midnight Chats very well,
(37:14):
and I know the guys that do Midnight Chats. And
they said, oh, that's great. They sound really fun. This
is true? Is this is what I said to me.
They sound really fun and they sound like they really
like each other. Are they really friends? Would you like
to confirm or deny if all of this jollity is
(37:38):
real or confected? For the hour or so we spend
recording this, Jack.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
It's a marriage of podcast convenience.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, we are like the Black Sabbath of the podcast world. Basically,
everyone who makes a podcast with somebody else hates that
person and mkir Oliver they hate each other Grimmy and
Annie mac oh nightmare, and we're exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
It's not concocted, because otherwise I wouldn't have been the
first person to sign up to your new only Fans
account to follow pictures of your mustache. Now, that's a
genuine love, that's true.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, to be fair, so for anyone that was asking, Yeah, unfortunately,
we're friends, been a long time. This is all very real. Okay,
thank you for listening to this week's episode of Midnight Chats.
We're going to be back next week. I'm going to
just tell you right now who the guest is. It's
Kelly Lee Owens. Yes, there's some brilliant name dropping coming
(38:43):
up in next week's episode that I manage to get
Kelly to. She very kind of just indulges in telling
me stories about famous people and things that have happened
to her recently. Because she's living she's living like a
high flying life it's all quite glamorous and I wanted
to ask her about it and she went with it.
So thank you to Kelly. Looking forward to bringing that
(39:05):
next week. That will be next Tuesday night. As always.
In the meantime, please do subscribe to the podcast if
you don't already so you can get all of these.
Tell a friend that would really help, and give it
a like if you like it. Until next week, though,
good night everybody. Good night Greg, good night Stuart. I
(39:27):
hate you so much, you too. Midnight Chats is a
joint production between Loud and Quiet and Atomized Studios for iHeartRadio.
It's hosted by Stuart Stubbs and Greg Cochran, mixed and
mastered by Flow Lines, and edited by Stuart Stubbs.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Find us on Instagram and TikTok to watch clips from
our recordings at much much more. We are Midnight Chats pod.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
For more information, visit Loud and Quiet dot com.
Good Evening.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Greg Cochran, Good evening, I'm Stuart Stubbs. We are
a couple of journalists who've been working in independent music
since the days of MySpace.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
One night a week, we become your guides through the
week in music, because, let's face it, the algorithms have
stopped working for most of us.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So we're here to share the best new underground music
and the news that you might have missed, as well
as discussing the week's biggest headlines and bringing you interviews
with some of our favorite alternative artists.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
The show is called Midnight Chats.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Good Evening, wear Wolves. Welcome to another spooky episode of
Chats Halloween week.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hang on to you, hang on. We're going to keep
going with the whole were wolves thing. Are our listeners
to Midnight Chats? Are we going to refer to them
as were wolves for the rest of time? Now? How's
that been going since we decided?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm going to be honest, no one's taken it up.
It's not gone down. Well, if you missed last week's podcast,
we were talking. The main subject on last week's podcast
was fandom really, and we decided, or I should say
I decided I shouldn't three you under the bus with me. Greg.
I decided we needed a name for you, our listeners,
and I came up with were wolves quite lazily. You
(01:15):
then suggested that all of our listeners should send in
videos of themselves owling, howling like a were wolf. And
it's Halloween week this week, so we were expecting quite
a deluge of of video content and we were going
to play them this week, and we've had none. We've
had zero. Oh, may we park it for now.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Let's park it, let's come back to it, you know,
another year, another century.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I've got a feeling those fan names have to happen organically, right,
I don't. I don't think the fan. I don't think
the artists come up with them today.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
No. I think I think our listening community should tell
us what they should be called. Really, it's not, it's
not down to us. So, yeah, if you've got any ideas, Yeah,
let us know what you're thinking. We're at midnight chats
pod just like messages, and tell us what what you
should be called.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah? I did, I mean I did actually do a
specific shout out on our Instagram account to see if
anyone had any suggestions, and yeah, there was nothing, no response,
no response at all.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
We can just we just respect that. We just we
respect that. We respect you, were Wolves, we respect you.
We do we do. What's been happening in the world
of news has been putting a smile on your face
this week.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Everybody's picked up on this thing that Helen mirran has
said about Kirk Cobain, and it was it was an
aside that she said in a podcast, which was the
Evgeny Lebadev podcast called Brave New World, where she said
she's sad that Kirk Cobain never got to experience GPS,
and it's been picked up by everybody, and there's not
(02:51):
much more of a story to it than that. I've
got nothing really to offer. I've got no commentary on that.
I just like the fact that Helen Mirran is is
shouting out Kirk Cobain. She probably could have picked any figure.
I imagine her point was, isn't it sad when people
don't get to experience new things that we now take
for granted, But she picked Kirk Cobain. So the indie
(03:12):
press has picked up on the fact that Mirham is
an Avana fan, perhaps, but I like that I like
anything that involves Helen Miriam. She's from my hometown of
South End on Sea. My mom looks so much like
her that at school we convinced some of the kids
that my mom was Helen Mirrm. So I've obviously got
Google alert set up for Helen Mirram news. So I
(03:34):
got that as it was breaking. But it's been picked
up by everyone. But there's been a few little weird
things like that this week, isn't there.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
I like this story about an Indian restaurant went viral
for mistaking a fan for Paul Weller ahead of Wella
playing a gig in Wolverhampton. I love a lookielike story,
people that look like famous people but aren't, but then
just roll with it. So basically, there's this photo of
this fan that looks like Paul Weller having a curry
(04:01):
in Wilhampton along with some staff members from this Indian restaurant,
and they're like, WHOA, Paul Weller's in our restaurant having
a meal before he's gig tonight. Do you do you ever?
Have you ever been mistaken for a famous musician?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
No, I've been bullied by people in the street, but
not not like in the sense that when I spent
a part of my youth with what you were typically
call an Oasis style haircut. Yes, and I was very
Indie look, and people would shout no, or Liam, or
that's seeing Oasis lyrics to me. Sometimes Richard Ashcroft, sometimes
(04:38):
Vernon Kay in his two four Days.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I can see that one. My one, My one's the
drummer from Cajun Dance Party or Justin Timberlake.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Oh okay, I mean you've got to take Justin, haven't you.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I'll be honest, if the Cajun Dance Party Dramma walked
in this room, now, I'm not sure I would recognize him. No,
I've never had a I've never had like a real
one Calvin Harris. I had for a while before Calvin
Harris got like buff and good looking. It's not it
wasn't even a compliment. Like now, if people want to
(05:16):
call me, say I look like Calvin Harris, now I'll
take that. Before you know it exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Tonight's you. We're going to be talking about maximalist album launches, specifically,
this trend that these huge listening parties that artists put
on in like arenas and stadiums that seem to be
ever more creative and ever more ambitious in their scale.
Because Tider the Creator has just dropped his new album
(05:44):
and there's some pretty insane looking footage of this listening
party that he's thrown in Los Angeles as we're recording this,
literally like about an hour or two ago, and so
we're going to be getting into that to talk about
like what that's all about, Like why are we seeing
like huge it's doing these things? What does it mean
for albums? Is a good thing? And all that kind
of stuff we've been and also we've got some stories,
(06:06):
right because you and I have been to some of
these over the years and they don't always work. But
if you thought Oasis was the big reunion happening next year, stew,
I think you need to think again, because the Maccabees
have just announced that they're getting back together. He heard
about this, they have, This.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Was trailed last week, and I think actually within like
maybe our immediate circle of you know, our Instagram, the
people were following on Instagram and just the immediate world
of midnight chats is people are much more excited by this.
The Maccabees split up, not that long ago, twenty sixteen,
twenty seventeen, last show in twenty seventeen, announced it in
(06:43):
twenty sixteen, but played final string of shows in London
at Alexandra Palace, and last week they teased some you know,
they teased that they were back together. People got extremely excited.
They cleared out their social media account. Then they dropped
a new new Maccabee's logo. Yeah, and it was quite
(07:05):
obviously some news was coming. And then this morning we
are recording this episode of the podcast on the Monday
morning of the week, it's been confirmed. Yeah, they're kind
of headline All Points East Festival here in London next week.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
They're going to end it next week, next week.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Next year, next year, and everybody is very happy. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I mean it's not going to crash Ticketmaster, is it.
But I think that yeah, it's quite exciting. I love
the maccabees. They're sort of a fond I have a
fondness for the Macabees. It's probably the best way of
putting it. But like you say, they've not been away
for that long, and they did kind of go out
in a way that I think lots of people respected,
in the sense that they were kind of top of
(07:49):
their game when they bowed out, and there's something about
that they always sort of think, yeah, fair play, you
know you're going out on top. But they are back
and they are going to be playing the Massive Show
next summer. I'm probably along with lots of other stuff
I would have thought, and selfishly, I I would quite
like I've never seen them play forever. I've known off
(08:10):
that album Given to the World, which is one of
my favorite Maccabi tracks, So I'll be interested in that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
We had Orlando on the podcast that's right, maybe a
couple of years ago now, talking about some of his
solo records and what a lovely man. We spent a
little bit of time hanging out afterwards, and just just
a very nice bunch of lads. I don't know if
you'd call the Maccabeats lads gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah you can. You can scroll back and find that
episode with all Lando weeks. It's a good it's a
good one to revisit. I think in the meantime, you
know how the story about artists and what they earn
from streaming royalties basically just never goes away. It just
like comes back in different forms. We spotted this one
this week. It was both funny and very damning, I think,
because yes, sexy sex sexy really into talking about an
(08:57):
un sexy topic. This is Lily, wasn't it. The story
goes that basically, somebody comes and does her nails for her, right,
does her toenails? You can tell I don't have mine
done and her fingernails done. And they pointed out that
Lily Allen is in like the top one hundred rated
peoples whose feet are lovely on Wiki Feet, which I
(09:17):
didn't realize was a thing, which basically alerted Lily Allen
to the fact that there might be some people that
are interested in her feet. And she started this only
Fans page where you can pay ten dollars a month
and receive pictures of Lily Allen's feet. Anyway, she boasted
a link on social media to her OnlyFans account where
you can go and look at her feet, and somebody
clap back basically saying like, well, this is a bit desperate,
(09:38):
isn't it, Like you're supposed to be an artist, And
she responded basically saying, yeah, it is a bit sad
because I'm an artist that has like eight million streams
on streaming platforms every month, and I'm making more money
from the fact that I'm sharing pictures of my feet.
So what did you make of this? Ge?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, she met. Apparently she makes ten grand a month
in dollars for her only fans, which, as you say,
she started earlier this year around July. I think. I mean,
it's a funny story that I suppose at the heart
of it's got quite a serious issue, hasn't it, which
is the fact that your feet picture's side hustle is
getting more money than your music, which is essentially what
(10:14):
you know she's known for. It. It's not like she
hasn't got any followers. It's like you say, she gets
eight million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, and she's still
earning more from her OnlyFans pictures. Apparently the statistic is
own out of every artist that is on Spotify, which
is obviously millions of millions of people, they estimate that
(10:36):
sixty six thousand of them only earn what Lily has
earned with her feet pictures. Ten grand a month is
only actually owned by the top sixty six thousand of
all artists. I don't know where that number is. I'd
be interested to know where that number is like, how
many monthly listeners do you need to get to that
ten grand that she's getting through her feet pictures.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
And I think it's really telling that basically on hearing
about this or you dived into the numbers and like
the serious investigative side of things, and I thought, hang on,
I've got feet, like an ewok, so I definitely can't
do this.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
We got I think that I think there's probably a
niche market for your feet, like Trotter's, Like, people are
into all sorts of things. It's a it's a wide
world out there, Greg dost rule out your hoofs for
for consideration. On wikife although I went on wikifee.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Oh did you know?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I think it was installed on my computer when I
got the computer, Like there's nothing to do with me.
Wikifee is a great site, like because it's so low
fire and the tagline on it, what is the tagline?
I'll just get it up now just.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
For the purpose of this podcast. Oh, you just got
it there on screen. That's interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It is in my saved tab somewhere tall bar. The
tagline of wiki fee is the collaborative celebrity feet to website.
So I think you do need to be a celeb?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Oh, that's fine, you fall into that category. I think so,
because my feet are very average, right. I think the
thing is, I think you've got more interesting feet. I
think you've got bigger feet, which I feel like that's
maybe a thing. And if we don't run with the
feet thing, I do. I was trying to think, basically,
how can one of your bodily features make some money
(12:29):
for this podcast? That's what I was thinking. I'm hearing
about this story and I thought, is there an equivalent?
Is there like wiki tash? Like, are there people on
only Fans that would subscribe to a Stuart Stubbs only
Fans channel where you're posting very alluring photos of your
mustache just mustache?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Just it could be in different places, you know. It
could be I don't know, you're snowboarding and you're in
a snowy scene and there's your tash glistening in the mountains.
Here's your tash on a beach, here's your tash on
a night out, all that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It could be like here is my tash propping up
the linen tower piso. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So I want to say thank you to Lily Allen,
I think there's a serious point to this, and the
serious point is how do we make money out of
your facial hair? And also, yes, you're absolutely right. We
have seen the music community coming like to more, like
ever more, increasing the creative ways to basically support their
art because of the lack of streaming money. I'm thinking
(13:28):
of Laura Marlin coming on the podcast the other week
talking about her substack, and like James Blake's obviously been
talking about this loads recently, artists trying to find ways
to own that direct relationship with their fans. Their fans
might be fans of their music, their fans might be
fans of their feet. I think that's where the opportunity
for growth is for our income through midnight chats.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Is your face Okay, fine, I will try anything twice.
I'm absolutely fine with that.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Right after the rate we're going to be chatting about
the explosion of creative album listening parties because it does
feel like they've gone to a whole new high pee
level and what does that mean for albums. I don't know.
I'm interested to get your take on this, So after
this we'll be talking about that welcome back where wolves
no I'm not going to do that. Welcome back everybody,
(14:18):
all right to So as we record this, we're scrolling
through footage of Tider the Creator dancing on top of
a set of shipping containers in the middle of a
sports arena in Los Angeles to launch his new album Chromacopeia.
Looks pretty extraordinary, thousands of people there, til of the
Creators doing some incredible dancing on top of these platforms
(14:39):
with a huge video screen, not technically singing, kind of
performing in a way. But this really caught her attention, right,
because this Tide of the Creator stuff has moved real
really quickly in the past week or so, and it
just got us thinking about these these insane listening events
that seem to be happening more and more.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Right. Yeah, So, I think the reason we wanted to
talk about this really is because albums the way albums
are promoted now have I think they've become much more exciting,
much more fun, much more interesting. Part of that is
this listening party thing. Maybe we start with let's just
start with what a listening party is, right, Listening parties
(15:20):
have been going on like public facing ones where fans
can go and hear the album before it comes out.
Have been going on for about ten years or so
in the world of hip hop especially, but in more
recent years, starting with Kanye West, really they have reached
this new level of size and grandeur. But what a
(15:41):
listening party is for anyone who's unfamiliar is it's not
a gig. It's not a show. There's no live music.
It's a chance of fans to get together hear an
album in full before it comes out, whilst the artist
is there and their present. Tyler the creator has had
one just a couple of hours ago, as Gregg says,
(16:02):
but he announced this on Friday with a very honest thing, saying, Okay,
we're doing a listening party. I will not be performing live.
I'll be lip syncing to the new songs. That's what
I'm going to be doing. So he was very above
board with it. And it was five dollars to get in.
It was only like three pound fifty to our UK listeners. Yeah,
it was just a fiver and guessing to cover the
costs make a bit of cash back. But what I
(16:24):
find weird about him is not like being at a
gig where there's a stage and there are people stood
up they're normally an arenas and it's the seating, so
the seatings full of fans who just want to hear
the album a little bit earlier. And then on the floor,
which is sometimes a vast space, like when Kanye is
doing his he's doing them in American Football stadium, so
it's an American football pitch void in the middle. Yeah,
(16:45):
they're just running around on the pitch or the basketball court, right,
which is kind of mad. Billie Eilish did one of
these earlier this year for her album via Spotify. It
was free for fans. They had to just enter a
ballot and get that ticket and they could go. And
the footage of that. We'll put some links in the
in the show notes so you can just see what
this does look like to try and get an idea
(17:06):
of what it's like to be there. The artist is
just really running around. She was running around with her dog.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
It's like being at a mad house party where somebody
puts on their own music. Yeah, Like Charlie XX did
that one at a sculpture park, didn't she in Upstate
New York a few weeks ago to the Yeah Rat
the remake like Brat and it's completely different but also
still brat. I really liked that one because it was
a little bit random. It was kind of just it
looked a bit like it was just in a field,
(17:35):
but with like a sort of temporary set built, and
she like rocked up as if she was on her
way to somewhere else, got out of the car. There
was a few hundred fans there, all going absolutely bonkers.
She sort of empsed over the top of the of
her album for like whatever forty minutes and then was
like cheers.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
See Yeah, So Kenye is to blame. Yes, as always
for most things he with Donda especially, he had some
really extreme listening pies, including building a replica of his
family home in the center of the Chicago Bears American
Football Stadium. There was what he did, I think he
(18:12):
did three for that album. He pretended to set himself
a lie. Kim Kardashan came out at one point in
a wedding dress. But what I think is fascinating about
is like fans love them. Fans go to these things
because they get to hear the album a little bit earlier,
which that really stoked about, and they also get to
be with other fans, right, But what I think is
(18:32):
interesting about Listening Pies and the way Tyler the Creator
has rolled out his album, which was basically a week
of some really cool videos and just ideas and dropping
out little bits of information leading up to today's release.
It's really a return to how albums used to be
released on a grander scale, but in the sense of
(18:56):
building anticipation, building hype, getting fans excited. Because we went
through a period of time which I really didn't enjoy,
where big artists, especially would just drop their albums unexpected
surprise album releases. Yeah, and that was an era like
you Too onto your Apple iPhone? Yes, Yes, and everyone
(19:16):
was saying you didn't enjoy that. Well, that was a
particularly extreme version, wasn't it, when you were forced to
have an album from you two. I mean it really
started with the first surprise album was It was in
Rainbows really in two thousand and seven by Radiohead. That
started a wave of people just dropping their albums alms
like Lemonade, Beyonce's self titled album, jay Z Did It
(19:39):
Blonde by Frank Cochin, like big artists Drake, they all
went for a stage of because they were frightened that
the album was going to be leaked because it was
at the peak piracy. We're talking mid two thousands to
like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. It became a thing very quickly,
and the first time you saw it was quite I
(20:00):
quite interesting that you woke up and suddenly there was
a great album. Yeah, that was great, but it became
boring because everybody was doing it. It became quite dull,
and I think as from fans, from a fan point
of view, it meant that people couldn't build the sort
of excitement that has been built around Tyler's album or
(20:20):
the way that Charlie XCX has done it. This is
exactly exactly. So it's I think it's great that we're
back in a world of let's big up the album,
get the album going. But I do think it's also
interesting that, you know, we're constantly told the album's dead,
no one cares about the album. But maybe but these artists,
people like Tyler the Creator, who's obviously every conceptual artist,
(20:45):
keeping it, keeping it alive, not even thriving. Yeah, because
they've just gone to this new extreme of doing these
these crazy sort of big events and these like they're
using social media in a really cool way. I like it.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah, me too, and I like he's posted saying, when
you listen to this album, turn off all you're of
a social media all, you're of a distractions. Please just like,
don't read the reviews. Just listen to the album. Just
like just make your own mind, but like focus on
it and sort of immerse yourself in it. I really
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Well, that's part of the reason why he decided to
release it this morning at six am, because he feels
it's disrespectful to release something at midnight when most people
are asleep. He thinks that's unfair, So he's just doing
his own thing today and also releasing it, as we say,
(21:36):
at the start of the week rather than the end
of the week. We just when everyone else releases on
a Friday, he has said previously. In an interview last
year with Nadwa, he made a comment about how releasing
things on a Friday is a bad idea because he
feels like people listen passively it weekends, so he wanted
to get it out at the beginning of the week
because he felt people be more engaged with it. I
(21:58):
don't really understand that thinking behind that of releasing it
while you've also got go to work and all these
sorts of things. But maybe there's there's something in it.
It was his hunch anyway, and he's delivered on it.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Yeah. So the closest I've ever come to going to
like one of these audacious, ambitious listening parties is to
go to Sinney World in Luton at the beginning of
twenty sixteen. Do you remember when I did this?
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I can't remember what it was for. I know it
was a Kanye thing.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, basically, so people you have to diary your memory
back to the to the twenty sixteen, which feels like
a long time ago. This is before there was an
you know, Kanye has done some really unforgivable things. But
basically he was trailing the release of the album that
would eventually go on to be known as the Life
(22:47):
of Pablo. It wasn't actually called that at the point,
and he was billing it as the greatest album of
all time, and he was no swelling Yes, believe it,
believe it. I know he's usually so sort of humble. Anyway,
he threw this listening by and Madison Square Garden in
New York, world's probably the world's most famous indoor arena,
(23:08):
and there were thousands of people there, and he streamed
it into cinemas around the world concurrently that night to
basically debut this new album, which I think was called
Waves at the time, a strange recollection of that. I
thought it had a good idea. You and I were
talking about this at the time and I said, I'm
fascinated to know who goes to see Kanye West new
(23:29):
album be debuted at a Sinney world on a miserable
February Tuesday night, And ten minutes later, off I go.
Stu waves me off on the train, Bye bye, have
a nice time in Luton. So off I went, and
there I was, with thirty three other people. I walked
into the screen. You know, I could have walked in
and seen the Dad's Army remake or remake. I could
(23:50):
have walked in and seen Alvin and the Chipmunks the
Road Chip. I kind of wish I had. Instead, I
paid eighteen quid to watch the greatest album of all
time Debubi Canue West. But it was a strange one man.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
So hang on, I've got two big questions here.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Go on.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
One, how many people are in the cinema? How many
people have.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Thirty three I counted them.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
There were thirty three people big screen or small screen.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Medium screen. It wasn't on the tiny screen.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Okay, medium screen, you and thirty three other people. Yeah,
and what is what is showing on the screen is
why you're watching a live stream of the listening event
as it's happening in Madison Square carlor.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
That's right. So Kanye along with a bunch of collaborators,
he kind of comes out after a bit of a
delayed start. I should add there's like models. It was
kind of like a fashion show. I don't know if
you remember this that there was kind of models walking
along like a catwalk in the middle of the arena
at various points, but not really doing anything. Then Kanye
arrives looking like he's just been decorating the spare bedroom
(24:52):
and with a bunch of collaborators, takes out his laptop
like it's as if he's forgotten his ORCS cable as well,
because he's just sort of like messing around. Well, I
can't get this thing started anyway. Eventually the music starts.
That album's like an hour and ten minutes long or something,
so it's long, and he's just like bopping his head,
you know, he's just with all of his mates, just
(25:14):
like what's.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Going on in the cinema? Are people? Are people?
Speaker 1 (25:19):
We're all sniggering. Yeah, we're all sort of laughing. Because
he dropped a trailer for his like video game in
the middle of the stream as well. It was like,
this is bizarre.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
It feels like, what's happened there is you have I've
been duped, You've experienced all the bad parts of going
to a listening party. I think because.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
I'm much preferred to be watching Tyler the Creator in
a baseball stadium in Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I imagine if you were there at Kenye's at Madison
Square Garden, right, there's just an that you're getting the atmosphere.
At least did you talk to the other fans, because
I think the main reason for this, I feel, is
so fans can come together and be communal and nerd
(26:06):
out together. And I think I think that's the that's
the reason for the rise of these of these things.
I think there's three things I think they can make.
They make the artists a bit of money, even if
you're even if you're only charging a fiver, you're still
going to make a bit of cash. Even if you're
doing it free through Spotify. Spotify are obviously going to
pay you a lot of money in some way. You're
going to recoup a lot of money from doing that
(26:27):
if you're Billy Iiriish, so you are making money from it.
But I think the main thing about it is it
breeds the cult of the artist because you're essentially going
there to just be worshiped by your fans. It's reminding
you that you're loved by your fans, and your fans
are reminded that that you love them because you're letting
(26:47):
them hear the album. But also it's about meeting You're
at the other fans, right, whereas what you've done is
you've I mean, are you still in touch with anyone
from the cinema?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, the I is that I didn't speak to any
any other fans there because the lights were down and
I didn't notice, but people were leaving quite a lot,
and by the time the lights went up, I think
it was just me and my wife in there. I
was like, there's nobody left to speak to, and there's
just somebody just like sweeping popcorn and like you know,
lollipops off the floor. I was like, ah, this is
(27:21):
truly miserable. I agree with everything you said there, and
it's just it's a moment, isn't It's fun, And I
think it only works with certain types of artists, though
I would that's the one thing I would say, Like
it works for Kanye or Charlie XCX or Tyler the Creator,
I'm not sure it works for. I couldn't imagine the
Rolling Stones do it and Mick Jagger, you know, strutting
(27:42):
along a shipping container in the middle of a stadium
like lip syncing to their new album and that being
some kind of moment. So I do think it's very
artist specific, but I like it. I think it's a
lot of fun. I'm down with it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
I'm going to make a prediction now. I think the
next record that will appear fully formed without any announcement whatsoever,
will be the next Frank Coach album.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Oh okay, yeah, when can give me some time scales ste.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I think it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Next Christmas Day.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Let's go for that. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
What I should say is chromagobia. We're not going to
give you our hot take on what we make of
it because it's only been out about thirty seconds. So
we'll maybe come back to that on a future episode
of Midnight Chats. But thanks to Tyler creator for giving
us the fodder to talk about some of our favorite
listening party moments and also just the absurdity and fun
of it all. Stu, should we get to a top
(28:43):
three and beat the algorithm after a few adverts?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yes, let's have some darling adverts and then we'll do that.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
I hope you enjoyed those lovely, lovely adverts. Whilst you've
been listening to those, we've been setting up an only
fan page for Stuart's Mustache, so please do get behind that.
If you do scroll down, you're finding the show notes
a link to that. It is just one hundred and
fifty dollars a month to follow Stuart's Mustache on OnlyFans.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And I think you're getting an absolute bargain with that.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
I think so so much mustache content that you you know,
live chats with the mustache videos, text commentary requests, a
couple of nudes. That's for the top tier obviously, yeah,
top tier, top prices. Yeah, so Stu, should we hit
should we get to top three time? It's a very
simple top three that I've chosen for you.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
This week. I would like the three most famous people
you've met, Ah, just name drop away, be shameless. This
is your moment. You have to show just how important
you used to be.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Ah, thanks for that, not sorry at all. Taylor Swift
number one.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yes, I knew you were going to take to say
Taylor Swift because I want you to tell listeners what
she said to you, what she said to me in
a way to bond with you.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
She said, you've got curly hair. I've got curly hair,
and I said, we do. We both have curly hair.
That was her opening kind of chat. When I'm mean
to go meet her in a huge, like kind of
very empty hotel suite many many years ago, and it
(30:28):
was one of amongst her like first that sort of
press visits to the UK. This is before she was like,
you know, getting yeah, a long time before she was
literally more famous than the Internet.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Where are you going after Taylor Swift?
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Then after Taylor Swift, I'll go to Lady Garga next. Oh,
Madam Gargar, Madame Gargar. Yeah, so again. I met Lady
Gargar a couple of times around the release of her
first album. Before the release of her first album, once
was backstage at the Birmingham nec Arena when she was
supporting the Pussycat Dolls and she was wearing like do
(31:05):
you remember when she was like had like teacups and
big bows in her hair and all that sort of stuff.
Oh yeah, that was the Gaga era where I first
met her. She was an absolute riot, like really really fun,
great interview. Loves like like heavy rock. I remember talking
to her quite a bit about like she you know,
I think she loves stuff like led Zeppelin and Deep
Purple and like classic rock. I should say number three. Oh,
(31:29):
let's just go for one that sort of feels in
the moment. Liam Gallagher, I've met Liam Gallagher? Have you
I've met Liam Gallagher. Yeah, in the context of when
he was a lead singer of the incredible band BDI.
It was backstage at Reading Festival, possibly like not maybe
the first time bd I played it. I think they
(31:51):
played it a couple of times actually, And so it
was Liam and the gang and he was predictably very
down nol among other things. But also Liam Gallagher is
like he's exactly as you would expect, very funny, like
really funny, and you know, yeah, pretty polite and like
(32:12):
you know, just good vibes, like it was a lot
of fun to hang out with him all bit not
for very long, and it was like it was in
a porter cabin backstage of like the second stage at
Reading Festival, which I'm not sure is where Liam necessarily
wanted to be at that point in his career. But yeah,
it was everything you'd hope for from an encounter with
Liam Gallagher. Got a photo with him. It's washing around
(32:34):
somewhere on my hard drive.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Oh, please dig that out so we can we can
share it.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, I will, I will.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Thank you. That was top three, Thanks very much, Greg,
you shameless name drop and that.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Was well you led me into it. Thanks for bowling
me an easy one after the most horrendous few weeks
of top threes for me.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Well, before we go, let's give a few recommendations to
our listeners of things they should be listening to this
coming week.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
The Algorithm, The Algorithms. Yeah, can I start. I went
to see Jordi Greep the other night. He's doing a
solo tour at the moment. Jordi Greek previously of Black
Midy and Midnight Chats. He was on the podcast about
four or five weeks ago. Please do scroll back and
listen to that one, because he was an amazing guest.
(33:25):
I thought you got to go and speak to Jordie,
didn't you to talking all things black media in this
new era that he is embarking on of making solo music.
And that night when I went to catch him, Jordi
and his band were supported by a band called Nats,
which is spout k nats, so not spout with a G,
which I think Nats are normally, and they were brilliant.
(33:47):
I love catching a support band when you're like, oh,
these these are really really good. This is their track
Miz and if you like the sound of that, They've
(34:29):
got an album coming out called Tortuga for Mema I
think is coming out on November the seventh. Go and
check their bandcamp for more details on that. And basically
they're from Newcastle, super experimental. They're built around this absolute
powerhouse duo of a bassis and a drummer. I think
the basis is called stan Woodwood and the drummers called
(34:50):
King David ik Alecchi and those two together are just
like an incredible unit. And I think they're joined by
various other musicians. When they're depending on what they're doing.
But yeah, if you like this kind of fusion of
jazz and howse and gospel and punk and all those
sort of things, then I think that NAT's with a
K might be for you.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Excellent. I'm going to go for something that isn't brand new.
Actually it's a hip hop duo called Paris Texas from
LA And the reason I've gone from this for this
is because when Tyler the Creator announced his world tour
last week in support of this new record, I was
really pleased to see that Paris Texas are supporting on
(35:31):
that tour, that one of the support artists, and they are.
I'm not sure how they're doing back in the States,
but here I feel like maybe they've gone a little
bit under radiar. They released a great record debut album
last year called mid Air. This track is called Panic
(35:57):
Pas Touch week.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I see.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Because you're not going in front time, I can come test.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Excuse me?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Are you guys? And as you can hear that that
a hip hop duo sort of for the hardcore punk kids.
If you're a fan of Jpeg Mafia Denzil Curry, then
I think Paris Texas for you, and I think mid
Air was underrated. It was in our Albums of the
Year at the end of twenty twenty three. I think
(36:32):
it should have been in more lists. So the fact
that Tyler is taking them out on the road, I
think it's a great thing. So that's why I've gone
for them this week. As always, we will put those
tracks on a Beat the Algorithm playlist. It's on Spotify.
There's a link in the show notes. One last thing
before we go, Greg, I was at this this weekend. Gone.
(36:53):
I was at a wedding of some good friends of
ours with some other good friends of ours, and one
of those friends said they were talking to somebody they
know who said, hey, I've been listening to this podcast
that you might like. It's about music. It's called Midnight Chats.
And they were like, no, I know Midnight Chats very well,
(37:14):
and I know the guys that do Midnight Chats. And
they said, oh, that's great. They sound really fun. This
is true? Is this is what I said to me.
They sound really fun and they sound like they really
like each other. Are they really friends? Would you like
to confirm or deny if all of this jollity is
(37:38):
real or confected? For the hour or so we spend
recording this, Jack.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
It's a marriage of podcast convenience.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, we are like the Black Sabbath of the podcast world. Basically,
everyone who makes a podcast with somebody else hates that
person and mkir Oliver they hate each other Grimmy and
Annie mac oh nightmare, and we're exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
It's not concocted, because otherwise I wouldn't have been the
first person to sign up to your new only Fans
account to follow pictures of your mustache. Now, that's a
genuine love, that's true.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Yeah, to be fair, so for anyone that was asking, Yeah, unfortunately,
we're friends, been a long time. This is all very real. Okay,
thank you for listening to this week's episode of Midnight Chats.
We're going to be back next week. I'm going to
just tell you right now who the guest is. It's
Kelly Lee Owens. Yes, there's some brilliant name dropping coming
(38:43):
up in next week's episode that I manage to get
Kelly to. She very kind of just indulges in telling
me stories about famous people and things that have happened
to her recently. Because she's living she's living like a
high flying life it's all quite glamorous and I wanted
to ask her about it and she went with it.
So thank you to Kelly. Looking forward to bringing that
(39:05):
next week. That will be next Tuesday night. As always.
In the meantime, please do subscribe to the podcast if
you don't already so you can get all of these.
Tell a friend that would really help, and give it
a like if you like it. Until next week, though,
good night everybody. Good night Greg, good night Stuart. I
(39:27):
hate you so much, you too. Midnight Chats is a
joint production between Loud and Quiet and Atomized Studios for iHeartRadio.
It's hosted by Stuart Stubbs and Greg Cochran, mixed and
mastered by Flow Lines, and edited by Stuart Stubbs.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Find us on Instagram and TikTok to watch clips from
our recordings at much much more. We are Midnight Chats pod.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
For more information, visit Loud and Quiet dot com.
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