Way back in the days when you only owned music if you paid for it, and owning thousands of songs necessitated having a storage space sufficient to house a small elephant in, there was the flexi-disc. This was a, essentially, a seven inch single which hadn’t been to the gym and was floppy. Music magazines would give these away, usually containing interviews or b-sides by successful bands (no-one ever gave anything remotely decent away for free back then. The idea of doing so has only recently caught on and, even at that, very slowly.)
Occasionally though, something interesting would happen. If a favourite or important band were releasing an album, the inkies would often get a few snippets of the album, some interviews and bung them out in a sort of seven inch advert. The Smiths, Suede, Oasis, Blur…all gave you an insight into their new magnum opus at one time or another. the modern equivalent could well be the You Tube video, as exemplified by this offering from Tunng.
It’s not a bad idea; here’s our album, here’s what it sounds like, go download or order it. It’s quick, it’s clever and it is useful. In Tunng’s case, their superb new single ‘Hustle’ makes a strong case for you lashing out on it, though this is negated by their uneven albums to this point.
But the most important thing is to see bands out there utilising the technology to get their message across. Good luck to them.
But still, we miss the flexi-disc. They were rubbish, obviously, but they were free. And in our world, we’d be grateful for a Kasabian album* if it was gratis.
* this is a lie.
Filed under: General Stuff | Tagged: blur, flexi disc, hustle, NME, Oasis, Smiths, suede, tunng
[...] The band’s also release their new single, “Hustle,” for previewing here. [...]