Chris "MUG5" Maguire // The Official Home of MUG5

Triple Threat Tuesday: Issue #1 | Rusko

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:09:59 +0000

Exploring my new found love and who and what he’s doing right now

Welcome to Triple Threat Tuesday‘s. The idea here is to find something I am digging on and times that awesomeness by 3 with one thing interconnecting the next. Triple Threat Tuesday will be the staple diet for your sucky Tuesday from now on. Spin these tunes and you will be sure to have a better Tuesday…guaranteed.

I mentioned in my last Tune of the (yester)day how I came across Rusko through being awoken by a song on random shuffle on my iPhone during a flight to Tokyo. Since then, Rusko has been popping up all over the place for me so it only felt fitting to make the first installment of my Triple Threat Tuesday feature about him.

First up is ‘Lez Go‘ which is the only teaser available online right now of what the upcoming album collaborative album between Rusko and Cypress Hill, simply titled Cypress x Rusko might sound like. The coolest Cypress Hill have probably ever sounded, ‘Lez Go‘ showcases a mix-mash of genre’s that might signify the way music is moving, with Dance music getting Rock / Metal and Metal / Rock getting all Dance and Dubstep.

Featuring in the next video is the one and only Travis Barker, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting in real life in the corridor outside of Dominick Cruz‘s room at the MGM Grand after he protected his UFC belt against Urijah Faber.

The news came out this week that Travis Barker was needing to undergo surgery and would have to cancel some tour dates as a result. Luckily it is nothing major and we at AltSounds wish Travis a swift recovery. The video below is a Travis Barker drum remix of Tinie Tempeh‘s song ‘Yes‘ and what a 16th hi-hat mother fu%^er it is! I love it when Travis decides to get a camera crew together to film him drumming along to someone else’s song and he, yet again, cement’s himself as the only drummer at the moment that has the swag to go across all genre’s and still be SICK!

Finally… back a few years and our very own Jack Stovin recommended this track to the world WAY before anyone had ever even heard it. ‘Pass Out‘ is still THE BEST track that Tinie Tempah has ever done. Clearly with a slamming ear for music, Jack has recommended me a ton of music during our time working together, including Bonobo whom is a staple of my daily musical listening to this day. This becomes my third threat of the day courtesy of Travis Barker drumming to a Tinie Tempeh song (who would have thunk it eh?).

Until next time bitches, where you can expect to find another three awesome, yet equally random bits of musical gold for your gullet.

Tara.

Stop looking for a job

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:36:06 +0000

You shouldn’t be looking for a job, you should be looking for a vocation.

Chris “MUG5″ Maguire, April 2012

Abstrakt: How we can Resurrect the Welsh Language Live Music Scene

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:56:30 +0000

How the grip needs to be loosened on the Welsh language music scene before it’s crushed and disappears forever

The words Welsh and music have been a beautiful combination for centuries. Ever since the middle ages where the Welsh royal family used to entertain their foreign guests with poetry and music, to the rise of the Eisteddfod where the best artists competed to be crowned the best in Wales in their chosen art, we’re a country proud of the creative arts. When I was younger there was graffiti scrawled on the back of a bench at a local park, which read “to be born Welsh is to be born privileged, with poetry in our veins and music in our soul”, which has stayed with me for years. With all this in mind, why has a dismal shadow of despair and demise been cast over the Welsh language music scene? Ever since the surge in popularity in Welsh language pop and rock music led by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Committee) in the 80’s, the number of gigs and its attendees have dwindled in recent years, which, in my opinion, shouldn’t be happening as the passion for the language, music and heritage has never been felt so strong in the community.

Although many people believe that there isn’t much hope for the scene, I on the other hand, want to shine some rays of hope on a situation that needs a change of direction in order to be alight once more. There are people craving to be entertained by Welsh musicians, whether they’re singing through the medium on Welsh or English but we have been thrown into a vicious circle that need to be broken now, as the industry is suffocating by the tight grip of a select few. Apparently, if a Welsh language artist is supporting an act who perform songs in English, then the language itself is being devalued. Ridiculous right? Right! This is what I was told whilst I was discussing the future of Welsh language music on BBC Radio Cymru last week, by Mr Clwb Ifor Bach himself. With an archaic mindset like that, we’re never going to attract new artists, new music industry support and most importantly, new fans from all over the world, not just the tiny nieche of friends that currently attends the poorly marketed ‘gigs’.

Currently, what we’re seeing is a few gigs being held, by the same people, featuring the same bands, who write the same sort of music, therefore attracting the same sort of people. We barely get any new blood injected into the scene, which would add a dramatic amount of diversity and attract new fans to not only Welsh music, but to the bands and artists who sing in Welsh. Although the Welsh Language Society is holding an epic Welsh music festival called Hanner Cant, which translates into 50 (or literally, half a hundred), where the top 50 Welsh language bands will perform, there doesn’t seem to be much else happening. Also, how many of these bands are already being spun on the Welsh language media over and over and over again, and how many hundreds more are left out of the ‘popular club’?

After seeing the likes of ‘Only Boys Aloud’ sending shivers across the whole of the Britain’s Got Talent audience and judges with their rendition of Calon Lan, it’s evident that many people outside of Wales absolutely adore Welsh music and the language itself. People love the history and stories associated with the Welsh culture, and the fact that the Welsh language is something drenched in pride and beauty, and is purely unique as so few people speak it. They want to be a part of something so special, not be cast aside.

What do we need to do? It’s simple! We need more people taking control of their local areas, putting on gigs with Welsh and English speaking bands alike, and resuscitate a music scene that used to bellow talent, as opposed to gasp a few wheezy breaths as its doing now. If someone told me a local band such as Masters of France, were playing a gig in town for £5 and a couple of Welsh language up and coming artists are playing too, I would be there in a flash because I’d watch a band I already enjoy who are local boys from Bangor, as well as exposing myself to some new talent that I will be more than happy to support and explore. We also need to make sure that everyone knows about it and build a bigger, more inviting and approving Welsh music community, not a stiff, closed, excluding community we seem to have at the moment. What’s exciting is that we can do this, and the future is looking extraordinarily bright for the Welsh music scene if we all change our mentality, which I know the majority of us already believes in.

WATCH: ‘Yn y Ddinas’

Chris “MUG5″ Maguire, the founder and owner of AltSounds who is originally from Blackwood, lived in Cardiff for 5+ years and now lives in New York argues:

“The problem with the Welsh language music scene as it stands is that it is one big, impenetrable and often unapproachable clique. If you are a part of that clique you are golden, you will get exposure and you can make a decent living off of royalties and TV performances etc. If, like many of the Welsh language artists I have produced you are outside of said clique and your music contains anything other than guitars it will take you a good few years of hard work to get where an artist that is recommended by the clique could achieve in a few months. Couple that with the fact that I (the producer of that music) am personally not a Welsh speaker and you have some great Welsh language being overlooked, not because it isn’t good, far from it, more because it doesn’t fit into the slot of what is expected. Interestingly enough, if you throw a clique based remix artist into the mix you can achieve radio plays and royalties through proxy but that’s just a smart way to play the game.

When suggesting that an English speaking band be brought in to draw a bigger crowd, we were told that idea was “degrading the Welsh language” live and on air by Guto Brychnan when, in fact, if he left his ego at the door he would realize that getting more people in would mean that in fact more people would be exposed to both the Welsh Language and Welsh Language music that wouldn’t normally ever get exposed to it. And that’s truly what’s missing here, instead of keeping Welsh Language music to an elitist crew, we should market it to the masses.”

Megan Davies of Theo PR also commented on the issue, stating:

“I don’t understand why Welsh language music, or any other language music, should be second rate, half the time it adds something different to the music and means that it doesn’t sound like everything else that’s being pumped around, which is at least a selling point, if not a welcome relief?”

So if there is a need for it, a want, a desire, a craving, then if we all change our mentality to the way the gigs are put on, then we can resurrect an art that’s slowly dying and bring it back with such a vengeance that we’ll wonder what the fuss was about in the first place. I know that this is more than capable and I as long as the Welsh language is in existence, we’ll always have poetry in our veins and music in our souls and we’ll battle to keep a piece of our culture alive.

R.I.P: Adam “MCA” Yauch of The Beastie Boys dies, aged 47

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:39:30 +0000

You will be sorely missed

The music world today was shook up again with the loss of Adam “MCA” Yauch of The Beastie Boys who died today after a long battle with Cancer at the tender age of 47. Adam “MCA” Yauch is survived by his wife and one son.

In 2009 Yauch publicly informed the world that he was being treated for a cancerous parotid gland and lymph node. Between then and now Adam Yauch went through a string of surgeries and radiation therapy.

Adam “MCA” Yauch was an original Beastie Boy and co-founded the group in 1979 with fellow band mates Mike D and Ad Rock. The Beastie Boys have won grammy awards for their music and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.

Personally this is a huge loss to me. I have been an avid Beastie Boys fan since I discovered them in 1994 when they released, what is still my favorite Beastie Boys album “Ill Communication”. Since that time I went back and purchased every Beastie Boys album and have bought their newest releases on the day they dropped. 2011′s “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” will sadly be the last Beastie Boys album with the band as we knew and love them BUT what a way to end it all!

The Beastie Boys’ latest music video was released last year for the song Make Some Noise featuring Hollywood stars including Rashida Jones, Will Arnett, Rainn Wilson, Amy Poehler, Steve Buscemi, Kirsten Dunst, Zach Galifianakis, Orlando Bloom, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Jack Black.

Tune of the (Yester)Day: Rusko – You’re on My Mind Baby

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:46:11 +0000

OK so I’m fairly new to Rusko. Yeah, yeah I know. Where have I been? Under a rock obviously. Well I have MOG on my phone which allows me to download music for free for use off-line. As I travel a lot I download a bunch of albums, some recommendations for me, some Editors picks and some just new releases that take my fancy. In honesty I’m not quite sure how O.M.G.!, Rusko’s 2010 album got on my phone, however, I do remember explicitly where I was when I first heard today’s Tune of the (yester)day.

In February, I flew to Tokyo to go and cover UFC 144. The flight there was brutal (14 hours non-stop) and as such, I made sure I had my phone and my mophie case fully charged so that my phone would last the whole trip for sure. Half way through the trip and during a little flight nap “You’re On My Mind Baby” by Rusko actually woke me up. A little further back story is that I often sleep to music and I can sleep through the most brutal metal music such as Between the Buried and Me for example. “You’re on My Mind Baby” didn’t wake me up because it was heavy or loud or anything like that. It woke me up because of the uniqueness of sound. From the weird vocal effects and sound to the really 80′s vibed synths, something about “You’re On My Mind Baby” hit me all the way to my sub conscious.

Nothing about “You’re on My Mind Baby” is offensive in any way. It’s very ethereal and very mellow. You could comfortably put this track on in front of anyone and no one would complain that they didn’t like it. I even like the delicious dubstep bass undertones that drive throughout the song and will please even the most hardcore dub step fan.

I chose “You’re on My Mind Baby” as I want everyone to know and experience this song, because there is just something about it. Something inexplainable, something magical that every time I hear the opening bars makes me smile and makes me feel good. Few songs emote me like this and so I share “You’re on My Mind Baby”with you all. Watch the video, download it and enjoy “You’re on My Mind Baby” by Rusko off his 2010 album O.M.G.!

Time Off

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:34:53 +0000

Goodbye time off! You will be missed….

Unable to locate WordPress Content directory (wp-content).

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:55:25 +0000

I moved this site from it’s old home at http://altsounds.com/iamchris/ to here http://helloiamchris.com

It was a mostly smooth transition but when it came to updating the back-end I kept running into this error:

Unable to locate WordPress Content directory (wp-content).

I browsed around a hile looking for a fix for this issue, when I came across the solution. When I moved to a new username on the server, I hadn’t setup an FTP account in cpanel. And to top that off, the FTP info in the wordpress backend was still pointing to the old server information.

Anyone looking into resolving this issue is likely to be seeing it for the same reasons.

The Right Ingredients

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:06:34 +0000

It ain’t just about having the right ingredients. What matters most is how you use them.

Chris “MUG5″ Maguire, April 2012

On the set…

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 04:03:33 +0000

…Filming episode 5 and 6 of the movie show.

Tune of the Day: Tom Jones – Evil | Issue #7

Chris "MUG5" Maguire — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:27:46 +0000

Ok so I know there has already been one track of the day today BUT I felt like this one deserved to be showcased. This is kind of in response to Tune of the Day Issue #3 where I was accused by my fellow AltSounds people of “being out of the country for too long” for not liking the Marina and the Diamonds song choice. As such, this is in an effort to prove that I still have my musical tastes firmly rooted in Welsh music, but the good stuff…..not Marina and her freaking Diamante Crystals.

Tom Jones has been making music for like 50 or 60 years and, this collaboration sees him picking up a vintage sound with a ton of swagger. I actually heard it for the first time last night on the radio of a car service as I was riding from Brooklyn back in to Manhattan at which point I decided to write this feature to showcase it to the rest of the world.

So Huw….stick this piece of awesomeness in your Welsh pipe and smoke it!