“On the eve of the greatest battle in the history of the Crusades, something ancient and evil stirs beneath the sands of the Judean wilderness. For some it is their saviour, for others their nemesis.
Friend and foe alike converge on the same remote desert valley to wage war, and to witness it’s awakening: Petrovingian sorcerer knights travel from their lands in the far north; the enigmatic Repha’im emerge after centuries of hiding; a secretive order of warrior monks enact a desperate plan, while the few survivors of a persecuted Muslim sect watch from the shadows.
Power and control are the prizes in this war – but the victor will be determined by the actions of a single man: a corrupt, disgraced young Templar. Guilty of murder, hunted by his own father, and wanted for kidnap, Alaric is a reluctant protagonist. Yet he and his rag-tag band of misfits become irrevocably drawn into a maelstrom of events that will shape the destinies of Christian and Muslim alike, and ultimately decide the fate of the Holy Lands.”

Remember – although The Great Dominions is an ebook, you don’t need a Kindle to read it; there are plenty of free Kindle readers available for PCs, mobile devices etc.

And when you’ve read it, don’t forget to leave a review on Amazon!

It’s also interesting to see how the same artists crop up over and over – a clear indication of major label hype machines working overtime. Take a look at this BBC Sounds of 2011 list – it might give the impression that taste-makers at R1 compiled it in a vacuum, but a good half of its ‘most promising artists’ for 2011 are also featured on the We7, Spotify and major label playlists (Clare Maguire, James Blake, Mona, The Vaccines, Warpaint and Yuck.)

Good to see Mogwai, Gruff Rhys and Kylesa back. But as far as the new talent is concerned, must check back in 2012 to see if any managed to crawl out of the primordial sludge of obscurity.

Warpaint – Billie Holiday

Lord Huron – The Problem With Your Daughter

The Naked And Famous – Young Blood

Smith Westerns – Girl In Love

Esben and the Witch – Lucia, at the precipice

King Charles – Love Lust

The Vaccines – Blow it Up

Cloud Control – Meditation Song #2 (Why, Oh Why)

Gruff Rhys – Shark Ridden Waters

The Chapman Family – All Fall

Mogwai – Glasgow Megasnake

PS I Love You – Starfield

Kylesa – Tired Climb

Houses – Soak It Up

North Atlantic Oscillation – 77 Hours

San Francisco Chronicle – these guys get it.

Irish Times – he sort of gets it.

The Register – they get it.

Ars Technica – I like the beginning and end.

Guardian – good coverage and interesting commentary on the state of ISP / music industry collaboration in 2011

Musicweek

Music Ally

Silicon Republic

Irish Independent

Many people believe telcos have no business participating in the entertainment space (although analysts here and here beg to differ, and these services have a proven retention benefit for eircom.) Yet ISPs are frequently caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they are exhorted by business and government to focus on providing open, network-neutral internet access for all; on the other, when trying to fulfil that basic role of ‘bitpipe provider’, they are accused of facilitating mass copyright infringement by failing to introduce restrictions and penalties (in response, defenders point to ‘mere conduit‘ and internet access as a human right.) It’s a debate that will run and run as various stakeholders lobby policy-makers around the globe. Having said that, there is currently a trend towards government-driven provisions for copyright protection (see France’s HADOPI, UK’s DEA (pending judicial review), and the European Parliament’s ACTA initiative).

In the current climate, telcos have an opportunity to respond to the problem in a progressive manner. eircom has decided to adopt a position of recognising the need to protect copyright, but within the context of an overarching anti-piracy framework; in other words, where a ‘stick’ is introduced, a ‘carrot’ is also needed, if the goal is ultimately to change user behaviour away from copyright-infringing activity and towards consumption of legal alternatives.

Here’s some shocking statistics:

- 87 percent of UK music artists are making less than 16,000 pounds ($25,530) per annum (The Musicians’ Union)
- 90 percent of UK music artists are earning less than 5,000 pounds ($8,000) per annum (PRS)
- Of 100,000 albums released last year, 17,000 sold one copy; 81,000 sold under 100 copies; a mere 1,300 albums sold over 10,000 units (Gizmodo)

This will be grim reading if your ambition is to make a living from creating music. Graduated Response may not be the answer to the problem, and illegal file-sharing may not be the problem the industry thinks it is, but there’s little doubt something has to be done. My own opinion is that artists rights should be protected, and artists ought to be properly remunerated for their work. One argument is that labels (and the industry at large) prevent this from happening, by keeping the lion’s share of revenues for themselves. This may or may not be true, but the fact of the matter is that labels still retain the power to lift an artist from obscurity and turn them into global superstars. And until all artists exit their label contracts and form a collective where revenues are distributed more fairly, labels and agents still provide the only realistic method for licensing repertoire en masse by parties such as eircom. Note I did not say ‘the only easy method’ – having spent over a year negotiating with the majors, I wouldn’t be able to call the experience easy.

Anyway, I’m pleased the majors have decided to take a punt on MusicHub. It’s not a panacea for the music industry’s woes, but it’s still pretty good. As it’s only accessible within the Republic of Ireland, here’s some screenshots for those who live outside:

MusicHub homepage

MusicHub album page

MusicHub user profile page

When I’m not doing that, I do this.

The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of eircom Ltd or, indeed, anyone other than the author.

The first cut was in many ways spot on. I loved the overall composition, and the way trees and ruins merged into the folds of the cloak (see final inked piece at the end of this post.) The face was problematic though and, to be honest, did not fit with my vision of the character.

Bizarrely though, with a few minor tweaks, I realised that David’s initial pencil drawing could be modified into the perfect illustration of a completely different, but equally important, character. So, rather than go back to the drawing board, we proceeded on this new tangent:

This altered depiction was exactly what I was looking for. No further tweaks were needed, so David worked the drawings up into an inked piece:

As always, the final full-colour version will be available when the book is released but, in the meantime, here’s a low-res image of the complete illustration:

Inspiration came from various places, but in particular I’ve always been fond of John Blanche’s fantastical illuminations, such as this detail from one of his artefacts:

Benjamin had a general interest in the subject-matter of the book, which was a great basis for collaboration; he also enjoys depicting birds, so it made perfect sense for him to render a scene featuring an avian market, its owner Sabiq, and the falcon Qamar. After just one draft he’d more or less nailed it; any changes were focussed on portraying the Sabiq figure:

Initially I thought his face needed bulking out with more facial hair, but unfortunately he ended up resembling Santa Claus:

So Benjamin paired back the beard and gave him a kind-of-Amish look, which I thought worked pretty well:

When worked up in ink it looked even better, particularly with the addition of the scar (which is faithful to the prose description):

From this, Benjamin completed the inking process; I really like the way the piece is framed by pillars and the Islamic arch:

But it really comes alive when rendered in full colour. When the e-book is available shortly you’ll be able to see it, and the other illustrations, in all their technicolour glory.

To get a sense of Benjamin’s fine art chops, take a look at the below. ‘Vanitas‘ will be showcased at Art.Fair 21 in Cologne by the Strychnin Gallery. Hope you find a buyer Ben!

We briefly discussed those scenes and I gave a few options. I had a pretty clear idea how they should look, which is not necessarily useful, as the idea frequently fails to match the artist’s interpretation. Still, I didn’t want to be prescriptive so gave Joshua only limited guidelines and direction. In response I got six very loose thumbnails (above) – almost stickman scribbles – giving a range of different compositions, poses etc. In itself this was useful, but what struck me was the sketch-up of the character alongside – very impressionistic but, even at this early stage, Joshua had somehow captured a certain attitude and essence.

Next I got a scene worked up into a bit more detail. Although it wasn’t the one we finally went for, it provided a great insight into Joshua’s style – very dramatic, animated poses and interesting perspectives. From the thumbnails I opted for the scene shown bottom-left, where the character leans out from the top of a church tower. At this point Joshua got to work on the serious business of the final linework. This is his core strength I think – huge amounts of detail coupled with those dynamic compositions. When I finally saw the black and white render I was pole-axed – it is truly awesome:

But the application of colour took the piece to a whole new level. Joshua had thought about it carefully, going for a restrained palette of reds and browns, but incorporating lots of detailed Photoshop effects and flourishes. You can see a glimpse of the final coloured piece here but, as always, you’ll need to wait for the book before it’s available in all its glory.