Merry Crimbo 2008!
Ho ho ho!
As a special festive treat, for one week only you can download the mp3 version of my 2006 ‘A New Surprise EP’ totally free! I’ve even written a little background blurb that I’ve included as a text file.
The EP was originally released as 7″ vinyl by Heavenly Pop Hits, a Swedish indie label.
The songs on the EP are:
A1 A New Surprise
A2 Melissa Joan Hart
B1 Make A Right At Jordfallsmotet (cover version of the classic Agent Simple song)
B2 Theme For A Post-Watershed Cop Show Set In Wellingborough
The zip file of the EP is around 12 megabytes so beware if you’re not on broadband!
Click here to download the EP! Sorry, it’s gone now!
Thanks to all of you for supporting my music, I hope you all have a great Christmas / Saturnalia / whatever and a happy and healthy 2009!
love and kisses,
Jyoti
Me And The 808
Rhodri Marsden has written an excellent article about the TR-808, probably the best drum machine EVER! And I’m very honoured that I was one of the people he interviewed for it. Warning: very high geek factor! 
Here you go:
Rhythm king: The return of the Roland 808 drum machine
love and kisses,
Jyoti
PS - I’ll be doing a little festive pressie soon… keep your eyes peeled!
UK Zazzle
Woohoo! Good news if you’re a UK fan and want some tasty White Town / Bzangy Records swag. There’s now a UK version of Zazzle! So, just click here and you can drape yourself in fine frippery!
Why I Love CD Baby
Look! I’m RICH! Well… it’s a start…
Ahhh, look at it. Money I’ve made from music, posted directly to me. No label, no accountants, no expensive audits to see how much money the label has “forgotten” to pay me this time… bliss!
I think this is the fourth cheque this size I’ve got from CD Baby. There were two or three earlier, smaller ones before I raised the payment limit to make the conversion more economical (banks charge to convert because, ummm… they can).
Notice also that most of the money is from digital downloads. In actual, physical CDs, I’m selling a piffling amount. This is the reality for musicians nowadays - nobody really gives a crap about physical product. Sure, I’ll keep on releasing CDs but this is because I’m an old bloke wot likes to hold a lyrics booklet, likes to see artwork. Obviously, that isn’t how most buyers of my music feel. Logically, I should stop manufacturing physical products. But I won’t because I’m nostalgic and illogical and love the feeling when a new album of mine arrives in shrinkwrap. Releasing an album only as an mp3… it just wouldn’t feel as real to me.
Also, the bulk of that digital income is from iTunes. I tried to get on iTunes for around a year with no joy, even got my lawyer to email them. CD Baby got me on there in about a month. That income is money that, if I’d left it to Apple’s iTunes Store admin team, I would never have earned.
If you’re an independent musician who hasn’t ever tried CD Baby, check them out. Having been a musician for 25+ years now, I can tell you it brings a tear to my rheumy old eye to actually get paid for my work.
I’d also like to thank every one of you out there who’s paid to buy my music. Believe me, it does mean a lot to me!
Buy Stuff!
Do you long to wear a tiny, independent record label’s logo on your chest? A label no-one’s ever heard of, hence making you cooler than liquid helium?
Are you a long-time White Town fan who’d love to have teeny-tiny badge versions of all my albums?
Well, today’s your lucky day!
I’ve just opened a suitably miniscule merch shop. Click here!
(Oh, and you can choose colours, sizes and even styles of top. But I’d steer clear of the camo.)
Women In Technology on Play Digital
Play.com have pre-empted Amazon’s DRM-free mp3 service with their own shop. And I’m pleased to see my EMI album on there for a bit cheaper than you can get it on iTunes. Well… four pence cheaper! Also, it’s iTunes Plus so there’s no DRM on that download either.
But if you’re anti-Apple or simply prefer downloaded mp3s, check out the Play.com shop!
Make The World Go Away - HD
White Town - Make The World Go Away from Jyoti Mishra on Vimeo.
I’ve just joined Vimeo so now you can see the vid I made for ‘Make The World Go Away’ in lovely HD. Yaaay!
If you click the little pic marked ‘Full’ in the bottom left, it should launch the super-duper, fullscreen version. 
Hej Hej Stockholm!
Photo by Mattias Cosy Den
Last week, I played at Landet, Stockholm.
And it was excellent!
The gig was organised by Cosy Den (thank you, Mattias!) and I again had the privilege of playing with the urbane and debonair Erik Halldén:
Landet is a wonderfully intimate and ..er.. cosy venue but it’s also got great lights and a PA that would shame many a larger club. It’s such a joy to play and actually be able to hear oneself (and thanks also to Gaz for doing a great job on the sound again).
I loved being able to lock around the people in the audience, from face to face and sing directly to them. I guess I’m just not rock’n'roll - my favourite type of gig is exactly this kind of small, personal affair. The first half of my set was acoustic, just me warbling over my hamfisted guitarrings. The second half was similar but with the addition of electronic backing tracks. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the whole thing had fallen as flat as a pancake!
But the audience… oh, what lovely people, as attentive and polite as they were windswept and gorgeous. I really couldn’t imagine a British audience being so charming and gracious, sadly.
Afterwards, I got the best reaction any songwriter could ask for: two beautiful ladies separately approached me and said how my set had made them feel a bit emotional and tearful. They understood exactly what my music is about. Yes! I am the king of indiegothelectrofolk!
And I had even more flattery in the course of the week that followed while I was still in Stockholm. I kept bumping into people who’d been at the gig and searched me out at gigs and clubs to tell me how much they’d enjoyed the set. As if I wasn’t enough of a rampaging bighead already! (Coming back to my normal Derby life has been somewhat of a shock to the system after all that…)
This was another dream gig for me and I’m not surprised it happened in Sweden. There’s a spirit, a pure passion for music there that doesn’t seem present on these shores where everything seems far more cliquey and “cool.” And I’m entirely the wrong size, colour and age to be cool, after all! I just can’t fit into them skinny trousers! 
To everyone who was at Landet, thank you for listening and all the sweet things you said after the gig. Hopefully, I’ll be seeing you again, soon!
And next on the gig trail…
Finland!
White Town Facebook Page
As you may know, I’m not a fan of Rupert Murdoch. Therefore, I’m also not a fan of MySpace.
Imagine how happy I am that MySpace is currently being trounced by Facebook! Every person who defects from MySpace or, more importantly, stops directing people towards it prevents money going into Murdoch’s pocket.
And I don’t like what Murdoch does with his money and influence.
Basically, I’m in favour of anything that hurts Murdoch’s Evil Empire,
So far, the one big advantage MySpace has had is that it’s the first port of call for musicians. Name a band, google them and you can find their MySpace and listen to songs.
Now, Facebook has taken up the challenge and introduced Band Pages (as well as Pages for Actors, TV Shows, Brands..). Hopefully, this means there’s at least a choice if a band wants an instant website complete with songs, vids, discography etc.
I’ve just created a Facebook page for White Town. It’s a little bit superfluous since I have this site, all sparkly and spangly. But what the hell, it’s free and maybe it can be slightly more interactive than this site. And every time someone’s looking at my band Facebook page, they’re not looking at MySpace.
Click here to see for yourself!
Blogroll Spam…
I had to take my links to friends’ sites today. It used to be on the right. Sadly, the links are now full of spam 
Apparently, it’s a known issue, unresolved. Let’s hope it’s fixed soon! I’m just posting this in case any other Wordpress users have the same thing happen. Also, to let my friends know that I haven’t suddenly gone off their websites!
Ahhh, spam… the bare essence of capitalism: vicious, destructive and uncaring.
