Spotify suddenly obsessed with running

How can you tell Spotify has reached middle age?

It's suddenly started becoming obsessed with keep-fit and the gym.

Yes, as well as adding podcasts and video in the big announcement yesterday (or "moving on from doing one thing well to trying to do lots of things other people already do better", to use the technical term), Spotify kept banging on about running. Like that bloke from the office who had a mild health scare and suddenly started showing up in a tracksuit, thrusting his fitbit under your nose in the breakroom.

Spotify Running. Every week millions of you lace up and hit the road to Spotify.

Yes, we lace up and hit the road. But what about when we get back from travelling corsetry show? What then, Spotify?

Music is the perfect running companion but sometimes you need even more motivation to push on.

I have some sympathy for the poor sod who had to churn this paragraph out, because the announcement is little more than 'you can do something with Spotify and the Nike+ you almost certainly don't own, and we've put together a playlist of some fast songs', but they're having to try and milk a couple of hundred words out of it.

That’s why Spotify Running is all about helping you go the extra mile.

Fortunately for an announcement about keeping fit, although this announcement is packed with words, none of those words contain any calories whatsoever.

We’ve combined the best music on the planet – recommendations based on your listening history, multiple-genre playlists and original running compositions written by some of the world’s foremost DJs and composers – all tuned to your tempo and seamlessly transitioned to ensure you’ll never miss a beat.

"Original running compositions".

You know how that conversation went:
- Hi, foremost DJ, it's Spotify; we'd like you to compose something running for us
- What does that mean, even? I don't think...
- We will give you lots of money - tonnes of the stuff. Loads more than if you were a composer providing the music for our core business, ironically. Lots of money.
- Really? Hang on a moment.
Goes to Mac, drags half-finished song from Trash, renames file 'Hitting The Streets.mp3'
- Sending something across now.

Start running and Spotify will detect your tempo, matching the perfect music in time to your step – making you a harder, better, faster, stronger runner.

I don't know much about running - although I did once get to prance about wearing one of Steve Ovett's Olympic medals - but what Spotify seem to be pitching is a metronome which adjusts down or up to your pace.

Which isn't really what you want in a pacemaker, is it? The idea is that you choose a song, and try to pace your running to that song. If the song switches the pace you're running at, what is the point?

And will the music start lurching around stopping and starting? You're off like a shot and Icona Pop are I Don't Care-ing it, but you suddenly get a stitch and out of nowhere Morrissey appears? Will, should you collapse to the ground in pain, clutching your arm, Spotify notice you've stopped and lob on a Lake Wobegone podcast?

Then Spotify do this:

The new Now experience will begin rolling out today to iPhone users in the US, UK, Germany and Sweden – with more markets and platforms to follow in the near future. Spotify Running will start rolling out to iPhone users globally today.

That’s entertainment.

And, yes, "That's entertainment" links to That's Entertainment.

Spotify spend a long time making a pitch for how they're awfully clever at choosing just the right song for the right moment through algorithms and brilliance, and then illustrate this ability by showing how entertaining they are with a song that is using the word "entertainment" with an irony so bitter they could put it in bleach to stop toddlers accidentally swigging Domestos.

That's entertaining, Spotify, but not how you think.

Blink and you'd miss it

A press release arrives, breathless with excitement - guys, they've got the band back together:

Irish indie legends “Blink” have announced a comeback show in The Button Factory on October 25th to celebrate the 20th anniversay of “A map of the universe” and a career spanning greatest hits compilation “catch that moment” out on October 24th.

Yay! Blink! Blink are back together...

Hold on. Who?

Genuinely, I spent a couple of minutes staring into space, trying to recall Blink. Blink?

Best remembered for hits like “Cello”, “Going to Nepal”, “It’s not my fault”...

I'm sure it's more me than them, but this isn't sounding familiar at all. And a quick check at the official charts website suggests that the band managed one entry, at 57, with a song that they're not best remembered for. Happy Day.

And that brings it back - the slightly irritating sub Frank And Walters act who did this:

Just me and you and you and me,
In a little mad hat
Down by the sea.

It barely counts as a ditty.

And from that comes memories of shouting at The Chart Show "why are you playing this again from the indie chart?", and what I presume was the follow-up single (orangey-browny sleeve?) cluttering up the mark-down dump bins of every record shop in Liverpool for an age and a half.

So, one grating number 57 hit in the UK, and a landfill problem for the sale-or-return department at Parlophone to solve. Somehow I doubt that's going to make it into the press release:

Blink had a string of top 10 singles, 3 hit albums one of which was Billboard Album of the Month in the US, Meteor award nominations

A "string of top ten singles" probably refers to Ireland, although the band's brief Wikipedia page offers a different view:

Blink's first singles 'Going To Nepal' and 'Happy Day' reached the top 20 in Ireland. Their third release 'It's Not My Fault' debuted at No 8.

And worth noting that the third 'hit' album waited two years for a release in Ireland.

But there must be more to them than this?

...and in between the even found time to be the first ever band to appear on the old Eircom Phonecards

They were on a phonecard. That must have been a fun conversation in the office:

- We really need to stress that this isn't just a small band who were marginally important and of their time. We've got to make it clear that they're timeless. What can we find that will resonate with a modern audience?
- Let's mention those phonecards. That'll make the teenagers interested.

But it wasn't just phonecards. Oh, no.

... as well as a much publicized spat with some guys who wanted to be in Blink too. They changed their name to Blink 182.

Yeah. I know this might seem like Blink won, but... which band is easier to Google? Which wound up with a stronger branding?

Still, nice to be reminded of a band I'd totally forgotten ever existed. And, astonishingly, reminding myself who they were, an even more obscure name fell out the internet, from an interview with the band in 1994:

it was a college tour and the NUS organised the dates with ourselves and Orange...

Orange! Surely they must be about to reappear for a 20th anniversary shindig any moment now, right?

Tedious craze creates tedious press release

I know, I know. They're pouring buckets of ice over themselves for charity, and not for self-publicity. Absolutely. And it's all in aid of... sick kids or whatever. Okay, mostly it seems about the self-publicity.

Now, thought, the harmless self-publicity craze is being hijacked by businesses trying to exploit it. A site called MusicTalkers has been given some exciting news by "music discovery service Timbre":

Lily Allen has experienced a 48% jump in her ticket demand after posting a video online of herself performing the ice bucket challenge, according to music discovery service Timbre.

Ed Sheeran, following his video, saw traffic rise by 54% for his European tour. The challenge itself involves having a bucket of ice cold water poured over the volunteer’s head, with the aim of raising awareness of neurodegenerative illness ALS.

I suppose at least they got a mention of the disease in there, too.

Timbre - whose 'music discovery' product is actually just a glorified gig guide - don't bother to put any figures on this massive uplift - no indication of if this is about six million suddenly becoming nine million, or two adding an extra one; no indication of how long a time period this uplift covers. Presumably it's just looking at its own stats, and - given that these are tickets which haven't just come onto the market - the numbers of people who happened to be looking at Allen or Sheeran on the off-chance must have been relatively low prior water-splosh; so... is a tiny uptick really worth making a fuss about?

Worried people worry about Bieber; discretely point to price list

Oh, won't someone think of the children? After Justin Bieber, the singer based on the popular range of Justin Bieber dolls, stuck a photo of himself having a ciggie on the internet, a company has issued a press release:

Troubled Pop Star Justin Bieber Irresponsibly Glamorizes Smoking

It's an odd press release, though. It's come from a company which helps separate people from both their cigarettes and money, which might explain why a large chunk of it at the start sounds like it's coming from FOREST, the pro-lung cancer pressure group:

Canadian pop musician and singer-songwriter Justin Bieber seems to idolizes James Dean's living life in the fast lane persona. Bieber is seen sitting against a brick wall wearing a white t-shirt rolled up to reveal his tattoo sleeves, as an unlit cigarette dangles from his lips. On March 20th, Us Weekly reported, Justin uploaded the rebellious smoking picture to his Instagram page of 14.8 million followers with a caption saying, "Don't ask me if I smoke ciggys cuz I don't."

Sounds kinda sexy, right - obviously if you ignore that it's Justin Bieber.

It's almost as if the anti-smoking therapy group is trying to ensure everyone sees the images of Bieber, albeit with a sorrowful shake of the head further down the press release. It couldn't be that - while not wanting people to take up a life of furtively sucking on Capstan full strength in a windswept shelter round by the delivery hatch - they're aware that if Justin did encourage a few kids to try it, that could well provide business for them in the future.

Obviously, that would be a cynical reading of the press release. And whoever looked for cynicism in a press release?

The Mitch pitch

Nothing says that PRs have confidence in their product like them sending out a press release announcing the imminent release of an album eight days ago.

So it is that an email arrives heralding last week's debut of Mitch Winehouse's album, Rush Of Love.

Mitch Winehouse, former cab driver and father to one of the UK's biggest music exports is about to prove the critics wrong with the release of his debut album 'Rush Of Love' on April 5th 2011.

Well, yes. The critics who said 'he'll never be allowed to release an album' will be proved wrong.

Father to a big music export. Is that really the best way they could think of to introduce the 'he's Amy's dad' bit? Not 'one of the UK's favourite singers', not even 'one of Britain's biggest-selling acts'. But focusing on her appeal to the export market, like she's up there with Rolls Royce aircraft engines and cluster bombs.

At the age of 59, Mitch is turning a life-long ambition into reality, showcasing his in-depth knowledge and sheer passion for jazz and swing music with this 11-track debut featuring a host of rarely uncovered classics as well as four brand new tracks.

Showcasing his knowledge? Isn't that something better done in a pub quiz? You'll note the release doesn't suggest he's showcasing any talent. Just knowledge and passion.

I'm not sure you turn ambition into reality, either - don't you achieve an ambition, or turn a dream into reality? Ambition, surely, is real in its own right - look at people going on Big Brother; they have ambition, and they have reality. But they don't always achieve their reality.

And, no, I have no idea what a "rarely uncovered classic" is, apart from a phrase that you'd have removed if you proof-read the email before sending it out. Surely they didn't mean to boast that Mitch has turned in an album full of songs which are always being rerecorded? ("At long last - the sixteenth cover of Mustang Sally this week...")

"We love singing in our family" Mitch explains, "I was always singing at home. But this is a dream come true and musically, it's a great album."

Again, this is worded oddly. The singer is saying that, musically, it's a great album. What other criteria would you be judging it by? "From a geometric point of view, the circularity is excellent."

Despite his own undeniable music talent, Mitch is also realistic about the assumptions that will be made about his newfound career choice:

"If Amy wasn't my daughter I wouldn't be given this opportunity. I'm not stupid, I know that. But if I couldn't sing I wouldn't have been given the opportunity either."

If Mitch is admitting it as a fact, then it isn't an assumption, is it?

Still, fair play to Mitch for admitting he's got the job on pretty much the grounds that he's famous-by-reverse-injection, although he's on shaky ground with the belief that people only get to make records if they're great at singing. To be fair, he's not bad, but... well, the 'being Amy's dad' swung the project, not the 'able to sing a bit' part.

Teaming up with old family friend Tony Hiller, writer of 'Save Your Kisses For Me' and hundreds of other jazz and pop standards...

Too many others to list, or even mention. Should we assume that Save Your Kisses For Me was the highpoint?

That would be unfair. The man who wrote the England World Cup Squad's Whole Wide World At Our Feet and, erm, rewrote Save All Your Kisses For Me for Pepperoni? He's got a catalogue.

... was another logical step for Mitch who has, quite obviously, had the time of his life researching and compiling his music debut.

That's sweet. Seriously, I might be a cynical old hector but it is clear that this is something Winehouse is really passionate about. It's just a bit like late period Fred Dibnah, though; why do we have to be drawn into his hobby?

Mitch also pays homage to Frank Sinatra with 'Close Your Eyes', "...a beautiful jazz song, but a less known Sinatra song," Mitch enthuses, "Stacey Kent does it, but I've never heard anyone else and it's just wonderful."

According to Wikipedia, it's also been done by Harry Belafonte. Oh, and Doris Day. And Vic Damone. Queen Latifah did a cover, as did Nancy Wilson, Liza Minelli, Peggy Lee, Betty Carter, Tony Bennett, Oscar Peterson, Humphrey Littleton and Ella Fitzgerald. And the Commedian Harmonists had a go, too. Somehow, Mitch seems to have missed all those versions in his research.

The album also features the 1931 Bing Crosby classic 'I Apologize', and 'Day by Day', also later recorded by Crosby in 1946 as well as by Doris Day in the same year.

You know what? I'd pay to hear an album where that sentence was read out loud.

'You Go To My Head' has been re-worked by such fans ranging from Billie Holiday to Rod Stewart.

That one doesn't even make any sense. To be fair, you know what they mean, but you shouldn't have to rework a press release into English.

Finally, the popular 'April In Paris,' taken from the 1932 Broadway musical 'Walk A Little Faster' and later performed by the likes of Louis Armstrong, is given the Mitch makeover.

It's not meant to sound like a threat. Honestly, it isn't.

Freebutt: The council statement

An anonymous commenter on the Freebutt story seems quite upset that No Rock's coverage of the Save The Freebutt campaign hasn't been balanced enough for their liking and demanded to know why we hadn't put the other side of the story. Apparently, only quoting Brighton And Hove Council on the original post somehow doesn't count.

Still, to avoid the Glasgow Media Group being alerted and heading down to investigate the shoddy quality of reporting on a sarcastic music blog, here is the council's most recent press release:

The council has made plain it has no interest in closing down a Brighton music venue over noise problems.

Officials say that while the Freebutt pub near The Level is causing a nuisance to local residents, it feels the situation can be resolved.

In a statement the council said:

“The council doesn’t want the Freebutt closed, isn’t trying to close it and does not believe it needs to close because of noise.

“We have written to the pub asking for a convenient time to visit so that their electronic noise limiter can be reset. We feel that if it was working as expected they could still run excellent gigs without bothering local residents.

“While the council feels live music is very important to the city, people’s right to peace in their own home is sacrosanct. The family home was there when the current management took over the Freebutt so they would have known noise was an issue.

“Their campaign material appears misleading and we have concerns for the feelings of residents. The council has a duty to investigate and remedy complaints on noise and can not be diverted by campaigns such as this.

“It has now been four months since the pub received a noise abatement notice and although the council acknowledges that some works have been carried out to manage the noise, further action is still required.”

The council doesn't actually say why it feels the campaign material "appears to be misleading" - to be honest, the Council and the Freebutt seem to be the same on details; the question is whether the noise limiter could be taken down further without ruining the point of having an event which relies on amplified noise.

So, just in case anyone was under the impression that the Freebutt were in disagreement with another party without, somehow, the other side having a different view of the matter, hopefully that's clearer now.

Black Francis writes for you

At the end of March, Black Francis is releasing a new album - NonStopErotik. To celebrate, he's put a few thoughts down in a press release:

I finally came into possession of an old guitar someone had given me at a nightclub in San Francisco awhile back; Eric Drew Feldman had been holding it for me there on Haight Street. He convinced me that it looked cool (it was black) and had been given in the spirit of benevolence. Every time I picked it up a nice chord came out and so I lovingly cleaned it with red wine in the dressing room the following night and began to write. I told the tour manager that we would drive in my Cadillac directly to a recording studio in Los Angeles (and could he book one, oh, and a rhythm section, too?) from the gig in San Luis Obispo which would put us at the studio at about 4am. It all happened according to plan and we cut the initial tracks there in the wee hours over a few days, and then moved on to an equally haunted studio in London and Eric Drew Feldman joined us there and we finished the record in St. John's Wood. Like I said the studio was haunted and I wrote many a couplet by candlelight in the studio accommodation, slept very little, and only felt the need to get the fuck out of there fast on the last night. The spirits had not ever bothered me, other than low drama moral support, but I was informed that they had heard enough and it was time to move on; plus I had a gig in Ireland.

When I was a boy the plant we boys called a fern was code for vagina, and to this day I love fern plants. In my heart the vagina is almost everything, and almost everything else could be summed up in what cock and seed have to offer; and everything else? The love of the father, dead or alive, the pain of too much pleasure, till death do us part, the voice of another song man from the other side, with or without God, Teri and the Possibilities, where ever you may be, the smell of sex in the air, seduced, slain, on my knees in prayer, sucking at the only thing that matters, my own personal Meret Oppenheim, I am Man Ray and I want you and to be all the way inside you, the cameras whirring as we put some elbow grease into the scene, the audience watching us in the dark.

Fern was...? Whatever was Tony Britton thinking of?

Kings Of Leon really want you to be impressed

There's an element of the needy in the latest press release that's been sent out by the Kings Of Leon:

RCA Records is very proud to announce that Kings of Leon's single "Use Somebody" has hit the #1 spot on the Top 40 Radio charts in both airplay and audience. Amazingly, this is happening exactly one year after the album Only By The Night was released. At this point, with all the radio "Use Somebody" is getting in all the formats, the song is reaching a cumulative audience of 100 million on the Hot 100. The album has sold 1.3 million copies in America to date.

It's like they can't quite believe they're this popular, either, and - having pinched themselves - they're having their people send round a letter to say "look, it's not just an optical illusion, we are really popular, sort-of, even although you don't ever meet anyone who really cares about us."

It's not entirely clear why the press people feel it's "amazing" this is happening exactly a year after the album came out. Unless they mean "amazing" in the sense of "amazing that they're still able to spin it out this long without someone seeing through them" - but surely they can't mean that, can they?

Also doing well from Jackson's death

Something called WONMP pushes a press release us at:

This last week www.wonmp.us set new all-time records for web traffic. Our article on What Really Killed Michael Jackson was picked-up by several major news stations, resulting in massive website visits. It is our hope that the article will help "steer" those that suffer from unmanaged stress to seek safe, natural help.

A massive website visit? Is that one where the screen resolution is 5000 x 5000? "Yeah, it did less well on the small mobile screens, but on massive website visits, it was brilliant."

Still, good of WONMP to pat themselves on the back for having jumped so quickly on the corpse.

By the way, WONMP have pre-empted your objection that they can't possibly know what really killed Michael Jackson by waving away such objections as unimportant:

The toxicology report is not yet in because Michael's autopsy is only now being scheduled, but that matters not. What matters is the knowledge that a human heart is designed to operate much longer than 50 years unless impeded in some way.

Yes, yes, let's not detain ourselves waiting for facts.

Also turning a few quid is Bauer Magazines, who are resurrecting Smash Hits. How better to homage a dead man than a dead magazine?

Normally, we'd be excited by the idea of a classic-era Smash Hits revival - even if it was only going to be about Michael Jackson, but as far as I can see there's nobody from the glory days of Smash Hits involved, so this is less a revival than some sort of freaky reanimation of a stolen corpse. And I bet it's not going to be sarky and fun and like Smash Hits was when Jackson was alive.

Update: Popjustice have more on the Smash Hits revival, and apparently Barry McIlheney is editing the Smash Hits. So it's decline-of-empire phase SH then. [Thanks to anonymous commenter for the tip]

It's what Kurt would have wanted, probably

The gentle ruffle of a PR email brings news of an attempt to cash-in on Kurt Cobain's, erm, 42nd birthday:

On Friday, February 20th, former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain would have turned 42. The iconic alternative-rock legend, who died tragically in 1994, was an innovator and trendsetter, not just musically but stylistically as well, wearing a succession of thrift-store, punk-rock or homemade T-shirts. This year you can remember Cobain wearing one of the singular, striking shirts he incorporated into his own unique sense of fashion. Choose between Kurt's ironic "Grunge is Dead" shirt; his "Hi, How Are You," shirt sporting a design from outside musician Daniel Johnston; his vintage "Motorbike" shirt, sporting the slogan "Live to Ride, Ride to Live"; his "Sounds" shirt, featuring the logo from the magazine of the same name; and his "Olympia Beer" shirt, a nod to one of the music scenes that ultimately fostered Nirvana.

Hopefully, the puzzlement at why anyone would start to treat a 42nd birthday like a bicentenary would have stopped most people reading on to through the rest of it.

The thicket of 'why not imitate his homemade-thrift shop look by, erm buying a t-shirt from a tshirt company' would probably have proved enough of a logical conundrum to claim other travellers moving wearily through the release.

Any who survived would have perished, at their own hands, at the description of Daniel Johnston as an "outside musician". Isn't an outside musician a busker?

Still, there you have it: Pay tribute to a man with a unique look by dressing like you've chosen to go as him to a fancy dress party.

Lady Gaga release album on a trademark

A press release scuttles into the inbox, bringing exciting news:

Lady Gaga Brings Her Much Anticipated Debut album to...

Something tells you this isn't going to end with "an unexpected peak."

...Mobile Phones Via New slotMusic™ Card

Yes, given that most mobile phones are mp3 players now, you could actually get the album onto your phone without a whole new format, but let's not spoil the moment - at last: it's a format so small you can lose it even more easily than a twenty pence piece. And with the need for only one extra piece of equipment, you can even hear the album in your car - like it was a CD or something:

Fans of Lady Gaga, who scored a major international hit with her single "Just Dance" and is poised to have a huge hit in the States, can now enjoy her debut album in high fidelity, DRM-free MP3 music on the go - in their mobile phones or other slotMusic compatible players such as MP3 players with a microSD slot, any PC with a USB adapter and even cars with SD or USB slots.

Yes, what could be simpler or easier while you're driving than to swap out a tiny SD card from your stereo SD slot. Let's celebrate that, finally, someone has come up with a format which will free people from being tied to a gramophone when they want to listen to music "on the go" - this sudden freedom to have music wherever you go is being undersold by calling it Slot - they should call it a Walkman or something.

Hey, but it's not just music:

The 1 GB slotMusic card will come with exclusive content only available on slot Music, allowing Lady Gaga fans to go beyond the music for a deeper richer experience.

That's great - you know, some crappy old formats don't provide a deeper, richer experience; they just pad out their space with a few cheap remixes and lob on a video or two. It's exciting to hear this exciting new format is embracing the exciting possibilities of the excitingness of its format. How will it take us to a deeper, richer experience?

In addition to the full album, Lady Gaga's slotMusic card will contain "extras" including remixes of the songs "Just Dance" (Live From the Cherrytree House) and "Love Game" (by Robots To Mars) plus the "Pokerface" video with accompanying behind the scenes look at the making of the video.

Wow... it'll be great to go beyond the music by, erm, hearing some slightly different versions of the music. I can't wait.

It's the future! It's... oh, bugger, I've dropped it...

Joy over the Zune

The special-edition of the Zune, which comes preloaded with Unknown Pleasures is going to be limited to a run of just 500 and is coming with a bunch of self-congratulatory press flummery, captured by Listening Post:

Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Microsoft's Zune division, said the company's "involvement" (read: product tie-in) was "a way of saying 'Thank You' to the band for doing what they did" that was "not only a tribute to them but to an entire musical journey through Factory Records and the artists and movements it spawned."

In addition, he said, Microsoft meant the Joy Division Zune as "a tribute to deep respect (huh?) for graphic design that lives on through artists like Peter Saville, and to independent film-makers that believe in more than just commercial success" (which has also largely eluded the Zune). "Ultimately it's a tribute to the self-belief and self-expression that inspires true authentic art."

True authentic art. What better way to pay tribute to that than by throwing an advertising stunt for a multinational company's me-too audio product, eh?

Still, it's nice to know - in a very real way - this special Zune isn't just a thank you to the late Ian Curtis, but also to the Wendys and Northside. Maybe that was a hint that Redmond is preparing a Chicken Rhythms Zune for the Christmas market?

MTV, what are you, MTV?

We got sent a copy of the press release for that offspring of the famous game show MTV is lining up, and while the detail doesn't seem any less horrifying, we were taken with the description of where MTV sees itself in the current media world:

MTV is the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 26 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries -- giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen.

It's an "experiment", is it? And what would the aim of that experiment be - to see if you can shake the taint of 'what your dad used to watch' from the brand?

Coffee shops? Whatever next? Selling online

We suspect it's only half ContactMusic's fault that they've managed to turn out such a rotten article about Erykah Badu's new album, as it looks like they've just reworked a press release, but even so, you'd think they'd have at least read what they were publishing:

ERYKAH BADU is to undertake an innovative new marketing strategy for her forthcoming live album...

Really? What could that be, then?

...she is releasing the LP through branches of Starbucks coffee shops.

Oh. That would be innovative in the sense that it's the first time a live album by Erykah Badu has been marketed in this way. Because haven't Starbucks been flogging albums for about ten years?

Blithely, ContactMusic ctrl-vs the whole thing, including the contention that allowing your album to be sold by one of the major high street forces for music retail is a

daring move

.
Yes; for an artist of Badu's stature to be doing this when usually the chain is forced to rely on untested names like Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and Alanis Morisette.