h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A533215

Hello,

The Guide really has expanded my knowledge of the musical world, and it's nice to see entries about bands, especially ones that some people like me haven't heard of. I think it's a nice topic and a great start , but I have a few humble suggestions to make:

1. More of an introduction on the style of the band would be nice. While I know what trip hop is like, some people might need a brief explanation (although I'm aware that writing about music is a bit like singing about photographs). Also, it would be good to footnote or mention that the name is borrowed from Clockwork Orange.

2. It might be nice to break up the sections a little bit with headers or subheaders, maybe by major releases or such. This gives a nicer flow to the article.

3. All in all, it teased me but left me wanting to know a bit more. Are the bandmates longtime friends? Were they in any groups beforehand? Does Roisin only do the vocals and Mark the programming, or is there more? Do they have any other notable guest musicians, etc? Are they working on new albums, and do they have any side projects.

I thought you might be interested in a sampling of some other Guide entries about bands. I'm not suggesting you copy their style, since I'd like to see your own personal way of doing it. I just thought they illustrate some of my silly suggestions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A471403 The Smiths
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A280199 Spiritualized
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A398973 Portishead

Yours,
Jake

What I know about Moloko can be written on the back of a small postage stamp. I didn't realise they'd been around for so long.

Interesting piece so far, I agree, and I think you write well about music, so I would love to read your take on their sound too. Is that really trip hop, or was that their early stuff? Believe me, what I know about trip hop could be written on a small postage stamp too, so that is a genuine question!

Also, is this look I see in their videos (a very 70s disco look) a new thing, or has that always been their style?

Finally, and this is popcorn, moloko means milk in russian. I know they ttok it from the clockwork orange book, but he stole most of his slang from russian too. I have to tell you too, that they pronounce it wrong...

Looking forward to reading the entry later...

I pronounce it mah-lah-KOH, since I've heard that only the accentuated 'o' is pronounced kinda like the 'o' in 'sock' while the rest are pronounced like 'a' in 'Taj Mahal'.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of Moloko (I have their two latest albums, not counting the new remix album), and I must object to a tiny detail in this Entry. It's not "I'm not a doctor!", it's "I am not a doctor." I have it right here, see? No? Oh..

The Entry is informative, but it needs a bit of formatting I guess. It might be nice with some GuideML.

'Sock' was a bad choice. More like 'a' in 'awful'.

This Entry definitely has potential, and I hope you'll continue to work on it. If I may just point a few things out:

- "'DYLMTS?' also generated another single, 'Dominoid', but it could'nt reach the same level of 'Fun for Me'." - Do you mean that "Dominoid" didn't sell as well as "DYLMTS?", or that it wasn't as good, or both?

- "Their love for their fans also produced a track, which was only released on the Internet. Roisin did'nt sing on this, why it never became downloaded that much." - Where was it released on the Internet (the band's official site, I'd imagine) and did the track have a title?

- It's "didn't" and "couldn't", not "did'nt" and "could'nt".

- Song or album titles should be written with the first letter of each word in capitals, e.g. "Do You Like My Tight Sweater?"

- It seems to be official policy on h2g2 that whenever an entry is written about an individual or a band, their occupation has to be included in the title - e.g. "The Smiths - The Band" or "George Michael - Singer". So this Entry would probably have to be retitled "Moloko - The Band". (There's even an Edited Entry titled "The Beatles - The Band", just in case you might have thought it was about The Beatles, the chartered accountants).

Finally, one bit of trivia you might like to use - I'm sure I read somewhere that the title of "Do You Like My Tight Sweater?" was taken from the first words Roisin ever said to Mark, when she first saw him and decided to chat him up!

I'm sure you read it too, since I've read the very same thing. They say it was at some club, and that they left it to record the title "song" on 'Do You Like My Tight Sweater?'. I believe the very words she uttered in the club was the ones in the "song": "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body."

Btw, I Am Not A Doctor is my favourite Moloko album, mainly since it's the first one I heard. I saw the video for The Flipside on some German channel (VIVA Zwei, I think) and thought it was the coolest/weirdest/trippiest music I've ever heard. It still is.

JJMayday appears to have disappeared - he hasn't posted since early July.

Is it time for a move to the Flea Market?

Strictly speaking, a move to the Flea Market isn't supposed to happen until the author has been away from h2g2 for three months. So JJ has roughly one month left in which to come back and reclaim his Entry!

OK, time's up! JJ Mayday hasn't posted since June, so I reckon it really IS Flea Market time for this Entry now.

Any seconders?

done

alas

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'The Flea Market'.

This thread has been moved back to the Entry as the author appears to have 'left the building'.

Drat. Been meaning to reply to you for ages iaoth. You would appear to be pronouncing it correctly, or at least more or less as the Russians do, which I suppose as the name wasn't technically taken from Russian is a moot point. Further than that I will not be drawn, so as not to expose my woeful knowledge of the language. Ie I wouldn't like to give the absolute definitive Russian pron, cos I'd probably be wrong. I think the 'o' is probably more like sock though, but don't quote me...

The reason why I thought they pronounced it wrong is cos last time I was back in Britain, everybody, including VJs and DJs and whathaveyou (though I didn't hear how the band did it) was saying 'mohLOHcoh' (Oh pronounced as "Oh. what a nice day". And then back here, when discussion ensued on MTV Russia following the band's collaberation with some Russian DJ, all the presenters here were also calling the band mohLOHcoh, albeit with a slightly pained expression on their faces.

Flea Market clean out:

Keep in FM. I think there's enough here and in the review thread to make an entry if someone else familiar with the band would want to take it up.

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