About

Hi there, I'm Saam (it rhymes with arm), an early 20s male London university student. Oh and music blogger. And podcaster. And now film blogger. It's all kicking off.

What is Faded Glamour?
Faded Glamour is an mp3/film blog, which I started in May 2006. Back then, it was called Keep Hope Inside. In November 2009, I decided to branch out into film too.

An mp3 blog is a music website where the user makes mp3s available for download. For more information about mp3 blogs, including the history of them, consult the ever useful Wikipedia. A film blog is less complicated and just somewhere to write about stuff you like from the film world.

I've featured quite a few artists, early in their careers, that have gone onto bigger and better things. Sometimes, I've even been the first blogger to mention them. Examples include:
Late Of The Pier (Parlophone), Johnny Foreigner/Dananananaykroyd (Best Before), These New Puritans (Domino), Cajun Dance Party/Blue Roses(XL), Los Campesinos!/Sky Larkin (Wichita), Jamie T (Virgin Records), It Hugs Back (4AD), Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man (Transgressive), Bombay Bicycle Club (Island), The XX (The Young Turks) etc.

Not that it's all about the "next big thing". I also like to feature bands that I feel are either largely unknown or significantly underrated. And for fans of pigeonholing, I dabble in catch-all genres like urban, dance and RAWK occasionally too.

What's a podcast?
In early 2007, I started making podcasts. I've done quite a few now but have recently stagnated. Podcasts are a bit like radio shows but are downloadable so you can listen to them on your computer or your iPod. Hence the name 'podcast'.

My podcasts tend to focus on unsigned, new music from all over the world. The best bands you've never heard. They turn up sporadically.

How long are tracks available for?
My general ethos toward mp3s is to feature tracks that are either provided by bands/labels/PRs or commercially unavailable radio sessions and the like. All tracks are periodically removed, typically after a few months. Podcasts are up for aaaaaages due to their composition of legally available tracks.

If you're a band, or represent a band/artist and you object to my uploading of any of your material, please contact me immediately and I will remove the track. All the tracks on Faded Glamour are for sampling purposes only and I actively encourage my readers to purchase music and go to gigs.

How do I contact you?
There's a few ways to get in touch with me about anything at all Faded Glamour related:
1) Email. Probably the preferred method - music[AT]fadedglamour.co.uk or film[AT]fadedglamour.co.uk - replace the squared bracketed 'AT' with an @ obviously.
2) Twitter. DM me or send me a comment at @saamFG.
3) Comments. I really appreciate when I get a comment for one of my posts, so if you have something nice to say then please do. But constructive criticism is welcome too.

If you want to send me a demo or recommend me a band, I suggest emailing me with a MySpace/website link so I can hear what they're like. I prefer to receive band submissions digitally (carbon footprint and what not) but if you must, I can provide a postal address. If you don't think I've read your email or what not, please do send another - sometimes things slip into my junk mail - but I do my best to at least listen to everything emailed and try to reply to the emails.

Who writes for Keep Hope Inside?
From the start, it's just been one person. Me. I'm the sole founder, editor, writer and busboy of Faded Glamour.

I want to keep Faded Glamour as independent as possible so I do not have advertising anywhere on my blog, unless it's a cause which I genuinely support. I certainly don't get paid for anything related to this site!

I'm definitely thinking about having more writers in the future but for the time being, Faded Glamour is just me and the occasional guest blogger.

Why did you change your blog name?
I just thought it was a bit rubbish really and its reference to Pandora's Box probably went over people's heads. It also gave me a bit of a renewed interest in the blog, after I was lacking inspiration. The new name was more a proxy for a wider need to rejig things and get excited about blogging again.

Thanks
Just wanted to say thank you to a few people for helping Faded Glamour come to life. Firstly, to two mp3 blogs which are now sadly defunct but really made me feel like I could give this blogging malarkey a crack - The Swish Blog and Mr Red Penguin. And all the bands/PR people that send me stuff, of course. Keep it coming!

Most of all though, thank you for coming to Faded Glamour. I never expected to really get this far and for anyone to care about what I thought about anything. God bless the internet.