The Edge receives honorary degree from Boston’s Berklee College

The Edge received an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music at their 2007 Commencement in Boston on Saturday.

The Edge told Berklee’s graduating class:

“The thing I want to say is collaborate. Collaborating with talented people is not easy, but it’s the way to really shine – you shine brighter if you are working with really great people. The important thing in the end is not that you are proved right every time, the important thing is that the music is the best that it can be. I want to wish you all that you would find your own voice. But if you are so disposed that you would find collaborators to work with, that you would shine as you could never shine on your own.”

Berklee also awarded honorary degrees to Gloria and Emilio Estefan and the late Andrew Hill or their achievements in contemporary music, their enduring contributions to popular culture and for the influence their careers and music have had over Berklee’s student body. In previous years recipients included Duke Ellington, David Bowie, Count Basie, Billie Joel and Quincy Jones.

Bloc Party – Banquet E.P.

blocparty.jpg The music people listen to when they are teenagers is just the best evah, they think. Nothing can top it — especially not anything that’s current. It is balls, basically. We just are more jaded as we grow older. To help 40+ curmudgeons such as myself get in touch with contemporary music, we now have the new new wave. Back comb your hair and squeeze your body into those bondage pants. The arrival of Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Interpol, The Dears, The Stills and The Rapture, has made you want to dig out your The Cure, Smiths and Joy Division albums. Bloc Party , described by MTV as South London art-punkers, and who am I to argue, take their influences and run with ’em: the best of The Cure with the punchiest Joy Division/New Order, and the choppiest Gang of Four. Bloc Party are blessed with a singer who has a voice that carries beautifully, especially on the phones disco edit of ‘Banquet’. ‘I’m on fire, I’m on fire,’ he proclaims. They are. This excellent E.P. is a good introduction to the band and will carry you over to the street release of their album ‘Silent Alarm’ next year.

Banquet E.P (USA) // Banquet E.P. (U.K.)