The popular technology and startup blog TechCrunch posted an article today that claimed “Plays Can Increase iTunes Sales. Here’s Proof!” The beginning of the article reads as follows: 

“Despite fears that streaming access cannibalizes sales, classical music record label X5 tells me when it launched an app within Spotify and saw streams of one album increase 412% in a month, that album’s iTunes sales shot up 50%. The Swedish label’s “The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music” soon reached #1 on the iTunes Classical charts, and broke into the iTunes Top 200 album charts for the first time, hitting #152.”

This example is clearly just one of many potential case studies, both pro- and anti-Spotify. Paul McCartney and The Black Keys both publically pulled their music from Spotify and other streaming services due to lackluster results from their point of view. In the comments of the article, many TechCrunch readers were quick to note that classical music is a very different kind of genre than the rest on Spotify and caters to a different kind of listener. So while Spotify might be great as a discovery tool of classical and other forms of music, people who already know a genre or artist in-and-out might be more reluctant to buy albums off of iTunes if they know they can stream it off of Spotify for a fraction of the price (or for free).

Another tech blog AllThingsD, had a realistic (although a bit more sobering) outlook on the Spotify effect compared to TechCrunch: 

“Some people who weren’t buying any music at all start shelling out a monthly fee for subscription services, turning pirates into profit centers. That still won’t be enough to replace the dollars the industry has lost since its pre-Napster party days. But it is much, much better than nothing.”

Clearly the pre-Napster days are a dream far gone, but artists want to know whether Spotify helps or hurts their bottom line (compared to the current status quo). Spotify CEO Daniel Ek obviously has been open about defending Spotify and their business model, which he says does not cannibalize music sales. Regardless of the cause of album sale decline, Ek told Evolver.fm in February:

“You're talking 10 million active users, 2.5 million subscribers - most of them paying $120 a year, which is double the amount of your average iTunes user. Do you really want to hold back your album from people who are finally paying for music again?” 

To be fair, most aren’t paying for Spotify’s premium service, but their absolute user number is increasing by millions as the months go on and their integration with Facebook’s Open Graph deepens. The question now becomes which audience is more affected by Spotify: an audience willing to go out and buy albums but is currently not doing so because of streaming services or an audience that is now paying a monthly subscription cost when they would otherwise being paying nothing or close to nothing for music. What do you think’s more likely?

Digital Music News wrote a story about further signs of record label erosion:

“Thursday was an extremely crappy day for the crew at Roadrunner Records. That's because parent Warner Music Group chose Thursday to slash substantial parts of the sub-label, with complete shutdowns happening in several offices outside of the US.”

The hard rock and metal label under Warner Music Group is feeling the pain, with Billboard saying 36 were let go. While not every label is downsizing to such a dramatic extent, it’s definitely a time when record labels need to be lean and prioritize their biggest leads for cash returns. This means not only adapting to the changing economics of the music industry, but also not taking risks on artists who they don’t think can make them money under this new model.

Other than digital piracy, social media has changed the game for up-and-coming artists trying to get that once coveted record label deal. For many, a record label deal won’t make sense – even big name artists can get screwed when it comes down to the nitty gritty of a record label contract – but for those who are deadset on getting signed, social media has created the landscape to prove yourself as an artist.

A huge marketing push by a label is no longer the end-all-be-all of album release and touring promotion. Record labels now want to see social media traction as an indicator of independent success. Social media, although not foolproof, is easier to track than old school marketing campaigns. At the same time, labels want to see significant social media traction BEFORE they sign you. The way labels see it, if you don’t already have a big social media following, somebody’s going to have to build one from scratch. Quite possibly, there might not be enough fans who like you. Unless you’re already on terrestrial radio, which is more so the case for major label artists, you’ll want to start online.

Record labels are like investors. The more indicators of success they can see, the more likely they are to fund you. If you have great music, that’s like a company having a good idea for a product. Until an idea, or in this case music, is turned into a business, then it’s still just an idea.

So as labels continue to cut staff and costs, don’t think which labels will still sign you. It’s not time to shop for a record contract, it’s time to shop for fans. 

 

As Mashable pointed out, the user Indubitable_Smoo came up with the idea for Reddit to crowdsource a  hit song after “listening to an urban music station, which plays generic music that all sounds the same.” The effort now has its own subreddit called REDDITTOTP. Musicians who frequent Reddit started posting submissions, beginning with the background instrumental track that would provide the ground floor for the generic poppy sound they are striving for.

So far, the voting has narrowed down the instrumental track to one by Random Insight, who posted his generic pop idea on SoundCloud. The reactions in the comments? Everything from “I can literally hear a Pitbull verse here. This is brilliant.” to “It seems as generic as can be.” But that’s the point! With such a strong community, it wouldn’t be surprising that almost anything the Reddit puts out as a single could somehow make its way onto the charts. In this kind of record industry environment, it really doesn’t take much to chart anyway. Although Reddit’s strategy of piecing together tracks might not yield the most cohesive or polished of pop hits, it has the potential to be infectious nonetheless.

On the UPDATED PLAN OF ATTACK: page you can see a continuation of the original mission, with links to all the areas that need help for finishing the song. Other than having a decent amount of time on their hands, the Reddit community shows that they can actively get things done once again. Many people are idea-makers or stand behind an issue, but it takes an active person or group to actually pursue something rather than passively letting it slip by the wayside (a problem often seen among political dissenters and people trying to start projects from scratch). Although the song is not completed yet, Reddit shows the power of crowdsourcing behind something as simple as an idea.

Funny or Die wrote a hilarious, and quite accurate, article entitled 7 Types of People at Coachella. From Hopeless Drug Addicts to Bro’s to Industry Assholes, you’ll find a variety of folks at an increasingly mainstream music festival like Coachella. You’ll see similar types at other festivals. At Electric Zoo Festival you’ll see more of the Kids on Ecstasy but you’ll get fewer of the Dirty Hippies and People With Babies. Every festival has it’s own signature groups, and as festivals invite a greater variety of artists, you’ll get more distinguishable sects of festival-goers that tend to pop up out of the woodwork and make themselves known. At some point, you reach a tipping point where a music culture no longer belongs to one type of music fan (and most certainly doesn’t comprise solely of Music Lovers, the last remaining of the “7 Types”). 

So what is the shelf-life of cool? When do the early adopters give up on a scene that’s no longer their own? I already see cries on the Internet about how EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is not the same. Bro’s in their yellow wifebeaters and scantily-clad young women in tutus are the norm now. Perhaps drug culture is now the mainstream, as more reports of Ecstasy use are alluded to (even by Madonna), and a scene becomes more focused on its excesses than its music. That doesn’t necessarily mean the music is any better or worse, it just means some fans don’t feel the same connection to the movement as they did before.

When a genre of music is not known typically as “mainstream” but then quickly rises in popularity, you’ll get a greater diversity of fans and concert attendees. At Coachella, a festival that invites all kinds of music from electronica to rock to hip-hop, the disparity in the crowd is widens every year. This can be interesting for some and off-putting for those who feel like they enjoyed the music before everyone else and don’t want to taint their scene with non-Music Lovers. Growing pains!

It’s an amusement park where some are there for the rides, some are there for the games, and some are just there. When a theme park  has too many themes, some people might not even know where to begin (or whether at some point, they should ever be there at all). This is in no way a knock on diversity. But when things are no longer about the music, how long do they stay cool?

"Since our inception in 2000, we have incurred significant net operating losses and, as of January 31st, 2012, we had an accumulated deficit of $101.4 million.  A key element of our strategy is to increase the number of listeners and listener hours to increase our market penetration. However, as our number of listener hours increases, the royalties we pay for content acquisition also increase. We have not in the past generated, and may not in the future generate, sufficient revenue from the sale of advertising and subscriptions to offset such royalty expenses.

As a result of these factors, we expect to continue to incur operating losses on an annual basis through at least fiscal 2013 [ie, January, 2013]."

And it’s not just Pandora that gets the brunt of difficult licensing structures and demanding major labels. With only around a 20% conversion rate from free to paid subscriber, Spotify is facing an uphill battle to justify their massive funding rounds totaling $189 million. Michael Robertson, always the contrarian in the music industry, went as far as to say Spotify can never be profitable. Factors including deal structure, labels demanding equity of companies, and up front payments all the way to more technical issues such as non-disclosure, data normalization, and reporting needs all work against massive scale streaming apps like Spotify (where content is licensed, rather than artists uploading music to the service on their own profiles). 

How do services get out of this mess? Well it’s difficult since it comes down to supply and demand. As Robertson continues:

“The sale of EMI to other music companies means there will shortly be only three major labels. If a music service rejects terms offered by a label, then that service’s offering will have an enormous hole in their catalog of 25 percent or more of popular songs.” 

Unlike Spotify, Pandora abides by U.S. laws based around terrestrial radio, and does not face some of the same problems Robertson lists as business obstacles for Spotify. Clearly, both are going to have a tough time hitting that coveted goal of profitability as record labels don’t always feel like budging and consumers don’t always feel like paying. 

More Best Buy stores are closing their doors. A store that used CDs as a loss leader to get you in the door to buy more expensive items is now losing the battle on the big ticket items as well. People go into the store to browse, but ultimately people are buying off Amazon and other online retailers. Best Buy can’t compete.

The CD store hasn’t been able to compete for years. Walmart’s music section has shrunk. Apples iTunes takes a 30% cut of your sales and expects you to sell singles one at a time rather than the more lucrative deal of selling your whole album to a consumer who only wanted to own one or two songs.

Is there an answer to this. David Lowery, founder of Cracker and Camper von Beethoven, said no at this year’s SF MusicTech Summit. As Digital Music News summarized: 

“Record labels and artists don’t need to reinvent their business model to match the new reality. THEY ALREADY DID. That’s what we’ve all been doing for the last ten years. AND WE NOW KNOW IT’S ACTUALLY WORSE FOR THE ARTIST.”

Lowery argues that artists used to use touring to boost sales, rather than using touring as the end-all-be-all of revenue generation. However, there is more than one possible revenue stream that bands are trying these days. While many will struggle to make a middle-class income, many are embracing new models to make the industry work for them. Gabe McDonough, vice president, music director at Leo Burnett in Chicago said:

"It used to be pretty rare to hear an indie band on an ad. It's not that rare anymore. Somebody's got to pay the bills.…In 2012, brands are one of the few entities in human culture that are willing to pony up." 

In many cases, the corporation has replaced the individual as the source of income. For some bands, this might equate to selling out. When your band’s song is playing on a Lowe’s commercial, are you still hip and trendy? Facing the reality of the music industry, it’s probably time to stop worrying about selling out and start worrying about whether you can devote 24/7 to your music.

Would Lady Gaga be popular even without her award show entrances where she’s covered in meat or hatched from a giant egg? Probably. Would 50 Cent be famous if he didn’t get shot nine times? Most likely. Regardless, it’s all the little things, whether it be a unique upbringing or controversy hitting the headlines, that add up to celebrity. Constantly being front and center is what helps you gain share of mind.

I don’t think anyone denies that Deadmau5, the popular DJ, has serious musical chops—but  his mouse hat and costume and his onstage persona help add to the allure of his music. The performance and the visuals surrounding the artist fill in all the gaps for listeners when they’re listening or not listening to the music itself.

This doesn’t mean that artists should fake controversy or create a ridiculous image for themselves that doesn’t fit their music, but it does mean that artists need something more to latch onto than just music if they want to reach an iconic status or help spread a certain message. Kurt Cobain did this exact thing by trying to be the anti-image. The plaid and jeans were a statement against 80’s glam rock, but that in itself was an image. It was radically different and people could relate to it. 

Some latch onto trends. That can work for a little while. Being different is what lasts.

Five Seconds

Bam! Have you grabbed your audience’s attention in the first few seconds of your video? You have to. If you didn’t, edit your video until those first precious seconds are the most compelling few seconds of any viewer’s day.

Digestible 

The most viral videos are short. Yes, even 30 seconds short. If you top out at a minute, that’s fine too. Music videos for full-length songs tend to be longer than a minute, so you’ll have to keep the attention of the viewer through storylines (think Lady Gaga) or through visual mastery (think OK GO). Without plot or a visually compelling piece of work, you’ll just be relying on the music. Music is great, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll go “viral” unless you’re a famous artist or just really lucky.

Social

As Kevin Allocca mentions in his video “Why videos go viral,” tastemakers can help start the snowball effect that creates a viral video.  A tweet from Jimmy Kimmel or a mention on Tosh.O can all help start the ripple effect. But once a tastemaker gives a video an initial push, it’s up to social media sites and the blogosphere to keep spreading a video. Even if the tastemaker is just a prominent player in your industry (or your music genre), there is some beginning step to getting your video into the community you want or even to the masses.

Replicable

Does your video lend itself to parody? Can others respond to it on YouTube with commentary or potentially interesting follow-ups? Another option is for others to make a mashup version or their own cover of the song. The more people that can spread your video through their own videos, the better chance your video has of going viral.

Controversy

What helped make Kony 2012 the most viral video of all time? Not only was it well edited and helped show an emotional story, but it created controversy. Did the creators of the video put too much emphasis on awareness over action? That’s a subjective matter, which created a firestorm of debate that helped make a viral video gain even more heat.

No matter what you do, you won’t be able to dictate whether your video goes viral. However, if you follow the previous patterns of viral videos – in terms of optimal techniques, not predictability – you’ll have a much better shot.

See how Adam Dadowsky engineered OK Go’s virality in “This Too Shall Pass”:

1) Do NOT update your status with your music profile links every day, it’s gets old and people will start ignoring you. 

2) Do NOT go searching for a record deal before you’ve established a large following and have many shows under your belt. Even then, a record deal might still not be the right move for your career. 

3) Do NOT expect a fanbase to come find you. You need to find them.

4) Do NOT skimp on producing your music—a well-produced track is the first step between you and a potential fan.

5) Do NOT think you are above engaging with your listeners.

6) Do NOT delay playing your music live in front of as many audiences as possible, even if your set isn’t perfect yet.

7) Do NOT say ‘no’ to opportunities early on in your career, no matter how small they are. 

8) Do NOT promote too many songs at once. Focus on your best couple songs and market those to a new audience first. 

9) DO NOT be afraid to reinvent yourself.

10) Do NOT charge people upfront as a new artist. Embrace the power of free.

Much has been said about the supposedly dying music industry. What many people don’t distinguish between is the music industry and the record industry. While the record industry is dying in many ways, the music industry is as alive as ever. Tunecore founder Jeff Price said at the Digital Music Forum East in New York (via Digital Music News):

“This was not a fucking golden age. Artists did not swim in money in the traditional music industry… This concept that the music industry was so fucking great is just wrong! It was great for like, one band!”

And the Price is right (pun intended)! In the past, the industry relied on the hits, while artists who couldn’t come up with a successful first or second album were quickly forgotten. As Price notes, these days artists can fail on one album and go straight into making their next album because the price of recording and releasing music to the world has dropped immensely.

Without gatekeepers, it’s anyone’s game. Now you don’t need to ask anyone’s permission, you can just make your art. Whether your art will later be accepted and will help you launch a career is another question, but you don’t need a label’s check to tell you if you can or cannot at least attempt to have a career. 

Hypebot does a good job of showing how MC Lars gave away his music for free so he could jumpstart his merchandise and ticket sales. As you can see in the chart above, 87% of his music income arose from merch and tickets (not CD sales). And instead of getting a label to fund the recording process, he used Kickstarter to help raise the money. MC Lars commented on the changes in the music industry:

“Being a musician no longer means simply being a songwriter and performer. One must also know a little about business, branding, t-shirt design, social networking, production, publicity, accounting and tour managing."

The music industry is now one of long-tail economics. There might be smaller riches in it for the anointed few, but there are certainly many more who have a shot at a piece of the pie.

VEVO was caught illegally streaming the Super Bowl after some investigative journalism by Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch. VEVO, an entertainment company owned in part by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, is openly against piracy. That’s what makes their illegal streaming of the Super Bowl even more ironic in the eyes of consumers, artists, and music businesses that have bore the brunt of the record labels’ wrath over the past decade.

VEVO CEO Rio Caraeff wrote a post explaining the mistake, which can be read in part below:

“A guest of our lounge asked for an NFL game to be aired. We said no. There was a laptop hooked up to VEVO.com that fed into the large TV screens around the bar. Unfortunately, the laptop was easily accessible to the public. That was our mistake for not making sure the laptop was more secure. While VEVO staff was in other areas of the venue, the game was put on – via a website transmitting ESPN’s broadcast of the NFL game – without our permission or knowledge.

As soon as we realized the game was airing to the room, we removed it and went back to playing VEVO videos. The game was not aired in its entirety. Rest assured, we rectified this mistake as soon as we became aware what was going on.”

I’m going to give Caraeff and VEVO the benefit of the doubt, they probably did not intend to illegally stream anything. It just happened. But I think this event puts many current technology issues into perspective. Clearly some people at Vevo’s event wanted to see the Super Bowl and coming across a legitimate streaming source for the game probably isn’t easy if you don’t have the proper TV setup.

What consumers want is ease of use and access, even if it’s at a price. Apple’s iTunes made music consumption easy—their catalogue is fairly robust and provides music at a decent price and in a way consumers favor (i.e. you can buy one track instead of the whole album, and you can do it quickly). The entertainment industry as a whole needs to come up with a viable model for distributing all forms of content at the click of a button in order to curb piracy. 

I’ve listened to several technology podcasts where very wealthy individuals admit to piracy even though they are more than willing to pay for content. In many cases it’s not about paying for content, it’s about accessing content. Between Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, and many other content providers, consumers still can’t get everything they want. Until technology catches up with the demand for readily available content when and how people want to consume it, then piracy will be the fall-back option for a sizeable percentage of consumers (regardless of ethical considerations). Now all we need to do is replace decades of backroom deals and outdated corporate structures so we can aggregate all the content as we please.  

Electronic and DJ music is sweeping the Grammys, apps let you tag audio at the Super Bowl, sites like uJam let you manipulate music with nothing more than your browser, and people record sound straight to their mobile devices. The lines are getting blurred when it comes to music creation. I had to defend the art of DJ-ing to a coworker of mine, who thought that DJs just made a playlist and pressed the play button on their console or laptop. Simply put, that’s not the case (most of the time).

It’s clear that music creation is much easier now than it was in the past. Clearly it’s no longer about how you make your music – you don’t need a guitar, piano, or a mic to be considered a musician – it’s what kind of music you make that determines your success, not how you made it. Any person in their room can consider themselves a DJ, but why are certain artists relegated to the bedroom while others find themselves performing in front of thousands? Simply put it’s the nuances of a mix, a vocal melody, or a beat that make a song what it is. Original creation is still a must. Even still, two different DJs can play the same song, but one somehow gets a little bit more energy out of the tune. It’s all about dynamics. 

As technology improves, the cost to run an online business, create an application, store files, or create a song all decreases. But creativity is a constant. More creative people are enabled to make something that we call music, but we still need the creative people in the first place. What changes is how we define music. Some define music as any sound, others fall into a more rigid, traditional criteria for what constitutes music. As you see more and more categories pop up in the Grammys and more genres getting their own cultural piece in The New York Times, the more accepting people will be of all forms of new music.

This generation’s rock n’ roll might be rock n’ roll. But it’s also electronic music, hip-hop, and everything in between.

In recent years, the game of poker has skyrocketed in popularity due in part to televised poker.  Shows like the World Poker Tour and the WSOP on ESPN did for US poker what MTV and later VH1 did for rock and roll.  With the popularity of the game, it shouldn’t be any shock that many rock stars have decided to take up the game.  Today let’s look at a few of those stars.

Scott Ian is best known as a founding member and lead guitarist for 80’s supergroup Anthrax. In addition, he helped pioneer the rock/rap genre with in 1991 when they did a crossover with Public Enemy.  In addition, Ian hosted The Rock Show on VH1 and is currently rhythm guitarist for The Damned Things.

Ian made headlines in 2007 when won an entry in the Aruba Poker Classic and then started taking lessons with various poker pros.  Soon after, he showed up and played in the World Series of Poker.  This eventually led to him being signed by online poker site UB as a featured pro.  Ian loves the game so much that he worked his tour with Anthrax around the 2009 WSOP Main Event.  He literally flew back and forth to gigs on off days of the event.

There are many other players that enjoy the game as well.  For example, Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, Slash of Guns N’ Roses, and Vinnie Paul of Pantera and Hellyeah all play the game.  Granted, they are not as into the game as Scott Ian, but they all regularly play.  They are all very busy with their music and have to find time to squeeze in a game.  That is where the internet helps.  It has been well reported that they all regularly play Texas Hold em poker online and often host their own home games.  This allows them the time to play without having to make significant changes in their lives or schedules to do so.

Playing in front of a hot crowd is an adrenaline rush like no other.  Poker may not be played in front of a massive crowd as concerts are, but it can still give a great rush.  Considering that many rock stars live for that kind of rush, poker would seem the obvious hobby of choice.  

Sometimes it seems artists like to stir up controversy just because they can. The idea that all press is good press. I often wonder if there’s any need to single out one particular artist when you’re trying to bash radio-friendly music. The Ting Tings did just that. NME reported that the band is straying from their first album sound and don’t expect everything to turn out so hot on the charts:

“The band said they would rather ‘puke on their own feet’ than sit alongside the likes of Guetta on radio playlists and that they aren't after ‘cheap nasty hits.’”

Many would find it noble that a band like The Ting Tings are willing to sell fewer records in the hopes that they won’t have to water-down their music to fit some mainstream ideal for pop chart success. That’s perfectly fine.  But why single out David Guetta? Is he even the most cookie-cutter you can get? While very pop-friendly, Guetta still appeals to a whole scene of electronic dance music fans outside of the mainstream radio audience. It’s too easy to bash Nickleback or Justin Bieber, so The Ting Tings picked the next rung of music celebrity.

The comment section in the same NME article has several references to Noel Gallagher, formerly the main songwriter of British rock band Oasis. One says: “What does Noel Gallagher think of this?” Gallagher is  notorious for controversial statements about fellow musicians. His outspoken personality has garnered him a lot of press, for better or for worse. At the same time he is also a veteran of the business. The Ting Tings are still up-and-coming, so their reputation can help propel them or hold them back. It seems like they have to make a decision what kind of reputation they want to embrace.

One-off comments will probably come and go, but some musicians keep adding to the fuel and build a reputation of critiquing over time. Kanye West didn’t just interrupt Taylor Swift’s speech at the VMA’s, he built his reputation of controversial actions over time. They all added up to what the public now perceives of Kanye. For some, the controversy creates an allure—an intangible quality that makes many artists seem less human but all the more unique. Other artists might fall into the category of bitter, jealous, scornful, or just plain mean.

The question is, is this a risk worth taking? Or maybe it’s not calculated and you just speak from the heart. Audiences reward authenticity, so if you’re going to call someone out based on something you believe in, you better mean it.

Some tech savvy individuals are decrying the shutdown of MegaUpload, the file-sharing site that allowed for numerous public file transfers (both for legitimate and illegal purposes). The FBI seized MegaUpload on charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and criminal copyright infringement. Many worry that the FBI’s seemingly calculated move after the SOPA/PIPA protests to shutdown MegaUpload represents a slippery slope that will lead to other file-sharing sites like Dropbox or SoundCloud getting the brunt of the government’s wrath. 

The problems happen not when sites like MegaUpload make it too easy to put up files, but when they make it too hard to take them down. Sam Rosenthal, owner of Brooklyn-based Projekt Records, wrote on Digital Music News about the takedown policies on sites like MegaUpload that operate under the DMCA:  

“Your file will be gone within 24 hours. If not, file the complaint again with your next batch of illegal files. Because yes, you will be doing this same thing next week. And the next week. And the next week.... it's a never-ending process. The DMCA puts the burden on you. Thanks, Mr Senator.”

Unlike YouTube, which works with rights-holders and their own algorithms to take down copyright infringing files along with any duplicate files, MegaUpload does not remove every file that is the same as the original copyrighted file that was taken down. Instead, the onus is on the rightsholder to keep issuing takedown notices after new versions of the original copyrighted material pop up again and again. This kind of burden for artists and other creative authors does not offer a balance between the freedom of speech the Internet provides and the fairness intellectual property owners deserve.

Some argue that we shouldn’t blame MegaUpload or other file-sharing sites for piracy. We don’t blame car companies for drunk driving accidents or for people exceeding the speed limit, so why are we holding file-sharing sites accountable? I believe the analogy holds true, but we must also recognize that some nefarious actors in the business want you to share files illegally because it helps their bottom-line (i.e. more activity nets more premium account subscribers or advertising revenue). It is not illegal for a company to WANT something, but if they are willfully disobeying the law to promote illicit activity, that’s a different story. It’s unclear exactly where MegaUpload falls under this legal umbrella, but maybe the FBI knows more than we do in this situation. Or maybe they wanted to assert a little control after the Internet pointed a big middle finger at Congress over SOPA and PIPA.

Update: I recommend reading "MegaUpload Could Spawn Caselaw More Destructive Than SOPA" for all those interested in getting more opinion on the legal matters.

Here at HypedSound we appreciate a little creativity. If you’re willing to pour your heart and soul into your music, and then name your band something outrageous or downright farcical, well we’re on board. We put together a list of 20 weird band names from bands you might have heard of (i.e. they sold an album or two, got some press, swung by your town on a package metal tour, or just downright blew up).

1. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza

2. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

3. The String Cheese Incident

4. Dog Fashion Disco

5. Rumplestiltskin Grinder

6. Butthole Surfers

7. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

8. Colonel Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade

9. We Were Promised Jetpacks!

10. Throbbing Gristle

11. Meat Puppets

12. Iwrestledabearonce

13. Death Cab for Cutie

14. Between the Buried and Me

15. Mr. Mister

16. Jesus Lizard

17. Anal Cunt

18. TV on the Radio

19. Gov’t Mule

20. They Might Be Giants

So how many of these 20 bands have you heard of?

Listening to the stories of the most legendary bands, you often get the sense that not all bandmembers were created equal. There often seems to be one bandmember or a couple whose ego or power outshine the other members. The members of Metallica were notorious for hazing Jason Newsted when he entered the band after Cliff Burton’s death and clearly Jason didn’t have an equal say in matters. UrbanDictionary even has a term called Lead Singer’s Disease (LSD): “The tendency for the lead singer of a rock band to become egotistical and impossible to work [with].” Tags for the term include Axl Rose, David Lee Roth, and Liam Gallagher.

But does a band’s rise to fame create the inevitability of LSD or other frontman equivalent? Not with Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society. In a recent interview, Wylde presented an alternative style of bandsmanship, where all members are equal and free to do as they please. An excerpt from the interview reads:

Wylde: If anybody wants to leave Black Label for those reasons or you get a higher paying gig if you go out with Celine Dion, I’m not gonna stop you. It’s like, ‘Steve, you can always come back here.’ I’m not gonna stop you from makin’ more money. Go and make the dough and if one of the guys wants to jump onboard a Whitesnake tour or something, you can always come back here.

Ultimate Guitar: Black Label is a real democracy. 

Wylde: That’s the way we roll and that’s what makes it unique. ‘Cause we all still talk and hang out and I mean even the guys that aren’t in the band that are playing in other bands.

Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean you’re The King. In the case of B.B. King, well you’re known as The King, but you can still be diplomatic. In Soul of the man: Bobby “Blue Bland”, author Charles Farley writes about blues great Bobby Bland:

“Bobby Bland was also a leader easy to follow. He deferred to Scott in almost all matters musical and was fair, calm, and evenhanded in dealing with all members of the group. Unlike other stars who were infamous for their inflated egos and hair-trigger tempers, particularly in dealing with band members, Bobby was firm but always a gentleman.”

Farley goes on to write that even after jazz musician Glenn Miller disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel, the band still was able to move on. Just like a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you want your band to live on despite your departure or passing away. Obviously a major organization and business runs differently than an artistic band that only holds a few members, but why not at least provide an opportunity for the legacy of the band to remain? Some bands break up even during their peak because the inflated egos of its bandmates (or one singular bandmate) ruins it for the rest. Tensions rise and things fall apart.

1) Learn the classics

Ever feel like you’re so absorbed in your own music creation that you forget about the tunes that started it all? Go back and learn a few classics on the instrument(s) of your choice. They’re great for around the campfire singing or possibly sparking your own creativity for new music.

2) Support local music

Show up to a local show, or if you’re going to see your favorite headliner then show up early to see some local talent. Everyone could use a little support sometimes. 

3) Donate to a Kickstarter music project

Help fund someone’s record production or local concert! With your help, they can make their project happen and you can get a CD, concert ticket, or other incentive the band wants to give out. Electronic music group Late Night Alumni recently completed their own Kickstarter.

4) Listen to the whole album 

Haven’t listened to a whole album from start to finish recently? We’re all busy, but try to find that artist that you really enjoy and listen to one of their albums all the way through. Sometimes listening to a whole piece of art puts you in a mood where you see things differently.

5) Thank everyone

Have an email list of fans you’ve been neglecting? How about some bloggers that could use a quick ‘thank you’ for covering your work or the work of your favorite artists? Whoever it is, send them a short (or long) thank you for their support of the music scene.

6) Practice everyday           

Don’t let a day slip by without practicing. Maybe you can’t fit in two hours today, but you could slip in 15-20 minutes before bed or set your alarm so you can play before leaving your house in the morning. The minutes add up over time.

7) Warm up

Sometimes we get overzealous and don’t warm up properly before playing. For vocalists, this could be dangerous, for those with an instrument, it could be hurtful as well. Don’t forget to warm up every time. Electronic artists might not have the same physical constraints as other musicians, but it can help to get the creative juices flowing to spend a few minutes messing around. 

8) Discover ‘The New’

Go out and find a new genre that you’ve never listened to or gave a chance. Try to understand the nuances of the genre. Or if you want to really test your boundaries, find at least one song you like in a genre you normally hate. Maybe you’ll find a new guilty pleasure.

9) Use a new music tool or application

There are hundreds of music apps and tools to help you share, discover, or manage music online. Find a new one and take it for a test run. This year I started using ex.fm to help me aggregate music I listen to from across the web.

10) Network in the physical world

Most artists probably do a fair bit of networking online, but don’t forget to network in real life and make some lasting connections. If you don’t play live much, consider joining a meetup in your area based around the kind of music you like. 

According to a recent poll by ReverbNation and Digital Music News, musicians believe Facebook “likes” are three times more valuable than any other social connection with fans, be it email list signups, Twitter followers, or Youtube subscribers. Facebook likes eclipse MySpace friends and Google+ subscribers by an even greater margin, though those statistics don’t seem to be as much of a surprise at this point—MySpace has steadily gone downhill in attention and Google+ has yet to make its definitive mark on the music world. 

Based on the time people spend on Facebook, I am not surprised at the degree to which Facebook Likes beat Twitter followers. Twitter is a broadcast medium that doesn’t play as well with video, music, and sharing as Facebook does. But what about email list subscribers? Is an email address three times less valuable than a Facebook like? I’m going to argue ‘no’. Keep in mind, the poll was for what artists think is better based on their own perception, not a measured study on where value is created (be it in engagement or through monetary results).

My comment on Digital Music News for why email addresses beat likes goes as follows:

When you have someone's email, you have them for life (assuming they don't change their email address frequently or you manage to get unsubscribed/lumped into junk mail). With Facebook, if someone stops engaging with your page for a little, you'll quickly be replaced in the algorithm that determines someone's news feed. There are many liked pages that I never even see anymore in my feed. For email newsletters, I might ignore you for a while, but you might get me back a little later when I have more patience or interest to click on your email.

Even if your fans spend more time on Facebook than in their email inbox, you’re always going to be at the whim of Facebook’s algorithm for showing stories, the security of your Facebook fan page and potential spam, or worst case scenario Facebook could lose popularity over the coming years. Do you believe people will stop checking their email three years from now? Whose going to be around longer, Facebook or email? Maybe everyone will be using a Facebook email address eventually, although at this point, that’s a little hard to believe given Facebook’s track record of privacy concerns. I personally don’t have too many concerns with my own privacy on Facebook, but I generally like to keep my business email separate from my personal email and separate from my Facebook messaging. Each one has its own purpose.

If you want to have the closest relationship with your fans, with the least amount of competition from competing marketers, brands, and other musicians, email is probably your best bet. Coming from experience in the lead generation business, there is a reason brands are willing to pay more for an email registration than a Facebook like—in e-commerce, emails are more important. I’m willing to bet the same is true in entertainment, especially if as an artist you’re trying to sell music, tickets, or merchandise to fans sometime down the line.

Hey Chormps,

So here are some really easy ways to get your tracks to sound a little bit more "fuller" in a stereo Mix

Panning

Don't just through down an instrument visualize in your head where it sits. What I mean is everything in your mix can't sit at Pan= 0, because it will 'mud' together.

Here are some simple things to try:

Drums: Kick and Snare: I put the snare and kick to 0, but I make overly produced dubstep music, so yeah. What is fun and  a lot of modern rock bands do is they pan the snare slowly left and right on the slower parts to give it that ambient feel, more realistic or tribel I guess. I usually leave the kick pan to 0 unless I want to do some crazy depth effect.

              High Hat: These guys are the fun one/tricky one. You have to mix the high hats to balance out the rest of the mix. If you track is sitting heavy on the right, pan your high hats more over to the left to fill out the final spaces. If you know what automation is: you have to automate the highhat pan throughout the track to maintain that stereo balance. There are exceptions for example, if you want a soft snare part ot build up into a main rift you might have it heavy, to the right or left and then slowly culmate to the middle with the rest of the instruments.

Instrumets--Lead Guitars/Synths; When it is these guys time to play they usually sit at about -3 or +3. When the heavier leads come in or its just the lead instrument bring the pan back to zero. On big speakers with alot of depth you can tell -3 to +3 pan even know that minisicules, you can tell. If you want to play it safe and you only have about 2 to 3 instruments including drums, by all means just keep it at 0. Its also really fun to pan these instruments back and forth to really give it that wah-wah depth. If you have never experimented with heavy panning for a lead instrument I would try that as well. Only do it on part that don't have a lot going on, like really put emphasis on the shift in left to right.

Bass Guitars/synths-- they usually are at 0, if they are EQed properly they won't mud out the tracks. you could try and pan the kick drum and the bass really slightly like 2 plus or minus, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are just workign off of laptop speakers or target/walmart brand headphones, not to say those are terrible, but you will do your track more harm than good.

Rhymth instruments-- These are the instruments that need to be hard panned to the maximum left or right!

Compression--

A lot of questions on compression, if you have logic pro 9 use the mult-pressor, and then use the regular compressor for the single insturment tracks. For compression, stick to the presets for the most part, use your judgement, if you hear a big difference in sound-- sadly its probably not that great of a tone, it might just be louder.  

I'm going to turn it over to this guy, but basically don't go to overboard making your song sound better is a game of minisicules rather than big changes, because all the miniscule changes add up to something huge.

Finally

player.soundcloud.com/player.swf

Louis C.K. decided to sell his latest live DVD, Live At The Beacon Theatre, as a DRM-free DVD download on his website for only $5. What are his intentions? What will be the result of this foray into online distribution? The reasoning for this he explains below:

So how bold was Louis C.K.’s move? After a post on TechCrunch, a commenter named Sean Hammons replied, “The publicity he’s getting is worth this decision alone. I didn't know he had a new special coming out anytime soon, but because all the nerds love how he's doing it, I am aware and he has my $5!” The self-deprecating comedian also made it to the top of Reddit with the news and gained publicity all over the Internet with his appeal to the good graces of the masses.

Radiohead attempted a similar gesture back in 2007 with their album Rainbows, where they used a pay-what-you-want-to pricing scheme. For their subsequent album The King Of Limbs, the band decided to go back to a regular flat pricing model. Radiohead’s idea for music downloading was an attempt at getting goodwill and a reasonable return. Will Louis C.K.’s decision succeed with this same philosophy? Definitely. All the publicity Louis C.K. gets for his album is free marketing. If you take away the need to pay for this kind of marketing, then you significantly increase your margin (even if you’re charging much less to buy the DVD than you would otherwise). Also factor in the benefit of not having to cut in others on the profits.

Now fans, or prospective fans, don’t have to think to themselves whether paying $19.99 for a live DVD of Louis C.K.’s comedy is worth it. Now they can pay the equivalent of an expensive cup of coffee, and even if they don’t enjoy the DVD or think it’s “worth it” in the conventional sense, they can think to themselves that they did a good thing by buying into Louis C.K.’s business model. It’s win-win for Louis C.K. and the consumer.

When an artist gets their 15 minutes of fame through American Idol, a controversial news report of some sort, or comes out with their one hit wonder single, you can expect a healthy surge in search traffic for that artist on Google. Not Skrillex. As Digital Music News cleverly pointed out, the dubstep artist has slowly risen in popularity in terms of his Google search growth (this is based off of the search keyword “skrillex” and Google’s trend algorithms).

While some of the search growth can be attributed to American dubstep’s rapid rise in popularity in the last year or two, it is also a good sign that Skrillex is not just a flash in the pan sensation. There is no one-off press mania around Skrillex and there is no sharp spike that indicates a particular new story breaking and gaining some extra search juice before tapering off.

This healthy and steady growth is promising and hopefully will continue for the  artist, who started his career early in an emo rock band called From First to Last under his street name Sonny Moore.

So what does this mean for up-and-coming artists who haven’t yet made their name? Well it means you can hope for the pipe dream of quick success and get a lot of mainstream coverage right off the bat, or you can grind away and slowly build street cred over time. Even Skrillex had a boost because of his connections from producing music under his name Sonny Moore and playing in a popular rock band before that. That’s years and years before he reached the success he has now.

Up-and-coming artists probably shouldn’t hover over their computers tracking search traffic of themselves on a daily basis, but it might be the time to start slowly building your fanbase and online presence (thanking each fan individually for their attention). One day all those small little gains will add up to a career or better. Every overnight success, as they say, is 10 years in the making.

Tips On Songwriting...Sort Of

 
I am not a published songwriter...well not yet anyway! But I have been devloping myself as a writer on and off since I was 12. I get asked from time to time how to write a song and so I thought I would blog about it!

You can't be taught to song write…only the conventions of it. Everyone has there own style of writing and there is no wrong way to go about writing a song. You could start with lyrics, or with a melody or with a guitar riff…A lot of song writers wait for inspiration to hit them…but they will often be waiting a long time. So I want to inspire you to write when ever you can, whether you're in the mood or not.

Think of songwriting as the sound track to your life. Everything can trigger an idea. Use anything you can to create a song. Life is whizzing by and there is so much in it that is just waiting to be written about and interpreted. Next time you leave your front door or look out of your window, turn on the TV or read the news, really open your eyes and view life from a writer's perspective. Life is happening now & it would be a shame to waste it.

Don't feel that you need to stick to a specific genre. Feel free to experiment and push the boundaries. Write every day about everything and anything. Make it a part of your life. Don't be put off if you write a bad song - It's totally normal! Even the best songwriters will write loads of bad songs in between writing the great ones. You can't be expected to be on form every day!

Music is just a movement of air. It's not something that you can hold or see yet can you imagine what society would be like with out music! Your music will out live you, so have a stab at immortality. Make it the very best you can. Keep it real and incorporate yourself in it. If you're a middle class boy from Sussex it probably won't sound right if your singing about gangsters, guns and fast women. Don't try to be somebody else. Its always far better to be yourself.

 Great music is all about empathy. It connects with you on an emotional level.  Try to put emotional commitment into everything you do. Play to your strengths. I know im never gunna be able to sing like Christina Aguilera or play like Jimi Hendrix, so I don't try becuase it will only leed to feeling not quite good enough. I've spent time experimenting with musc and I now know what i'm good at and I make it work for me. Don't be afraid to put your head on the line, take risks and have the courage to fail. It will only improve you as a writer, performer, artist and person.

The more you write and practice, the better you will get. Put the hours in and never give up. Believe in yourself, believe in your writing and believe in music. You can do it and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

 From Tumblr to Google to Facebook to eBay, companies and citizens are up in arms over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that is up for a vote in Congress. Wikipedia summarizes SOPA as follows:

“The bill expands the power of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online traffic in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.”

 While major labels, Hollywood, and other big businesses centered around copyrighting content favor the Congressional bill, there is growing opposition to SOPA. As Digital Music News puts it:

“The question is whether a more reasonable, middle ground can be forged. Shutting down sites with minimal due process seems like a recipe for disaster, though the status quo is increasingly being viewed as unfair and stacked against content interests.”

The bill attempts to curb “rogue” websites from copyright infringement and allows the government to seize websites before those websites see their day in court. This essentially inches America closer to a police state that seeks protection over due process and technological innovation. For example, Youtube is a platform that works hard to curb piracy and should not be held accountable for every wrongdoing on the site. Should a company like Youtube be deemed a threat?

Even House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted that we need a better solution to the problem of intellectual copyright protection than is currently planned through SOPA. An initiative by social blogging platform Tumblr helped bring in 87,834 phone calls to representatives to protest the bill. Along with ads in various media, the biggest names in tech banded together to write a joint resolution to Congress expressing their concern with the bill and how it will affect innovation and stifle job creation.

While everyday artists and content creators are trying to protect their work from the infringing hands of pirating businesses and consumers, there are less nefarious ways of going about change. Tech pundits and industry experts are assuming this law won’t pass, but at that same time, that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t do everything they can to stop the worst-case scenario from happening.

The Patriot Act might save lives in some instances, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come at a price. The same is true for the Stop Online Piracy Act—although lives might not be on the line, the future outlook of our society might be. 

Popstars have officially embraced the edges of mainstream music. First Britney Spears took a foray into dubstep music on her track “Hold It Against Me,” and now Rihanna is sampling Metallica. According to Blabbermouth.net, Rihanna will be incorporating a sample from the metal legends’ track “Wherever I May Roam” from the band’s self-titled album (also knows as “the black album”). While 1991’s the black album ended up selling almost 16 million copies worldwide, it still is no mainstream pop album in the same vein as Britney Spears or Rihanna and doesn’t cater to the faint of heart.

Rihanna is also incorporating music from Chase & Status’ “Saxon”, which features electronic sounds and heavy dubstep drops. Both Metallica and Chase & Status will have their music on the tune “Red Lipstick” on Rihanna’s new album Talk That Talk. What does this mean for the state of mainstream music? It means pop artists, those  who in the past were more accustomed to bubblegum sensibilities, are pushing the envelope of musical exploration. Sure it might not “be good enough” for the fringes of music society (those who stick to their niche genres like a badge on their respective niche jackets), but it does mean a melting pot of ideas for the mainstream.

As of now, it’s tough to tell whether this was a conscious decision by Rihanna or a calculated move by her managers or a producer cluing Rihanna in on some new sounds. But does it really matter? The fact is that it’s getting done, and whether sounds are watered down or butchered, there are going to be a lot of streams online for songs that otherwise would not have been found. Metallica has solidified its fanbase long ago, so they won’t need any help from Rihanna to introduce news fans to them. But look at the Youtube video for “Saxon”, embedded below, and you can see that there are already comments about how Rihanna’s album tracklisting brought her fans to a dubstep song from 2008. How could that not mean good exposure for non-mainstream music? 

Recently Hypebot has been reporting on potential class action lawsuits against Universal Music Group. Chuck D and other artists are alleging they got stiffed on song and ringtone royalties. One statement on the claim reads:

"According to Ridenhour's claim, under UMG's current method of accounting, artists and producers receive $80.33 for every 1,000 downloads, when the correct amount should be $315.85 per 1,000. On the ringtone side of things...The suit claims that UMG's current accounting method yields $49.89 per thousand downloads, as opposed to the $660 per 1,000 that the suit claims is actually owed."

Regardless of the legitimacy of the statement, it is not unheard of for record labels to play hardball with paying artists (even more so when they are struggling to keep their businesses viable).  However, it is not only the big labels that are hearing complaints from artists.

In a recent spat with progressive rock legends King Crimson, Grooveshark has repeatedly been unable to stop copyright infringement of King Crimson’s works on their popular streaming service. While Grooveshark has taken down King Crimson songs from the application, the same songs reappear within hours of them being removed (you can read the heated email exchange on DigitalMusicNews).

After the King Crimson emails, other complaints have popped out of the woodwork. Lisa Thomas Music services wrote:

“I am the publishing administrator for the main songwriters of the Eagles and have spent hours upon hours serving DMCA takedown notices on Grooveshark’s designated agent demanding the site remove all of the compositions owned and controlled by my clients. I have cited specific url’s of each infringing post in the notices. To date, Grooveshark has not removed any of the material.”

Above are two examples of artists getting the raw end of the deal from two different businesses: one the old school establishment (UMG) and one digital music service (Grooveshark). I can attest to the fact that many users love Grooveshark, and I’m sure many artists do too, but often there is a fine line between creating a great product and playing fast and loose with other people’s property.

Spotify seems to be the darling child of Facebook and many new users of their product in the U.S., but even they have seen record labels leave them due to ambiguous terms and small royalty checks. Whether you are the entrenched industry companies or the up-and-coming digital innovators in the music space, sometimes it is hard to please everyone when it comes to pleasing the artists and the listeners. Can everyone be happy?

1. rid corporate dominance in politics and economics
2. restore the middle class which has been slowly eroded by the 1% who control the bulk of the wealth in this country
3. to bring attention to the plight of the 99%, who are losing jobs, losing their homes to foreclosure, over taxed, and under heard.

We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. We want the balance and fairness restored to this country that Wall Street destroyed through their greed and “anything for a profit” mentality. In short, we demand CHANGE of the status quo. Are you going to just sit there in the shadows of your government or are you going to take a stand and make your word heard http://occupymusic.org

1) No Auto-start

Don’t have your music start automatically! There are so many reasons why this annoys the average visitor, even if the visitor wants to hear your music. Hypebot outlines a few of the reasons in this article.

2) Share Buttons 

Integrate social sharing buttons such as those for Facebook, Twitter, and AddThis (which contains sharing capability for tons of social websites all in one button).

3) Social Profiles

Some listeners just want to come to your site, but others might prefer to visit you on the music site of their choice. Make sure your social links are prominently displayed for others to follow you elsewhere and where they spend more of their time.

4) Mailing List

Email is king! Provide easy access for someone to join your mailing list straight from your homepage. Fans are much more likely to see your messages if they come through email, rather than a fleeting tweet or Facebook post. Make sure you provide relevant content because you want to create an email relationship with your fans where they click-through to your message every time.

5) Call-to-action

What is the most important thing for you to communicate to your fans? Where they can buy your album? Where you’re touring next? Where they can find you elsewhere online? Whatever it is that you feel is most important for you to build and maintain a fanbase or make money, make sure that that is the most prominent thing displayed on your website.

6) Video

Don’t underestimate the power of a video. Many companies use introduction videos to explain how their site works. About two out of every three new visitors that come to a site watch those introductory videos. You can explain yourself as an artist in your video or put a promo.

7) Mobile Access

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly. This might not mean making a dedicated app for you as an artist, because that can be pricey, but make sure that visitors can still use the basic functionality of the site within their mobile phone (play music, sign-up or buy things, etc.).

8) Personality

Good design is good design, but since this is a website that represents you as an artist, don’t forget to inject your own personality into the design. This might be tough if you’re not the one designing the site or doing the coding, but make sure that whomever is in charge of that has your frame of reference as an artist in mind. If you’re using a pre-built template, consider paying a small fee for a more personalized design or one that is more unique. Either way, know your personality before you go into the design process.

The world of technology and music are both witnessing their own stories of fragmentation but are merging into one long tail. In some instances this will mean more (but smaller) winners and in some instances it might mean very few winners at all. Chris Anderson coined the term the “long tail” as a means of “describing the retailing strategy of selling a large number of unique items with relatively small quantities sold of each – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities.”

The long tail is applicable both in music and technology. For example, in the world of online business, more and more startup companies are getting funded as it has become easier to start companies (Amazon EC3 cloud services for scalable web development, open-sourced programming software, etc.). Eventually there will be too many companies and not enough follow-on investment or talent to help take these startups to the next level. As a whole, however, these companies manage to create software that enables consumers like you to discover, listen to, buy, and download music in a much easier fashion than in the pre-Internet days.

What does this mean? A lot more music by a lot more people with fewer and fewer high-selling records or singles. In a recent post, Digital Music News asked Apple how much artists should expect to receive from streams off of Apple’s music streaming service iCloud. While Apple mentioned that iTunes receives a 30% cut of sales and declined to comment on streaming rates, Digital Music News says artists can expect royalties in the range of $0.0007 to $0.0035 per stream. One can assume that regardless of volume, even bigger names will have trouble making as much money through streaming as they did on album sales before the digital era of music downloading.

This long tail of music downloads paints a grim picture for artists looking to scratch by.  At the very least, royalties grew 9.1% in 2010 to a total of $1.6 billion globally (via SoundExchange figures). With streaming services like Spotify breaking into the U.S. and leveraging Facebook’s massive userbase and Pandora finding more distribution channels for their music services, we can expect streaming music to keep gaining steam. However, more streaming won’t mean much more in terms of financial return for artists. The winners will be those who ride the coattails of the digital music revolution by gaining exposure and finding new ways to monetize their content. The music industry has always been a story of few winners, but now it’s going to become a fragmented story where we’ll have to piece together the spoils amongst a larger number of players and smaller bits of data.

Everything is moving to simple. The Internet is barely an adult, but despite having more and more experience online every year we all gravitate toward the simple. Simple means products that create value in the most user-friendly and intuitive ways. Clean design and utilitarian beats out complexity and feature creep any day.

What made the iPod and iPhone so popular? Of course viral commercials helped a lot,  they were a pop culture phenomenon, but it was the easy-to-use interface and storage capabilities of the iPod that started the most recent digital revolution. Solving a real need in the simplest way possible. Steve Jobs did everything he could to take away features, not tack them on. You want an extra USB port on your computer? Sorry. You want a bigger keyboard on your iPhone? Sorry. Not. Going. To. Happen.

The new online era follows the same philosophy. Pareto’s Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, dictates that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This means, for example, that 20% of your product’s features account for 80% of the time spent using that product (or 80% of the value of the product, or any other metric that you deem important). The fact of the matter is that companies like Apple are not successful for adding more and more features, instead they highlight the features that dictate 80% of the customer’s needs.

One problem that arises is separating the majority of people from the individual. If you try to appease everyone by fulfilling every individual’s request, you’ll end up satisfying no one. You’ll end up with a laundry list of things that you need to change and ultimately hurt the user experience. This is as true for a technology company like Apple as it is for a touring artist. You can’t give every fan what they want. You can give them your undivided attention, perhaps, but you can’t always give them what they want. Whether you’re designing a website to highlight yourself as an artist, planning how you will turn music into a business, or building a tech product, know that everyone wants something simple. Bite the bullet and get rid of “that one more thing” you wanted to add because you thought it was necessary. Most people probably won’t need it or want it.

Focus on the 20% of the things that will take you 80% of the way. The rest you can focus on after you nailed that first 20%. And if doing extra in some way hurts what you accomplished with that first 20%, then forget about it.

And I cannot wait until it will stop being cool to hate the Doors and the Beatles, or the moment that people will finally recognize Sonic Youth as a force beyond ethereal, but concrete and infinite; the second Bob Dylan is remembered for his scorching tempos and uproarious melodies rather than his negligible word and sentence structures.

Or perhaps the vital instant where we forget the Madonnas of world and instead revive the idols we let die; maybe somewhere in the age, or the vast wastes of time, or in my generation, we can reignite the old flame and the visage of once celebrated tones. Maybe one day soon we can abandon this new concept of popular music as music for the corporations instead of music for the populace.

Oh well, there is no hope for rock music; only for its many illegitimate children spawned from countless moments of heated promiscuity.

Rest in peace.

Digital Music News reported an interesting statistic: based on songs counted in the Gracenote database, there are 97,000,000 songs in the world. MusicHype’s CEO Kevin King presented this stat at the Digital Music Forum West in Los Angeles last Thursday (10/6/2011). The number 97 million seems a bit arbitrary given the number of people who play music and never unleash it all to the world. Of course there are millions and millions of songs that don’t see the light of day outside of a band’s garage, but the number puts a somewhat tangible grasp on the amount of noise (both good and bad) online and in physical music form.

As an up-and-coming artist you’re probably thinking this is a lot of competition. Who’s going to hear my song? At the very least, you have one-leg up on a great number of the 97 million simply because there are millions of songs in the world that seek no promotion. The songwriter might want the song to reach the masses but in most cases is creating only as a hobby or without any will to market the music. Small but meaningful measures on your part to promote your music will get you past much of those millions.

In the land of free (free music downloads, free music hosting, free video hosting, free recording software) this is only going to become a more crowded space. Music creation has little barrier to entry and the only thing separating you from artistic notoriety is the extent to which you can utilize these free tools and get your message out.

Of course the more you can invest in improving the whole music experience, from production to distribution to marketing, the more viable your music becomes (in terms of sound quality and awareness surrounding your name). What 97 million teaches us is that you’ll need a little bit of luck and a lot of perseverance to be discovered. Sometimes you’ll have to discover yourself, meaning you’ll have to believe in your music and push it out into the world before anyone else does the heavy lifting for you.

1. Exclusive Photos Inside Your CD

The band The Good Natured posted their marketing idea on their Facebook page. They took 100 limited edition polaroids to go inside 100 of their EP’s. Exclusive, creative, and fun.

2. Countdown Clock

Got a big announcement, contest, or giveaway? Try a countdown clock to increase the suspense for your announcement or giveaway end date. But remember, you don’t want to be anticlimactic, so make the countdown worth it at the end. Try It’s Almost as your countdown clock or find one online that you can embed in your site.

3. Live Streaming Concert

Not able to do a show everywhere in the world and at the same time? Stream a live concert online via the many live streaming services (Ustream, Livestream, Justin.tv, Youtube, Google+, etc.). Play in your garage, in your room, or record a gig at a venue. Either way, get some live piece of your music online and in real-time.

4. Curate the Best Content

People don’t want to follow you on Twitter or Facebook just to get updates on your latest tour or music release. Curate the best content on your social networking feeds for music article links or songs you dig – if people trust your taste, they’ll probably follow you and check out your music udpates when it organically meshes into your stream.

5. Number Your Albums

Once again, it’s all about exclusivity. If you number your albums, fans will have a unique CD that is not a 100% duplicate of someone else’s purchase. Also, the lower the number the greater sense of value for the fan.

6. Remixes

Include remixes of your favorite song on your album. Perhaps this means using different effects, changing up the mix, or even changing the genre of the song entirely. Experiment! If you have a wide audience, you could even consider holding a remix contest for the song. With a top-notch remix, you can include it on the CD or a subsequent release if the album is already finished.

7. Track Analytics

Where do you want your fans to go? If it’s your website, make sure you have Google Analytics installed and track what sources are providing the most (and best) traffic. Once you find those sites, double-down on the amount of time you spend on those sites. If you use other websites to share music with fans, see what those sites offer you in terms of analytics.

8. Flash Mob

Organize a flash mob based around one of your songs. Then hope it goes viral once you post the video on Youtube!

9. Segmented Email List

Don’t you hate it when people invite you to events and concerts on Facebook or other social networking sites when you’re not even in the same city? It feels spammy. Make sure that when you’re building your email list, segment your emails based on your desired target for each specific email. Services like Mailchimp help you manage large email lists and segment your audience.

10. Limited Edition Vinyl

Because all the cool kids have it on vinyl.

Sources that inspired this article and fuel for more ideas:

Music 3.0

Hypebot

Hypebot 2

Buzzsonic

After witnessing the onslaught of updates by Facebook this week, I started to notice an influx of real-time updates regarding my friends and their Spotify listening habits. I personally don’t use streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, or Rdio because I like to browse the more artist-centric social networks and music aggregators that aren’t assaulted by record label constraints and rampant advertising, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see how big of an impact this will have on the average music consumer.

Facebook has done something interesting here. Many people live off of music recommendations from their friends and family, so isn’t it an organic fit for Facebook to update you on your friends’ current playlists in real-time? Yes and no.

I remember the days when Facebook bombarded your notification stream with gaming updates (so-and-so leveled up in this game, downloaded this app, etc.). It got to a saturation point where you would just want to ignore notifications entirely. Facebook needs to make sure Spotify and other music updates stay at a comfortable level. You don’t want to get to the point where there is so much that it makes the experience as a whole into a burden, and even worse, irrelevant. Of course, users can customize their updates in a very granular way as to prevent repetitive updates, but the average Facebook user doesn’t want to go to such lengths to modify their experience. This is an instance where the machine (i.e. the algorithm) needs to be fully aware of who you interact with and whose music you interact with on a regular basis. The two might or might not be the same.

Getting music recommendations from your closest friends is an important element of music discovery that a machine can’t replicate. You trust your friends, share some similar tastes that you are already aware of, and you know the number of close friends is limited (thus preventing an overload of information). Facebook added their lists function as a way to keep up with people in your news feed that you actually care about. Let’s hope the same stays true for music.

Sometimes it’s more than just the music. It’s a conversation. Are you following any well-known artists on Facebook or Twitter? Big names are not just sharing music, they’re sharing their lives. You might not be at the stage where fans are fawning over your every move -- that often takes somewhat of a celebrity status in your niche to achieve that sort of following -- but that doesn’t mean you can’t create value outside of just promoting your music.

As much as everyone might love your music, if all you do is PUSH PUSH PUSH your song embeds, your profile links, and other “me-oriented activities,” then soon enough your following will be ignoring your updates if not outright unfollowing you. Instead, create value by starting a conversation. Whether directly or indirectly related to your music, point out interesting topics about music, art, or media that will inspire. If people trust your voice and opinion, they will most likely give your music more thought and feel closer to you as an artist.

What are some ways to make things interesting? If you make music, why not attach music to a visual? Album cover art is becoming less relevant in the digital age, so start an Instagram or Flickr profile where you can create a tone of visual aesthetics that match your music and gets you in front of a new audience. Like sharing a mixture of videos, photos, and short writing snippets that appeal to you? Start a Tumblr blog that others in the community can reblog and share. Are your lyrics political or controversial in nature? Start a Posterous blog describing your stance on issues that are important to you. Whatever it is, start it now.

There are dozens of sites that have already hit critical mass or a meaningful enough scale where you can help build an audience for your content (with the end goal of creating new fans and opportunities). You can do this by being a voice for a certain segment of the community that matches your artistic message or sound. At the very least, your content will all link back to your main website or online profile, thus creating more link juice for you to appear higher up in Google search results. Just remember to be authentic and mean what you say, what you share, and what you believe in. The rest will follow (and hopefully so will the fans).

Cheers.

"Without music, life would be a mistake." - Friedrich Nietzsche 

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." - Decca Recording Company rejecting the Beatles (1962) 

“When words fail, Music speaks.” - H.C. Anderson 

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley 

“Music is not a matter of life or death...
It's much more important than that.” - Unknown 

“Play the music, not the instrument.” - Unknown 

"I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve." - Xavier Cougat

“Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” - Mark Twain

“Never look at the trombones, it only encourages them.” - Richard Strauss 

"I think popular music in this country is one of the few things in the twentieth century to have made giant strides in reverse." - Bing Crosby 

“Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, ‘Listen to me.’ Now it says, ‘Look at me.’” - Billy Joel 

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side ..." - Hunter S. Thompson 

"I don't know anything about music, In my line you don't have to." - Elvis Presley 

"There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself." - Johann Sebastian Bach 

"Music is love in search of a voice." - Leo Tolstoy

The audio industry has been abuzz over the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album, I’m With You, because it has three mastered versions including one made specifically for iTunes. For those who don’t know, iTunes uses an AAC file format that is superior to mp3 but still contains some audio degradation compared to the normal CD format.

Despite the lossy format’s sacrifice in quality, many claim that the AAC format used in iTunes has its own peculiarities that can be sonically interesting. In a NYTimes article back in 2007, Robert Levine described the mastering process for Ry Cooder’s My Name is Buddy and the influence of a supposed iTunes mastering sound:

“When he burned a copy of the album using Apple’s iTunes software, it sounded fine. He didn’t know why until one of his younger engineers told him that the default settings on iTunes apply a ‘sound enhancer.’ (It’s in the preferences menu, under ‘playback.’) Usually, that feature sweetens the sound of digital music files, but Mr. Cooder so liked its effect on his studio recordings that he used it to master — that is, make the final sound mixes — his album. ‘We didn’t do anything else to it,’ he said.”

We are now living in a generation that is being brought up with iPods and iTunes—and that means audio engineers across the world have to make production choices as a consequence of this phenomenon, whether borne out of necessity or choice. Vlado Meller worked on the Red Hot Chili Peppers master with Mark Santangelo at Masterdisk studios. In an interview with Digital Music News, Meller stated that:

“With an iTunes optimized master, the listener will be able to enjoy more clarity and an overall better sound quality than is otherwise currently available… With iTunes optimization during mastering, the AAC files are much closer to the sound of the commercial CD.”

While many audio purists might decry the generation of Apple earbud headphones and degraded audio formats, there is still the hope that technology will usher in an era of new audio formats that do not sacrifice on sonic characteristics in the same way. Right now audio engineers are making the best out of a bad situation, where consumers choose convenience over optimal sound quality. The sacrifice might be worth it for most, but all convenience comes at some price. Hopefully we’ll all be able to have it both ways in the future. Until then, expect more albums like the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album to get mastered specifically for iTunes and digital downloads. 

Remember that shiny record contract you’ve been salivating over since you were four? What! It’s not coming? The record industry is in shambles? Digital music has taken over?

Now you CAN’T sell out! You have no choice but to make the music YOU wanted. You have no choice but to communicate directly with your listeners, picking up new fans one by one as they dissect the nuances of your unique craft. You have no choice but creativity.

Yes there will be followers. Cookie-cutter remixes of the sound one artists discovers. But it all started with an idea, an extraordinary tone, inflection, nuance, and melody. The start of something new! A signature sound.

The newness will wear off, and the new trend will begin, but the motive is still there. Unbridled freedom of expression! A crowd that will turn away at first glance of selling out. Fragmented music! Dictatorships gone and we are left with a bunch of city-states. Powerful nonetheless, made up of early adopters and distribution fiends. “Share share share” they all cried in unison! Anything short of force-feeding is fine. Cause it’s all good in this game.

It’s all good! Even the bad is good. And if not, it’ll be gone tomorrow! Because why not? Transaction costs are small (and getting smaller), the noise is tough, but we’ll get through it. Cream still rises to the top last time I checked.

TV killed the radio star. Digital killed what was left in its path. Hurry up before the cycle begins again! You have no choice but creativity. 

In the United States, sometimes we all need a little reminder that we live in a place where freedom of speech and freedom of expression are so commonplace that they are second nature. Of course there are instances where lawmakers try to pass laws that inhibit those freedoms, but for the most part, we live in a pretty “free” society.

After reading an update on Ultimate Guitar, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Nergal, frontman for extreme metal band Behemoth, was found innocent after being arrested for tearing up a Bible on stage at a show in Gdynia in 2007. The concert where Nergal ripped apart a Bible was in his native Poland, where there are strict laws against anti-religious actions that might offend others.

Regarding the verdict, Nergal stated:

"I'm so glad to see intelligence won over religious fanatics in my home country. There's still so much work to be done to make things right, but I'm sure I'm on the path to ultimate freedom… The battle is won but the war ain't over."

Ryszard Nowak, chairman of the Polish Committee for Defense Against Sects, accused Nergal and Behemoth of promoting Satanism. Fortunately Judge Wiechowski sided with Nergal, claiming that no one in the audience was offended by Nergal’s act and that it was a form of artistic expression.

Even in the U.S., some cases slip through the cracks and people go to jail for seemingly minor offenses that don’t warrant serious jail time or significant taxpayer dollars to cover inmate incarceration. Nevertheless, some countries get it wrong most of the time and getting arrested for speaking your mind is not an aberration. Luckily in the U.S. and in many other countries, we are able to judge a piece of art or music based on its quality, no matter how extreme, without the fear of any excessive repercussions. Whenever you add extra filters to what you can or cannot do in society, you water down the culture. The verdict for Nergal is a small bit of liberation for Poland.

“Friends don’t let friends use Apple headphones.”

I’m not sure if that’s an actual phrase by someone other than me, but it’s the statement I’ve lived by since my early years of iPod use. The earbuds that come with iPods never seemed to match the audio fidelity of bigger headphones or smaller noise-canceling earbuds that seem to keep a lot of the pleasant frequencies flowing into my eardrums.

Since I listen to a lot of mp3s and don’t have a vinyl player sitting in my apartment, I’m not sure if you can consider me an audiophile or music snob in the High Fidelity sense (if you haven’t seen this scene with Jack Black and John Cusack, then you need to). However, I’m very particular when it come to my daily portable music player listening experience.

So when I found out that Dr. Dre sold a 51% stake in his audio company Beats Electric for a cool $300 million (read about that here), I thought to myself: “Damn, those must be some nice headphones.” The popular product in Dr. Dre’s audio line is the Beats By Dr. Dre headphones that apparently sell like hotcakes. People still like hotcakes, right?

Question is, is the Dr. Dre name and hype worth the price tag to pay between $100-300 for earbuds or studio headphones? Lady Gaga and other artists also have their own custom headphones as part of Dre’s product line (also at a high cost). The price would be hard to justify for the casual music enthusiast hitting the gym three times a week, and the audio fidelity would have to be exceptional for a studio producer to pay for high-tier products.

Unfortunately I have yet to try the headphones out, so don’t make my skepticism out to be a product review. But I always like to engage the Reddit community with my news posts, and a conversation actually started around Dr. Dre’s headphones (see comments here). While Amazon’s ratings can be quite solid if you have enough data points, you can often find some straight shooters on Reddit telling you the real deal about a product or service without to much hassle. The expected answer to the question was that Dre’s headphones are heavy on the bass and don’t offer too much more in terms of quality than some of your cheaper more run-of-the-mill headphones.

If that’s the case, buying the earbuds for daily use comes down to personal preference and whether you’re willing to fork over the extra money for a popular name attached to a brand. For studio musicians and engineers, they’ll want a flat sound that accurately resembles the frequencies and range of music as they recorded it. I’m not sure if the Beats By Dr. Dre headphones delivers on that end, but I’m sure professional studio engineers don’t want to pay for a name.

Sometimes with name brands you’re actually getting a superior product (as true with sweet-tasting cereals as it is with quality guitar craftsmanship). The company that bought a majority stake in Dr. Dre’s brand, HTC, will use the audio technology for their smartphones. That makes it seem like there’s more to it than just a name, but you never know . However, if a celebrity is attached to a product in any way, you can be sure you’re paying a premium for that product no matter what the product or industry vertical.

In a recent study, Pollstar charted the top grossing US tours for 2011. As you can see in the chart above, older acts are earning the majority of the touring revenue. Digital Music News brought up an interesting question about the future of the music industry: what will the touring industry look like in the near- and long-term? 

Rock bands with deep-pocketed fanbases continue to rake in the big touring money—acts like Bon Jovi, U2, and others never fail to fill the seats. Even if the dynamics of the concert industry always favor older acts with long-standing followings and more disposable income, will the younger generation be able to fill in the gaps in a decade or two when they become the legacy artists? The question then becomes whether the Generation Y audience is a more fickle bunch. We are used to downloading songs off the Internet, putting it on our iPods, and having access to an unlimited amount of music. We’re often exposed to so much but give back so little (in monetary terms, that is).

What might result is a more fragmented system of music and allegiances to artists that won’t last for decades to come. Paul Resnikoff wrote:

“Instead, younger acts are probably making their biggest impact at festivals, a huge growth category that could represent a massive shift in future concert-going (and probably wouldn't be well-represented in this study).”

Younger audiences have the endurance to go to concerts for full-day shows with dozens of acts. The thirst for endless choice in music directly at our fingertips is translating to the concert experience as well—Lollapalooza, Coachella, Electric Zoo Festival, and many other annual events are staples of the younger generation of music listeners.

For the concert industry as a whole, the sum of all its parts might make up for any future shortcomings in legacy acts that bring in large sums of money on an individual basis. Hopefully, younger artists will still be able to make touring work without losing steam as they mature into Generation Y’s future legacy touring acts. 

After somewhat of a riot in downtown Los Angeles at the Electric Daisy Carnival film premiere, sparked in part by a tweet by the famous deejay Kaskade, a couple popular blogs brought up the subject of electronic music becoming the new rock n’ roll for the current generation (those articles can be found here and here). While there are some elements of the rock n’ roll movement of past generations, this electronic music movement has very different cultural implications – while it is easy to see some similarities between the two, this is not a new revival of the “rock n’ roll” mentality and atmosphere of the 1960s and 70s.

As we know from Los Angeles sports events and famous jury case verdicts, LA is prone to rioting and the most recent “riot” is not representative of a broader social movement in the U.S. The electronic music scene, while it has built up steadily in the clubs and festivals over the last several years, is culturally disparate from rock n’ roll. Electronic and deejay music is not a particularly rebellious form of music that fights against the tyranny of war and governments or espouses a counter-culture lifestyle. While some deejays might certainly include political messages in their lyrics, most opt for lyrics centered around a fun, party atmosphere not too unlike pop (although often slightly more nuanced in feeling and intention).

Electronic, house, and dubstep music is gaining mainstream acceptance and is rising in the ranks of music in the same way that rock n’ roll did decades earlier, but its cultural references are fewer, its drugs of choice are much different, and its intentions are to mash up and remix every other genre one can imagine. It is a cultural amalgamation of sorts, and while it might be here to stay in all its hype and glory, it is not your parents’ rock n’ roll and nor should it be.

If you haven’t been living under a music discovery rock for the last month, you’ve probably tried (or at least heard of) the new social music discovery site Turntable.fm. The site allows users to become virtual DJs, where people take turns picking songs from their queue to play to listeners in rooms for specific genres. Everybody has an avatar and the ability to chat with others, fan different “DJs”, and make playlists. A fun idea, though it’s important for casual listeners to distinguish between a DJ who plays their favorite songs all in a row and a DJ who carefully crafts and manipulates songs in new and unique ways. But I digress.

In the never-ending quest for more music, I’m always trying the latest music apps so I can stumble upon a new artist or song that I might come to love. My personal preference for music discovery in the last couple years has been to browse artist profiles on various music social networks, whether that’s on my own site HypedSound or on the various other platforms (SoundCloud, ReverbNation, MySpace, YouTube, etc.). Streaming music websites that have restrictions in terms of song selection, too much advertising, and other limitations never interested me much. I tried out Pandora a couple times but I couldn’t find the consistency in song quality for what I was looking for.

The passive music discovery channel that is Pandora and other streaming sites, that let you press the play button and stop worrying about what song to put on next, never met the quality I was looking for in a more personalized experience. Turntable.fm bridges that gap by letting you discover music alongside like-minded people. For funk, jazz, electronic, and dubstep I found that the songs being played were consistently up-to-par with a song that I wouldn’t press the skip button for on Pandora. If appropriate, it can also skew to the underground or more up-and-coming artists.

What is evident to me now is that the future of music, or at least for the more diehard music fans, is not a passive music discovery channel but a constantly evolving one that allows for a number of different options to discover music within a social environment. While I prefer music websites where artists are the ones broadcasting their music profiles themselves, rather than an algorithm choosing a song from a catalogue or a virtual DJ putting up their favorite tracks, I see the merit in every different type of model.

Turntable.fm offers the intimacy of a social environment with few options for direct-to-artist interaction. Pandora offers simplicity with little of the social factor. HypedSound and similar sites offer more complexity and the ability to reach artists directly, but they require more from the users in terms of interaction and searching. Every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses, but so far, I’ve benefited off of many different models of music discovery.

  credit: William Brawley

Do it Today, not tomorrow or in a week...your website is a leaky bucket if you don’t have a way to follow up with your people.

Article Source: 26 Email Marketing "Hacks" For Musician

Forbes released a list of the 25 highest paid artists of 2010 last week (see below), which got me thinking as to why certain artists make the list on a reoccurring basis. While I normally don’t dwell over lists like this, I came across a question on Quora that made this list even more relevant (side note: Quora is a Q&A site that seems to have hit a stride amongst the techie/early adopter crowd). So what makes U2 perfect for high earning potential?

As the answers on Quora suggest, U2 is able to reinvent themselves throughout their career while still staying true to their core sound. They stick to an environmentally-friendly, socially conscious message that is not too divisive that it alienates a major ethnic or demographic group. There is also a huge market of older fans with deep enough pockets to pay premium prices for greats seats at their concerts.

Daniel Rosenthal, co-founder of Exercise.com, put it this way (and in narrative form): 

“Earnest, melodic, Oprah-endorsed U2! $200 a ticket? No problem. You get a sitter. Your wife is excited – this is going to be great! You invite some friends from college to join you. On the way, you listen to the “early stuff”. Joshua Tree pumps through the speakers of your Lexus SUV (no judgment - you have two kids!). The harmonies soothe. The lyrics are straightforward.”

The complete answer can be read here and is worth an entire read if you enjoy humorous, somewhat cynical but 100% dead-on commentary.

And who is after U2? It’s Bon Jovi, a less adventurous artist in terms of sonic exploration, but just as appropriate in terms of pinpointing that ideal age and demographic that will not only come to a show but also shell out the big bucks for the experience.

Of course you’ll get newcomers on the list when they hit it big for a stint or two, like Justin Bieber or Rihanna, but to make it to the Top 25 on an ongoing basis for years or even decades, you need a degree of predictability in music. The ability to keep pumping out radio-friendly hits without crossing the border into stale, boring, or even worse outdated is key. There seems to be a happy medium between taking risks and staying true to what the broader mainstream audience wants. If you can make sure that your songs are just as catchy as they were 20 years ago, then at least you do not have to rely 100% on the “nostalgia act” (ahem ahem, Margaritaville).

Forbes’ list of the world's 25 highest-paid musicians:

01. U2 ($195 million)

02. BON JOVI ($125 million)

03. Elton John ($100 million)

04. Lady Gaga ($90 million)

05. Michael Buble ($70 million)

06. Paul McCartney ($67 million)

07. BLACK EYED PEAS ($61 million)

08. EAGLES ($60 million)

09. Justin Bieber ($53 million)

10. Dave Matthews Band ($51 million)

11. Toby Keith ($50 million)

12. Usher ($46 million)

13. Taylor Swift ($45 million)

14. Katy Perry ($44 million)

15. Brad Paisley ($40 million)

16. Tom Petty & the Heartbreaks ($38 million)

17. Jay-Z ($38 million)

18. AC/DC ($35 million)

19. Sean "Diddy" Combs ($35 million)

20. Beyonce ($35 million)

21. Tim McGraw ($35 million)

22. MUSE ($35 million)

23. Rascal Flatts ($34 million)

24. Kenny Chesney ($30 million)

25. Rihanna ($29 million)

by Jonathan Jaeger

This weekend I came across a Business Insider article that described why buying Pandora stock doesn’t make financial sense. The key takeaways? More listeners are using Pandora on mobile, which in turn hurts ad rates, Pandora won’t be making much money on ads anyway, and the costs of paying music royalties are getting higher and are eating away half of Pandora’s revenue. The outlook is bleak and as music label royalty rates increase through 2015, and possibly beyond, one can only imagine the difficulties lying ahead for Pandora to turn a profit.

As Hypebot pointed out in a recent post, analyst Rich Greenfield of BTIG had some sobering remarks regarding the impending Pandora IPO:

“As consumers we love Pandora. It is free, incredibly easy-to-use, works across a growing array of platforms in/out-of-home, and has a de minimis amount of advertising compared to terrestrial radio…Investing in Pandora is a whole different story. While Pandora is creating a large active user base, its reach/frequency continues to pale in comparison to terrestrial radio, as does its profitability….We recommend investors do not participate in the Pandora IPO.”

Ouch! With every article I come across, people question the future of Pandora and its ability for financial success. They almost went under in 2007 and we don’t know what’s in store in the coming years. While there is still the possibility that Pandora finds its way into more devices and even into every new car, there are no guarantees that Pandora will be able to penetrate the market to the extent it needs in order to become a profiting juggernaut.

This disconnect between the love people have for the product and its ability to monetize is a problem faced by many digital companies in recent years. Facebook struck gold with their ad platform and other strictly online sites have been able to succeed off a freemium model (meaning free for most users with the premium, paid accounts carrying the financial burden for the rest). Unfortunately for Pandora, not enough users are willing to pay $36 per year for a premium account to make the freemium model work on a large scale.

For many digital companies, if you build a compelling enough product then you can expect a small but meaningful percentage of your users to pay to use it. By allowing people to try it your product for free and only upgrade if they want premium features, you can build a large enough userbase while still getting enough loyal subscribers on the premium side. With Pandora, on the other hand, the users tend to be listeners who are passively listening rather than engaging in multiple ways (as you would find on other more social sites). Most listeners expect music to be free and don’t gain much utility from the product otherwise, so it’s harder to get them to pay when they can look elsewhere for music (Grooveshark, Spotify, etc.).

The lesson from all of this: no matter how many people love and use your product, you don’t have a guaranteed road to financial success unless you can find a model that works for both the company and its users. With Pandora fighting an uphill battle against increasing royalties and content costs, the future remains shaky. Until then, many will probably hold off on purchasing Pandora’s stock when IPO time rolls around. Of course in a hot market like we’re in right now, many won’t be able to resist.

Sky News recently posted an article explaining AC/DC’s firm stance on online downloading and how the legendary rock group would never allow their songs to be available for download.

Says guitarist Angus Young:

"I know the Beatles have changed but we’re going to carry on like that... For us it’s the best way. We are a band who started off with albums and that’s how we’ve always been… We always were a band that if you heard something (by AC/DC) on the radio, well, that’s only three minutes. Usually the best tracks were on the albums."

It’s interesting to note that AC/DC’s stance on making music available for download is based on the idea that they want their listeners to hear the album all the way through from beginning to end. While this makes perfect sense if you’re listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, a concept album, or any progressive rock band, AC/DC’s music strikes me more as the short rock single that makes for a perfect radio spot.

Either this hard-line position on legal online downloading signifies a severe lack of economic judgment and willful ignorance to the way the music world currently operates or it represents a principle that the band wants to keep at any cost. Prince claimed that “the Internet’s completely over” in what appeared to be a streak of sheer stupidity. AC/DC, on the other hand, might be less afraid of technology and are just purists when it comes to the consumption of their music. Obviously they know that many people will just download their music illegal anyway, but they prefer to remain steadfast nonetheless out of respect for themselves and the music they created.

On the other hand, I think an artist should pick their battles and this doesn’t seem like a battle that needs to be fought. People who buy AC/DC albums the conventional way, in a store or online and in CD form, will often listen to the music on a track-by-track basis with no adherence to song order or album flow. For something as commonplace as an iTunes store or other online download location, AC/DC could be raking in a lot more money while providing their fans and would-be fans a convenient way to consume their music without resorting to illegal measures. At the very least, that appears to be the courteous thing to do in the current music industry climate and in a time where everyone carries around their iPod or smartphone to download and listen to music.

On an ambitious, multi-leg concert tour, the celebrated UK singer-songwriter gets intimate with his fans.

BY NICOLE ROBERGE

I meet up with David Gray backstage in his dressing room at The Wang Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts - the first stop on his "Lost and Found" tour. (The newest U.S. leg will resume in late June; go here for tour dates.) Different than his typical shows, where the set list embodies both rock and quieter songs, the focus of these shows is more intimate, with an emphasis on his most recent album, "Foundling," and stripped down and acoustic versions of songs off his other albums.  It is, he says, different than anything he's ever done before.

When I walk into the dressing room, Gray is sitting on the couch, scribbling in a notebook.  His tour manager leaves us alone and he immediately welcomes me to sit down, and then shows me what he has been writing.  Sprawled across two pages are the titles of songs from all of his albums that he hopes to cram into a two hour set-list.  As a special treat for this tour, he provided fans the opportunity to write in and request songs to be played, and he is trying to accommodate all of them.  The response he got was surprising. 

"It was quite moving," he says.  "I got 156 different songs requested, which is an awful lot and we can't do all of them.  Some of them were so obscure that I don't know what they were.  They were barely written, some of them I don't think I've ever performed.  I think it's fans trying to outdo each other.  I'm going to try and do as many as I can.  Some off my first album, ‘Shine,' and many I play quite regularly anyway.  There were some crazy requests for covers.  A Doors song.  And there are memories attached to each song.  This tour is very much about trying to do justice to the album I just released, ‘Foundling,' which I didn't think would be as tactile if we played it in the usual way. It seemed to just be quieter.  The whole volume of the show tonight will be much quieter than the usual rock show.  But in representing this new music, I'm also going to be taking a giant sweep of my music from the beginning so it's probably the most in-depth tour of all the records I've released and the music I've made, which is great.  I've given myself two hours tonight.  An hour and a half is a normal set, to go over that I wouldn't always do.  But with this, I don't know how to fit it in otherwise."

Read the rest of the interview at http://blurt-online.com/features/view/877/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By IAN MOORE

I could tell you the story about the night I slept in a bloody bed from a murder the night before (the hotel manager had simply flipped the mattress over).

I could tell you about the night when our song "Muddy Jesus" (the closest thing El Paso had seen to an homage since Marty Robbins) caused us to be mobbed on a seemingly quiet night in Juarez, and a mob morphed our vaguely exciting identity to a much more thrilling one – Pearl Jam, over the course of a few hours. We narrowly escaped before evading the head of the biggest drug cartel in Mexico, who wanted to pull us into a multi-day, locked-door party where we would be the "guests of honor," of course not allowed to leave until he declared the fiesta over.

I could tell you some juicy, fucked up stories, but I would rather rest my road-weary brain and simply wrap it around the 20+ years of touring haze to tell you about the most brilliant, fucked up thing I have ever done: sing in a rock 'n' roll band.

Being in a rock band is like permanently being a senior in high school waiting for college to start. An endless summer of reckless abandon, ambitious half-formed plans, and the promise of something much more grand in the coming Fall that never quite materializes. Short-term glory buttressed by seemingly endless stretches of monotony and indecision.

I watched as my friends grew up and seemingly went through adult-forming school. They adopted different, mostly healthier, habits, and faded into a gentler phase filled with adult conversations that seem formed and appropriate for our age. Meanwhile I was stuck in endless conversations about why The Teardrop Explodes matter (or don't), why ironic dress and facial coif had its place until a couple of years ago, and other forays into the minutia of pop culture that truly should be mainstay thought for an 18-year-old, but are more suspect when calling 30-year-old friends "kid" and still chasing down your bartender friends for free drinks.

Being in a band is a youthful endeavor. It is amazing to look out onto a packed room filled with attractive people who believe that music can change the world. Unfortunately I believe the same thing as well? When do you get the mailer that actually explains what the 'grown ups' are supposed to really think? When do I get the insight that allows me to stop being so idealistic and cash in on the collective sins of our species? I'm stuck in this fountain of youth and it stinks of urine and folly. The kids are splashing around, oblivious to anything but the importance of their play in the cultural waters, long fouled and drained of meaning, each waterfall smaller than the one before until the final drip is sliding out of the concrete orifice of some suburban kid with X-ray vision specs that say "Google".

Speaking of fucked up, what is it with drummers? Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the very person that we rely on for meter and time is completely incapable of simply showing up at the same time that all other adults can? Of all of my drummers, and there have been many, I can think of only one person who was capable of actually showing up at the time he said, and he quickly got out of drumming and started trying to save the world by selling eco building products to yuppies who needed a slight hedge to hide their rabid consumerism.

If I had any sense I would have bought a stopwatch years ago so I could keep a running tally of time wasted to gripe about in the golden years. I do believe in irrefutable truths. I believe that humans are inherently good and that we are all capable of change. Consequently I am repeatedly dumbfounded as our drummer saunters towards the van, elegantly smoking, and seemingly troubled by nothing, a good 30 minutes after our said departure time, as we wait outside his house in complete awe.

I keep waiting for this phase where I am bestowed some flowing robe of knowledge and my acolytes surround me being filled by my vast musical knowledge and discourses on integrity. I see that Willie Nelson has released his book The Tao of Willie and is being considered for Sainthood by the Catholic Church, who are willing to look past his phenomenal marijuana consumption. Meanwhile I am stuck in this half-form, not able to speak of my rock 'n' roll exploits lest I sound like a braggart, but considered smug and distant if I stay tightlipped when my younger friends educate me on their new cultural bounty – a bounty that we pawned many years ago to lighten the load.

Excuse me. Didn't mean to sound bitter. Now, that's fucked up. I can't think of anything cooler than playing in a rock 'n' roll band.

Did I mention heavy metal soundmen?

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By SHUNDA K.

The most fucked up thing I have ever seen is how parents verbally and emotionally abuse their children, which leads to low self-esteem and insecurity, which can turn into teens harming themselves and contemplating suicide.

Abuse is any behavior that is designed to control and subjugate another human being through the use of fear, humiliation, intimidation, guilt, coercion, manipulation, etc. Emotional abuse is any kind of abuse that is emotional rather than physical in nature. It can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics, such as repeated disapproval or even the refusal to ever be pleased.

Emotional abuse is like brain washing in that it systematically wears away at the victim's self-confidence, sense of self-worth, trust in their own perceptions, and self-concept. Whether it is done by constant berating and belittling, by intimidation, or under the guise of "guidance," "teaching", or "advice," the results are similar. Eventually, the recipient of the abuse loses all sense of self and remnants of personal value. Emotional abuse cuts to the very core of a person, creating scars that may be far deeper and more lasting than physical ones. In fact there is research to this effect. With emotional abuse, the insults, insinuations, criticism and accusations slowly eat away at the victim's self-esteem until they are incapable of judging the situation realistically. The person becomes so beaten down emotionally that they blame themselves for the abuse. Their self-esteem is so low that they cling to the abuser.

Emotionally abused victims can become so convinced that they are worthless that they believe that no one else could want them. They stay in abusive situations because they believe they have nowhere else to go. Their ultimate fear is being all alone.

I can relate so much to this and have endured much emotional, even physical abuse at the hands of my grandmother, growing up as a kid. My grandparents raised me because my mom was strung out on drugs and my dad was around only when he had time, which was very rare.

I'm not sure why my grandmother was so harsh to me, but the only conclusion that I could draw, now that I'm all grown up, is that she was raised the very same way. She has told me many stories about how her parents raised her and her siblings and how they never had a chance to go to school or have a childhood because they had to work in the fields from sun up to sun down.

My grandmother came up during the time of sharecropping (where former slaves used the land of former slave masters to farm in return for 50% of the crop), so they never had a life outside of work. And, with my grandmother, I believe there was much resentment and animosity built up due to these facts, and so, what other way to express herself aside from the way she was raised and brought up.

I can remember many times being cussed out because I was on the phone all day or wanted to go somewhere. During my childhood, I was always into athletics and, when it came time to be picked up from practice, I had to walk home many nights because grandma felt like it was a waste of time.

Once a person inflicts verbal and emotional abuse for so long, the next thing will be physical abuse. My grandmother didn't mind beating my ass and would use anything she could get her hands on. I was genuinely afraid of my grandmother and always sought to please her, but it seemed like the more I tried the less she was satisfied.

What finally pushed me over the edge and made me leave the situation was when I graduated from high school (with honors may I add) after being told I would never be shit. I earned an academic and athletic scholarship to college.

One day I came home and my grandmother always had a thing of opening everybody's' mail. On this particular day, my grandfather gave me an envelope from my financial aid that had been opened and my check cashed (my name was on my grandmother's bank account so she could cash checks in my name, etc.). With my money, they went to the dog track and spent my damn money gambling.

After everything I had to endure coming up in school, with no support, after all the hard work I had put into being who I had become, they felt like they could just cash my check and give me the excuse that they've been raising me all these years and so I shouldn't have shit to say about what they do with my money. That was all I needed to step out on faith and keep it moving.

In my life, I had always felt alone. I was terrorized in school because I didn't have the name brand clothes and with no support at home, when it came to everything I aspired to do, I had to do it on my own. Of course, it was a very lonely road, but if I didn't do it for myself, no one else was going to.

So, I'm here today, standing strong, though my faith in God, to let each and every one of you know that you too can make it out of any drought you find yourself in. Life is worth living and just because someone is in your life, making it a living hell, that's no reason to end it.

As I mentioned before, it's hard to leave an abusive relationship, but if you don't, the consequences could very much be death. You have to encourage yourself and keep it moving no matter how hard it may seem.

To be free is definitely a gift from God and if you're dealing with people in your life that are only tolerating you and not celebrating you, you need to stand up to them (give them a piece of your mind) and keep it moving to a healthier environment, even if you have to stay in a shelter.

Now and days, my relationship with my grandmother is a strong one because I stood up to her and let her know that she wasn't going to talk to me like that anymore. It took me a few times saying this, because any habit is hard to break. But, she now recognizes me as a human being that she is no greater than.

In conclusion, God is love and no matter whom you are and where you've been in your life, the people you surround yourself with need to exhibit this love. Life is what you make it. Take charge of your life and love yourself enough to accept nothing less than the best!

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Jason Reece

Yeah, Hawaii doesn't seem to like the place to have a seedy underbelly. It's a paradise for fuck's sake. Big Island tropical fever madness strikes deep in the back wood boonies. Meth heads growing weed, burned out hippies living the dream gone wrong and pissed off Hawaiians mad at the "fucking Ha'ole's " who stole their land. The tourist brochures never covered that part. I lived in a half-built house with no electricity, no running water, out in the middle of a rain forest, far from the main city of Hilo. This was a drenched and beautiful place, but we were bored poor fuckers living off the land, off the grid, looking for something more.

At my friend Ani's house getting ready to go to some shitty high school dance. Heavy metal blasting out of the speakers – Judas Priest's "Hell Bent for Leather" was our jam. There's nothing like smoking some strong-ass bud straight from your backyard garden and killing a bottle of some shit whiskey before hitting the high school function. There was nothing to do but this.

It was time to walk a few blocks to our friend's house, whose parents would drive our license-less asses to the dance. We needed to get some air and composure to face them, so the walk – we thought – would do use some good. It was drizzling and very quiet as we hit the street. Several loud pops destroyed the eerie silence. We thought that was strange, but continued on as if it was nothing. As we turned on to a more populated block, we could see a man on the ground. His head was blown off; his brains were all over the street. People started coming out of their houses to see what the commotion was as police sirens blared in the distance. We were stunned to see a real murder, a violent death that happened within blocks of our homes and our slow-motion Hawaiian existence.

We started laughing, and kept laughing, as we ran to our friend's house. It was the only emotion that I could express because it was so fucking crazy and real. I had never seen a dead person; this was my first and it was a fucked up as it gets. I found out later that it was a dispute over a drug deal. They caught the murderer immediately and he was high as shit on meth. We headed to the dance to tell the all our friends. Curiosity ensued as all of our friends wanted to see the murder scene. They wanted to see where it all happened.

We left the dance at around 10 pm. We decided to meet at Ani's place because his folks didn't give him a curfew, or didn't really care. Some of us had to sneak out. A group of five trudged through some cold rain sipping on Old Crow whiskey. There were no street lights and the dark wet added to the creepiness of the adventure. The flashlights guided us to 4th and Hamakua St. where the deed was done.

We could see the chalk lines fading in the rain. The outline of the unlucky soul. We then saw his fucking brains still on the grass and pavement! What the fuck? The police just let that shit slide. They hardly cleaned the scene up. There were skull fragments everywhere, and a bunch of [us] giddy children jabbering away about how fucking weird it was. This dude was there, alive, hours ago – and now his head was blown the fuck off. Death became very real to me that night.

We ran away again, howling like dogs down the dark, rain-soaked road, trying to kid ourselves that death was a joke and that we were never going to die. It seemed all too wrong for a kid to see this, but there it was. It could happen anywhere, I guess.

Aloha 'Oe, dead guy. Aloha 'Oe.

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By TYLER PARKFORD

Birds have always fucked me up. I remember a pigeon exploded in my face once when I was 10.

I used to hang with a bunch of kids at this little burger joint in Long Beach near a busy highway. There were always tons of birds trying to steal our french fries. Everyone would try to throw food in the street to see how close the birds would get to the oncoming traffic. None of them were stupid enough to take a chance. They'd always scramble away to safety at the last minute.

Weeks went by and nobody got even close to killing one of them. I always would just watch. One day they all threatened to squash my cheeseburger if I didn't participate. I threw a piece of fried zucchini in the street just as this huge truck was approaching. A pigeon flew over to grab it but accidentally tripped on something and exploded under the front wheels of this truck. All I saw was a gust of feathers shoot out at my face and this low-frequency "pop" sound like a handgun. I guess that was the sound of all the air in the bird's lungs getting rapidly pushed out.

When the feathers cleared we looked down at our burgers and saw that they were covered in bird guts. One of my friends started to cry but everyone else thought it was funny. For the rest of that day I was completely mortified and didn't say a word.

That night I woke up in a sweat and ran to my parent's room. I told them I couldn't go to sleep since I'd killed a bird. My dad told me to put on my clothes and get in the car. We drove to where the pigeon exploded and he gave me an empty pizza box. The bird was completely flat by now.

"Scrape it off the street, Tyler."

I had to peel the thing slowly off the asphalt with my little fingers and put it in the box. It smelled like tires and grass and looked like a feathered football that just got deflated.

"This used to be alive 'til you blew it up, Tyler. I want you to put your hand on it and think about what you did."

Cars whizzed by and strangers slowed down to see what I was doing. After a few minutes my dad took the bird away from me and I threw up all over his sneakers.

That was the first bird flu. The second didn't happen 'til years later when I was in high school. There was this new kid who didn't talk a lot and was kind of a jerk to anyone who tried to befriend him. It was a boarding school so everybody stayed in their rooms and had to sleep, eat, play and shit during specific times. One day I found this dead pigeon in the bushes and put it under the guy's bed sheets when he was out taking a shower. It was after "lights-out" and I heard him screaming at the top of his lungs: "Who did this?!"

I walked outside and saw that this kid was completely naked and pounding on everybody's doors holding this dead bird. He came up to me and I could see that he was crying. "Did you put a bird in my bed? Did you put a bird in my bed? Did you put a bird in my bed?"

He kept saying it like he was in a trance. I told him I didn't and he just walked on to the next room. I think he transferred later that year. To this day I wish I had the balls to apologize to him or at least put a face on such a horrible gag.

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By JEFFREY CAIN

Years ago my band and I packed up our belongings and left our home of Alabama to record an album out West. We spent several months secluded in a house on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, California where we would rehearse, write, and record day and night. Occasionally we would make our way into town to attempt being social and to clear our minds with a good late night drink. Our local haunt was a small bar in the basement of the old Belvedere Hotel. The Pixies, GBV, or The Wedding Present would usually be playing on the jukebox and the bartender would start pouring your favorite drink as soon as you walked in the door.

The night I saw the most fucked up thing I've ever seen was an ordinary night. My friend and I arrived at the bar just at closing time, yet we somehow talked them into letting us throw down one whisky. As we drank our nightcap a young girl approached us. She seemed to know we weren't ready to go home and suggested we walk her home and come up for a drink.

Without a second thought we found ourselves walking through the foggy streets, up some stairs and into her small bare apartment. I have no memory of any details of the apartment, maybe a bike in the corner of the room, a futon, a stack of books. She poured us a drink and we sat down on the hardwood floor then asked, 'Do you mind if I play my drum?' Of course not, please... we'd love to hear you play.

Within a few moments she had found a small hand drum with some kind of skin pulled over it, rested it between here legs and started to lightly tap a loose rhythm. The beat was so faint, it hardly kept my attention at first. My eyes and thoughts wandered for the next several minutes, then I noticed something had changed. Her beat became very steady, her head hung low, and her body was deathly still except for her hands which moved as if they were no longer attached to her body.

Not a word was said between us as the beat grew louder and with more authority, I could feel it straight in my chest. The pulse of my heart was now the drums... and the pattern she played became more and more intricate. I had never heard such a complex beat, I was amazed, I was entranced, and I was becoming scared. Losing my breath, I tried to break this hypnotic pull I felt. Her hands continued to play as her head hung down. Suddenly I knew I was beginning to lose control, something was taking over me. Was this really happening?

I turned to my friend to see if this was all just in my mind. I will never forget how pale he looked, paralyzed with fear and unable to utter a single word. Like trying to wake out of an awful dream, I finally broke through the heaviness that had taken hold of me and screamed, "Who are you? Who are you?"

The hands stopped and the room was finally quiet. She raised her head, every the muscle in her face had dropped. I was staring deep into the eyes of a two thousand year old Chinese man.

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Amy Speace

Bangkok, June 2000. My younger brother Matt was living in Southeast Asia and invited me to come visit to trek around for a month. We had no set itinerary, just a desire to see Vietnam and Cambodia and the Thai islands and have an adventure.

A few weeks and a 17-hour flight later, I was walking down Kao San Road in Bangkok, looking for the café my brother said I'd find him in. It was very The Beach: a road that seemed to be the gateway to the backpacker trail of hippies and ravers and dropouts and walkabouts, a steaming, humid pavement that reeked of pot and piss lined with outdoor cafés filled with hippies and ravers and dropouts and walkabouts making plans, waiting on visas, drinking morning beers with their banana pancakes.

I heard my name called amidst the steaming throngs and turned to see my brother sitting casually at a café, waving, just as he'd told me. He held up two chilled beers. I was bleary and tired after the long flight, but he'd had the day planned well, from the beers to the two-hour Thai massage to the temple tour to dinner to a late-night hang on a road called Soi Cowboy.

I'd heard rumors of this place – the red light district. Although I'm a fairly well-mannered folk singer, I've been to a few strip clubs with friends. I've had friends who stripped to make rent, or to pay for law school. I'd seen the lap dances, smelled the cocoa butter, wondered about the law of gravity when flinging triple-D's around an oily pole. So it didn't creep me out – too much – to go see a Thai strip club with my little brother. We hopped a rickshaw that darted through the chaos of Bangkok nightlife. The creep factor crept in when the rickshaw driver leaned back and said in his broken English, "You want go see sex show? Girls fucking donkeys. You want?"

Um. No. Ew.

I was surprised that this district seemed rather civilized, less like the seedy street I envisioned. More like Bourbon or Beale Street. There were clusters of post-college backpackers with the boys trying to seem cool and girls giggling and well-dressed elderly older couples, out on date night, and junked out single men, leaning into the alleys, in torn military fatigues, a cliché from a 70's film. Beautiful Thai women stood at the club entrances like carnival barkers, "Nice naked ladies inside. Come in. You like?"

Matt and I chose one at random, lured in by the lack of cover charge and the need to get out of the Bangkok steam, a humidity that clings to you like syrup. We took seats at the bar, a large semi circle stage with two gold poles at either end and two bikini-clad women working the bar. Red velvet curtains, clean lounge, black leather barstools, the dark club lit by purple and blue neon, like a mid-high range corporate strip joint in NYC. Not Joe's Topless in Newark. We ordered drinks and the show began.

It started slow and, to my experience, normal. Pole dancing, choreographed erotica, G-strings with paper money tucked in like flags at the hip. Then a girl, completely naked and shaved, sat down, spread her high-heeled legs wide and proceeded to slowly pull a long string tied with what looked like little Koosh balls out of her vagina. I shifted a bit uncomfortably. The next girl sat down and pulled a similar string, but tied with razor blades.

I squinted, shifted and crossed my own legs. Drank another beer. Looked to my brother, who said, "Just wait." This went on, and alongside the women who pulled long strings out of their ya-ya's were the women who shot bullseyes with darts, launched ping-pong balls at customers, sucked on cigarettes and blew smoke rings out of their nether regions. This was impressive. This was no NYC strip club.

But then, the piece de resistance came. I was unprepared.

A woman danced out, naked, and shimmied over to the bartender, who placed one of those old-fashioned bottles of Coca-Cola on the dance floor next to the pole. The dancer stood above the bottle, legs parted, and pliéd seductively over it, teasing it with the lips of her bread box, up and down, side to side. Then, in one move, she grabbed the bottle with her hoo-hoo (No. Hands.), flipped herself upside-down on the pole, and drained the soda into her shoo-fly pie.

The patrons clapped and shouted, slapping their hands on the dance floor. I was aghast, and laughing, probably a bit drunk at this point. The dancer righted herself, placed the empty bottle down (again: No. Hands.) and twirled up and down the runway. Not a drop escaped.

The bartender then placed another bottle down. Jack Daniels. Next to the pole. The dancer again shook it on over and did her thing. The crowd went bat-shit wild as she chugged the entire bottle with her watusi. Once more, she flipped herself upright and danced down the runway.

My jaw scraped the tabletop as my brother laughed himself to tears. The crowd cheered. I was dazed, confused, a bit freaked out, and yet I couldn't take my eyes off her. Again: nothing drained out. She held that shit inside of her.

I thought I heard my brother say, again, "Oh, no. Wait for it."

The bartender took bids from the crowd like farmers at a pig auction. An Australian man won, and plopped his money down. The dancer was shaking her groove thing, stirring up the booze in her coochie. Mr. Oz frothed at the mouth while the bartender produced a glass of clinking ice cubes and placed it in front of the big winner. The dancer strutted over to Winning Bidder, gave him a flirty look, did a fifth-position plié over the glass and peed out a Jack & Coke. Winning Bidder raised the glass high to the cheering crowd and downed the drink in one gulp, slamming the glass upside down on the floor to a wolf-rabid crowd. The dancer kissed him full on the mouth, licked her lips, smiled and left the dance floor to a well-deserved standing ovation.

And that is the last time I ever need to step foot in a strip club.

Check out these screenshots and read them from the bottom up so they make sense. 

Exhibit 1 - Lawyer e-mails and proof it was just the other Relik
Exhibit 2 - MySpace tough guy trying to convince me his lawyer is real
Exhibit 3 - The other Relik's friend tries to convince that his lawyers are real.

I'm not an emcee, but I decided to make a quick beat and do a 16 bar diss in his own element. He has not battled back.

soundcloud.com/relik/the-real-relik

First Aid 4 Souls – Deathstep -2011- (Electro Arc Label) Germany

EAN Code:    4050486040898
Catalog No.: 1001019
Release date: April, 2011
Label: Electro Arc
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro, Industrial
Cover Art: Gábor
All music by: István Gazdag

Tracklist

01 You Are In A Box
02 Among Strangers
03 No More Smile
04 Agony
05 The Watchman's Circle I
06 Lifeforce
07 Sekuhara
08 House Harkonnen
09 Notes From Underground
10 Wrong Call To God
11 No Mercy (Cybertears Mix)
12 Seelenlos (Deathstep Version)
13 The Watchman's Circle II
14 Soulscape
15 The End Of Culture

Singers:
Katalin Helfenbein, Aaron Russell (Impurfekt),
Mark Duffield (I Am One), Mir Colon (Kifoth), 
David Konsiczky, Istvan Gazdag

Everyone is talking about the „generation facebook"; a movement which
expresses its protest, anger, and even its battle not only on the streets but
in particular by using the new electronic media.

Following this movement, FA4S contributes the adequate soundtrack
with their new album „Deathstep".

The new release is even more aggressive, compared to their last one, „Brutpop".

It is obvious that FA4S has a lot to say.

Doomsday-watch shows 5 to 12 ,the civilisation is approaching abysm and
hence its death.

But, it's not too late. Gloomy is the scenery, indicating a possible futur between
value-deteriaration and pseudo mass-entertainment. Daunting and not at all beautiful.
With aggressive rythms and distorted vocals FA4S wants to awake us from the
tawdry TV entertainment.

Atmospherical sounds with elements of ethno-rythm, classical strings and samples
from computer games and SciFi-Effects. Make „Deathstep" not only being mainly
EBM orientated, but also offering elements of a radio drama.

Combining creative potential from american, english, german, slovakian, hungarian
and japanese musicians FA4S sets new priorities and emphasizes a multicultural project.

FA4S are angry about the threatening deteriaration of our planet and mankind.
Angry enough to even not shy away from heavy „punk-attacks" in conjunction with EBM
and industrial sounds on their new release „Deathstep.

On the other hand FA4S remain truly with their unique feature of soul and feeling within
electronical sounds , which is expressed even more in their detailed and atmospherical
arrangements , sounds and samples, as in their vocals and extremly danceable rythms.

„Deathstep" ist the musical basis and last emotional rebellion of the so called
„generation facebook". A foundation where they finally find their own music, the sound
for the streets, the internet and their clubs. Considering the generation of bloggers,
the cultural superstructur is quite intelligent. By all means eloquent, they claim to be
influenced by Kafka, Dostojewski and Lovecraft

Deathstep is a fighting dance performed by musicians who won't dismiss this world
without resistance. It is loud, tempting, emotional and atmospherical.

Let's fight together with FA4S , it makes awful lot of fun.

i

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Blurt Staff

Between the summer of 1966 and early 1967, The Beach Boys recorded, in several sessions, a bounty of songs and drafts for an album, SMiLE, that was intended to follow the band's 1966 masterpiece, Pet Sounds. The sessions were ultimately shelved, and The Beach Boys' SMiLE has never been released. With the full participation of original Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson, Capitol/EMI has collected and compiled the definitive collection, 'The SMiLE Sessions,' for worldwide release this year in multiple physical and digital configurations.

The SMiLE Sessions presents an in-depth overview of The Beach Boys' recording sessions for the enigmatic album, which has achieved legendary, mythical status for music fans around the world. The SMiLE Sessions will be released in 2CD and digital album packages and a deluxe, limited edition box set.

Co-produced by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd, all of The SMiLE Sessions' physical and digital configurations will include an assembled album of core tracks, while the box set delves much deeper into the sessions, adding early song drafts, alternate takes, instrumental and vocals-only mixes, and studio chatter. The SMiLE Sessions invites the listener into the studio to experience the album's creation, with producer, singer and bassist Brian Wilson's vision leading the way as he guides his fellow Beach Boys, singer Mike Love, drummer Dennis Wilson, lead guitarist Carl Wilson, rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, and newest member Bruce Johnston (who'd replaced Brian Wilson in the touring group during 1965), through the legendary sessions.

"I'm thrilled that The Beach Boys' original studio sessions for SMiLE will be released for the first time, after all these years," says Brian Wilson. "I'm looking forward to this collection of the original recordings and having fans hear the beautiful angelic voices of the boys in a proper studio release."

"One of my favorite songs from the SMiLE sessions is 'Wonderful'," says Mike Love. "The song truly lives up to its title, as do many of the tracks on SMiLE. Cousin Brian was at his creative peak during those sessions. I'm unaware of anything that comes close in pop music."

"I recently played some of my personal acetates from the SMiLE sessions and they held up really well," says Al Jardine. "We would come home from touring and go straight into the studio to record. Brian couldn't wait to show us his latest ideas. We were recording SMiLE and Pet Sounds material simultaneously, so the tracks and vocals all have the same great quality. Most of the vocals were done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, across the street from Western Studios, where most of the tracking was done."

"For me, it's always been about the way Brian Wilson brilliantly composed and 'voiced' his amazing chord progressions and melodies," says Bruce Johnston. "SMiLE really made me smile!"

"Personally, I loved it," the late Carl Wilson said in 1994 of the SMiLE sessions (from the Don Was-directed documentary, Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn't Made For These Times).

"In my opinion it makes Pet Sounds stink - that's how good it is," the late Dennis Wilson told a journalist in 1966 of the planned SMiLE album.

What Brian Wilson brought to the table, in his effort to maintain The Beach Boys' position among the top rock 'n' roll bands of the day, was beyond what anyone could have expected. Beginning with "Good Vibrations," then into SMiLE, Wilson had begun to construct songs in a modular form, crafting individual sections that would later be edited together to form a coherent whole. In several intense bursts of creative energy, Wilson, drawing on the talents of the finest studio musicians in Los Angeles and utilizing the best studio facilities available on any given day, laid down dozens and dozens of musical fragments, all designed to fit together in any number of possible combinations. No one had done this in pop music, and Wilson had just created "Good Vibrations," The Beach Boys' best-selling record in a long string of hits, by using this method. His next endeavor would be an album-length version of this unique and luxurious songwriting parlance: SMiLE.

In 1965, Brian Wilson had met an up-and-coming session keyboard player and songwriter, Van Dyke Parks. Noticing Parks' conversational eloquence, Wilson felt that he could help to volley The Beach Boys' songwriting into the wave of broader-messaged and socially-conscious rock 'n' roll that would come to define the '60s. They were soon collaborating on keynote songs for SMiLE, including "Heroes and Villains," the band's follow-up single to "Good Vibrations." Wilson and Parks would also co-write "Surf's Up," "Vegetables," "Cabin Essence," "Do You Like Worms," "Wonderful," "Wind Chimes," and other bits and pieces of the SMiLE tapestry. Parks also introduced Beat-Pop artist Frank Holmes to create album sleeve art and a booklet interpreting the album's James Joyce-mode lyrics.

The reason SMiLE did not see a release in early 1967 had more to do with back room business that obscured the creative side of the program than anything else. In late 1966, The Beach Boys formed Brother Records, initially to produce outside artists. Soon, however, The Beach Boys would become embroiled in a court action with Capitol Records with the goal to become the top-selling artists on their self-owned, independent label. The group withheld "Heroes and Villains" and announced they would instead release "Vegetables" - recorded with the band's own money in April of '67 - on Brother Records. By July of 1967, Capitol Records and The Beach Boys had come to terms, with Capitol agreeing to distribute the band's Brother Records, and it was agreed that SMiLE was no longer to be the band's next album.

The SMiLE Sessions' global release date, complete track lists, and artwork will be unveiled soon.

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By Tim Hinely

Hungry Ghost, Sara (Unwound) Lund's new band opened this evening but I didn't arrive in time to see them perform. I did get to the venue in time to catch the second half of the Corin Tucker Band's set.  Her debut record, which had some interesting moments, didn't do much for me, but live the songs really came to life. I didn't catch any song names but the last 3 or 4 songs rippled with the kind of electricity that the record didn't. The few folks I spoke with who caught the whole set said I saw the best part.

It had been at least a decade (maybe more) since I'd seen NYC's Versus, a longtime favorite upon hearing this first single (1992's "Insomnia"). The band had had some different folks in the lineup over the years (including Patrick Ramos and a 3^rd Baluyut brother, James). For this tour the band was back down to the original trio of Richard Baluyut on vocals/guitar, bassist Fontaine Toups and drummer Ed Baluyut while adding Margaret White on keyboards and violin. They played a nice mix of songs, both old and new. (For the new ones, however, when Richard said "new" I did not know whether he meant brand new or simply from the latest record, On the Ones and Threes.)

Still, it was hard to complain with a set that included "Thera" (from their Teen Beat debut, The Stars Are Insane), "Circle," "Into Blue," "River," "Double Suicide," "Forest Fire" and plenty more. For encores they played "Bright Lights" (their amazing 2^nd single) and "Blade of Grass" (for which ex-Team Dresch-er Jody Bleyle came on stage and did the oooh-ooohs).  None of us wanted it to end, but sadly, it had to. A band can't play forever.

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By Carl Hanni

We live in the age of global groove cross-over, and the musical migrations seem to be picking up speed and shedding inhibitions as they go along. Nations may fuss and fight, but increasingly musicians, it seems, want to mix and match from the wide palette of world musics. This is nothing new, of course; musicians worldwide have been crafting all kinds of fascinating combinations for as long as music has been prefaced with the word ‘popular.'

South America and the Caribbean seem to have consistently been ahead of the game here. Going back at least as far as the late ‘50s and early ‘60s and you'll find thousands of examples of local combos taking little bits of whatever they heard on the radio, mixing it in with what was hot at the local record shop or sound system with their own local music, and turning out one fabulous hybrid after another. Whether it's from Columbia, Peru, Cuba or Jamaica, this part of the world has long embraced music-as-melting-pot. 

Fast forward to 2010 and we have Fantasma, a group of multi-disciplined musicians, artists, and filmmakers from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Not to be mistaken with Austin's fabulous Grupo Fantasma, Fantasma play a spirited, polyglot mix of electro, cumbia, hip hop, reggaeton and whatever else they take a shine to that has a sexy groove. Fantasma is pushing the pulsating cumbia groove into some new territory and inviting everyone along to the dance. Definitively electro based (but still using plenty of accordion), Fantasma make bouncing, buoyant, infinitely danceable music that also has both humor and a socially relevant aspect to it. 

Pretty much everything here is really strong and consistent. "Danza Danza," with a jaunty whistling chorus, melds electro cumbia and reggaeton into an instant dance floor classic. "Encantador de Serpientes" sounds like Egyptian Lover reborn as an intergalactic DJ street gang. "Cumbia Que Pega" and "Muevelo Que Sube" bring the hip hop forward, while "El Paisano," "Esto Es Asi" and "Cumbia Callejera" work the electro cumbia groove to perfection. Sure to draw some attention is a sci fi, Kraftwerked cumbia version of "Ghost Town" by The Specials, a wickedly great re-imagining of one of the signature songs of the 1980s. 

If you're looking for some early summer in this endless winter, Fantasma have condensed it down and put it onto a CD. Look no further.

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BY WILSON NEATE

We continue our sprawling spiel with the legendary bassist. To read Part 1, please go here.

BLURT: The idea of constantly learning from people - is that something that motivates you to collaborate with other artists as much as you do?

MIKE WATT: Yeah, and with bass, too, the politics of it is interesting. You look good making other people look good [laughs]. We're kinda like the grout between the tiles. Most people go in the head and they look at the tiles, and I'm the grout between the tiles. It's kind of a mysterious thing. Everybody's different, so you gotta fit to them, and you learn different ways. Even when you've played with somebody before, you don't wanna bogart and dominate and stuff; you avoid just rubber-stamping things where you've been. So, each time, I really try to approach it like I'm here for the first time, thinking, how do I make an interesting conversation out of this? It is a challenge; it is tough. But it's worth it. Like on this album, I asked Tom and Raul to set the direction - I don't think you can learn everything by always being the boss. Life is about taking turns.

        You know, no matter what humans do, it seems the longer they do it, the more they do. But the weird thing about bass is that, often, the physics punishes us; we get all small, we have too many notes. So it's always this big search for the right notes, and that's why somebody who's just started playing can write a great bassline. I've been surprised so many times when I talk to people who've just started out. It's not about more and more with the bass because of the long wavelengths at the low end...and, of course, it's a rhythm thing too. And everybody sees that stuff differently, so it's good to have a lot of different teachers.

Has it been a learning experience working with the Stooges? You've been doing that for the last eight years.

The Stooges come from a '60s sensibility. I was only a boy then, and I wasn't playing yet, so playing with the Stooges, it's a neat classroom to sit in. It's the primary source, man. I mean, now you get it second- or thirdhand with other bands, and these guys are the daddies. So that's pretty intense. Ig's really helped me become a better bass player. For one thing, he doesn't work a machine; he's almost in a conductor position, and he's also like a bridge to the gig-goers. He gets the big picture that us people working the machines don't get, so he's given me a lot of perspective in playing. It's different than the trios I do, where we're all engaged in working our things, and it's hard to get a big sense of it ‘cuz you're so involved with yourself. So Ig's helped me a lot. Also, Stooge music is really about feeling; it's not really about a bunch of complicated parts, so that's helped me too.

Did you ever go to any Stooges gigs back in the early days?

I didn't see the Stooges in the '70s. We didn't know about clubs. We were into arena rock - my first gig was T. Rex. We didn't know about clubs until punk, and stuff from the '60s was long gone by that time. I guess there was a little of it still up in Hollywood, but we didn't know about it in Pedro. I wouldn't have believed it at all if somebody had told me I'd be playing with the Stooges one day. It's pretty much of a mind blow. I love playing with those guys. I just got back from Australia - the first Stooges gigs of this year. It was my third Big Day Out tour there. I blew some clams, but I always try my hardest for the Stooges. It was a little difficult with my knee still hurt. I dislocated it - last note of the first song, "Raw Power," at a gig in France, in July last year.

How different is it with James Williamson playing guitar now, instead of Ron Asheton?

It's just like when you hear those records - they're different Stooges. I know it's only one different guy, and Ronnie was on bass on those records, but it was a different band. You know, even though James didn't play for a long time, he's still got the sound. He didn't play for like 30 years! His son wrote an essay in college called "Coffins in the Corner," about the guitars in the house that never came out of their cases. The first practice I did with James, I could tell right away this was the guy that played on Raw Power - it was that guitar sound.

Listening to hyphenated-man, the Beefheart feel seemed especially strong. He's always been a big influence, obviously.

Yeah, big time! Minutemen was way into Beefheart. Big time. When punk came, to us, Beefheart and the Stooges were already doing punk - they just didn't call it that yet. Then, the Pop Group was a big influence on us, too: they took Beefheart and put it with Funkadelic, which to us was almost the perfect thing. Beefheart really resonated with us. I saw him on the Doc at the Radar Station tour at the Whisky in Hollywood. My leg was in a cast [laughs] - I'd just had knee surgery. I even talked to him on the phone once. He was taking calls on KCRW, and I was the last caller. I was talking about Strictly Personal, and I told him how [the gatefold photo] used to scare me when you opened up the sleeve, and he said, "Yeah, it scared me too." I was wondering if there was something behind it, and he just said it was stuff he had laying around in his garage.

Although he'd been ill for ages, his death felt like a big deal. He really was a major figure.

It was very heavy. I was doing an interview and the guy had just heard and he told me about it, and it was hard to talk. I knew he was sick for a long time but still.... He was Big Daddy. And as way out as he was, he always had this big blues thing that was very traditional. It was different than, say, the Zappa prog thing - that was fusion. His way, his vision, was very personal, but it was grounded in Howlin' Wolf and stuff. You can hear it big time. We always thought that was a trippy thing. It's like writing a book where you don't have to invent new words. But it was really original.

Talking of unique artists, you recently played with Jandek at my old school, UC Irvine.

That was a trip. Mr. Jandek - or the Representative from Corwood Industries - is a very interesting cat. All black clothes and, for the gig, he had maybe a Stetson. Not a total cowboy hat, but it had a big brim. That was one of the wildest live gigs I've done. It was me and a younger drummer, BJ Miller from HEALTH. He said to the drummer, "You ever hear of Ginger Baker? Maybe you should play like that." He was giving no real direction! I just met him there the day of the gig. In fact, at one point, he asked me, "So what are you gonna do?" [laughs] So I said, "Maybe you want something like a Jack Bruce thing?" And he said, "Yeah! yeah!" Then I said to him, "I gotta tell you, I'm way into doing this, but I'm a little bit scared." And he said, "Don't worry, it's gonna be right up your alley" [laughs], and we went into this 100-minute song that went to a lot of places. I kept trying to change the motifs, and the drummer stayed in this one kind of thing - he'd never done anything like that before.

        His music is very interesting. He used effects at this gig on his guitars. He'd never used effects before. He's got a trippy way of playing - a lot around D and G - and that was really interesting to follow. It wasn't like a guy wanking at the Guitar Center. It kind of reminded me of some of that Pop Group guitar by Gareth Sager. Also, he said, "You know, usually I don't do lyrics live," but he ended up doing some lyrics. The people there dug it big time, but he never really spoke with them. He never introduced us or said thanks or anything - just started playing. Then, when we were done, we were done. I hugged him at the end and told him, "Man, any time! I'm there for you." ‘cuz I really dug it.

Without wanting you to betray any confidences, what did you guys talk about? Did he say anything about why he'd suddenly started playing live after all these years?

Well, we never talked about any of that stuff. He talked real regular, not weirded out at all. He didn't come across like a total hermit in the mountains. He knew about stuff. I talked to him for maybe three hours, about playing gigs, about going to Russia. He did know about our scene. He didn't ask me about much current stuff, but mainly about the old days. He knew about Black Flag and the Minutemen days, and he asked me about a Bad Brains documentary. The closest I got to it was when the drummer was talking about writers, and I brought up Mr. Pynchon. I mentioned Pynchon on purpose, saying, "This guy doesn't like getting his picture taken," to see if the Representative would say anything, but he didn't. You know, I never even heard his name. He never said it. But if he doesn't want to say, then he doesn't want to say it. I only knew him from the records, and instead of laying some trip on him, I just wanted to check out the music. He just seemed like a guy who was into music.

You're sure it was really him?

[laughs] Well, it seemed like the same guy from the records, ‘cuz Jandek did have his pictures all over the records, of all different ages...actually, he looked like Thurston [Moore] a little bit.... But I thought, if that's the way he wants it, then that's good enough. He didn't wanna talk about that stuff, and I was there to play with him. That was quite enough for me. Look, I got in trouble once with Richard Hell on my radio show. He was my first punk hero, and I asked him about the clothes - ‘cuz I was way into those clothes - and he was all pissed off. He didn't want to talk about it. I don't know why. I felt really bad, too. So maybe I learned a bit from that. These guys, they'll let you know what they wanna talk about.

Getting back to hyphenated-man...for this album, you've started up a label again (clenchedwrench).

We had New Alliance in the '80s, and we put out some Minutemen records, the first Hüsker Dü album and three Descendents albums, so I feel like I've gone full circle. I've got so many projects coming out, and these times are more copasetic to doing stuff like this yourself. In the old days, we kind of had to do it ourselves because no one else would put it out. So now I've got like 12 or 13 projects in the pipeline, and I wanna get 'em out and not have to play the game or anything. I just want it out. They're all different. They're not me just doing the same old thing with different people. They're shaped by the people I play with. My trios are my trios, and they're my link to my past, but when I do these collaborations it's a whole different thing - now you can trade files with people over the internet, and you don't even have to be playing with 'em in the same room. So I can do that more now and not be the one-trick pony. I can make these things have their own lives and give respect to the people I collaborate with.

You seem to gig endlessly but, in comparison, you haven't been so prolific in terms of recordings.

I've tried to address that by doing more collaborations, starting in 2007 with Funanori [a project with the Go! Team's Kaori Tsuchida]. Up till then, apart from the operas, I did some Unknown Instructors records, a couple of Banyan records, the Stooges record. There's not a lot of recorded works, but thousands of gigs. I wanted to get that more in balance, so I've been on a tear recently.

Did you used to place more value on live performances than recording?

I used to think that, big time. The punk thing was so profound on us. We thought the gig was everything. Me and D. Boon, we divided the world into two categories: there was gigs and flyers. Everything that wasn't a gig was a flyer. Fuck the recordings! We never thought of them as being here after you'd gone. But I think of 'em more like that now, like children or something. I never had children, so this is the closest I get. With gigs, life-in-the-moment is very important, but they go out there and dissipate into the ether or in people's minds, or whatever. But that's it. If Bosch had just talked about those little men instead of drawing 'em, I wouldn't know about 'em. So the work as a concrete entity is more important to me now. The songs get lives of their own: when people hear 'em, they get their own ideas about what they're supposed to be, away from me.

You don't feel over-protective about them once they've gone on their way?

People have so much control over their lives anyway, so I don't wanna put more out there. I don't wanna put a chain and collar on 'em. I've done it to other people's songs - I've got my own meanings for 'em, and then, when you talk to the people who wrote 'em, it turns out they weren't about that at all! [laughs]

You're about to embark on another epic tour, doing the bulk of the driving yourself. Do you ever get tired of being on the road and gigging?

If I didn't have Pedro to come back to, maybe I would. The bungee cord snaps you back and you roost, then you roam, and then you roost. And I've always had good guys to tour with, so I don't have the dramas to deal with: they know it's all about doing the gig. It is a little harder now. My hands get sore from playing, so the vibrations from the steering wheel help me out a lot. The body ain't as strong, but I like playing for people. I can still manage. I ain't totally lamed out. My knee's still all stiff, but, fuck, it could be worse. It could be sawed off!

        Gotta keep it in perspective.

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By Fred Mills / Interview by A.D. Amorosi

BLURT hasn't exactly been coy about our excitement over the second album by Swedish chanteuse Lykke Li; the followup to 2008's Youth Novels was recorded in Sweden and Los Angeles and features Björn Yttling, of Peter Björn and John, producing, and as early tracks began rolling out last fall along with provocative videos, it was clear that the young lady was building up to something unusual.

Wounded Rhymes is finally out this week (it's also still streaming online) and in addition to a review coming soon at Blurt-online, we also have an extensive feature on Lykke Li in the new issue of BLURT (our 10^th) that will hit newsstands in two weeks. Contributing Editor A.D. Amorosi sat down to talk with the singer, and among the tidbits he obtained:

On finally getting started on a new record after two years of touring and promotion: "I guess I'm happier in the beginning of a project than the end. It's only then that you have all these possibilities in front of you. When you can dream and everything is ahead of you, that's really something. I like being done as well. There's mystery that lies ahead in that next step. It's just that middle time, when things are the most painful, where I go over the edge."

On swapping the frigid cold of Sweden for the sunny clime of California for a portion of the recording: "The desert and nature is so overwhelming-in a good way. It was just so fucking hot it was great and radically different than my usual experience. It wasn't so much sensual than it was magical."

On the album's singular rhythmic-psychedelic vibe: "The type of sound where five minutes has passed and you don't even know what's hit you or how long you've been hit by it: I like that. I also think a lot of blues inspired me. The repetitive thing where you don't need to change a melodic or rhythmic line."

On why first single "Get Some" isn't about sex (despite containing lines such as "I'm your prostitute" "It's about empowerment and motivation over someone - to avoid more problems."

On her uncanny ability to look positively smashing in all her photos, no matter the setting or occasion: "I got the ability of being photogenic from my photographer mother as she took a lot of photos of me. That's not about the vanity of looking good. I don't think that I am. It's just that I don't want to die when I see the photos snapped of me."

No problem in that regard, we suspect. Read the full interview with Lykke Li in our new issue....

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By Blurt Staff 

American Laundromat Records just aqnnounced plans to release a Smiths tribute CD titled Please, Please, Please: a tribute to The Smiths. The CD will feature newly-recorded covers by The Wedding Present, Greg Laswell, Doug Martsch (Built To Spill), William Fitzsimmons, Trespassers William, The Rest, Katy Goodman (La Sera, Vivian Girls), The Leisure Society, Joy Zipper, Tanya Donelly and others. The CD is slotted for Autumn 2011 worldwide release. 

Confirmed Artists Thus Far / Track Covering 

Cinerama / London

Class Actress / Ask

Dala / Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me

Doug Martsch (Built To Spill) / Reel Around the Fountain

Elk City / I Know It's Over

Greg Laswell / Half A Person

Joy Zipper / What Difference Does It Make?

Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls, La Sera) / track to be announced

Kitten / track to be announced

Mike Viola / How Soon Is Now?

Sara Lov / track to be announced

Sixpence None the Richer / I Won�t Share You

Tanya Donelly w/Dylan in the Movies / Shoplifters Of The World Unite

The Leisure Society / That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

The Rest / Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before

The Wedding Present / Hand In Glove

Trespassers William / There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

William Fitzsimmons / Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

For the album cover, American Laundromat Records secured rights to use a Sandie Shaw photograph (Shaw famously covered te Smiths' "Hand In Glove" and later collaborated with the band) and tapped rock-poster designer Lonny Unitus (Apples In Stereo, The Decemberists, Willie Nelson) to design the cover art and eco-wallet packaging. 

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By Tim Hinely

I had never seen Sweden's Concretes before and couldn't tell from vocalist Lisa Milberg's comments that whether it was their first time in Portland or first time in the States (I'm assuming she meant the former).  While the rest of the band was silent, the friendly Milberg chatted up the crowd about our fair city, how happy they were to be here and what there was to do tomorrow since they were going to stay here rather than head to Seattle early.

The band hit the stage as a 6-piece with guitar/bass/drummer, two keyboardists and the striking, icy cool Milberg up front on vocals (and occasionally shaking her money-maker on the dancier cuts). The band has been through quite a few changes the past few years with former vocalist Victoria Bergstrom going solo (as Taken by Trees) and one member apparently leaving the band to join the circus (!!??). Their latest record, WYWH, lacks the spark of earlier records, with a more sophisticated, groove-oriented dance pop sound, and while it didn't sound bad on headphones, on stage it seemed to lack that specialness of the earlier records (or what I'm guessing earlier gigs would have been like), and it seemed the set was made up mostly of songs off WYWH. They opened with "Good Evening" and sifted into other new cuts like the title track, "My Ways", "Crack in the Paint", "I Wish We'd Never Met", "Knck Knck" and others. They saved the single, "All Day' for last and then came out for a so-so encore and called it an evening. 

Memo to the Concretes: time to regroup and decide on ways to spruce up the live show.

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BY WILSON NEATE 

If you're going to suffer an excruciating knee injury, you want disaster to strike in the least public of circumstances, when you're engaged in something that involves no major responsibilities so you can collapse discreetly and writhe largely unnoticed. Mike Watt wasn't so lucky. Last year, the man from Pedro went down with a major blowout onstage in front of thousands of people whilst working "the thud staff" in France with the Stooges. Worse still, it happened during the opening song of the set ("Raw Power"). 

But Watt soldiered on, finishing the gig and the remaining dates. Still not fully recovered - but now operating without crutches - Watt's just returned from Stooges dates in Australia and he's got a new album out, hyphenated-man (ORG Music/clenchedwrench). Rather than put his feet up, he's heading out on the road again for a marathon North American tour in support of the record: 50 shows, 52 days, 31 states, two countries - and he's doing the driving. 

Following on from Contemplating the Engine Room (1997) and The Secondman's Middle Stand (2004), hyphenated-man is the third in a series of thematically unified, multi-part works that Watt describes as "operas." Recorded with the Missingmen, Tom Watson and Raul Morales (pictured above, with Watt), this is his most ambitious and idiosyncratic project thus far. Consciously returning to the super-short song format that was a Minutemen trademark, Watt's new 30-track opus draws inspiration from an array of sources: the composite figures (or "hyphenated-men") who populate Hieronymus Bosch's paintings, the experience of middle age and even The Wizard of Oz are all grist for Watt's creative mill. 

Watt's not only one of the hardest-working men in show business these days; he's also one of the most decent, and it's always a genuine pleasure to talk to him. In what follows, the "man in the van with a bass in his hand" spiels in his inimitable, wide-ranging way about the new record, about jamming econo with the Minutemen, jamming not-so-econo with the Stooges, and even jamming with cult legend Jandek. 

***** 

BLURT: Your new album is the third one you've described as an "opera." In what sense is it an opera? What is it about that format that attracts you?

MIKE WATT: We got the opera idea from the Who's "A Quick One, While He's Away" - the idea that you could have one big song be made up of different little ones. I never really envisioned doing this form at all. I never thought I'd get into that stuff. With Minutemen, I come from a tradition of making short, little songs - we got that idea from Wire - but it seemed like I didn't have the talent to get what I wanted to say into just one tune, a regular smaller thing, like D. Boon did: it had to make a journey. That opera structure - one big song made up of lots of parts - makes it easier for me to get across the things I'm trying to talk about. I couldn't really do it another way. So the first opera was kinda talking about Minutemen [Contemplating the Engine Room], the second one was about the sickness that almost killed me [The Secondman's Middle Stand], and now this one is about midlife. So I call hyphenated-man an opera ‘‘cuz it's all supposed to be parts of one song. I've got an album coming out with the Black Gang - Nels Cline and Bob Lee - and that's about the idea of autumn. I'd call that one more of a concept album. 

And when you play hyphenated-man live, you perform it in its entirety, with all the parts in sequence.

Yeah, from start to finish. It's one piece. But it's hard to perform the operas because they're like 45 minutes to a fuckin' hour! It's like a life, so I live the life of the thing when we perform it. The first one was really tragic; the second one had a happy ending but with big hell parts that I actually lived through, and so when I did these things, I'd have to go through 'em. And hyphenated-man is hard because of all the small parts. There's a lot of fuckin' parts and stuff to remember, but it's kind of neat to challenge myself like that, I think. Technically, this one's the toughest of the three because it's got so much stuff to remember. Or maybe my memory's just worse ‘cuz I'm less young now [laughs]. I did a tour in Japan of the album last autumn, and that was the first time I did it, and it was tough, man - especially the first gigs. I think the more I do it, the more I'll get the hang of it. 

So you're using the short songs like you did on the Minutemen records, but the difference here is that they make up a more thematically unified whole.

I hadn't really listened to Minutemen that much since D. Boon got killed, ‘cuz it's heavy and stuff, but when the We Jam Econo documentary was being made, I had to listen to the music again. They [director Tim Irwin and producer Keith Schieron] wanted me to drive around Pedro and spiel about it, and hearing it again, it was like, Whoa! This is kind of interesting - the idea we had of distilling it all down to little things like that. Like I said, we originally got the idea from Wire, but then the idea of Bosch making one big thing out of a bunch of little things also struck a parallel with the Minutemen. 

Did you find it difficult making that documentary?

You just have to deal with it. I was thinking, "You know what? If people see the Minutemen story, maybe they'll realize that anyone can start a band." ‘cuz that was the whole idea: if these bozos can do it.... So, in a way, I got fired up on a mission - if I tell 'em the thing the way it really was, it can be empowering, and it'd be part of the debt I feel I owe the punk movement. ‘cuz I don't know if we'd ever have done any of what we did if it wasn't for the punk movement. I've always felt a debt, and it was a way of giving back, by telling the story of these guys making a band out of nothing, like a lot of people did. I wanted to show people that it wasn't just about one time and one place - it can happen any time. So I got into it like that. Also, those cats who were making the film never saw Minutemen, and they were learning about us too. That kind of made it interesting also. They were younger, and they'd seen fIREHOSE, but they didn't really know about Minutemen. So it wasn't like they were coming with an agenda or trying to put it all into their own context. They were actually just listening, trying to learn about us. 

You wrote the new record on guitar, not bass, which is unusual for you.

Part of this thing was to confront myself musically with some weird stuff, and I hadn't written on guitar in a long, long time, so that was kind of a fresh way to do it. Most of the time, I like writing the bass first because it gives the other guys a lot of room, but in this case, for this piece, because of the little songs, I thought, fuck it. ‘cuz one thing about going back to the little song thing was that I was very concerned with giving respect to Georgie [George Hurley] and D. Boon. So I thought that to keep it from being too Minutemen-y, I'd get rid of the only Minuteman. So I didn't want to write the bass parts first, and I did some kinda extreme things: when I taught it to Tom and Raul, I didn't let 'em hear the bass. In the second song, "beak-holding-letter-man," there's one little guitar solo, and that's Tom's. All the other things, all the little melody lines and stuff, he follows the things I wrote.

Playing with D. Boon, he wanted the assertive bass, and I kind of developed that thing - although some of the great players, like Jack Bruce and John Entwistle, a lot of those guys had an intense influence on me. But I just wanted Tom and Raul to play together and make the relationship that way, so they'd be playing to each other and not be so much pulled by the bass. I actually wrote it all on D. Boon's black Telecaster. He got it in Kent, Ohio. It's the only electric guitar I have - I'm a bass player, I don't play guitar that much! You can tell if you hear the demos with just me. They're pretty palsy. I had to get Tom on there. I can't even hold a pick. I learned the guitar off D. Boon, so he's in there kind of, but maybe not as strong as if I'd put the bass out there from the start - although Tom does have some D. Boon influence. 

And the recording process itself was different from previous ones, with the guitar and drums being done first and then the bass and vocals much later.

Yeah, so I had those guys learn the thing without any bass or singing, and then when we were in the middle of a tour in May 2009, we recorded guitar and drums for three days at Tony Maimone's studio in Brooklyn. Then, a year later, when I had some time off from Stooges touring, I went back to finish it with the bass and the vocals - which is kind of hard to do, waiting a year for the bass. 

You mentioned Hieronymus Bosch. His paintings provide a sort of frame for this record. You're drawing on his major triptychs, with their characters and composite figures - what you call his "hyphenated-men."

Yeah, it's The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Last Judgment and The Temptation of St. Anthony - the main ones. I saw The Garden of Earthly Delights at the Prado, in Madrid, when I was touring with the Stooges. That's when I got the idea of making a piece about it. Actually, I've now been there three times to see it. Each time I go to Madrid, I go see it. I like the little creatures made of different parts. We don't really know what Bosch was saying with those paintings because he didn't write anything, so we don't know his thoughts. Some people just thought they were visualizations of proverbs and aphorisms and stuff. Some of it's really obvious, like the guy blowing his own horn, but I didn't know 500-year-old Dutch, so I just made up my own shit, my own meanings.

In the songs, most of the amalgamations - the men made out of different parts - they're the bad guys; there's hardly any of the good ones. But my point wasn't to make character judgments about the amalgamations. I used it all for inspiration, for the motifs, music-wise and subject-wise. It helped me focus things. You know, when I wrote songs in the Minutemen days, and ever since those days, when I write songs I start with titles because I need some kind of focus - or I end up just repeating myself. So Bosch helped me like that, but it wasn't really about his big statements, it was more about his studies, his little creatures and little men made out of different parts. 

So most of the imagery derives from Bosch's depictions of torment and damnation, but it's not as if the album is literally "about" the paintings.

The way I used Bosch was kind of pragmatic and nuts and bolts-y, even though it's all psychological, based heavily in the realm of the imagination, which I like. But I did get caught up in it a little bit. That was something I never envisioned until I was sitting there in the studio at the very end. The record was supposed to end with the track called "man-shitting-man," and I told Tony, "Man, I can't end this thing with this song." I got too caught up in the Bosch Last Judgment shit - and that's just not for me. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but I don't know how that happened. So I took [a more positive song] from the middle of the record - "wheel-bound-man" - and I put that one at the end. 

Have you always liked Bosch's work?

I was intrigued by his little guys as a boy, because it just looked trippy - like dinosaurs, it was the same kind of thing. It was otherworldly. 

OK, to sum up so far, hyphenated-man is an opera inspired in different ways by midlife, by Minutemen, by Bosch....

And the other part of it is the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy thing, with the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion - the farmhands. The way I take that story is that Dorothy is just trippin' on what dudes do to be dudes, and even the Man Behind the Curtain says stuff about that, like, "Oh, you're smart, where I come from you'd get a diploma!" or "You're brave, where I'm from they'd give you a medal" - so he's implying that those guys always had the things they want. 

You're thinking specifically about masculinity, from the perspective of middle age?

I hadn't really thought about it until recently. People always talked about old and young, and I'd never really thought about the middle. It seems to me that a big chunk of the middle age thing - what they call a crisis - is about this kind of thing, this questioning, which I think is kind of healthy. People should do it all the way, but I guess you start doing it because your body starts getting worse, and you start adding up things, asking what it's all about, asking what's your journey, your mission. 

Is this Watt's midlife crisis album, then?

Well, in a way, my work is a kind of Peter Pan world, but on this record there is the thing about being older, middle-aged.... I don't know if it's so much a crisis ‘cuz I think it's healthy to look at it. It's more of a crisis when you try to be a 20-year-old again, get a convertible, a young girlfriend and all that stuff - and try to act like a young guy. That's more like hitting the panic button, whereas I was just trying to confront myself on certain things. I probably always had a crisis! You understand this as a writer: every time you have to go to the plate and reinvent yourself, that's a crisis, no matter what age you're at. We have to do this all the time when we come up with new pieces. Sometimes the work does come a little easier, but you always feel, "Whoa, what am I gonna do?" But maybe it's like that for all humans when they come up to the middle part and say, Yea, what is to be done?

 I guess this is also about our mortality and crap like that, too. I feel my body's not as resilient as it was, but on the other hand I have experiences that I didn't have; I don't know if I'd trade that to be all stupid and go through all that fuckin' shit again - just for a more resilient body [laughs]. So there's really no crisis on that end of it. I accept it. I'm very reconciled with the fact that I'm no longer a younger man. But, hopefully, I'm not at the end of the road either. Being in the middle's okay, in a way. It's not such a nightmare. 

What advice would a middle-aged Watt give to a younger Watt?

Life's for learning! That's the one thing that I really wish would get out from the new piece - and why I put "wheel-bound-man" at the end [the last lines of the song are: "I think I've learned that life's for learnin' as I'm goin' through my trips - me on the wheel as it's turnin' "]. I really think that everybody's got something to teach, and it's kind of hard ‘cuz you know everything when you're younger! Everybody's got something to teach me: somebody who's starting out, somebody who's done it a long time. I think this is a good thing to learn. I don't know if you can tell somebody that. They have to realize it for themselves.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

Review and Photos by Logan K. Young

Any review of Gang of Four, now, has to consider the Gang of Four then.

Alas, such is the case when Britain's leading post-punk Marxists decide to get the band back together. Ideally, a new GoF record like Content - their first since 1995's surprisingly relevant Shrinkwrapped - would be judged on its own merits. And as good as Content actually is, really, the fact matters naught whenever that Kinect 360! advert featuring 1979's "Natural's Not In It" comes on the tube.

Gang of Four shilling for Microsoft? Say it ain't so, blokes!

Then again, in a world where PiL plays late night talk shows and Steve Ignorant assembles a tour to perform vintage Crass music sans Penny Rimbaud, perhaps it's petty to beg discretion of nostalgia -- especially for a band so of its time. For starters - ding-a-ling dong! - Thatcherism's dead. No longer do Brittany's downtrodden have to suffer the vestiges of her trickle-down syndromes. Closer to home, though, in a U.S. capital where Henry Rollins isn't scooping Georgetonians ice cream, Inner Ear has moved to Arlington and the new 9:30 is one OK Go show away from Live Nation hegemony, we the Whigs have never needed Jon King's voice and Andy Gill's guitar more.

Yes, that is a partial swipe at the present GoF rhythm section -- bassist Thomas McNeice and Mark Heaney on drums. Just as Chairman Mao was nothing without his full quartet, this gang is certainly lacking the verve and insistence of the original, reunited lineup that ripped it up and started again back in 2004.

It has little to do with the material, too. Set opener (and recent Letterman feature, itself) "You'll Never Pay for the Farm" is about as classic Gang of Four we're gonna get, now that founding drummer Hugo Burnham is firmly ensconced in the ivory tower of academia. Followed by a song like Entertainment's "Not Great Men," however, and it's readily apparent that McNeice and Heaney possess neither the chops, nor the context, that Burnham and original bass player Dave Allen could replicate in spades.

And honestly, that's why you go to a Gang of Four gig here in 2011. Not that newer cuts late in the set list like "Do As I Say" or "A Fruitfly in the Beehive" don't cut deep. They do. It's just that, for those of us who missed them in their prime (or maybe had a problem letting them go in the first place), it's the encored numbers like "Damaged Goods" or "At Home He's a Tourist" or, in spite of the BBC, "I Love a Man in Uniform" that cut the deepest. And it's for precisely this same reason that I have Wire tickets for April 7. And it's also how Peter Hook can charge thirtysomething quid to hear him and his son's friends play Unknown Pleasures back to front. But when the songs are good enough, and their message remains potent, it hardly matters -- not in the long run of rock 'n' roll anyways.

To be fair, Gang of Four mattered much more then, than they ever can now. And as everyone from Alphonse Karr to G.B. Shaw to Kurt Russell himself have noted, the more things change...the more they only stay the same. To wit, some thirty-odd years later for these post-punk proles, God save the queen is still not what she seems.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Blurt Staff

Fresh off his and musical partner Atticus Ross' Oscar win last night for the soundtrack to The Social Network, Trent Reznor has indicated that he's "finished" laying down tracks for the next How to Destroy Angels album. Speaking to Billboard, he's quoted as saying all that's left now is the mixing.

"I just finished recording a How to Destroy Angels project with my wife [Mariqueen Maandig]," Reznor said. "We have to mix it. [It will be out in the] early fall, most likely."

The record will be offered up as a free digital download as well as a higher-quality physical release (for pay), as was done with the first HTDA EP.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Jud Cost

For Yo La Tengo to play live twice on the West Coast within an eight-month span is a rare treat. When they headlined San Jose's Left Coast Live festival last summer, they were pretty much ducking flak from anti-aircraft ack-ack guns, flying under the radar and searchlights of Bay Area publicity.

Tonight, kicking off the 2011 Noise Pop mini-season at Oakland's palatial Fox Theater, the storied Hoboken, N.J. threesome were preaching to a near full-house of longtime fans who had, perhaps, seen them more than 20 years ago at hip San Francisco nightspots the I-Beam or the Kennel Club. "This is a nice place. The first time we played in the East Bay, it was kind of like this...at Berkeley Square," deadpanned band leader Ira Kaplan, referring to the microscopic University Ave. punk joint that held about 75 people, max.

Over syrupy canned background music that could have been the theme for The Merv Griffin Show, Kaplan, in his milkiest talk-show-host voice revealed how the band's set would be determined tonight. Someone rolled out an extra-large Wheel Of Fortune-style spinner with all the set-list possibilities painted on an oversized clock face. Kaplan, as Pat Sajak, chose an audience member to try his luck and the arrow landed on "Dump." Which meant the first set would consist solely of psychedelic guitar-laced numbers from bassist James McNew's long-running side project of that name.

It was an extraordinary "coals to Newcastle" treat to hear the hulking McNew (who usually plays bass in Yo La Tengo), featured in a 60-minute, fuzz-laden, guitar freak-out in the backyard of such fabled "summer of love" stringbusters as John Cipollina, Barry Melton, Jorma Kaukonen, James Gurley and Jerry Garcia. McNew, with a little help from drummer Georgia Hubley, did all the singing, too. Kaplan played bass and rested his pipes for the second set which I, alas, had to miss so I could catch the BART train home.

Besides, I'd already scratched a 30-year itch by getting to the Fox early for a heroic 40-minute set by legendary Los Angeles punk trio the Urinals. Arising phoenix-like from the affluent surroundings of UCLA in 1979, the Urinals took out their comfortable upbringing on their classmates by waxing punk gems like "Salmonella," "Ack Ack Ack Ack" and "I'm White And Middle Class." Bassist/songwriter John Talley-Jones, guitarist Kjehl Johansen and drummer Kevin Barrett somehow fit into a loose-knit, Velvet Underground-influenced, intercontinental scene that also included London's Wire, New England's Mission Of Burma and New Zealand's the Clean.

Regrettably, I missed the Urinals if, indeed, they ever did play San Francisco's punk citadel, the Mabuhay Gardens. Growing tired of their Moms-unfriendly original name, the trio adapted and morphed into 100 Flowers around the time the Paisley Underground bands were venturing north in the early '80s. 100 Flowers were slotted to play the Old Waldorf in early 1983 with Green On Red and the Bangles, but their last-minute cancellation was turned into a bonanza when Rain Parade took their place on the bill.

And now, 28 years later (with guitarist Rob Roberge on board for Johansen), here they were, about to ignite a crowd of about 100 of the curious, rattling around in a room that could hold about three thousand. Barrett banged his sticks together, one, two, three, four, and they were off to the races as though they'd never left: real, honest-to-god, two-chord punk rock as it was meant to sound. They must have exploded through 20 songs in 40 minutes with a blast-furnace intensity, like the day your Mom turned up the vegetable pressure-cooker too high and splattered the ceiling with broccoli and zucchini.

"It's been great seeing Yo La Tengo every night on this tour. We're not used to being the second best band onstage," said a grey-haired Talley-Jones, breathing hard between songs. "Yeah," cracked Roberge. "We usually play with three bands."

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By Blurt Staff

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds reissues are is in the wings for May 17 via EMI. Let Love In (1994), Murder Ballads (1996), The Boatman's Call (1997) and No More Shall We Part (2001) -- their eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh studio albums, respectively - are en route as separate deluxe double-disc Collectors Edition.

These latest releases are the third set of reissues from a series that will ultimately see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' entire album catalogue digitally re-mastered and remixed for 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time since their original release.

Each deluxe double-disc Collectors Edition contains the re-mastered stereo album, the new surround mix, a specially commissioned short film made by UK artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, plus b-sides from the singles, videos and exclusive sleeve notes.

The first three consecutive albums in the re-mastered deluxe edition series -- From Her to Eternity, The Firstborn Is Dead, Kicking Against the Pricks -- were released in 2009. The next four in the series -- Your Funeral...My Trial, Tender Prey, The Good Son and Henry's Dream - were released last year.

Tracklistings:

Let Love In [CD/DVD; digital audio]

CD

Do You Love Me?

Nobody's Baby Now

Loverman

Jangling Jack

Red Right Hand

I Let Love In

Thirsty Dog

Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore

Lay Me Low

Do You Love Me? (Part 2)

DVD

Let Love In (re-mastered album in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Additional Audio Tracks (in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Cassiel's Song

Sail Away

(I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World

That's What Jazz Is To Me

Where The Action Is

Videos

Do You Love Me?

Loverman

Red Right Hand

Short Film: Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 8: Let Love In)

Murder Ballads [CD/DVD; digital audio]

CD

Song Of Joy

Stagger Lee

Henry Lee

Lovely Creature

Where The Wild Roses Grow

The Curse Of Millhaven

The Kindness Of Strangers

Crow Jane

O'Malley's Bar

Death Is Not The End

DVD

Murder Ballads (re-mastered album in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo) 

Additional Audio Tracks (in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane

The Willow Garden

King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O

Knoxville Girl

Videos

Stagger Lee

Where The Wild Roses Grow

Henry Lee

Short Film: Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 9: Murder Ballads)

The Boatman's Call [CD/DVD; digital audio]

CD

Into My Arms

Lime Tree Arbour

People Ain't No Good

Brompton Oratory

There Is A Kingdom

(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?

Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?

West Country Girl

Black Hair

Idiot Prayer

Far From Me

Green Eyes

DVD

The Boatman's Call (re-mastered album in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Additional Audio Tracks (in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Little Empty Boat

Right Now I'm A-Roaming

Black Hair (Band version)

Come Into My Sleep

Babe, I Got You Bad

Videos

Into My Arms

(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?

Short Film : Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 10: The Boatman's Call)

No More Shall We Part [CD/DVD; digital audio]

CD

As I Sat Sadly By Her Side

And No More Shall We Part

Hallelujah

Love Letter

Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow

God Is In The House

Oh My Lord

Sweetheart Come

The Sorrowful Wife 

We Came Along This Road

Gates To The Garden

Darker With The Day

DVD

No More Shall We Part (re-mastered album in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Additional Audio Tracks (in DTS Surround Sound 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and stereo)

Good Good Day

Little Janey's Gone

Grief Came Riding

Bless His Ever Loving Heart

Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (Westside Session)

We Came Along This Road (Westside Session)

God Is In The House (Westside Session)

And No More Shall We Part (Westside Session)

Videos

As I Sat Sadly By Her Side

Love Letter

Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow

Short Film: Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 11: No More Shall We Part)

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY RON HART 

For nearly 35 years, Gang of Four from Leeds, England, have pressed on - albeit in a fit of stops and starts (much like their music) - as one of the true purveyors of the sound commonly known as post-punk. Alongside the likes of Wire, Liliput and The Fall, they helped create a unique strain of eardrum buzz that piggybacked off the momentum of the success of fellow Brits The Clash and The Sex Pistols.

However, in the case of the Four, the group pole-vaulted the genre to such dizzying heights of Trotskyist confrontation that they simultaneously challenged their audience to dig a little deeper within the premises of their politics and social standings in the world. And in a modern age where governments have been diluted to just another commodity to be traded on the global financial market, blind consumerism and detached social networking are usurping the life's blood from the soul of the human race and people are forming united fronts to rise up against the tyranny of their longtime oppressors across the Middle East, the quartet's incendiary strain of funk-informed guitar polemics is as timely as ever.

It's a notion that had made Gang of Four's new album, their first collection of new material in 16 years, one of the most anticipated releases of the still-young year of 2011. Content (Yep Roc), a record that was funded through online donations via Pledge Music, is the follow-up to Return The Gift,  their 2004 re-recording by the original lineup of their greatest hits as a calculated strategy to divert money away from the group's original label EMI. It finds the foursome of vocalist Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill and new members Thomas McNeice and drummer Mark Heaney (replacing classic members Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen, respectively) taking aim at the personal and economic struggles of maintaining a functional way of life in the Internet era and stands tall as their strongest set of songs since 1981's Solid Gold (still in dire, dire need of a reissue).

BLURT recently caught up via electronic mail with Mr. King to talk about the new album, politics, the MP3 revolution and the group's questionable decision to go against their anti-advertising ethos to have one of their songs appear in an Xbox commercial, among other topics.

***

BLURT: In hindsight, how do you feel the PledgeMusic campaign went for the funding of Content?
JON KING: It's been an interesting exercise and raised a useful amount of money to help fund the album. We've always said that musicians should get reasonably paid for what we do.  But the new model - where music is shared and downloaded for nothing, where traditional record companies are doomed but where technology based intermediaries - like Apple, who don't invest a cent in talent [yet] are making almost all the money - means that it's no longer  possible to earn any money from recorded music. So everyone's been trying to find an alternative way to do things.  This almost always ends up embracing advertising or sponsorship, which is weird for musicians to want to do so wholeheartedly. It's a collective act of desperation.  

        If you want to know how a society is going, follow the money.  And the money doesn't go to creative talent or their support networks but to advertising. This is what filesharing has led us to. I'm with Jaron Lanier on this, whose recent book, You Are Not A Gadget, makes the case very persuasively.
 
Did skirting the whole record industry machine in the creation of Content inspire a desire to record more?
We didn't want to waste our energies looking for a patron or a record company. We wanted to concentrate on the music.  The record industry's a busted flush and boring to engage with; we wanted to do things on our own.  Musicians have to think differently about their craft if they want to make a living or publish our recorded music now that music has become effectively worthless due to illegal file sharing. The fans who do this are killing the bands and their support networks.

Why did you choose to go with Yep Roc to release the new album?
It's a great label who loves what we do and knows how to get non-commercial music like ours out there in a professional and commercially sound way. I trust them. This is very important to us . Yep Roc's passion is what we wanted, not their money.

In the actual recording of Content, what were some of the different approaches you took in contrast to your last set of all-new material [1995's Shrinkwrapped]?
We wanted to make music where every segment plays an equally  important part, but has a relentlessness that took you somewhere else, like a train falling off a cliff. It was intentional. I'm so bored by endlessly layered, over-produced commercial music. Stops and starts feature as much on Content as back in the day. It's much sparser and raw than our last set of new records, like Shrinkwrapped, which had grown as a project from soundtrack music we'd written for an indie film directed by Peter Hall called Delinquent; the songs had an atmospheric feel that were quite worked up to as a result.

Was there anything you were listening to casually as a fan that had a creative effect on the outcome of Content?
Sometimes you hear a tune that mixes up rock guitar, pop and hip-hop in an interesting way. I like PLAN B for example. But a big reason to make Content, as for Entertainment!, was that we couldn't hear things out there that hit the spot. This is when you have to do it yourself.
 
Where do you stand in the argument of digital music vs. physical product (CDs, vinyl)? How do you keep your own collection these days?
I hate the sound of MP3's. It's shit. But, like everyone else, I can't live without portable music so I put up with it. It's a shame there's nowhere to buy a 20-20 recording online that's as good as on a CD. But my iPod would explode with the noughts and ones.  I have a superb old Linn record deck that makes every piece of vinyl feel like a luxurious and erotic sonic massage that's superior to CDs. We live through times when every audio technology advance makes the music sound technically and emotionally worse.
       Physical things allow us to play with words and imagery (and smells).  It's obvious we really value artwork, which can make an album richer; we spend a lot of time on this, as you can see in the special edition metal box and on the early records. It adds to the music.  
 
How does the integration of Thomas McNeice and Mark Heaney as permanent members of Gang of Four affect the dynamic of your sound, in your opinion? What do you feel this new rhythm section you have brings to the table that sets them apart from original members Dave Allen and Hugo Burnham?
There've been many versions of the band. The first founder members were Hugo, Andy and me, and our first bass player was a guy called Dave Woolfson. He's the bloke referenced by an audience member ("Who's the hippy on the bass?") on the cassette tape of our first ever show in Leeds.  Hugo, a good friend, was a magnificent drummer and had his own style.  Dave Allen was great, too. But after he quit very early on, we hired Busta Jones (ex-Remain in Light Talking Heads), my personal early days favourite; then we hired the wonderful Sarah Lee (ex-Robert Fripp's League of Gentlemen,  later in The B-52's and Indigo Girls). Sarah was great, too. And after her, Gail Anne Dorsey, who left us to play with the Stones and Bowie. Mark Heaney is currently one of the world's top five drummers. He's a genius: solid, talented and inventive. It's wonderful to play with him. Thomas combines elements of Dave Allen and Busta Jones' style and brings an intensity and attack to it. The guys are world class.
 
What were your initial thoughts when the Xbox people approached you to use "Natural's Not In It" for a TV commercial?
We thought it was fantastic.  Ten out of ten! If we'd ever been asked to define a dream scenario for this song, the first lines of which are "The problem of leisure/ What to do for pleasure", this would be it. Superb. Just like, back in the day, when we decided to sign to EMI, the ugly, corporate beast of a record company. Some people were outraged, saying we should be with an indie, but our music really made sense with a major at that time.
 
Are there any plans to reissue the rest of your catalog following the great re-release of Entertainment! from Rhino in 2005? What album of yours would you most like to see revisited and why?
There aren't any plans to do this. I do love Solid Gold and Songs of the Free, however. 
 

The title of your new album is Content. What meaning of the word were you thinking of when you chose it?
Well, the album is full of content. So the title's good as a descriptor. And creative people are all "content providers". Journalists, writers, musicians, artists, filmmakers etc. We collectively grovel to the technology intermediaries who suck us dry, like the evil Apple Corporation, who don't invest a cent in music but charge a massive percentage for every track sold on iTunes, worse than the worst record company. Worse, even, than EMI, I might add. Another meaning is to be content, which is hard.
 
What do you think of the idea that some people believe Barack Obama to be a Communist?
They're crazy. He's not even left wing. In Europe he'd be seen as a centre-right politician. The people who say this know nothing of ideas or of history, especially U.S. history. It was President Eisenhower, the war hero who helped win World War II who warned us all to be wary of the military-industrial complex, and the conspiracies in the right.
 
What are your thoughts on David Cameron as Prime Minister of England?
He's a millionaire aristocrat who has 22 millionaires in a 30 man cabinet. He represents the interest of the rich against working families and the poor.
 
What do you think about WikiLeaks and its place in the world?
Our rulers depend on silence for compliance and that their secrets are never revealed.  
 
Since Gang of Four has been a band, you have seen six American presidents sit in office, from Jimmy Carter to Obama. Who do you feel was the best president of those six and why?
I liked Bill [Clinton]. America had a balanced budget, the rest of the world thought highly of the USA, a country I profoundly love.
 
What are your thoughts on the American Tea Party?
They should read some more books and get out more!

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By David Downs

An arctic blast of wind, rain and cold descended on San Francisco Thursday night, but inside the packed Bottom of the Hill club, down in front, at Ted Leo's second solo show this year - the vibe was warmly defiant.

Damn the brutal conditions outside, the New Yorker played over an hour-long set of songs from his huge back catalog, marking another intimate highlight from Noise Pop 2011, the 19 year-old week-long indie music festival featuring about 100 bands at around 20 venues, including Death Cab's Ben Gibbard, Yo La Tengo, No Age and Wavves.

Called a "goddamn national treasure" by Noise Pop writer Kevin Seal, the New Jersey native has been in the game for 25 years, morphing from punk rocker to indie rock to his current, stripped down and plugged in act - featuring just him, a mic, his guitar and amp.

He's sort of adrift in 2011, he says, and looking to reconnect. So he's struck out without his backing band The Pharmacists for one of his longest solo stints ever. Whip smart and powder dry, Leo kept his rock talk terse late Thursday night and focused on song after song of amped up singer-songwriter storytelling - a less emo Elliot Smith. Reflecting on his career crossroads, Leo said simply, "Honestly, there are very few things I'd do differently."

Tracks like "Bleeding Powers", and "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" came out forceful, confident and raw. The forty-year-old's voice was both thin and tight from winter travel and a cold - yet another reason why bands tour in the Summer. He said he might lose his voice Thursday, screwing his Seattle audience out of a show.

"Don't worry, I'll leave it gasping and bloody on stage. Seattle can deal with the aftermath," he said. Then later, "Don't tell Seattle I said that."

Cue: "Bottled in Cork", "Colleen", "The High Party Lyrics, "The Gold Finch and the Red Oak Tree" and numerous others. The crowd of Leo die-hards - some grizzled and bearded, others still in braces - lapped it all up.

He concluded with a thank you to his opener Kevin Seconds, who nearly missed his set time after his car died in Southern California Thursday morning.]

No matter how long artists tour, they remain one breakdown away from a shitstorm of problems, Leo noted.

"It's inspiring to see Kevin's performance after all that crap. And it's a privilege to get to do this."

Tonight: The legendary Kid Koala does things with vinyl records that no one else can do. And darkwave rock act Tamaryn takes us to a sinful place.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By A.D. Amorosi

That sinking feeling that R.E.M. seem to be on about in their new album's title doesn't manifest itself within their most sonically diverse body of work since 2001's Reveal. Mind you, it's not that this is a positivist manifesto for the new decade. The now-ness is simply about shaking loose the head fuzz that marked their last 15 years.

This R.E.M. sound present-or at least as much as they did on 2008's Accelerate. When Stipe croons through the grungy ring of "All the Best" the line "it's just like me to overstay my welcome," you're not looking for something sarcastic to say back to him. Stipe's got a lot of shopworn platitudes and attitudes used as lyrical motifs here: he's "never felt so calm" ("Discoverer") and he "earned his wings" ("It Happened Today"). Luckily these are some of Collapse's brightest moments, the former borrowing its crusty melody and guitars from PIL's "Seattle" and the latter, one of the trio's chillier anthems.

The album is at its best on the piano-driven "Walk It Back" and the raveup "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Animator." Both benefit from Patti Smith's influence, the previous track a Smith-attack on her Phil Spector period, the second actually featuring punk's godparents Patti and Lenny Kaye attacking their instruments and R.E.M.'s melody like rabid dogs. (Eddie Vedder and Peaches also guest on the record.) While most of its soft ballads are on the OK side, their finest moment is the twinkling Velvets-like lullaby "Everyday is Yours to Win."

Funny, that. I think R.E.M. won this round, big time. Welcome home

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills

It's an old story: a respected, revered, beloved or otherwise influential musician pens a hit song (or several), but ultimately gets screwed out of his royalties, either due to youthful carelessness (particularly back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, when artists were notoriously un-savvy about the way the music biz works) or by falling prey to an unscrupulous manager or record label head. In recent years, there have been the occasional efforts by individuals or organizations to help musicians or their surviving family members finally receive a just and equitable payment, and once in awhile there has even been the notable person willing to step forward and do the right thing by the artists even if specific legal technicalities didn't require him to do so.

Apparently that ain't the case for the late Sky Saxon, frontman and chief songwriter for ‘60s garage legends The Seeds. Saxon - born Richard Marsh - passed away in 2009 (read our obituary here), but long before then he'd passed into the realm of the iconic, a genuine godfather of the Nuggets generation thanks to such Seeds hits in the mid ‘60s as "Pushin' Too Hard," "Can't Seem to Make You Mine," and "Mr. Farmer," tunes often covered by young artists coming up through the ranks, as well as his subsequent journeys in rock ‘n' roll, from his involvement with the Source Family in the ‘70s to his latterday appearances at garage rock festivals such as Cavestomp.

Now we learn that Saxon received no royalties from record sales or music publishing for most of his career, a matter that his label and publishing company attributes to his selling his artist's and producer's royalties for $350 and his music publishing royalties for $250 back in 1973. Apparently both Saxon, while he was living, and his widow attempted to recover royalties but were repeatedly turned down, so the matter has now landed in L.A. Superior Court and a hearing is scheduled for March 8. Here are the details, provided by the Saxon camp:

***

Saxon signed a record deal in 1965 with GNP Crescendo Record Co., Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that specialized in jazz recordings, run by Gene Norman, a former concert promoter and disc jockey. At that time, he also signed a music publishing deal with Neil Music, Inc., which is a sister company of GNP.  But for 37 years, since 1973, GNP and Neil Music have stubbornly refused to pay Saxon, or his heirs, any royalties whatsoever. These companies maintain that Saxon signed away all of his royalties, forever, based upon three minor transactions:  A $500 payment for "Pushin' Too Hard" in late 1972, a loan for $250 in mid-1973 (that Saxon did not pay back), for all of Saxon's other songs, and a loan for $350 from late 1973 (that Saxon also did not pay back), for all of Saxon's record and producer's royalties.

The Estate of Sky Saxon (represented by Evan Cohen, and S. Martin Keleti and Sommer Issaq of Cohen and Cohen) has brought a lawsuit against GNP and Neil Music for rescission of Saxon's record and publishing deals, and for royalties for the past four years.  In response, the companies (which are now run by Neil Norman, son of Gene Norman) have taken the position that the three petty deals from 1972 and 1973 are "buy-outs" of any and all royalties forever.  The Estate has asked the court to set aside these three transactions, on the grounds that they are so oppressive and unfair that they should be void, as a matter of public policy, that is, "unconscionable." "Unconscionable" contracts are deals that are so oppressive and one-sided that they literally "shock the conscience" of the court and of civilized society, or which have no place in the legitimate business world.  In that the alleged "buy-outs" fit that description exactly, the Estate has asked the court to set them aside.  The Estate has also asked that on account of the 37-year failure of GNP and Neil Music to pay any royalties, that the original 1960s deals be rescinded, and the Estate be given back all of the musical properties.

In recent years, GNP and Neil Music have exploited Saxon's songs and recordings to a substantial extent. "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" has recently been used in a commercial for Axe Body Spray. "Pushin' Too Hard" has been used for numerous film and television projects, as have other songs by The Seeds.  The songs have been covered over the years by numerous artists, including The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Billy Corgan, Garbage, Alex Chilton, Murder City Devils, and Yo La Tengo.

The motion to determine the issue of unconscionability will be heard on March 8, 2011.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY LEE ZIMMERMAN

Cayamo. The word itself conjures up a celebratory sound. It even leaves a rather indulgent impression, especially if said in the midst of a chorus of fellow revelers. Cayamo! Witnessing it firsthand, it becomes a veritable call to party hearty. CAYAMO!

That was certainly the case most recently as the fourth Cayamo cruise embarked from Miami, setting its sites for the Caribbean. Yet, it wasn't the destination that mattered; rather it was the journey to get there. Ensconced onboard, in the midst of over 2,000 partying passengers, were nearly three dozen of the finest Americana artists modern music has to offer, much less the finest contingent of musicians one will ever find on the high (at times) seas. BLURT was fortunate to be there for the third year in a row, documenting all the high (at times) lights over the course of an entire week. BLURT's own participation in a pair of seminars is also duly noted during the course of these proceedings, but it's the artists themselves, both singularly and in a seemingly unending parade of guest appearances and cameo occasions, that make Cayamo the most exhilarating experience a music lover could ever wish for.

To overuse a tired cliché, it rocked! Then again, words, ordinary or otherwise, don't do this event justice. Nevertheless, we'll try. What follows then, is our day-by-day rundown of Cayamo 2011.

[Ed. note: to see our photo gallery from the 2011 Cayamo! please go here.]

***

DAY ONE, Sunday, February 13

The first introduction to any cruise is always somewhat disconcerting. There's much to learn about the ship's layout, and this year it was especially challenging as the ship of choice had changed to the Norwegian Pearl after the last couple of years spent on Norwegian's Dawn. With a music cruise as intensive as Cayamo, however, preparation becomes even more of a necessity; since several concerts occur simultaneously, it's essential to thoroughly plan a personal schedule so that one can catch as many acts as possible, while contending with conflicting performances at the same time. Some of the shows are set in stone; each passenger is given assigned seating to one of three main stage shows that take place every night in the Stardust Lounge, an onboard theater with a seating capacity in excess of 1,000. In addition, there are special "hot seats" that allow a repeat ticket to one of the headliner shows with upgraded seating. Plus, the special alumni perks allow entrance into special performances that are apart from general admission. The opportunity to trade tickets made this location the most flexible of all in terms of planning a course of concert action, and passengers posted notes at a central bulletin board offering to exchange tickets for a show more to their liking.

In general however, Cayamo cruisers are responsible for setting up their own schedules, and in our case that often meant darting madly between shows on the pool deck, in the atrium, in Bar City, the Bliss Lounge and more consistently, the Spinnaker Lounge, where the majority of the must-see acts made repeat appearances. The latter venue often became a particular challenge; with an array of artists that included Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright, Allison Moorer, Scott Miller, Works Progress Administration, Ellis Paul, Shawn Mullins, Lucy Wainwright and ex-Men at Work mainstay Colin Hay, demand often exceeded seating capacity. Some shows were wisely moved; tickets to Loudon Wainwright stretched from deck five to deck 13 at one point, but nevertheless, the rule of thumb was first come, first served, and grab your seat as quickly as possible when inside.

Once the boat set sail, the music began in earnest. Shawn Mullins, a perennial Cayamo favorite, kicked things off on the pool deck with a set of songs that included highlights from his excellent new album, Light You Up. The crowd, already stoked, greeted the set warmly, and when Brandi Carlile, another icon adored by the Cayamo crowd, made the first of several cameo appearances, the audience predictably roared its enthusiasm

Later, it was off to Bar City (a strange name for a lounge, I reckoned, in that this particular city had no police or fire department or other internal governmental workings as far as I could see) to catch a talkative and charming Lucy Wainwright with a special guest appearance by dad Loudon, followed by Shannon Whitworth, one of the more promising newcomers on the cruise. The night ended with a performance by Work Progress Administration, or WPA, the indie super group that made its bow on Cayamo 2010 with mainstays Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), and Luke Bulla (Lyle Lovett). As a bonus, last minute special guest Dan Wilson sat in and played a couple of his spectacular songs as well. It made for a perfect cap on a day that was exceedingly satisfying, to say the least. Astonishingly, this was only day one!

Star sightings: Richard Thompson, with wife Nancy Covey, standing idly by during the boarding ritual; the aforementioned Glen Phillips, chatting at the service desk onboard; and Shawn Mullins, responding to a fan's inquiry about his general state of being by affirming, "Man, I've had a great year!

DAY TWO, Monday, February 14

Being Valentine's Day -- by any standard, an ideal day to cruise and listen to music -- the ship was festooned with streams of hearts and plenty of references to romance as well. I co-led a seminar on pop music's greatest love songs, sharing the spotlight with another journalist and playing samples of songs that we felt fit the occasion. My choices included Van Morrison's "Have I Told You Lately," the Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere," "To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees and "Unchained Melody" from the Righteous Brothers. I worried that my selections might seem a bit pedestrian to this sophisticated crowd of music aficionados, but when my partner offered Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You," I figured my own hipness factor couldn't take too bad a beating. In truth, she did trump me with a song from Ani DiFranco and this very cool band from Seattle whose name I can't recall. She also knew how to program her music via IPod while I was forced to rely on a mix CD. Hey, just saying the words "mix CD" makes me feel kinda cool anyway.

Besides, by this point, everyone was in ecstasy, not the least of which the stars themselves. "It's invigorating to play for so many new people," remarked David Ryan Harris, a supremely gifted singer/songwriter and another holdover from a couple of years before. "It's also great to just sit and watch the other artists and be a fan. It's great to be stuck on a boat and casually observe all these other artists I love and respect."

Sam and Ruby, first time performers on Cayamo, echoed Harris' enthusiasm. "I can do this!" Ruby affirmed. "It's like band camp. You make friends right away and they become friends for life."

Much of the afternoon was spent crowded into the Bliss Lounge with several hundred other new friends, witnessing the end of Kevn Kinney's set as he sang, "This one's kinda like you... A little bit lost, a little bit blue." With his cowboy hat, hefty girth and long black hair, he created the impression of the stereotypical cosmic cowboy, but his amusing stories suggested he could also be everybody's best buddy if they and he were so inclined.

Scott Miller and Will Hoge, two excellent Tennessee singer/songwriters shared the stage next, swapping songs and stories for a session recorded for World Café. Both men boast a terrific catalogue of original material, and a good reservoir of wit as well. Miller, who is originally from Virginia, remarked that his wife is from neighboring West Virginia, adding, "When you get married you always have to give something up. In my case, it was half my jokes." However, despite his jocular personality, Miller's songs are infused with heartrending pathos, particularly "Lo Siento, Spanishburg, West Virginia," a tale of transformation in small town America, and "Freedom's A Stranger," an affirmative anthem even the Boss would likely love to call his own.

Our first show in the Stardust occurred that night, with John Prine taking the spotlight, accompanied at one point by the ever-present Brandi Carlile. Looking older and grayer than I had recalled, he nevertheless put on a great show, with the weary ballads "Angel from Montgomery" and "Hello In There" providing the emotional highlights. The crowd roared its approval, fully cognizant of the fact that they were witnessing a venerable old master at work.

Ellis Paul, up in the Spinnaker, provided another tender touchstone, his expressive vocals and tight two-piece backing band adding poignancy to a remarkably revealing set of songs. Damn if I didn't have tears welling up in my eyes from the first song on. The man's a treasure, as surely as James Taylor or Jackson Browne, and one can only hope someone recognizes that fact and clears him a passing lane on the road to the big time.

Keith Sewell, another one-time member of Lyle Lovett's touring band and a former foil to Ricky Skaggs, provided the musical nightcap with a rousing set of Bluegrass revelry. "Man, this is the best festival in the U.S.," he proclaimed. "Hell, it's the best festival in the world!"

We couldn't agree more.

Star sightings: Hanging with my new best friend Scott Miller, introduced in absentia by Mic Harrison, a Knoxville pal and Scott's onetime band mate in the late, great V-Roys.

DAY THREE, Tuesday, February 15

There was clear indication that overindulgence has already set in. My wife Alisa and I spot a semi familiar face on the stairwell. "You were terrific yesterday," Alisa enthuses. He thanks us and scurries away as I turn to her and ask, "So who was that?"

"I don't really know," she replied. "He did look kind of familiar though."

I run into the Steep Canyon Rangers at an interview session as they slowly, sleepily drift into the conference room. A group of best buddies who happen to be adept at old fashioned bluegrass, they've become stars of a genre that's become more and more popular with mainstream audiences in the past decade or so, a trend they attribute to the crossover acceptance of artists like Dolly Parton, Elvis Costello, Steve Earle and Robert Plant. The band's own jumpstart to fame and fortune coincided with a fortuitous partnership with Steve Martin, a subsequent world tour and a string of television appearances that has swept them into the late night and early morning talk show circuit over the past several months. Their new album with Steve Martin is scheduled for release in March, and with a cameo vocal by Paul McCartney, it's likely to bring them even more well-deserved attention.

Colin Hay proved a no-show for our interview session when it's disclosed that he's complaining of a stomach ailment and has been confined to quarters. I suppose that made him a Man from Down Under (the weather), although fortunately that would prove momentary.

A few songs with Glen Phillips solo in the Bliss Lounge led into a much-anticipated Richard Thompson show in the Spinnaker, another of the undisputed highlights of both the day and the week as a whole. Droll as always, Thompson charged into a string of classic works from his repertoire - "Misunderstood," "Turning of the Tide," "Walking on a Wire," "Wall of Death," "Feel So Good," "Misfortune," a searing take on "Vincent Black Lightening" and an emotional "Who Knows Where the Time Goes," penned by his late partner in Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny. Once again, I catch myself batting away a glistening tear. Thompson likened being on a boat to a Jimmy Buffett moment, but happily decided a traditional sea shanty will suffice instead.

An hour in and its over, and RT clears the stage for the first formal set by Scott Miller, who, in his usual aw-shucks country boy way, charms the crowd, which is rapidly warming to him after only a couple of songs. "It's one thing to make fun of the beast," he offers as he trades on some homespun philosophy. "It's quite another to try to outrun him." Fortunately, there's no need for any sprinting. By the end of the trip, he will have sold out of all his CDs at the merch store and raised his profile considerably among the Cayamo crowd. I go over to congratulate him afterwards and find him surrounded by admirers, a good thing and well deserved.

We'll take in a double header in the Stardust tonight, beginning with a rousing show by the Indigo Girls, who seem to have brought their own contingent of fans with them. Brandi Carlile makes another obligatory appearance with her two gal pals and they end their set with an anthemic "Galileo." As the fans exit the theater, it's impossible to spot anyone who doesn't have a smile frozen to their face.

Steve Earle follows and he proves as incendiary as ever with a band that includes wife Allison Moorer, dBs drummer Will Rigby and a husband/wife duo dubbed the Mastersons. They offer riveting renditions of "Copperhead Road," "Guitar Town" and the incendiary "The Revolution Starts Now." Yet, despite the high energy, Earle seems notably less insurgent and lots more accessible, casual and almost offhanded. "I've gotten a lot of second chances," he allows.

The night concludes with a hilarious set by a rubber-faced Loudon Wainwright, now moved to the Stardust to accommodate an overflow crowd shut out of his earlier show in the Spinnaker. "I'm Steve Earle's half brother," he declares, eliciting a roar of laughter. He references his role in the film Knocked Up, generating further hysterics when he announces, "You're looking at Katherine Heigl's gynecologist. Man, we just had to do that scene 30 or 40 times." Songs about over enthusiastic fans, prescription medications and the inevitability of aging, as well as ongoing pleas to snatch up his offerings at the merch table provided further reason why the crowd to convulsed with laughter. Wainwright redefines the entire concept of being laugh out loud funny.

Star sightings: None today really, but after colliding with waiters repeatedly for days, I actually witnessed two servers crashing into one another. Still, I love those guys and gals. The plea for "washy washy" as they sprayed my hands with disinfectant is destined to become my mantra.

DAY FOUR, Wednesday, February 16

We make landfall in Tortola, take a wonderful private tour, briefly hit the beach and enjoy a relaxing lunch before making our way back to the ship. We miss sets by Will Hoge and the now fully recovered Colin Hay, but do make our scheduled show with Brandi Carlile in the Stardust. Sixthman's head honcho Andy Levine, the founding father of the company that launched these theme cruises some ten years prior, intros her with a cryptic reference to her unbecoming behavior that afternoon, suggesting that her return next year may be in doubt. The crowd's baffled, being that she's been a Cayamo staple since the beginning. Nevertheless, there's growing suspicion it's all an inside joke, and as she takes the stage following a thunderous drum solo, she's clearly nonplussed about any idea of a conflict. As always, she incites the crowd with her rock ‘n' roll posturing and proves herself the ever-enduring star. She then briefly turns the stage over to "The Twins," the gawky, baldheaded Hanseroth brothers who are at the core of her backing band. They perform a note perfect rendition of "Sounds of Silence," after which Brandi asks, "Isn't that the creepiest, most beautiful thing you ever heard." The audience roars in agreement.

We catch a reprise of WPA in the Spinnaker and stick around for Kevn Kinney's Truck Stop, which, its banner aside, proves to be a surprisingly tender slate of rotating performances from Will Hoge, Shawn Mullins and Ellis Paul. By now it's late, and after an active day of sightseeing, we're clearly ready for bed. But what a way to wrap things up!

Star sightings: Brandi Carlile on her way to an excursion, holding her niece's hand; and Dan Wilson, unrecognized until it was too late, as he hurried off to catch a tour bus. Also, chats with Ruby of Sam and Ruby, and the ever-amiable David Ryan Harris. 

DAY FIVE, Thursday, February 17 

The morning arrives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and we awake early to catch a catamaran for some sailing and some soaking up the sun. An abundance of rum punches makes us oblivious to the sun's rays and I return to the ship looking like a lobster. I'm not bothered by it at all - at least not at this point - and opt to catch the Celt combo Enter the Haggis, who are stirring up a storm on the pool deck. Indeed, the waves are rising and the boat is rocking - literally as well as figuratively. Patty Griffin, the evening's headliner, makes note of the rolling motion during her set that night, declaring, "If I fall over, I'm going to keep on singing." Having just been accorded a Grammy the previous Sunday, she doesn't allow her serious stature to get in the way of some silliness. "Whenever I find myself in a precarious situation," she says, referring to the tossing and turning, "I find it helps if you just go ‘wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'." The crowd takes the cue, and from that point on, her show is punctuated by "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's" throughout. 

Exhausted, we opt for an early evening retreat. But the ocean keeps on pounding. 

Star sightings: Steve Earle and Allison Moorer having lunch with baby John Henry at the next table. They took turns taking their meal from the buffet line, but when the baby starts getting antsy, they opt to leave. "The baby tells us when it's time to go," Earle explains. Also sighted: Luke Bulla, on our sailing excursion, accompanied by a lady friend who kindly buys Alisa a drink; and Sam, of Sam and Ruby, who's made his way over to the beach and now wonders how he'll get back to the ship. Take the catamaran back with us, I suggest. "I'm not brave enough to be so bold," he replies. Presumably, he got back safely anyway.

DAY SIX, Friday, February 18

Or maybe not. Sam was to have been the special guest for my Bob Dylan seminar this afternoon, which would find him strumming his guitar and doing a Dylan song. Then again, the seasickness bags that draped the entrance to the elevators was not a good sign so he could have been a casualty of the motion. The waves rocked the boat and the passengers were finding it hard to keep their balance... and in some cases, their meals. Fortunately, nobody lost their lunch during my presentation or I might have taken it personally. Of course, encapsulating Dylan's 50-year career into less than an hour of talk time is a major challenge, but the crowd seemed pleased. I was stopped several times by those who had attended my seminar, and I got to stretch my fifteen minutes of fame throughout the rest of the cruise. For once, people weren't gawking only because my fly was unzipped. Heck, I even got to sign an autograph. (Note to editor: I also got in plenty of plugs for our beloved BLURT.) [Ed. note: Ya done good, kid. You can keep your job for another year.]

 One perk of doing a presentation in the Spinnaker was the assurance of great seats for the concert that followed, which happened to be by none other than Allison Moorer. With hubby Steve Earle's band in tow, she put in a blazing set that included the stunning "Alabama Song," Crows" and "Hard Place to Fall." As Earle waited in the wings, she clearly couldn't help engage in a bit of one-upmanship. Recalling her Oscar nomination for her contribution to the soundtrack for The Horse Whisperer soundtrack, she noted that at the time they weren't married. "Who's that little bitch?" she remembers him saying. "He's still waiting on his nomination," she said ruefully, and with no small amount of glee. 

Other shows of note that day included a now fully recovered Colin Hay, accompanied by his wife and the Steep Canyon Rangers for some stripped down renditions of his newer songs, as well as old Men at Work standards. Chuck Canon proselytized in Bar City, singing, "God doesn't hate Muslims, God doesn't hate Jews, God doesn't hate Christians, but we all give God the blues." A second Steve Earle show, possibly even more stirring than the first, followed in the Stardust. A reprise of Shawn Mullins took place soon after. The evening was capped by Buddy Miller, a Cayamo constant, accompanied by a band that featured Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars on drums, Joel Guzman on accordion and the lilting harmonies of Patty Griffin.

Star sightings: Seeing Loudon Wainwright in the Stardust, I jokingly mentioned to him that I was also his biggest fan, but I wouldn't harass him like the stalker in his song. I also got opportunity to speak with Will Rigby, who not only graced me with my first autograph of the cruise, but also promised that a new dBs album would make it way to store shelves by year's end.

DAY SEVEN, Saturday, February 19

The last day of any event, especially one as grand as this, is always bittersweet. Knowing that in 24 hours, you'll be back to an ordinary life, bereft of the camaraderie of the other Cayamo passengers, the magic of the music and the superb hospitality afforded by the Sixthman staff, makes a return to reality all the more difficult.

Fortunately, our final day was a full one, beginning with an afternoon spent at the beach at Norwegian's private island, Stirrup Cay. The music was, as usual, plentiful that evening as well, particularly the pair of Alumni Shows that began with the teaming of Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright, who were cleverly billed for the occasion as "Loud and Rich."  The duo leaned heavily on covers - "You Ain't Going Nowhere," Sloop John B," and "Love Hurts," which Loudon introduced by remarking, "Now that Valentines Day is long gone, let's get negative about love." These two were indeed an odd couple, and for their first show ever as a duo, they worked remarkably well together, a kind of musical take on Martin and Lewis as it were. Prefacing one of Richard's songs, Loudon suggested it might be older than most of those in attendance and then asked that the lights be turned up in order to get proof. Seeing the crowd, most of whom were well into their 40s, 50s and 60s, he shrieked with horror. "My people!" he exclaimed. Later, after asking Richard what it was like to meet the Queen, from whom he had received the Order of the British Empire honors, Loudon suggested he'd be lucky to meet the surviving members of Queen.

You had to be there.

We took in a second Buddy Miller show immediately after which Miller, a clear Cayamo Cruise favorite, noting that it had been two years since his heart attack onstage and the subsequent triple bypass surgery which prevented his Cayamo appearance in 2009. He humbly offered thanks for the cards and emails he received from well-wishers and then noted that among those urging his speedy recovery was guitarist Steve Bruton, who sadly succumbed to cancer only a short time later.

Afterwards, we hightailed it to the Spinnaker for a standing room only performance by Scott Miller. Scott had really worked his way up to the Cayamo hierarchy in a very short time it seemed. There was then a scramble for seats for an encore performance by Richard Thompson, forcing me to sit on the on the floor and crunch myself in a compact position that precluded any possibility of comfort. Midway through, someone whispered, "Lee, behind you," as they prepared to exit and graciously give me their seats. I'm not sure who it was, but if you're reading this - thanks!

Star sightings: There were a plethora of farewells after Thompson ended his set. He autographed my album after I had taken the opportunity to chat with his wife Nancy, who, by the way, organizes Festival Tours, a jolly trip to the U.K. for Fairport Convention's anniversary gigs at the Cropredy Festival. It was also picture taking time with Buddy Miller, who played on Thompson's encore; the aforementioned Mastersons; Cody Dickinson, to whom I paid complements for the North Mississippi Allstars' latest album, and, finally, my new pal Scott Miller, who repaid my affection with a solid kiss on the cheek. The sentiments are mutual, Scott, I assure you.

*** 

So that's it. Another year with a wonderful Cayamo adventure. As my friend Dan reminded me on Friday night, there really is no way to aptly describe this cruise to those of have never been on it. I've attempted to do so of course, but if you're swayed at all, I'd also suggest you partake in it yourself next year. As stated earlier, it rocks... even when the seas are calm.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY JENNIFER KELLY

"When we started the Luyas, the concept was that there were no rules about what it had to be or what it had to sound like," says Luyas singer Jessie Stein. "The band was conceived as a band for fun."

The Luyas have been keeping it fun for roughly half a decade now, playing secret shows in and around  Montreal, relying on non-traditional rock instruments like French Horn, strings and a 12-string, three-bridged lute called a Moodswinger, and recording two albums. The first, Faker Death came out as a self-release in August 2007 and was reissued the following January on Pome Records. The second, Too Beautiful To Work, arrived this week on the much larger, much more visible Dead Oceans label.

Stein says that the record's title, which is also the name of its opening song, is partly a reference to a girl she knows who seems to get by solely on her looks. But it's also an observation about her band's languid, dreamily gorgeous sound, which proved to be a surprisingly hard sell when she went out to pitch it to labels. "People kept saying that they loved it, but they didn't know what to do with it," says Stein.  

The Luyas began with Stein and her friends Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider, all living in Toronto as part of the Blocks Recording experimental music scene. Stein was in an indie pop band called SS Cardiacs. Amato and Schneider had a three-piece instrumental outfit called Torngat. Their sounds could hardly have been more different, but they became fans of each other's work and embarked on a lasting friendship.

Later, when Stein turned up in Montreal, she began to think about collaborating. "I thought, it would be awesome to just take my songs and hand them over to somebody whose aesthetic sensibility was so different from mine," she says. "To let another set of ears and another style of musicians arrange it. I guess I got that inspiration from the record Destroyer did with Frog Eyes."

By then Amato and Schneider were both in Bell Orchestre and Amato had toured as a horn player with Arcade Fire. Stein began playing casually with Amato, in the process incorporating one of the Luyas more unusual elements, the French horn, into her songwriting. "It was more because of the fact that he's Pietro than because he plays French horn," she says. "He was my friend and he was a musician. There has never been any notion that, ‘Oh, we need a player who plays this.'  So it's a really organic band. Everything happens for some natural reason."

Schneider joined next, and the band began playing live as the Luyas in December 2006. They released Faker Death on their own in 2007. In 2010, McSweeneys  writer Sean Michaels documented a secret show in Montreal, where would-be concert goers were summoned to a meeting point, blindfolded and led by rope to the show venue. Michaels' called the Luyas music "an art-pop that's supple, gold and silver, with messy choruses wedged between swells of scattered sound." A week or so later, Stein was at SXSW, taking meetings and trying to find a label for her band.

For Too Beautiful To Work, the band added a new member Mattieu Charbonneau.  This first album for Dead Oceans also has string arrangements by another old Blocks Recordings friend, the composer Owen Pallett, who was once Stein's roommate.

 "Owen's a really good friend of mine. I met him when I was maybe 18 and living in Toronto," she says. "He was writing the first Final Fantasy record when I was living with him.  We've gone through a lot together through the years, eight years."

The mutual confidence built up in that long-term relationship allowed Stein to simply hand over her tunes and allow Pallett to realize them more fully. "I really trust Owen. He's known every piece of music that I've made since I started recording music, basically. So I know that he has a very good sense of who I am."

For Too Beautiful to Work, Pallett arrived at the studio one day and took over. "He just walked in, and he said, these people are coming today. How much time do I have?  He called a bunch of his friends, and just told them what to do.  It was amazing."

"Owen's an incredible conductor," she adds. "He's very good at getting people to do a very specific thing that he wants them to do."   

The full palette of instruments transforms the Luyas' dream-like songs into lusher, more complex compositions, as on the album highlight "Canary," where a wash of strings adds tension to Stein's languid vocals. The Moodswinger plays a role on that song as well, first in its traditional guise as a strummed, stringed instrument, and later in a giant crashing sound as Stein moves the third bridge mid-cut.

"The third bridge on a Moodswinger is a sliding bridge, kind of based on the concept of a screwdriver under the strings. It slides on two metal bars pushed up on the strings at different positions on the neck to create different overtone structures," says Stein. Normally, a musician would set the third bridge at the beginning of a song and leave it there, but it is possible to reposition it on the fly. "You can do that, yes, but it makes a big, loud scary noise," says Stein. "In ‘Canary,' that happens. When it goes to the instrumental section, there's a big crash." It was no accident, and Stein would do it again in a heartbeat. "It was a total move," she adds impishly.

That sense of play is maybe the central think about Luyas. This is a band that's always willing to try something new. For instance, the song "Too Beautiful to Work," was one of the last ones to be recorded for the second album, after new member Mattieu Charbonneau had joined Stein, Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider. Along among the CD's tracks, it has an antic, manic, dance-friendly vibe, with careening piano lines and a percolating electro beat. "We never made a song that is remotely like that one before, but that's the spirit of our band," she says. "To do whatever... to follow our hearts."

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills 

Yesterday we took a look at music industry douchebag, er, veteran Steve Stoute's recent open letter to the Grammys and how, among other things, he floated some vague notion of a conspiracy theory surrounding Arcade Fire's Best Album win (at the expense of Eminem, of course, who clearly "deserved" to win). Stoute clearly stirred up some shit, as it was juicy watercooler talk for several days, and among the commentators who weighed in was industry watchdog Bob Lefsetz (of "The Lefsetz Letter"), who seemed to echo Stoute's suspicions when he wrote, in part: 

"Obviously NARAS knew Arcade Fire was gonna win.  Otherwise, why would they close the show?  And they got two numbers.  If there was gonna be extra time couldn't there have been another performer, or one of those legendary Grammy love-ins featuring Stevie Wonder and a whole host of legends, maybe playing a classic with Arcade Fire?" 

This apparently caught the attention of the Arcade Fire camp, for today Lefsetz (who is nothing if not fair about allowing both those who agree AND disagree with him have their say) published a letter from the band's manager, Scott Rodger, who very firmly insists that there was "no big plot" whatsoever, and that in particular the fact that the band played a second song, at the end and as credits began to roll, was merely because there was enough time for it. 

Rodger's letter read, in part: 

"Arcade Fire had the final slot on the Grammys as the ratings are low at the end of the broadcast. It really is that simple. We were one of the least known acts on the bill for a network audience. Don't you think I wanted a better slot for the band? The reason we got a second song was also simple. No big plot. We had no guarantee of air time, but it was simply to play out the end credits of the show, if we're even had that much. The show never runs like clockwork to an exact time so the end is always loose. As it happened, the broadcast was covered by sponsors messages and the end credits."

Rodger added that the international broadcast of the show not only cut the band's main performance earlier in the evening, the end-title performance was "bastardised."

Continuing, Rodger noted, "Arcade Fire deserved the win this year. They made the best album. If the award was named "Album Sales Of The Year" award, there would be no discussion. Stoute's letter was a nice piece of self publicity. Did he see Kanye's tweets when we won and the praise he gave us?? He needs to tune in. Eminem made a big selling album but it was far from being his best work. Katy Perry made a big pop record that simply didn't have weight or credibility. Gaga's repackage, great album but it was a repackage of the main release. I think everyone felt it was going to be Lady Antebellum's moment having won 5 out of 6 awards to that point. We all felt that way too."

Rodger additionally pointed out that the band "didn't lobby any organisation for [the Grammy win] and that they had to pay their "own overhead to do the event, thus the lack of onstage gimmicks. No label picked up the tab."

Amen. So much for the conspiracy theory. Once again, hats off to Arcade Fire. You can read all about this and more at the Lefsetz Letter.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills

Greying musos (such as yours truly) can do a merry arm-in-arm jig with younger freak-folkers at the recent news from venerable archival label Light In The Attic: they've reissued the legendary British folkie Michael Chapman's 1970 classic Fully Qualified Survivor, a platter that has long eluded fans on these shores for a good time now (to date it had only been reissued overseas), and one which the original vinyl has no doubt been wore thin from constant spins over the years. The album's stature is indeed justified; Chapman, a peer to the likes of John Martyn and Roy Harper, recorded early on for the Harvest imprint and was championed by no less than BBC maestro John Peel, who helped make the track "Postcards From Scarborough" a minor hit in the UK.

Chapman's four-album run for Harvest earned him a rabidly devoted following, and although his profile was considerably lower from the 1980s onward, he remains a much-loved icon in the roots and folk community and continues to record and perform to this day.

And because we feel like LITA's official product description for Chappo's album is absolutely stonkin', we're gonna share that with you. Check it out:

Oh yeah! Are you ready to get qualified??? Fans of John Martyn, Roy Harper, and Bert Jansch get ready for a little trip back to England in 1970 when the Harvest label was playing mother hen to the psych-folk-rock scene. First time ever on CD in North America, and the first vinyl reissue in decades, this reissue of Michael Chapman's classic 1970 album Fully Qualified Survivor sports re-mastered audio, old school tip-on gatefold jacket, 180-gram vinyl, rare archival photos, and notes by Mick Houghton (Uncut). And for you CD lovers, better put on your shades when picking this one up, as the silver foil deluxe Digipak is a real shiner! Like other Harvest artists, Chapman's music contains a slightly drugged out feel, sublime guitar playing and intense lyrics. What makes Fully Qualified Survivor such a special album (besides being a vehicle for a young pre-David Bowie Mick Ronson's mind-blowing guitar heroics) are the layers of beautiful acoustic guitars, deranged vocals, floating conga drums, and the cello of Paul Buckmaster, all floating along in a slightly druggy haze.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY NANCY DUNHAM

Think of Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion as living in something akin to a snow globe, where musical influences scatter down upon them.

As the daughter of Arlo and granddaughter of Woody, Sarah Lee has always embraced her royal folk heritage. After the two married, Johnny - well known in rock notably for Queen Sarah Saturday - joined in the family's folk endeavors through such projects as "The Guthrie Family Rides Again" tour and even riding with the family on a Thanksgiving Day float in last year's Macy's Day Parade.

"I've played loud versions of rock and roll and put out some solo records," says Irion, "This was a turning point for Sarah Lee and me."

Irion is referring to Bright Examples, the new album from the pair that some label as country rock, others label as alt-country and still others just call indie. Whatever the assigned musical genre, reviewers agree the songs - nine written by Irion, two by Guthrie and one written as collaboration - charmingly swirl the duo's many musical influences. That's just what the two were going for as they approached the album as a way to set a musical soundscape for their work together.

In a way it was a move from South Carolina to Massachusetts, near where Guthrie grew up, that prompted the pair to write what they now call the album they were always meant to record.

"We left South Carolina and I just started maniacally writing," Irion says. "At the end we had about 50 songs."

Some tunes, such as "Never Far From My Heart," are examples of Guthrie and Irion embracing a shared experience, while others ("Target on My Heart") are Irion's more solitary musings. Suffice to say the songs are richly textured, which is no doubt why U2 guitarist the Edge expressed interest in producing the album.

"I was thinking that the Edge has worked with [great producers and musicians] and learned from each of them," says Irion. "He was really interested but he's crazy busy right now and we didn't want to wait. I'm so glad he didn't [produce the album] because we ended up with all kinds of great stuff on this album we might not have gotten."

Although the stars didn't align to work with the Edge, Irion and Guthrie knew they wanted a producer who was also a player, not just a technician. The duo's creation process is quite organic, and producers who aren't players don't add a lot to the mix.

Enter the production dream team of Vetiver's Andy Cabic and Thom Monahan (who in addition to Vetiver has worked with Devendra Banhart and the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson), who had first introduced Sarah Lee and Johnny. Almost from the first time, Cabic and Monahan heard the 50 odd songs the duo sent them, the match seemed ideal.

"We sent [the songs] to Andy and Thom, and they wrote back and says, 'We have two records here. Here is the record we can make with you guys,'" says Irion. "I'm still looking forward to making that other record though."

Perhaps now more than ever, because of the magical process that surrounded the recording and production of Bright Examples.

"Thom is one of those guys, he is maniacal," Irion continues. "He is there and in the moment and if he thinks one way, you're going to have a hard time changing his mind. Thanks to him for that. We owe a lot of the way the record turned out to that."

Consider the track "Butterflies" that Irion and Guthrie had envisioned as an ethereal, floating tune: Monahan heard the song as something else and convinced them to record it with plenty of bluegrass sounds that the duo is convinced ultimately brought it to life

"It's one of those 'clean your palate' songs," says Irion. "It really works for the record." Guthrie agrees, noting that the entire process was an act of faith in many ways. "I am often of the thinking if there are too many chefs in the kitchen, it might come out fragmented," she says. "In a way, you have to sacrifice and learn from everything. That was the pool we were swimming in with Andy and Tom. We loved the experience and we learned a lot from these guys who make great music. That's why it sounds complete and beautiful."

Adding to the mix were flavors of several guests, including Gary Louris and Mark Olson of the Jayhawks who brought their own style of harmonies to the tune "Seven Sisters."

"Without the Jayhawks we wouldn't have Wilco," says Irion. "Those two, when you blend their vocals together it is like blending Sarah Lee and me. It just worked on that song and that's why you have something of a Jayhawks' feeling."

In fact, the entire album has the laid-back Laurel Canyon vibe of friends that are comfortable enough in their own musical skins to team together with such disparate instrumentation as lap steel guitar and Hammond organ and lovingly knit what seems to be a one-of-a-kind sound.

Irion says that it was the careful choosing of the producers, the guests, and others involved in the album that made the songs work. "It all harkens back to a great team. When you listen to all the great records, obviously, Paul McCartney made great records [as solo albums] but he also had to rely on a lot of other people to get there."

Many songs on the album were recorded live, resulting in a spine-tingling immediacy, such as when the vocals of Irion and Guthrie swirl together on the aforementioned "Seven Sisters." Take some Neil Young and a dab of Tom Petty, mix in touches of Tori Amos and Stevie Nicks, put in a dash of country - and you have Guthrie and Irion.

"This is a turning point, absolutely," says Guthrie, "We have been waiting for this for a long time, preparing for it. It's what we have always wanted to do. This has been the ultimate experience for me and now we'll take it from there."

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills

By way of introduction: Paper Tiger is an Asheville, NC, -based duo, vocalist Molly Kummerle (of well-known regional jazz/pop outfit Ruby Slippers) and Isaac Gottfried (aka MINGLE, noted deejay and remixer). Since joining forces a couple of years ago, Kummerle and Gottfried have quickly amassed a reputation for crafting brainy electronica that dips equally into hypnotic trip-hop and danceable, pop-tilting sampladelica; they were among a handful of local acts selected to perform at last fall's MoogFest, which featured such heavy-hitters as Massive Attack, Big Boi, Jonsi and MGMT. Me Have Fun (Boy Girl Recordings), their debut, more than reaffirms that reputation - in its quietly compelling, get-under-your-skin brand of understatement, it actually winds up saying more than 99% of the new releases that have appeared so far this year.

First and foremost, Kummerle brings her jazz-trained pipes to the party with such seductive grace that you half expect her to step out from behind the stereo speakers wearing nothing but a sheer silk robe and a coy smile. Yet there's also a palpable vulnerability to that voice. The first time you hear her clearly is in the second song, the title track, cooing "ahh-ahh-mmm" softly, but with purpose, and as the smokey, loungey tune gradually unfolds, the singer confesses her lust and her confusion and to how her "rules start to come undone" as she confronts that desire. In her voice, one hears echoes of Dusty Springfield, Billie Holiday, Beth Orton and Beth Gibbons - fire and ice, ice and fire.

The Gibbons comparison isn't a stray one, by the way; Portishead is the contemporary act that Paper Tiger most closely resembles, along with fellow Bristolians Massive Attack. Gottfried's fertile trove of samples and liberal deployment of keyboards (by both Gottfried and Kummerle, plus guest Chuck Lichtenberger from stephaniesid) all synch organically to cast a widescreen, cinematic glow. From the sweeping strings and noirish vibe of "Hibiscus" and the chilly orchestral minimalism of "Softly" to the eerie-yet-lush "Hugo," whose Beach Boys sample is guaranteed to permanently alter the way you hear "Good Vibrations," these compositions push beyond merely "compelling" to become insistent, the transformation occurring on an almost subliminal level. Another band simpatico with Paper Tiger's crate-digging aesthetic: Saint Etienne, particularly on the surreal, flute-and-horns flecked "Paper Tiger" and the dreamy, yearning "Freezer" (with its suite-like arrangement that slips deliciously into breezy ‘60s pop mode, then back again, this song is destined to find its way onto a movie or TV show soundtrack with the right marketing push).

Seamlessly sequenced, with Gottfried supplying brief (under 30 seconds) instrumental interludes between each proper song to lend an additional filmic heft to the proceedings, and remarkably diverse for a quote/unquote "downtempo" project, Me Have Fun is the type of record that pays dividend after dividend with each new spin. It's the sound of late-night romance, of early-morning musings, and of all the refracted beauty of the daylight that falls between.

Incidentally, don't bother Googling the band's name; it'll just drive you crazy, as there is also a Dutch indierock band called Paper Tiger, a rock/funk outfit from Wisconsin called Paper Tiger, the Doomtree hip-hop collective producer who calls himself Paper Tiger, some teenage band that goes by the handle of My Paper Tiger, and assorted non-musical Paper Tiger entities. If you want to chase down this Paper Tiger and hear assorted album tunes and remixes, go directly to the official website or to the duo's MySpace page. But be careful: the music may be atmospheric and dreamy, but it's hardly toothless. Once it gets you in its maw, it doesn't let go. Rrrrowwrrr.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills

Aaaannnnndddd the post-Grammys Arcade Fire backlash rolls on.

You may have heard that the Merge band won a Grammy last week; something about the best album of 2010. And you may recall that in the wake of that win, a lot of creeps - most of them hip-hop fans, plus Rosie O'Donnell - came out of the woodwork to rain on A.F.'s parade, spouting claims how Eminem (and in some instances Justin Bieber - now THERE's a juxtaposition) wuz robbed.

Add Translation marketing company CEO Steve Stoute, apparently a 20-year music biz veteran (who?), to that chorus of nattering nabobs of naysayerdom. In a story published at Billboard.com, the record industry bible takes a look at Stoute and the full-page ad he ran recently in the New York Times that was essentially an open letter to the Grammys for this year's "snubbing" of Eminem and, you guessed it, Justin Bieber, along with Kanye West.

Said Stoute, "The awards show has become a series of hypocrisies and contradictions, leaving me to question why any contemporary popular artist would even participate. We must acknowledge the massive cultural impact of Eminem and Kanye West and how their music is shaping, influencing and defining the voice of a generation. [And] how is it that Justin Bieber, an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist, did not win Best New Artist?"

Stoute singled out Arcade Fire's "surprise" win as proof of the Grammys having tin ears, writing, "What truly inspired the writing of this letter was that this most recent show fed my suspicions. As the show was coming to a close and just prior to presenting the award for Album Of The Year, the band Arcade Fire performed "Month of May" -- only to... surprise... win the category and, in a moment of sheer coincidence, happened to be prepared to perform "Ready to Start." "

Hmmm, that's a real smoking gun, ya know? Read the full article here, and you can also read Stoute's own commentary over at the Huffington Post.

Meanwhile... hey Stoute - go fuck yourself, you constipated nitwit.

Incidentally, I'm not the only one who took note of Stoute and decided to point out how far up his ass he's lodged his head. Music industry observer Wayne Rosso, in his latest "Wayne's World" blog, penned his own open letter, this one to Stoute, and swiftly dismantled most of Stoute's core contentions (adding that Justin Bieber is an "irritating little snot").

Writes Rosso, to Stoute, "I think that you may have to go back to school. Your impassioned defense of Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Eminem, accusations of NARAS members' collective pop culture ignorance and intimations of chicanery may be misguided or at the very least uninformed...The implications of some sort of bizarre Grammy conspiracy sounds more like the single bullet theory or a Glen Beck rant."

Indeed.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY STEVEN ROSEN

Willie Wright's Telling the Truth, the latest reissue/rediscovery from the archivists at Chicago's Numero Group, gets off to one strange start. A jivey voice, which sounds like it's introducing a live-radio broadcast from a glittery nightclub, cheerily says, "Hello, music people of the world. Hotel Records and Variety Recording at 130 West 42^nd St. in New York City, we proudly present Mr. Willie Wright." There's a slight New York accent to the voice and you wonder what kind of dated, hipsterish hokum you're in for. But then Wright starts to sing a laid-back, introspective, lilting jazzy-folk number - " Nantucket Woman" - pushed gently forward by the expansive, Allman Brother guitar licks of the fine Harry Jensen, and you're taken aback. This sounds intimate, personal, real. What gives?

That's all part of Wright's unusual story - this album was originally (and barely) released in 1977, when Wright was just shy of 40. An African-American born in the South who moved early to New York, discovered his relaxed, mellifluous, honeyed voice (with a touch of Lou Rawls) and spent a peripatetic career traveling between New York, Boston and points between.

He could have had a career in the 1970s to match Bill Withers, O.C. Smith or Terry Callier. And he seems to have tried. But he also seems to have been infused with quite a bit of the countercultural spirit. According to the copiously detailed liner notes accompanying this reissue, he and a partner once ran a head shop in Allston, Mass., but broke up when he wanted to shift all the contents vertically by 90 degrees. That meant the counter and clerks would have to be suspended from the ceiling, which struck the partner as a bit impractical.

Maybe that kind of spirit is why Telling the Truth was released on Wright's own barebones Hotel Records. And in order to afford its production, he cut a deal with Variety Recording, a studio. It halved its rate and got a plug on the album's first cut. Wright pressed just 1,000 copies, selling them himself in Nantucket where he was a popular club draw.

All this makes Wright seem like a total eccentric, a flake, but he doesn't sound like that at all. True, the production limits the dimensionality of the recording, so his voice isn't as dynamic as it could be. But nevertheless, it is friendly and unpretentious, romantic but never melodramatic - it finds the groove and works intuitively with the limited accompaniment (he, himself, plays rhythm guitar and flute). At times, the songs have a solid Southern rock-and-soul dimension. These are tunes Van Morrison would love - quietly trying to push the romantic into the mystic. Greg Allman, too, would have admired the funky-rock fatalism of "It's Only Life, That's All."

The songs are often quite touching lyrically. Wright seems to know his dreams of musical success are slipping from him, and he expresses it with wise resignation. He seems badly to want love - a good relationship - and to need it to get by. (Apparently he found it on occasion. the photo above depicts Wright with his "one-time muse" Susan Hayes.) In "Dressing for the Occasion," he finds solace from job-hunting frustrations in his woman's love. On "In the Beauty of the Night," a ballad that Wright prefaces with flute and some dreamy "la la las," he sings, "Searching through our sounds, for our favorite LPs/There isn't anywhere on earth I'd rather be."

According to the liner notes, Wright had a troubled family life. And that seems to bother him. The ballad, "Son, Don't Let Life Pass You By," which has some gorgeous minor-key chord changes to highlight its generous lyrics, is directed toward a resentful offspring. The piano wisely plays off of Jensen's guitar - at key moments the voice is double-tracked. On the carefully pulsating groove of the celebratory "I'm So Happy Now," Wright is joined by a daughter on back-up vocals: "Finally decided, we can't be divided."

The reissue includes three extra cuts, two of which are also included on a CD-45. One is a version of Curtis Mayfield's powerful "Right On for the Darkness.

Wright, now just over 70, lives in Providence and fights  Parkinson's disease. Numero Group doesn't dwell on this, but the liner notes do have a recent quote from him: "I'm trying to do something comfortable with my life. It's not really about the money. I want to contribute something...something timeless."

He's a little late getting discovered, but with Telling the Truth he just might have done that.

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Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

Last Sunday, no one could shut up about how this year's Grammy award had turned the tide around for the music industry. For once the Grammys got it right, right? But the Arcade Fire and Esperanza Spalding had less than a day in the spotlight as the industry's beacons of hope before Radiohead completely stole their thunder by announcing that their eighth record The King Of Limbs would be released five days later. By the time anyone actually came to some sort of conclusion about the relevance of those Grammy wins, it was a moot point.

For four days following the album announcement, Radiohead captivated the minds of fans worldwide with their cryptic secrecy with no supporting hype machine, virtually no record information, mysterious Japanese Tweets about potential secret performances and an earlier than expected release date. As a result, The King Of Limbs became a blessing and a curse for the British rockers. On one hand, Radiohead's unsurprising surprise had no pre-formulated expectations attached due the fact there were only a few days between the initial announcement and actual release date. At the same time, however, this short notice made everyone pay all the more attention when the record dropped a day earlier than its announced target of Saturday, on Friday morning. ("It's a full moon," quipped the band, via a note on their website, by way of explanation.)

So what does The King of Limbs hold in store for Radiohead four years after their brilliant In Rainbows came out?  For starters, it's an undoubtedly a challenging record - the closest thing to Kid A that the band has created since. It makes senses given that some of these songs have been performed live dating back to that period of time. With that in mind, The King of Limbs seems like a patchwork of the band's musical journey from Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and beyond.

The new record offers a varied collection from the group, surveying the modern electronic climate. Jumping around from dubstep to ambient, The King of Limbs is not Radiohead's most cohesive effort, but still offers an abundance of moments exemplifying their brilliance. "Bloom" opens the record with a seemingly solo Thom Yorke effort, as the frontman's voice and frenetic drum samplings showcases the band's return to left-field experimentation. Radiohead provides a more than ample supply of previous examples from the bands previous repertoire. "Morning Mr Magpie" resonates as a Hail To The Thief offering, while "Little By Little" sounds like a B-side to Amnesiac's  "I Might Be Wrong."

While the first half of The King of Limbs is a scattered assortment of songs that may or may not work together, the second half of the record resonates with several of Radiohead's most delicate moments thus far. In particular, "Codex" glows as an absolutely stunning, heartrending gem, surpassing the group's haunting trio of melancholic ballads found on In Rainbows. "Codex" is downright brilliant, echoing as one of the most beautiful tracks the band has ever coined. "Separator" closes with an intriguing combination of Yorke's floating vocals and Phil Selway's crisp drumming, recapturing some of the haunting magic found on the band's Grammy-nominated track "House of Cards." 

Once you get past all the hype and flash-in-the-pan hoopla surrounding the record, The King Of Limbs ultimately emerges as an album filled with shimmering glimpses of what Radiohead could have done if they created a new record, rather than revisiting much of what they have already accomplished. With that in mind, the album still carries plenty of weight and reason to listen. While this record only holds a few transcendent moments, at the end of the day all Radiohead is good Radiohead--an easy thing to lose sight of amidst the enormous amounts of current musical skepticism and judgment surrounding The King of Limbs.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Jud Cost

Sometimes you think crazy things when you start to feel trapped. About halfway into Godspeed You! Black Emperor's opening 12-minute aural assault, I began to wonder if a person could die from listening to music - just sitting there while all your systems completely shut down from sensory overload. Or possibly whether the old Warfield Theatre, an ancient structure built in the 1920's that has seen better days and survived recent attacks by the Stooges and Motorhead, might give up the ghost tonight and implode.

A rafter-rattling bass drone had filled the dusty old hall for the entire 40 minutes it took the band to set up tonight. As the scrawled word "HOPE" flickered on a large screen behind them, the first selection by the notorious Montreal-based octet started out extremely loud (even with earplugs), then just kept getting louder and louder and louder. As someone who had survived Blue Cheer, the '60s poster boys for premature audience deafness who once roamed San Francisco's hippie ballroom scene, Godspeed was on a totally different arc of magnitude tonight.  

There were guitars, keyboards, a drum kit and, oddly enough, a standup bass being played onstage by members of the band but, for all you could distinguish from any one player, there might just as well have been a platoon of department-store dummies seated behind the gear. The upright bass is hard to hear on some vintage jazz records. It didn't have a prayer in hell of making a dent in this sonic explosion. The band's sound at full throttle was something akin to being ferried to the space station while strapped to a NASA rocket full of liquid oxygen. At the conclusion of round one, some people screamed and applauded, a few got up and departed, and most sat there stunned as though they'd just witnessed the annihilation of a heavenly body.

When one of the players spoke to the full house in a distinct New York accent after the band completed a second harrowing trip to outer space, it took me back to the good old days of the Terrastock festivals, held in various U.S. and U.K. ports of call more than ten years ago. "When I was a kid, I used to love to go to Coney Island. My parents would take me there, and I even got lost on the beach, but they found me. We used to go there at night sometimes and sleep on the beach. But you can't do that anymore. They've shrunk Coney Island almost down to nothing." It was the perfect intro for one of those Alastair Galbraith-style mind-expansion gems. And GYBE obliged with a perfectly rendered, slow, almost acoustic-sounding coffee and scones number. And then, after a few minutes, it started getting louder and louder again.

As the one-hour mark fast approached, it was plain to see the Godspeed experience had shown most of its portfolio. This had been the triple espresso after last night's bottle of house Cabernet (Beach House and Papercuts at the Fillmore).  On the way home, I stopped off in San Bruno to get a cup of decaf and a doughnut to restore my chemical balance. Since the wind was blowing pretty hard after a week of torrential rain, the air traffic for San Francisco International had been re-routed to its alternate takeoff and landing pattern. A 747 jumbo jet flew directly overhead, very low, just as I walked across the parking lot. And it didn't really sound all that loud (even without the earplugs).

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Tim Hinely

Sold out crowd for this Yo La Tengo tour (last time here, a year or so ago, they played the larger Crystal Ballroom) but let's not forget about the openers The Urinals, for whom the place was only half full by the time they went on at 9:00 PM. The first word that comes to mind when describing this longtime L.A. band is "seminal," since that is the word that critics use most often to describe them. They'd been around since the late ‘70s but morphed into 100 Flowers in 1980. The band now is two-thirds of the original lineup (vocalist John Talley-Jones and drummer Kevin Barret) and then a newer guitarist (original member Kjehl Johansen quit some years ago to go solo but was also in underrated SST band Trotsky Icepick).  The trio played an energetic, punchy set of fairly short tunes (and surprisingly melodic) that really seemed to win the crowd over. Don't think we heard "I'm a Bug" but they definitely played "Sex," "Surfing with the Shah," "Ack Ack Ack Ack" and more.  Well done, gentlemen.

Yo La Tengo hit the stage about 10:15 PM and for this tour the band is doing a little spin-the-wheel for song selection. What is that, you ask? It is where they have a big wheel on stage, bring out an audience member to spin it (in this case a preppy looking blonde gal) and then whatever it lands on they will play that for the night, or at least for the first set. It could have landed on several different things: songs that begin with s, a set of Condo Fucks songs (YLT's alter ego), or a set of Dump songs (bassist James McNew's solo project) or even on where they act out an episode of Seinfeld for 20 minutes (sitcom theatre, we ALL wanted that).

But when this gal spun it landed on The Sounds of the Sounds of Science. This was the one thing many people in the crowd didn't want it to land on (including myself), as it was an instrumental record (released on the band's own Egon Records) that was moody and atmospheric and definitely not everyone's favorite. A few moments got quite frenzied, but all in all many folks were relieved when it ended (two of my friends walked out and went home mid set). After taking a short break the band came back out and reversed any unhappiness by playing "Sugarcube," "Autumn Sweater," "Tears are in your Eyes," "Stockholm Syndrome," "Can't Forget" and others. This second set was the Yo La Tengo I know and love; one treat for me has always been watching Georgia Hubley on drums, truly one of the underrated drummers of our time.

In a live setting you're never sure what band is going to show up, and while a few of these live performances over the years have sent me away scratching my head (or occasionally bummed out), one must give credit to a band that does what it wants and not necessarily what the fans always want. It probably keeps being a band fresh and interesting for these guys and thus, explains at least part of their longevity.

The Yo La Tengo/Urinals tour continues this week on the West Coast. Dates can be found here. Also, there will be a live Ustream broadcast from Eugene, Oregon, tonight, with show time approximately at 8pm (Pacific time) - go here to watch the webstream.

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by Jonathan Jaeger (credit to Kyle Bylin of MusicThinkTank and Hypebot for the clever new title)

The new Britney Spears video for ‘Hold It Against Me’ got me thinking about product placement and monetization possibilities for the music industry. The video has overt references to Britney’s fragrance Radiance, Makeup Forever, Sony, and the online dating site PlentyOfFish. I have no idea how much it costs to get into a video that will most likely garner tens of millions of views over time, but I can imagine it is not insignificant (UPDATE: it's $500K, not insignificant by any means). Britney Spears isn’t the only one to include product placement in videos either—Lady Gaga didn’t shy away from video advertising in Telephone and even some rock musicians are starting to go with the trend to make up for lackluster CD sales. Clearly it’s becoming a staple of the music industry just as it has been in television for a long time. I always enjoy a good product placement bit on 30 Rock.

As Youtube increases video traffic more and more by the day, you can expect product placement to become more prevalent in the music industry and to start getting money from all those eyeballs that never seem to look down at their own wallets to fork over the dough. While advertising and product placement will help some get a few extra dollars for the stars, it won’t save the rest of the music industry from starvation.

Unlike Google Adsense or other advertising opportunities offered to people with only a small number of hits on their videos, product placement requires a calculated inclusion of an object in a video—something clear enough to get the message across without seeming too obtrusive to the actual content (the degree to which that is possible is subject to argument). The smaller artists who won’t be able to negotiate product placements with a  brand’s sales team simply won’t be able to incorporate products in their videos for small amounts of money. An efficient marketplace for product placement in music videos just isn’t feasible at this point (note: if such a marketplace exists and I’m just ignorant, please email me at jonathan@hypedsound.com and I will eat my words).

Even if product placement was possible for the more middle-class artists, that doesn’t mean it actually makes sense in a video’s context. Some artists would consider product placement to be selling-out and others would not be able to incorporate it into the style of video they produce. Could you imagine a Tool video with product placement?

No matter how much it makes me cringe, I can deal with product placement in pop music videos to the extent I can deal with pop music itself—just a little bit. However, it’s not right for everyone and certainly won’t save the music industry. For now it’s just one small tool in the arsenal of big artists. It will not save the music industry or the record labels.

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY MAX BLAU

Last Sunday, no one could shut up about how this year's Grammy award had turned the tide around for the music industry. For once the Grammys got it right, right? But the Arcade Fire and Esperanza Spalding had less than a day in the spotlight as the industry's beacons of hope before Radiohead completely stole their thunder by announcing that their eighth record The King Of Limbs would be released five days later. By the time anyone actually came to some sort of conclusion about the relevance of those Grammy wins, it was a moot point.

For four days following the album announcement, Radiohead captivated the minds of fans worldwide with their cryptic secrecy with no supporting hype machine, virtually no record information, mysterious Japanese Tweets about potential secret performances and an earlier than expected release date. As a result, The King Of Limbs became a blessing and a curse for the British rockers. On one hand, Radiohead's unsurprising surprise had no pre-formulated expectations attached due the fact there were only a few days between the initial announcement and actual release date. At the same time, however, this short notice made everyone pay all the more attention when the record dropped a day earlier than its announced target of Saturday, on Friday morning. ("It's a full moon," quipped the band, via a note on their website, by way of explanation.)

So what does The King of Limbs hold in store for Radiohead four years after their brilliant In Rainbows came out?  For starters, it's an undoubtedly a challenging record - the closest thing to Kid A that the band has created since. It makes senses given that some of these songs have been performed live dating back to that period of time. With that in mind, The King of Limbs seems like a patchwork of the band's musical journey from Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and beyond.

The new record offers a varied collection from the group, surveying the modern electronic climate. Jumping around from dubstep to ambient, The King of Limbs is not Radiohead's most cohesive effort, but still offers an abundance of moments exemplifying their brilliance. "Bloom" opens the record with a seemingly solo Thom Yorke effort, as the frontman's voice and frenetic drum samplings showcases the band's return to left-field experimentation. Radiohead provides a more than ample supply of previous examples from the bands previous repertoire. "Morning Mr Magpie" resonates as a Hail To The Thief offering, while "Little By Little" sounds like a B-side to Amnesiac's  "I Might Be Wrong."

While the first half of The King of Limbs is a scattered assortment of songs that may or may not work together, the second half of the record resonates with several of Radiohead's most delicate moments thus far. In particular, "Codex" glows as an absolutely stunning, heartrending gem, surpassing the group's haunting trio of melancholic ballads found on In Rainbows. "Codex" is downright brilliant, echoing as one of the most beautiful tracks the band has ever coined. "Separator" closes with an intriguing combination of Yorke's floating vocals and Phil Selway's crisp drumming, recapturing some of the haunting magic found on the band's Grammy-nominated track "House of Cards."

Once you get past all the hype and flash-in-the-pan hoopla surrounding the record, The King Of Limbs ultimately emerges as an album filled with shimmering glimpses of what Radiohead could have done if they created a new record, rather than revisiting much of what they have already accomplished. With that in mind, the album still carries plenty of weight and reason to listen. While this record only holds a few transcendent moments, at the end of the day all Radiohead is good Radiohead--an easy thing to lose sight of amidst the enormous amounts of current musical skepticism and judgment surrounding The King of Limbs.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

Can we all agree that 2008's Walk It Off was not as disappointing as the backlash would suggest? Tapes ‘N Tapes' first album was certainly better, but Jesus - Walk It Off would barely rate a footnote in "The Illustrated History of Sophomore Slumps." Which leads us to an album clearly meant to generate its share of press declaring Outside Tapes 'N Tapes' return to form. And it probably is -- a slight return from a slight disappointment.

Not much of a headline, is it? Any way you slice it, the self-produced Outside is a good deal closer to the spirit of their celebrated, blognoscenti-courting coming-out, The Loon. That much is clear from the opening track, "Badaboom," the first of several numbers where the arrangement just keeps taking unexpected turns. Highlights range from the Libertines-esque leadoff single, "Freak Out," to the soulful, post-Bob Dylan swagger of the Hammond B-3 organ-rocking "The Saddest of All Keys." And while they clearly put their share of thought and effort into making this as interesting as possible, it's just as clear that these guys know their way around a pop hook and you'll find no shortage of those hooks here.

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

By Fred Mills 

The BLURT staff put our heads (and ears) together and we have the latest pick for our Blurt/Sonicbids "Best Kept Secret": it's Preachers Son, from Dublin, Ireland - our 15^th  BKS since commencing the program of spotlighting new and under-the-radar artists back in 2008. 

Preachers Son comprises multiinstrumentalist/vocalist Brian Hogan (also bassist with Meteor award-winning Irish band Kila) and drummer/vocalist Emmaline Duffy-Fallon (late of Engine Alley, who notched considerable acclaim in the early/mid ‘90s).. The name refers to Hogan's father, who was a singer and a preacher, incidentally. They got together in 2009 and quickly started picking up press for their hi-nrg, at times atmospheric, at other times rootsy, sound, which the musicians themselves describe as being "like a David Byrne, Scott Walker collaboration, or Queen's greatest hits circa 1980 vs Morrison Hotel. A Led Zeppelin / Leonard Cohen crossover sort of Johnny Cash, Duane Eddie, Bowie doing Talking Heads kinda thing." 

It's a truism that one should never trust an artist to describe his or her music, but in this case - wow. Boy howdy: among the key tracks dotting their spectacular Dave Bascombe-mixed debut Love Life and Limb (released last October) are "26 Years," which does indeed suggest the improbably Led Zep/Cohen blend (due in no small part to Hogan's impossibly deep, resonant voice); first single "X For Sandra," which marries Bowie drama to a kind of Exene/John Doe vocal parry-and-thrust vibe; "Should Have Been Gone," a minor-chord, strings-powered country twanger which taps the aforementioned Johnny Cash influence; and "Lipstick," a moody, swampy slice of gothic noir featuring guest vocals from Gavin Friday. And wait'll you hear their raucous, street rumble of a cover of Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" (Duffy-Fallon takes lead vocal on that one, natch).

The band is reportedly a dynamo in concert, frequently joined on stage by guest musicians including Tabby Callaghan (X-Factor), Kieran Kennedy (Black Velvet Band, Hothouse Flowers) and Shane Fitzsimons (Lisa Hannigan, Damien Rice, Paddy Casey). Here's hoping we can get them over to these shores in the near future.

We'll have an interview with the band posted to the site shortly in which we let them fill you in on all this and more. Meanwhile, check out their official website as well as their MySpace page and Facebook page for additional details as well as song samples. They're one of the good ‘uns, trust us.

***

Bands, go to www.sonicbids.com/blurtonline to submit and have us review your materials for feature consideration.

>Our November ‘08 Best Kept Secret: The Handcuffs, from Chicago.

>Our December Best Kept Secret: Black Swan Green, from Brooklyn

>Our January 2009 Best Kept Secret: stephaniesI­d, from Asheville

>Our March Best Kept Secret: Polly Mackey & the Pleasure Principle, from England

>Our June Best Kept Secret: Wiretree, from Austin

>Our August Best Kept Secret: Bulletproof Vests, from Memphis

>Our November Best Kept Secret: The Vivs, from Boston

>Our January 2010 Best Kept Secret: The Public Good, from D.C.

>Our February Best Kept Secret: Dirty Dancing, from Austin

>Our April Best Kept Secret: Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents, from Boston

>Our June Best Kept Secret: The Rebel Set, from Phoenix

 >Our August Best Kept Secret: Alice Austin, from Los Angeles

>Our October 2010 Best Kept Secret: Doug McCurry, from Charlotte 

>Our January 2011 Best Kept Secret: Drunken Prayer, from Portland

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY ANDY TENNILLE

20 years ago, Patterson Hood packed his shit and left Muscle Shoals, Alabama, distraught following the break-up of his band of six years - Adam's House Cat - and disillusioned with the small town in northern Alabama that his father - David Hood - and his colleagues at FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound helped put on the map in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s recording classic hits with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones.

Like any good teenager who grew up in the late ‘70s listening to The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Elvis Costello, Hood rebelled, choosing to leave behind his hometown, his family's business and his father's music for life on the road chasing the rock ‘n roll dream.

"I didn't really intend to rebel against Muscle Shoals as much as I feel like Muscle Shoals rebelled against me," Hood says. "When I started trying to play music, I was viewed as this snotty-nosed loser, fuck-you kid that it made me rebel further. I mean, I wrote ‘Buttholeville' as a response; I didn't come out punching. I felt like I was punched and so I punched back. There are still some people in that town who are mad about that song, and that was in 1988. I tried for a long time to stay there and finally just left after Adam's House Cat broke up with a lot of frustration and anger, feeling like I had to leave."

Searching for a more welcoming music scene, Hood relocated to Athens, Georgia, founded the Drive-By Truckers with former Adam's House Cat bandmate Mike Cooley and the rest is history. Over the next 15 years, the band would go on to make eleven albums, record with Booker T. Jones and Bettye LaVette and tour the world, earning a reputation as one of rock's road warriors. All the while, Hood formed a musical family in Athens that interestingly mirrored what his father's generation developed in Muscle Shoals. David Barbe came on board for Southern Rock Opera and quickly became the band's close confidant and de-facto producing partner. Wes Freed was tapped to illustrate the band's album artwork. Scott Baxendale met the Truckers when the Decoration Day tour hit Denver and has built custom guitars for them ever since. Last year, Hood and company moved their band office and warehouse to Chase Park, the same complex that houses Barbe's studio and Baxendale's new guitar shop. Every January, the Truckers host three nights at the fabulous 40 Watt that benefit local non-profit Nuci's Space and serve as a reunion for their friends, extended family and the entire Athens music community.

"Everyone who has an extended relationship with them are just really quality people, from the folks at Red Light to Traci Thomas at Thirty Tigers to Matt, Damon and the road crew," Barbe says. "It is like a big family, and now that they've moved their headquarters over here next to my studio and Scott's guitar shop is here as well, we're all here next door to one another. We all work together, and there's a lot of love and a lot of loyalty, and that starts with the band."

With Go-Go Boots, their new album out this week on ATO Records, the Truckers have once again turned to their hometown for inspiration, tipping their hat to the country soul made famous by Muscle Shoals while covering two songs by the late Eddie Hinton, one of the town's greatest talents. It's perhaps their most well-rounded effort since The Dirty South and further solidifies their place among America's best rock bands.

*****

BLURT: Well, congrats on another fine album. Lots of people are saying Go-Go Boots is the Truckers finally embracing the more soulful, Muscle Shoals side of the band. In looking back over the last three albums, Brighter Than Creation's Dark was almost an extension of the Dirt Underneath tour, a more intimate, acoustic side of the Truckers. The Big To-Do - a big rock record - seemed like a reaction to that, like the pendulum swinging back in the other direction. What is Go-Go Boots?

PATTERSON HOOD: I think it's probably a little of all of the above. We certainly didn't go in the studio and say, "Well now we're gonna make the Truckers soul record." Any talk of that was more after the fact, when we realized this was the most Muscle Shoals-sounding record that we've ever made. At the same time, it doesn't sound like any particular record ever made at Muscle Shoals. It sounds like a Drive-By Truckers record to me. It's a little heavier on the storytelling aspects than anything we've done since The Dirty South, and in some ways, it's kind of a follow up to that, except musically it moves in different directions.

You recorded Go-Go Boots and your previous album, The Big To-Do, during the same sessions. Why is this band suited for that approach?

 Our band is not economical. We're not aerodynamic. We're a big, gas-guzzling dinosaur of a road hog. We're made of big heavy steel, we're hard to parallel park, but if you get us out on the open road and gun it a little bit, we're good on a nice long trip. That's just who we are. There have been times when we've gone through periods where we've tried to be a little more agile and it's just not what we do best, unfortunately. So there's an inherent bigness that comes with what we do, and recording two albums at once was a way of embracing that without putting out another two hour-long record like Brighter than Creation's Dark. I personally have a real strong soft spot for that record, but I didn't want to do another one like it, not any time soon.

I don't know if we'll ever choose to or get to do a project the same way again, but I'm really glad that we got to do it this time and that it turned out the way it did. In a lot of ways, doing two records at once really, really worked for us; the way we operate and the way we record. I wish I could do it that way from now on, but the reality is that to do it that way, you've got to put both of those records out in a relatively timely fashion, which means having two records out in eleven months. As cool as that sounded on paper, that's a lot of work.

I need to follow up on something you said a little bit earlier. You said this could be considered the follow up to The Dirty South. I find that interesting because to me that record represented the peak of that particular lineup. Now you've had a couple of records with this band. Is this record a good representation of the potential of this band?

 I have no idea where this band will go next or could go next. The lineup is so stellar right now, and I feel like in some ways we're running at the peak of our potential, but in another way I feel like we're almost just now scratching the surface and getting to the good stuff underneath. It's a really fertile band in a lot of ways, and there's plenty of the good kind of dynamics that can make something interesting without any of the troublesome dynamics. I've never had a band that's played just like the sound in my head, only way better. The band in my head is the same as this band, and that's really a good feeling.

Let's talk about Go-Go Boots. How did you differentiate the songs for it versus the ones for The Big To-Do?

I knew that there was a record somewhere in my head that I really wanted to hear, and that became Go-Go Boots. When we went in the studio, there was a very clear-cut idea of what The Big To-Do was, and then there were these other songs that I felt just as passionate about, maybe even more so in some cases. I knew it was gonna take a little more time than we've ever really had the luxury of having to find that record, so we went about it at our own pace while taking care of the business at hand, which was making The Big To Do. As we wrapped that record up, we knew that we weren't gonna be shut out of the studio for the next two years like it used to be between records. We knew that we had this ongoing thing that we could work on at our leisure. So we'd do a leg of the tour, and I'd be listening to what we had so far on the Go-Go Boots stuff and thinking about what's next. We'd book a little studio time when we got home, go in there and apply what we worked on or talked about on that tour and then go back out on the road some more. It was really enjoyable to have this ongoing thing. I tend to write more if I've got a project I'm writing for. That was the thing about the two-year gaps between working on records in the past - I would tend to just not write during that time. It's an easy thing to put off when there's nothing looming. With this record on the horizon, I pushed myself to keep writing because I knew that we had this record that had the potential to be as good as anything we've ever made, but it still hadn't found its identity yet. We had these really great songs, I thought, but there wasn't that thing that makes a collection of songs a great album, that unifying thing that ties it all together.

In the midst of all this, we were asked to record a song for an Eddie Hinton tribute. That turned out to be kind of the missing piece. That opened a creative door that was like, "Wow, this really ties in with these Go-Go Boots songs we're working on." Once we decided to include those songs on the record, this other running theme emerged in the record that inspired me to dig out "Mercy Buckets" and turn it into something that we could use. I'd had an earlier version of that song for many, many years that actually predates the Truckers. If someone asked me to play at their wedding, I'd play it, but it wasn't a song I really heard on one of our records. Hearing the Eddie Hinton songs on there changed my mind, so I went back and rewrote the song and made it a much better song. We knew as soon as we recorded it that it was the way the album should end.

The last thing I wrote was "I Do Believe," which I wrote right as we were finishing the record. Originally, we were gonna begin the record with "Go-Go Boots", but then once I wrote that song, it became pretty clear that it's gotta be the first song. Having that as the first song, "Mercy Buckets" as the last song and the Eddie Hinton songs in the middle gave the record this arc that counterpoints all of the darker killing songs in the middle.

You've chosen family as the source of inspiration or song subject matter many times throughout your career, "I Do Believe" being the latest. Tell me who that song is about?

 "I Do Believe" is about my grandmother, Sissy, on my mom's side. She's the person on earth that I was the closest to, as far as a child and as an adult. As long as she was alive, she was the person I was the closest to. I really haven't written about her much. Some aspects of her have popped up in "Old Timers' Disease," which I definitely count as one of my family's songs even though it's a fictional story. My granddaddy used to talk about walking down the street with her when they were young, and cars would just about start colliding because whoever was driving would be so busy staring at her butt that they'd run into telephone poles. She was a really stunning woman, so I used that imagery in "Old Timers' Disease." She's in "Little Bonnie," too, but I'd never written specifically about her or our relationship.

I've been writing since '73, since I was eight years old, and I've written a shitload of songs, but it's still as much a mystery to me now as at any point in time as far as how it all happens. I can tell you where specific things in a song came from, but I can't tell you what made me think of it at that moment. We were riding down the road in our van and we'd been to Europe, and then Colorado, and we were on our way home, and everyone's exhausted. We were driving home from the Atlanta airport, and I was sitting in the back of the van and that song just hit me. I wrote it down right there on a little notepad I had in my bag. I was no more thinking about Sissy or any of the stuff that's in that song...it was as far as anything could have been from my mind, and yet, in about a ten-minute period of time, I wrote that song. It was a very vivid snapshot of a moment in time when I was about my daughter's age, five years old or so. It wasn't until after I finished writing it that I realized I'd just written about Sissy. I can't remember the last time I'd thought about that day, but it's all there in that song.

Does that happen a lot for you, where a song just comes out of the sky like a lightning bolt?

 Almost all the good ones. In a lot of cases, it's an idea I've had for years, but the actual writing of it happens like a lightning bolt. For years, I've wanted to write a song about the cop that "Used to Be A Cop" is about. I had the basic idea for that song when we were writing The Dirty South, but the song never got written. I have no idea what caused me to write that song out of the blue one night a couple of Novembers ago when I was just sitting in my office. I wasn't thinking about it then, I wasn't thinking about any of that. It just came out. I had my acoustic guitar, and I pretty much played what I play on the record, just that four chord little circle that plays throughout the song. I demoed it as soon as I finished writing it, and it already had the jagged staccato, psycho thing at the end, which was definitely borrowing kind of a Bernard Herrmann feel, ‘cause I love Bernard Herrmann.

As far as the disco beat and all of that, that all happened when the band got a hold of it. The song's set in the late 70's, early 80's, so that's the music that would have been playing at the bar when the former cop's watching his ex-wife dancing with some dude and thinking about following her home. It's so weird. It's 7 minutes long, and it's already gotten more radio play than any song we've ever put out. We've always said if we ever have a breakthrough hit, it's gonna be from the outer edges of what we do. It's not gonna be the hit version of the thing we do, it would be from a different direction. I've always thought that. It has gotten more radio attention than any song we've ever put out, and it's seven fucking minutes long. It's funny. The studio version's even longer than the version live. It's a minute longer on the record than the live version. When does that happen? (Laughs)

So what's the story behind "Go-Go Boots?" When you see these things on the TV, hear them on the radio or read them in the paper or online, what's the first reaction?

 When I was a little boy there were two things I wanted to do; I wanted to either be a rock star or a film director. I always wanted to make movies and always wrote stories and outlines for a number of things. Southern Rock Opera started off as an outline for a screenplay me and Earl (Hicks, former producer and bass player) were gonna write, and then it made more sense to just make a record. That was when it first dawned on me to merge those two worlds, so that's been a big part of what I've done over the years.

The murder that inspired "Fireplace Poker" and "Go-Go Boots" was a real event that happened in my hometown in the late 80's. It went down over a week or 10-day period of time and was pretty much the front-page story every day. It was all unraveling before your eyes, and just watching it all happen, I thought, "I wanna make a movie about this." I thought it would make an incredible Southern gothic, Night of the Hunter-style movie.

I wrote the song a long time ago, over the course of a number of years. I probably wrote the first draft of it in the late 80's and wrote pretty much the version that we have now in the mid-90s. I had it in mind for the album I referred to as "the Heathens record," which was the album that morphed into Decoration Day, so it was definitely on a list of song titles leading up to making that record. By the time we finally made the record, we had so many songs and it was already going in so many directions that it got shelved and put aside. It just wasn't the time for it, but I was still drawn to that story, so I wrote "Go-Go Boots" a little later as another attempt to tell that story, just in a different form. That ended up being one of the first songs we recorded for this album. It was a magical take, and we knew early on that that was definitely gonna be on the album and that it was like gonna be the title cut for this darker, weirder second record we were working on as we did The Big To-Do.

As we were finishing the record last summer, the same weekend we did "I Do Believe," "The Fireplace Poker" reared its head one more time. We were about to finish the record, we didn't really need another song, and we sure didn't need a nine-minute long narrative about a murder that we already had another song about, but if we didn't do anything right now with, I knew we'd never do anything with it. So we gave it a stab to see what we could get, and we very quickly ended up with a magical take. So once again, I've got two songs about the same thing from different perspectives on a record, and I guess that's just another one of those things we do.

I'd like to talk about "Ray's Automatic Weapon." How often does it happen that you write a song and by the time you start playing it out, or it comes out on a record, it's taken on a whole new meaning? I'm talking about the recent shooting in Arizona and the whole debate right now about gun laws.

 I honestly hadn't even thought about that until you said it just now, about "Ray's Automatic Weapon," but it's very true. Southern Rock Opera happened that way, too, in that it came out on 9/11 and ends with a plane crash. Playing that album the first time in New York was on October 11th of that year, and Ground Zero was still smoldering. It was really weird stepping up on stage to play that record knowing the closeness of all of that, even though that record was set in a different time and place and was about something totally different. People did come up to us after the show and they would talk about "Angels and Fuselage" and the relation to what had just happened in their lives. Nothing could have been further from our minds about what we intended when we recorded that song, but none-the-less, those things happened. That's part of the beauty of this art form. Songs do take on new meanings that were never intended, and that's a great thing, particularly if it helps somebody deal with something they're suffering through.

Let's talk about Eddie Hinton. It isn't as if the Muscle Shoals scene lacks folks who had all the talent in the world but never made the spotlight. Why Eddie Hinton? Why not Donnie Fritts, Tony Joe White, or countless others?

 With Eddie, it always seems to go one step further. Eddie's story is a tragic narrative. He was such an amazing talent in a town that had so many amazing talents, but Eddie's talent might have transcended one step further even. He was a writer on the same level with Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.  He was a guitar player of the caliber of Duane Allman. Extremely underrated, but a fantastic guitar player, a great studio musician who could pretty much play whatever they put in front of him. He played the harmonica, he could play drums, and he wrote string arrangements. He wrote a string arrangement that he took to the London Symphony Orchestra to play ‘cause he heard strings in his head on the song. He wrote the arrangement on the plane ride over.

When he got there, those classically trained symphony players couldn't believe that this guy from Alabama had written these parts. They were in awe of it. He was this vocalist on the level with Otis Redding, but you can't find his records. They're almost all imports. He lost his mind and spent a lot of time in and out of mental institutions and was known to be a little deranged, maybe a little violent. He slept on a park bench for about a year in Decatur, Alabama. It's just a very tragic, sad, sad story, but if you listen to his records, they're just beautiful. So we were definitely drawn to his story. I wrote "Sandwiches for the Road," which is on Gangstabilly, a couple weeks after he passed away in '95. We've had this ongoing relationship with Eddie's music over the entire history of this band. It's been the music that plays between sets at our shows for at least eight or nine years. So it just made sense.

I had wanted in the past to record one of his songs, but it was vetoed from day one because we were scared we wouldn't be able to do it justice. But then we got asked to do the tribute thing, and it was really then just a matter of talking Cooley into it. He was always a little skeptical of the idea of covering an Eddie Hinton song, for very good reasons. But at the end of the day we were all very happy with what we did on that. And we're glad we did it. I think in doing that, it was a nice boost for our confidence in pursuing some of the loftier things we were trying to do with this record.

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By Fred Mills

Arcade Fire didn't just win a Grammy for Album Of The Year last night - the band also picked up a Twitter page and accompanying Tumblr aggregator of related tweets from other sources dedicated to random disses/insults, outraged comments over the Grammy award, and outright (and grammatically challenged) ad hominem attacks.

Called "Who Is Arcade Fire," the Twitter/Tumblr pages actually may turn out to be a stunt, but no matter - it's pretty funny, or annoying, depending on how much you love the band and how, uh, refined your sense of irony is. Per the latter: on the Tumblr page, the person who set it up has a tagline that reads, LOL EMINEM GOT ROBBED. Indeed, a slew of the tweets that have been reproduced on the page have a distinctively pro-Eminem flavor (plenty of urban and hip-hop dialect mingles with the more overtly adolescent phrasings), such as:

"Never heard of Aracde [sic] Fire. Don't do hippie shit. My boy Slim had that locked up. It's like Smirnoff winning vodka of the year or something." - @GooseDouche

"Man whose Dick did Arcade Fire suck? #grammys. Who the fuck are these canucks anyway?" - @CoonAffiliated

You get the idea. A number of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber fans weigh in similarly.

What's interesting is that among the recognizable names, celebs including aging, big-boobed '80s hair metal video vixen Tawny Kitaen and aging media boob Rosie O'Donnell offer their own idiosyncratic takes on the band.

 Kitaen, apparently sucking the bong and watching old Whitesnake videos during Grammy commercials, tweeted, "Ok, Im not THAT old but whos Arcade Fire? & worse, who the HELL thinks their good? Did I just lose all my followers? Cuz they sucked, sorry." (@Tawny_Kitaen)

Meanwhile, O'Donnell weighed in with a pithy, "album of the year ? ummm never heard of them ever" (@Rosie)

(Both tweets appear to be from the actual personalities, unless they are from accounts set up by fakesters.)

Bottom line: Arcade Fire's now playing in the big leagues, haters and all. Industry pundit Bob Lefsetz even felt compelled to weigh in despite his lack of enthusiasm for the band. Once again, congrats to one of our favorite bands.

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By Fred Mills

The indie world got a delightful - some might say, "shocking" (and someone did; see below - early Valentine's gift last night when Arcade Fire won the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year. The significance of the Canadian band besting commercial behemoths Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Eminem isn't lost on anyone (the fact that this makes the second time Arcade Fire has tweaked Eminem: upon its first week of release The Suburbs bumped Em off the top of the Billboard charts), and as such, it's no hyperbole to suggest that it represents a win for more than just A.F. - it's a victory for their label, Merge; for bands everywhere who now realize they don't have to go multi-platinum to have an impact; and for the overall health of the independent music sector, which can take deep satisfaction from the knowledge that even while the major label plantation system of doing business has been steadily crumbling, the smaller-is-better-and-more-efficient model has been quietly proving its worth in a troubled economy.

Back to the band, though: as we pointed out back in December, in our 2010 wrap-up and list of the Top 50 Albums of the Year, "Simply put, Arcade Fire has worked as hard as any combo out there, while at the same time not allowing its musical imagination to stagnate or grow complacent, remaining artistically hungry and unwilling to compromise. Those are qualities that should be celebrated beyond matters of record sales, chart placings and awards ceremonies."

After accepting the award and performing what may have been an unplanned version of key Suburbs track "Ready To Start," Arcade Fire repaired to the Grammys media room where, according to Billboard.com, Win Butler told reporters that their win was "shocking."

"The idea [that they would win] never even entered my mid, even the slightest bit, until when they said the name of the album," said Butler.This award is for our record. We really believe in records. When we make a record, we really put all of our soul into it. To be recognized for that [by] this group of people, in the age of the iPod or in the age of the single or whatever it is, we still really care about records so it means a lot to us."

Amen to that. Watch the band do "Ready To Start" from the Grammys last night, below. The grin on Win Butler's face is utterly priceless. Those are some happy folks. Congrats, kids.

Go to the official Grammy website for details on all the winners.

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By Fred Mills

Nine years ago yesterday, on Feb. 13, 2002, country legend Waylon Jennings passed away from complications related to diabetes. He left behind an immense musical legacy, and he was larger than life on a personal level, too, having helped boot-kick, as a key architect of the "Outlaw Country" movement (the ‘70s progenitor to the ‘90s alt-country/y'allternative scene), an aging, increasingly tepid musical format back into relevancy. Just the names he was associated with - Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Jessi Colter, among others - is testimony to his artistic stature.

You can find plenty of Jennings appreciations on the web. Here's mine.

I don't recall listening to country music at all growing up, other than hearing the occasional tune on the radio or catching someone on TV, and after the British Invasion hit, it was twice as unlikely that I'd hear any. Many, many years later, though, I realized that my dad must have been a closet country fan, because after he died I found tucked in among his Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman big band albums a number of country compilations and some titles from Jennings and Nelson, including the classic '76 LP Wanted! The Outlaws that featured both men. I suspect that my mom thought country was too redneck for our "refined" household, and that he only listened when she wasn't home, but there's a good chance I got to hear some of those records in the process and some of the music crept into my being through osmosis. At any rate, as an adult I've come to have a healthy appreciation for country and its myriad offshoots, and Jennings definitely ranks as one of the greats in my book.

In January of 1990 I got to meet Jennings. It was in Charlotte, NC, while working as the Music Editor of weekly Creative Loafing, and it happened purely by chance as a result of me attending the cast and crew wrap party for the Tom Cruise-Robert Duvall racecar flick Days of Thunder, which was filmed at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Some friends of mine, roots/rockabilly combo the Belmont Playboys, had been hired to play at the party, and they smuggled me in as roadie to document the occasion.

From my original story:

Just before the Playboys' first set at 9 p.m., who should walk in but Cruise's co-star Robert Duvall, accompanied by an entourage of Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. Jaws dropped. People gawked. Once they were all settled in at their table I had to go speak to them.

I first approached Duvall. Shaking his hand, I told him I enjoyed his singing in Tender Mercies, the 1983 film in which he played an alcoholic, down-and-out country musician. He grinned and pointed at Cash. "Well thanks, but there's the real king right there." I asked him how the Cashes and the Jennings wound up here this evening. "They're friends of mine, so I invited 'em, figured we'd have some fun." I went over to Cash. I shook his hand. His wife smiled graciously at me and accepted my handshake as well, as did Jennings and Colter.

During the set the Playboys did a spirited cover of a very early Cash tune, "Rock ‘n' Roll Ruby," and afterwards Cash walked over to the band to thank them, saying, "I just wanted to express my appreciation to you for doing my song. You guys sound great, just like we did forty years ago!" Jennings introduced himself as well, and before anyone realized what was happening both men were onstage, guitarist Jake Berger handing his instrument to Cash and bandleader Mike Hendrix passing his to Jennings. After a quick conference with the band the pair launched into "Folsom Prison Blues," followed by "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" and several other tunes.

The evening progressed from there, with Johnny and Waylon swapping off on lead vocals - Jennings let rip some impressive guitar solos to boot - and both June and Jessi getting up onstage to sing. Duvall too - the show concluded with Duvall leading an entire room of awestruck dancers and revelers (Cruise among them) in an extended version of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken." The looks on the performers' faces were as priceless as the ones on the crowd members, and both Cash and Jennings were still grinning ear to ear when they finally left the stage. One abiding memory, among many, is of the two men settling back into their chairs, smiling and nodding at each other as if to say, wow, that was the most fun I've had in a long time.

Thanks Waylon, for being part of a story I've told proudly many times, and one I hope to be able to tell my grandchildren one day, too.

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BY JOHN SCHACHT 

In the wake of the January 8 shooting rampage that claimed six lives and seriously wounded 13 in Tucson, AZ, the nation briefly paused and took a step back from partisan brinksmanship - Sarah Palin notwithstanding - to refocus on the fragility of life and what really unites us. 

Nowhere was this sentiment more visceral than in the downtown arts community of Tucson that singer/songwriter, filmmaker and poet Marianne Dissard has called home for the past 16 years. From out of the dark madness of that morning, commiserating musicians and artists gathered later that night at The Rialto Theatre, which canceled its scheduled event and opened its doors for an impromptu musical vigil for the victims. 

Playing songs and celebrating the victims' lives, including wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a long-time fan of Tucson's fertile music scene, the evening turned out to be a somber but cathartic reaffirmation of community for Dissard, her fellow musicians and the audience. 

"It was a really solemn and quiet and reflective moment where we all came together and did what we do - usually in a more riotous way, I suppose," says Dissard, who still retains the rich accent of her native France. "But it was also life-affirming -- it was really a great moment to be there and to be with people we usually work and interact with and just to perform." 

A small irony of that night is that Dissard could not play "The One & Only," a love song to Tucson from her marvelous brand new album, L'Abandon, whose sentiments were now freighted with unintended meanings for its author. That night, however, Dissard deemed the slinky, shout-along blues song too ebullient, and stuck with more appropriately melancholy fare. 

"I can talk no end usually when I'm on stage, just babble on, but this time I was like, ‘I don't have anything to say -- I'm just going to sing,'' she says, remembering that she dropped her laptop to the ground that morning upon hearing the news, as though punishing it for the news it brought. "It was a pretty solemn moment." 

There are musical moments on L'Abandon that might've fit the somber occasion - the rueful piano-and-pedal-steel waltz "Fondre," the minor-key mystery of "Le Gros Chat" -- but the record mostly lives up to its title. Dissard likens it to "a wild embrace, abandoning myself, losing myself, letting go." 

The 11 French-language songs are speckled in international colors from French chanson and mariachi to roots-flavored rock, hints of the avant garde and even cabaret. Like its studio predecessor, 2009's L'Entredeux, which she co-wrote with Calexico's Joey Burns, L'Abandon is a collaborative effort, this time with Italian composer Christian Ravaglioli's music put to Dissard's earthy and lyrical imagery. 

In fact, emblematic of the record's - and Tucson's - culture mash-up, Dissard assembled a mini-U.N. for a band, including the likes of Canadian guitar whiz Luke Doucet, Mexico's Sergio Mendoza (Y La Orkesta, Calexico), Mexican-Americans Salvador Duran (Iron & Wine, Calexico) and Brian Lopez (Mostly Bears), and Denmark's Thøger T. Lund (Giant Sand), among others. (For her current European tour, Lopez, Mendoza, Olivier Samouillan and longtime BLURT fave Gabriel Sullivan are Dissard's backing musicians.) 

That international cast overcame the potential for Tower of Babel incomprehension - Dissard doesn't speak Italian, Ravaglioli speaks neither French nor English - by relying on the universal language of music. 

"You have that certain innocence of the ones who don't know," Dissard says of the process. "You don't know what you're getting into, and therefore you're not afraid to try it. It worked out. We just spent hours and hours just being next to each other, him on the piano and me trying to make sense of what he was going for." 

Dissard turned to her directorial experience - she first visited Tucson in 1989 to interview filmmaker Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy), and in 1994 directed Drunken Bees, a film chronicling Howe Gelb's Tucson fixture Giant Sand - to marshal this disparate crew. (She plans to include a bonus DVD, a film remake of Andy Warhol's western, Lonesome Cowgirls, with her latest release). 

"Hopefully you've cast your crew well enough that things will happen the way you think they should," she says, breaking into the smoky, infectious laughter that seems to embody her album title. "I remember being very conscious in the studio of having to have a certain type of energy, almost being in a state of performance in the studio itself so that everyone would just go, ‘well, we know this is the energy we need to give to this album.' It really is the same thing as being a director on the set and conducting people's intentions." 

That was most likely made easier by an outstanding batch of songs, rich in the romance of French chanson and delivered in vibrant rock shades. While some may blanch at pop songs in a language they can't understand ("who pays that much attention to lyrics, anyway?" she asks), Dissard's connection to one key element of the rich chanson tradition virtually makes that a moot point. 

"There are a couple of trends to that tradition," she says, citing the lyric content, and the need to hear every word of the story being told. "There's also, to me, another very important strain of that which is the body, the theatricality of it. I mean, Edith Piaf has great lyrics, she's got great tales, but she's also like a body singing, and Jaques Brel will sweat through his songs, and bleed from every pore of his body. 

"So, to me, those two are as essential in what I'm doing. The irony of it is, is that I sing in French, so it doesn't really translate into other countries when I sing. But the incarnation of a song is something that does translate; again, another ‘universal language.'" 

That's comes across in L'Abandon's songs even without seeing them performed live. These stories -the language is immaterial - translate the full conviction of the writers and players, of the experiences that conceived them and the recording process that brought them into this world. You can hear it in the Left Bank-dusky noir blend of the accordion-powered "La Peau du Lait," in the border-trumpet blasts that buffet "Almas Pervesas," and the galloping twang - as sung by a growling female George Brassens -- of "L'Exile." 

But unlike those tracks and L'Entredeux, which Burns and Dissard crafted into a straightforward French chanson-meets-Americana record, L'Abandon songs like the early P.J. Harvey-flavored rocker "Ecrivain Public," the whispered space-out of "Ete Hiver" (which Dissard attacks with the drama of a modern Brel), or the polyglot samples and soulful, Tindersticks-like "Neige Romaine" expand Dissard's vocabulary into all kinds of intriguing directions. Yet throughout, downtown Tucson's vibrant eclecticism and the storied history of chanson permeate the record - two things we can be grateful Dissard decided not to abandon. 

"The thing that attracts me to (these musical strands) is that I like my music to be living - I like, here in Tucson, the people that are all working together, are all in each other's bands and are basically making sure that music is something that's played live, that's part of the community." 

And in the long shadow of the Jan. 8 tragedy, that's more than just a nice perk of living in Tucson - it proved to be a life-affirming necessity. 

[Photo Credit: Scott Christensen] 

Marianne Dissard on the web: 

OFFICIAL WEBSITE - mariannedissard.com

FACEBOOK - facebook.com/pages/Marianne-Dissard/87460442223

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BY ANNAMARYA SCACCIA

"How do you tell the truth about how inspiration feels like? How do you tell the truth about how magical it can feel to meet new people, to be inspired by a culture, and to go to a place to work, like Detroit, which is crazy and crumbling? How do you tell the truth about that stuff, like in some weird nihilistic way, that really does anybody any good?"

On the face of it, these questions are purely rhetorical. But for Miles Seaton, bassist for experimental folk-jam three-piece Akron/ Family and supplicant of these ruminations, they're more emblematic of the outfit's bewitched experience shaping ST II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT, their latest effort for Dead Oceans, than they are simple musings.

They are, in a way, also a response to the peculiarity of a note the Portland/New York band sent with an oversized cardboard box to the label, containing equally peculiar items like "a sincere but poorly made diorama of futurist swirling spaces filled with toy astronauts and dinosaurs." It's shrouded in obscurity, composed with perplexing fragments and deconstructed retrospectives that can either signal truth or metaphor. Birth of early adulthood ideal tribalist experimentation before belief of the best better ways..., the three - Seaton, Dana Janssen, and Seth Olinsky - wrote, A dream roll of visions and bulldozers organized by Future Librarians unemployed. Intoxicated. Artistic-bent. Roving Aimlessly Free of expectation 100 years later.

"It's all true and it's all symbolic," the 31-year-old explains over the phone from his home in Manhattan. "The reality is that it sounds kind of fantastic because it was. The whole experience of making work and the creative process and traveling and having the feeling of inspiration is not something that really translates to paper. If we really wanted to tell the truth, we should have been even more fantastical than maybe we were.

"It may be somebody's job to try to be factual and nihilistic, but the reality is that's just not the world I want to deal with."

ST II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT is a record ripe with verve and mysticism - a 48-minute exploration of transcendental folk-rock expressions that heave with atoms of sagacity and revelation. But when you think about the places where the record was conceived and formed throughout 2010 - written in a cabin built into the a side of an active volcano in Japan and recorded in an abandoned train station in Detroit - it makes sense that such a supernal yet primal soundscape would result. Sure, they have "direct" influences, like the Boredoms or William Parker, but what they are most reactive to - what they are really after - is the energy (in addition to referencing their 2005 self-titled album, the record's handle is reflective of that "boundless sense of creativity").

"When we made the record," Seaton says, "we were at a place where we really wanted to just get to a really inspired and basic place with ourselves creatively as a group."

According to the musician, who feels most alive when he begins noticing music everywhere, from radiator spurts to chirping birds, Japan was "one of the most amazing experiences" Akron/Family has had as a band. It was an incomparable place where remarkable artists and kindhearted people were befriended, and the audiences were "so present," so much so that it felt like "this palpable sense of magic." And it's that enchantment, he says, that the band drew on when conceptualizing and visualizing the album, invoking it as their "guidepost and the lighthouse in our journey."

As for Detroit, their stay at the deserted post was more by design than decision. It's the home base for their producer/engineer Chris Kotlay (Liars, Women, Deerhunter, Holy Fuck, No Age), an individual who Seaton describes as a "crazy, gregarious character." Still, the bassist says, the Michigan metropolis was entirely impactful, an almost definitive influence on the record's sound.  

"There's a feeling of inspiration of Detroit in [where] nature is kind of reclaiming that place because everything catches on fire and burns down and then the grass grows," says Seaton. "It's almost like natural is becoming feral through the bones of the architecture there and it's a really inspiring situation.

You can say the mystery and fascination of being is much of the reason why Akron/Family is also releasing the new record on cassette. Along with vinyl, it's a format the trio grew up listening to, and one they harbor a fondness for.

"There's something about the format of cassettes that's really special and unique," says Seaton, excited to hear what their new bestowment will sound like on tape. "I feel like it needs to be acknowledged."

[Photo Credit: Ian McNeil]

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BY AARON KAYCE 

Have you ever woken from sleep and wondered if you were still dreaming? Momentarily stuck between worlds where time is suspended? This is the music of Cotton Jones. A beautiful place where it could be dusk or it might dawn. Where guitars feel more like fractured rays of sun and vocals waft in a haze of echo and reverb. 

"I think a lot of the songs are kind of dream sequence sorts of songs," says bandleader Michael Nau. "I feel like a lot of it's [the new album] written that way where it's not too specific to our everyday encounters." 

Tall Hours in the Glowstream (Suicide Squeeze) is the second full-length from Cotton Jones. Originally called the Cotton Jones Basket Ride, the band features guitarist/vocalist Nau along with keyboardist/vocalist Whitney McGraw and is essentially an extension of their previous band Page France. No one, including Nau, is exactly sure why Page France was rechristened Cotton Jones, but in 2009 the change was solidified with the band's woozy lo-fi Americana debut Paranoid Cocoon.  
Though Nau references as influences Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan and the gospel songs his mom and dad used to sing, he says this album was informed more by his home in Cumberland, Maryland, than any artist or specific style.  

The glowstream alludes to a rolling body of water on the border of Maryland and West Virginia. "It's a place like nowhere else where everything sort of slows down. It's kind of a sentimental title for me" says Nau. "[It] represents a couple places where friends and family always go to hang out and spend their evenings." 

In October of 2009 Nau and McGraw got married. They met long ago in their tiny hometown and have been together for as long as anyone can remember. And though there's a loose collective of regular musicians who help flesh out Cotton Jones, most of them participants in Page France as well, if anything defines the band it's the duo's ethereal harmonies that often call to mind Johnny and June Carter Cash.   

Getting hitched not only affected their personal lives, it created a new space for their music to breathe. Sort of like seeing the forest through the trees: by taking a step back, the band's music came into focus. 

"Whitney and I have always worked together, but it's changed since we've been spending every day in the same house" reflects Nau. "Having two or more parts to my life, where music is not all consuming, I was able to feel certain things more than I've ever been able." 

One thing Nau is feeling appears to be tranquility; marrying your true love will do that for a man. It's not that Paranoid Cocoon was particularly depressing, but even the name hints at something dark and ominous. "I feel that Glowstream is a lot more of an upper, it's a positive record" he says, with a hint of pride. "It's hopeful and I've been trying to really practice patience in my life and not get so down on myself about the way things are going." 

Somewhere in the glowstream Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw have found their voice as Cotton Jones. The music they make is an open invitation to float along with them and let the spirit carry you away. All it takes is for you to press play; don't get left behind.

Cotton Jones kicks off a North American tour this week with Nicole Atkins. Check tour dates at their MySpace page. 

[Photo Credit: Todd Roeth]

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

Originally published on http://blurt-online.com/

BY NICK D'AMORE 

The album's title seems so charming and innocent. Mondo Amore, Nicole Atkins' huge expression of love in the form of her second album, coming out a week before Valentine's Day, no less. 

Or not. Not after the year (or two) she's had. 

In the years following her 2007 debut full-length, Neptune City, Atkins' career had been ascending steadily. She had a critically claimed album and was receiving wider recognition. She shared stages and recorded with David Byrne and A.C. Newman. 

Then, in 2009, came upheaval. She and her record label, Columbia Records, parted company, for reasons that have befallen many an artist on a major label in the past decade. The people who had originally signed Atkins were gone and now there were haggles and discussions about singles and even the tempos of her songs. So, in the beginning stages of crafting a new album, the search was on for a new home. According to Atkins, the split from the label that had released her first records, 2006's Bleeding Diamonds EP and the following year's Neptune City, was a positive step for her. She soon found a willing partner in Razor & Tie, a company initially known for releasing compilations such as Monster Ballads, but that in recent years has amassed an impressive roster of artists, including Joan Baez, Dar Williams, Richard Ashcroft and Zappa Plays Zappa. 

"Once I left, I felt a lot freer to make the music I wanted to without having to worry about hits," Atkins says. "Razor & Tie are super-into what I make and give me the freedom to do my thing. It's fun again." 

The record label change was not the only huge musical hurdle Atkins would have to best. Around the same time, she also split with her longtime backing band, The Sea, a group of talented players who excelled at the tight arrangements of Atkins' songs. Similar to her change of label, the change of supporting cast seemed to come at the right time. She was writing darker, moodier and looser material that would require players with a more spontaneous and harder feel than The Sea had brought. She aptly dubbed her new band, The Black Sea, reflecting the sounds with which she was now experimenting. The band as it currently exists is your basic rock setup, guitar (Irina Yalkowski), drums (Ezra Oaklan), bass (Jeremy Kay); Yalkowski and Kay are both on Mondo Amore, while Chris Donofrio held down the drum seat for the album. 

Probably the most difficult challenge for Atkins in the run-up to her new album was a bit more personal than leaving behind her old bandmates and record label. She also ended a years-long relationship with her boyfriend, the heartbreak of which can be heard throughout the album in songs like "Hotel Plaster," "Cry Cry Cry" (not a Johnny Cash cover; both that and "Hotel Plaster" were co-writes with Austin musician - and longtime BLURT fave - Robert Harrison of Future Clouds and Radar) and "You Were the Devil."  

The moral of the story might be that with big love sometimes comes big loss. The result of all the chaos is a menacing and melancholy mosaic of her journey set to a soundtrack of intriguing new sounds from Atkins. But, starkly present above it all is her powerful voice that retains its flair for the dramatic, with perhaps a touch more grit and edge behind things now. 

Ironically, it was during one of the more difficult times in her life that Atkins found the confidence to create an album that sounds more like what she hears in her head. "I trust myself more to write what I would want to listen to: blowout music mixed with crooner ballads," she says. "I made a conscious effort to write more dramatic and heavy songs." 

That confidence spread to the studio, where she took more of a lead role in the production of the album, particularly with the string parts. "I wrote the string arrangements to be more of a lead melody than as padding as they were on Neptune City," she says. "Making this record was a lot more mellow and off-the-cuff than making Neptune was." 

With an anything-goes vibe during recording, Atkins and producer Phil Palazzolo tossed around ideas and called any and all musicians they both dug to guest on the album. They brought in Salt & Samovar and fellow Jersey Shore natives Atlantic, Atlantic, as well as Jim James of My Morning Jacket. James lent his distinctive pipes to the song "War is Hell" by recording his part in a hotel room and emailing it to her. The looseness surrounding the recording carried over to the mixing phase, which was done during Fourth of July weekend at the Carriage House in Connecticut. During a huge party on the lawn of the place, Atkins became suddenly inspired. "I got drunk and redid the vocals to half the songs in one night. Shit sounded sweet with a little bourbon on the throat." 

During the recording of the album, Atkins toured with her old friends the Avett Brothers, which included a stop at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, and also made a quick jaunt to the United Kingdom to open a concert for Regina Spektor at O2 Academy Leeds. Both the tour and the one-off Spektor show were exciting for Atkins, who had come up with both artists from some inauspicious beginnings. 

"We [Atkins and Spektor] used to play together in the back of a buffalo wing restaurant I used to work at," she remembers. "Me, her, the Avett Brothers and Langhorne Slim playing for maybe seven people. It was a trip to open for her in front of a few thousand." 

The Mondo Amore promo tour will begin in earnest this month, with a record release show at Bowery Ballroom in New York on Feb. 9 that will feature a string section and a guest appearance from her keyboardist from The Sea, Dan Chen. The subsequent North American tour, featuring openers Cotton Jones (recently profiled at BLURT), will stretch into early March. Along the way there will be an appearance on Conan O'Brien's TBS show on Feb. 17, then next month, a slot at SXSW in Austin. 

This tour will be more directly supported by Atkins' fans than just buying tickets, thanks to her Kickstarter campaign. She began the campaign barely a month ago to help offset the rising costs of touring, including getting a touring van, gas, lodging and having a stage setup. In the short time the campaign has been established, Atkins' fans have donated more than $17,000 to her cause, with donations starting at $1. In addition to helping her be able to actually tour, donors of specific amounts will receive certain perks for their generosity. Give $15 and get the album and a monthly newsletter. Give $60 and get seasonal mix tapes from Atkins for a year. Give $500 and she'll write you a tune. 

But, really, Atkins is just looking forward to going back on the road with her new band, new tunes and fresh start to 2011.  The musicians will be bringing their darker, harder sound to Atkins' old songs as well. ("They all sound more surfy and romantic and dark. All of the old songs are sounding new again.") And she predicts that the new material and new band might leave lasting memories ringing in their ears of her audiences for a while. 

As she proclaims, "Shit is loud!"

[Photo Credit: Lucia Holm]

Read more at http://blurt-online.com/

by Jonathan Jaeger

Every so often, someone comes along and writes a song, makes a witty t-shirt, records a video, writes an article, or uses some other medium to poke fun at pop music and how simple it is to write a hit song.

“All you need to know is four chords to write a hit song!”

“Pop music is formulaic!”

“Pop stars don’t even write their own music.”

Many of these assumptions are completely true, and I can’t even begin to name all the horrible pop music out there. Nevertheless, I’d like to argue that pop music gets a bad rap sometimes. There is plenty of music in any genre that doesn’t make the cut as “listenable”. With pop music, however, some of it ends up floating around on the airwaves so it’s a little more visible for the 15 minutes it gets on our nerves.

A couple more comedic videos make light of the straight-forward structure of pop songs.

You can make a hit pop song in eight hours, apparently:

Does every pop song use the same four chords?:

For all the people who decry the popularity of some of the more simple hit songs on the Billboard charts and iTunes Top 10, I sympathize. I too see the beauty in the technicality of progressive metal, the musicianship and melody of jazz, and the soul in a blues guitar lick. But in pop music, there is something that separates a song that is a hit for a month with a song that stands the test of time as a pop classic (no matter how cheesy it is). There is an elusive catchiness that is often missing in the genres that many artistic folks consider more reputable or refined.

If you can make something appealing to the masses with just four chords, you’re doing something special to those four chords that someone else couldn’t do with the same resources at their disposal. Sometimes pop stars who already have had a hit song get by with another hit that is mediocre at best, but their careers don’t usually last long.

Abba, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and other pop sensations are remembered because they transcended the typical duration for a pop career. Why? Because sometimes a persona mixed with just the right hook, over and over again, is just enough for us to keep coming back for more.

http://danoblest-thesoundsofmylife.blogspot.com/2011/01/express-yourself.html

Numerous times throughout my life I have been told that I should write. A journal, on a page, on a napkin...it didn't matter as long as I wrote something. Advice that I often nodded my head at while my eyes glazed over. The thing is I knew it was good advice. I found there is a certain freedom to be had within writing that provides a great way to express myself and allow my creativity to flow. As for relieving stress writing seems to let me unburden myself one paragraph at a time.

Music is my true passion though. Writing music, making music, playing music, listening to music, and on and on the list goes as I float away on a sweet melody. Coming back from the music induced stupor I realize that very few things send me on such a roller coaster of emotions in such a short time. The worlds I can explore, the mountains I can climb, the depths I can feel all with a few notes. For me making music is my purest form of expression provides me with some of the only times I feel truly free. The most wonderful thing of all about music is the ability to share those thoughts, feelings, and profound emotions with others as you take them on a journey through a universe of sound. A gift that never ceases.

Music and writing are two of my outlets for expressing myself as you can now see. Without them my life would be a even bigger mess than it already is. Everyone has different forms of expression though. This is what makes us all truly unique. Whatever your passion may be you will always be happier when you Express Yourself. =]

I personally think that is you make music, by whatever means, you are an artist. But Im not sure if you could call yourself a musician. Artists such as Daft Punk ect, Im sure can play keyboards at least so I feel they are musicians but what if you just use samples and loops ???

Maybe we should have musicians, those who play instuments and musical artists, those who record music virtually?

What do you think??

This blog, more like a stream of consciousness, is an attempt to bring out the futurist in me. It is fun to speculate as to how the music experience can be a collaborative one, especially since deejay culture and music often invokes almost tribal-like sentiments.

Technology to sync songs, beats, and various tracks in a live setting is integral to the often seamless electronic music experience we enjoy at our local discotheques. Mashups and remixes are standard fare for your average house deejay who can put together the latest and hottest tracks in beautiful succession, with tight overlaps and timely bass drops.

I wonder when technology will get so advanced that the deejay is no longer the only one in on the craft. Imagine a concert experience where there is reciprocity between the deejay and the audience – while this already exists in some intangible sense through audience feedback and the deejay adjusting tracks accordingly, it would be a step further for the rhythms of the crowd  to be algorithmically calculated and fed back into the deejay’s equipment for further manipulation. Whether this is done through rhythm sensors or other technology, the room or environment itself would be able to calculate the intensity and motions of the crowd and feed the information back to the deejay to help provide music that would fit in unison with those dancing.

Usually it is the deejay who adjusts the rhythm and the crowd dances to the predetermined beat. In our little thought experiment though, once the general beat is established for a given track, the room would then pick up the nuances taking place on the dance floor and then help to mold the music to the specific circumstances at that moment. If a person in the crowd shouts, maybe the room picks up on it and throws out an effect or noise that would not normally be there. When many people start jumping up and down at a more bouncy section of the song, then maybe the bass increases its focus on a given frequency and really pounds at the speakers. A deejay could manually react in a similar way, but one person would not be able to keep up with the number of calculations a computer could automate in real-time and simultaneously across the entire environment.

To take this idea to another level, we could incorporate sensors throughout the music environment that have corresponding musical sounds. You lean against a wall or jump on the ground and then the force is measured and adds a musical embellishment synced to the beat of the song that is already playing. If a cluster of people form in one specific area of the room, the intensity of the sound is magnified in that area or there is an increased bass resonance filtered and targeted to that place in the room.

An environment that incorporates such advanced technology would be very expensive, but might also make for the most interesting club or concert environment one could immerse themselves in. A place where like-minded people dance the night away as if they too are on stage with the deejay. Check out the Emulator for Traktor Pro, arguably the coolest thing at the 2011 NAMM convention (according to popular house deejay Kaskade). The inspiration for more thinking on the future of electronic music and the live experience:

The problem i think is that most of the music social networks get alot of traffic so they are only to happy to promote already big name artist's and give them all the rights of passage rather than put the squeeze on them and allow unknown artists more chances of being played/heard or promoted..........so before you go to a site which promises the world for artists.......remember they don't actually mean YOU!

As much as i would love to name website's i will reframe from doing so, however please feel free to use this blog as a whistleblower blog so other artists that are struggling to compete with the already successful artists.....have some idea where not to go and be drained of all monies they have saved for their promotions.

Im interested to know what everyone else has experienced including listener's.......

Thank you Kindly In Advance

DJ-SLT-UK

While perusing the latest articles on Digital Music News, I came across a new article that discussed why artists should be compensated for their work. Executive director John Simon’s departure from SoundExchange brought up the question of artist compensation. His statement explained public sentiment in regards to artists today:

"I am very concerned about the apparent disrespect shown by many in our culture to those who pursue artistic endeavors… One recent survey showed a surprising number of Americans who believe that artists should have a second job to support themselves – as they should not expect to be paid for their art!  We must educate the public and eradicate these extremely destructive beliefs."  

I would like to bring up the old argument that claims that teachers should make just as much as professional athletes. People think teachers make a difference in other people’s lives and have a hard job, so they should be rewarded for their efforts – athletes, on the other hand, get to have an arguably fun career with many perks and a fat salary. Why should they be rewarded disproportionately?

The reasons athletes get (and even deserve) more is because only a select few make it to the upper echelons of sports stardom. People love watching sports and a small number, that is the best, are rewarded for their abilities, their hard work, and the industry they create around their jobs. The same is true for musicians, although one of the music industry’s primary business models is being destroyed by digital piracy. Therefore, fewer and fewer artists can make it to the elite class of well-paid musicians who are disproportionately compensated for their work. That does not seem fair to the many musicians with talent who are looking just to make a small living, not a seven-figure stipend.

Although my personal stance on the music industry might shift over time, I remember having a discussion about copyright with a former college friend in which I was arguing on the pro-copyright side. I argued that copyright was important to ensure artists get what they deserve, partly because I knew how hard artists worked to create their art. I wanted my favorite artists to spend all their waking hours worrying about their craft rather than worrying about paying rent by working at Walmart or Home Depot.

Regardless of the ethical questions surrounding the consumption of pirated music, I wonder if the quality of music will diminish over time because artists will be spending more time searching for money elsewhere than honing their performing and recording chops. I think it is too early to tell from a macro perspective – there is still good music coming out every day – but I am sure piracy has an effect on the length of a musician’s career as well as the ability to output music in the most effective way possible. The problems are already too pervasive…

A few days ago I covered a news story about a pending lawsuit against Apple and how some big name apps like Pandora sell personal user information to third party ad networks. Instead of just repeating the news story, I would like to analyze some of the ramifications that go along with using apps that contain your personal information and whether it is acceptable and necessary for app-makers to sell information in order to make the finances work out for their companies.

For music services specifically, it is hard to create a profitable business even if you are as big a name as Pandora. Former CEO and founder of MP3.com Michael Robertson did a guest post on the popular tech blog TechCrunch in which he described Pandora’s financial situation for the 2010 year. One interesting tidbit, and possibly sobering piece of information, is that “the per user royalty rates Pandora has agreed to pay will go up 10% per year for the next 4 years,” making it tough for Pandora to hit and sustain breakeven or profitability in the coming years.

While I do not know all the financial particulars of all the various companies selling personal consumer information to third party ad networks, because there are many, I think it is safe to say that many of these companies need that extra money to help make their budget balance (or at least be less in the red). So the conclusion that consumers need to think about is whether their apps are worth the extra loss in privacy; that is to say, in order to keep their favorite services running, people have to give up a little bit on their end. We give up our privacy when we have our bags checked at the airport or we cross the border into another country, but this behind-closed-doors selling of our personal information is more subtle, and for some, it borders on nefarious.

Facebook ran into problems with their privacy policy and the same can happen with other services that carry data for a variety of consumer characteristics and preferences. Companies will claim that they are using your information irrespective of your name, but that does not mean they are not still using personal information without your explicit consent.

As consumers we can easily say we do not want our personal data compromised, but it is a whole other story when it comes down to sacrificing convenience and pleasure. If you took away all the capabilities of companies to store and use your information in ways they see fit, then it might also stop you from getting the best recommendations for products and services you are looking for – personalization would be much harder and you would have to go through a lot more legal hoops to set everything up as fast as you can now with your online networks.

Personally, I usually opt for convenience over privacy, but that is probably because I am not a very private person with specific things I want to keep hidden. However, some people in some circumstances have reasonable needs for privacy in everything they do online (even those not using the Internet for “sketchy” purposes). Just because I want my convenience – sometimes at the expense of my privacy – that does not mean others are not entitled to the full extent of their privacy. It is not a clear-cut case of right and wrong and in the future there will hopefully be more concrete opt-in and opt-out policies online to maintain consumer privacy and security.

A couple months ago a band by the name of Atomic Tom played their song “Take Me Out” live on the NYC subway using just their iPhones. The video went viral and the performance seemed like a fun use of tech gadgets. But is this just a novelty?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say music performed on gadgets will become the norm at some point. Maybe not in the next decade, but what about in the next century? The next 50 years? Twenty years? We already have electronic and dance music that strays from using conventional instruments, so now all we have to do is make the jump to playing all other types of music with electronic gadgets as well.

The new Gorillaz album was composed mostly using apps on the iPad—although they are not a normal four-piece rock group with a guitar, bass, and a person behind the kit, they are certainly more mainstream than many electronic artists that don’t use “normal” instruments. I don’t see why many other artists won’t follow suit with similar production styles, if they are not starting to do so already.

So what is currently stopping people from ditching the instruments? Well, the technology is still ways away from mimicking guitars and violins to perfection. Nothing can replace the sound of a real stringed instrument, although in a couple decades, who knows how good digital modeling technology will be. It will probably be pretty darn good.

There is also the heartfelt connection one has to their instrument that digital gadgets have a hard time competing with. However, just as consumers forgot their tradition of waiting outside of stores to buy a new record, they are also probably willing to forget about conventional instruments (over time).

Moore’s law says that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit will double approximately every two years. Even if this law does not hold true forever, we experienced exponential progress in technology over the last several decades and will experience similar technological growth in the near future. Growth in technology means progress in electronic music potential. The technology will get better and slowly replace regular instrumentation, at least to some significant degree if not entirely.

More and more people will forego learning conventional instruments like the violin, piano, guitar, and bass because they can model those instruments using digital technology. With increasingly cheap recording software at the disposal of the average garage musician, most people will eventually have a band in their pocket ready-to-go and unconstrained by any sort of lack of daily practice. Maybe the moms and dads  of the future won’t be shouting at their kids to keep practicing ‘Für Elise,’ but instead their children will be learning how to sequence MIDI files and picking just the right reverb tail to make their Steinway grand piano modeler sound like its in Carnegie Hall.

The music blog at guardian.co.uk did a piece on musicians and depression, looking into the idea that musicians are more likely to experience depression than people in other professions. In fact, creative artists are actually fifth on the list of top 10 professions with high rates of depression. The question then turns to whether people inclined to depression are more drawn to music or the profession itself brings about depressive illness. One might also want to think about whether depression translates into the creation of more emotional and memorable music or whether it stifles creativity.

Let’s use the example of the homeless street musician Daniel “Homeless” Mustard to explore these questions. Daniel Mustard went on the Opie & Anthony Show and delivered an emotional performance of Radiohead’s “Creep” in a video that went on to receive 1.7 million views on Youtube. As Hypebot point outs, Mustard even scored a record deal off that performance. Although the story itself is very uplifting – being that Mustard was an alcoholic who went through his fair share of hardship – a second video and sneak peak of his EP debut does not seem to have the same sense of urgency or poignancy that the original Opie & Anthony performance had. There might have been a shift in Mustard’s performance based on his emotional state. One may argue that depression itself creates a void that later envelops itself into very heart-wrenching, but effective, songwriting or performing. Without those tough feelings, the music might take on a different form, for better or for worse.

The original blog post I mentioned argues that “the reality for the sufferer is that depression is so debilitating it’s impossible to create anything at all.” While depression can outright stop creativity in the average individual, for some it might be the dark impetus to musical exploration. I am not trying to encourage or romanticize the idea of depression in any way. Depression is an unfortunate and hopefully treatable illness in many cases. However, there is always the curiosity in music lovers of whether their idols would have created the same music had they not been depressed. Kurt Cobain is an obvious example of this given his drug addiction and clinical depression that ultimately led to his suicide. How did it affect the music? What would have Nirvana sounded like had Cobain embraced his stardom and enjoyed the limelight with all its perks? Maybe the music would have been worse or maybe he would have lived to create even better music – we’ll never know.

If nothing else, one should be aware of the potential hazards of a lifestyle that glorifies artists in a way that can encourage activities that lead to depression. Hopefully one artist’s hardships, expressed through music, can encourage others to seek help or make it through their own difficult times. If people who are more susceptible to depression are also more inclined to enter a creative field, then maybe that artistic profession can act as an outlet that helps to cure (or cope with) depression.

Last week I read an article on the popular music tech blog Hypebot that stated that indie artists account for 50% of the Grammy nominations this year. According to the indie trade group A2IM, independent artists are nominated in 88 of the total 108 Grammy categories.

Before we make any conclusions as to what this means for the state of the music industry, we must define what we mean by “indie” artists. Director/producer Dave Cool, of the documentary What is Indie? A Look into the World of Independent Musicians, defines an indie artist as an unsigned artist. Cool says that everyone has their own interpretation of what an indie artist is, but at that end of the day an unsigned artist is an indie (independent) artist no matter what their stature in the music business. He goes on to say that he does not discriminate against Paul McCartney or Robert Plant, who in their own way, are also indie artists if they wish to claims themselves as so.

Regardless of the fame attributed to the indie artists nominated for Grammys, the nominations still give you a clear picture of the trajectory of the music industry. Even if by Cool’s definition of an indie artist we also include famous artists who happen to be independent, we can recognize the fact they were nominated for the Grammys despite lacking a major label backing.

Perhaps in the future the record labels will be so fragmented or completely different in the way they operate now that we will not make such distinctions between signed and unsigned artists. Distribution deals and promotion will be less and less about whether you are signed to a major label and more about how well you can reach your audience no matter what the medium you engage in with your fans. As mobile adoption increases and online technology becomes more seamless, expect the lines between indie artist and "famous" artist to blur further.

Although the Grammys are not respected in the underground scene to the same extent as with the mainstream pop artists that receive most of the major awards, they are progressing in a way that is friendlier to the independent or more underground artists. Back when they first started giving away awards for best hard rock/metal performance, people were shocked when Jethro Tull (a much softer sounding band) beat out Metallica for the award in 1988. In part because of that controversy, the Grammys now offer awards for hard rock and metal separately. You can see bands like Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Slayer, and others gain notoriety for their heavier-than-normal music in the metal category. Although not all these bands are independent, many of them share the same mentality as independent artists and worked their way up the industry ladder.

Going along with Dave Cool’s definition of the indie artist as the unsigned artist, it might be a bit overzealous to lump more underground artists (whether signed or unsigned) into the same category as indie artists as a whole. However, I think it is equally important to notice that both unsigned and underground artists are receiving more Grammy support than in the past, which is a partial recognition of the evolving music industry where smaller-time artists can work their way into mainstream consciousness. If the Grammys are noticing the changes in at least a partially significant way, at least we know the rest of us are beginning to experience the era of the indie artist more fully.

What does "indie" mean to you? A genre, style, or only a distinction of independent status?

“Rubber Skunk is not an entree you happened upon at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant, nor is it a new breed of the mephitis genus.  It's not even the exotic strain of weed you got offered from that backpack-clad hippie at the last music festival you went to. Rubber Skunk is a Manhattan-based funky, high energy band, eager to claw, spray, and jam its way up to heights never attained by its predecessors. 

The band is comprised of Thomas Mintel on drums, Grant Fisher on guitar and vocals, Ricardo Rodriguez on bass, and Jordan Vincent on keys and vocals.  The band was birthed, and grew a strong following, amidst the academia and keg-induced indulgence of the University of Delaware.”

HypedSound has a talk with these now NYC-based renegades:

Tell us exactly how Rubber Skunk got to be so rubbery? How do two engineers take the leap from the world of functions to the world of funk?

Bob: Instead of explaining in engineering terms, lets flesh this one out from the biological description. A rubber skunk does not occur naturally. There are two ways that one can produce the rare rubber skunk.  The easier method is to genetically engineer some stock lab skunks. This is done by replacing a key gene in the 4th chromosomal pair. The result is a skunk with the consistency of silly putty. This skunk is funkier than an unmodified skunk but does not hold up under heavy Parliament type funkitudes.  

The more hearty and reliable breed of rubber skunk is very time consuming to produce but is highly stable even when the mother ship encounters high g forces. One must make an encampment near the home of a male skunk in the wild.  One then needs to practice various historically funky bass lines from James Brown, The Meters, and the like.

Over a period of about 40 days the skunk will start to move and sway to the bass.  This process is actually activating a combination of dormant genes in the male's reproductive organs.  Once this "groove skunk" successfully mates with a willing partner the elusive Rubber Skunk will be produced. This skunk does not need to be trained with the bass lines nor does it suffer from "funk fatigue" like its laboratory counter part. This skunk will funk all night long.

So we've heard that you've moved the band to the promised land and relocated from Delaware to Manhattan. Was this a difficult decision to make amongst the members? How does the scene relate to your music and how does it differ from the local bar scene you used to play?

Jordan: Three of the four of us graduated last year from the University of Delaware, and Grant, the guitar player, decided to go to grad school at NYU. He basically asked us if we wanted to come, and we were like, "Hell, yea we'll move to the big apple and rock out!"  Our beloved bass player stayed behind, though, and we were sent into a terrible craigslist bass player joining-and-then-being-wishy-washy-or-turning-out-to-be-a-shitty-player-from-clown-town infinity loop.

The scene up here frankly dominates most other places I've been in terms of size and depth. You can find anything here, and the level of ability in the performers is ridiculous.  You can walk in to a tiny nowhere bar and see some guys ripping jazz standards to shreds or discover some wild traditional ethnic music from some place you've never heard of. 

The old scene we played at in Delaware was fantastic. We knew everybody- we had FANS, we knew the guys that could get us in to venues, we had a built-in network.  Up here we're starting from scratch, and trust me, getting new people to come see your show for 10 bucks when they've never heard of you is really tough. But we knew it would be trial by fire!

So much of your music has quite an eclectic feel to it, combining funky rhythms with jazzy rock and roll. Is this a direct reflection of the mix of members in the band? Where do you draw your inspiration from? Who are your greatest influences?

Yea, yea we know. We're thinking about calling this first EP we are recording "Genre Confusion" and putting a hot girl in a bikini on the front with a huge bulge in her bikini bottoms. We're fans of all kinds of music, and we're still developing our sound; but we all love those funky rhythms, rocking on the sweet spot, and jazz of all sorts. 

The difference is, like you said, the mix of members. I like to write groovy, easily expandable things with interesting lyrical content, Grant likes to find little pieces of the musical universe that haven't been explored yet and see what we can do with them, Tommy is a phenomenal group player and loves to jam on anything. Our bass player Bob just joined a few months ago. He's already taken all of our songs to new places. But we all generally love a lot of the same music at the core, so we get along just fine.

You've got a new LP releasing soon....tell us more, tell us more.

We're really excited about it.  It's actually going to be an EP at around 7 full tracks, plus whatever textural stuff we can put in between. We've gotten to a point musically where we are ready to put together a piece of work, and what a great feeling! We will release it amidst an all-out wild and crazy release party in the Spring. Wanna come? 

Whats your guys take on the state of the music industry right now? Do you think social media is helping artists or fragmenting music?

I think you have to be an idiot or label exec to think that this isn't one of the most exciting times for music. We are totally free again to capture, produce, and distribute sound however we want to. I think we will see people's expectations and attractions to the song, and especially the "album", slowly grow and change drastically to encompass all the new things artists are doing with the technology at hand. 

So what if music is becoming more fragmented? All that means is that the older generations can't complain about how shitty music is now, because we don't have big money organizations  jamming pop culture radio fads down our throats so much anymore. There will always be good music, now we're just starting to hear it again over the roar of the corporate machine, as it sputters out and start to look for more financially fertile territory. 

It's publications like yours and bands like ours that will build the new framework on top of the ashes. 

Jordan's fear of tidal waves---childhood tragedy?

No, he's just being a bitch.

You can check out Rubber Skunk at http://www.myspace.com/rubberskunk

The Peace are a well layered "jam band" hailing from the Northeast.  Their roots are in the deep, cultural spirituality inherent in ALL folk music - from 2Pac to Bob Dylan to Bob Marley. In short, Kendes and his mates, "sing for the people." We had a great chat with Bob Kendes to talk about The Peace and his inspiration for writing music.

In your bio, you describe your music as centered around God. Did your inspiration for your music’s message come from going to church as a child or was there some other trigger? How has your message evolved over time?

I never went to church as a child! I've been able to experience that blessing as an adult ;)

My message is the message of the Bible, period. Love your neighbor as yourself and serve God with your whole heart. 

Though it has certainly evolved, it has remained rooted in the spreading of peace and love, always.  

You say your music draws comparisons to Bob Marley because of the spirit and lyrical message behind the music. Other than Bob Marley, who are your favorite lyricists?

Well, Bob's lyrics are fantastic due to their simplicity and profundity. I also thoroughly enjoy: Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, K'naan and Curtis Mayfield - eclectic, I know!

What is your favorite way to go about writing music? Do you come up with your songs by jamming with other people at practice or are you more the pen-and-paper in your bedroom type?

Wherever has the right vibe is where I'm writing the song; there could be one -or ten - musicians in the room; I could be solo or surrounded by a group of fans/friends. The vibe is the key.

What was your favorite live concert moment that you played?

We did a show in Vermont with Jon Fishman that was a lot of fun. I did a great duo show with my producer/drummer Aaron Katz (Percy Hill/the dejas) at Southern New Hampshire University for their Spring Fling one year which was a total blast. I ended up jumping off the stage into the lawn area during one of our songs. Great times, great times.  

What are your five desert island albums?

John Scofield - A Go Go

Bob Marley - Babylon By Bus

Dave Matthews Band - Live at Red Rocks

Sublime: Sublime Acoustic - Bradley Nowell and Friends  

John Lennon - Acoustic

If you could go back in time to see one artist who you never got a chance to see live and who is no longer with us, who would it be and why? Feel free to choose an ideal venue too, if you’d like.

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Live in New York City at Madison Square Garden circa 1977. In this "Babylonian" city of greed, deception and ruthlessness, Nesta brought a righteous blend of spirituality, reggae, folk and most important of all, Love.

Your influences are heavily rooted in the jam band aesthetic and mentality. Do you think the Internet enables you to spread your message in the most effective way or do you pick up more fans by hitting the road and meeting new 

Each has it's own purpose, I think. I enjoy meeting individuals face to face and subsequently buttressing and strenghtening the artist-fan relationship via the net. Both are excellent, though. 

Do you have a passionate stance on music piracy and illegal downloading?

Yes. Respect the artist. We can't change people - they've got to change themselves. We can only lead by example. So, if you're an artist, and you think music should be free, give away your own music for free. Example. 

What are the plans for the future of The Peace? More music and touring?

We will be performing at colleges, amongst other venues (cafes, amphitheaters, festivals, etc) in 2011. The sky is the limit because we have Faith!

Editors note: You can visit www.thepeacemusic.com/loveyou/ to download the new live record from The Peace titled "Love You," for FREE right now! 

by Jonathan Jaeger

After recently doing an interview with GrungeCake, I decided to go on a little online scavenger hunt for nifty websites. What makes a good music website? Some websites combine a love for art and music with simple and aesthetically-pleasing design, some have really cool premises, and some are just about the content. Here are a few websites I came across that offer a variety of music and artistic indulgences:

GrungeCake

GrungeCake describes itself as “an independent, inclusive New York based printed art publication that deals with social issues in a thematic manner, expressing and showing views-resolutions through art.” GrungeCake lives up to this description starting with its tagline “Where Art Lives!” all the way to the large-sized, high quality images on its pages and in-depth music interviews.

The site is fun to navigate with its Flash interface, but it doesn’t jump in your face or distract you like some other Flash-based sites. The site is built with Wordpress – it is elegant in its layout but not formulaic like many other blogs using the Wordpress software.

The website is pretty new and updates on a frequent basis. Try GrungeCake out if you have an interest in not only music, but also cherish an artistic lifestyle in all senses of the word. The name of the website alone warrants a visit, no?

http://www.grungecake.com

Mo ‘Gravy

This one is another one of those hip tumblr blogs (not being too sarcastic, tumblr is cool). Unlike many of the cat-infested, and arguably useless, blogs, Mo ‘Gravy is practical, fun, and has a search capability to boot.

What’s the premise? Take those cool funk tracks from back in the day and display a list of artists who sampled the songs. Why is this useful? If not just to satisfy your curiosity for music’s rich sampling history, you might want to check out some of the newer tracks and see if you can pick out the samples yourself. When artists sample other artists, there is the possibility that the newer songs add something new and interesting to the mix. Time for a warped sense of nostalgia.

If you’re too lazy to compare songs, you can still enjoy the funky grooves already playing on the site. Make my funk the P.funk!

http://mogravy.tumblr.com/

The Black Cab Sessions 

Ever wondered how music would sound if performed in a moving cab? No, me neither. If you were one of the few people waiting for someone to create a site where you got to see intimate performances of cool artists playing in the back of a black cab, then your wait is over. I found the site for you!

The Black Cab Sessions sticks true to the taxi cab theme with a black and yellow color scheme and a long list of artists with close-up pictures linking to their taxi cab session. The videos are hosted on Vimeo, ensuring superior quality to the YouTube embeds that are ubiquitous on the web. YouTube is a little more convenient to reach a wide audience, but if you want an artsy destination site like The Black Cab Sessions, then Vimeo is the way to go.

With great artist and design choices, The Black Cab Sessions will impress those looking for a unique music site that is also visually and sonically rewarding.

http://www.blackcabsessions.com/

Have you come across any music websites with unique concepts or designs? Share them in the comments below.

We go in depth with one HypedSound artist. Check out Ignacio’s new EP "Live at Lincoln Hall" recorded 8/23/10 in Chicago (listen and fan him at http://www.IgnacioNYC.com and download a couple songs here). You can also find him on Twitter (@ignacionyc) and don't forget to hype him up on his HypedSound profile! 

Video for “Miles Away” on YouTube

Tell us a little bit about how you got started with music. You said you were in the Metropolitan Opera Children's Chorus, did this set the stage for the years to come?

I'd say that I always had a passion for music but being in the Met certainly nurtured my growing obsession with it, especially with performing.  I would use all the money I made from the performances to buy CD’s down at the Tower Records down the street  I think it was on 67th -- remember actual record stores? By far my three favorite first bands and biggest influences were the Clash, The Beatles and the Beach Boys, and I remember buying every single one of their albums I could.  Other than that, I'd say the Met taught me how to teach myself music, because being around other great musicians has always inspired and taught me how to push myself to be better.

Tell us a little bit about your influences. Growing up in Westchester, how does one become such a huge fan of British music?

Well it's the suburbs, not Siberia, but it's certainly true that most of my favorite bands are British. I think the British culture just has an openness not seen here in the states that really cultivates musical invention. I don't try to limit myself in any taste except liking "good music" -- it just so happens that the British make a lot of good music. But I also love a lot of classical music, Spanish guitar music (prob from my father playing those songs over and over again) and hundreds of American musicians and groups.

We hear you just released an EP in June, tell us a little about it. If you could go back and change one thing, what would it be? What was the greatest strength of the release?


The EP consists of five catchy, well written songs. It's like five singles.  I think there is a song in there for everyone, a ballad, a mid-tempo song with high Bflats, which consequently has become the bane of my existence. There are also fast-tempo rock songs.  The songs are about love, life, nights and romantic fights.  I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my music, so unfortunately, I don't know where to begin.  The greatest strength would be the songs themselves, particularly "what it takes" and "miles away". 

You have a full length album you are working to get released soon... how would you best sum up the spirit of it? Any favorite tracks to look out for? 
 


I am releasing a live EP in November which will have some new songs. I'm also working on another EP to be released in February. I'm messing around with different voice timbres, writing styles and experimenting with different beats, specifically dance beats.  The song we are working on right now is "the queen" and it definitely represents the direction we'd like to go, I'm really excited to see what it becomes.

What do you think is the greatest pitfall as an artist right now, in the digital music era? What are your thoughts on social media and music?


Obviously as an artist you wish it were the days when people sold a million albums in a week, but those days aren't coming back anytime soon so why dwell on the pitfalls? I think the thing to look at is that now more than ever you can get new music to the widest audience possible in a matter of minutes. I guess, the idea of a cohesive album could be in jeopardy because you can preview the songs you like, or just download the ‘hits,’ but at the same time it allows music consumers to avoid buying bad albums. I’ve benefited from the digital era as both a fan and an artist so its a difficult thing to answer, and its also not something I think about very often. I just try to use social media as much as possible to expose my music to more people.

Saddest song you've ever heard?


ERIC CLAPTON 'TEARS IN HEAVEN'

I recently came across a great article by music industry and PR expert Ariel Hyatt on how to write engaging newsletters (take a look at the piece on MusicThinkTank). Hyatt points out a study that found these interesting statistics:

“Overall, 86% of survey respondents said they used email to share content, while just 49% said they used Facebook. Broken down by age, the preference for email is more pronounced, as users get older. And only the youngest group polled, those ages 18 to 24, reverses the trend, with 76% sharing via Facebook, compared with 70% via email.”

Email newsletters, as she argues, provide a lot of opportunities to effectively target your audience by keeping up a relationship while also providing many possibilities for bringing in revenue. What distinguishes email newsletters from your stand-alone website or blog is the ability to maintain fan relationships over time. If you don’t have the time to blog on a daily basis, chances are you won’t be able to keep people coming back to your website because they know content won’t be updated on a consistent basis. When you finally want to ask your fans to buy your new single or t-shirt, you might have already lost part of your audience. The beauty of an email newsletter is you don’t have to send one out every day (and if you did, it would probably be too much for the average person—they would unsubscribe or delete the messages without even opening them). If you send a newsletter out every week, you know the people on your email newsletter list will be there because they check their email all the time.

One important thing to remember for email newsletters and other content you produce online is maintaining the right blend of personality, information, and calls to action. As Hyatt explains, calls to action involve asking your audience to help spread the word about you as an artist or they are for asking fans to buy something from you. You don’t want to seem like you’re just trying to sell to your audience and you don’t want to desperately ask for their help either. Asking your fans for something is best done after you’ve already engaged them on a personal level. You probably connect to your favorite artists on a personal level, not just through music, so why not do the same with your fans. Make sure your fans already know you personally before you try to solicit them for cash.

Each medium of communication has its own rules and etiquette for engagement. On Twitter, most of your tweets should be geared towards communicating personal anecdotes or links you find interesting—selling and promotional tweets should be used sparingly. When you are using Facebook, you should be aware of the dynamics of people’s news feeds. The more actively someone participates in a fan page, the more often updates from that page will appear in their news feed. If all you do is promote the same music profile and links over and over, chances are your audience will get bored and you will have a smaller and smaller presence on their Facebook news feeds. Keep a close eye on how people participate and communicate in each different medium (email, social networks, YouTube, mobile, etc.) so you can reach them in the most effective and non-spammy ways.

If you want to start an email newsletter, I suggest using Mailchimp for their incredible features, ease of use, and analytics. It’s free to use up to 1,000 subscribers!

1. Reverend Run of RUN-DMC fame is an ordained minister with the New York Pentecostal church Zoe Ministries.

2. Termites eat wood twice as fast when they are listening to heavy metal.

3. Sonny and Cher originally called themselves Caesar and Cleo.

4. The harmonica is the world’s best-selling music instrument.

5. The composer John Cage wrote a piece called 4’ 33”, which is four minutes and thirty-three seconds of pure silence.

6. The song “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” by Wham! was inspired by a  sign Andrew Ridgeley used to place on his bedroom door to remind his mom to wake him up before she went to work.

7. Leo Fender, the inventor of the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars, did not actually play the guitar.

8. The only hit song that is both a palindrome by title and artist is “SOS” by ABBA.

9. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” was the first CD pressed in the United States for commercial release.

10. The song “I Write The Songs” was performed by Barry Manilow, but ironically it was actually written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys.

Sources:

Music Radar @ http://goo.gl/mgKSW

Musicouth @ http://goo.gl/uhJv2

Eugene Portman @ http://goo.gl/0ahx1

MUSIC TRIVIA, MUSIC FACTS!! @ http://goo.gl/RCh4u

At some point musicians and songwriters will inevitably get a brush of writer’s block, which is the all too familiar feeling that you will never be able to write another good riff, lyric, or melody again. Every time I wrote a new song on guitar as a teenager, I thought to myself, “Hey! I really like this, how am I ever going to come up with anything else?” Sometimes that “anything else” didn’t come along for days or even weeks. For successful artists with hit records, the standards are even higher so writer’s block can be a severe distraction to the creative process. Here are a few tips to help you muster through it:

1) Acceptance – Mimic Alcoholic’s Anonymous! I’m not saying go out and apologize to all those you have wronged (although that can be cleansing in its own right), but you have to come to terms with the fact you have writer’s block. Curing your writer’s block means accepting its stranglehold and doing something to proactively combat it.

2) Be spontaneous – Do something spontaneous that doesn’t directly relate to your songwriting process. Adventure, new surroundings, and general curiosity of the world might lead you down a path of inspiration that will later reflect itself on your music. Maybe this means going to see an artsy movie, listening to street musicians, or spending a few days in the wilderness taking in the sounds of nature.

In the words of the hit TV comedy Family Guy: “Peter, inspiration doesn’t have a schedule.” Your next best song could be right around the corner.

3) Collaborate – Sometimes it’s tempting to sit in your room and bang on your guitar or computer until you get the riff, beat, or song you like. You figure the more time you put into trying to make music the better the outcome. This is often antithetical to the creative process. Sometimes you just have to take a break. When you’re ready to return to songwriting you could benefit from outside help. Go out and find other musicians to collaborate with in the real world. If you want to stay at home, there are a number of options online to collaborate with other musicians. Reach out to someone to bounce ideas off of or take advantage of all the free music online that you can either remix or use as inspiration for your next work. Change someone else’s music little by little and you might end up with a completely different song that’s your own. You can also piece together music using samples that are licensed under Creative Commons.

4) Switch It Up – Part of curing writer’s block is getting out of your comfort zone. If you usually write trance music, try giving dubstep a chance. If you’re into electronica, how about adding a tinge of industrial? For the metalheads out there, add a synth or two to beef up the mix and give yourself some added flavors. Try new chord progressions and melodies that you normally wouldn’t experiment with. If you tend to be very melodic, experiment with dissonance and enter new sonic territories. Doing the opposite of what you normally do could lead to something better when you transition back to your normal sound. Knowing what else is out there in the music world will make you a more well-rounded musician and will help with writer’s block.

Have you noticed that the new iTunes logo is a circle with a musical note and no longer has an image of a CD? Did you hear the new Macbook Air won’t have an optical drive? All signals point to the fact that Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) thinks that CDs are a thing of the past. While many are quick to point out CDs still have their place as a cheap mode of storing data, I can’t help think of past mediums for storing music that were replaced over time.

The physical CD will inevitably be gone like floppy drives at some point in the future and we will consume all our music via downloads—music will be transferred exclusively through bits not atoms. There will be no mass distributed physical form of music. The question we can’t answer is how long the shift will take, but Steve Jobs and Apple seem to want to push this gradual shift along at a steady pace, inserting a dagger into the life of the CD at any possible time. Apple’s tendency to embrace minimalism in design will keep moving us one step forward in technology and away from CDs. The iPad doesn’t even have a USB port, so we can’t be surprised that optical drives are no longer a requisite for computer hardware in Apple’s new product lines.

If artists can’t convince fans that music should be purchased in the physical form, then the price of music makes its way down to zero. Because people don’t think of music as a physical object in the same way they did in the past, there is a gap in the market for what artists can sell to their fans in the physical form. This means artists have to become innovative in their marketing techniques. Either you have to sell other physical goods like merch or you have to sell access (e.g. backstage passes, exclusives, etc.).

In an interview this week with musician and entrepreneur Chamillionaire, venture capitalist Mark Suster discusses with the rapper the various ways to market to a fanbase. Despite music moving from CDs to online data transfer, there is still a viable market for physical goods for music fans. This doesn’t just mean merch like T-shirts, but also unique items that can make stand out as an artist—one example of this would be a flash drive with your music, but the flash drive is designed to look like a machine gun. Anything that looks cool and makes fans keep a physical item will make you better able to attach your music and image as an artist to a physical object. If you can somehow connect your music and DVDs to a physical item that cannot be replicated through peer-to-peer sharing sites or iTunes, you will have a better chance of selling your work to your fans. Provide an experience!  

I came across an article on Music Think Tank that addressed 20 ways to have a lasting career in music. The list includes the various methods of forming a sustainable career without necessarily striking it rich as the next hip-hop phenom or pop star, a goal that many musicians aspire to (and often times rightfully so). However, just like it is difficult to get a business off the ground, becoming a successful musician does not happen overnight. In music, every overnight success was more than likely a 10+ year process of learning and struggling to hone one’s craft.

Here are some examples from the article and why I think they are suitable alternatives or complements to your ultimate pursuits as an artist:

1) Music Teacher:

As the article I mentioned points out, many music teachers need a degree to have a well-paid career for teaching private lessons or teaching at the high school or college level. For those just trying to make a buck while pursuing other music goals, picking up some lessons on how to teach music properly can help you prepare to instruct students. With the right tools, you can teach many students per week and still make a decent pay. Even Joe Satriani, the world-renowned guitarist and shredder, taught Kirk Hammett (lead guitarist of Metallica) and fellow guitar virtuoso Steve Vai at one point. Teaching an instrument will in most cases help you become a better player of your own instrument as well.

2) Music Producer:

Many successful musicians tour for the better part of the year but often have some downtime where they can return home to their studio and produce other artists’ music. Adam D. of metal band Killswitch Engage is well-known in the hard rock and metal community as a producer for many of his close peers and recorded artists such as All That Remains, Unearth, From Autumn to Ashes, Underoath, Every Time I Die and many more. Hip-hop artist and producer Timbaland is as well-known for his career as a studio producer and collaborator as he is for his own work. For the deejays and rock musicians who have mastered their skills in the studio, they might want to lend a hand to the less experienced artists who do not have the resources or skills to record a finely polished album. They can also help the pros who want another set of ears outside of their own helping with the recording process. Producing music can help pay the bills in between your live performances and can help you gain exposure for yourself as an artist. You will at some point want to have an extensive network of artists who you collaborate or converse with so you have more opportunities in the future no matter what the end goal.

3) Film/Video Game Scoring

A lot of the money artists used to rely on to make a living is gone due to poor music sales and the collapsing music industry. Although the situation is grim, there are still avenues for music composers to still make a living creating art. Whether you are an electronic artist, rock musician, or in any other genre, there are possibilities for making music for movies, television, or video games that enable you to still enjoy music while making money. You might find the constraints of working for someone else to be anything but liberating, but you could at least be making money creating something that will provide value for the end user (i.e. film/TV viewers or gamers).

Some other alternative career possibilities listed in the article include licensing music, live performance, band manager, studio/session musician, pit band for off-Broadway productions, instrument repair technician, gig booker, house band, page turner, music transcriber, ghost songwriter, and freelance music journalist.

Many people complain about the tendency of modern music to sound too polished. The proliferation of increasingly more sophisticated and precise recording tools allow artists to make everything sound perfect in the studio: auto-tune, click tracks, drum triggers, pitch correction, compression, and effects are all examples of tools that help artists sound cleaner and more powerful in their musical delivery.

The question that music enthusiasts debate is whether these tools make music better or they strip away some of the natural life that used to be present in older records—that is to say that over the years music has lost its soul. I think there is a happy medium between the two extremes where you can satisfy your need to sound polished with the desire to keep your music from sounding too mechanical or processed.

In a recent article I read, the drummer from the metal band Lamb of God describes the process by which the band records albums and maintains the natural essence of the music they write. Instead of choosing a tempo for a song and setting up a click track that the band plays to, the band records the song first and defines the click track based on what they already played. Lamb of God does not conform their playing to the click track, the click track conforms to the music. In this way, Lamb of God gets the benefit of playing in time with a click track when recording the final tracks, but they do not let the tool ruin their original intentions and vibe. It is not really a compromise, rather it is the best of both worlds.

Lamb of God’s recording strategy can be applied to all of the potential “shortcuts” of using studio tricks to make artists sound more polished. Some artists, unlike Lamb of God, will go to any length to make their records sound as mechanical and processed as possible. Many fans want an idealized version of their favorite bands because they will be listening to the songs hundreds of times. Even if the band cannot live up to its studio sound, does that mean the band should sacrifice sounding good in the studio for the sake of managing expectations for their live performance?

Many fans complain that vocalists are often unable to hit the same notes in concert as they do in the studio. I, on the other hand, would prefer to have the studio track (which is recorded and imprinted into physical or data form for eternity) to sound as good as possible. Sometimes and for some bands, sounding as good as possible means being a little sloppy, dirty, or “not perfect.” That is perfectly fine if that is how your band should sound in your mind. I am not the first person to say music is subjective, so I will leave you to decide how far you want to mutate your sound in the studio.

In the last couple days I’ve been listening to the audiobook Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin. Throughout the book, Godin describes the passion and risk-taking needed to truly lead your own tribe. The tribe that you have the ability to create is analogous to your fanbase. Think of the droves of people who flocked to Grateful Dead concerts, called “Deadheads”, who kept buying tickets even though the Dead were not Billboard chart-toppers. The Grateful Dead created a tribe out of their fans, that is, a loyal group of people who followed the band throughout their career. The same goes for Slayer, Phish, and the Dave Matthews Band because they created an aura about them where fans felt like they were part of the tribe.

One of the key points that Godin makes in his book is that you don’t need to have thousands or tens of thousands of followers in your tribe. The magic number Godin says is 1,000. Imagine if each one of those 1,000 dedicated people could convince just a few friends to come to your concert or buy your music or merch. Those 1,000 people could make a true difference—admittedly, that many followers is still a big number for new artists. 

Start off small! No one said creating a tribe (or fanbase) would be easy. Create value where there was no value before. Distinguish yourself from the pack by adding things that most people don’t spend the time to release to their potential fans. Here’s a few ideas to get things rolling:

1) Make remixing easy

If you have a song with many different and interesting tracks (whether  with electronic music tracks or conventional instruments), offer the stems for each track in separated files. That way if other artists or music enthusiasts with access to recording software really dig your song, they can play around with each individual track on their computer and maybe even post a remix of your song online. I know I’ve found many good songs after first discovering a memorable remix. You can widen your audience with just a little extra work.

2) What about the gear?

Some gearheads and DJs really like to know how you recorded your music. Depending on the genre of music you produce, there might be many people in your fanbase that are hardcore recording geeks. Let them in on your tools of the trade! It’s not like it’s a secret.

3) The power of art

Many up-and-comers are quick to upload their music online, but often never put in any time thinking how they want to present their music BEFORE a listener actually presses ‘play’. Most people are drawn in by a visual, so if you don’t put a picture on your profile or create some sort of representation of your image as an artist, chances are many potential listeners will ignore your music. If you had the choice between listening to someone’s music who also had an interesting display picture on their profile or to someone with a stock photo or blank image, who would you listen to? Who is probably the more serious artist?

4) An engaging bio

Keep it short and sweet. If it’s not, then at least make it entertaining along the way. Thanks!

With musicians scrambling for new ways to monetize their content, some companies and artists are creating new ways to interact with their fans and make music a viable career. A subscription plan for fans to build relationships with their favorite artists is an interesting concept for future business models in the music industry. As more and more artists decide to go this route, we will see if it becomes an efficient way for artists to make a living.

Last year I came across a website called MyBandStock that promises exclusive access to your favorite artists. Fans become shareholders in the artists of their choosing and are then given perks and preferred access to exclusive media, meet and greets, mobile apps, pre-sale concert tickets, and more. Although they have not yet finished developing the entire site or making deals with some of their first artists, the MyBandStock team have secured an undisclosed amount of funding for their project and opened up a Los Angeles office. One question that comes to mind is whether this is something the fans actually want to participate in.

Touring musician and recording artist Matthew Ebel has already been using the MyBandStock model for quite a while without help from an outside music platform. He successfully manages to keep music as his prime passion and also his full-time job (not a small feat). On his website, fans can pay to get access to a subscription section that offers new live recordings every month, invitations or free tickets to special events, members-only downloads, and a chance to win custom-written songs. There are a variety of pricing options, starting at $5 per month, depending on the level of access you want. If Matthew Ebel can make this model work in combination with other monetization streams, many other artists will follow suit.

Personally I like the idea of a subscription model on band websites. However, I feel that this “new” model for gaining access to artists is just a glorified version of the outdated fan club. Street teams are still a good way to galvanize your fanbase, but fan clubs in the conventional sense have not been popular for a long time. MyBandStock adds game mechanics as a way to spur fan engagement—now that you can own shares in your favorite artists, you have a way to compare yourself to other fans who may or may not have as many shares as you. Those with many shares in an artist can maintain a sense of prestige that goes along with showing your commitment to an artist. Time will tell if the model gains steam or if it remains a niche in the music industry.

With all the music floating around online, it’s hard not to think that much of it all sounds the same. The average hip-hop and pop songs follow the same formulas as the chart-topping hits but sacrifice on catchiness, dance and house music use the same underlying bass beats for every song, and metal bands throw in predictable screams and breakdowns whenever possible. This is a gross generalization, but it holds true for a large percentage of newly released music. How do we change this?

Now that I think of the much-anticipated TRON: LEGACY soundtrack by Daft Punk and their ensuing world tour, I wonder if there would be more good music out there if bands thought of their music as a soundtrack. Many bands, regardless of whether their music is ever used for a film, write concept albums that follow a certain lyrical and musical theme to keep the flow from track to track fluid. If artists focus on the shifting dynamics of scenes in a movie, they might be able to transfer the same emotional impact of a film’s storyline to their music.

Think of your favorite movies and the way the music contributes to the overall cinematic experience. Some of my favorite movies get the music just right—Dazed and Confused, Pulp Fiction, and Run Lola Run each have a soundtrack that makes you feel the right emotions at the right time (suspense, tearfulness, nostalgia, and poignancy are some words that come to mind). Often times when I listen to a particularly powerful song I picture how it would fit into a movie scene. Are the ebbs and troughs perfect for the shifting dynamics of an action or suspense scene? Does the emotion in the vocals mirror the feelings in a climactic scene of a love story? Is the production on this song retro enough for a Tarantino film?

My suggestion to artists, whether as a true way to create music or merely as an experimentation into their own creativity, is to watch a movie and ignore the music that is already in it. Think about how you would make the soundtrack to a horror film, romantic comedy, or action flick. Since dynamics in music play a key role in the emotions we feel while listening to a song, we might find new ideas in how to approach songcraft by taking a nod from our favorites movies.

So you might love the artistic music videos from Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Britney Spears, Madonna, or any of the other artists who can afford to drop more than a dollar or two on their production budget, but you’ve come to realize that you don’t have the time or money to pull off something as elaborate as the superstars. On the other hand, you want something that you consider Youtube-worthy and up to the standards of your personal brand. After all, you still want those hits! Instead of just playing your song to a static image like many artists do on Youtube, try out these simpler music video strategies that might be interesting to your viewers:

1) The Split-Screen

The split-screen video, if done well, can create a seemingly complex video that draws in viewers much faster than a single shot of a band playing their instruments in unison. While it is not as visually stimulating as a high budget music video, the split-screen technique can work well if you have few people that you can use to shoot the video (as with this one-man band). For songs that are more technical, the split-screen is a great way to show off your guitar chops or any of the other many instruments you might be playing in your video.

2) Live Footage

If you have footage of some of your past concerts, you can edit sections from each concert that are from the song you want to make a full music video for. Unlike with live footage, you can maintain the sound quality of your song by just having the concert footage muted and playing the studio track in sync with the live footage. By using footage from a variety of live shows, you can give your viewers a better flavor of what your live show has to offer. When you incorporate more than one show’s footage, you will keep the video interesting because the lighting will probably vary from concert to concert as well as the personality of the audience and your stage performance.

3) If You’re Willing.. Be Outrageous!

If you come up with some outrageous premise for your music video, you can probably get hits just out of the sheer audacity of putting yourself out there and thinking outside the box. Whether this means being a cross-dressing virtuoso bass player or just being yourself, originality (and shock tactics) often work wonders in getting hits for your video. Just remember to stay true to the message of your song and refrain from going too crazy if it doesn’t fit the image of yourself as an artist.

4) Hit an Emotional Nerve

Appeal to more than one emotion and you will draw in more viewers to your video. If I’m scared and curious, then you’ve got me hooked. If the video is tranquil, moving, and sad, I’m probably going to want to listen and watch attentively. A fan-made video of Rusko’s “Cockney Thug” is equally disturbing as it is playful and interesting. Rather than relying on a large production budget, the creator uses his production and editing skills to create a visually provocative work. The more time you invest learning the tricks of video production and editing, the more complex you can get with your lighting and effects. Regardless of the production value of your music video, you don’t want to leave your viewer feeling nothing midway through the video. It’s better for your viewers to love or hate your video than for them to be completely apathetic, so be willing to take chances. You can’t win over everybody, so don’t try.

5) Have Someone Else Do The Work For You

Fans on Youtube often spend a big chunk of their time making remixes of videos or posting their own videos for their favorite artists’ songs. If you have a big enough fanbase, try to run a contest that asks your fans to make your video for you. Choose the best video from all the entries and promote the video all over the web and give credit to the creator. Alternatively, you can dedicate your video to your fans and make a sort of collage of footage that includes your fans in the video itself.

Feel free to post any of your own homemade video techniques in the comments sections below!

Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield, VA is located in the suburbs of Washington D.C. in a non-descript shopping center that is shared by a 7-11, gas station, Afghan Kabob restaurant, and a number of convenient stores. In my teenage years, Jaxx was the club I obsessed over—checking the club website to see if any new shows were posted and to check ticket availability was probably as frequent an occurrence as visiting my Yahoo! homepage. Jaxx was my childhood venue, the CBGBs for my neck of the woods.

As I remember it years ago, Jaxx had a metal detector at the entrance (although almost never in use), a bathroom without a door for the stall, band stickers that littered the walls, and an unforgiving PA system that would challenge your hearing for days if you weren’t smart enough to wear a pair of earplugs. Its shortcomings, however, became its greatest strengths. The fans relished in the character of the venue because it made you feel that much closer to the bands, the music, and the community.

At the more popular shows there would often be a line of 100-200 metalheads waiting for the doors to open in the early evening. The owners of the Afghan Kabob restaurant would ask the eagerly waiting metal junkies to move to the opposite side of the doors so as not to scare off potential customers to their restaurant. I don’t blame them—a couple hundred long-haired dudes wearing Iron Maiden shirts with Eddie the mascot on them probably would strike fear in the average unsuspecting family of four looking to have a nice dinner.

The proximity of the venue to my house at the time made going to Jaxx convenient and was a little easier to swing on a school night then going to a concert in D.C. (which was not even worth a discussion with my parents). I guess there’s something about having a venue in the middle of nowhere that attracts a fair number of consequential hard rock musicians that peaks my interest. 

For music fans who don’t have a club like Jaxx to look back on with nostalgia, then I think they are missing something from their music culture. If you don’t outgrow the venue, move to a different city, or lose your interest in the type of music from your childhood, then your musical inclinations will most likely be intertwined with your favorite local venue. I remember the venue being as integral a part of my concert-going experience as the band itself. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen many bands who I wouldn’t have gone to see otherwise had it not been for the built-in Jaxx “aura”, as grimey and rundown an atmosphere as it was. After moving out of the area for college, I haven’t had the same concert-going experience since.  

1) Fan Testimonials

Testimonials are not exclusively for infomercials and movie reviews—why not get your most loyal fans to write something they like about your music and then show it off on your fan page or website? If your fans show how much they love your music, you don’t have to do it for them. When someone visits your website or fan page, they will be greeted with what OTHERS say about you, rather than the other way around. I would be persuaded by your passionate fans more than your label or yourself showing off why you’re the next big thing.

BE cReaTiVE! Okay, you probably shouldn’t confuse people with weird fonts, misspellings, or other gimmicks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make more creative testimonials than the typical short written statements of praise. If your fans are willing to put themselves out there for you anyway, maybe they would do it through different forms of media to help attract more attention. When a fan makes a Youtube video passionately discussing your latest concert or CD, get their permission to embed it on your fan page and website. Your loyal fans will be rewarded for helping spread the word by having their video on display and potential new fans will be drawn in by the buzz around you as an artist. Instead of a static page, your showcase will come alive through your fans.

A fan of yours takes a picture of themselves wearing your T-shirt in an exotic location? Post that too! The metal news and blog site MetalSucks happily posts loyal readers showing off Metalsucks schwag in crazy locations all across the globe. Not only does it make the loyal fans feel rewarded, but it acts as social proof to outsiders. The outsider might think, “These people are such big fans, there must be something good going on here. I’m going to check this out.”

2) Limited Time Offer

Time is of the essence! Suddenly there’s a sense of urgency. I might not be able to come back tomorrow and get what is offered today. If I know my time is limited, I will probably work harder to get what it is that will soon disappear. When infomercials claim that they have a limited time offer, most people don’t believe them. They will probably offer the same two for one deal the next day, so the more astute television watchers disregard the exclamations in the commercials altogether. However, many people employ the limited time offer in an effective and believable way. For example, some famous artists offer autographed CDs, but only for people that buy the pre-sale album or come at a certain time for an in-person signing. The fan will know that they have to order the CD before it comes out or show up on a certain day, so they take action. If they know they can get the autographed CD at any point, they can take their time and maybe even lose interest before they ever make the CD purchase at all. Even though you might not have long lines of fans waiting for your autograph at this point, you can still employ the limited time offer technique. Those who join your mailing list may be offered limited time downloads or sale prices on CDs or merch. If the fans know these offers are time-sensitive, joining your mailing list will keep them in the loop so they don’t miss an opportunity for a freebie. Make sure to point all these things out clearly so your fans know that it’s in their best interest to keep in close contact with you rather than returning to your website months later.

3) Exclusive Rewards

Exclusive rewards work in a similar way to what I described in fan testimonials, but it applies more to the loyal fans who follow you consistently than a  random passerby. Exclusive downloads, merch, and concert incentives should be reserved for the biggest fans, those that go out of their way to spread the word about you. If you have a street team, you need to give participants something you give NO ONE else. There needs to be something special about being on your street team and you should reward those who work hard for you by giving them something that you don’t just give away to anyone who’s willing to visit your site or give you a quick listen. Exclusivity and scarcity are highly valued commodities. When your free download or exclusive t-shirt is only available to a select few, it suddenly is perceived as a higher value item and might persuade some people to go the extra mile to join your street team, mailing list, or buy your album directly from your website.

Have any other tips to gain fans or reward the loyal ones? Please share them in the comments.

How can we apply a business strategy to the intra-personal dynamics of a rock band? In Keith McFarland’s book, The Breakthrough Company, McFarland describes a key component in making a company truly extraordinary—the founder(s) need to “crown the company.” Crowning the company means putting the company first, rather than only following the preferences of the founders or whims of the CEO in determining the trajectory of the company’s future. Founders must make choices that benefit the company and not themselves. The same holds true for artists, regardless of who the main songwriter is or who is the frontman of the band.

The main songwriter or vocalist might feel above the rest of the bandmembers simply because he/she appears front and center in concerts, in CD reviews, or in any photograph of the band. If the frontman appears superior in any way, not only will the band resent the frontman for this but also the music will ultimately suffer. Does Axl Rose ring a bell?

Crowning the band, or putting the band first, is not just the job of the frontman. Even backup vocalists, drummers, and bassists have to check their egos at the door and do what is best for the band. Do you think the drummer for AC/DC is not able to play more complicated beats than the simple patterns he plays over and over in almost every song? My bet is that he can, but it does not serve the purpose of the band to add any complex embellishments to the straight-up rock music that makes AC/DC who they are. Even if you have the guitar chops of Yngwie Malmsteen, that does not mean it serves the purpose of the song to break out with 200BPM arpeggios every time it is your turn for a guitar solo. The best songs are made because the interplay between the bandmembers trumps the technicality of each of its individual members. Unless you are in a technical death metal band, save the blast beats for your garage and stick to the vision of your band’s music.

Although DJ’s and electronic artists are often solo acts, it is equally or maybe even more important for solo artists to think less about themselves when it comes to their music. It is even harder for them to debate what music stays and what does not if they are all alone, although this process is somewhat alleviated with the help of an outside producer. Often artists put up a defensive barrier when it comes to those criticizing their music because they are so close to their creations emotionally. If this is not the case, it still might be difficult to get the feedback one craves as an artist. Sometimes artists seek out as much constructive criticism as possible to help hone their craft, but their friends and fans only give them the positive feedback because they do not want to hurt the artist’s feelings. This is why, if it is possible, every solo artist should work with a producer to make an album or at least have a go-to person for candid music advice during the songwriting process and before outsiders hear the music.

If the feedback is coming through comments online, the comments still might not be constructive even though the potential embarrassment of direct physical contact is gone. Many artists want other artists to reciprocate with positive comments so they make sure not to come across as if they didn’t like the other artist’s music. Often times people find it easier just to say, “Your song is SOOO sick brah HOLY sh&t”, than to take the time to give honest advice on how to improve the production values or fine-tune the songwriting. For people who bash other people’s music online, the comments tend to border on trollish rather than helpful. Whether it’s from a producer or your friend, tell people up-front not to spare your feelings and to help you with your music—the music is king, not YOU!

by Jonathan Jaeger

In a DVD for the New Jersey-based metal band God Forbid, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Doc Coyle made an interesting point about choosing a band name—that is, choose something that the fans can chant back at you when you’re playing live. What can be more exciting than hearing your band’s name being screamed back at you by hundreds or thousands of adoring fans? He points out one example with the chant-worthy band name Pantera. Pan-ter-a! Pan-ter-a! Pan-ter-a! It’s three perfect syllables that any non-rhythmic crowd can chant in unison. The same is true for Doc’s band God Forbid. God For-bid! God For-bid! I know I’ve personally started a God Forbid chant back in my day (okay, I probably still would if the vibe was right). Doc says three syllables works best, but anything in the short and easy pronounceable vicinity of Pan-ter-a and God For-bid and you’re probably good to go.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are bands like Fear Before the March of Flames, I Wrestled A Bear Once, and Between The Buried And Me that go for the longer and arguably more interesting band names. I haven’t been to a couple of those bands’ concerts, but I know Between The Buried and Me are lucky to have a memorable acronym—BTBAM, which is chanted as B-T-BAM in concert. I’m not sure if BTBAM thought that one out in advance or not, but it definitely helps in a live setting when the crowd is getting riled up.

You want your band (or artist) name to be something catchy, memorable, and maybe even fun if it’s suit’s your band’s style. I’m sure The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza get as much press because of their name as they do on account of their actual music. In fact, Tony Danza actually brought up the extreme metal band in a quick segment on his now defunct morning TV show (watch the clip here). If you’re going to go wild with your name, you have to be prepared for the fact you might not be taken seriously. Don’t take picking a name lightly! A party band can have a tongue-in-cheek name that borders on childish, but a serious band should have a serious name.  Who knows, you might become famous one day and you’ll be stuck with that name forever.

Is “The Beatles” that impressive a name? The band is pretty much the biggest band ever, but the play on words with the bug that shares the same name is probably only great because they were the biggest act in town. Many of the most famous rock acts also have the coolest names: Queen, Def Leppard, Rolling Stones, Motley Crue, and AC/DC to name a few. Maybe it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that the best bands have the best names. Somehow I doubt it, but it’s still important nonetheless. It might seem as if all the good names are taken, but that doesn’t mean you should have seven symbols and four consonants in a row in your name just because you can. No one will even think twice to remember that. Let it flow.

With online music streaming and distribution, your name is also important in a digital context. Not only do you want your name to look good on a t-shirt, but you also want your band’s website and social network URLs to be easy to remember and spell. Unfortunately with social networks, it is usually first-come-first-serve for URLs. If your band name is a very common term, there is a good chance your desired URL is already taken on the larger networks. Once you come up with a name for yourself or your band, try to join the land grab and scoop up all the usernames you can get on sites that you might use (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.). Go to some of the lesser-known sites and register for those just in case those become more important for you or your band later on down the road. If you haven’t selected your band name yet, it might even be in your best interest to do a quick domain search to see if the band names that you’re thinking about are available on GoDaddy or another domain registrar.

Choosing a band name that is both memorable and that fits your style is a big piece of the puzzle towards gaining marketability. The music shouldn’t be secondary, but no one says you can’t always get everything you want. Well actually somebody did. 

by Jonathan Jaeger

1) The Record Deal

Many unsigned artists still think the holy grail in the music industry is securing that big record deal. Sorry to inform you, but that ship has sailed. Record labels are scrambling to make ends meet, which means if you don’t watch your back, you’ll probably get the short end of the stick (a stick that’s much shorter than it ever was before). When artists do get a record deal, the record labels pay for many of the up-front costs of creating and marketing an album. They end up recouping this money from album sales and other revenue streams where artists hope to profit. Unfortunately, contracts are often setup so you are consistently in debt to the record label, so it’s a never-ending loop where you almost never see a sizeable return. Many mid-level bands are now trying to make due with their own connections in the music industry by doing all the album release work themselves, while still getting some extra help on the distribution side of the business. Some bands like Radiohead are willing to give their music away free, letting fans decide how much they want to pay for their album. Solid record deals are hard to come by, so unless you’re a big-name artist with a lot of leverage, make sure you read the fine print before signing.. Alternatively, don’t sign anything at all.

2) Music sales are down, but touring will pay the bills

To be honest, I actually thought many artists tour so much because they want to make some sort of a living from music. Although there are some artists who make a decent living on the road, many smaller bands struggle to pay the gas bills and the other expenses of the road (click here for a point-by-point breakdown of one band’s touring profits). After splitting merch sales with the venues and record label and living off a small food budget, it’s tough to make a profit on the road. Obviously there are many factors that go into this calculation, including the size of the venue you’re playing and how many people actually show up to the concert, the number of bands on the bill, the price of the merch you’re selling, gas prices, etc. It’s not all bad—for some bands touring is a way of life and they find a way to make things work out. If you’re on tour for most of the year and you don’t have an apartment you’re paying rent for all year long, then touring might mean more profits for you in the end. Make the necessary calculations based around your particular circumstances and try making it work if touring full-time is a goal of yours.

3) Online is the most important place to be

A huge online presence is mandatory for success these days, but sometimes you’re online activity may overshadow the time you spend marketing yourself in the physical world. For many smaller artists, building a strong local following is the most important aspect of beginning success. Just like many businesses start in one city and then branch out (think Yelp, Foursquare), the same is true for artists. You build a following in one place and then use your online activity and a spot on a larger bill to start gaining fans nationally (and then at some point you hopefully go international).

4) If you’re good, they will come to you

If you’re REALLY good, fans will flock to you—even then, it’s no guarantee and probably a long shot at best. The reason we find new and good music every day is that there’s too much stuff out there to discover everything at once. You have to make yourself heard both online and off. Find some of your most passionate fans in cities that you want to tour in and create street teams that will promote your shows and music in exchange for some perks (exclusives, free CDs and merch, etc.). Either all the big names out there in all genres grind it out for years to make a name for themselves or they have some sort of huge marketing force behind them—either way somebody’s putting in the work.

5) Your demo will get you the exposure to record a bigger album

It takes a one-of-a-kind ear to spot gold in a rough demo of a song. If you listen to some of the original songwriter compositions and productions for songs from Madonna and Michael Jackson, you’ll realize it takes a lot of polish to make a hit. Do-it-yourself recording setups are getting better, but an experienced producer in your local area can really help separate you from the rest of the crowd. This advice pertains more towards the rock and pop genres than your average electronic DJ whose main focus is the way they can manipulate sounds on their DAW. For full bands, microphone placement and selection, instrument setup, and the acoustic properties of your recording environment are integral parts of your sound. If you can afford an above average recording experience, the benefits might outweigh the short-term monetary costs. Just make sure everything is within your budget and makes sense for the resources you allocated for your band.

Mailchimp: The web’s most popular email-marketing service allows you to manage your email campaigns and lists. This service is perfect for an artist racking up a long email list at the merch booth during live shows. Mailchimp allows you to build and manage your email lists as well as design HTML email campaigns. They also have a nice variety of ready-made templates for you to work with if you don’t want to go too far into the coding aspect of your layout and design. You can store up to 500 subscribers and send up to 3,000 emails a month for free. If you want to grow your email list out further, there is a tiered pricing system for premium accounts.

Animoto: Sick of making Youtube videos with one static image or a blank screen with a song title pasted on it? Animoto helps you create a video by combining images, video clips, and your music into a seamless work. If you want to get your music online without spending time on making a full video production or you don’t have the resources to make a high quality video, then Animoto might be the right choice. The one catch is that free videos have a maximum length of 30 seconds and don’t provide downloads. You can create a single video for $3 or buy a year subscription to the service for $30. Pro accounts are $249, which might suit record labels or music promoters in need of more robust features.

Hootsuite: Dubbed as “The Professional Twitter Client,” Hootsuite manages all your social networks through one client. The application contains a multi-stream view so you can manage all your artist accounts, like Myspace and Twitter accounts, with one log-in and within the same application. You can schedule your tweets, manage your followers, customize different streams of updates, and track statistics based on the activity on your networks.

Ping.fm: This free social networking and micro-blogging service allows you to post to all your favorite sites with one status update. Instead of logging on to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace, Delicious, Ning, AIM, Google Buzz, or any of the other social networks you use, you can update them all at once. This is a great service, especially if you’re on-the-go and want to send out a quick message or post via your mobile device.

Posterous: Don’t have an artist website yet? A social networking presence is important, but there is no room for your longer posts on many of the social networks out there, so you might want to create your band’s blog on Posterous. Posterous allows you to post to the web via email or the Posterous website and auto-post to other sites you want to syndicate to. If you own your own domain name, Posterous will host it for free so you can have a more professional website name attached to your blog. Posterous allows you to add separate pages to your blog, attaches a comment section to each blog post, and helps you integrate Facebook and Twitter log-in for your fans to comment on your page. You can also take advantage of the analytics that Posterous provides with your profile.

Seth Godin’s book, Purple Cow, is based off the premise that the way to succeed is to stand out. If you saw a purple cow on the side of the road, you’d probably do a double-take. That’s what you want people to do when they see your music videos or hear your music! You’re music needs to be good no matter what, but it helps to go the extra mile to stand out and be seen in any way possible (short of breaking the law). Lady Gaga didn’t get where she is just because her songs are catchy. She also has music videos that stand out in the same way Madonna did in the eighties. She has that unique persona that puts the media in a frenzy, who drool over the next headline featuring the iconoclastic figure.

What could be YOUR purple cow?:

1) Personalized Song

Let’s say you’ve built up your fanbase to the point where you don’t remember all your diehard fans’ names, you have a growing email list, and long lines outside your concerts. What would make your fans feel closer to you? Meet-and-greets have long lines and often offer little time to actually chat and interact with the artist. VIP tickets and backstage passes seem like normal fare to gain access to artists these days, but they often cost some extra cash in addition to the normal concert ticket price. What if the artist created a contest offering one lucky fan a personalized song? The fan with the best fan-made video post would win a personalized song based on the theme of their choice and the song would be dedicated to them. Only one fan would ultimately win the contest, but if fans participate, it would create extra buzz around the artist for the duration of the contest. Once the song is made, one superfan would have a special memento from one of their favorite artists and the rest of the artist’s fanbase would know how much the artist cares about the fans.

I started writing this blog yesterday, not knowing that an Old Spice campaign was starting on Twitter (@OldSpice). Old Spice was a promoted trend on Twitter and the guy from the commercial started posting personalized videos on the Old Spice Youtube channel in response to what many Twitter users and bloggers were writing about him and the commercial. Kevin Rose of Digg and Ashton Kutcher both were surprised and delighted to get personalized responses from the Old Spice man. The personalized ads were not only created for celebrities but also regular folks. One guy even proposed through the man in the Old Spice commercial (supposedly the woman said ‘yes’). This is marketing at its best because everyone is in on the fun. In music, artists are responsible to make their fans feel closer to them, which is way easier to do than it is when brands try to do it through commercials. If Old Spice can do it, you should too!

2) Music Video

A unique music video and something that has viral potential can be a catalyst for recognition, especially if you’re seeking some momentum outside of your core music community and fanbase. Remember that Ok Go music video with the guys on the treadmills doing a choreographed dance? That music video got millions of hits, mostly from people who never heard the band’s other songs. I don’t have all the stats, but you can assume they got a certain percentage of the Youtube audience to click on the videos for their other songs and then converted a certain percentage of that crowd into true fans. While you should be concentrating on songwriting and production for your music, don’t underestimate the visual aspect of your portfolio. Visuals are important to make a live show experience, so why not put the same emphasis on video and images online?

3) Get eclectic! Get Weird! Mix it up!

Every artist has, or should have, a signature sound that their fanbase recognizes and loves. Even if you are a new artist who hasn’t been in the game too long, you are probably beginning to hone your craft and find your own voice. Once you’ve found yourself in a comfort zone with people who like your particularly sound, you should add a little variety. If you can create just one track that deviates from your normal sound and mixes genres and styles in a way that stands out from the other artists in your genre and community, you will develop interest from people you never knew you were targeting. If you’re a band like Slayer, you’re known for staying true to your style and playing the same lightening speed thrash metal over and over for decades. That might be Slayer’s cup of tea, but unless you have a diehard fanbase like Slayer who chants your name at every concert, then a little variety won’t hurt. “Slayer” is the metal community’s equivalent of screaming “Freebird”. There aren’t many artists who get rewarded for being the same for 20+ years, so don’t pigeonhole yourself into one specific sound. 

Run DMC broke into the mainstream after their collaboration with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way”. They were able to incorporate their hip-hop sound with rock n’ roll. These days mashups are the norm, so sticking out in that scene might be more difficult. What you can do is create an original production that uses many different styles to create something that sounds entirely new and not forced. Some mashups are very interesting and some just seem like someone is trying too hard. If you create something entirely new, your creativity will not seem forced.

4) ??? 

What’s your purple cow idea? Put them down in the comments if you’ve got one.

First thing’s first.. is it raining outside? 

You tell me I am sat at my computer all the time

Now that we got the obligatory small talk out of the way, tell the HypedSound community a little about yourself and how you got started in music.

I am 24 year old Englishman who lives in a tiny village called Cheddar about 20 miles from Bristol. I have been into music all my life and my dad has been a major influence in the music I listen too as I have been brought up listening to all genres of music. I started music when I was 14 till about 18 and stopped as there was no one to show it too, didn’t have the internet and my computer was shit. Started again in November last year because I heard an old CD of some of my tunes and was gutted that I stopped. Bought a new laptop and got cracking again so here we are.

Describe your music and style in three words or less (and since it’s dubstep, refrain from using the term “wobble” if you can manage).

Dark - Beat Driven - Melodic

Did living near Bristol help inspire your music and your interest in dubstep or was the online community your biggest influence?

I don’t think Bristol helped inspire me to produce dubstep at all really, its wicked to go out in Bristol but I listen to all music and actually started making Electro as my first choice as I love that shit and still do. My mate and artist MUZZER was well into dubstep and so was I but never made it. Gave it ago and had so much fun I continued to produce it and I am loving every minute of it stillJ

Do you have a personal favorite track of yours?

Yep

Do you have any larger projects in the works or do you plan to release songs as you make them on a track-by-track basis?

I am working on my biggest breakthrough yet but I cant say too much about it but it will be out and up sooner than you think:) I am also working with a sick female vocalist called Lauren Neko on a tune which I have already completed so that will be on a future release at some point.

Who are your favorite artists out now, dubstep or not?

Oliver Huntemann, Nero, Bar9, Stephan Bodzin, early Bad Company when Fresh was part of the team, Fresh, Popof, Parov Stelar, Dunkelbunt I could go on forever.

This one’s for the techies and gearheads. What’s your setup for recording? All computer-based? Do you have any favorite programs or software plug-ins?

I use VST’s like Massive/FM8/Albino/Blue and search for unheard of sample packs.

Other than on your HypedSound profile, where else can people follow you?

http://www.soundcloud.com/cottonmouthedge

http://www.reverbnation.com/cottonmouthdub

http://www.youtube.com/user/cottonmouthedge 
http://www.myspace.com/oliveredgecottonmouth 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/COTTONMOUTH/101726273197758 
http://twitter.com/cottonmouthDub 
http://www.permanentdamagerecords.com

Five quick questions to end this, first thing that comes to your mind… GO!

1) Auto-tune. Yay or nay?

What?

2) Small club show or huge festival?

Small club show

3) Celebrity you want to meet most?

Donny Yen so I can challenge him

4) Celebrity you want to strangle most?

Elijah woods

5) If you could play a show in any country, where would you play?

US baby

There are a variety of ways you can record an album these days, which include recording it for free in software like Audacity and Garageband or dropping the big money to record in a well-equipped studio. No single way is ideal, but they each have their advantages and disadvantages in terms of price, quality, and convenience. Computer-based music has improved to the point where composing high quality electronic music is as simple as owning the right software and plug-ins. Recording a full-on rock album with the right microphone choices, recording environment, and back-up string section on those monstrous choruses will probably take more resources to do the job right. In the last couple of years, many artists have been moving online to help make recording a professional-quality album possible. Thankfully for those cash-strapped artists without a major-label backing, there are a host of “crowdfunding” websites out there to get the word out and help you fund your goal (with few strings attached). Here are a few of the more well-known sites to fund your next album:

Sellaband: Sellaband is designed to help musicians fund a professional album with donations from fans dubbed “believers”. In early 2010 Sellaband declared bankruptcy, although they’ve since been taken over and are now back in full force. Originally, Sellaband helped artists reach a $50,000 goal to record their album. Now Sellaband has a more flexible structure where artists can choose a much lower budget for their album to reach their goal quicker (the range is anywhere from $5,000-$250,000). Once an artist reaches their goal funding stops and believers are locked-in to their donation amounts. Artists don’t set a specific deadline so you can work a long time to reach your goal (as you can see with Public Enemy, who actually lowered their original funding goal from $250,000 to $75,000). In exchange for donating a certain amount of money in fixed parts, believers get rewarded with exclusive releases, goodies, or even a cut of the artist’s revenues. Sellaband also has a host of social features, including an activity stream, commenting, and music players integrated into the artist pages. Sellaband takes a 15% fee from the budget, although they help out on the finances, execution, and administration of the project.

Kickstarter: Kickstarter is an online funding platform for creative projects. Although Kickstarter doesn’t only include artists looking to record an album, they get more traffic than the niche music funding sites and cater to a similar demographic of artistic-minded folks. If you’re looking for a place to fund your next album, it is set-up differently than Sellaband. Jenny Owen Young created a Kickstarter project to fund her “shiny new album,” surpassing her goal of $20,000 with more than a month left before her funding deadline and well over 300 people donating to the project. Unlike Sellaband artists, on Kickstarter you can keep raising money until your deadline even if you already reached your goal (see this record-setting project: Diaspora). If you’re project gets a lot of attention, you have the ability to raise a lot more than you originally intended. If you don’t reach your funding goal by the deadline, all the backers keep their pledged donations and the project isn’t funded at all. If the project reaches its goal, the project creator offers a variety of rewards based on the amount of money you donated to the project. Kickstarter takes a 5% cut from the money raised if you reach your goal.

Slicethepie: Slicethepie takes a similar path to funding artists as Sellaband but provides a more all-encompassing funding experience. Not only can you donate music to help fund an artist’s recording project, but you can also rate music, trade contracts with other users, and follow Slicethepie’s market data. Instead of “believers” or “backers”, people who donate to artists are called “investors” and promised a certain return per 1000 albums sold if a record is made. While this strategy seems enticing from a gaming or gambling perspective, it seems like artists who use the site won’t be on track to sell millions of records and provide any sort of serious return for their investors. Nonetheless, if you are looking to fund your album and take part in a community that involves more crowd participation, Slicethepie might be a better choice. Slicethepie takes a 25% royalty for a two-year period for every track sold, although they use some of this money to pay back users who invested in the artists. They also take a commission from Contracts traded on the Exchange as well as 10% from any artists who reaches their $15,000£ goal in the Showcases section.

I’m not sure what the point of “Social Media Day” is exactly. Do we need a specific day to honor something we do and talk about on a daily basis? In the U.S., holidays like Memorial Day and Veterans Day are there to commemorate the past and the contributions people made for our country (or more cynically, a reason to take off from school or work and take advantage of retail sales). But to get back on topic, regardless of the significance of Social Media Day, what we do know is that social media is a relatively new and important phenomenon. Vadim Lavrusik at Mashable says that Social Media Day is, “A day that honors the technological and societal advancements that have allowed us to have a dialogue, to connect and to engage not only the creators of media, but perhaps more importantly, one another.” Put that way, it’s hard to argue with him. While people can argue the pros and cons of using social media, let’s just assume as professional musicians and amateurs we are all in the same boat and are big supporters of using social media tools to reach our fan base. Rather than discussing the fact that we have to use social media, what are some of the other things we should consider as we make social media decisions on a day-to-day basis?

Voyno of NewRockstarPhilosophy asks whether social media is killing your band. The point that Voyno makes is that before using social media, as an artist you should know how you want to promote yourself using these tools. For example, Voyno mentions that part of David Bowie’s persona is his more elusive and mysterious character—had he been in his prime during the social media boom, either he would have treated his public persona differently or his social media presence would have been a little more cryptic than the norm. How are you going to approach your personal and artistic brand? Some tend to overshare on services such as Twitter and Facebook. With the constant stream and updates going on, sometimes high profile artists might get a little overzealous and reveal things they should not reveal. With video, celebrities might take things to a whole new level (think Tila Tequila stripping on Ustream or Stephon Marbury explaining the virtues of eating Vaseline). Although you might not be a celebrity yet, as an up-and-coming artist, you should think about how you want to approach real-time chat and video because the way you approach things now will set the groundwork for your career years down the road. As much as it probably pains you to read about Justin Bieber, he and his management team seem to understand social media. He actually personally responds to many of his Twitter followers (despite the large amount of noise that appears in his @ inbox per minute). In my opinion, you should follow the 50/50 rule: your Twitter stream should be 50% personal and 50% business. This combination of business and personal will keep you sounding professional and on point while still appearing human. Also, fans get bored just hearing updates about your next tour or when you’re going to drop your next single. Dry facts make for a boring update, so there’s no reason why you can’t write about your day-to-day activities and musings to spice up the more routine business updates.

If you have a large following of fans all over the world, you may want to send out the same tweet or variations of a certain tweet at different times of the day. Some people follow a lot of other people and will only see your specific tweet if you send it out at the exact time they’re on Twitter. If you want to update your fans that you just released your album, sending out a tweet for different time zones can help to reach your followers around the world who are awake when you’re asleep (click for tweet scheduling services). Be careful about tweeting the same thing too many times because some of your followers may get irritated by constantly getting the same information from you if they do read their entire Twitter stream, so be selective about using this method of tweeting. If you think it can be useful for particularly important tweets, just tweet those important things more than once and at different times of the day. Tweeting the same thing in rapid succession is a definite social media faux pas, so never do that unless it serves some real comedic value.

Now that social media appears to be here to stay instead of a passing fad of the 2000’s, the question surrounding social media should change from “should I?” to “how should I?” Social media etiquette will probably become a hot button issue surrounding newcomers to social media who don’t quite “get it” yet. Your fans will more likely respond to you if you truly care about them. Engaging them in a way that is conversational and fun is obviously better than being distant and cold. So don’t bombard your fans and followers with mundane updates constantly linking to the same music page or website, but strike a balance between personal and professional that will keep them coming back for more.

Before you hit Lady Gaga-, Aerosmith-, or Tiesto-status, you might stumble upon many different opportunities to showcase your talents for the rest of the world with a less than optimal monetary return—you’ll be asked to play for free. Many jump at this chance. I’d be thrilled that someone even thought of me and wanted me to play for free! This strategy can serve a genuine purpose if you’re just trying to play a house party with your close friends and want to have a good time or you get the chance of a lifetime to open for your favorite band in front of their fans (who hopefully will love your music as well). With so many artists out there, exposure is key so you think playing for free is part of the game. Many scenarios seem like a genuine opportunity, and some are, but they all come at some cost (literally).

You have to ask yourself what is the opportunity cost of playing this unpaid gig. If I play this gig and don’t get paid, I could have been playing this other gig and making X amount of money at another less-than-exciting venue. I could play this gig over here for free (losing money on gas and other incidental costs), but I will be gaining some much-needed exposure because the headliner caters to the same crowd that I’m targeting. David J. Hahn defines the exposure dichotomy well in his article “When to take an Unpaid Gig” (http://bit.ly/amw7Lh), describing key ways to evaluate a gig’s worth. He explains that there are two different kinds of exposure: general exposure and specific exposure. General exposure refers to playing in front of a group of people who might or might not care about your music, and the music might even be secondary to their experience (e.g. a random slot at an open mic night or playing at a bar on a Friday). At the open mic night, chances are the only people who really care about what you’re playing are the people you came with (friends and family). At the bar, most are looking to have a few drinks and maybe try out a pickup line or two on the lonely damsel in the corner. Yes you might get lucky and some people will really dig your music, but there’s no way to know for sure before going into the situation. Specific exposure refers to a gig where you’re playing in front of your target audience who are concentrating on your every pickstroke and lyric (or at least equally enthralled by your groove no matter how distorted or muddy). Strategically speaking, a band who gets the opening slot for a national act within the same genre is doing a service to themselves by playing for free because of the potential for picking up many new fans. You could even use the gig for merch and CD sales or rack up the number of fans on your mailing list.

The best advice for these two scenarios is this: play unpaid gigs of general exposure very rarely, if at all. Play unpaid gigs of specific exposure at certain points, but don’t make it the norm. If you’re a jazz guitarist playing at a nice restaurant, you really shouldn’t be playing for free because once word gets out that you play for free in one place, everyone will want you to play for free. It will turn into a cycle that will get harder and harder to dig yourself out of because you’re already used to saying “yes” to free. A good rule of thumb would be to offer discounts to first-time or loyal customers. If you want to play a bar or restaurant and have a short resume, offer to play at a discount at the beginning until you establish a relationship with the venue. You can then get a recommendation to play at other places. You can take a different route by offering to play five gigs a month, with the last one being free. If you can establish a good relationship with whatever venue you’re trying to play, you can start to get repeat gigs or branch out to other places. I remember playing a local show at my favorite metal club back in high school. We were supposed to sell tickets for the show ourselves. We did well for the club and then later were able to snab an opening slot for a national act! I was ecstatic! Unfortunately our lead singer messed up his end of the ticket sales and lost me money, but that’s beside the point. In conclusion, I’m not against unpaid gigs at all. In some cases, they are extremely tempting, so it’s important to know your goals and how you want to approach your career before you take an unpaid gig. In fact, many national touring acts pay big bucks to get a slot on festival tours because they want the publicity involved in getting in front of thousands of people every day. On a smaller scale, you should be doing the same. You probably should never pay to get a gig unless it makes financial sense in the long-term. If you’re smart about your unpaid gigs, they should eventually lead to paying gigs.

Building your brand can be hard, especially if you aren’t well versed in the marketing world. Tack on lack of budget and well you might just have a problem here. I want to draw your attention to the music industry in particular, and how well known artists and indie artists are catapulting their brands (yes…an individual can be a brand) to new heights using social media.

Changing Relationships

Before the advent of social media, music artists were able to connect with their fans through a very limited number of avenues: straight through their music, when performing at small venues, interviews/press releases, backstage, at fan meet and greets, etc. Today, however, they can be reached easily and develop a 1-on-1 relationship with their fans. Whether it’s an artist like @IamDiddy on Twitter replying to their followers, music artists chatting it up with fans on Facebook, or making video messages to their YouTube subscribers, artists of all genres are building different relationships with fans like never before. So, as an artist what can you do?

Using Social Media: 3 Tips for Music Artists

There are so many sites out there, so it’s suggested that you figure out which sites you want to focus on. Where are your future fans at? Take into account your genre to determine the demographics of your current and future fans, and go from there. Maybe you know a large number of your fans are on Twitter, some are on Facebook, and others are on YouTube. Then put your focus there, but also look for niche sites as well. It’s important to take into consideration the money aspect as well. While many artists are content with putting all their music on MySpace for their fans to hear for free….it won’t necessarily translate into dollars and cents. That’s why sites like CDBaby, iTunes, as well as some music streaming sites are important to have a presence on, integrated in with your social media efforts.

Develop a proper messaging strategy that doesn’t isolate. Don’t just talk at, but talk with. Listening is a large part of social media, and to be successful you have to understand that it’s not all about you. Reply to your fans directly, answer questions when you have the time, be genuine, respond in a timely manner, and find a way to connect on a deeper level with your fans.

If you have your own website, great, if not….get one and start blogging. Having a hub for your fans to go to is important. You can make that hub your social media accounts, but remember: those are public spaces, and aren’t guaranteed to be permanent. Your own website you have control over, and can utilize/manage e-mail subscriptions, build up a fan base list, and send out e-mail blasts as part of your marketing strategy. Also, fans can add user generated content (i.e.: comments) which you can respond to and use to build relationships.

Do you use social media for music promotion? How has it been successful for you?

About the Author:

@Cliquekaila is a social media marketer and very active on Twitter and Facebook. She represents brands to help with their social media marketing

I love discovering new genres of music that I haven’t really listened to too much yet, so even if some of the music in that genre is repetitive it still sounds new and exciting. What happens if everyone else is in on this same music discovery? Do we get rapid innovation by artists as the style changes or do we get a flood of artists all playing pretty much the same thing? Most music genres are not exempt from this problem. Sometimes too many people get driven to a particular style, more and more bands mimic the innovators of that style, and suddenly there are too many subpar and generic rip-offs of your favorite artists that lead to the whole genre becoming outdated. If it doesn’t become outdated, then it is mocked until one day the music passes for the fad of a previous generation. Everybody remembers what 80’s hair metal was like and how 90’s grunge rebelled against the excess of the preceding generation. I was either not alive or not old enough to enjoy both those music generations, but I think I’ve watched enough VH1 nostalgia shows to get the gist. In the post-boy band era that we are in right now, we might not have the same mainstream music fads, but music genres are still not immune to the bandwagon effect. Now with the presence of online forums and blog commenting, we get an “elite” group of music enthusiasts who are ready to pounce on any new artists within a genre that’s becoming stale and overdone. Even if in the minority, those who criticize the overhyped and overextended artists of the genres they care about foresee the same demise of a music generation that happened in the 80’s and 90’s. Every good thing must come to an end.

Two of my favorite genres have recently been struck by the bandwagon effect: metal and dubstep. Over the past decade, the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM), pioneered by such groove metal and hardcore acts as Pantera and Biohazard in the 90’s, welcomed my generation’s new heavy metal titans—including Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, and Unearth among others. The mix of metal and hardcore (dubbed metalcore) brought on many imitation acts that decided to copy the style of the increasingly mainstream metal acts. What became of this: the breakdown. The breakdown is defined in one post on UrbanDictionary as, “A style of guitar riff used in Hardcore (punk) music that consists of a single note being chugged slowly for maximum heaviness and brutality.” The breakdown quickly became the cliché of many of the new metal and hardcore acts, resulting in a backlash by metal fans tired of the same old chugga-chugga guitar riffs used as an excuse to start a mosh pit. These fans wanted something they liked to listen to at home too without getting bored! Of course the naysayers are usually the most vocal bunch of the metalheads, so it’s possible that the mainstream metal fans still love the breakdown as much as I do. Either way, when something in music becomes overused to the point of mediocrity (and boredom), I tend to only enjoy it when the music is done well or the clichéd aspects of it are at least done in a tasteful and artistic way. I still swear by the breakdowns in many of my favorite metal acts when they’re actually delivering the goods (reference to old school Judas Priest song intended).

The “wobble” bass sound used in a lot of the dubstep music these days is falling victim to the same overuse and scrutiny as metalcore’s breakdown, although the dubstep scene has not been as saturated as the metal scene since the genre itself has only been around for a little over a decade. The wobble sound, which actually sounds a lot like “womp womp womp wa-womp” (try saying it out loud), was only popularized in the last few years by such dubstep artists as Benga, Skream, and Rusko, with heavy play in the U.K. underground electronica scene. The movement has reached the States, and now everyone and their brother (and sister) are remixing the latest pop or electronic track to make it sound dubstep-y. To be honest, I can’t get enough of it, but really it comes down to being tasteful. This is a lesson for artists who are not currently part of a popular music movement. If you cling to something good, something that’s gaining rapid popularity, there’s a good chance it actually is as good as everyone thinks it is. But maybe it’s too good! Something as wicked as the wobble might get played out to the point that we all become tired, jaded, cynical versions of our past selves. Ok.. that might be a stretch for some, but it is a warning that we should only pepper in the greatest sounds and effects in our music rather than pouring on the whole bottle of ketchup. Don’t let the lid fall off. Moderation in music is the key to perfection. I just hope my favorite genres are not ruined by their excesses.

These are not the best metal and hardcore breakdowns, but it gives you a good idea about the transition from fast guitar riff to slow chugga-chugga riffs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7MKCAkryY&feature=related

The dubstep wobble starts early in this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvHsQtTjJZw

by Jonathan Jaeger

Due to the proliferation of digital and web technologies in the music realm, there seems to be a convergence of issues surrounding the “pureness” of music and whether we are losing the aesthetic that once made music so special (i.e. if it’s any less special than it ever was).  Digital recording software like Pro Tools, and even the ubiquitous Garageband, allows users to quickly edit their music to mask imperfections, pitch-correct their voices, and make rhythmic patterns so perfect that they reach the point of being completely robotic. Some technologies, like UJAM, the recent runner-up in the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City, allows users to sing or play a musical part into a mic and turn it into a song with a complete band in whatever style they choose. The software detects the key and plays matching chords along with your recorded music part. Not only does the software lower the bar for music production, but it also blurs the line between what is original and what is a pre-defined algorithm for music creation. The definition of music itself is murkier now. Mash-ups, whether a fad or not, have altered the way we view music in the “Youtube Generation” (Generation X à Generation Yà Generation Youtube?). Regardless of the definition of the mash-up and its origins, we know that DJs have been sampling long before Youtube, mixing classics with new electro beats and redefining mainstream music for the foreseeable future. This too puts the “pureness” of music into question, for better or worse. To top it all off, the compression of purely analog sounds created by instruments and voice is compressed into a digital format that we play on our computers, iPods, or god forbid on our CD players. In addition to the technologies that make it easier to record music, the pureness of our music is further compromised by the limitations of the sonic spectrum inherent in digital music. Both the creation and final result of that creation are altered by digital technology.

Have we lost the pureness of music? The electric sounds of Jimi Hendrix and the tonal qualities of a Miles Davis solo will never be captured in the same way again. We can still throw on an old record, but it’s not the norm and, for most, it’s not the way people live their musical lives. But whose to say that music is no longer pure? Everything is derivative. Mash-ups are the definition of derivative, but classic rock is a more subtle derivation and combination of blues and country. The actual soundwave is a different story, though. Digital technology limits the sonic spectrum because it approximates the shape of an analog signal and is therefore not a derivative with a life of its own—it is a limited version of a pure analog sound. But who REALLY cares that much? Teenagers certainly will take the convenience of an iPod over carrying around a clunky record player and an adult’s hearing drops off quickly (they too are going to lose any semblance of a fuller spectrum of frequencies).

Despite the semblance of pureness that still remains in the music of the past, we should also recognize transformational shifts in media that make improving digital technologies for music a necessity. New media is now multimedia. Having a great song is not the only piece of the pie anymore, it’s just the icing on the cake. A visually stunning or satirically entertaining video to match your song is equally important nowadays (in the Youtube Generation). Not everyone can simultaneously produce a top-notch video as well as a hit song. If you can leverage digital technologies that make it easier for you to make a somewhat professional quality song and video, you have a lot better chance at catching those eyeballs on the Interwebs. If I can use software like UJAM’s to correct my voice and add a complete rock band behind it, and then use iMovie to create an amateur yet engaging video, why should I be deprived of such ease and convenience? If it sucks, the better mash-up artists, DJs, and real rock groups will still trump me. If I create something entertaining, maybe I’ll get those Youtube hits, but I’m still not replacing the true artist who creates completely original content. The kind of artists we all go to see in concert. The kind of people we feel somewhat removed from due to their “celebrity”. The paparazzi are not sitting outside of the house of the creator of LOLcats or any other video emerging from an Internet meme. I still think we have real artists making pure music, but lines are being crossed and some are jumping over them and reaching the other side. Now it’s just possible for anyone with some creativity and some virality to make it happen.

Note: UJAM is currently COMING SOON.

I was buying CDs in the store for years before we entered the digital age of music distribution. I might be a dinosaur though because I still, on occasion, visit the store to purchase a full-length CD (usually the ones that I want to listen to all the way through). The satisfaction of struggling to peel back that horrible tape from the CD’s case is priceless.. followed by the satisfaction of plopping that same CD into my computer to rip onto iTunes and then conveniently place on my iPod for consumption. I rarely go back to consult the CD’s liner notes or artwork, so why I even bother with this whole buying-it-in-the-store charade, I am not sure. Maybe it’s for the occasional bonus DVD that record labels use to try to lure fans into buying the real thing—in all honesty it’s probably more an act of nostalgia than anything (young people can have nostalgia too, right?). Rather than extrapolate as to why I do what I do, I’d rather investigate a more interesting question: has music discovery changed for me now that I live in a mostly online music world? Are my motivations for listening to a particular artist radically different than they were when I found new music in the past?

Music discovery is different depending on a person’s favorite styles and how easy it is to find music that is relevant to them, whether it’s in the store or online. In the past, most retailers limited their selection to the “hits”, leaving the average music consumer with a fairly limited selection of what society deemed good music (i.e. what is popular or what record labels thought should be popular and available for the mainstream). However, before online distribution, there still were ways to discover new and exotic forms of music. The more adventurous type would go explore their favorite independent record store or even a second-hand music shop. Nowadays, instead of going to Walmart or browsing the top songs on iTunes, we might leave the mainstream by creating a specialized online radio station catered to our tastes or read the blog on our favorite niche music site for the latest obscure (insert name of new underground music genre) band. The average person might still be confined to the hits, although maybe with some occasional exploration away from popular music if they happen to stumble across something new on their social networks or Youtube. I’m not quite sure whether the way I discover music is different as a consequence of the ease of finding new music online, or because my musical tastes have diverged to the point where I need more than one mechanism to discover new music.

I still find myself looking for recommendations from friends for music or searching for artists I already know about. Whether I find out what my friends are listening to via social networks or by talking to them in person, the source of the recommendation is essentially the same. What has changed is that sometimes I try to fill the void in my music catalog by referring to online recommendation engines. Music recommendation has now transferred from human to algorithm. It’s a pretty powerful concept that we now delegate music discovery to the various filters of the algorithms we employ. The Genius Bar on iTunes or sites like mufin.com provide possible solutions to the music discovery problem, but they are imperfect in realizing the actual essence of a song that makes me return to listen to it frequently. I don’t think it’s just a question of getting the metadata to be specific enough, because I don’t think metadata can truly grasp the emotion someone feels when listening to a song.. at least not yet. I find that for the genres of music my friends and I both enjoy, a song they recommend will probably get me the emotional response I am looking for more often than a song I find from an algorithm-based music discovery engine. The mechanistic tendencies of music discovery engines are useful when I don’t mind a search-and-discard method of finding music (i.e. browsing through dozens and dozens of titles until I find one that I decide is worthy of a download or full stream). Frankly, I’ll probably check out a link from a friend or someone I follow on Twitter before I click on a machine-recommended song. In that way, the way I choose music hasn’t changed that much at all.  

Our social lives are already being played out via the social networks. Our blogs are the extension of that life, when we can’t seem to fit all of our ideas, opinions, and rants into a 140-character snippet on Twitter or an appropriate length status update on Facebook. We’re watching everything float up into “the cloud.” Every industry is flirting with moving what was once their hard-drive based media into the cloud, where everything will be immediately accessible from any computer or mobile device—heck, even Microsoft is in for the ride (see Microsoft SharePoint)! The music vertical is no exception to this, and why should it be, music is the soundtrack to our lives (at least it is for the most engaged of music lovers).

The emergence of radio streaming applications such as Pandora and Spotify signal the dream of easy access to playlists tailored to your specification and the availability of endless amounts of music. If customizable radio stations aren’t your thing, and you really just want to play your own music rather than search for new tracks, that doesn’t mean the cloud isn’t for you. MP3tunes is a perfect example of the convenience of the cloud: sync all your music and video with your designated “locker” on their site and it will be available for your use on any device, be it your iPhone or Android, your computer, or whatever future device you might have. That’s the beauty of it: ANY future device you might have. Their Open Music API allows for any manufacturer or developer to write an interface for use with MP3tunes. Michael Robertson, founder of MP3tunes, joyfully explained on This Week in Startups that their iPhone app was not even written by them—their users wrote it for them (of course they had to wait to get past the Apple gatekeepers and their approval process). The battle between open and closed systems might temporarily hinder the ideal of cloud-based technologies, but we have made serious progress. We are not yet free from the limitations of corporate interests, though those same corporate interests might have propelled us to the source of many innovations in the first place. What a conundrum, but I digress.

How are the leading tech companies reacting to cloud-based technology in music? Well, Apple acquired LaLa, a service that stores your music on cloud servers, so now we know they want to get into the cloud game. The question is who and when others will follow—Google and maybe even Facebook will enter the cloud music terrain in the near future. Technological limitations still exist: we are still not free from the potentially fleeting problems of bad Internet connections and limited bandwidth, but with time those problems will be rectified. You must pay for extra space on MP3tunes if you want to have extra storage for your music and videos, so we are not living in a utopia of unlimited bandwidth yet. Internet connection provides another technical problem with cloud technology, though LaLa has a partial solution to that problem. One unique and vital feature of the LaLa technology is that it keeps the last few hundred songs you listened to in a cache in case you lose Internet connection in a remote or underground location (i.e. subways, tunnels, between mountains, etc.). As technology rapidly improves, these problems will be in the past and we can all live happily in the cloud.

In the cloud, convenience and speed is the name of the game. I don’t know who can argue with that; I’m certainly not willing to experiment with dial-up or getting rid of my very organized iPod. Robertson explains that with music, unlike with videos and other media, you will want to listen to the same thing 100 times. If your music lives in the cloud, you can essentially listen to all your music, whether you are in your car or about to go to bed, from any device you have. Now I’m just waiting for the cochlear implant that gives me access to the Internet and the U.S. Library of Congress read and played aloud to me.

Has the music industry reached the point of oversaturation? Is the web the saturated fat of the music industry, clogging us up and making it harder to trim the fat? How do we separate the good from the bad? The viral and the 24-hour news cycle versus the timeless pieces of rock n’ roll media? It’s not just the web, though. Oversaturation spills over into the music industry everywhere: too many bands on tour during a rough economy, too many artists online fighting for a piece of the viral pie, more bands selling more music to their music-pirating audience, and a glut of copy-cat artists on Youtube and other streaming sites. Consumers are the new producers, so how do we cut out the excess noise that threatens music as a “profession” (in the traditional sense). Is there a breaking point, a recovery, or do we just completely alter our perspective of the music industry and throw the saturated fat analogy out the window? Perhaps my analogy is backwards. The people consuming the music are not the ones who are going to die from oversaturation in the market. The consumer can pick and choose what they want, cut the fat off, and throw away the excess. It’s more likely that the artists will suffer as creation becomes devalued and more artists fill up the music industry, dividing up the parts so thin that it becomes harder and harder to make a living from music.

I have to admit, I am playing the devil’s advocate a bit in my assessment (fancy word for rant..). I do enjoy everything viral, and I am finding more than enough good music to overcome the heaping piles of subpar music floating around the interwebs. Despite the excess “noise”, it is no harder for me to find a good song than before, if not much easier. I guess when it comes to music I am just a hopeless romantic, clinging onto the notion that my favorite bands are swimming in riches. If I value their music so much, I feel like they should be justly rewarded. Instead, many of my favorite artists are the starving poet types, hoping their passion for music will translate into paying the gas bills to tour cross-country and maybe even put a meal or two on their plate. Because the economy is so tough and the record industry is pretty much tanking, the only solution is oversaturation. You have to make the money somewhere, so everyone goes on tour all year long to try to make ends meet and sell some merch, where the profit margins are better than CD or iTunes sales. The problem is that the average music fan can only go to so many concerts. Being forced to choose from many great concerts is not a major complaint I hear from many music fans, but it makes competition between bands tougher when they are all trying to vie for position (market share, if you will).

We are also facing oversaturation due to speed and simplicity. The idea that consumers are the new producers (ala Youtube mash-ups and remixing) makes filling up the music space that much easier. Anyone with a computer and some spare time can test out their chops by remixing the latest Top 40 hit and posting it online. With so much extra media surrounding an original production, are we getting sick of a certain piece of music quicker or is the constant iteration prolonging the attention we can give to an artist’s original work? Frankly, I can’t decide. But hey, even with low barriers to entry and shrinking production budgets, I think many artists are still churning out some quality product. Let us just hope that technology improves at the same rate that music sales decline, and maybe we will always have enough artists making high quality music with good production values at increasingly lower costs. That way oversaturation will only be an after-thought to the music experience. As a music consumer, and omnivore, I’ll have my steak and eat it too.

The rise of digital technology and uninhibited downloading has put the music industry in a precarious situation as conventional revenue streams have dwindled over the last decade. A study by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in conjunction with Digital Music News, has confirmed this sobering reality. Recorded music sales have dropped 7.2% in 2009, radio advertising dropped 12%, and sales of musical instruments and music-related video games have dropped as well (15.4% and 47%, respectively). Reforming the record industry, as we know it, to conform to these relatively new realities might be a pipe dream (probably because the idea of a record industry is outdated in and of itself). The “record industry” is an antiquated term, in part because of its deference to the record as a main source of income. With the rapid improvement of digital technology, in terms of increased bandwidth, cheaper equipment, and the influx of social media tools, the music industry now must decide on monetization schemes that benefit both the artist and the consumer. Consumers now believe that we are living in the era of “free”—the question for the music industry is how to adapt.

Although the statistics listed above provide a grim look at the state of the music industry, there is still a glimmer of hope in the uncertainty of the digital age. The concert business has gained 4% in 2009 and publishing and performance rights increased a slight amount as well. It seems logical that downloading music cannot replace the live performance—the conventional rock concert experience will not disappear along with the record sales. At the same time, digital technology does allow for live video streaming of concert events with increasingly superior sound and picture quality. Back in October 2009, U2 played to 96,000 people at the Rose Bowl Arena in Pasadena, California, but many more were watching at home and sharing part of the experience in real-time. Youtube streamed the concert live to nearly 10 million people, making it the largest streaming event ever broadcast over the video-sharing site. With millions of eyeballs on this one event, the music industry will surely see the potential for cashing in by replicating such events in the future. Although it would be very hard for sites like Youtube to convince users to commit to a pay-per-view model, at the very least, advertising to such large groups of people will provide alternate revenue streams for the music industry. The music industry, rather than pursuing the losing battle of preserving intellectual property rights, should embrace change by monetizing it. Recognizing the lure of high quality video streaming and other innovative digital technology will help shed the baggage associated with the industry’s fight against illegal downloading and refocus its mission on new revenue models.

Unfortunately for artists, we live in a time of what Chris Anderson calls the Long Tail, where “the future of business is selling less of more.” Music streaming sites like Spotify and Rhapsody obtain revenue by earning fractions of a cent from online streams. The idea is that a large number of streams convert to substantial revenue, but the artist, on the other hand, only sees a small profit even for a considerable number of streams. The artist, just like the suits of the industry, needs to find its own path. Take the Long Tail in your own hands by grabbing as many eyeballs from the many (and free) social media tools available on the web. Extract value from those resources and convert that into real profit that’s for you, the artist. Whether it’s merch sales, exclusive content for select fans, raising money to record an album (e.g. Sellaband), or any other monetary possibilities, the web brings transaction costs down to zero (or close to it). Now there’s no excuse! Maybe some of the bigger bands are not making the same kind of crazy money they used to, but at least with digital technology, many more of the smaller ones have a fighting chance for a modest income if the right tools are employed. Use the technology that took away the profits to create them in a completely new way.

1. Facebook Fan Page: Having a social network presence on the web might be an obvious concept for most bands by now, but many artists are still not utilizing the web to its full potential. As of March 2010, Facebook has amassed 41% of all social traffic on the web. This means you should not only be engaging on Myspace, where many bands send their fans to listen to their latest tracks, but also on Facebook where your fans can post, link, and share your content to their own growing network. Imagine if just one of your friends posts a link to your latest video or song; since the average Facebook user has about 130 friends, the connections you can make as an artist are exponential. The more friends a fan of yours has, the greater the potential reach. Now that Facebook has changed their term for pages from “Become a Fan” to “Like”, it will lower the bar for attracting people to interact with your fan page (since many have deemed it less of a commitment to “like” something than to become a full-fledged fan from the get-go). Most of your fans that “like” your fan page will have your posts in their news feed as well.

2. Twitter: Although Facebook attracts the most social traffic compared to any other site on the web, Twitter has its own advantages in spreading your artist “brand” online. Many people on Twitter feel that it is perfectly acceptable to follow a person that they do not know personally—in fact, it is a social norm and is practically encouraged. This lowers the barrier to entry to communicate with strangers. Many people will be more than happy to interact with you as a band/artist or as an individual (or both!). Because the social norms on Twitter are different than on Facebook, an artist can interact with potential fans in ways that might not be as socially acceptable on Facebook or other networks. Another great advantage to Twitter is the constant stream of information and link-sharing. People might find constant updates on Facebook to be clutter on their news feed because they like to preserve that feed for information involving friends and family. On Twitter, tweeting often is the norm and can open you up to a more diverse audience than just “friends” or “friends of friends.”

3. Artist Website: It is not enough to just be on social networks. It is important to be on the social networks because that is where everyone goes to interact frequently, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your own website as well! Having your own website means you are in control of your career and, by default, you will appear more professional. In addition, attracting fans to sign up to an email mailing list or fan club on your own website seems a lot less like spam than if you hassled them on their social networks constantly. On your own website you can clearly lay out the incentives and perks of joining a fan club or signing up for a mailing list (think free downloads, exclusive merch, and meet-and-greets). Since it is your own website, you are not constrained by the limitations of a particular social network.

4. Live Video Streaming: Live video streaming sites such as Ustream have gained massive popularity in the last couple years. Many celebrities, artists, and other online personalities use live video streaming to connect with their fanbase in more intimate ways than Youtube videos or posts on their website. Not only can your fans watch you talk to them or play music live, but they can also interact with you via chat. Fans will get a lot more excited about getting a response to one of their questions in real-time than waiting days for an email or response to a blog post. Interacting with your fans online through video (whether it is performing or just chatting) will help fill the gaps between your live concerts and releasing studio-quality material.

5. MERCH MERCH MERCH!: Money will NOT come from music sales… PERIOD! Mashable posted a very sobering infographic (link and image posted below) about how many plays, downloads, or CD sales an artist needs to make minimum wage (and that’s assuming that the artist is only one person and not a five-piece band!). An artist would need 12,399 iTunes sales per month at $0.99 per track or 4,549,020 plays per month on Spotify to make minimum wage. If you want to sell self-pressed CDs, then you would need to sell 143 CDs per month at $9.99 per album—not an easy feat these days. My recommendation: sell merch at your shows and put a tip jar out (maybe some people who don’t want your merch will chip in for your band because they know they will be downloading your music for free online anyway). Merch is where the money is at these days. Printing out custom shirts for a particular tour or concert date will give your fans something that feels rare and increases their incentive to make a purchase. If you don’t have the money to buy your first bulk supply of merch, then use online services such as CafePress or Printfection. Although they take a large chunk of your profits right off the top, you can make your own custom merch without any of the upfront costs. When you have more funds, then you can start printing your own merch to have online and offline.

http://mashable.com/2010/04/15/music-artists-earn-online-infographic/

Tell us a little bit about Alter Ego; where are you from? How were you formed?

Alter Ego is a group of two artists from different coasts, and with opposing personalities (That's where the name Alter Ego plays its part). RDG is from the West coast (California), and DY is from the Islands (Jamaica). Alter Ego was originally formed by RDG. One day he thought to revive his rapping career from California to the state of Virginia, where he met DY (Dynamic). So to speak,  DY requested to join in and take on the journey with RDG to create a lane in the Hip-Hop genre.

When did you get started with hip-hop? Childhood passion? Just grew into it?

Actually RDG has been an artist since the age of 16yrs old. First RDG started of composing tracks for various artists in Apple Valley, California. Then he realized where his passion was, which was to be an artist. He didn't want to be half and half. DY picked up the pen and pad just 2 yrs ago! Yes, 2yrs and he has tremendously grown fast. DY was inspired by a lot of East Coast artists, but his heart really lies with the West coast. Honestly could say West coast over East coast.

So obviously the self-titled EP is pretty hot... tell us a little bit about the spirit of the album.
Is this your first album? When is it going to drop?

The "Self-Titled EP" is our freshman album. Which is out now, you could cop it at: thisisalterego.bandcamp.com. The album is VERY musical, we used our band name in a sense to take our listeners on a roller coaster. Meaning, different sides of what we think of "The Game".

On your band page, it shows quite a mix of different producers you have worked with. How did you get started with them?

Well we was browsing around on the net, looking for talented producers. So I wanted to hit a site where producers really put time, money, and effort to broadcast their productions so we ran across a well known site which was pmpworldwide.com. So clicked on a couple of producers and found Ra Charm. Which we believe one of the most talented producers on the West coast. So requested to purchase a track and he sent us a link to rocbattle.com. So from there on its been magic. Same for Ansane, and Axis. Just browsing the net not settling for non-creative tracks, takes time to actually find a good instrumental, but we believe that's part of the job. Strive Strive Strive for the best.

Has anyone or any group had major influence in any of your works?

To keep it 1000 with you, Slaughterhouse, TopdawgENT, Terrace Martin, etc. Need we say more.

So everyone's got their own opinions on the state of hip-hop these days and where its heading. What are ya'lls thoughts?

We'll we believe hip-hop is not dead for one. It's just A&R's is not seeking talent from the underground as they should. There's a lot of good artists they could be out, and putting the state of hip-hop on a higher pedestal.  I recommend people to start following the West coast underground, because it's NEXT!

What is the saddest song you've ever heard?

The saddest song or should I say songs are from the 90% of mainstream rappers  (Laughing).

Check em' out at http://thisisalterego.bandcamp.com/

Tim is a music composer/producer and engineer working out of his home studio in Montreal. Hes been composing music since 2000 and has done so in a variety of styles ranging from trance, psytrance, dance, electro, disco pop and hip-hop. He achieved a diploma in audio recording and production at Recording Arts of Canada. In the industry, he has worked as a freelance sound engineer, music arranger, composer, producer and keyboard/synth player.

Tell us a little bit about your past and current projects?

I've worked on a variety of different projects. I have recorded and mixed many demos for a variety of bands. A friend of mine is a signer/songwriter and had funding to record an album and so, hired me as an engineer to take care of the recordings. We just rented a bunch of gear, set everything up in a cottage and recorded for three weeks. That was pretty cool, minus the binges they would have while I was trying to sleep. I had songs licensed and used in television commercials from this media company called La Guerilla. I've also had a project to compose a 4 minutes soundtrack theme for the closing parade of the Just for Laughs festival. At the moment, I’m' in the middle of finishing a mix of this rock band I've recorded. I am also working on a demo pop project with a friend who works at Big Fat Truck Production. We have finished 3 tracks complete with vocals and backups but have run into complications regarding the artists, so, we are in search of a singer who is READY to become a pop star... no offense!
 

What is your most favorite track you've produced and why?

Well that is kind of a difficult question to answer as I find myself constantly perfecting, re-arranging and re-mixing old tracks. One day I can feel quite satisfied about a song, and then the next day, I can loose complete interest towards it. But obviously this is a common behavior amongst artists, I would assume. Also, to pick a best out of all the many different styles of music I have composed is not an easy task. Anyways, I guess one of my favorite songs, a recent one I still enjoy, would have to be a remix I've done of Sander Van Doorn's trance track Renegade. It doesn't sound at all like the original, which I'm not to fond of, but I've kept it's melody nicely blended in the mix for the sake of calling it a remix. The remix starts off having a nice mellow acid trance feel, with the occasional introduction of obscure psytrance elements swirling in and out of existence. The first build up introduces the track's classic rolling disco bass line a la Giorgio Moroder (I'm a big fan of his...mustache), which soon after, progresses into a second build up that brings in a raw trancey dancey hook to the track. It definitively gets energetic without being to over the top, driven by some subtle disco elements. For now, I enjoy it and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

What are the major influences in your work and how did you get started making music?

I started playing the piano at the age of 8 by trying to mimic what I was hearing on my parents records. I went on to take piano lessons, learning blues and jazz. I was not able to read music, and so, I played by ear and still do. Now fast-forward a bunch of years to my teenage days where I got into turntable-ism and beat matching. I was young, had turntables ,had hip-hop records, did graffiti and smoked pot. What more did I need? I did a couple of dj gigs at various venues with local hip-hop artists and I ended up playing in the "urban" room of this massive rave which was called Connected, I believed this was in 1999 or 2000, I don't remember. Anyways, that’s where I got a taste of electronic music, specifically goa, and acid trance. I later bought some gear and started composing stuff. I was really into the sound of what Platipus record's artists were producing; clean, casual morning trance. I’m also into psytrance, and so, one of my biggest influence in that genre is Simon Postford and all of his projects; Shpongle, Younger Brother, Mistery of the yeti, Hallucinogen etc. I have spent hours listening to his productions and trying to figure out his techniques, his effects, his tricks heheh. Now I'm more into electro, pop, disco and hip-hop, music I can track lyrics to, cause that's what I'm into doing right now.

Are you signed on to any label and if not are you looking to? Or hoping to stay independent?

I am not signed on to any label, yet! I have a self promoting issue and find it hard to push my music, mainly because of my " I'm sure I can do better" attitude. But I am definitely open to the idea of being signed, why not? It would give me a chance to have some tracks released, increasing one's exposure with the fanatic music devourers of the world. So if there's any labels representatives reading this and interested in some of my work, don't be shy.

Your music seems to have quite the eclectic fusion to it...using electronic production to unfold hip-hop and urban sounds. do you see this as a trending thing in the industry right now?

Well hip-hop (commercial hip-hop) has a definite electronic influence these days, and a lot of it is intricately produced too, just as a lot of it sounds like complete garbage. You know, I'm trying to develop my own sound, my own production techniques, and the more I merge elements of various musical genre, the more I start developping this unique sound. I just hope it showes.
I'm no hip-hop connoisseur but I don't think what is being played in clubs now can be defined as hip-hop. It is filled with elements of trance, dance, electro, disco and whatever else. I do produce sample based hip-hop which I'm comfortable calling it so, but for the rest, I would describe it more as mainstream pop or club.... actually I'm not really sure how to describe it.

You have mentioned that you've been producing in Montreal for quite a while...how long have you been in the city and where do you think the Montreal music scene stands in relation to the rest of the industry?

Montreal's been my home since I was conceived by a women whom I shall call my mother. I enjoy the music scene here, there's definitely lots of talent, but I'm also aware of all the crappy Mile-End indie rock bands popping in existence every second. Wearing cigarette pants and shiny shoes don't make you automatically a musician ya know? But hey... I guess that's the trend. Quite honestly, I'm not in touch with the music scene. I don't go out as much anymore as I stay home and compose music, work (sometimes), study and watch conspiracy documentaries. I have friends in the music industry who try to keep me up to date with what's hot and what's not, and that's how I know where the Montreal music scene stands. Not very effective... I should go out more.

Where do you hope to be professionally in the next 2 years?

Well first, not being a beggar would help! Second, I just really want to do what I love and get my hands dirty with music. I am currently on a quest to find the perfect place to accommodate all of my equipment cause at the moment, I'm lacking sufficient space. And also, I'm starting a production company (Audiphiq Studio) with a friend of mine that will specialize in instrumental composition, production, vocal tracking and the sorts, so I really need to move to get all this rolling. If everything works out, the next couple of years should be busy... I hope. I really want to produce more artists, especially in hip-hop/pop/dance genre. I have composed so much instrumentals ready to be tracked with vocals that it kind of annoys me as they are not being used for anything at the moment. I just have to be patient I guess.

What is the saddest song you've ever heard?

Wow! hmmm... well to tell you the truth, I don't know. My "sad song repertoire" isn't developed all that much. But for sake of answering,  I guess it would have to be that song in the movie Donnie Darko. What is that song again?
Wait I think I got it! Its Gary Jules and Michael Andrews cover version of Mad World. The melody has a definite "I wanna kill myself" effect (I don't really).


Awesome! Check out timburon.com to listen to some of his work!

Ace The Time is a producer and artist based in Washinton DC. A complex individual, leading a crappy life, mad at the world, he uses his music to search for himself... his sanity... and his happiness. 

 Ace's whole purpose in being is to create great Timeless music and stay on the cutting edge. Hopefully inspire a few people, Change a few things and Craft some Classiks.

Alright, lets get the good stuff first...tell us a little bit about your next album and when its gonna drop.

My next album is going to be EPIC!!! lol. I mean, I try to make all my songs epic in some way, emotionally, musically, energetically (Is that a word lol). But its gonna be on-point. This album is what I want from other artists seeing as essentially I'm a fan, fed up with people not delivering lyrically, musically etc. Its going to have a live drum, 90/2000-reinvented/updated, and dramatic sound. Its still in the conceptual and production stages but some songs have been writin and I can already hear everything done.... I dont get excited about much but I'm pretty excited about this!

How did you get started in making music?

Well, back in second grade, I wrote my first rhyme dissing my friend that got together with one of my Ex's. lol I still remember the beginning of it, joint was dope!! lol. I wrote all through high school. Formed a group, dudes became weed heads, couldnt stay sober, we broke up. Won a few song/writing contests etc. My first experience in the studio was with a afterschool program, called Esharp. That was were I learned how to engineer and make beats. At the same time, my homie Justin Holman (RIP) had started his studio so I was makin beats and recording all through the end of high school.

http://www.myspace.com/craftinclassiks