An informative snapshot of the Internet music business, comprised of data taken from several research sources in recent times. Via Grovo.com
Grovo’s Online Music Guide offers a way for viewers to learn how to discover, listen to, buy and share music online.
A haunting composition played to perfection by Italian artist Sergio Altamura, guitar and loop machine. From his first solo album "Blu" produced by William Ackerman in 2004, available at http://www.candyrat.com
More info can be found via his website: http://www.sergioaltamura.com/ and his Facebook community page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sergio-Altamura/47899619071
Fans of solo guitar music can listen to more gems like this via the CandyRat YouTube Channel and there's a selection of favourite Solo Acoustic Instrumental Videos on this PLAYLIST
"Passenger" is a 28 minute audiovisual work created by musician Julien Mier and VJ Daan Kars. Featuring vocals by Zefora, with violin and contrabass recordings by Myrthe van de Weetering (see website for links to all artists).
Passenger tells the story of the liquid matter transforming into the physical in which humanity is able to manifest itself. As time passes by the physical is bound to disintegrate. We are all passengers in time.
The piece glides seamlessly through nine compositions starting gently and progressing rhythmically as scenes shift between organic natural environments and man-made ones. The effect is to transport you as a passenger through discreet moments of natural calm and bursts of urban motion. Shimmering windows of fragmented worldly images slide across the surface of a constantly reconstructing musical undercurrent. The fluid themes, punctuated by electronic pulses and pauses, form into recognisable patterns and momentary pools of clarity, that are quickly carried away again in the creative stream.
This is the first release on the new Born Digital netlabel, which is part of the Born Digital electronic art assembly and production house based in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Complete free download available from the Internet Archive under CC license.
Via Invisible Agent
Official video for the "The Architekt" by US band Arms and Sleepers. Directed by DJ and filmmaker Ben Andrews.
Max Lewis and Mirza Rami formed the band in 2006 and have gone on to create several albums/EPs of beautifully crafted ambient/trip-hop music.
The duo have started a new project called In The Empire Of Builders:
The sole purpose of this project/organization will be to raise money through various programs for groups and individuals in need of aid (financial or otherwise)... Our first fundraising campaign is called MUSIC AGAINST HUNGER, with the goal of raising $10,000 through various music events and projects.
For ways to participate and learn more please read.
http://wearearmsandsleepers.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/armsandsleepers
http://twitter.com/armsandsleepers
http://www.youtube.com/user/armsandsleepers
Arms and Sleepers on Spotify.
'Upular' - a new mashup track from Australian electronic music artist Pogo, composed using chords, bass notes and vocal samples from the Disney Pixar film 'Up'. More Pogo video tracks via http://www.youtube.com/user/Fagottron
Merry Christmas!
The official video for "Wiinter Winds" the new single by London folk quartet Mumford & Sons, from their debut album "Sigh No More" released on 5th October 2009 (iTunes album downloads)
"Sycamore Cowboys" - a mashup by Colatron for the Mashed in Plastic project. Merging Little Jimmy Scott: "Sycamore Trees" (from the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me soundtrack) and Portishead: "Cowboys"
Video by The Reborn Identity - more MiP videos available via the Vimeo Channel and YouTube Channel
Inspired by a photograph of birds perched on the wires of a street light, journalist and musician Jarbas Agnelli decided to write a song using the relative proximity of the birds as notes on a stave. "Birds on the Wires" is his musical interpretation of the picture. He says "Inspiration can come from anywhere, but we must be alert". You can follow Jarbas at http://twitter.com/jarbas_agnelli
The video has received widespread attention, appearing on popular websites like Laughing Squid, Wired, and Gizmodo. Jarbas's friend, Sean Crownover (Candlegravity) from Tokyo, has also posted a version on his FaceBook page (player bottom left).
Link to original newspaper article (Portuguese)
Musical Data
I'm reminded of David Cope's ideas on the concept of musical recombinancy. In his "Experiments in Musical Intelligence" he argues that:
"...recombinancy appears everywhere as a natural evolutionary and creative process. All the great books in the English language, for example, are constructed from recombinations of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Similarly, most of the great works of Western art music exist as recombinations of the twelve pitches of the equal-tempered scale and their octave equivalents. The secret lies not in the invention of new letters or notes but in the subtlety and elegance of their recombination."
These "hidden structures" are present all around us, at the very core of sound creation in the natural world. For more on exploring the hidden data in nature see Evan Grant: Making sound visible through cymatics (YouTube video)
Swedish folk/indie duo First Aid Kit release their new songs "Hard Believer" and "Waltz for Richard" on October 5th via http://www.wichita-recordings.com/ - If you like the song above you can vote for it to appear on the official BBC 6 Music Playlist through Steve Lamacq's Rebel Playlist, the vote closes at midnight on Sunday 6th.
Sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg come from Enskede near Stockholm. They have a loyal following of fans built through their personalised and direct style of social media marketing. An example is their use of Twitter to invite cover song requests which they publish online as video performances (First Aid Kit Sessions). The request form is at http://thisisfirstaidkit.com/your-requests/ the tweetstream is http://twitter.com/faksessions and the videos are shared via http://www.youtube.com/jagadambarecords
In fact it was their video cover of the Fleet Foxes "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" that attracted worldwide attention in 2008 (currently at 790,987 views).
The girls will be touring the UK with Fanfarlo during September/October. You can get tour details and purchase tickets via their website or Music Glue (includes exclusive free tracks). They have also announced tour dates for The United States of America in October, see their MySpace for further info.
Web Connections
Australian electronic music artist Pogo has started a blog at http://pogotracks.blogspot.com/ currently featuring an FAQ and a list of interviews. His unique sound comes from the sampling, sequencing and reimagining of popular childhood movies. Tracks are constructed using sounds lifted from movie scenes (sometimes entirely), drums, bass and percussion.
Melodies are formed using cut-up dialogues in a non-lexical vocal style; "There are no definitive lyrics to my tracks because I have never intended to form sentences with the samples I use." The music is then synced to video cuts from the original movie to create a new mini-trailer.
Pogo has a growing fan-base on YouTube where fresh uploads and the viral potential of video widgets quickly attract thousands of visitors. Creations such as Expialidocious have now reached far in excess of half a million views. You can browse the growing collection of mashups at http://www.youtube.com/user/Fagottron
Below is the recent video for his track 'Bangarang' composed of sounds from the classic Spielberg film 'Hook'
Update 13th Sept '09
'Bangarang' removed from YouTube - Pogo Blog visit the link for full explanation.
Today, Sony Pictures Entertainment claimed that 'Bangarang' is an infringement of copyright, and the video has been removed from YouTube. I suppose this had to happen eventually given the kind of world we live in. (September 10th 2009).
Unfortunately this is a common experience for remixers of controlled media, such are the constraints of heavily restricted copyrights. However you can still play and download the full track here (while it lasts!)
Related
A sonic guide to the history of cut-up music: DJ Food - Raiding the 20th Century - Words & Music Expansion
