My Window To The World…

Today’s Top Tune, Round 007 (aka “The James Bond Round”).

I have been going through my CD collection to find more Top Tunes - there are enough to keep this series up for not just years, but decades. You have been warned…

Today, I thought, it is time to point you to another track that you can download from the net for free. Don’t you guys and gals like freebies? If you do, but would still like to support the artist, you can find some of his other songs in the Apple iTunes Store.

The artist’s name is Roland Blum. The tune is called “Going Home”. You can find it on Roland Blum’s Last.FM Artist Page, on his release “EP”.

It is a laidback, catchy tune, grooves along nicely - even though it is in 7/4. Well done, Mister Blum.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Roland Blum, Roland Blum EP, Last.FM, Free MP3 Download

Today’s Top Tune, Round 006.

I have been inspiring myself - how cool is that?! So I am picking up on yesterday’s idea of mentioning two artists in one post. Today it is John Zorn’s and Ennio Morricone’s turn.

John Zorn first had some mainstream success with his Ennio Morricone tribute album The Big Gundown.

The track I am recommending today, however, is an Ennio Morricone cover by John Zorn’s band Naked City: The Sicilian Clan. It is available on their debut release, entitled Naked City.

Naked City’s lineup is very impressive: Joey Baron on drums, Bill Frisell on guitar, Fred Frith on bass, Wayne Horvitz on keyboards/piano, Yamatsuka Eye on vocals, and John Zorn on saxophone.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Ennio Morricone, John Zorn, Naked City, Joey Baron, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Yamatsuka Eye, The Big Gundown

Today’s Top Tune, Round 005.

I am taking round 005 as an opportunity to mention two musicians/composers that have been rocking my world for almost two decades: John Zorn and Marc Ribot.

John Zorn first got my attention with his band Naked City, later with the Bill Laswell / Mick Harris collaboration Painkiller, and of course with his project Masada / Electric Masada.

Marc Ribot - who has played with the likes of Tom Waits, Lou Reed and Keith Richards (to name but a few) - always shines when under the guidance of John Zorn.

To cut a long story short, today my vote is on “A Tiki For Blue” from John Zorn’s album "Taboo & Exile" - breathtakingly beautiful! (Jamie Saft’s performance on keys also needs to be mentioned.)

For links to further artist info pages, check “Today’s Top Tune - 22 May 2007″ on my Last.FM.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Naked City, Mick Harris, Bill Laswell, Painkiller, Masada, Electric Masada, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Jamie Saft, Taboo & Exile

Last.FM: Why You Should Make Your Music Available

To promote your music, Last.FM has become a much better tool than MySpace. If you are a musician who wants to reach a larger audience, you should put some effort into using Last.FM to your advantage.

Start by uploading your tracks, and making at least a few of them available for free download.

Yes, we would all love to make a living from our music, but to achieve this will take a lot of dedication, time and effort.

Look at it this way: you have already written and recorded some songs. Who is currently listening to them? You, and possibly a few friends of yours. Why not let others enjoy it, too? The more people you get to download your songs, the more likely you will find new fans. With the help of Last.FM and MySpace, possibly even people who live on the other side of the planet!

The advantage on Last.FM is the fact that whenever a person listens to your track, this will be recorded on your artist profile. The more listeners, the more exposure. The more listeners, the more likely that your track(s) will be aired on one of the Last.FM Radio Stations. If you have some spare money, you can also pay to get featured on their radio.

It will all take time and effort, but it might very well turn out to be worth your while.

The free downloads are encoded at only 128 kbps / 44.100 kHz, which is fairly low. Many music enthusiasts want to listen to songs that they enjoy at a higher bitrate, so you can e.g. make the same tracks (that you put on Last.FM for free download) available for sale on your website and/or the Apple iTunes Store.

If you are lucky and find enough people who like your music, you might establish yourself, and eventually make at least some extra money to enable you to continue writing/recording music.

Two guys have recently been in the press, who both have been making a very good living from their music: John Vanderslice and Jonathan Coulton.

Both of them pretty much started their careers on the internet (yes, with free MP3 downloads), and are now touring extensively, making extra money selling merchandise (t-shirts, etc.) and special/limited edition CDs and vinyl.

Think about it.

If you are interested, we can create a so-called Last.FM Group and help each other promote our music.

Send us a message if you have any questions.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Last.FM, MySpace, Band Promotion, Music Promotion, Artist Promotion, Label Promotion, Promoting Music, Promoting Bands, Free MP3, John Vanderslice, Jonathan Coulton

Today’s Top Tune, Round 004.

Yesterday’s Top Tune reminded me of one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for string sextet:

Arnold Schönberg “Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4″ (Transfigured Night; for 2 violins, 2 violas & 2 celli)

I recommend the SONY Classical release: Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by Pierre Boulez. (Amazon.com link.) (Excerpts are available for pre-listening).

“Verklärte Nacht” was later adapted for orchestra. For completists and Arnold Schönberg enthusiasts definitely a must-have. Others do not need to listen to it, since it does not come anywhere near the beauty of the original string sextet version.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

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Technorati Tags: Arnold Schönberg, Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht, Transfigured Night, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez

Today I would like to introduce you to a Pop/Electronica trio from Bangkok (Thailand): PRIM.

They sound like “When Brit Pop Meets Electronica”, as they claim.

I was very much impressed by PRIM’s debut EP that was released late last year.

A female vocalist with a very good voice, and top notch production. One of my favourite producers in Thailand, Nannue Tipitier was behind the studio consoles, so it came as not that much of a surprise.

PRIM released their very first video clip last week! (The handsome guy in it is the producer, Nannue.)

Here it is:

My day

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Technorati Tags: PRIM, Thai Indie Music, Thai Electronic Music, Nannue Tipitier, Electronic Music, Electronica, Thai Music

As I suspected, it was nothing but a rumour thanks to some people misinterpreting what they saw on stage.

Placebo sent this out as a MySpace Bulletin:

“Hey all -

To the amazing Portuguese fans who came out last night and unfortunately were disappointed because Brian had to cut short the set the band have issued the following apology.
Beixinhos para voceis -

tati
placebo webmistress

APOLOGY TO PORTUGESE FANS

Placebo would like to apologise unreservedly to all the fans who attended the Creamfields festival in Lisbon last night (Friday 19th May). The set was cut short due to Brian losing his voice as an extreme reaction to the cold temperatures. He was literally unable to keep singing. The band left the stage for the encore but decided it was impossible to continue. “We sincerely apologise to all our fans at Creamfields. We understand that it must have seemed confusing as to what was going on and we are sorry we had to cut our set short. Nothing frustrates us more than having on stage problems. In this instance, the problems were simply Brian’s voice. We hate to let our fans down but there was just nothing we could do. It’s certainly not the way we’d hoped to kick off our European tour!”

xx
PLACEBO”

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Technorati Tags: Placebo, Placebo Breakup, Placebo Break Up, Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal, Steve Hewitt

Today’s Top Tune, Round 003.

And have I got something for you: today’s top tune has three parts! Part one is great, part two fantastic, part three even better! It is a classical piece by one of my all-time favourite composers: Anton Webern.

“Concerto for nine Instruments, Op. 24″

The three parts are:

Konzert für neun Instrumente Op.24: I. Etwas lebhaft
Konzert für neun Instrumente Op.24: II. Sehr langsam
Konzert für neun Instrumente Op.24: III. Sehr rasch

There is a fantastic Anton Webern “Complete Works” CD-Box Set available, conducted by Pierre Boulez. It is available on Amazon.com. The product page is here. Excerpts are available for pre-listening.

Anton Webern, along with Alban Berg, was a very highly regarded student of Arnold Schönberg, and was without a doubt one of the greatest classical composers, who took the so-called Twelve-Tone Technique to another level.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Anton Webern, Arnold Schönberg, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg

Today, somebody started a rumour on the internet that Placebo possibly broke up, stating that at their Creamfields Lisbon Festival appearance, singer Brian Molko was jealous of bassist/guitarist Stefan Olsdal for getting more attention from the crowd, and that the former walked off five seconds into “Running Up That Hill”.

Let us put this into perspective.

Who is the source of this rumour? Anyone with any knowledge? The person who posted the rumour mentioned something about NME, but nothing can be found on their website.

Considering that there are contracts in place, and usually heavy fines to be paid for cancelling shows, I am sure Placebo will finish this tour. (Unless Brian’s health, which has over the past few months been up and down, knocks him off his feet and doctors order him to rest.) As Pink Floyd once sang: “The Show Must Go On”.

Placebo have pretty much been touring and doing promo non-stop since February 2006 (when they came to visit me in Bangkok). The same group of people together most of the time. Of course that takes its toll.

The boys are not only bandmates, but also close friends, so if there are any problems, they can definitely be worked out. My guess is that Brian might even be happy that every now and then the attention is not on him.

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: Placebo, Placebo Break Up, Brian Molko, Stefan Olsdal, Steve Hewitt, Placebo Rumours

Today’s Top Tune, Round 002.

No, I am not running out of ideas at all - but once again, it is a track by John Vanderslice. (I am not a business partner of his or anything, he just managed to impress me over the past few days.)

I first heard “Exodus Damage” on Merlin Mann’s The Merlin Show.

The song has a great feel to it, the instrumentation sounds simple and is very effective. A very touching song.

“Exodus Damage” is available for free download on “John Vanderslice’s MP3 Download Page.”

© Patrice Schneider. No reproduction without prior written consent.

Technorati Tags: John Vanderslice, Exodus Damage, John Vanderslice Exodus Damage