8 posts tagged “ariel”
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The weekly podcast will probably be less-than-weekly because of my schedule. I'm hoping to have on old friends in future shows, particularly Ryan who is still missing in action (although I did catch up with him recently when he was home for the holidays). Also, having said not-so-weekly, I did just wrapped up a recording session with Ceji. The podcast will be out this Sunday, but if you're already subscribed, you may get it in your feed sooner.
Among the music she's listening to, she highly recommended Little Dragon. When I found out that singer Yukimi Nagano was Swedish/Japanese, I immediately thought of Maia Hirasawa. Kudos for the bicycle bell on Little Dragon's song "Recommendation".
Also, just a quick shout-outs to some links/mention of W♥M in the blogs: KPerfetto thinks we're one of the places to discover new music. Yay!
We're also getting a ton of
Twitter requests, thanks to Ariel and recently a post from Gulf Coast Bands:
I've been trying to follow you back. However, if you're over abusing your twitterness (like posting 30 messages in 30 minutes, you are so removed). I'm also not convince about twitter, right now that 140-character limit is ridiculous and if you follow over 20 people, it's completely and utterly useless.As you can see, Twitter is a very powerful tool if taken advantage of and used correctly. It is in my opinion, that every band and musician should have a twitter for their fans to follow. It’s free and the possibilities are endless on who can spread the word about your work. Check out some links below to other people using twitter.
Music Bloggers & Podcasters & Zines
twitter.com/weheartmusic
So, I was snooping around the Facebook, I still don't really use the service so it was a shock to me that we have 76 fans - shocked that 76 people accidentally clicked on the 'become a fan' button. Anyway, I think you may have to be an admin to view the breakdowns, but between women vs men - the girls are winning with 62%. Our demographic is the sweetspot of 25-34 year olds (which I will be leaving this age group very soon as I'm a very old man).
We now see about 50/50 digital submissions vs physical CD/mailouts. At the rate it's going, I would hazard digital distribution will be more than 75% by the year's end. Which I'm fine with, but I still ♥ old compact discs.
Other trends I've started to notice is that more people I know are starting to drop their cable bills in favor of just watching television via the internet. I think this is great news, considering that I've been doing this for a while and dropping over-the-air altogether last year.
One service that I've been testing out is Playon. The program is still very beta, I've experiences freeze-ups and "data corruption". When you're watching a serial television show, that's upsetting as it's not like you can skip to the next episode. It's also cool to be able to watching hulu or netflix via my ps3, but it's lame that I have to have a computer to stream the media. I may think about purchasing something like a Roku box if/when it is able to stream hulu and other media sources.
So that's about it for now. Hope 2008 was good for you, and here's to 2009.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
podcast.weheartmusic.com
news.weheartmusic.com
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PART ONE
Jon from Mason Proper was nice enough to stop by and talk about:
- the #2 most added album on College radio station this week
- The origin of "oly oly oxen free"
- "There is a Moth in Your Chest" title and two different versions of their album explained
- Moth vs Oxen
- The story behind their friendship with Cloud Cult
- Upcoming CMJ
- Insound.com's exclusive limited DVD and remix contest (ends Sep 30th).
Alex tells us about his recent Southern Lord purchases...on his BIKE!
PART THREE
Vu ♥ 60s girl pop and soul, so he mentions: You Bet!, The Shangri-Las, and Gossip.
CREDITS: Special thanks goes to Jessi Hector at Sneak Attack, Alex from We Heart Music, Christina from Ariel Publicity, Jacky and Strings, Abbotfinney, and, of course, Jon Visger from Mason Proper.
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These podcasts keeps getting longer and longer! I promise to cut it down next week.
Download #22:
Download this episode (71 min), subscribe over at weheartmusic.mypodcast.com
Some bands/music that we used in the podcast are: Philanastasia, Inga Swearingen, Sal Kimber, Beatnik Turtles, Canvas Solaris, and Ladyhawke.
PART ONE: News topics covered are Michael Jackson goes on secret dates with Pamela Anderson, Guns N Roses wants blogger to "rot in jail", Album leak welcomed by Metallica, Heart Lash Out At McCain Campaign’s Use of “Barracuda”.
PART TWO: Meet the Meat Extender, Alex and Brian talks to us about their punk band.
PART THREE: I originally requested the Music Success book to compare and contrast to The Indie Band Survival Guide, but having read both books, I have to say that these two books are not really in the same league. Both are written for different audiences, and both are worth looking into if you're thinking about promoting your band.
MUSIC SUCCESS IN NINE WEEKS
by Ariel Hyatt
cyberprbook.com
  Music Success in Nine Weeks Book (2008) |
Billed as a "step-by-step guide to supercharging your PR, building your fan base and earning more money," this 2008 book comes in both print and electronic version, and retails for $34.99 (there is no discount for the e-version, the last time I checked).
The book reads like a self-help book and generally is a breeze to get through. On a quiet evening, you can get through this 128-page book in a matter of hours. Don't let the 100+ pages discourage you, if you take away non-essential spacing or "notes" and exercise, I would guess this book is no more than 50 pages of solid reading.
The things I like about this book is that it's very easy to follow and read. No pretentious tones, and it's written through the eyes of Ariel Hyatt, a publicist who's been in the music industry for at least twelve years. Sometime her writing falls too much on the personal side (dealing with her past experiences or mentioning she's married to a blogger), but I sometime think that's part of the charm.
I also liked her money-saving tips, from free website endorsements to doing your own PR work. Writing your own biography and networking seem obvious to me, but if you're new to this, then reading the step-by-step guide is essential.
Like most self-help books, this book really depends on your participation. I would only recommend getting the printed version and following the instructions explicitly, otherwise the book might not work for you.
As an exercise, I did try and apply some of the tips to promoting W♥M: for instance, I will only give out my business card if someone asks what I do (instead of bringing up what I do in conversations). I have also thought about building the email list, which I think might not work for us (since people already subscribe to our RSS feed or via the neighborhood networking)... but I really should be more aggressive in promoting our Twitter which you can subscribe via email or text messages. Ironically, this account was setup by Ryan in the UK and twitter recently dropped their option to text to UK mobiles.
THE INDIE BAND SURVIVAL GUIDE
by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan
www.stmartins.com
indiebandsurvivalguide.com
 The Indie Band Survival Guide Book (2008) |
Billed as a "complete manual for the Do-It-Yourself musician", this hefty 300+ book by Randy Chertkow and Jason Feehan, two members of the band Beatnik Turtle, details their experiences and success in this essential guide.
The book is very affordable ($14.95, but obviously you can get it lower online), so there is no excuse to not owning this book. Although it's written for the musician, I think this book can apply to anyone interested in the music industry or work in promotions.
The book is broken into two sections: Get Prepared and Get Fans. The first part focus mostly on your image/branding and web presence, while the second part focused on publicity, distribution and getting booked. Between the two, I felt that the second part is the big hurdle, so you may want to focus more on the first part - which goes into details from picking a searchable band name to your website's content.
The book is very detailed, so as a guide book, which is not necessary cover-to-cover read, I suggest skipping to topics that interests you. You can get lost in all the details, for instance it goes into image color formats (RGB, CMYK, Black and White Line art and Grayscale), which I found very interesting - but might not apply to you.
From a web developer, I liked reading over the band website chapter. They stressed over the 'contact page', from their experience (and mine), that there are many opportunities that present themselves just by making contacting you easier. They also noted that if you're comfortable, you should also include a telephone number, as ABC Family/Disney (aka traditional media) still does business through the telephone. From a promoter's point of view, I can tell you that I have passed over some band because there was simply no way of contacting them.
Other interesting thing I discovered reading the second part (since this is the part that is most unfamiliar to me), that you can actually have your CDs in smaller stores as consignments (where they pay you only after they sold your CD). Even if you don't sell any albums, it works as a small advertisement for you as people will start recognizing your name. It even goes into detail about giving an extra store copy as a promotional device - really great tip.
For emerging bands there is a section to have banter or "stalling banter" prepared, in case you break a string on your guitar. Personally, I have always enjoyed when a band is talkative, and it really does help add to a band's showmanship.
They do admit in the forward that this book is best used by acting and doing, in addition to using the book as an idea or theory. The low cost and invaluable guide, I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in music.
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com podcast.weheartmusic.com
These six reviews are all from Ariel Publicity. We've been working with them for over a year and I generally like the variety of music we get from them - mostly pop and jazz and blues. So just look at some of the selection of different bands represented here:
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Dreaming Isabelle This review is a little behind, but it was quite easy to do because Awake is just a short four-track EP, from Virginia's Dreaming Isabelle. Their biography doesn't list much, which suggests they might be a very new band, but listening to Awake I felt that they played really well together. Take a listen to "Not Missing You" as it starts with a great guitar hook, timed perfectly as the drums kick in, then followed by the singer on queue. The three songs that follows the opening track seems to all start off pretty slow. "That I Am" starts off acoustically, while "Above All" is overall mellow and "Mine" has a great guitar noodle portion. I must admit "Mine" did sound a bit creepy/stalkerish with the lyrics "She will be mine" repeated over and over. [ read more ] |
Josephine
Joséphine grew up in Paris, France, left at the age of 17 to Montreal (the mostly French, half English Canadian city), where she started singing with The People’s Gospel Choir of Montréal (they won some award for their album). She eventually made her way to New York, where she is currently released Unfinished Life in 2007. For the most part, I think the whole album is very pop/acoustic songwriter type of music, mostly centered around her very sweet young voice. I really like her poppy song, "Stronger". Take a listen as she belts out "I need to get together when I'm falling apart/I need to love when it's broken my heart", followed by some great guitar playing by Craig Wilson. Wilson co-wrote all the songs with Joséphine with the exception of "Bit by Bit" (by Joséphine only) and "Right Here" (by Wilson only). [ read more ] |
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Della Valle I got a trackless album from Della Valle, which made it kind of annoying to add in my iTunes. Although I would have to admit that I did end up listening to all the songs to determine all 10 titles... so Mister Jay Della Valle, you've suckered me into listening to your album! All kiddings aside, I actually liked what I heard, so it wasn't such a nightmare. Out of his four releases, the tracks are basically from Stay Gold and The Best Years EP, which Della Valle is calling it his "Greatest Hits", then humorously retracted:
[ read more ] |
Satoru - Balancing In the Twilight The funny story about Satoru's first CD, Ash Returns to Ash, was that it was just a CD-R with a hand-written note saying that he had trouble with the printing company and so he doesn't have the finished product. It didn't matter because I thought the album was really enjoyable that I wrote about it. I am glad to see that he came through on his second Balancing in the Twilight, in March 2008. I believe he already had the album "in the can" as they say last year. Both Ash Returns to Ash and Balancing in the Twilight are in standard digipaks, they are very reasonably priced at $9 on Amazon and $10 on CD Baby. But what I am really impressed with is that all of his music is licensed through Creative Commons, which grant you permission to copy, distribute and transmit the work, as long as you give credit and attribution for noncommercial usage. I think all artists should follow in this footstep. [ read more ] |
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Michael Paige The press material I received for Michael Paige's self-titled debut album, out now on Astrum Records, explicitly stated that under no circumstances should I be allowed to stream one particular song, "Aqui Esperando". So naturally, that is the first song I queued up to listen to. I was pleasantly surprised that "Aqui Esperando" is a Spanish version of "Right Here Waiting", originally by Richard Marx. This kind of legal thing upsets me, because this is actually a very good song, and I'm assuming writing royalties would eventually end up in Marx's pockets - so why bother trying to stop people from hearing this very faithful rendition? I believe there's only one other cover on this album, is "Eres Tú" a second place winner from Eurovision 1973 by a band called Mocedades. [ read more ] |
Edgar Gabriel's StringFusion - Not Radio Material Their album name, Not Radio Material, couldn't be more approriate. Edward Gabriel's StringFusion music is a very interesting (and rare) blend of classical instrumentals, primarily violin string arrangements, blended with mellow light jazz piano and saxophone riffs. A sultry vocal is offered on track three, "Would You Be My Valentine" along with a very smooth keyboard solo. The percussion driven samba of track 4, "Mobile", suggests more Latin swing influences, very contemporary and cool. The saxophone on track 5, "I Knew That" really soars to some impressive heights. Down and dirty blues guitar can be heard on the urban slynish of track 6, "Blue 7", probably my favorite composition on this CD. [ read more ] |
1 Comment
Links:
www.weheartmusic.com
I think I just missed Tally Hall, who came through town on their tour.
So, the funny story about their debut album Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum was that it was originally released three years ago on Quack! Media. Somehow they appeared on "The Late Late Show" in 2006 for their alternative radio hit song "Good Day".
The band is known for wearing different colored ties in public appearances, and it was probably that image (and good music) that somebody at Atlantic Records saw them and they inked a deal. The result? Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum was suddenly re-marketed and re-released April 1st of this year.
I have a copy and when I first listened to it, I just remember that these guys are funny. One of their song "Banana Man" stood out to me because it's so different from the other songs. "Banana Man" is done in a Caribbean-type rhythm and the lyrics are pretty happy and upbeat. The other song that really stood out for me was "The Whole World and You", which sounded like it should have been written by The Beatles.
In some reviews, they think Tally Hall sounds like They Might Be Giants, and although I can see why they would compare them to the two Johns - I don't think they are blatant in their wittiness. Perhaps the only thing between the bands I can really see is that they are both a little quirky. For instance, the music really shifts in different directions on "Ruler of Everything" (a song that my friend really like), with some parts like typical pop song and suddenly infused with fast singing by Rob Cantor.
Well, I'm sorry I miss them on tour, because apparently I read that in addition to their original songs, the band is known for doing a ton of cover songs. It looks like there are two last dates on their tour: Comerica Cityfest in Michigan (July 3rd) and Lollapalooza in Illinois (August 3rd). The new version of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum is out now on Atlanta.
Sheri Miller is a folk/pop singer/songwriter from New York. She recently just released her debut EP, Mantra on February 25th.
According to her biography, she's been composing her own music since she was a child... influences includes Beethoven to Pink Flloyd to Fiona Apple, a pretty interesting mix. She found herself moving from Long Island to Brooklyn, performing at open mics.
Here's Miller explaining about her first Casio keyboard purchase:
I clearly remember one Saturday night in particular, I had an extremely vivid dream about this small black, white and gray Casio keyboard. The next morning I woke up with the image of the keyboard still clear in my mind, and took a different more scenic route that day, through an underpass of green trees. So I’m walking, and there’s this one-day church sale, where they had the exact Casio keyboard I had dreamed of the night before. I quickly ran to the ATM, bought the keyboard for $20 and started seriously writing my songs on that sweet, broken-keyed, buzzing Casio from that day on.
So, I got to
listen to 6-track EP, and I was really taken with "The Blade", what a
great song to end the EP with. I felt like I know this song, especially with its sweeping chorus: "you're not the only one in the world/Everyone hurts, everyone hurts".
The first song, "Waste My Breath" is also worth checking out. This song is the poppiest/easily accessible song, and it's currently available for download on myspace. The other poppy song is "Devil in White", which sounds a little more country than you might think.
"Mantra (I'm in Love)" (which the EP is named after), "All He Has to Do", "The Blade" and "Right Here, Right Now", all features cello playing by Dave Eggar. If you listen carefully, you'll hear the subtle cello, it has a very distinctive sound. The strings (in some cases are accompanied by violins from Rachel Golub) does not take over the song, but instead serves to back up Miller, who is the real star here.
All these songs are streaming on her myspace, so check it out if you want to play along at home... or better yet, you can get Mantra via CD Baby and you can catch her at the Rockwood Music Hall in New York on June 8th.
Links:
www.sherimiller.com
myspace.com/sherimiller
cdbaby.com/cd/sherimiller
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Okay, so these were all going to be different articles was actually meant to go live on May 6th to today, but you know how it is when things don't go exactly according to plan.
I'm actually feeling a little under the weather (coughing/horrible throat issues and too much mucus build up). I just feel incredibly miserable right now.
Item #1: Christopher's Rollo Armstrong article is featured on vox.com/music - but the real conspiracy is that doesn't feature any The Crimea.
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Item #2: One of the PR company that sends us music to review did some promo for us and among the 20 tracks, these are my favorite: Phil Anastasia and David Yazbek, only because they really deviate from the standard "you're listening to We Heart Music" script that they were probably given. Phil Anastasia especially cracked me up and I had to play that back a few times when I first heard it.
I do have a note I wanted to mention about Yazbek, I was shopping at Cheapo Records in Uptown. Yes, I still buy CDs, although I have to admit, often used. Anyway, I was in the very end of the Jazz area when I happened to see that distinctive Evil Monkey Man cover! I had to smile to myself as if there was some kind of inside joke with the punchline of "I saw you on W♥M, dude".
Item #3: By the way, speaking of Jazz, one of my favorite shows that I listen to is NPR's Jazz Profiles, which I get as a podcast.
This is such a great program. It's often very detailed, and in fact, the last episode I listened to on Charles Mingus was so long and rich with interviews and history that it was split up in two parts.
Even if you don't love Jazz, I think you'll enjoy listening to host Nancy Wilson as she takes you on a journey of some of American's famous (and not-so-famous) Jazz musicians.
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05/08/08 New York, @ Bowery Ballroom
05/09/08 Boston, MA @ Middle East 05/10/08 Montreal, QUE @ Lambi 05/11/08 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club 05/12/08 Chicago, IL @ Shuba’s 05/14/08 Vancouver, BC @ Red Room 05/15/08 Seattle, WA @ Triple Door 05/16/08 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir 05/18/08 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 05/19/08 Los Ang, CA @ El Rey Theatre 05/31/08 Siesta Hässleholm 06/01/08 Blue Flowers London 06/02/08 Night & Day Manchester 06/03/08 Hi-Fi Club Leeds 06/04/08 Cargo London 06/06/08 Albert Brighton 06/07/08 Stealth Nottingham 06/08/08 King Tuts Glasgow 06/10/08 Jericho Tavern Oxford 06/11/08 ICA w/ El Perro del Mar London 06/12/08 Sugar Club Dublin 06/14/08 Hultsfred Festival Hultsfred 07/03/08 Quart Festival Norway 07/04/08 Arvika Festivalen Arvika 07/05/08 Roskilde Festival Roskilde 07/06/08 Eurockeennes Festival Belfort 07/31/08 Storsjöyran Ostersund 08/07/08 Öya Festival Oslo 08/08/08 Haldern Festival Lower Rhine 08/09/08 Way Out West Göteborg 09/05/08 Bestival Isle Of Wight |
Item #4: Lykke Li releases Little Bit EP on said Tuesday, and Buster called her album, Youth Novels:
Pretty much flawless. With a perfect balance of catchy sweet pop tunes, and depressing slow jams, it's going to be one of the best albums of 2008... if not the best.
Those are some pretty bold words.
Now, I actually listened to just one of her b-side, "Dance Dance Dance", and I'll have to say that it's actually pretty good. She has a very sweet voice, a little bit creepy, and I'm even going to refrain myself from saying "me lykke".
She's currently on tour with fellow Swedes, Anna Ternheim (read more) and headliner, El Perro Del Mar, who we've previously mentioned, many, many, times, throughout the US.
Item #5: Okay, I'm not even sure why this fascinate me, but apparently hot girl Scarlett Johansson has an album coming out called Anywhere I Lay My Head on May 20th. What probably saves her is that they're all Tom Waits cover songs!
There's not really too much I can add to this, except that I remember the first time I saw Johansson on Dan Clowes's "Ghost World", I thought she was going to go places. By the time "Lost in Translation" came out, she was already a star.
I don't know, maybe I see her differently now, but now I just group Johansson with other popstars and I can't really take her seriously.
That's all I can muster up, I'm heading back to bed now. Goodnight and thank you.
Links:
www.lykkeli.com
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I was going to do a writeup about Kids Incorporated today, but I got distracted by this awesome song called "Your Woman" by White Town. I couldn't shake that AWESOME hook he has in the song.
I knew it was an older-sound, I was guessing like Amadeus, but as it turns out, it was a 1930s song by Al Bowlly called "My Woman" (very clever, Mr White Town!)
Apparently White Town, aka Jyoti Mishra, was considered a one-hit wonder with only "Your Woman" making it in the charts. Looking at his official website, he's still producing music and I did listen to a few samples on his website - they are not bad! Unfortunately, don't click on muliple widgets because there's no way of stopping the music once it plays :/
As for Al Bowlly, he was a very popular singer in the UK in the 1930s, with over 1,000 recordings! He was definitely an influenced on another band featured here called The Real Tuesday Weld[W♥M], which I heard through the grapevines that he'll be appearing in the US soon.
Also, I wanted to mention that we were recently featured in an article about blogs vs traditional media. It's a really good read, click on the link on the left.
September 13, 2007 10:54 PM
vu
my♥posts
vu@weheartmusic.com
www.whitetown.co.uk
| thedharmablues wrote: Sep 14, 2007 4:04 AM |
[esto es genial] White Town created 'Your Woman' on his computer in his Bedroom.
I have to share his motives behind the song because they are kinda sweet:
Being a member of an orthodox Trotskyist / Marxist movement (as I was for three years in the 80s).
Being a straight guy in love with a lesbian (ditto).
Being a Being a gay guy in love with a straight man (not tried this one yet).
Being a Being a straight girl in love with a lying, two-timing, fake-ass Marxist.
Being a The hypocrisy that results when love and lust get mixed up with highbrow ideals
He offers his first ever released record as a FREE download on his website.
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