INDIE NEWS BEAT August 1, 2006 Edition
Electronic/Dance Act Returns With New Projects
Dress Code, a one man electronic/dance music act of Derek Holley from Dayton, Ohio, has released a new CD, "Break It Down" (), and the title track of the disc is featured in the Thomas Ikimi-directed independent thriller film, "Limbo".
"Dress Code is a hot mix of breaks, electro, and soulfulhouse-style dance music, cut with rock, funk and hip hop influences," MusicDish.com writes.
Derek sees his music as an eclectic mix of influences he calls 'funkyrocktronicdancemusic'. "It's funky dance music with rock attitude. I've played shows with other dance music artists and I've also opened for rock bands. To me it's all about the energy of the music and performance," Derek explains.
Schizophrenology Downloaded Over 4,000 Times Since Releasing Last Week
Indie rock patron saints The Majestic Twelve's second record, Schizophrenology, has been downloaded more than 4,000 times since quietly releasing for free last Tuesday.
"Giving the disc away has actually increased the pace of sales,"comments front-man and songwriter, Kenyata Sullivan."Our last disc sold 5000 copies, but it took awhile. Now we're on pace to eclipse that in weeks instead of years, and we're already sold out of t-shirts. We're scrambling to fill the demand."
MySpace users have been a huge boost, pushing tracks like"Condoleezza Check My Posse"and"Break it and Breathe"Â which are both currently in heavy rotation on college radio around the country - from 10,000 plays to over 160,000 plays in only a week.
"We've always argued that downloading music doesn't hurt artists,"continues Sullivan."We feel this is an affirmation of that."
Matt O'Ree Wins Guitarmageddon
Bitchin' Label Ready Artist, Matt O'Ree was crowned Guitarmageddon's "King of the Blues" 2006 on 6/8/06 at "The House of Blues" in Chicago hosted by BB King.
In addition to the title, he won a Toyota 2006 Scion, shopping sprees at Guitar Center and Levi's, a trip to Los Angeles, and a one-year endorsement deal with Gibson guitars.
The judging was done by John Mayer, Rick Neilson of Cheap Trick as well as other prominent names in the music industry. The event was hosted by Cheech Marin.
The Holmdel, NJ native has been playing guitar since the age of 13 and has opened for music icons Buddy Guy, Kansas, Johnny Winter, Gretchen Wilson, Government Mule, Robin Trower, and others.
Matt hopes his new-found notoriety will present opportunities in the form of a record label and national tour.
Guitar World "New Music" CD Review Review declared, "New Jersey's Matt O'Ree is quickly carving out a name for himself as 2006's new guitar hero."
The Brooklyn House And Trance Company Releases Their Debut Album "Carry US Through"
Dave Perez, New York DJ, has produced his latest compilation of House and Trance tracks under the executive production of the Brooklyn House and Trance Company ("BHTC Music"). One of the featured tracks, titled"HipHop Is Dead", is a controversial one that is sure to get the listener's attention. Starting out with a retro Hip-Hop sound, the tracks then turn into a hard-hitting Trance beat after the sounds of gunshots and an EKG flat-line.
Other tracks on this compilation include"Burning Temptress","Uprising Birth"and"Come Down (Flight Mix)". Dave Perez explains:"I was on the flight coming back from Ibiza. I was listening to the sounds of the airplane and I started humming a baseline. The feeling of coming down from my state of euphoria while in Ibiza inspired me to produce Come Down (Flight Mix)."
Additional selections offer two versions of"Carry US Through", the LP's title track."4Lao"is a dedication to the ancient eastern philosopher Lao Tzu. It brings an Asian sound with a militant beat.
Sonoma Wire Works Launches RiffWorks Standard
Sonoma Wire Works, developers of highly acclaimed RiffWorks recording software, have released RiffWorks Standard (version 2) offering increased compatibility, more features, integrated RiffCaster instant podcasting, and access to RiffLink online collaboration. RiffWorks Standard allows users to spontaneously record their musical ideas, create songs complete with drums and effects, jam online, and broadcast to an enthusiastic community.
RiffWorks Standard installs easily on Mac OS Universal with any CoreAudio device and on WinXP with any ASIO device, making it more accessible. RiffWorks still features the popular Riff-based workflow, and the new SongLayer tool allows for full song-length recording. In addition to the real-time effects users could add to each layer in v1, users can now add effects to each backup module including InstantDrummer, ReWire, and the REX player. Eight InstantDrummer sessions from top drum content providers (Drums on Demand, Discrete Drums, and Submersible Music) are included and dozens more have just been released, giving users more professional drum recordings for their songs.
RiffWorks Standard integrates the new RiffLink interface, which enables participation in online jamming. With the debut of RiffLink, RiffWorks is the only recording application with built-in online collaboration. RiffLink allows multiple users to record, mix and chat in a shared session in real-time or when they have time. Because Riffs are looped, users can be playing along with collaborators¹ tracks with no worries about latency. New tracks show up when they finish streaming and are always perfectly in sync. The RiffLink service is in public beta.
Blue Scout Music Announces Online Music Catalog
Blue Scout Music announces their Online Song Catalog, available now at www.blue-scout.com. Blue Scout offers music production, licensing, and supervision for film/tv/ad/media projects. Music is available for quick licensing without the hassles of membership fees or customer registration. With clients like ABC, the WB, Motorola, MTV, and others, Blue Scout Music specializes in providing tracks that are hip, relevant, and appealing to those who know quality music. Blue Scout produces custom tracks and represents the music of over 75 up-and-coming artists, like The Motion Sick, who were recently featured in Spin Magazine's "Band of the Day," and Judith de los Santos, who won Grand Prize in the 2005 Unisong International Song Writing Contest.
mVisible Technologies, Inc. today announced that the new version of its revolutionary technology MyxerTags enables independent musicians to sell their ringtones directly from their own websites or MySpace pages. For the first time, indie artists are able to sell their original music as ringtones across all mobile carriers in one simple step, using MyxerTags' patent-pending technology.
The mobile ringtone market, while a growing revenue stream for major record labels and bigger independent labels, has been largely closed to unsigned artists and those on smaller indie labels. Myk Willis, mVisible's Chief Technology Officer, developed MyxerTags, drawing on his own experience as an independent musician to understand the best way to serve indie artists in the mobile space.
"MyxerTags helps level the playing field for indie artists in the digital age,"said Willis. "Mobile carriers do not have the time or the desire to deal with thousands of independent artists directly. Until now, these artists were shut out of the ringtone marketplace."
It takes just minutes for a musician to generate a MyxerTag, place it on his or her own website or MySpace page and begin selling. It takes less than two minutes for fans to download these ringtones to their phones, regardless of which mobile carrier they are using. Artists set their own price for ringtone sales. There are no upfront costs and no monthly maintenance fees. mVisible takes a commission on ringtone sales.
"Thanks to MyxerTags, we had our ringtones live within minutes,"said Michael B, singer and guitarist for Suicide Stompbox (www.suicidestompbox.com), based in Santa Clarita, CA. "In three fast and easy steps our ringtones were available to everyone. Myxer has been a huge tool in our recent success. For indie artists, it's a huge step to getting heard. And with major mobile companies not giving the chance to us indie artists, Myxer is, no doubt, one-of-a-kind for making it possible for us to be a part of the ringtone craze."
Enter The 2006 Jeep Aventura New Artist Contest
The Jeep Aventura New Artist Contest kicks off its third year at Batanga.com. The contest accepts Spanish language song entries from amateur Latin musicians looking for that big break into the music industry.
The Grand Prize winner records an album quality track with producer Sebastian Krys, who has produced award-winning albums for artists like Gloria Estefan, Carlos Vives, Obie Bermúdez, and JD Natasha.
Over the course of the contest entry period from June 16, 2006 Â October 16, 2006, audio clips of each entry, artist/band photos, biographies, and optional video will be available online for Batanga.com visitors to listen to and vote on. Visitors to www.Batanga.com will be required to register in order to vote for their favorite artist/band.
Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © MusicDish LLC 2006 - Republished with Permission
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