Tag Archives: unsigned

Billboard Launches A Promotion Service For Unsigned Bands

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Billboard pro

Never one to lose relevance, legendary music service Billboard has announced the launch of a paid service for young bands that want to track their sales and fan activity.

This service goes by the name of Billboard Pro, and it has been in beta since January.

Bands that sign up for Billboard Pro are provided with a heat score that determines their ranking on a chart of its very own named “Uncharted”.

And bands get the chance to be mentioned in the Billboard Bulletin, as well as having their songs rotated on the weekly playlist found on Billboard’s website.

This service can be tried for free for a full month. Once this trial period comes to an end, a membership will cost you $ 99/year.

MusicKO: Uruguayan Unsigned & Independent Artists Of 2010

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I think the day I decided to begin covering Uruguayan unsigned and independent artists on MusicKO was the happiest of the whole year. It gave me a lot of direction, and a true sense of purposefulness. I have managed to become acquainted with some extraordinary musicians – individuals who are truly devoted to what they do, and who believe in the power of music to bond people for life.

These are all the unsigned and independent Uruguayan performers I featured on MusicKO in 2010.

I hope to review twice as many in 2011. If you are one (or if you know one), just drop me a line. The address is emiliomusicko@gmail.com.

Cínica
Retrocedonia
Laiojan Sebastian
Doorman
Conkistadores
Mal Yo
Lucía Ferreira
RostbiF
Soundays
El Cardenal Sebastián
Lucas Meyer

Music180 – Connecting Indie Artists With Renowned Music Pros

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Music180

Name: Music180
URL: http://www.music180.com

Music180 is a development platform for artists. What the site does is to connect new musicians with big names in the industry and let them collaborate to the full. For example, young bands can get in touch with renowned producers and cover designers, and strike up a relationship that might end up in them getting their album produced by people who have worked with international superstars.

The site has a database of music pros that have worked with artists of the caliber of Aerosmith, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, and these indie artists who sign up can have their music brought to their attention. It is all taken from there, and in addition to producers Music180 makes it possible for performers to get in touch with the kind of people who can dream up the right marketing campaign for any musical genre. Continue reading →

RostbiF (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist) – Part 2: The Music

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As I am sure you read in the first part of this article, RostbiF is a hard rock band that hails from Nueva Helvecia (an inland Uruguayan town). The guys cite AC/DC, Deep Purple and ZZ Top as their main references and musical heroes, and their sound is an effective amalgamation of what these bands have played since their inception.

RostbiF Playing Live: Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

RostbiF Playing Live: Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

The band comprises Lukas Künzler (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Pablo Gonzalez (lead guitar), Mauricio Rode (bass) and Guido Quintela (drums).

I am actually acquainted with the guys since Guido e-mailed me about a year ago asking for some lyrics. I did like the fact that they were aiming for compositions that had a certain social content, and I was keen to try something different to the traditional romantic themes I have always used to favor. Thus, “Rebellion Winds” and “These Eyes” were conceived.

One thing that comes across when you listen to their music is how much they are enjoying themselves. They are no virtuosos, they know it, and that is not the point to begin with. They make up for it with a lot of stamina and passion: Guido hits the bass drum as he if were kicking a plancha in the mouth, the bass has true bursts of vigor (specially when it gets some space as on “Rebellion Winds”, their finest composition so far) and the two guitars act as the main offensive line of the band. Granted, nobody would mistake the interplay between Lukas and Pablo as the one that characterized Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, but they are clearly in the same wavelength. Plus, when singing Lukas sounds like a chain smoker who hasn’t had a cigarette in three weeks. Take all that together and the result is the soundtrack for throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at the police during a riot. No wonder I have never attended one of their gigs personally. The last thing I want is someone smashing a bottle willy-nilly in my head. Continue reading →

RostbiF (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist) – Part 1: Profile & Interview

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It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the Uruguayan unsigned artist of this week: RostbiF. They are one of the bands I collaborate with, and I can tell you that they are passionate believers in the power of music.

This is their PureVolume profile.

Below you will find the first part of the article, in which they introduce themselves and answer some questions. My own analysis of their music is included here.

RostbiF Are Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

RostbiF Are Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

Band Information

Name: RostbiF

Genre: Hard rock

Band Members:
Lukas Künzler (Voice and rhythm guitar)
Pablo Gonzalez (guitar)
Mauricio Rode (Bass)
Guido Quintela (Drums)

Been Together Since: Juny 2009

Some Questions

Where does the name of your band come from?

It comes from playing with words and translating them from Spanish into German, but it has no real meaning. The first idea was “rost”, which means “oxid” in German, but we found it to short so we played a little bit with it and the result was RostbiF.

Is it possible to define or categorize your music? If you had to try, how would you do it?

Our music is a kind of mixture from different hard rock styles, it is based on bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin… just simple hard rock.

In which ways could your music be deemed as innovative within the Uruguayan scene?  Is that a concern for you?

We think there is no real innovation in our music, we play hard rock the traditional way, that is the music we like to listen to. There is a difference from other Uruguayan bands in the influences, and the type of music we play, but there is nothing new or innovative in it at all.

In which sense being in Uruguay gives you an edge over musicians in other parts of the world? And how does it hinder you? Continue reading →

Lucía Ferreira (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist)

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Lucia Ferreira

Lucía Ferreira

In one of his most revered poems, Longfellow described the flight of song as something too strong and too constant to be followed by the human eye. If we were to dig deeper into what is implied in that frequently-anthologized lay (what the heck, Gil Grissom actually recites it in one chapter of CSI), we would have to agree that the only point of origin for something which is indeed strong and constant has to be an artist that meets these very two aptitudes. And you can say what you want about Uruguayan artists, but more than a very representative number of performers here certainly shine when it comes to strength, and excel as far as constancy is concerned. The one I would like to tell you a little about now certainly does.

She is named Lucía Ferreira, and during her artistic life she has been part of duets (“No Es Mi Mujer”) [She Is Not My Woman], murgas (“La Japilong”), rock & roll bands (“Vía Libre”) [Free Way]… she is currently playing with Julio Ojeda. Any artist that has treaded so much ground in less than 30 years is not only a well-nurtured one. To all intents and purposes, such an artist is the one who is nurturing to others.

The songs she is currently working on often touch on issues such as self search and the validation of one’s place in the world (that is the thematic denominator of both “Diván” [Couch] and “Me Quiero Quedar” [I Want To Stay]), and the role that art has a mediator between the world that there is and the world that there should be is incarnated in songs like “Vieja Viola” [Old Six-string]. In the song (a tango written by luminary Humberto Correa), an old performer can but look into his former source of pride (his guitar) from a yearning stance that paints a savage contrast with the humdrum of the domesticity he has sunk into. The corollary is that an artist is always a seeker of something else in life, even if that implies that to let others find that something he will have to renounce to his ability to hold onto these things that he has found along the way. Lucía does the song very well, as she has all the necessary vocal chops to convey the world-weariness of the lyrics, if only because a voice that has been tempered by so many styles becomes malleable in itself. Continue reading →

Vevo Adds A Channel For The Promotion Of New Artists

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As one could have guessed from the latest figures that were released, the growth of Vevo is not stopping anytime soon. Last week saw the addition of a new channel, and one that could modify the way people experience the video platform for the better.

Named “The Next Wave presented by Schick Hydro”, the channel is basically a showcase for new talent. Unfortunately, not every kind of new artist could be featured there – only those who are signed to any of the three record companies that have partnered with YouTube (remember, Vevo is a joint venture comprising Google, Universal, Sony and investor Abu Dhabi Media Company) have a chance to be spotlighted .

The idea is clearly to give these artists that have already been signed a chance to become a new sensation to rival others like Lady Gaga (who is responsible for the bulk of visits Vevo has every month). Continue reading →

Mal Yo (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist)

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Mal Yo

“Mal Yo” [My Fault] is a Uruguayan trio that plays good ol’ rock & roll. It comprises guitarist/lead singer Diego Da Silva, bassist Martín Bernasconi and drummer Sergio Alastra. Sergio is actually slightly older than the rest, and (to my ear) he is the standout musician in the band. Yes, I have some catching up with the doctor to do.

Seriously, now, he provides the most memorable passages in their songs – look at the way in which he sustains the tension during the choruses to “La 22”, or the killer triplet that he uses to wrap up “A Tiempo” after having shifted beats all through the song. Besides, any person who has had the nerve to play in a band named “El Tatú Lunar” [The Lunar Tattoo] and then in another that was named “Monos Con Navajas” [Monkeys With Blades] has earned my absolute admiration. He must get invited to fewer parties than me.

The band is currently recording its debut album, and a couple of their songs can be downloaded for free on their website. (They can also be streamed on their MySpace page). These are “A Tiempo” [In Time], “Tu Lugar” [Your Place] and “La 22” [Table Number 22]. I have to admit that I am not really bowled over by their music on the whole, but one of these three songs has got me interested like little else. I must have listened to the song “A Tiempo” more than the three guys combined with all of their families and friends. Cubed. I honestly don’t recall having done something like that before, and that was the reason I decided to write about them. Because I don’t really like the other two songs they have, as I find the main riffs just a tad too generic – the main riff in “La 22”, for example, reminds me too much of songs like “Tu Dei” by Dsus4 (another Uruguayan band, and one that is sadly playing the great gig in the sky after having released a reasonably good debut album in 2006 entitled “Nada Permanece Quieto” [Nothing Remains Still]).

Mal You Playing Live: Martín Bernasconi, Sergio Alastra & Diego Da Silva

Mal Yo Playing Live: Martín Bernasconi, Sergio Alastra & Diego Da Silva

“A Tiempo” is the one song of theirs that sounds fresh and invigorating, and the lyrics display a very realized use of alliterative figures. Each verse is topped and tailed with the expressions “A veces” [Sometimes] and “A tiempo” [In Time], and the chorus is quite impacting, especially the second time around. The song also has a distinctive structure, as it comprises only two verses and a chorus that is played once and then repeated after the solo before the song concludes. That shifts the thematic emphasis of the lyrics, which being topped and tailed as described above would be imbued with a sort of conciliatory (or at least conclusive) air. This turns the song into something that ends up expressing losses that one would have thought were to be averted: “Y nosotros dos añoramos/nuestra vida perfecta” [And the two of us long for/our perfect life]. Continue reading →

Laiojan Sebastian (Uruguayan Independent Artist)

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Laiojan Sebastian Were Andrés Pardo Di Nardo, Alejandro Reyes, Andrés Puppo & Ismael Pardo Di Nardo

Laiojan Sebastian Were Andrés Pardo Di Nardo, Alejandro Reyes, Andrés Puppo & Ismael Pardo Di Nardo

Laiojan Sebastian was the band that made me decide to cover Uruguayan unsigned artists on MusicKO. I learned of their existence in late 2009. I had recently became acquainted with Ismael Pardo Di Nardo, the drummer and percussionist of the band. His older brother Andrés was the lead singer and sole composer of the songs the band (a very representative exponent of River Plate rock) was to record for a self-titled debut that was sadly never to be released. I recall the impression that the CD caused on me when Ismael played the first song (“Despierta”) [Wake Up] over his speakers – it was a truly alive piece of music. It felt as if the message of the lyrics had been deprived of its mobility by the indifference that befell the whole album, but its ability to move others remained unscathed. I wouldn’t say that I become an awakened one that day. But I felt less dormant for certain.

Of course, that the disc hit me so hard when I first listened to it was no coincidence – not when I learned that the bass player and the lead guitarist were Andrés Puppo and Alejandro Reyes, two professional musicians that had been part of the local scene for some time now.

Another thing that caught my immediate fancy was the cover art. Andrés had designed it, and a well-known Argentinean comic artist put his thumb into motion to bring the nominal character to life. The manga influence was palpable by a mile, and the Iojan Sebastian that we can see pictured there seemed the closest to a living paradox to me, with a mien that expressed as many emotions as the ones it counter-expressed. I could imagine him saying “It is all in vain. Nothing means anything except everything. And you can get everything in life except nothing. But” – he would continue with a grin – “there is always a way to get anything.”

And if “Despierta” was a song that told of latent possibilities, the remaining songs were to deal with their realization. One of the clearest examples was to be “Jhonny Balón”, a fairy story about a child soccer prodigy that dies during a match only to resurrect and score at the last minute as his team reaches the final many years later. The song offers up a raving mixture of funky passages  with murga drumming (conveying the tragedy of the protagonist’s death) and in the last section (the match) Andrés emulates a commentator over real ambience noise. Continue reading →

Retrocedonia (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist)

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Retrocedonia Are Pablo Sassi, Sergio Astengo, Ana Garland & Alejandro Tuala

Retrocedonia Are Pablo Sassi, Sergio Astengo, Ana Garland & Alejandro Tuala

A band that got me quite intrigued, Retrocedonia is more pop than rock, but it can rock far more than your conventional poppy outfit. More than anything, it is a band whose sound melds old and new Uruguayan traditions in a very idiosyncratic way – they clearly know what has come and gone before and they make sure indicators are dropped all over the place, but not in a way that would devaluate what they are actually doing.

That is something tricky to pull off – to many younger listeners, the musical history of the country is often anything but cool or hip. They won’t necessarily listen to someone who plays an accordion and sings about the Mama Vieja (one of the most representative protagonists of Uruguayan Candombe) as this band does. Continue reading →