Chicago Rapper Kanye West Is Back With A New Album (“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”) And A Hip Hop Opera To Promote It.
Kanye West’s career took a dramatic turn when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. What he did that night earned him the anger not only of music fans but also critics and the media in general. Even president Barrack Obama lashed at him.
But it wasn’t until September of this year that the rapper took to Twitter in order to redeem himself. He sent over 70 tweets the same day, all within a couple of hours. As well as apologizing for his actions, he also enumerated the direct consequences of that fateful interruption.
– “Had to let employees go… for the first time I felt the impact of my brash actions … I felt the recession from an ownership side”
– “How deep is the scar… I bled hard.. cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world … closed the doors of my clothing office”
– “That’s when you realize perception is reality. I’ve been straying from this subject on twitter but I have to give it to you guys raw now.”
– “If you google Asshole my face may very well pop up”
In hindsight, these apologetic tweets might as well be remembered as one of the cleverest ploys in Kanye’s career. He projected himself as a fallen star with a sympathetic heart, and as a person fully aware of his failings. And it is no wonder that his next album (“My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”) is already being spoken of in very favorable terms. Continue reading →
Lady Gaga Did It - She Will Go Down In History As The First Artist To Have 1 Billion Views On YouTube
As predicted by those who have long beards and just too much time on their hands, Lady Gaga is now the first artist with 1 billion views on YouTube. She won’t be alone for long, though – Justin Bieber will join her in a couple of days.
In having 1 billion video hits on YouTube, that is.
What did you think I was talking about??
The meteoric success of artists like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga has opened everybody’s eyes to the role the Internet can play in a musical career, and Wanabez is here to let singers and instrumentalists have a fairer chance of being discovered.
Wanabez is a brand-new video portal for aspiring musicians, a place that is comparable to a version of YouTube in which only videos of people looking for the big break are uploaded.
Just like YouTube, Wanabez can be used for free. And the videos that are uploaded can be commented and rated by just anybody – site visitors, other performers, industry folks who stumble upon them…
Besides, since videos can be sorted both by rating and by the number of comments they have received finding the most promising acts is a much easier task. Any person looking for emerging talent can visualize only those that have received the highest qualifications, and avoid having to sit through one band after the other of fifteen year olds doing their own versions of “Whole Lotta Lovin'” with the divine conviction that they are incendiary, when they are just a good couple of light years from getting anywhere near the mark. Continue reading →
Conkistadores Are Gabriel Laborde, Angelo Galeazzi, Darwing Pato Cabana, Jonathan Garcia and Juan Lujambio.
Hailing from the City of Maldonado, Conkistadores is a recently-formed band whose sound lies somewhere between hard rock and heavy metal. The current lineup comprises singer Gabriel “Rubio” Laborde, guitar player Angelo Galeazzi, drummer Darwing “Pato” Cabana, bassist Jonathan Garcia and keyboard player Juan Lujambio.
They all have played in bands from Maldonado before – Darwing played in “La Mole” and “Gangster”, Gabriel sang with “Minerva”, Angelo was the guitarist for “Cardíacos”… even Juan (the youngest member) is a well-known face in the local scene, having formed his first metal band when he was just 14.
The band has just finished recording its debut EP. It is bound to be released soon, and Conkistadores is playing his first gig in Montevideo on the 13th of November at La Comuna along with the bands Cimarrón and Ginebra (from Salto and Montevideo, respectively).
Musically, Conkistadores references the ‘80s in a dynamic and constant way, with bands like Iron Maiden, Warcry and Yngwie Malmsteen being just some of their clearest standard bearers. But so are Guns ‘n’ Roses, Dream Theater and the Argentinean band Rata Blanca.
You can tell the band members are not new to the game when you listen to them playing. Gabriel’s vocals are sonorous in the best sense of the word. The bass work is decidedly mellifluous, and the guitar is an effective emotional vehicle. More than often, it is hard to believe that the keyboard parts come from someone who is just 15. And Pato is playing the drums with the strength and conviction that only those who have had a close call can muster (he was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident not so long ago).
Conkistadores On Stage
Out of the six songs that are going to be featured on their debut EP, my personal favorite is “Nadie Escuchó” [Nobody Heard]. It deals with the murder of a 10-year old girl in Maldonado (“Un demente con una estaca de Madera/dejó muda una ciudad entera”) [A madman with a wooden stake/left a whole city speechless] and it is a good example of the band’s ability to touch weighty issues without sounding preachy or overbearing.
The song also has my favorite guitar solo of the whole EP. A true sense of walled desperation is conveyed. Nobody would mistake it for Eric Clapton’s famous weeping guitar, but it is an instrument that is speaking a language capable of moving even those who have not been personally marked and marred by tragedy. Continue reading →
This is the second and final part of the interview I had the pleasure of conducting with John Jones from Buy Widget. I’m sure you’ll like it as much as the first!
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
At a very young age – growing up in Toronto in the late ‘60s, I listened to radio all the time. First single was Badfinger – No Matter What and first album was The Best Of The Guess Who. Probably the Canadian influence on the last one, but it actually purchased on a trip to the US!
Are you in a band yourself, or have you been in a band in the past? Is there a clip on YouTube or elsewhere we could watch?
Never in a band. However, I’ve had the good fortune to work as a producer in both live and studio environments and have worked with some incredible talent across genres from rock to alternative to jazz to blues to world. Here’s a link to some of my productions: http://www.fortyninegroup.com/radio-shows-and-live-and-studio-recordings/
Also, as a radio and TV producer I got to work or interview with just about everyone I had ever hoped to work with at some point. Here’s a link to a subset of TV productions: http://www.fortyninegroup.com/videos/Continue reading →
Back in May I wrote a post about a system for the monetization of music named BuyWidget, and just last week I managed to talk with its CEO, Mr. John Jones. I did wish I could have featured him before on MusicKO, but now I know that the saying “Good things come to those who wait” couldn’t be truer – just look at his answers. Incredibly insightful, rich in content and a joy to read.
But enough of my chatter. On with the interview!
Full Name: John Jones
Age: 50
Startup: BuyWidget
Position: CEO
PART I
THE STARTUP
Tell us a little about your startup. How was it conceived? What gives it an edge?
BuyWidget was conceived as a means of allowing any site, blog or portal to quickly set up their own music download sales store. The core idea was to give sites a means of enhancing their visitor’s experience, increasing their user engagement, and increasing their revenue. The significant advantage is that the signup, and build process of creating a BuyWidget only takes a few minutes – less than it takes to watch a video explaining it actually! And it works on WordPress, TypePad, Blogspot and any HTML site. BuyWidget is a product from our parent, fortyninegroup, a digital products and services company.
What was the original launch date?
The service launched in beta in May 2010.
What has been the response so far? In which countries has it been more successful?
Great, thanks for asking! BuyWidget is now on more than 250 sites. The US has the most installations.
What features can we expect to see implemented in future revisions?
We recently added a PayPal payment process. All site owners who host a BuyWidget can be paid through PayPal. We are working on a number of new additions. The great thing, from the beta launch, is that the code has been stable, and our hosting provider is fantastic, so reliability has not been an issue! Continue reading →
Atomic Tom Have Delivered What Must Rank As The Best iPhone Band Performance So Far.
The story goes that the members of Atomic Tom got their instruments stolen, but that couldn’t keep them from making music.
So, when they were on the NYC subway they got out their iPhones and began playing “Take Me Out” (the first single from “The Moment”) with them,while someone conveniently shot the entire performance. Oh, and what’s even more convenient is that within minutes it was uploaded to Atomic Tom’s official YouTube account.
But who cares about that? What matters is the band performance they managed to pull off. I frankly think it is the best iPhone band performance we have seen so far. Way better than the Stanford iPhone orchestra for sure.
You can judge it for yourself by watching the full video (embedded below).
“The Moment” is Atomic Tom’s debut album. You can learn more about the band here.
“Layla” Was An Alias For Pattie Boyd. She Was The Wife Of George Harrison, One Of Clapton’s Best Friends.
“Layla” was an alias for Pattie Boyd, the (then) wife of George Harrison. She was a British model of singular looks who had also captivated John Lennon and Mick Jagger. Clapton would eventually succeed in stealing her from Harrison. And it is very interesting to note that the friendship between the two men ran so deep that when Clapton and Boyd married in 1979, Harrison was among the attendees…
The whole “Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs” was actually built upon a distortion of reality. Clapton created a fantasy in which he was “Derek” and his backing band became “The Dominos”. Besides, Blind Faith had left a sour taste in his mouth and he wanted to keep a lower profile for a while.
Not Counting “Cut The Crap” (1985), “Combat Rock” Was The Final Album By The Clash. It Was Produced By Glyn Johns, And It Saw Release In 1982.
This was The Clash’s final album. And no, I haven’t forgotten that thing released by Strummer and Simonon backed by a bunch of scabs in 1985 named “Cut The Crap”. “We Are The Clash”, my ass. That was a tremendous blunder, and the band knew as much – no tracks from it were included on the otherwise career-spanning “The Clash On Broadway” (1991).
“Combat Rock” was conceived as the direct sequel to the ambitious “Sandinista!”, an album that many felt had been weighed down by Strummer’s own aspirations. He clearly wanted to move the band into other styles (with black music topping the list), and Mick Jones wanted to stick to rock & roll. Those differences could not be reconciled, and Jones was to leave the band after touring “Combat Rock” – an experience that included opening for The Who during their whole farewell tour, and playing to highly disinterested audiences at that.
Originally, “Combat Rock” was to be a double album named “Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg”. However, when experienced producer Glyn Johns was called in to oversee the recording he convinced the band to release a single disc.
Everybody hated “Combat Rock” at the time. Shareef didn’t like it, and neither did the punks and the press. The charge was that the band had “sold out”. That only made sense if you looked at the singles that were issued: “Know Your Rights”, “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” and “Rock The Casbah”. The first two were simple songs in the worst sense of the word, and the other was a funky number that became their biggest seller in the US. It was a more respectable song than the other two, but the finger-popping melody made for instant criticism by people who wanted the band to stick to their rebellious selves. They once had fought the (unsanctioned) release of the poppy “Complete Control”. Now, they were willingly releasing a radio-made song themselves.
In actuality, “Rock The Casbah” was largely the work of drummer Topper Headon. He played the drums, bass and keyboards on that song. According to the rest of the band, The “Casbah” riff was one he had been toying with for ages. When recording Combat Rock, he went into the studio one morning and put all those instruments down. Strummer came up with the lyrics after reading how people would be lashed on Iran for owning rock records. Much later down the line, he reportedly cried when he learned that American pilots used the expression “rock the casbah” as a euphemism for their bombing missions in Iraq.
The argument that the band was selling out made just no sense when one played the full album. To begin with, there was precious little radio-friendly music there. In fact, there was virtually no rock & roll to be found anywhere.
Don’t spin “Combat Rock” looking for variations of “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” because you are not getting that. You are getting reggae on “Car Jammin’”, the world beats of “Sean Flynn”, the pop of “Inoculated City”, the funk of “Overpowered By Funk” (complete with an impersonation of Tarzan!) and even a collaboration with poet Allen Ginsberg. Continue reading →
