Discovering New Music

ECHOGRAPHY RECITAL CONCERT

SEPTEMBER 2, NORTHERN LIGHT CHURCH, 8PM

CrossSound presents WU WEI playing sheng (Chinese Mouth Organ)
,
with IL-RYUN CHUNG on changgu (Korean drum), and solo bassoonist
JANET UNDERHILL out of Boston, member of the Arcadian Winds
quintet. This concert program features traditional and newly
composed music of eclectic global influences.


Tickets at Hearthside and at the door.
$15 General, $10 students.
See Hearthside Books for ticket info and discount packages for
Echography program.


*Ticket holders of Perseverance Theatre’s The People’s Temple receive
discounts --general ticket holders receive student price ($10), and
student ticket holders receive half price admission ($5). Just show
your Perseverance ticket to outlet rep.
!


Family members of soldiers serving in Iraq will receive free admission.


Concert, ticket, and WORKSHOP info call Jocelyn, 907-586-9601 and visit
www.crosssound.com

ECHOGRAPHY FEATURING THE CROSSOUND SINFONIETTA

SEPTEMBER 9, NORTHERN LIGHT CHURCH

CrossSound celebrates their 10th program, 20th soloist, 30th concert,
and 40th commissioned work with “Echography,” a concert of newmusic that features 15 musicians from Juneau and around the globe.
This captivating program brings together an unusual combination ofinstruments including the Chinese mouth organ (sheng), bassoon,
violin, cello, oboe, trombone, euphonium, Korean zither (kayagum),
and Korean drum (changgo).

Free Pre-Concert Lecture:

“Composing Alaska” with composer Dr. Matthew Burtner at 7pm

CONCERT:
SEPTEMBER 9, NORTHERN LIGHT CHURCH, 8PM
Tickets at Hearthside and at the door.
$18 General, $15 Senior, $10 student or CrossSound Recital (Sept. 2)
ticket stub holders.


See Hearthside Books for ticket info and discount packages for
Echography program.

*Ticket holders of Perseverance Theatre’s The People’s Temple receive
discounts --general ticket holders receive student price ($10), and
student ticket holders receive half price admission ($5). Just show
your Perseverance ticket to outlet rep.



Family members of soldiers serving in Iraq will receive free admission.

CrossSound Sinfonietta musicians include Juneau artists Jared
Carlson (cello), Patrick Murphy (bass), Todd Hunt (clarinet), Rick Trostel
(trumpet), Nathan Bastuscheck (euphonium), Jocelyn Clark (kayagum), and
international guest artists

Ticket, Concert, and WORKSHOP info call Jocelyn, 586-9601 and visit
www.crosssound.com

My favorite way to discover new music is through a thoughfully compiled mix tape. Perhaps made for you by friend or lover?

The LowFi Mix Tape Network is a cooperative effort to compile downloadable lo-fi versions (for copywrtight purposes) of mixtapes people have submitted. "Mix tapes are a unique form of intimacy" and I am always facinated by how the vast world of the Internet become, at times, an intimate for of communication.

Check it out and discover some new music.

- Jason

If you were intrigued enough by our short introduction to mashups you can delve a bit further and learn how make your own Mashups with this "How to" article.

Also - Here is a repository of cool samples to use in DJing and scratching.

Mashups, where different songs are "mashed" together into one. Tthe good mashups transcend being just a gimmick and invlove craft, inspiration and innovation. And they are just complete fun.

Here is a decent overview of mashups but i'd rather get right to two fine examples:

She Said Traffic - Sunshine A Go Go

I will keep my eyes open for the best of these to share here. If you find any let us know.

Technology is poking more and more holes in the copyright dyke and record companies are short on thumbs. The thumbs they do have have been so far lodged up their... Let's just say they have been slow to react. While they are still working on their strategy to stop peer-to-peer filesharing of copyrighted material, MP3 blogs are springing up all over in which fans of a style of music offer temporary, free downloads of music. A typical disclaimer on these sites reads:

"All MP3's are up for a limited time and are for sampling purposes only. Music posted here is posted out of love, not with the intention for profit or to violate copyright."

Come for the Questionably Legal Downloads, Stay for the Meat

But these blogs are not just offering the cheap thrill of getting something for free. They also offer meaty, well informed and passionate views and reviews from people who obviously care a great deal about their chosen music style. This excerpt from "The Number One Songs In Heaven" is typical of a good MP3 blog. It is a build up to a free download, "Come on Sock it to Me," by Syl Johnson:

"Syl Johnson is best known for his wrenching "Is It Because I'm Black?" but he wasn't all about heavy message songs, the dude could party down too. He started out playing harmonica and guitar for Blues artists like Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf and you can hear those roots on this punchy and raw hip-shaker."

Not Professional

"I ain't getting paid to throw funk on you, I do it for free. My tunes are FUNKALICIOUS, I guarantee." - DJ Funkalicous, Funk You Blog.

Bloggers are not paid and it has a significant effect on the tone and content of the writing which often feels very different from "professional" writing. In the good blogs, there is a purity of purpose, a sense of honesty that may be owed to their "diary"-like origins and feel.

Without being goaded by profit, Music blogs are also free to cover niche audiences. The recent boom of MP3 blogs has resulted in suddenly easy access to music you might never have heard before, like this Swiss Yodeling Blog as a somewhat humerous but also serious example.

They also can be unabashedly opinionated and meander off topic. (Did I mention I think the blogging outlet is all the more important considering the weakening of laws protecting us from Media monopolies? Also, I had a killer omelet at Costa's Tin Pan Alley Diner this morning).


MP3 Blog Short List

The Blogs below offer temporary free downloads of songs. Some also give you links to buy the albums the songs are on, encouraging you to do so if you dig the tune. Remember though that this ia a truly short list. There are hundreds of MP3 blogs covering so many conceivable and uncounceivable styles. If you don't want to look around for the m yourself, we will be posting a weekly batch of cool one's we find. E-mail us if you have a requet for a particular musical style and we will try and find it and post it for you. Come on, challenge us with something weird.

(By the way, if after looking at these blogs if you are thinking, "Hey I could do that!" then give us a shout about getting a page here on JuneauMusic.com).


mr. bassie's: This is nice blog if you are into Ska and Reggae. It also has a great collection of free music downloads, if you swing that way.

Funk You - It's about funk. My fave of this group cause I got to got to have it.

BlogAlive - Dedicated to Live performances, both sanctioned and bootleg.

Yu-Mex follows the little known and FASCINATING saga of the 50's Yugoslavian obsession with Mexican music (seriously!).

And I just wouldn't feel comprehensive without this Swiss Yodeling Blog

Deep Soul Junkie: Self-explanatory. Loved the David Ruffin Mp3 on here.

Number One Songs n Heaven: Classic soul, funk and dance.


What to See more Articles Like this? Let us know.
Find a Cool MP3 Blog? Share it with your neighbors.

Thought this article from the BBC was a good starting place to check out some new music. There's a few I know on this list but most are new for me. If you check out some of the tunes, come back and post a comment with your review.

1 Belle and Sebastian

2 Travis

3 Idlewild

4 Wet Wet Wet

5 Sensational Alex Harvey Band

6 Simple Minds

7 Teenage Fan Club

8 Bay City Rollers

9 Primal Scream

10 Proclaimers


PS - Not surprising Belle and Sabastian was also among the top 5 of our Alison Caputo's Celebrity Playlist.

About Celebrity Playlists
There was this guy in High School who was always turning me on to the greatest music, always ahead of the curve by literally years. I remember he turned me onto the Chili Peppers first album when it had just come out. I remember the initial pain as I tried to wrap my head around the noises that were coming from my speakers... Three months later they were my new obsession. Celebrity Playlists are short interviews with local folk who have been recommended to us or are know by us to have a knack for digging up some gems.

Without further ado, here is our first Juneau Celebrity, Alison Caputo:



About Me
I am a very attractive, HWP, SWF, Non-SM, Social Drinker with all mod cons. I am not really a redhead, I just dye it red as a warning to others. I am very intuitive and may even be psychic. I love to go for long walks, take hot baths, and move small objects with my mind. I am also undereducated and underfunded. I am looking for grants as of this writing.

My Musical Taste Range (MTR)
Emo-alternative for 1/2 hour, Clever/Sarcastic Alternative for 1/2 hour, Alternative country for 1 hour, Modern country for 15 minutes (yes! I like the way many current country songs, like a Hallmark movie or a cancer movie on the Lifetiime network, often tell a first person story aimed directly and crudely at your emotions. Ah, to really FEEL something again after all the irony. Something bittersweet about an old couple and the love that has seen them through, something patriotic about writing letters to our boys in Iraq, some funny one-liner about how life is better since she left. I just like a good story.) And then some 80s retro to cleanse the palette. I wish I knew more about good techno; there's so much bad techno out there (I assume because any jackass can make a CD in their sweaty little bedroom), it's daunting to sort through it all for the gems. Also, something more about world music than a new Putamayo CD can tell me. But this takes effort, and I'm a very busy and important person.

Top 5 Bands I am Listening to Right Now:
Belle and Sabastian
The Magnetic Fields
M. Ward
The Streets
The Thrills

Particular songs of note and why:
Belle and Sebastian's Piazza New York Catcher and Wrapped Up in Books; pretty, pretty, darkly, darkly.

The Magnetic Fields's Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits. Sweetly sexy and playful, especially if you're a plushy.

M. Ward's Sad Sad Song, because it's one of the few songs to ever mention an orca whale. It echoes as if it were recorded in a rotted-out cedar tree in the remains of the Olympic Penninsula's old growth forests.

The Streets's Could Well Be In, 'cause it so captures the dating dance. It also shows what one guy can do with a digital recorder in his basement. (Right, Andy?)

The Thrills's One Horse Town is just fun for those of us trapped in one horse towns. Ben Fold's Rockin' the Suburbs is fun for the same reason.

Could line up with Cake's Rock-n-Roll Lifestyle and David Dondero Analysis of a 1970's Divorce for a completely cynical set.

New discovery: Mina Agossi; heard bits of her Carrousel on PRI's The World and was blown away. Must find CD ASAP (its not released as of this writing.)

How did I find them?
Following the trail of breadcrumbs through i-Tunes, online KEXP.

Shameless Plug
I would like to plug Colette's Tin Pan Alley, downtown's newest dining experience starring Colette herself. As a minor investor, I am hoping to see a return by 2008.

There is so much music "out there." The odds are good that there is a band out there, somewhere, that you'd find so yummy your hair would stand on end and you'd listen to it every day for a month... The trick is to find it! This Juneaumusic.com Special Section is dedicated to helping you do just that.