Max Bumps - The Sixty One Fan Blog

The Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61

2008-10-10T05:40:00.008-04:00

November will be the anniversary of The Sixtyone first going public. To mark the occasion, a group of listeners got together at Max Bumps to plan the first Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61. Voting is what we do best at t61. For a year, we've bumped our favourite songs to the homepage, and then replaced them with new favourites. What better way to celebrate than to choose and record definitive favourites for this past inaugural year of the sixtyone?

We will have 22 categories:

Best Song personally uploaded by the artist themselves in each of the 16 genres (You know--the genres listed down the left panel of the homepage)
Greatest Overall Artist
Best Cover Song
Best Non-English Language Song
Most Listener-Oriented Artist
Most Underrated Song
Artist's Artist (chosen only by artists)

Not to be outdone by the Oscars, we have also chosen an appropriate nickname for our awards: Max. Winners will receive a badge to post on their profile and other websites. All nominees will receive increased attention as listeners vote on songs. We hope that this contest will reward artists for their music, as well as promote t61 to the wider online community.

As most of you are aware, some of the music we enjoy on t61 is actually scraped from blogs and other online sources, rather than being posted by the individual artists themselves. In light of this, the Best Song by genre awards will only be open to songs personally uploaded by artists, but the Best Overall Artist, and Best Cover Song will be open to any artist or song on the site, whether the artist is actually involved there or not.

The Nomination Process

From October 11 to October 25, you have the opportunity to offer nominations in two categories, if you're a listener, and one other category if you're an artist.

Listeners:

Listeners can nominate the artist that they feel is most oriented to listeners with this special Submission form
Listeners can nominate one song with less than 50 bumps for the Most Underrated Song award by sending it in a tunebox to Evonity or Ganglyblueheron. The song should also have been uploaded at least 2 months ago. Please indicate that you are sending this song as a nomination in the tunebox text. We will confirm receipt of your nomination by posting your name on our wall, so please check back to see it. A Jury will select 5 songs from all that are sent to us as nominations.

Artists:

Artists can nominate the artist that they feel exemplifies the best of what it means to be a t61 artist in their support of other artists, attention to their fans, and quality of their music, regardless of genre, by tuneboxing their nominations from their artist accounts to Evonity or Ganglyblueheron. The text portion of the tunebox should state that they are making a nomination and which artist they are nominating. Receipt of the tuneboxes will be made daily on our walls, so please check back to look for it.

Artists with listener accounts are free to offer nominations for Most Listener-Oriented Artist, and Most Under-rated Song using their listener account, but we ask that you refrain from nominating yourself.

Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61 Special Forum

We've set up a special Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61 forum to make announcements, troubleshoot any difficulties that arise in nominating or voting, and answer any other questions you might have. You can find it on the Max Bumps forums page. If you are new to Max Bumps, we hope you take the opportunity to look around the various conversations and join this extension of t61 community.

Help Us Get The Word Out

With all the spam prevention measures in place on t61, we can't personally contact everyone about our awards. We need your help to make this project to a success. Here's what you can do:

To display a nice banner on your profile page, select the code below, copy it and then paste it in your About Me (listeners) or News (artists) section.

<a href="http://www.maxbumps.net/2008/10/max-bumps-listener-awards-for-t61.html"><img src="http://i492.photobucket.com/albums/rr283/Evonity/t61/hitchikersthumb.jpg" /></a>

Send subscribers a tunebox about the awards. Use your own words, or this quote:
From Oct 10 to Nov 21 maxbumps.net is hosting the Max Bumps T61 Listener Awards. There will be awards for artists and songs in several different categories. We - the t61 audience - are going to pick the winners. For two categories - Most Underrated Song and Most Listener oriented Artist - listeners can submit their own favorite nominees. For more details visit maxbumps.net asap. Pass this message or something similar on to your subscribers if you want to support this initiative, but before you do, check if they are not involved already.

Please check their wall to make sure they're not already involved before sending them anything. We don't want to annoy anyone!

Edit your own avatar to display our project logo - a hitchhikers thumb. Visit the Awards project forum to find out how.

Publish a quote on your own Comment Wall. Write your own, or pick one of these...
- Love the sixtyone? Let's award the best artists of the past year with the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61! See www.maxbumps.net for the whole story.
- When max bumps aren't enough, there are the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61. Vote for the best artists of the past year. Find out more at www.maxbumps.net
- T61 turns one this November! At www.maxbumps.net, we're celebrating with the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61. Click for more details
- Love a song no one else has noticed? Nominate it for Most Under-rated Song in the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61. See www.maxbumps.net for more.
- Which artist seems to care the most about you, the listener? Nominate him or her for Most Listener-Oriented Artist Award in the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61 (www.maxbumps.net).
- You're an artist, but this person is the artist on T61 who supports you the most. Nominate them for the Artist's Artist Award in the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61(www.maxbumps.net)
- Is there an artist that takes your interests to the max? Nominate them for Most Listener-Oriented Artist Award in the Max Bumps Listener Awards For T61 (that's max for short). See www.maxbumps.net for more.

On November 4, we'll announce the nominations and explain how to vote. Voting will take place from November 5 to November 15. Winners will be announced on November 21.

Help us choose the best nominations so that in November you can vote for the best of the best.

Sincerely,

Evonity, Mathmanmrt, SallySilvera, Iyzie, and Ganglyblueheron

A Conversation with Sunday Radio

2008-10-07T17:55:00.003-04:00

Vince:
So, first, I'd like to thank you for your time. And, as an arbitrary place to begin--Where'd the name Sunday Radio come from?

Zong:
Haha, my friend JUST asked me this. most of my music was created on lazy Sundays in the spring and summer.

and also, it was a really cool synth sound in Reason (one of the programs I use)

Vince:
To get the compulsory question out of the way: What brought you to the SixtyOne?

Zong:
I went down to visit a friend in Raleigh, NC. We got back from the bars at 2 in the morning one night and her fiance brought up this website – thesixtyone.com. He stole a bunch of my songs off of my phone and asked if he could make me an artist account. I said sure! and that was it. Ironically, I didn't even sign myself up, haha.

Vince:
Well, your music has certainly been warmly received. Did it surprise you to make as many fans as you have?

Zong:
I was quite surprised - T61 is one of the best places to dwell as an artist in my opinion. People here really care about the MUSIC. To everyone who's brought my songs to the homepage - thank you so much.

Vince:
How long had you been making music before having it hijacked from your phone and shared with the world? And what got you started in the first place?

Zong:
Well, it wasn't really hi-jacked per say - I was just as excited as he (Matt) was to share my music. But back to the original question... I started playing guitar freshman year of high school and almost immediately started writing and recording music on a cruddy little 4-track! I hope the few people who have heard those songs will never talk about, share, or breathe a word about them, haha. I'd have to thank my mother for starting me on the piano at age 4. She is incredibly musically inclined and was an accomplished pianist herself.

Vince:
At what point did Sunday Radio come into being? Have you had--or do you have--any other musical projects?

Zong:
I was in a bunch of bands in the past and played everything from metal to indie-rock. I was actually playing bass for a band and sprained my left wrist quite badly.

I decided to pick up a MIDI controller and software for the couple months I was incapacitated so I could keep making music. And it just kind of took off from there.

Vince:
What was the first song you would attribute to "Sunday Radio"?

Zong:
The first song wasn't ever released! It's a little tune called "Radio Track" that only a few people have heard.

Vince:
Well, let's get to the fun stuff. I have noticed that there seems to be a range of techniques and inspirations across the songs you've uploaded to TheSixtyOne, where you have something like California, upbeat and playful; and then something like The Break-In, where you seem much more careful and focused. Do you see your music heading in either of those directions, or will you try to keep a mix of the two?

Zong:
I've always been a fan of artists who write a spectrum of music - it keeps things fresh and unpredictable. Who wants to listen to an entire CD of the same type of song?

I think I'll try to keep a mix of the two.

Vince:
Have you written anything since your arrival on TheSixtyOne? And if so, would you say there were any artists on there who influenced you in any way?

Zong:
Death Cab for Cutie is on T61 - but they have been a longtime influence. Owl City just recently joined too - Adam was another one of my early influences.

Vince:
Moving on from influences--I'd like to talk about your lyrics. They quickly became one of my favorite parts about your music—can you give us some idea of what inspires you to write a song?

Zong:
To put it vaguely - Everything. I love photography and trying to see things in a different and new perspective. I love sitting down to analyze exactly how I would feel, or other people would feel, about a certain situation. I was really angry at the pharmaceutical industry at pushing happy pills all over the fucking place so I wrote Pharmacists and Anarchists.

I often dream about moving out to the west coast and sunbathing and surfing all day long so I wrote California. I guess my inspiration comes from desires and complaints about different aspects of life. Is that cliche?

Vince:
I'm not sure what is considered a songwriting cliche, but I think your music certainly speaks for itself as far as originality goes. I know you've got an EP coming out—I believe it's available on iTunes now—called Building Seascapes. Would you say the songs flowed from that idea, or was the name an attempt to unify the songs afterwards?

Zong:
Definitely an attempt to unify the songs afterward. Actually, my good friend Andrew, who's helped me in many different ways during the last 6 months of recording this EP, came up with "Building Seascapes." I think he said that the music sounded very fluid and oceanic. I loved the title as soon as I heard it.

Vince:
For various legal reasons, I understand that your cover of Transatlanticism--to date your most successful song--could not appear on the EP. I suppose that's got to be somewhat of a bittersweet feeling--but do you have any more cover songs planned?

Zong:
One of my favorite songs of all time is "Never Meant" by American Football. I might take a shot at that. And actually, this idea was Andrew's. So was covering Transatlanticism.

The kid has a lot of good ideas.

Vince:
Well, that's all I've got. I'd like to conclude by thanking you again for your time, and by tipping my hat to Andrew. Any final thoughts you'd like to share?

Zong:
Not really. I'd just like to thank the listeners again - many people say this but I really do appreciate my listeners and their feedback. So thank you.

The Rosebuds

2008-10-04T14:19:00.008-04:00

Speaking of labels earlier, I was surfing around stereogum at the beginning of the week and clicked on a link to Merge Records. Apparently this label has brought us Arcade Fire, Camera Obscura, Spoon, Wye Oak, She and Him, Shout Out Louds, and many many others. They even have their own "Merge Radio" that randomly streams songs from their catalog. I haven't had that much of a chance to really dig through the site, but I like it. Anyway, I found myself streaming Life Like by The Rosebuds in its entirety, and I recommend checking it out while you still can. The album will be released next week on October 7th.

The Rosebuds - Life Like

P.S. There are also tracks (from what I can tell so far, "Nice Fox" and "In the Backyard") that feature Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, who also appeared on the track below which was part of the remixed version of the previous album, Night of Furies.

The Rosebuds - Get Up Get Out (Bon Iver Remix)

Adventures Close to Home

2008-10-04T11:29:00.004-04:00

Within the hour that it took for someone to first bump Holy Hail "Samo Son (Ghost Note Ltd. Remix)", this is what I found. I got curious as to what else this group had going for them since the track was intriguing. I ended up stumbling on other things from their label, Adventures Close to Home, via myspace. Maybe not the greatest videos or anything, but these tracks have quite a bit of spunk that caught my ear and I thought I'd share some of my music explorations just from a single track that came to t61 via a blog.

I like the colors in the video and this track reminded me of The Ting Tings a bit.
Holy Hail 'Cool Town Rock'

This song has some great percussions.
Free Blood "The Royal Family"

And this poppy tune has some handclapping and cool female vocals.
Stricken CIty - Tak o Tak

Anyway, this is one example of how I utilize t61 and why I like it.

Holy Hail
Free Blood
Stricken City

An Interview with Heavy Jack

2008-09-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

The following is an interview with Heavy Jack, one of my favorite bands on T61.

On July 15th, 2008, I met Heavy Jack. From the moment I heard their music I was seriously blown away. Not long after posting a comment on their wall I was even more amazed that thee seasoned musicians were so young yet performed with a solidity of an established band.

I have never seen 20 wall posts on a band's 'wall' for just the first upload. The enthusiasm these guys generate through their hard driving music and grateful acknowledgment of listener appreciation is contagious.

Here's the story of a band of brothers in their own words. I asked the questions and here are their unedited responses.

myktoronto: How did you come up with the name Heavy Jack?

Ben Falk: Heavy was always going to be part of the name in regards to the Heavy rhythm section that Adam and Jon laid down. Initially I thought of Heavy Cherry and envisioned this massive cherry. However after closer consideration a massive cherry wasn't a moniker any of us wanted to wear.

Adam Falk: Both me & Jon agreed that it needed to be Heavy something and I suggested Heavy Jack - Jack being the name of Ben's guitar whom he had named in memory of our Grandfather, Jack, a proud Canadian soldier. If you want to meet Jack you can find him relaxing inside the J of the Heavy Jack sign on the main entrance page of our website www.heavyjack.com

myktoronto: So, about your first gig... how did it go? Anything embarrassing, funny or incredible happen?

Ben: There are two gigs that come to mind, but the one that meets the true definition of "first gig" would be at "Manhattan's," a local pub in Cowtown, so not quite New York. I was outside the Mac's convenient store with some buddies when I heard music coming from Manhattans. I was underage at the time but I strolled in and talked to the owner Mark. He was really supportive of local indie music and was just a really nice guy. We had a great time and great night that show. Shortly there after we headed west and moved to the Okanagan Valley on B.C. Canada to look after our other Grandfather Jake (not Jack) where events would come together that would eventually lead to the gig that solidified our commitment to Rock & Roll.

Jon: When we arrived in the Okanagan we had a chance encounter with a resident nurse Bernie, who was looking after our Grandfather in the extended care hospital. He heard our sound and suggested when we were out in Vancouver we go see his brother-in-law.

Adam: His brother-in-law was John McLaughlin, an Entertainment Columnist for The Province Newspaper in Vancouver. We showed him the demo CD we had recorded at the time & he said he knew some people @ the Yale and he would pass it on to them.

Ben: We lined up the show and had three weeks to come up with three hours of material so we headed back to the Okanagan and made that home. A local Penticton Pub, Cousin Larry's, gave us the ability to road test our sets for the upcoming gig at the Yale. Our show was on a Thursday night the 20th of September, nine days after 9/11. We didn't know what type of atmosphere we would be walking into. Turned out that there was an ample crowd but not a full house for a Thursday night. We were still underage at the time and when we showed up we heard the usual remarks like, "great, what are we in for tonight?" and ," What is this the Hanson brothers???" We set-up and fired off a quick rendition of Gate Mouth Brown's ,"Better Off With the Blues," for sooooouuuuund check. Which quickly grabbed peoples attention and quashed the earlier comments.

Jon: The show didn't start till nine so we decided to take stroll up Granville street to help with the nerves, leaving all our gear unattended on the stage.

Ben: We get back and are informed that "This is the big city boys and leaving your gear unattended is not a very wise move." We then began our three hour tour of the Yale stage, dropping originals and covers alike in front of an enthusiastic crowd. At the end of it of it all we felt pretty damn proud of our selves and were certain that this was the road for us.

myktorontoIs there one of you that does the majority of songwriting and where do your themes come from?

Ben: As the guitarist I do most of the writing however anything I bring to the table is then re-evaluated as a band. The approach to song writing I choose is kind of a different process in my view.

When I first started out on the guitar I took lessons from a local guitar instructor Brian Griffiths. An incredible player who has a great story himself (read some on our website www.heavyjack.com) He taught me how to listen more than read and how to feel more than play. This was done using Blues as the vehicle for inspiration.

My buddy at the time, Dan, handed me a cassette tape with a few Hendrix songs on it. The one that spoke to me was "Red House" from there I became enthralled with Blues artists like John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy. When I got back into the Rock guys. I heard a definite thread that connected them to the blues. In reading about both musical scene's, the blues scene and the rock (mid 60's mid 70's) in guitar magazines and other resources, I became puzzled in the conclusion these publications were making. That conclusion being that there would never be another time period in music like that again.

I thought of course there can't be another time like that, but maybe one could get similar results applying some of the same methods. In the beginning of my guitar lessons I tried to place myself in the times of, for example, a youthful Beck or Page, listening to the music that they grew up listening to as well as the music they would eventually create. I was also being influenced by the music my peers were listening to, music from the 80's 90's and on. Because of technology (DVD, You Tube and Mp3) coupled with the access to a massive back catalogue of music and with the guidance of Brian, I was able to recreate my own community which I was then able to apply in real time with Adam and Jon.

As our band began to take shape and work cohesively as a unit we imagined that Heavy Jack had come out as a peer to the groups of the great Rock & Roll movement during the late 60's and early 70's. This helped in the inspiration and the crafting of our own original material. Another crucial element was in not learning any songs by our favorite artists note for note. Instead we would take their songs and rearrange them so there was a familiarity of the original but also an original approach from our end. Now through the feedback from sites such as thesixtyone.com and stereofame.com along with reviews coming in on our music, it looks like we are achieving our aim of creating a new sound based on familiar themes.

As for the theme of Multiply the songs were written with current events and universal themes in mind. In doing so, I was able to create a sort of character foil for the more personal themes that the songs are about. Lending a familiar ambiguity to them with out having to wear my heart on my sleeve.

myktoronto: Once a song is written what's the process that brings it all together?

Ben: I have never written anything down, if it's good then it will stay with me. So the process is coming up with many good pieces and constructing a finished product that is refined and tempered through a constant process of jamming. Music usually comes first then words follow. However "Peace Soldier" and "Bandits In the Night" are the exception.

Adam: I approach the bass as a supportive role, so I tend to write parts that help push what Ben has already laid down. In a live situation I have more freedom to play both rhythm guitar parts & bass parts @ the same time because of the trio format. It is easy play rhythm parts on a bass guitar using power & diatonic chords in the mid-to-high registers - allowing Ben some room for strict lead playing when needed.

Jon: As a drummer I have a very different approach than most. I guess it is due to applying my fills and beats around the guitar more than the bass in our early years of playing. Now I have married the two styles and try to incorporate ideas on the drums that revolve around both the guitar and bass at the same time. For me it's all about feel - Ben or Ad come up with a riff or idea and I feel out the best beat to fit that riff or idea.

myktoronto: Would you say, or how has your music evolved since your early tunes?

Ben: The tunes on Multiply are some of the first songs that we wrote, Bandits In the Night being the first. These songs were not written with much musical theory in mind. They were more like a musical jungle gym for us in the beginning that allowed the freedom of exploring music and sound without boundaries. The studio allowed us to solidify the arrangements of these 8 songs. In terms of writing and playing there is a continuous evolution.

myktoronto: Did you experience any obstacles or challenges along the way outside of an obvious artistic challenge to do better?

Ben: Yes we have encountered challenges and obstacles along the way but hardship and struggle are the two main ingredients that go into being a successful Rock & Roll band.

myktoronto:Are either of your parents musical or from families with musical backgrounds?

Adam: Both of our parents have always had an appreciation for music, but are not musically knowledgeable. Outside our immediate family we haven't had much contact with the extended family for many years, I think some of them did have some ability - who knows we could have an entire brass section lined up and not even know it.

myktoronto: Have your parents always been supportive of the band and the fact that even though you were underage you performed in clubs?

Ben: Our parents always support us in anything we do. In the beginning they had to be present as we were underage and required a guardian to play jams or gigs in the bars. Initially we even had to get permission from the government to play the bar stage. Now that we are all of age the humour of having to get government permission to Rock & Roll has never really escaped us.

myktoronto: Can each one of you list the brand or brands on instruments you use and the ones that are fav's and why they are special?

Ben: I have two electric guitars and an acoustic. My electrics are both Strats. I find them to be the most versatile guitars suitable for anything I demand of them. I use a Fender "Evil" Twin amp for both clean and distorted sounds. As well as delay and wah wah pedals for colour. I like to keep it simple so I rely on my fingers more than my gear. For the album I mainly recorded the guitar parts through an old Matrix MA20X - a 20 watt amp with an 8 inch speaker.

Jon: I have been fortunate to have drummed on many different kits in my time but I have only ever owned 2 sets. The first being my Duke Dixon drum kit and the second being my Pearl expert series. My true favorite kit, and the one that was used primarily on the album, is a Yamaha stage custom which we borrowed from Bully's Rehearsal Studio. I like to use SD1 Generals for my sticks because they are short and heavy which really gives me a bombastic sound behind the kit. Sabian and Zildjian our my cymbals of choice and I prefer to use a single bass drum pedal made by Gibraltar, it gives a really bouncy feel for my bass drum.

Adam: I own a Fender P-Bass deluxe, as well as an Ibanez TR-50. Both which I use for different purposes. On the album I mainly recorded through direct input, though the bass-line to Bushfire was recorded live through my vintage 70's Ampeg V-6B amp head. I also have an Epiphone El Capitan Acoustic bass which I recently had modified by Barry Ewert of Ewert Guitars in Vancouver - who added a thumb-rest to the sound hole - it's pretty bitchin'.

myktoronto: What three artists or album or songs are each one of you currently listening to the most.

Ben: For me music has to have had a 20 year shelf life and be nearing its expiration date before I listen to it. Lately I've been listening to a lot of old R&B stuff, big horn arrangements and tight pockets, artists like Curtis Mayfield, James Brown and Joe Cocker. This is because of the desire to write something that could stand along side those artists. Listening on an enjoyment level is a revolving door for my ears, the two constants being Jimi Hendrix and the Stones.

Adam: Lately I've been listening to English Settlement by XTC quite a bit - but the last two albums I listened to on my mp3 player were AoxomoxoA (the '69 original mix) by The Grateful Dead & Remain In Light by Talking Heads. The groups/artists that have had the biggest effect on me are The Doors, The Band, Frank Zappa, & Oingo Boingo.

Jon: I usually am pretty open to all sorts of music. I like to take into consideration a lot of varieties because it's just more musical taste that I can throw into my instrument. The bands and artists that my brothers listed above often have my ears attention but I also like good old classic rock & roll like Led Zeppelin, The Who, Supertramp etc. I also dig Canadian artists like the Tragically Hip, Neil Young, the Band and so on. To obtain a greater library of bands that we might not have heard of otherwise we started our own collection of vinyl to satisfy our massive musical appetite. I know that this is not three artists, but what can you expect from a musician.

myktoronto: How often do you rehearse and where?

Jon: As a band we try to get in as much time as possible behind the rig if you will. Our time is somewhat constrained as we live in an apartment and are considerate of our neighbours. We play on a broken down set-up, Ben and Ad with two small combo amps and myself playing with brushes using a drum throne as my snare and a old box as my bass drum. We still manage to throw down a pretty good sound on it though.

Ben: To satisfy the need to play on the big rig we go to our local rehearsal space, "Bully's Rehearsal Studios," located in New Westminster here in the Lower Mainland. They have a variety of rooms and gear so it's easy to just go in, setup, and unwind for a few hours and we also like to show up for local open mic jams around town when we can fit it in.

I can still think of a ton of questions I'd like to ask these guys. It's not hard to predict a great and well deserved musical future for the Falk brothers. Certainly Jon could go far as a band promoter as well. He's everywhere, introducing himself, returning tboxes, answering and posting on listener walls and keeping in touch with the Heavy Jack listener base by dispensing a steady diet of Radio Bumps.

Kudos HJ! and thanks for your great words and thoughts both musical and written

Visit Heavy Jack at: MySpace: myspace.com/heavyjack, YouTube, Official Heavy Jack Web Site

& CDBaby

Coeur de Pirate

2008-09-30T00:29:00.005-04:00

As soon as I heard these tracks, I immediately posted them onto my little tumblr. Now I'm officially 'maxbumping' it over here too.

Coeur de Pirate - C'etait Salement Romantique

Coeur de Pirate - Comme des Enfants

From last.fm (translated bio from myspace):

Coeur de Pirate is 18 year old Béatrice Martin who has played the piano from the age of three. After five years of music education, she started composing her own songs in March 2007. Members of Bonjour Brumaire noticed her and asked her to join their group as singer and keyboardist. This spring Béatrice left the group to concentrate on Coeur de Pirate, her solo project. Her first self-titled album Coeur de Pirate was released September 16 on Grosse Boite records.

MaxBumps Mix II

2008-09-28T21:24:00.004-04:00

I'll keep this briefly posted at the top of the page because I don't want to interfere with SumKid's video contest. Anyway, here's the second mix I created. Again, some new tracks, some old. A tad bit more folksy this time around, and I included a few artists that can be found on t61.

1. The Paper Cranes - I'll Love You Until My Veins Explode
2. Koufax - Roll the Dice
3. Pomegranates - In The Kitchen
4. Halou - The Professional
5. Emiliana Torrini - Heard It All Before
6. Katie Herzig - I Will Follow
7. Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez - Mostly A Friend
8. Margot & The Nuclear So And So's - As Tall As Cliffs
9. Wild Light - New Years Eve
10. Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
11. Pete Samples - Bobby Raindrop
12. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Our Hell

The Nobody Hole Video Contest Launches!

2008-09-25T01:19:00.003-04:00

Hip hop artist Sumkid and I have been feverishly working on a video contest to promote his incredible hip hop opera, The Nobody Hole. The theme is perfect for the Halloween season! Get out your video tools and be prepared for some awesome music and the possibility of winning some fantastic prizes. The grand prize is worth $2,800, including prizes by Noise Industries, Digieffects, Red Giant, CHV Plug-ins, Professional Video Templates, Toolfarm, plus some music and magazines. We've never done a contest like this before but tell all of your friends!

Press Release - For Immediate Release

Dunn Deal Artist Sumkid Launches Video Contest for Pioneering Hip-Hop Opera, THE NOBODY HOLE

The Nobody Hole Video Contest Winner Receives Thousands of Dollars in video software, applications, music, magazine subscriptions and more!

Los Angeles, CA –Over three years ago in Brooklyn, NY, rising MC and songsmith SUMKID architected an album that was so wildly ambitious it spilled over into film, visual art and theater. This album, a Halloween hip-hop opera called The Nobody Hole, is what LA-based and Southern-bred Sum describes as "a crazy adventure of epic proportions and a tribute to the influences on my imagination; from The Wizard of Oz, and John Carpenter's Halloween to R.A. Salvatore's The Dark Elf Trilogy and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street." For the past three years, Sumkid has been gathering a cult following for the project, due largely to his Rocky Horror Pictureshow-esque Halloween event, The Nobody Ball, which combines live performance and visual art, a screening of The Nobody Hole's "moving storyboard", DJ sets, gift giveaways and food. However, Sum's biggest dream has been to one day breathe life into The Nobody Hole via motion graphics or animation…..

Now, in collaboration with The Good Look, Toolfarm and MaxBumps.net, Sum is announcing a video contest that will challenge the world of designers and animators to give life to one vast imagination and help push the bounds of what hip-hop culture can achieve. The mission is easy: pick one of three song choices from the album, and make the best animated video you can (the choices are all under 2 min long). The grand prize winner will win thousands of dollars worth of prizes, including a mega-bundle of top-notch effects and post-production applications for the video nuts out there, music prizes courtesy of Dunn Deal and Sumkid, and magazine subscriptions courtesy of culture impresarios Swindle and Frank151.

"I like to think that The Nobody Hole is a brand that's going to be as huge as Star Wars, The Matrix or The Lord of The Rings one day…and I'm looking forward to finding hungry and talented artists out there that can see that and be part of history with this contest. And hell, even if it doesn't get that big, we'll still have a damn revolutionary project on our hands," says Sumkid, creator and writer of The Nobody Hole.

Sum, The Good Look and Toolfarm want to see what these graphics designers are made of. The Web site TheNobodyHole.com is loaded with details and a full version of the album for fans to listen to. It houses all of The Nobody Hole Video Contest official rules, prize information, and instructions on submitting and viewing videos. The contest begins today and submissions will be received until October 24th, 2008.

No purchase is necessary to participate and the contest is void where prohibited.

Through October 24th, all videos submitted during the 4-week promotion will be reviewed by Sum and The Good Look, who will choose the Grand Prize Winner. Viewers and fans will be allowed to vote and choose the 1st and 2nd runners up.

For more information about The Nobody Hole Video Contest, visit TheNobodyHole.com, TheGoodLook.net or shoot an email to thenobodyboard@gmail.com.

A Conversation with Raven Parque

2008-09-19T22:53:00.005-04:00

mathmanmrt: On your MySpace page you list Neuss, Germany, as your location. Is that where you are originally from?

Raven Parque: Yes, born and raised in Neuss, a place very close to Düsseldorf, which was my main playground, because Düsseldorf is the much better location for musical activities. In the late 80's I've also spent some time making music in Berlin.

mathmanmrt: Neuss is fairly close to Belgium and The Netherlands. What's your sense of the music scene in that part of Europe right now?

Raven Parque: There's no real music scene in Belgium or Netherlands I would be interested in. In the 90's some Techno - especially Hardcore Stuff (Gabba) came out of there. But I don't know any Rock or Pop band from these countries which I think I would like.

mathmanmrt: What kind of musical experiences did you have when you were growing up?

Raven Parque: None, because I started making music very late at the age of 22. Before that I was very interested in listening to music and I have a big archive of vinyl stuff, but I didn't play any instrument until the day a friend of mine was looking for a bass player for his punk band. I thought it couldn't be so difficult to play an instrument with 4 strings. And I found out that I had to play just 1 string as a bass player in a punk band. Easy... After this first experience I never stopped making music, and in the following years I've tried to play some more strings on the bass and the guitar. I tried to learn to play keyboards, singing, composing, writing lyrics and producing. I'm still trying... and I will keep on trying.

mathmanmrt: I notice that your first EP, "Thru the Desert," came out in 1995. Are any of your songs on the 61 from that EP? If not, what is the earliest song of yours that is up on the 61?

Raven Parque: No, there's no song from the Raven Parque EP on T61. But in the same year 95 I produced my first CD album "Break Away" from which I took "Vision Thing" and "You Could Be The One" to T61. Though in a different version from the original mixes on "Break Away", which were both uptempo rock style. In 2004, I rearranged and remixed it into today's style and uploaded these versions. But these two songs are the earliest I wrote from all of the Raven Parque tunes that are up on T61 until now.

mathmanmrt: How has your style developed since the first EP?

Raven Parque: I've changed a lot of things through the years from 1993 - 2008. I guess the songs have become more organic. At first because of the different instrumentation. On the last albums I've been using much less electronic keyboard sounds and samples. I pay much more attention to guitars. I'm still using keyboard sounds and samples but mainly natural sounds like piano, strings or original drum samples. I think that the main atmosphere of Raven Parque became more positive and the lyrics have a more autobiographic character. A lot of the older songs had a very melancholy feeling.

mathmanmrt: How do you go about writing your songs and developing your arrangements for the final mix?

Raven Parque: It's almost always going the same way. Playing chords on the acoustic guitar or piano and hoping the right melody will get into my mind. If it works, I go to the studio to record, arrange and develop the new track, starting with drums, bass and guitars to build a pilot playback for writing the final lyrics and rehearsing the vocal parts. After that, I look for missing pieces in the arrangement and sometimes I add female backings or instruments I can't play like violin or accordion for example, played by friends or studio musicians for the mix. Finally, after mixing and mastering, I upload the song to T61 ;-)

mathmanmrt: Three of the songs you have up are covers. I've come across several comments on your wall and in tuneboxes I've received remarking on how good they are, some going so far as to say they're better than the originals. How do you decide what songs you're going to cover?

Raven Parque: Yes, it's a great pleasure for me to see this kind of comments on the wall. I'm really proud to read that it's better than the original. But I don't think so... my cover versions are different from the original songs. And I mean it's the right way to do covers. They should be different, that's the point of covering. The original "No.1" from Goldfrapp is pure electronic with a female voice. So it was easy to be different... And it was also easy to be different from the original playing "Hey Little Girl" in a Latino style. (Sorry, Iva ;-)) But if I feel that a song shouldn't be covered because the original way is the one and only way to do this song, I wouldn't try to record it the Raven Parque way. The decision to remake a song always comes straight from the heart. I have to love the original.

mathmanmrt: I've noticed that two of the songs you have up aren't part of any of the albums you've created on the 61 &emdash; "Don't Like the Sunshine" and "I'll Be There." Are those songs part of an upcoming album or are they part of either your earlier vinyl EP or the first cd?

Raven Parque: Sorry, my fault. After uploading the songs I forgot to link it with the album title. But I fixed it in the meantime. "Don't Like Sunshine" is part of "Rough" and "I'll Be There" is part of the still unfinished album "Evermore".

mathmanmrt: You've said that, for the most part, your songs are a "one man show." Do you ever perform live?

Raven Parque: In the 80's and 90's I performed live with different bands and projects. In 1995, after finishing the first album "Break Away", I found some studio musicians for live performances with Raven Parque. We did a couple of shows successfully, but at this time the music business in Germany was already sick and without the right support from the record company it was much too lavish and expensive to stay on the road. Though recently I'm thinking about performing live again. But not the usual way as a complete band, just as an acoustic duo with two guitars and special parts with guest musicians playing cello or something like that.

mathmanmrt: Ever been to or plan to come to the U.S. to perform?

Raven Parque: I've never performed in the States, but as the producer of Behind The Scenes, which did some shows in the U.S. in Spring 2008 and which will go back to the States next year, I talked with Michael, the singer, about the possibility to do some shows together, even though RP and BTS are different music styles.

mathmanmrt: How did you run across the 61?

Raven Parque: Michael (BTS) told me about T61. So I went to this community and I'm very glad I did it.

mathmanmrt: What expectations, if any, did you have when you first uploaded "She"?

Raven Parque: There was no great expectation when I joined in and when I uploaded "She". But I was totally surprised about the positive reaction of the listeners to my music. I was really surprised but also glad about all the comments, bumps and support.

mathmanmrt: Do you feel like the 61 has met your expectations?

Raven Parque: Yes, T61 has exceeded all of my expectations, much more than I ever imagined. I suppose it works great. I like it much more than MySpace because of this listener/artist system. I love to get feedback so fast after uploading a song. All the listeners on T61 are music lovers and so interested in our songs. And that's the best an artist can get.

mathmanmrt: You have a really great marketing concept by offering to make songs freely downloadable if the current song hits 800 bumps. Do you feel like that offer has helped your songs out? Do I recall correctly that a listener called dwyndal first suggested that idea?

Raven Parque: Yes, you are totally right. The concept of dealing with bumps and free downloads was the idea of Dwyndal. That was a great help for me, because as an amateur at T61 you need some time to understand how the system works and it's very useful to get some advice of a professional T61-member. He told me the T61 listeners are like kids which want to get some candy (free downloads) and they are prepared to do something for it. So, it worked to earn a lot of bumps and points. But not only Dwyndal, there's a lot more kind listeners who gave me a helping hand, good advice and big support. I would like to say thank you very much to all of them.

mathmanmrt: So what are your plans for the future?

Raven Parque: At first to finish the new album "Evermore". 8 songs are mixed and mastered and 2 others are already recorded on my brain-tape ;-) I guess it will be about 12 or 13 songs at least on the finished CD. Secondly is what I already said about creating a live acoustic set. But it takes time and at the moment I'm very busy and involved in other jobs to earn some money... And that's the bridge to your next question...

mathmanmrt: Are you still producing other artists? If so, would you tell us about that?

Raven Parque: Right now I'm working mainly as a composer and producer for TV commercial spots and as a music and audio creator for DVD and web design. In the past I have produced different artists, but the music business in Germany is really getting worse and so there's no great sense in producing unknown artists anymore. But I'm still producing Behind The Scenes because I love their stuff and Michael is a friend of mine.

mathmanmrt: Do you work as an artist on other people's music? Could you name some albums you've appeared on if you do work as an A&R man sometimes?

Raven Parque: I never worked as an A&R for record companies but I did for 'Groovetown Music', when I had to decide which artist should be produced. So I have worked as an artist on other people's music. On every production I played some instruments or did some backing vox, except for Behind The Scenes, which you know from T61. It was only with German artists who had never released any albums outside of Germany.

mathmanmrt: What would you say is the most important question I forgot to ask? And the answer to it, please.

Raven Parque: No, there's no important question left that you forgot to ask. I would like to thank you so much mathman for interviewing me. I appreciate the possibility to talk about Raven Parque and giving the readers of maxbumps.net and the listeners of T61 some information about me and my music.

And again a big thanx to all of them, including you as a listener of RP, for bumping, commenting and listening.

Vegetal noise music for vegetal lovers

2008-09-10T02:52:00.006-04:00

Word is out that Brussels, Belgium based organic rock formation Thot is recording a new album at this very moment. That is good news for all vegetal noise loving Listeners out there, who already heard their Year Of The Thistle EP at The Sixtyone or any of the other platforms that the band is publishing on.

Year Of The Thistle consists of three very high tensed tracks which - if you are sensitive to it - can easily get you in a real adrenaline rush. For the ultimate thrill ride I suggest you sit back near your media player, turn up the volume of your sound system or headphones and take off with Blue And Green (Are Melting Down In A New Seed). This 5:05 lasting song slowly pulls you up to the top of a musical rollercoaster.

At first you feel comfortable, listening to the slightly distorted synth pad, synth drums and the apparantly tranquil singing of Grègoire Fray. It feels like if you're just enjoying your view from above the park. But after a few moments you realise that you're heading to a very high top of a track that you've never been on before. While climbing further and further a piano counts down the final distance to the beginning of the end.

Moved Hills starts at a point where every movement and every sound stops for a brief moment. You know what's coming up next and there's no turning back (as if you would ever want that). The song opens with what sounds like an Islamic Adhan (call to prayer), but is actually an Mongolian song. Further in the song a Saz Guitar, played by Cumali Bulduk continues the exotic atmosphere. But what fascinates the most is the both heavy and fast rhythm of drums and guitars against the sultry singing, that is constantly alternating between introvert reflection and extrovert expression. In 3:30 minutes you speed up from zero to infinite. Audible g-forces emotionally bends and shapes your mind and you love every second of it. But you still have to go through all the curves and loops.

You soon find that the most exciting part of your 13 minutes of controlled danger are in the last song. Take A Bow And Run has an ingenious construction with some exciting rhythm changes that can make your heart skip a beat or two. Halfway the song you find yourself catapulted into a long and weightless loop, long enough to wonder what on mother earth you got yourself into. But before you've figured that out, the song accelerates to full speed again and then stops very abrupt. It stops so all over sudden, that your soul slings out of your body and then right back in.
When you've come to your senses, the first thing you probably want to do, is cue up for another ride. Or else eagerly wait for the full album that's on its way.

Vegetal Noise

Thot's front man, the fore mentioned Frenchman Grègoire Fray, calls Thot's music Vegetal Noise to emphasize on the organic nature of his music. The natural environment is an important source of inspiration to him, especially the natural world of his childhood: "As I grew up in the country, I was surrounded by fields, hills, trees, and silence. It was my playground, my world and changing seasons gave the rhythm. It is what inspires me for the music I am doing with Thot. The smell of the rain, the colors of the wind and the sound of summer’s heat…. This is echoing in me."
Although Grègoire is a very engaged person (he actively supports Avaaz - an International organization that tries to give voice to people in global political debates - and is also a Red Cross volunteer), Thots' music is not just about the environment. It's an ode to every aspect of the natural world, including the hideous, the violence and the deterioration: "These aspects of the natural world are mirrors of our own moods."

Thot

Besides songwriter Grègoire, who sings, plays guitar and designs soundscapes and loops, the band also consists of drummer Gil de Chevigné, keyboard player Hugues Peeters and video artist Arielle Moens. They all are exceptional performers in their own discipline. Arrielle performs also with Belgian indie electro-pop soloist Nicola Testa and participates in Montreal based international cinematographic association KINO. Hugues is also a band member to Belgian two basses rock band Mom's Belly and Gil also plays drums in Belgian hard rock band Amadeus.
Thot's lyrics are in English and not in French as you may have expected. Grègoire gives three reasons for that: "First reason is because it’s very difficult to write good lyrics in French. French is a very poetic language but so hard to tame. Second reason is, most of my first influences were from American rock music. I also wanted to be understood by everyone, even if my English accent is not perfect."
Grègoire feels most inspired when visiting his family in France: "First feelings, first ideas, first words are always coming when I go back to my family’s country. I dive into silence, into memories and I take time to analyze what happened in my life recently: moods, relationships, world’s actuality - everything will reflect in my universe. The contrasts between the place where I live (a big town as Brussels) and my small village are also fertile compost for ideas."

The Hills Mover and The Feather Juggler

Grègoire extends his artistic exploration beyond Thot through his solo acoustic songs, which he performs under the name The Hills Mover. Last June he went on a Virtual Summer Tour. For that he visited different public locations, mainly in Brussels, and let himself and his audience videotape, while singing and playing guitar: "The Hills Mover is not a ‘side project’. It is more like the acoustic side of Thot’s musical universe, and this is now the name I use when I play acoustic songs. But these songs are inspired by the same things as Thot".
A binding element between Thot and The Hills Mover might be the mysterious figure The Feather Juggler: "She’s one of the main characters of the story hidden in Thot’s next album. And one of The Hills Mover’ song is also called “The Feather Juggler”. On stage, we have video projections and she appears in it, trying to separate the sky from the earth for example. I create the Feather Juggler as an allegory of Mother Nature and her feather is something she must not to let fall, or …"
Grégoire uses different Internet platforms for Thot, The Hills Mover and even The Feather Juggler. He also created several identities for himself, depending on the media he uses. When on Last.fm you might know him as Eolienn, but when on Youtube he calls himself WhiteIris. This is not whiteout reason: "I want to make people going further than the music and find some hidden keys".

When Thot finishes its new album, Grègoire will try to find labels, concert promoters and the likes: "I hope to plant electrical thistle everywhere. And I am eager to."

Thot on The Sixtyone

Thot on MySpace

Thot's website

This story is also available at Evonity.org

The Supergrover/For Squirrels Tribute!

2008-09-08T00:00:00.012-04:00

The community at The Sixty One is one like I've never experienced.

Aldark, 61'er and supergrover's brother explains, "In early May, Supergrover and I sat outside a log cabin in Tennessee with our oldest kids playing in the driveway and discussed a little that his pains may be cancer. I had thought it, but really didn't want to think about it; only Supergrover really knew what he felt. A couple of week later, which seems an eternity ago we had the first visit with the oncologist after some level of confirmation of cancer."

supergrover posted some very sad news right after that to his 'About Me' section of his profile. "Well, it appears I have cancer, so the doctor tells me yesterday. Spot on my liver and a spot on my lower left 'omentum'. I have no clue what the future holds, but I'm pissed and heartbroken for my 2 1/2 year old son and 7 month old daughter."

Soon after, fuzzy blue-faced supergrover avatars were adopted all over the site by listeners and artists posted well wishes, crazy pictures, including photos of cookies, and jokes on his wall on a daily basis. Aldark told me. "Those that have followed his status on thesixtyone have seen some of Supergrover's progress via his "About Me" on the profile page. I take lunch to SuperG or have met him for lunch prior to each chemotherapy session he has."

Aldark talks about supergrover's treatment. "Honestly, I'm surprised they let me back in. We have a good time during such a dreary time and you would have thought we offended someone by now. Supergrover, from my viewpoint, has taken this in stride. We sit during sessions and talk about the teenage girl, the young newly wed, and even the pregnant woman all going through treatment and Supergrover wonders how he can be pissed at having cancer. Well, he can be, but he's handling it fantastically."

supergrover posted to his wall, "You guys... you got me choked up... I'm looking at some avatars and realized there are some that have snuck bits of me in there. You guys are too much. It is so appreciated that a little turd like me can be worthy of your encouragement. I don't know what to say."

Meanwhile, Glenn Case, was taking requests for cover songs, as a way of saying thank you to people that had been bumping his songs a lot. Supergrover left on Glenn's wall on June 3rd, 2008.

"If you know any For Squirrels tune, it would most certainly be this one (Mighty K.C.). You can hear some similarity in your 'rough' voice and that of Jack Vigliatura. They were involved in a terrible van crash that killed the vocalist (Jack V) and the bass player (Bill White). So, listen to how tragically ironic the lyrics are to this tune. (Actually, many tunes)."

For example, here is a sampling of the Mighty K.C. lyrics.

And by the grace of God go I
Into the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
And if we gather, if we fall
Over the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor

So, Glenn listened to the material and he liked it a lot. After much consideration, he decided to cover Mighty K.C. "SuperG was right too. I COULD hear a similiarity between Jack's voice and my own. Friends have noticed it too," said Glenn.

For Squirrels put out two albums before two founding members of the band and their tour manager died in a car accident on September 8th, 1995, 13 years ago today. Their ages? 23, 23 and 21. "That's when it hit me: something like this could happen to ANYONE," said Glenn. I started thinking about the life I've been able to live, and the songs I've had a chance to write since I was 21. The material I was writing at that age wasn't NEARLY as good as what this band was already creating. I can't even imagine how great they COULD have been with time."

For Squirrels, ASCAP Christmas Party, 1994. Photo by R. Capak

Glenn was inspired to launch a double tribute... A tribute to Supergrover and to For Squirrels, a band that didn't really get much of a chance because key band members died at such a young age. "What REALLY made things hit home for me was when I realized that Jack would have only been a few months older than me if he would have survived the crash," said Glenn. "It didn't seem fair that more people hadn't heard of them. My thought was 'Let's see if we can change that a little.'"

The surviving members from the original line-up of For Squirrels are guitarist Travis Tooke and drummer Jack Griego. Glenn contacted Travis in July. Travis gave his approval on the project. "You have my blessing and I'm touched by your passion for your friend and our F.S. music. I'll stay in touch as best I can, and would love to play a small part in your tribute project."

Glenn says, "Supergrover is a great guy that has been given some news that is not so great. I thought it would be neat to do something nice for him. Through supergrover's treatment, he has managed to keep a sense of humor. ("Another visit, another three hours hooked to a pole. Hmm, shoulda been a stripper! I could have been getting paid for this!") To me, SuperG has always come across as a person with a magnificent sense of humor, both before and after his diagnosis was known." Glenn ads, "It really sucks when bad things happen to good people. Unfortunately, it does happen from time to time, and I figured the LEAST we could do as musicians was to try to brighten Supergrover's day a little. I hope we are doing just that by covering songs from his 'favorite band that no one has heard of', and maybe we can get a few more people to hear about them too!"

The two albums For Squirrels albums are 'Baypath Road' and 'Example'. There are 10 songs on each album, and the idea was to get artists from The Sixty One to cover every song from both albums Tracks for the For Supergrover tribute will be uploaded Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Several very popular and talented bands are involved in the 20 tracks that will be uploaded in the next two months.

"I'm really looking forward to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the next seven weeks or so," said Glenn. "It has been hard for me to keep this a secret with the quality covers I've been hearing, but I think it's going to be worth it."

Glenn added, "I'd like to extend a special thank you to Batface89, and all of the musicians that have stepped up to be a part of this. This would not be a reality if it wasn't for all of your involvement. Thank you so much for banding together to make this happen. You guys rule!"

Who are these musicians who are have recorded songs for the project? We're keeping it a secret until the song is uploaded to add to the fun. Once all 20 songs are up, there has been discussion of creating a purchasable version of the songs with all proceeds going towards cancer research.

And how about supergrover? Aldark says "Discussions about surgery are coming in a few weeks and where to go from there will follow. I've seen the progression of what appears to be successful treatment when Supergrover is rolling around on the ground with our oldest kids. This is something that hasn't happened a lot since early in 2008 when the pain was too much that a foot kick to the gut would hurt for ever."

"Good signs, good signs.", Aldark adds.

Keep an eye out for the music and tunebox all of your friends and subscribers!