Thank you

Strada

Here is what they sent me:You can let anyone interested know to send their songs for consideration to musicsubmissions@revoltradio.com and put “Mixtape Submission” in the subject. We are planning to release one the first Tuesday of every month.

Here is the latest mixtape:

Its Finally here, Wordsmith, Nu Revolution Entertainment LLC & Revolt Radio would like to present to you “The Revolution Riot Report Mixtape Vol 1?. This first of many installments that will be dropping the first Tuesday of every month. The Revolution Riot Report Mixtape Volume 1 features new music from some of the hottest Indie/Unsigned Artists that include Wordsmith, Kontact, K. Sparks, K-Betta, Judah, V-Styles, Dynasty, Whitefolkz and many more!! Get your briefing from Revolt Radio Host & Nu Revolution Recording artist Black Knight as Nu Revolution Deejay, DJ Nominal provides the fire power on the Turntables. Check out the track listing and download after the jump.

DOWNLOAD: The Revolution Riot Report Mixtape Volume 1 (Hosted By Black Knight Mixed and Blended By DJ Nominal)

Tracklist:

01. Intro – Black Knight

02. Situations – Prolific

03. Throw A Stack – Whitefolkz

04. Doin My Thang (Get It In) – Max Pain

05. Car Service – Jae Skeese & Superlative T.E.S.T

06. High Resolution – O. Smith of Deep Space

07. Friends with Strangers – DK aka Wayne Watts

08. Troubled Child – K-Beta feat Judah

09. Interlude – Black Knight

10. Graffiti Walls – Wordsmith feat Kontact

11. Real Eyes – Marcus Medley

12. Get It Straight – Tre Dot

13. Cant Stop A Man – V Stylez feat Buff 1 and Stretch Money

14. Magnificent – Dynasty

15. Hip Hop (It Don’t Stop) – Face

16. Gather Around – Black Knight

17. Momma Say – K Sparks

18. Outro – Black Knight

Rickshaw Records, maker of the Austin DIY ribbon microphone kit, have posted a Youtube video on how to make your own microphone shockmount. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of the fancy elastic-suspended microphone mounts in professional studios. If you buy one customized for your microphone, they can cost quite a bit of money. So why not make your own (admittedly less sexy) shockmount for around $8 in materials? The video below shows how it’s done. It’s a pretty easy project that will help out your recordings quite a bit if you suffer from thumps transmitted through the mic stand.

via Musformation

In the mean time, Wordsmith’s “Vintage Experience” album is out now: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vintage-experience/id356547753

Very impressive video:

PIXELS by Patrick Jean from ONE MORE PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

Great read on how instrumental music is not easy for everybody and the attention span of listener.

Here are my favorite paragraphs:

If you have written your own music, you have probably experienced this before: You play it for your friends to get their opinions. For about 10 seconds, everyone is silent. After 20 seconds, their eyes start to wander around. After 30 seconds, someone says something, which triggers everyone else to speak up. After 40 seconds, no one is actually listening to your music. I grew up sitting in front of the stereo with my father, closing our eyes, listening only to what came out of the speakers. This would go on for an hour or two as if we were watching a movie. It wasn’t just me; many of my friends did the same. Who does that anymore? In today’s living rooms, stereos are treated as accessories to television sets.

Visual dominancy isn’t the only problem. The bigger problem is the dominance of our thought. Most Americans do not know what to do with abstraction in general. To be able to fully appreciate abstraction, you must be able to turn off your thought, or at least be able to put your thought into the background. This is not as easy as it might seem. In modern art museums, most people’s minds are dominated by thoughts like: “Even I could do this.” Or, “Why is this in a museum?” Or, “This looks like my bed sheet.” Etc.. They are unable to let the abstraction affect their emotions directly; their experience must be filtered through interpretations. In a way, this is a defense mechanism. It is a way to deal with fears like, “If I admit that I don’t understand this, I’ll look unsophisticated.” This type of fear fills their minds with noise, and they become unable to see, hear, or taste.

Full article after the bump

The current market share of Jazz in America is mere 3 percent. That includes all the great ones like John Coltrane and the terrible ones like Kenny G (OK, this is just my own opinion). There are many organizations and individuals like Wynton Marsalis who are tirelessly trying to revive the genre, but it does not seem to be working. Why is this? Is there some sort of bad chemistry between the American culture and Jazz? As ironic as it may be, I happen to believe so.

One day, I was talking to my wife about the TV commercial for eBay where a chubby lady sings and dances to an appropriated version of “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. The lyrics were entirely re-written, and “my way” was transformed into “eBay”. I told her that they did a good job in adapting the original song. Then she said: “Ah, that’s why I like it so much!” She actually did not realize that it was adapted from Sinatra’s song.

My wife and I have always known how differently we listen to music. I tend to entirely ignore lyrics, while she tends to entirely ignore music. We are the two opposite ends of the spectrum in this sense, and it appears that my wife’s side is more common. Many of my friends think that I have a peculiar, or plain bad, taste for music. Whenever I say I like this song or that song, they look at me like I am crazy. Then they go on to explain why it is bad, and I realize that they are referring to the lyrics, not to the music. I then pay attention to the lyrics for the first time, and realize that they are right. The opposite happens often too where many of my friends love a particular song, and I can’t understand what’s good about it until I pay attention to the lyrics.

The eBay example is an extreme case where my wife could not recognize the original once the lyrics were swapped. To her, if you change the lyrics, it is an entirely different song. It is the other way around for me; in most cases, I would not notice any change in the lyrics. The eBay song was an exception; I only noticed it because it is a famous song used for a TV commercial.

I believe my wife’s way of listening to music is typically American, and my way of listening to music, typically Japanese. If you don’t speak English, any songs written in English are instrumental music. Singers turn into just another musical instrument. These days, no matter where you live, you cannot get away from the dominance of the American music. This means that most non-English speakers grow up listening to a lot of instrumental music. In Japan, I would say, it constitutes about half of what people listen to. When they are listening to Madonna, Michael Jackson, or Britney Spears, they have very little understanding of what their songs are about. In this sense, their ears are trained to listen to and enjoy instrumental music, which explains why Jazz is still so popular in Japan.

To be able to enjoy instrumental music, you must be able to appreciate abstract art, and that requires a certain amount of effort. Just mindlessly drinking wine, for instance, would not make you a wine connoisseur. Mindlessly looking at colors (which we all do every day) would not make you a color expert either. Great art demands much more from the audience than the popular art does.

In this sense, the American ears are getting lazier and lazier. It wasn’t so long ago that most people knew how to play a musical instrument or two. Now the vast majority of Americans couldn’t tell the difference between a saxophone and a trumpet. Thanks partially to music videos, music is now a form of visual art. The American culture is so visually dominant that a piece of music without visuals cannot command full attention of the audience. For Americans, music is a background element, a mere side dish to be served with the main course. If they are forced to listen to a piece of instrumental music without any visuals, they don’t know what to do with their eyes, much like the way a nervous speaker standing in front of a large audience struggles to figure out what to do with his hands. Eventually something visual that has nothing to do with the music grabs their attention and the music is push to the background.

If you have written your own music, you have probably experienced this before: You play it for your friends to get their opinions. For about 10 seconds, everyone is silent. After 20 seconds, their eyes start to wander around. After 30 seconds, someone says something, which triggers everyone else to speak up. After 40 seconds, no one is actually listening to your music. I grew up sitting in front of the stereo with my father, closing our eyes, listening only to what came out of the speakers. This would go on for an hour or two as if we were watching a movie. It wasn’t just me; many of my friends did the same. Who does that anymore? In today’s living rooms, stereos are treated as accessories to television sets.

Visual dominancy isn’t the only problem. The bigger problem is the dominance of our thought. Most Americans do not know what to do with abstraction in general. To be able to fully appreciate abstraction, you must be able to turn off your thought, or at least be able to put your thought into the background. This is not as easy as it might seem. In modern art museums, most people’s minds are dominated by thoughts like: “Even I could do this.” Or, “Why is this in a museum?” Or, “This looks like my bed sheet.” Etc.. They are unable to let the abstraction affect their emotions directly; their experience must be filtered through interpretations. In a way, this is a defense mechanism. It is a way to deal with fears like, “If I admit that I don’t understand this, I’ll look unsophisticated.” This type of fear fills their minds with noise, and they become unable to see, hear, or taste.

This is why songs with lyrics in your own language and paintings with recognizable objects are easier for most people to appreciate. They give their minds something to do. It is like holding a pen in your hand when you are speaking in front of a large audience; you become less nervous because your hands have something to do.

Aesthetically, the paintings of Mark Rothko and those of Monet are quite similar, but the former is utterly unacceptable for many people even though they consider the latter to be a master. The difference is that in Monet’s paintings, you can still see things represented in them: rivers, trees, mountains, houses, and so forth. The audience interprets these objects, and projects their own beautiful memories onto the paintings, which makes the whole process much easier. In Mark Rothko’s paintings, there is nothing they can mentally grab on to. What you see is what you get; there is nothing to interpret. So, the audience is left without a pen to hold on to.

The same happens to instrumental music. If there are no lyrics, that is, if there is nothing for the minds to interpret, projecting of any emotional values becomes rather difficult. As soon as the lyrics speak of love, sex, racism, evil corporations, loneliness, cops, etc., all sorts of emotions swell up. Jazz to most people is like a color on a wall; unless you hung something on it, they don’t even notice it.

This rather unfortunate trend in the American culture seems to be irreversible. The popularity of Rap music seems to be a clear sign of this trend. I can appreciate Rap music for what it is, and I see nothing wrong with it, but it does not promote the full development of musical ears. If the song has any musical substance, it can be played on a piano alone (without a singer or any other instruments), and we would still enjoy it. The lack of musical substance becomes clearly visible if you would take many of today’s popular songs, and play them on a piano alone. Many of them would utilize hardly more than a few keys. Perhaps this trend would promote the appreciation of poetry, but it certainly would not promote the appreciation of music as an abstract form of art.

If we were to reverse this trend, we would need to make a conscious effort in promoting the abstract aspect of music. For instance, play more instrumental music in schools or teach how to play an instrument instead of how to sing. We could go as far as to teach kids in school instrumental music only, because their musical exposure outside of school would be dominated by non-instrumental music anyway. It would be a good way to balance things out.

This problem extends far beyond the American disinterest for Jazz; it is a problem for music in general. The dominance of words and visuals in the American culture has lead people to believe that listening to Rap or watching music videos is the full extent of what music has to offer. If this goes on, they’ll be missing a huge chunk of what life has to offer.

10 YEARS
Recording their third album, looking for music ala last two album
10yearsmusic.com

AHMAD BELVIN
Songs ala Trey Songz
Myspace.com/ahmadbelvin

ALEJANDRA GUZMAN
Pop rock

ALICE
19 year-old looking for songs with R&B flavor, catchy, structured (verse-bridge-chorus)

ANTHONY HAMILTON
Same as last album
Myspace.com/anthonyhamilton

APOCALYPTICA
Need songs ala last hit “I Don’t Care”

BASSHUNTER
Pop hits ala “I Got A Feeling” and “Sexy Chick”
Myspace.com/basshunterdance
BELINDA
Pop rock as her usual style
Myspace.com/belinda
BILLY BLUE
Need tracks with lyrical hook
Myspace.com/babyblueonline

CIARA
Same as last album
Myspace.com/ciara

COBRA STARSHIP
Breakbeat/ Afro-Beat/ Grindcore
Myspace.com/cobrastarship

CRYSTAL KAY
Pop/R&B songs ala Shakira “She Wolf,” Gwen Stefani “Hollaback Girl” and ballads ala Mariah’s “Emotions.” R&B/Latin touch
c-kay.com

DEBI NOVA
Latin pop/Pop
Myspace.com/debinova

DOUBLE
Looking for medium R&B songs

ELECTRIC TOUCH
See MySpace page
Myspace.com/electrictouch

FAITH HILL
Need songs ala “I Can’t Make You Love Me”
Myspace.com/faithhill

FANTASIA
Hits
Myspace.com/fantasiabarino

Flo-Rida
Same as last album

FTISLAND
Rock oriented songs/ Pop Songs
Ftisland.com

FUGATIVE
15 year old rapper. Needs big hooks
Myspace.com/fugativeuk

GOSPELLERS
5 Male vocal group. Big love ballad for October release
5studio.net

GUCCI MANE
Hits
Myspace.com/guccimane

HELMUT OROSZ
From Germany’s “Pop Idol” series. Looking for mainstream music ala Bryan Adams, Robbie Williams, and

Duran Duran

INES REDJEB
From Germany’s “Pop Idol” series. Looking for music ala Kesha, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna. Contemporary Pop

JAICKO LAWRENCE
Pop/Reggae/R&B
Myspace.com/jcolawrence

JASON CASTRO
Top 40 songs in the style of Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, and Ben Harper
Myspace.com/jasoncastromusic

JAZMINE SULLIVAN
Hits
Myspace.com/jazminesullivan

JOE COCKER
Looking for upbeat, mid and down tempo songs that are meaningful. R&B approach

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
Same as last album
Myspace.com/justintimberlake

KELLY CLARKSON
Hit songs. Rock/pop music

KELLY ROWLAND
Same as previous album
Myspace.com/kellyrowland

KERRIE ROBERTS
Christian pop artist looking for uplifting good vibe songs ala Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, Natasha Bedingfield, Jordin Sparks, Christina Aguilera
Myspace.com/kerrieroberts

KRIS ALLEN
Uptemo tracks ala The Fray, Jason Mraz, Maroon 5, The Script
Myspace.com/krisallen

LUIS MIGUEL
Ballads as his usual style

LUPE FIASCO
Hits
Myspace.com/lupefiasco

MARIO VASQUEZ
Same as previous album
Myspace.com/mariovasquez

MARSHA AMBROSIA (of FLOETRY)
R&B tracks ala Jazmine Sullivan
Myspace.com/marshaambrosius

MEHRZAD MARASHI
From Germany’s “Pop Idol” series. Looking for music ala Seal, Lemar, or Daniel Merryweather.

MENOWIN FROHLICH
From Germany’s “Pop Idol” series. Looking for music ala Daniel Merryweather “Change”

MR. CG
New artist

NAS
Hits
Myspace.com/Nas

PALVA
Hit songs needed for artist in Russia. Uptemo pop/dance/house music. Ala Lady Gaga, Kesha. Ballads
Palva.ru/music.html
needed as well.

PLIES
Same as last album
Muspace.com/plies

RAHEIM DEVAUGN
Same as last album
Myspace.com/devaugnenterprises

RIHANNA
Getting ready to record her new album. Looking for music ala “Please don’t Stop the Music,” “Disturbia.” Pop dance songs

Scott Stapp (lead singer of CREED)
Rock that can cross over to Pop

SEAN KINGSTON
Urban/pop
Myspace.com/seankingston

SELENA GOMEZ
17 year-old looking for clever/smart and fun songs but NOT shiny Disney- think Miley’s “Breakout” and Demi Lovato’s “Start All Over”
Myspace.com/selenagomez

SHAREEFA
Hits
Myspace.com/shareefadtp

SHIRE
Mid tempo or new age ballad type of beats and songs
Myspace.com/shireuniversal

SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTER
Ala songs “Heartbreaker Make Me A Dancer” and “On & Off”
Myspace.com/sophieellisbexter

SPONTANIA
Pop songs feat female vocalist songs ala Lady Gaga “Starstruck” and Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow”
Myspace.com/spontaniapcr

THE GAME
Same as last album
Myspace.com/thegame

THE INVITE
Tracks in the style of Rascal Flatts and Bon Jovi. Need first single
Myspace.com/theinvite

THE MAINE
Need mid & uptempo songs
Myspace.com/themaine

THOMAS KARAOGLAN
From Germany’s “Pop Idol” series. Looking for music that appeals to 10-16 year old girls. Mix of German and English

TIMOTHY JAMES
Looking for first single. Prefer uptempo or midtempo tracks ala B arry Manilow, Michael Buble “Home” & Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual”

WAYNE MARSHALL
Reggae
Myspace.com/truwaynemarshall

YOUNG JEEZY
Hits
Myspace.com/youngjeezy

YOUNG STEFF
R&B ala Usher
Myspace.com/youngsteffworld

YVONNE CATTERFELD
Big pop songs ala “Almost Lover” by Fine Frenzy or “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis
Myspace.com/yvonnecatterfeld