Another little gem from Joe S.'s blog

The Producers: Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, and "Brainwashed"

George was my favorite Beatle, if I had to chose one. In this video set Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison discuss the making of George Harrison's final album, "Brainwashed". It is amazing to hear how fully realized George's songs were...to the extent that he wrote down even the sound descriptions.

Peace and Enjoy.

From Joe S.'s Blog

Byrne and Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Oh Happy Monday! Two of my "hero" collaboraters have released their new music today. David Byrne and Brian Eno's new album is available on mp3 format. From the album site David says:

Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited. The album is available exclusively from this Web site . You can stream all of the songs for free and purchase it in a variety of digital and physical formats, including a limited edition Deluxe Package designed by Stefan Sagmeister. All formats can be downloaded immediately and physical CDs will be shipped in the Fall.

I've been a fan of their music since  TH and "My Life InThe Bush Of Ghosts". I will be at the Lyric in Baltimore this September for this show. Check out the tour dates.

Please...Enjoy!

From Oliver Sampson's blog

Deep Purple

I went to see Deep Purple last night. Now that was an experience! I had given up on arena type shows a long time ago, because, well, they sucked. The sound was horrible, and I'd have to stand next to Jimmy Joe and Bobbi Sue and wilt in their enthusiasm for whoever their Rock hero was. I've been to some large festivals here in the Europe, and they've all been quite civilized, but I just didn't dig on big arena shows.

This time, I decided to make an exception. A friend of mine, is friends with Ian Gillan , and said she could get me a backstage pass if I would like one. Hell, yeah! Naturally, I took her up on her offer.

I went on Monday down to the ticket office to buy a ticket. The show had just sold out on Saturday. Fuck. What am I gonna do now? Ebay! I decided to check if maybe, just maybe, somebody had a ticket or two for sale on Ebay. The worst case would be that maybe I'd have to pay a little more than the face value, or maybe I'd have to buy two tickets, and try to sell one at the door. How did I get myself in a situation where I have a backstage pass but no real ticket? A quick look on Ebay, and sure enough there's one ticket available. With the Buy it now! option. And it's at a price of..hold on...I can't be reading that right. Does that really say for 10 EUR less than the ticket price? Hell, yeah! You can bet your bottom euro that I clicked on that Buy it now! button faster than the speed of light. I broke the laws of physics with that purchase, baby. Not only that, he lives just a couple of miles away and he'd bring the ticket to me! Man it just doesn't get any better than this. And then the Swedish Bikini Team showed up! Okay not really, but that would have been good. We arranged a meeting point , and money and ticket changed hands.

Read The Rest

Hey Indaba, see any good shows lately? Blog about it and let me know!  You could have your post featured up here. 

Another great post from Joe S.

The Producers: Glen Ballard

Glen Ballard is a veteran songwriter and record producer, best known as the producer of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, which went platinum sixteen times in the U.S. and more than 30 million sold world wide. He started playing the piano from a very young age and later learned the guitar. Ballard was ten years old when he wrote his first song, and he was in local rock bands beginning in grade five.

Ballard attended the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He studied English language, political science, and journalism, and he graduated with honors. He had the option of attending either graduate or law schools, but Ballard was intent upon a career as a songwriter. Within a week of graduation (1975), he moved to the West Coast.

There he joined Elton John’s organization in Los Angeles. Starting out as a lower level assistant, Ballard eventually ended up playing piano for Kiki Dee. He was writing constantly, and when Dee recorded his song "One Step" in 1978, Ballard had his first charted single.

Glen has worked with artists, including Celine Dion, Elisa, Anastacia, Shakira, Ed Kowalczyk of Live, Aretha Franklin, The Corrs, Natalie Cole, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Patti Austin, George Strait, Dave Matthews Band, OAR, Christina Aguilera, Barbra Streisand, Van Halen, No Doubt, Goo Goo Dolls, Hanson, Aerosmith, Annie Lennox and P.O.D. He is also credited with launching the debuts of Lisa Marie Presley, Curtis Stigers, Jack Wagner, Paula Abdul, Wilson Phillips, Katy Perry, Josh Groban, Natalia Lesz and Alanis Morissette.

in this set we have Ballard in the studio with Anouk and POD, and videos of his work with Katy Perry and Alanis Morissette.

Once again Youtube's playlists are messed up so if you cannot see the videos on this page, click here to view .

From Club Mocazo's Blog

The Power of Music

Music has the power to cause emotions to well up within us. These feelings are gripping - often irresistible - and seem to emerge from nowhere. These feelings colour our moods, affect our perceptions and generate a behavioural pattern. The indisputable fact about music is its power to evoke emotions. Is there anyone, for whom, music is completely emotional - neutral? Music has the ability to inevitably tap the still, mysterious deep well of our emotions.

However, music can produce various emotional responses in different individuals and even different responses in the same person at different times. Music may produce expressions of various emotions - peaceful, relaxing, exciting, festive, boring, unsettling, unstimulating, invigorating ... and so on.

Music is an extremely versatile medium of communication. It is capable of exploring all the features that are used in verbal communication. Moreover, it does so in an explicit and structured way, which makes it an interesting and useful window into human communication, in general.

The repetition of a line as in a lullaby, the regular beating of a drum - they produce a feeling of physical ease and lull the child to sleep. The rhythmic sound of the train, of waves breaking on the shore, the song of a cricket at night - why, even the electric fan is able to produce a soothing physical quiet. But good music does not stop there. It touches our emotions. True music really far deeper and touches our very soul and leaves its imprint on us. It may not be possible to explain or describe this reaction in ordinary language. It can only be felt. It is one of those mystic experiences, which baffle analytical explanation.

Music is known to endow the listener with aesthetic or intellectual pleasure. It can be simple, complex, subtle, overt - and these features may reside in one of the different aspects of the music e.g. rhythm, melody. Some of the greatness of music however, lies in its holistic nature that all the elements form a unique wholeness which may not be understood by studying the parts separately. However complex, music is readily appreciated by the mind without the need for formal knowledge.

The lay listener may not be able to hear which instruments are playing, or which pitches are used. Yet, he or she may have no problem appreciating the music as a whole. An experienced listener, on the other hand, may be able to transcribe every note, but might still be at a loss to understand why the music is so pleasing to listen to even for the time!

As a performer, I believe that music can recreate emotions and get the listeners involved with my emotions. Any particular music has an inherent emotion. And, there is the emotion that one feels while rendering. Besides, the listener is in an emotional state while listening to that music - which is also important because it could be possible that this will now be linked to the emotional state of the listener. So he or she can use the song to recreate this emotion. Very often we hear people say "This is my song" and feel that special emotion again.

Rhythm and melody are two facets of music that lend themselves to enjoyment in their individual capacities. The experience of beat and rhythm has a simple relation with joy, well-being and even excitement. Babies spontaneously start to rock and move when they hear music with a pronounced beat in a medium or fast tempo. By changing rhythm, we can change the aesthetic appeal of a piece of music. Even a change of tempo can cause variations in the aesthetic appeal.

Similarly, melody, which is the soul of music, can create different types of feelings in listeners. Some melodies bring soulfulness, some sadness, some bring jubilance or tranquility.

Music is created from the heart and moulded by emotion. As musicians, we are inherently creative - so people say - and we have the ability to derive intense pleasure from a particular piece of music, which we listen to or produce. Here, I am referring to an aesthetic experience, which everybody must have felt. Tears of joy, a tug at the heart, goose pimples... True art always comes as an irresistible inner urge. We hear a song of Thyagaraja and are enthralled just as we gaze at a majestic temple or an ancient sculpture with wonder. All such works of art are the result of an inner urge. That is why it is something inherently beautiful.

And there can be no enjoyment more impersonal and sublimating than what it offers. It prepares the very soul for something higher.If u want know more details visit my website :http://club.mocazo.com

From Joe S.'s Blog

I'm recovering from Joy Division saturation, having watched both the Joy Division Documentary AND the movie "Control " in one sitting. It's a good thing it's Friday!

The seminal song by Joy Division is "Love Will Tear Us Apart". The lyrics were written by the band's vocalist, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide a month after the song was released as a single in April 1980. It is considered by some to be the best post-punk song ever and was listed by NME magazine as the best single of all time in 2002.

After Curtis' death the band continued making music history as New Order. In this video set we have the original Joy Division version, The Cure's fan version (with lyrics...and animals?!), Arcade Fire/U2's (messy) live version and finally New Order performs their rendition of it.

Enjoy!

From Les Bennett's Blog

As some of you may know, I am the father of a little boy who has autism.  He is 7 years old and we live in Nebraska.  I am starting a new album project about autism.  I am looking for collaborators on this project.  I am looking for songwriters, singers, and other unique musicians to help out.  This will be a power-pop, ambient, sometimes dark and techno, happy and just an all around good feeling project.  Whoever gets involved with the project should be very proffesional and willing to work very hard on it.  Your knowlege about autism is not that important but I would expect you to read a little about it. 

The thing about autism is the lack of communication of the person affected by it, and their frustrations caused by not being able to express their needs.  It is much like any relationship in that they have needs, expectations, love and all of those other emotions that we have, but no way to communicate their feelings.  To me it would be like wanting someone to love, but you can't have them because of some reason or another. 

Also I want to write some songs about the way I feel about him, and my dreams for him in the future.  I think this is a very unique concept and I have already talked to some record companies about this project, and they are very excited to hear it.  The time frame is about one year, but it may take longer.  I am very open to anyone's input on this project.  I would have to say that my downfalls in music would be keyboards, vocal harmony arrangements, and the final mixdown.  I would be willing to do this project as a public thing, or in private also, or a combination of both.  The word autism does not ever need to mentioned because it is really about relationships, desires, love, frustration, happiness, and the unknowns of life.  Please feel free to contact me directly by email: jaxiepaul@yahoo.com   subject: Autism album project, or by contacting me here on Indaba.  I think this will be a very fun project because it is something that has never been done before.  I can't wait to hear from you !  Les

This is very much in the spirit of what Indaba is all about: Musicians coming together to work with each other.  I hope some of you can help Les out. 

From Joe S.'s blog

Yacht Rock

Upon hearing John Paul Young's Love Is In The Air today my thoughts went to the Yacht Rock greats like the Doobies (circa Michael McDonald) Christopher Cross, and Steely Dan.

This video set is a comic telling of Yacht Rock History with "cameos" by the Yacht Rockers themselves in a smooth rock street fight and a tale of how they saved smooth rock from Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen...with a little help from Vincent Price!

Enjoy!

( I don't know what's been going on with YouTube's playlists lately so if you can't see them on this page click here .)

Another great post from Joe S.'s Blog

The Producers: Jimmy Jam and Terri Lewis

I lived in Minneapolis during "Flyte Time" rise to fame. The songwriter/ producer team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were in The Time and had begun producing some major acts. Their sound became synonymous with the "pow pow bang" beat of the 80's.

The pair met in high school in Minneapolis and formed a band called Flyte Tyme which evolved into The Time. In 1981, they were joined by Morris Day and toured with Prince as his opening act.

As members of The Time they recorded three of the group's four albums (The Time, What Time Is It?, and Pandemonium. The first two albums are said to have shaped early eighties R&B music (featuring "Cool","Get It Up", "The Walk", "777-9311", and "Gigolos Get Lonely Too"). The pair were fired from the tour because a blizzard left them unable to rejoin after a short break to produce The SOS Band. However, one of the tracks they were producing, "Just Be Good to Me", became a big hit and made their reputation, as well that of the SOS Band.

After working with other artists like The SOS Band, Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal, Jam and Lewis were introduced to Janet Jackson and produced her breakthrough album Control in 1986, for which the duo won a Grammy Award. Their collaboration on her next album, 1989's Rhythm Nation 1814, was even more successful.

Since then they have produced hits for Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stephani and Boyz II Men to name only a few.

This video set features The S.O.S. Band's "Just Be Good To Me", Human League's "Human", and an instrumental of Usher's "U Remind Me", all Flyte Time productions. I've also included a cool radio interview of a very casual Jam and Lewis on The Amie Jo Show.

Enjoy.

From Joe S.'s Blog

Morphing: Godley and Creme and Beyond

There were many musical firsts in the 80's that seem to revolve around friends of producer Trevor Horn (who shows on the last "cry" in the video). Whether it is Yes and the Art of Noise with the use of sampling, or being the first video on MTV, Trevor and his friends were innovators. In this post we have his friends Godley and Creme (of 10cc) and their video "Cry". It was the first to explore morphing as a visual effect.

Being talented and successful songwriters Godley and Creme were also responsible for producing some of the 80's best music videos, including The Police's "Every Breath You Take", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "Synchronicity II", Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", Duran Duran's "Girls On Film" and "A View to a Kill", and George Harrison's "When We Was Fab".

Their experiment in morphing inspired and culminated in Micheal Jackson's masterful "Black and White" . I'd love to have it in the set but the Jackson Mafia has disallowed embedding on all of the video sites. I think Michael takes morphing waaaay too personally anyway.