Cultural Winds – A music outlet with the whole world in mind

A wonderful source of modern music worldwide and re-releases of lost LPs is Mondomix. They offer a plethora of free MP3’s of everything from Jazz to Electronic and the global fusion of the two. Mondomix is an astonishing resource for truly diverse music organized by origin. As is the case with the small audiences of world music, they get under a million visitors a year yet have survived since 1998 on donations and a magazine. Their radio alone brings sounds from every country of the world and transcend capitalism, exposing artists that have little to no play on mainstream. Nevertheless they ensure quality and every track is something fresh. They also allow users to suggest music for them to feature!

Use Mondomix whenever you want to feel the breeze of new music in streams, records, and mp3s. It is certain to bring inspirational sounds to even the most experienced ears.

Listen

The Voice – WVUM Documentary Film

The Full WVUM Documentary is currently competing in Cinema Slam 2011, watch it and follow the competition HERE after a brief registration. Comment and vote! 😀

The sounds that pound out of our stereos are an integral part of our lives. They move us, emotion and music are intertwined. They define us, give us an identity, bring us closer and set us apart. The messages beaming through the air sometimes pass right through us outplayed, meaningless, commercialized. Occasionally though, we discover something in tune with our mind.  WVUM The Voice is unique in that it is a free outlet for new music discovery to everyone, regardless of web access or budget. It emanates from the soul of the University of Miami, the students who appreciate music and understand broadcast power’s inherent value. WVUM has the ability to reach out and directly influence peoples’ lives anywhere they feel the need to tune in. It is a rich community unto itself on campus and fills a void in Miami’s culture. The short film (requires registration to view and comment on) The Voice reveals how and why.

May music flow like the rivers and breeze, refreshing, dynamic and everlasting.

[Vimeo 17808574 h=350&w=650]

Sekajipo Genes – Revolutionaries Only

Like any large city, Miami contains many lives, its dimensions are too complicated to encapsulate in one post, one blog, one album. But Sekajipo Genes has released a new collection of hip-hop tracks as a beautiful depiction of what a life as a witness to strife and injustice can bring to our world artistically. Genes has been skating around the most impoverished parts of town since arriving here from Liberia.  He is of apt origins and now resides as positive presence from West Grove to Little Haiti. The truth is people gotta know – a line off his newest release which supports the free mp3 download of Revolution of the Mind-State available at that link. The truth in alternative media is something he and his band of fellow musician, deemed “the Jungle” on this album, are trying to bring to the forefront of people’s understanding.

There is a certain softness and security in the tracks, a universal love. The logic of each song’s intricate lyricism is well thought out, you might listen for the Caribbean beats, but the words are what will change you. Faith is on Sekajipo’s side, he’s a “man on a mission” and he’s educated enough to make his vision a reality. He understands what it is to be a role model. The album is also free of profanity and the years of frustration are subdued to the point of impassioned rationality.

The motivation for this release is a calculated and conscious one, while there is some anger it is justified throughout the 16 tracks. “Living in Amerika” featuring Monetique is the most aggressive track in which he states ‘Politicians are predators, lenders are enslaving the nation’. This track is complimented by “Hard Times” (video below) which is a more personal subjective account, where Genes speaks as a beggar on a corner and goes on to offer solutions to our society’s apparent but often ignored problems. Throughout Revolution of the Mind-State Genes weaves the theme of love, and the most resonating idea is that we must have faith in each other and in Him above.

Sekajipo and the Jungle come out of Miami as a collaboration of worldly voices. Their call for change is poignant and progressive, it is an invitation to come together under the flag of consciousness and focus our positive energy to accomplish what is truthfully necessary.

Download Sekajipo Genes and the Jungle for free here!

Bandcamp – independent music distribution

Liberated by the internet, we now have more freedom than we ever had. People can translate tweets into real dollars, they can send and receive messages instantaneously around the globe for literally nothing. Property is easily replicated and shared with minimal manufacturing. Distribution and production are actually controlled, for the most part, by the people, a democratic and diversified computer user base. The digital landscape for discovery of new music has transformed over the years as artists struggle to be heard amidst the endless stream of contributions. Myspace had it’s day, luring artists with easy setup and a universal built in player, as well as the treasured view count. But there was no easy way to monetize or customize the model and all the revenue from visitors went directly to Tom as far as I know. iTunes is still endlessly commercial, investor driven, therefore independent artists will inevitably struggle on that platform.

Enter Bandcamp.

Driven by an easy self release system and the new music theories laid forth here musicians are free to upload any of their newest mp3’s as individual tracks or as an album at a time. No copyrights change hands and there is only one condition, that uploaded music is streamed in full from the website. The logic here is that listeners tune in for a listen, preferably repeatedly and for free like radio, and then eventually they become a fan and want to own it. It’s a long process building a following like that, but it makes sense that musicians rely on the strength of their content to keep an audience, rather than massive broadcast distribution systems. The platform lends itself to viral media and has plenty of features that are well integrated for artists. This includes a ‘name your price’ download system that Radiohead used popularly with their In Rainbows release, which I believe resulted in over $4 million in direct profits for the band, nothing for label execs, and a sold out world tour. The only cut that Bandcamp takes is 15% on sales up $5000 per month and 10% after that. Small price to pay for hosting and transmitting all of this data, as well as featuring you in their searchable database and boosting your band’s googleability.

The database is easily my favor part as a music lover, I can browse by genre, popularity, novelty, and location. It’s like browsing a museum, a well categorized and location oriented archive easily perused. Granted there are some kinks and some bands fudge their genre to make it to the top. RX bandits, cmon yall, you ain’t jazz! Regardless, the applications of this curation are quite profound for producers and venues. Everyone who wants to really discover new music should be using this like crazy to find the freshest produce in your area, and also get a feel for what other people are listening to. Bandcamp.com like the farmer’s market of music gone global online.

Bandcamp doesn’t offer any self contained social aspects that are abundant online, probably for the best to keep these pages and pedestals free from soiling negative comments and enslaving self promotion. What they do give artists is a wonderful a free space to sell and showcase their creations in entirety in one place online. In my opinion it’s the best defense against piracy because it keeps the artist in control of the source. There are an abundance of features built by a brilliant body of software engineers that will surely keep expanding. Track statistics give great insight into which tracks are connecting with listeners the best.

The top album on Bandcamp this week is actually video game music. Congratulations Steve Brickman you might be onto something!

Freebies

Happy Homecoming UM, here are some awesome videos I came across you can check em for free. At the bottom are some good free music events this weekend and coming up.

Busy with school making documentary on WVUM and lots of After-Effects graphics. Send me any tips on local artists and I’ll try to feature them.

Black Dub single shot video, no cuts –

As recommended by Billy Corrigan of The Smashing Pumpkins-

Coming up this weekend

• UM Homecoming Concert featuring Lauryn Hill who doesn’t know about this? Friday Night.
• Art in the Park free concert series – First Friday of every month Coral Gables Location
• The Frost Symphony Orchestra’s yearly performance 8pm Saturday. Get there early it’s free and they’re good!
  

Steve Brickman Bossman

Graduation in the spring of 2010 featured many prospective brilliant young minds, it’s always interesting to go back and ask, where are they now? Steve Brickman was one such revered alumni, an inspiration to many and an enemy to few. His saxophone swooned many a lady it’s no wonder he’s making a living doing what he loves. While summering in Europe he made many jazztacular tunes, he now resides in the great big NYC. What really got me interested in Steve again was word that a new Time Machine Executives EP release is currently being mastered by fellow 2010 grad Elaine Maltezos of solo and The Night Kitchen fame (video). Time Machine Executives were one of the most innovative in jazz fusion during undergrad and everyone should be excited by this upcoming release.

A brief conversation with Steve Brickman recently yielded a fascinating discovery of an alternate route he’s taking with his musical talent. He termed it “video game style music” and it’s an interesting re-interpretation of the midi sounds many of us heard whilst side-scrolling the day away. Most of the melodies are probably too complicated to have ever oozed their way out of an NES but they certainly sound like something SNES was capable of encapsulating. This is definitely worth a listen, check out “Volcano” to go everywhere from down a green pipe to the top a castle to an extraterrestrial jet-fight.

This probably isn’t for anyone who digs pahty house muzik and 500 nnn-tsss in a row until noon the next day, but the nostalgia of this music for many will surely draw an audience. Call me biased, but I’m never one to draw the line on too nerdy. Keep an ear out for the future of Steve B. he’s holding it down in New York City on the sax and the keys, definitely keep in touch with him if you can, keep checking back here for updates and releases. Music from Miami for free.

• Steve’s newest Songs

The Miles Dotson Beat Emporium

The best way to describe this house in Miami is as a music factory with a constantly overflowing beat-tank. The capacity of the minds and mouths inside to spout constant creations is astounding, flooding their space with sound waves of their making. Miles Dotson and Chris Valente inhabit this abode. One road alone isn’t big or quick enough to conceptualize their collective inspiration, although a half-project half-neighborhood is a good place for it to grow. I walked over to visit their crib down the block and upon a knock and a smile I found myself smack dab in the middle of a beatmaking whirlwind, full of rhymes and rhythms all being synthesized by Miles in a cyclone of non-linear samplings and Chris’ neo-scat.

Rhymes began to pour into the microphone, Valente echoed the Telekinetic Walrus, something about a seed, Michael Angelo sat scribbling the newest addition to the CornerStoner’s lyrical repertoire, but I have no flow so ya know I couldn’t throw, not with these cats no, just left it to the pros. After walking out the door, reflecting on this latest close encounter of the crispy kind, there is no doubt in my mind they are gonna go big. Going home isn’t an option. Miles Dotson has been working in recording studios since he was a kid and producing since before 2009.

Earlier in the week he released the dubstep heavy album First Dose under the  name Lion King co-produced with Travis Duncan and independently released it online. I managed to snag a free copy and I’ll pass on Hot Pix as a featured mp3. You can get the whole Lion King on iTunes. This album is a sonic adventure awaiting a mystical lyrical message. Although in my opinion it is more of a playground than a complete album, it is a playground I’d want to ride the merry-go-round at. It is full of bumping primal party tracks. Very heavy in synthetic bass and signature Travis drum kit, First Dose gives healthy evidence for their production potential. Also, upon release they did tease a follow up featuring an Alexandra Stewart remix for her track Say it Somehow.

If you have any interest in music production Miles and Chris are also soon to be music engineers, but their passion is most clearly defined in their custom original tracks laid down at a moments notice, sampling from the early greats of hip-hop, R&B, funk and soul all the way through the dub-filled present.

I knew these boys were up to something since way back when, always catching the ears and eyes of many cool cats. For a throwback check em on University of Miami’s music talent show in 2009 (see U-Tunes Episode 2). An interesting watermark. Can’t wait for the next flood from those guys down the street.

Micro-Show Miami – What is Fun?

When I heard that Roofless Records was throwing a preview to Miami’s first Micro-Show and that they wanted me to video this band coming in all the way from Philadelphia to play for 60 seconds, I was a little hesitant to change my plans to accommodate them. I was linked to a video of the feature band, FUN, being bound in duct tape, dressed in gas masks introducing me to an array of audible nonsense. For 15 years now Breathmint records has been producing this obscure and utter noise under the leadership of Matt Rademan, also a core member of their flagship act alongside Jonny Wray, FUN.

This music is not fun. This isn’t music. So what the hell am I doing recording it? There are already 380 videos on breathmint’s vimeo of apparent insanity.

Well my curiosity got the better of me as a week passed by, I kept finding more and more headache inducing videos and dark corners of the internet where people felt the need to put them. I finally visited their site to learn more and now cannot ignore this profitless movement and decade long endeavor. It stands for something far beyond language, beauty, and perception. Often too painful to comprehend, yet it is there. Society has rejected it for our own peace of mind. It is a million recordings that five people have heard. Entertainment deemed unsatisfactory, yet it encapsulates humanity. It wants you to bleed and it wants you to figure out why. It is destructive and chaotic and has no audience, yet unbridled and free in its creative potential. It is the soundtrack to the end of the world. It answers to no one. You admit yourself. Don’t have fun, this shit is terrible, video and afterthoughts next week.

Upcoming Free Live Music in Miami

Hey MIA just some quick suggestions for great spots for FREE LIVE MUSIC. Been real busy and haven’t much kept up in the scene lately but these are the best free shows I know of going on soon reverse chronologically, comment with others or tweet me @ericreator and I’ll feature you if it’s free.

Upcoming we’ve got –

• The Space Between Words Release Party on Friday October 15th, with 3 awesome underground local acts, UM alumni brewed beer, and no cover. The lineup filled out by Radioboxer and Telekinetic Walrus and the Pride of Ions is sure to make the near campus venue of Titanic Brewery to burst at the seams. This is a tasty slice of the real Miami music scene.

• Patio Jams as usual next Thursday October 14th at Noon. Matt Pond PA played this past week and definitely rocked it. Fancy Me Yet is playing next, they’re sure to showcase their original tracks, and their beautiful front woman Natasha in a tight 3 piece band that sounds like the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, No Doubt, and Paramore had a baby. Hop on board for a brighter afternoon.

• For an extra classy early evening TONIGHT, I recommend the virtuosity of Emmet Cohen at Books and Books off of Miracle Mile. This jazz pianist is an undergrad here at UM and quite profoundly talented. Check out the event here – Oct 8th 2010, 7-11pm at 265 Aragon Avenue, Coral Gables, FL

Raja Khan

The notion of new dimensions of our mind will always be an aspect of our infinite curiosity. Many people fear the chasms because of the potential to get lost within them, many embrace them for that very reason. Losing ones’ self is definitely an aspect of the band Raja Khan. Their show last night at Death to the Sun 2 was an open invitation to all ears. Free of charge, the band came on stage and lit the place up with the most cohesive performance of the night, despite missing the saxophone. Set up on the floor and splashing into the crowd, there was no barrier between audience and performer.  The depth of their development was apparent in the pedal setup, a forest of sounds from one guitar. I recommend the track Jenesis for any first time listeners although their entire album “Sons” is a tastefully twisted body of work.

Album cover by Raphael Yefet

They are artists in every sense of the word. Their album art and spiritual undertones exemplify that. They have a multifaceted cultural approach, blending Middle-Eastern, Latin American, and Indian musical notions with powerfully diverse rock and free-form interpretation iconic of the 60’s greats like Jimi Hendrix. Their sacred ‘dios de los muertos’-esque relic (Peppermint?) stood ominously stoic on stage for the entire performance, wielding a peacock feather and a skull colored like the blue man group. Raja Khan’s collective understanding of music is out of this world and their explorations of the language are commendable yet somehow relatively unrecognized. Raphael Yefet on drums has a fascinating sense of time and drove the energy of the band through their set. Synchronized and beautifully chaotic, the noise they drenched Death to the Sun with is not something I will soon forget. Keep an eye out for these guys to break on through. May they continue to breathe and grow. Raja Khan makes a great addition to any festival line-up, and I can’t wait to hear more from them.