There's an interesting story up on the npr site that explores all the quirky things that musicians do to warm up for a gig. Some people do some interesting things.

One singer said that the best way to warm up is just to sing along with the radio on the way to the gig. Another singer said she imitates birds. Yo-Yo Ma has the most intriguing quote. He says that he wants the first sound out of his instrument to be something friendly and soothing.

I like that idea. I usually stretch a bit, do some simple vocal excercises (despite the fact that I am not a singer), and play every major and minor scale on the piano. That's my daily warmup routine, and if I have time, then also my gig warmup routine. Still, I am attracted to the idea that you should really focus on the first sound out of your instrument. I am attracted to the idea that the very first note is important, in as much as it sets the tone for the rest of your playing. It's like saying "OK, I'm going to play this one perfect note, and then try to make sure that the rest of my playing is as close to that as possible". Cool.

What do you do to warm up on a daily basis? Is that any different from what you do to warm up for a gig?

There are a lot of reasons to dislike the major record labels. In fact, I have been trying to boycott them for a few months, due to the predatory practices of the RIAA. This, unfortunately, is somewhat difficult since it is tough to tell which tiny labels are actually subsidiaries of the big 5. Well, today NPR brings us the story of a label that is definitely not part of the big 5.

Modiba Productions is a very modern music distributor. This is evident on their website by the simple fact that they give away some mp3s for free (a lesson that the big 5 have yet to learn). But the label is more than just tech-savvy; they funnel a portion of their proceeds into their artists' communities. Since they are an afrocentric label, this means that they fund a lot of charity projects in Africa.

On the Modiba website, they say that their mission includes "Generating revenues to fund pressing African causes" and "Raising global awareness about the challenges faced today by the people of Africa".

Noble indeed.

I just ordered the ASAP CD that is heard in the background of the NPR story, and if this is the kind of thing that gets you excited, you should spend the $10 too.

Today's NPR Open Mic is especially hip. It's a song called Paint it Beige by a group called Telenovela.

I just listened through all the tracks on the band's myspace, and they're well worth a listen. This band is in that odd, semi-electronic, semi-acoustic genre that is sometimes called electro-pop, but I would probably call their sound electro-folk. It looks like the band has a couple of albums, but I can't find a place to order them.

Right now, I'm digging yesterday's Song of the Day, from NPR. It's a tune called Swing, that ironically doesn't swing at all. In fact, the sound is kind of Brian Eno, kind of Sigur Ros, but it's performed entirely with acoustic instruments. The acoustic feel is very refreshing, as ambient music so often gets overwhelmed with technology.

Anyway, the 10 minute track may brighten your day, as it did mine, so head on over to the NPR site and check it out.

Jazz Profiles is one of the more interesting radio shows that NPR syndicates, but I normally miss it because the my local NPR affiliate runs it on Friday nights. Also, since they do a weekly show, they have to do a lot of profiles on some less-than-legendary jazz figures, and those shows don't always hold my interest.

This week's show is of particular interest, I think, because it covers the greatest jazz singer of all time: Ella Fitzgerald. If you're sitting at work, trying to find something to listen to this afternoon, you should give this show a listen.

So what do refugees do when they're sitting around in those refugee camps for weeks on end? Apparently, they make music, or at least that's how The Refugee All Stars got together. They're all survivors of Sierra Leone's civil war, and NPR has an interesting article about them with links to some of their music.

When I'm in the right mood, their blend of African Pop really does it for me. Take a listen to the mp3s on the NPR site, and let me know how you feel about them in the comments.

The Beatles classic album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band turns 40 today. NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen has some interesting words on the album. Among his more interesting comments:

Despite its place in history, at the time of its release, Sgt. Pepper's didn't make much of a splash on the airwaves. Most radio stations didn't play it. If you wanted to hear the record, you had to buy it or listen to a friend's copy.

Interesting. Definitely an album worth having in your CD collection.

Ten years ago today, Jeff Buckley decided to take an ill-fated swim in the Wolf River. He was just beginning work on his second studio album. You can read a short bio of him here.

I'll be posting internet memorials as people put them up today. So far:
we have a story from NPR about Jeff's influence

Liz Pappademas is a singer-songwriter based in San Francisco, and while I wouldn't call her music incredibly unique, it IS very much what I look for in music from solo artists. She is currently being featured on NPR's Open Mic, and you can listen to one of the songs off the album on the NPR site.

How much do I love NPR's music website? Much.

We're leading off with two stories from NPR this morning.

Since 56% of the world* is obsessed with the show Grey's Anatomy, it's somewhat surprising to learn how the show has reached out to an independent artist for some of the music on the show. Ingrid Michaelson originally started writing music to the show just for fun, but one of the producers noticed her music on MySpace, and now her music has been on the show 4 times (including on the season finale).

The real coup is that, since she is an unsigned artist, she makes a lot of money off iTunes downloads. According to the story, she makes about $0.66 per download, whereas signed artists make much much less.

* this calculation is 100% scientifically accurate
Posted by Evan on May 22, 2007Comment (0)

I heard this semi-interesting little story on NPR yesterday. It deals with two companies who are fighting over using the phone number 8-6-7-5-3-0-9-iii--ii-ine. Of course this number was the tag line in the famous 1982 song with the awesome title 867-5309/Jenny.

It's a common dilemma. You want something new to listen to, but have no idea where to find good new music. The radio only plays commercialized crap, and your friends only seem to be able to recommend bands from the 90s (or 80s or 70s, depending on their age). So what do you do?

After intense struggles with this problem, I have come up with a few sure-fire places to find new music that is exactly what you are looking for. Read on for the three best places to find new music on the web.

Shadow Classics is a weekly column about older albums that are good, but have been overlooked commercially. On the list now, they have artists that range from Sly Stone to Joe Henderson to The Tokens. Yeah, it's an eclectic mix. With each column, you can stream 3 full tracks from the album that is being recommended, and that's certainly enough to let you know if the album is right for you or not.

Other nice NPR:Music features include Song of the Day and Open Mic. Song of the Day usually features a single catchy tune that is worth a listen, and Open Mic features great unsigned artists.

Metacritic may be the best 'web 2.0' site out there. The idea is simple: collect all of the review scores for any medium, organize them, average them, and make them easily searchable. Voila! The new music section immediately shows you the major albums that have been recently released and reviewed. Could it be any easier?!

Well, yes it could. Their Best Of lists make it easy to find the new music that critics like.

The one caveat with metacritic is that it IS based on review scores. Hence, only albums that are widely reviewed will show up. This will immediately remove any music being released independently, or by smaller labels. Also, what does a review score really mean? It's a single number that sums up an entire artistic work, and that's an oversimplification.

Nonetheless, if you're just looking for something that you are guaranteed to like, then metacritic is a great source.

Pandora is the best place to find new music that you will like. Period. Enter an artist that you like, and it will show you a bunch of other artists that you will probably like. And it really works. And it's free. And it plays music by the artists that is suggests. And ... and ... well, it's just amazing,

Besides being free, and working shockingly well, Pandora is great because it is not limited in the way that other major outlets are limited. The bands it recommends aren't filtered by popularity, commercial success, or advertising. They are only filtered by similarity to the music that you like.

If you haven't tried Pandora, go try it now. It rawks.