creative MySpace Music artist bios 4

Note how various bands describe themselves in their About bios (redundancy is the mother of comprehension! because I said so, that's why!).

Isn't it interesting how modest and brief King Crimson's bio is, when they could have gone on and on about their development. We might have expected an exhaustive treatment of all the innovators, albums, and spin-off groups that were generated by this creatively colossal group. Instead, we get a quick description and adios. Let the music be its own ambassador, eh?






King Crimson


Sometimes dubbed progressive, sometimes called metal, sometimes referred to as a wallpaper-shredding noise, since its formation in 1969 King Crimson has consistently produced genre-blurring music in all of its various incarnations.

With 13 studio albums in the can and numerous live releases, King Crimson remains just as challenging and as uncompromising as ever. There are plans for the group to get together in 2008 for yet another cycle of Crimsonising. For regular news updates about the band and its members both past and present, free downloads and full concerts for purchase visit DGMLive









Algebra Suicide


A poetry-music duo from Chicago that were together from 1983 to 1993.

From Trouser Press [Ira Robbins]:
"Of the many vocalist/instrumentalist duos to emerge in and around the new wave, this Chicago team was quite unique, a fascinating marriage of Don Hedeker’s music and Lydia Tomkiw’s poetry. Over the course of its career, Algebra Suicide flirted with pop forms and occasionally shared stylistic ground with both Laurie Anderson and the Velvet Underground but never wavered from its own individual path."

To buy the CD or MP3s of "The Secret like Crazy" at CDBaby, click here

or buy "The Secret like Crazy" on CD, here


Very sad news: Lydia Tomkiw died in early September 2007.
Her words, vocals, and vision will always live on.

A great article about Lydia by Chicago Sun-Times music writer Jim Derogatis

A very moving remembrance of Lydia by her long-time friend and fellow poet Sharon Mesmer

Bart Plantenga , a long-time friend and writer, honored Lydia and Algebra Suicide in September 2007 on his great radio program in Amsterdam. Details on the show, as well as some extensive commentary and notes.








Nullsleep


Nullsleep emerges from the darkness with Unconditional Acceleration – an exploration of romance and tragedy in the 21st century. Five songs, limitless intensity. Ecstatic bursts of cascading waveforms race toward uncertainty. A feeling of ever increasing separation develops. Unattainable distances are approached and sheets of white noise issue forth from the fissures of an obsessively restructured reality. The sound surrenders in memory of another time and place, to which we can never return.













Tyson and the Friction



Tyson & The Friction was formed in the year 2007.

Hi. I’m Tyson and I make music. I make some of the music by myself and some of it I make with my friends, The Friction. Some of the music is punk, some of it is new wave, some of it is bizarre indiecore that the kids with goofy haircuts seem to like, but all of it is infectious and catchy as all get out. The catchiness is sort of a curse really; listen to some of the songs you’ll understand.

I’ve been based out of Central Illinois my whole life, centered mostly in and around Peoria Illinois, but I am currently making music out of Champaign. I’ve been in a ton of bands and some of them were pretty decent. The bands toured around the country but we always concentrated on the Midwest. I was in the Amazing Kill-O-Watts (Thinker Thought Records), The Red Hot Valentines (Polyvinyl Records), Analog Saves the Planet, and Mandroid ‘Destroyers of the Human Race’ to name a few. I created Tyson and The Friction as a way to combine portions of all of those bands into one life long musical project. Our first release “Listen to the Braintrust”, is a 7 song E.P. that picks up where The Amazing Kill-O-Watts left off and drifts off into unknown territory. I formed a back up band that included Chris Anderson (Tina Sparkle bassist), Dylan Stanford (Mandroid keyboardist), Dan Seipel on drums, and Matt Scott on lead guitar. In the studio Marsha Satterfield from Tina Sparkle and the Amazing Kill-O-Watts was gracious enough to sing some beautiful harmonies, as did Matt Maloney from the band Sleepy Sleepy Octopus. The “Listen to the Braintrust” EP is as eclectic and melodic as you can get. It’s like a library book…check it out.

Tyson and the Friction also have an exclusive track on the new Live Music Peoria compilation CD. The CD is called “Playing in Peoria: Another Side of Town” and along with Tyson and The Friction the CD also features other Thinker Thought Records acts such as Scout’s Honor, Tina Sparkle, and The Forecast.

As for the future I am putting together a Single of the Month Club as a way of letting the fans hear new music every month, for free, in the process of putting together what promises to be a ridiculous new album titled “Fantastique Plastique”. Shoot an e-mail over to tysonandthefriction@yahoo.com to join the Single of the Month Club and to get semi regular updates on what is going on.

Keep On, Keepin’ On

Tyson Markley

Bands I've has been in over the years
somewhat chronological
---------------------------------------------------
The Massaged Llamas
Super Fub
Home Jones
HAM
The Kill-O-Watts
The Amazing Kill-O-Watts
The Taco Bros.
Minker
Analog Saves the Planet
The Red Hot Valentines
Karaoke Death Squad
...So Gigantic
MANDROID (Destroyers of the Human Race)
Super Mario Speedwagon
Tyson & The Friction

Blob

BLOB is interested in collaborating with experimental film/video artists!!!

BLOB is an electric instrumental ensemble experience, that focuses on recording their spontaneously created journeys, that embrace a multiplicity of genres, taking their burgeoning legion of followers to exciting, energy and spirit driven spaces with each foray. BLOB is all about the moment, and those moments are eclectic, honest, and heart pounding. It is full-out instrumental playing within a stream of consciousness mindset that speaks to a world in desperate need of this level of immediate expressionism.

BLOB's 4th CD "You Can't Get There From There" has just completed the mastering process and is on its way to Lisbon hopefully to be sold to a label. We'll let you knw! The other 3 releases are "Quantum Fugue" available on iTunes (there are links on this page), "Halloween" our Clinical Archives netlabel releasem and, now out of print, "The Awakening". We encourage you all to visit our store at johnlindberg.com/BLOB

Ted "Deadly Tedly" Orr is a renowned guitar virtuoso and an innovator in the arena of midi guitar performance. He has recorded and/or performed with Sly Stone, George Clinton & P-Funk, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Bad Brains, Gary Windo, Karl Berger, Creative Music Sudio Orchestra, Garth Hudson, Ismet Siral, Wadada Leo Smith, Nana Vasconcelos, Hunter S. Thompson, Buddy Miles, Swollen Monkeys, Stanley Jordan, 420 Funk Mob, Cacophonic Funk Mob, Winston Grennan, Futu Futu and others. Ted maintains a parallel career as an audio engineer; a unique talent that has given BLOB its public voice.

John "Geeze" Lindberg has been a seminal figure in the world of creative music for over thirty years, having toured worldwide performing his own work leading ensembles, with the String Trio of New York, and as featured bassist with artists ranging from Anthony Braxton to Wadada Leo Smith. He has released over sixty albums featuring his work. He recently created and produced JazzHopRevolution with hip-hop emcee Rahman Jamaal.

Harvey "Mudcat" Sorgen has performed and /or recorded with the following artists: Hot Tuna, Ahmad Jamal, Michelle Shocked, Paul Simon,Dewey Redman, Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hildago, Wadada Leo Smith, Cameron Brown, Steve Swell, Neil Rolnick, Anthony Braxton, Carter Jefferson, John Stubblefield, Brenda Buffalino, Honi Coles, Daunik Lazro, Todd Reynolds, Derrick Trucks, Roswell Rudd, Phil Lesh, David Torn, The Memphis Pilgtims, Bill Frisell, Fonda/Stevens Group, Carlos Santana, Dry Jack, Art Lande, John D'Earth, NRBQ, Bob Weir, Greg Allman, Marcel Monroe, The Mallards, Sorgen-Rust-Windbiel Trio, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Samuels, Drew Gress, Tony Levin, Pete Levin, Garth Hudson, Jimmy Vivino, among many others.

BLOB is interested in collaborating with experimental film/video artists!!!

BLOB ON!

To Get Her Together


As though through a rip in space they were born. With fathers of stars and our moons of mothers whom say the simple words of wisdom "Do as thy Do". Raised in the memory banks of Servo Computers in a distant binary system unknown by the eyes and telescopes of Man. They were instructed and immersed in the ancient ways of the universe to enlighten the humans from their intolerance of each other and to see the love and truths of their golden future.

Transmutating from their previous dimensional state of pure thought, To Get Her Together was manifested into this three dimensional reality.

A diamond of his time Quasar One, also known as Jeffrey James Sanger The First is a truly unique and mystical singer/songwriter. Whom from an early age melodies rung deep in his conscience mind and found their way into the living rooms, ears and hearts of this place described by the elders as Terra.

Joining along side of him is Ms. Dareadorme, also known as Alexa K. Marmon assisting in the sacred sciences of electronic replication of sonic vibration. This is symbolically interpreted by the Casimir Effect.

Currently residing in the lands of Portland, Oregon, United States of America, and performing for the populace.








Starflyer 59


Jason Martin Vocals, Guitar
Steven Dail Bass
Trey Many Drums

You have come to expect Starflyer 59 to be the most reliable, most dependable, yet most undeniably unpredictable messengers of album after album of quality independent rock tunes. Over ten albums deep, over fifteen years time, from the early guitar-heavy shoegazing era to the ethereal moodiness of The Fashion Focus years to the latest incarnations and recreations of themselves as keyboard-driven masters of chorus, this is and always will be a band who will deliver great songs with new sounds.

But who are you going to call when you need a deeply emotional, personal album confronting loss with faith and candor? Dial M for Martin...

Jason Martin, the band's vocalist, producer, and songwriter explains, “I always wanted to do a record of solo tracks and call it ?Dial M for Martin.” But because this is such a candid record for me I decided to lend that idea as the title for this. I dealt with some very difficult tests when I was working on this...the loss of someone very close to me. This record deals with that loss.”

Somber, yet reflective, mournful, yet hopeful, this is Martin at his sleeve-wearing finest. Feeling speaks first here above all else, but just don't expect him to trade songwriting or sonic surprise for sentiment. And there is more than one dose of the unexpected here: instead of any sense of drive to the guitar sounds, SF59 goes the opposite direction, which proves to be a wondrous decision; Mr. M. and company rely heavily on assorted analog keys and synths, with a sprinkling of acoustic guitar. There are even tracks without any guitar at all. Consider, The sexy swing of track number three, “Concentrate.” With a beat that you cannot help but slowly sway to, and the swagger of Jason's sultry vocal, the point is made without the need for a six-string.

Perhaps the most noticeable aural quality of this release is the to-the-point nature of Martin's vocal, in both performance and presentation. While many would site his vocals as more subtle in approach on previous releases, this is Martin at his most confident and most clear. His choice of melody is pinpoint, as his voice carries the music, rather than the other way around.

Though SF59 has always been a band that is about albums, not singles, approaching songwriting from a stregth-in-numbers standpoint, there are several standout tracks that deserve first attention. “The Brightest Of The Head” is a snowy hillside stroked and brushed with echoes. “Taxi” shows a hint of Smiths throwback (but just a hint), moving through with tastefully-placed strums over a beat that pushes you forward like a cab through the urban sprawl at 3 A.M. And complemented by background the sounds of birds throughout the entire song, the ballad-like swell of Mr. Martin could even move those with hearts made of stone.

When you add in the fact that Mr. M. has produced his last several albums, including this, his latest and greatest you begin to realize he may just be one of the most underrated men in independent music, and Starflyer one of the most underrated bands.

“I don't really have a formula. I just write songs and try to make ?em as good as I can. And I have gotten used to self-producing. The idea of booking out 12 days in the studio where you have to get things done for better or worse, then getting home with the songs and thinking about all the things you would like to change, but knowing you cant...that's tough. I love the idea that if I don't like something I can always go back in my place and do it until I think it is right. Everyone has limitations on what they can do, but if you find something you can do reasonably well stick with that...you gotta just do what you do, and this approach works best for me.”

When you understand the subject matter behind the lyrics to Dial M, whether you are a lifetime Starflyer fan or a newcomer, you will realize the depth of faith this record possesses. And even if you were just a moderate listener before, you may just find this becoming the soundtrack to your next trial, thanks to Mr. M. On the opening track he provides provides a shrewd insight with a double meaning: For once, or maybe twice, i was in my prime...the best are made from these. That's what I say to put my mind at ease. The saddest songs are wrote in minor keys. Like Johnny Marr I want my please please please. The brutal honesty in the album's closer regarding the trials of the music industry should be mandatory reading for any new band: No need to remind that scans are unkind a lot of times. But i've tried, i've tried to write, what was in my head, what was in my head. Sometimes I feel, i feel so obsolete, because the kids want a faster beat. And if I was free, free to leave, but it's my kids, they need to eat. And if there was any doubt as the where Martin's priorities lie, you can find them on “M23”: Hey man you tired? ya that's me. You look worried, well ya that's me. Is it over? Well, we'll see... My memorial. Can I rely, can I? in the twinkling of an eye..of an eye, we'll rise. So I'll rely on Christ. in the twinkling of an eye we'll rise.

“My dad passed away last year, so this record for me is a bit more personal than my records usually are....Not that I have so much to say, but I really wanted to write some songs that had some meaning to me, and in a small way to honor my old man, who I really miss.”

creative MySpace Music artist bios 3

This series of articles is extremely popular with my blog readers, including you now, as you allow your eyes to gaze upon clever wording of About [artist] in the MySpace Music arena.


My favorite About/Bios are either funny or highly informational.

When an artist makes fun of themselves, or says irrelevant things in their About section, it's a refreshing change from the old-fashioned rock star syndrome of celebrity worship.

I often wonder about various bands I've liked in the past. It's nice that with almost every significant band, the popular and the obscure, on MySpace now, we can get up to speed with what our favorite bands are up to, and how they began.







Str8 Sounds Secret Transmissions


Steven Streight and His Sounds are at it again, this time it's the night before Christmas Eve 2008. This, with whatever value future scholars may find in it, is a collection that until now has remained under the radar. These are the hidden therapeutics, the esoteric transformative tunes that I should not have released to the public: out-takes, improvs, exaggerations, and new trends in modern music.











Fruit Bats


Fruit Bats began in the mid-1990's as the four track band of Eric D. Johnson. A lot happened in between then and now. These days it's a band with guitars and people and singing!











A$$tro Cadaver


two great philosophers met one day lost in kropotkin forest. they met as particles in a cloud of metal floating around london town. thier powerful intellect worked in tandem to create astonishingly complex sonatas of heartwrenching brutality and exposes the fundamental unreality of reality. dude.











Luc Ferrari


Ferrari was born in Paris and studied the piano under Alfred Cortot, musical analysis under Olivier Messiaen and composition under Arthur Honegger. His first works were freely atonal.

In 1954, Ferrari went to the United States to meet Edgard Varèse, whose Déserts he had heard on the radio, and had impressed him. This seems to have had a great effect on him, with the tape part in Déserts serving as inspiration for Ferrari to use magnetic tape in his own music.

In 1958 he co-founded the Groupe de Recherches Musicales with Pierre Schaeffer and François-Bernard Mâche. He taught in institutions around the world, and worked for film, theatre and radio. By the early 1960, Ferrari had begun work on his Hétérozygote, a piece for magnetic tape which uses ambient environmental sounds to suggest a dramatic narrative.

The use of ambient recordings was to become a distinctive part of Ferrari's musical language. Ferrari's Presque rien No. 1 'Le Lever du jour au bord de la mer' (1970) is regarded as a classic of its kind. In it, Ferrari takes a day-long recording of environmental sounds at a Yugoslavian beach and, through editing, makes a piece that lasts just twenty-one minutes.

It has been seen as an affirmation of John Cage's idea that music is always going on all around us, and if only we were to stop to listen to it, we would realise this. Ferrari continued to write purely instrumental music as well as his tape pieces. He also made a number of documentary films on contemporary composers in rehearsal, including Olivier Messiaen and Karlheinz Stockhausen.












People Like Us


People Like Us played there first gig three days after meeting sometime early in June 2008.

At the time all based in Ladbroke grove west London and brought together by one special pub called The Cowshed, thanks to its free thinking landlords Micheal O' Donovan & Jamie Weaver who allowed them to rehearse all over the pub night & day.

Their first gig like the others to follow was a spontaneous, ramshackle & debauched occasion, this time at a squat pub in Hackney, there were a lot of punk bands playing that night & the band all hopped up & M.dizzled was said to be more punk than the punks, with there frenzied & loose, melodic attack of the eight or so songs they'd got together over the past few days. Now with bugs up there asses & a taste for the buzz of preforming they got back to rehearsing, this time with drums stripped back to floor tom & snare.

Living on Portobello's door step, they took the busy Saturdays as an opportunity to bust it out in front of hundreds of people, siphoning electricity from friendly shop owners & landlords. From the street gigs and back with a full kit they where invited to play at an opening exhibition for a local video artist.

Turning up late & clambering through with gear into a diminishing crowd it didn't seem promersing but, with the hypnotic chorused guitar & the banging garage back line filling up the large warehouse space, it wasn't long before the viewers were dancing, add to that the video art being projected on the to the band and the fact they were joined halfway through the set by Ned Scott from The Egg it all added up to be a night to remember.

The band since then have played on bills with The Chapman Family members of the Holloways, The Saudis, Minipuma and a few others ???? ;). People Like Us are currently back in the studio working on new music.

Throughout the whole PLU experience Jack the lens has been capturing everything he can on film & we can hope to see good things from that in the future. Remember People Like Us Do It Yourself!










Noveller


Noveller is the solo project of Brooklyn-based sound artist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate. She has performed in Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army, and as a member of Glenn Branca’s 100 guitar ensemble. Recently, Lipstate joined Parts & Labor as their new guitarist.

She has previously performed as one-half of the experimental duo One Umbrella and as a member of the Brooklyn trio Sands. Her short films have screened for two consecutive years at SXSW, and earned Lipstate the "Diamond in the Rough Cut" award for exceptional emerging filmmaker at Cinematexas 2006.

Lipstate received a BS in Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin in December 2006, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.












Mandy Ventrice


For the sake of those who actually read these little “about me” sections…

My story isn’t that much different than any other singer/songwriter/producer/starving artist; I eat, sleep, breathe and bleed for music and opted to skip college in order to have more time to chase after the [sometimes I think] impossible dream of being successful doing what I love.

I was born and raised near San Francisco, and started belting out those tunes at the age of two; granted most of it was gibberish. I started writing songs around the age of seven, thanks to the heavy influence of my dad who is also a musician. My parents divorced when I was a young buck, and by the time I turned fifteen, my mother and I re-located to Los Angeles. Shortly after, I joined a girl group and moved to Boston and spent my days rehearsing pelvic thrusts and singing bee-bop-bubblegum pop songs. And yes, I wore the midriff proudly.

After all of that turned stale, I went back to California to start anew. By the time my eighteenth birthday strolled around, I convinced myself it was absolutely necessary to move to New York all by myself to further pursue my career in music. After a lot of skipped meals, identity crisis’, distraction and indecisive behavior, here I am today…twenty-three and still kicking and screaming.













Brian Miller


http://www.myspace.com/brianmillerisafaggot




Now I don't even need a band to play music.











Tuxedo Moon


Tuxedomoon are a welcome exception in today's over-formatted musical world.

Born in 1977, in the heady atmosphere of San Francisco’s postpunk golden age, the band soon became a central part of New York's No Wave scene (as documented in the recent "Downtown 81" film, centered around Jean Michel Basquiat and featuring performances by Blondie, James Chance, DNA and Tuxedomoon). "No Tears", their 2nd single (1979), has remained an electro punk club classic to this day.

The band went on to sign to The Residents' Ralph Records, and released two seminal albums, "Half Mute" and "Desire", which soon got them overseas exposure.

Fleeing Reagan's America, Tuxedomoon moved to Europe in the early '80s, and stayed there throughout the decade. Although their ability to crystallize a certain dark and romantic zeitgeist quickly turned them into one of the most influential bands around, their music transcended all genres and included impossibly wide parameters –rock, electronics, minimal music, classical, jazz, Gypsy music and pop were all simultaneously consumed and transmutated into a quasi-prescient blend.

After releasing a string of albums on CramBoy (the imprint they set up with Brussels-based label Crammed Discs), the band stopped recording together in 1988, and the various members pursued solo careers, becoming as disparate geographically as sonically, with Steven Brown (vocals, keyboard & saxophone) living in Mexico, Peter Principle (bass, electronics) in New York, Blaine L. Reininger (vocals, violin, guitar) in Greece, and Luc Van Lieshout (trumpet) & Bruce Geduldig (films/visuals) in Brussels.

Many years later, Tuxedomoon got back together to write and record the awesome "Cabin In The Sky" album (2004), which found them in absolute top form, as romantic, rebellious and boundlessly imaginative as they ever were. "Cabin" featured contributions by a carefully hand-picked selection of guests such as Tarwater, Tortoise's John McEntire, Nouvelle Vague's Marc Collin, Aksak Maboul (aka Crammed founder Marc Hollander and Konono N°1 producer Vincent Kenis) and DJ Hell.

Shortly after finishing "Cabin In The Sky", Tuxedomoon traveled back to San Francisco, the band's birthplace, in order to start writing material for their next album.

But the local atmosphere had unexpected effects on them, and drove them to record a series of "spontaneous compositions" (as Mingus would have put it) instead, which soon formed the basis of a side project entitled "Bardo Hotel Soundtrack", loosely connected to Brion Gysin’s novel ‘The Bardo Hotel’ set in the Paris hotel where he and William Burroughs invented the radical cut-up/fold-in technique.

Both "Cabin…" and "Bardo Hotel…" were warmly welcomed, and a wildly eclectic, almost surreal array of references sprang from the pens of reviewers trying to describe Tuxedomoon's music (Charles Ives, Radiohead, Philip Glass, Miles Davis, German electronica, Tom Waits, John Cage, Kurt Weill, Tortoise, Can…).

If anything, these two recent albums revealed that Tuxedomoon were never connected to a particular period: they had become '80s cult figures simply because that's the period in which they happened to develop and rise to fame… but the band have always been evolving in their own space, and their music is as relevant and fresh today as it was then. An impression to be further strengthened by their upcoming new album "Vapour Trails".

To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, Crammed will also be releasing a limited-edition boxed set entitled"77o7 tm", which will include the new album along with a CD of previously-unreleased archives, a DVD containing 160 minutes of rare or previously-unreleased videos, and a live CD recorded in early 2007.










Front 242



Front 242’s entire history was clearly defined from the start when, in 1981, Daniel B. laid out his ideas on the first single : Body to Body. Following the recruitment of Patrick Codenys (keyboards), and Jean-Luc De Meyer (vocals) in 1982 for the first album GEOGRAPHY. In 1983, Richard 23 joins and completes the band as stage performer and vocalist.

A year later, the project / band developed and quickly reached a specialised audience in Europe. Successive tours and records are logical conclusions of the same concept of electro-induced energy music. At the same time, the band already provided for it’s needs by having their own recording and graphic units. Wax Trax from Chicago is interested in Front 242; they sign what will be their first US release : the EP “Take One” (1984)

In 1985, the band played for the first time in large European festivals and flew to the US for some dates.

They were soon tagged as a very powerful live group, and this form of music continues to spread across Europe under the monitor of “Electronic Body Music” which is the term Front 242 used to described the music they have invented. It is a collage, a synthesis of music and sound, recycled from the media or TV; and Front 242’s own interpretation of other artistic disciplines.

1988 saw the release of “Front By Front ” (including HeadHunter and Welcome to Paradise) which placed the band onto most of the covers of the European rock press. From now on, Front 242 is a fact.

Front 242’s vision continued toward fuller maturity.

The world drastically changed since 1991’s “Tyranny For You“ album, and the members of the group moved with it. The two albums, “ 06:21:03:11 Up Evil “ and “05:22:09:12 OFF “ broke through the classical Front 242 formula to bring in new vocalists, live guitars and drums.

Redistributing roles and rules within the group, allowing other facets of the band’s personality to shine through. Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Sonic Youth) was called in to mix the album in Front’s studio.

Exercising his talents within an electronic environment, bringing an abrasive, edgy, and seductive album to full potential. Released in 1993, the project showed the scope of radical invention and attitude, that goes hand in hand with Front 242’s music.

Taking a two year sabbatical didn’t stop Front from moving. It enabled them to realize two attractive CD’s: “Live Code”, recorded during their last world tour, brings to the forefront the power of the group’s live performance and sound. The compilation-album “Mut@ge-Mix@ge” proposes The Prodigy, The Orb, Underworld, Rico Conning, and Front 242 all on the same record.

More than a “remix” album, all the tracks, enriched by the innovative mixes of the other artists involved, and each dealing with different levels of technology, have been reedited in a specific order by Front 242 to provide a successful continuity of enveloping atmospheres and rhythms.

In 1997-98, the band has decided to undertake a World Tour to underline their last releases. Playing “live” has always been a good way for them to check out excitement and creativity. In that matter, the “live” music on their CD release “Re-Boot” includes new sounds and structures in order to present updated versions of older compositions.

After a long absence, Front 242 released the EP « Still & Raw » and the Album «Pulse» in 2003.

Based on an aesthetic from the 70’s and 80’s, when the roots of todays electronic music were influenced by German bands , Front 242 re-invents the original sound that was at the center of their art and enriched by 20 years of experience.

Analogue technologies and vintage machines pulsing into deconstructed tracks where emotion and research leads to a purely electronic attitude. Front 242, an unpredictable band, surprises the old and new audiences - while continuing to make the link with today’s music... with no concessions to their integrity.











Panda Steps in Chocolate


In the midst of all the glory of modern day musicians i have found myself trying to plug away at the midi coated heart strings of the little people.

I am Christian Michael Filardo panda was originally manifested after my girlfriend dumped me, then my father started working away from home a lot, and now it is for all of you who can't say the things they want to say.

Rope light is a necessity not a convenience here and i would love to play any show, anytime, for any select group of people. Hopefully you will all spark up some really fucking cool conversations here. Lets chit and chat.......









The Gun Club


The Gun Club were a rock band from Los Angeles in the 1980s and 90s, led by the flamboyant singer, ex-rock critic and Blondie fan Jeffrey Lee Pierce. They were one of the first bands to blend punk with blues, country, and other American roots musics.

The band was formed by Pierce and Kid Congo Powers and initially called the Creeping Ritual. They went through several lineup changes before settling on "The Gun Club," a name suggested by Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris.

Kid Congo left before the first album to join The Cramps but would return for Las Vegas Story, and he was replaced by Ward Dotson. Other notable members include bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, who had both previously been in The Bags. Rob left after the debut album to form 45 Grave, and changed his name to Rob Graves. Later, Patricia Morrison, then known as Pat Bag, one of the founders of The Bags, joined to play bass on two LPs Danse Kalinda Boom and Las Vegas Story before leaving to join The Sisters of Mercy and then The Damned.

Their first album, 1981's Fire of Love, is regarded as a classic by many rock critics. One critic has written that the "album's lyrical imagery is plundered from voodoo, '50's EC comics and the blues," 1 while another notes that "Nobody has heard music like this before or since."[1] Fire of Love sold well and arguably received the best reviews of any release from the band.

Along with The Cramps, X, Blasters and other bands, they set much of the tone for the Hollywood rock scene in the 1980s. Now based in Europe, Gun Club returned again in 1987 with the brilliant album Mother Juno, produced by Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie and featuring Kid Congo again, along with Romi Mori and Nick Sanderson.
In 1992, Pierce returned to his musical roots by recording an album of mostly pre-war blues songs with the British blues Guitarist Cypress Grove.

Pierce continued leading various incarnations of the Gun Club up until his untimely death in 1996, culminating in the acclaimed last album, Lucky Jim.

The Gun Club helped influence the so-called cowpunk or punk blues scene that developed in their wake and a wide variety of bands ranging from Social Distortion in the 1980s to The White Stripes, 16 Horsepower, The Starvations and the Starlite Desperation today.









Foot Village





Our national language is drumming.
Our national pass-time is screaming.

FOOT VILLAGE WEBSTORE - vinyl, cd, tshirts, more

"Of all the weird scum-hunch folk ensembles I've heard over the last few years, Foot Village may be the most chaotic. Created and staffed by members of some LA underground heavies, this is a rather masterful effort, even when things are a little more controlled." - WIRE

"their sound is engaging, lively, and confrontational, reflecting a negotiation with culture, not a retreat. This ain’t music to hum to; this is music to purge to." - Tiny Mix Tapes

Featuring members of of Gang Wizard (Load/Ecstatic Peace), Friends Forever (Load), and the infamous International Voice of Reason, Foot Village is the first nation built after the apocalypse. Casting off their past accomplishments as mere musicians, the citizens of Foot Village now have a duty to rebuild the world, a new nation atop the ruins of Hell, after the oceans have all evaporated.

In the absence of electricity they are erecting civilization with drums and voices alone! This is pure hardcore though. No jamming. No drum circles. So leave your bongos at home you hippy!

All we know so far is revealed on their first album 'World Fantasy' (Not Not Fun) a collection of songs about other countries. Now Foot Village have created their own country and the songs on 'Friendship Nation' (Recorded by Jonathan Snipes of Captain Ahab & mastered by Pete Swanson of Yellow Swans) are reports on what life in Foot Village is like.

This album features four incredible, additional remixes by fellow cosmologists: Tussle, BIG A little a, Silver Daggers, & Robedoor.

Pitchfork Media are currently raving about Foot Village on 'Forkcast' with an exclusive feature and mp3 download of 'Protective Nourishment' a track taken from 'Friendship Nation'. Foot Village played SXSW at the 'Deathbomb Arc / Cock Rock Disco / Load' showcase in March 08 (alongside Sightings, White Mice, Shit & Shine, Kevin Shields, Jason Forrest & more) and toured the US, EU, & UK in 2008. They performed as members of the Boredoms at Los Angeles' Boadrum 88 event.

Foot Village have been featured on split releases with BIG A little a, Sword Heaven and Black Pus and appear in Sean Carnage's forthcoming movie alongside HEALTH & Juiceboxxx. Brian Miller also runs Deathbomb Arc label and helps run The Smell in Los Angeles.

Foot Village have played with Dan Deacon, BIG A little a, Tussle, XBXRX, KIT, PRE, Mae Shi, Captain Ahab, HEALTH, Abe Vigoda and have even performed at LA's Natural History Museum! Their most recent single is out now on Too Pure. Foot Village is a nation unlike any other and only by visiting can you really know.

"FV's raging (but arranged) drums manage to sound, all at once, like the thrashed, percussive guitars of hardcore punk, a couple of Rolls-Royce jet engines and the war drums of an easily irritated tribe." - TIME OUT LONDON

"percussion, played as if teasing a knot of wool into freedom; a combination of rhythmic histrionics and cataracts of chafing abandon. Yes, I have a feeling this "Foot Village" is going to be huge. 10/10 " Andrew Zukerman - FOXY DIGITALIS

"Hair-raisingly direct, with drums of absolute death, Foot Village are instantly mesmerizing. 8/10" - ROCK SOUND

"anarchic percussive throwdown for the cosmic disco of the mind." - MOJO

"primitive beyond repair." - PLAN B

"tribal percussion smackdowns, jungle growls, and cuckoo-house ululations" - PITCHFORK

"While it’s true, the band’s peers such as No Age and Health have brought attention to the Los Angeles scene, groups like Foot Village maintain it." - CMJ

"bombastic euphoria... pure drum-and-scream, a high-speed theme for a city of grown-up kids." - PAPER THIN WALLS

"a barrage of drums that crack the shield of our inhibitions" - 20JAZZFUNKGREATS











Some Bizzare [record label]



History of the Future...


Click here:www.somebizzare.com

NEW JUKE BOX ON MYSPACE Some Bizarre Records ...

Click here:http://www.myspace.com/somebizarrerecords

lucid sketchmaster has been rated top 6 cd you must have by storming the base .

CANADA'S MUSIC MAILORDER SOURCE

A real suprise from Some Bizzare Records. Although this came out in the summer, it's not too late to pick up a copy of the new Lucid Sketchmaster and be blown away by a combination of beats, rap, hip hop, noise, and industrial that blends together for one of the coolest new sounds we've heard in ages!

Don't miss out!


OUT NOW!

THE GRID

DOPPELGANGER -

SBZ093CD

marketing yourself in economic meltdowns

How do you survive in the midst of meltdown? When the once admired big banks, businesses, and billionaires are standing in the Federal soup kitchen with their begging bowls?

One of my clients told me yesterday: "There will still be people shopping and spending money. They're just going to be far fewer. And they're going to be more selective."

As customers lose their jobs, homes, and invested life savings, your market shrinks. The pie is smaller, and more people, especially unemployed people who desperately decide they can probably do what you do, are fighting for a piece. At first, there will scammers and con artists trying to exploit people and businesses, offering miracle cures for sales slumps and sleeplessness.

Eventually, the high quality businesses will shine out in the devastation and debris.

It's no longer enough to be good at what you do. You must now also be good at self-promotion strategy and excution. Or find someone who can market you better than your surviving competition.

Ask your customers what's best about you, and how you ought to present it to new potential customers. Your customers, real life users, are your best source of intelligence about your own company, services, and products.

Your "brand" is the perceptive reality that seals itself in their minds and their conversations...as they use your product to solve a problem, satisfy a need, or enhance a lifestyle.

Start with better and more abundant research into what problems or complaints exist in your current customer base. Then find out what needs are still being unmet in your market. These indicators should largely (along with visionary expectations of unknown but inevitable new needs) determine every aspect of what you do.


Here are some tips on marketing yourself in economic meltdowns:


(1) RE-DEFINE: Pinpoint, in writing, exactly what you do, how you do it, and who needs it. Then describe how you are most successful in obtaining new customers and what is the most attractive aspect of your product, how users (not you) differentiate your product from competing alternatives (other suppliers and DIY do it yourselfers).

(2) RE-ORGANIZE: Harshly, hatefully examine everything from the viewpoint of your worst enemy. Get rid of what you continue for sentimental reasons but are not productive for reaching your goals. Streamline. Eliminate loser products, activities, and personnel. Reduce leadership positions and dependence. Beef up line-worker intelligence, sales support, staff training, and customer service. Get a fresh system in place, for nobody can do Business As Usual anymore, for the Market As Usual has vanished.

(3) REFINE: Update your skills. Learn more. Offer more solutions to customer problems, and integrate them into a coherent, easily explained package. Stop being clueless about things that impede your progress. Learn HTML, sales, marketing, design, packaging, whatever you're in the dark about and overly reliant on others to handle. At least become better at evaluating outside experts and internal management.

(4) RE-LAUNCH: Polish up everything like never before, then throw a big party to announce and excite. Once you've got all your ducks in a row, go big. A large scale advertising campaign can be conducted online, to product-needing niches, on no or low budget, thanks to social networking and new media.

CONCLUSION: Take a hard look at what you do as a consultant or company. Remove what's not working. Ramp up what is working. Be better at quality and customer service than your competitors. Let user input be more decisive in high level decisions and product evolution.

Focus on core values and primary customer benefits. Let customers determine your marketing and operations, not leaders who are out of touch with market realities and real individual customers.

MySpace Music page design and friends displays

These are musings, as I refine my strategies for modern music marketing. I add and stress the word "modern," as many bands are stuck in ancient attitudes, wimpy websites, and outmoded methodologies.

I have been extremely active recently on MySpace Music, so let me just slam on the brakes and summarize some of my findings. BTW, the image above is one that I've been posting as a comment on pages of bands that Friend me, and especially if they post an image in my comments.

I prefer (most of the time) non-promotional, abstract, and meaningless or bizarre, but interesting images, that don't even have my band name in them. If I have a new song on my player, I often create an image with the song title on it, and post that as an announcement, rather than text saying "New tunes up, go check them out!" which seems tiresome and pathetic.

Page Design
and
Friends Display
Tips

for
MySpace Music Artists

(1) Pimp My Profile:

I'm not sure I like the flashy designs you can get from various providers. They advertise within your page, and the glitzy decor gets a bit tiresome after you've seen several hundred of them.

Musicians are guilty of falling for wacky web designs that impede credibility, readability, info findability, usability, and functionality. Not too mention usually looking ugly-garish/gaudy-silly, comically mis-executed, or oddly inappropriate to the quality or genre of the music.

These "hip" designs? Most of them (but not all) flash and blink and sparkle and disorient and exaggerate everything so damn much, you can't find what you're looking for (e.g., Add As Friend link) or you can't read their bio text.

Another annoyance is design that stretches so W-I-D-E, your browser throws up a horizontal scroll, and you have to work harder to find the band's mp3 player (which in Firefox usually won't start playing until it's in the browser window), and other items of interest to fans.

I don't think it's a good idea to force the fan's browser to scroll horizontally. Many fans will simply skip such a page, and move on to more user-friendly, more quickly viewable MySpace Music artist pages.

Gigantic splashy glittery photos and ads just look amateurish, desperate, and overwrought. And self-impressed to an embarrassing degree.

Must I also add that slow loading web pages don't get as many views as fast-loading pages? Most users bail out of a page load within 5 seconds. Web users are impatient, in a hurry, and multi-tasking, thus not even all that focused on your "terrific content" anyway.


(2) Enhanced Generic Design:

Then again, a raw, generic page looks a bit deficient, like no one associated with the band or their label has any webmaster skills. I compromise by using the generic design, but enhancing it with videos and artistic images, including graphic image links to my other music sites.



(3) Top Friends to Display:


I automatically assume you're displaying the maximum (40).

Why wouldn't you want potential fans to see as many of your favorite bands, and your own other music projects, as possible? That's what the Top [40] Friends Display is all about. But I've seen MySpace Music artist pages where no friends are displayed! Often, these non-displaying band pages also display no comments, but you can click on a link to post a comment and a link to view comments.

This is unfortunate for the bands involved. It signals a certain arrogance and a lack of comraderie with fellow musicians.

The marketing strategy here seems to be: "Let's not show anything but our artist. If fans want to see comments, or friends of the band, they'll have to take an extra step by clicking on links. This way, all the attention is focused on our artist."

Why this is wrong: fans evaluate a band not only by their music, bio text, sales hype, photos, and videos, but also by their musical associates, mentors, and favorite bands.

When deciding which Friend Requests to approve, fans are in a hurry. They visit your band page, listen to a few seconds of the first song that plays on your mp3 player, and scan your page. If you're lucky, they'll listen to more than a few seconds.

But by glancing at your Top Friends Display, they'll judge your authenticity, evaluate your knowledge of your genre, and decide if your tastes are similar to theirs.


(4) Selecting Top Friends to Display:


You rascal, you've been clicking away like crazy, and typing in captcha characters until your wrist and fingers hurt. Wow! You've accumulated over 2,000 Friends, and they're almost all other bands that you liked a few seconds of.

Well now, how do you decide which Friends to display as your Top 40?

Each musical artist must devise their own method, for this is a very personal decision. All I can do is tell you what I do for my own music, then you can adapt or rebel against my methodology.


I give priority to:


* A band that's been a huge influence on my music (The Residents, Jimi Hendrix, Plastikman, Cindytalk, Flying Saucer Attack, Zavaloka)


* Famous composers (John Cage, John Adams, Penderecki, Steve Reich, Bernard Parmegiani, Luc Ferrari)


* Actual personal friends (Tortoise, The Skabs, Juan Goblin, Art)


* Their music is so good, I love it a lot, I want to help them become more popular, and I'm proud to associate myself with the band. (Indian Jewelry, The Earlies, The Swirlies)


* Their music is so bizarre, innovative, or extreme, that my displaying them will show how smart I am about underground avant garde music. (Ritualistic School of Error, Caroliner Rainbow, Metalux)


* They are pioneers in my own music genres (Henry Cow, Pierre Schaeffer, Delia Derbyshire, Brian Eno, The Fugs, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Soft Machine, This Heat, Joy Electric)


* My recording label (Sludge Farm Records)


* My other musical projects (Metaphysical Platypus, White Metal Headspike)




To a lesser degree, these factors influence my decision:



* Interaction with me via inbox messages and page comments.

* Avatar of band (that image that displays under their name in Top Friends Display) is cool, and preferably, not an animated GIF that becomes distracting and annoying.

* Name of band is weird, funny, bizarre, or smart and memorable.

* Band, which is not a paying client of mine, has released a new CD and I want to help them promote it. Maybe they'll notice and return the favor sometime.

* Inclusion of the band helps define and orient fans to what it is I'm doing musically.



You may view my Top 40 Friends Displays here:


The Str8 Sounds Therabusive Noise Carnival

Str8 Sounds Mystery Prism

The Str8 Sounds Spleezy Sessions

Metaphysical Platypus

MySpace Music comment postings

You like a band on MySpace Music. You want to let them know how you feel. You feel like posting a comment on the band's MySpace page. But -- what can you say? Say something specific, memorable, different from all the "thanks for the Add" and "you guys really rock" remarks.

Specific songs you love.

Specific shows you attended.

Specific CDs you own.

Specific aspects of the band that you admire: lyrics, voice, instrumentation, attitude, melodies, innovation, weirdness, tranquility, fashion, etc.

Here are some examples of comments that I, as a musician myself, consider to be excellant input. Try to enrich a blog with relevant, interesting content via your comments, and others may return the favor on your own blog.


MySpace Music Comment Postings:



(1) Neutral Milk Hotel


Jun 24 2008 10:41 AM


I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH RIGHT NOW

the most amazing thing happened to me because of you.

I went to a taping of the Colbert Report, because I love Stephen Colbert. During the commercial breaks between the taping sections, music is played over the speakers in the Studio.

The Song "Holland 1945" began to play and I immediately jumped because I love that song, and Stephen, who was sitting at his desk started singing along to the song while scanning the audience to see if anyone else was singing along.

And guess who the only one else in the audience was mouthing along every word... thats right, yours truly. he saw me and pointed at me and we were singing your amazing song together. It was the best moment ever.... so thank you, you guys are absolutely amazing.

:D

Aria






(2) Luciano Berio


Jul 17 2008 11:10 PM


It's an honor to be added to Luciano Berio's myspace page, his music has been a big influence of mine.

Troy Lennerd






(3)The Hair PUddle



Nov 16 2007 6:11 AM

Nice Music and nice collage also!
I like the echo/chorus mix in your music-
:)

nnnaaammm







(4) Swirlies


Apr 6 2008 9:09 AM


in 93, i was in this record shop(taang) out in san diego. i saw an album with the band named swirlies on it. it was instant joy to my ears. so... five years later, life, love and the pursuit of happiness landed me in the boston area. i finally got to see you guys at the middle east. it was a long time coming. i should have bought a t shirt at the show. anyway all i wanted to say is that your albums are all great works of genius.

sincerely, a hardcore swirlies fan

javan turner







(5) Cindytalk



Oct 13 2008 7:50 AM


Thank you for an amazing evening. After 20+ years of your music inhabiting my life via vinyl and CD, it was fabulous to finally see Cindytalk right there in front of me, and to have your incredible voice rendered actual at last.

...the spell is broken, the magic remains...


Noise is a Friend







(6) Metalux


Oct 24 2007 3:31 PM



hello

so, you see, i slammed the needle on 'victim of space' lp the other day and started improvising dance movements to 'shipwreck' which is such an incredible track. I was quite impressed with my own static improv that i'm gonna set some choreography to it and hopefully use it in a sort of show in london or summit...?

anyway, thanks for creating such amazing music

I love Metalux! i hope you can come over to the UK soon and do some shows

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx








(7) Saint John and the Revelations


Nov 20 2008 1:05 PM

Hello there!!!

I have been sitting here, enjoying your music....again.....and thought I would let you know, I have passed you on to Awesome Radio, in order to spread your talent around.

Beautiful music, that inspires!!!

Winkz






(8) Bernard Parmegiani

Nov 23 2008 9:53 AM

Monsieur Parmegiani. you have my sincere respect for your artistic vision and, in particular, for your persistence, for your determination to pursue your vision, regardless of philosophies and aesthetic trends.


Glen Hall






(9) Tortoise


Nov 27 2008 1:17 AM

I still remember the show at Clinton St. Theater in Portland, Oregon with you guys and Five Style as one of the events that changed my life musically. A friend just asked me tonight out of nowhere if you are working on anything new. John, miss you from Gumby's in Hunt.,WV. way back with Poster Children! I'm really reminiscing here. Someone reach me a tissue, please! Thank you for choosing to make music.

That's all, done.

Sean Richardson & Karen Allen are

TOFUJITSU!








NEGATIVE EXAMPLE:





Dec 1 2008 9:08 AM

YO EVERYONE

LISTEN TO MY MUSIC
LISTEN TO MY MUSIC
LISTEN TO MY MUSIC
LISTEN TO MY MUSIC
LISTEN TO MY MUSIC
LISTEN TO MY MUSIC

SUPPORT MY MUSIC, TELL YOUR FRIENDS, PASS IT AROUND...


ALSO

ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!
ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!! ADD ME !!!


GUMBINO BABY





NOTE:

NEVER post a shitty comment like that.

It will cause the band and other comment posters to hate you and avoid you at all costs.

Self and Other in Music Composing

When you make something, anything, how much are you focused on what the audience, recipient, user expects? How much is what you want to do, and how much of the finished product reflects what you think the customer, fan, or reader wants?

I'll examine the art of music composition. I create original music, orchestrate loops and samples, process concrete sounds, add vocalizations, and mix the whole mess into what eventually become songs.

When I compose a new song, I have past examples and future potentials guiding me. I remember what I liked about my own past work, and the music of others, and I imagine how these techniques could be applied to new material, or how they could be improved.

I seek to please myself and those who have expressed satisfaction in some of my music. I remember statements they've made to me, what they liked and what they hated about my music. I think about what I dream of music becoming.

When I listen to a finished song, if I feel that a fan would not be able to tolerate some sound that is too shrill, too time-consuming, or too loud, I go in and fix or delete the offending segment. If I can listen to a tune 12 times without hating it or flinching at something wrong, then I feel that my fans might also put up with it.

I cannot judge a song just by my own feelings, which is the mistaken path most composers unfortunately tread. They traipse along with joy in their hearts, loving each new song. They don't care what anybody else thinks. They have decided their new tune is brilliant, genius, an instant classic.

Many composers make music for other musicians who despise popular music. They insist on listening to, and creating, only "difficult music". If it's difficult to understand, that's fine with me. I love music that's complex or made with instruments and methods that are not in my power to fully imagine. Mysterious music.

But if by "difficult" you mean "hard to enjoy, even after repeated attempts and painful listening sessions", I cannot go that route. No matter how strange, bizarre, and innovative your music may be, it still must be something people will want to spend time listening to.

Self and other are very much present in the composition of great music, and great products of any type.

Too much self causes the music to be self-absorbed, opaque, narcissistic, auto-euphoric, arrogant, disconnected, boring.

Too much other causes the music to be imitative, opportunistic, exploitive, standard, restrained, predictable, dull.

The right blend of self and other causes a product to shine with authenticity and community.