New Music Post: Maroon 5 – Give A Little More

MITNB

Band pays people to listen to their music

imagesource: myspace






As the old cliché goes, "You have to speculate to accumulate". Yet electro-pop duo The Reclusive Barclay Brothers seem to have taken the adage to the extreme by paying people to listen to their debut single ‘We Could Be Lonely Together'. 




We Could Be Lonely Together



100 randomly selected people who listen to the track will receive £27 each. That's a total of £2,700 they'll have to fork out, and it's not just their bank accounts that may suffer. "We were aware there would be an onslaught of negative comments from the media, music lovers from all denominations and people with an interest in the music business," they say on their website. So, is it a clever marketing strategy? Or, as they proclaim themselves, ‘a new low for music?'

As much as The Reclusive Barclay Brothers may profess that implementing their unique strategy "makes us feel a little bit ill", it's easy to see the benefits for them. Indeed, they won't be reclusive for much longer - their profile has been dramatically increased, and people are bound to listen to their track, whether out of curiosity or the chance to win some cash. £2,700 is a small price to pay for the publicity they've generated. 

But with illegal file-sharing and downloads effectively forcing artists to give away their music for free, what will the reaction be to a band paying people to listen to their work? Figures including Lily Allen have spoken about how hard it is for new bands to make a living, and one only has to remember the furore caused by Radiohead after they allowed people to pay as little as they liked for their ‘In Rainbows' album - something which, according to Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire, "devalued music". 

The Reclusive Barclay Brothers aren't the first to resort to desperate measures to drum up some interest, of course. In 2008, The Infadels gave away £5,000 to fans when they hurled the cash at them from a bus on Oxford Street, yet where are they now? Short-term publicity is no guarantee of long-term success; perhaps that's something The Reclusive Barclay Brothers should have thought of before chucking their money away - literally...




Source: http://new.uk.music.yahoo.com/blogs/behind_the_music/16696/band-pay-people-to-listen-to-their-music/

Band website: http://www.thereclusivebarclaybrothers.com/

I would call it a cheap publicity stunt, but at £2,700. It definitely ain't cheap.




MITNB

African Music Post: Rokia Traore

image source: picsdigger

So beautiful!

Artist: Rokia Traoré
Song: M'Bifo
Country: Mali


BIO:

Rokia Traoré (born January 24, 1974) is an award-winning Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Mali as a member of the Bambara ethnic group, her father was a diplomat and she travelled widely in her youth. Which exposed her to a wide variety of influences. 

While the Bambara have a tradition of performing at weddings, members of the nobility such as Rokia are discouraged from performing as musicians. Rokia attended lycée in Mali while her father was stationed in Brussels and started performing publicly as a university student in Bamako. Unusually for a female musician in Africa, Rokia plays acoustic guitar as well as sings, and she uses vocal harmonies in her arrangements which are rare in Malian music. 

On July 11, 2000, her second album Wanita was released. Traoré wrote and arranged the entire album. The album was widely acclaimed with The New York Times nominating it as one of its critics' albums of the year.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokia_Traoré


Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/rokiatraore
Official site: http://www.rokiatraore.net/

MITNB

New Music Post: Linkin Park - The Catalyst

I have some free downloads from up and coming indie musicians coming your way soon, but real life has been getting in the way of my blog posting. Rest assured, I will be back on top of things by the end of the week, but for now enjoy some new music from Linkin Park.




The album is out on the 14th of September 2010.








MITNB  

Picture Post: The Art of Fela’s Queens

To commemorate the 13th anniversary of Fela's death, Elan Magazine did a spread on Fela!'s Queen's/Dancers/backup singers. If you aren't familiar with Fela check him out, I've featured his music here before: African Music Post,Fela! on Broadway














Fela in Performance





Source: http://www.bellanaija.com/2010/08/05/elan-celebrates-“the-art-of-fela’s-queens”/
Happy Friday! 


MITNB

New Music Post:Kid Cudi feat. Kanye West - Wylin Cause I'm Young

Happy Monday! 


MITNB

Does this mean I'm officially a blogger?!

I got my first meaningless spam comment the other day. Has my blogging cherry been popped?!
Can I look forward to anonymous commenters telling me I have bad taste in music?!


MITNB

Free Single Download: Apple Trees & Tangerines

It's about time I gave you something for nothing! 

Apple Trees & Tangerines - Can You Save Me?

'Can you save me?' is the theme song for an amazing new show on USA called 'Covet Affairs'.

The little bits I heard during the opening credits intrigued me and I just had to search for it. The band Apple Trees and Tangerines have been awesome enough to release the song for free,

well, it was bound to happen eventually. 'can you save me',

 featured as USA network's 'covert affairs' theme song has leaked. 

might as well give it to you guys for free!

Read more:http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=229816284&blogId=537456215#ixzz0wNdK2okt

You can follow this link: http://www.mediafire.com/?i4nbmb51ryp0sqr to download it. The band are so awesome for doing this, so please check them out and support their official releases. Their E.P is being released tomorrow (friday) with the proceeds from the event going to Love146,a charity that aims to stop sex trafficking. 

They provide (free) good music and support a good cause, what's not to like  about this band?

http://www.myspace.com/appletreesandtangerines

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Trees-Tangerines/161768254190

http://love146.org/love-story

MITNB

Cover VS Original: Gwyneth Paltrow/Huey Lewis VS Smokey Robinson – Crusin

Smokey Robinson



Gwyneth Paltrow/Huey Lewis



This might seem like a no brainer...Smokey Robinson wins hands down, right?! And Gwyneth is an annoying so and so. But, I heard the Gwyneth Paltrow/Huey Lewis version before I heard the Smokey Robinson version. I heard it before Gwyneth Paltrow became the annoying GOOP mailing so and so. Therefore, I prefer the Gwyneth Paltrow/Huey Lewis version, the Smokey Robinson version just sounds weird to me.


MITNB

African Music Post: Akon - Oh Africa

Artist: Akon

Song: Oh Africa

Country: senegal

New Music Post: Phil Collins - Heatwave

John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!

FINALLY!  I'm been waiting for the album that defines 2010 and I think this is it.

About the video:

The Roots' music video which is made under direction hands of Rik Cordero to support their latest single "The Fire" has been debuted. It follows a group of men as they are led by army through a bloody, violent and hopeless march toward the unknown.

It chronicles a post-apocalyptic death march set in 1945 during the final stages of World War II in Europe. After a cataclysmic event renders the war futile, a paramilitary splinter group, led by a Kurtz-like figure known as The Commodore, forces the transfer of young men who will be used as labor...and food. The last survivor of the march receives a mysterious White Box which holds the key to survival.Featuring John Legend, "The Fire" is taken from The Roots' ninth studio album "How I Got Over". Rik said of the song as quoted by OkayPlayer, "[It] is one of my favorite tracks off HIGO and really feels like something you'd hear in the theater. The line 'you don't say good luck, you say don't give up' inspired me to create a period piece narrative that stays true to the lyrics while adding another layer to the interpretation." 

Tracklist:
01. Hard Times
02. Compared To What
03. Wake Up Everybody feat. Common & Melanie Fiona
04. Our Generation (The Hope Of the World) feat. CL Smooth
05. Little Ghetto Boy (Prelude) feat. Malik Yusef
06. Little Ghetto Boy feat. Black Thought
07. Hang On In There
08. Humanity (Love The Way It Should Be)
09. Wholy Holy
10. I Can’t Write Left Handed
11. I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
12. Shine
John Legend & The Roots – Wake Up! In Stores September 21st.




Source: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00034241.html
http://www.thisisrnb.com/2010/07/john-legend-the-roots-wake-up-tracklist/#comments

African Music Post: Christy Essien Igbokwe - Black Ladies Are Funky Ladies

This is a golden oldies meets African music post. I came across this song when I was feeling nostalgic and listening to the Nigerian old songs I used to listen to as a kid. I had never heard this song before, initially wanted to listen to another one of her songs, "Seun Rere". 


"Seun Rere" is in yoruba and it implores kids to listen to their parents so they can have a better future. She says she is confused about the life she is living, but her parents have pointed out the good paths for her to follow. As an adult, I realise the whole parent-child relationship is more complex than that. Aside from my relationship with my parents, the press is filled with stories of bad parents and I find myself looking at this song differently.  The other song "Black Ladies Are Funky Ladies" was a pleasant surprise, I'm only aware of her Christian songs so I didn't expect this funk influenced song.  I can totally picture my parents in their bug-eyed sunglasses and afros dancing to it in a discotheque.

Seun Rere


Black Ladies Are Funky Ladies


Take Life Easy


Artist: Christy Essien Igbokwe
Song: Black Ladies Are Funky Ladies
Country: Nigeria


Bio:

Nigeria's lady of songs. She put Nigeria's name on the world music map with her evergreen Soun Rere track. She was the first female president of the performing musicians association of Nigeria. Born on the 11th November 1960, this singer and actress is the chairman and managing director of Soul Train entertainment limited.

Her honours include Nigerian lady of songs award, Africa music mother award 1984, international special achievement award Mexico 1983 world song festival award Los Angeles queen of music international award association of theatre arts practitioners Lagos 1996 outstanding achievement in female uplifting. She has also contributed enormously to nation building, peace and tolerance - which, alongside moral uprightness, remain constant themes of her songs.

Bio Source: http://www.onlinenigeria.com/people/ad.asp?blurb=105

New Music Post: Kele - Everything You Wanted

From "The Boxer",which was released in June, which I still haven't bought. I'm liking this song, so this might be the motivation I need to buy it.