The Blog
Brian

Let The Countdown Begin:

February 25th, 2010
posted by: Brian No Comments »

got-music-clock96 seconds. I read somewhere this is the average time folks are willing to spend reading a blog. This got me thinking about “the need-it-now and please abbreviate” culture we choose to immerse ourselves in. Hell, we couldn’t even take calling it a web log. The collective voice was shouting, “UGH! This six letter concoction is way too long. I’ll just say ‘blog’ instead and save the two extra letters for when I have more time.”

It occurred to meMTV_MOONMAN_FRONT2_b that Top 40 music has also felt the time pinch. Back in the 50’s, Elvis covered everything he wanted to say in an average 2 min 30 sec. Kick it off with a verse, hit ‘em with a catchy chorus, one more verse, two more choruses, outro and Elvis had left the building. Then sometime between Pink Floyd and DMB, the song length grew and grew to an absurd 4 minutes. That was fine for a while, but then folks started getting antsy. Radio stations started to feel the pinch as folks began employing the “station-preset – no whammies – give me something new and make it quick” approach to listening. Even MTV got in on the fun by doing a top-twenty video countdown in half the time by simply mentioning some of the videos. I guess they already knew which ones I was waiting to see. So today I was listening to Train’s new song, “Hey, Soul Sister.” It is a very likable Jason Mraz-esque type song that keeps you humming all day.

The only problem is I found myself wondering if it could do with maybe one less chorus at the end. I mean, I get it. That is Mr. Mister on the radio and if I could see the girl you are talking about, I would probably agree that her moves aren’t fair. I just don’t need to hear you say it a kagillion times.

Isn’t there another song on somewhere I could be listening to more efficiently? Maybe in the 96 second range?

Dan

Arrested Development – Stories from “Strong”

February 16th, 2010
posted by: Dan No Comments »

ADalbumStrong is the upcoming US release from Arrested Development. The album has already been a success internationally. Their hit “The World Is Changing” reached #9 in Japan.

Read below to find out the stories behind some of the amazing new tracks on Strong. We are honored and excited to be featuring Arrested Development on My Audio Bio. Special thanks to Speech for providing these great stories.

Purchase 3 tracks from the new album and more from AD at: http://arresteddevelopmentmusic.com

Check out stories behind their classics on the AD profile page!

Let Your Voice Be Heard (Exclusive Track above in player!)
The 90’s were golden era of Hip-Hop. You heard many points of view from Hammer, to 2Live Crew, to Public Enemy. You didn’t have to agree with everyone, but you definitely heard everyone. I don’t hear this in music right now. When I turn on popular radio in any of our cities, it’s like I hear the same person talking.  Where are the rest of the voices?

Greener
We have been environmentally conscious from the beginning of our career. On our first album we released “Children Play With Earth”, about getting kids off of video games and outside. On our Second album “United Minds” was about recycling. The Green movement has now come into play, people are respecting the use of resources more, but the rap community hasn’t really addressed this, seemed to be a missing topic.

The Green movement has been championed by white’s but not as openly adopted by the black community. This song is to get people thinking about the earth, acknowledge that African American’s are environmentally conscious, and encourage people to join the movement.

Bloody
In the 90’s Biggie, Tupac, Wutang, and many more started taking precedence. This song represents the downside of what was happening in 90’s hip-hop; the lack of intelligent thought. When you look back to the 90’s at Rwanda, at Republic of Congo, it was reminiscent of Hitler. Millions of people were massacred. What were we taking about in the Hip Hop scene? Bling, getting on private jets, thongs, money…

Chuck D said that Hip Hop is the CNN of Black people. Well, we totally let CNN go off the air. Nothing was being said to about what was happening. Instead we were promoting Crystal and clothing lines. We became voiceless to the real issues and became the voice of corporations. “Bloody” is a history lesson, let’s learn from this so history won’t repeat itself.

The World is Changing:
(From guitarist and song Co-Writer JJBoogie)
Eight years ago I wrote a song for a woman I was deeply in love with. I asked her to be my girl and sang the song for her nervously! Nanyana said yes…..and a year later we were married. Fast forward to eight years later in the studio with Arrested Development writing material for the upcoming release, I started playing a guitar riff. That chord progression was what I originally wrote for Nanyana years earlier. I never recorded the song….I actually forgot most the lyrics. Speech heard it and said “What’s that? I like it!” I told him I would have to get permission to use it from my wife. Later that night I asked her if I could use it to write too and she said “It better make us a million dollars!” and laughed.

So I taught the progression to Za, Omar and Eric and they immediately started grooving with it. Speech started humming a melody then came up with the concept of the world changing before our eyes. The rest is history! The song World Is Changing went to #9 on the Japan Pop Charts from the newly released album entitled STRONG!

Kevin

Family Force 5 – MAB Featured Artist!

January 22nd, 2010
posted by: Kevin No Comments »

familyforce52Family Force 5 is My Audio Bio’s first featured artist in 2010! That’s right! A big thanks to Soul Glow Activatur, ChapStique, Crouton, Fatty, and Nadaddy the guys with FF5 for being down with the concept and putting a great profile page together. Hopefully you are rocking out to the Family boys right now on our new dynamic pop out player. If not, hit play in the main navigation!

Family Force 5 has successfully promoted themselves and developed an amazing fan base using the internet. With over a quarter million My Space Friends and and even more impressive 70,000 followers on Facebook, the guys are doing something right.

minimallAnd don’t get me started on the Really Real Show, FF5’s online TV series… it is hours of hilarious ridiculous fun. One of the best is their classic meeting with the one and the only Sammy Stephens, from the viral video: Mini-mall. If you haven’t seen Mr. Stephens and his Montgomery Mall Rap or Family Force 5’s “The Really Real Show,” I guarantee you,  it is a whole new epic level of hilarious… ”We talkin’ about flea market…Montgomery…it’s just like…it’s just like a mini…MALL!” Check out the episode!

Their latest episode is also a riot. It’s based around putting together their Christmas pageant.

As far as their music goes Family Force 5 will hit you with such an original, eccentric, energetic, and eclectic compilation of genres that it will be like getting a musical punch of awesome, straight in the grill. Their amazing upbeat party lyrics and musical flare make them unlike anything else  out there. If FF5 is on, I’m nodding my head… usually ending up with me straight up solo raving in the office.

So once again, a big thanks to Family Force 5. We are honored to have them as our featured artist. We look forward to checking out your stories about Family Force 5’s music in your life!

Mackenzie

Wide Open Guilt

December 9th, 2009
posted by: Mackenzie No Comments »

The holidays are typically the time for guilty pleasures.  Shopping, food, parties, food, drinking, food…we all tend to celebrate and over indulge ourselves to the brim.  While our bellies are full and our hearts are happy, sometimes our ears need a little bit of a musical guilty pleasure as well.

For me, there is a little bit of nostalgia attached to my musical guilty pleasure.  It’s one of the first bands I was ever really a fan of (and by fan I really mean, fanatic). What Miley Cyrus is to the tweens of today, the Dixie Chicks were to me.  I had all the CDs, posters, went to multiple concerts, met them and got autographs and pictures.  Looking back, it was ridiculous, seriously ridiculous.  The obsession eventually wore off, but today their music is still a guilty pleasure of mine.  To this day, whenever I play “Wide Open Spaces,” I am immediately transported back to the 13 year old girl, dancing and singing in my room, dreaming of what my life would be like when I grew up.  I cannot deny that they are an incredibly talented group, musically and vocally.  I’ll always be connected to their songs in one way or another.

Dan

Manchester Orchestra, Our First Featured Artist

November 18th, 2009
posted by: Dan 3 Comments »

Great New Video, Amazing Album.
From my first listen to Manchester’s album “Mean Everything To Nothing” …I knew it was “that kind of record”. That kind of record that you can’t stop listening to, and that doesn’t get old.

Album’s that I listen to regularly have songs that take time to grow on you, the music and lyrics become meaningful over time. The new Manchester album has these qualities, but the songs pull you in immediately. The songs are solid, the production is loud & raw but clean and well mixed.

The new video for Shake It Out spoofs Over The Top, what an awesome idea. It’s hilarious and it actually works really well with the song. Check it out:

Shake It Out (Music Video)

Manchester Orchestra | MySpace Video

My M.O. Trucker Hat

I had the opportunity to meet with Jason Hradil at the Sony offices in New York last week. Jason is responsible for creative marketing behind many of Sony’s artist’s including Manchester Orchestra.  Needless to say, I walked out with a sweet Manchester trucker hat.

The band did an amazing job telling the stories behind the songs on their album, check it out on: Manchester Orchestra’s MAB profile

Also, listen to three tracks from their album: I’ve got FriendsShake It Out and The Only One on our player above.

We are so honored to have Manchester Orchestra as the first featured artist on My Audio Bio. We want to thank Andy and the guys for writing their MAB  stories while touring Europe. Thanks to Jay Harren from Sony for pulling everything together, and getting us our first choice for featured artist.

Visit Manchester Orchestra’s Website

Get Mean Everything to Nothing on iTunes

Mackenzie

Your Inner Boombox

November 11th, 2009
posted by: Mackenzie No Comments »

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How many times have you ever heard one of your friends say, “I wish I had a soundtrack of my life?” For most of you probably a lot.  And, while in reality not all of us can physically have Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” playing every time we walk into a room, it’s nice to imagine it in our heads.  I mean seriously, it’s a great confidence booster just having your inner boombox playing it on repeat.

My Audio Bio is meant to capture moments like this – moments of your life to which songs are forever tied.  This site is more about linking genres to memories.  It’s about recreating the stories that go along with specific songs.  We all have those songs and albums we have worn to scraps because they helped us through a break-up, made you realize the love of your life, made you laugh, made you cry, or heck, because you just plain liked the music.  So much emotion is be driven by music, but often the connection it creates it never gets put on paper (or posted somewhere in the vast ether).

Even greater is the fact that songs can inspire different or even the same reactions in each of us.  My Audio Bio is also a place to bond with others based on similar stories and to hear from someone who may have a completely different perspective on a song.  Now we aren’t talking thinking that “Pour Some Sugar on Me” could be “Pour Some Shook Up Ramen.”  It’s more about personal interpretation.  Seeing how a song gets translated into each of our lives just shows how universal it is.

It’s these songs that play in our heads that create our soundtracks.  That inner boombox is a collection of music connected to certain times in your life.  My Audio Bio is a place for you to finally put what you love about a song in written form – a song that gives you the feeling you could take over the world, a song that alleviates fearu probably a lot.  And, while in reality not all of us can physically have Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” playing every time we walk into a room, it’s nice to imagine it in our heads.  I mean seriously, it’s a great confidence booster just having your inner boombox playing it on repeat.

My Audio Bio is meant to capture moments like this – moments of your life to which songs are forever tied.  This site is more about linking genres to memories.  It’s about recreating the stories that go along with specific songs.  We all have those songs and albums we have worn to scraps because they helped us through a break-up, made you realize the love of your life, made you laugh, made you cry, or heck, because you just plain liked the music.  So much emotion is be driven by music, but often the connection it creates it never gets put on paper (or posted somewhere in the vast ether).

Even greater is the fact that songs can inspire different or even the same reactions in each of us.  My Audio Bio is also a place to bond with others based on similar stories and to hear from someone who may have a completely different perspective on a song.  Now we aren’t talking thinking that “Pour Some Sugar on Me” could be “Pour Some Shook Up Ramen.”  Its more about personal interpretation.  Seeing how a song gets translated into each of our lives just shows how universal it is.

It’s these songs that play in our heads that create our soundtracks.  That inner boombox is a collection of music connected to certain times in your life.  My Audio Bio is a place for you to finally put what you love about a song in written form – a song that gives you the feeling you could take over the world.

Kevin

My Audio Bio

November 11th, 2009
posted by: Kevin 2 Comments »

The new My Audio Bio is officially live! It’s sure to give avid and casual music lovers alike somewhere to arrange their musical collections not alphabetically, not chronologically, but “autobiographically.” It’s a place to share songs, albums, bands and specifically stories about them with your friends and others.

As part of the team I’ve been able to play around with MAB for a while, and I can say I’m stoked to see what users will do with this.  Music is inherently tied to emotion, the rhythm and the lyrics of a good song can make you feel something, and the power of a great song oftentimes becomes a part of your past memories, your story, and even who you are.  I have a feeling My Audio Bio will not only be a musical journal of sorts but a way to search out what some of your favorite music has done in the lives of other fans.

5cec228348a0240849d60110.LPersonally I have a lot of stories thinking back on my life tied to certain songs or specific concerts.  I’ll always remember my favorite concert experience with one of my lifetime-long favorite bands…311 baby.  Mixing hip-hop and reggae and throwing the guitar riffs and bass over the top, you can’t go wrong in my mind.  Even if you aren’t the biggest 311 fan, I’m sure you’ve heard of their self-titled or “Blue Album” released in 1995, featuring one of their biggest songs “Down.”

I remember I was still playing with Pogs when that album came out.  Anyone remember Pogs?  Nothing

pog

like sliding a stack of those bad boys out and playing for some “keeps” while throwing that weighted slammer down, and bobbing your head to the latest 311 jam.  Ah, nostalgic fads…

It wasn’t until nine years later and I’m about to graduate from high school that I actually got to see 311 in concert.   My buddies and I got pit tickets and just went insane.  We were close enough to nearly reach out and snag  P-Nut’s bass from him, and pumped up enough to singlehandedly start a mosh and get the whole pit involved.  We even got a specific shout out from the band itself; truly an epic experience.

The thing is none of these memories would be so vivid without the power of those songs backing them.  It’s like if you ever drive by one of your favorite places to eat, or come home and smell your mom cooking something you loved as a kid.  How those smells illicit fond memories, it’s the same when I hear Down find its way back on the radio.  Like I said before I can’t wait to hear and read about more life stories from music fans here soon, and I’m pumped to see if the bands themselves get involved.  I would love to read about the stories and memories that inspired the musicians themselves to write the songs we love, or what songs inspired them.  Either way looking forward to hearing “their music, your life” from everybody soon.  See you on the MAB

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