Artist Workshop

Thanks to both the professional speakers and those who attended MEISA’s artist workshop. The message was clear: if you have a passion for music, you will find a way to work with it.

Our brilliant speakers were:

Mark Himmel of Relay Recording, who explained the basics and answered technical questions about home recording. Mark discussed both the possibilities and the limitations of home recording, and got all sound engineer-ish when he whipped up this graph:

Look at Mark go!

Max Lewis and Ben Miller of Central City Recording, who outlined what professional recording involves, how to set expectations and fully prepare for a session (i.e., have everything written and practiced, and not expecting too much), how to be most productive during a session, and explained that singing into Central City’s answering machine will NOT get you professionally recorded for free.

Max Lewis, looking thoughtful.

Jacob Wooten of Motion Productions, who strongly emphasized the basic principles of organization, politeness, accomplishing what you say you will (which can be pretty creative, like his impressive fliers), and always whipping up a quick contract just in case. Also, make sure you know your audience and choose a venue accordingly. It’s all to create the best show possible - listen to this guy; he has been promoting shows and managing performances since he was fourteen.

Jake has organized everything, from tribute concerts to a fetish party.

Chris DeVille of Columbus paper alive!, who recommends getting to know music journalists, asking their preferences, and giving them plenty of lead time before you need to be written amount. He also says it’s helpful to label your music with names of other artists to which your music is similar. Also, don’t clutter their inboxes with attachments, and don’t hover over them at concerts and events while you’re networking…it’s annoying.

Chris, maybe in the process of telling us which are huge dicks of the musicians he's interviewed.

A huge thanks to Bassel, who organized the workshop. Thanks, Bassel! I'm sure that next year MEISA will present more speakers, more information, and maybe some food...

Look, there he is!

Brazillian Music Up YOUR )(!!

There are two Brazillian bands I'd like to share today. I can listen to them even though I don't know enough Portuguese for the lyrics to make sense. I've only heard what's available on Grooveshark, but I dig enough songs, and appreciate their style. So if you're tired of hearing songs in English check these out.

Os Mutantes.
Or the Mutants. They were the most notable 60's psychedilic act in Brazil. Active from 1966 to 1978 the trio consisted of brothers Sérgio Dias Baptista and Arnaldo Baptista with frontgirl Rita Lee. In that time, they've come out with 8 albums, only six of which were released in their time. I think their greatest sucesses were their first two records, and the rest slowly waned in spirit. Now the band is active again, but in name only - Sérgio is the only original member present.

Back in their day though, they have wonderfully mixed the psychedelic sound of the US and UK with Brazilian tropicalia. Tropicalia itself was beyond music. A mix of art, political messages, rock'n'roll, and various Brazilian styles (samba, Portuguese fado...). You can call it the Brazilian hippie movement against the millitary rule present at the time.
Os Mutantes offer the transition of psychedilic tunes into the unfamiliar Brazilian tropics. And that's why they're cool. Highly regarded by figures like Kurt Cobain and Beck too. And pitchfork said of them, "when done right, weird sounds really good."
Just listen.



Cachorro Grande.
That means Big Dog, and I can sort of I see why. These guys are a bit more modern. But they draw straight from the classics: Beatles, Stones, The Who and you guessed it... Os Mutantes. After the mutants, they don't seem as pompous and epic, but they have their style and do what they do well. The shabby singer Beto Bruno in his John Lennon style cap can sure whine, howl, scream to the rhythmic riffs. I guess he's the dog. But that varies from song to song. They've won awards for Best New Artist and Best Live performance on Brazilian MTV, and their music is far what's pop in Brazil, so can tell that means something.



It's harder to appreciate either of these bands if you don't speak Portuguese, but at least now you now about them.