Recently in Erwin Oliva Category

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net A MUSIC website has been launched recently that will promote Filipino-American bands, a Philippine-based developer told INQUIRER.net. With an estimated four million Filipinos living in the US, executives at EGGstreme said the company has quietly launched FliptUp.com, an online community designed to allow Filipino-American bands to later sell their music. EGGstreme is the international arm of mobile content and digital applications provider EGG. In an interview, Ma. Johanna David, marketing manager of EGGstreme, said FliptUp.com will focus on building the community this year. But they will offer MP3 downloads, advertising opportunities, and gig announcements through the website. Several music websites have recently emerged, but most are focusing on promoting local bands. The website is currently host to several Fil-Am bands, but more will be added, said David. David said the website currently lets Fil-Am musicians create their virtual spaces where they can post their profiles, showcase their work and promote their gigs and activities. It will also allow fans to communicate with bands through the website. Asked if FliptUp was similar to mySpace, David said FliptUp.com aims to be different because it caters to a market that is untapped. Fil-Am bands now on FliptUp.com include Madrhymes, Muzak Shot, Grey Mourning, Blind Cry, Third Element, and Grand Fools Derby, among others. EGGstreme is working with US-based partners who are also recruiting more bands to participate in this new online web community for Fil-Am musicians, David said.

IT'S coming and it's out to get all Fender-loving guitar players, hahahaha (laughs like The Count). Now would you love to have a guitar that tunes itself? I would. I think Gibson has read my and the rest of the axe-toting crowd's mind when it comes to making a guitar. With this new rig, you can quickly switch to alternate tunings with a flick of a button/knob. Woah! Excellent! Wanna play like Slash, just whip out the guitar and let the guitar tune itself. Or Jimmy Page in Led Zep's Kashmir? Or perhaps be like Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix who often play in the E flat tuning (sounds warmer). It really takes a lot of time to detune those strings, hoping you're in tune. If you don't believe me, watch this video to see it live in action. Gibson has also created several interesting videos of the robot guitar. The "Psycho" version is just hilarious. An instructional video is also on YouTube: < Here's what its inventor had to say:

Which famous musicians are already using your system? Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins, he loves it. Matt Bellamy from Muse put it in his guitars. Uli Jon Roth, former guitar player of the Scorpions, says he actually can't live without it anymore. Steve Vai couldn't believe it unless he saw it, and once he saw it it was still very hard for him to believe. He's telling everybody about how great it is. Steve Lukather really loves it. I showed it to Pete Townshend, and he wants to get to know more about it. That's just the start of it.

Now, wouldn't you love to have one as a holiday gift.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net DURING the day, C. Palanca Street in Makati City is grey. Located in the the country's Central Business District, the street is dotted with high-rise office buildings and condos. But you'll also find bars and cozy restaurants in between office buildings. Of course, you won't miss the "jollijeeps" parked strategically in street corners. At lunch time, you'll find yuppies in semi-formal office getup, standing next to each other, enjoying a cheap meal. It's fastfood on wheels, some describe the jollijeeps. But as the sun sets, you'll find the same yuppies in their disheveled office dress gradually filling up the street's now famous bars and restaurants. Here you'll find joints like 6 Underground featuring famous and indie Pinoy bands. I remember watching Orange and Lemons in another bar called Gweilos, just next to 6 Underground. Gweilos is where I first witnessed upcoming Pinoy band and Baguio-based Spaceflowers play their "danceable" tunes, and where I interviewed an all-girl band called Wake Up Your Seatmate. A stone's throw away, you'll find the defunct 6 Underground, which was literally located in the basement of the Glass Tower building in C. Palanca Street. I was nice to hear that after 6 Underground closed, a live album is scheduled to come out soon, PhilMusic. com says. The live CD includes recordings of live performances of various local artists at 6 Underground. Excerpt:

"Take me down, Six Undergriound..." For what seemed like a Camelot-like brief shining moment, the basement of the Glass Tower in C. Planca Street in Makati relived its glory days as a music haven for folks looking for something off the beaten path. Through the decades the venue had been many things -- the jazz joint Cafe Alvarado in the 80s, the legendary rock dive Kalye in the 90's, and a bewildering array of ersatz Irish pubs. Named after a tune by trip-hop band Sneaker Pimps, it was revived in 2005 as 6 Underground, a venue that sought to relive the glory of the Kalye days, while combining the bar/club concept with a full fledged recording studio that ended up documenting a number of fine live performances for posterity.

To this day, C. Palanca remains a haven for people who want to listen to a lot of undiscovered local artists/bands.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net I RECENTLY got this e-mail message that says Odysseylive.net is live. Labeled as a "social music network." So I went to check it out. First impressions: Odysseylive.net seems to have covered all bases. It has streaming music, featured blogs, news about gigs, and classified ads. For artists (or those who want to be a rock star), you can register and upload some of your music. You can also invite friends to join this social music network. It was also quite easy to set up a profile. The service is still in "super beta." I am not sure what that means. But I did notice some bugs as I went in to check out the service. You don't have to register though to listen to the streaming music of featured Pinoy artists on the homepage. What's interesting here is that you can also upload up to 10 megabytes of data (photos, music, etc.) to your own profile. Personally, I don't think that's enough. But this is still the super beta version, hehe. As I went in to check some of the streaming music available, I found this interesting collection of Filipino bands compiled in an album called Bandtrip2. You can listen to at least 12 of the songs in the album. I thought, "What if you want to download the music you're listening to?" Hmmm. Currently, you can only listen to the music available online but there are no indications if the music is for sale or available for download. Here's another discovery: Beach Head with their chillout (with a mix of hip hop) song called "Freestyle." According to the group's profile, "Beach Head is a project band that writes, records and shoots video's during the songs composition. " A quick check reveals that Beach Head is apparently a side project of Urbandub's Gabbie Alipe together with the Kerplunk boys. Beach Head also has a nice video available on YouTube.

MUSICIANS and music publishers had mixed feelings about Radiohead's experiment. The experiment involved allowing people to download and chose how they opt to pay the British band's new album In Rainbows.

Excerpt from an AFP story:

British rock group Radiohead have drawn a mixed reaction from fans and fellow musicians with an experiment letting listeners decide the price of their latest album, reports said Thursday.

Other artists are said to be studying the novel sales strategy -- labelled a publicity stunt by some -- of allowing fans to pay whatever they want for "In Rainbows," which which went on sale online on Wednesday.

The hit art-rockers, already authors of six albums, drew widespread publicity when they announced earlier this month that that fans could decide the price themselves, saying "It's up to you" on their website.

My take: Radiohead has found a way to create buzz. It's a huge risk but I do agree with one view that if people like something, they're willing to pay for it. But this experiment may not work for all. Radiohead has already created a following back in the days when we were still swapping cassette tape remixes.

Here's a similar take from Blog Critics contributor Jason Meltzer Patterson:

What I find the most interesting about the Radiohead business model is that it sort of keeps the music behind bars again. I mean, by releasing their new album via Web only, you can't hear what you're paying for in advance. Radiohead is banking that fans will want this record because they dug past Radiohead records. You have to pay for the download and hope you like it. The pay-what-you-want model begs the question, how much is the Radiohead brand worth to you?

Many artists have gone the other way. They either tour like crazy to make cash and build a name, use MySpace, or both. Look at the careers of Mickey Avalon, Lily Allen and Kate Nash. All of them made it big on MySpace, where listeners can sample the music freely.

One thing I learned throughout the years is that nothing is "free." Radiohead has hooked us all into thinking this experiment will change the music industry or even force it to its knees. But in the end, they'll be selling more music because the band has already whetted our appetite for their music.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net A GROUP of sound artists, collectively known as New Media Arts Manila (NMAM), is set to stage a gig featuring sound art made with electronic, audiovisual, and information technology. "It includes sound art, video art, interactive electronics, algorithmic art, computer music, and whatever art forms new technologies may yet spawn," the group said in an e-mail announcement. Calling their music "New Media Art," NMAM was formed to curate, stage, and promote their art. The gig, dubbed Electrostatic Sound Conference, will feature a range of "performative sound art pieces" done by several artists. The group is composed of:

• Malek Lopez, Berklee-trained virtuoso who is the principal composer for the band Drip, and half of the abrasive electronica duo Rubber Inc.;

• Mu Arae Transmission, (a.k.a. Moon Fear Moon a.k.a. John Sobrepena), who composes haunting and eerie instances of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music);

• Blums Borres, 3D animator, performative video artist, and sound artist who dedicates himself to expanding the sonic territory of the electric guitar;

• Jing Garcia, tech editor of The Manila Times who founded the seminal sound art group Children of Cathode Ray back in 1989 and composes industrial/ambient pieces as autoceremony;

• Tengal, frenetic composer, a tireless sound artist, the founder of S.A.B.A.W. sound art collective, and a one-man record label;

• Lirio Salvador, sculptor and luthier whose ornate, chrome-plated instruments are featured on television, displayed in galleries, and played by his group Elemento;

• Tad Ermitano, filmmaker and video artist who creates custom programs and hardware for his art installations. His work has appeared in Time magazine.

The gig will happen on October 10, 8:30 p.m. at Club Dredd, 2nd floor, Gweilos Eastwood. This gig is also a showcase of technology, as it is supported by Globe and ASUS, the group said. Of course, admission is free.