In these days of musicians counting myspace plays and friend requests as a way of measuring popularity, it's easy to forget that not too long ago the much lamented MP3.com was making stars of its own (and paying them, no less!) with independent artists racking up ten of thousands of plays. And some whose play count went from tens to hundreds of thousands, and then to millions.
Enter singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist Lobelia, whose profile on that original indie music portal lead her to places most independent musicians only dream of - lucrative sponsorship deals, a publishing contract and a feature in Billboard magazine. Playing in a duo with acclaimed British bassist Steve Lawson, Lobelia's sound blends hook-laden adult pop with a more spacial ambient sensibility reminiscent of David Sylvian, Talk Talk and The Blue Nile. Singing songs of love and loss, her star is once again on the ascendancy, with the coming year promising at least two new albums and more touring in Europe, the US and further afield.
Steve has just about put the finishing touches on our Live In Nebraska Album on Bandcamp. This has been just about sold out since we made it (and we did make lots of copies!) but now you’ll be able to pay what you want for this amazing CD. It’s truly one of the best recordings I’ve ever been a part of….partly due to it being the last show on our US tour that year and us playing really well….and partly due to the amazing Dan Kane at Power Base Studio really knowing how to capture live sound. It also doesn’t hurt that his studio is perfect either. (It’s only $500/US per diem, you really should go and record there sometime!) We’ve never played the song Rain like this since. It’s breathtaking.
So download like crazy, share with your friends. Pass it on and let us know what you think! xo Steve and Lo.
Just a bit of interesting yet slightly distressing news today. In a deal that is the first of it’s kind, Emusic has come to an agreement with Sony to include their back catalog that is over 2 years old to be included in emusic’s non DRM a la carte monthly download service.
When I initially heard this news, I was quite pleased. Large record labels have seemed to be quite skeptical in the past about the financial viability of non-DRM download services. But you can’t argue with the numbers. Emusic has over 400,000 subscribers and even at a conservative guestimation are bringing in over 3 million a month. The main complaint that I’ve had with their service ( I was a member for over 2 years) was that after I was finished getting all the cool independent and obscure stuff I wanted, that there were a lot of mainstream things that you couldn’t get on emusic. I’m sure this causes a lot of fluctuation in business, and often people will let their account drop for a few months while new tracks are added. Read the rest of this entry »
just checking how the nokia bluetooth keyboard works with the ipad. not sure I like it better than the touchscreen keyboard, but it works! 18 hours ago
@KrakkersBB @solobassteve to be fair you were playing it at a very low volume very late at night. :) 2010/07/28
Very sorry to hear @miriamjones isn't playing @greenbelt this year. She's brilliant and a musical highlight of the festival. Sad. 2010/07/28
