W♥M

Lennon & Maisy: Come Together (10/23/12)

I Wear My Sunglasses At Night (Corey Hart) If Your Mind's Made Up (Swell Season) Till There Was You (Meredith Willson) Headlock (Imogen Heap) When It Falls Apart (Matthew Perryman Jones) Savior (with Matthew Perryman Jones) Price Tag (Jessie Jay) Secret (Missy Higgins) Call Your Girlfriend (Robyn) -- I Won't Give Up (Jason Mraz) Christmas Coming Home Baby's Request (Paul McCartney)

Sister duo Lennon & Maisy is a popular YouTube sensation (with nearly 20 million views) and recurring roles on the new hit ABC series "Nashville" performed their first-ever concert today, October 23rd, via Stageit.

Lennon and Maisy

This is the first time I've used Stageit, which is a web-based video platform that lets artists create paid live performances. I was expecting a live stream of a typical concert stage and multiple cameras, but in reality, it was a little more like a one-way video chat with Lennon & Maisy in their living room.

Video was "web" quality 4:3, as you can see from the screen prints. You can blow it full screen, which looked awful with large digital artifacts. I suspect it was a combination of things: my computer's CPU, the limitations of streaming live, or source material (it seems to me they were streaming via a laptop webcam.)

Another problem is the feedback via the chat windows. With nearly 400 people asking questions at the same time, and the window was scrolling so fast in real time, no one can catch what anyone was saying. The two sisters had the hardest time trying to read when they started their Q&A break.

Some of the questions they answered were:

Favorite food: their aunt's Sheppard's Pie
Favorite music: Old country and Huey Lewis and the News
Boyfriend: No and definitely no.
Beatles: Lennon is named after John Lennon and Maisy's middle name is Jude.
When they started singing: 5 and 2 years old
Working on Nashville: a dream come true.
Current grade: 8th grade (13 years old) and 2nd grade (8 years old)

Lennon and Maisy with Matthew Perryman Jones

As you can see from the setlist, they only performed cover songs (with the exception of the Christmas song.) Highlight was a special guest appearance by Matthew Perryman Jones who showed up and sang and played acoustic for "Savior."

I don't know if this is the actual title, but "Christmas Coming Home" is a song that Lennon & Maisy just recorded in the studio. They premiered the song on their live Stageit show. I'm sure the song will be made available around Christmas time this year, so look for it this holiday.

For the finale, their mom and dad joined them on the couch and they sang Paul McCartney's "Baby's Request." A fitting way to end their set, "just one more time and then we'll go to bed."

Lennon and Maisy Stella: Come Together (10/23/12)

vu () ♥ youtube.com/user/lennonandmaisy ♥ stageit.com

NoiseTrade

Katie Herzig: Beautiful Inside

NoiseTrade has been connecting artists and fans with free music for two years now and with Version 2.0 (coming soon), they're building a better website for iPhone/iPad usability (yay!).

To get you excited, 25 free tracks from 25 different music artists for free at noisemakers.noisetrade.com. Unfortunately, I have not really heard of any these bands, outside of Lovedrug and Snowden, but for the price of free, I'll give it a shot.

Here is the list of bands on this free compilation:

Ben Rector, Bleu, The Civil Wars, Coal Train Railroad, David Mead, Derek Webb, Green River Ordinance, Joy Williams, Justin McRoberts, Kate York, Katie Herzig, The Last Royals, Lovedrug, Matt Wertz, Matthew Mayfield, Matthew Perryman Jones, Mike Farris, Mikky Ekko, Red Mountain Church, Sandra McCracken, Sleeping At Last, Snowden, Thad Cockrell, Trent Dabbs, Waterdeep

As for website, it still relies heavily on Flash (read: does not currently work on the iPad), and I did have it timed out when trying to download the 121mb zip file.

NoiseTrade asks only tip money if you enjoy what you hear.

vu ()

♥ noisetrade.com

Attack of the EPs, Part 4

Matthew Perryman Jones - Don't Fall In Love Matthew Perryman Jones Matthew Perryman Jones http://sites.goog... Matthew Perryman Jones gives away first album in prep for new release Swallow the Sea (8/19)

One thing before we begin on another very diverse set of 6-EP pack: you can download Matthew Perryman Jones's first album for free or a mere $1 via noisetrade.com. I will admit that I could not get noisetrade to work (it was only offering Kate York and I could not browse through their artist), but maybe you'll have better luck.

Noisetrade looks interesting, you can pay $1 or tell three of your friend for a free download. It's a great idea, and I've been trying to saying for a while now: make download free or cheap and it will encourage people from seeing you on tour and/or buy merchandise from you.

This promotion is due to his upcoming album, Swallow the Sea to be released on Thirty Tigers on August 19^th. You can even preview Swallow the Sea album on breakingoutthewindows.com, although it does require you to register.

Also, for more downloads, check out free downloads on site.w♥m.

FALLOUT 3 fallout.bethsoft.com ♥ gamestop.com     The Ink Spots - I Don't Want To Set The World On fire I'm a longtime Fallout fan, and I recently put down some preorder money for the Deluxe Edition because Gamestop was offering a free 5-track CD. The Fallout 3 Soundtrack features their theme song of The Ink Spots' "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire". I might try and dig up the first two Fallout games and replay them in anticipation to the third game, revisit the classic Louis Armstrong's "A Kiss To Build A Dream On" as that was heavily used in the second game. Anyway, if you were intending on getting Fallout 3, you might want to get a bonus EP out of by going to Gamestop. PS, my character of choice was a sharpshooter with lots of strength to wear the Brotherhood of Steel's armor and to shoot those heavy guns.	MtO mr-mto.com ♥ myspace.com     MTO - Bring It On Now (Hatchmatik Remix) I had a pretty hard time locating mister MtO, as there is a rapper crew from California, also called MTO. This MtO is a DJ from Paris, France. This latest release is Bring it On Now, a three-track EP with three different version of the same song. At first listen, all three sounds basically the same, but the Remote mix seems to be slowed down a bit (this is evident on the vocals "bring it on now"). I thought the Original mix is pretty accessible/poppy, complete with backup "oy" sound. It ends up that Hatchmatik stood out here, I think mostly because I like the clapping used on the mix. Like all remix/DJ releases, I think that the real talent is actually live mixing and I don't know if that translate well on a recorded medium. If you're a fan trance and beats, definitely give this a spin, you can get the record from Coco Machete Records.
MIDDLE CLASS RUT reverbnation.com/middleclassrut ♥ myspace.com     Middle Class Rut-New Low The "MC" in MC Rut does not stand for Master of Ceremony, but "Middle Class". Another misconception you might have is that this "EP" contains nine songs (officially 8 songs, but there is a not-so-hidden 9th called "Start To Run"), clocking over 40 minutes - longer than many punk albums I own! Apparently this band consists of only two members, guitarist Zack Lopez and drummer Sean Stockham, both of whom were on a major label band called Leisure when they were only in their teens. By default, I usually think the first song on a single or EP is the most important, but I'll have to say that I will pass that up for "New Low" - which contains a catchy line "I got a new low, all fifty-two cards in a row". Middle Class Rut is playing one show at the end of the month (August 31st) with The Force at Anaheim, California. Be sure to pick up their latest EP, MC Rut EP from their myspace.	THE JEFF MICHAEL BAND thejeffmichaelband.com ♥ myspace.com     The Jeff Michael Band - When Will I See You Again Despite what you may think, I actually really like Country music, and the Jeff Michael Band does have a little bit of a country twang to them. Check out "When Will I See You Again", their lead song on The Other Side EP. Although it looks like he does have a full band backing up mister Michael, you never really see them in photographs on his myspace or official website. All the photos shows off a handsome Jeff Michael. The Other Side is the second EP from this talented young musician, whose influences includes classics like The Beatles (especially on "Let Her Go") to John Mayer, but I do get a sense of a little Dylan (on "Enjoy the Ride"). He's playing one date (Sep 24th) at the M Bar in Hollywood, California. Be sure to grab his latest EP at CD Baby.
ETERNAL DESCENT eternaldescent.com ♥ myspace.com     Eternal Descent - Phantom We previously mentioned Eternal Descent before, and I said they reminded me of Evanescence. As a cover lover, when I got their latest EP, The Phantom of the Opera, I instantly needed to hear their cover version of this Andrew Lloyd Webber classic. Wow, it didn't disappoint me, this song is an industrial metal with a "duet" of a demonic-sounding Phantom. The b-sides consists of only two mostly-instrumental songs "Legends" and "Fallen", both are good, but I felt was overshadowed by the first track, "Phantom". I think they were really designed as background music, as you're reading the comic book (you can see a preview of it on their myspace, I couldn't find any details on how to actually get a copy of the book). With Losing Faith, I previously mentioned looks kind of anime, but this new cover art by Jason Metcalf feels more superhero. The art reminds me of Michael Turner, who unexpectedly died this year. Anyway, you can pick up the latest EP from cdbaby, be sure to read about Losing Faith.	SPiN spinrocks.com ♥ myspace.com     Spin - Not In Love This is SPiN, a Philadelphia band with their 2007 EP called, er, what else? EP. In a recent discussion with cranky, she pointed out that Music Exchange was cross-promoting Philadelphia and Minneapolis bands. This is kind of interesting, because previously, I wouldn't associate these two cities together, you know? Plague with a common moniker, searching for SPiN's website was really hard. I eventually found it, but if I had trouble... then there's a problem for fans to find you. Apparently the band is sponsored by their drink of choice, Jagermeister, an interesting choice, since I get the impression that they sponsor more harder music such as Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica. If you listen to them, they sound more like powerpop/rock. Check out their burst of energy song, "Not In Love". You know, the more I hear "I'm not in love, I'm not in love, no no, not in love with you", the more I get the feeling that he's actually in love with her. Still the chorus is pretty catchy. Be sure to check out these live dates: 08/23/08 Dr. Watsons Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 08/28/08 The National Underground New York, New York

Read more Attack of the EPs.

Links: www.weheartmusic.com