Qbox Story

Check out these  two new albums creating buzz… polar opposites in style, but creative and distinctive in their own right.

Photo Courtesy of MySpace

MAJOR LAZER - Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do
This hip hop, electronic, punk music is talent of DJ Diplo and DJ Switch.  After garnering major success by producing for artists Santigold and M.I.A, this duo brings in an array of guest singers including Santifold, Nina Sky and Mapei.

Photo Courtesy of MySpace

PETE YORN - The Break-Up
After spending time in the midwest recording, Yorn brings a certain Americana folk feel to the album, especially on tunes like “Long Time Nothing New.”

Friday, June 5 7-10AM

John Legend playing live on Good Morning America in Bryant Park!

Dave Matthews Band on the Today Show at Rockefellar Plaza.

Get there early to get a view or hang out in the surrounding area just to hear the music.

Pardon the week hiatus, as I was researching the sounds of Costa Rica.  The music is a blend of Latin American salsa and merengue dance music with reggae beats on the coastline and beachtowns.

I am a huge fan of the Putumayo World Music cd compilations as they develop an assortment of music.  Take a look at the various cds they have available but their various compilations are bound to get you taking salsa lessons.

As for the reggae music, Bob Marley is the first artist that comes to mind, probably the most well-known artist to spread the reggae music around the world.  “Get Up, Stand Up” a classic.

Fischerspooner- Entertainment
Expect the usual Fischerspooner sound of catchy, electronica beats on their third full-length album.

ON TOUR NOW:
Thursday, May 7 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Friday, May 8 @ Webster Hall

Courtesy of MySpace Page

Chrisette Michele- Epiphany
The 2008 Grammy award winner is back with a second album, dedicated to showcasing her soulful voice and classic R&B style.  With tracks appearing on CW’s “Girlfriends” and “House of Payne,” she has already received press with self-titled track “Epiphany.”

Courtesy of MySpace Page

FRIDAY
Beyondo, East West Quintet, Nook, Papercranes @ Spike Hill (Brooklyn) 7PM 

Courtesy of MySpace

Courtesy of MySpace

 
SATURDAY
Bill Callahan Live and DJ Sets @ Other Music starting 11:30AM
Appearances by: Bob Dylan, Telepathe, Obits, Grizzly Bear, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Raveonettes, Prefuse 73 and Bill Callahan.

It’s that time to rock out again…

Fri 1/30 @ South Street Seaport Ice Rink- Neckbeard Telecaster and Grand Mal
Sat 1/31 @ Pete’s Candy Store- Mia Riddle & Her Band, Brandon Intelligator, Reuben Chess (21+)
Sat 1/31 @ Sound Fix Records- Loney, Dear
Sat 1/31 @ Union Pool- Rafter DJ Set (21+)
Sun 2/01 @ Union Pool- Wild Yaks, Cheryl or Sheryl (21+)

Guster, formed in 1991 by Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller and Brian Rosenworcel attending Tufts University in Massachusetts.  With a sound similar to Coldplay, John Mayer and Ben Folds, Guster has been able to capture a younger audience, touring colleges in the Fall 2007.  In addition, the college tours was also a chance to publicize Gardner’s organization Reverb, which aims to assist touring artists by making activities environmentally sound.  Reverb has worked with Jack Johnson, John Mayer and Dave Mattheww Band, just ot name a few.

Guster’s music has been featured in movies including Disturbia, Wedding Crashers, Life as a House and the tv show The OC.

The simple genius of the Google search algorithm based on the PageRank algorithm is that it “derives from human-generated links.”  The idea that the importance of a web page should be determined primarily by the human-perceived importance of the pages that link to the web page is simple and powerful.  The audacity of scale that Google set out to build early on is another key differentiator.

Likewise, Qbox believes that:

• One should be able to search for all the world’s music at Qbox
• One should be able to search for and listen to all the world’s music at Qbox
• One should be able to find even the music that one does not know exists - i.e., discover new music that is likely to be liked by the searcher

These thoughts keep us on our quest for the ultimate online music experience.  Furthermore, in order for fans to enjoy all the world’s music for free, artists must be compensated fairly for their work.  And this keeps our passion alive for music and the creators of the works.

With the rise of MySpace Music a few years ago, low- (or no-) budget indie bands have found an effective online channel to publish their work and reach their fans at virtually no cost. We have been accustomed to think that MySpace represented a disruption to the traditional value chain where bulk of the value was captured by mighty labels.

More recently, however, it seems that artists with presence on MySpace are starting to realize that they “forgot to read the fine print” when they opened shop on MySpace. What they agreed to unwittingly is that their profile page actually belongs to MySpace.Some artists are indeed starting to establish their own presence on the web, maintaining full control over their site, away from or in parallel to the large hosting platforms. Startups, in turn, are starting to provide easy-to-use tools for artists to quickly and easily market themselves online. One of the presenters at the

SanFran Music Tech Summit held last month, Bandcamp, is one such startup promoting the rise of band blogs. Bandcamp founder Ethan Diamond calls companies like iMeem and MySpace “online sharecroppers” because they do not give artists full control over their works.

As the number of artists establishing their own sites increases over time, demand for services that aggregate, filter and search through the band blogs will rise. Qbox, we believe, is naturally well-positioned to benefit from such trend, as we are a pioneer in aggregating the musician profile pages across the social Web. The more fragmented the market becomes, the more effective our approach will be.

Who: William Fitzsimmons

Album: The Sparrow and the Crow

Released: September 30, 2008

(Photo courtesy of MySpace page)

A favorite of mine for quite some time, William Fitzsimmons produces a beautiful yet raw collection of songs; his vocal and writing talent (he wrote all the songs) is underappreciated and deserves to receive more attention. His music, however, has been featured on shows including ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and General Hospital, MTV’s Life of Ryan and Lifetime’s Army Wives [Wikipedia].

Fitzsimmon’s first studio produced album is a reflection of the events in his life, more specifically about his recent divorce. As he states in an interview, “I wrote it first and foremost as a confession and apology to my former wife. It was a way to say things that I needed her to hear that I didn’t know how else to say. Second, as a way to exercise the pain from what I’d easily call the worst year of my life. And third, as a way to let others in pain have a way to express and deal with their trouble, and perhaps find some hope at the end of it. It’s not a divorce record, or even a “break up” record in the traditional sense, although certainly it contains elements of both. Instead, it’s a record about messing up everything, and trying to find a way back home.”

Back in June, I saw William, his trademark beard and Brooke Fraser at Highline Ballroom in New York City and I was impressed by not only his talent, but his ability to connect (and joke) with the audience.

His incredibly truthful lyrics reveal thoughts and emotions that many of us do not care to to admit let alone share with the world. This album seems to have a darker tone than the last (Goodnight) but the listener can only be drawn in closer because on his honesty and talent.