Year In Review 2012: Uruguayan Artists & Videos

Below you’ll find all the independent and unsigned artists that were profiled on MusicKO in 2012.

Vincent Vega

The Bear Season

La Medio Siglo

The Blueberries

Miguel Campal

Picnic

Laura Chinelli

Erika Chuwoki

Matías Cantante

Los Pazientes

El Umbral

 

The following videos were also featured on the blog:

“Llevame” by Laura Chinelli

“Normal” by La Medio Siglo

“This Is Not A Test” by The Bear Season

“El Piso Se Va A Manchar” by Vincent Vega

“POU” by Closet

“Please Don’t Be Like Me” by Casablancas

“Decidir” by Andrea Deleón Santos

“Gigantes” by Orgánica

I also interviewed Pablo Faragó, and covered the release of his first solo album here.

Well, this is the last post of 2012. I want to wish you all a happy New Year, and thank you for your support. Keeping this blog alive takes me a huge amount of time, but it’s always something I do with a lot of conviction, a lot of determination and (most of all) a lot of illusion.

Always will.

Emilio

Year In Review 2012: Best Startups & Interviews

This is a list including these sites and apps that I regard as the finest of 2012. I’ve linked to the original posts on MusicKO. And in many cases, you’ll also find links to interviews with their founders and developers.

Tomorrow, I’ll post a list with all of the Uruguayan artists featured on MusicKO over the course of the year.

StoryAmp: The Place Where Musicians And Journalists Meet

SpotMeUp: Upload Your Music To Spotify

PumpYouUp: Free Indie Electronic Music (Interview with Robert Dede)

WildChords: An iPad Game That Lets You Become A Guitar Player
(Interview with Christoph Thür)

Veenue: Collaborate With Musicians From All Over The World
(Interview with Dario Zampetti)

SongSpin.fm: Discover And Share The Latest Sounds

Restorm: Letting Bands License And Sell Their Music
(Interview with Jonas Brander)

JamCloud: Like Hangouts, But Strictly For Music Lovers
(Interview with Jason Gruntra)

JazzCypher: Social Network For Jazz Musicians And Enthusiasts
(Interview with Chris)

OneSheet: Build A Rich Profile Page For Your Band

PitchImprover: All You Need To Play By Ear To Recognize Intervals And To Develop Perfect Pitch
(Interview with Anton Naumovets)

SoundSpar: Compete With Other Bands And Win New Fans

RecooMe: In Search Of The Ultimate Playlists
(Interview with Kailash Subedi)

1Band1Brand: New Bands & Fashion Brands (Interview with Kyle York)

GigValley: Like Facebook, But Only For Bands

FindYouSomeVinyl: A Search Engine For Nothing But LPs

Bandhack: Local Bands On Facebook (Interview with Josh Roberts)

Crowdbands: A Record Label Run By The People

Free & Legal Music From Ibero-America At CancioneroAzul.org

Cancionero Azul [Blue Songbook] is a website that gives you free and 100% legal music downloads from all over Ibero-America. And that includes Uruguay. Artists that I hope to review in 2012 such as Ismael Collazo and Martin Barea Matos have all made their albums publicly available on CancioneroAzul.org. You can download Ismael’s “Rincones” [Corners] and Martín’s “Odisea En El Parking Planetario” [Odyssey In The Planetary Parking] at absolutely no cost on this well-designed site.

For its part, those of you who want to have your own music featured on CancioneroAzul.org should read this page.

As one of the few sites with this scope and depth, Cancionero Azul comes highly recommended. It’s not every day that you get to sample music from Spanish-speaking countries this accurately and legally.

“Llévame” By Laura Chinelli (Video)

The Music Video For Laura Chinelli's "Llévame" Was Shot In Casa Blanca (Paysandú)

The best song from Laura Chinelli’s “Historias De Invierno” has now got its own music video. Shot in Paysandú, the clip for “Llévame” has Laura trying to hitch a ride on a road, only to end up succeeding in the most unexpected of ways…

The video has been directed by Salomón Reyes for Saladero 19.

“Normal” By La Medio Siglo (Video)

La Medio Siglo

La Medio Siglo’s first music video.
The song is “Normal”.
From their debut EP, “Altos Con Rulos” [Tall And Curly]
It’s a wry look on consumerism and transcendentalism.
It comes with audience participation at the end.
It’s on its way to dethroning Michel Telo’s “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” on the charts.
And you watched it here first.

StoryAmp – The Place Where Musicians And Journalists Meet

Name: StoryAmp
URL: http://www.storyamp.com

This new site brings together musicians and PR agencies in a grand way. If you’re an artist, you can turn to StoryAmp.com to create dispatches by uploading your music, bio, photos, videos and concert links. These dispatches can then be shared using any of StoryAmp’s press lists, and brought into the hands of journalists. That doesn’t mean they’ll write about you and your wondrous ensemble, but at least you’ll make your presence known to them. It’s a start.

And any way you look at it, using a site like this one is infinitely cheaper than trying to hire the services of a PR agency. StoryAmp can actually be used for free, and if you need to flex some additional muscle then you can sign up for a premium account. This will give you unlimited audio streaming, unlimited password-protected downloads and the chance to upload an unlimited number of photos and videos to be used in your dispatches. Continue reading

SpotMeUp – Upload Your Music To Spotify

Name: SpotMeUp
URL: http://www.spotmeup.com

The war between Spotify and Google Music rages on, and (by the looks of it) the European startup is the one that holds the upper hand. It’s not that Spotify has become a household name, but the last year’s been pretty spiffy for the music streaming service, what with a brilliant American launch and a partnership with Facebook. And web tools like SpotMeUp do nothing but keep the momentum going.

This new website has come along to answer the question of “How do I get my music on Spotify?” in the most direct way of all. SpotMeUp is an easy-to-use service that lets you upload your music to Spotify in the blink of an eye. Singles, EPs and full albums can all be uploaded equally fast. Upon creating a (free) account, you’ll be able to upload the files from your computer, one by one. Continue reading

Turning Your Gameboy Into A Musical Instrument

And here I was, thinking that making music with a Gameboy could only be taken this far:

It turns out someone did try and improve the Gameboy’s audio capabilities quite recently.  Just look at this Kickstarter project. It added a resonant low pass analog filter into the classic Nintendo Gameboy that became all the rage in the 90s for extra audio supremacy.

Well, for a couple of new effects at least.

It was all done by placing the filter inside the battery’s compartment, with external controls being used for cutoff, resonance, bypass and envelope follower. The filter could operate both in mono and in stereo mode. Continue reading

Have Your Voice Featured On “The Dark Knight Rises”

Add Your Voice To Hans Zimmer's Score For "The Dark Knight Rises" Via UJAM!

With “Batman: The Dark Knight” having become one of the most popular movies of the last decade (it currently ranks ninth on IMDb’s list of the Top 500 movies in history), Warner was sure to milk the final part of the trilogy for all it’s worth. And that’s exactly what has happened, with teasers and trailers cropping up everywhere, a full year before the movie (titled “The Dark Knight Rises”) is set to hit theaters.

And Warner’s latest promotional ploy is one you’d most likely be interested in. The movie’s composer is no other than Hans Zimmer (yes, the man behind the score for “The Phantom Of The Opera” and countless others), and he’s inviting people to contribute to the film’s score.

It’s all done via UJAM, with you recording and submitting a chant to be used in a massive chorus at some point in “The Dark Knight Rises”.

And just to make it clear who this initiative is aimed at, let me quote the man himself:

“There is no such thing as out-of-tune, no timing we can’t fix later. If you mumble, growl, scream or whisper, it’s all good. Make it yours. If you only get halfway through, no problem! Do it alone, bring your friends, but do it with energy and commitment.

Let your voice be heard and be a part of our adventure!”

Don’t complain you weren’t invited later…