The latest sensation to emerge from a “talent” show, pianist Liu Wei has captivated the world with his life story and his determination. He lost both arms when he was 10, and he learned to do everything using his feet. That includes playing the piano.
“I realize I have two choices in life”, he says. “Die now or live a beautiful life”. A very inspiring video, and one that I am immensely pleased to share with you.
The song he plays is “Marriage D’amour”.
A Dirge-like Remix Of Justin Bieber's "U Smile" Has Ended Up Giving An Unknown Producer A Lot Of Notoriety
It’s amazing, but a producer who was fooling around with a song by the Canadian teen star has actually ended up with a viral hit in his hands.
The song in question is “U Smile”, and it has been slowed down beyond all belief (800 %, in fact). You can listen to it below, on the Soundcloud profile of the remixer (an aspiring producer named Nick Pittsinger)
Anyway, this is the song. Again – the amount of plays it has garnered is nothing short of breathtaking.
Jackie Evancho
Jackie Evancho, a ten-year old soprano from Pittsburgh has become the newest online sensation after a recent performance at the YouTube edition of “America’s Got Talent”. This is the full clip.
What do you think – are we witnessing a new rising star of the caliber of Susan Boyle, or will it all be a passing fad?
Gabi Gregg Is Appointed As The First Twitter DJ In The History Of MTV
Do you remember the previous post about MTV’s search for a Twitter DJ? Well, that search is over. Gabi Gregg from Chicago has been appointed for the role upon winning a nation-wide contest.
This Twitter DJ (or “Twitter Jockey”, to be accurate) is an update version of the network’s old Video Jockey. The idea is that this person will keep everybody posted on what is going on via the popular micro-blogging platform, and also through other social media tools like Facebook.
My compliments to Ms. Gregg. I wish her all the luck in this (tricky) endeavor. She is going to need it to bring back those who have strayed from their TV sets towards the likes of Vevo and Hulu.
The coverage of the Uruguayan independent artist Soundays turned to be one of the best posts ever since the blog started. And I also finally wrote about RostbiF, one of the bands I actually collaborate with. Don’t forget to read the interview, too.
The one artist I added this month was Patti Smith, a key figure in the development of punk music. And like the genre or not, she has some albums that should never be overlooked. Read the general introduction and my review of her debut “Horses” and see if you agree or not with the points I make.
For its part, the startups that were reviewed during this month included SoundzAbound, Mixest and Lystener – the first is an innovative tool for educators, whereas the other two can be used to discover new indie bands and lyrics respectively. And I also covered a startup named Venossi on the week of its launch – it takes the news feed we all are familiarized with thanks to Facebook, and applies it to the recommendation and discovery of new music. And Kilian Valkhof from Lystener and Barry Starlin from Soundzabound also sat for an interview.
Finally, I was as happy as punch the day I walked into the Uruguayan National Library to discover that some charitable soul had placed “Once” on prominent display. Like a proud father, I tool a zillion pictures. And like any proud father, I got unbearable and wrote a post with the best pictures for you to take a lot at them. I haven’t been flamed yet, so I guess I didn’t get that unbearable…
As many of you probably noticed, YouTube’s music page has been overhauled, and a key feature has been added: a recommendation engine for music videos based both on your settings, preferences and these clips that your friends are sharing.
In practice, this turns YouTube into a tool for discovery that makes me think a lot of the days in which MTV actually played music.
Such a move was long due in the face of competing services such as The Hype Machine and Pandora, and it was somehow announced just a couple of weeks ago with the release of LeanBack (a service for discovering videos based on what your friends are watching). Continue reading
"Baby", The First Single From Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" Has Become The Most Viewed Music Video Ever On The Internet
Just when you thought that nobody could displace Lady Gaga from her high throne and top the successes of the internet artist par excellence, along comes Justin Bieber and grabs the distinction of having the most watched online music video ever. I guess the app for keeping Bieber out of the Internet wasn’t that effective after all.
The song that has achieved that marvelous feat is no other than “Baby” (where Justin is accompanied by rapper Ludacris). Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” now lags slightly behind. I have embedded the video below. Proceed at your own discretion.
The Way You Should Hold An iPhone 4 In Order To Avoid Antenna Problems. Either That, Or Get A Case.
Many touted the release of the iPhone 4 as one of the events of the year. It turned out they were right – the amount of press we have seen over the last month was unprecedented, but for all the wrong reasons. The iPhone 4 proved not to work if held in a certain position, and that made things tricky for right-handed people, and downright impossible for left-handed ones.
Reports began springing up incessantly until Dave Letterman himself did a parody of the whole situation, and a consumer report advised people to buy an iPhone 3GS instead. At that point, Apple swung into action fast. Earlier today they held a conference in which Steve Jobs acknowledged that the problems existed, and that customers were to receive a free case that prevents the problem of blocking the antenna from happening.
But before the announcement was made, Internet performer Jonathan Mann (known for recording and releasing one song a day) had time to write a song about the whole antenna fiasco and post the video for all to see on his site. It is named “The iPhone Antenna Song”. Will it go down in history as the official soundtrack to antennagate? Judge it for yourself:
June was very rewarding if only because I managed to cover three unsigned Uruguayan artists over the course of the month: Mal Yo, Laiojan Sebastian and Lucía Ferreira. The three of them are very promising bands and solo performers, and Laiojan Sebastian in particular was the reason I began writing about unsigned artists on MusicKO. Their inclusion on the blog was long due.
The one new artist that I added to the blog was The Divine Comedy – you can read the general introduction here, and a review of “A Secret History – The Best Of The Divine Comedy” here.
The startups that I covered during June were the social network SeeJoeRock, Mixtap.in (a site that brings mixtapes back for good), and the Tony-B Machine, a great resource for those wanting to create electronic music. I also covered TasteBuds, a site that will let you find that special other based on the music that you like.
And the entrepreneurs and startup founders that I interviewed were Majid ALSarra (from Lyreach), Caroline Bottomley (from Radar Music Videos) and Tony Bouchereau (creator of The Tony-B Machine)
Lastly, make sure to check out the most visited post of the whole month: Steve Moore, the mad drummer!
As one could have guessed from the latest figures that were released, the growth of Vevo is not stopping anytime soon. Last week saw the addition of a new channel, and one that could modify the way people experience the video platform for the better.
Named “The Next Wave presented by Schick Hydro”, the channel is basically a showcase for new talent. Unfortunately, not every kind of new artist could be featured there – only those who are signed to any of the three record companies that have partnered with YouTube (remember, Vevo is a joint venture comprising Google, Universal, Sony and investor Abu Dhabi Media Company) have a chance to be spotlighted .
The idea is clearly to give these artists that have already been signed a chance to become a new sensation to rival others like Lady Gaga (who is responsible for the bulk of visits Vevo has every month). Continue reading