He was born Tijs Michiel Verwest in the Netherlands. And he has had many aliases over the years. But today, he is known the world over by the name Tiësto. The world’s top trance DJ, he became the first DJ to perform live onstage at an Olympic Games in 2004. He has also performed energetic sets that last up to twelve hours. And he had a residency at the largest club in the world for a couple of months in 2008, and again in 2009. Also in 2009, he released his fourth album, Kaleidoscope. In this video, WatchMojo.com chats with Tiësto about his collaborations, his record company and where he’s at in his career.
For more information, click http://www.tiesto.com/
Having just completed a U.S. tour with Fischerspooner, Miami based electronica act OrganicArma will release their second EP, “Awarned” on June 30, 2009 on Acustronic / Rock Ridge Music. “Awarned” is the follow up to “Discordia” released earlier this year. The “Awarned” EP includes the original version of the song “Awarned,” as well as remixes by King Unique and Degenerate. The EP will only be a digital only release and will be available via online music outlets.
“OrganicArma takes its inspiration from minimal techno, techno, house, dub, classical, industrial, and rock, and fuse logical fluent breaks, Afro-Latin beats, time signature changes, and unique sounds to create music that is uncategorizable.”
Fans are also being offered the chance to remix “Discordia” and stand alongside King Uniqe and DJ Spooky, who offered remixes on the “Discordia” EP. Visit their contest’s official website for song stems and official rules. Contestants will be offered the chance to appear on a future release.
Website | MySpace
Pre-order “Awarned” on iTunes for only $2.99
Kid Cudi is putting a whole new spin on Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”. Sampling the live acoustic version of the #1 smash, “I Poke Her Face” is a song where Kid Cudi joins forces with Kanye West and Common. Give it a listen!
Lady Gaga is also rapidly establishing herself as a leading fashion icon, with outfits that are nothing short of cutting edge. Now, you can play dress up with her official Stardoll! Check out this incredible mini-me version of the retrosexual pop-tart right here!
In advance of Fist of God, the follow-up to 2006’s landmark The Looks, Toronto dancefloor juggernaut MSTRKRFT is set to release a Maxi Single of club-banging blog fave, and F’N MTV theme song, “Bounce.” The eight-track offering, due via Dim Mak Records on October 7th, features the original N.O.R.E. and Isis of Thunderheist-assisted track, released in April, “Vuvuvu,” and a plethora of remixes from rising stars in the dance community. For the uninitiated, MSTRKRFT is the production/DJ team of Toronto musician Jesse F. Keller and studio wizard Al-P. Their 2006 smash The Looks blurred boundaries between punk, house, hip-hop, grime, electro, and all kinds of electronic experimentation. Since forming, the team of Keller and Al-P have remixed a veritable who’s who of musical trendsetters – John Legend and Andre 3000, The Gossip, Justice, Usher, Wolfmother, The Crystal Method, Chromeo, Armand Van Helden, Kylie Minogue, Annie, Bloc Party, and Metric. The Bounce maxi single finds a few of MSTRKRFT’s friends returning the favor, with “Bounce” remixes from the likes of French up-and-comers High Powered Boys, MK labelmates Bloody Beetroots, and Vancouver-based rising star Felix Cartal, whose contribution to the release was premiered this morning on RCRDLBL and can be downloaded below.
“Bounce ft. N.O.R.E. (Felix Cartal Remix)” From MSTRKRFT’s Bounce [Dim Mak]
In other news, the duo recently announced the aptly-named Fist of God Tour, which kicks off on September 26th at Henry Ford Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, and trucks through the states throughout the entire month of October. Felix Cartal will join MSTRKRFT for the full tour. Dates below.
Fist of God Tour Dates
09-26 Los Angeles, CA – The Henry Fonda Theatre
09-27 San Diego, CA – House of Blues
09-28 Los Angeles, CA – The El Ray Theatre
09-30 Pamona, CA – The Glass House
10-01 San Francisco, CA – The Mezzanine
10-02 Seattle, WA – Showbox Showroom & Lounge
10-03 Vancouver, BC - Celebrities
10-04 Winnipeg, CAN – The Exchange Event Center
10-06 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10-07 Chicago, IL - Metro
10-08 Royal Oak, MI – The Royal Oak Music Theatre
10-09 Columbus, OH – Boma
10-10 New York City, NY – Webster Hall
10-11 Poughkeepsie, NY – Vassar College (Students Only)
10-12 Philadelphia, PA – TLA
10-13 Boston, MA – The Estate
10-15 Baltimore, MD – Bedrock
10-16 Charlotte, NC – The (Charlotte) Forum
10-17 Nashville, TN – Mercury Lounge
10-18 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade Music Park
10-19 Memphis, TN – Hard Rock Café
10-22 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
10-23 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
10-24 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
10-27 Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
10-28 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT – Salt Palace Convention Center
11-01 Las Vegas, NV - Orleans Arena
Bounce Tracklist
01 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (Radio Version)
02 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (Extended Version)
03 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (Acapella)
04 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (Instrumental Version)
05 Vuvuvu
06 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
07 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (High Powered Boys Remix)
08 Bounce Ft. N.O.R.E. (Felix Cartal Remix)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24358965/wid/11915829?GT1=40006
By Jake Coyle
Mon., April. 28, 2008
NEW YORK - You’re sitting at home online and suddenly you get an irresistible urge. You absolutely have to belt out R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” and share it with the world.
You now have that ability, thanks to the new MySpace Karaoke, to be launched Tuesday by the social networking site.
MySpace Karaoke (ksolo.myspace.com) debuts nearly two years after Fox Interactive, a division of News Corp., which owns MySpace, purchased the karaoke site kSolo.com. The combination of MySpace and kSolo allows users to upload audio recordings of them singing everything from R. Kelly to Richie Valens to their profile page.
MySpace co-founder and president Tom Anderson (known by many as the friend that comes automatically with a MySpace account) said MySpace and karaoke are a natural fit.
“It is in part because music is so popular on our site,” said Anderson. “But also because karaoke is such a fun and social thing, which is what we’re about too. It’s not as much fun to go to karaoke alone, but when you do it through the Internet or on your MySpace page, then you can share it with people.”
Recordings can be prominently displayed on one’s MySpace page and receive ratings from friends (and, presumably, fans). As of Monday afternoon, the most popular song to sing was Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”
MySpace Karaoke and kSolo — the first major karaoke site — are just two destinations of a small industry of online karaoke sites. SingShot, owned by Electronic Arts, and Bix, owned by Yahoo!, are also big names in karaoke on the Web.
And YouTube has, of course, been the largest repository of people dancing around their bedrooms and singing their favorite songs. While MySpace Karaoke doesn’t currently have a video option, Anderson says it’s in the works and that it will include a split-screen duet feature.
Users need only a microphone to sing into. MySpace Karaoke gives them the music to sing over (with vocals removed) with the lyrics scrolling across their computer screen. There are also numerous effects that users can play with to alter their recordings.
Right now, the site has between 2,000 and 3,000 songs available, all of them licensed from music publishers. The difficulty of managing those rights has been the reason for the delayed launch, Anderson said.
“It was quite difficult,” he said. “The rules and the licensing changed over time and became more complicated since MySpace is a global company. There’s different rights in different territories.”
But Anderson thinks having those rights puts MySpace at a distinct advantage.
“On MySpace, we actually filter and take down content (without licensing),” said Anderson. “At some point, YouTube is going to be forced to — or pay the rights holders because they’re breaking the law when they do that.”
As recordings have begun to pile up, there’s a wide variety of quality.
Said Anderson, “You’ll find equally horrible and equally good ones.”
A massive 6-part exclusive interview with Moby, here is Part 1:
See Part 2 here.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/03/07/artists-raid.html
Canadian musicians and songwriters are applauding an RCMP raid on a company accused of being a modern-day pirate operation and one of the biggest music bootleggers in Canadian history.
RCMP investigators raided the Winnipeg-based shop of Audiomaxxx.com on Wednesday and seized 200,000 CDs and DVDs as well as computers, label-making machines and burning towers capable of copying 11,500 discs a day.
“We’re looking at cube vans and U-Hauls worth of CD and computer equipment. It’s a lot,” RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said.
The material seized included recordings by big-name artists such as Nelly Furtado and Shania Twain, but also smaller artists, the RCMP said. The RCMP’s three-year investigation began after the Canadian Recording Industry Association received a flood of complaints.
Association president Graham Henderson estimated one-third of all the pirated music in Toronto may have originated from Audiomaxxx.com. The bootlegged goods were also being shipped to North and Central America, Europe and the Caribbean, according to an RCMP news release.
“The largest seizure that I can remember was about 10,000 discs seized from a commercial operation in Toronto a year ago. This was 20 times as big,” Henderson said.
Independent producers and smaller record labels, including some from the Caribbean, played a big part in pushing the industry and the police to investigate, Henderson said, because their market was being undercut by the material made in Canada.
There has been big buzz about the bust at Canadian Music Week, the country’s international music conference, taking place in Toronto this week, he added. “At all levels, I’m getting high fives.
“This was striking at the livelihoods of independents and music publishers and songwriters, as well as the Celine Dions and Sean Pauls of the world. They’re very, very pleased,” he said.
Keri Latimer, Winnipeg-based singer-songwriter with the alt-country quartet Nathan, was happy to hear an alleged pirating operation had been shut down.
But the success of such companies is a sign of the times, she said.
“Kids that are downloading music, they’re used to doing that for free,” she said. “I think it’s hard to change that sort mindset — once you’re used to doing it, you can’t see anything wrong with it.”
Winnipeg musician Steve Bell, who co-owns Signpost Music, agreed, saying he doesn’t think people value music as much as they once did.
“I think more and more music products are being devalued, and that’s really frustrating, especially for small producers, guys like me who are trying to make a living off of selling tens of thousands of CDs, not hundreds of thousands,” he said.
“Basically a company like that couldn’t survive if people weren’t wanting a lot for a little, and that kind of mentality is hurting a lot of people.”
Lindsay Gillespie, who owns a company in Toronto that manufactures CDs for independent artists and labels, said the income lost to music piracy is crucial to many of his clients.
“The amount of money that they can make at the merchandise table … can mean the difference between a hotel room and sleeping in the van, ” he said.
Charges are pending against a 31-year-old Winnipeg man, and police are investigating three other individuals.
The Audiomaxxx.com website was not working Thursday evening, and the company’s owner and his family did not return phone calls.
Under Canada’s Copyright Act, it is illegal to copy CDs and DVDs for sale, rent, distribution or public exhibition without the copyright owner’s permission. It is legal, however, to make copies of music recordings for the copier’s private use.
With files from The Canadian Press
Here’s a cool article from RollingStone.com detailing the Black Key’s recent studio experience with producer Danger Mouse:
Suma studios in rural northeast Ohio has an amazing history: In its 1970s heyday, it was the birthplace of both Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” and Pere Ubu’s Dub Housing. More recently, Akron locals the Black Keys settled down there with Gnarls Barkley’s Danger Mouse — the first outside producer that the avant-blues duo has ever worked with.
In the cavernous main room, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney plunks away at a bass while singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach vamps on an electric piano. As the pair lock into an awkward waltz-time figure, Danger Mouse (real name Brian Burton) watches from the control room. “Keep playing it slow, then we’ll reverse it and speed it up,” Danger calls through the control-room microphone. The thus-twisted track is played back; Auerbach bellows, “When you work the streets, darlin’/Make sure your sneaker laces, they get tied” — and suddenly a song appears from what seemed like drowsy noodling.
In early 2007, Danger Mouse began work on a comeback album by rock & roll pioneer Ike Turner. Danger enticed the Keys (”One of my favorite bands,” he says) to write some songs for the project. The Keys turned in demos for Turner to learn, but when sessions bogged down, the project was temporarily shelved. The band eventually decided to make the tunes the heart of its fifth album, and Danger Mouse was the natural choice as producer. “Even when we gave the songs to Ike, they felt like Black Keys songs,” Auerbach says.
The result is the first Black Keys record that rewards headphone scrutiny, with enfolded layers of bass guitar, Moog fizz, bongos and female vocal harmonies (from Jessica Lea Mayfield, a local teenage singer discovered by Auerbach). Danger Mouse’s dusted arrangements and electronic touches are deftly incorporated, while Carney’s drumming sounds awesomely like Ringo Starr. “Same Old Thing” rides a woozy, Wu-Tang-y groove and features flute and bass harmonica from former Tom Waits sideman Ralph Carney, Patrick’s uncle. “Lies,” a song the Keys originally gave to Turner, is a fearsome slow blues perfectly suited to Auerbach’s woolly howl and Carney’s animal-like kit-bashing. “We wanted to make an album whose sounds are as varied as our musical tastes,” says Patrick Carney, whose tour-bus mixtapes run from early Cypress Hill to post-rock pals Six Parts Seven. “We used to record an entire album in fourteen hours,” says Auerbach. “This time we’d spend fourteen hours on one song.”
The finished album plays as an oddball tribute to its inspiration, Turner, who passed away in December. Danger Mouse remains philosophical about how it all turned out. “Hopefully people will get to hear a song or two that was finished from the sessions with Ike,” he says. “But it’s for the best that these songs became Black Keys songs. That’s what they were meant to be.”
Also, check out the bands MySpace page for a listen of their new single from these recording sessions for the upcoming release, Attack and Release.
Good news for music lovers of all types 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7250594.stm
Music ‘can aid stroke recovery’
Listening to music in the early stages after a stroke can improve a patient’s recovery, research suggests.
The researchers compared patients who listened to music for a couple of hours a day, with those who listened only to audio books, or nothing at all.
The music group showed better recovery of memory and attention skills, and a more positive general frame of mind.
Writing in journal Brain, the Finnish team who studied 60 patients said music could be a useful addition to therapy.
Lead researcher Teppo Sarkamo, from the University of Helsinki, said music could be particularly valuable for patients not yet ready for other forms of rehabilitation.
It also had the advantage of being cheap and easy-to-conduct.
Quick action
The study focused on 60 stroke patients who took part in the research as soon as possible after they had been admitted to hospital.
The aim was to offer music therapy before the changes in the brain that can take place in the aftermath of a stroke had a chance to kick in.
Most of the patients had problems with movement and with cognitive processes, such as attention and memory.
Patients in the music group were able to choose the type of music they listened to. All patients received standard stroke rehabilitation.
After three months, verbal memory improved by 60% in the music group, compared with18% in the audio book group, and 29% in the non-listeners.
Focused attention - the ability to control and perform mental operations and resolve conflicts - improved by 17% in the music group, but not at all in the other two groups.
In addition, patients in the music group were less likely to be depressed, or confused.
Mr Sarkamo said: “Other research has shown that during the first weeks and months after stroke, the patients typically spend about three-quarters of their time each day in non-therapeutic activities, mostly in their rooms, inactive and without interaction, even although this time-window is ideal for rehabilitative training from the point of view of brain plasticity.
“Our research shows for the first time that listening to music during this crucial period can enhance cognitive recovery and prevent negative mood, and it has the advantage that it is cheap and easy to organise.”
However, he admitted that further work was needed to confirm the study, and that it should not be assumed that music therapy would work all patients.
He said: “Rather than an alternative, music listening should be considered as an addition to other active forms of therapy, such as speech therapy or neuropsychological rehabilitation.”
Possible theories
The researchers said it was possible that music directly stimulated recovery in the damaged areas of the brain.
Alternatively, it might stimulate more general mechanisms related to the ability of the brain to repair and renew its neural networks after damage.
Or it might specifically act on the part of the nervous system that is implicated in feelings of pleasure, reward and memory.
Dr Isabel Lee, of The Stroke Association, welcomed the research.
However, she said: “Further research into the effect of music on stroke patients needs to be undertaken before any widespread use, as presently the mechanisms of any effect remain unclear.”
Nope, turns out its just another veiled producer creating French House music… The blogosphere was abuzz yesterday when a track named “Love” was credited to Thomas Bangalter, one half of the majestic Daft Punk, but it was outed as a track by a character named Louis La Roche.
Check the tune out HERE at Louis La Roche’s MySpace page
and read more on the story at Idolator.com
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