In a VideoSong

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).

2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

VideoSong is medium defined by Jack Conte with those two rules. In addition to his solo production, Jack is the orchestration half of the indie music duo Pomplamoose, who chose video as their social medium of choice largely due to the magnetic attraction emitted by YouTube. They popularized their music on YouTube with videosong—a format that seemed functional and easy—and inspired viewers.

Last Friday, Kevin Breuner at CD Baby interviewed Jack Conte in DIY Musician Podcast #096. I recommend giving the full podcast a listen. Jack explained why he and Nataly chose to cover the songs that they did, and how it helped them become sustainable on mp3 downloads alone—covers and originals. Here are two excerpts from the podcast—the first is about the attraction to videosongs, and the second is about why Pomplamoose resisted record deals from all four major labels.

Alkaline Trio singer/guitarist Matt Skiba waves from behind the microphone at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Feb. 18, 2010. Five days later they released their 7th full-length album, This Addiction.
Photo: whenwedie/Flickr | view set
alkalinetrio.com | thisaddiction.org | blood-pact.com
Epitaph | iTunes | Amazon | Insound

Last month I wrote about five tactics for finding music blogs. Let’s revisit this addiction with three more massive resources and a hit of punk rock.

1. MOG Music Network is a network of music blogs integrated with the social music community MOG. An estimated 800+ external music blogs are now part of MMN—including ours—so MOG it up.

2. CaptainCrawl is an extensive up-to-date music blog aggregator similar to elbo.ws. I even like CaptainCrawl better because of its cleaner design. Thanks to MTT for dealing me this one.

3. Image search engines that crawl the blogosphere can help too. Search for artist images on Google, Bing, NachoFoto, and Picsearch. You’ll be able to discover the blogs that posted them.

From MOG to Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr to last.fm, fans have the voice. Don’t kick this writing addiction. Alkaline Trio hasn’t. That is, they haven’t kicked their addiction to writing pure punk rock. Feeling the need to get back to their indie roots, they started their own label, Heart & Skull, and partnered with Epitaph Records, to release their seventh full-length album, This Addiction.

Alkaline Trio is on the Warped Tour this summer. The more I listen to This Addiction the more I get hooked. What sets the Trio apart for me has always been their clever writing and live energy. If you’ve seen them live, then you know the real thing. IMO this is their best album since their BYO Split Series in 2004. You hear the honest, raw vibe they were going for, but it’s larger, more fluid, and upbeat now—it’s most reminiscent of those champion BYO Split Series or “War Brain” days. The new song “Piss and Vinegar” is a worthy sequel to “Cooking Wine”, which, like “Radio” or “My Friend Peter”, is a gateway drug into the heart of the Trio’s sound. It’s rad that Alkaline Trio produced This Addiction with Chicago engineer Matt Allison, who produced their early albums/EP’s. His mixing is straight up.

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Related: Connect with the Buzz in your Music Scene

Think Death From Above 1979 meets The Knife. Call it noise pop…breakbeat rock…or dance punk. Sleigh Bells mixes heavy dance beats and lo-fi distorted guitars, produced/performed by Derek Miller, with the hi-energy vocals of female singer Alexis Krauss. This Brooklyn-based duo is blasting earbuds with their debut album, Treats, which was released in digital formats on May 11. Treats redefines loud. It’s a simplified sound that rocks, and the killer beats make it unique. I first heard Sleigh Bells earlier in 2010 when I saw photos/videos from SXSW. I was pretty blown away by the videos, and the album backs them up. My favorite tracks are Crown On The Ground, Riot Rhythm, and A/B Machines.

The production on Treats is loud-to-the-max but it really seems to work. Even my mom was down with the sound, but I imagine some might find it a bit overdriven. The duo makes great use of negative space throughout the album. The tracks are each different, but are all delivered with a great energy. There’s not a track that I don’t like. It’s next level, like Die Antwoord, who apparently Sleigh Bells will be performing with via M.I.A.‘s N.E.E.T. recordings on July 24th at the Hard NYC festival. For the most up-to-date Sleigh Bells tour dates, look on their MySpace page. From what I understand they use a backing track for the drums when they perform—with Derek on guitar and Alexis on the mic. I definitely want to check them out live. Treats was released by New York indie label Mom + Pop Music.

Treats is available on: iTunes | Last.fm | Grooveshark | Amazon | Insound

I didn’t attend SXSW in person, but I sure discovered some great new bands by putting together this photo set. I was especially impressed by what I’ve seen so far of Sleigh Bells, Red Bacteria Vacuum, and The Very Best. What were your favorite SXSW events this year, and what are your favorite photos from this set? View more photo sets at virtualmusic.tv/photojournal/

Paramore outperforms both on and off the stage.

Why do I like Paramore? They are kick-ass live performers. But I’ve never seen them in person. Hulu delivered them to me last year when I saw them perform Ignorance on Conan O’Brien. I knew of them before via Andrew Kendall’s photos, but seeing them on Conan is what engaged me to find out more. I searched “paramore live” on YouTube. I was impressed with their energetic live show and fan-driven website, which I wrote about highlighting their fan community and presence in the social web. Paramore fans go the distance because Paramore does the same for them.

Live music trumps studio recordings.

The best music is live music. Right now I think live video footage is the next best thing—whether it’s live-as-in-streaming or recorded live events. I don’t have a cable television. But if I’m looking for home entertainment I go straight to Hulu. As far as TV goes, if it’s not on Hulu, then I don’t watch it. In today’s music industry putting out video content is a must, especially live video content. In fact I think that’s where über-commercial Vevo has it wrong—lacking rawness and intimacy. I’d rather watch bands on Hulu. The concert videos already on Paramore’s channel come from their live album The Final Riot! In my opinion, Paramore’s best videos are the live ones, and on top of the stellar performances the videos have stellar production. But even bands without access to top production can still produce video content by being creative, sourcing their fans to record or produce live videos, and distributing them with free tools like YouTube and Ustream.

Paramore tells a story.

In addition to music videos, Paramore’s Hulu channel contains a 30-min documentary on the making of their latest album Brand New Eyes. They attract fans not only because of their music, but also because they have a story to tell that their fans can relate too. Their story is about growing up—as a band, but also as people, and their fans can relate to that. The album’s theme is seeing people through brand new eyes—you have to accept the past to move on. Paramore has an intimate connection with the Internet Generation. The new channel enriches their existing fan community and exposes them to a wider audience—brand new eyes—on Hulu.

Timeline: Bands on Hulu.

In November 2009 Hulu partnered with EMI and launched a Norah Jones channel. The next month Hulu partnered with Warner Music Group launching the Muse channel in December, the Jason Mraz channel in January, and the Paramore channel yesterday. Hulu’s music content is hi-fidelity and free. Now what more can you ask for besides, well, more Hulu artist channels and frequent content, right?

Dhani Harrison is a musician in his own right—his indie-rock band thenewno2 is featured in Rock Band with songs from their debut album, You Are Here. Note—any musician will soon be able to publish their tracks in Rock Band too via the Rock Band Network. In a Billboard.com interview Dhani said, “I did everything I could to not be a musician…I went to university (Brown), I worked as a designer, I competed in Olympic sport (rowing)…and I ended up being a musician. It’s in the DNA, I guess.”

But as Dhani explains to Conan, his paying job is designing videogames, and I suspect the music-gaming community is pretty happy with his efforts so far in making The Beatles Rock Band as genuine and fun as possible. His enthusiasm towards creating the game and his dedication to historical accuracy no doubt played an important role. Outside of the videogame, Dhani is striving to build a unique community for thenewno2 fans with their new website designed to deliver personal interactive video content via subscription and without depending on networks like Facebook or MySpace. In an article on Wired.com Scott Thill summarized, “The plan is comparatively simple: Compress and feed thenewno2’s output on video directly to its fan base, and they will come to support the artists and build a community.” In the same article Dhani told Wired, “Rather than have fans just leave comments on MySpace, they can have a personal connection to the band. When they see my profile live on the site, they can literally click me and ask me a question or two. It’s interactive blogging, but we also wanted to bring that actual visual context.” Now here’s some Rock Band action—Yomp by thenewno2:

This post is a follow-up from yesterday when we posted video footage of The Beatles Rock Band. You can see more articles about Rock Band at here. VirtualMusic.tv is seeking writers interested in music videogames and other topics. Please see our about page.

It looks like a new generation of Beatlemaniacs could be on the rise—wouldn’t you say? Thanks to YouTubers kevineseri0 and ponkiejp for the videos and to voteprime on Flickr for the peace sign photo displayed on the homepage. Thanks for watching—please share this post if you like it. :)

Paramore.net is more than a website—it is a community and social network for Paramore fans. We need to see more music sites like this. Paramore fans can upload their own photos and videos to the site for everyone to view in an easily navigable fashion. Fans can connect with each other (and with the band) through the community, and they can subscribe to the fan club for exclusive content.

This video clip shows Paramore’s tight Monday night live TV performance on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Paramore’s third studio album Brand New Eyes was officially released this week. Rock.

Music SOTM Series: Do you know a band, DJ, or musician with an ace website? Please let us know at design@virtualmusic.tv and we’ll consider it for Music SOTM. Entries are based on interactive content, fan engagement, and mobility. Visit virtualmusic.tv/msotm/ to see more MSOTM artists.

• When: September 18, 2009 at 7:00 PM PT
• Where: Second Life » SpaceJunky Island » Planet 7

Above: The Newly Renovated SpaceJunky Island

Description: On September 18th the Australian band SpaceJunky will have a big celebration at Planet 7 on SpaceJunky Island. The whole sim has been redesigned as a beautiful floating crystal city and SpaceJunky will perfom a concert at the main stage at 7pm. There will be other events that night too, and special freebies from the stores—including fashion designs exclusive to the island from Bare Rose and Solanges.

Source: spacejunkyinsl.blogspot.com

Cosmic Vision Music Video

Cosmic Vision is a music video featuring Shakti Cianci—from the band SpaceJunky—at the piano. It is from her solo, piano meditation album, “7 Tears of Tara”, by Crystal Gypsy. The video features a cameo by Avenue CEO Rusch Raymaker, as well as other AlphaCrew members.

SpaceJunky: RL Band in SL

SpaceJunky is a real-life band who have been performing live shows in the virtual world of Second Life. SL is about creating your dream, and the ability to creatively visualize a music concert is wonderful, as you can do things here you cannot do in RL.

All three members have major touring and recording credits to their names. Tania played keyboards on tour with Kylie Minogue, and cowrote the title track for Grammy-winning album Lesson of Love. Dan and Luke have toured and recorded with major artists as well. SJ‘s first album—Resident Alien—was recorded while they were all together in the USA and Australia with Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Rafe Van Hoy. With the band living on different continents in different time zones, SL provided a way to perform simulated concerts and promote the album—available on CDBaby or iTunes.

Shakti discovered Second Life in 2006 when she came back from Tibet, where an oracle there told her SpaceJunky would be heard by many people and the album would be successful. When she came back she was researching an ancient Tibetan symbol and came across a blog called the Flying Monks here in SL who were rebuilding monasteries destroyed in Tibet during the cultural revolution.

SpaceJunky’s music is about cosmic unforeseen forces that connect people through energy and intention. They are a rock/pop band with a positive message of searching for cosmic truth and seeking to lengthen the space between thoughts. The band provides social entertainment by interacting and emulating what a concert by SpaceJunky might be like in RL. SL is about creating your dream, and the ability to creatively visualize a music concert is wonderful, as you can do things here you cannot do in RL. As Shakti says, “SL is a physical manifestation of a non-physical realm”, very Buddhist as the Dali Lama would say.

SpaceJunky Live in SL at JCNY in 2008. Photo by Izzy Cole. All rights reserved by Izzy Cole and SJ.

SpaceJunky have a production crew who help bring the concerts alive: Tommy Parrott (Lighting, Stage, and Pyrotechnics), Izzy Cole (Tour Photographer), and Bella Dutton (Virtual Music Publicist).

The concert performances in Second Life have complex, programmed equipment, such as pyrotechnics, and a custom-made, one-of-a-kind, lighting system by JB LiteSource. The realtime lighting effects for their shows include particle effects and a custom stage which looks like a spaceship. June Dion from Bare Rose also creates custom designs for Shakti to wear on stage—the most recent one being inspired by a Tibetan goddess for their SLB6 performance where they were invited to close the show.

Through the band’s growing popularity SpaceJunky have been featured on CNN International for new technology, and were approached by Sony Creative Software to do an Acid Planet remix contest for their song Gravitational Pull, which was brought into SL and Sony gave away a lot of RL prizes at the concert at SpaceJunky Island. They were also featured on the SL home page for being the first band to ever be featured on SL with audio. They have had RL radio play from the largest radio stations in Italy—including Radio Imago—as well as magazine covers, YouTube fans, and product endorsements.

The band have their own SpaceJunky Island which is featured in Showcase under Music, and designed by Shakti along with Dannon Robbiani, one of SL’s top builders. It is also home to their state-of-the-art Amphitheater built by Tommy Parrot. SpaceJunky’s popularity continues to grow. The strength of the band continues to change with new technology and new ventures that they are currently working on—including possible upcoming RL concerts. Stay tuned at alphacrew.ning.com.