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Home > Archived Issues > 1999 Issues > Issue 1
Disclaimer: This, and every issue, has been slightly modified from it's original version to fit the format of the new Underground Music Monthly site. Also, these issues are 10 years old or older. These links are likely no longer active. Enjoy the silly reading.
Frigidisk is for just the best
www.frigidisk.com is an online CD store
coupled with a record company. They aren't like the other CD
stores, however. They want to keep the operation on a small scale, giving
more attention to each individual artist, and including only artists who's
lyrics are very strong. "Stuff we make, and stuff we love," as Angela
McGregor of Frigidisk explains it. They also are involved in the
manufacturing and recording process in some cases.
Now it's
time for a little history lesson on Frigidisk. Angela got the idea
from surfing the other online CD stores. She found that many of them were
to big to give independent artists (and their fans) the attention or server
space they deserved (i.e. complete lyrics and songs). Angela somes up the
reason by saying, "I figured, why not create a place for really smart,
sophisticated music that would do everything?" At about the same time,
Earle Mankey mentioned to Frigidisk that his EPs were out of print, and wondered
if they would be interested in handling their re-release. The Solipsistics
(Angela's husband and his former band) hard already released two albums on
casette that were only available at Largo, and a lot of people wanted their CDs.
From there, www.frigidisk.com has
developed into what it is now.
Frigidisk
is currently scouting new acts, as well as getting ready to record another
Solipsistics' album. They want to keep it on a smaller scale, ideally only
adding a few new artists every 2 or 3 months, but it wouldn't hurt to check them
out. Before you do, ask yourself if your lyrics are strong enough though.
Of course, you should ask yourself that before recording or performing any of
your music as well. The stronger your lyrics are, and the better your
music is, the more likely you are to succeed, in music and in life. The
reason you should ask how strong your lyrics are is because as a requirement to
be in Frigidisk, your lyrics have to be very strong. Frigidisk would also prefer
if you already have a web presence so that they have more to work with.
Finally, they require active participation from an artist while setting up that
artist's section of the site, and in designing the album covers (if you are with
them for that phase of the process). Because of this, they prefer
reasonable people to work with. They do not care what genre your music is,
so long as you are good at what you do.
They are
also open to handling re-releases of long lost pop classics, such as Earle
Mankey's CDs.
For more
information, and to check them out for yourself, go to
www.frigidisk.com.
DMOD
improves on MP3
Makes
online distribution using MP3 legal, and useful
The
history of MP3 - from good to bad to good again with DMOD
Immediately after being introduced to the Internet just over two years, Mp3 was
quickly embraced by a global community of young programmers, college students
and music enthusiasts, smitten by it's innovations, implications and potential.
At 12:1 compression ratio, Mp3 was built with digital transmission in mind, but
lacked the components needed to achieve it's vision. Influenced by the
Linux mentality, the Mp3 community embraced the compression format with
unparalleled enthusiasm, copying, trading, and sharing copy-written material
without a second
thought. This marked the beginning of Mp3's evolution from a Media to a Medium.
Eventually though, the development of Mp3 as a medium was inevitably strangled
by it's own illegitimate upbringing, as the Record Industry caught wind of the
Mp3 Community's illegal actions.
Over a
matter of months, the Record Industry Association of America (R.IA.A.) and a
number of other companies slowly tried to disassemble the immature medium, while
the Mp3 Movement attempted to legalize it's image and operations. Although the
name Mp3 was slightly tainted, the movement continued to gain public support and
the development of Mp3 as a media progressed. Yet, Mp3 failed to evolve into a
commercial distribution medium for Independent artists and bands.
The Mp3
Movement Progresses
As the
R.I.A.A drew global attention to the Mp3 Movement's illegitimacy, Musicians took
notice to the revolutionary potential that first charmed Mp3 developers. Yet, as
Musicians encoded their own Mp3's, they soon discovered the only distribution
option available was promotional. With little desire to pay for music, the Mp3
Community Developers focused on further advancing Mp3's
performance and functionality as a media, while ignoring the development of Mp3
as a viable distribution medium for musicians. With no other option yet
available, musicians gave their support by releasing free Mp3's, hoping that
this act of generosity will somehow result in a CD sale.
MP3's
vision leads to DMOD, a new distribution method using MP3
After
two years of development, DMOD Inc. launched DMOD, a Legal Mp3 distribution
medium for independent musicians. Short for Digital Media On Demand, DMOD has
integrated the missing components Mp3 needed to distribute music on demand
commercially over the Internet. In order to protect the artist's interests, DMOD
has incorporated E-Commerce and encryption to provide for the first time an
easy, efficient, affordable, and secure global marketplace for the distribution
of their music online. Presently, the DMOD Remote, a free Mp3 player, operates
on Win 95, Win98, and WinNT platforms, while MAC and Linux versions are in
development. DMOD hopes to achieve the commercial distribution medium Mp3 failed
to evolve to; a digital marketplace for Independent Music, where music succeeds
on it's own merits and not the size of it's P.R. Budget.
The DMOD
Remote: Music on Demand
Utilizing the DMOD Remote, consumers can listen to a low quality Mp3 stream of
any song uploaded to the DMOD System, in real-time, over a typical modem
connection. Search for music by Artist, Genre, Vocal Style, and other
categories, creating playlists of new music, matching your different tastes.
Consumers can purchase a CD Quality 128 kb/s Mp3 song and download it to your
computer for only $1 dollar, for infinite playback and enjoyment. Membership is
free, as is the DMOD Remote. There are no hidden charges. It's a completely free
system for musicians looking for a viable medium to distribute and promote their
music on line.
Musicians
Maintain Independence and Achieve Global Distribution
In a
matter of minutes, a Musician can create a free Digital Portfolio on the DMOD
system, which documents the Artist's musical evolution. Musicians can upload
music, as they record it, to the DMOD system for commercial distribution. After
every sale, $0.50 is automatically transferred to the Artist's account, so the
Artist can monitor statistics in real-time. Unlike the typical Record deal, DMOD
is merely a middleman, and the Artist maintains full control and ownership over
their portfolio, music and career. DMOD only distributes Copywritten material.
Membership and distribution is free to the Artist. Even if the Artist's music
fails to generate song sales, the exposure alone makes DMOD worth the effort of
any Musician.
The
information above was provided by the founders of DMOD. I do not know for
certain if the DMOD movement will become large, seeing as E-Commerce is not as
big as expected yet. I do see a large increase of online sales for music,
however, and DMOD could prove itself a very valuable resource. You may as
well check it out for yourself at www.dmod.com
and see what you think. After all, it is free, and for some artists, it is
a potential gold mine. Thank you for your time in reading this
article. It is a bit longer than most usually are, but I thought it was
necessary to include all of the information to fully inform you, the independent
musician and their fans, of what DMOD was and how it came about. If any of
you go through with DMOD, let me know by emailing me at
Editor@UMMusic.com, because I will
likely do a follow up article on them six months from now. Any information
from other musicians would be very helpful.
Update on Underground Music Monthly
With the year coming to a close, and getting ready to start 1999,
Underground Music Monthly and UMMusic.com have grown a little more.
Included in the articles this month is a year in review article, which names the
UMM Band of the Year, and the UMM Site of the Year. We also talk
about improvements to come, and additions that have come to the site.
Of course, the biggest thing to happen with UMMusic.com this month is
the completion of the independent and college radio station section. I
spent 25 hours last week alone finishing up the section. My research came
from a combination of surfing the web, finding lists of radio stations in
general and extracting the college radio stations from that list, and an email
from Raymond Sanchez, the man who exposed me to Bumblefoot. The research
lead to the list, found
here. The list is organized state-by-state in an alphabetical fashion.
Then it is organized alphabetically by city within the state, and finally by
call letters. Included in the information I give is the Call letters,
which college (if it is a college station), and call numbers, the website (if
they have one), the phone number, and what kind of music they play.
I felt those were the bare essentials to have when using this resource. I
thought about including email addresses, but those change frequently, and have a
lot slower response time than phone calls. Also, less than 50 percent of
the stations listed have an email address. Therefore, the phone number
made more sense as the method of contacting the station. As time goes on,
the section will grow. If I get more specific information (either by my
own research, or someone emailing me) on a particular station, then I will
create a one-page site for that station, including the basic information along
with whatever else I have (such as mailing address for CD submittals, and
whether or not you need to contact them before sending a CD for submittal, an
email address if they have one, etc.). If you want a national fan base,
college and independent radio stations are really the best way to go.
You'll almost never get played by a major radio station unless there is a demand
for you first, or you are on a major label. I know, I've tried, and been
shot down. Enjoy the resource, and good luck with your musical endeavours
everyone.
Emptyhead is sure to delight!
 Their album, Penitence, is full of heart-pounding
guttural grooves with a bass that ignites the soul. Eric Salazar, credited for
writing, as well as performing and engineering all four tracks on the album,
injects insightful brains into Emptyhead. He is an artist following the newly
trodden path carved out by electronic artists like the Chemical Brothers and
other various lesser know "new age" artists, like those responsible for the Pure
Moods collection. Salazar delivers up a meal of music fit for a king with a
spicy sprinkling of funk that is guaranteed to thrill till the last drop.
The title track, "Penitence," comes through the abyss with cool and
rhythmic beats that guide the listener down a deserted street lit by dove white
moonlight, or possibly along the coast of an isolated beach in paradise. The
song is the perfect companion to contemplative thought, or the ideal backdrop
for a quiet night of conversation.
"Rebis," the second track, pipes up the action with tribal beats.
Voodoo dancers encircle a fire and masked men, draped in red, howl at the pastel
dusk sky. There is movement in the notes. It is nearly impossible to resist
tapping your foot in time.
"Shacked in the Coop," the third track, adds a sense of urgency to
the air. This is the music that might accompany the scene in a play where a
rugged prince on horseback has come to rescue his fair maiden from the clutches
of imminent disaster. The tune feels restrained, like an expectant father pacing
in a hospital waiting room. High strung violins project tension.
The final song on the album is "Penitence II". This song is a hip hot
techno beat throw in the oven to bake. Sweating dancers in a crowded club swim
about in a multi-colored disco frenzy. Everything is alive, the music, the art
form, the air, the world. If the party is damp this song is a sure way to put
the spark back in everyone’s step.
 Penitence, an album with few words and only the choicest
emotions. This is a collection of songs any artist would be proud of and any
true music fan is obligated to own. Electronic symphonies guide and soothe.
Salazar’s drums set the pace for a new generation of creative entities. There is
a sunset and a smile in every soul-stripping beat.
You can buy his CD by emailing him at
esalazar@pcisys.net. It is $7.
After Dark
will make you groove
by Gary Milholland
After Dark has it all. From bass guitar to drums, from
saxophone to grand piano. Not only do they have it all, but they use it
too. The first track,
Alive After Dark, will get you moving. It takes control of your soul
and doesn't let go. As you feel yourself getting into the groove, you wait
for the lyrics. You expect them to be moving, just as the music.
Then you notice, there are no lyrics! It surprised me at first. I
was expecting them, but after a few seconds, I got back into the groove, and was
glad the lyrics weren't there. This is not music to be analyzed and
scrutinized for lyrical content and deep meaning. This is music to
recapture your young spirit and escape into your own world of wonder.
The music is ageless, for young and old alike. For thirteen
year olds at a school dance looking for something to get people out on the dance
floor, to college students studying at three in the morning who need something
to help them concentrate, but will keep them awake at the same time, to the
parent of the college student who wants to enjoy some truly magnificent music
that isn't aimed at degrading anyone. When listening to after dark, I am
reminded of ancient music made to get a band of soldiers to relax, or to bring
together a small village. If you are looking to get away from the rage and
angst of a lot of today's muic, you have found the place to do so.
After Dark is amptly named because it's the kind of music you'd hear
at a night club at 1 in the morning. The energy is high and positive.
The music is nothing short of amazing. The variety of their songs is
something to be admired as well. They use their many different instruments
to their advantage in creating an eclectic group of songs that all move the
soul.
Mirage is a key example of this. The song is much different than Alive
After Dark, but still is very pleasing to the ear. In my opinion, music in
general should have more saxophone playing, but since not everyone in the world
can play that instrument, not all music is going to have it. The use of
the saxophone throughout the CD is a wonderful treat for all. Another
prime example of the variety in their music is track number 9.
October Walk. Mainly just a bass guitar and a piano, it's still a
grooving beat.
You can check out their website at
http://www.afterdarkpowerlounge.com for more information.
Their CD is just $10 Canadian, which is somewhere around $9 US. I don't
know the current conversation rate off the top of my head. Plus $3.50
Canadian for shipping and handling. Listen to them and enjoy.
1998 Year In Review
It's been a
good year for Underground Music Monthly. The magazine, as well as
the site, has undergone some dramatic changes and improvements. When I
started the magazine in 1996, I was just looking for something to do in my spare
time that made me feel more connected to the music industry. I was new to
the scene at the time, and hadn't even released my first album. I was not
too surprised when I stopped working on it in early 1997. This year, I
brought the magazine back. It was not going to be something I just did in
my spare time, however. It was to be something I put a major amount of
time and effort into. I also knew more about the industry, and had
released my debut CD a year and a half previous to the restart of the magazine.
Plus, I had a little more money to put into the site. All of that resulted
in Underground Music Monthly's August 19998 Issue being the best issue I had
done up to that point. It was the first issue with an actual cover page.
It was also the first to have band pictures, and a good organizational structure
to it.
Since the
August issue a lot has changed as well. I had soundclips in the
august issue, but it was not until November that UMM had RealServer support,
which allowed us to have streaming soundclips. The transition from "I" to
"us" brings me to another topic in what's happened this year. In
September, "I" became "we" when Rachel Miller was added to the magazine.
That month was just a preview of what's she's become for the magazine when she
reviewed Merseyside. In October, she contributed two reviews, and the
cover art. The cover art for that issue really impressed me, and because
of her wonderful artistic ability, she has done the cover for each issue since.
Thank you Rachel, for your tremendous additions to Underground Music Monthly.
The
magazine is not the only thing that has undergone serious transitions. The
site has as well. For those very few of you who saw the site in the first
month, you may recall the few resources the site started with. The
record labels,
musicians, and various
website resources started the page. Since then, not only have those
sections grown (and continue to grow), but sections dedicated to
distributors,
indie radio stations,
music
e~zines,
online
music stores, and
CD
Manufacturers have been added and increased in size dramatically. Small
additions include a musician
want ads page,
music studios, and a
for sale page.
Coming
additiions to the site will be a section dedicated to booking tours.
Included will be information on where the place is located, who to contact, the
phone number, and number of people the facility will hold. We will
also be working with other independent music sites to serve independent
musicians better. There are no set projects yet, but look for them in
1999. Also in 1999, look for some interactive issues of Underground
Music Monthly, such as voting for the band of the month and band of the year.
Speaking of
the band of the month and band of the year, I have decided to start doing UMM
awards. Obviously, this is the first annual awards. This year, I'm
only giving out two. This year, I'm also just going on my own opinion.
Next year there will definitely be a voting system in place.
I want to
congratulate The Orchard in receiving this honor. They have doubled my CD
sales in just two months. That is, they have sold as many CDs in two
months as I had in a year and a half. They are definitely worth looking
into.
Band Of The Year - MISS
This was a
very difficult decision. We had so many good bands send us material this
year. Eden Automatic, Intra Moenia, Kelly Pardekooper, Meat Beat
Manifesto, and Bumblefoot are just a few worth mentioning. The decision
really came down to Bumblefoot, MBM, and MISS. Three very talented bands.
Bumblefoot consisted of two amazing musicians, with the ability to play almost
any kind of style. On another day, I might have given them the
honor. Meat Beat Manifesto, an incredible band, with fans ranging from
myself to Trent Reznor, great musical abilities, and an original sound.
They too very easily could have won this award. I have given it to MISS,
however, because they had a sound really unlike any I'd ever heard before.
The lead singer's voice was hypnotic, and the accompanying piano work took over
the listener's mind completely, and took it to a place only great music can take
it. Congratulations MISS, and keep doing what you're doing.
Well, there
you have it. The year in review, the coming attractions, and the awards.
Thank you for taking the time to read this January issue of Underground Music
Monthly. I look forward to another year of making this publication for
those who need it the most, the independent musician and their fans.
Have a Happy New Year.
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