Music for the Earth

Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Earth Day 2011 is Friday, April 22nd. Events in your area (worldwide) might be listed at the Earth Day Network, the official global coordinators.

Here are two programs that are probably of interest to you.

Music for the Earth

In celebration of Earth Day, the Earth Day Network, Sonicbids, Musician’s Friend and artists from around the world are giving you the gift of "green" music. All of the tracks on the Music for the Earth site have an Earth Day theme, demonstrating social responsibility, dedication to the environmental movement, and love for our planet Earth. You can freely download all the tracks submitted to the project.

The Top 20 most downloaded artists as of 11:59 pm EST on May 9 will be eligible to win a Gibson Jackson Browne Model 1 Acoustic Guitar, courtesy of Musician’s Friend as well as a feature on the Earth Day Network homepage.

A Billion Acts of Green®

From greening schools to hosting town hall discussions on clean energy investment and green jobs, Earth Day Network leads its network in thousands of Earth Day events and actions worldwide each year. To catalyze global environmental activism, Earth Day Network has chosen A Billion Acts of Green® as the theme for Earth Day 2011.

At over 40 million actions to date, A Billion Acts of Green®– the largest environmental service campaign in the world– inspires and rewards simple individual acts and larger organizational initiatives that further the goal of measurably reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainability. The goal is to register one billion actions in advance of the global Earth Summit in Rio in 2012. For more information click here.

music license: not cited, traditional copyrights assumed

Arrr, Pirate Songs, Matey!

Arrrr! Music makers of all ages are invited to make ocean or pirate songs for the upcoming PIRATE POP recording. If your song is popular with our listening team, your song will appear on the album. We look forward to hearing your entry, matey!

The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2010. Click here for details.

Good luck to all who participate in this contest! Thank you for sharing your work for kids!

detail of illustration "Pirates Vs. Ninjas" by Marcus Hadlock
[licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.]

Project for 100th Free Album from WM Recordings!

WM Recordings is about to reach their 100th free album, and YOU are invited to be a part of it! Here's info directly from WM Recordings:

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Submit your cover version for our 100th free album!

The release of the 100th free album download on our label is rapidly approaching. We have lots of activities coming up to celebrate this milestone. One of the projects surrounding our 100th free album will be the release of an album of cover version of tracks from the WM Recordings catalog.

Pick your favorite WM Recordings track from www.wmrecordings.com and... cover it!

We'll post submission guidelines on our site very soon, but you're already invited to start submitting your cover versions.

The rules are simple: the track(s) must have been released by WM Recordings and your version should not be longer than 5 minutes. Also keep in mind that a remix does not count as a cover version. Mail info @ wmrecordings.com if you have any questions or if you have more great ideas to celebrate our 100th free album!

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To inspire you to create a cover for WM Recordings, here are some covers collections.

	Covers Volume 2, the Song Fighters For your aural pleasure, Oddio Overplay presents some of the best amateur reinterpretations performed by Song Fighters in side projects outside of Song Fight
	The Covers Project by the Jennifers The band committed some of their favorite cover tunes to mp3 format. They emailed these out to their fan list once a month while we worked on finishing their Colors From the Future CD. Most were done using Apple's GarageBand. software.
	Nirvana Fan Club several compilations of Nirvana covers and originals inspired by the band
	Loved Like a Milkshake, A Wesley Willis tribute album Wesley Shabazz Willis (May 31, 1963 - August 21, 2003) was a busker, musician and painter from Chicago. A diagnosed schizophrenic, he gained a sizeable cult following in the 1990s after releasing several hundred songs of unique but simple music, with emphasis on his humorous, bizarre, and very obscene lyrics.
	This One's for the Fellows a young fresh collection of covers of the songs of indie pop band the Young Fresh Fellows
	Cin Cin Man Cin Cin Man is a composition created on the train in China, on a Nokia mobile phone composer tool. This is WM Recordings's contribution to the worldwide project to create 1000 covers of it.
	Vinyl Covers And here are 20 additional fun covers to bring you a smile and get those gears cranking for the cover you will add to the WM Recordings 100th free release!

Break-Up Song Contest Winners

The Chicago Public Radio's THIS AMERICAN LIFE program ran a song contest about breaking up.

Check out the Break-Up Song Contest winners.

For "Episode 339: Break-Up," TAL contributor Starlee Kine, along with musicians Joe McGinty and Julia Greenberg, wrote their own break-up song, "The Three of Us." The song changed dramatically depending on how it was mixed. Witness: the slower, sparer version we played in the show vs. a happier, poppier version. Julia's vocals are the same in both versions; it's just Joe's arrangement that changed.

So we thought it'd be cool to have a remix contest to see what you would do with the song. We also thought we'd be lucky to get a handful of entries. We got 129.

We'll post all 129 entries soon, and thanks to everyone who entered. You all rock!

photo: © P.Winberg

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Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka 2

Call for submissions!

With the release of Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka - Porn Music For The Masses Vol. 1 (over 138,000 downloads to date!) [by direct Internet Archive zip download] on Comfortstand.com in 2004, people all over the world were able to listen to and enjoy the soundtrack to their fantasies. WM Recordings has gladly agreed to host a new volume of Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka - Porn Music For The Masses, on it's website. So the call for submissions starts NOW! You can find all info here.

Visit Comfort Stand, WM Recordings sleeping sister netlabel, to enjoy the first volume of Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka.

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The Art of the Rant

Join our new audio exhibit with your own reading or performance of a rant, be it your own or the "You Need to Get Things Right" rant!




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Collaboration at MungBeing

MungBeing is a cutting edge online bimonthly magazine published under a Creative Commons license. The theme of MungBeing issue 12 is collaboration. Feast your eyes and ears on 56 pages of collaborative efforts in writing, painting, drawing and music. The music includes a spoken piece with background music by Matt Love, who was responsible for several of the tracks on the Calling All Fiends release at Oddio Overplay [especially Bureaucratica and The Waiters].

The most ambitious project is The Salted Earth Letters, a novella by KD Bryan, Tim Kirk, Ian Donnell Arbuckle and Cavendish. There's also a wonderful interview with Frank Warren, America's Most Trusted Stranger and the founder of PostSecret. And, in addition to the other fine musical projects, we are thrilled to present a CD-length archive of experimental audio works from the 1980s by renowned Dutch musicians Harold Schellinx and Ronald Heiloo.

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More 2007 Serial Projects

:: 50 Ways to Do a Cover by Splusp

"I hope it eventually will be more than 50, but let's start with this particular goal and who knows... Not only will I try to create and post at least one cover every week. I'm inviting all of you to make a cover of your own. Let's kick some ass!! Pick a wellknown song and give it your own personal touch. Only, please don't pick a recent hit parade song. The song has to be written at least 10 years ago. Folksongs and traditionals are particulary welcome."

UPDATE: 50 Ways to Do a Cover is archived here.

:: 52 Short Weeks by Peppermill Records

"Last winter we did 30 artists in 30 days... now we're going to do 52 artists in 52 weeks, divided up into four parts. Those of course being Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

"The first artist will start on the 21st of December, the first day of Winter which also happens to be the Solstice. They'll rip a headline out of that week's news as the title to their 2-3 minute song and then have 7 days to complete it before they pass their creation on to the next artist, who will continue where they left off."


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The 365 Days Project v2

The 365 Days Project

One MP3 a day for one year. Otis Fodder produced the project in 2003 with the help of several curators. It was a noteable web phenomenon that earned accolades, united freaks for strange recordings worldwide and created countless more such people. It also sparked similar projects that united still more fans of outsider, rare and just plain weird recordings. Why, the project is even how Fodder met his lovely wife. The 365 Days Project is archived at UbuWeb and at WFMU.

The 365 Days Project v.2

Freeform radio station WFMU in the greater New York City metro area invited Fodder to revive the project for 2007. Daily entries are logged in their blog, and can be filtered out into their own pages. I am the curator of day seven.

Curators for The 365 Days Project v.1

Any leads on where to find the rest of these 2003 curators online?


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Chenard Walcker Tribute

The Chenard Walcker Tribute is coming together on WM Recordings. There is now a page of details for submissions. [It begins with my earlier post, so some is already familiar, but please read on for info.]

from WM Recordings:

- Submissions: We are looking for musical submissions in the style of Chenard, that use samples from Chenard's work or that are dedicated to Chenard. All submissions should be in mp3 format, 192 kbps. Maximum length should be between 3 and 4 minutes.

- Required info: Please state the name of the artist and the title of the song when you send in your submission(s). Feel free to include a short bio, a link to your website and other info you would like to share.

- Deadlines: Submissions should be sent no later than 31 January 2007.

more info...


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52 Weeks Epilogue

52 Weeks is coming to an end. What a magical part of 2004 this project was. Many thanks to Jan and the curators.

Be sure to get on over there, and be a part of the wrap up celebration! Your host Jan invites you to be part of the epilogue party.

from 52 Weeks:

Surprise surprise! This extra episode of 52 weeks will be full of surprises. Even I don't know how it's going to end up. You see, that depends on several things.

First of all, I hereby offer an opportunity to all guest curators who collapsed under time-pressure lately: send in your mp3s anyway and I'll post them on this page. I'll update each day for seven days. Also additional tracks from the other curators are welcome. Please submit your updates, next week on Christmas-eve it will be too late.

Secondly: I want to know what your favourite 52 weeks track is! Let me know and I'll post the file anew here.

Thirdly: We'll start this last page with a tremendous album by Chenard Walcker who used samples from all 52 weeks and from other strictly Dutch music. Anyone who wants to add there own remix or 52 weeks related work to this page: you've got only one week left!

Fourthly: splogman's surprise

Splogman's Sixth Sense EP

New release available now from WM Recordings:

Splogman's Sixth Sense, an EP by Jan "Splogman" Turkenburg who brought you 52 Weeks all year. The pieces on 'Splogman's Sixth Sense' are a combination of cut and pasted samples and live instruments, just like on its predecessor 'A Fifth of Splogman' which was released on ComfortStand.com.

Classic Kiddie Records!

Exciting news! In 2005, Basic Hip Digital Oddio will feature an entire year of albums from the golden age of kiddie records, transferred from the original 78s and encoded to 192kbps MP3 format. One a week for 52 weeks!

We believe people from around the world and of all ages would be interested in hearing these records. Not many folks these days play 78s or share this type of recording online. Chances are you've never heard them and if you have, it's been a long, long time. They are nostalgic, entertaining and just plain fun. The colorful covers are beautiful works of art.

Someday soon these records will be altogether forgotten and we think that's a shame. Our mission is to give these wonderful old recordings a new lease on life.

The fun begins January 3, 2005!

Come and Get Your Love

For a limited time, some episodes of the 52 Weeks project will be available. Every week in 2004 Jan Turkenburg in The Netherlands has shared a set of rare recordings not available in stores. These sets are often introduced by the artist him/her/themselve(s), and typically lean towards Dutch culture. It is material the rest of the world otherwise would most likely never hear. It has been a remarkable year!

Nearing the end of the project, Jan is hosting episodes now temporarily available.

Week 21 - Tom Erich and His Orchestra: musical world-tour
[back online for about a week]

In the archive you can see which 52 Week downloads are online at this moment. Only the weeks marked with *** will remain online after the project is finished. Chance of a lifetime for these recordings!

Weirdomusic.com now has a netlabel!

The beloved Weirdomusic.com has just launched a netlabel, WM Recordings. Marco, the operator of Weirdomusic, is assisted by Jan Turkenburg and Ton Ruckert. All three gentlemen are also Comfort Stand recording artists, and each created an Oddio Overplay theme song.

"WM Recordings is a netlabel operating from Heerlen, the Netherlands. WM Recordings brings you music that is a little 'different.' We do not specialize in one style, but instead bring you exciting sounds that you're not likely to find anywhere else. Everything you find on WM Recordings is free, so take as much as you like."

The netlabel opens with two releases. The first is a collection titled WATER, WIND AND SAILS, and is released in conjunction with Turkenburg's 52 Weeks. Week 18 of 52 was a radio program with the sea as its theme. Turkenburg invited listeners to contribute their own musical pieces to create a water CD. The release flows across genres from bluegrass to the avant garde. A track that instantly won my heart was De Zwervende Keien's "Camille's Aquarium," a brief rendition of Camille Saint-Saens's (1835-1921) "Aquarium" from his CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS (1886).

The second release follows along the water theme, as well. It is RAIN by favorite French mixmaster Chenard Walcker. He is a prolific artist and tends to explore in all directions when he undertakes a project. Guessing that this set is in addition to his two tracks on WATER, WIND AND SAILS. When composing a mix for an Oddio Overplay site theme, Walcker also branched out and created an entire CD of additional material.

Super excited and grateful that WM Recordings has sprouted. Here's to it blossoming as the years pass.