I play music in the night


Please, let the player start.



Tonight... the night comes back to assist me one time more. Music bears me company. And tonight, at the time when the streets are deserted and everyone's sleeping, I try to find the lost harmony again. Music lights the road with dim beams. And when the music stops, I make it play again.
Thank you very much, Manhan, Hvoya, Light Merchants, Mijagi and Spectroscope... This music is so different one another, and it's from very distant parts of the world.
In the end, I know that without your precious support, this blog would have no sense. So I let your music play... without any comment about it.  I just let your music play.

I hope you're having a good time there, and goodnight!

Carlo Trevisan

An interview to Krita Yuga... from Japan


Today we are going to present a fresh interview with Krita Yuga, one of the first artists we discovered  during our survey of the web. He’s a young and talented man who initially wanted to be a Manga drawer. Then he succeeded in finding a really personal “artistic path”… and he found it in music. So please, open Yuga's myspace page and listen to his music while reading the interview!

Hi Yuga! First of all, let’s try to break the ice! Psychology says that childhood is the period during which we lay the foundations of what we’ll become in the future. So let us know something about you as a child, about school... in short, about what was the young Yuga’s conception of the world.

When I was a little child, the first thing I was obsessed with was death. I asked adult people around me what death is and what would happen when we die, but no one could really answer this question since they'd never died. I read a lot of religious and spiritual books but what I found in those books were basically some kind of dogmas - you know, "I know you don't know, believe it, otherwise you go to hell," that sort of craps - and I thought or rather felt that they got little to do with the truth, or I couldn't tell whether they were actually right or wrong unless I had some relevant spiritual experiences. I couldn’t get rid of this obsession until I experienced some kind of inexplicably transcendental experience in Varanasi in India. Since then, I've never been bothered with this kind of things. Now looking back, I think this is something you should worry about when you get old so as to prepare to die. For good or bad, I did it early in life by giving up every desire I had including my desire to know the answer to the question, which had been obsessing me ever since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and I'm now trying to adhere to the world as stickily as I can, desperately looking for something that can make me covetous. Ironically, no sooner had I given up finding the answer to the question than I got the answer. The answer I eventually found to this persistent question, when both myself and my world were crumbling into Shunya or Emptiness, at the absolute edge of existence, was - WHATEVER. Frankly, I have to admit that I looked very like an idiot.

For instance, I spent my adolescence watching Japanese cartoons like “UFO robot Grendizer”, “Mazinger Z” and “Steel Jeeg”. Therefore, when I began searching the web in order to find some good artists, it came naturally to me to start by surveying Japan. So I would like to know what kind of relationship you had with the West. Did Eurpean or American culture influence you? And, if it is so, in what way? Have you ever felt a “preferential attraction” to a particular state, as I felt it towards Japan?

Yeah, as far as music is concerned, I've been more attracted by English music than Japanese music in general. I think this attraction motivated me to study English. When I started writing songs, I couldn’t imagine giving Japanese lyrics to my melodies, so I naturally wanted to be able to write decent English lyrics for my songs. I now also enjoy writing Japanese lyrics though.

Your biography mentions your travels, your wanderings around Asia, where you discovered the sitar. Would you like to tell us something in particular about these experiences?

Honestly, I didn’t plan to learn sitar when I got to India, I just wanted to wander about. Back then, I lost my confidence in my musical abilities, didn’t play any instruments, and didn't write any songs. But the longer I was away from music, the greater my desire for music became, and I found, anyway, I need to create music whether or not I am actually talented. So I thought it would probably be pretty nice to resume my musical activities by learning a new instrument.
Well, if I should tell you something particular about sitar, there’s a good story. Several months after I started to learn sitar, I was in seek of a good sounding sitar. So I visited almost every instrument shop in Varanasi and auditioned dozens of sitars. But I noticed that the best sounding sitar I had ever played was my teacher’s sitar that he let his students use during lessons. This sitar sounded much better than any other sitars I had ever played and heard. It was very old, according to my teacher, this sitar was crafted by Kartarchand in late 50's, but it didn’t have much decorations and a bit harder to play compared to newer ones.
I really wanted this sitar so much that I somehow persuaded him to sell it. I was so happy that I named the sitar Amateras after the Japanese goddess Amaterasu who is the goddess of the sun and the queen of the Shinto pantheon, and bought a fairly expensive silk shawl for her. Next morning, I woke up at dawn. It was a very misty morning. When I went outside, I saw a couple of peacocks flying into the garden and dancing face to face. This sight was very unreal or surreal, I don’t know which adjective is more suitable to describe it, but I was definitely impressed.
Later on, my next-door Italian hippy neighbour dropped by and told me that that day was Makar Sankranti which is a Hindu celebration day for the sun.

When listening to your music, one can perceive the idea of travelling. But going deeper into it, one can feel something more “underground” and intimate, as if the real journey had been for you a way to awake your soul and let it come to the surface.

Well, I hope so. If my music isn’t superficial and has flesh and bones, listeners should be able to go deeper. I think we can connect with each other via music not only sonically but also spiritually, and probably we also can share our experiences through music with the aid of empathy.

In your songs I can hear different approaches and moods. For example, “Invisible walls” is delicate and lysergic while “The exiled” is an obsessive and rhythmic chain that finally becomes angry and noisy. Different moods, different feelings and emotions, different sounds... How do you build up your music? From where do you draw inspiration? And what are your actual emotions? What a difficult question... ;-)

Well, it depends. "Invisible Walls” is based on my own experience. This will be a long story and I don’t know exactly where I should begin with… I determined to move to London after I spent several months in Amsterdam. As I was very fond of British rock music since I was a kid, I wanted to stay in the UK as long as I could. Some friends of mine advised me to buy a return ticket and pretend to be a tourist who would just stay in there for a couple of days for sightseeing. But my experiences in India changed me, I thought that was a bad idea, an ugly karma, or whatever you name it, I thought I should live as honestly as possible. It may sound crazy but I bought a one-way bus ticket to London and told the immigration officer that I wanted to stay in the UK as long as possible but I didn’t want to stay illegally. As a natural consequent, the officer had to refuse me. I know he just did his job. At the end of the day, honesty wasn't the best policy in England on that day. Anyway, it was indeed a very sad experience for me.
After spending a couple of months in Norway, I tried to move to Ireland and the same shit happened again. According to the Irish immigration officers, who determined to deport me to Norway, they have a treaty with the United Kingdom that prohibits those who have been refused to enter the UK to enter Ireland, and I had to stay at a cell in their police station and was kicked back to Norway again.
Then, I decided to move to New York via Reykjavik so I bought a flight ticked that makes a stopover in Reykjavik. I arrived at the airport in Iceland and I had to enter the country once. And then, you know, that shit happened again. A woman at the immigration didn't believe that I had a real passport somehow, and seemed to have concluded that the picture on my passport was of someone else. But I don't know exactly what was going on in her brain, I demanded but she explained nothing. Maybe the stamp of refusal that the British government kindly gave me worked adversely. Then, a beefy police man came by and told me that he had to bring me to a jail. I naturally refused it and demanded them to explain what was wrong and why I had to be jailed without violating any local or international laws. The police man suddenly handcuffed me forcefully and it caused me immense physical pain, since I am rather anatomically inflexible, that posture caused terrible agony. But there was at least one good thing happened at that airport at that time, my right shoulder joint became more flexible than ever thanks to his forceful handcuffing. So I call this experience "Icelandic chiropractic." I was taken to an isolated small prison, and they confiscated things like a belt so that I couldn't kill myself in this cold little cell. Next day, I was deported to Norway again, Norwegian people and the government always welcomed me, I love Norway. An Icelandic police man who escorted me to Norway was actually a nice guy, he sympathized me and encouraged me to make an official complaint. Also a Norwegian immigration officer told me what Icelandic Immigration did to me might infringe the international law since I had a ticket to New York and they didn't have a right to confiscate that ticket. He also advised me to officially complain about it, and I was furious you know. So I went to the Icelandic embassy in Oslo and found myself gobsmacked at the attaché who just told me "I don't know, I wasn't there!" no matter what I said to him. I had to realize that there was no use discussing it with him. So I went to the Japanese embassy in Oslo. They told me I should write and submit a report and they would officially request an explanation on this issue.
I suck at keeping negative emotions such as anger and hatred. So as time goes by, I was beginning to wonder what the hell I was so furious about. I was ashamed of my immaturity that I was driven by anger. Well, I think it is sometimes necessary to pretend as if I'm angry. But I believe I should be able to control my emotions, especially negative ones, and should never be driven by such emotions. I determined to blame it on my own karma and forgive them, and I went off to the arctic zone to see auroras.
So in my world, there are Invisible Walls along the Greenwich Meridian that always beat me off if I try to go beyond them. Also I have a tendency to escape from the real world to fantasies and games. You know when you play a role playing game like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, you cannot enter some specific areas in the game unless you achieve something, killing a dragon or finding a key or whatever, you know, things like that. This experience reminded me of this sort of limitation, and I mulled over what I need to achieve to be able to go beyond these Invisible Walls. I kind of concluded I should believe my higher self is actually playing a game in the higher dimension so this reality is the game that he plays and I live in that game as his avatar. So I think I should grow and make progress in this real world rather than spending time to grow my characters in other artificial worlds, and I'll probably be able to go beyond the walls when I truly love this world as much as I love myself.






As for "the Exiled", I was basically inspired by Japanese myth. Explanation of this song involves my interpretation of Japanese myth and description of some part of my own belief system, and will be extremely long and probably boring for people who are not interested in these things, so I encourage such people to skip to the next question. But I think it's a good opportunity for me to try to describe what the heck is going on in my mind which I myself don't know clearly, since they have vaguely and abstractly existed in the right side of my cerebrum and I've never tried to express it verbally. So let me try.
First of all, since this song is based on Japanese mythology, I have to explain my own interpretation of Japanese mythology, which might differ from the standard interpretation, and philosophy used to construe it. The myth says that, in the beginning of the world, there were three gods, namely, Ameno-Minakanonushi, Takamimusubi and Kamimusubi. Minakanonushi is the subject, the observer who creates and maintains the world by perceiving duality that constitutes the world, can be replaced with the word Atman defined in Indian philosophy. Takamimusubi and Kamimusibi together create duality that the subject, Minakanonushi, needs to perceive to exist, high and low, light and darkness, hotness and coldness, bigness and smallness, the future and the past, and so on. You cannot be located at the extreme edge of the world, you always have to be surrounded by things, there are always things above and below you, to the left and right of you, and in front of and behind you wherever you are. You cannot be located at the absolute edge on the time axis either, you need the past and the future to exist now. These things which make up duality are Takamimusubi and Kamimusubi. In other words, I can say that Brahman in Indian philosophy is divided into these two conceptual gods. Minakanonushi is the ego that perceives the world right here and right now. And in Shinto religion, every individual is actually Minakanonushi of his or her own world to some extent, that is why mirrors are placed in every shrine. This world creation story is completely different from that explained by the modern physics, this is the story of awakening of an ego. Your world was created when your ego awoke.
So this is a baby born as a result of marriage between Shinto mythology and Yuishiki or Vijñapti-Mātratā (consciousness-only) philosophy of Buddhism. Still I want to clothe her with miko (Shinto priestess) costumes though, since Shinto originates from nature worship and animism, which fact can give it a cutting edge in the coming planetary age, and also, there is no such concept as heresy in Shinto religion, one can worship whatever he or she finds spiritually valuable and can make up his or her own original interpretation and belief system within the religion.
I wouldn't deny the way in which most people perceive the world, the way the modern science provides us with. In fact, to some extent, I'm inevitably under the influence of the modern scientific perception of the world, in which the world exists anyway whether or not you perceive it and you just occupy specific coordinates in absolute and concrete time-and-space without having your own centricity. I believe artists with originality, artists with their own worlds, have a consciousness-only-ish way of perceiving the world to some degree, whether or not they are aware of it, that is why they can have their own worlds. You know, you can never have your own world if you don't believe that you exist at the center of the world. It takes spiritual energy to put this "consciousness-only" perception across physical reality; otherwise it is nothing but a purely conceptual idea useful for thinking but ineffective in the material world. I think I have my own world, a fairly detailed world backed up with a philosophy, but don't have spiritual energy sufficient to make it compelling. So I'm looking for my shakti and divulging my secrets to this extent in hope that she can see that I'm me.

OK, I have to give you further explanation on Japanese mythology. There are Three Special Gods (Mihashira-no-Uzunomiko), namely, Amaterasu (the deity of the sun), Tsukuyomi (the deity of the moon) and Susano'o (the deity of the sea and storm). They were born when the first male god Izanagi did Misogi (shintoic lustration). Firstly the sun goddess Amaterasu was born from his left eye, then, Tsukuyomi was born from his right eye, and finally, Susano'o was born from his nose.
Izanagi commanded Susano'o to govern the sea. But he rejected the order and said that he wants to meet his mother (Izanami), and stayed in Heaven (Takamanohara). Susano'o offended Amaterasu in some unforgivable ways and that caused her to shut herself into the Heavenly Cave (Amenoiwato). Since Amaterasu is the goddess of the sun, the world was plunged into darkness and everything began to wither and die. Susano'o was exiled from Heaven for this reason, and descended to the surface of this planet, to be precise, Izumo (present eastern Shimane prefecture). So, yes, this song, "the Exiled" is about Susano'o and I wrote this song, empathizing with and being inspired by him. He was an unruly bear in heaven but, in Izumo, he seemed to have done a flip-hop and became a hero. He saved a girl (Kushinada-hime) from Yamata-no-Orochi (8-headed Python) and married her, wrote the first waka (Japanese traditional poem), and ruled his country. Thereafter he went off to the underworld and became the king there.

Remember the nose is located between the eyes, and thus Susano'o is actually Ameno-Minakanonushi, the ego who is perceiving the world at the center of his universe, and is always surrounded by dualities. By the way, the planet where we live is the Earth, and despite the meaning and the derivation of its name, it is actually the one and only aquatic planet in our solar system and no other aquatic planets have been discovered by mankind so far (which fact shows, at this stage, the human race has no interplanetary common sense at all as far as naming of planets is concerned). In other words, the Earth is the only planet that has seas where Susano'o is supposed to govern. I see the stories of his exile from heaven and activities on and under the surface of the planet as processes, in which he governs or rather assimilates himself with the planet Earth (again I have to use this as a proper noun indicating this aquatic planet as there is no other word available), and I strongly believe that there must be a sequel to the myth where Susano'o returns to Heaven as the ruler of the Earth or as the planet Earth itself, this is the story of the completion of globalization and the begging of the planetary age, Dimensional Ascension of the Earth in which mankind is inextricably involved, and it should take place in our time. I know many decent people are opposed to globalization, but globalization is inevitable and globalization itself isn't a bad thing. The problem with the currently ongoing globalization is that it is mostly economical. What I meant by "the completion of globalization" is that the human society is globalized not only economically but also legally, administratively, politically, mentally and spiritually, so that the same environmental and human right protection laws are enforced globally without loopholes and people regard the Earth as their home instead of the world as a result of mental globalization. When Susano'o returns to Heaven, we also return to Heaven while being living on the Earth, since the Earth itself returns to heaven as a celestial being – no man will call the surface of the earth the world and everybody calls it home at that stage, and the Sun (Amaterasu) and the moon (Tsukuyomi) will become the incarnations of Takamimusubi (higher part of the duality) and Kamimusubi (lower part of the duality) respectively. Until then, in this conventional world, the sky is Takamimusubi and the ground is Kamimusubi. I'm sick of being forced to exist at this pre-planetary stage, but that is the reality I have to accept. I basically have nothing to do on this stage, so I really appreciate your existence if you understand what the hell I'm talking about here, as you're the proof that we're moving to the next stage. So this song is actually about Dimensional Ascension depicted from the shintoic perspective.

When I experienced that inexplicable experience in Varanasi, I was forced to give up everything I had, including my desire to maintain my own ego. I instinctively felt that my mind and spirit would be shattered if I didn't obey this compelling force. When I gave up every desire I had, I saw something, that was supposedly the Earth but it wasn't the beautiful blue planet I knew, it was like a rough monochrome image of Earth's spinal cord drawn on a good old 8-bit Atari or maybe a rough sketch of the basic concepts of the Earth drawn by well… somebody up there. I still don't understand exactly what it was, but I saw something like that, something utterly inexplicable but somehow I'm struggling to explain now. At that very moment, I was inseparably stuck to it, I was filled with 'that something' and I involuntarily said "Oh this is too tiny, this can never accommodate me," and 'that something' spilled out of me like a flood, and I fainted away. It took years for me to digest this experience, which at last emerges in the form of English language text now, but I'm not very sure if I should really try to explain it. Anyway, what I talked here is based on this experience, not only on thinking.

Let’s deal with something else. Is the Japanese musical scene a stimulating world or not?

There are some great Japanese artists who stimulate me but I'm also stimulated by artists from other countries. Honestly, I generally prefer old kayokokus (Japanese popular music in 70's and 80's) over the current J-pop. I think kayokyokus tended to have more impressive melodies and more intriguing lyrics. Anyway, the answer may be yes, but I think the current scene isn't that great as a whole.

Could it be worthwhile, for an European indie and unknown musician, to go to Japan? In other words, is Japan, in your opinion, a place where one can easily express his talent and follow his passion?

I think, for any European, not necessarily a musician, it is worthwhile to go to Japan to experience different culture. But if he wants to establish a basis for his musical activities, Europe is the best region for unknown European musicians indeed, unless there is a specifically big demand for his music in Japan. They can live and work legally in any EU-member state and welfare is usually better in Europe.

Do you go around with other musicians? Or are you a “solitary man”?

By nature I'm not gregarious or outgoing. I realize this isn't a very nice thing though.

What’s your relationship with everyday life, or with people of your same age, some of which maybe are now PC programmers or Manga drawers?

Relationship with every day life? Just normal, perhaps living a bit slower and sleeping a tad longer. I don't care about the age of my acquaintances very much and, unfortunately, I currently have no friends who are PC programmers or Manga creators.

Is there any specific direction that you think you’ll move towards in the future? (even if it’s not sure that a precise direction to move towards must necessarily exist...)
I have an idea, but maybe it’s wrong...

I don't understand what you exactly meant by the word "direction." If you're asking about a musical direction, I want to finish the album that I'm currently working on by the end of this year. This album will be done in my current style that you can listen to on my myspace page. I also want to create more conventional and normal songs as a songwriter, you know nothing innovative but "simply good songs," and I also want to create a more aggressive rock album and a melodic instrumental album some day.

And now, let your thoughts flow freely! Indeed, I consider it right to let you conclude this strange interview. Do it your way...

I already spoke too much, nothing more to say… I Just want to thank you for your interest in my music.

What I can say is: thank you for your kindness, Yuga... and keep in touch!


Carlo Trevisan

Dumb music makes me happy


Music can tell so much even without words... I've always thought that written and spoken language is a game full of traps that can make you stumble any time you do not expect them to do it. And this is the reason why, when I was a teenager, I began playing guitar. Bypass the gorges, walk down the river shore and reach the sea through the only straight road. Circular arguments, straight emotions. Untrue words, honest melodies. This playlist, that is made of (almost) instrumental songs, is the most coherent manifest of my not repudiated teenage philosophy.


Add Music without words to your page

MorningPaper - A Rabbit On The Seashore.
Trying to translate a famous italian idiomatic expression, often referred to really elegant people: "Class is not water"...
Thomas Solgaard - For Jane
A teenager that maybe agrees with my opinions. A young talent on the launching pad.
FeralChildren - ThruCropFields
Docile childs that run in the gold. An hymn to a bucholic summer. If you wish for a countryhouse... try with this song.
Julien Boulier - Bambou Sauterelle
If the film of my life could have a soundtrack, I would like this song to be the melody of my late nights. Piano notes, whites and blacks randomly but consciously scattered on my back.

Fiorenzo Fuolega

Kia Ora

Kia Ora (Hello!) 
 
During my visit to Ariana's blog, I discovered that the Maori new year has just started. But I have discovered as well that New Zealand hosts a heated debate concerning  Maori language and the diffusion of their music, which is often not so considered (the lyrics are in such a language, of course).
 

We who live so far think, without presumptuousness, that it's right to give some visibility to all the musical experiences, and not only to those that are in an “official” language (does “official language” mean anything?). By the way, maybe it's worth to recall that the Maori people are not just a New Zealand language minority, but represent what's left of the ancient people who first colonized that faraway islands some 1000 years ago...

We're in New Zealand, Aotearoa... land of the long white cloud. And that is the new Ariana Tikao's video... 

 


 

May the colors of this little world never fade... 

Haere ra (See you soon) 

Carlo Trevisan

The No Seduction interview

Our Journey through the unsigned music world goes on without any pause. And so, let’s listen to Rocco, singer and guitarman of No Seduction, a fascinating Italian power-trio that is helping the sleepy new generations to move their ass!


Hi Rocco, tell us something about you, your childhood, your town, and your life just until now!

Well… what can I say… I’ve spent my life so far in this small flooded town called Chioggia, and I’ve never been away from here for more than a couple of months. I’ve studied languages in that old fascinating town called Venice, but I’ve never been a great student at all. I think it’s been quite strange, I mean living on an island, moving from an island to another, thinking about how many different worlds and different people come around and go around our world-famous lagoon. People from Japan, USA, India, from all over the world come to Venice, for it’s the most famous town in tplanet; we grow up and live near a living museum. And Chioggia is just like Venice. It’s alive, it’s busy, it’s noisy, it stinks. I hate Chioggia. But I definitely love Chioggia. That’s the point.

In what way did music have to do with all you said?

It’s not so easy to find out when music got into my life. It’s been quite natural, I think. My father played many records since I was a child; Pink Floyd, Area, David Bowie, Rino Gaetano... I remember that I used to cry when I heard some songs by Tom Waits! But my mother was a good singer, and I started playing the piano at seven. Then my cousin gave me some Guns n Roses and Motley Crue’s cassettes when I was twelve, and a little after I started to learn guitar on my own.
Very soon, I understood that music was a great mean to plan my escape. I mean, I played my first live shows with our first band (Marco played the bass with me, too) and we were very young and silly. But one thing was clear: I was made for that.
Music is what gave me the chances to do the greatest things I’ve done till the present day. And I haven’t had enough, that’s for sure.

Why did you choose “No Seduction” as your band’s name? Could it be simplier to call your band “yeah babe… I’m gonna seduct you!” or something like this?

Well, that’s how we hook up the girls after a live show! Anyways, our first band was called Sad Seduction. Then it came to an end but we were still in love with that name, and that was a pity to change it. So, when Roberto (the drummer) joined the band (and Carlo, too!) we chose No Seduction just because it was something new and somethink linked with the past at the same time. A denial and an affirmation. Black and white. A contraddiction, maybe. It had something to do with no wave, too.
I think that’s a cool name for a band. That’s easy to remember. And it gives us the chance to play a lot, with images, graphics, words... yeah, that’s funny.

No Seduction at work

You began moving’round the italian music scene a couple of years ago. So tell us how this fuckin’ scene is...! I refernot only  t othe  musicians, but to the “insiders” as well as to the public, journalists, clubs, radios... 

Here we are, the Amlethic question… what’s wrong with the italian scene?? Everyone’s got its personal theory. I’ll tell you mine. In Italy, there’s still too many people who haven’t understood the great change in which we’re living. And I’m talking about musicians, as well as journalists or labels. Music gave us the chance to meet a lot of different people, but too many of them are still convinced that a label, an official full-lenght album and some reviews on magazines are still the means to get your music to the people. That’s wrong. Nobody buys cds anymore, labels (or most of them) are not able to spread the music around Europe, and magazines just follow the musical trend of the moment. For that, I think a musician doesn’t need them, and should look around for some other means, some other ways, some other ideas. Italy’s got a lot of good music, but few ideas to spread it. For example, last week we supported the #1 artist in Sweden charts. He sang in a weird Swedish dialect. But he was touring all over Europe. And he had his own musical dignity. Can you imagine an Italian artist that sings in a weird dialect all over Europe without thinking about Pavarotti?

What do you think ‘bout the standard classifications through which the artists are described? Is it still worth to define a band as garage, punk hardcore or something like this? Is this a clever habit or is it becoming only a  journalistic deformation?

Many journalists defined ourselves in many different ways: stoner rock, post-punk, garage-wave, now they’re talking about an electro turning point. To find out our influences, they pulled out all sort of bands, many of which we had never listened to. That is to say, anyone could interpret music (or even misunderstand it), depending on his own influences and his own musical education. The easiness with which anyone can get music nowadays is just a powerful way to spread influences and tastes, we’re constantly under the influence of millions of genres and contaminations, so that any arbitrary classification is just meaningless. We just try to pull out the best from ourselves, to perform the best representation of our personality and style. To me, that’s what a contemporary musician should try to express in his own musical research: personality and style. Cool, yeah?

No Seduction belong to the so-called “unsigned constellation”. Do you think it’s a limiting factor or a stimulating one?

As I said before, I don’t think that being without a label is necessarily a limit. Concerning to us, facts are there to demonstrate this truth: we don’t have a label or a record deal, nor even a booking or promotion agency. But we played more than a hundred gigs the past three years, we printed hundreds of cds and our music’s been played in several podcasts and webradios all over the internet. Fans are growing from a show to another, and many of our next gigs have been booked because people wanted us to play, and not because we sent hundreds of emails hoping for an answer. I mean, if people can spread music, promote their band, find lots of shows, self-produce an album, share their music with the world and so increase their popularity, what are labels for?
I think that the main mistake that independent labels are making is that painful attempt to conquer the mainstream market by promoting bands with a clear mainstream sound and attitude. This logic is for losers. I think we should enter the mainstream market and channels through the main-door, using their own means against them, subverting their machinery. Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails fully understood this passage, now the time is ours. That’s not that easy to explain... it’s a revolution, and I do believe that possible. That’s the same thing in politics, isn’t so?
Last but not least, we should retake music to its essence: live shows. That’s how a musician should get a living.

You’re a quite assiduous Myspace user, and, you know, UtopicMusic will try to offer a new web-service... What is needed for the present web? And what would you advise to people that are trying, like we do, to create new utilities?

I think that all new kinds of services for the internet should follow a couple of basic principles: shared knowledges, shared knowledges and... let me think... shared knowledges! That’s the key to create a strong web of relationships that could represent a solid base of power for further revendications. There are two levels, the global one and the local one, that is the internet and the territory in which we live and interact. They are well linked one another and there’s a continuous exchange between the two. A new service, as UtopicMusic could be, should find the right connection between these two dimensions.
Myspace is just one of the several means of control over our existences. Bands, as well as common people or associations, are somehow obliged to create a Myspace account to spread their music, their activities, their ideas. But unsigned artists have exactly the same services that mainstream artists have, so there’s no place for a real change, just the illusion of popularity and fame. Music and art are just some aspects of our entire lifetime, which is totally bonded to the standards of our society by lots of control devices. They chain our lives to their will and want us to pretend to be free. This is what we should subvert.

Let’s come back to music. What’s going on? What will No Seduction present us in the next future?

I think this is a very good period for us. Our album’s got a very good feedback, and we played lots of shows all over Italy. We’ve got a couple of new songs, which we’ve already played live and which are, well, gorgeous! But I think it’s too early to talk about a new album.
On the 31st of may we released a new single in free download from the internet. It’s called “Copyrighted” and it’s a sort of manifesto. An electro-rap-hip-hop-boy-band theme about the copyright control over our lives. People got crazy when we performed it. The single will include a couple of remixes of our first album and an extended dancefloor mix of “Copyrighted”, too. We made the whole thing on our own, you know, just diy. And, maybe, we will set up a remix contest to have it remixed by some other djs.
But don’t be afraid, we’re not electro-addicted, and the new songs are still full of rough and rude rocking sounds! But we’re confident about the evolution of our sound.

We’re gonna finish. Use the next lines to tell us what you want! Thank you very much, Rocco, and good luck!

Well… that’s been a pleasure! Thank you guys for your support and your important work.
So... people, self-produce your future, and... EAT FRIED FISH! YO!


Carlo Trevisan

Let Argentine talents play!


As usual, push "start" and then read below!





Today we wanna propose you some good music from Argentina. We tried to represent, as much as possible, the different musical sides of this great country. And so we have the more traditional side of Argentina: La biyuya, with is sensuous, melancholy tango "El Negro", and the great Los Hermanos Butaca with the lively "El turco Jador" (we're waiting for a copy of their first official album...). Then, after a song of our already known friend Negro Fluo (Delirios en mi), let's listen to Periplo, an artist who decided to use Creative Commons for his works... great choice, in our opinion. This is a really polyhedric guy: an acoustic mood in "Aplastamiento de las gotas"(from "My primer EP"), with acoustic guitars that creates the background for the acting voice, and a more rock one in "Wiped out" (from "Musica Permutante"), where a good Depeche Mode vein can be heard all along the song. Download his albums using the links in his myspace, it's for free!
Periplo also recommended us two other Argentine bands... well, what a great discovery! First of all, Lu-sin's rhythm and elegance, with their "Tour de Otono" (but listen to the other songs in theit myspace: hard-funk, much more distorted and rocky than the present song). Then the dark, really extraordinary "Desde el Frente" by Verdeoscuro. It's already in my i-pod: these atmospheres are my atmospheres... Nice tunes, guys!













Thank you Periplo, your suggestion have been really precious for us. If any of you, artists and visitors, wants to reccommend us a (or his) band, these are the addresses: fiorenzo@utopicmusic.com, carlo@utopicmusic.com. Please don't hesitate, we'll listen to everything.


Cheers,

Fiorenzo Fuolega

Melting pot n. 1


Today we want to try to create a "melting pot" between different states and different approaches to music. Folk-wave, psycho-pop, lo-fi indie and minimal songwriting. Czech Republic, Argentina, France and Croatia. Exit Orchestra, Negro Fluo, Wonderboy and Marshmallow. The results are really interesting! But let's stop with words, just push "start"!


   
                                                                    




Fiorenzo Fuolega

 


Words and music


Push START and read below!

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An enveloping blanket
The beam of a dream...
The wait for a love
That suddenly disappear...
No silence allowed
Between the ghosts of a black ocean

The wait for a love that suddenly disappear.jpg     

Hvoya’s voice, like an enveloping blanket, protect us from the pulsing electronic heart of the loops. His voice leaves us a beam of what agitate it and let it live. The beam of a dream... HVOYA (Ukraina)- “Mind”
The crash of lonelyness and abandonment, echoes of a night ocean, dark and devastating. While you’re waiting for the light, only ghosts come to surface. EVEN THE HILLS HAVE EYE (Czech Republic)- “Welcome no sailor”
A Japanese poem that shows a thousand reflections. It’s flashy... it’s agitated... and it suddenly disappears. IRURISSAT (Japan)- “Illusory”
A chaotic and convulsive background that finds its way, deeper and deeper, into our mind, forbidding both thinking and silence. Zalt Water (Slovenija)- "Nz"

Thank you guys for having sent your music. UtopicMusic will keep on playing it... Remember that without your contribution this post would not have any sense.

In the end, a message for those who haven’t sent their music yet, for those who want to send some new material, and for those who want to signal us other interesting artists... These are the addresses!
carlo@utopicmusic.com
fiorenzo@utopicmusic.com
We are listening to you!

Enjoy... and see you soon,

Carlo Trevisan

Let your music play on the UtopicPlayer!


Hi friends,

We are Carlo and Fiorenzo, the two guitarists who have conceived this blog. Most of you have already met us on Myspace (www.myspace.com/maladives, www.myspace.com/revolutionvenice).
We invited you to read this post because we would be very proud to upload in our new player (only listening, not download!) some of the best unsigned music of the whole world... yours!
Some of you have already sent us (carlo@utopicmusic.com, fiorenzo@utopicmusic.com) one or two of their songs (click "start" on the player below and listen to Royal Fortune from Iceland, Anaquim from Portugal, Gimme 'hat Moonshine from Belgium, Frey from New Zealand...). If you are interested in doing it, and if you wanna know something more about this, please read below (and try to find your name in the list!)
Add Let's play the playlist to your page

Since November ’07, Utopicmusic blog has been dealing with the web search of  some almost unsigned interesting artists from all around the world. We looked for bands that could tell us something and show some affinities with our way of feeling and conceiving music. Well... you are these artists, and we think it’s worth to list all of you... Click on the name of each state and you'll see the post/tracklist we dedicated to such a state...

ARGENTINA: Aureliano, Los Hermanos Butaca, Quarteto diestro y siniestro, La biyuya, Lady Maria, Periplo, Negro Fluo; AUSTRALIA: Satori, Foreign Dub, Braindead Lovers, The Second That, Amathyst, Enolas Secret, Fire Underground, Cat-grrl, PsyTaniWha; BELGIUM: Ynri, Neptunian8, Ptrx, Akkused, Gimme that moonshine, Cirque Electrique, Anik, Jonas Ruchenhever, Jos Steen, David Morley, Delippes; BRAZIL: Umarco & Sem Grana, P-Lugar, Dois em Um, Automatic Pilot Required (interview), DJ Mario77, China, Vandaluz, Menthe de Chat, Yogi; CANADA: Belladonnakillz, An Explorer, Cranes, Joystick, Sonicanimation, Killa-Jewel, Kelly, Ghost Television, Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long, Hank and Lily; CROATIA: Un Genou/1924, Kimiko, Marshmallow, Heroina, Faraway Morning, Slip, Komeedija; CZECH REPUBLIC: Ghostmother, Johnny and the Prostatics, Exit Orchestra, Chakushin Ari, Neon black, Sunflower Caravan, Marek Dusil & Youngblood, Even the hills have eyes; DENMARK: Atoi, Tomult, Death Valley Sleepers, Euzen, Birdie-bird makes little Norm cry, Jeremy Sparrow, Astrid Engberg, Limboasyoulikeit, Thomas Solgaard; FRANCE: Saratoga, Patrick Dorobisz, Sandra Nkake, Booster, Olyfen, Julien Boulier, Wonderboy, Le club des chats; GEORGIA: Nicka Tseretely, Sanda, Ketrine&Me, Nino Katamadze, Gloof, G!O Janiashvili, Mona Liza Overdrive; GREENLAND: Nive, Sea Lion Sea, Dead Tongue, Ice Box, Objectverb, Van Der Maokernonderzeeboot; HONG KONG: Shun, Nimbus, Simon Lee Tack, Chih, Candle with hair, Lamsum, Aimer, J-P da Mindscratcher, Kulkliars, Qwan Hyu; ICELAND: Ensimi, Mittenlords, Tarnùs Jr, Elìn Ey, The Viking Giant Show, Royal Fortune, Sysselmannen; INDIA: @mAy(HéMiE)@, Boddah, Daniele Camarda, 4080peru, Anhad, Ashwin Srinivasan, Eveda Chechi, Five little Indians, MrEcho; IRELAND: Mark, Ammunition, Outpost Alpha, Sarah O’Halloran, Boathouse, Amy McGarrigle, Bokeh, Jimmy the hideous penguin, Rarely Seen Above Ground, The brothers movement; ITALY: MorningPaper, Feral Children, TheBigSoundOfCountryMusic, Vancouver, No Seduction, Thank you for the drum machine, Dradder, Imo, Il riso degli stolti, Giovanni Santese; JAPAN: Manhan, Krita Yuga, Hiroyuki Seino, Yukimichi, Burrrn, Irurissat , No.305, Pc Engine / Coregrafx, ThreeHouse, The John's guerrilla, Masashi; MEXICO: Grupo Amigo, Volam, Ojos Rojos, The Collageprix Experience Sound, Clan Grunge Mexico; MISSOURI (USA): Shudder, The Factory Workers, Brandon Bischoff, The Crockpot, Savvy Traveller, Boy from the stars; MOROCCO: Zayan Freeman, Jamal Chafai, Mafufs, Bonkey!, Atloa Achams, Xarly-xxl (Eqisxl crew), Chalaban, Auberge du Sud; NEW ZEALAND: Sora Shima, Fancy Man, Japanese Walking Crab, Body Corporate, Underconstruction, The Ribbon, Ariana Tikao, Starlight, Lisa Tomlins; POLAND: Ambulanza, Frobisher, Mijagi, Budyn, Skorup, Lars, K-tee, Poludnica!, Shit, Ekke; PORTUGAL: Costa, Camane, Fado em si bemol, Anaquim, Projecto Fuga, Algazarra, Alfa Arroba, Nanook, Agrupamento Musical Lauro Palma, Smix Smox Smux; ROMANIA: Paprikabalkanicus, Fanfara Chatra, Orban Ferench, Fanfara Transilvania, Fanfare Vagabontu, Orchestra Mihalache, De Cecco - Jeszensky Duo, Ioan Popiza, Cockeyed Artists; SLOVENIJA: Symann, Kamerad Krivatoff, Maja Osojnik, Zalt Water, Dej se`n litro, Bast Kolektiv; SOUTH AFRICA: Ras Thabo, Ras Jabulani, Ariise, Light Merchants, Chronic Clan, Levi pon the Mic, Al Capone-JJ, Siyahamba; SOUTH KOREA: Yeongene, Jessica Lofbomm, Mia Zepeda, Arcticsounds, Yuna’s music, AlphaBeta, Rollercoster, Takju; SPAIN: Calle Mistica, Tumbuctù, Pablo Valdes, Corcobado, ElvisRythmics, Enrique y Ana, Migala, Fernanda Cabral, Ex Mundus; SWEDEN: Mmmbop..., Eine Kleine Kartoffel, Databas, Primorsk, Japanese Afternoon, Halo Of Pendor, One Chef, Spectroscope v.2.1, Andy Vei; UKRAINE: Hvoya, Ffokcuf, Zsuf, Tomato Jaws,  Knober, RoleModel06, Ukrainian Music The Best, Demolyne, Ouey un nithanialdaniel, Induktor; USA (indie-folk): Robert Smith-Hald, Damn Bullets, Callithump, John Lawler, The Verna Cannon, Stormy Laughter, Bess Rogers, Melody, Israel Darling, Starlite Radio; YOGI’S FRIENDS (mainly from Brazil): Artfìcio, Elo da Corrente, Abstemious, Cicrano, Projeto Manada, Dj Marc-T, Minamina Goodsong;

Many of you showed some appreciation and interest for our playlists. Thank you very much, guys. Your support gave us energy, confidence and will to go on and enrich & improve this blog. In a word: to make it more useful.

In order to reach this goal, we decided to try to give to the artists the possibility to propose their music to Utopicmusic’s readers/listeners in a more direct way. It’s another chance to make you known by a little wider public.

Just as you are doing right now, every visitor, by simply pushing "play", can get in a second his own idea about the bands he is listening to, and he can contact them thorough the various links that are present on the pages.

Furthermore, we must say that from today on we'll be someway “obliged” to favour those bands that let us upload on the player some of their music. This is so because we think that in this way we can make the blog more enjoyable and interesting (for the visitors) and more useful (for you!).

This is the reason why we invited you to read this “letter”. It would be a great pity if it was not possible to listen to you too, as a soundtrack of the next posts, in this easier and more direct way... And we that looked for you during long web-surfing nights, well, we would be very glad of “broadcasting” you on our player. We would be proud of it.

So we are asking you to send us via e-mail some of your music (a song or two could be enough), or, in case, to give us a link where we can download it for free.
Our addresses are: carlo@utopicmusic.com, fiorenzo@utopicmusic.com.

With a little help from you, Utopicmusic’s blog will become better and better.
Thanks for having read the whole post! :)
Keep in touch,

Carlo Trevisan & Fiorenzo Fuolega

PS: you can send the song we chose for our playlists. But you’re also free to send us something else, something new… something more… or something you’re really proud of.  We love listening to you!

Songs from the Ocean


Let’s go on with our musical searching. Today I’m gonna face the East. Let’s come back to the Pacific, to Japan and then, moving southward, to New Zealand. As for the previous post, even for this new one your ears are more important than our description, so... press "start"!

Add Songs from the Ocean to your page


I’m writing this post during a sunny day. A lot of people is on the beach, it’s quite hot. But I’m often refractory to the beach and to too much sun.
And so, while I’m thinking of people takin’ a walk along the seashore... or laying on the sand... I’m sucked by these artists’ music.

The mysterious and cathartic world of Mazunik, the algid atmospheres of Grünemusik, the ambient romanticism of Frey... and then the sudden arrival of the industrial “electronic train” (D Train) of The Bathtb Sophi and the pulp but full of love scenes of some Kitano’s films (“little fox” by fukufuku).

A fascinating and rarefied electronic picture from the other world. No, my sea is not the ocean. But during a long afternoon I flied above Asia, then reaching the Pacific. And now that I’m peeping out the window after having ended the post, well, now I’m ready to go out too. People’s coming home after the beach. The night is falling...

Enjoy

Carlo Trevisan

PS: Today’s five artists have released their songs under a Creative Commons licence. Think about it, when you'll write your next album...