Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires Are Pure Rock N' Roll

Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires at Slim's in Raleigh on January 24, 2014

Pure Rock N Roll never sounded so good as to what Alabama's finest, in Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires showcased in downtown Raleigh tonite! Congrats fellas on signing with Subpop!!!

Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires sign with Sub Pop music

Sturgill Simpson Tours The UK And Gives A Dose Of Real Country Music

Country legend in the making, Sturgill Simpson

Link to The Upcoming UK

"Country music is not for everyone. As a European, usually, you love or you hate it. Unless you’re into the history of the south of the United States, or unless you’re into the genre tout court, you won’t find hipsters listening to it. It may be the last genre that is still pure and not contaminated by modes and cheap fashion trends. Many don’t know how important and influential country music has been for folk and rock music. That’s why, yesterday in Portobello at Rough Trade West, the average age of the audience attending the show was more then 45, but the quality of the gig was ageless.

Sturgill Simpson is from Kentucky and has spent his last week in the UK, traveling to present his new record High Top Mountain, a compendium of how country music should sound and should be written. Classic references, classic instrumentation (mostly a steel guitar) and a classic topoi in the lyrics of the songs (love, hate, betrayal and that leitmotif of a man belonging to a territory, typical of country music). “My Great Grandfather spent his days in a coal mine and his nights on the porch in a chair. Now he’s in heaven and down here in hell the rivers run muddy and the mountains are bare”, he sang in the superb Old King Coal. With a guitar and with a powerful, deep voice, Simpson played just six songs from his last record, but the intensity of the execution and the undeniable talent of this man made the experience very touching indeed.

“I’m trying to pay homage to my family and where I’m from”, said Simpson in a recent interview, and considering the remarkable songs played at the venue, we trust him. Songs full of stories and traditions – both in the ballads (Water In a Well, Hero) and in the richer songs (Railway of Sin, Poor Rambler) – engaged the audience in a religious-like and respectful silence. High Top Mountain is a record about defeated people and injustice (“Born on a summer day in some dark holler, way back in the hills of Perry County. Well he grew up poor and he never saw a dollar, but a dollar ain’t no good in a coal camp anyway”) but thank goodness, as he very well proved, Simpson is not defeated."

Sturgill Simpson live review from the United Kingdom

Short Film - The Glint - Featuring Comete Motocycle

"There is a light that never goes out. It dwells deep inside us, giving us motivation and shaping our path.
That light is the flicker of creation.
The spark of an idea.
The outline of a design.
It is the desire that stokes our passions and makes us strive to go further.
This internal fire feeds our dreams and puts a glint in our eye.
It is the energy that ignites our creativity.
It tills the land.
It shapes and gives life to the medium being crafted.
Every creation is imbued with the being that created it, as if the medium is breathing in the spirit of the craftsman.
Isn't that the most beautiful way of leaving a trace of our existence, of our time on this earth?
To create is the only way to traverse time, to wander through the ages.
It is the only way to become immortal, to be infinite.
If this light goes out, we die."


The Glint from Mathieumaury on Vimeo. 

This is my first short film for Guillaume Drapier, Founder of Comete Motocycles.
Shot in one day, achieved without any budget.

Shot in raw with Magic Lantern on a Canon 5D Mark III
Director / Editor : Mathieu Maury
Cinematographers : Romain Decomble, Eudes Quittelier
Color Grading : Eudes Quittelier
Text : Lise Beuve
Narrator : Paul Bandey
Music : A.Taylor – Nostalgia
Mixing: Jesse James Rosquin – Studio Apollon XIII
Actor : Guillaume Drapier
Big thanks to :
Ores-group, Nicolas Guittard, Julien Boulard, Stanislas Giroux, Nancy El Bahrawi, Julien Scussel, Anaïs Deféver, Jonathan Cj Tassin, Ewald Wilson, and all my friends and my family.

Sono Assetata - Photography Short With Marian San Miguel

Sono Assetata - photography short with Marian San Miguel

The allure of a black and white film, is all about the quality of light and shadow. A sexy scene and a short narrative, never fail to deliver in capturing our attention.



sono assetata from Héctor Barrero on Vimeo.


balboa from Héctor Barrero on Vimeo.

SoundExchange Moves To Monthly Payments

Are you getting paid on streaming royalties? Find out more on SoundExchange

View a pdf on how SoundExchange works

"Let’s face it. No one likes to wait. Recognizing that sooner really is better, SoundExchange is pleased to announce it will begin offering monthly royalty payments to those artist and labels that are signed up to receive electronic payments beginning this month. Currently, the organization distributes royalties quarterly.

Initially, monthly royalty payments will be sent to those that are signed up to receive electronic payments, and have royalties due of at least $250. Artists and labels that do not meet this minimum threshold will continue to be paid on a regular, quarterly schedule under our existing guidelines. After the initial roll out period, SoundExchange will re-evaluate eligibility qualifications for our monthly payment program.

“While SoundExchange was already a market-leader with quarterly distributions, moving to monthly payments takes our service to the next level,” said SoundExchange President and CEO Michael Huppe. “By making performance royalties available sooner, we are making it easier for recording artists and record labels to focus on creating the music we all enjoy.”

SoundExchange is the first sound recording rights organization in the world to offer monthly distributions. Most sound recording performance organizations in other countries pay only annually.

Have questions? We are happy to provide you with any information regarding this new change. Please contact SoundExchange at accounts@SoundExchange.com or speak to a SoundExchange Representative at 1-800-961-2091."

- See more at: http://www.soundexchange.com/sooner-is-better-soundexchange-moves-to-monthly-payment-schedule/#sthash.J60EikvJ.dpuf

SoundExchange now is offering monthly payouts on digital royalties

Amon Amarth - Father Of The Wolf - Official Video

Amon Amarth - Father Of The Wolf, screenshot from video

One of the great aspects about viking metal lords Amon Amarth is that they clearly know their sound, direction and storyline. After many albums they never disappoint and are still iron clad and ready for battle with Norse mythology providing the wind in their sails. Death to false metal!

Amon Amarth's video for "Father of the Wolf" from the album "Deceiver of the Gods"

Buy the album from Metal Blade Records

Screenplay By: Daniel J.W. Hughes 
Story By: Ramon Boutviseth 
Starring: Davis Osborne & Ryan Barringer 
Executive Producers: Brian Slagel & Justin Arcangel 
Produced & Directed by Ramon Boutviseth

A Look Into The Shop Of Custom Builder Shinya Kimura

A look into the shop of custom builder Shinya Kimura

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: Our life is the creation of our mind.”

 

 - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.

 

Follow Shinya Kimura 

Machinery to create most anything is at his fingertips

A Bridgeport mill is a must have for a true custom shop

Thinking through all the lines and angles

Working on the 4 into 1 exhaust

A Honda CB 750 never looked so good

Husky Burnette And His Electrified Resonator Guitar

AJ of Diamondback Stringworks with Husky Burnette's resonator preparing for surgery

Last year I scored a great endorsement deal with Diamondback Stringworks. They build anything from cigar boxes to mandolins to electric and acoustic guitars... even built a custom banjo/dobro hybrid. First, they built me a custom Telecaster-style guitar equipped with a vintage Epiphone humbucker pickup I gave them to make it right for my guitar tone. After really getting to know A.J. Hancock (owner) I've seen how great and on-point his work is. 

Not only have I made my Diamondback Tele-style my #1 guitar for standard tuning on stage, I've also taken almost every guitar I use on a regular basis to him for repair and/or for him to customize. This kid is 20 years old and one of the best luthiers I've ever ran across. Pretty crazy. If he's this good now, at 20 yrs old, who knows what the future may hold for him. 

He's built guitars for a few Rusty Knuckles artists already: Myself, Peewee Moore (Peewee and I got our endorsements/guitars at the same time) and J.B. Beverley. Other artists he's built for include the great Steve Earle, James Hunnicutt and more.

Two new guitars about to be customized

Here's some pictures I took at the Diamondback Stringworks shop in Tennessee this week. I took my National metal-body resonator guitar to him to electrify the thing. He wound a custom humbucker pickup for it and installed it so now I'm electrified, which opens new doors and possibilities for this guitar. This thing sounds amazing (it's a National, of course it does!) but, he wound the pickup to 1956 Les Paul specs so it's as thick and warm as it can get when plugged in to an amp. Perfection. 

 

Also, I've included a picture of my next two guitars he's customizing: the electric is a Zim-Gar (mid '60's Jap guitar) given to me by my uncle. My very first guitar. It's the guitar I learned my first chord on so it has some meaning. A.J. is making it playable again with all new electronics, a custom lipstick tube pickup and some cosmetic work; the acoustic is a Johnson and A.J. will be winding a custom pickup and mounting it. 

 

Don't take it from me, go check out Diamondback Stringworks' builds and quality products for yourself, like them on facebook, etc. They have a new line of acoustic guitar builds in the works right now so be on the lookout for those as well!

 

-Husky Burnette

 

Getting the pickup area ready for installation

The resonator with its heart ripped out in mid surgery

Husky Burnette and AJ of Diamondback Stringworks and the reconfigured resonator

 

Custom Guitar Straps For The Working Musician

Brand new guitar strap style to add to our growing collection of custom leather options

We firmly believe that great quality products dont have to break the bank. Check out our brand new guitar straps for the working musician that will be available starting this week through our main site along with our etsy store for $35. All details will be posted shortly along with a plethora of color options.

Adding Another level of personal touch to our hand crafted leather goods. A solid brass logo, CNC milled out to burn into the leather by torch.

Beats Music Plans To Crush Spotify Through Algorithms

Beats' Music aims to crush all other streaming music providers by using a complex and unique algorithm to find music specifically catered to your listening tastes

Read more on Wired

"Beats Music won’t be joining the most-tracks arms race when it launches Tuesday. Instead, the new subscription service brought to you by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will win converts through a potent mix of smarter algorithms and human curation. From the moment you first open the app, every interaction is recorded and used to determine the next album, playlist, and track to serve up. The result is more like a personalized mixtape than an online jukebox.

“No one was doing a music service; everyone was building a music server,” Beats Music chief executive Ian Rogers told WIRED. While services like Spotify, Rdio, and Rhapsody have some social discovery tools built in, they all launched similar products in an era when the rule was he with the most tracks wins. As a result, those companies got caught in a race to be the biggest. As they concentrated on the enormity of their music catalogs, their discovery mechanisms lagged. For instance, Rdio’s “Heavy Rotation” discovery option presents you with music your friends currently are enjoying, but it’s not smart enough to tell you to listen to David Bowie’s Hunky Dory because you love Lou Reed’s Transformer.

That’s where Beats Music is different. The service is betting on smarts instead of sheer depth. While it will have enough songs to compete — anybody entering the game at this point has to — with a library millions of tracks deep, it hopes its unique approach to music discovery tools will give it an edge.

As soon as you begin using the streaming service, Beats starts logging your “music DNA.” This serves as a personal profile used to determine which albums and tracks would be most relevant to you. To start generating your DNA, the service asks rudimentary questions, like which bands and genres you love.

But it takes other things into account. Your age is especially important to Beats Music. Tell it when you were born, and it figures out when you were in high school. The music of your youth — the stuff that was popular when you first got a Walkman or an iPod, the band that made it big when you got your driver’s license, the record that was all over MTV just before your freshman year of college — is the music with the strongest memories for you. It’s a fixed point in time that’s the most culturally and musically relevant to you. And it’s being crunched by the company’s algorithm.

Your sex matters, too; women and men usually have different tastes. Also important to Beats: the volume at which you listen to music. Which artists do you crank up? Who do you play quietly? It even tracks the music you send to Airplay speakers. The songs you use to fill your home are given a different mathematical weight than the songs you use to pass time at work.

But the system doesn’t solely rely on algorithms. It’s also backstopped by a small army of curators and behavioral scientists. This human element is there to help present music that doesn’t simply sound like the music you might enjoy, but also feels like it. Just because you listen to Mumford & Sons doesn’t mean you’d want to listen to a bunch of songs featuring banjos, for instance. You’d probably be more at home listening to Arcade Fire than Earl Scruggs. Humans can help make that determination. Algorithms can’t.

At launch, the app takes all this information and presents a personalized “Just for You” list of albums and playlists. The Influencers’ picks are especially fun. My love for Depeche Mode (especially Violator) was picked up by the service without my direct input. The list is filled with David Bowie, T-Rex, Joy Division, The Ronettes, The Beach Boys, and others. While listening, the connection is suddenly apparent.

All this personalization and curation is the result of input from music producer Jimmy Iovine, a longtime proponent of subscription services, and Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who is the company’s chief creative officer. Reznor was key in fine-tuning the curation and personalization aspects, but both he and Iovine wanted an experience that resonates with listeners and artists. That includes fixing how the artists’ pages are presented.

When you discover a new band, it can be difficult to determine which of their albums you might enjoy. The app solves this by presenting the essential albums for any given artist. Search the Beach Boys, and you’re shown Pet Sounds and The Smile Sessions, not that horrible Still Cruisin’ album from the late-’80s. Plus, actual album release dates are used instead of the date they were added to the streaming service. This is great when you want to hear 1970s Bowie instead of 1980s Bowie. Yes, there is a difference.

Beats Music won’t have a free tier. It’ll cost $10 a month, with a special for AT&T customers of $15 a month that includes five family members and 10 devices. This is an anomaly in a field where almost every service offers a free way in for listeners. But then, Iovine and Dre were instrumental in convincing people we didn’t need the lousy earbuds that ship with smartphones and music players.

“We know people will pay for something where there is value,” said Rogers. “Enough people pay for headphones, it’s an exciting business. We think we can do the same thing here.”"