The year 2010 marked the beginning of me writing B-sting.com and making music all on my own. To wrap up the year, here’s an overview of everything that happened since the launch.
Making Music
The site and blog launch on April 1st. Between all the blogging I introduce the Buy Me A Drink-feature. By July in finally realise I need to start finishing up some music. I announce EP01 is coming. I keep the blog posted about the progress: part 1, part 2 and part 3. As promised, I release the EP before the end of the month (on the last day even): If You Want Some Thing Done. Everything (including the cover) is done by me, proving DIY works. Okay, so I used one sample.
In between recording, I help out on a blues cover band, which is not so successful. I visit the Muzikantendag in The Hague. While I keep working on stuff, the blog remains pretty much silent on it.
Notes of interest
Throughout the year, I also post about curious things relating to music I bump into.
The first to be discussed is untalented singer Florence Foster Jenkins who became famous by sheer persistence. I love a documentary about the original Music Radio Pirates. Henry Rollins explains how not to be an asshole. I find out the Asian Susan Boyle is a man. Pendulum does a 360 video. Kane are pretentious pricks. The Blood Red Shoes share DIY tips. We find out selling out is harder than you think. I love Brett Domino’s Timberlake Medley. Sharing only breaks a broken industry. I’m excited about the Banksy film and Trent Reznor’s new project.I follow up when How To Destroy Angels is released.
In May I declare the Zombie Dance Parade dead and a few days later, the organisers come to the same conclusion. I also dislike the Di-Rect photoshoot. I also disaprove of frauding your way to fame. Thom yorke says NO to majors. I give props to Diego Stocco and his bizarre instrument.
Can an algorithm beat a DJ? I play with the game NameDropper. Even majors make very little on albums. Slowing down songs 800% is fun. Not so fun is that three songs by pop singers turn out to be the exact same song. I give out 10 tips to do something new. Interestingly, artists make more in the file-sharing age. Sigur Rós are tired of every commercial cloning their songs. Piracy is not stealing.
I already noted in May that Quit MySpace Day was coming, but in October I actually declare Quit MySpace Day. Quit MySpace Day creates a bit of a buzz in the music media world, so a few days later I round up the Aftermath.
Because of VAT changes, some crazy pre-sales are announced and result in record breaking sales. It also results in this joke announcement.
I also review some tools to make music like Aviary Myna, iNudge, Audiotool, The Swinger and Aviary Roc.
The Origin of Samples
Starting the end of April, a repeating fixture of the blog is the weekly post on Monday in the series The Origin of Samples. In it I dig into the links between song from across decades, some times even centuries and how they are all tied together because parts of one piece of music is used in another. The subjects that were covered:
- Labi Sifre to Eminem
- Ray Brown Orchestra to Björk
- Isaac Hayes to Portishead
- David Bowie to Nine Inch Nails
- an old blues song to Led Zeppelin to lots of breakbeat music
- Pearl Jam to Bodylotion to Scooter
- Staple Singers to The Rolling Stones to The Verve
- Tainted Love
- Clone: Radiohead to Superglue
- Max Romeo to The Prodigy
- Simple Minds to USURA
- Are Friends Electric vs. Freak Like Me
- The Delfonics + Enya to The Fugees
- Just/Dub be Good to Me/Green
- Toontje Lager to B-sting
- Clone: R.E.M. to City to City
- Spaghetti Western to Gnarls Barkley
- Calvin Harris to Katy Perry
- Fatboy Slim samples EVERYBODY
- The Ci-Lites to Beyonce
- All the ingredients of Groove is in the Heart
- Cabaret to Yello
- Mis-Teeq vs. Jim Bakkum
- Technotronic clones themselves
- The Roof is On Fire
- All the ingredients of Six Underground
- Björk to Queens of the Stone Age
- Nighttrain to Boney M to Duck Sauce
- Lots of people use Bob James
- Clones: movie sequel music
- Rita Marley to various dance songs
- David Bowie to Limp Bizkit (and George Michael)
- Classics IV to lots of different tunes
- Thievery Corperation to LisetAlea
- Slim Smith to Jah Screechy to SL2 to Bollywood and hardcore
- Everyone samples Ludwig von Beethoven’s 5th Symphony