Bottom-End, Writings and Reviews from Music Producer Pete Strobl

I made the switch from gym rat to studio rat when I realized that breaking fingers on the basketball court didn’t add much to a bass track. So I hung up the old sneakers, grabbed my bass with both hands and took my gym rat mentality with me into any studio with a good espresso machine. What can I say? The things I would forego for a chance to be in the room with the guys and gals is a very short list. And that is why I jumped at the invitation to travel to Holland to work on Traveling Girl with some good friends who also happen to know their way around a recording studio.

I was picked up at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport by the Traveling girl herself, Lille Mulder. As we knew each other only by email, we both did a few laps around the terminal before the process of elimination successfully put us into the car together. The two hour drive to Dick Kemper’s Studio in Doetinchen gave us a chance to tell our life stories and lay the groundwork for the two week’s work ahead.

Dick Kemper

S&K Studio reflected all the know how of the seasoned musician/engineer/producer that is Dick Kemper. Dick toured the world as the bassist of Vandenberg sharing major concert venues with Metallica and Ozzy and that experience combined with the intervening years of recording have served to create a consummate studio pro. I was here to work with Lille  only on the vocal tracks but a quick tour of the studio and a listen to the basic tracks told me that she would have plenty of inspiration to draw upon when it was her turn on the other side of the glass.

As good as Dick is at his job, any engineer or producer will tell you that they are only as good as the talent holding the guitar or bass, or in the case of Nico Groen, hitting things with sticks. And in this department Dick had plenty to work with. The producer of The Traveling Girl is my good pal Casper van Vulpen and Casper started the project off with plenty of wind in his sails by choosing great songs to record and the right combination of players to make the magic happen. This project was truly an international effort as Casper had gathered the forces of a Russian from Poland, a Polish songwriter from England, a British writer from London, an Austrian from Los Angeles, a rhythm section from Holland and one of the best singers I’ve worked with in years. Lock the doors and get the coffee going. This was going to be more fun than a pick up game at the Fourth Street cage in the Village.

The Traveling Girl

Lille was a dream to work with. Many singers can be temperamental, moody or demanding. Lille was all of these but in a very unique way. Where some singer’s moods or demands are driven by insecurity, inability or lack of preparation, Lille took full responsibility and her demands were only of herself. And where some singers might hit the wall of their endurance or storm out of the room blaming it all on the headphone mix or the color of the pop filter, Lille forced every mood directly through the microphone and into her vocal performance for upwards of eight hours at a stretch.

The main focus of my involvement was in creating authentic and sincere vocal performances with a singer in English as a second and sometimes third language. Regrettably, I only know how to say “Goddammit” “Two Beers” and “Screwing in the kitchen” in the Dutch language but Lille and I were able to work together in German as well as English. I find sincerity to be the most attractive element of any vocal performance and this must be based on not only a thorough understanding but also a convincing belief in the lyrical content of a song.

Producer Casper van Vulpen

Whenever studio rats get gather in the temple of sound they follow a timeless ritual. Everyone let’s everyone else know who they know, which new plug-ins they use, choice of recording software, past, present and future drug, alcohol and gambling profile and whatever other factoids seem pertinent to the session. It’s just a bit of canine butt-sniffing really, but it serves to lubricate the initial get-to-know-you period better than passing out resumes. We already knew each other via the internet so the circle sniff was just a bit if handshaking and joke telling. Before I hit the pillow that first night I felt warmly sniffed into the pack.

My second day in Holland Lille and I went to work in earnest. As we went line by line dissecting the finer points of pronunciation we also discussed the inner meaning of every phrase. Sometimes when writers create in a foreign language they might say something that makes perfect literal sense but loses symbolic meaning or poetic value in the translation. There were a few corners to smooth over in this department and we changed a few words or phrases to insure that Lille was portraying the feeling behind the meaning with belief, conviction and precision.

Nico Groen at S&K Studio

I had initially thought to coach Lille into a strictly American pronunciation but her delivery has a certain international charm which we certainly did not want to lose. So we concentrated on clarity and those areas where letter sounds differ between Dutch, German and English while retaining the feel and passion which went into the original demos of the songs. On a technical level, most problems arise when losing the distinction between voiced and un-voiced consonants. Using the word “Love” as an example, the ‘V’ must have pitch. Dutch and German speakers pronounce the word as “Luff” because their ‘V’ is our ‘F’ and so “Live” becomes “Life” and “Very” becomes “Fairy.” Another pitfall is the American ‘TH’ sound which doesn’t exist in many European languages. To make the sound one must extend the tip of the tongue between the teeth and blow out a puff of air. Euros tend to replace the ‘TH’ with either the hard ‘D’ or the sibilants ‘Z’ or ‘S’ as in “Vaht do you Sink about ziss.” And, as the sentence indicates, even our ‘S’ sound has voiced and un-voiced versions as does the ‘TH’…hear the difference between “This” and “Think” “What’s” and “Was.” And then there is our ‘W’ which is their ‘V’…so our “Was” would be pronounced “Vass” two corrections for the price of one on that one.

The key was to make the corrections seem effortless and allow the vocal performance to be driven by Lille’s amazing sense of phrasing. As I got to know her day by day I learned that Lille is fierce when it comes to learning new things. She was hell-bent on mastering whatever I suggested and made notes on the lyric sheets, wrote on the leg of her jeans, pounded the table and repeated the ‘TH’ sound until I had to cover my coffee cup. But I didn’t want her to obsess so the best and most efficient learning came through simple conversation. We decided that when in the studio we would speak only English and I would try to catch and correct every mispronunciation as it happened.

Lille keeping an eye on Roland Franken

There are many structured exercises aimed at engaging the diaphragmatic-intercostal musculature but none is more efficient than uncontrolled laughter. Being among new friends gave me a fresh audience for the jokes that elicit groans from my stateside friends and I took full advantage. Teaching the jokes to Lille was also a way to practice Americanized idiomatic pronunciation. What seemed to be breaks in the work were actually quite useful and her delivery of the songs as well as her complete understanding of the intent behind them improved at a fast clip.

Two weeks later my job was done and Lille dropped me at the airport where she had first found me. We were in the studio every day and the two weeks seemed like one long session. Working with Casper, Kostek, Dick Kemper and especially Lille had made the time go much too quickly and on the Los Angeles bound flight I wished that we had been making a double album. The musicians played their asses off, Lille sang her ass off, Dick engineered his ass off and now my ass was off for home.

Traveling Girl will be  available online and represents the hard work of very talented people from all corners of the globe (yes, I know that the globe doesn’t have corners, just go with me on that one). It was a ton of fun to be involved with the project, the music and, most importantly, the people. I hope you all enjoy it.

Lille

One of my favorite projects within the Sellaband community is The Collaboration Project, a group of like-minded musicians, writers, producers and performers who…ah but I’ve already written that article so I won’t repeat myself more than to say how much I admire what this project is about and to state that it is grossly underfunded. The artist currently featured on The Collaboration Project’s profile page is a singer from The Netherlands who, if her demo recordings are any indication, has everything it takes to kick in whatever doors stand between her and a shot at being the next great diva. Her name is Lille and she is quite simply one of the most impressive voices I’ve heard in a good long while.

Casper Van Vulpen

With Lille, producers Casper Van Vulpen and Kostek Andreev  have a real tiger by the tail. Lille rocks hard and easily holds her own as the focal point of the high energy guitar driven tracks. But as I listen to track after track I find that there is so much more to this elegant singer than just an amazing set of pipes. She sings with the soulful aggressiveness of a Lydia Pense on No Mercy Blues and then turns around to display the sophistication and dynamics of a young Celine Dion on Phobia.

If that isn’t enough to convince, take a listen to Frozen Black Water as Lille gives Deborah Holland and Animal Logic a good run for their money. But, as Billy Mays, the late master of the Home Shopping Network would scream…”Wait! There’s more!” Lille steps on the gas with both cowboy boots on Traveling Girl and her range and emotional dynamic sensibilities really shine on Listen.

Kostek Andreev

The production of the demos provides ample proof of strong songwriting, masterful guitar playing and a thorough understanding of the huge potential of their enormously gifted singer. According to Lille’s website, the demos were produced in a modest home recording environment with fully produced studio recording sessions scheduled for late this year. With demos of this quality there is always the danger of over sanitization when a project is put under the studio microscope but with the addition of human beings like drummer Nico Groen and Roland Franken on bass replacing Kostek’s excellent programming, my guess is that the tracking sessions will inspire Lille to even greater vocal performances…if that could be possible.

Nico Groen

If the full band grooves as hard as Casper and Kostek’s computer this could be a dangerously memorable album. I have just one reservation or perhaps a word of caution. The musicians involved with Lille are all absolutely of the first order. But using Animal Logic as an illustration for a moment, Stuart Copeland had as his rhythm section partner the amazing Stanley Clark, certainly a step up from the able yet less intricate Police bassist, Sting. One could also argue that guitarist Michael Thompson’s guitar parts on the Animal Logic albums were more advanced than what Andy Summers played on some of the Police records. But there is no question that there are more copies of Every Breath You Take playing on iPods as I write this than all the Animal Logic songs combined.

Roland Franken

Now, I really dig Animal Logic, but I’m a musician. And when musicians produce records aimed at impressing other musicians they sometimes leave the general public scratching their heads wondering what it all means. Kostek and Casper are both monster guitarists and have written some sophisticated material for Lille including collaborations with Monica Thomas and British songwriter Mark Payne. When this project convenes to record later this winter I hope that a few words of wisdom from EVH can get some traction. When I asked Ed why background vocals are so important to him he answered that 99% of the people who buy albums and attend concerts are non-musicians…and if they don’t go home from a concert singing “PA-NA-MA” and “Dance The Night Away” then he would still be an amazing guitar player…only nobody would know it.

Lille’s debut album will be available in 2010 but if you want a preview, visit Lille, Casper and Kostek at Reverbnation, Sellaband or her new website. Crank up the volume and hang on. These people are serious

When I was in my twenties I worshiped at the altar of funk. James Brown, Tower Of Power, Ohio Players…you get the picture. If they marketed action figures of funk musicians my toy box would have looked like the line-up at an Oakland barbeque and funk fest. From my perspective, country music was completely of, by and  for sequined, cowboy-hatted shit-kickers who lived in trailers with two cars parked on cement blocks in the front yard. If anyone had told me that The Ohio Players’ wardrobe was  as ridiculous as Porter Wagoner’s there would have been trouble.

But as a musician who earned the daily bread by making club crowds of many persuasions happy, I found myself in playing situations that didn’t always correspond with my personal tastes. That didn’t prevent me from being a smart ass and when a customer would request a country song, my witty answer would be, “Sure, what country?” Thankfully I grew out of my bias to discover that there was crappy music to be ridiculed in every genre and, as I gained further wisdom, great music to be cherished as well.

Over the years and during the time I managed The Band’s old haunt, Shangri La, I had the pleasure of getting to know and appreciate the work of some great rock musicians who had one foot planted firmly in a cowboy boot at some time in their career. I can also say that standing on the stage of the Grand Old Opry and playing to the 4,000 fans who fill the concert hall was one of the big thrills and chills of my playing career. Patsy Cline, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash have become as firmly ensconced in my iPod as my erstwhile funk gods and I feel no sense of disloyalty shuffling between What Is Hip and Your Cheating Heart.

Katie Thompson

There is an up and coming young country artist on Sellaband who answers my “Sure, what country?” dumb-ass question with a vengeance. Katie Thompson is a classic country singer/song writer from what is probably Nashville’s most remote satellite, New Zealand. Katie exhibits her own sense of style, opting for cocktail dresses over blue jeans as she leads her accomplished band through a repertoire of classic country tempered by her Kiwi upbringing.

Katie’s three original tracks on her Sellaband profile page indicate that she has the potential of becoming a household name not only in New Zealand but anywhere that hosts “Electric Slide” night. When she reaches the budgetary goal of $50,000 Katie will have the opportunity to go into the studio with the right people and the right toys to create an album worthy of her honest approach to writing and singing. Her vocal delivery is intimate in the vein of classic story tellers like Emmy Lou Harris and Patsy Cline. Katie doesn’t deal in pyrotechnics or phony gospel riffing. She just tells a story as if she were talking over the back fence and her fresh sincerity is her most engaging quality.

Tall Poppy is written and sung with the voice of a typical young person battling the slings and arrows of peer pressure as she develops a sense of self worth in a cruel world. The story, while common to anyone who hasn’t been raised by wolves, is nevertheless a persecution unique to each individual. Everyone coming of age in the world of schoolyard, fashion, teen dances and the required accoutrements associated with being “cool” has moments when they feel themselves too tall, too short, too skinny, too fat, too stupid or too smart to be considered acceptable by their peers. Katie’s angst laden lyrics ride over a deceptively cheerful rhythmic track but the darkness of the chord progression brings clearly into focus the pain of wanting to be accepted . The guitar playing on this as well as all three of Katie’s Sellaband tracks is not only well executed but tasteful and most importantly, relevant to the song.

Tall Poppy

Monteiths On Tap is a bit of fun and could very well be the hook that lands the big fish for Katie. One can quibble about product placement or the political correctness of glorifying the imbibement ( I think I just invented a word) all the way to the steps of their favorite house of worship, but what is a good old country song if not a paean of praise for either fast cars, faster trucks, loyal dogs and good beer? New Zealand’s Monteiths Brewery has stepped up to the plate in supporting Katie’s Sellaband journey and well they should. Who can say how many Monteiths empties land in the recycling bin the morning after one of Katie’s appearances at a pub pouring the “liquid gold?” Wonderful resonator guitar work on this track, while the feel of the rhythm section never strays from the “sawdust on the floor” vibe that just begs for another round.

The third track on Katie’s Sellaband profile is an introspectively dark recitativo of bittersweet goodbyes. The emotion of the song, as in the case of Tall Poppy, is one to which any listener can easily relate. I don’t like to repeat myself but here again the guitar work provides a perfect sense of yearning to Katie’s wrenching story. Katie’s song writing skills, while well down the path of becoming memorable, could do with a bit of soul searching here. She has great instincts and her topic choice is right on the money. But some of her lyrics, while not being brazenly cliche, could be more intimately powerful with a tweak here and there.

Song writing is an exercise in telling a story or conveying an emotion that can be related to by the broadest possible cross section of an audience. This is what makes a song popular, and why bother to put music before the public if popularity is not the desired result.The magic of masterful song writing lies in the ability of the writer to say something in a way that is familiar yet original. When Bob Dylan sings “The answer is blowin’ in the wind” we say to ourselves “Well of course it is. Who didn’t know that!” But inside we all know that we could never have come up with such a simple way to state the obvious. Economy and eloquence are bought and paid for in currency represented by reams of discarded lyric sheets.

Katie Thompson is deep in the process of honing her craft and this can be a critical phase in the development of a young writer. Staring at a page of lyrics with the unbiased eye of a supreme court justice and knowing what will go on an album and what will better serve as kindling for the grill is not a skill that comes easily. That process marks the difference between great songs that remain relevant for generations and about a gazillion MP3s on Myspace.

When Katie reaches her $50,000 budget on Sellaband, New Zealand, with a population of 4.3 million, will have cornered what might be the highest degree of success per capita on the internet crowd sourcing platform.  Katie Thompson’s success combined with Sellaband Hip-Hopper Maitreya will have made a strong showing for New Zealanders.  And with Katie’s Sellaband release, I’ll no longer be asking “Sure, what country?”

Carl Orff’s lusty Carmina Burana holds a special place in the hearts and ears of many non music lovers. Most who have never enjoyed a full performance of the piece may refer to sections of Orff’s work as “that music from Excalibur” or “the theme from Glory.” Indeed, the emotional impact of the cantata, based upon Medieval texts discovered in a Bavarian monastery in 1803, is so universal that sections of the piece have sonically illustrated war, peace, braggadocio, militarism and even instant coffee.

The power of the music rests firmly on the art of choral singing. For un-classically inclined musicians this roughly translates to “a lot of people singing at the same time without making a lot of mistakes.” Standing in the midst of 20,000 basketball fans screaming “We Will Rock You” can get the old adrenal glands pumping, but that experience is smashed to ashes against the timpanic downbeat and opening “O Fortuna” of the Carmina Burana when performed by a skilled ensemble.

On May 3, 2009 I had the pleasure of witnessing just such an event as the Pasadena Master Chorale under the expert baton of Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein presented the Carmina Burana to an overflow crowd at the First Congregational Church in Pasadena, California. Big budget organizations normally perform the piece with full orchestra but the impact of the music was certainly not compromised by Mr. Bernstein’s use of the smaller chamber version of instrumental accompaniment. Melodic/harmonic chores were handled on piano by Shawn Kirchner and Renee Gilormini while Wade Culbreath on timpani and percussionists Theresa Dimond, Joe Mitchell, John Magnussen, Ken McGrath and Aaron Smith kicked what can only be described as serious ass in executing Orff’s challenging percussion score.

The eighty voice Master Chorale sounded twice their number from the opening phrase on. This group is not your average community choir. Sopranos and basses can be found at most decent church choirs these days for about $4.75 a gallon for the high octane models, so it is not surprising for an ensemble like the Master Chorale to be well stocked. It’s the inner voices, however, that often can be the difference between a competent choir and an exceptional one. Genuine tenors and sonorous altos, like the meat in the middle of a choral sandwich, can sometimes make even stale bread taste like a French dip from Philippe’s. Although the Master Chorale’s tenor section is the smallest by number, the sound palette of the entire group is well balanced. As any vocalist can attest, singing with power offers less challenges than achieving blend, cohesion, intensity and expressiveness at pianissimo levels. Mr. Bernstein has trained this highly skilled choir well and from top to bottom, they sing with a purpose and as one voice.

The Carmina Burana was composed in modern times and the score is well-stocked with metronome indications. As a musician of the heart as opposed to the clock, I normally don’t question the conductor’s choices as to tempo but I couldn’t help feeling as though some sections of the piece were performed a click or two faster than I would think comfortable. The text is extremely wordy and I sensed a bit of hastiness in the brighter sections. Perhaps it can be written off to the acoustics of the venue but one or two beats per minute less here and there might have allowed more definitive interplay between the voices and the intricate accompaniment. It also would have guaranteed a longer performance which, when the closing “Fortuna Imeratrix Mundi” was just an echo in the rafters, would surely have pleased everyone in the house. As it was, the audience rose instantly to their feet and stayed there for an appreciatively long ovation.

Jacquelynne Fontaine

Abdiel Gonzalez and Jacquelynne Fontaine went above and beyond in rendering the lush melodies that Carl Orrf composed for solo baritone and soprano. The baritone solo can be particularly challenging for the “Dies Nox Et Omnia” requires the soloist to sing the opening melody as a lyric baritone, the release section almost in the manner of a counter tenor, yet maintaining sweetness and size, and then deliver the final “Per un baser” in the low range with authority. This is not a role for one dimensional singers and Mr. Gonzalez sang the piece with emotion, dexterity and musicianship beyond what might be expected of someone with his youthful appearance. As for Ms Fontaine, anyone who knows the piece will be on the edge of their seat halfway through the jaunty “Tempus Est iocundum” in anticipation of the climactic “Dulcissime” and Ms Fontaine did not disappoint. The highlight of the soprano solo is only four measures long but requires the soloist to execute flawlessly a very difficult, emotional and exposed line with minimal accompaniment.

Jeffrey Bernstein

Another welcome feature of the performance was the appearance of an actual children’s choir. The Washington Middle School Glee Club, directed by Cynthia Abbot, patiently waited until their turn at bat and proved why music education in our schools should be nurtured at a high priority. Well done.

The Carmina Burana, from a choral standpoint, is not a particularly difficult piece. It is high on the list for many crack high school choirs. The harmonies are sonorous, the dissonances logical, the vocal ranges not insurmountable. But when real men and women roll up their sleeves and go to work as Mr. Bernstein and co. did on May 3rd, look out. Simplicity performed with mature conviction is something altogether different than getting a high school group to pretend they know what they are supposed to be conveying. The piece will grow hair, don medieval chain-mail and the audience will see the 12th century sunlight glinting from the points of marching halberds.

Next up for the Pasadena Master Chorale is The German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. The introspective piece is a departure from the traditional requiem mass format and for it, Brahms has composed some of the most glorious choral music in the literature. I am already salivating to hear what Mr. Bernstein and his excellent choir have in store.

Skitzo Calypso has left the building. The popular rock band has left Sellaband to take up the crusade of garnering rock recognition elsewhere saying to the Sellaband community, “Instead of having a long mission statement, regarding our decision to leave, it can be summed up quickly – we don’t feel Sellaband is right for us. We are very appreciative of the support we were given. We made a lot of friends, along the way…”

Shift the scene to a blacktop basketball court a few years ago. My eldest son was struggling to master a bit of footwork that could give him the inside edge on an opponent. It was one of those subtle moves that seem so natural but require endless repetition before becoming habitual and automatic. After countless attempts and corrections he said…as only a teenager can, “SHIT! This is hard man.” I answered “Of course it is! If it was easy, anybody could do it and then you wouldn’t be anything special. Why would someone pay to watch somebody do something that they could do themselves?” It seems that this could be an axiom governing much of what happens in all things requiring extra effort so I will coin the phrase now…If it’s so goddamned easy, then anyone could do it.

Being successful at anything requires hard work and extra effort. Being a competent musician or songwriter requires much more than just playing the notes or rhyming every fourth line. At some point the music and lyrical content has to reach an elevated state that makes the public, fellow musicians included, appreciate and recognize the work as something more than what they could create on their own. As it was recently re-translated from the original clay tablets of Gilgamesh, “Neither multi-track recording software nor rhyming dictionary a competent minstrel doth make.” and further, “He who laboreth long all the days (and nights) of his life, though he standeth among chicks and beer even unto his knees, shall not become the Idol of the masses neither shall he signeth a record deal unless he playeth the game with fortitude and girded loins.”

Skitzo Calypso

Skitzo Calypso and Brad Cox are very good at what they do. They play well, write good songs, make high quality recordings and give their audience a memorable performance. In short, they have done the work that elevates them in the public eye in a way that makes those around them say “Man, I wish I could do that.” But success on Sellaband is another animal altogether. Success on Sellaband is measured by finding 5000 people to buy one album each, one person to buy 5000 albums, or any divisional permutation in between. Taking into account that the album on the auction block will not be produced until all units are sold, what seems at the outset to be a fairly simple proposition has become quite daunting for a number of artists who may have expected the process to be a painless one. Imagine being seated in a restaurant and the chef comes into the dining room saying, “If you will all please pay your checks now, I will take the money, run to the market to gather the finest ingredients, return to the kitchen and prepare a meal all of you will surely enjoy.” If the chef is unknown to you and the only criterion for being there is the word of a friend who had once eaten a sandwich at his house, well the whole thing becomes a matter of trust doesn’t it?

I’m sorry to see Skitzo Calypso leave again. Their first entry to Sellaband was accompanied by a flurry of investment and had they stayed the course their Sellaband album would certainly have been available for a matter of months already. It is impossible to say with certainty, but their second attempt on the internet crowd-sourcing platform may have been torpedoed by a combination of skepticism on the part of first time investors and the current economic climate. I know that the band has the good wishes of the Sellaband community and that Brad and the boys are very capable of the sort of work it will take to bring their artistic output before a larger audience.

There is no shortage of good rock bands on Sellaband. The departure of Skytzo Calypso, having been one of the more polished and radio-ready of the bunch, could send some interesting signals to some of the better bands in their class. It’s possible that some artists may see this as an opportunity and others might take their departure as an indicator of how hard it really is the get to the top of the Sellaband heap. Some bands without the time or support needed to generate proper interest on Sellaband might throw up their hands to say “Well Jesus, if a band like Skitzo Calypso can’t get it done then how can we?” and just give up the quest. Others might take this development as a kick in the ass to step up their efforts, increase their online presence, become more convincing to their non-Sellaband followers and realize an increase in investment.

The Bleed

Plowing the Sellaband roster for talent can be time consuming and I find that most of the artists of whom I am aware have been brought to my attention through communications with other investors, messages left on my profile and comments left on this site. One band that made themselves known to me through my website which I find of particular interest is an Australian group called The Bleed. Their music is straight forward, bare bones rock. They write good songs, record great sounding tracks, have really good group vocals and sound extremely radio friendly. After a period of inactivity they are back in action on Sellaband where time and their own efforts will decide if we are to hear a complete album from them. At present The Bleed has only one track posted on their profile page and without more to go on it wouldn’t be fair to offer an opinion on the wisdom of investing in their project. But those looking for a band to replace Skitzo Calypso in their portfolio would do well to check out The Bleed and ask them for more examples of their work.

And so, as the sun sets on another Los Angeles evening, Skitzo Calypso has left the building, The Bleed has re-entered the building and I will be adding another assignment to the homework of my private students. In addition to the usual scale exercises, they must now write 100 times, “If it’s so goddamned easy, anybody could do it.” Because making it, whatever that means, rarely happens unless one is prepared to become either Sisyphus or a dung beetle. Success always seems to include long bouts of pushing huge balls of shit up a very steep incline.

UPDATE: I am informed by both Maitreya and Sellaband head Johan Vosmeijer that introductions have indeed been made prior to the posting of this article. Apparently Mr. Vosmeijer’s inbox has been bombarded with emails lobbying for that which is in the works already. Kudos to Sellaband for jumping on this and I hope that his inbox is equally bombarded with supportive messages.

The recent press release from Sellaband may not, on the surface, be particularly significant for those artists on the Sellaband roster who toil away in genres other than Hip Hop. But looking at the development of Sellaband teaming up with Hip Hop icon Chuck D. and his BTN Eastlink company from a purely business-minded point of view should give every Sellaband artist pause to reflect on how this partnership can ultimately generate the interest in the Sellaband concept that will open the U.S. market to artists of all musical styles. The object of this exercise is to sell music as well as the concept.  Sellaband now finds itself perfectly positioned to bring this about.

Maitreya

Of the artists to have completed the process of raising a budget and completing an album, there is one who stands out head and shoulders as being the most logical laboratory rat for this experiment. Maitreya is a Hip Hop rapper from faraway New Zealand whose Sellaband journey has paralleled the company history. As the first and most prominent Hip Hop artist on the label, he is probably second only to Sellaband head Johan Vosmeijer in frequent flyer miles, having appeared on numerous Sellaband concerts and functions in Europe as well as recording his album Close To Home in London, New York and New Zealand.

A self-professed apostle of Chuck D. and Public Enemy, Maitreya is an evolutionary mutation that could only have occurred under specific environmental circumstances. Broadcast media brought Public Enemy to Maitreya in his formative years. Fairly recent developments in low budget/high quality recording made it possible for Maitreya to share his music in a way unthinkable ten years ago. The internet brought Maitreya before a worldwide audience which facilitated the budgeting of his album. And now Maitreya finds himself  just one degree of separation from having his music placed into the hands and ears of a company operated by his most respected mentor by proxy. All that remains to close the circle is for Johan Vosmeijer to say the words, “Maitreya, meet Chuck D.”

Why is this the right move for Sellaband to make and why should non Hip Hop Sellaband artists be lobbying heavily for Maitreya to carry the Sellaband banner into the U.S. market? Using Maitreya’s Close To Home as a battering ram to open the doors of the American public to Sellaband is not only a no-brainer, it is a win, win, win situation. Sellaband did not look to Los Angeles or Nashville, it looked to the icon of the New York Hip Hop world for its wedge. With a commitment in hand from Chuck D. to be the their U.S. ambassador, Sellaband, consciously or not, has taken a stand as to the direction the company will pursue at the onset of American involvement.

For a company to deem an artist worthy of development and exploitation, the artist must be special. Not only must the product be of high quality, there must be a hook, a story that makes an undeniable case for proceeding full steam ahead. Labels don’t push artists for any reason other than the potential of that artist to generate funds and interest in other artists on the label. Maitreya fits the mold as if the role were written with him in mind and the timing is perfect. Positive and diligent endorsement of his album from Chuck D’s company will do much to get Close To Home on American Radio and usage in other media.

Chuck D. has the opportunity of introducing a unique artist from the other side of the world to the American audience in a genre he has dominated for years. Sellaband has the opportunity to generate in Maitreya the breakout artist it desperately needs to become a major player in the industry. And when Close To Home becomes a household word, every Sellaband artist with a professional level package and a story to tell will be that much closer to getting attention from more than just the loyal fans who came together to finance their projects.

Maitreya

Can Sellaband make this happen? Undoubtedly. Will Sellaband make this happen? The answer to this question is what everyone in the Sellaband community should be lobbying for as the potential of this relationship could have a massive effect on hundreds of artists across genre delineations. Breaking an artist is not something to be taken lightly and if done without a high level of commitment can be an exercise in futility. The table is now set for Sellaband, BTN Eastlink and Maitreya to make a strong move in a direction that couldn’t be more mutually beneficial.

The exploitation of artistic content is the goal and the duty of a label and publishing entity. Making recordings is only the first step in a long process of which most young artists and the public in general remain ignorant. The landscape of today’s popular music scene is littered with more content than at any time in the history of recording. Winnowing through the haystacks for exploitable material is a gamble and heads roll when bad choices are made.

Maitreya’s Close To Home is a no-brainer for everyone involved. Making it happen will require follow through. Artists and believers in the Sellaband community need to understand the positive impact this could have on them and act accordingly in communicating with the powers that be. Chuck D. and BTN Eastlink need to see dollar signs in Maitreya’s album and act accordingly as well. Maitreya needs to be true to his well-developed roots and stand ready to kick the serious brand of ass that an endorsement from someone of Chuck D.’s stature would demand. And finally, Johan Vosmeijer needs to get the ball rolling and say the magic words, “Maitreya, meet Chuck D.”