News of the Wampus

Got a batch o' news from the ever-so-indie wampers at Wampus Multimedia (they do ebooks now don't ya know?). I can't say it any better than they already have, so read on:

Wampus Multimedia has licensed the rights to the forthcoming May Bees CD, Drop Little Boy, to Dying Giraffe Recordings in the Benelux (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg), and is planning a September 14 release of the album.

Wampus artists have played some noteworthy live shows lately, with The May Bees opening up for Frank Black in The Netherlands and Amateur God opening for Marilyn Manson in Slovenia.

Alice Despard has taken her mini-tour through the mid-Atlantic, playing shows with Lost Patrol.... Neil Luckett is hard at work on the third tvfordogs record.... Sitarist Gaurav Mazumdar (Ravi Shankar Orchestra, Philip Glass) played on a pair of new songs for Play for Affection, the forthcoming Arms of Kismet album.

Evan Pollack is tracking drums for With Complete Glossary for Squares, The Crowd Scene's disc in progress.... Cafebar 401 played their final show together before a packed house in The Netherlands.... Johnny J Blair kept up his barnstorming as a member of the touring band for ex-Monkee Davy Jones, and put the finishing touches on Grateful, his second disc for the Wampus reissue imprint, Foldback Records.... Casey Abrams is in the late stages of recording his new album, tentatively called Likely Story.

Indeed.

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I'm Gonna Give You Candy

Listen up - here's a sweet way to become your own boss - who can tell you when you can and can't gig now, huh? Vendstar, the exclusive manufacturer of the shiny, new Vendstar 3000, provides a unique opportunity for individuals and entrepreneurs to obtain the American dream of financial freedom.

Vending routes - according to Vendstar - are a 100% cash business and can provide up to an 80% profit margin (you have to buy the bulk goodies to put inside). Copping a route or two lets you work from home and set your own hours.

Vendstar has revolutionized multivend profit tracking by digitally updating the total quarters accepted, making it easy for you determine collection amounts. Sounds like a good opportunity for independent types.


Thanks to Vendstar for sponsoring this blog!

Defunked Punk Planet

The Chicago Sun-Times has reported on the demise of the groundbreaking indie music magazines Punk Planet. Crappy news, indeed.

With a peak press run of 16,000 copies and an influence that spread far beyond what that number suggests, Punk Planet has been one of the best indie music publications in the United States since its inception, thanks to the contributions of dozens of committed and talented people, among them editors Laura Pearson, Anne Elizabeth Moore and Dave Hofer and columnists such as Al Burian and Sex Lady Searah.

Folding after 13 years, the mag has readers asking who will fill the newsprint. It seems nobody is stepping forward - what with the competition from online zines and the lack of decent distributors.

Yes. It is the end of the world as we knew it.

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Burned by Burnlounge?

Here's something you should know - and perhaps some help for you if you've drained your bank account trying to break into the music biz: The Federal Trade Commission has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against BurnLounge, Inc. charging that BurnLounge:

... sold opportunities to operate on-line digital music stores that was, in fact, an illegal pyramid scheme. The agency is seeking a permanent halt to the illegal pyramid practices as well as other illegal practices alleged in the complaint.

According to the FTC, BurnLounge recruited consumers through the Internet, telephone calls, and in-person meetings. The sales pitch represented that participants in BurnLounge were likely to make substantial income.

BurnLounge recruited participants by selling them so-called “product packages,” ranging from $29.95 to $429.95 per year. More expensive packages purportedly provided participants with an increased ability to earn rewards through the BurnLounge compensation program.

The BurnLounge compensation program primarily provided payments to participants for recruiting of new participants, not on the retail sale of products or services, which the FTC alleges would result in a substantial percentage of participants losing money.

The FTC specifically alleges that the defendants operate an illegal pyramid scheme, make deceptive earnings claims, and fail to disclose that most consumers who invest in pyramid schemes don’t receive substantial income, but lose money, instead. These practices violate the FTC Act, the agency alleges.

Grab copies of the legal documents, complain, or just learn more about the FTC vs Burnlounge.

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The Blues Are Now Free - in MP3

Ready for a faceful of free indie blues? Take a spin on the grooves of Jill West and Blues Attack. The band is offering free MP3 downloads (and WMAs!? who knew?) of their songs from their latest CD "Faceful of Blues."

Jill West and Blues Attack, a Pittsburgh based blues band play their own style of hard edged blues with a guitar blast, in the tradition of the Vaughn brothers, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters.

Thanks to About.com's vacant blues hole for the tipoff.

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p2pnet Sets Up Indie Music Downloads

p2pnet is now linking up to indie music downloads and is offering artists a chance to get their own music online. If you have a band or know a band (and who doesn't?) take a look.

From p2pnet news:

One of the things I’ve wanted to do since p2pnet went online, and one of the primary reasons I started it in the first place, was to have a free showcase where independents artists could tell people about themselves and their music.

And last that day has arrived :)

You’ll see the new bullet at the top right of the page - Music Downloads.

There you’ll soon be finding headlines with one sentence summaries leading to a separate p2pnet page featuring a given artist in the music category with two or three (or more) mp3s, and a link to that artist’s own webpage, if he or she has one.

If you’d like to be featured in this section, or if you know someone you think would like to be included, please email me at p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.

The .ca is Canada, of course. Yo, up North! You rock!

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Puremusic - featuring CeU

Have you checked the latest issue of Puremusic? This month serves up interviews with Thomas Dolby (on Prefab Sprout), Brazilian sensation CeU (a beautiful singer with a beautiful mix of bossa and samba, influenced by African music, reggae, and jazz), folk star Johnsmith, and breakout artist Brandi Carlile.

Honest reviews, cool videos and sounds. Cool. Puremusic.

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Big Ole Lolla

Big Time Holy Carp! Lollapalooza has a lineup that is going to knock Chicago dead this year! August 3-5 will the be the scene and if you want to get the best of unknown indie and those who've broken out, trot your mouse over to create your own schedule of who you want to rock you.

Daft Punk. Blonde Redhead. The Black Keys. Chin Up Chin Up. Polyphonic Spree. The Hipwaders. So much more ... and this is just Day One. I swear I counted 7,200 bands on the schedule ... more or less. I'm sure you'll find something to love.

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Q-Tip Free MP3 Download

Got the goods for you tonight, little listeners. The veteran "Tribe Called Quest" rapper Q-Tip is giving up the single "WorkItOut" for free download on his MySpace page. The single is a set up for his upcoming Universal Motown solo album, The Renaissance, hitting stores this fall.

Jump on this - free is free, y'all!

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Bushcraft Electronic Rock

Kerascene Music is lighting up the aural spectrum with a flash of Bushcraft.

"Despite what the name suggests, this band is not about whittling a tree into a wooden spoon or wearing hoiked up safari shorts.If they must be categorised for conversation/press purposes, you might say (as others have done) it's electronic rock, rock with dance/d&b vibe, electronic punk rock, rocktronica with a punk attitude."

Rocktronica does rock.

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Mono a Mano Free Mp3

Missing guitarist Noel Hogan? Don't do it - download a free copy of Mono Band's "Miss P" at Last.fm. Not a rehashed Cranberries dish, Mono Band features Hogan electro-touches with the voice of Richard Walters.