Uma Banda, Dois Membros, Três Músicas E Centenas De Milhares Escutando No Spotify

One band. Two members. Three songs. Hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify.

How Post Precious built a big audience, by themselves, with just a few singles.

Alex Winston, one half of the new synth-pop duo Post Precious, played a showcase of her solo material at the 2017 DIY Musician Conference in Nashville. Her return to the stage after a long hiatus due to Lyme Disease was energetic and engaging, and I’m pretty sure she won over anyone in the audience that hadn’t heard her music.

With renewed momentum, she announced the following month that she’d teamed up with her friend Max Hershenow (of MS MR) to form Post Precious, and they dropped a single they’d written called “Timebomb.” Then came two more singles, one a remix, and the other a cover of Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times.”

Three songs. That’s it. And with those tracks they’ve built a monthly audience on Spotify of over 170k people.

I find it fascinating that indie music careers can now be made (and maintained) through singles, so I wanted to interview them about the process, as well as how those singles might or might not be building towards the release of their upcoming EP. Thanks to Post Precious for taking the time.

An interview with Post Precious

You’ve both had your share of label hassles and creative obstacles. Can you talk a little bit about that history?

Max: I’m not sure I would’ve acknowledged this a year ago, but I’ve been extraordinarily lucky with my career so far, despite some inevitable bumps along the way. I’ve been half of MS MR since 2011, and we released two albums on Columbia. The first did really well, but (as often happens!) the second didn’t connect in the same way, which led to a bit of an internal creative crisis, and a bit of a disillusionment with the major label structure, despite getting to work with some incredible people. MS MR left Columbia and went on hiatus in 2016, and since then I’ve had the opportunity to produce for a huge range of artists, which got me back on my feet creatively and led me to Alex!

Alex: Unfortunately, I don’t think my experience with major labels has been uncommon.  In fact, I’ve heard my story so many times that it almost feels like a right of passage…or an outtake from Spinal Tap. I’ve been dropped, I’ve had two records delayed for years, I’ve been told what to wear, what my videos should be like, what kind of music to make,… you name it; it truly pushed me so far from who I had known myself to be as an artist that I couldn’t recognize my own creative identity. Once I was freed from all of that crap, I just focused on making music that I loved, with people that I was inspired by — that’s where I am right now. Music feels really exciting again for the first time in ages.

How did Post Precious grow out of that, and what does this partnership let you do that you couldn’t before?

We honestly started Post Precious sort of accidentally – we started out writing songs for other artists and slowly realized that we were maybe the only ones who could bring them to life in the way we imagined. But because we had been writing thinking the work was for someone else we didn’t put the sort of pressure on ourselves that we’d grown accustomed to being under as artists. We realized we could use that freedom as the basis for a new project where we were free to play and experiment.

How does the writing or production process differ when you’re thinking about releasing singles, as opposed to a larger album?

Max: I guess on some level we’re less focused on working within a cohesive sound or overarching themes than if we were thinking on a larger album scale, but because of the Post Precious ethos I don’t know if we’d really be working like that anyway. Rather than singles, I tend to think of the songs in little EP-style packages, which is a really exciting way to work. We get to explore one sonic idea from a few angles and then get to switch to a new one, which keeps things feeling fresh.

Alex: Yeah, there is something about not feeling tethered to one idea for too long that is really appealing to me these days! (ha) I like just following where something sonically different might take you and leaning into it, instead of wondering how it will fit with a record.

In terms of the biz side of things — promotion, playlist placements, stuff like that — what was your “strategy” for your singles?

We’re not really sure we have a strategy, haha…we have an extremely small team of two who have been AMAZING at helping us get the word out, and all four of us are super committed to being able to pivot quickly if something feels like it isn’t working. We’re also really reliant on friends to help spread the word.

With an EP coming soon, were you plotting your course towards that release with the singles, or is the EP kind of a culmination of that previous work?

You make it sound as though we have a plan here! The EP will include all the songs we’ve released up to the this point, so it is a culmination and also a rounding out of the sonic landscape we’ve been exploring with a couple of other songs.

How do you think about your place in the music world the way things are right now … like, you’re indie, but you have label experience. Is it the ideal place to be? Are you happy? Are you aiming to build back into a major deal?

Yes to happy! We’re having so much fun. Otherwise honestly we’re just taking things one step at a time. It feels amazing to feel a little excitement building around the project but we’re just going to see how things go little by little.

How does CD Baby play into your release picture, and what does CD Baby allow you to do that you couldn’t do before?

CD Baby’s been super supportive, providing creative ideas around the release of the music. The Post Precious perspective relies on a really artist-driven approach, and we couldn’t do it without a platform like CD Baby.

What else is in the works to coincide or build upon the release of your upcoming EP?

We’re going to play some shows! We have a few on the books and are just going to see how they go. Again, it’s one step at a time.

5 Dicas Fazer Sua Melhor Performance No Palco

5 tips for delivering a “press-worthy” stage performance

To deliver your best stage performance, you need to:

Prepare

The first item of business is actually preparing a stage show—this makes all the difference. When you step on stage, you want to know what’s happening at every moment. That’s difficult enough as it is, but during your performances, you need to stay open to the possibility of things shifting—you will need to improvise. The more you know the material, the easier it will be to perform and have fun. The path to success is through rehearsal and practice. Rehearse and practice. Rehearse and practice. You get what I mean! Do this all the time.

Energize

As a performer, you are a conduit of collective energy. Make it your mission to deliver the energy generated from the music and your fellow musicians directly to the audience. It’ll be so obvious when you’re doing it right because the audience will return the energy to you—the music becomes your vocabulary for this amazing exchange. This is what gets a show buzzing.

Release

Always check in with your own personal energy before even arriving to the venue. Then, take any pre-show time to release any stagnant or negative energy before performing. You owe it to the crowd, and you owe it to everyone else on stage. Life happens everyday, things can go down that leave you feeling blah, but creating a performance that’s uplifting and inspiring takes your ultimate focus. Zone out, meditate, pray, laugh, cry, whatever you need to do, just do it.  My preference for release? We like to laugh!!

Encourage

If you want people to dance, encourage them. Often the crowd doesn’t know what’s “allowed” and they’ll hold back. Let the audience know they’re in a judgement-free zone, so it’s ok to let go and shake some booty on the dancefloor!

Refine

Evaluate each performance. In addition to audio, record video of your performances so you can replay the stage show and critique. Pay attention to which material worked, while also looking for moments that detract from the show. Ask yourself questions: Does it look like I’m having fun? Is the audience having fun? And look for places in the show where you can add more encouragement and even more energy exchange. You’ll typically know when something is “off” while performing on stage, so also practice rewinding the show in your mind, so you can train your brain to notice areas for improvement and make adjustments on the fly. And, always go back to my first tip and repeat!

Cycling through these five exercises regularly will strengthen your ability to deliver your most remarkable performances.

O Kit Completo Para Músicos Para Facebook Live

The complete Facebook Live toolkit for musicians

What you need to take your Facebook Live game to the next level.

Here’s the thing about Facebook Live: you can go live with nothing more than your phone!

Hardly any toolkit needed at all.

And if we’re going to learn a lesson from Steve Lacy, it’s to just start. Don’t wait around for the perfect equipment, the newest gadget, the best lighting rig. Take what you have, even if it’s just your phone with its built-in camera and mic, and begin.

You’ll fumble, you’ll get better, and maybe you’ll find that the least amount of equipment yields the best results. It worked for Dawn Beyer, who earned more than $74k in under a year by playing short concerts on Facebook Live using nothing more than her phone.

That being said, there are a few affordable items that can, under certain circumstances, make your live-streaming life a lot simpler. Most likely the simpler it is to “go live,” the more you’ll do it, the more fun you’ll have, and the better your broadcasts will become.

Here are five items that can improve your live streaming on Facebook:

1. A lightning/USB mic

The built-in mic on your phone is fine. But if you want something better than fine, there are affordable options for external mics.

I love the Shure MV51 digital condenser microphone.

Firstly, it comes with two cables (USB to USB for PC or Android devices, and Lightning for use with iPhones, iPads, or iPods).

It has a kickstand so you can easily prop it on a nearby table; but if you have to get the mic in just the right position, it’s easy to remove the cap from the bottom of the kickstand and mount it to a mic stand.

This is a small, rugged, portable, multi-purpose digital microphone, so putting it to the test against the best condenser mics would miss the point. When you compare the results you get with this mic versus what you’d pick up with your camera’s built in microphone, though, there’s a world of difference. I’m no audio engineer, so these could be imprecise descriptors, but compared to my phone’s built-in mic, the MV51 provides clarity, smoothness, mellowing out some of the harsher stuff, and it adds a little roundness without sounding smashed.

So yeah, it sounds good AND gives you a ton of flexibility, since the thing has a number of presets to choose from, including:

• speech
• singing
• acoustic instrument
• loud mode
• flat mode

This allows you to quickly find the right settings for quiet acoustic performances, loud shows, voice/podcast type stuff, and more. Plus with the swipe of your finger you can adjust the gain right on the mic.

A built-in headphone output helps you reduce latency when monitoring, and — these newfangled devices are so smart — it also knows to power up when you phone’s video camera is enabled.

Because the MV51 either requires a mic stand or a flat surface nearby to prop it on, there’s one other mic worth considering for your Facebook Live efforts: Shure’s MV88.

The MV88 is a super small stereo condenser mic made specifically for iOS devices, and it plugs right into the device — so the phone is actually acting as the support brace or “stand” for the microphone. Again, this saves you on having to bring a mic stand or worry about having a table or desk nearby, and that more minimal approach may inspire you to “go live” more often in more locations.

The drawback is that, while you can rotate the MV88 to a degree, you might not be able to get a perfect angle to the sound source AND a perfect camera angle from your phone at the same time if you happen to be oddly positioned in the frame. In contrast, the MV51 can be placed independently of the phone (though you still need them to be close enough together to be connected by the cable, of course). If you’re just sitting in front of the camera strumming a guitar though, the MV88 should do the trick.

2. A smartphone tripod…

… so you don’t have to lean your phone against a stack of books or a tree, and…

3. A small LED light

I breezed over #2 because you can get a smartphone tripod AND small LED light together in a package like this one from Livestream Gear.

The light is battery-operated, of course, so you gotta keep it charged, and expect it to only work at full brightness for about 30 minutes. After that it’ll slowly dim for another 30 minutes or so. But that’s plenty of time for your average Facebook Live broadcast.

Then just remember to put that battery back in the charger when your live stream is done.

4. A taller tripod

If your location doesn’t allow for a good spot to place the smartphone tripod, you can remove the mount for the camera and light and attach it to a standard tripod. This is definitely an “extra,” but if you’re not always going live from the same location, it might be worth getting one of these.

5. BeLive.tv (and a good webcam)

This last option is going to send us in a whole different direction, but if you want to incorporate screen-shares, pre-roll video, split-screen interviews, customized branding, or other fancy elements into your broadcast, you might want to check out a platform such as BeLive.tv, a third-party tool which helps you stage a pro-looking presentation and publish it (live) as a Facebook Live stream.

Be warned: There’s a monthly subscription fee that might seem hefty if you’re on a tight budget. But if you’ve gotten to the point where you’re wanting video elements that aren’t supported within Facebook’s native “Live” features, this is a good avenue to explore.

The reason I include the “good webcam” above is because as the host you can only go live through BeLive.tv from a desktop. If your computer’s built-in camera is crappy, invest in something that captures HD.

Marvel Music E Hollywood Records Irão Lançar A Trilha De ‘Black Panther’

Marvel Music & Hollywood Records to Release Ludwig Goransson’s ‘Black Panther’ Score

Marvel Music and Hollywood Records have announced a score album for Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. The album features the film’s original score composed by Ludwig Goransson(Creed, Community, Fruitvale Station) who recorded his music in London with a 132-piece western classical orchestra, African percussionists and a 40-person choir. The soundtrack will be released digitally this Friday, February 16. Check back on this page for the track list and download link. Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke and Andy Serkis. The movie will be released nationwide on February 16 by Walt Disney Pictures.

'Johnny Cash: Forever Words' Apresenta 'Covers' De Chris Cornell, Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson e muito mais

'Johnny Cash: Forever Words' Collection to Feature Covers By Chris Cornell, Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson & More

An undiscovered trove of lyrics, letters and poems from late country icon Johnny Cash will come to life on April 6 on the album Johnny Cash: Forever Words. The collection will transform phrases left behind by the Man in Black into songs by late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Ruston Kelly & Kacey Musgraves, Rosanne Cash, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Kris Kristofferson & Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley and many more. 

The 16-track album was compiled using what the albums' co-producer, Cash's son John Carter Cash, described as a "monstrous amassment" of material left behind by Johnny and June Carter Cash after their deaths. The handwritten letters, documents and poems were penned by Cash over the course of his life and shaped into songs over the past two years by John Carter Cash and co-producer Steve Berkowitz. Mostly recorded at The Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the collection is the musical companion to the 2016 best-selling book Forever Words: The Unknown Poems, a collection of unpublished writings edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and curated by John Carter and Berkowitz. Among the other contributors: Jewel, Jamey Johnson, The Jayhawks, T. Bone Burnett, Robert Glasper and John Mellencamp. 

According to a release announcing the project, many of the songs on the album were directly inspired by the material in the book, with others drawn from other sources of Cash's unpublished writings. "The tone of the album is established with the opening track 'Forever/I Still Miss Someone' featuring Kris Kristofferson reciting the last poem Cash ever wrote alongside guitar accompaniment from Willie Nelson, both lifelong friends of Johnny," reads a statement. "Continuing the close-to-home theme, the music then transitions to the deeply personal 'To June This Morning,' a letter Johnny wrote to his wife, June Carter Cash, now interpreted by real-life couple Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves."

In one of the more emotionally wrenching moments, 21 years after Cash recorded his iconic cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" for his Grammy-winning Unchained album, Cornell -- who committed suicide in May 2017 -- is heard singing "You Never Knew My Mind," which is described as "setting some of Cash’s own poignant and introspective words to original music on one of Cornell’s last solo recordings." The song represents one of Cornell's final known recordings.

"Determining the artist for each song was truly a matter of the heart," says John Carter Cash. "I picked the artists who are most connected with my father, who had a personal story that was connected with Dad. It became an exciting endeavor to go through these works, to put them together and present them to different people who could finish them in a way that I believed that Dad would have wanted."

Cash's eldest daughter, Rosanne, interprets "The Walking Wounded," which marks just the second time in her career that she's collaborated on a recording with her half-brother John Carter Cash. The album's co-producer also collaborates with his half-sister Carlene on "June's Sundown." The album also features the first new recording in 6 years from Grammy-winning bluegrass supergroup Alison Krauss & Union Station. You can pre-order the album here.

Track listing for Johnny Cash: Forever Words:

"Forever/I Still Miss Someone" - Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson
"To June This Morning" - Ruston Kelly and Kacey Musgraves
"Gold All Over the Ground" - Brad Paisley
"You Never Knew My Mind" - Chris Cornell
"The Captain's Daughter" - Alison Krauss and Union Station
"Jellico Coal Man" - T. Bone Burnett
"The Walking Wounded" - Rosanne Cash
"Them Double Blues" - John Mellencamp
"Body on Body" - Jewel
"I'll Still Love You" - Elvis Costello
"June's Sundown" - Carlene Carter
"He Bore It All" - Daily and Vincent
"Chinky Pin Hill" - I'm With Her
"Goin', Goin', Gone" - Robert Glasper featuring Ro James, and Anu Sun
"What Would I Dreamer Do?" - The Jayhawks
"Spirit Rider" – Jamey Johnson

Check out a trailer for the album below, with moving black and white footage from the sessions and testimonials from Paisley and Rosanne Cash:

Album Da Trilha De Altered Carbon Será Lançado

Soundtrack Album for Netflix’s ‘Altered Carbon’ Announced

Lakeshore Records will release a soundtrack album for the Netflix original series Altered Carbon. The album features selections from the show’s original score composed by Emmy Award winner Jeff Russo (Fargo, Legion, The Night Of, Star Trek: Discovery, Counterpart), including the composer’s main titles theme. Also included and a cover of Johnny Cash’s Ain’t No Grave performed by performed by actress Renée Elise Goldsberry (Quellcrist Falconer) and Sune Rose Wagner’s performance of White Zombie’s More Human Than Human. The soundtrack will be released digitally tomorrow, February 9. The download link will be added to this article within the next day. Altered Carbon is created by Laeta Kalogridis and stars Joel Kinnaman, James Purefoy, Martha Higareda, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Will Yun Lee and Dichen Lachman. The sci-fi drama follows a prisoner who returns to life in a new body after 250 years on ice with one chance to win his freedom: by solving a mind-bending murder. The show’s full first season premiered last Friday and is now available to stream on Netflix.

Here’s the album track list:

1. Altered Carbon Main Titles (1:39)
2. Consciousness (5:23)
3. Last Stand Kovacs V1 (0:34)
4. Bancroft Shows Kovacs (3:34)
5. Her Daughter (4:27)
6. Attacked By Troopers (1:02)
7. Passing The Book (2:11)
8. The Patchwork Man (0:46)
9. Let My Baby Ride – Sune Rose Wagner (3:46)
10. More Human Than Human – Sune Rose Wagner (1:53)
11. Ain’t No Grave – Renée Elise Goldsberry (2:48)

Milan Records Lança Trilha De ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’

Milan Records to Release ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Soundtrack

Milan Records will release the official soundtrack album for the sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim Uprising. The album features the film’s original music composed by Lorne Balfe(The LEGO Batman Movie, Genius, Home, 12 Strong, Terminator Genisys, The Crown). The soundtrack is currently set to be released physically on April 6, 2018 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. A digital version is expected to come out next month. Check back on this page for the full album details. Pacific Rim Uprising is directed by Steven S. DeKnight and stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona and Charlie Day. The movie follows Jake Pentecost, son of Stacker Pentecost, as he reunites with Mako Mori to lead a new generation of Jaeger pilots against a new Kaiju threat. The sequel will be released in theaters nationwide on March 23, 2018 by Universal Pictures. Visit the official movie website for updates.