LA Weekly Web Awards

I was recently informed that LA weekly awarded Slash a Golden Floppy-disk for "Best MySpace Page" at the LA Web Awards.



Here at Ten Minute Media, we are super stoked when a project we carefully handcrafted gets recognized in such a way! You can see the award-winning profile here, http://www.myspace.com/slash

Music for Relief / Haiti

Check out Music For Relief's "Donate to Donate" for Haiti, a compilation of unreleased music from Linkin Park, Dave Matthews Band, Slash, Lupe Fiasco, and more to help aid victims of the earthquake.

Artwork by Shepard Fairey's firm Studio Number One, web production by Ten Minute Media, and swift weekend teamwork from a bunch of great folks at The Collective, Ning, and TopSpin.

One More

And if we're counting live albums, I'd have to include "Glitter and Doom Live" by Tom Waits.

Top 10 Albums of 2009

Here's my top 10 list for 2009.

1. Phoenix - "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"
2. As Tall As Lions - "You Can't Take It with You"
3. Brendan Benson - "My Old, Familiar Friend"
4. Sondre Lerche - "Heartbeat Radio"
5. Brand New - "Daisy"
6. UGK - "UGK 4 Life"
7. Empire Of The Sun - "Walking On A Dream"
8. The Bird and the Bee - "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future"
   
9. Bat for Lashes - "Two Suns"
10. The-Dream - "Love vs. Money"

Over the Last Few Months...

Over the last couple of months, here at Ten Minute Media, we've finished a slew of projects, here and there, for New Kids on The Block, Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Jason Mraz, Alice in Chains, Billy Bush, T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment, Cat Deeley, Joey McIntyre, Brendan Benson, Jon Reep, James Patterson, and many others... I look forward to more exciting projects this upcoming year!

Esser - "Satisfied"

This is an incredible song by English musician Esser. The video takes inspiration from Georges Méliès's early film masterpiece "Le Mélomane". Great song, great video.

Earth, Wind, Fire, Phoenix, Great!

On Tuesday, last minute, I went to see Earth, Wind & Fire. My hood-neighbor Steve Porter and I headed to Boston to find out why this group is one of the most successful bands of time, one of president Obama's favorite bands, and why they've been the recipients of so many Grammys. As I've been working on a project for Philip Bailey, we had backstage passes and met the band after the show. It was an honor to meet Philip Bailey and Verdine White among others. Their performance was full of energy and sounds that crossed numerous genres. By the end of the night, my questions had been answered - EWF are true living legands.

The following night, Elizabeth and I headed back east to see one of my favorite bands. The French band Phoenix was playing at the Paradise Rock Club. I last saw them live back in 2004 at the Irving Plaza in New York City. Like last time, they played an incredible show. This time they played a set consisting mostly of songs off of their new album Wolfgang Amedaus Phoenix and other recent album It's Never Been Like That but only one song from Alphabetical... "Run Run Run" - I hope they come back to the area again soon.

Decemberists to play Holyoke

Now it seems, there's no shortage of good news for Holyoke... The Decemberists might be playing at Mountain Park on August 16th. Who's coming to the show?

Gogol Bordello at House of Blues

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to Boston to see one of our favorites bands Gogol Bordello. The concert was at the House of Blues and we met up with some friends of ours for a night of rambunctious and entertaining gypsy punk rock.

One of our friends scored the exclusive Foundation Room, a lavish private lounge embellished with artifacts from India. The decor was plush and elaborate - the floorplan was a labyrinth with countless offshoots and hidden rooms. We arrived a bit early and got our own sneak peek at the show to come; we walked in as the band sound-checked to "Dogs Where Barking" and a few other songs.

Gogol Bordello hit the stage sometime after 9PM. The band played an energetic show to a sold-out crowd hungry for their Slavic rhythms and punk rock antics. I wish I could see this band night after night - their live performance is that inticing.

After the show we stopped by a late-night party at Kingston Station, a downtown bistro covered in smooth white subway tile reminiscent of many French brasseries you'd find in Manhattan.

New Music Venue in Holyoke

Dear Mountain Park, welcome back! It's been decades and now you're back. I wonder who the first band/group will be for the grand opening.

Good Tunes for Saturday Afternoon

Tiga - "Shoes"


Yelle - "Je Veux Te Voir"


Esser - "Headlock"

Recently at Ten Minute Media

Things have been wicked busy over at Ten Minute Media. In the last few months, we've worked on / are working on projects for Kylie Minogue, Jason Mraz, Slash, Katy Perry, A-Trak, Philip Bailey, T-Pain's Nappy Boy Entertainment, Cisco Adler, 3 Doors Down and many others. We've very excited to be working on a new online presence for Jim Jefferies, an emerging comedian who's HBO stand-up special premieres on May 16th. Stay tuned!

Robots Take Over Cambridge!

We just got back from the Middle East in Cambridge where a very special celebration took place. What was the celebration about? Our friends at iRobot hit $1-Billion in total robot revenue - an incredible achievement for entrepreneurship, high-tech, robotics, and, damn that's a lot of zeros.

A group of slick Grammy-award winning, YouTube celebrities stopped by the party... déjà vu and familiar faces, it was OK Go! They played a quick game of Rock Band on stage to their own song and a track by the Pixies. Colin from iRobot rocked the guitar and Alex from Harmonix held it down on the drums. After the performance, Elizabeth and I hung out backstage with the band and Colin let us all test-drive some cool robots. Rock stars and robots. I'll post a few pictures in a few days.

Congratulations to iRobot on their continued success!

OK Go at Pearl Street

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to see OK Go perform at Pearl Street in Northampton. They're great on stage, great on treadmills, great with handbells, great with pin pong - what else could you ask for? Excellent show!

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wow, the new track on Phoenix website is killer! They've been one of my favorite bands for along time now and I'm really excited about how the new material is sounding. I first came across Phoenix when working on a project for Tony Hoffer (one of my favorite producers) way back - he's worked with Beck, Air, The Thrills, Fischerspooner, Silversun Pickups - basically all the best stuff around. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys this track, "1901" by these good, catchy Frenchmen...

The Bird and The Swede

Last night, Elizabeth and I went to see The Bird and The Bee. My friend Marcus, a young Swedish entrepreneur, joined us for this occasion. If anyone knows good pop music, it's the Swedes and he granted them his Swedish-stamp-of-approval. The Bird and The Bee played an entertaining show, shared some travel stories and graced the crowd with their cute retro outfits.

T-Pain, Tea and CT Adventures

On Friday, I got a few tickets see T-Pain at the MGM Grand in CT. Overall, the show was a fun time. An up-and-coming heavy hitter, Ryan Leslie was the opening act. He was backed by a full band and put on an energetic show... (on a sidenote, he went to Harvard when we was 15). The main attraction, T-Pain played for an hour or so. His performance was entertaining and almost theatrical at times with hit after hit after hit. I think he closed with "I'm So Hood", a song full of pure scholarly and artistic expression of the socio-economic divide of inner-city America... right?

This type of music is a guilty pleasure of mine. When I drive, I usually flip between stuff like Interpol, The Smiths, Elliot Smith and uhhhh, Hot 93.7.

We didn't get a free boat ride or anything but being of the music industry, we did get to meet T-Pain after the show. Backstage he has wearing a green pair of Mountain Dew pajamas which nicely complimented his platinum grills.

On the way back we stopped in downtown Hartford for midnight tea at Steam City Cafe (they serve food until 1AM!) which is located in the beautiful Cheney Building which was designed by H.H. Richardson. I'd say this building has Bristol Byzantine / Moorish influence and one of his greatest works.

It's Called The Music Business

Check out the March 2009 (#248) issue of Alternative Press magazine in which I reveal some "insider" advice in the DIY column. This issue features Thursday or Bring Me The Horizon on the cover.

I started reading AP about six years ago - it's one of the best ways to find out about new music and it goes out to more than 200,000 eager music fans. It's on shelves now at most major stores - you can pick it up at Newbury Comics, Best Buy, FYE, Hollister, Hot Topic, or where ever you fancy.

Hit Song of the Year?

Could this the hit song of the year? Maybe on my playlist. "Love Letter from Japan" by The Bird and The Bee. Their new album "Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future" comes out on my 21st birthday, January 27th, 2008.

Other wicked catchy songs, old and new, on my platlist:

- "Meat Market" by Everybody Else
Killer vibrato on catchy beach rock.

- "Ucieczka z wesołego miasteczka" by Czeslaw Spiewa
When Elizabeth sings to this... I try to sing to this in my broken faux-Slavic tongue.

- "Tango Till They're Sore" by Tom Waits
A classic by the master of song.

- "Feel the Bass" - Sa-Ra
When you throw one of Brooklyn's finest, Talib Kweli on Taz's track... you get magic.

- "Salute Your Solution" by The Raconteurs
Raconteurs for entrepreneurs. Well, not really, just tight riffs and breakdowns.

- "Ebolarama" by Every Time I Die
I have deadlines to meet - Hot Damn! Amazing music video.

- "Delivery Man" by The Cool Kids
The best thing out of Chicago since, hmmmm... Burnham and Root.

- "Freeze Up" - Operation Ivy
Who can forget about Operation Ivy?

The Bird and The Bee

I just got back from checking out The Bird and The Bee at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA with my buddy Rob of the design super-group Rob & Damia - the show was a blast. The venue was filled with Inara George's warm voice and Greg Kurstin's brilliance on the keys. Their debut full-length or EP are definitely worth picking up. If you'd like to treat yourself to the audible form of sweet candy, euphoria, and guilty pleasure, this group is for you.