The SF MusicTech Summit is exactly what it sounds like. A gathering of people in the music industry that focus on tech, or vice versa. What I’ve learned from going for the past few years is the more boring a panel sounds the more interesting they usually turn out to be, and vice versa.
It’s all on the moderators and how well they can steer the conversation to the crucial topics of the moment. Equally as important is if the panelists make up an equal representation of the different viewpoints and how well they can express their side through stories and experiences (in a timely manner). And there just happens to be one panel that especially did that.
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Sitting here listening to NTEIBINT’s ‘Never Without You,’ trying to think up anything to write on so we can get Stella’s voice out there, gets me thinking about how music has gotten me through so much. We can’t pick our lives or even our minds, but at least we’ve got music to help us cope with this shit show.
As much as NTEIBINT has supported Stella with a fairly fresh beat, the girl gets most our praise. Stella’s got a country blues tone that reminds me of Stevie Nicks. Though Stella leans more city proper than Stevie’s country swang.
[I’m really just comparing the two so I can show off this clip of Stevie practicing ‘Wild Heart’ – but listen to Stella first!]
Figgy always gets me in a mood, a relaxed one at that. His music is meant for the tropics and it’s the closest thing I got right now. ‘Do It Like Us’ not only has the sound, but keeps the vocals fresh — which is where most producers fall off.
We’re actually trying to put together a mix of these tropical electro songs. Figgy’s got a few, Goldroom & Viceroy a handful more. But we need your picks to make it a collection.
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We’d love to cover all good beats like ‘This Means War,’ but usually don’t. This song gives off a good sound, but lacks the variance and strong vocal presence we look for in most songs worth remembering. However, dat bass is something to talk about.
This is the best intro with a bass I’ve ever heard. It may not be the best track for the peak of the night, but it’s good one to start it off right. This song is set for any occasion worth an introduction. Definitely playing it for my first kid’s birth, though I don’t think I’ll have much say in the matter.
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Zhu’s Nightday is the first album to come out in 2014 that I’ve even liked. Most music I like these days are released as singles, which honestly work best for many artists, but it’s nice to get a hold of stuff like this when I can. Great albums are far more rare than great songs.
I’ve already featured Zhu’s Superfriends track off of Nightday and in it I hoped dearly he was a she (there was alotta mystery going around at the time). But now we’re pretty 100% he’s a man, especially while finding something interesting in our inbox.
While going through our email to find some info a PR guy sent out about Zhu — oh, and how do you people find my email? ******! — I found a gentleman named Steven Zhu hit me up about a few of his remixes almost three years back. Now most likely they’re not connected and I’m just becoming my own little gossip blog, but they do both claim to live in Los Angeles …Steven Zhu has taken down his YouTube & SoundCloud links and…
Never mind. Just found proof. Zhu’s first name is Steven. Hello, Steven :P
Deja vu.
… except Zhu does his own production.
If you had to pick between Banks, Lana Del Rey, Lorde & Lykke Li, who’d it be? Mine’s definitely the baddest bitch of the bunch. I don’t know what it is. And how long it’ll last. But I know it has something to do with how she slips her personality in her songs in such small spaces. How she sings “only then, can we begin” melts my heart every time I hear it.
Check it out in one of Lykke’s latest, ‘No Rest for the Wicked.’
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