Web Sheldon - Music Blog

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Shanty, E.U. Stay

Voting starts at 7am tomorrow - whether UK should leave or stay in the EU!

UK Urban Playlist - June 2016

11 new songs from UK Urban Artists/Producers that I've picked up on Soundcloud this month.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

So whilst I have some dedicated music time over the Summer, I'm looking for an internship in a recording studio. If anyone hears of an opportunity or have a contact that might be able to help me, please let me know!

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Wedding in Dresden (Photo)

I had the honour of being asked to play the piano at a friend's wedding in Dresden a few weeks ago - this is one of the pictures from the day :)

Playing at a friend's wedding in #dresden a couple of weeks ago! #piano #grandpiano #grandpianos #musician #music #musicians #weddingsinger #websheldon #germany #forster #förster #augustforster

A photo posted by Web Sheldon (@websheldon) on Jun 12, 2016 at 1:34pm PDT

Friday, June 17, 2016

Free Album Download from London electronic act: TMRWS DREAM

I posted a Playlist last week of new songs from electronic acts based in London (go visit it here).

I saw this morning that one of the acts from that list TMRWS DREAM, have just released an album "Copacetic" and it is available for free download from their website - which I have just done and it is spinning its way through my iTunes at the moment!

Visit their website here: http://www.tmrwsdream.com/ to download the zip file!

Have a listen to 'High Horse' one of tracks from the album below:

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Artist Feature: Le Foux

So I'm often scouring Soundcloud looking for artists that have either an electronic, alt pop or trip hop kind of theme - something that is related to my own music in some way. I started following Le Foux a few months ago and I started to notice that new song after new song kept appearing regularly in my Newsfeed.

One problem that I have in making my own music, is making the genre sound consistent. I'll go from making a Trip Hop track one week to a House track the next and that's not ideal when you're trying to put together an album of coherent material. Brazilian singer, songwriter & producer, Le Foux does not have that problem though.

He's just published a Playlist of 28 tracks called "Zut Alors" and it's an inspiring collection of 80's influenced Synthpop. This guy has a good ear for catchy melodies, hooks and synths. The quality of the songwriting is what stands out for me - there's a lot of ideas, but the songs aren't overcrowded.

It's refreshing to hear an artist making songs that are pure pop and unashamed to embrace the genre.

I asked Le Foux if he'd tell me a little about his musical history and his inspirations...

"I remember getting my friends to organise mini 'music festivals' where we'd all have to come up with original pieces - mind you, no one could play any instruments, so there was a lot of humming going on lol. I was probably 7 then. But I had a very tiny Casio Keyboard I used to perform with, and I still have it somewhere in the flat! I remember I got my first guitar at 12, and had weekly classes until I was 15. I began writing songs then, and probably using the first few chords I learned..(A, E, D).

I grew up listening to my brother's mixtapes in the car - A-ha, Duran Duran, Oingo Boingo, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Bowie, Tina Turner, Erasure, Cyndi were always there for us. For a long time the melodious aspect of that pop music was enough for my ears. It was only when I heard Madonna's Like a Virgin that it became a challenge to me. I loved the track instantly and straight away, I was told off for that. I can vaguely remember someone saying to me that if I knew what Madonna was saying in that song I

wouldn't try to sing along.

Instead of asking for a translation though I decided to learn English myself (I'm Brazilian, so i'm fluent in Portuguese). Since then, growing up and making music has always been about speaking of things which make me think. I believe music should make people think as well as dance. Adding to that, I've managed a degree in Psychology, and my readings of freudian authors like Melanie Klein, Addams, Bion, Winnicott, Ferraz and also of Freud (of course), have definitely helped my self-analysis and been a constant part of the process.

So, I write about what excites me both positive and negatively.

I make music I believe for the same reason everyone else needs/makes music - I need to learn of my freedom so as to free my chaos."

To connect with Le Foux, go to the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lefouxx
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lefoux
Bandcamp: https://lefouxx.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeFouxxx
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lefoux/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/113401830938746462087/+LeFoux?pageId=113401830938746462087

#hell

A photo posted by Le Foux (@lefoux) on Sep 15, 2015 at 6:38pm PDT

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Subscribe to my Mailing List

Any music marketing book will tell you the importance of having a mailing list.

I have tried a few different tools to help me set this up in the past but haven't been totally happy with the result. However, I used wix.com to build and maintain my website and they've just added a new feature to help with managing a mailing list - it looks pretty good so I've set it up!

Join my mailing list by visiting my website: www.websheldon.com

I can't imagine anyone (including me for sure!) likes receiving more emails than they absolutely have to so I won't be utilising the list very often - but more for special announcements like the release of new music!

It can be difficult to get news out there sometimes as with Facebook, they hide certain posts (unless you pay for them to be promoted), with Twitter you have to post things multiple times because they simply get lost in the masses of posts coming through and Instagram is more for pictures (plus you can't add links in a post).

So this is a good way to make sure you know about it when there's something big and new happening with my music!

To join the mailing list, just visit my website www.websheldon.com