Scott Van Zen

 

Scott Van Zen is a virtuoso guitar player with amazing skills in the styles of Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Vai, and others. 

Guitarist Scott Van Zen has released his debut solo EP "Trouble" on Love Conquered Records. Co-produced by Scott, John Hopen and Grammy winner Khaliq (Khaliq-O-Vision) Glover, he has co-written for rock legends Kiss; won a Dove Award with Ken Tamplin; toured with top artists, and had over 1,000 songs placed in films, TV, and commercials (everything from The Green Hornet and Cars movies to McDonald’s ads).

Scott is Influenced by six-string greats like Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher, and Johnny Winter – but also appeals to fans of Jimi Hendrix, Joe Bonamassa, etc.

"Trouble" is a raucous virtuoso romp to survive through life’s dark desires and dilemmas. Songs like "Devil on Both Shoulders" and "Born in Darkness" tell gritty stories fueled by Van Zen’s fast and furious fingers.

Scott has also been a first-call session player and sideman for decades plus a world-class songwriter.

https://www.scottvanzenguitarschool.com/

Brettina

 

 

Bahamanian singer-songwriter Brettina has released her first single worldwide, a version of her track ‘Simple Pleasures’ with UK Jazz and Funk legend Incognito.

Brettina's worldwide debut single is already gaining great appreciation and it went straight into Jazz FM playlist in the UK.

A fan of Incognito for many years, Brettina was delighted to work with their leader Bluey who brings his trademark production to the track, using the whole band to create a classic horn-driven sound. 

 

"When I was a student at the University of Washington in Seattle I discovered Incognito and their album ‘Vibes, Tribes and Scribes’ and it blew me away. To think further down the line I’d be working with them on one of my songs, and fusing my experience with these icons of UK Jazz right now is incredible." Says Brettina on having Bluey and Incognito produce the track.

This release also contains two remixes, one by upcoming Brighton based electronic jazz act Yakul, and long-term Incognito collaborator Ski Oakenfull who's delivered a soulful house dub version of the song.

The remixes of the luscious single show her versatility as an artist, and one who is soon to be in demand across the broad spectrum that is the current UK Jazz scene.

Born in the Bahamas, Brettina’s musicality was in some senses laid out for her – her mother introduced her to singing, and her uncle was in the hugely successful Bahamian group ‘ T-Connection’, who had hits on the Billboard Top 100 chart in the US in the 70s.

 

Brettina herself now resides between the US and the Bahamas, originally in Seattle and now in LA where she’s making waves on the current LA Jazz scene.

 

 https://www.facebook.com/BrettinaFanPage

 https://www.instagram.com/bahabrettina/

 https://twitter.com/bahabrettina

The Bastardz

 

Their unique jazzy flavored mix of soul, funk and pop characterized by a mix of crispy old school funk guitars, killer tight rhythm section, sharp horn section, jazzy harmonization and, above all, brilliant vocalist Tasha, make them uniquely attractive for Pop podiums as well as Jazz festivals and similar events.
Three times major national music award winners, around a million of YouTube views, dedicated Spotify and other platforms following, 7 albums, dozen singles and videos, collaborations with many great guest vocalists and instrumentalists, including the funk legend "Mr. Defunkt" Joseph Bowie, make The Bastardz stand out in the funky playground, with influences from P funk to Vulfpeck via Miles, and make The Bastardz worth checking out!

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/770717537101980/

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpAJbB3rBZIAkOLdXNjrPCA

Diamonds and Guns

The band Diamonds and Guns performs punk rock / punk'n'roll with straight pipes, cocky attitude, technical drums and with a party feeling.

We've probably thrown in a love of blues in the mix too!

People have said that we are similar to or have the feel of bands such as; Social Distortion, Dropkick Murphy, Turbonegro.

The band name, Diamonds and Guns, is a tribute to America's west coast punk rock, which is the great influence of the band members.


Diamonds and Guns consist of;

Kim Johansson, bass + vocals.

Thomas Norstedt, drums.

Pontus Rask, lead guitar + vocals.

Victor Ekvall, guitar + lead vocals.

 

 https://www.instagram.com/diamondsandguns.official/?fbclid=IwAR3UAS9Ac3CzbX2FBLRQk2jzOwepFuH2eNNeOQZmPrBd0PPzQpRjr5Xy7wI

 https://www.facebook.com/diamondsandgunsband/
 

 https://open.spotify.com/track/1cM2f4hPCi9t28gsbCSWju?si=b8ce1321af304b62&nd=1

LIAMKINS

 

"Alta" is LIAMKINS new single with original composition of the same name in the classic rock genre.

In fact, this is a dramatic piece voluminous in terms of timing, means of presentation and shades of mood.

A descending, heavy guitar riff in a slightly slower tempo that builds atmosphere around, with an orchestral drum kit and choirs.

 

Perhaps, music lovers will have in mind some analogies about this track, but in reality, this is nothing more than a retrospective tool for expressing an idea of cultures and time mixture as well as modes within a specific composition.

The single will precede LIAMKINS new album "Ahead Backwards", which is almost finished.
   

 George Lyamkin - Guitars, Bass, Vocals

Michael P. - Drums, Percussion

Recorded at LIAMKINS Mobile Studio

LIAMKINS Incomplete Audio Catalog:

 

https://itunes.apple.com/ru/artist/liamkins/523154270?l=en  

 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7CzSbof0GvEB7meU0RWahI

Wolfgang Steinwidder

 

Wolfgang Steinwidder started playing flute at the age of six years, but always felt, that he was no musician. He heard melodies in his head, so beautiful,that he often started crying. At the age of ten he got his first guitar and started taking lessons. At the age of 14 he started songwriting (1987). In 1992 he started studying at the conservatory singing and piano. In 1995 he recorded his first songs in Vienna. Then, due love and private troubes he stopped for several years. In 2001 he started again writing songs. In 2003 he founded a band and wrote ten songs for that project. In 2006 he wrote a classical mass that got never released. Then he built his own house and studio and stopped again for some years. In 2013 he started again, and recorded another unlreleased song for a sports event. Since 2014, he built up his studio, and wrote several songs. In 2017, he founded Composing4you, and finally started going his way in a professional way. Until today 9 songs got released. An album and tour is planned for 2021.

 https://www.composing4you.com/

Haffi Hjálmars

 

Artist Haffi Hjálmars is a singer/songwriter and a sheepfarmer from Iceland and this is his first solo release. Haffi wrote all the songs and lyrics. On the release he sings and plays the bass and has gotten some of Icelands finest musicians to play guitars, keyboards, drums and saxophone. The release has various music styles: Country, Rock, Reggae and Pop.

https://www.facebook.com/haffihjalmars 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZhbjP2d3sAAFnHARke9qZQ

Dropping Like Flies

 

“Irreverent”, “Hilarious”, “Earworm choruses” and “Too heavy for us butty”. Just some of the terms used to describe Dropping Like Flies over the past few months. DLF were formed from the breakup of Welsh punk legends 100,000 Bodybags, during the Covid-19 lockdowns in March/April 2020. 100KBB called it a day after 29 years and founding members Simon Cullen and Craig “Brewer” Bruzas continued to write, sneaking time together illegally during lockdown in a kitchen or garage, hiding from nosey neighbours, Covid wardens and hyper alert dog walkers in order to write and rehearse a set of new original material. With bass and drums recorded on twelve new songs in November 2020, during a brief break in totalitarianism, a new guitarist was recruited with Brian Meade, an old school friend (although we aren't sure who's) who had never played in a band before, joining as the third member of Dropping Like Flies.

 

After battling Covid lockdown laws and then Covid-19 itself, it wasn’t until August/September 2021 that Dropping Like Flies were able to finally play live together with an appearance at The Landed Festival('s acoustic stage) and over the remainder of the year the band made up for lost time, playing at least 2 gigs every week up to the new year creating a real buzz everywhere they played. At the same time, work was completed on the album with 3 singles launched and a full LP of 12 songs mixed and ready to release, Dropping Like Flies are ready to kick on in 2022 and take on the world using a unique mixture of hard rock riffs, insightful political polemic and a warped sense of humour that

will either have you laughing out loud or running for cover while covering your Nan’s ears.

 

 https://www.instagram.com/droppinglikefl1es/

Jimmy Layton

Jimmy Layton (piano, organ, elec piano) ~ Just another Kid from Red Bank, Jimmy was born at an early age, in a log cabin that he helped his father build. With no sign of musical talent, Jimmy taught himself how to play keyboards as a teenager. Later, he studied classical piano and took theory classes at San Francisco City College. His interest in jazz started through listening to fusion (Return to Forever; Weather Report; Pat Metheny and others). His interest in composition arises from his admiration of Frank Zappa, and Charles Mingus, and playing in original, jazzical-rock group, Dr. Duck.

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jimmy-layton-and-his-all-american-not-your-daddys-jazz-band/1441809433

Winamp outlines its plans for aggregation, artists and NFTs

 

 

 Media player Winamp‘s original heyday may be some time in the past, but it remains a going concern – 80 million people are using the software around the world still.

It also made headlines in March this year when it announced plans to sell NFTs based on the 1997 Winamp skin – its first graphical interface – albeit while rousing the ire of Winamp’s co-creator Justin Frankel in the process.

So what is the Winamp of 2022 really up to? The player’s corporate history is a saga in itself: its original developer was bought by AOL in 1999 for $80m, then sold on to Belgian music/tech startup Radionomy for a rumoured $5m-$10m in 2014.

Vivendi then bought a 64.4% stake in Radionomy in 2015, before selling that back to a new parent group called AudioValley in 2017.

Fast forward to 2022, and Winamp is still owned by AudioValley, alongside sister subsidiaries including Targetspot (the rebranded Radionomy service, focusing on digital audio advertising tech); music licensing firm Jamendo; and recently-launched rights-management entity Bridger.

It’s complicated! But CEO Alexandre Saboundjian shed some more light on his company’s plans for Winamp in an appearance last week at the Wallifornia Music & Innovation Summit in Belgium, interviewed by Music Ally CEO Paul Brindley.

Some of those plans are focused on Winamp’s consumer player, which will soon be relaunching as software that aggregates various kinds of listening: different music streaming services, podcasts and radio stations for example.

“All your listening experiences. I think this is really the future of our player, and I was really surprised that in the last 10 years, nobody tried to build a player like this,” said Saboundjian.

Open source project Tomahawk is the closest thing we can remember to this vision: it was getting lots of buzz in 2012, exactly 10 years ago.

While companies ranging from Spotify to TuneIn have offered different combinations of radio, podcasts and/or on-demand music, nobody has quite wrapped it all up with multiple streaming services in one app.

Saboundjian said that Winamp will pursue these DSP integrations on a “step by step” basis, with one partnership already in place for this year, and more to follow.

Keep reading on  https://musically.com/2022/07/11/winamp-aggregation-artists-nfts/

Toronto’s Legendary GROSSMAN'S TAVERN Announces Return of Annual Amy Louie / Grossman's Music Scholarship & Fundraising Event

 

Following a two-year hiatus on account of the pandemic, Toronto’s legendary Grossman’s Tavern has announced its annual Amy Louie / Grossman's Music Scholarship and fundraiser event will return for 2022. 

Created in memory of the late Amy Louie — a member of the family that has owned Grossman’s Tavern since 1975 — the ALGMS is an artist development bursary that provides two musicians or bands from the Greater Toronto Area $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, to help with career development. 

The 2022 Amy Louie / Grossman's Music Scholarship fundraising event will take place Tuesday, September 27th at Grossman’s Tavern, 379 Spadina Ave, Toronto. 

ALGMS applications are officially open and can be received until September 16th, 2022 at 11:59pm EST. Successful candidates will be chosen by a panel of judges that include members of the Louie family, music industry professionals, and individuals with long-standing connections to Grossman’s Tavern. 

Previous recipients of the Scholarship include The Big Butter and Egg Men, Mike Nagoda, The Swingin’ Blackjacks, Dan McKinnon, Bad Luck Woman & Her Misfortunes, Chloe Watkinson & Park Eddy, Jerome Godboo, and The Responsables. 

As one of the longest-running live music venues and a stalwart within Toronto’s vibrant and dynamic music scene, Grossman’s has long been considered an incubator for an impressive roster of local artists who got their start inside the Tavern, including the late Jeff Healey, the Downchild Blues Band, Rough Trade, and more. 

http://www.grossmanstavern.com/the-amy-louie-grossmans-music-scholarship-algms-call-for-submissions/