Personally, I’ve been thrilled by the interactions I’ve had with musicians and other vocalists working within the CC format, and have no problem with making some of my work available under the Attribution-NonCommercial license. In 2007, I contributed vocals to 2 songs on the Creative Commons free download album, Adrift, by Moosefrog and in 2008, I contributed vocals to 2 songs on the massive CC Asia Band project, CABACA. I have since made several other vocals and spoken words available on ccMixter.
But some say they’re annoyed by what they see as attention-grabbing antics. Do pop stars’ constructions (be they costumes or stage sets) put pressure on less well-funded women musicians to be outrageous, to get more naked or cross more lines just to get noticed?
Anji Bee, Lovespirals: From my perspective, the most important thing is to develop a strong internet presence that includes quality audio, video, and photos. The more professional you come across, the more likely people are to take you seriously. I personally wouldn’t rely on gimmicks to get attention, but that seems to be working out for Lady Gaga, so who am I to say anything against it?
For the record, the question I was answering was: “What advice would you give to a woman musician just starting out?” You can read all my responses to the NPR Hey Ladies questionnaire.
This is a great series which includes many fantastic female artists who gave much more interesting answers than I did in my questionnaire, and I highly recommend you check it out!
The Cyber PR site posted a new interview with Anji Bee called New Media Pioneer: The Chillcast with Anji Bee. Heather Smith asked Anji about her shows The Chillcast and Chillin’ with Lovespirals, as well as the concept of Podsafe music, and more.
“The Sexiest Voice in Podcasting” Anji Bee of the Chillcast talks about the show and her double life as both podcaster and musician.
The Chillcast features a sexy and sophisticated mix of calming, chill podsafe music, hosted by Anji Bee. The station plays a blend of Electronica, Jazz, Soul, and New Age music.
The brand new 7 Day Visa album, Buenos Aires, includes one track featuring Anji Bee. “Que Quiero” is a lovely reworking of a Creative Commons collaboration with Moosefrog from 2007, originally titled “En la Oscuridad.” Jamahl Richardson of 7 Day Visa (and The Shanghai Restoration Project live band) created a completely new arrangement of Bee’s Spanish language lyrics set to his original music, which was inspired by his recent trip to the cosmopolitan capitol of Argentina. Wistful, dreamy, and sensual, this chillout tune is sure to set your mind wandering with memories of warm, lazy days filled with the vibrancy of Summer. Other special guests on this album include German Alejandro Pla, Joseph Allan Johnson, Matthew Szemela, and Lucas Cantor. You can check out “Mano y Mano (ft. Matthew Szemela)” on The Chillcast #224: Chill Favorites. 7 Day Visa also produced two excellent remixes for the recent Lovespirals release, Love EP, both of which you can download free from Lovespirals’ Bandcamp Page. You can also check out the Chillcast Artist of the Week feature on 7 Day Visa for the album, Tokyo, which includes a free download of “Sakura Stroll.”
This month’s episode of The Chillcast with Anji Bee is being featured once again on the front page of Mevio, along with a video clip of Anji on Mevio Today. Bryan Ford’s “Here All Along (Feat. Ava Fain)” plays in the background as Anji announces the episode. Check it out below or directly from the Mevio site at meviotoday.mevio.com.
Lovespirals is the musical project of musician, Ryan Lum, and vocalist, Anji Bee – your humble Chillcast hostess… The first single from our fourth album, Future Past, to get the full remix treatment is “Love” – an atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass tune that recalls some of our earliest work together. A half dozen producers from totally different musical schools of thought set my poppy yet ethereal vocals to completely new musical scores. From angular drum ‘n’ bass, to lush downtempo, to atmospheric ambient music, this moody collection covers a lot of sonic ground. Chillcast listeners should be familiar with most — if not all — of the contributing producers which includes: Chill Factor-5, 7 Day Visa, Divasonic, Soul Whirling Somewhere, Falling You, and Xurba.
You can download each individual track from LastFM (mark you favorite remixes with “Love This Track”) or Bandcamp. Or you can download the entire EP — which includes the original album version of “Love” — in one click for just 99¢ from Lovespirals’ Webstore or Lovespirals’ Bandcamp Page — the later of which offers you the chance to pay whatever amount you deem fit. Both Bandcamp and LastFM have built-in social media tools that allow you to easily repost links to emails, Twitter, Facebook, and other services with the “Share” pull down menus, so be sure to tell a friend! Podcasters, DJs, Internet DJs, and music bloggers are all encouraged to share these tunes with their audiences, as well. If you’re feeling the love, please write a review of the Love EP on iTunes, Amazon Mp3, or CDbaby — even if you did download it free elsewhere. Lovespirals would appreciate you giving us a little love in return. 🙂
Lovespirals will return to San Fran for what is sure to be another great night at Harlot on July 9th. Once again, Anji will join Karmacoda for their amazing rendition of “Motherless Child” from Lovespirals’ 2007 Motherless Child EP, as well as backing vocals on one or two of the band’s original songs. Ryan will be doing iPad DJ sets throughout the night, including a special “Anji Bee” set between live performances by Divasonic and Karmacoda to debut songs from her upcoming new album. He’s sure to include a track or two from Lovespirals’ brand new Love EP, which includes a remix by Divasonic. Thanks to Sean Yamamoto for the pic of Karmacoda with Lovespirals from the last Harlot show.
July 9th, 2010
7 pm to 10 pm No Cover, 21+ Harlot
46 Minna Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
415.777.1077 www.harlotsf.com
There’s lots of new Anji Bee tunes in the works with a variety of musical collaborators, and I’m pretty excited about everything that’s going on! First and foremost, I’d like to officially announce that I am currently in the process of recording the first Anji Bee branded album. Woot! After a decade of releasing one-off singles containing my lyrics and vocal arrangements with various artists from all over the world, I thought it was high time I collected together all of my favorite ideas into one perfected package. You can expect to hear many of your favorite tunes from over the years, plus some brand new tracks co-written with my longtime musical partner, Ryan Lum, of Lovespirals. We’re working more closely than ever to bring my songs to life in the most polished versions possible. You have no idea how hard it is for me to keep these tunes under wraps…
Aside from this massive project, I have also contributed vocals/lyrics to new songs by Falling You, The Grooveblaster, and Karmacoda for their next albums. I also have a new single with Nick Murray, called “Have I Known You,” coming out on Loverush Digital this summer. I understand there will be several remixes by other dance music producers on the single, but I don’t know who yet! And speaking of remixes, several new ccMixter-related songs have come out recently using my vocals from the CC Asia Band project. One of these was just released on a 2-CD set by Buddha Bar DJ, Benoit Cassar, for the 2nd installation of his compilation series, Danai. “Buddhahood (ft. Anji Bee)” is included on Danai, Vol. 2 (CD 1: Camera Rolling), available now on iTunes, eMusic, and Amazon. Then there’s the “Floating Buddha Mix” by ccMixter producer, Vo1k1 of “Crossing the Pond,” which is a free download. The final collab I’d like to mention is an amazing rework of my vocals from the 2007 song, “En La Oscuridad,” that I recorded for Creative Commons band, Moosefrog. Jamahl of 7 Day Visa created a very sexy new version called “Que Quiero” for his new album, Buenos Aires, due out this summer.
And last, but not least, I’ve been wrapping up work on a big remix project for Lovespirals which should see the light of day in a few weeks. The ‘Love EP’ will contain remixes by a variety of indie artists (and friends) including Chill Factor-5, Divasonic, Xurba, 7 Day Visa, Falling You, and Soul Whirling Somewhere. This is a very unique remix set which moves between upbeat dance mixes and moody ambient versions of this track from Lovespirals’ new album, Future Past.
