The band chat about the latest Lovespirals news including overhauling the site with WordPress, using royalties from MTV shows like The 70’s House for gear acquisition, new songwriting and recording, as well as preparing to perform in SecondLife, more ShowGirls news, Last.FM vs iLike, are RSS readers just for geeks, and more. And last – but not least – Ryan and Anji share a clip of “Sundrenched” from their upcoming 3rd album.
Additional Links:
Lots of updates are being made to the band site this month, the biggest of which is integrating WordPress into it so we can connect with the blogosphere at large. Now the front page of the site has a continuous feed of our news, podcast, and blog entries — all mixed up together, but tagged with categories. You can still view just news or blog entries on separate pages if you like, as well. We’re still ironing out all the kinks and figuring out what works best, but it looks pretty good and it’s functioning, so feel free to poke around and make some comments!
i watched the macworld keynote on my computer and saw the new iPhone demonstration by steve jobs. a video ipod, cell phone, and portable computer all in one; what a damn cool idea. i’m not sure if i’ll be an early adopter and get one when they’re released later this year. however, if this is the way things are headed, then i’m excited. having google and google maps at my fingertips is something that i’ve wanted for years. ever been out somewhere and had to call a friend to do a google search to find some info for you? maybe i’m just weird, but i have. plus for doing shows, i often bring a laptop with me for additional music support; backing tracks and such. the iPhone will be be able to handle that with ease. i’ll be keeping my eye on this and see how it plays out over the next months and years.
Ryan and Anji give a brief rundown of their New Year’s celebrations — including Anji’s Tofurky Roast feast, the band wax poetic on recent audio equipment updates, Ryan becomes an iLike convert, iLike VS Mog VS Pandora, Anji shares fan mail connecting her to French Maid TV, Anji shares her “Internet Land Bridge Theory” and that’s about it…
Additional Links:
Anji’s podsafe music show, The Chillcast with Anji Bee is now part of Adam Curry’s Podshow lineup on Sirius Stars 102 every Tuesday night at 7 pm EST/10 pm PST. If you don’t have Sirius satellite radio, you can still subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or your favorite RSS reader!
I thought I’d put together a Top 20 list of my favorite podsafe songs of 2006, then I realized I should present it as a podcast. Duh! It was fun to put together, but boy were the shownotes a pain in the ass… Anyway, I did all the hard work so you can just enjoy the tunes and direct links to the band’s mp3s and websites. Lucky you! Check it out.
Anji is currently a featured podcaster on the Podcast Alley site. Check out her “6.5 Questions” interview:
The 6.5 Questions
1. How long have you been podcasting?
I began my first podcast, Chillin’ with Lovespirals, in June 2005. Before that, I had been producing prerecorded music features as early as 2002, for both terrestrial and Internet radio, including my own Live365 station. It’s too bad I didn’t learn about RSS enclosures earlier! The Chillcast began in January 2006 via Internet Archive, then was officially launched on PodShow in March.2. How many shows have you done?
As of today I’ve done 42 Chillcasts, 26 Chillin’ with Lovespirals band podcasts, and 8 Chillin’ with Anji Bee vidcasts.3. How has your quality/performance changed since your first show?
A lot! Not only is my sound much more pro, but the overall tone and production value. I’m constantly upgrading my gear, so it sounds better all the time.4. What podcasts do you listen to and which are your favorites?
My regular podcasts are Diggnation, Mysterious Universe, commandN, and the Daily Source Code, though I often skip through a lot of that since it’s daily… I just became regular with In Over Your Head, since I’ve pledged to lead Julien’s cult fan army. I also keep up pretty well with Dave’s Lounge, Tea with Hungry Lucy, and Senator Barack Obama’s Podcast. I check in from time to time with Accident Hash, Rumor Girls, Infected, The Lounge King Show, Inside the Net, and lots of others.5. Tell us about your show and who should be listening to it?
The Chillcast is a weekly music show with commentary that offers a cosmopolitan blend of Electronica, Jazz, Soul, and World music. I play a wide variety of genres and styles, seldom repeat artists, focus on recent releases, and always offer plenty of information about the songs. From time to time, I do special artist interview features, or other one-off shows to keep things fresh. Listeners say my voice is as relaxing and sexy as the music I play, so I guess that’s one of the show’s draws! From the feedback I receive, my listener base seems like a pretty varied mix of age, gender, nationality, and musical taste — all with the common goal of chillin’ out, whether they are commuting, working, or relaxing at home. One listener in France says he and some friends get together Tuesday evening with a bottle of wine to listen to The Chillcast!6. What is your background (especially if relevant to your podcast)?
I come from a long background in music, actually. I took recording classes in college, had 3 years in college radio as DJ and station manager, I created 4 different music fanzines, wrote music reviews and interview features for IGN’s now defunct RadioSpy site, I’ve been in a number of bands and collaborated with many others, and I’ve been really active in the online music community since 1998. So, I know a lot about independent and underground music.6.5 Is there anything else your listeners should know about you, your show, etc?
I’m a multifaceted person with abundant curiosity and drive to create, so you really never know what I’ll be up to next. From my music show, to my band podcast, to my vidcast, you’ll see many different sides of me. I’m always coming up with fun new ideas and looking for others to collaborate with. Which reminds me, other podcasters and bands are welcome to contact me to get involved with The Chillcast!
Anji and Ryan sit down for their final episode of the year! Topics include Anji joining the Sirius Stars 102 show lineup, embarrassing moments on iLike, the Podsafe Music Network, fan feedback, Anji’s new Show Girls podcast, Lovespirals’s first living room concert, and more! We share a clip of Ryan’s 1999 recording of “Little Drummer Boy” featuring his previous singer, Suzanne Perry.
Additional Links:
Matt Rowe tapped me for a list of my Top 10 holiday tracks for musictap.net this week! You might be surprised by a few of my choices… I actually looked at my hit count in iTunes to verify what seems to be my biggest holiday themed songs. I decided not to include any Lovespirals or Love Spirals Downwards related tracks, even though I do enjoy listening to them… Anyway, here’s my list:
Lovespirals tracks listed on the Podsafe Music Network are now available for purchase, including several tracks unavailable on iTunes or other digital retailers. Now fans can buy the band’s 1998 collaboration with Monkey Bars, “Beatitude,” a radio edit of the first track Anji ever sang on, “Ecstatic,” the Bitstream Dream remix of “Walk Away,” and the Podsafe edit of “Free and Easy.” Downloads are 99 cents each, processed through ClickandBuy. Visit Lovespirals Podsafe Music Network page to preview every song in it’s entirety before buying them.
Anji and Ryan are back with the latest band news — including a big, big podcast announcement and a big, big CD sale, plus more music geekery, and listener feedback, including an audio feedback from CC Chapman of the award winning Accident Hash podcast!
LINKS:
I finally got around to updating our mp3 page, adding in an audio player chock full of tracks, as well as links to all of the most popular music sites we’re on. I think I’ve hit all the places folks normally check out music at. If I’ve skipped anything important, hopefully fans will let me know… Will ya?
