Earlier this year, we added the Maine music video page to the website.  There are currently 114 videos spotlighting the amazing talent of Maine’s music scene.

We created a “Music from the State of Maine” group on Soundcloud, which is open for any Maine artist to submit their work.

We designed the packaging layout for The Cool, a cover band comprised of adults with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges from Momentum.  The cover artwork was designed by one of the band members, recorded, mixed and mastered by Shaun Curran at Napoleon Complex of  Somerville, MA and organized by Oscar Romero (Gully, Foam Castles, Endless Jags).  You can learn more on their Bandcamp page.

We have worked extensively with José Ayerve (Spouse, Bullyclub) on his latest project, A Severe Joy.  This new material moves away from his normal guitar-driven, 80s influenced rock and focuses on something closer to indie electronic pop.  Along with this new sound, he wanted a new look, which includes masks and lights in his live shows. To accentuate this idea, we tried to be a bit experimental with the packaging for the debut album.  We used vellum letter envelopes, a single folded sheet of paper and writing done in his own hand. We also collaborated with [dog]+[pony] on a video for his song ‘Catapult.’

As for 2012…

A Severe Joy plexi-disc No. 1

We have begun work on a series of 10 limited edition A Severe Joy plexi-disc releases.  The project presented some unique challenges, including a short turnaround time to complete the concept and design, a unique 8.5 inch size and setting the look and tone for the other nine releases.  The first one is available for pre-order from Bandcamp.

A full aseverejoy.com website is nearly complets, and will be going live soon.

Etheria Sparrow’s debut “Journey to Etheria” will be released later this year and features another Factory Portland designed album cover.

Stephen served on the nomination committee for the New England Music Awards, listening to the music of 150+ area musicians over a couple of weeks and submitting ranked choices.  The awards will be presented March 9, 2012 at Hard Rock Café Boston and feature performances from Ron Noyes Band, Jen Kearney, Frank Viele and The Manhatten Project, Mission Hill, and Twin Berlin.

Lastly, our merch shop launched at the beginning of  2012 and features items from A Severe Joy, Spouse, Bullyclub, and Factory Portland.  We’ll announce any deals or new items on Facebook and Twitter.  Send us your thoughts on additional items you’d like to see added to the store.

Thanks for following our progress as we continue to assist artists with their contributions to the Maine music scene. We’re looking forward to an exciting 2012!

Best of luck to Aly with her perfomance – we know you’ll bowl them over.

Portland’s Marie Stella also paid a visit to BreakThru Radio.  Not only did they play some music, they had a little chat as well…

This is a bit serendipitous as I first saw both bands at the same dimly-lit Dooryard show in December 2008.

You can find the Lady Lamb video, and many, many more over on our video page.  Thanks to BreakThru Radio for bringing the video to our attention!

Factory Portland is pleased to announce the addition of a new resource on factoryportland.com.  Last month, Portland Music Foundation held a training session entitled ”Making Music Videos on a Budget” (excellent job on the new website, btw).  The panel included Krister Rollins and Nick Poulin from [dog] and [pony], Adam Flaherty and Spose.  As videos were presented on YouTube and Vimeo, I realized there was no single place to view all of the excellent videos from Maine.  I spent the days following the PMF lecture trying to find just the right tool to display the videos.

The next task was more time consuming – finding the videos.  Some were easy, some I’d seen, many I had not.  After the search, I’d gathered 102 conceptual and performance, high quality videos.  That being said, there are already more to add!  A great feature of the tool being used is that they’re still hosted on YouTube and Vimeo, meaning the musician still gets a hit for every view and all videos retain their copyright.  We’re considering this an extension of our already existing musician and business databases.

We hope that you’ll take a look and enjoy what you see and hear in the Maine Music Video gallery.  Please use our contact form if you have any additions to list or feedback.  We’ll take a look and make sure they meet our standards.

Recently it was posed to me: “okay, but i don’t understand why a film reviews podcast would be talking about music in Maine.”

So this is how it happened… when podcasts were introduced to iTunes in 2005, I discovered Filmspotting (then called Cinecast).  What started out as a hobby by two guys in Chicago, has turned in to a show that’s landed guests like Ed Burns, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rian Johnson, Diablo Cody, Ellen Page, and Shia Labeouf (the bonus content reveals one of the strangest interview outtakes to ever be recorded).  They eventually landed the show on WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio, home of This American Life and Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!.

I had a chance to meet one of the hosts, Adam Kempenaar, at a Boston Filmspotting Meet-up.  In addition to interviews, the show also features short musical interludes to move from segment to segment.  A short time after the creation of Factory Portland, it occurred to me… “Filmspotting has music every week, Portland has great music”.  I hope to continue sending great music to the show, but for now, here’s a list of Portland bands that have made it on air…

Spouse: Episode #316: The American / Top 5 Hitman Movies

Gully: Episode #323: Hereafter / Top 5 Double Features

Brenda: Episode #328: I Love You Phillip Morris / Top 5 DVDs of 2010

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper: Episode #337: Army of Shadows / Top 5 Revolution Movies

Bonus: “Superman” by Spouse as the closing song on This American Life, Episode #178, 2/23/2001: Superpowers

Update: Basically, we found Factory Portland slow. So we’re tracking down little bits of code to speed it up. That part should be better, but you may find some issues with text displaying properly… we hope to fix that soon as well. We’ll also have a new feature announcement once the text issues are resolved.

We recently got a copy of  ’Confidence’ by Portland’s Spouse in the hands of the hosts of Filmspotting, along with a couple of other releases by local artists.  They were kind enough to feature two tracks from the album on a recent show.  For the uninitiated, Filmpotting is a Chicago-based, film review podcast that also airs on WBEZ radio (home of  This American Life and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!).  In the past, the show has featured music by artists like Animal Collective, Neko Case, The Sea and Cake, Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine, Wilco, and many more.

Listen to Filmspotting Episode (#316) to hear ‘Vampire Love Song’ and ‘What You’re Feeling’.  You can download those tracks, and more, at Spouse’s Bandcamp Site.

Bullyclub

Thanks to both those who attended and to the musicians who played the Factory Portland launch event.  Don’t forget to check out the photos from the evening.

If you’d like more infomation on the bands who played, you can find more below.  Many of the artists have music available for sale online, so please support them if you can…

Greyshield (website)
Jose Ayerve (of Spouse)
The No. 9
TJ Metcalfe (of Dead Man’s Clothes, Cosades)
Bullyclub
The Red F (Tim Burns of Phantom Buffalo)
Wesley Hartley and The Traveling Trees

// 'Gregory' by Gully

Gully’s ‘Gregory’ EP is now available on Bandcamp.  As mentioned last month, Factory Portland assisted with the design and release of the album.

Look for the physical CD to be available locally in the near future.

You can find out more about Gully on their MySpace page.

Spouse // Confidence

Head over to Spouse’s new Bandcamp profile to download some of their previous releases as well as some newly released demos, covers and rarities.

Their new album, Confidence, is also available for purchase at their site (newly redesigned by Factory Portland).  The album has received some glowing reviews, including one from The Bollard, where you can download a track from Confidence.

Don’t forget to catch José Ayerve of Spouse at the Factory Portland Launch Event at Space Gallery on July 23rd!

Bullyclub

At Space Gallery, Friday 07.23.2010, Doors at 8:00 PM, Starts at 8:30 PM, $6, 18+

A new asset to our city’s virtual scene, Factory Portland assists local musicians and artists with social networking and production efforts. Additionally, Factory Portland’s site features a database of close to 400 past and present local acts, including area favorites and one-time collaborations. To celebrate the launch, Factory Portland has invited an ecclectic selection of Portland bands and musicians to play: newer acts like The No. 9 and Greyshield; side/spinoff projects The Red F (Tim Burns of Phantom Buffalo) and Wesley Hartley and The Traveling Trees; solo appearances from Jose Ayerve (Spouse, Nuclear Waste Management Club), and TJ Metcalfe (Dead Man’s Clothes, Cosades, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper); and the surprise reunion of Bullyclub!

Buy tickets here or at any Bull Moose Music location