SoundCloud

This week, we’re talking with Brandon & Cigi from Kunk Budapest about music, the 90s in Hungary, and how the music they blog about is constantly evolving!

Kunk Budapest | http://mykunk.com

How long have you been blogging, and what made you start?
We got started in mid-2007. At first, the blog was just a complement to the party here in Budapest we kicked off at the same time. It was a fun side-project and easy to run since gathering and listening to a wide variety of music was something Cigi and I were doing already. Eventually it became just as much a project as the party itself, and every bit as fun. 

What genres does the site tend to cover? Have you always covered this type of music?
We post across a variety of genres, however tend to concentrate on danceable indie or ‘smart electro’ type stuff. We definitely have an ear for sounds with an underlying pop appeal as well as an affinity for retro, 80s era synth-heavy tunes. Although most tracks we post reflect that interest, our history determines the remainder. Cigi grew up in the 90s in Hungary and was influenced a lot by punk and hardcore (Refused, Nirvana), which carries through today as he’ll often spread the love on experimental-lo-fi stuff. Whereas I grew up in california in the 80s and will always have a soft spot for new wave faggy dance music a la Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, etc., so stuff that reminds me of that now I’ll often post.

How do you find the music you blog about and what makes you pick something to post?
This has evolved over the years. At first it was largely just trolling through our old back-catalogs of stuff — over time many new avenues to find music opened up. Obviously other blogs, aggregators, MySpace (formerly); now other tools including Twitter, Facebook, and SounCloud we use a lot. In parallel, as we acquired more readers and met more artists through the party, the direct submissions became a huge source. Currently the process is an amalgam of hitting upon all these different channels.

How we pick something to post — in short: it’s either something that strikes us as either new and fresh and compelling, or something known and familiar, yet still excellently-crafted.

When did you start using SoundCloud, and how has it helped you curate the music you post about?
We started using Soundcloud in 2009, initially just as a way for people to submit their tracks to us. Now as more and more artists are consistently using it, we find that by following them it’s a lot easier to track the songs which we want to listen to. The notification system has become a large part of how we discover new edits. At the same time we’re using the embeds quite frequently so it makes the publishing side easier as well. We’re also making the occasional mix and use soundcloud to publish and post those to the blog.

If someone’s interested in sending you some music to review, how do you prefer getting submissions? What are some “Do” and “Don’t”s for people to keep in mind?
Emails are still effective, however there are some simple rules, with more dont’s than do’s. Don’t send out to a huge email list with everyone in the TO or CC field. Don’t attach the track to an email, rather send a link to where i can play the track. Don’t send some massive preset PR-made promo material. Don’t write over and over again. Do send a short and polite personal note. Do include a few short sentences about your act especially if new. 

What are some songs that you’re currently playing non-stop?

Brandon’s picks: 

Cigi’s picks:

Any last words?
Blog from the heart!

Do you have a track you want to send over to Brandon & Cigi? Submit it to their dropbox below!

After a busy last couple of months we finally released a new update to SoundCloud, tackling three different areas that will make your SoundCloud experience even better.

We’ve got all the details over on our big sister blog so head over there to learn about what’s new today.

First Act: Introducing the new Dashboard

Second Act: Better, faster and more transparent upload & sharing flow

Third Act: Introducing the sharing note: add personal messages to your originally created tracks

Massive kudos to the entire team for making this release. There’s some serious hard work involved in what you see being deployed today.

This week, we’re talking with Jordan from Oh-Death about nostalgic disco tracks, and the importance of researching blogs before sending them music!

Oh-Death | http://oh-death.blogspot.com

How long have you been blogging, and what made you start?
I’ve been blogging since late 2007. Around that time the music blog was exploding as a source of music exposure and hype; I was an avid reader of blogs like Palms Out Sounds, Missingtoof, IHeartComix and Discodust but wasn’t into everything they posted. So I started my own blog, searching for and writing about new music that I liked. I also interviewed up-and-coming DJs and producers that I admire, such as DJ Neoteric, Designer Drugs, Streetlife DJs, Malente and Andy George. I also use the blog to promote my t-shirt label, events and DJ slots.

What genres does the site tend to cover? Have you always covered this type of music?
To begin with I featured a lot of electro and house, before touching on the fidget house genre. Recently though, I’ve mostly posted about re-edits and remixes of classic house and disco tracks along with the odd mixtape or two. When I started writing about music, the blog scene was fresh and exciting: and so was the music. Recently though, I feel that there hasn’t been anything to top that period, in both the electronic and indie music scenes. I’ve found myself becoming a bit nostalgic, re-visiting house and disco tracks that I missed at the time of their release as I was too young to appreciate them.

How do you find the music you blog about and what makes you pick something to post?
I get sent promos and original productions everyday via the blog and I listen to everything. However I find I prefer searching for material by listening to other people’s remixes, edits and mixtapes on sites like Soundcloud and Mixcloud. I try and post music I find refreshing and different. When I hear a track in a mix I try and track down a copy for both a post and to add to my music collection.

When did you start using SoundCloud, and how has it helped you curate the music you post about?
I signed up for beta testing before its official launch and have been using it ever since, mainly to host my own edits and mixtapes, as well as using the dropbox feature to allow people to share music they’d like featured on the blog with me. I hadn’t really used it to its full potential until recently, as I was still posting download links for mp3s. I’ve now switched and incorporated a SoundCloud player in my posts, so readers can access the music immediately rather than being diverted to a melee of pop-up advertising just to download one track.

If someone’s interested in sending you some music to review, how do you prefer getting submissions? What are some “Do” and “Don’t”s for people to keep in mind?
-Do send your music as a link to preview and listen to straight away. It’s easier to flick through and get a taste for the track and avoids waiting to download it first.
-Do your research. Often people just send me music or add my blog email to a mailing list without looking into what I post about. There’s no point sending to everyone who’s listed on Hypem.com It’s worth the extra effort to single out potential blogs who will like your material.
-Do personalise your emails to blogs. One sure way of being immediately excluded from consideration on the blog is to put the email address’s of everyone you’re emailing in the ‘to’ field. It’s a kind of underwritten rule that blogs like posting about stuff that no one else has written about. So writing a group email and including a list of everyone else you’ve sent this ‘exclusive’ track to isn’t going to do you any favours.
-Do check that the links in your email work. There’s nothing worse than having to send a second email with an apology for the last email having broken download/ website links.

What are some songs that you’re currently playing non-stop?

Any last words?
Enjoy the music and support the artists.

Do you have a track you want to send over to Jordan? Submit it to his dropbox below!