Scrattch

Hello all! I'm posting on behalf of The Library Bards, a nerd-centric parody band consisting of Bonnie Gordon (ABC's The Quest) and Xander Jeanneret (TBS' King of the Nerds). We're compiling together a Christmas Album for release this year, and are in the market for some composers! We normally work with virt, but thought this would be the perfect opportunity to open up and collaborate with other composers. Money stuff: We are planning on putting this project on both iTunes and on YouTube (in the form of a Christmas Special), and each composer would be credited and receive 40% of the revenue garnered by their track. Revenue will be split evenly, if there are eight composers on the full album, complete monthly revenue from iTunes and ad revenue from YouTube will be totaled and divided by eight, then 40% of that number will be given to the composer. ex. $800 made from revenue for an 8-track album = $100 per track, each composer would receive $40 (40%) Due Date: The due date for all tracks is 9/1/15, as we need time to record and master the vocals, and shoot and edit the video. Music stuff: The songs will be sung either by Bonnie and Xander, or by celebrity guests that are expected to appear in the special. The tracks will also be used in live performances, both during the Christmas season and out on any tours that the Bards are on. The style of the tracks can vary based on the theme, and the Bards are very open to creatively collaborate with the composers! Here are some subjects that are tentatively on the table, with the original Christmas Song Title first: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Pikachu, Red-Cheeked Mouse Thing, Pokemon Themed) Silent Night (Violent Bite, Zombie Themed) Winter Wonderland (White Walkerland, Game of Thrones Themed) Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (Spocking Around The Enterprise, Star Trek Themed) Carol of the Bells (Carol of the Spells, a hymn for mages) Baby, It’s Cold Outside (Bonnie, It’s Cold Outside) - With the general theme of not wanting to go outside, and instead play video games 12 Days of Christmas (12 Days of Geekmas, Combines 12 different fandoms) Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (Grammar got run over once again, dear) GREEN - Indicates the song is still looking for a composer The Bards are also interested in collaborating with lyric writing, or if you have a nerd-centric Christmas Parody you'd like to pitch as a new track. We think this has a lot of potential, and the Bards have enjoyed success in the past. One of their most successful songs was the parody of the Taylor Swift song "Shake It Off", converted into the Hobbit-themed "Gandalf": You can hear the Misty Mountains theme is mixed with the original "Shake it Off" melody, which we really love. If you're interested in participating in this project, send a sample or two of your work to librarybards (at) gmail (dot) com, with the subject line "Christmas Special". Let us know which track (or tracks) you'd be interested in working on, and we can start working together from there!

Hello all! My name is Xander, and I'm currently an American student studying in Nagasaki, Japan. I'm a member of one of the best Yosakoi dancing troupes in Japan, Toppuu. Yosakoi is a high-energy traditionally based Japanese dance (think dancing, screaming, ninjas ), and students traditionally learn the dance Soran-bushi. Here's the deal: I'm proposing a contest to re-mix the traditional Soran-bushi. The winning song will be given to Toppuu, and danced to during practices (if it goes over well, it very well may be performed!). While I can't guarantee the dance will be performed by Toppuu, I CAN guarantee that the winning song will be performed to by their sister group in the United States, called Arashi. This is an opportunity for a remixer to have their song danced to by one of the top groups in Japan, and I figured I might as well ask to see if anyone is interested (since I'm one of the few in the group that speaks English, hahaha) Yosakoi is still a relatively new artform, and has little to no following in the United States. Thus, the music style might be hard to recreate or remix. The songs usually take traditional Japanese sounds (normally the shakuhachi or shamisen), combines it with a "rock" guitar feel, and upbeat drums to give it a modern appeal. This particular song (soran bushi) was performed by fisherman in Hokkaido, and the dance to it mimicks those movements. The song itself is a bit repetitive, and the movements follow that (considering it was a work song), and I'd like the remix to change that. You can find a copy of the original song uploaded here: http://www.k-state.edu/yosakoi/sound/soran-bushi.mp3 Criteria: - The remix should be upbeat, but danceable - The remix should retain the flavor of Japanese instruments - The remix needs to stay a reasonable length, as the dancers might be exhausted at anything over 6 minutes - A good Yosakoi song should have an inspirational intro (normally a bit slower and mysterious), an upbeat section, slow section, upbeat section, and then climax. You don't necessarily have to follow this format, but it will probably help your chances of winning. here's a clip of Toppuu performing to a different song Submissions can be sent to scrattch@gmail.com or (if it's too large) can be uploaded and then a link sent to that address. I'm going to set the deadline at September 20th as that will give us time to coreograph before practices start. I hope I've covered everything here, but you can reach me with questions at the above e-mail address, or on here. Here are some pictures of Toppuu in action! (As a side note, I realize this is not video game-related material or contest, but I highly admire the work done on this website, and have been an avid downloader (hehe) for some time. I figured this might be of interest to those remixers who are interested in Japanese culture beyond the video game!) If everything goes right, I'm sure we'll see a rise in popularity of Yosakoi in the United States, and show Japan that we can contribute too! Thanks!