A Better Chance in Europe

I must say that my distributor, CD Baby has done a great job pushing my music to the thirsty ears in and out side of the United States. My only question is why do the people over seas gives the Independent artists a fair listen and here in America, only the artist who sounds like some one else or should I say has corporate influence are the artists who are brought forth to public radio and or written about in magazines. I can say it has become better through out the years, but Europe is where the buck is for the little guy with no command backing. Now let’s not think that if you have a crappy band you will be loved and adored. I’m just saying you stand a better chance of being heard. An example comes to mind when I was told that a few of my tracks were played on Lakeland radio, 100.1 in the UK.

  How many times this may have occurred is left to chance but I do know that CD Baby placed me into the CBS owned Last FM music group found in the UK and ,Last FM lent my works to Lakeland radio. As a whole, I was given that chance to be liked by others. This is what I call a fair audition to the world. http://lakelandradio.co.uk/artist/larry+potillo/

The United States is now down playing the CD technology for the sake of the digital MP3 format, while Sales of CD’s over seas are still holding its own. In spite of this. CD Baby has reached out to companies over seas who may be up for the challenge of CD sales. I fell under the impression that I might end up eating the remainder of physical CD’s in my procession. And later on found out that CD Baby reached out to a company named “In and Out Records” in Germany  to help push the sales of my tracks. http://www.inandout.at/?ff_sku=CD:larrypotillo2-C10&new_waers=EUR&ff_direct=x  America has one sure shot called Amazon.com who will sell your CD and or MP3 downloads. Branching out from this is a company named Spotify, a Swedish company that allows the listeners to create play lists of music that is played around the world. What’s good about this company? If you’re lucky to get your music distributed through that system, you get paid. The more people who listen, the better off you are. Again all of this is due to who else? CD Baby.     

Sailing for your love by Larry Potillo on Ubetoo - Listen to Larry Potillo songs for free

Sailing for your love by Larry Potillo on Ubetoo - Listen to Larry Potillo songs for free

Cerebral Hemisphere under review

I felt lucky to have Mr Nick Deriso.A music critic, Review my CD Cerebral Hemisphere. The reading of this blog will share his honest and fair report of my work.

Artist: Larry Potillo

Album Title: Cerebral Hemisphere

Review by Nick DeRiso

Rating: Three stars (out of five)

New Jersey’s Larry Potillo presents an interesting dichotomy.  On the one hand, his newest recordings can be found on a jet-black compact disc, with a throwback label replicating a vinyl long-player.  Potillo, born in Dover in the early 1950s and now living in Rockaway, also says he became interested in music after seeing a concert by the celebrated entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.

Yet Cerebral Hemisphere is anything but old school. In fact, Potillo often settles into comfy modern genres like smooth jazz and space music.  For instance, “Rem State” astutely incorporates elements of trance music, using melody and beats to create something both danceable and listenable.  Potillo builds an electronic crescendo, then tears it down to an icy, emotionally devastating quietness.

If he sounds so very alone, that’s because Potillo was. The entirety of Cerebral Hemisphere was produced on a Yamaha DGX keyboard. There are times, and “Rem State” is one of them, when that works perfectly. Similarly, “Divided Feeling” has a space-filled melancholy, with Potillo doing this brilliant job of replicating a souring soprano saxophone.  Later, the foreboding “Black and White” achieves a techno aridness as Potillo adds flourishes of otherworldly keyboard washes. These contemporary tone-poems are insular enough to be produced in splendid isolation.  They don’t require the improvisational camaraderie of soul music.  The same can be said, too, for his pleasing forays into more conventional smooth-jazz compositions like “Tokyo Sun Dance,” a breezy, upbeat diversion.  “Sailing For Your Love” is a similarly congenial.

“Divided Feeling” perfectly replicates the sophisticated city soul of Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers. 

“Beach House on the Moon” and the title track recall the most accessible 1980s music of Bob James and (because of Potillo’s horn-like soloing) David Sanborn.  Adult-contemporary sides like those keep Cerebral Hemisphere from falling into a mellow snooze. Potillo connects again with this more approachable instrumental sound, one that boasts a relaxed, positive feel while blending jazz, pop, Quiet Storm soul and new age.  There is a concurrent emphasis on the loose groove, rather than towering runs of improvisation.

On “Cerebral Hemisphere,” Potillo switches to a sparkling new tone, almost like a harpsichord, and weaves a hypnotic pulse. He gives “Vampire” this appropriately dark portent, with a harrowing keyboard signature and a distant, menacing beat. “Empty Crib,” which employs a driving hip-hop meter, allows Potillo to reimagine his keyboard as a vibraphone.  Here, he has the airy, pianistic touch reminiscent of George Shearing’s early 1960s quintets. The subsequent “Night Mirage,” Potillo’s album closer, features the same vibes-like effect, but this time within a middle-of-the-road pop sensibility.

As intriguing as these one-man band experiments can be on Cerebral Hemispheres, Potillo loses his footing when he moves into the realm of straight-ahead jazz or blues. These genres require the feel, the raw emotion, of a flesh-and-blood rhythm section. “Sea Witch,” for instance, has the upbeat, post-bop structure of an early Herbie Hancock recording. But, despite Potillo’s nimble, bluesy touch at the keyboard, the stock Yamaha sound bed drains away much of that innate grit in a hail of mechanized cadence. Potillo’s erudite virtual orchestra can’t replace the risk-tasking interpretive joys associated with a real band. “Purple Corn and Fish” finds Potillo switching to a classic electric-piano sound, reminiscent of late-1960s soul brothers Billy Preston or Jimmy Smith.  But there’s not enough heat around him to get the required grease-popping groove going.

That’s easily fixed, however, with the addition of a few funky friends, or a tighter focus on the more ambient and contemporary genres where Cerebral Hemisphere finds its greatest successes.

Review by Nick DeRiso

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Ubetoo - Larry Potillo

Ubetoo - Larry Potillo

Since my last post many people wanted to know who I am. By clicking on the above link you can learn more about me and my music as it plays in Sweden. Or just watch the video to sample a track from my lastest CD.

Selling your Music CD?

As an independent artist there comes a time when one succumbs to a thought. Did I do the right thing when I released my CD to the public? I am a composer and writer of my own music and there is nothing wrong with this, but in my case when I take that big step to sell my masterpiece the first thing any one wants to know is who am I, where can they see me in concert, what kind of merchandise will I sell at my gigs, how big is my following. These are all good question if I were in a famous band or in search of great fame, but as I said before I'm a composer and writer trying to expose my works. Is it a sin for the public to buy music that is not popular to the big record labels? This is a feeling one gets when trying to sell to a market of popularity. Using companies like CD BABY, Disc Makers, UBETOO are some to name who can help get your music to the listeners ears, but this is no guaranty that there will be sales. The use of facebook fan pages, emails, or sites that you can pay to hype your sound may be of great help as long as they link to the original distributors of your music.What this all boils down to is, if you have music that is pleasing to some ones ears, some one will buy it and pass your name on to others. The dreams of becoming rich and famous does not apply using this method for your CD release. I didn't write this to discourage any one but we all need to know that as a writer I may need to sell my material to the right stars who has the live shows and the following.