After the great success of the ‘MoonJune Compilation: $1 and then $2 min. donation for 60 tunes’ promotion launched in November of 2012, and the ‘Mr. MoonJune Recommends, Volume 1’ promo compilation launched in December of 2012, Leonardo Pavkovic has now put together another selection of extraordinary sounds from around the world featuring; Alex Machacek, Mark Wingfield, John Sund (Acoustic Sense & with Ayi Solomon), Nicolas Meier, Apostolis Anthimos, Michel Sajrawy, The Avengers (Beledo, Adam Holzman, Lincoln Goines, Kim Plainfield), Ernesto Holman, Dilaeto, Uzva, Ecstasy Project, Sing Sing Penelope, Evil Giraffe On Mars, Dominique Vantomme Root, Sean Wayland, Luz De Riada, Matto Molto, Tassos Spiliotopoulos, The Wrong Object.
Over the years Leo has received more than 1,500 albums from artists all around the world soliciting a CD release, trying to find a proper ‘home’ for their projects. He did his best to answer every contact and to listen to every single album. He suggested to some artists that they approach other labels that might be more appropriate for their music, or that they self-release their albums, and some he just couldn’t afford and they are now on bigger labels.
This compilation is the second in a series drawn from these submissions plus some tunes from a few of his friends, or musicians with whom Leo wished that he had worked with. The purpose of these compilations is to expose these musicians’ recently recorded music to the constantly growing MoonJune audience, and also to pay due respect to their artistry. All the featured music represents in some way the philosophy of MoonJune Records - progressive music exploring the boundaries of jazz, rock, avant, ethno, and the unknown - and anything in between.
As Leo says, in the world we live in, with its oversaturated music market, rapidly disappearing record stores, and a record business that ignores real musicianship, and with fewer and fewer outlets where quality progressive music can be exposed, it’s becoming more and more difficult for artists to be noticed unless they have a well-known legacy or they tour frequently and intensively, which many are unable to do.
What I particularly like is that by clicking on each track in turn, the listener is taken to a new page where there is complete information about the artist and the album from which the tune was selected, and most importantly a direct link to the artists’ sites where those albums can be purchased. This last is the most important. Leo is asking for a donation of between $1 and $5 for this compilation which has 25 songs and is nearly 3 hours along, but that won’t even cover the costs of setting all of this up. Here is someone attempting to promote incredible music, hoping that people will then invest in buying CDs from the musicians themselves and he doesn’t make any money out of it!!
All power to Leo, and long may he continue doing this as I have discovered some incredible music and musicianship that otherwise would have passed me by. Just one measly dollar, what on earth are you waiting for?
