Explore the power of music abroad with Fulbright and mtvU! 

The Competition

Deadline for Fellowships Beginning Fall 2009 is March 1, 2009

Celebrity Judges for this Year's Competition:

Vampire Weekend	Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance
Santogold	Death Cab for Cutie

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and mtvU have announced the Fulbright-mtvU Fellowships, awarded to promote “the power of music” as a global force for mutual understanding. Fellows will conduct research abroad for one academic year on projects of their own design, around an aspect of international musical culture. They will share their experiences during their Fulbright year via video reports, blogs and podcasts.

Up to four awards will be available to pursue projects around an aspect of international contemporary or popular music as a cultural force for expression. Preference will be given to creative projects that are conveyed in a dynamic fashion and are accompanied by a feasible plan. Applicants are encouraged to consider all aspects of the power of music in developing their proposals. Along with the study of music in a specific cultural context, proposals will be considered in other music-related fields including music and social activism; music in learning; music and the community and musical performance.

Celebrity judges will pick the winners from the best applications.  The judges are Vampire Weekend, Death Cab for Cutie, Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance and Santogold.

Read current 2008-2009 Fulbright-mtvU Fellows' blogs at: http://fulbright.mtvu.com/

Thinking of Applying

The deadline is March 1, 2009 with the award starting in the Fall of 2009. Please visit https://us.fulbrightonline.org/thinking_mtv.html for more information.

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The Celebrity Judges 

At Columbia, Ezra majored in English and Rostam majored in Music. As their time at school was coming to an end, they formed Vampire Weekend in the spring of 2006 with drummer Christopher Tomson and bassist Chris Baio.

With a distinct vibe in mind, they began recording and performing around New York City. Drawing on their diverse backgrounds and interests, they began experimenting and exploring the intersections of the things they loved: African guitar music, the Western classical canon, hazy memories of summers in Cape Cod, winters in upper Manhattan, reggaeton and everything else that would become a part of Vampire Weekend.

Their first album came together over the course of 18 months, beginning in an undersized practice room on the Columbia University campus and ending in a newly christened storage space-cum-studio called the Treefort in DUMBO, Brooklyn. During this time, the band went from playing at the literary houses of their Alma Mater to selling out shows in New York at The Bowery Ballroom and the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and opening for Animal Collective at Webster Hall.

In the spring of 2007, Chris Baio began booking the band’s first national tour as he finished a degree in Russian Regional Studies (the remaining members of the band graduated in May of 2006). Ezra Koenig was preparing his eighth graders in Bed-Stuy for the city-wide English exams. Chris Tomson was ending his nine-month stay on a windowless fourth floor of a major label archive in midtown Manhattan. Rostam Batmanglij was wrapping up what will likely be his last film score for the foreseeable future. The band went in four ways on a 2004 Honda Odyssey. When they returned from their July tour they had signed to XL Recordings and seen America from coast to coast.

Their self-titled debut was released on January 29, 2008 to worldwide critical acclaim. They have graced magazine covers, played numerous sold-out shows across the world, performed on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Night With Conan O’Brien. They are one of the biggest success stories of 2008.

http://www.vampireweekend.com/

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Death Cab for Cutie

When asked to describe Death Cab For Cutie’s sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Walla characterizes it as “having teeth,” and we can’t think of a more apt summarization of the disc. While many bands in Death Cab For Cutie’s situation would try to recreate the success of hit songs like “Soul Meets Body” or “I Will Follow You Into The Dark,” the band has instead crafted the most ambitious and varied album of their career by simply doing what they’ve been doing since they formed in Bellingham, Washington a decade ago – made a brilliant record that refuses to pander, while stretching the artistic boundaries of what a Death Cab For Cutie record should sound like.

After spending much of 2006 in the midst of a turbulent tour cycle surrounding their RIAA platinum, Grammy-nominated album Plans, the band took a well-deserved break during the first part of 2007.  Frontman Ben Gibbard embarked on his first-ever solo tour; guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Walla released a solo album and produced records for acts like Tegan And Sara; drummer Jason McGerr constructed his own recording studio, Two Sticks; and bassist Nick Harmer, as always seems to be the case, worked on various projects. If Plans was a collection of firsts – Death Cab’s first album for a major label, the first disc to feature songwriting contributions from someone other than Gibbard, the first Death Cab disc recorded with the same drummer as the one before – Narrow Stairs feels more like home.

The decision to record the new album at McGerr’s Two Sticks, Walla’s studio Alberta Court, and long-time friend John Vanderslice’s studio Tiny Telephone allowed the band to abandon self-conscious tendencies in order to craft the most creative album of their career. “I wanted more than anything to create a professional studio that was also somewhere that was comfortable to hang out in,” says McGerr about the conception and construction of Two Sticks (which was designed largely with the Narrow Stairs sessions in mind). “To do that, I had to take into account what we all love and hate about the studios we’ve been to, and make it comfortable enough to spend five or six weeks there at a time without feeling homesick.” That environment, combined with the heightened amount of collaboration on the new songs, makes Narrow Stairs the climactic culmination of Death Cab’s first ten years.  

While much of this is due to the musical and emotional relationship the current quartet have developed over the last few years of playing, singing, and touring together, it can also be attributed to the environment Narrow Stairs was tracked in. According to Harmer, the album was recorded “with all of us sitting in a room looking at each other,” making the sessions seem more like a typical band practice than a high-budget recording. And listening back to these eleven songs, there’s a level of intimacy that couldn’t have been attained any other way.  “There was a lot of talk about what we wanted to accomplish as a rhythm section,” Harmer continues, adding that he took acoustic bass lessons in order to stretch out on the record. “I just wanted to think of my instrument in a different way.”

Recorded entirely on two-inch tape (thus limiting the amount of overdubs), the result is an album that captures Death Cab For Cutie’s live sound – a process that was scary for the band at times. “There’s stuff on this album that makes each of us uncomfortable performance-wise,” explains Walla, adding that the happy accidents – such as tripping over a cable and unplugging Harmer’s bass on “I Will Possess Your Heart” – turned out to be some of his favorite moments on the disc. “We spend an overwhelming amount of time as a band playing live together, so it doesn’t really make sense not to approach our recording the same way,” Gibbard adds. The live feel of the recording not only affected the way the songs were put to tape but also the way they were arranged, making for the band’s most aggressive record to date.

The opening track, “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” is an excellent overreaching metaphor for the sonic scope of Narrow Stairs: The song begins somewhat characteristically, with Gibbard’s singing about “descending a dusty gravel ridge” over an ebbing bed of subdued synthesizers and chiming guitars… but halfway through the track, the song unexpectedly veers into a syncopated drum-and-guitar breakdown aided by Harmer’s low-frequency melody line. These types of aural experiments take the approach of such Plans songs as “What Sarah Said” to dazzling new heights, whether it’s the eight-and-a-half-minute-long first single, “I Will Possess Your Heart,” or the carefree orchestral waltz, “You Can Do Better Than Me.”

“Narrow Stairs was the title Nick came up with, and I think it lends itself to a lot of the lyrical content,” explains Gibbard when asked about some of the themes of the record. “It doesn’t connate descension or ascension – and I think that by giving it some physical limitations in describing it as narrow, it leaves a lot more open to interpretation.” While subtle details like “softly snowing televisions” help the listener paint a vivid mental picture, ultimately the characters are the souls of these songs – whether the protagonist is giving away his Queen-sized bed out of desperation or searching under an abandoned bridge for a non-existent revelation.

Then there’s the aforementioned “You Can Do Better Than Me,” a lingering paean to relationship insecurities that shows how Gibbard has grown as a lyricist. “I think Ben’s lyrics will fall deep into the minds of many who think alike, but can’t find the courage to speak honestly and openly,” explains McGerr. “In other words, if the thought that you’ll never be worthy of a better mate hasn’t passed through your mind at some point in your life, no matter how fleetingly, you’re either lying or unable to articulate it.” While the content of the album is dark at times, Gibbard manages to express his melancholy musings with a sparkling – and sometimes subtle – dose of hopefulness.

“If you can’t stand in place, you can’t tell who’s walking away,” Gibbard croons on Narrow Stairs’ penultimate track, “Pity And Fear” – and while that’s true, Death Cab For Cutie have taken a giant step forward both creatively and conceptually with this album. While it hasn’t been an easy road to get to this point, Death Cab For Cutie insist that more than anything, this next chapter in the band’s evolution is due to the fact that they’re relating both as individuals and band mates. “To think that tension is adding to the music isn’t true for us,” Gibbard explains, citing notoriously at-odds acts like Fleetwood Mac and Metallica. “It’s easier for us to make good music when we’re all relating to each other and getting along.”

http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/

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Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance

Gerard Way – vocals
Ray Toro – guitar
Frank Iero – guitar
Mikey Way – bass
Bob Bryar – drums

When My Chemical Romance released Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge in 2004, they were praised for being aggressive, melodic and forward thinking and quickly became one of the biggest bands on the modern rock scene, going platinum in the U.S. and selling over two million copies worldwide. But as theatrical and dramatic as the album was, it was a mere dress rehearsal for My Chemical Romance’s dark, bombastic album The Black Parade.

While Three Cheers and its predecessor I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love were loose concepts lyrically, The Black Parade is a breathtaking, fully-formed epic in the vein of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust or Pink Floyd’s The Wall.

“When we started working on the record, all of these theatrical songs that were about life and death started to come out,” says frontman Gerard Way. “That’s when we decided we wanted to throw all caution to the wind and aspire to make a huge record.”

Guitarist Frank Lero expounds, “We said let’s just dive in.  We go all the way or we don’t go anywhere.”

On The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance does exactly what they set out to do.   Key touch-points include The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Queen’s A Night At The Opera, however My Chemical Romance never let their influences overshadow their musical vision, instead using them to color their own creative ideas. The first single “Welcome To The Black Parade” begins with a sparse, haunting piano line, then evolves through marching drums and dramatic guitars bends before bursting into a blistering verse and a triumphant chorus. Other songs are equally dynamic: “House Of Wolves” combines blues, rockabilly and punk ethos into a turbulent cauldron of contempt, while “Mama” exudes romping blends of vaudevillian rhythm.

“While we were working on this record, every emotion, good and bad, poured out of us, shaping the songs,” bassist Mikey Way explains.  “It was a really intense period and we had the most incredible time. Sometimes it was amazing and fun and sometimes it was really hard, but it was always incredible.”

“Creating this album brought some new things to the table,” adds Toro. “Most of our old songs are either mach-speed or have a slower tempo. With this album we experimented with different tempos and different feelings while working as hard as we could to make the most musically of every single note.”

The lyrical content of The Black Parade is every bit as groundbreaking as the music.  The album tells the story of a young man, referred to as The Patient, who is dying in a hospital bed.  The strongest memory from his youth is when his father took him to see a parade when he was a child, so when death comes for him, it is in the form of a Black Parade. The Patient encounters various characters leading him toward his final resting place, aiding him in the reexamination of his existence while teaching him about theirs – thereby giving The Patient new insights about the beauty of both life and death. 

My Chemical Romance started writing music for The Black Parade while on tour for Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. After returning from their Australian tour, they went to New York and started assembling songs, six of which led them in the ambitious direction they would take with the new record. “We came up with two types of songs,” explains Way. “One set were these fast driving songs with catchy melodies that were good, but they didn’t really seem special. And the others were theatrical and smart and really told us what the record wanted to be.”

Bob Bryar adds, "It's a great feeling to be in a band that has constantly evolved and continues to grow. We always give each other the encouragement, drive and space to be as creatively free as possible at any given moment."

In March 2006, My Chemical Romance flew to Los Angeles to begin pre-production with Rob Cavallo (Alanis Morissette, Goo Goo Dolls). “Rob was important to the creation of this record,” Way says. “He pushed for us to face our greatest fears because he said the most sincere music comes from what you’re afraid of the most.  I used to be afraid of death, but I found out while making this record that I was more afraid to live.  I was afraid to show the world who I really was, and for the band to show who they really were. And we were afraid to live our lives how we truly wanted and make the record we really wanted. Making this album was about facing those fears.”

My Chemical Romance formed in suburban New Jersey in 2001 out of a mutual love of horror movies, music and punk philosophies.  The group’s first song was “Skylines and Turnstiles,” which was penned after experiencing the devastation of 9/11.  The band recorded I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, which was released on in 2003.

The band entered the studio in February of 2004 with producer Howard Benson (All American Rejects, Motorhead, Less Than Jake) for their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, which featured the hits “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena,” and “The Ghost Of You.”
 
My Chemical Romance has toured extensively with bands such as Green Day, Taking Back Sunday, and many others, and also played the 2004 and 2005 Vans Warped Tours, headlining the latter. Various live performances were recorded for the CD and double DVD package Life On The Murder Scene, which came out in March 2006 while the band was hard at work on songs for The Black Parade.

Now, having completed The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance is a changed band. They’re more accomplished, more experienced and more tuned into real life instead of horror fantasy. And while The Black Parade is a dark record, it’s also filled with hope and promise.
 
“I feel like we as a band have a very clear, direct purpose and a direct mission now, which we didn’t have before,” Way says.  “We may be over the top, but it isn’t about arrogance, it’s about confidence and believing that you have the power to make a difference if you have the guts to try.”

http://www.mychemicalromance.com/

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Santogold

Santogold bio - the forrealz (by Marco Villalobos)

The lovechild of submarine sonar and low frequency midnight moans, Santogold was born somewhere between Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, Brooklyn and was placed under the care of enigmatic singer and songwriter Santi White. White's prior musical children have proved more profound than platinum. Songwriter and executive producer behind an album boasting top Billboard singles, and driving voice behind two albums from her uncategorizable band Stiffed, Santi White's familiarity with drawing relevant and enjoyable work from a range of influences makes her a unique figure on today’s musical landscape. Unafraid to wade into currents beyond the mainstream, White's newest project is Santogold. Santogold's new album drives dub and 80's-pop influences from song to song. Sometimes basement rock, sometimes Bananarama-soundclash, Santogold is a vehicle for White's well drawn late night fight lines and robot-witch scat on the beat. Warbling bass, island upbeat, and deep-south snap provide foundation for White's whispering lilts and tension-ridden verses.

Though without official band members, the ingredients are many: spaghetti western-outlaw, roots rock and digital street blip are each laced by White's incomparable breathless melody. While White and John Hill, aka Johnny Rodeo (former Stiffed bassist and member of Sony engineers-turned-production team-turned band, Shitake Monkey) formed the nucleus of this creation, the Santogold landscape is speckled with the flavor of DJ's and all around underground fly kids who have rallied behind her to deliver a versatile, consistent array of tracks. The late great Disco D, Switch, Sinden, Freq Nasty, Diplo, Radioclit, leadguitarist Clifford "Moonie" Pusey of Steel Pulse, former Bad Brains drummer, Chuck Treece, Naeem Juwan of Spankrock, M.I.A, and professional snowboarder/singer-songwriter, Trevor "Trouble" Andrew. Each participant sculpts the sound around White's candid verses and vocal melodies pushing the width of Santogold's scope.

Sitting on the floor at a house party listening to the selector, Santi White might be sharing stories from her childhood. Philadelphia was her city until Brooklyn became home base. Her sky holds no bounds; the streets are her yard and human behavior is her muse. Music is her weapon. Maybe she's laughing with her head thrown back. Maybe you’re asking her what it is she does with her life. "I make music," she answers. "Oh," you reply, "what kind of music, where can I hear it?” She looks up at you, "That was my song the DJ just played." You might then be stunned. Weren't you just noticing that song, how it sounded like the voices of your past conversing with your future? Didn't it just send warmth coursing through your veins? How is it that White’s songs can account for the joy and pain of adolescence rolling into adulthood’s grind? Then again, what did you expect to hear?

"I wasn't just a songwriter, I was executive producer and pretty much the creative director of the whole thing. That's a lot to give to something that's not really yours" cited White in an early interview discussing her experience making Res's chart topping debut, How I Do. Called "ridiculously gifted" for her work on that third party debut, White has since proven her work ethic unstoppable. She is likely to be writing at this very moment, or maybe she's recording, or simply napping beneath a table in the studio. Whatever Santi White's current activity, one thing is clear: the grime scene, the blue punk thing, even the current female airplay contention have all lacked the flavor-strength that is heard in the work of Santogold. Here is something supreme because it is matchless. Those in the know will come catch licks.

http://www.myspace.com/santogold

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About mtvU

Broadcasting to 750 colleges across the country, with a combined enrollment of over 7.2 million, mtvU is the largest, most comprehensive television network just for college students. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, mtvU can be seen in the dining areas, fitness centers, student lounges and dorm rooms of campuses throughout the U.S. mtvU is dedicated to every aspect of college life, reaching students wherever they are – on-air, online and on campus. mtvU focuses on content including music videos from emerging artists, news, student life features, events and pro-social initiatives. For more information about mtvU, please visit http://www.mtvu.com/.

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