| Topping
the Charts |
By Leah M. Burfield
Observer Staff Writer |
| Kelly Clarkson, Rueben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, and Carrie
Underwood. Fans are crazy for the young performers who sing
their hearts out with hopes of becoming the next American
Idol winner. |
| American Idol Underground contestants like Matt Baamonde
have a similar dream. |
| Idol Underground, a Web site for aspiring musicians everywhere,
was created earlier this year by Fluid Audio Networks and
Freemantle Media, co-producer and licensor of American Idol.
|
| The site provides exposure and feedback for musicians and
songwriters to listeners, who can log in and rate songs. |
| Contests are held in various categories, and genre-specific
celebrity reviewers have been signed to give professional
feedback to the participants. |
| Idol Underground also focuses on getting new music heard.
Instead of having only one winner, Idol Underground centers
on forging a community for artists and fans. |
| "It's basically like the online version of American
Idol," said Baamonde, a recent winner of American Idol
Underground. "Everyone signs up and puts up their own
songs and then everyone listens to it on an online radio."
|
| The songwriter's music is then reviewed by other members
using a five star rating. |
| "Mine was number one on the whole rock category for
the month of March," Baamonde said. |
| Baamonde, an 18-year-old Herndon resident is the creator
of the one-man band Baazar, a multi-instrumentalist musical
project that includes the guitar, bass, cello and keyboards.
|
| Baamonde has written hundreds of songs, some with lyrics,
others without. He came up with the name for his band using
an intentional misspelling of bizarre to play on his last
name. |
| Baamonde plays each instrument, combines the sounds and
downloads the final piece online. |
| "Basically, I have a little box inside of my computer
that looks like a CD-ROM drive that I plug my guitar into
that I can use to record the guitar," Baamonde said.
"I've got different software packages that let me make
my backing track as well as a sound module that makes the
drums and the bass for me. It's really cool." |
| Baamonde says that in early March, he uploaded his instrumental
rock song "Amplifire" to Idol's Web site at the
urging of his father. |
| "My dad basically introduced me to music," Baamonde
said. "He has old guitars, amps, stuff like that. All
my uncles on both my mom and dad's side are into music. I
just took it to the next level." |
| That next level turned out to be a success. Much to Baamonde's
surprise, "Amplifire" came in first place in two
different contents: The March Top Rated Song Rock competition
and the Big Push Rock competition, a six month contest that
ends in June and has a $20,000 grand prize. |
| "Music is a big part of my family so it was great to
find out that I won," he said. |
| On April 30 Baamonde and his family learned that "Amplifire"
and another one of his songs, "White Noise" won
first and second places in the latest rock competition, according
to Bassmonde's father, Rick. |
| His prizes included a digital recording workstation and
a Fender electric guitar. |
| Baamonde has also recently won "Track of the Day"
and "Track of the Week" awards on a competitor's
Web site, www.garageband.com. He won "Most Creative Composer
Award" from the Fairfax High School Academy's Music and
Computer Technology program and a scholarship to the National
Guitar Workshop in 2004. |
| He is currently a student at George Mason University, and
plans to attend the Berklee School of Music in the fall. |
| Baamonde is looking forward to his future at the school
where he will receive intensive training on music theory,
performance and recording, he said. Eventually, Baamonde said
he would also like to make a living in music down the road.
|
| "It's pretty much every musician's dream to be famous
and to be in front of a rocking crowd of 10,000 people,"
he said. "Right now, I'm working on getting there." |
| Baamonde works at Guitar Center in Fairfax. More recently,
he began writing for Modern Guitars Magazine, a Reston-based
online magazine for guitarists. He is excited about adding
the Idol win and the magazine job to his resume as he embarks
on his music career. |
| To learn more about American Idol Underground visit www.idolunderground.com.
To listen to and support Baamonde's music, visit www.myspace.com/baazar.
|
