YAKUP TRANA 09.09.09 Internet release of the new album FMSR the same day as the beatles remastered albums and the game Seattle Artist Yakup Trana is glad to announce the signing with Rouge Island Entertainment. Rogue Island Entertainment an Independent Record Label located in Seattle will be recording and producing the long anticipated english Album by Yakup Trana (MTV'S EMA Awards Nominee from Turkey 2007). After putting out four albums-"Weird World" (Lake Samm Rec.)"Sunu Bunu" (EMI/IJJ Productions), "Karanlikta" (EMI) Kaos(IJJ Double Moon/IJJ Productions) - with different band formats, Yakup Trana's 5th album "FMSR" (Fame,Money,Sex and Rock & Roll) will release here in the US and in Europe this Summer 2009. After a successful three years in Turkey hitting MTV'S world Chart express as #1 new artist,MTV'S EMA Awards nominee 2007, touring in Europe and receiving over a million hits on Youtube for his hit singles "Bilmece" and "Platonik" Yakup Trana has come back to his musical roots in Seattle and is in the studio recording his solo project. His long time friend and producer Eric Janko will co-produce "FMSR" with Yakup and is excited that Rouge Island Entertainment and their studio "The Brewery" is the home for the highly anticipated album. The album will be available world wide to purchase in virtual cd and mp3 formats as well as the hard copy through the artists website www.yakuptrana.com. Yeni albümünün hazirliklari icin Seattle'a dönen Yakup Trana, Rogue Island Entertainment çatisi altinda Seattle, The Old Brewery stüdyolarinda albüm kayitlarini tamamlamakta. Amerika’da baslamis oldugu müzik kariyerine FMSR (Fame, Money, Sex, Rock'n Roll) isimli solo albümüyle devam etmekte olan Yakup Trana tamamiyla yeni bir sound ile Haziran ayi içerisinde karsinizda. www.yakuptrana.com sitesine üye olup albüm ile ilgili gelismeler ve videolari izleyebilirsiniz.Upon graduating Cornish College of the Arts Seattle Washington, studying jazz guitar, Yakup Trana emerged onto the Seattle music scene in 2001 with his first band Akdeniz Guitar Trio releasing his first album Akdeniz. The group consisted of three guitarist playing avant-guard jazz mixed with Spanish guitar style. The album received raved reviews and still sells worldwide today. In 2002 Yakup formed the band TRANA. Alternative rock sound releasing his second album Weird World (Lake Samm Records). The album was written by Yakup (lead guitarist) and sung by Stephen Schmidt. After two years of touring and recording the bands next album In the Red (which never released) the singer and Yakup parted ways. Over the course of three albums, Yakup decided it was time to take the lead not only playing guitar but with vocals as well. In 2004 Yakup emerges this time as a solo artist. Shortly after writing and producing his 4th album (this time written in Turkish) SUNU BUNU the artist YAKUP was signed to EMI late 2004 and released SUNU BUNU(EMI/IJJ Productions) in March 2005. The release launched his career in Turkey and Europe over the next three years. The hit single Gecmez hit the charts strong and the video was in rotation for months. In 2006 YAKUP released a single including a bonus track with the most prominant rock band of Turkey Duman. Constantly increasing popularity with his fans has taken him to the next level with the release of his 5th album Kaos (Voltaj/IJJ Productions) in 2007. The song Bilmece (The Riddle) hit all major networkTV stations in Turkey as number one for weeks while tracking fast up the MTV World Chart Express charts, in Europe landing him again at #1 spot for top new artist. With YAKUP’S success growing and the fans demanding more no surprise that the single Platonik brought YAKUP to the top of the charts as number one while getting over a million views on YouTube in a few weeks. YAKUP continued to hit the charts with all 3 singles that followed. The album Kaos brought worldwide attention and YAKUP knew the timing was right to go back to his musical roots in Seattle, late fall of 2008. Currently Yakup has been recording his sixth Album FMSR (Fame Money Sex Rock&Roll) (Rogue Island Entertainment/IJJ Productions) at the Brewery Studios Seattle WA. The long anticipated album in english FMSR will release in September 2009. One of the most important names in Turkish Rock music, Yakup’s founder, Yakup Trana signed an agreement with Pozitif Edisyon. Yakup Trana received his jazz education in Seattle, where he had the opportunity to work with such music luminaries as Carmine Appice (Ozzy Osbourne), Chris Slate (AC/DC), Joey Mulland (Bad Finger), and Greg Douglas (Steve Miller Band). During his time in Seattle he founded Akdeniz, a group that had a musical style that blended flamenco and jazz. Shortly after returning to Turkey, Yakup founded his eponymous group Yakup. They entered the studio and recorded their debut album Sunu Bunu. The album features a single made up of two songs which he recorded together with Kaan Tangöze. By making their sophomore album Kaos available for free download on their website, Yakup reached a broad audience and attracted many listeners. Recording their album in Seattle, Kaos reflects the most contemporary, Western sounds of the day. Using modern technologies and arrangements, Yakup bring to life the feelings and emotions that rock music legends such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Who are known for. In their own words, YAKUP sum their album up by saying classic rock presented from a Seattle perspective. WhileParan Yok touches on political and social subjects, other songs such as Bilmece, Tek Dostun Var, Sehir Modu touch on individual and collective struggles and experiences.The sex referred to on Alistim Tarzina and the romantic fell on Platonik display the multifaceted nature YAKUP’s music. All of the compositions and lyrics on the album are by Yakup Trana Yakup Trana, daha önce Ozzy Osbourne’dan Carmine Appice, AC/DC’den Chris Slate, Bad Finger’dan Joey Mulland, Steve Miller Band’den Greg Douglas gibi isimlerle çalismis bir müzisyen. Yakup Trana’nin önceki grubu Trana’nin ‘Don’t You Hate Me’ isimli parçasi Seattle’da 3 hafta listelerde 1 numarada kalmayi basarmisti. Basçi Rüçhan Üner, Seattle’da çesitli gruplarla çalismis ve ‘fusion jazz’ projelerinde yer almis. Bryan Lash ise Trana’da da davul çaliyordu. ‘Sunu Bunu’ albümünde, caz ve Türk müzik motifleri modern rock ile bir arada kaynasiyor. Senfonik kisimlarda, Queen etkisi, dipten kuvvetli bir sekilde hissediliyor. Duman grubu üyeleri ile uzun bir süre Ortaköy’deki çesitli barlarda sahne alan Yakup Trana daha sonra Seattle’a yerlesme karari alip oradaki Cornish Jazz okulunda 4 yillik bir müzik egitimi almis. Kurdugu, Akdeniz isimli grubuyla Seattle’da flamenko ve caz tarzi müzik yapan sanatçi, sayisiz kayit ve performansta yer aldiktan sonra 3 kisiden olusan YAKUP isimli grubunu kurdu. Albümün ilk video klibi ‘Geçmez’ parçasina çekilmis. Yönetmenligini Yakup Trana’nin yaptigi klip, sanatçinin Seattle’da yasadigi yerlerde geçiyor ‘Kaos’, Yakup’s new album, not only delivers fine Turkish rock but it’s also completely free, as James Snow reports. Yakup Trana, one of Turkey’s most innovative guitarists and rock lyricists, is back at it again. Having severed his ties with EMI (Türkiye) after releasing just one album, he is now allowing visitors to his well-designed website to download the new Yakup album, ‘Kaos’, as well as his entire back catalogue, for free. A genuine rock rebel, on and off-stage, he has now taken on the record labels themselves. Malcolm McLaren’s ‘The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle’, (i.e. the cynical methods by which music fans are separated from their money by cunning record execs) has been turned on its head. This time an artist is giving the finger to the record industry and doing just about all of what the labels traditionally did (the recording, promoting, managing, etc.) by himself. His band’s survival now depends on the quality and number of their live shows and ability to finance their own music videos and use non-traditional means like the Internet to stay in the public eye. Yakup is getting a little help from the good people at Aura Productions in Cihangir, but, for the most part, the new album was his own labour of love. Fans of Turkish rock will not be disappointed. ‘Kaos’ is a break from the formulaic, identikit, and just plain boring Turkish rock out there masquerading as indie or emo and often no more than derivative pap. Unlike Duman, to whom Yakup is most often compared, the music here has no Turkish elements aside from the language. There is no fusion of Turkish folk and Western rock, no East-meets-West-cross-pollination and none of the ethnic, world music aspects that have become a staple of much contemporary music in Turkey, for better or worse. ‘Kaos’ is a straightforward, alt-rock album recorded entirely in Seattle. Yakup Trana has his own trademark idiosyncratic guitar style, which is not surprising from a musician who has not only acquired years of experience playing in Seattle, but also graduated from Cornish College of the Arts with a jazz studies degree. His guitar acumen is well-integrated into the song arrangements, which are more sophisticated than most of the stuff emerging locally in this genre. Bryan Lash, an old friend, who contributed to his last album ‘?unu Bunu’, drums on the CD, and the two arranged the microphones precisely to approximate the sound of the drums on Death Cab for Cutie’s album ‘Transatlanticism’ (‘not so much the texture, but the dimensions,’ he tells me). The songs deal with a variety of subjects ranging from the mundane to the metaphysical. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the biggest hit so far has been ‘Platonik’, the only romantic ballad on the album. The video for the song was viewed approximately 20,000 times in a week after being posted on YouTube. It is a clever video in which a middle-class writer, who happens to be mute, pursues a young woman, with whom he has fallen in love at first sight, actually running after her as she jogs in the park, always a few steps ahead of him, the ever elusive feminine ideal. As he runs, he writes her one post-it note after another, trying to express his love, crumpling them all up in frustration as he realises he cannot express himself vocally or in writing. In the end well, don’t let me spoil it. See it for yourself, but expect a bit of sap. Other songs on the album concern sex (Alistim Tarzina), life (Bilmece), poverty (Paran Yok), pyschology (Tek Dostun Var) and politics (Politka), which was inspired by a certain well-known party with Islamic roots. In a small office, which is part of Aura Productions, Yakup and I discuss his feelings about the music industry, the new album and Turkish rock in general. When he tells me ‘rock music is not just music. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a philosophy a statement...’ I somehow know he is not shitting me. Critical, without being whiny, he goes on to say that this ‘statement’ has never really emerged in Turkey, that Turkey is ‘20, if not 50 years behind the States’. He believes that there is a lot of talent among young Turkish rock musicians, but that the record industry here squelches it with a standardised, assembly-line approach to producing CDs and promoting bands. He, himself, has given up on CDs: ‘The whole reason that I put the album on the Internet for free is that there is no such thing as selling CDs. You’re swimming against the current. Why should you waste your energy when you know you aren’t gonna make any money. You’re gonna waste money.’ His advice to the young and hopeful rock musicians out there is to use the Internet, use their brains and use their bodies the latter meaning ‘get out there and get a job, wait tables, do something, get paid’ and then get their album made, outside Turkey if that’s what it takes. His ideas about the unprofitability of flogging CDs to make a living in the music biz are backed up by a tidbit in Rolling Stone magazine’s ‘In the News’ section which noted: ‘The decline of the music industry accelerated in the first quarter of 2007 as CD sales dropped 20% from the previous year the biggest decline on record.’ With the amount of illegal MP3 downloading and CD piracy going on, Yakup’s move to give it all away, needn’t be viewed as an impulsive act of charity but rather as just plain realistic and in keeping with the zeitgeist. Whatever the case, his group is gaining more and more fans. While the record industry may be in decline, Yakup definitely isn’t. Müzik endüstrisinin içinde bulundugu tikaniklik sebebiyle Kaos isimli ikinci albümünü web sitesi üzerinden ücretsiz paylasima açarak belki de kaçinilmaz bir hareketin Türkiye'deki öncülügünü yapan Yakup'un takipçileri hizla artiyor. Albüm kisa bir süre içinde genel dagitimla ulasamayacagi bir dinleyici kitlesine ulasti. Gitar ve vokalde Yakup Trana, gitarda Ceki Levikatan, bas gitarda Reha Hendem ve davulda Çagdas Yapicilar’dan olusan Yakup’un temelleri 2005 yilinda grubun kurucusu Yakup Trana tarafindan Seattle’da atildi. Ayni yil ilk albümleri ‘Sunu Bunu’, Duman grubundan Kaan Tangöze ve Batuhan Mutlugil’le birlikte yaptiklari single ‘Karanlikta’ ise Ocak 2006’da EMI etiketiyle yayinlandi. 13 yil boyunca Seattle’da yasayan ve müzik egitimini bu sehirde alan Yakup Trana’nin bestelerinden olusan ‘Kaos’ isimli ikinci albüm ise bu yil haziran ayinda grubun resmi web sitesi www.yakup-rock.com üzerinden yayinlandi. Daha önce hem dünya hem de Türkiye’de internet üzerinden parçalarini mp3 formatinda yayinlayanlar ama Yakup’un albümü tek tek parçalar halinde degil sanal kartoneti ile albüm formatinda indirilebildigi ve albüm profesyonel bir promosyonla tanitildigi için ‘Kaos’u öncü bir hareket olarak tanimlamak mümkün. Web sitesi üzerinden ücretsiz olarak indirilebilen albümü müzik endüstrisinin içinde bulundugu çikmaza bir altenatif olarak öngören Yakup, bu sekilde dinleyicisine aracisiz ve katkisiz olarak ulasmayi hedefliyor. ‘Kaos’ albümünde kayit ve miksleri yapip davullari çalan Byran Lash disinda tüm enstrümanlar Yakup Trana tarafindan çalindi. Tüm söz, müzik ve düzenlemeler de Trana’ya ait. Bundan sonraki albümlerde tüm grup elemanlarinin beste ve sözlere katkisi olmasini amaçlayan grup çalismalarini bu yönde devam ettiriyor. Yakup’un müzigi ana hatlariyla modern rock çerçevesi içinde tanimlanabilir ama detaylarda Yakup Trana’nin farkli türlerden etkilerle olusmus müzikal kimliginden belirgin izler var. Bu grup performansiyla da birlesince cografyalarla sinirlandirilamayacak evrensel bir rock sound’u yaratiyor. Gerek sarkilari, gerek vokal performansi ve düzenlemeleriyle birinci albüme göre çok daha olgun, oturmus ve kendine has bir stile sahip olan ‘Kaos’, içerigiyle de daha disa dönük bir albüm. Ilk albümün sarkilari daha bireyselken bu albümdeki parçalar agirlikli olarak hayat, insan iliskileri ve Türkiye’ye dair ama tabii, albümün aska dair de söyleyecekleri var. Albüm yayinlandiktan 1 ay sonra MTV World Chart Express’te 1 numaraya yükselen çikis parçasi Bilmece, hayat denen bilmecenin kendimizi kollarina birakmamiz gereken bir serüven oldugunun farkindaligiyla yazilmis bir parça, Paran Yok’ta modern toplumun materyalist yaklasimi ve insanin çaresizligine isyan, Politika’da Türkiye’nin gidisatina duyulan öfke var. Sehir Modu her geçen gün biraz daha kaotik hale gelen modern sehir yasantisini resmediyor, Platonik ise uzaktan olsa da yeni filizlenen bir askin tüm iyilestirici etkilerine sahip. Yakup müzigin sadece teorik ve performans kismiyla degil, felsefi içerigi ile de yakindan ilgili, dinleyicisiyle sadece müzikle degil, ‘hayata dair’ düsünceleriyle de bulusmak istiyor. Bu amaçla web sitesi üzerinden ‘Yakup der ki’ basligiyla dinleyicisine fikirlerini aktarma amacinda olan grup, söhretleriyle zirvede olmalarina ragmen pek çok konuda susmayi tercih eden isimlerin de bu yolda adim atmasini diliyor. ‘Kaos’ dinletecek müziginin yaninda söyleyecek sözü de olan bir albüm, Yakup da bunun ardindaki grup.Yakup Eylül-Ekim aylari arasinda internet oylamalariyla gerçeklestirilen MTV ‘Avrupa’nin Yeni Sesleri’ yarismasinda ilk üçe kalarak 1 Kasim’da Münih’te yapilan ödül töreninde Türkiye’yi temsil etti. YAKUP'un ikinci albümü KAOS yayinda! Kayitlari Seattle'da yapilan bu albüm, batili rock müzigin en güncel seslerini yansitmaktadir. YAKUP günümüz Türk rock çizgisinden farkli bir yaklasimla, rock müzigin temellerini atan The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who gibi gruplarin anlatmak istediklerini bu albümde modern bir ses ve aranjman anlayisiyla hayata geçirdi... Kendi sözleriyle YAKUP bu albümü "klasik rock anlayisinin Seattle perspektifi ile sunumu" seklinde özetliyor. "Paran Yok", politika ve sosyal konulari islerken "Bilmece", "Tek Dostun Var", "Sehir Modu" bireysel ve toplumsal psikolojik temalara deginiyor. Öte yandan "Alistim Tarzina" daki seks ve "Platonik" teki romantizm ve tema çesitliligi, YAKUP'un degisik renklerini dinleyiciye sunuyor. Albümdeki beste ve sözlerin tamami Yakup Trana'ya ait. YAKUP, ikinci albümüyle Türkiye de gerçek rock müzigini temsil eden bir çalisma yaptigini ispatlamakta... KAOS www.yakup-rock.com web adresinden tüm dünya dinleyicilerine ücretsiz olarak ulastirilmaktadir. Hailing from Istanbul but formed in Seattle in 2005, the group includes Yakup Trana (vocals, guitar) Ceki Levikatan (guitar), Reha Hendem (bass guitar) and Çagdas Yapicilar (drums). This serebe band’s principle is sharing music with people and offering joyous times. Debut album ‘Sunu Bunu’ (This And That) was released in 2005 followed by a single ‘Karanlikta’ (In Dark). The band describes the album as the presentation of classic rock in Seattle perspective. Yakup completed second album ‘Kaos’ (Chaos) in Seattle and released it in 2007. It offers the Turkish rock community a modern take in Western rock music and the whole album can be heard via the band’s official website. MTV Europe Music Awards Ema 2007 Winners Yakup Bedwetters Arctic Monkeys Foo Fighters Amy Winehouse Mika Nelly Furtado Avril LavigneTokio HotelGoo Charlotte Kanye WestTimbaland Beyonce Rihanna Justin TimberlakeMy Chemical Romance Fall Out Boys Evanescence Linkin Park 30 Seconds to Mars MTV Europe Music Awards Geçtigimiz Mayis ayinda sanal albümü 'Kaos'u web sitesi üzerinden yayinlayarak bir ilke imza atan Yakup grubunun temeli 2005 yilinda grubun kurucusu Yakup Trana tarafindan Seattle'da atildi. 2005 yili albümleri 'Sunu Bunu' ile müzikseverlerin begenisini kazanan grup yeni albümlerinde dinleyicilerine aracisiz ve dolaysiz ulasmak için cesur bir karar alarak tüm sarkilarini resmi web siteleri www.yakup-rock.com üzerinden ücretsiz olarak yayinlama karari aldi. MTV EMA 07 YAKUP & CEZA ¨Das Leben ist ein seltsames Rätsel, die Antwort hab weder ich noch du¨, so das Lied von YAKUP. Dabei hatte alles so gut angefangen... Die MTV EMA-Show wurde am 01.11.07 live in 160 Länder übertragen und dabei hat MTV Europe dieses Jahr das Buch mit den Regeln zerrissen, um die EMAs zu einer bahnbrechenden neuen Angelegenheit zu machen. Beim Online-Voting haben mehr als 50 Millionen Menschen in Europa teilgenommen, die über Gewinner und Verlierer des bedeutenden Musikpreis Europas entscheiden sollten. Auf die Votings kam es an! Die Alternativ-Rock Gruppe YAKUP gewann das interne Voting bei MTV Türkiye und wurde dann als Anwärter für den ¨New Sound Of Europe¨ ins Rennen geschickt. Ihr Song ¨Bilmece¨ - zu deutsch Rätsel. Durch die Online-Votings erreichte die Formation um Yakup Trana das Finale von München, genauso Estoniens Favorit ¨Bedwetters¨ und ¨Firma¨ aus Rumänien. Mein Favorit war eindeutig YAKUP, denn ihr Sound sagt mir zu und nicht nur, weil sie aus der Türkei kommen. YAKUP sind mit dem 2. Album durchgestartet. Jenseits von Moden ist das Album ¨Kaos¨ eine Top-Mischung aus Rock, Alternativ und Balladen. Bandleader Yakup Trana (Gitarre/ Vocals) lebte 13 Jahre in Seattle. Der Sound der Musikszene Seattles spiegelt sich auch bei YAKUP wieder: unkonventionell, independent. Vom Underground - nach ganz oben geht es für Yakup und seine Musiker Ceki Levikatan (Gitarre), Reha Hendem (Bass-Gitarre) und Çagdas Yapicilar (Drums). Die erste Auskopplung ¨Bilmece¨ begeisterte nicht nur die türkischen Rockfans. Mit ¨Bilmece¨ sind sie seit Wochen an der absoluten Spitze der MTV World Chart Express und stürmen derzeit mit der Ballade ¨Platonik¨ die türkischen MTV- und Dream TV-Charts. Big Points für YAKUP... im Finale gewannen aber Bedwetters, die am Ende der Awards dann den New Sound Of Europe live präsentierten. Gratulationen! Alternativ-Rock genießt immer noch zu wenig Popularität in der Türkei. Aber die Zukunft wird YAKUP und Gruppen wie DANdAnaDAN, Portecho, Rebel Moves, Zakkum ... gehören, die mit frischen Sounds die Musikszene noch kräftiger aufmischen und dem Yakups-Weg folgen werden. Die Musikkanäle in der Türkei haben den Trend längst erkannt. Ein ganzes Stück Pionierarbeit hat auch Okan Bayülgen in seiner Live-Show Makina/ Kanal D geleistet, in dem er gerade neue Bands und Musiker mit außergewöhnlichen Sounds auf die Performance-Liste setzte. Baba Zula, Cem Adrian, Dolapdere Big Gang, Direc-t, die eben genannten Bands uvm. trafen auf ein Millionen TV-Publikum. Nach der Sendung stieg die Popularität der Musiker an. Makina, die Live-Show, pausiert leider diese Saison. Gratulationen auch an CEZA. Der Rap- und HipHop-Star aus Üsküdar/ Istanbul wurde zum besten Turkish Act gekrönt. Mainstream siegte nicht, denn auf der Nomi-Liste standen auch Sertab Erener und Kenan Dogulu (beide sind im kontinentalen Raum durch ihre Erfolge beim Eurovision Contest bekannt geworden) und ebenso Rocker Teoman und Nil Karaibrahimgil, die türkische Antwort auf Björk. Auch CEZA schaffte mit seinem 2. Album (Rapstar/ 2004) für sich und die HipHop- und Rap-Szene den Durchbruch. Mit seinem letzten Album Yerli Plaka/ 2006 konnte er am früheren Erfolg anknüpfen. Das Stile wie HipHop und Rap auch im deutschsprachigen Raum keine Underground-Sache sind, haben auch die Stimmen für Bushido gezeigt, der sich als bester German Act 07 geehrt fühlen kann. Alle weiteren Gewinner auf www.ema.mtv.de.