You can be making incredible music, but if no one knows about it you probably won’t be making it for very long. Having a good project name is the first step to getting publicity and having your music heard by a large amount of people.

Don’t be difficult. It has to be easy to pronounce and say over the phone. Try to avoid using numbers for letters (leet speak) since it will confuse people. Yes, there are exceptions like “!!!,” μ-siq, and whatnot, but the object is to make it easy for the press to write about you and for people to talk about you. While you’re welcome to choose a difficult name, it’s only going to make the rest of your publicity efforts that much harder.

Steer clear of profanity. While James Fucking Friedman has a somewhat high profile, whenever he gets listed in local papers that don’t allow profanity they star out either the entire middle word or just use stars after the F. People will get confused–”Did they star out ‘Faggot,’ ‘Fucking,’ or ‘Fellatio’? Should I Google for James Star Star Star?” Also profanity limits the types of publications that will feature you. While XLR8R and URB are magazines that are pretty laid back about their language, you might one day discover that your music has an interesting crossover audience (be it mountain climbers or acoustic engineers) and you want to make it easy for those types of journalists to approach you and write about you and your music.

It sounds good. Pick three of your favorite names. Say them out loud. Ask some friends what they think and notice how they respond. Do they laugh out loud when you’re aiming for a super serious image (”Abfahrt Hinwil” might cause some giggling)? It may sound obvious, but electronic musicians who tend to work alone and communicate through their computers could use some IRL human feedback once in a while.

Lift your glasses and toast your synthesizer, because evidently drinking and synthesis just go together.

First up, the folks at Moog Music have put out a limited edition bubbly with their new Little Phatty synth on the label, as pictured here from the Moog Music newsletter. They have reason to celebrate: the Little Phatty synths are on their way out of Moog headquarters. Keyboard Magazine evidently got serial number 1; I don’t know who nabbed it (Steve?), but I look forward to the review.

I don’t know what was in that bottle, but I learned last week from a friend of Charles Dodge that the pioneering composer and inventor is now running a vineyard in his spare time, in Vermont. (Dodge was once based in New York but now teaches at Dartmouth.) It’s not called Dodge Vineyards, but whatever it is I’ll find out more about this wine from one of the world’s great synthesists.

Lastly, if you like drinking delicious beer while you work at your synthesizer, this TV ad by The Price is Right theme composer Edd Kalehoff demonstrates that nothing goes with your Moog modular quite like a nice, cold Schaefer beer. It’s the beer to have “when you’re having more than one.” (Brilliant beer slogan, second only to what I presume they rejected — “Schaefer, for when you’re planning on getting totally sloshed and want something cheap!”)

Brilliant; thanks to Tom from Music thing for the scoop. If you enjoy this, don’t miss the Moog Movie that featured it.

I sure know I like to have a cu-hold one at my side as I work away at the synth. (Oddly, WFPK Louisville is playing “I’m Not Drunk Enough to Say I Love You / So Won’t You Let Me Buy Another Round” as I write this. What is this, alcohol abuse day?)

Our friend proem, meanwhile, comes to the defense of laptop musicians smoking in a controversy over on the forums. Got a favorite vice you want to let us know about? I mean, synth-related vice? (Other than overusing presets.)

First vinyl, then 8-track, then tape, then CD, then MP3, now . . . Dashboard widget?

Yes, you heard that right. Sexohol is releasing its album Enjoy as a Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X. It’s free, and includes pictures of the lovely couple in the band plus lyrics. Only downside is you have to be connected to the Internet to listen to the music streaming. “But, Peter!”, you say, “I need to feel the hot loving of Enjoy even when I’m not connected to the Internet!” Sexohol hears you; US$9.99 buys you a Widget you can listen to anywhere. (Music without a live Internet connection? Who wouldathunkit?)

Sounds like the best way to enjoy this band is at their Bacchanalian performances, but if you can feel the love on your Dashboard, more power to you.

The press release is hilarious, so I’ve broken with normal CDM policy and posted it after the jump, along with a picture of bassist Logan for those of you who like young bass-playing boys (Shedonists, Gay/Bi Hedonists, etc.). Just promise you’ll pretend to act surprised when you find out this band is from L.A.

CDM’s round-the-clock beer bottle organ coverage continues! Yes, in addition to the Gulbransen Beer Bottle Organ, there’s yet another MIDI-controlled organ. This one comes out of Chicago:

Peterson Tuners Beer Bottle Organ (Thanks, Charles; great find!)

Best of all, there are sound samples of the Peterson, demonstrating that this more or less sounds like a calliope. (I think there might be some unique timbral qualities to the beer bottle organ, and I’m absolutely positive you’ll hear additional timbral differences if you were helping drink the beer bottles for the organ.) Like the Gulbransen, it features MIDI control, but it has the thoughtful addition of a keyboard and wheels. These guys are actually bona fide organ component builders and tuners.

And, if you can’t afford the $23 grand you’d need for the Gulbransen, US$16.95 buys you a CD of bottle organ hits played on the Peterson. (Suggestion: get your buddies blind drunk, line up the bottles, and secretly start the CD. They’ll never know the difference.)

Ah, Gulbransen versus Peterson. It’s like Steinway versus Bosendorfer. Or it more like great taste vs. less filing?

There are times when I can say something wittier than the manufacturer’s ad copy. This is NOT one of those times:

The Bottle Organ is a real showstopper! It plays by blowing across the tops of real beer bottles, which are permanently tuned. And the music is so lovable! Driven by contemporary MIDI technology, the Bottle Organ is ideal for pubs and restaurants with a reputation for fun, where the past is respected, and where patrons appreciate the rare and unusual. Custom fabrication assures quality of the highest standard.

Sing along everybody: Take one down, pass it around, and there’s 99 MIDI-controlled singing bottles of beer on the wall . . .

Of course, you could get 100 drunken friends together to blow on beer bottles and save the $22,900 price of the bottle organ, but I betcha it won’t be permanently tuned.

The company also makes player pianos, nickolodeons, and, when you need to ask God for forgiveness after a particularly wild night of MIDI-controlled beer drinking, the Digital Hymnal. Best of all, they also make a MIDI-controlled, self-playing violin (Thanks, LeMel!)

Updated: This organ has a better-known rival (mentions on TapeOp, Boing Boing) from Chicago, which also features a keyboard and has downloadable sounds and for-sale CD

For more odd stuff, see Oddmusic’s Instrument Gallery