Posted on 07/31/2011 8:10:55 PM PDT by Revolting cat!
Every couple of years I would scour the Al Gore's most famous invention after climate for interesting music, sites like artistsdirect.com, garageband.com and others that don't exist anymore and where unsigned bands, or signed and little known artists uploaded their music, oftentimes quite good, occasionally brilliant. I'd listen to hundreds, thousands of cuts to find a few diamonds in the rough. I had a method, which probably missed a few rarities, but which served me well. I'd listen to a few seconds to decide, 5, 15, 30. Certain guitar chords alerted me to the worth of the rest of a recording. And I had my taste - hard rock was usually out, plaintive folk music as well, electronic sounds - foggetteaboutit. Americana, country, soul, blues yes. I was looking for authenticity. (Doesn't everyone?) I'd gather the diamonds and burn them onto CDs, which I'd take on trips to Europe where I'd hand them to my friends there, DJs and artists, all of them in awe of American pop music, and who I thought were too influenced by the limited range of the most popular artists played on commercial radio, as bad there as it is here. I liked to share my discoveries, and I had a reputation to maintain, oh, yes.
Then my life had changed, and I stopped listening, stopped searching. Until this year. Last month, actually. The Internet sites have changed, but the buried, largely unheard music is still to be found. I have found some amazing artists, whom I would like to present to you. Rock and roll, or whatever it is called these days, is not dead. There are people out there with the skills and the ideas, who may not sell many CDs or tracks on iTunes, but who all deserve our support, and speaking for myself, my enthusiasm. (Some or all of them may be familiar to some of you, especially if you live in their hometowns, but as a group, I suspect they are largely unknown.)
Here they are:
Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain
Lastly, the two incredibles. The future of music:
The links are just samples of the artists' music, not always their best recordings, but ones that are easily linkable. You can find more music of these artists through MySpace, YouTube, Google, the artists own sites, and so on. Enjoy!
later
I sort of wandered away from modern jazz... I lost touch after Barefoot Ballet and Malibu jazz clubs some 30+ years ago.
Good to see and hear that musicians continue to express music from the heart and soul.
Thanks again!
Just one more http://youtu.be/tgc5l9X3Dn4
It’s funny how music you grew up with is always the best!
For me it was the 60’s-70’s.
True for a while. Then I got “hip” to the old, the older and the ancient.
Cranked epp Beethoven’s 7th the other day, really really makes today’s music suck Demonrat weiner.
But that’s fine. The majors are unnecessary, but they do provide great riches for some. Apparently the songwriters of the big hits make a lot of money for not a lot of work. That’s the gig you want. Songwriter of a #1 Top 40 hit.
There are a lot of acts that aren’t on major labels making a living with music, touring, recording.
fitz and the tantrums are currently popular.
Niccccccccccccce!
Thats Doyle Bramhall Jr. on the upsidedown righty ( left hander).
The long haired kid is Derek Trucks.
Hmm, good stuff,
here’s something way outside my regular palette, but just like you’re talking about, honest AMerican music:
The Trishas “Give It Away”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dV-3rvsFg-4
I found their hit song “Trouble About My Soul”, which has a different lead singer, which is nice, the ladies have 4 women who can all lead vocal if/when needed.
omg, this is so cute!!!
There still is good music out there but MTV and the radio seems not to ‘hear’ it.
Just heard this the other day, am I getting old? I thought this was gorgeous, course I do know it’s an old standard but it’s done extremely well. Clapton:
Country fared much better and took off in the 1990s and became popular with the under 30 crowd, which it hasn't been able to do in the 60s and 70s
What people call “Country” today really isn’t much different than what we called “Soft Rock” in the 70s, I think of bands like, say, Firefall, and other bands of a similar vein.
IMO, anyone who says “Dawg” and means it should be beaten to within an inch of their life and then spared only so that they can go out and spread the word.
So far just listened to Phat Bollard - very good. The vibe reminds me a bit of edgy modern folksy Leon Redbone, who I adore. Thanks for posting.
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