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!
Someone may occasionally put out a decent single or a few songs that are not too bad, but for the most part the world has reached the end of great culture. Nobody has produced any art, music, literature, etc. in the past thirty years that equaled or surpassed anything that came before it. I’ve seen the bands that play on tv, and obviously there’s nothing for anyone over forty. Most big-name acts are chiefly spectacles and the music is highly forgettable. Some tattooed freak prances around the stage while some members of the band urge the audience to clap along. And they do. They should be throwing fruit at the band rather than applauding.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
We're there...
As they have, I matured out of Cream, Blind Faith, Traffic, Buffalo Springfield into the technical make up and transitioned towards jazz flavor like Four80East, Down to the Bone, Fourplay
Since I have to sample everything my grand daughter wants to put on her Ipod, I infrequently suffer unmentionable torture of today's teen music, so I'm glad I have mine to heal my ears after I've approved/censored hers...
There is good music still out there. But it is not in the Top 40 hits unless you like Country Music or Metal/Hard Rock. Most of the pop and rock junk being pushed on the radio is junk. You have to big deeper. I listen to Country, Blues, Hard Rock, Jazz and Latin Music, but not Shakira. But I will agree that the music from 1950 up to about 1992 was better. The last 19 have been brutal for hits. But there are a few gems, but not many.
Some artist I found on youtube:
Nick Curran - Please don’t Leave Me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k843IUm18mw
Gina Sicilia - Bring it on Home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlwSMGmK9MY
Roomful of Blues - Two For The Price Of Ten:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_CtZ9ohVIM
You Lie - by Danielle Lowe (Cover):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3aFs5nOHR0
Blue Coupe - You (Like Vampires):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9FM2Y6zOyk
Keb’ Mo’ - She Just Wants To Dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVx7InnsH8o
Dave Gross - “You Got to Move” by Elmore James:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apR4XNNVNXg
Alyssa Graham - “Pictures of You” :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oGFqulUSxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-hY-FibNI&feature=related
Deadman - When the Music’s Not Forgotten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4FvS1Txf08&feature=related
Deadman “If I Lay Down In The River”
I was pleased to see Deadman at the top of your list RC.
The bass player is a longtime family friend. He played for Monte Montgomery before going with Deadman. They should be back in Austin tonite after a tour of Northern Europe. They arrived in Norway one day before the bombing/mass murders took place. They were about an hour and a half away in the town of Holden.
You are right that there is some great new indie music out there.
Fine performances, thanks for the links. I like the vocalist.
It is indeed. Doyle Bramhill 2 played 2nd guitar with Clapton for a number of years. And Derek Trucks is another great young guitarist.
” Cream, Blind Faith, Traffic, Buffalo Springfield “
You left out the Byrds.
That was an exceptional era for some gifted musicians. I suspect that some of the talent was a result of having roots in folk music.
I searched for the Salsa version of Clocks and I agree, this is better, especially in August!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8eMO9EV00o&NR=1
40 minutes with Fitz and the Tantrums:
http://www.baeblemusic.com/concertvideo/Bader-Field/Fitz-and-The-Tantrums.html
Great. Certainly better than the execrable supergroup Superheavy led by Brenda Jagger in a pink suit!
Acquired taste. It took me two minutes to like like it.
Great!
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