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!
Putting "music" like rap, hip hop, and metal aside since most of it is junk, the problem I have with musicians these days is that they are too technical and not tuneful enough. They are more concerned about the guitar they are using, or the speaker they are using, or whatever other wonkish aspect they can think of related to music, when they should simply worry about writing a good song. The art of songwriting is being lost, with many songwriters being too cute by half most times. Of course, as with many things that they touch, liberals have destroyed the music industry, which is another kettle of fish altogether.
but it’s still out there,
it can’t all be great or how would you know?
Well, this is one of those that I turn off after 15 seconds. I’m not sure if I am reading it correctly, but after hearing my daughter’s Green Day antimusical cuts during car trips, I concluded that these groups (like Pavement in the first 15 seconds that I just heard) are rebelling against the musicality of the previous generations, against the melodious, good voice music. It started with the Sex Pistols, I believe, and has gone down since then.
Ain't that the truth!
My 21 year old daughter went over to the darkside with music, but she's heard all the classics before so hopefully she'll return to reality soon; as for the younger son, what dad likes, he likes!
Good on you for giving your kids good music!
Bump for later
You oughta hear Fitz and The Tantrums. Fitz, the lead singer and songwriter, is a pianist himself, and the band reflects his concepts. He doesn’t want guitars, enough guitars is enough, he says, relying instead on the keyboards and the sax for melody carrying instruments, certainly an original idea, and certainly some conceptual work behind the band’s sound.
As compared, for example to Deadman, the most traditional (and conceptually weakest, I think) of the bands I listed.
Very good, thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usksH8B07do
Hes 44 years old. Just listen to the lyrics and keep an eye on the surroundings as the song unfolds.
I like this guy a lot.
I should have include a Thank You for posting it.
I get the feeling it will be one of those cuts I will listen to in the wistful hours...
Good, is, well, good. :)
I was expecting something more ugly like most of the late 80s through the 2011’s...
>>There’s even good NEW stuff. Case in point, a young rock band called “Kill It Kid.” <<
Ah, see that is kind of crap that I was expecting from the post-rock post-garbage era.
If you take time to look you can find music that sucks from any generation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP4gAo3BEyA&feature=related
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.