I'm back! With some other stuff - music in this case.
Pass this on. More people need to know about more, wonderful music, but only people who care. Give it to fellow music buffs, people who are interested in expanding their horizons.
This will hopefully have multiple parts.
My goal here is to tell people about great music that not enough people know about.
I refuse to categorize by genre because people, being people, will see one genre or another and say, "Oh, jazz? I don't like that." Or the same with any genre. I used to do that and I'm doing my best to break that habit. I will be organizing in no particular order.
A general layout will be:
Artist/Album(s)
Description
Download link
So let's get started. But first, I've got a few more things to say...
1) The vast majority of these are both free and legal. Assume that an album or song is unless I say otherwise.
2) Not all of this is something you'll like. It's an enormous variety of genres, styles and artists, with a particular (and accidental) focus on hip-hop that I've come to love.
3) Please, pass this on. Leave me suggestions. I'd love to see this blossom.
4) The main focus will be less-noticed, or less "mainstream", artists, songs and albums. You won't be seeing anything you hear on the radio (any more) on here.
5) The majority of these are by some obscure artists that you've probably never heard of.
So! Here we go.
PROF
Albums - I recommend them all, myself. Some take a bit of time for them to grow on you, but when they do they're fantastic.
Prof is a local (Minneapolis) rapper - and a joker at that - that a shamefully small amount of people know about. Sure, he can sell out shows, but they're at smaller venues and he's not exactly a household name. As far as I know, I'm possibly one of the only people at my school that actively listens to his stuff. It's fantastic - songs' topics vary from depression to booze to having a huge ego to about everything else. It's also very well-made music. The tunes still haven't bored me, and there's something to be said for that given how long I've been listening to them. Almost all of his albums are on his label's website for free digital downloads, and they're all great. He's still active - his last full-length album - 16 tracks in this case - was released in August.
(Yes, he's white. So what? He can still rap.)
Pick up his music at:
http://tinyurl.com/6hvavvy and http://tinyurl.com/ybnof8n.
(The latter is a collaboration with St. Paul Slim, another fantastic local rap artist.)
BOB OSTERTAG
Albums - I can't say a ton on this, as I haven't gotten to listen to his older stuff as of yet, but "Motormouth" is fantastic.
Bob Ostertag does music that I'm struggling to describe. He does a lot of synthesizer work - for example, all of "Motormouth" was done on a single synthesizer. His music is very stereo, with totally different things happening in each ear most of the time. It's electronic music that's quieter than most and very experimental. It's overall really cool stuff, and give it a listen if nothing else.
All seven of his albums have been released for free at:
http://tinyurl.com/3jk84gp
EMERALD PARK
Albums - I recently picked up "For Tomorrow", which I recommend heartily.
Emerald Park is an indie-rock group with a very crisp sound and production. Their music is very professional-sounding, with killer harmonies and catchy licks to boot. The album "For Tomorrow" covers a great span of ideas and sounds, from "Lights of Sunday"'s quieter singing and acoustic guitars to "Ume"'s more traditional rock beat and feeling - until the vocals and maracas come in. It's very high-quality music, and there is absolutely no reason for you to not pick this up right now.
They also released "Slow", a four-track album that takes a total U-turn from what "For Tomorrow" is like but manages to maintain its brilliance. These two albums often split fans on which album is better, but they're both fabulous.
Grab Emerald Park's "For Tomorrow" and "Slow", respectively, here:
http://tinyurl.com/3pccbo8 and http://tinyurl.com/3whwnc8
WAX
Albums - Check out "Scrublife"
Another fantastic rapper, this man's got something unique going for him - his rhythms. He often extends words further than you think they should be and it works better than you'd think. He also has a fantastic voice and makes very intense tunes, which works very well for him.
He's got some particularly great songs on this album - "Red" is a great starter which shows you how his music works and is a fantastic song in its own right, "Two Wheels" is an interesting take on bicycle-riding with some fantastic rhymes in there, not to mention "Old Ways" and "Mary", both of which are harrowing songs that you just can't stop listening to.
Download "Scrublife":
http://tinyurl.com/4666xsq
WASARU
Albums - "Prisoner of State", "Undefinable Scenes", "Fragments of Stories", and "Imperceptible Memories" are a great. In other words, I love all of it.
Wasaru does strange stuff. It's very slow and minimal electronic music, so any beats or notes placed matter quite a bit. Many of the songs, especially on "Imperceptible Memories", my personal favorite, have strange vocal harmonies. Don't make the mistake of thinking the vocals have meaning, though - they're more instruments than transmitters of meaning. All four albums are varied just enough while maintaining a style throughout. This artist is definitely not for everyone, but I didn't say you'd like everything! Please, check it out.
Download "Prisoner of State": http://tinyurl.com/3r899bs
Download "Undefinable Scenes": http://tinyurl.com/3fk4ymu
Download "Fragments of Stories": http://tinyurl.com/44fro8d
Download "Imperceptible Memories": http://tinyurl.com/3mn3aoa
GIRL TALK
Albums - "All Day", "Night Ripper", and "Feed the Animals" are particularly grand.
Girl Talk has been going for quite a few years. He's a mashup artist, which means he combines songs already made - a lick here, a chorus there - to make one epic, long song. His stuff is a lot of hip-hop and rap combined with, often, '60s-'80s guitar licks and beats. Very few of his albums are bad, but they all take a bit of time to grow on you - but when they do, they're unbeatable.
Download Girl Talk's music under a pay-what-you-want model (Including $0.00) here:
http://tinyurl.com/3jh4ase
DUBMOOD
Albums - "C'etait Mieux en RDA Vol. 2" is a good starter - it was released for free, unlike most of his music. This one's a happy exception, though.
Dubmood is a french chiptune artist. Chiptunes, for the uninformed, are songs styled to sound like older-style video games, like the stereotypical "bleep bloops" of said games. He makes fantastic stuff, even if it is quite niche - not everyone will like it. I find it to be fantastic, as because of the limited access to different sounds, a chiptune composer has to be really, really good musically.
Download "C'etait Mieux en RDA Vol. 2" here:
http://tinyurl.com/3tlvw83
BI-POLAR BEAR
Albums - "Today I Found Happy" is a great choice.
Bi-Polar Bear, is, unlike what you might think, two people. They're a small hip-hop group with fascinating pieces - "NPFJ" is a particular highlight of theirs. They have intelligent lyrics and their beats are fantastically minimalistic - some of them, that is. The album starts of with "Fuck Her", a three-minute long bashing not unlike "Fuck You" by Cee Lo Green. It plays almost like a parody of hip-hop, with an excessively large amount of DJ scratches. It's fantastic, somehow, and sets the album off on the right foot. Check Bi-Polar Bear out, please.
Snatch it up - all but one song is free, and the last one is roughly a dollar - here:
http://rollwiththebear.bandcamp.com/
Out for now.
