So, there USED to be freenapster.com, and it USED to provide access to almost any artist's music. It was pretty awesome, and I linked ~90% of this blog's recommendations to that site. Now, apparently, Free Napster is no more. Booooooo.
It will be a long, on-going task of mine to redirect the links to somewhere you can hear the music, but in the meantime, if you click on a link that brings you to Napster where it asks you to sign in: 1) Be angry at them, for disrupting your chance to enjoy a good song 2) Google the song and still check it out, because it's awesome
If you have another source I should be using, please don't hesitate to send it my way. Email me for that, and any music recommendations, at tracy@groundwm.com. Thanks!
So, this time the lovely folks at Pitchfork put together a list of Spring releases, and I captured some of my favorites below. Click HERE to see the full list.
4/6 Doves: The Places Between: The Best of Doves Dr. Dog: Shame, Shame 4/13 Arctic Monkeys: My Propeller 10" Four Tet: Sing 12" Freelance Whales: Weathervanes MGMT: Congratulations
4/17 - RECORD STORE DAY Beach House: Zebra 12" Bloc Party: Silent Alarm Bon Iver/Peter Gabriel: Split 7" Bright Eyes: Fevers and Mirrors CocoRosie: "Lemonade" b/w "Surfer Girl" Crystal Castles: "Doe Deer" 12" Deerhoof: Apple O' Deerhoof: Green Cosmos Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come Pavement: Quarantine the Past Simian Mobile Disco: Attack Decay Sustain Release Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/20 The Apples in Stereo: Travellers in Time and SpacePlants and Animals: La La Land
4/26 The Dead Weather: "Die by the Drop" 4/27 Frightened Rabbit: Nothing Like You 7"
5/4 Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record The Hold Steady: Heaven Is Whenever Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: I Learned the Hard Way 5/11 CocoRosie: Grey Oceans The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards Sleigh Bells: Treats
5/18 The Black Keys: BrothersThe Depreciation Guild: Spirit Youth LCD Soundsystem: This Is Happening
6/8 The Chemical Brothers: Further Deer Tick: The Black Dirt Sessions Delorean: Subiza Here We Go Magic: PigeonsNada Surf: If I Had a Hi-Fi Rooney: Eureka Sia: We Are Born Tokyo Police Club: Champ
SO happy it didn't rain again! It was warm and beautiful and I LOVED it :) I decided to try the LP33.tv thing one more time, so I started my morning at the press tent. This time, I even roped Chris Balzer into it.
My first stop was Ezra Furman (Chicago, IL). And while the music was certainly good, I spent most of their show in the shade lathering on sunscreen and ordering a cheeseburger for breakfast. Delta Spirit (CA) was the first act on my list of must-sees. They were awesome! I'm officially a fan, and big thanks to @Labatt205 for the inspiration :) Here's a clip of their performance:
From Delta Spirit I went right over to Langhorne Slim. I was SUPER excited to see him, as I love his song "Rebel Side of Heaven." I captured a bit of that song on video, which you can see HERE. From here Chris and I did our LP33.tv stints, both failing miserably at trying to say "LP33.tv." I headed over to the XRT Relax and Recharge area and Chris visited the ADIDAS shoe van-thing. Again, you'll see it when I run for office...
I headed to Gomez (Southport, UK) next, against my own advice, but on the insistence of others. Again, I don't remember what it was that turned me off to Gomez, but for some reason I regretfully tagged along. (I was OK not going to Chairlift because I have tickets to see them with Micachu & the Shapes soon at Schubas) Thankfully, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them! I need to add them to my current "Need to Listen to" playlist so I can hear more, and maybe soon you'll see them featured on MPD!
Following Gomez we hiked to Arctic Monkeys (England, UK). I met up with some friends for this, so I didn't really concentrate on their show. I was hoping to pay a bit more attention to them, as I like several of their songs, but oh well.
I caught Santigold (Brooklyn, NY) from the TV on the Radio stage. She was fun! I was impressed, and had no idea she'd been touring for the last two years. Lolla's show was her first show back in the states after her tour overseas, and the last show of her U.S. and overseas tour - so a big night for her!
TV on the radio (Brooklyn, NY) was a HUGE surprise. Sure, I liked them. Sure, I featured them. But goodness people, these guys are FABulous! A whole new level of respect and admiration for TVOTR. I left their show a few songs into it though, to try and get a good spot at Animal Collective (Baltimore, MD) (one of my top 3 shows to see). I failed horribly at this mission. It's sad and embarrassing.
I stood for an hour at the wrong stage. Yep, completely wrong stage. In retrosect, all our questioning of "what's taking so long?" and "why are those people next to us dressed like Jesus and the Devil?" makes more sense once you realize we were up front at Tool's stage! UGH! Uuuuuuugh. I suck at life. :(
Anyway, I caught 1.4 songs of Animal Collective's set, and all 1.4 songs were AWESOME. I'm SO sad I missed it, and SO happy we realized we were at the wrong state when we did, or I would have been in for a ruuuuude awakening when the band came out.
After Animal Collective, I did watch 15 minutes of Tool (LA, CA) (from a distance far, far away from the stage) and then closed out the night with Yeah Yeah Yeahs (NYC) at the other end. Truth be told, I don't remember much of their set. I was ready for bed.
On this blog I post one song every day by a new artist, never repeating an artist... Sometimes it takes me a while to find an artist I believe is worth posting, and most of the time, once I find that artist, I love more than one of their songs. What to do?!?!
Well, as hard as it may be, I chose one-and-only-one song to recommend each day, but now my Random 10s allow me to share other songs from these artists that I love. Enjoy! :)
I was really hoping I'd stumble upon something by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that I like... it finally happened with Down Boy, and now I really like this song too!
I am a fan of My Gold Mask's music. I first heard them on January 6, and have listened to their latest EP A Thousand Voicescountless times since. I was incredibly excited to learn that before this Chicago duo heads to SXSW, they're playing a FREE show at Empty Bottle on Monday, March 15. Assuming your hangover from the weekend's St. Patrick's Day festivities has subsided, I strongly encourage you to attend the show. It'll be a great way to burn all those alcoholic calories.
Over the past few months, My Gold Mask music has spread like wildfire. They have an electronically tribal sound, with a driving energy that encourages dancing. The lyrics are deep and fleeting, accompanied by a single guitar and a minimalist use of percussion. Many bloggers, including myself, are calling My Gold Mask a top Chicago act to watch in 2010.
My incessant googling lead to several questions, and MGM welcomed my invitation to share some conversation online. As a music lover and promoter, my questions ebb and flow between random points of interest. Read on to hear what Jack and Gretta from My Gold Mask have to say about SXSW, their dream line-up, and releasing new music.
Music Per Diem: I admire your approach to making music. In past interviews you expressed a desire to continuously challenge yourself, and to have your music be a product of your abilities and not your influences. In January to the Chicagoist, Gretta mentioned that adding a cymbal to more songs is one way she plans to challenge herself in 2010, but I’m curious to know what’s next. How do you plan to keep the process new? Do you see any other instruments on the horizon? Any collaborations? Do you think My Gold Mask will ever make the conscious decision to head in a completely new direction?
J: As you said, we're all for challenging ourselves and keeping things interesting to us. We basically have no set rules. We may add more, we may not. Our philosophy is to let the music, the songs, decide where we go next.
G: Well, since the Chicagoist interview, I've already added a cymbal. As for what's next? I don't know, I'd like to learn Braille. It doesn't necessarily have to be added instrumentation. It can be a language, or how to sew. When I was 13, I learned Morse Code for no reason other than it seemed interesting.
MPD: Music is certainly my favorite form of art.While I respect your choice to write in seclusion, purposefully avoiding any form of outside influence, I usually like the concept of artistic influences.The idea that one person’s art is responsible for the outcome of another person’s art is exciting to me, and seems slightly inevitable.Recently, your music was used by two other artists, Chicago musician The Hood Internet "Bitches," and fashion designer Phillip Lim used “Violet Eyes” and “Your Coo Ka Choo” in his Fall/Winter 2010/2011 fashion show.As an artist trying to avoid all influences, how do you feel when other artists integrate your work into theirs? Do you think you’ll ever hear someone else’s music and choose to integrate it into your work? Do other forms of art influence your sound?
J: Well, it's not so much that I'm trying to "avoid all influence", we of course have influences. It's more like an effort to leave those influences in the subconscious while we write songs. As far as other artists integrating our work that's always a thrill as well because it causes you to look at your own art in a different way.
G: And we have integrated someone else's music, in a way. We covered "Betty Davis Eyes" last year. We integrate all forms of art when it comes to music. It would be hard not to. We are sponges to the vibrations of all kinds of art and I hope that comes across in our music.
J: Though, when it comes to doing a cover song, it's only interesting to us if we feel like we do something different with it.
MPD: Up next for MGM is SXSW. If I were in a band offered to play SXSW, I’d be beyond fantastically excited. On a scale of 1 to 10, how fantastically excited are you?What part of the SXSW experience are you most looking forward to? Who tops your list of must-see shows? Was there a specific event that put MGM on SXSW’s radar, or would you accredit a broader situation?
G: We are very excited! Neither of us have ever been to SXSW, and we feel extremely lucky to get to play 3 amazing showcases with tons of amazing new bands. I just want to slip into it and ride the wave until someone tells me it's time to leave.
J: As to what led us to this....I don't really know if there was a specific event that led to us playing, I think it's just been about a few nice people who appreciate our music and are giving us a chance to share with even more people. That's what it's all about.
MPD: When describing your writing process, the words organic, collaborative and emotion often come up.For MGM, you’ve explained that a song generally starts with Jack exploring guitar riffs and Gretta throwing lyrics around, followed by adding drums and the occasional cymbal.It doesn’t seem like there’s a point where you decide to “create an album,” but rather once a few songs are penned, performed and polished you release them to the world.Is that accurate? Was there any conversation regarding how MGM is going to release music?
I find this discussion particularly interesting as the hands-down best strategy to release music hasn’t been determined yet.The jury’s still out on whether or not music today should be released for free or at a price? As a physical CD or digital format? Should the release be full-length or an EP?On a label or independently distributed? Personally, I believe in general that releasing free content regularly is one of the best things an artist can do – whether it be blog posts, video diaries, pictures, tweets or new music. As an artist, where do you see the industry heading?
G: I guess our only plan on how we release music is that when we have something finished, we just get it out there. It can be an EP or full length or just a single, it doesn't matter. It's whatever we feel like.
J: But, we will always have free mp3's out there because really, we just want people to hear our music. And that's the easiest way to get people to listen. And we will still make physical copies for people who like to hold something in their hands too. We would love to do a vinyl next.
MPD: In previous interviews you stated that MGM just “puts the music out there” and hopes people like it. From a business perspective, I’m curious where you “put it.” MySpace? Bandcamp? Where else? What medium provided your first traffic surge? What outlet has helped you best maintain the momentum this far? What types of things, if any, have you done proactively to get on someone’s radar? Based on your experiences thus far, what is your top recommendation to other artists?
J: Well, as an unsigned musician, sites like Bandcamp have been very helpful. It's easy to use and people can download straight from the site. It's also nice because you can embed the MP3's with your art, info, etc.I'm sort of a freak about having artwork attached to my mp3's. I actually have artwork on everything in my iPod. So, it drives me crazy when I download something and it's like "track 1" and has no art attached.
G: Our advice to another band would be, just give some songs away, don't be too possessive.
MPD: Name three things you’re loyal to (ie a brand of vodka, a Chicago coffee shop, a sports team, recycling, etc)
J: Comic Books, My Pug, Making music
G: Same for me, except switch comics for chocolate
MPD: Let’s play word association.
Conan O’Brien - rad
Lo-fi - warm
The Midwest - cold
MySpace -necessary evil
History - repeats
MPD: Last November, MGM was featured on a Pretty Much Amazing podcast with some pretty amazing artists, including Yeasayer, Girls, Hot Chip, Junior Boys, Department of Eagles, Sia and Four Tet.How does it feel to see your song Violet Eyes featured with that crowd? Of all the artists on the playlist, included below, who is your favorite? Beyond that list, who are some of your favorite artists today?
Artists on pmaCAST #21 include Four Tet, Karen O and the Kids, Ellie Goulding, Bloodgroup, Sia, The xx, Fyfe Dangerfield, Girls, Yeasayer, Maps, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Department of Eagles, Junior Boys, Peter Bjorn and John, and Hot Chip.
J: It's kinda weird to see our song next to all those names. But good weird! Some new stuff I'm digging lately: Shapers, Hussle Club, Cloud Nothings.
Liam Finn with Eliza Jane - Champagne in Seashells
RCRD LBL Radio
I'm a big fan of RCRD LBL.
RCRD LBL is a network of online record labels and blogs offering completely FREE (and almost ALWAYS amazing) music. I love them SO much, I added their radio widget to my site.
Enjoy! and check 'em out! :)
Posts
Plants and Animals: La La Land
The Depreciation Guild: Spirit Youth
Nada Surf: If I Had a Hi-Fi
