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New thread idea... Indie picks of the week


Griffinator

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This fell out of a discussion on the "labels sue online" thread. Figured I'd give it a go. I used to be a reviewer for Artistlaunch.com back in the day, and there was a ton of really good music out there on the site, if one could dig it up. So, I'm here to turn you on to some of it. Each week, I'll post up one or two really good artists from a number of genres. Feel free to slam my picks if you like, but more importantly, give them a good listen. Only way to find an alternative to mainstream radio is to find an alternative to mainstream radio....

 

This week at Artistlaunch

 

Pop/Rock:

 

Ana Lovelis - very Fiona Apple/Liz Phair kind of singer, with some interesting blends of folk, grunge, and a few other influences and a pretty good voice to go with it!

 

Granati Brothers - Totally retro rock - heavy Cars and Supertramp influences and a wonderful tenor frontman. They do a quite impressive cover of "Oh, Darlin'" as well!

 

Electronica:

 

Bjorn Lynne - very organic ambient material, moody, deep, with a variety of textures and tones in his compositions.

 

Metal:

 

Zero Illusions: Old-school (think Helloween, Savatage) metal with a perfect Bonn Scott clone on vocals. Makes for an interesting result. Riffs are simple, straightforward, and powerful. If I had a complaint, it'd be that they seem afraid of guitar solos...

 

Jazz:

 

Grant Williams - Ethereal fusion type stuff. Don't expect miracles in the production end, but the grooves are tight and they take you places.

 

Country:

 

"Boots" - Another installment of the Canadian country invasion - he covers a lot of ground within the country genre, from rockabilly to traditional. See if you can keep from chuckling, though, as he struggles to mask his Canuck accent with a drawl...

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I know! :D I haven't had a chance to listen. Sorry. (I'm stuck in the garage here with an 80 yr old vocalist. She's used to doing things "her way"... ever tried accomodating 10/8 into 3/4? :D )

 

My daughter sends me Indie music she likes - I might be able to contribute eventually.

"........! Try to make It..REAL! compared to what? ! ! ! " - BOPBEEPER
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Griff, I think your thread is a good idea.

 

However, as you can see from the responses to it and/or lack thereof, it is indicative of the discussion we had in the other "companies sue online".

 

"Indie" acts still have to do huge amount of grassroots style marketing and promotion in order to build a fanbase.

 

The public will seek out the genre/style of music they want to hear. Beyond that, they still have to be bombarded with the sound, image, etc.

 

I've got that over 30 syndrome where if I'm going to buy "new" music, it is old stuff repackaged i.e. compilations.

 

When it comes to new artists/bands, I get it the old-fashioned way....by word of mouth or accident. :cool:

PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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I thought this thread was a great idea. I listened to a few and here are my thoughts.

 

Granati Brothers - I liked them, very easy on the ears if you like this style of music. A bit harder than I thought but still worth checking out if you like rock. Retro Rock is a great description.

 

Bjorn Lynne - If you like New Age/Ambient music you really need to check this out. I really enjoyed this alot. Great sound and you can hear many different influences. One I heard that caught my attention was Tangerine Dream.

Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion, unobtrusive

- Rush

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Originally posted by mate_stubb:

Well, I can't figure out how to listen to the Granati Brothers. After half a dozen popup windows, the best I could do was find a station that may play them at some point.

 

Suck ass website.

You should find many of these artists are on the iTunes Music Store... probably the fastest place to try first.
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OK, so let's make it a little simpler.

 

The Granati Brothers

 

Bjorn Lynne

 

Ana Lovelis

 

Zero Illusions

 

Grant Williams

 

Danny "Boots" Hunter

 

There. I'll probably use that format from here out. No point in forcing everyone to search the sites I point when I already know where the artist pages are! :D

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I'll try to be as unbiased as possible:

 

 

Originally posted by Griffinator:

Pop/Rock:

 

Ana Lovelis

Now (at least some of) her stuff is all around 'professional' or 'near-professional' quality. So much so that I suspect some involvement from veterans? Can't find any info though. (I recently found an artist on myspace who sounded 'professional,' but it turned out the songs were written/produced by industry veterans who've worked on various hit songs!)

 

Granati Brothers
OK, quite a few rough edges though.

 

Electronica:

 

Bjorn Lynne

It's hard to assess this kind of music quickly but this has promise. (One of his tracks on the iTunes store is 30 minutes long, so I'm not sure how a 30 second sample is sufficient!)

 

BTW there is lots of this kind of stuff available from http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/ -- including, I just noticed, Bjorn Lynne.

 

Zero Illusions
Not bad, tightening up required...

 

Jazz:

 

Grant Williams - Ethereal fusion type stuff. Don't expect miracles in the production end, but the grooves are tight and they take you places.

Hmm, interesting.

 

Country:

 

"Boots"

YIKES!

 

 

I should say again I like the idea of this thread. :thu:

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