NEWS
Glam Now, too
Frog Eyes have been lighting up the hipster review sites the last few years. Singer Carey Mercer has cracking howl that evokes Bowie, but I think the Bowie comparisons is even more valid in the songwriting. It has the epic dynamics of pre-Ziggy Bowie, and brings to mind songs like "Life on Mars," from when he was on the verge of giving in to his avant-theatre instincts.
Bloom look to have been plugging away out of Central Florida for about a decade. But they played the SXSW festival this year, and stuck an mp3 in the massive download that was sent around to promote the festival. It really stood out from the other 490 songs. "Don't Tell a Dead Man..." takes that "Radar Love" boogie and sticks it with a melody worthy of the Sweet. Of all the neo-glitter songs I've posted, this is the one that really evokes a bell-bottomed jumpsuit with exposed chest hair. Yet their myspace site shows a band that is fully buttoned up.
The late, great Devil Dogs were central to the nineties garage punk scene that emanated Sympathy for the Record Industry and Crypt Records and gradually grew to the fad of the early 2000's. They started getting exposure around 1991 as band that sounded like old punk. Not sixties psych-punk, but like the early CBGBs bands. So they were the first sign that the snot of the Dead Boys or Heartbreakers was getting retro enough to need reviving. Or to put it another way, they were among the first punk bands that didn't have anything to do with the hardcore scene, nor the emerging indie rock scene. "Hellraiser" has the fifties-cum-seventies hiccup of the Rocky Horror soundtrack, but ain't slick at all. Like everything they did, it's got a crunchy Les Paul lead and a campy approach to macho swagger.
Frog Eyes - The Oscillator's Hum
Bloom - Don't Tell a Dead Man How to Die
Devil Dogs - Hellraiser
posted by bendy @ 6/20/2005 11:02:00 PM [permanent link]
Blackstrap is a rockpunk band that was formed in 2002 by several
disgruntled music fans. Some had played in bands for years, some had
never been involved in music. All of us were upset with the
direction the USA was moving. As you can tell, our impact on all that
has been overwhelming.
We broke up in 2004, just before releasing a debut EP. We still feel
bad about messing up 307 Knox Records
like that. We got back together in
2005. We might drive each other crazy again, so no promises.
We're a band that doesn't have many options as far as
money and time and touring and all those other thing that could make a
band be your life. The web is the main way we promote
ourselves. We figured out we should share what meager knowledge we have
obtained.
RESOURCES
or "Promoting Your Music as the Music Industry We Know and Dislike Dies...."
Websites are a lot of work to figure out, and don't work any magic
on their own. Most people who view your website are already going to know you exist.
Just having a website doesn't mean anyone is going to visit. So don't
worry about securing an Internet domain right away. Stick some
music on MySpace,
and then participate in sites that might actually drive interested
listeners to your music. Blackstrap gets more hits from our link
on ncpunkonline.com than from
higher-profile sites where we get lost in the shuffle.
There are advantages to having your own custom built website and
domain name, but it's only as useful to the extent that it gets linked to.
Here are some sites that are important and help to get noticed. They aren't all music sites, specifically. Alot of them require participation. But hey, you wanted to be on stage, right?
JUST HEARD
WEEKLY FAVS
LOOKING AT...
what else?
DISCLAIMER: I try to find MP3 which are linked to official sites for artists I admire. Other MP3's are up for a limited time and are for sampling purposes only. Music posted here is posted to encourage people to buy CDs, not with the intention to profit or to violate copyright. If you are the creator (or copyright owner) of a song, excerpt, essay, graphic or photo posted on this blog, please send email to the address on the CONTACT page if you want to comment on the selection or wish to have it removed.
photos in banner by bunchofpants.