Trawling across the internet, I've stumbled across some pretty good music which is, to my knowledge, largely unknown. In an effort to address this, I'm beginning this new section wherein I'll be highlighting artistes who I think are worth checking out. Some of them may only have one song available, some may have a few, and some a full album or more.
I'm currently perusing a website called “Soundclick” (
SoundClick - Free MP3 music download and much, much more.) and going through it alphabetically, sorting the gems from the rubbish. Naturally, anyone who wants to is free to head over there and poke around themselves, and of course it's only my own personal tastes that are being used to select the music listed below, so there could be stuff there someone else would like that I would not consider worthy. But for those who have less time and/or patience, I'm hoping to save you the hassle of wading through a sea of dross to get to the good stuff.
I'll be featuring three bands or artistes per section, telling you a little about them and pointing you to their page wherein you can listen to their music. Who knows? You may discover buried treasure...
To help you out further I'll be rating the songs (assuming there are more than one) as Gold, Silver or Copper. I assume that's self-explanatory, but just in case there's any confusion, Gold will be the songs you really have to listen to, the best the artiste has to offer (of the ones available), while Silver will denote tracks that are okay, but not as good as the Gold. I'd still recommend you listen to them. Copper will be the lowest quality, the ones that really didn't impress me at all. You can probably get by without listening to them.
Of course, this will all be based on my own personal impressions and tastes, so naturally you're free to listen to any track(s) you want, and form your own opinions. I simply offer these as a guide, in case you haven't the time, inclination or patience to listen to every track.
To listen to any artiste, click on the link which begins "SoundClick artist".
Abstract
First I recommend these guys, Abstract, a great little AOR band from Florida. They say they have supported the likes of Molly Hatchet, Georgia Satellites and Creed, and on the basis of the quality of their music here I would tend to believe them. Have a listen and see what you think. They've made what appears to be a whole album available: and that's
full tracks, not just samples or snippets. Actually, it's probably more than an album, as I've just counted twenty-eight tracks.
Unfortunately, their page is not very up-to-date, as the last information they quote as “news” is that they are working on a videogame soundtrack, dated 2007!
SoundClick artist: Abstract - Melodic and meaningful - Abstract music is written for riff and lyric lovers! Our new CD Checkmate
Music genre AOR/soft rock
Nationality American (Florida)
Gold: Everafter, Thought I'd let you know, Finiteland, Prize fighter, Hey sister, You won't see me, Sad moments, Tree song, Maybe next time
Silver: Down, Valentine, Pick up the phone, Semper Fi, X, The Blame, Everything, Apologize, Brooklyn Bridge, Not today, Wastin'
Copper: 420, Plastic Jesus, One chance, Carousel, Faith, Pissed, The river's edge, Hey you
Accelerator
This is one guy from Canada, who goes by the name of Accelerator. What I've heard from him I really like. His music has a southern/country rock feel.
SoundClick artist: Accelerator - This is a one man musical effort with the exception of some finely crafted lyrics and phenomenal voc
Music genre Rock/country
Nationality Canadian
Gold: Kites against the wind, Temperature in Tucson, Broken glass, The fall of Eden
Silver: Rude people, Where do we go from here, Livin' on dreams, Only U
Copper: K.I.S.S, Broken hearted
Aedgemont
Seems to be just one guy on guitar and drum machine in the New York/Brooklyn area. Pretty damn good on his own though!
SoundClick artist: aedgemont - Guitarist of 15 years influenced by classic rock, prog rock/metal.
Music genre Rock
Nationality American (New York)
Gold: An excerpt of nothing, Driving rock tune
Silver: Fields of Govan, New heavy tracks
More next time, when I'll be sailing across the Sea of Mediocrity and navigating the Straits of Poor Quality to get to the Island of the Noteworthy, and bring you back some treasure for your ears.
"Pieces of eight, pieces of eight!"
Shut it, Polly! Stupid parrot....