This is going to be a somewhat regularly occurring post of music that we here at Bearded Gentlemen Music are listening to. When you spend your whole life plundering the internet and pestering people for new tunes its good every once in a while to let em know what we are buggin out to. If our recommendations suck its your fault…
Junius
These guys are touring with O’Brother right now and they are equally as bad ass as their touring mates. Picture Hum with a hint of Isis, fronted by Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears. It threw me off at first, but the thickness of the tunes and the brash upfront vocals grew on me. Their newest Reports from the Threshold of Death may not be quite as diverse as their previous release, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist, but it’s still some pretty heavy business. Both albums have been on constant rotation as of late. Check track eight “Elisheva, I Love You” off of The Martyrdom of A Catastrophist. Big and sentimental and that’s just how I like my men rockin.
Side note: Isaac and I had plans to go see O’Brother and Junius at Kilby Court Feb. 29th and I am bailing on him. I’m super bummed at myself and I hope that it’s an amazing show so I can feel even worse about missing it. Hopefully Isaac will take a bunch of pics and photos and post em here.
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan is a couple of Asian Canadian ladies who make some really cool theatric type 70’s psychedelia doom anime manga rock. Their first release YT//ST is an eastern tinged fuzzed out operatic sonic adventure, really intriguing stuff with great drumming. This group has the potential to become a favorite. Check the feature Pitchfork did on them: http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/8752-yamantaka-sonic-titan/
Blu
I discovered this west coast underground rapper while searching for tunes way too late one night when I should have been in bed. I randomly stumbled across his free mixtape No York! gave it download and was blown away by the originality of the lo-fi trashy beats and the random imagery used in the rhymes . Apparently Blu had a deal with Warner Bros. and this is what he gave them and the record company said “No” cause they’re lame. So he put it out for free and that’s great.
Side Note: I really am digging this new trend in hip-hop where artists seem to be going to a more creative based backpack no flash vibe. I think by releasing all these free mixtapes on the net artists are liberating themselves from all the stereo typical commercial cliché stuff. It’s really refreshing and much more entertaining.
… Also, I posted my Uncle Nate’s Best of 2011 List. Look at it for even more stuff to listen to.