Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Singletons

First things first, I've embedded an automatic music player to ROTGM. That way, each time you visit here, you will immediately hear the band I highlighted last. Cheers!

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It's been more than a week since I've last posted, and my backlog of music to post on ROTGM has gotten rather lengthy. To counter this, I have decided to try to make sure I'm posting AT LEAST once per week, if not more. If things go well, I may be able to keep this up all summer long. So, without further ado, here's some music!


The Singletons are a four man band from Barcelona, Spain which claims on their website to be "now with a 100% more of rock". While that statement is undeniably grammatically flawed, the message is arguably correct. The Singletons offer little in the way of innovations, instead clinging to British influenced garage rock, but they make up for it with the energy and heart that makes garage rock so much fun when done right. They may not be original, but they sure do rock. Before I forget, the lyrics are in English not Spanish. I just wanted to clarify that for those who are picky about such things.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Freedom!

Well, school's out for the summer. Now that I'm no longer constrained by schoolwork, I will be posting much more frequently than I have been lately. With that said, here's my first post of the summer. With the last four posts being about international rock and metal acts, it's high time for a change. I want this blog to have something for EVERYONE, not just rockers and headbangers. With that in mind, here's some jazz.


Unlike everything else I've posted so far, this is actually a compilation album and not the work of one specific artist. I like that with jazz. Compilations keep things fresh. This album is a collection of ten songs from artists signed to Blue Canoe Records, an indie jazz label outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It's a nice mix of youthful and seasoned jazz, with no weird crap thrown in to dilute it. As you may have noticed, I listen to some strange stuff from time to time (Diablo Swing Orchestra, for example). Thankfully, there are no surprises of that sort to be found here. It's just straightforward jazz, free of charge thanks to Blue Canoe Records. It's worth noting however that this is not the entire album. Two of the twelve original tracks have been omitted in the free download I've linked here, but it's still worth downloading the remaining ten. Even if you don't call yourself a fan of jazz, you should give this a shot anyways. The main reason I run this blog, after all, is to help people expand their horizons. If I didn't stretch your musical comfort-zone, I wouldn't be doing my self-appointed job, now would I?

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Maldia

It's rare for me to be this on top of something. The band in question here is Spanish metal act Maldia. Granted the band has been around since 2006, so they aren't exactly new. However, they sure took their sweet time with their self-titled debut: it just came out last month. As far as I can tell, the band doesn't have much of an international audience. All the info I could dig up on them was in Spanish, and I don't intend to confuse you with my pathetic attempts at translation. The music more than speaks for itself.


I am...honestly still in shock. Spanish lyrics aside (I understand that many of my fellow Americans don't share my love for foreign bands due to the language barrier), Maldia is one of the most impressive metal acts I've come across in a good while. Often, when a metal band is undiscovered, it's for a very good reason. Or two. Or twenty. Not only are there countless unsigned metal bands out there, most of them are almost physically painful to listen to. Either the lyrics are painfully trite, or the vocalist's attempts at "singing" are so subpar that it makes you wonder how drunk the other band members were when they decided to hire him/her. Often as not, these bands churn out the same riffs and the same patterns as everyone else on the metal scene. There are so many talent-less metal bands in both the songwriting and performance departments out there that the actually decent bands get lost in the shuffle. I'm hoping that doesn't happen here.

What Maldia offers is a bit of fresh air to the indie metal scene. You rarely find indie metal bands that can both write decent songs and actually play them. Except for some moments with the vocals, Maldia's debut is a surprisingly solid piece of thrash. Yes, there are awkward moments with the singing. For the most part, it's pretty good, but some overly dramatic moments and extremely out of place sound effects (burping mid song? Really people?) prove to be a touch annoying. However, anyone willing to look past this will find an impressively brutal and melodic album. What's more, it's free to download courtesy of the artist. I recommend you keep you eye on Maldia. They definitely have potential, which is something that could pay off for them big time in the long run.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Trick Seventeen

Since it's been a while since I posted anything, I thought I would pass on a band I just discovered about twenty minutes to you. Honestly, if I don't do these things promptly, there's no way I can remember to do it later. Ahem. Moving on.

The band is Trick Seventeen, a pop-punk group out of of Braunschweig, Germany. Braunschweig. I'm rather glad to be typing this and not orating. German names tend to through my tongue for a loop. Anyways, here they are: three albums for your listening and downloading pleasure. As always, the music is yours to use as you please, provided you abide by the terms established by the artist. Basically, you can't profit or take credit for it. Anyways, here's the music:










Ok, the three albums are in chronological order, first at top and latest at bottom. As such, don't be turned off if you just listen to the earliest album. The reason I put them up here isn't because they are particularly novel or unique. Pop-punk bands are practically a dime-a-dozen these days. My point is that Trick Seventeen showed potential early on, and if their 2012 album "We Own The Night" is any indication, they are more than capable of capitalizing on their talent. They are, frankly, amazing. Oh, and before I forget, THE LYRICS ARE IN ENGLISH, NOT GERMAN. I just needed to make that clear for all those people out there who refuse to listen to foreign music because they can't get past the language barrier. Although I have no problem with it, I didn't want people to ignore me after I said they were from Germany. Anyways, it's energetic, melodic, and free. Download it.