PANTY RAID! MR. MAY IS….GROVERXIII OF THENUMBEROFTHEBLOG.COM
I told the lovely ladies here at Reign in Blonde that I would do their May Panty Raid column, seeing as they were so kind as to participate in our Number of the Blogcast (we are so fucking clever at naming shit)….it seemed only fair.
Then I realized that I didn’t really know what to write about.
I actually had an entire post written about my thoughts on impending fatherhood. After all, girls love babies. (Once my daughter is here, I will become the best wingman in the world to my single dude friends.) Unfortunately, that article was not especially metal, and I didn’t think it was that entertaining, either. And besides, while the people that run this site may be ladies, the people that read it may not be.
So, instead, I’ve decided to write about music; specifically, free music. This is a subject that is near and dear to my blackened heart; over at TNOTB, we try to post every Friday about free music from various corners of the internets. We call this post Free Shit Friday. (See what I mean about clever names?) Through these posts, I have come across some truly great, talented artists who are simply giving their music away; my plan here is to hopefully widen public knowledge of these artists.
You see, with technological advancements in musical production, it has become possible for someone to record an entire album in the comfort of their own home, with the resulting production easily sounding as good as any major label release. More so, these artists are often able to do this at very little cost to themselves, beyond equipment and software expenses, without having to rent a studio, pay a producer, commission an artist, and the like. Even for bands that record in a traditional studio setting, considering just how little they make from album sales, it is sometimes easier to release the album for free to build up their fanbase.
With these artists giving their music away, I feel that the least I can do to show my gratitude is to try to make as many people aware of it as possible. It’s funny, really, because of my favorite albums of the year thus far, several of them have been released completely free by unsigned artists, which is really pretty remarkable. So, with all of that in mind, here are several of these artists who you should be aware of. (Some of these guys are friends of TNOTB, but rest assured that their music really is this good. #srsly)
.
Tre Watson: Tre is a multi-talented chap from the Baltimore area who plays guitar in a band called Carthage, does some production work, and holds down a job. In his spare time, he decided to put out an instrumental solo album, Lexicon Of The Human Subconscious, having recorded all instruments and written all of the music himself (with the exception of the bonus track, in which he simply laid down new music for Lady GaGa’s ‘Telephone’). Tre’s music falls into the progressive metal category with some heavy djent riffing (think Meshuggah, but with less weirdness and more melody). And it’s goddamn brilliant. He’s already working on a follow-up, in spite of the fact that this album hasn’t even been out for a month. You can download Lexicon Of The Human Subconscious here.
.
I’ll Eat Your Face: For those of you who have visited TNOTB recently, you’ve likely noticed links and articles all over the place featuring these guys. For those of you who haven’t visited TNOTB recently, we’ve sort of partnered up with a couple of Irish fools, monikered The Boy and Barrytron, who make up the instrumental prog-grind duo I’ll Eat Your Face. They’ve done a few utterly ridiculous and hilarious articles and an interview with us, given us some prizes to give away to lucky readers, and have generally made a mess of our credibility. All that aside, though, IEYF self-released their debut album Irritant earlier this year (actually, I believe it was January 2). Over the last several weeks I’ve started listening to Irritant extensively, and it has blown my mind in a way I never thought a grind band could. These guys are insanely talented (to go along with just being insane) and are also working on new material. Do yourself a favor and download Irritant here.
.
Cloudkicker: Cloudkicker, better known as Ben Sharp, has been making and releasing his own music for free for several years now, taking Meshuggah-like heaviness and mixing it deftly with post-rock melody. There are actually several Cloudkicker releases, an album and three EPs, all available for download here, all worth your time.
.
Keith Merrow: Keith Merrow was actually my introduction to this underground world of instrumental one-man bands. He has done an album and an EP in the vein of instrumental prog-djent, both of which are really quite excellent, and he has recently gained sponsorship through Bernie Rico Jr.’s guitar company. His combination of technicality and songwriting prowess really help to spotlight just what an unsigned artist can do. You can download both releases here.
.
Iron Thrones: Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our amigos in Iron Thrones. These guys are enjoying a significant amount of attention lately, having won Scion/Metal Insider’s No Label Needed Contest, and I truly cannot think of a band more deserving. Iron Thrones play progressive death metal, influenced by Opeth but wholly their own; their first album, Visions Of Light, has been available through their website since 2008, and it’s truly epic. For the contest they got to travel to New York to learn from some industry veterans and to record their next album at the Machine Shop with Will Putney handling production, and I have it on good authority that when this album comes out later this year it will also be freely available. You can download Visions Of Light here.
There are many, many more artists out there, toiling away in virtual obscurity, releasing quality music for free; this was but a small sample. Still, I highly recommend checking out all of these artists; even if you don’t like what you hear, it’s not going to cost you anything but time to check them out, and you may be surprised at what you find! Thanks to Elise, Julia, and Angela for helping a bro out!
-groverXIII
