I want a porch. I want a friggin’ porch so bad. If I had my way I would move out of my Hollywood apartment away from my homeless neighbors who live on the stoop and the drunk assholes ready to kill someone over a double double from In and Out real fast. I want a porch. I want to sit on it and I want to listen to music and relax and drink a lot of beer without a care in the world. I would have massive speakers and a rocking chair. That to me at the moment is “the life”. With Blitzen Trapper as my band of choice and their newest record “American Goldwing” as the soundtrack to my laid back afternoon I think I’m on to something here.
Might Find It Cheap – Blitzen Trapper
Indie rock, folk rock, southern rock, call it what you will Blitzen Trapper is a rock band. They call Portland, Oregon home and have been touring heavily for the last few years. They just released “American Goldwing.” It’s one part rock and roll guitar laden, drum heavy grooves and one part distinct cool vocals with a southern twist. Blitzen Trapper have created a sound all their own and I’m sold 100% on what they are selling. Next track is called “Fletcher” which is one of my favortie tracks on the record.
Fletcher – Blitzen Trapper
After releasing Furr in 2008 Blitzen Trapper fell onto my radar. After seeing them at Coachella Music and Arts Fest later that year (or in 09, I can’t remember) I couldn’t get them out of my head. I have been following them on and off since then. They released an awesome record called “Destroyer of The Void” in 2010 and now American Goldwing is just solidifying what I saw years ago. These guys are tight and have honed this music and are perfecting it.
Your Crying Eyes – Blitzen Trapper
Despite being from Portland Blitzen Trapper has a little bit of a southern twang to them and then they just kick you right in the junk with a tune like Your Crying Eyes. I think thats what I like most about these guys. They have that southern influence that eases you into the music with familiarity and then they turn up the volume.
The band currently has six members with Eric Early on guitar and vocals with Brian Adrian Koch and Marty Marquis on drums and vocals and guitar and keyboards respectively. The vocal duties are supported Erik Menteer on Guitar and Keyboards, Michael VanPelt on bass.
Girl In A Coat – Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper is currently on tour. Lucky for me they are wrapping up their tour on November 17th at the Music Box in Hollywood. Tour dates page is HERE. Their new album “American Goldwing” is available anywhere where people care about good music, so basically the internet and Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd. Here are a couple final tracks from “American Goldwing.” One rockin’ and the last track which is not so rockin’ but a great way to end the record. Check these guys out when they are in your town. In fact go out of your way by hours and hundreds of miles to see these dudes. It’s worth it.
Astronaut – Blitzen Trapper
Stranger In A Strange Land – Blitzen Trapper
By: Steve Rippin | Beat-Play Ambassador Los Angeles | @stevewithMWL|Music Without Labels & Beat-Play, LLC
Where can you find ten of the best singer/songwriters from Tennessee in one place to play a concert together? Nashville’s own free concert series: Live on the Green!
Ten Out of Tenn is more than a band comprised of ten of Nashville’s best singer/songwriters. It represents a community of friends and artists that make up one of the best emerging artist scenes in the country. When most people think of Nashville, they think about pop country and honky tonks, but Music City has much more to offer the current music industry. That is part of the reason why Ten out of Tenn came to exist. The band showcases the raw talent in a group of friends that “create organic pop music in the shadows of today’s slick commercial country music industry.” They travel together as a band supporting each other, and as a sum of creative talent on stage, showcasing some of the best and brightest songs and songwriters that Nashville has to offer. Ten Out of Tenn features Katie Herzig, Andy Davis, Tyler James, Trent Dabbs, K.S. Rhoads, Griffin House, Matthew Perryman Jones, Butterfly Boucher, Jeremy Lister and Erin McCarley. Will Sayles is the group’s talented drummer. Check out these clips from some of my favorite new songs!
The idea to form this singer-songwriter supergroup was born while Kristen and Trent Dabbs were on the road. They recognized that some of their favorite music came from their friends who were also emerging artists. “We were thinking about how much music we like that happens to be our friends,” said Trent. “There’s a community of people here with a lot of talent.” That idea turned into a perfect reality when they were able to get a group of other incredibly talented artists to join them. Since then, “Ten Out of Tenn has produced compilation albums, a Christmas album, four tours, showcases at music festivals like SXSW, and an award winning documentary, Any Day Now, that debuted during the 2009 Nashville Film Festival.” The documentary fully illustrates the concept and the purpose behind Ten Out of Tenn, and gives an excellent view of what it means for the individual artists that are part of this team. Check out the trailer for Any Day Now, filmed by Jeff Wyatt Wilson.
Ever go to a concert and can’t wait until the band plays their best songs? Well imagine hearing 20 excellent songs in a row from some of the best singer/songwriters in Nashville. These talented artists and musicians don’t just stand around while one plays their song. They are also the backing band for each other, and it creates such an amazing vibe. As individual artists, these singer/songwriters have “released over thirty albums, had song placements in countless television programs & films, and shared the stage with musicians such as REM, Sarah McLachlan and John Mayer.” However for Ten Out of Tenn, fame or fortune isn’t a priority. The drive behind their purpose surrounds the age-old concept of creating and sharing their music with other people. The bottom line is that this group is amazing. Unfortunately, Ten Out of Tenn has only two more stops on their tour! Stay up to date with the latest music and tour dates from Ten Out of Tenn and learn more at 10outoftenn.com.
By Steve Harpine | Nashville Ambassador | @Steve_MWL | Beat-Play & Music Without Labels, LLC
Everyone says it’s always about your timing especially when dropping any sort of news and I must say it was pretty damn good right now as NERO just posted their latest video release. The video features the forthcoming single, “Crush On You” which is to be released October 16th 2011. This initially cheerful track takes to chaos as the killer dubstep bass tones take over your ears and the life of the video. Definitely a great one to have stumbledupon at such a perfect moment. Not really much to add here as I was in the middle of some other work but I just had to get this out to you as I was hearing it for the first time!
It’s gotta be a good night when your band gets to open up for Robert Randolf and the Family Band. That was the case last Thursday night for Moon Taxi when they played at Live on the Green in Nashville, TN. As a new listener and one of many people there to see the best pedal steel player in the world, I couldn’t help taking an immediate interest to Moon Taxi. This is a phenomenal rock band with an incredible musician on every instrument, and they can’t help it that they play awesome music. If you like Music Without Labels, check out this “music without borders” that is Moon Taxi. Here’s a live video of Moon Taxi opening up for Matisyahu at the Fillmore two years ago.
This video was shot just months after the release of Moon Taxi’s Live album called Live Ride that they recorded in their hometown of Nashville, TN. Dirty bass lines, tight drum grooves, killer guitar riffs, and slick organ sounds seem to provide the perfect foundation for great vocals and memorable lyrics. Moon Taxi’s sound has since developed with a couple years of touring, and they are sounding better than ever. Their feel reminded me of Rush with their synced riffs and occasional odd meter grooves, but they have made those concepts their own. Their music somehow combines qualities of many different bands and artists. However, Moon Taxi is their own element, and have completely developed their own incredible distinct sound. Here’s a video of Moon Taxi playing one of their songs called All the Rage.
Moon Taxi toured last year with Matisyahu, which has opened up bigger opportunities for the band and their music. They have also opened for acts such as Umphrey’s Mcgee, Gov’t Mule, the New Mastersounds, and DJ Logic. Moon Taxi has played at a number of music festivals including the 10,000 Lakes Festival, Moe’s Summer Camp, Birmingham’s City Stages, the Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival, and Huntsville’s Big Spring Jam. Moon Taxi will be playing Southern Ground Music Fest with Zac Brown Band and My Morning Jacket in Charleston, SC next month as part of their nationwide headlining tour!
Their show on Thursday was awesome, and I got way more than what I expected. Moon Taxi is a modern-day version of the classic jam band, which is why they are such a great band to see live. They have combined valuable musical assets of their influences and created something fresh. This is why they have been described as a band interested in “music without borders.” Their music is undoubtedly progressive, but they stay true to their musical niche. But wait! There’s more! Moon Taxi is getting ready to release new music, so check out this video and listen to this sick new track called “Cabaret” from their new album.
To stay up to date on new music and tour dates from Moon Taxi, check out their website ridethemoontaxi.com.
By Steve Harpine | Nashville Ambassador | @Steve_MWL | Beat-Play, Music Without Labels, LLC
There’s a lot to like about Scott Bartenhagen, a 22 year old singer/songwriter from Lathrop, California. He’s not your typical singer/songwriter: he’s 6’7” for starters, loves Sci-Fi and draws inspiration from movie soundtracks and 20th century classical music. A friend of mine suggested I watch a video of his song Delta Fog, and I am forever grateful that I did. Scott’s jazz-influenced guitar playing along with his beautifully deep, soul shaking voice make for an astounding combination. When I met Scott I was immediately drawn to his warm and quirky personality and quiet demeanor. It was a privilege to interview such a young talent, and it’s my pleasure to help spread the word about this rising star. Check out the video of Delta Fog below, courtesy of YouTube, and if you liked what you hear (which I know you will) you can download the song for free via the player below.
MF: When I first saw your video for Delta Fog I was immediately awe struck and completely blown away by the hauntingly deep and poetic sound of your voice. I feel that you have one of the best voices of our generation, I know bold statement, but every time I listen to your songs I am instantly inspired, and amazed. When did you start your singing career?
Scott: Pretty freaking bold statement man, and thank you so much. I sang “Great Balls of Fire” my junior year of high school for a 70’s school dance that the high school band put on. Then I started writing songs, so I’ve been singing for I guess that would be about five years now, I didn’t ever sing before that I was always too afraid.
MF: Have you ever had singing lessons?
Scott: No, I’ve never taking formal singing lessons, but I’ve had good guidance from friends that were great singers that really helped me out.
MF: Like I said, I feel like you have an incredible voice. I remember the first time I watched Delta Fog, your voice gave me chills. It was almost hard for me to believe that that voice was coming from you, it really blew me away.
Scott: Wow man, thank you I really appreciate it that’s awesome.
MF: I feel that writing lyrics is the hardest part of creating great songs, and you nail it on every song. Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
Scott: I get the inspiration from my lyrics from personal experience, or nerding out on something. It also comes from my general love of storytelling. My lyrics have to sound good coming out before anything else. That’s kind of the David Byrne theory of lyric writing. I find words that I think sound great then I use my imagination to put them into situations that make sense when they are spoken aloud. So it comes melody first, then how the words sound, then what kind of words can I fit around those syllables that still makes a great song, and that’s why its kind of a bigger puzzle than if you were just writing lyrics.
MF: In my personal experience with writing songs, I feel that lyrics are the toughest part of writing any song. If you don’t have solid lyrics then it’s going to be harder for the listener to connect to you.
Scott: Oh yeah. I could write like a dozen songs a day, but it takes me a week to write the words for the songs sometimes.
MF: Yeah, that’s understandable I think it’s very hard to write solid lyrics and you do a great job writing great lyrics.
Scott: Thanks man, As long as they’re not too contrived, or as long as they’re honest enough, even if they’re not true if they’re honest and they’re not contrived and trying to sound cool, I like it.
MF: What are your musical influences, and what artists inspire you to create your music?
Scott: Um, my musical influences would be, movie soundtracks, Joni Mitchell, and Jazz. Those are the big three, but I also like singer-songwriters that influence me a lot, like my good friend Travis Vick, a local Sacramento artist. His music has a big effect on me. Also, Bluegrass players and anybody who excels at their instruments inspire me as well. That’s a tough question, because I have a whole lot of influences from a lot of different things. Movie soundtracks are a big one. As well as orchestral music, and 20th Century classical music is where I get a lot of my melodies. So that’s a little bit of an idea of how I get inspired.
MF: As far as movie soundtracks do you have a favorite composer?
Scott: I like uh, I really like Joe Hisaishi, Hans Zimmer’s pretty cool, he’s kind of a hack, and I like John Williams as well. Anyone who puts music to motion, I admire, because it’s all about the emotion other than the notes, it’s about evoking a feeling, which I’m a big fan of.
MF: Is there anything outside of music that inspires you to write your songs?
Scott: Yeah definitely. Various novels, stories that my dad tells me, great Science Fiction, um, trying to get a handle on politics. Not that my songs are too political. I’m not too crazy politically but politics definitely make me angry, and anger definitely inspires me.
MF: As far as Science Fiction is concerned what specifically about Sci-Fi inspires you?
Scott: I like all types of science fiction, usually get inspired by near future science fiction, like Blade Runner, or people like William Gibson who write Cyber Punk. It really gets my mind racing, I really enjoy it. I’ve written some songs based off of stuff like that. A decent amount of my songs have a Sci-Fi twist on them.
MF: You are a phenomenal guitar player, how long have you been playing the guitar, and what inspired you to start playing?
Scott: I’ve been playing the guitar since about, eighth grade, probably a little bit before that. Probably ten years. My mom is a great guitar player so I listened to her a lot and got inspired. Also, I think a friend of mine got a guitar down the street, and that made me really want one. I was already playing trumpet in a band, so I figured I could move onto guitar from there. I didn’t really get into songwriting for a long time, but learning jazz guitar definitely helped keep the fire and passion for the instrument.
MF: Have you had any professional training?
Scott: I was a music major at Sac State, before I left. I took three years of schooling as a jazz studies major. I am a big proponent of taking lessons and learning as much as you possibly can, shedding ego as a guitar player and just wanting to learn. I took lessons from a really great jazz guitar player, and I learned to play with other people in groups for a long time as well.
MF: Also, you mentioned you played trumpet, do you play any other instruments?
Scott: Yeah, trumpet and tuba were my first instruments and then I moved onto the piano and guitar. Those are the main instruments that I can play.
MF: I notice you have a lot of songs ready to go, are you coming out with an EP or a new album in the near future, and if so will Delta Fog be included?
Scott: No. I’m over the idea of albums. Like every year you make your one album, and then you put an EP out and then you make an album that has twelve songs on it or something and then a whole year passes. That whole cycle is formulaic and I don’t think it works any more with the way people buy albums. So I’m kind of into smaller releases but more often. I think that’s a pretty cool idea. I have a few releases coming up, I have a five song project that I’m working on called Speeches, that I’m working on at the moment, still recording. It should be done in the next couple weeks. Then I have another small project on the way that should come out within a couple weeks as well. So within this month I’m hopefully going to have a bunch of new stuff done for the world to see.
And I have a new group as well, with three girls from Sac State, a drummer and a bassist. The three girls are singing three part harmonies as well as playing the violin. I’ve added six people to my group.
MF: Wow, that’s exciting I can’t wait to hear you play with the new band.
Scott: Yeah, I’ve already got to play some shows with this new band and they are really freaking good man, they’re really tight. These two girls sing some amazing harmonies, and we have this bitching violin player who’s incredible, it’s tight man. I can’t wait to play some shows in Los Angeles so you guys can hear it.
MF: What are you thoughts on the current state of the music industry, and where do you see it going?
Scott: I think that there’s a lot of music out there. I think the music industry is pretty oversaturated with the Internet now and I think it’s high time for bands to get more creative with the way they do things and how we get music out there, and what it means to have art. I think there are a lot of creative ways to distribute music, play shows and collaborate. I think it’s a good thing and I think it’s going the right direction. I just need people to start giving a crap, but I guess we need to make them start giving a crap.
MF: As an independent artist, do you find it difficult to accumulate new fans and to be heard amidst the overwhelming amount of music that is out there?
Scott: I do feel it’s really hard to be heard. I feel there are so many different avenues for me to put my music out that nobody bites. I get a good response when I play shows, but it’s hard playing venues when you don’t have a fan base. Promoters don’t promote anymore, venues don’t want to get people in the door themselves, it all falls on the shoulders of the bands, which is I think criminal. Live performance is not geared to help bands. It’s hard finding fans, and it’s hard finding places that want to help musicians get fans instead of just wanting to take their money.
MF: So which one do you think is more difficult? Trying to accumulate new fans, or to be heard?
Scott: I think they’re pretty much the same thing. I would like to hope/think if someone hears my music they’d become a fan. I can’t force them to become a fan. I would say it’s harder to show my music to people in the right context. It’s hard for people to find my music and want to listen to it, as opposed to they have to either actually search for it or they find it on some obscure online radio station that never actually works. So I think they’re both related: it’s hard to find fans and it’s hard to try to get the people who aren’t fans yet to listen to your music to become fans.
MF: I absolutely agree. It was really great to learn more about you as a musician as well as a person. I enjoyed talking about your music, what you’re working on, and the thoughts you have about being an independent artist, as well as your thoughts as the current state of the music industry. I am looking forward to your upcoming projects and attending your shows with your new band.
Scott: Thanks man, I really enjoyed it as well, and I will keep you updated with the projects I am currently working on. Great talking with you, and I will talk to you soon.
By: Mason Frank|L.A. Ambassador|MasonFrankMWL|Beat-Play & Music Without Labels LLC
Alright, “I want to lay-down 96 flash-drives flat in the shape of a canvas, so you can paint a portrait over top of them.” Now this was obviously something new and different for any painter, but a creative way to bring the parallel minds of artists together through multitudes of expression. So we set out in search of an artist in the San Diego area that would fit the job, and I could have never imagined who was about to respond to our postings. One of San Diego’s premier painters, SHAY DAVIS!!! (http://shayvision.com). When we first got a look at some of his work, we were just absolutely blown away. There was no way in hell that someone this talented, the modern-day Dali, was going to work for this project or even fit into the budget for that matter. It couldn’t have been a better match. Luckily having most of the Beat-Play Team in town, Shay was able to meet the whole company and right away felt that he was a sure-fit into the lifestyle of Beat-Play, knowing the hardships and reality of being an independent artist today.
After that first meeting we got right to work. Shay’s mission was to give people his visual representation of the current struggles seen in independent music community. Being in a similar situation as his own, through the art world, Shay was quickly able to jump into this vision. Now you have a plan, but then you’re going to need some supplies. So here’s what we used:
Once all the supplies were gathered, Shane Suski (film/photography) and I rolled over to Shay’s studio and started setting up. Having one camera sit-still on the tri-pod and Shane pan the room with his SLR, we were really able to capture the full painting process that went into creating this piece from all possible angles, using video and photography. I suggest going full-screen with this one:
The video came out great but nothing makes a video better than some bangin’ music. So we hit Tomatofish up for some more information regarding the use of his Simulacrum track on the video. He was all for it and that’s what you hear now. Tomatofish is one of a kind, compose all sorts of tracks ranging from hip-hop beats to classical pieces. This is just another pure talent that makes this project so great.
With the launch of Beatplay.com and our Facebook application we would like to spread the love to the public by giving back to the users of Beat-Play, by offering the flash-drives from the painting. The contest is simple. Mention Beatplay.com on your Facebook or Twitter feeds and become eligible to receive ONE of the 96 flash-drives. There aren’t too many drives to go around so make sure your post stands-out.
Written By: Mark G. Valente | @MarkwithMWL | Music Without Labels & Beat-Play, LLC
Our blog is dedicated to providing the public with quality music from the independent music community, and to inform people of the broad majority of musicians world-wide with amazing sound, style, inspiration, and overall message. If you would like to have any track removed please email us – info@musicwithoutlabels.com
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