Artwork: Josh Jenkins & Levi Watson

My new mix EP is up! It’s called Q-Gaze. Q-Gaze basically is a collection of songs that I’ve found recently that I really enjoy. Songs that I’ve discovered from my Pandora Station, soundcloud, or from going out to shows. It’s my first mix of any kind; so, I’m really excited and proud of it! You can download Q-Gaze for free here!

Artwork: Josh Jenkins & Levi Watson

If you can’t see that image, here’s the track listing.

Blue Sky Black Death – Farewell To the Former World
Saxon Shore – Silence Lends a Face to the Soul
Nordlight – Feel Yourself
Dead Prez – Hip Hop (Live Peripheral Remix)
DJ Shadow – Walkie Talkie (Irn Mnky Beat Down Mix)
RJD2 – One Day (Instrumental)
Lymbyc Systym – Pittsburgh Left (Eliot Lipp Remix)
Between The Buried And Me – Medicine Wheel (Instrumental)
Bassnectar – Dorfex Bos
Diplo – Big Lost
Charlie Blacksmoke and The Swamp Energy Mass Choir – Hippie Glue (Extreme Super Death Moon Mix)
Al B. Sure – Night and Day (Onra Mix)
(Interlude)
Tallest Trees – We Were Just An Echo (Echo 2)
P-Love – Palisades (Extendomix)
Rae & Christian – Swimming Pool
Bonobo – Recurring
This Will Destroy You – Quiet

I sent this mix to my email list a few weeks ago, and the response has been very encouraging. Definitely have a listen and let me know what you think in the comments.

Q-Gaze by Quiet Entertainer

Don’t forget that you can download the entire mix for free here.

Orig with Big Smo & Kinfoke

This is part three of my interview with Orig the DJ. If you missed part one or part two, you can click the links to read it. In this section, he discusses Big Smo, Spoken Nerd, and his philosophy as a DJ teacher.

QE: How did you end up working with Big Smo?

Orig: Well, Smo is a good friend of mine. John Smith. We’ve known each other a long time. I think I was still in high school. We met in 96. I was already a DJ in my bedroom. I knew how to make beats and sample just a little bit. I was real amateur at it. So, Smo wrote poetry on a personal level. He wanted to take that and do something with it. He figured rapping would be the route to go. We already knew each other at the time. He started to introduce to me his ideas. I told him “Come over. I’ll make some beats for you or whatever and we can figure something out.” Several years later, we’re continuing to do it. We created our own studio. We kind of went half and half on studio equipment. We got other people involved just so we could practice recording. It was really for me. I was the engineer, producer, and beatmaker involved with it. We made an album. His brother helped make it a reality. We took a bunch of our recordings. I did the best I could to make it sound the best I could. He helped us get it put on an actual CD. Shrink-wrapped with a barcode and everything. He helped us create a website for it back in 2002. It was called the Country Kitchen. It was cool. It showcased a lot of talent in our area. In Shelbyville of all places. You probably don’t even know about Shelbyville unless they’re into walking horses. Walking Horse Capital of the world.

Orig: At the Time, Smo and I were just doing hip hop. Straight rapping about what everybody else was rapping about. He eventually hired Haystak to be featured on a song. Haystak was really impressed with him. Kind of took him under his wing. Smo not only was a rapper at the time. He could make beats, but that wasn’t his forte. That wasn’t his thing. He could also record. He did a lot of recording for local artists. I went to school at SAE. Every day I’d get out of school I’d come home and show Smo what I learned. So, that’s kind of how he developed his professional recording abilities and skills. We were also doing music videos. I was helping him back in 2003 doing our own home music videos and trying to figure stuff out. Trying to sync the music with the video. Anyway back to Haystak. Haystak started to hire Smo to do his music videos for him. And then he got Smo to be his backup. His right hand man on the stage when he did shows. Smo got to learn a lot about the business on an independent level through Haystak. Got to travel around the country on a tour that Haystak was on with the Dark Lotus tour with ICP. Smo was promoting his album. I made a mixtape for him. We had already done an album together called The True South. So there was Country Kitchen. There was True South. So that was what Smo was promoting out there. Selling whatever he could. He got to meet a lot of people along the way. that’s where he started to develop the idea of the hick-hop sound.

Big Smo

He didn’t pioneer it. But he realized that the urban hip hop was not his true passion. It was too much of trying to do that. Like the hood, hip hop dirty south type deal. So he actually did his third album, American Made. I wasn’t around at that time. He hired a guy, Charlie Bonnett, who was a guitar player. kind of a heavy metal rock singer, country singer to work with him on certain song ideas. He had other beatmakers working with him and I made a few beats for him to help him out. American Made was really the beginning of that sound that was Smo was able to pinpoint. The Hick Hop sound. Basically, hip hop beats with southern rock guitars. And southern rock type of hooks but with rap verses. Instead of rapping about the hood, he raps about back roads, cornfields, John Deere tractors, moonshine, home grown pot, all that good stuff. (laughs)

QE: yeah man.

Orig: So that’s what he’s been doing since last year. He called me and asked me to get involved in a new project called KinFoke. It was Smo, Charlie Bonnett, Brahma Bull, Mr. Sneed who really helped Smo develop his sound also. He needed me to come in and help him finalize the album. He had a lot of tracks on his album that he needed to finalize. He asked me to come in and finalize it. Make it sound like a mixtape. Master it. I was responsible for turning all these song ideas. I was more or less just the DJ portion of it. The songs were already done and recorded. I had some beats on it but I was mixing it together. Last fall was when I went abroad to do a show for the first time. It was the first time I went away from Tennessee to DJ. It was an awesome experience. Unfortunately, Kinfoke’s not really around anymore. couple of guys went different ways. Kind of left us in the air. But we’re back at it. Smo and I have been together for a long time. I’m still his DJ but Smo is the main focus. We’re working on a new album called Grassroots. Smo’s been able to land a legitimate management deal with a guy out of LA, Dan Nelson. His father is Jay Nelson who managed Queen. Hopefully I’ll be able to land a management deal sometime soon. Everyone needs a manager man.

QE: This is great stuff. Who else have you been making beats for? You did an album for Spoken Nerd as well, right?

Orig: Yeah. Spoken Nerd came to me. He was digging me as a DJ. When he found out I made beats, he approached me with an idea for an album. He wanted me to help produce it. So I said “OK cool.” So he came over. It started out with him. He brought his acoustic bass guitar. He had a melody and played it for me and I recorded it. I took that recording and chopped it up and edited it in Ableton. Made a loop out of it; and started making beats to complement and support that and then make a bass line. And whatever else. We’d make a basic beat. Then we recorded vocals. After the vocals were on, I started to tailor the beat to go along with the vocals. Maybe a drop here, add something there. A Scratch there. For the most part that’s how that went.

Orig: I also made some beats on the side that I’d let him go through. A list of beats that I’d made. He would pick some stuff that he liked. So it was a combination of him on guitar and then also me with beats from years ago that he picked through. But it wasn’t that simple. About halfway through the album production, I lost everything from my computer. It was my fault. It was a stupid dumb mistake. I hope nobody has to go through this. I was doing what I thought was the right thing. I was cleaning my computer, I was backing stuff up. So I go through my music folder and I dragged all my important stuff to my external hard drive. I was mainly focusing on music that I use to DJ with because that took up a lot of space. And all the music I used for producing, that wasn’t backed up. I was going to leave on my computer because I was working on it. So what I accidentally did in the middle of all this dragging and dropping, I drug the entire music folder to my trash. I didn’t even realize it; I didn’t notice I had done that. And when I clicked empty trash it was taking SO LONG. I was wondering why. After it was done, I noticed my music folder wasn’t there anymore. I lost so many beats…

Orig with Spoken Nerd

Orig: Man, I had to break the news to Nathan. He’s such a good guy. He just said “Oh well; let’s re-do it. Are you up for re-doing it?” And I was like “Of course, it’s the least I could do.” So, I had to remake a bunch of the beats. It was hard to recapture some of that feeling and emotion of the originals. Even when you’re chopping and editing, programming drum machines and stuff; there’s still an emotion there. It’s very similar to capturing sound from a microphone. There’s littlie mistakes you make in the editing. Very subtle things that aren’t otherwise reproduced. But anyway, we got back on there and started the album in 08. It took a long time because of that and all the other stuff I was doing. All the beats for Smo… Get Got…. my own thing…. Really my own thing, which usually ends up being things for other people. I’ll do little beat sketches in my program. Then, I’ll come back at it with another artist or rapper; or turn it into a Get Got song. Well, we had the album near completion. Nathan had a guitar player, 2Shon. He’s a very interesting guy; I got along with him really well. He laid down guitar. The funny thing about it; we had no guitar parts for him. We had no melodies for him, no sheet music. We just said, “play along and do whatever the heck you want.’ All I did was hit record and just let him play from the beginning to the end. I captured whatever ideas that he put on the recording. I’d take those and slice, chop them, and piece them until I came up with something that I liked. Even the guitar solos on some of the tracks are just pieced together parts from somewhere in the song. You can’t really tell because I’d splice them together where a snare hits. You can use a snare to cover up an edit.

QE: How about that, learning all the tricks! So you were saying about you never get to work on your own stuff… Why are you always helping people?

Orig: Yeah that’s become my style, man. It’s fortunate, but unfortunately I don’t focus on myself. I’m always helping people out. Everything I’ve been doing as a DJ, producer, an engineer; it’s been for other people. I DJ for a crowd. I DJ for a wedding. I DJ for a birthday. I DJ for a rapper. I DJ for a band. I DJ… You name it: I DJ. That’s what usually DJs do; they take care of the crowd anyway, right? Then as an engineer, I’m recording other people. Recording rappers, singers, guitarists… whatever. Capturing sounds. Capturing videos. Live sound; I’m making sure that whoever’s on stage sounds great. Even when I make beats, I think I started out making stuff for myself. But as soon as I started getting involved with other people, I was more selfless. Everything was for my friend. I make a beat for my friend. I’d do whatever I can for whoever whether it’s Smo, or my band Get Got, or MASHVILLE. Even going to school for engineering; the best thing that’s come out of that has been the ability to teach other friends. How to work software, engineering, acoustics, tips and tricks, techniques, philosophy. I learned a lot from school. And mostly from magazines and a lot of trial and error. I wish I could say that I learned a lot from others that are above me in the industry, but I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to be around mentors. I’ve always played the role of mentor for my fellow DJs. Whether it’s scratching, or letting people borrow equipment, you name it. If there’s help to be done, I’m there to help.

QE: Is that part of your personality? or are you doing it on purpose?

Orig: I think it’s part of my personality. I do get frustrated sometimes where I help and help and help and when I need help I don’t get it. So I do get frustrated. But I think it’s just that I come across as such a nice guy and really I’m willing to help. I always ask if I can help. I am always making myself available for stuff like that. When I probably should be in the studio working on my own stuff or practicing my own set, I’m at a friend’s house with my hard drive letting them have my music. When I should be making my own beats, I’m at another friend’s house helping them learn how to make beats. So actually, I think it’s a combination of doing it on purpose and also accidentally being someone that someone else can call. I’m not gonna stop.

Orig: As a matter a fact, I’m taking this helping curse…but really it’s a blessing to be the unofficial teacher to my fellow DJs and producers. I can’t tell you how many times I’m navigating through a program over the program saying “Go to Options, and go down to Preferences, and go to Audio, and blah blah blah.” I can troubleshoot any program over the phone. Anyway, I’m going to take that skill and I have the opportunity now to be a teacher. Thanks to a guy I met: Victor Chatman. At the last MASHVILLE, I was trying to kill some time before we set up. So I went to Guitar Center. That’s my Toys R Us. They have the DJ room, so I went over there and I was messing with the Numark NS7 with the Serato Itch. This older guy came up to me and said “Hey, that’s pretty good! Where else do you DJ?” and I was saying ” I don’t really have a club or anything; I do this thing called MAASHVILLE.” We were just chatting. Anyway, he had this idea to teach children how to set up sound systems and how to DJ. and I was like “Yes! That’s my vision too! That’s my dream and I’m teaching a lot of my friends how to do stuff anyway!” So we exchanged numbers, and even as busy as I am; I just called him on a weekly basis. We never were able to get together. “I’d just say “Hey this is Ray. Just wanted to call in. I wish I could come out to your spot sometime but I’m really swamped right now.” And he’d say “Oh, I appreciate you calling man. That’s cool.” When we finally got a chance to sit down to talk about it; he said his idea launched and it blew up more than he expected. He’s got a bunch of kids and they’re really eager to learn. He’s already got the ball rolling. Probably within a month; I’ll be teaching my first class. it’s at the Hickory Hollow Mall next to Macy’s is Victor Chatman Studios. So I’ll be able to take that dilemma I had of helping all these people and getting frustrated. Now I’m getting the help I wanted to get. That just goes to show: Don’t expect anything. Just do it. Unconditionally. Just like you love your family. Love your art. Love our THING. You know? don’t expect money back. Until you get a manager. Then your manager will be the one that will fight and get that money for you. Be smart in choosing your manager! Yeah so that’s what happens when you’re selfless. You always get rewarded.

Victor Chatman with MC Lyte

QE: Man, this was awesome. Anything else you want to say to people who might be reading this? DJs? Musicians?

Orig: I’m not going to say what most people say in their closing and just say “Love the art and keep practicing.” That’s known. That’s a given. It should be a default. I think that you should take care of yourself first and foremost. If you want to pursue a career, no matter what it is, make sure you’re prepared. There’s really no guideline because everyone has a unique list of things to do. So make sure you know that list. An make sure you ACT on that list. Whether it’s financially, relationship-wise, emotionally. Take care of that list. Clean your room.

QE: Wow.

Orig: (laughs) As silly as it sounds, it’s true. You got to organize yourself before you can organize stuff around you. It’s all about organizing schedules. gigs. Being prepared. Prepare Yourself for your dream. Figure out what your dream is and start preparing for it because it’s going to happen. The more you prepare for it; the easier it’s going to get to you. Or it’s not going to be easy at all. Really, it’s still not going to be easy, but at least you’ll be somewhat prepared. Love your family as best you can; they’re your first audience. Take their opinions under considerations all the time but then do what you really feel you want to do. Don’t just go with the crowd. Don’t go with what everyone else is digging on. You can dig on it too, but don’t use that as YOUR platform. Everybody has their own unique sound. Everyone has their own two cents. Stick to your two cents. Stick to your sound. Listen to everybody and soak as much as you can. Listen; that way you can develop your style. The more you listen, the better words you can speak without speaking so much.

QE: That is absolutely relevant to me. That was great.

Recently I had a great show. We did a lot of promotion for it, including some Facebook ad campaigns. One thing that I didn’t expect was that we got a write-up in the Nashville Scene which is one of the weekly free magazines that goes out here. A lot of bands and other artists frequently ask me how I get all this attention from these types of publications.

Sometimes I will get booked for shows that don’t make sense just because they think I am going to bring us all press attention or something.

There really isn’t a formula; it’s not something I can control really. I do want to share some thoughts I have as to why this has been happening for me and what any artist or musician can do on their own.

Do you hate the media and the press? Do you think that they are purposefully ignoring you and all others with talent? Do you think the entire world is against you and your music? This is your first obstacle; maybe your biggest. I’ve never worked at one of these publications, but I did write for my high school newspaper back in the day. Let me break down how I think it works. These magazines have to write about interesting topics and bands, so that people in their target audience will pick it up and see all of the very cool ads that businesses have paid to place on each page. So the magazines actually NEED fresh interesting content. It’s in everyone’s best interest for them to keep up with what’s going on. And while there are probably volunteers but I imagine it’s mostly people who pay their rent every month based on how well they can make the weekly publication interesting enough to pick up so that businesses will have their ads seen every single week.

Still with me? So as far as the music section goes, they need all the different artists, bands, and DJs to write about. But you must be thinking to yourself “Well that makes logical sense but the local weekly in MY city only writes about the same couple of bands every single week.” Well, these are real people on the other end of that column. they are probably music fans too! They might even be in their own bands. These writers are going to have tastes of their own. You need to be able to accept that.

Ok, so what can you do? Here are some steps.

1. Submit to the website. Normally the publication will have it’s own website with it’s own calendar to which you can submit events. At the very least, it will have instructions on how to inform them of you and your event. Follow the directions. This is very easy. It’s an easily missed step though. People would rather do a really elaborate stunt to get attention. This actually works though. Beyond that, there is usually a contact page. That’s there for a reason. Go ahead and hit them up on email or twitter.

2. Submit to other places. Look for other publications, calendars, and blogs to submit your show. Your weekly might not want to be the only place that doesn’t list you. In my case, I got lucky. A venue I was going to play actually listed all of the local media outlets that they thought I should approach. See? They were trying to help. No one was trying to hold me down personally. People just don’t have time to do everything for you, so you have to get it done yourself. Beyond that, you can search for your city, plus “music blog” for some other ideas. You might even meet some other good people that you need to know.

3. Have your own site. Musicians should definitely have their own site. Have you ever noticed that those bands that you say are always getting promoted; they have their own site with its own news feed and it’s own blog? And all you have is your facebook fan page or your myspace page? Well, when you reach out to your weekly mag to tell them about you and your show. They need to verify your info. Where will they go to do that? Help them help you. You have a blog? Update it? You had a show? Post pictures. Post video. Give them content.

4. Be interesting. Maybe this should be first. If I put 100 DJs in a room, only one of them is the BEST. 99 out of 100 of them are not. So not everyone can just be the best. But everyone one of them is unique. So what makes you unique? Are you a guitarist? Great. Are you a guitarist in a Journey cover band? Ok. Are you the only Journey cover band that played 300 shows last year around the country AND you have a show in town in 2 weeks? Now you’re talking.

5. Check your attitude. Don’t forget. If you’re a bitter musician, the press and media can tell. They can FEEL it. It’s not interesting to read about a bitter dude who thinks everyone owes them something. No, not really. Think about it. You know those women who just HATE men, and then wonder why men don’t ask them out? Well who wants to deal with that? Same with the press. Who wants to write about a press-hating band? Unless you are the most awesome and amazing band ever? And remember if i put 100 bands in a room…okay I made that point already.

Do YOU have any tips and pointers on what has worked for you?

I definitely didn’t want to be the only one who hadn’t blogged about this. Last week, Wick-It the Instigator dropped his new mixtape: The Brothers of Chico Dusty, a mashup record of The Black Keys & Big Boi. I hope you’ve heard it by now. If not, listen below.

It’s been only a week since it was released, but now it’s everywhere. I’ve seen it on just about every music blog that I’ve ever heard of plus a few more. Long time readers know that I have mentioned Wick-It on this blog before. But I have to mention him again. This new record is a case study for how to get attention to yourself and your music. Once again, I want to quote Justin Boland over at Audible Hype. He poses the question “Is Touring Really Necessary…?” then he lists the 5 Core Ingredients for Success Without Touring. Please go read the entire blog entry I just linked. Now, you can’t neglect your live show either, but Justin’s ingredient list is below.

1. Great Music
2. Easily Accessable
3. Prolific Output
4. Evangelist Fans
5. Low Overhead

What Wick-It has done with his career aligns with this perfectly. He had a great mixtape for free download. If you went to his soundcloud or the mashville bandcamp page, you could easily get even more music. His fans have been the ones pushing it to different blogs beyond regular word of mouth. He spent nothing on marketing, and did it in a home studio (which you kind of have to have anyway if you’re a DJ/producer).

It’s been surreal to sit back and see all of the attention that the mixtape has gotten for Wick-It. I’m proud though. And it’s a teachable moment to all musicians, artists, bands, & DJs…even bloggers, actually. Including myself, I think all of us can learn from Wick-It’s example (& Justin’s blueprint) if we want to take over the internet with our music. Wick-It made it look so easy, but it took a lot of hard work to build the overnight splash.

What can we do in the new year to follow this example?

247 is a good friend of mine here in town, but more importantly he’s the hidden force behind a lot of great things happening in Nashville! 247 has done a lot of production for other artists around town, including my friend Spoken Nerd. I’ve told you about him before because he’s one-third of The Billy Goats. Also, he appeared on the Machismo EP.

One of my favorite things he’s done was his project with BlackatSylvesta & Ugly Lovely called Out of Place. 247 is the main lyricist in the project. You can get their entire Genetic Defects album for free by going to the Out Of Place Bandcamp page. Or just play it here.

He’s been doing a lot of video production as well. Recently, he began an online interview series highlighting some of his favorite artists around Nashville. You can catch interviews he’s done with James Fate, Bobby Exodus & Spoken Nerd on his youtube channel. Finally, I was able to “take my talents” to 247′s place and shoot an interview video plus a live performance featuring Jed Smith on drums. Take a look!

We are in the 6th month of a 12 month year and I wonder what I have to show for it. My dreams of doing music full time have been hanging on for dear life. Why? I could blame poor time management, insufficient hustle, cluttered workspace, etc. But I’m going to blame all of the above. Yet, these are silent killers. I wouldn’t have noticed it until the finale of LOST a couple of weekends ago. In fact, a bunch of my favorite shows ended for good this year: LOST, 24, Heroes, & FlashForward. I’ve been obsessed with watching these shows instead of getting Quiet Entertainer off the ground.

Here’s how it happens. I don’t watch TV on actual TV. I use Hulu and Yidio to watch pretty much everything I’m going to watch. I think if I watched on the regular timetable, I’d at least be able to say “oh I’ll work on music until 24 comes on.” But as it is; I can watch at anytime; and I’ve been lazy and finding an urgency to get things done. I love Hulu and Yidio, but in this case it’s been sucking all my time! I blame myself. But who could resist watching every clip and web exclusive of LOST leading up to the finale? And Jack Bauer’s finale season: How far will he go?? And a Hulu bonus! the entire series of the A-Team is on Hulu right now! Should I watch the entire series before I go see the movie in theaters?

I wouldn’t have noticed the slow death of my music career if not for a few artists. Let’s look at The Hood Internet. They recently came through Nashville on their tour. I had never heard of them before but they were booked to play Mashville, Nashville’s monthly DJ party. So, I went online to check them out and they had released 9 free mixtapes over the past 3 years! How did I miss this? So I downloaded just 4 mixtapes (for free) and I instantly had 4 hours of music to listen to. Well these guys aren’t lazy. This exact thing happened when Pretty Lights came through half a year ago. I had never heard of him, but he was coming to Nashville so I looked him up. He had four free records on his site too! I don’t know when he started but I think it’s also been 3 or 4 years his current setup. I downloaded it all and had about 4 or 5 hours of music with which to get acquainted. I’m a big fan of both now.

This discussion made me remember a blog post I read a while back from Justin over at AudibleHype.com asking Is Touring Really Necessary? I encourage artists of any genre looking to do this for a living to go read that. Long story short though, He says the five core ingredients to success without touring are:
1. Great Music
2. Easily Accessible
3. Prolific Output
4. Evangelist Fans
5. Low Overhead

I had to look around; is anyone doing this in my town? DJ Wick-It is pretty close. I think he’s got at least 4 of those 5 goin for him if not all 5. He’s got all of his (very dope hip-hop & dubstep) music available on his soundcloud page. Also, Spoken Nerd is super prolific. Since I’ve known him, he’s always put out a lot of music and is always thinking two records ahead. Check his latest from his bandcamp.

So, I am looking to these artists for inspiration. With some of my favorite shows out of the way, I have no excuse. I have to get to work and make actual music. I know my e-mail list will keep me accountable. Maybe you will too. So thankfully, I don’t have to worry about Jack Shepard OR Jack Bauer. At least not until the 24 movie comes out.

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My friend Spoken Nerd recently released his new record, Apocalypse Awareness Day. On that record, he has a sick track with Listener of Deepspace 5 called “The Dark Lords of the Cupcake Forest.” I guess it’s kind of a battle track for emcees in a mythological, video-game themed wonderland. Anyway, he did a remix contest for the song. I entered but didn’t win. I think you can hear the winning remix on Spoken Nerd’s myspace. However, you can hear my version right here:

The Dark Lords of the Cupcake Forest – feat. Spoken Nerd & Listener (Quiet Entertainer remix) by Quiet Entertainer

And if you’re interested, you can hear the original song & you can download Spoken Nerd’s Apocalypse Awareness Day from his bandcamp page.

Usually, I go through these spurts where I get really into an artist. Then I go and try to find everything I can of theirs and listen to it. I thought I’d let you know about my most recent 5 artists and bands with which I have done this. Here we go!

1. Pretty Lights – It’s really easy with Pretty Lights because his entire discography is online for free! I’d say it’s electronic music with hip-hop and dubstep tendencies. I think the guy performs live as a DJ and then has a drummer with him for shows. Again, his whole catalog is online at his website! That’s great!

2. Blue Sky Black Death – I found these guys while listening to my Pandora station. I love it. Listen to all those samples. All of those sounds. I think they are playing live instruments in there too! I can’t tell what is sampled and what is real-live. That’s what I’m talking about. Hard to find a lot of their stuff online. But I did see their myspace page.

3. Emancipator – I got lucky on this one. He was recently on tour and came here to Nashville. I didn’t have anything going on; I decided to check him out online first to decide if I wanted to go out. I was blown away! It’s such amazing music! He’s a DJ/producer. He also plays guitar. I saw him do it live. I don’t know if he plays any other instruments. Can’t wait to check it out again though! Listen to everything on his bandcamp page!

4. Pigeon John – I’ve been a Pigeon John fan for a long time. He’s got a pretty extensive discography and it would take a while to listen to everything he’s got. Also, he does a LOT of guest features on other people’s records. But anyway, he’s really unique and different in the world of hip-hop but really really GOOD. I lucked out and saw him live a year or so ago play in some art gallery. I’d love to see him play live in front of a lot of hip-hop fans in a bar or something; just to see how it would go!

5. This Will Destroy You – I found these guys on Pandora. At first, I didn’t really listen much to them. However, I was telling someone about Saxon Shore (another band I found on Pandora); and they started telling me about This Will Destroy You. I went back and gave them another listen. Wow! I like ambient post-rock a lot. So this was an easy fit for me.