Misty Frequencies
by Joe Dodgshun // October 12 2009
Well, well, well. Looks like I made it through to the end of the year. I’m not just talking about this column, but while I’m at it, thanks for coming along for the ride anyways. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I. No, actually I was talking about lethal ice, airport grievances, death-cabbage soup and my ever-surprising lack of co-ordination. How I managed to survive to the ripe old age of 21 is a constant mystery. But I’ve made it thus far so, as they say, that is that. By the way, who are they? They seem pretty onto it.
Tangents aside, before I go I just thought I’d spend a while detailing how you can find new stuff on the cheap.
Right. So first stop, The Hype Machine is your friend. While I know that students often have…err…alternative methods in procuring music of the digital form these days, quite often there isn’t much new, emerging or rare stuff available. Basically The Hype Machine (www.hypem.com) is a blog aggregator which bundles together all the music blogs out there so you can search for a band or track and BOOM! Free, pretty much legal* tunes as easy as Larry**.
(*Bands want to get their stuff out, you want free stuff, so it’s relatively legal.)
(**Sorry Larry. I wasn’t implying anything.)
Let’s try it out! 1. Go to www.hypem.com. 2. In the search box type in a band called The Lonely Forest. 3. On the first blog listed where it has a song called ‘We Sing In Time’; click the wee blue link that says Read Full Post. 4. Under the picture there, right-click on the ‘We Sing In Time’ link, go Save Link As, find somewhere to plonk it and your download will start! 5. Enjoy a tasty slice of dreamy indie-pop-rock with nostalgic, rose-tinted overtones. 6. Repeat with ‘Coin Laundry’ by Lisa Mitchell.
Try searching around for blogs that fit the kind of music you’re into. Here’s a few to set you going. First up is a kiwi blog, www.einsteinmusicjournal.co.nz. Worth mentioning again is www.deliciousmusic.co.nz where if you sign up you can download a hiiiiuge amount of New Zealand stuff for free.
Ahh Pitchfork. Pitchfork is the indie music bible. By that I don’t mean it’s small enough to fit into the back pocket of skinny jeans, it’s just the self-proclaimed, if over-enthusiastic, authority of independent and upcoming music. Check it at www.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums. Slightly more off the beaten track is www.rosequartz.blogspot.com featuring the writing of UC and RDU brother-in-arms Shea.
On that note, listen to RDU 98.5FM too, it has an awesome mix of music (I’m on Friday mornings 10am-12 with James of Bang!Bang!Eche!, followed by Shea) aand finally, check the Misty Frequencies MySpace page, I’ve been adding mint bands all year and I may post up links to a big-boy proper blog starting soon-ish. Crap. Out of space. Out of time. Out of here! Peace!