Blogarhythms

Have you ever heard someone complain that “there’s no good music on the radio,” or gripe that record labels manufacture untalented superstars who the media-blinded masses mindlessly support? Me too. And I’d argue that media-outlets, particularly radio and video, don’t serve the music-buying public when it comes to breaking artists other than those co-signed by their corporate overlords myself. However, as a music-lover, radio DJ and blogger who’s constantly on the hunt for new music with which to fill my headphones, my show-playlists and my blog-posts I find such criticisms a little frustrating.

With high-quality recording at the disposal of anybody with a computer, the widespread availability of affordable D.I.Y. media-publishing, and a ready-made distribution network called the internet, it’s become easier-and-easier for people around the globe to record and release their own music without the involvement of the overseers at the record companies and media conglomerates. And while I understand if every artist pushing an independent CD or MP3 download doesn’t appeal to every music-hungry fan, the fact of the matter is we now have a whole world of music at our fingertips, which makes the traditional media gatekeepers more-and-more irrelevant every day.

I’m amazed by the array of acts I’m exposed to in my day-to-day travels across the musical landscape; by their variegation in national origin, the diversity of musical styles they create, and the way they complement artists whose music already fills my collection. For example, I’m a fan of Norwegian troubadour Erlend Øye. I discovered him via his work with Röyksopp, which lead me to Kings of Convenience, his subsequent solo projects, and his most recent effort, The Whitest Boy Alive. But the latter came out in 2006, Kings of Convenience hasn’t released an album since 2004, and he hasn’t dropped a solo LP since 2003! So it’s comforting to make an out-of-the-blue discovery of a band like Moscow, Russia’s The Nothingdoers, whose quirky, minimalist Pop fits nicely into the gap between projects from Øye and his compatriots.

You’re not going to hear The Nothingdoers on the radio, unless you listen to a show like mine. You probably weren’t going to hear Erlend Øye on the radio either, despite the fact that everybody loved “Remind Me,” a collaboration with Röyksopp, when it was used in that Geico commercial. But I managed to find them all the same. And while radio-programmers would surely groan at the way the songs on The Nothingdoers’ debut Twenty Past Sixteen are sung in strangely-accented, slightly-askew English, that’s the sort of thing I (not to mention the people who keep licensing Peter Björn and John for their commercials and whatnot) find charming. Even more-so when it’s done over a light-n-airy mix of rich basslines, soulful keys & nimble guitars, and informed by myriad influences including Folk, Jazz, early Rock & Roll, Soul, Lite-Rock, Alt-Rock and contemporary R&B.

The Nothingdoers “Stonecold”

The point is, we’re blessed with the opportunity to discover non-boardroom-approved music every day. We need only opt to do something, rather than nothing. And when we do, it’s the CEOs and execs who inevitably have to play catch-up.

- El Keter