MUSIC WORTH BUYING + MUSIC WORTH A FREE DOWNLOAD Vol VII

The StereoFidelics

I had the great pleasure of catching this captivating duo at live show at Founder’s Brewing in Grand Rapids, MI while I was in town visiting some friends.  I went out that night to enjoy a beverage or two with some of my favorite midwestern folks, and had no idea what kind of bands would be playing.  Luckily for me, Chris Padgett and Melissa McGinley (aka The StereoFidelics) were enjoying a midwestern jaunt within their never-ending tour schedule.  Based in Asheville, NC, the duo first caught my attention due to the petite and gorgeous McGinley (I am such a sucker for adorable female musicians), who was wearing some sort of strapless party dress on her way to sit down behind the drumset.  Ok, a hot girl drummer is a good start, and it turns out she sings with a sometimes jazzy/ sometimes bluesy style with power that belies her small frame.  If that was the extent of the impression then I would probably still be scrambling quickly to find some other band to write about, but luckily there was more to be found. In addition, Padgett is a pretty quick guitar player with a nice smooth voice, which made for a great guy-girl vocal combo. As the first song went on, I listened closely and started grooving with the bass line…then I looked onstage and re-noticed the lack of a bass player…and looked down at Padgett’s feet, where all I could see were foot-like blurs.  This guy is able to play some killer guitar, all the while his feet are tapping some funky bass licks on a set of organ pedals.  As soon as I picked up my jaw from the floor, they were doing a musical segue between songs and our heavenly lady drummer had picked up her violin, which she played with a well-practiced skill, while holding the beat with her feet.  At that point I had to go to the bar to grab some more fuel from my blown mind.

If you can read this article about this 2-person band and not be curious or intrigued enough to listen to them, then I can say without any doubt that you hate music and freedom.  The rest of you awesome folks need to click one of these links and go download the dozen or so free songs they have available on their website.  If you aren’t sure yet and that seems like a big commitment to you, then you probably need some therapy for the commitment-phobia, but feel free to distract yourself with these next couple videos.

…and next we have

 

SCOTT MELLIS

 

Scott Mellis’s album Dancing for the Murder of Desire caught my attention while I was perusing some of the freely downloadable music on the NoiseTrade website and I found it to be really refreshing, especially for some small-town Australian (which I didn’t actually find out until about 10 minutes ago).  Based in folk music and using many non-traditionally-pop instruments, you get the idea that this guy really has some musical vision to go along with his strong lyrical songwriting. Click here to go download the songs and listen to yourself.

Thank you as always for reading.  Please feel free to send me thoughts or suggestions: [email protected]