Top 10 Tuesday: Top Artists I’ve Discovered on Emusic
March 27th, 2007 | by Scott |I’ve extolled the virtues of emusic on several occasions. When I joined backed some time ago I used it as opportunity to discover artists that will never get played on popular radio today. Let’s face it, truly good music isn’t on radio stations that are prone to offer up the latest schlock from Justin Timberlake and Avril Lavigne.
It was hard to limit this to just 10 artists so these are the top artists that I have discovered on emusic. I did not know of them prior. And here is the great deal: if you decide you want to give emusic a try, let me know and I will send you an invitation for 25 free downloads. If you like it and stick around as a customer, I get 50 free downloads :D.
To give you a greater feel for these artists I include a video for each of them. That also helped me whittle down the list to those I could find a music video for, either by them or some college student with a lot of free time.
10. Storyhill–I just found these guys this week. Incredible harmonies remind me of the mid 90s duo, The Williams Brothers. This video “Give Up the Ghost” is from their new self-titled album.
9. Melissa Mclelland–Looks can be deceiving, and Melissa’s girl next door demeanor belies the angst and acidity of her lyrics. Her album, Stranded in Suburbia, had me laughing at loud with her ability to turn a phrase. This is the mainstream radio ready “Jaded.”
8. Ben Kweller–Hard to believe this guy is just 25. He rocks with some tight songwriting skills. This song, “Sundress,” is from his eponymous album.
7. Hem–I have lauded Hem many times on this blog. I could listen to Sally Ellyson’s beautiful vocals all day long. And I have many times. This song is called Red Wing.
6. Dan Bern–I discovered Bern when I was researching protest music. He has the vocal stylings and lyrical sensibility of a young Dylan. This is the title track off his latest album, Breathe.
5. David Berkeley–If you like Nick Drake, then you will love David Berkeley. I thought this was a well done video using his song “Fire Sign.”
4. Brett Dennen–This guy may look like he’s just 12 years old but he is one of the best up and coming songwriters out there. The TV show Scrubs used his song “Ain’t No Reason” this past week. Hopefully this will mean more publicity for him besides the cable commercial. This video is for the song “There is So Much More,” a post-9/11 reaction song.
3. Josh Joplin–Great songwriting. Terrific band. I had a hard time finding a good video. This is from some video game using the song “Camera One.”
2. Jeff Black–I cannot say enough good stuff about this guy. Both albums that are available on emusic are absolutely stellar. The only video I could find was using clips from “24.” It’s called “Hard Way Out”
1. Matt Nathanson–Matt is one of my favorite artists. His most recent studio album, alas, is not available on emusic, but his recent live album is. And his is a consummate live artist. Check out the song Sing Me Sweet below:
Let me know your thoughts on these artists. Any you recommend? And let me know if you want the free emusic trial.