The fight for diverse and conscious voices

I subscribe to the daily newsletter from this site - each day I get two pointers to artists who've uploaded things for free listening and usually free downloading. The site selections are streamable, and often have extensive band bios/backgrounds. On the minus side, the quality varies wildly and the styles are all over the place. At two per day, four days a week (Friday they send out a weekly round-up) it takes a while to accumulate good stuff. Here are a few, sampling a bunch of different styles.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Josh_Wink/track/Dolphin_Smack_Martin_Buttrich_Remix_Part_6
I'm not sure what to make of this, or of Josh Wink in general. This particular track is an instrument-only high-BPM club mix, of the sort you'd expect to hear playing when people are filing in before a DJ set. It gets you interested, and promises more but you've got to wait to hear the more. Still, pleasant background filler.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/MGMT/track/Flash_Delirium
MGMT gets a lot of airplay for their Grammy-nominated "Kids" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEOZCcaXzE) but most of their stuff doesn't appear in rotation all that often. The three tracks here are a good sample of their pop range; of the three I definitely like the last one "Electric Feel (Justice Remix)" best. It's MGMT laid over some heavy-thud house beats giving a very danceable feel without losing the essential pop sound.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Kenan_Bell/track/TGIF_feat_Aceyalone
Kenan Bell (http://www.myspace.com/theblackkenanbell) is an LA DJ. Here he's mixing under raps from Aceyalone (http://www.last.fm/music/Aceyalone) a rapper who really hasn't been heard much from since the early part of the past decade. Bell's other mixes also use tracks from lesser-known rappers, which is kind of neat - it's a style I don't hear much.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Blitzen_Trapper/track/Heaven_And_Earth
Blitzen Trapper are a little hard to categorize. If they were southern I'd call them country-rock, but they're from the Northwest and you can hear a lot of folk-rock influences in their sound, with twangy steel guitars and some nice male vocals accompanied only by piano or piano/violin. I suspect if you're not at least a little folkie you won't be into this but I am and it's a pleasure to hear a male-fronted band that's not emo/whiny.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Florrie/track/Panic_Attack_Fred_Falke_Extended_Mix
You probably want to close your eyes while listening to this because if you don't you'll be fooled by the skinny young blonde chick appearances. Yes, Florrie Arnold (http://www.myspace.com/florriexenomania) is all that. She's also an accomplished drummer, and writes her own materials. Unfortunately she tends a bit too much into the pop for me most of the time.

http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Audio_Bullys/track/Only_Man_Reset_Remix
And just in case you thought I'd gone completely off, let me leave you with this absolutely ROCKIN' techno-house mix. Audio Bullys (sic) are a UK DJ pair (http://www.myspace.com/audiobullys) who I can't wait to hear more from. This buzz mix is hard and fast and I've played it at least five times in the last two days. Sometimes RCRD LBL really comes through.