Feb/100
My Indie Life
My Indie Life introduces you to the best bands you’ve never heard of. Discover your new favorite artist here! Watch show here.
Feb/102
Pat’s Mixtape: The Lyrics
For my first mix I wanted to focus on the lyrics. A lot of people say that it isn’t the lyrics that they notice first, but with me it is the opposite. I am drawn to the songs that have something to say, whether that be deep, or just well put together. One of our fellow hosts Michael Mac recently tried to convince me that I would like the song “Party in the USA” if it was sung by one of my “indie” artists. You can see him try and convince you that it is a good song on episode 3 of For OR Against. I told him that I didn’t believe this to be true, that it was the extremely poor lyrics that made me not like the song and not the fact that Miley Cyrus was singing. I did get his point that I could just be making my judgment on preconceived ideas and not the quality of the song. Luckily a few days later I was listening to a new artist I found and he did a cover of this song. I was listening and enjoying myself and then a new song came on and I stopped and thought, “Wow these are terrible lyrics”. When he finally got to the chorus I realized what was happening. So to Michael, Ha.
This is why I thought it would be nice to start with a mix of songs that all have, what I believe to be, great lyrics. Hope you enjoy, the explanations of the tracks are after the break.
Feb/100
Pat’s Mixtapes
A couple months ago, I stumbled upon a fun music website called 8tracks. There are hundreds of streaming websites out there, but this one has a little twist. Instead of random songs being picked by some algorithm, every music set is hand-picked by someone. Remember the days when you made mixed tapes/CDs for someone? Whether that was last year or last night, it always felt great to make a mix for a special person. If it felt that good for one person, then it has to feel even better to give it to the world. Well maybe not, but still pretty cool.
The other great thing is that you can upload any song that you want, so there is a large mix of popular songs and songs you have never heard of. I have found some of my current favorite music here.
Starting next week, I am going to try to put up a mix that you might love once a week. If you start listening on “8tracks”, you can send mixes my way as well. There is so much music out there to find, so let’s get going.
Patrick Lothian
Jan/100
My Indie Life: Behind the Scenes Ep. 4 and 5
I love hosting ‘My Indie Life’ because it brings viewers new awesome music to be listening to. And the number of amazing bands out there is endless! It’s fun filming a show like this, because there’s no script, and we are literally just babbling about artists we like. But sometimes on the show, because of this, there are things Rob and I wanted to say that just slipped our mind. So this is the place for those misplaced thoughts to be expressed.
Episode 4:
I discovered Marry a Thief on thesixtyone.com and immediately began listening to them on a regular basis. I purchased their 2008 album, “I’m Dying to Outlive You,” and they became a staple on my iphone. All the while, I think to myself, “How are these
Dec/090
My Indie Life: Behind the Scenes Ep 2
Welcome to behind the scenes of My Indie Life – Episode 2.
Fine tuning the details of this show has been the process that has come a long way. Since its conception, this show has changed quite a bit. We began with a blank wall and a futon in a bedroom. Then we added posters and cds to make a more visually-stimulating set. After making some adjustments, because of the glare the gloss on our posters had created, we seem to have a background that really works for us. Now, we have decided to use multiple locations. When the show started, we used a single camera also, but it seems as though the side shots add a much-needed artistic angle to this show.
During the filming of this episode, we were really excited to get talking about these artists – we could not have had nicer things to say about these two. On episode two, we talk about two amazing artists, Amy Kuney, and AM. Both are from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and both are unique musicians with a lot to offer to people who just plain love music.
Dec/091
My Indie Life: Behind the scenes – Ep 1
The toughest part in making My Indie Life probably isn’t going to be in any of the filming or the editing, it’s going to be in finding amazing music that most people have never heard of. Episode 1 was an exception, though… the two artists we featured are musicians that Lexi and I have been big fans of for awhile now.
Lexi first found Sean Fournier on thesixtyone.com and immediately and excitedly shared his music with me, especially since his album is completely free! His EP, “Oh My” is amazing, and I will be surprised if he doesn’t become more well known soon. Some of his songs do sound similar to the stylings of Jason Mraz, but there’s something refreshing and magical about Sean’s music… part of it the emotion in his voice, part of it his cool and unique vocal sound, and maybe part of it is just that he’s someone new and unheard of, but either way, he’s great.
Nov/092
My Indie Life: Best Albums of 2009…Part Two!
Welcome to Part Two of my Best Albums of 2009!
There is so much great music out there that is just waiting to be explored. Here I include a mix of more popular stuff as well as the really obscure so check out my list, compare with yours, and let me know who your favorites were this past year. Check out Part One, also.
Also, you should know that I tend to lean on the side of “Indie Music Snob” but of my group of friends, I tend to be the most into stuff that’s on the radio, so keep that in mind while combing through my list of faves.
I’m always looking for the next best thing to listen to, so if you have the scoop, I want to hear about it!
Nov/092
My Indie Life: Our Favorite Indie Covers
Our Favorite Indie Covers – Heartless by Kanye, Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper, Hospital Beds by Cold War Kids, The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton, Hey Ya! By OutKast… all of these songs made even better by five cool indie artists!
Sunday, November 29th, 2009
There are so many cool cover versions of songs out there, many that surpass the original version, and many that try a very different take on the song than the original artist’s. We couldn’t necessarily limit ourselves to a definitive “Top 5”, but the five here are definitely really good, and some of our favorites right now.
Nov/092
My Indie Life: Best Albums of 2009…Part One!
2009 has been a great year for music. Never before have I felt like there was so much good music, so little time, but this year I have found myself listening to great songs by great artists 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but basically…I’m always listening, and that’s all you need to know.
A little bit about me, I am a musician myself, and I am constantly on the hunt for new great artists that I can brag to my friends about listening to. I hate pretty much everything that’s on the radio right now, especially Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga.
I plan on writing a part 2, 3, and 4(for those of you who were worried), so don’t fret if there’s an album coming out in the future that you think you’d love. Chances are, I think I will love them too and would absolutely not want to leave anyone out.
So here we go. November 23rd 2009, and these are my favorite albums of the year (so far):
Nov/092
My Indie Life is for (Music) Lovers
For folks who love undiscovered music, folks who love knowing about great musicians that none of your friends know about yet, folks who are sick of Top 40 radio, (even folks who love Top 40 radio), and folks who just enjoy good music in general… this show is for you! “My Indie Life” introduces you to the best undiscovered musicians. On “My Indie Life”, we discuss new musicians every episode while showcasing their music for you guys to get a sense of what their music sounds like, so if you like what you hear, you can dive further into the world of that musician. The musical styles of the artists we feature will vary, but they will all have 2 things in common: they are very talented, and (to this point) they are not well known by the public.
We’ll be digging deep, and hope that the majority of artists we showcase will be unknown to everyone who watches, even those music snobs who pride themselves on knowing an artists before anyone else does. And if you do happen to be familiar with an artist we showcase, well you can give yourself a pat on the back and start recommending musicians we should showcase… Seriously, we want to hear from you guys. If you have a hidden gem of an artist that you love that nobody knows about, send us an email at myindielife@maybehip.com, and let us know! Maybe we’ll feature your favorite unknown musician!
Click in every week, starting December 3rd, to watch “My Indie Life”, and discuss musicians that you like on our blogs, forums, Twitter, email, and at www.thesixtyone.com/myindielife.
Robby Silver
