BandSoup.com Presents: Rabbit Stew (Free Hip Hop Compilation)

BandSoup.com has just cooked up a hot pot of independent hip hop, hence the aptly titled (get it?) 17-track compilation available at your doorstep for a free download!

Our first hip hop compilation features some of the finest emerging independent hip hop artists from various spots around North America: Open Mike Eagle, Intuition, and Nocando from Los Angeles, California; Aleon Craft from Atlanta, Georgia; SkuFL from Miami, Florida; 7even:Thirty from Jackson, Mississippi; Black EL & Ryan Durkin from Boston, Massachusetts; MadKem from Queens, New York;  Mally & The Sundance Kid from Minneapolis, Minnesota; RoQ'y TyRaiD from Phoenix, Arizona; Chuuwee from Sacramento, California; Poetic Republic from Cleveland, Ohio; WrittenHouse from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The NewOld from Chicago, Illinois; and Cloudy October from Portland, Oregon. 

In one compilation we have literally covered every crevice of the United States and showed you what they had to offer in the world of hip hop. In one compilation we touched on the weird, the emo, the grimy, the danceable, the raw, the jazzy, the spacey-- what more could you ask for?

Here are a few samples from the compilation below, as well as the link to the free download.

Sample 1: Intuition- Buzzkill ft. Slug (of Atmosphere)

Sample 2: MadKem- What We On

Click Here to Download Rabbit Stew

Tracklist

1. Beat Maker Beat aka Spacekid- AmourContact

2. Open Mike Eagle- I Rock (For the Unemployed)- Awkward Remix

3. Aleon Craft- Project Blue Beam

4. SkuFL- Two Wheels

5. Erik L & 7even:Thirty- Future Flow ft. Hezekiah

6. Nocando- Two Track Mind ft. Busdriver

7. Black EL & Durkin- Go! ft. Outasight

8. MadKem- What We On

9. Mally & The Sundance Kid- Heir Time

10. RoQ'y TyRaiD- I Quit!

11. Chuuwee- 6 Feet Deep

12. Freddie Joachim- Strawberries

13. Poetic Republic- The Media

14. WrittenHouse- Melodi

15. Intuition- Buzzkill ft. Slug

16. The NewOld- Life Style

17. Cloudy October- Inlaw (alternate take)


Download our Indie Rock Compilation from 2010 Here!

BandSoup.com 2011

Happy New Year from BandSoup.com! BandSoup is preparing a grassroots campaign starting January 3rd to help draw more artists and music fans to the site. Please read below on how you can help!

BandSoup is making big strides in 2011 to become a larger and smarter music community. On top of constructing a new interface, adding new interactive tools to engage users, updating our affiliated blog, and strengthening our online marketing presence, we are making it a point to interact with current BandSoup users to gain their insight and experiences in using the site. In a few months, we will have new features available on the main site and a survey form for users to fill out to help the BandSoup team smooth out any of the site's bugs and shortcomings, as well as making your experience more fun and engaging. Until then-- we need your help. We need to continue to have artists upload music and encourage music fans to visit, listen, and bookmark. To get BandSoup out to the masses, we will rely heavily on grassroots, word of mouth marketing through social media networks, links, blogs, and daily conversations. Here is how you could help us continue our mission to spread independent music around the world: Link people to our website http://www.bandsoup.comand http://blog.bandsoup.com via twitter, facebook, myspace, or your blog/website.   Continue to upload your new music to BandSoup.   Keep us up to date with your news, album releases, free music downloads, videos, and anything else you might want to share on our blog (email to:ryan@bandsoup.com).   Let us know any suggestions that you may have for the site or blog. We really appreciate your time and music and look forward to hearing your new tunes! Sincerely, Team BandSoup http://www.bandsoup.com http://blog.bandsoup.com

2 New Songs from Ghost Ghost

New York's Ghost Ghost let loose two new holiday tracks while we were switching over our blog, and even though Christmas and 2010 has come and gone, we felt that they still needed to be heard.

Please Stay for Christmas Eve features a vulnerable sounding Ghost Ghost under a psychedelic snowstorm of ambient guitars and electronic pulses, while Christmas Comes Whenever You Come Home shows a lighter side and sound.

You can also check out Ghost Ghost's video for Time is Gravity, which was released in November of 2010.

Listen to Please Stay for Christmas Eve on BandSoup / Buy
Listen to Christmas Comes Whenever You Come Home / Buy

Walden(pond)

In 1854, Henry David Thoreau conducted an experiment in home economics by living in a small, self-built cabin in the woods near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. His intentions were mainly to conduct an experiment: Could he survive, possibly even thrive, by stripping away all superfluous luxuries, living a plain, simple life in radically reduced conditions? During his voyage of self discovery, Thoreau emphasized the importance of solitude, contemplation, and closeness to nature in his writings; and over 150 years later, a band that shares the same name as Thoreau's book and cabin home, emphasize the same sentiments in their sound.

Walden(pond) is an emerging Grand Rapids, Michigan based trio consisting of Nolan Potter (guitar/vocals/piano), Danny Gilmore (drums/back-up Vocals), and Matt Carey (bass). Much like Thoreau escaping "over-civilization...in search of the raw and savage delight of the wilderness," Walden(pond)'s sound avoids the over-produced world of mainstream rock and roll and chooses to exist on the outskirts where their sprightly guitar arrangements dance like water bugs; their bass croaks wildly like bullfrogs in heat; and vocals float and ripple like wind over water.

Earlier this year, the newly formed trio completed their debut album, Like a Jackknife Gleaming, featuring ten serene tracks full of earthy compositions, 90's alternative nostalgia, and hints of psychedelia. The album is now available to purchase and download via iTunes and ready to stream on BandSoup.com.

My personal favorite song, I Get Back, proves that Walden(pond) is a force to be reckoned with. Potter's crafty guitar work and infectious vocals is a perfect introduction to a band that sounds like self discovery, nature, and healthy isolation wrapped in one simplistic package.

Thoreau once said: "Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave ... One piece of good sense is more memorable than a monument as high as the moon." The members of Walden(pond) have left one good piece of sense with their latest album and it will be remembered.

Listen to Walden(pond) tracks on BandSoup.com!

Inside the Black + Free Album Download

Hard rockin' Hollywood, California quartet Inside the Black truly embody what their hometown is all about: sex and the spotlight.  Their throaty wails and aggressive chords are half vintage rock, half Buckcherry; a perfect mashup of old and new to satisfy various types of rock and roll fans.

2010 has been an exciting year for the band. On top of continuously bringing the house down at legendary Los Angeles landmarks like The Whisky A Go Go, The Viper Room, The Key Club, The Cat Club, Dragonfly, and The Cobalt Café, the band has returned to the studio to work on the follow up to their 2006 self titled release and will be featured on the upcoming soundtrack to Heavy Metal's first digital comic, Gates, set to release in 2011.

Recently, Inside the Black graciously uploaded their 2006 self titled release on Bandcamp and made it available as a free download. Get familiar with the band on BandSoup and then head over to their Bandcamp site if you like what you hear!

Listen to Inside the Black on BandSoup.com Here

Download Inside the Black's 2006 Album Here

Video: Mumdance- Don't Forget Me Now

Wild video from Brighton, UK DJ, Mumdance. Directed by Ben Reed.

Elisa Ferrari

When Austin, Texas based folk-pop singer Elisa Ferrari was an infant, her parents often lulled her to sleep with the sound of music. As time passed, her connection to music grew even stronger and at five years old Elisa was convinced her destiny in life was to become a world famous pianist. This dream might have come true if her family could afford a piano, but one of her loving uncles went the practical route and gave her an acoustic guitar for Christmas. The rest is history.

Combining her childhood experiences with her master's degree in Ethnomusicology, Elisa Ferrari's sound is an amalgam of present day folk-pop, Brazilian pop, tango, tropicalia, bossa nova, and forro-- a true melting pot of global sounds. This can be heard on her latest album, isla de niños, an 8-track trip filled with haunting strings, South American jazz percussion, and sultry vocals.

With her soft and spirited voice, Ferrari touches on love, life, decision, and biting political critiques pushing for social awareness in today’s cultural climate like no other female pop vocalist. A perfect introduction to her whimsy would be her first bandsoup submission, Oh Henry, a dark atmospheric song that shows why many compare her to the popular vocalist, Neko Case.

Elisa Ferrari says it has taken her years to have the courage to share her music with the public, which is such an odd statement from the artist that created the courageous and daring isla de niños. I guess we can thank her parents, uncle, and the "wizard behind the curtain" that gave her the push to share her gift with the rest of the world.

Click Here to Listen to Elisa Ferrari on BandSoup!

Rumour Cubes + Free Album Download

Listening to London, England based instrumental rock group Rumour Cubes is like watching shadows waltz in crystal blue pools of beautiful music. Grabbing influences from post-modern giants such as Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Joe Bartlett (bass), Siew Cottis (viola), Hannah Morgan (violin), Omar Rahwangi (drums), Adam Stark (guitar, electronics) and Simon Stark (guitar, electronics) construct surreal, multilayered pieces that reveal something new to the ear after each rewind.

After forming in 2009, the band completed and released their debut EP, We Have Sound Houses Also, in September of this year. Taking advantage of new internet promotional avenues, Rumour Cubes is offering a free download of their three track EP on their bandcamp website, as well as a physical option that comes in a beautifully designed case made from recycled material and includes an A3 poster.

The first cut from the record, The University is a Factory, is a slow building ship full of paranoia sailing through seas of glimmering guitars, splashing cymbals, and bubbling bass before it hits the perfect storm and rocks out of control through waves of heavy electric chords and violin stabs. This epic opener sets the precedent for the rest of the EP and puts this relatively unknown band from London in the same ranks as the celebrated musicians they look up to.

Click Here to Listen to Rumour Cubes on BandSoup.com!

Click here to Download Rumour Cubes' debut EP