Catchy, grungy, and so fun to move to that you won’t notice, nor care, when some overzealous hipster spills Pabst Blue Ribbon on you when you are shredding the dance floor at one of their shows. Enjoy One From Many’s (OFM) new single, “Retrospective”, from their upcoming, “Alleged Album.”
Tune in TOMORROW as we offer you the best seat in the house to a live music session from Dispatch’s Chad Stokes. Chad will spend an hour serving up tunes and chatting with fans this Tuesday at 3pm EST in his first Broadcast on Grooveshark.
Whether you’ve listent to Tupac Shakur’s heartfelt classic, “Dear Mama,” or recounted the instances Jay-Z has been extolled in any Kanye West interview, it is inarguable that hip-hop heavy-weights give their mentors and communities of origin unparalleled praise and suport. However, despite the awareness that urban chart-toppers are bringing to each other, hip-hop radio personality, King Tech, believes it might be better if some of the spotlight were allocated elsewhere in the hip-hop ecosystem.
Utilizing the power and listener base of his XM Radio broadcast, The Wake Up Show, King Tech along with MTV host, Sway, are showing that one of the most important aspects of the hip-hop community is giving back. The on-air duo have decided to focus their efforts on a cause and an issue that is happening behind the scenes of the hip-hop mainstream.
Actor, producer, emcee, and hip-hop contributor Reggie “Saafir” Gibson, has recently experienced severe health issues that have left him unable to walk. After getting wind of Saafir’s health, and his even more crippling medical expenditures, the Wake Up Show hosts decided to create the The Will to Walk campaign. Through this campaign, King Tech explains that he hopes to alleviate some of the financial burden it will take to have Saafir back on his feet again.
Despite the beauty of this mission, getting this cause successfully funded is going to take an effort from hip-hop listeners and influencers around the web. To contribute to the cause, click the link below and join the The Wake Up Show in support of Saafir.
To read more on this story, head over to AllHipHop.com to read their interview with King Tech.
Follow their Stories
The Wake Up Show @wakeupshow
Enjoy Meth Dad in this junk food driven Grooveshark Session for the song, Swimmers.
Elestial Sound: A Collective Culture of Music and Art
In a world where anyone with access to GarageBand can create music to share with the world, it has become a rarity to find artists coming together to create, record, and promote local music. Nestled just down the street from the Grooveshark Headquarters is the independent label, gallery, recording studio, and artist collective, Elestial Sound. This do-it-yourself initiative truly showcases the passion and drive that goes into making art.
Elestial Sound, the independent record label based out of Gainesville, Fla, is releasing its first compilation album on April 30th.
Only two years old, Elestial Sound has quickly become a vital part of Gainesville’s alternative art and music culture. The compilation—meant to showcase Elestial Sound as a collaborative group of artists—will feature songs from ten of the bands on the label: MSNRA, Euglossine, Ghost Fields, Chromadadata, Floating, Pospulenn, Orchal and Vir, Jane Jane Pollock, Danny and Emily Reo.
The music is influenced by many different genres —- psychedelic, electronic and indie to name a few —- but the bands hardly pigeonhole their sound into specific categories. MSNRA, for example, is a hip-hop group that blends elements of electronic and world music to create a unique sound.
The artists, who have taken time from their solo work to create music specifically for the album, have worked closely with each other since Elestial Sound’s beginning in 2011. They frequently play live shows together at venues across Gainesville, and, in 2012 and 2013, they performed at South by Southwest (SXSW), a music and interactive conference in Austin, Texas.
Although music is the main driving force behind Elestial Sound, it is not the only thing that defines it. The Gainesville collective puts on live, local shows that combine elements of music and art to create a mesmerizing experience. Art installations are specially crafted to add to the ambiance of each show. The stage and walls of The Church of Holy Colors, where many of the local shows are held, are sometimes covered with hand-painted colorful designs, or, more recently, plastered with vibrant afghan blankets. Lights that pulsate to the beat of the music hang from the ceiling and vintage 35-millimeter slide projectors cast filmstrips around the room. Far from the top 40 glitz and glam of mainstream shows held at huge venues—Elestial Sound shows’ actually mix authentic music with real art.
Davis Hart, co-owner of the label describes his organization as a “mutating entity” that is still evolving and defining itself. “It’s a collective of artists, musicians and builders and people just mad to live,” he said.
Gabriel Ortiz, the other half of the founding pair, says the compilation is a great example of this collective effort.
In addition to encouraging and inspiring one another in their solo endeavors, some of the artists also lend their talents to multiple projects. Tristan Whitehill, the force behind Euglossine, composes and performs with MSNRA and collaborates with Kane Pour of Pospulenn in the duo known as Orchal and Vir.
“The nature of our community is built upon the idea that we all help support each other’s creative output,” Whitehill said. “Each project is equally special and the community is there to help each artist’s vision.”
The soon-to-be released album will be available for purchase on the official website: www.elestialsound.com.
Want to see some skin? The indieipop band Conveyor serves up all of your dermus driven desires (and a little bit of fingerplay) in their new music video for the song, Woolgatherer.
A few weeks ago, a Times Square billboard displaying the phrase, “PIRACY IS OUR GENERATION” caught the attention of millions of music industry professionals, blog writers, and New York City pedestrians.
The 15,000 square foot sign called for artists and musicians to head to Twitter and publicly declare their stance on piracy with the hashtags, #Artistsagainstpiracy and #Artistsforpiracy. Spawning a slew of buzz and world of criticism, it is almost surprisingly ironic that the creators of this controversial project are the notably underground music duo, Ghost Beach.
The Grooveshark team got the opportunity to speak with Josh Ocean and Eric Mendelsohn of the band Ghost Beach to learn more about their campaign that pitted Artists against Artists.
How long have you guys been making music?
Together as ghost beach about two years. Our first release was in october of 2011
Did you expect the Time Square Billboard to garner as much attention as it did?
We had no expectations of the billboard. We had the canvas to work with and we decided to start a discussion.
What were your intentions when you guys created the ArtistsVsArtists.com Campaign?
Our intention was simply to start a dialogue on what “piracy” means in 2013. Our hope was that by discussing the topic we can bring to light many new ways that internet helps artists defeat piracy while still maintaining respect to their intellectual property
How has the support, or the backlash, been for your campaign?
Support from our fans and friends were strong. There was also a lot of support from our musician friends and other upcoming musicians. However there was a lot of anger generated towards us by some artists as if we were selling them out for a billboard. When in fact we were always on the side of #Artistsagainstpiracy. People seemed to only pay attention to one side of the billboard and forget there was a side just as big saying that piracy was wrong. We asked people to pick a side. We did.
What are your beliefs about piracy in the 21st century?
While we do think that there have been tremendous strides in the development of music distribution and technology as a result of illegal file sharing online, ultimately we stand with #artistsagainstpiracy. The Internet enables artists to share their music with more listeners than ever before the important thing is to find and support the platforms that do this while still maintaining the integrity of their intellectual property. We believe by offering music consumers convenient choices that respect the artist piracy can be defeated.
What are the plans for Ghost Beach for the rest of 2013?
More new music, more shows, more fun!
Check back with the Grooveshark Blog every week to keep up on with our latest updates, our sessions with amazing bands, and updates on our latest themes.
Halloween is almost half a calendar year away, but let’s face it, zombies are awesome all year round! If you are a Grooveshark Anywhere subscriber, you can enjoy out latest Grooveshark Zombie theme by heading to the Themes button under the gear icon on the site. For a behind the scenes peek on the creative work that went into making this theme, check out this video featuring artist and illustrator Connor Goodman.
Follow @ConnorAGoodman on Twitter
Are you an artist that is interested in creating a theme for Grooveshark? Hit us up with a link to your portfolio and let’s have a chat!
Check back with the Grooveshark Blog every week to keep up on with our latest updates, our sessions with amazing bands, and updates on our latest themes.
Grooveshark is giving away $5,000 worth of promotions to 10 deserving Grooveshark artists from now until May 31. Get 100 or more people to follow your Grooveshark artist page and become eligible to win a 10,000-play Radio Campaign and a slot in our Featured section.
How to Win:
From the moment you read this message, earn as many Followers as possible on your Grooveshark artist page.
Share and promote your page to your fans, friends, and all of your supporters across all of the networks you can. (Be creative!)
EmailArtistPromo@grooveshark.com as soon as your page surpasses 100 Followers.
Prizes
10,000-Play Radio campaign
Featured Placement (Video or New Release) for 1 Week
The first 3 valid entries will receive special goodie bags in addition to the contest prize! The deadline to enter is May 31, 2013 and we will announce the winners on the Grooveshark Blog on June 7, 2013.
Official Rules
One entry per artist.
Fake/False accounts will not be included in Follower total.
An e-mail must be sent to ArtistPromo@grooveshark.com to validate entry into the contest.
Contest will run until May 31, 2013 or until 10 valid entries are received by Grooveshark.
Artists currently running promotions on Grooveshark are not be eligible for this contest.
Promotions are non-transferable.
Tips & Tricks:
Invite Fans from Facebook and Twitter to follow you on Grooveshark..
Use Grooveshark song widgets to embed songs on your various networks.
Utilize TinySong to share your Grooveshark page to the masses.
Build your Grooveshark community by posting exclusive updates to fans.
Respond to Fan Comments on your Grooveshark page.
Hit us up at ArtistPromo@grooveshark.com if you have any questions or concerns.
Not a Grooveshark Artist yet?
Check out Grooveshark.com/artists to learn more!
