Indie Music Universe

By Kristin Anderson

On my search for some quality indie to pay forward, I stumbled across a indie folk band that has helped to solidify the existence of some happy music. Thao With the Get Down Stay Down has succeeded in forcing our spoiled, overindulged, grumpy listeners to smile again. Remember smiling people, it's that thing you do when you're not all wrapped up in your own little tragic universe of perspective.

The band members consist of Thao Nguyen (guitar, vocals), Willis Thompson (drums, percussion), and Adam "The OK BIRD" Thompson (Bass, bird noises). Willis Thompson and Thao Nguyen met at a re-enactment in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and then found Adam Thompson one summer at a Richmond delicatessen, gingerly slicing. They got in a van together and stopped every night in different places. Got out, played music (often for real live people) and then got back in and rambled to the next town.

Thao With the Get Down Stay Down recorded one album, drove around and flew to and fro, and then recorded another. Both albums document the musical collaboration of many friends and colleagues and the efforts of one Thao to understand human interaction at all, ever. Their latest Know Better Learn Faster was released on 10/13/09 and is making a serious impact on its impressive show line up of all the indie hot spots you could hope to visit. (check out the tour dates on  www.myspace.com/thaomusic )

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Popularity: 20% [?]

Singer/songwriter Johnny Nicholson reflects a deep and diverse talent. Unafraid to venture into new territory, he’s lived in California, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Europe. Nicholson’s motley of adventurous explorations in geography is paralleled with his musical styles. He can play it all, from pop folk, to reggae, to smooth lullabies, to rock.

Grown in Geyserville, CA, Johnny picked up the violin at age five and the guitar at age seven, he has been writing, recording, and performing for the better part of his life.

"Ultimately, Nicholson is an artist you would take with you to celebrate, to ponder, and to live. While his sound is predominantly smooth and calming, Nicholson also produces music to match the many moods of life. Easy to relate to, the singer/songwriter seamlessly tells snippets of his autobiography…" (Lauren Proctor, Northeast Indie In Tune)

By January 2010, Johnny will have graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he has been studying, practicing his craft, and building Monkey Rock (TM) Presents/Records/Apparel. Johnny founded Monkey Rock in 2006. The organization has grown into a community comprised of artists and friends, from all over the world, who support each other by working, promoting, and performing as a group. May ‘08, Johnny released his first EP (available on iTunes), March ‘09, Johnny was selected to work in a songwriting workshop with Paul Simon, and June ‘09, Monkey Rock had a featured article in The Boston Globe. In January ‘10, Johnny will release a new record – with a video for each song, produced by different independent animators/film-producers.

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Popularity: 23% [?]

It began in a field. THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE WHALER began in 2008 when Michael LoPresti, Evan Storey, and Aaron Smith went to a park in Cleveland, Ohio to play music together. They wrote their first song in fifteen minutes. As they played it, people began to stop and listen. The boys realized they were on to something and THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE WHALER was born. Nick Wise went on to join the band in early 2009.

THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE WHALER blends sweeping vocals with shimmering melodies and orchestral soundscapes.

THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE WHALER released its first EP, A WHISPER, A CLAMOUR in the winter of 2008. The four track EP is the culmination of that single moment in the field. The EP is now available on iTunes and Amazon. The Lighthouse and The Whaler is currently recording it's highly anticipated, self-titled, full length album. The LP is slated for release in September. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 18% [?]

Nive Nielsen is an Inuit singer/songwriter from Greenland. Yup, North Pole! She is currently mixing her debut album "Nive Sings – as played by Nive Nielsen & The Deer Children." The result is nothing short of amazing, both in scope and vision. It's not every day we hear a record from the High North, let alone one with an all-star cast of indie music contributors including John Parish (who also produced the majority of the album), Howe Gelb & Giant Sand, Ralph Carney, and musicians from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Evangelista, Clues/Unicorns, Black Keys, Eric Matthews and many others. Influences are as broad as Bessie Smith, Arthur Russell, Americana, old dusty 78s, Cat Power and Townes Van Zandt.  Arctic folk? Snow songs? Ukulele-wielding Eskimos? All of that and more. Do check it out!

Nive:

"I never aimed at making a record, let alone having other people hear my songs. I just got bored, my boyfriend gave me a uke, and songs started spilling out. They're very personal songs, heartfelt and simple and honest and basically just me. To actually record them, that was just a game, nothing serious at first. Just fun, yknow. Then we got into it, into the actual recording process. Jan started to focus on arranging what I was playing and singing -and things started to move, it became actual songs. And now, all of sudden, people are writing to me, asking for a record, wanting me to perform… it's real cool, but also kinda surreal. I 'm really really happy with the record – it took a while, cause we did everything ourselves, with no financial support -but it's here, and it's really good!

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Popularity: 18% [?]

Joe Purdy is an American folk/rock singer-songwriter from Arkansas, who has had a very impressive music career thus far.

Purdy didn't realize that he could actually write songs until he was 21, and once he discovered this talent, he began writing at a furious pace.  The ambitious songwriter then set a personal goal to make ten records before he turned 27.  During most trips he took, whether in the states or overseas, he would write an entire album's worth of material.  His  approach is a rare delivery of honest immediacy, and it seems to be working.

You may have never heard of this artist before, but you may be familiar with some of his works, which have been featured in the hit TV shows Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and House, MD. 

Around the time when he was recording Stompingrounds in 2003, Joe was contacted by JJ Abrams, the executive producer of Lost, to use the song Wash Away for the show (from his Julie Blue album).  Wash Away went on to chart in the Top 25 of the iTunes country charts.

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Popularity: 9% [?]