Friday 26 September 2014

Hey! There is More Music Than Just What is on the Radio Out There!


Maybe it is just my addiction to heavier music but I find that radio does not fully satisfy my thirst for alternative forms of musical findings. Strangely enough through my adventures in searching for new sounds I have found more than one group that deserves to be on the radio but never seem to have managed to get their tracks noticed. Due to the products of my search I have found myself listening more and more to great artists that normally I would never have noticed.

The reason for this particular article is to highlight sources for you to begin your own search for good music not played on the airwaves. Expand your audio horizons and check out these digital worlds of sound. As I said before I have a penchant for heavy music: gridcore; prog; death; white; black; thrash; industrial and a lot of other metal based sounds. Due to this fixation we will begin this with some excellent stores of molten metal:

I subscribe to Relapse Records electronic email. Why, because I find out about what brutal metal bands like Abysmal Dawn, Pig Destroyer, and Black Tusk are up to. Everything from what they are working on in the studio to where they are touring.

Relapse informs me on new and interesting projects that give unique perspectives on the metal genre; such as the one woman black metal enterprise MYRKUR. It also offers some damn cool merch from bands such as Death, EXHUMED, and Mastodon.

If you are as much as a fan of metal as I am you need to check out Decibel! It is incredible! They give great reviews on everything from the most popular metal to those new outfits that are attempting to claw their name into The Book Of Heavy Metal.

Not only do they enlighten their readers on the lay of the metal landscape but in each magazine they give away a Flexi Series mini LP! Yes, there is a mini record in each and every magazine... OOOOh, excuse me, I love vinyl.

Decibel has quickly become my favorite printed resource for finding info on metal acts.


Exclaim claims to be Canada's music authority, and they just might be. I adore this paper. I always search for it whenever I am in Toronto.

Apart from it being free, they cover everything! Pretty much every style of music playing out they have reviews on and opinion articles on. They cover metal, punk, electronica, pop, and etc.

Within one issue of this paper they have more album reviews than on any web site that I have ever seen on music! Some of my favorite memories of times in Toronto have been relaxing in a quirky coffee shop reading an exclaim.

If like me you can not get to the city of Toronto that often you can check 'em out on the web.

Next of the list is Loudwire, it is what I use for a digital outlet for my rock and roll news. They give me the latest information on everything from Slipknots new masks to how AC/DC is doing due to the revelation of Malcolm Young's condition.

Along with news Loudwire has a good stock of videos, reviews, and contests to check out. So if you like to keep up with your rock and roll drop by Loudwire.com




Revolver is the home of the Golden Gods Awards. A real music awards show for those of us who know that Soundgarden is a great rock band and not metal, Grammy's take note! If you like your music heavy the Golden Gods is the awards to watch. This years show so far has acts such as the classic Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the immortal Zakk Wylde, and new comers The Pretty Reckless.

Just like the before mentioned Loudwire, Revolver is a great place to get news on the state of rock 'n' roll and metal today. 





To end this list I have left the one source that requires some work on your part to root through but has an almost un-exhaustible storage of free music. Check out the audio section on this bad boy and you can find downloadable live concerts by well known bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and the Grateful Dead just to mention some.

There are studio, demo, and other tracks from styles of music that you may not even knew that exist. As of late I have been exploring Irish metal groups, and Finnish death metal groups on the site.

If you have some hours to get lost exploring go to the Internet Archive.

I have many more sources that I browse through to see what I can find to enlighten myself on the sounds that are out there including just using twitter but I am sure that these will keep you busy enough for now.


Thanks for reading.
  Kevin Sweeney


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