Actually, it’s one reason and five supporting arguments: Because you get to cultivate relationships with talented artists and labels who share music with you that you otherwise wouldn’t hear!
1. Finian McKean. I interviewed Finian McKean on my old site, before the RIAA threatened to separate me from my family for posting a song from a CD submitted to me by a representative of a label, and Fin proved to be an incredibly interesting man, with strong support for the movement of music from the physical to virtual world. At the time, Ryan Adams had failed to defend a couple kids who were facing prison time for posting a few songs off his boring album, “29,†and Finian indicated that Ryan should have come out against what his label was doing. Quite a controversial statement. But I agree. If 2007 proved nothing, it proved that the artists need the labels less than the labels need the artists. Finian’s got a new record coming out called “Monsters of the Deep Woods.” I can’t wait to hear the whole thing, but for now I must be content
with these masterful, and typically ornate and beautiful recordings by Mr. McKean:
2. 
Please Quiet Ourselves. The first couple songs I heard off of Please Quiet Ourselves’ new album didn’t hit me right, but then The Light came on. I encourage all of you to download it (below) and listen to the first few minutes without being completely mesmerized. This is quirky, often experimental indie pop that requires your full attention, and will reward a serious listen. They bill themselves as a collective, and to be sure there are a ton of various instruments and textures in each song, but I find them much more interesting, and much more listenable, than Broken Social Scene. Check it out.
3. Niki Kwik is an altrock/punk band out of Phoenix, AZ, who want you to taste three songs off their new EP, “Fake Is The New Black†(great title!).
4. The Hectors are yet another pop band from L.A., but I dig their music and I dig their sensibilities. Humble, humorous and fun. Check it out.
I Drove All the Way to Bridgeport to Make It with You
5. Full on Flyhead. A serious contender for weirdest bandname ever, the single “Bubble Hill,†from Full On Flyhead’s debut EP, General Issue, is bizarre metal funk. And yes, it is named after Eddie Murphy’s mansion.
