Recommendations for MeFi Music Contacts

April 28, 2009 4:21 PM

Whose activity should I be watching on Metafilter Music?

I recently discovered the real power of sidebar contact activity; namely, being alerted when a talented MeFi musician posts a new song for all of us to enjoy.

I'm currently tracking cortex, chococat, frenetic and Jofus, because I've found I love pretty much every song they release over there. But I'm sure that there's so many more contributors I should be adding as a contact so that I can experience their incredible tunes! I feel like I'm missing out by not having them as one of my contacts.

So who else (that is a regular contributor to MeFi Music) should I be adding as a contact? Please recommend me some contacts for MeFi Music!

posted by Effigy2000 to MetaFilter-Related at 4:21 PM (39 comments total)

My stuff sucks. You don't wanna hear it. That much I can tell you straight off.

But taste in music is such a personal thing... I could rattle off some names of folks at MeFiMu whose music I like, but, well, I just don't know what the point would be. Seems easy enough to just drop by there from time to time and sample what's on offer, see what you like, and go from there. I don't mean to sound dismissive, so please don't misinterpret me, but I'm just saying your own ears are surely gonna be the best arbiter, and the music is just sitting over there waiting for you to click on it. Get to it! Start from scratch! Spin the dial! Open the door to your own new discoveries!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:07 PM on April 28, 2009

Flapjax lies like a dog.
You should follow my stuff, mostly because it's completely awesome and will blow your ever-lovin mind, but secondarily because I'm getting ready to sling a whole nother album of ours up there in about a week.
badingdingaling ding dingadong ding dong pingading bingading bang dang dingdong
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:20 PM on April 28, 2009

I quite like flapjax's musical stylings.

I also like Astro Zombie's songs about his crazed tattooed sailor puppet, because songs about crazed tattooed sailor puppets are self-evidently the greatest thing since sliced bread.
posted by winna at 5:29 PM on April 28, 2009

There's a ton of stuff worth hearing, and musical taste is a huge component of making a decision like this that's it's kind of hard to answer in general.

Even at that, I don't have the time right now to even attempt a thorough and fair rundown of my favorites, but a very, very incomplete top-of-mind list of people whose stuff I consistently like includes, excluding stuff already mentioned, dagosto, micayetoca, The World Famous, ORthey, The Great Big Mulp, edlundart, and umbú.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:46 PM on April 28, 2009

But I strongly recommend doing this the serendipitous way:

Load up a random shuffle from the archives and click through and explore folk's other posts when you hear something that kicks your ass.
posted by cortex (staff) at 5:48 PM on April 28, 2009 [3 favorites]

idiopath. If only because his s... submissions tend to generate interesting comments.
posted by Memo at 6:57 PM on April 28, 2009

I really like ORthey's contributions to the site. I also have some more exploring to do, though.
posted by localhuman at 7:11 PM on April 28, 2009

Hey! I like that kinda music, Memo.
posted by Kattullus at 8:24 PM on April 28, 2009

Yeah, flapjax, Orthey and micayetoca are musts, not least because they post new stuff relatively frequently. And might as well put in a plug for my fave MeFi-related tune ever: lazaruslong's Drink Meta-Filtered Water. If anyone knows a way to get him to post more music like this, please let me know. I'll do whatever it takes.
posted by mediareport at 8:25 PM on April 28, 2009

Whose activity should I be watching on Metafilter Music?
you should be sure to watch your own activity to make sure that you are enjoying the music and having fun.
posted by the aloha at 8:38 PM on April 28, 2009

I'm a big fan of dobie, in addition to several that have already been mentioned above.
posted by Caduceus at 8:38 PM on April 28, 2009

Follow me! Or aegispolis, he's like a more awesome version of me.
posted by tehloki at 10:08 PM on April 28, 2009

The White Hat is a must. Beautiful guitar and banjo arrangements. My favorite instrumentalist on MeMu.

And snsranch. And Adrian_h, though he never posts :(. And most definitely the folks already mentioned... those folks are my standbys. I also highly recommend spending some time finding out whose music you like best, hit the random button, check out the podcasts, etc.

By the way, I love Metafilter Music. It's the one section of the site I visit that's always caring, free of snark, and inspirational. It's like the website version of open mic. Great music, great people, an all-around really wonderful community.
posted by ORthey at 11:03 PM on April 28, 2009 [2 favorites]

13 comments in and no one's mentioned kingbenny? Shame on you all.

Seriously, though, there's so much good stuff in music that it really is worth it to subscribe to the RSS feed so you can hear as much of it as you can.
posted by sambosambo at 12:04 AM on April 29, 2009

Baby_Balrog: You should follow my stuff, mostly because it's completely awesome and will blow your ever-lovin mind

This is true.

I'm getting ready to sling a whole nother album of ours up there in about a week.

Yee-haw!
posted by sambosambo at 12:14 AM on April 29, 2009

Aw, thanks effigy2000, what a nice thing to say, but I don't have any access to recording equipment anymore so following my output on MeMu is kind of a study in futility.

(Y'know, just in case you thought I was being a pricktease.)

Seconding a recommendation for ORthey. His stuff pumps my nads. (Technical term)
posted by Jofus at 3:41 AM on April 29, 2009

This is a no-brainer...sleepy pete and melissa may. The Harvery Girls!
posted by iconomy at 5:43 AM on April 29, 2009

Jofus rocks
posted by goshling at 6:30 AM on April 29, 2009

Here's a list of fifteen really good a varied posts to MM that I gave as a response in metatalk a while ago.

Also, aside from the MM All Stars already posted above, Karlos The Jackal has to be mentioned. He is really creative. He has a great sense of humor and a lovely natural talent for keeping things simple that results in great catchy songs.

But doing it like this (following certain names) you will most certainly miss some unbelievable jewels, such as Royal Quite Deluxe. Listen to the song and read the story he links to, you won't believe it.

There are songs that are good fun, like motty's L'echarpe perdu or markulus' You Caught My Eye. There's really original stuff posted by people who only posted a few times, like Tsunami, by jlowen. Or those few very cool songs that Grangousier posted. There's strokes of pure evil genius, like Wolfdog's Suddenpolkka, there's so many wildly unbelievably good stuff that was posted by people who don't post regularly so, in short, don't only follow people. We are very inconsistent, we come and go all the time and the site continues to receive very, very good music.

Also, Effigy2000, thank you for posting this thread because here I learned about Baby_Balrog's intentions, and that is great news.
posted by micayetoca at 7:39 AM on April 29, 2009

I'm quite fond of micayetoca, snsranch, ORthey, umbú, tcobretti (though he hasn't posted anything in quite a while), and es_de_bah. Also, ba's songs tend to get very stuck in my head.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:43 AM on April 29, 2009

I forgot to mention JulianDay, and I really should, because I really, really like his songs and in the off chance that he sees this, that might encourage to post more.
posted by micayetoca at 7:44 AM on April 29, 2009

Aww, thanks sambosambo =)

I'm also a big fan of the Astro Zombie stuff, especially Sailor Martin.
posted by kingbenny at 8:02 AM on April 29, 2009

Quickly scanning through the most recent of my Music comments, of those folks not yet mentioned: markulus doesn't have too many posts, but there's some pretty awesome country and country-rock in there; saulgoodman's got a bunch of great stuff; BrnP84 sings and plays with this sort of slightly tongue-in-cheek deadpan that's really appealing; and doubtfulpalace lays down some cool electronica.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:08 AM on April 29, 2009

Oh mediareport, you are the mediareportiest.


<3
posted by lazaruslong at 10:51 AM on April 29, 2009

Matt, do you still have anything that was uploaded on the original MetaFilter Music site? I'd love to get The Taper again. I've emailed and mefimailed adrober but have never gotten any replies.
posted by iconomy at 12:48 PM on April 29, 2009

This is all good. Based on your recommendations, I've added ORThey as a new contact, The White Hat (who I was already aware of because of his Imogen Heap song but for some reason had never listened to more than that) and flapjax at midnight, who I've found is far more talented than his first comment in this thread would have us all believe. I'm gonna have fun pouring through their past contributions to the site, finding stuff I've missed up until now, wishing I'd heard it oh so long ago.

I've also found a few other artists who I thought had some good songs, which I added to my playlist. And there are a few more recommendations made in this thread that I've yet to check out. Basically, as far as I'm concerned, this thread has served its purpose.

Also;

Jofus: "... I don't have any access to recording equipment anymore so following my output on MeMu is kind of a study in futility."

This makes me a very sad man. And on the day after my birthday, of all days to drop that news on me! Hmmph. Still, I will continue to follow you, in the hope that one day you post something new there. Because yeah, your past output over there was coo, man. So coo.
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:10 PM on April 29, 2009

Thank you, all that have had nice things to say about my stuff. I am fond of Miss Lynster's offerings, as I am of Miss Lynster herself.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:24 PM on April 29, 2009

Ugh. Not find enough to get her name right, though, it seems. Lynnster.

Apologies.
posted by Astro Zombie at 5:43 PM on April 29, 2009

damn you all to hell.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:59 AM on April 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't believe it, but we seem to have missed Devils Rancher. By all means, Effigy, go check his stuff.
posted by micayetoca at 9:43 AM on April 30, 2009

*Selectively un-damns micayetoca.*

I'm keeping a very jaundiced eye on the rest of yous.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:12 AM on April 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

Whoa, dude, you might want to get that eye checked out; it really doesn't look right.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:48 AM on April 30, 2009

I haven't seen much of peewinkle around in a while, but I still dig his Ballad of Beautiful Bert.
Can't Nth Miss Lynnster enough, either. She's an actual pro.
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:49 AM on April 30, 2009

This thread kind of makes me feel awkward because by mentioning anyone you leave out so many others who are worthy of a mention.
As ORthey said, Music rocks in a way that's really different from the rest of the site. It truly is it's own animal and it's a great place.
But to be slightly hypocritical, from some of my favourites I'll concur with everyone mentioned above and add to the list with tmcw, erikgrande, buriednexttoyou, self, janmurray, Pallas Athena, inoculatedcities, fingers_of_fire, snofoam, barmaljova, danb, goodnewsfortheinsane (he did the first big mefi music collab!) and for god's sake there was just the inaugural Music Podcast featuring Corduroy!
...but here I am leaving people out.
posted by chococat at 3:25 PM on April 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

oops hit post my mistake...jake, chuckdarwin...to be continued I'm sure...
posted by chococat at 3:28 PM on April 30, 2009

I've only been on there for a little more than a year, so it's good to see some names from Music's early days, which I have been afraid to tackle since there is so much. But here are a few people who haven't been mentioned: freya_lamb, csimpkins, saelly's (especially if you're into acoustic covers with incredible female harmonies), nicolin (who sadly hasn't posted a song in nearly a year!). And this playlist I made of umbú's digitized old tapes.

I thought about trying to point out people who consistently write great comments, but I quickly realized that would be way too daunting. But when someone asks for criticism of their song, Music delivers every time.
posted by Corduroy at 1:52 AM on May 1, 2009

Gah, forgot to link to people. The link goes to a good song by each to start on. freya_lamb, csimpkins, saellys, nicolin, and the umbú playlist.

Seconding everyone mentioned!
posted by Corduroy at 2:00 AM on May 1, 2009

Corduroy! Oh bless you. And back at ya! Yes to those above, and Astrozombie has a lot to answer for in Sailor Martin - I cannot resist that seafarin' scamp.
I also wanted to flag up By the Grace of God - she's not posted much at all but such a beautiful, soulful voice. This just makes me shiver.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:24 AM on May 2, 2009

Yes, By the Grace of God, definitely. And uncleozzy, micayetoca and kimyo.
posted by umbú at 9:32 AM on May 2, 2009