The Best Bands Not Found In Stores!

[Mike McC]

I mean, of course, those awesome bands that self-release thier CDs and albums online (either for free or for a fee). What are some of your favorite ultra-independent artists out there? Who would you like to see get some more support? Who can you rock out to until dawn? Here's the place to pimp them out.

I will, of course, get the ball rolling with the only one worthy of starting such a repositroy of awesome. I can be speaking of no other thanThe Protomen (http://www.protomen.com/)
Really, what can I say about them? Nothing. Because I would not do it justice.

Anyway, give us all some new stuff to check out, to broaden our libraries with the delicious taste of internet music.

(Note: iTunes doesn't count as a store, as it seems anyone can sell there. Which is awesome.)

[POS Industries]

I'd also like to suggest The Julius Airwave (http://www.juliusairwave.com/), out of Jacksonville, FL. Been a fan of these guys for a few years now, and I suggest you all check them out and give them money if possible.

[facelift]

Trevor Dunn's solo albums.
I've never seen his stuff in stores but my local record store did order one for me so I assume they were available at some point. Some are available on Amazon, and some others you have to mail an order request and he makes and packages the album request as he gets them. No mass production.

John Zorn. Anal Cunt.
I've only found one store to date that has their stuff for sale.

Merzbow
The guy tours constantly, has hundreds of CDs credited to his name, but like Zorn I've only seen his stuff available in one shop and a few on iTunes. Sometimes he'll have some albums produced for a while, then he'll take those off the market and produce others for a while, and just goes in cycles like that.

[Mike McC]

Let's get the ball rolling a bit more. Here are some fine geeky selections for your pursual and purchase. First up, four of the finest nerdcore rap preformers/groups out there:

MC Frontalot (http://www.frontalot.com/)
mcchris (http://www.mcchris.com/)
ytcracker (http://www.ytcracker.com/)
Optimus Rhyme (http://www.optimusrhyme.com/)

Now, two more video-game inspired rock bands:

Game Over (http://www.nintendometal.com/)
The Minibosses (http://minibosses.com/)

(FYI: The Minibosses are offering thier album "Brass" free for download right now.)

[Warumono]

The Manuscript Divison.
Drunken Tiger.
And Particle.
Found Particle in a store once, haven't ever seen it again.
Pretty sure you can find all of them on myspace music.

[Mike McC]

It'd be a lot more helpful to the rest of us if the bands were linked to. Because the internet is a scary place. And there may be more than one group out there with that name. And MySpace is a horribly formatted place that I hate and refuse to touch unless I have to. Anyway, because I'm such a wonderfully nice person, here's the unlinked bands I was able to find pages for, please let me know if I happened across the wrong band with the name.

The Manuscript Division (http://www.purevolume.com/themanuscriptdivision)
Particle (http://www.particlepeople.com/)
Druken Tiger (http://www.drunkencamp.com/)
Trevor Dunn (http://www.trevordunn.net/)
John Zorn's record label (http://www.tzadik.com/)
Merzbow (http://www.merzbow.net/)
Anal Cunt's webpage seems to be down right now.

[facelift]

Anal Cunt's website hasn't been up for a while. Seth's probably on another drinking binge.

I'll include links to where the artists I mentioned can be heard. I should have done that with my first post.

Trevor Dunn's official myspace profile (http://www.myspace.com/convulsivebeauty) Features solo works and bands he's played with, including John Zorn (the last song on his player).
John Zorn (http://www.myspace.com/johnzorn) Not sure if this is official. Features only solo work, I think. It would be hard to do a comprehensive player on him since he's fronted so many projects.
Anal Cunt (http://www.myspace.com/analcuntband)
Merzbow (http://www.myspace.com/merzbow777)

All of the artists are featured on Rhapsody (http://www.rhapsody.com/home.html) and Pandora radio (http://www.pandora.com). You can join both for free and you get 25 free listens per month on the free Rhapsody profile. Good places just for checking out unfamiliar artists. I encourage everyone to check those places out if you haven't already.

[Frostatine]

You might be able to find these guys in stores, eventually, but I think they are deserving of a mention.

The Diggs (http://www.thediggs.com/)

Great band, really full sound you can get lost in.

Also, kudos to Julius Airwave i like them.

[OctoberRaven]

I've never seen them in stores so...

Machinae Supremacy. (www.machinaesupremacy.com)

Don't know why they haven't been mentioned yet.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

I really hate punk and hard rock but I quite like Commander Keen.
Their website is supposed to be www.CommanderKeenBand.com But it doesn't exist.
I don't know if they have any albums either, they just play pubs mostly.