QUICK HITS
Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM
HEAR THE DRUM, GET WICKED
Something is in the water in Portland, Oregon. Something funky. Bridgetown Breaks Vol. 2 ($13; www.bridgetownbreaks.com), available on CD or vinyl, features just less than an hour of straight acoustic drum tracks for you to sample, loop, scratch or beat juggle in your tracks or live sets — royalty free. Nine of Portland's dopest drummers and the beatboxer Fogatron contribute beats, and there are also several kits worth of individual drum hits and some analog synth sounds thrown in for good measure.
WEBSITE OF THE MONTH
As more online labels pop up with digital-only distribution, more bands are getting a fighting chance out there. At e:Recall (www.e-recall.com), you can check out free streaming and downloads — as well as exclusive downloads of video and bonus tracks — of the label's current artists, including Grand National, Jehro and Border Crossing. And unsigned artists can share tracks with e:Recall's A&R team for possible signing, unlike other label A&R peeps, who throw your demos in the trash. Just click on “Upload Your Demos” and get crack-a-lackin'!
ARCHEOLOGICAL FIND
Looking for rare concert footage and previously unreleased songs from Tortoise? You won't need to dig far to get your hands on this boxset. Tortoise has released A Lazarus Taxon (which is a paleontological term for “a species that disappears, then reappears in the fossil record”) on Thrill Jockey. The set contains three CDs of rare singles, compilation tracks and unreleased material and one DVD of music videos and rare live-performance coverage. Check out “Gamera,” the extended reinterpretation of “His Second Story Island;” and “As You Said,” Tortoise's contribution to a Joy Division tribute album that was initially rejected by the label.
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