Music is something of an interesting topic. The market for the industry is unlike any other in existence. Consumers of the music industry run the gamut in age, religion, occupation, income, and so forth. Everyone listens to it, and everyone holds his or her own opinions as to what is good, giving the industry a wide berth for new avenues of improvement and creation.
Fortunately for us, competition in the music industry is quite fierce, allowing us to be reached by the most supported, hopefully most talented artists of the industry. Unfortunately, this can also mean that less influential artists get looked over.
Here we come, then, to the point. The following are just a few artists that manage to make it into my normal mix that I feel have been left out of the level of limelight that their talent demands.
The rap game seems to be about one thing, domination. The air is full of vibrating beats of familiar artists like Snoop, 50, or another Dre protg. Although they have a validly respectable sound all their own, we sometimes overlook some of the smaller guys.
Styles of Beyond is one of these groups, with fat bass beats surrounded by the hip-hopping drums and lyrical licks of what has come to be recognized as one of the underground scene’s best rhyming crews. A more recent release, Megadef, is an album featuring not only the lyrical but also production talents of Mike Shinoda. The album prompted his recent release through his own group Fort Minor entitled “The Rising Tied” (A FutureMusic feature album).
As far as the electronic music scene goes, a name has come across my tables lately that just can’t escape my interest. First appearing back in ’92, Noel Sanger has been changing the face of dance music ever since. With a mix style uniquely independent, Sanger manages to bring you classic anthems amongst unheard titles that will ultimately run a deep groove straight through your head.
As a side note, those looking for more electronic/dance music that hasn’t quite exploded to the height of ‘sandstorm’ (what a headache), check out beatport.com, an immediate source of the latest remixes and originals from break beats to house to hip-hop. You will not be disappointed.