I have been thinking a lot about our little “Music You’ve Never Heard” experiment that we have done a few times on here, and in the spirit of that I wanted to point out some of my friends who happen to possibly create “Music You’ve Never Heard”.  These are all people that I have come to know over the years.  Some I grew up with, some I have met in the past few months and some I have even lived with, but they are all albums that you should literally buy as soon as possible.  Here goes.

Brian and I met about two years ago on a tour where he was playing guitar for Audio Adrenaline.  Brian also is one of the founding members of another band from back in the day called All Star United.  He’s a crazy talent and equally as entertaining to watch on stage.  He lives in Phoenix and this is not the cover of his album, but for whatever reason I can’t seem to find the cover of it big enough to post.  

Brian is one of the most talented, genuine people I know and I wish that I could hang out with him more.  Seriously, if you don’t have this album, you are missing out.  Independent or not, this is an amazing album by a good friend.  So there you go.  Go Buy This Record and come back and tell me what you think.

 Next is a guy that I have never actually met in person, but talked to several times on the phone and through email. A few months ago I got an email from Daniel Renstrom asking about some music industry stuff and what I thought were some good options.  The more we talked, the more I started to like the way Daniel seemed as a person.  He wasn’t trying to prove that he was something he wasn’t.  He didn’t come across like he was someone trying to “break into the music scene” but genuinely wanted to just talk about different things.  This was before I had even heard his record.  

After several emails back and forth Daniel sent me a link to download his record and for the next several weeks that was all I listened to.  Seriously, if you haven’t heard me talk about Daniel and haven’t gotten his record yet go do it.  He’s about to have a baby (if he hasn’t already) and needs some diaper money.  Not to mention you get a great record out of the deal.
 
This is my friend Kevin’s album.  His real name is Kevin, but his band is called Glowworm.  I don’t know how to describe it other than awesome.  It’s powerful, instrumental music where you visit other places when you are listening to it.  

Kevin and I went to high school together.  He dated one of my friends.  We played music together, though never publicly, and he has always blown me away with his talent.  Glowworm is a perfect expression of that talent wrapped in ambient noises.  Kevin lives in Kentucky now, but told me the other day that he is moving either back to California or back to Oregon, both of which make me sad, but we barely hung out when he lived in Kentucky so things won’t change much.  Either way, you need to go get this record too. There’s really no reason not to.  Let me know what you think.

Some of you know about these guys, but most of you won’t.  These are some friends of mine from way back.  I think I was a sophomore in high school when I met the guys in Five O’Clock People.  Back then they were a five piece with a flute, bongos and a mandolin.  Since then they have been in and out of a record deal, gotten married, added some members, lost some members, parted ways, formed new bands, had babies, and now have rejoined for what sounds like some of their best music yet.  

Alex, Drew and Pat are back with some pretty amazing stuff and I’m excited to see where it goes.  Alex has always blown me away with the way that he can write lyrics and Drew is an amazing talent as well.  And there aren’t enough nice things I could say about Pat.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this record and I can honestly say that it exceeds what I thought it could.  It’s time to go get you some music.

So there it is folks.  My “Music You’ve Never Heard - Friends Edition”.  My suggestion would be to write these down and save up, and seriously get all of them.  They are all really good people and worth supporting.  Not to mention, some of the best “indie” music I have heard.  So go get their stuff and come back here and let’s talk about what you think.

*Part of Watercooler Wednesday**