Everyone has an album that they fall in love with and play on repeat from start to finish, time and time again. Those albums become the soundtrack to our lives and capture special moments in time, but those albums can also have a tendency to define entire genres of music in our minds.
“Beyond Legend” takes listeners past the album that most cite as their introduction to reggae music: Bob Marley’s Legend. With a rich history based in Funk and R&B, Reggae music has evolved to create a vast array of subgenres like Rocksteady, Dub and Dancehall, that continue to resonate with and influence fans today.
From classic cuts to newer hits, this playlist explores many of the different vibes and sounds that Reggae has to offer and shows listeners what this genre is made up of, Beyond Legend.
Enjoy the playlist on your favorite streaming services: Spotify, Rdio and ShareMyPlaylists, or play it right here:
Today is a big one for The Orchard and more specifically, The Orchard’s Sync team. SXSW is obviously an exciting event on its own. It’s the main stage for bands and new technologies to introduce themselves to the industry at large, offering new sounds and solutions, paving a path to the future and inspiring execs and fans alike. And let’s be honest… it’s an awesome party and a wonderful platform to discover the importance of tacos as part of your balanced breakfast.
Well, The Orchard has never been a stranger to any of these aspects, but today is like the debutante ball for The Orchard’s Sync team. Today The Orchard Sync team becomes Concentrated Music as we launch www.concentratedmusic.com, a new platform for industry tastemakers to manage their projects and access The Orchard’s worldwide catalogue of licenseable music. It’s the same quality music and service that supervisors and licensing professionals have come to expect from The Orchard’s Sync team but now with a new look, a new name and improved access to our suite of services.
Our supervisors can still request music from us as they always have, but now they can securely review their custom selected tracks, audition them to video, and also explore the catalogue on their own to discover and tag new music for current and future projects. With a custom login, our network of tastemakers will also have access to our newsletters, special pre-releases, live event invitations and of course, tons of great music to stream and download. They can request high quality audio files and instrumentals, securely upload video to help audition music and organize ongoing projects and exercise complete creative control over how they use The Orchard’s music.
Our labels can join in on celebrating this occasion as well. They will have greater access to the Concentrated Music team, a direct look at the music searches that we are able to share and the ability to submit suggestions, upload new music, instrumentals and lyrics. They’ll also have the ability to help us tag their music with new moods and keywords to help supervisors more accurately and efficiently discover their music.
Of course, no party would be complete without some loot-bags, so in addition to giving out some Concentrated Music bottle openers (a SXSW must have) to the fortunate attendees at the event, we’re also offering the opportunity to win new hardware and software from the amazing folks at Propellerhead. Sign up for a Concentrated Music account for a chance to win 1 of 2 copies of the new Reason 6.0 or the new Balance interface, complete with Reason Elements.
Today The Orchard’s Sync team becomes Concentrated Music and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate with all of you, offering our partners a new and improved way to discover the amazing music distributed by The Orchard. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly at concentratedmusic@theorchard.com for more info, or head to the new site to sign up for your custom account today.
This year I am thankful for many things. Free Lonestar, Guitar Hero at the Driskill, 3am Best Wurst, BBQ sauce stains, secret shows and secret after parties. Eh? No…I haven’t lost it. Yes, I realize that all of these things have little if nothing to do with Thanksgiving and instead refer to SXSW in Austin, Texas. Yes, I realize that I live in New York, that it’s November and that SXSW isn’t until March. But this year I somehow find my thoughts reeling back to South By Southwests of days past and all of the music that I am thankful for.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Crayola hand tracing get-together to make turkey placemats, and the always classic popsicle-stick Mayflower centerpiece. I dig on turkey and all the fixin’s. But due to some familial logistics, my family’s Thanksgiving dinner will take place on Friday this year, leaving me fortunate enough to be able to spend Thanksgiving day with some of my fellow Rinder’s. And when we get together, talk turns to memories of shows we’ve seen together (and the madness that inevitably ensued before, during and/or after the show).
So, first off, I am thankful for a couple of guys from the Midwest mercilessly grabbing my attention and supplying me with a seriously rockin’ show. The Plastic Constellations seemed unassuming and white bread-like (white bread is Thanksgiving related…kinda) as they took the stage, but when they ripped through a set of perfectly distorted, melodic riffs with raw vocals and just solid songs, I became an instant fan. They continue to put out great tunes and are now a staple in many of my playlists – for sure my Thanksgiving one.
Next I would like to give thanks to Marty McFly and Doc Brown for bringing back the popularity of the Delorean 
and giving the band Delorean a reason to give me this much-needed dose of retro pop culture and pop rock. Trust me, you need it too. Synths, solid songs and a great live show undoubtedly inspire feelings of thanks, and also a reason to do shots of (insert your favorite retro holiday liquor here – rumplemintz, perhaps?) with your friends. Will there be some robotic rockin’ at my Thanksgiving this year? You can bet on it, and it will be r ad.
This next show made me thankful for many reasons. First and foremost because it was amazing, but also because it had an inspiring and chill vibe. The Dodos are awesome . You know they are. I had never seen them live prior to SXSW, and I walked out of there wanting to play percussion on every street sign and garbage can I could find. The organized chaos that ensued onstage was enough to put an awesmirked look on anyone’s face. (An ‘awesmirk’ is the look where you are smirking with your mouth open in blissful, speechless, mesmerized amazement of what’s going on in front of you. Feel free to adopt that into your vocab if you wish.) If they weren’t extinct, I would suggest a dodo as the bird of choice this Thanksgiving, just to pay homage.
SST. Despite the accuracy of the above headline, it actually stands for Solid State Transmitters, which was originally a mail-order WWII surplus radio equipment company that Greg Ginn started when he was twelve. Now thirty years after Greg changed the dial from surplus to punk, we are celebrating one of the most pivotal and influential labels of our time. How we love thee SST, let us count the ways.
Perhaps you are simply a fan of a little band that Greg started called Black Flag . Yes, THAT Black Flag; the hardcore band responsible for launching the TRUE indie DIY model/mentality. Maybe you’re a warm blooded, die hard Minnesotan with a love for Hüsker Dü and a certain Mr. Bob Mould who would go on to influence everyone from The Pixies to Green Day .
For me, I was smitten once SST put out I Against I by Bad Brains . When the worlds of hardcore and reggae combine forces it only makes sense for the offspring to reside at SST. While this was the only Bad Brains album to come out on SST their explosive frontman H.R. would continue making records with Greg for some time to come.
Crossing lines and mixing flavors was nothing foreign to SST, however, as one of their most pivotal releases Double Nickels on the Dime featured 45 tracks with styles ranging from punk to jazz and funk to country. Touching upon important social issues such as the Vietnam War and racism, the album credits inspiration from such visionaries as Jack Brewer and one time Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins .
The Minutemen , Soundgarden , Sonic Youth , Dinosaur Jr. , The Descendants …the list goes on and on and on. You have
undoubtedly rocked out to an SST release, bought a badass vintage t-shirt of one of their bands, tattooed the Black Flag logo on you forearm or sworn
allegiance to a modern day band that would have
never existed had Greg Ginn and SST not started putting out records.
For 30 years we have been following Greg Ginn’s lead by cranking up the dial, at least to 11, and personally i cant wait for the new bands 30 years from now to do the same, giving us, and a new generation of music fans a reason to rock, all while still having a home to trace it all back to.
Slip on those white shades, pull down the door to the Delorean and get ready to be ‘tooken’ to the future of hip hop. Dirty Digital is a duo from Chicago who is doing things proper by delivering us a mix of electro and hip hop that will make you want to do the robot while you take out your new iPhone to tell your mom just how solid these tunes are. Qwazaar (of Typical Cats) and Silence (of Outerlimitz) are the emcees/producers that reside beneath all that digital dirt and they have teamed up with G.O.O.D. Music’s G.L.C. (also featured in Kanye West’s “Drive Slow” and “Spaceship”) for their 1st single “Sodapopinski.”
Having just returned from seeing Kanye West at the Virgin Mobilefest, i can say that Dirty Digital would have fit right in with Kanye’s retro-electro hip-pop crusade and the hordes of hip-hop heads, hipsters and good ol’ music fans that were loving it. “Sodapopinski” is an homage to old school pop culture with both the Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! reference and the filters that try to contain this arpeggiated, synth-laden track as it sweeps and dances through your speakers and all up in your brainium. The single can be found keeping company with a few other tasty tracks from the Dirty Digital boys on their debut maxi-single, available now. Also on the release are some ear-splitting, fist-pump inspiring remixes from the likes of Hey Champ and DJ Jali.
This music is truly a breath of fresh air, and as proclaimed on the “Madonna” remix, the Dirty Digital sound is guaranteed to make your “woofers fried,” so get ready to shake what your momma gave you in those Z. Cavaricci’s that I know you never had the heart to throw away. This is where music is heading, so roll up your sleeves and strap in, cause it’s gonna get dirty.
