The Intrigue of Emerging Music

I love the music discovery process. I asked on Twitter for your best artists with under 5,000 listeners, and they did not disappoint. That playlist has been in my rotation all week.

I have been trying to understand what I liked so much about local shows and open mics in the past year. The nervous excitement in the air draws me in- knowing that some of the music will suck. Small artists are much more prone to spontaneous moments. They might be playing an unreleased song that is one of the best things you've ever heard, pulling their friends up on stage to sing the chorus they wrote together, or hashing out a song they just wrote with a stranger in the parking lot outside the coffeeshop. When you have no prior expectations for someone, the music does all the talking. 

The first time the drummer pulls out his trumpet for a solo in the backyard of your first house show. 

The opening of a pit in a crowd that can almost be counted on your hands.

Today I want to revive this blog by telling a few stories of how I discovered some of my favorite bands who are on the verge of cracking the surface, and those who never got the chance.

My first introduction to local music came through the Format, but over the years Sam Means's solo music has resonated with me more and more, to the point that I might prefer 10 Songs to Interventions & Lullabies. Sam managed to get basically everyone from the Format to return, including Steven McDonald (Redd Kross) on production, and Roger Joseph Manning Jr (Jellyfish) on arrangements. "Sometimes" is one of the greatest songs ever written. Obsessed with this web of artists who worked and toured together, I quickly checked out Limbeck, Steel Train, Anathallo, Straylight Run, Destry, and importantly for this list, Reubens Accomplice. They exemplify the desert indie sound, pairing parched, melancholy guitars with lilting vocals. Hoping for a reunion show someday.

DeathPop was the first local band I discovered organically- a friend told me he was hosting his first house show and wanted me to stop by. What a wonderful experience, tasting the spring air under the moonlight. I saw them four times before they broke up, but at their very last show I saw another band my friends had spoken highly of- Practically People. And so it goes- now I've also been four shows with them, and the momentum is only building. Two months I trusted them enough to go to a nationally touring act they were opening for. $16! And Indré was incredible- I only knew the words to a couple of her songs but I've been hooked since. 

In Season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a song is barely audible in the background of a coffeeshop scene. "Still Life" hooked me, and to my delight Patty Medina's singular album is just as great. "Modern Day American Girl" was years ahead of its time. With her strong songwriting and a feature on a major show, she should've hit it big. I've scored the Internet Archive and dozens and pages of search results to find out all I could. I currently believe a limited CD was pressed sometime in the early 00s, which has become my holy grail. 

Some other currently active smaller gems I love with my whole heart:

O.D.K - My dear friend who writes and sings R&B/pop

Delilah Brao

Cassandra Jenkins

Smol Data

Girls Who Care

and many more in this playlist!