Valley of the Cheap Beats

These are lean times. I just found out that this year's HP Lovecraft Film Festival will be the last for a few years. I haven't been in a while, but it's a loveably weird Portland institution. Everyone should go to founder Andrew Migliore's site Lurker Films and buy some of the most awesome cosmic horror books and independent films around!

So, lean times. I'm broke, for sure, and what better to cheer me up than some free music!!! And in this case, to get the tunes you have to know people.

Forrest Armstrong, as he is known in literary circles, is also the entity known as Gasoline Monk, who I have mentioned in the blog before. He's a good lad, and while he was living in Portland I had the opportunity to jam out with him on some psychedelic hiphop. Apart from being a poet and editor, he's a more than capable minimalist beatmaker, and despite his modest protestations, a wild MC. His latest releases are the mixtapes When You Can't Smoke Weed, Smoke This and

7 Poems, 8 Beats. Both feature not only a perfect mix of everything from Led Zeppelin to Burial, but also some Gasoline Monk originals that will have your head bobbing. Check out his blog, listen to the free download of WYCSWST, and if you email and ask real nice, I bet he will give you a copy of the latest mixtape.

Another great new talent is Terrard Robinson. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to play with Terrard before he moved back to Oklahoma. In fact, I had high hopes of getting him together with Gasoline Monk for a jam, with me as the lucky supporting musician. Terrard is a soul singer- an AMAZING soul singer, backed by producer Jon Brownhill- and his long-awaited album Year of the Ox is a neo-soul psychedelic masterpiece the likes of which haven't been seen in years. Walking down on the street on a hot day, pop these songs in on your headphones and you are instantly cooler. Hook up with Terrard on myspace or facebook, tell him I sent you, and I bet you will be the proud owner of his new album too!

Last but not least is helpy-helperson Jeremy Osborn. His band is Wayside Drive, and they play excellent indie electronica. Their new album The Other Side is available as a free download, and you should definitely check it out. I found Jeremy and Wayside Drive after I got my Behringer FCB-1010 . This piece of kit is overwhelmingly versatile, and can be quite frustrating to program and integrate into your setup. Normally it'd be a cinch to hit teh web for a tutorial, but for some reason most of the tuts out there were either just as confusing as the unit, or just flat wrong. I found Jeremy's posts on the unit, and was set. He not only has a youtube video on his looping setup, but offers a download of his Ableton Live set, and some clear, concise directions on how to get it going. What a time and sanity saver. Thanks, Jeremy!

Thanks also to Forrest and Terrard. You three guys are the best, and I hope everyone out there in Blogistan will check out their tunes and support their music. Peace!