Colin Harman

I am just getting to be a part of Turntable.fm and so far it’s been a blast. Some amazing music that I alone may have never discovered, and I’m really enjoying the community of it, plus getting to discover some amazing music from other designers, coders, and content creators. It’s a great way for me to find music that isn’t the same stuff that I keep in my constant playlist cycle. I have a weird suspicion that the way they are passing this music around may not be 100% legal, but in another way, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt since they don’t are kind of particular about how you manage your library of songs, and you can’t play any unless someone is listening so you can’t really keep a personal library. Anywho, check it out. It’s invite only, but if you have a facebook friend who’s in (me) you can check it out.

Let me know what you think.

I am a fan of Hammock. A big fan. Some would say a lot of their music sounds the same, or that it’s a little to ambient, but that is one of it’s greatest selling points to me. It’s interesting how they can create a visual landscape with their music all without words. It sets a mood, keeps a feel, and each song is a slow moving relaxing experience. It’s perfect work music because it has a presence without being distracting. I wish there were more bands out there like them. There are times when I need want some good dubstep, El Ten Eleven, or Ratatat, but other times I just need something a little more mellow. Though their music could dance hand in hand with Tycho on a playlist and you’d never think anything was out of place, the feel of their synth definitely sets them apart from others on their proverbial dance floor.

You can buy their album from their site, iTunes, or Amazon. I highly recommend it. This album is definitely their best work yet, and having all their previous albums, I can speak from my own knowledge.

An artist I’ve come to enjoy recently is Saturday Index. The actual method of how I stumbled across them leaves me at the moment, but I apologize for not sharing them sooner. A melancholy and nature inspired EP from Saturday Index reflects the cooler imagery of early morning skies above tearful trees. Partly Cloudy follows a mellow wavelength capable of inducing deep thought and reasoning. Artist Jedidiah Becker from Denver, Colorado, mirrors the natural sky with crystalline melodies whose fronts progress and converge with one another.

The most exquisite part of this musical glory is the fact that it is not only excellent, but is freely available for download from the artist here. It makes my heart so happy that there are still artists out there who make music for the sake of making music and not just because “there is money to be made if we meet the right people, play the right gigs, and spend an hour in the morning doing our hair so it looks like we just rolled out of bed.”

In addition to the four tracks offered by Saturday Index are three reinterpreted title tracks by Sarin Sunday, Paramnesic, and Milieu.

I’ve included for you a couple samples below, but be sure to get the free EP from the download if you like what you hear.

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Saturday Index – Partly Cloudy

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Saturday Index – Satin Window

Any of you reading this who know me know very well that I love music. The sad part is that I can’t really play music very well, if at all. I can dabble on a keyboard, pretend to play guitar (with the 5 chords I know) or give my best regards to beat boxing. However, I love hunting around for new electronic bands and artists to be the soundtrack to my life and work environment. On that note, I’ve really been digging Ben Benjamin recently. A lot. A whole lot.

Ben Benjamin, whose real name is Ben Mullins, is the solo work of his other musical endeavor “PostPrior Project”. He is currently recording under the label of Ghostly International with the likes of other stellar artists like Tycho, Kiln, Mobius Band, and a plethora of others that you should also fall in love with.

When it comes to Ben Benjamin, I love the simple but intricate parts of his music. So much of “produced music” now-a-days is a few loop tracks layered with a beat underneath it with someone who’s got “a buddy in the biz” using the Smule’s T-Pain app to mask their sorry excuse for vocals and calling themselves an artist. Boring, easy, over it.

I appreciate that the more you listen to Ben’s music the more detail you’re able to pick out of the layers of instrumentation he has in each track. Below you’ll find my favorite track off his album “The Many Moods of Ben Benjamin Vol. 1″, and I am sure you too will appreciate the simple to intricate build that takes place over the 2:48 length of the track. Enjoy and check him out for yourself on iTunes, Amazon, or here.

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