My European Adventure!: Students Making Music: Young and talented artists in the 608

Whether you knew it or not, there is a great deal of music being made behind the scenes among regular students here in Madison. They all have very different motives and inspirations behind the tracks they make but underlying it all they just enjoy doing what they do. I want to take a closer look at Ethan Cook of American Fiction, JT Roach, the guys who made the infamous "Coastie Song," Matt "Frozilla" Bozile, and graduate student Rafael Casal to hopefully introduce anyone who reads this to some stuff they haven't heard before. You may not like all of it, but regardless I think all of these guys deserve some respect for what they do and we might as well support the '608'

But first, a little background on how the role of the small artist has changed in the American music scene in the last 15 or 20 years in case you're interested....

The enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 effectively crushed the independent radio station and consolidated all of the airwaves into the control of a handful of companies. Without hometown DJs to play their music, many up and coming artists lost their outlets for expression. They found it hard to build support from local communities in hope to vault themselves onto the regional or national scene. Secondly, the negative effects of the "Napster Generation" on the record industry are widely known. However, I would argue that developments made in the 1990s and 2000s may have had a reverse effect on the careers of small independent artists. Rapid improvements in technology and the usefulness of the internet have done a great deal in giving talented artists a platform to showcase their music. Youtube, blogs, facebook, myspace, twitter etc... all work together to spread the word about new music. Sound quality and production skills on some of these 'venues' may not be the greatest but regardless, people are recording their own songs and making their own videos easier than ever before.

Do you disagree? Leave a comment!

That being said, lets take at these guys....

1. JT Roach: I don't know a lot about this guy to be perfectly honest, and when someone sent me a link to one of his songs I was shocked to find out that he was a kid from my philosophy class who gave a debate on surrogate motherhood (...its a required class). Most of his tracks are acoustic covers of popular hip-hop songs which make us really call into question what it takes for something to be considered "hip-hop." He makes some use of autotune technology but by no means depends on it like the infamous T-Pain. I doubt he is looking to get any of his stuff published but none the less I think his talent deserves some recognition. I think you will be surprised at how enjoyable his cover of Drake's "The Best I Ever Had" is.

2. American Fiction: I am especially proud to give some recognition to the folk inspired soloist Ethan Cook who is the mastermind behind the band American Fiction. Hailing out of Appleton, WI Ethan began his career playing in coffee shops around the Fox Valley area and gaining a band of followers who could not deny the immense amount of talent he has. Taking a page from the books of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, Ethan uses his own lyrics to dig deep into the meaning of life while showcasing his abilities on the guitar and harmonica. Recently signed to Branch Records (http://www.branchrecords.com/), an independent and progressive record label out of Florida, American Fiction just released his second album and is moving up in the music world. If you like the song below, check out his myspace for more... http://www.myspace.com/americanfictionband

3. Quincy Harrison and Cliff Grefe "The Coastie Song": At the opposite end of the spectrum from the existential performances by American Fiction comes the hugely popular and very eccentric "Coastie Song." If you haven't heard it by now you are either living under a rock or have just not been on Facebook in quite some time. The song has been listened to by almost 20,000 people and is slowly branching away from Wisconsin to otherparts of the country, "google it" if you don't believe me. You may think the song is stupid and required no talent to produce but if that were the case, then why didn't anybody else make it? It is pretty damn hard to make 20,000 people listen or read anything! Harrison and Grefe have made a rather comedic hip-hop track and something that a lot of people can relate to. They are also perfect examples of how to utilize new production technologies coupled with social networks to promote something on a broad scale. They may not have a career in hip-hop but a claim to fame and a loyal band of groupies may be more fun anyways.

4. Matt "Frozilla" Bozile: Commonly known as 'Fro to his friends because of his classic white kid afro, Matt began rapping in high school just for fun and since then has produced a complete album along with a few newer singles. In my opinion his style is a unique synthesis of Gucci Mane style beats with lyrics reminiscent of Lil' Wayne and a hint of some T-Pain for dramatic effect. By playing his own music at parties, 'Fro continually gets people to start dancing, having a good time, and, most importantly, to ask what is playing. Such a situation is how I found out about him and came to enjoy his music. His production and sampling skills make nearly all of his tracks sound like something off of the radio and give them mass appeal to a hip-hop or pop audience. Currently he is trying to co-produce a track with Dorrough (Ice Cream Paint Job) or Gucci Mane but is lacking a sufficient amount of "money bags" demanded by Gucci. His myspace provides more info (http://www.myspace.com/frozillababy).

I don't have a video to play but check out these links to two of his newest tracks "So Fine and Mine" (http://limelinx.com/files/785c41087ccf9f4100cd5f697dc811b5) and "Money Stand Tall" ft. a sample from Gucci (http://limelinx.com/files/f217394115161dc09af2fd1d61b2ce90)

5. Rafael Casal and The Getback: Last but ABSOLUTELY NOT least is one of my personal favorites Rafael Casal. I learned about Casal through a series of lectures on hip-hop scholarship where I saw him perform a spoken word piece that absolutely blew me away. Upon some further investigation I found out that he is the Creative Director of the "First Wave" program here at Madison which is the first hip-hop theater program in the nation. Among his other accolades he is a two time Poetry Slam National Champion, was on Russell Simmon's Def Poetry series on HBO and has shared the stage with Common, Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Mos-Def, De La Soul and George Clinton just to name a few. He is also very involved in academia contributing to works on topics such as social justice. Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, his first album "As Good As Your Word" was produced by prominent hip-hop names including Too Short and E-40. His new album "Monster" is set to release at the end of this month. Check out his first music video for his single "Bay Area Slang" and a poem which will give you some insight into his lyrical brilliance.