The Hippodrome

Hi friends,

I want to apologize for the lack of updates lately. For the first time in the ‘Drome’s history, it’s because I’m behind in writing, not behind in finding awesome bands to write up. The reasons for this, however, are good ones. I’m working hard to establish a sustainable promotions and consulting company with an associate who I met in my Calabash days, Erich Ludwig. For our first set of promotions, we have the honor of working for Boban Markovic, a Serbian master, who not only influenced Beruit to no end, but is playing at the Pitchfork Music Festival next month.

The other exciting thing in my online life is the launch of Snack You Silly, a snackfood review site that I co-founded along with Zvi Finklestein of Saving Progress and Kyle Wallace of TMT/Deez Peanuts/Smor.es We’ve gotten a great response so far, and I’d welcome any more feedback. I think the site stems from all of us being a bit fed up with the inanities of online media, and poking fun at all of it through something as non-elitist as possible… snacking. The humor’s already been lost on quite a few people (the SU rating on the McCain Snack Article was poor), but we’re confident in its appeal.

So that’s my bit, but musically, don’t despair. Later today I’ll have an exclusive feature from the two and only Double Dragons, one of the best math/hardcore duos I’ve heard in ages. See y’all soon!

After rejecting yet another talented and unheard band because that little box on their MySpace profile had a label name in it, The Hippodrome will now officially accept musicians for feature consideration who are signed to a label. Before you file The Hippodrome under the “generic mp3 blog” header in your reader, consider this: even though we’re now accepting “signed” bands, the focus on unknown and previously unpromoted musicians will now by stronger than ever.

This is because, as many of you have pointed out, being “signed” means almost nothing in this day and age. We feel that by not considering artists on unknown labels with little or no commercial backing, this blog was perpetuating an aspect of the music industry that it had (at least nominally) disparaged. Truly independent labels can be a wonderful community and resource for fledgling musicians, and The Hippodrome, of all blogs, doesn’t want to discourage this.

So while this change in operating procedure may take a few weeks to hammer out, we’re all looking forward to hearing music that we had previously forbade ourselves from considering. As always, email editor[at]thehippodrome.org with music to be considered. If you have any questions or suggestions about this, please also don’t hesitate to get in touch. And of course, artists with no label association will still be treated with the respect and consideration of those who are signed.

Happy, happy day — FensePost and The Hippodrome have teamed up to do some content sharing! FensePost is a terrific online music zine that gives equal attention to the big guys and the fledgling aesthetes, and even hits unsigned music too. Check ‘em often and check ‘em hard folks.

With all the year end excitement going on over at Tiny Mix Tapes, I thought it might be fun to have a little 2007 fest on my own. I put together this mixtape consisting of ten of the many talented unsigned artists that we’ve come across this year. I’ve tried to organize these tracks stylistically, creating some type of bridge between each track. At the very least it’s a refresher course on some cool stuff The Hippodrome found in 2007.

So please dig in, and thanks for making The Hippodrome’s first year of life a good one! I hope you have a happier holiday than that Hippo. Back January first!

Jacob and I – Twelve Download
Dan Smart – Streak Download
Fisch Loops – The Magic Love Spell Download
Boy Crisis – Strawberries Download
The Ecstatic Suffering – An Empty Glass Half Full Download
Bruce Peninsula – Crabapples Download
Trevor Wilson – Bitter Passage Download
Va Va China – Action Trap Download
Zak and His Unhappy Guitar – Special Rider Blues Download
Bogs Visionary Orchestra — Times Are Hard Download

I’m proud to announce that today, barely three months after The Hippodrome’s conception, we’ve made it onto the net’s two most esteemed mp3 blog aggregators, The Hype Machine and Elbo.ws! It’s nice to have two seriously awesome sites syndicating us, so I hope you’ll join me in bookmarking both of them and checking often for The Hippodrome’s content as well as the great work of the world’s best music blogs.

Thanks for your support and readership!