What do acts like @OldSaltUnion @TheFormerMe & @Illphonics have in common?

Now that you may have started to wonder or ask yourself what Old Salt Union, The Former Me and Illphonics have in common the thinking is quite simple really. Some may have already know the answer. For a musician it is a good feeling when you can finally catch some sort of break. Not that the work is over, but just beginning sometimes. However, the point is that these three acts just accomplished something that many will not. They have all taken what has been presented to them and in each case and have been humbled by it. It is great to see so many positive responses too. Let's see what has happened in favor of these three groups.

Old Salt Union is a newgrass/americana string band from Belleville, Illinois. They have cited musical influences from jazz, classical, jam band, and alternative. Four out of five members of Old Salt Union are Belleville natives, and they've been getting their show on the road on their own since 2012. It all has recently changed a bit for them. They recently signed to Nashville, TN label Compass Records. Visit HERE to read an article on them by the Belleville News Democrat.



https://soundcloud.com/oldsaltunion/sets/woodshed-2014

The Former Me is a high-energy pop-punk band from St. Louis. These dudes won a competition with their video submission they entered to share the stage with rock legends Bon Jovi this year. The band and also Live Nation is behind them. Visit their fan page and they have some recent videos of press appearances they have done locally about this. Exciting.





http://theformerme.bandcamp.com/track/playing-with-fire

Illphonics is a fusion band that blends hip-hop, alternative, funk, rock and soul. At the end of January they got some air-time for their video on BET.





http://illphonics.bandcamp.com/album/gone-with-the-trends

Keep up the great work everybody. Here are a few more encouraging examples that you can find on Twitter. Also, a couple more good examples to note are the Jeremiah Johnson Band and Final Drive are on the Billboard charts, as well.

Featuring St. Louis' own @EFM_EHarrold on drums and @JahmalNichols on bass. Congratulations! https://t.co/11K0QPLfSL

— St. Louis Jazz Notes (@StLJazzNotes) February 13, 2017

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media goes to "Miles Ahead," featuring Ferguson's own Keyon Harrold! #grammys

— Kevin C. Johnson (@kevincjohnson) February 12, 2017

Far Fetched presents A Brave New World @ Plush. Free samples! #STL #MUSIC

Far Fetched presents "A Brave New World" at Plush this Saturday. The production is organized by a new initiative, let's call it a label, that is interested in featuring future-minded musicians and also the eclectic. They carry the belief that music is of much value in this day and age where it can be viewed as easily dispensable and or little worth. I appreciate the idea and hard work that it takes to put together something like this and thought it would be good to take the time to acknowledge this and also to let you know about it. I ran across their Sound Cloud account a few days ago and it just made sense. Click HERE for the venue's event on facebook for the 411 on all that. Be sure to click on the hyper-link for Far Fetched and check out the links to all of the artists on the bill seen in the above flyer. Here is the "Brave New World" 2012 sampler track by track: Click HERE to stream/download Cave Of Swords "Flowers For Flores". Click HERE to stream/download Michael Franco x Hugh Augustine "Without You". Click HERE to stream/download Adult Fur "R=log(2sin(256θ))". Click HERE to stream/download Hearskra-Z "How Tall Are You?". Click HERE to stream/download Unifyah "Light'Em Up". Click HERE to stream/download Mathias & The Pirates "South City Livin'". Click HERE to stream/download Black James "Troll". Click HERE to stream/download Ou Ou' "Magnus". Click HERE to stream/download iLLphonic's "Get Ugly". Click HERE to stream/download Scrub "XS1". Click HERE to stream/download DJ Mahf "MAHFIA". Click HERE to stream/download SNS "Escalators". Click HERE to stream/download Dolor & Lorn (Untitled) feat. 18andCounting.

New Illphonics, Cronus, The Stone Sugar Shakedown, The Scandaleros & The Eclectic Contact Run #STL #MUSIC

The Eclectic Contact Run is three men that have been working on their collaboration since the end of 2010 in their basement in Dogtown. They are a Rock, Blues, Alternative style of group which recently changed their name from "Ponder Point". They initially shared this track on the fan page on Facebook and I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw that it was a practice recording done in a basement, it is just that you never know what you are going to get. I was pleasantly surprised and this track has some good songwriting and I especially enjoyed the melody and vocals. Watch for these guys in the near future at a venue near you. May I introduce you to their song, "Money & Women"? Note: Their dog is jokingly referred to as their manager, tech, hype-girl on facebook.

The Illphonics have a new EP coming out in February on the 21st. Watch the website for details. Their next show in St. Louis is this Friday at the Old Rock House for a battle to win a spot on WAKARUSA 2012. View the event HERE. Also performing is The Elemental Shakedown, The Scandaleros, Cronus & also The Stone Sugar Shakedown. Below this song are three live tracks from artists on this bill, two of which you can download, except the last one.



(Click Sound Cloud logo to go download.)







Also, Isaac Cherry, the drummer for The Ragged Blade Band has been recording some different type of music on his personal Sound Cloud account. One example is that he is doing some "Blues" drum tracks by themselves and offering them to others to cut and splice for their own beats. His group does turn-of-the-century style of music with all sorts of influences in there.

Post 15 feat. The Illphonics, The Morley's & more!

The Illphonics just released a 5 song EP entitled,'Illusion' and has it up for grabs on their website for FREE download. Great band to see live if you like hip-hop with a splash of rock. Please check out their website, their next show is Nov. 12 at The Gramophone.

iLLUSiON by iLLPHONiCS

The Morley's are a jazz-infused rock band that I keep seeing popping on the radar, usually I don't post songs unless they are free downloads, but they submitted this and I like it. Their next show is at The Pageant, it is a FREE show on Nov. 19th w/ ticket, print your ticket out HERE. In addition, they were in the top 5 finalists of the Metro Music Playoffs that just happened this past weekend. Here it is, it's called,'Not Quite What You're Looking For'.

Not Quite What You're Looking For by The Morleys

Finally, we have two songs from artists that have appeared on the blog before. They didn't send these along with the first song or two that they submitted previously, so I waited a couple of months to post about them again. Post Nuclear Trash offers up 'Going Nowhere' and Bud Summers presents us with 'One More'.

*"Going Nowhere" by Post Nuclear Trash was removed on 2/8/12. You can get free downloads by the group by visiting their Reverbnation HERE.

02 - Eons - One More by BudSummers

Again, artists, please if you use Sound Cloud to submit your music, you must have it available for FREE download. If you don't want it public on your Sound Cloud account, make it private to share with just us. We will post your buy link, but we are trying to offer your talent to new listeners, as a musician I understand but I need to stick with the guidelines I have made for this blog. Hope you enjoy!