Music Discovery & Heavy English

Many of us only hear the top commercially promoted artists on Alternative radio, but there are so many great artists that never make it into regular rotation.  Subterranean Sound’s objective is to focus on new and emerging talent. Many veterans will get their nods from time to time on here, but our main focus is emerging acts from the underground.

Since we are an affiliate to Moniker Promo, we feature up and coming artists going to Alternative Specially Radio. This is a fast moving format so we are constantly providing new content and music for your inquisitive ears. Because almost everyone is a music connoisseur, we urge open feedback and commentary on our platform to create a virtual music zine subculture… something that has been lost in these modern times.

This weeks new discovery and going to radio in May is a band called Heavy English. Their lead single 21 Flights garnered a ton of attention from Sirius XM a couple years ago before the band took a bit of a hiatus. Now after recouping themselves, they are set to head out on a small East and West Coast tour in June, supporting the release of their album, “Pop Wasteland” that you can listen to below.

 

Boxed In – Shadowboxing

Following hot on the heels of 2015’s self-titled debut, ‘Melt’ is the second album from Oli Bayston, the singer, songwriter, producer and front-man of Boxed In. It is an album of warmly inviting yet coolly controlled electronic pop, at once intelligent and full of feeling. Its 11 songs are quirky, infectious, accessible yet experimental, richly detailed, with the accent on midtempo art ache; the beats are propulsive and the basslines pulsate, designed for clubbing, while the melodies tease and tug, aimed for lonely late-night listening. If your dream notion of modern dance music includes a fresh spin on ‘70s krautrock, ’80s synthpop and ‘90s house and techno, then you’ll love ‘Melt’.

Spotify and Alternative Radio

The way music is being promoted and received by the masses is changing! Although radio is still one of the largest communicators of music, it can’t be undermined the real significance of what Spotify is doing currently. An interesting article was published by AllAccess surrounding this topic with a Q&A from Rob Harvey at Spotify, discussing where things are headed. You can check out the article HERE.

With so many users on the Spotify platform and curating their own playlists, it would only be natural for Spotify to have their own official playlists. Their approach is modeled much after what traditional PD’s and MD’s at radio stations would do. They find what their target audiences are and deeply consider what would be best suited to engage with the public and what would have the best reception. Because Spotify has so many users and the song plays are easily aggregated, audience preferences are much more likely to influence playlists immediately, where at terrestrial radio these changes can be much slower. The good thing is they understand the value of one another and are working together closely to better decide what is a hit with audiences while capitalizing on things a whole lot quicker. I think there will be a beautiful relationship between the two as we pivot towards a new setting for music promotion.