Given the position Real Gone finds itself in at the end of our fifth year online, it might seemed clichéd to say it, but ever year seems to get better and better. It’s been another brilliant year for discovering new music – particularly releases from underground and DIY bands, but also for discs from a couple of old favourites. Culled from hundreds of albums to grace our stereo this year, presented below is a quick look at ten of our favourite releases, as well as a round-up of the more notable of the rest.
Category Archives: Miscellaneous
Idiots & Idols (A Real Gone Sampler)
2014 was an absolutely great year for music from DIY bands or releases distributed through independent labels. There was so much great music this year that Real Gone found that just one free sampler just wasn’t enough!
A free sampler containing tracks from ten different metal bands can be found here. For those who’d like a few free gems from other genres – rock, pop, punk etc – in ‘Idiots & Idols’ we’ve got a similarly top-notch collection for you!
ABSENT FRIENDS: The Russians
Around the same time Mark Bacino released ‘Queens English’, over in Boston, singer-songwriter Scott Janovitz was working with his band The Russians. Their sole album ‘Crashing The Party’ was well received by the power pop community in 2010, but never followed up. What happened?
Volume 4: Black Earth (A Real Gone Sampler)
It’s become somewhat of a tradition at Real Gone to round up tunes we’ve enjoyed throughout the year and then share them in the hope of opening some new ears for independent bands. 2014 is no different – in fact, this year, we’ve got two samplers together!
This first instalment is a testament to the amount of great metal that’s passed through Real Gone Towers during 2014.
Ten tracks, fifty six minutes, riffs aplenty. Crank the volume and enjoy!
ABSENT FRIENDS: The Genuine Fakes
In 2010 Real Gone gave coverage to a debut album by Swedish power pop sensations, The Genuine Fakes. Like most sites, we found the album – although not perfect – had lots of lovable material and the band’s commercial potential was pretty big.
We heard little from them after that. Kool Kat Records issued a hard copy of ‘The Striped Album‘ (previously only a download) and included a bonus disc. Real Gone included a non-album track on our first full length sampler in December 2011. …And then nothing.