The power of t’interweb, eh? – Every now and then, some stranger drops you a line, and it turns out not to be a Nigerian money scam, but something worth reading. It doesn’t happen all that often, but every now and again it does, and thats a good thing. Otherwise we’d turn into a bunch of technology-hating cynics (I’m nearly there on that one, personally!)
A few weeks ago, I got an email from a chap called General Fuzz, who writes tunes, and is based in the U.S. He figured we might like some of his stuff, so dropped us a line here at Blunt HQ.
He was right.
General Fuzz has been making what he describes as “lush melodic downtempo electronica” (I’d call ‘em laid-back chill-out beats, but, each to his own) for 9 years now, and recorded over 5 albums of material, after studying music at college. This has certainly helped him to hone his craft, and to experiment with his musical styles.
The General Fuzz back catalogue is totally free to download. This should give you some idea of the guys approach to music. What I think, is the right way. Doing something for the love of doing it, and doing it your way. Working as an independent means that he does not have to work to tired music industry guidelines of what’s good (i.e. what sells). He can publish whatever he wants, and that works for me.
The thing I like about the work of General Fuzz is the honesty it has, and its open-minded approach. Yes, I like the tunes, but, if I didn’t I’d still have respect for it. Aside from making music, the guy has taken the time to go into details about how and why he made it. Each album. Each tune. There are honest, no-bullshit opinions on music, and in-depth information on all of his recording software and equipment in a particularly user-friendly blog.
Like I say, aside from the tunes, the reason the work of General Fuzz works for me is because of the level-headed and honest thoughts that go with it. The guy isn’t a diva, and, as a result, his music comes across as heartfelt, and something he cares about, and thats refreshing.
His latest release is entitled Soulful Filling, and is a selection of tracks that are well worth a listen, whatever your musical taste.
Personally, my favourite track from the album is Mellow Drama, which is a real nice laid-back number, with vocals by Audio Angel, and some quality guitar work.
Also,Go Inward is another outstanding tune. This is a really cool piece of music, with a lot of time and effort going into its structure. It builds into a more complicated track, with subtle drum changes and programming, to end up as something particularly competent and musically appealing.
Anyway, for all my blurb, you could pull your finger out and download the album (and the others) here. You could do a lot worse than to spend some time checking out the blog and other info, too. Seriously.
To put my money where my mouth is (so to speak), I’ll be doing a 1 hour 20 minute mix in this weeks live radio show, Electric Noodles, purely of General Fuzz tunes that I’ve picked out for you lucky people in webland.
Nice. Im glad he emailed us. Check out his music. You’ll be glad I passed it on.
I just had a listen to a few of his tunes, fantastic stuff.
If only other artists / musicians put in 10% of his effort into the compositions, the explanations, the all around love he has for his music that he wants to share with others, they would be a lot more successful.
Too many artists go for the “early money” rather than building a groundswell of people who love what you do.
This guy understands music 2.0 very well indeed.
Nice to see someone else discovering the wonder of General Fuzz. We’ve been jazzed by his music here at Echoes since he sent us “Messy’s Place” in 2006. He’s doin’ it for love, but he deserves to be making some money from it.