Today’s Random iTunes Selection comes courtesy of a Josh Rouse live CD distributed for free by Noise Trade.
Noise Trade is a site that connects musicians with fans through the free distribution of music. The idea is that the audience an artist can reach through the site’s large network is worth a lot in potential future sales.
Josh Rouse can win new fans through the release of a live sampling of his earlier work, and existing fans (like me) get to download a nice little treat.
Best Songs of 2015 – #13
‘Time’ – Josh Rouse
Josh Rouse has built a nice career through unorthodox means. Not many singer-songwriters head to Spain after their most successful album to learn a new language and start recording in it.
I don’t suspect that fame is a primary concern for Rouse. He just wants to make his music and earn enough from it to live and eat. He records for his own label and sells his albums primarily through his own and affiliated websites.
My fifth favorite album of 2002 is the last one on the list I didn’t hear the year it came out. I discovered Josh Rouse in 2005 after the release of his best album, Nashville, and as I am wont to do, immediately bought up everything else he’d ever recorded.
Under Cold Blue Stars is Rouse’s third album and his first fully realized work. It’s a loose concept album about a couple in the 50s, based in part on Rouse’s parents.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks exploring the new Courtney Barnett album, but it’s not the only new record I’ve picked up recently. I won’t go through the others track by track, but I will give them some love the rest of this week.
I’ll start with Jose Rouse’s The Embers of Time. This is Rouse’s 11th studio album in 16 years — he’s a lot more prolific than I give him credit for.
It’s always exciting to hear about upcoming music from one of my favorite artists. The neat thing about my more obscure favorites — Tift Merritt, say, or today’s featured artist, Josh Rouse — is that those announcements usually sneak up on you.
Such was the case with Rouse’s new album, The Embers of Time, due out on April 7.
Meet Me In Montauk 