by Joshua B. Hoe My Digital Bin

Before the death of record stores as a widely available resource, many music lovers used to engage in finding new music by digging through bins full of albums.

Some of the happiest moments of discovery in my life were uncovering some new gem by digging through bins at record stores.

This activity was always mediated. A record store chose what was in the bins, and we applied our personal tastes to what they had curated through purchase.

Now we dig through digital bins.

Every week I will create a new bin, hopefully, you will find something you like in my bin every week.

Welcome to Josh's Digital Bin #1 (JDB:1)

Ex-Cult Deserves More Love

This is not a new band or a new album. I just think that they deserve more attention.

Punk lovers, this band is the real deal, they hit every one of my punk weak spots. I have loved them for years, but for some reason they never seem to get as much love as I would expect.

I hope you will give them a first or second look, here are some of their songs I really love:

They are on Goner Records (@GonerRecords)

Mothers: Band I Didn't Know

Was digging around on Wichita Records site looking for news and I saw a band I didn't know.

Wichita is home to some of my favorite current bands (Waxahatchee, Cloud Nothings, Girlpool to name a few) so I take their taste seriously.

Anyway I saw a nibble about a new album by a Georgia band called "Mothers" coming out soon so I started searching, one of the things that I found was this heartbreakingly beautiful song:

WOW!

Another good one here:

The new album is called "When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired" and will be released February 26th (but you can pre-order now from the site).

I spent a few hours listening to their earlier stuff yesterday. You should check them out for sure.

Tanner Fite: Surprising And Scary Potential

I was playing around on Soundcloud and I ran into the songs of this guy Tanner Fite. I am not saying he has it down 100% yet, I don't really know what his situation is (I tried to tweet him but he hasn't gotten back yet). But this guy has potential.

This is his most recent song:

His songs are not of a style I usually like but I can really feel where he is heading.

Pretty sure he is kind of in a stoner groove, but it is working for him and at the rate he is putting songs up it doesn't seem to be affecting his work negatively.

Really impressed with his grasp of hooks and melody (and lyrical hooks too). Really bright and catchy. IMHO he still needs to build some better bridges and get a bit better drum machine, but I really think this guy has something.

Here is another song of his that I liked:

There are lots of songs on his Soundcloud page, all could use some polish, but all are surprisingly catchy.

Phone Home: Inspired by Wire?

Many of you may know I interact a TON with another blogger Ilya who goes by @Iheartnoise (also the name of his site). Somehow I got in a conversation with him and one of the guys from Phone Home about Wire.

I love Wire, always have, they still making good music after like 30 years.

Anyway, I mentioned that Phone Home's most recent album cover reminded me of Wire's Pink Flag cover and they insisted that Wire lives somewhere in their music.

So, of course, I had to listen.

While they do not have much stylistically in common with Wire, I can strangely enough, hear a bit of that style of experimentation and occasionally some of the same minimalism in their approach.

I enjoyed the music a great deal, they are another band that have an infectious brightness to their sound (not much like Wire who could seem cold by comparison).

Here is their album Height:

Worth a listen!

Stuff You Probably Know, but that I am LOVING

I love Siouxsie and the Banshees, I love Bauhaus and Peter Murphy, I love David Bowie, and I love Savages.

Everything I have heard from their new album "Adore Life" is great.

Here is a great performance of their most recent song on Jimmy Kimmel's show:

The new album came out a few days ago. You can purchase it here:

I have generally liked Ty Segall but his new album "Emotional Mugger" takes it to another level. It kicks serious ass. The fuzz guitar alone is amazing throughout.

Here is a live taste:

And here it is on Vinyl:

Last but not least, I have a love/hate relationship with Sun Kil Moon (Mark Kozalek), here is some stuff from the collaboration between Jesu and Sun Kil Moon - which is all on the love side.

Here is more.

Also for all the bands out there, there are two ways to get on my site:

1. Uncurated - check out my "cool new music" page - read the guidelines and submit your Soundcloud or Bandcamp to me via email. As long as you meet the guidelines, I will post your band, no questions asked.

2. Curated - You can submit your link to me and just let me know you want me to consider you for the bin (or the cool new music page). Even if I don't choose your for the bin, I will put you on the other page.

I support all bands in getting heard as long as they are not pushing an agenda of hate or violence.

That is the end of JDB:1

Until next week, hope you enjoyed it!

What did you think of bin one? What do you think of the bands/artists involved? Let me know, your voice adds to my site, so leave a comment!