The Arc Magazine: Hear
CD Baby

CD Baby is an online record store that sells albums by independent musicians. We listen to every album we sell before we sell it, so we can help you find other albums you'll like. We only sell music that comes directly from the musicians. No distributors. Musicians send us their music. We digitize and warehouse, sell them to you, and pay the musicians directly. Cool thing: in a regular record deal or distribution deal, musicians only make $1-$2 per album, if they ever get paid by their label. When selling through CD Baby, musicians make $6-$12 per album, and get paid weekly. In business, and thriving, since March 1998. We're one of the largest sellers of independent music on the web.

website: www.cdbaby.com

published | april ‘09

quebec antique

Review by Chris Robley | Editor, CD Baby

Did you sink into a terrible depression after news spread that Postal Service wouldn’t be making a sophomore album? No worries. A ray of sunshine breaks through the cloud cover with Quebec Antique’s latest effort, "The Abbey Tapes." Lovely, crystalline beats support a bed of swelling sounds and hushed, earnest vocals. As with Ben Gibbard, the lyrics seem both confessional and universal. But these guys aren’t just mimicking a tried-and-true formula. Unlike Postal Service, Quebec Antique make creative use of a whole arsenal of analog instruments, toys, trinkets, and… yes, antiques. This clever confluence of junkyard pop and ambient, dreamy electronic sets this act apart from the pack.

Bua Review by Chris Robley | Editor, CD Baby

In the age of digital recording, it is so rare to catch a traditional Celtic folk band that simply does its thing without the trappings of modern technology. Bua, one of America’s finest Irish music ensembles, has no need for trickery, patchwork, or pandering. Their raw, symbiotic, performances sound as rich and full as any big LA production but leave all the subtlety and sense of space intact. Whether burning through a fiery folk dance or tugging on your soul with a tearful ballad, this band of highly skilled instrumentalists brings new life to these very old songs.

Sam Lamont

Review by Chris Robley | Editor, CD Baby

If Ray LaMontagne, Loudon Wainwright III, M. Ward, and Keb Mo were passing the guitar in a songwriter-in-the-round session on your back porch it would sound something like Sam Lamont’s eponymous album. It is a simple, honest mixture of folk blues, adult pop, and country rock with soulfully gruff vocals and sepia-toned harmonies. This multi-instrumentalist has shared the stage with many famed Americana and Mountain acts and is quickly making a name for himself along the way.

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