What most people (sadly) don’t know is that another, similarly diverse city has been producing local independent music for nearly a decade in the most unlikeliest of places: Provo, Utah.

Provo’s unique creative atmosphere and expansive independent music network has birthed a number of high quality indie artists and bands, including Joshua James, Neon Trees, Fictionist, and most recently Parlor Hawk. These are some big names within the indie/local music community. Most of these bands have been at or near the top of iTunes’ download charts in last few months, and there is no sign of them letting up.

(Check out Neon Trees!)

There are a few things that Provo has that most cities don’t. First, the indie music community has a very strong hub, a high-quality venue called Velour Live Music Gallery, as well as a few other, smaller local venues. And it’s unique location in Utah allows it to disperse new creative indie rock to a very large audience.

Velour is designed like a vintage Baroque Indie Rock chapel, yet it is clear from the way Corey Fox, the owner, runs things that Velour is there to support the bands. Only the best bands are selected to play weekend shows, but up-and-coming bands are encouraged to play at the weekly acoustic nights and semi-annual and highly competitive Battle of the Bands concerts. It’s an incubator for indie rock and creative music.

Because Utah is a haven for Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), many come from all over the United States (and to a smaller extent, the rest of the world) to visit Utah. Then they take the new music they’ve found in Provo back home.

Double the effectiveness of this principle for the two college campuses (BYU and UVU) located in Provo. Indie rock attracts college students like ants to a spilled can of Classic Coke. The Indie Rock then steeps into the collective college soul throughout the semester. And the students become musical carriers when they return to their out-of-state hometowns for vacations.

This dissemination of new music has created Provo’s vast independent music network, while the local community generates lots of potential bands and different types of music.

Keep an eye out for any bands coming out of Provo. Odds are that they’ll go far.

Last summer a buddy and I went to the 50th annual Newport Folk Festival and it turned out to be one of the better shows/festivals that I have ever had the blessing of attending.  I was living just outside of Manhattan and my pal came up from Alabama and we made the 3ish hour drive to Newport, RI.

The bridge that we crossed on our way in gave one of the most scenic views I have ever had, blue skies, sailboats, seagulls fluttering next to you.  I had one of those moments you know when everything just seems perfect at least in that moment, no past or future just bliss.  The town itself is really nice cobble roads and cute shops etc. etc.

We decided to park our car early and walk because the traffic was so bad and we got scammed by a grandpa were we parked (but we got him back).  We ended up hitchhiking up to the fort where the festival was.

There were two stages and as always there were conflicts because I wanted to see bands on both stages at the same time.  We saw Gillian Welch, then Fleet Foxes followed by the Decemberists and it came to an end with Pete Seeger.  All of them were wonderful especially Fleet Foxes who I had been dying to see, they were perfect.

Pete Seeger was the star by far.  He is quite an old man though, he was the original musician/political activist even before Bob Dylan.  He is all about getting the crowd to sing along, he made songs like This Little Light of Mine and This My Land famous.

For his encore he had all the musicians from that day come on stage and play and sing with him, turns out that some of the people we met hitchhiking were on stage with old man Seeger, I guess they preformed. Kind of a special moment being with a group of a couple thousand 15 – 80 year-olds at an old civil war naval base on an island singing This Little Light of Mine together, sunset, sailboats and all.

The new line up for 2010 has been posted and I hope to make it, especially because I have to see to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

I really like how the Newport Folk Festival has mixed old traditional folk music with upcoming folk indie. The line up looks incredible, see yall there.

Friday, July 30 (International Tennis Hall of Fame)
-Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
-Tim O’Brien
-Sarah Jarosz

Saturday, July 31 (Fort Adams State Park)
-John Prine
-Andrew Bird
-Brandi Carlile
-The Low Anthem
-Yim Yames of My Morning Jacket
-Doc Watson & David Holt
-Calexico
-Dawes
-Nneka
-O’Death
-Liz Longley
-Blitzen Trapper
-A.A. Bondy
-Sam Bush
-Horsefeathers

Sunday, Aug. 1 (Fort Adams State Park)
-Levon Helm’s Ramble on the Road
-The Swell Season
-The Avett Brothers
-Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
-Richie Havens
-Justin Townes Earle
-Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
-The Preservation Hall Jazz Band
-Punch Brothers with Chris Thile
-The Felice Brothers
-Tao Seeger Band
-Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons
-Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore
-Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three

Here’s the next and 8th edition to LSTN free underground music tracks provided by the combined efforts of Urban Outfitters and itunes.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to much of it yet, but upon first hearing I’ve enjoyed the Blood Feather’s simple but catchy song “Don’t know you at all,” the guy and girl singing together in Fan Farlo’s “Harold T. Wilkins,” and the JBM’s melancholy “Cleo’s Song.” So take a look and you might find your new favorite band!

Enjoy these and several other free undergrounds music tracks here.

In celebration of this famous groundhog, underground instrumental band, The Opposite of a Train, is holding a benefit concert tonight! They are hoping to raise money for the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, South Carolina. The concert will be held tonight in the Memminger Auditorium at 8pm.

The Opposite of a Train, has a unique sound.  I just listened to them for the first time today and find them quite enticing.  Obviously their music has no lyrics,but it has a very interesting jazz, Cuban, rock sound to it. It seems that what makes this band worth while, is the fact that they are playing really unique and fascinating instruments. Their music takes you into a new way of thinking.

The band is composed of three members: Bill Carson on guitar and tenor banjo, Nathan Koci on accordion, brass and keyboards, and Ron Wiltrout on marimba, drums, and crash cymbols.

If you are interested, check them out on their myspace to hear their unique sound yourself and then let me know what you think. I am curious of the feedback.

And get a chance to watch Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day, just to celebrate and to hibernate.

The song was in 3D and many celebrities, such as Beyonce were seen wearing glasses and you could have been too if you happened to have some glasses with you at home.

At the conclusion of the song, all the performers turned to look at the many pictures of Michael Jackson. It was a great tribute.

Lastly, Michael Jackson’s children, Prince Michael and Paris accepted their father’s lifetime achievement award.It was weird seeing the children so soon after their father’s passing, however they made a great speech, saying, “Our father was always concerned about the planet and humanity,” and continued with, “Throughout his songs, his message was simple: love. We will continue to spread his message and help the world. Thank you. We love you, Daddy.”

Seeing as tonight I also just saw, Michael Jackson’s documentary video, “This Is It” tonight, I thought this was a fabulous night! Michael Jackson has such great talent and I thought it was great to tribute him at the Grammys. Rest in peace MJ!

I hope you check out the new “This Is It” album on itunes. I LOVE the song, This is it.

I grew up watching The Muppets and always listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.  This is yet again another obviously brilliantly executed video put out by  The Muppets.  I absolutely love this video and so does my family; we got plenty of kicks and giggles out of this.

Check out your favorite Muppet characters in this magnificent bohemian parody.

And remember The Muppets really have been connected to many great musicians. Some such artists are: Elton John, Paul Simon, Alice Cooper, Johnny Cash, and Arlo Guthrie.

Myspace is one of the largest music streaming websites, allowing its users to listen to artists for free to find out if they have talent or not. Apparently Myspace is paying somewhere in the area of 20 million dollars a month to pay for the streaming rights. With such large fees to pay for their music streaming capabilities it looks like the site will almost definitely move to a paying model.

The question now is how many people are actually going to pay to listen to music on Myspace? I know that I use the site as a means of finding good new artists, whose music I later can purchase on Itunes or other sites. If Myspace makes me pay to stream music, I will probably just take them out of my bookmarks list, but that’s just me.

Let us know what you would do if Myspace wanted you to pay to stream their music in the comments section.

Urban Outfitters, doesn’t just offer a sweet indie style; they are now giving away 25 free indie tracks on itunes.  This week they are featuring bands like “The Very Best,” “White Denim,” and “Le Loup.” Check out the rest of the bands featured in their 7th installment here.

Keep checking out our blog to know when the next Urban Outfitters, LSTN Installment arrives.  We’ll be doing a feature story on one of the bands.

Best Song
Beyonce – “Halo”
Black Eyed Peas – “I Got A Feeling”
David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland – “When Love Takes Over”
Kings Of Leon – “Use Somebody”
Lady Gaga – “Pokerface”

Best Group
Kings of Leon
Black Eyed Peas
Green Day
Jonas Brothers
Tokio Hotel

Best Male
Eminem
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Mika
Robbie Williams

Best Female
Beyonce
Katy Perry
Lady Gaga
Leona Lewis
Shakira

Let us know who you think should win by adding your comments to the post.