Artists still trying to break through

I could talk ad nauseam about Spotify and what it means to me, but I'll spare you, especially if you already use it. One thing I notice sometimes when I'm browsing artists is how many times a song has been listened to, which is usually in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of streams. In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, if you open an album page and hover over the rating bars at the far right of any song, it will show you how many streaming plays it has got.

Once in a while, I am shocked to discover that an artist has fewer than 100,000 streams accumulated to date, which I find unfortunate considering how great they sound. I think we owe it to our friends to tell them about artists we know about who haven't truly been discovered yet.

The first artist I'd like you to check out on Spotify is Folksongs for the Afterlife. Try the songs Miles and Miles and then Summer Loop.

Next check out Paatos, from Sweden, specifically their album Kallocain and the songs Gasoline, Happiness and Won't be coming back.

Check out, also from Sweden, Dungen's song En Gang I Ar Kom Det En Tar off their album Tio Bitar. It's very retro.

Bugge Wesseltoft should get your body moving a bit with Change, from the album Moving.

If a lower bass groove is more your thing, Minilogue's Hitchhiker's Choice original mix from the Hitchhiker's Choice mini-EP is great to test out your speakers.

For something a bit more laid back, check out New York's Ida, their album Heart like a river, for the songs Late Blues (one of my all-time faves), and Honeyslide.

Got any sub-100,000 artists to share?