"Top Tracks" Week Two

Week One's Winner is...Michael Scarlett!

Congrats to Week One's Winner, Michael Scarlett, and his track "Let's Play." The contest was really, REALLY close, but fans of his song managed to pump him up just enough to squeak by with a tight win over Corrin Campbell and the Election. Something tells me that she'll be back though! These two were going back and forth all week!

The real big news is that we had over 2,000 individual voters and they pumped through about 10,000 votes!!! Remember, you can vote as many times as you want so it's all about pumping fans through the website for 6 straight days until a winner is announced. Voters have until noon on Saturday to pump up their favorite track. All we ask is that you listen to each track and honestly pump up the one you think is the best.

The winner will always be announced here on TTFR's blog, one day before being officially announced through our email list on Monday.

Now...onto Week Two! However, there is a warning! I preach about 3 important issues in this blog...Freedom of Speech/Expression, Taking care of Veterans, and PTSD. You've been warned.

Track 1: "Waiting on Seven" by Dead End Echo

This song is really, really solid. From the very beginning you get to hear why the track made this week's top 5...the singer is awesome and the chorus is catchy. His voice is very strong and nice to listen to. When the song really picks up after the :40 second mark, you get to figure out what "waiting on seven" means. Want to know? Sorry...can't spoil it for you! Dead End Echo has a song on our new CD "Say Goodbye" coming out December 16th (which is this Tuesday for those in Iraq or Afghanistan who have lost track of the days!) and are vying to make it on two CDs in a row, with our next album coming out in February.

VOTE HERE!

Track 2: "Kick it at the Casa" by Randy Heavin

This is some good ole' fashion country baby! This makes me want to grab my cowboy hat and snakeskin boots and get down...Texas Two Step style! (Damn it...if only I had a cowboy hat or boots and wasn't from the city!) By the way, ever been to a country club where they two-step to everything? Like NWA's "Straight Outta Compton"? You know the track..."Straight outta compton, crazy mo'fo named Ice Cube..." and then you see these ladies my mom's age two steppin' and arguing over if Eazy E was better than Dre! Anyway, Randy is a great singer and this is a really fun track. The chorus is catchy and we've all been there...2 am....clubs closing...and then some dude announces the after party at his house (god knows why!!!) and everyone goes and gets even more hammered. Those guys should be put up for some sort of medal...or at least a Certificate of Appreciation because I would NEVER invite any of you crazy bastards back to my house...no offense!

VOTE HERE!

Track 3: "Marines on Deck" by Dirty Boi Vets

Warning...if you are offended by words like fuck, shit, bitch, motherfucker and a slew of other slang our teachers would kick us out of school for saying, then DON'T LISTEN TO THIS SONG! Just skip right over it. BUUUUT...if you like hardcore gangster rap by a bunch of marines keeping it real while detailing how they did their jobs over in Iraq...you'll enjoy this track.

We at TTFR love Dirty Boi Vets because we defend them against all critics as all of you should. If ANYONE in this country deserves Freedom of Speech and Expression, it is those that serve and for anyone to get offended by these fine patriots speaking their minds....well, it is ok...just don't listen to it...but please don't criticize them. And we, as brothers and sisters in arms, are willing to die every single day so we Americans can live and say what we feel without fear of censorship and punishment. It just pisses me off that sometimes we get emails that criticize our choice of putting tracks with swears/curses in them on our CDs. Look, To The Fallen will NEVER censor or filter any of our artists as long as I'm calling the shots. Period. If people don't like it they will have to find another record label. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now and talk about the track!

I love how Rick mixed the seriousness of being scared when his boy lost his hearing with the slightly controversial fact that he has liquor in his canteen! Damn soldiers! You can't even stop them from drinking in a war zone! Sug goes in detail about serving the next President and afterwards he mixes in some live recordings of missions they did in Iraq. The last verse, Sug details his thinking after multiple firefights which is common to most of us. You go from being scared to death to treating it with a shrug of your shoulders...and that's what causes PTSD! You raise your level of awareness up to a point where you are not even scared when someone is shooting at you or mortaring your camp every night and then you come back home and still have that raised level of awareness. My opinion is that every single service member that goes to a war zone has some level of PTSD, on a scale from 1% to 100%. Anyway, that's for us to talk about with Washington and the VA, which you know we will!

VOTE HERE!

Track 4: "Nameless" by The Seeded Planet

I love this track as well. It has a good feel to it and really comes together right from the beginning. Full of metaphors and beautiful music playing, this track has it all. Halfway through the track, it really kicks into some great guitar playing and the intensity goes up and comes back down rather quickly. He mixed some sampling (or changes his vocals) and infuses the background with it...nicely done. At around 2:30, he really tones it down and tells us a little more about "The Nameless" and the faceless. Which you can guess the meaning of by the end of the track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 5: "Reunion at the Wall" by Sarge Lintecum

If any of you are Vietnam Vets you'll know this next artist. Big Sarge Lintecum has been doing his own thing in the music industry since he got back. This badass served 3 tours in Vietnam and is a premier Blues artist. Just check this out from his bio:

Sarge did three tours of duty in Vietnam, 1966-'67-'68. His first tour was eleven months in the jungle/hospital with the 101st Airborne Paratroopers as a combat infantryman. During that time he advanced to Squad Leader. Sarge came down with malaria three times, jungle-rot, immersion-foot, two varieties of internal parasites, a shrapnel wound in his leg, exposure to Agent Orange, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which Sarge says is the "Vietnam Blues".

Sarge received the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with 1 Bronze Service Star and 1 Silver Service Star, Parachute Jump Wings, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, a Valorous Unit Emblem, a Republic Of Vietnam Gallantry Cross With Palm Unit Citation Badge, and five Over-Seas Bars.

Let me be clear. To The Fallen isn't just about the current crop of veterans. We will push ANY military music artist that we think has quality music and Sarge Lintecum is definitely one of them. We need to make sure that America understands that we still have veterans living among us from other wars and conflicts that we need to take care of. These guys didn't come back to the fanfare and the "Support The Troops" high that our country is currently on. This is our duty as fellow veterans and as Americans and TTFR will do what we can to make sure these men and women are taken care of and get their music out to the public so they can listen to them as well.

Sarge's track is really great. It takes a while to build up, but it is worth the wait. Sarge has a GREAT voice for Blues! This song is talking about Sarge going down to the Vietnam Wall to meet his friends from Vietnam at a reunion. Anyone can figure that out from the title, but in the song he details their history together during that conflict. You also come to find out that the reunion might not be with all living friends of Sarge's...that in fact, the reunion is with his friends' whose names are on the Wall. Some powerful shit, my friends. It makes me wonder if we will be doing the same thing in 20, 30, 40 years...

VOTE HERE!

Anyway, that is this week's tracks for you to vote on! Sorry I got on my soapbox to talk about some issues, but that is where my heart is...if you didn't feel the same way, you wouldn't be a fan of To The Fallen Records.

Have a great week of voting and remember that you can vote AS MANY times as you want!

V/R,

Sean Gilfillan
CEO
To The Fallen Records

www.ToTheFallenRecords.com
TTFR MySpace
TTFR Facebook

"Top Tracks" Week One

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to To The Fallen Records Presents "Top Tracks", our weekly contest for military artists. It's easy to vote. Just click the link below, or any track name, and you'll be taken to this week's Top 5 Tracks where you can vote for your favorite. Click on the picture and you'll be taken to the artist's MySpace page, if they have one. The winner has a great chance to be on our next CD and will be featured on all of our sites for the following week...so let's talk about this week's tracks:

Track 1: "Sunbeam" by Corrin Campbell and the Election

I like this track. It starts off very strong and busts in with some killer guitar riffs. Corrin has an incredible voice and I like how she starts off rather shyly and soft and then really picks it up by the first chorus. I like the metaphor of "breaking these brick walls down" for someone breaking through to her inner self, which she obviously keeps on lock down. This is most likely due to all those bastards who broke her heart previously! At least they led to some good music and maybe when she's wealthy beyond all means she can shove it back in their faces. Isn't that what we all want to do? The music is really killer. Overall a pretty good track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 2: "Let's Play" by Michael Scarlett

TTFR doesn't always get down with R&B as we prefer to deal with Country, Hip Hop and Rock, but I like this song by Michael Scarlett. The beat is hot and his voice is really nice to listen to. The chorus is really well done and the story he tells is simple enough to understand. Michael Scarlett is a great singer and has a ton of potential. I could definitely see this on one of our CDs. For now, I'll just keep this song on loop in the bedroom!

VOTE HERE!

Track 3: "Caravan" by the Major Parsons Project

This is an excellent track all around. The lyrics, music, sequencing, and the chorus are all incredible. I absolutely love the chorus and it is catchy as hell, even though I can't understand the latter choruses as he busts into Spanglish later on in the song. Damn you 5 years of high school Spanish! You taught me nothing! At around 2:20 the music bangs out some new sounds that keep you hooked until the end of the track. I love this track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 4: "One of Those Days" by Cyrus

Cyrus is an incredible lyricist. His story starts off really strong with a really detailed description of the protagonist in his track. I think we (military) can definitely relate to the first verse where it is really hard to leave your family. The next verse takes us through the experience of being a military spouse...the non-stop praying and hoping that your husband makes it back. "Bypassing rough patches like cactuses" says it all. The last verse details the protagonist rolling out on a convey, gets ambushed and on his way out his vehicle gets hit with an IED. Based on overtones and foreshadowing in the previous verses, you know that he doesn't make it back alive. Overall, a great track by one of the Army's elite hip hop artists.

VOTE HERE!

Track 5: "Iron in the Fire" by Sean Bennett

Sean hits us with a great country track that details the life of an old, married couple. He tells us their story, telling us intricate details about their lives and their relationship. "They were crazy old lovers with nothing left to prove" says it all. He sits back and admires them from a distance while telling their story. "One love will do" is the message. His love for her is so strong that he'd "Walk her all the way to heaven" and one can infer that he does so at the end of the song.

VOTE HERE!

Well, that does it for this week. Feel free to give your comments on each song as well. The artists and TTFR will definitely appreciate any praise or constructive criticism you give.

Remember, these artists are people too, so I'd ask you personally not to be mean because that doesn't do anyone any good, but offer some advice and tell us what you liked and didn't like about each track as a fan of music.

Thanks for your time and we hope you enjoy this weekly contest. Thanks to all 150 artists who submitted music for this week. Hopefully you'll get your chance next week!

V/R,

Sean Gilfillan
CEO
To The Fallen Records
www.ToTheFallenRecords.com
www.myspace.com/tothefallenrecords
TTFR Facebook Page


VOTE HERE!

To the Fallen Records: Band of Brothers: A new American record label offers soldiers and veterans a launch pad for musical success

Click Here to Read the Article from the Sunday Times (UK)