Rip this band off: Billy & Dolly and the art of giving it away

Featuring the voices of:  Bradley Ellis, Jeff Golick, Victoria Harmer, Kira Petersons, Dahlia Gallin Ramirez, and Bill Rousseau
Recorded:  January 2010, New York, NY
Music:  The Monolith; Billy & Dolly

Featured on KQED.org, San Francisco, April 27, 2010.  Broadcast May 3, 2010 on KUT-FM's "O'Dark 30" (Austin, TX).

What's an unknown band to do after pouring blood, sweat, tears, and its own money into making the most awesome record ever?  The answer:  give it all away.  Outraged, one dedicated follower takes it upon himself to spread the word, one fan at a time.  

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(20:45)

Visit Billy & Dolly's website here.  Listen to "In the Beginning" in its entirety or download the album here.  Brad Ellis is a Brooklyn-based DJ and dancer.  Jeff Golick is the co-author of destination: Out, an MP-free music blog.  A former employee of Arista Records and BMG, Victoria Harmer works in the hotel business in New York City.  Kira Petersons is a San Francisco-based writer and editor.  Thanks to Stephen Grant.  Photo by Gabriela Hasbun.

Comments

[tera gold]

Excellent! I love The Monolith and Billy & Dolly!

[David Fraiberg]

Holy crap, these guys rock!

Also, EW, this is finely crafted storytelling. Tightly edited, nuanced and passionate. Nicely done.

Also funny, I like the small irony that our favorite music become "cardio mixes" - - seems somehow so degrading to the music to merely serve as a catalyst to enable target heart rate as opposed to consciousness raising.

Additionally, is there not something so human and charmingly preening about having discovered a band before they make it? It's like that moment in the BBC interview of Peter Sellers when he talks about his friend who always ran about town screaming "I seen it! I seen it!" claiming to have already seen show or eaten at restaurants before everyone else had. A hilarious combination of the possessiveness when great art hits home and the pretension and cache of being in on something before others.

But, putting all that aside: holy crap: these guys rock. Where can I find their music?

[DannyB]

Excellent! I love The Monolith and Billy & Dolly!
I ask the same questions all the time- how can this music be so good and the world does not know about it or care? How can this artist/band be struggling to make music or a living when their music is so much better than 90% of what is popular or mainstream? Well, the answers seem to elude us, but i'll keep on happily listening...