whether or not they’re truly phenomenal is up to you

gosh I love alliterative bands and this one is adorable. Oh yeah and is pretty talented too.

more free music paired with a spotlight of a cute musical trio

and we’re not talking about your grandma’s knitting.

Spotlight of a local band hitting the road.

Big Sean has been making a huge impression thanks in part to his fashion sense and his signature rhyming style. He made such a splash that he was signed to Kanye’s GOOD music label and has since gained some A-list friends in Pharell, Mick Boogie, and Santigold, who have all contributed to Sean’s latest slew of mix tapes. If you haven’t bought into Sean yet give these tapes a good listen.

Asher Roth is my frat boy hero

Dan Black is one of the artists to watch in 2009

Arizona based sextet Lydia officially caught my eye, err ear

2008 was a crazy year in music. Guns N Roses’ Chinese Democracy actually released. R&B legend Bo Diddley passed away. Eminem played at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party. Oh, and the Empire State building was lit up in Mariah Carey’s “signature colors” in honor of her achievements in music (the first time this has been done for any artist).

The Umbilical Chord started as a random blog Vivek and Sandhya put together because they were tired of reading music sites that didn’t represent the sort of music they thought people should be listening to. They started this site 6 months ago in June* hoping that other people would be interested in what we had to say about contemporary music. Since then, The Umbilical Chord has come a long way, gathering a consistent fan base, getting its name out into the media, and finally getting its own domain name.