Sign up for our mailing list Real artists creating records on their own terms

News

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007

Tim Fite Reaps Enormous Praise For Over The Counter Culture

Billboard Calls Fite’s New Free Disc, “The First Must-Hear Album of 2007”

Confirmed for Bonnaroo This Summer

Brooklyn-based multi-genrist Tim Fite is garnering rave reviews for his new album, Over The Counter Culture, which has been available for free download through his website (www.timfite.com), iTunes, and emusic since February 20th. Fite’s fifteen tracker – a blistering examination of commercial culture and it's adverse effects on life in general, and on rap music specifically – has yielded acclaim from Billboard, NPR’s Sound Opinions, The Boston Globe and The Chicago Tribune.

“One of the best albums of the new year can’t be bought,” writes The Tribune’s Greg Kot. “Over the Counter Culture is both a critique and a celebration of hip-hop. It’s packed with crackling beats, wicked humor and ‘did he just say that?’ audacity.”

Elsewhere, The Globe called OTCC “the kind of brazen, self-aware political critique that harkens back to early Public Enemy,” while Billboard’s Todd Martens proclaimed the disc, “the first must-hear album of 2007, a scathingly sarcastic look and consumerism, politics and corporate hip-hop.”

Temporarily putting the folkish leanings exhibited on 2005’s acclaimed Gone Ain’t Gone (Anti-) to the side, the sharp-edged OTCC took shape because – as Fite told The Globe – he needed “to blow off some steam,” adding, “With the climate of our culture presently, with the war and the escalation of bad business and globalization and commercials, commercials, commercials, I couldn’t make another encoded album.”

“You cannot address politics about consumerism and put it out in the same way that any record would come out,” says Fite in the Billboard feature of the decision to give his music away. “It would be wrong . . . As much as I need to pay my bills, and it’d be great to sell some records, this is not a record for sale. These ideas are not for sale. These ideas should be for free.”

As word spreads on Fite, the thought-provoking artist has just been confirmed for the world famous 2007 Bonnaroo Festival, slated for June 14 – 17 in Manchester, Tennessee. And in related news, Fite’s new video for “Camoflage” – in which he intones “a fashion statement for a fascist nation” – is currently featured on the You Tube main page and has already received over 150,000 plays.

Facebook | Twitter
 

Browse by Artist

2121All Artists 100Tom Waits 74Mavis Staples 59Neko Case 51Lost In The Trees 50Sean Rowe 48Dr. Dog 45The Milk Carton Kids
41Jolie Holland 40Bettye LaVette 37Man Man 36Son Little 35Tinariwen 33Tim Fite 33DeVotchKa 31Islands 31Grinderman 29Glen Hansard 28Saintseneca 27Galactic 27Delicate Steve 27Wilco 26Andy Shauf 25The Drums 24Michael Franti and Spe... 24Xenia Rubinos 22William Elliott Whitmo... 22Doe Paoro 22Bob Mould 21Nick Cave & The Bad Se... 21The Frames 20Christopher Paul Stell... 20Joe Henry 19Cass McCombs 19Yves Jarvis 19Sage Francis 19Booker T. Jones 18Calexico 18Gary V 18Deafheaven 17Yann Tiersen 17John K. Samson 16Jason Lytle 16The Antlers 16Ramblin Jack Elliott 16Danny Elfman 14Madi Diaz 14Half Waif 14Jeremy Ivey 14Daniel Lanois 13The Dream Syndicate 13Billy Bragg 12Girlpool 12Leyla McCalla 12Combo Chimbita 12Peter Silberman 12Xavier Rudd 12Lido Pimienta 11Curtis Harding 11Purr 11Roky Erickson 11The Weakerthans 11Lyrics Born 11Jade Jackson 11Japandroids 11Ryan Pollie 11Mose Allison 11Glitterer 11Christian Lee Hutson 11Rain Machine 10Alfa Mist 10Moor Mother 10So Much Light 10High Pulp 10The Melodic 10Darrin Bradbury 10The Swell Season 9N.A.S.A. 9Wynonna 9Josiah Johnson 9M. Ward 9Cameron Avery 9Hey, King! 9Marianne Faithfull 8Katy Kirby 8Solillaquists of Sound 8Cadence Weapon 8James Brandon Lewis 8Greg Graffin 8Rafiq Bhatia 8The Coup 8Slow Pulp 8Kate Davis 7Beth Orton 7Kelly Hogan 7Title Fight 7Eddie Izzard 7Ben Harper 7Dead Man's Bones 7Alec Ounsworth 7Ben Harper and Charlie... 7Richard Reed Parry 7Elliott Smith 6MJ Lenderman 6Waxahatchee 6Foxwarren 6Busdriver 6Deradoorian 6Bonny Doon 6A Girl Called Eddy 6Broken Twin 6Kate Bush 6Os Mutantes 5Ezra Furman 5Jasmyn 5The Field 5sunking 5Art Moore 5Kristine Leschper 5Scott McMicken and THE... 5The Tallest Man On Ear... 5One Day As A Lion 5Beat Connection 5Keaton Henson 5Sam Akpro 4Jackson+Sellers 4Pops Staples 4Ersi Arvizu 4The Good Ones 4Marketa Irglova 4Sparklehorse 3Marc Ribot 3Mothers 3Mavis Staples & Levon... 3Petra Haden 3Danny Cohen 3Plains 3Walter Wolfman Washing... 3Sierra Leones Refugee... 2Jeff Tweedy 2ANTI- Records 2Various Artists: RANGO 2Fleet Foxes 1Solomon Burke 1case/lang/veirs 1Merle Haggard 1Youth Group 1Blackalicious 1Taylor Vick 1The Beths 1Lightman Jarvis Ecstat... 1Simian Mobile Disco 1Porter Wagoner 1Rogue's Gallery 1Antibalas 1Various Artists: ROGUE... 1Kronos Quartet with Br... 1Joe Strummer And The M... 1Tricky 1The Locust
See Full List+