Thursday, November 08, 2007

A Gentleman and a Scholar

If this were my long-planned music website, I would probably have a recurring segment called "Awesome Dudes Doing Awesome Things." It would be a little bit of human interest, and maybe there would be a podcast where I would conference call with somebody and generally tell them that I thought they were rad. It would be masturbatory and I would love it, much to your chagrin, dear reader.

Instead, just let me tell you about a dude. His name is Avi Roig.

Late last year, Stylus ran their Top Singles of 2006 and I was intrigued by Ms. Annika Norlin and her lovely music as Hello Saferide. After trying unsuccessfully to buy her albums locally, her website ran me through Avi's site, It's A Trap.

It's A Trap is an MP3 blog devoted to Scandinavian music, but when you like something Avi talks about, you can just order it from him. He's cheap, he's fast, and for North American customers you can avoid pricey overseas shipping. I've ordered from him twice, and he has been absolutely fantastic both times. Albums that cost $25 plus shipping at Amazon are $15 including shipping from It's A Trap. He even runs a record label that has a free, online-only imprint that lessens production costs and falls under the Creative Commons Music License.

Avi is doing something incredibly noble: introducing wonderful music to a new market. More than that, he's a generous soul and immaculately professional. Please stop by, check out something from his free online label and if you like it, buy it. There's so much wonderful music at your fingertips, you don't have to try hard to find something to your tastes. Avi deserves to be taken care of, just as he's taking care of us.

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