Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:01 pm Post subject: Free music
Post links to any free (and legal) music you know of!
Here are some bands with proper albums available for free:
Defiance, Ohio: http://defianceohio.terrorware.com [all of their albums]
Defiance, Ohio are an anarcho-folk-punk band from somewhere that isn't Ohio (I can't remember where). They are amazingly good. Their latest album is their most polished, which I think actually suits them, but previous releases are more lo-fi if you like that kind of thing (which I do). They're first on the list because they're the 'free-est'; they don't even accept donations, although there is a link to donate to charity.
Bomb The Music Industry!: http://www.bombthemusicindustry.com [all their albums]
Bomb The Music Industry! are ska-core, which is like Reel Big Fish or Streetlight Manifesto if they had a pair of testicles between them. It's extremely fun music, and they're going to be playing a gig for us soon, so check them out! All albums (and individual tracks if you just want a taste) can be downloaded for free, or for a suggested donation of $5.
Belle Epoquehttp://belle.epoque75.free.fr/home_en.html [all their releases, but they were a short-lived band]
Belle Epoque were a French screamo band who made all their songs available for free on their website after they split. This is screamo more in the vein of Circle Takes The Square or Envy than Saetia. Note that Avenged Sevenfold, The Used and whoever else is popular with the kids these days are not screamo bands. At all. This is a lot more abrasive and heavy, both in terms of the music and in terms of expressing genuine emotion. It's not going to be for everyone, though.
Iron Throneswww.ironthrones.com [debut album]
Iron Thrones are a metal band. I got this album because I've been meaning to check out more metal and they have a cool attitude, but I haven't really had a chance to give it a proper listen yet. Here's a pretty positive review, though: http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review_28624
Girl Talk: http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art....l__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/ [At least one album]
Hip-Hop mashups. This is what The Marriage Of A Dead Dog SING! does, if you saw him at one of our gigs and liked him. Girl Talk is probably a bit better at it, but then, he's been doing it longer. Everything on this album is sampled, with no permission. It's possible that the samples all fall under the fair use part of US copyright law, but if not, he may be buried under cease and desists sooner or later. Ever wondered what hip-hop Radiohead would be like? Get this album, it's on there. Suggested donation $5.
Explosions In The Sky: http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/the_rescue.html [one album]
There is a whole series of albums like this, I think, although I'm not sure who else has done one or if they're releasing it for free. Eight tracks written and recorded in eight days, by one of the most famous post-rock bands around. If you're new to post-rock, they're as good a place as any to start, if you're not, well, you already know what to expect from EITS (whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is left as an exercise to the reader). No donation option.
John Frusciante used to have an album called From The Sounds Inside on his website, but the whole site has been scaled right back to two blog posts, D: You're probably morally justified in pirating this. He certainly has no plans to sell it, the songs were rough and not completely finished. In a good way, though.
Bands with a lot of free stuff (lots of bands have a little, of course), but not proper albums:
The Dresden Dolls: A lot of live songs, including a cover of my favourite Fugazi song.
Stereo Total: A French/German band who aren't very easy to classify genre-wise. Some songs sound kind of punk, others more like some genre of electronica that I'm not even nearly qualified to specify. They are a lot of fun, and they have what pretty much qualifies as a rarities album available for download.
Websites:
http://freealbums.blogsome.com/ A blog devoted to finding and reviewing free music.
http://www.daytrotter.com/ Specially recorded live versions of songs by a lot of great bands.
http://www.analoguemagazine.com/ Free Dublin magazine started by Trinity students, pick it up if you see it around (and don't know it already). They have a split album between Storkboy Choons and Colours Move available for free download (it's nice and ambient, beyond that I wouldn't trust my classifications), and a sampler with all sorts of great local bands on it both available for free download.
Anyone else got any suggestions? AFAIK Smashing Pumpkins and NIN still have things available for free, right? _________________ Cytokines, go!
The bestest thread.
I've only one thing to add at the moment;
Swirlies - Blonder Tounge Audio Baton
A bit like early My Bloody Valentine jamming with Sonic Youth, complete with swooshy shoegaze guitars and sweet boy/girl vocals. Available to download for free from their website along with their entire back catalogue, (I've not really listened to the rest of their stuff and will reserve praise until I know it all better), but Blonder Tounge Audio Baton is really brilliant, one of my favourite albums.
http://www.evil-office.net/swirlies/discography/index.html
(That tossy speech at the end of the last track takes away fom the niceness of listening to it all the way through. Still <3, though.) _________________
Last edited by Jamie on Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:38 am; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:32 am Post subject: Re: Free music
yan wrote:
Explosions In The Sky: http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/the_rescue.html [one album]
There is a whole series of albums like this, I think, although I'm not sure who else has done one or if they're releasing it for free. Eight tracks written and recorded in eight days, by one of the most famous post-rock bands around. If you're new to post-rock, they're as good a place as any to start, if you're not, well, you already know what to expect from EITS (whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is left as an exercise to the reader). No donation option.
yeah, this was part of a subscription series put out by Temporary Residence Ltd. (a fine,fine label) called Travels in Constants
think there were 800 subscriptions, and so far over 20 releases. think the last one is due this year (wiki page is wrong on the duration of the series, it didnt end in 07).
great fucking series, some great artists on it, if you're into that kinda thing like. exclusive and elusive unreleased songs in all cases.some of it made it into select independent shops, but other than that its rare as fuck &/or out of print completely so feel free to download em all, guilt free (as i have done)
Railcars: Cities Vs. Submarineshttp://www.analoguemagazine.com/index.php?s=railcars
<3<3<3 this ep.
It's some genre of electronic music (I'm not even nearly qualified to classify it), but very lo-fi/shoegazey, with really nice happy melodies. Recorded by the guy from Xiu Xiu in his kitchen, as the article there says. And it's free, too!
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