It’s with a New Year spring in its step that Free Music Friday returns with a 2017-tastic collection of downloads, streams, vids and trailers.
Despite more tragic losses, we hope you had a fab Christmas and a Hogmanay to remember for the right reasons!

Our favourite FMF thing this week is Yous, the new David Kitt album, which you can try before you buy on his Bandcamp – but only until Monday. It will then go back into the ‘pending’ tray until September when it’s given a full-blown release by an as-yet-unnamed independent label.

The world woke up today to two brand spankin’ new Ed Sheeran singles, ‘Castle On The Hill’ and ‘The Shape Of You’, which represent very different sides of the Suffolk singer. The former got an acoustic airing when Ed dropped into BBC Radio 1’s Scott Mills. The parent album will be out in time for the long, hot summer we’re determined to have.

Cause I’ve been away for a bit here’s two singles rather than one - Castle On The Hill & Shape Of You https://t.co/QuZMnEhS8P pic.twitter.com/VCznN8nLd4

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) January 6, 2017

Sign up to Run The Jewel’s mailing-list
click here and Killer Mike and EL-P will very generously gift you their ace RJ3 album. The music industry pisstake video accompanying it is pure genius.

Having miraculously managed to stay out of jail, Chief Keef treats us to his awesome Two Zero One Seven mixtape.

We’ve also been getting down and really quite dirty with Spitta’s #Andretti1230, which suggests that the N’Awlins rapper is going to be far better known at the end of 2017 than he is at the start of it.

Our Noise Trade pals have their usual embarrassment of riches with name your price offerings from New Hampshire strummer Andy Chew; Canadian alt. folkster Tara MacLean; Nashville’s Oliver John Rodgers who cooks up a wonderful blues, Americana and glam gumbo, and a Bros For Life: Play Too Much Sessions sampler featuring the rocky likes of Zuli, Sizzy Rocket, The Wild Reeds, Madaila and ESS SEE.

To the streams now and American NPR kick 2017 off with upfront earfuls of cult veterans Half Japanese, Afro-Caribbean genre-benders Systema Solar and Natalie Hemby, a rootsy, real country (as opposed to Miranda Lambert/Nathan Carter) star in the making.

From the same quality source comes this brilliant Tiny Desk Concert starring Declan McKenna, a young English gentleman who has an Alex Turner-ish way with words.

He’s pulled Bon Iver’s European tour for personal reasons, but Justin Vernon is still most definitely up for curating his own Forbidden Fruit bill this summer. He was in country-ish mood recently when he swung by Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works warehouse venue.

Elbow have served up the first taster from their Little Fictions album, which drops on February 3. ‘All Disco’ was inspired by a conversation Guy Garvey had with ten years ago in Lynchburg, Tennessee with Black Francis.

Also whetting appetites for the March 10 release of their Heartworms long-player are The Shins who go all blisspop on ‘Name For You’.

Dirty Projectors commune with nature in the video for new single, ‘Little Bubble’.

Amidst all the Brexit/alt-Reich gloom comes the terrifically good news that the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, AKA Bill Drummond & The KLF, are back in mischief-making business. Whether they can match their infamous 1994 burning of £1m on the Scottish island of Jura remains to be seen, but you just know the tunes are going to be awesome.

pic.twitter.com/TFvvBTDSb4

— official (@K2PLANTHIRE) January 5, 2017

Black Star Riders have just premiered the video for muscular new 45, 'Testify Or Say Goodbye'.

We can’t wait to cop an eyeful of Underground Inc., a charting of the ‘90s US alternative rock scene featuring the likes of Cop Shoot Cop, BRAD, Helmet, Ministry, Sepultura, Satchel, Fishbone, Sunny Day Real Estate and lots, lots more. “One week Whitney Houston was the number one album, the next it was Nirvana,” reflects the man from Dig. “That changed everything.”

It’s been six long years in the making, but director Mark Shuman has finally completed his Journey Into Dreams film about legendary Bostonian experimentalists, Morphine. Henry Rollins and Joe Strummer both help to tell what is a fascinating tale.

Team Hot Press was saddened by the passing this week of Martin Murphy, drummer with ace Dublin rockers An Emotional Fish. We’d totally forgotten that their ‘Lace Virginia’ video featured an early sighting of Kate Moss…

Sadly, there’s more bad news to end with as word reaches us from Mumbai that veteran Indian actor, Om Puri, has died aged 66 from a heart attack. We’re especially fond of his 1999 movie, East Is East, which featured an immaculate soundtrack. We’ll be re-watching it tonight with a glass of something cheeky in hand…

With that, Free Music Friday downs tools and invites you to keep bombarding @stuartclark66 with links.