- Music
- 03 Jan 13
Soothe your post-holiday hangover with a plethora of shiny new sonic freebies...
The eggnog is all drunk, the tree is in the skip and Santy realises that he’s got to spend the next 360 days or so with that old battleaxe Mrs. Claus.
T’would be a grim vista were it not for the return of Free Music Friday with a bumper crop of goodies.
We start with new offerings from the Dropkick Murphys, Ahleuchatistas, Alec K. Redfearn & The Eyesores, Beans On Toast, Steve Moore, Sigha, Logreybeam, Soul Asylum and The Maldives await. As ever, the folks at [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] deliver. They’ve also two samplers featuring acts who are showcasing this month at Eurosonic Noorderslag – the Dutch festival that our man Olaf Tyaransen will be reporting back from each day.
[link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] has newbies from Broadcast and Erin McKeown and [link]www.xlr8r.com/mp3[/link] is the go-to place for free dance tunes from Throwing Snow, Daphni, Wankelmut & Emma Louise and Rick Grant.
Among the several trillion ladies trying to sound like Lianne La Havas and Emile Sandé this year is Emilia Mitiku, a household name in Scandinavia who’s now going for international glory. The free Live In London EP at [link]emiliamitiku.com[/link] suggests it’s just a matter of time before we all succumb.
Michael Jackson’s nephew Austin Brown announces himself to the world with the Highway ’85 mixtape. The son of Rebbie Jackson, the 27-year-old sounds like his uncle if he’d been a member of A Tribe Called Quest.
Advertisement
Cat Dowling previews her Karl Odlum-produced The Believer album with the fabulous ‘Somebody Else’. We suspect the former Alphastates woman’s time has finally come!
[link]soundcloud.com/thehistoryofapplepie[/link] has a fine gaggle of tunes from ultra-hip London guitar merchants The History Of Apple Pie who one suspects will be first in the queue for the new My Bloody Valentine album; also justifying the rave reviews at [link]soundcloud.com/thehistoryofapplepie[/link] are Limerick’s Bleeding Heart Pigeons; there’s an ace Modestep remix to be had at [link]www.facebook.com/modestep/app_425636904158476[/link]; Snow Patrol get their electro on at [link]soundcloud.com/tomsp/lifening-burst-to-life-remix[/link];
[link]www.facebook.com/lifeinfilm/app_369196676483003[/link] is home to another belter from jingly jangly Londoners Life In Film; Azealia Banks drops new tune ‘Bad Bitches Do’ at [link]soundcloud.com/azealia-banks/bbd[/link]; and Ewan Pearson turns Jessie Ware’s ‘No To Love’ into a dancefloor stomper at [link]www.facebook.com/jessiewaremusic/app_280705568716124[/link]; sign-up to [link]www.dirteetv.com/#[/link] for a free mixtape from the Mills boy.
Matsuki Ayumu, The Smoking Trees and Beat Mark are the new(ish) signings to Cornershop’s Ample Play Records who have their wares showcased at [link]soundcloud.com/ample-play-records[/link]. There’s also a free download from the last on the list who sound like a garage-y Mamas & The Papas. Which is an extremely good thing!
Shola Quadri, the Dublin Rapper Also Known As ShoBiz, kicks 2013 off by gifting fans the excellent ‘Games And Bosses’
We’re also mightily impressed with this spoken word piece from fellow Irish hip hopper Bitter Rocc.
Advertisement
Pulp have handed their decade-old ‘After You’ demo over to James Murphy who’s turned it into a thoroughly modern slice of Jarvis pop whimsy.
School Of Seven Bells, Com Truise, Shigeto, Choir Of Young Believers, Mux Mool and label boss Matthew Dear all feature on the free [link]www.theghostlystore.com/collections/music-free/products/ghostly-2012[/link] download sampler.
Nina Hynes returns to the fray as one-half of Dancing Suns, the other member being Fabien Leseure who we’re suspecting is not Irish. Recorded in Brussels and Berlin, Goldmine is a delight from start (‘The World’) to finish (‘Over The Line’).
“Sweet Valley is a Bermuda Triangle-like place, where cannabis crumbs, spilt beer, record dust and that mysterious shit you had to blow out of game cartridges all collect as if pulled by some gigantic junkyard magnet.”
So reads the promo blurb for this fabulous Wavves offshoot.
Team Coco treat you to a stream of the new Dropkick Murphys album at [link]teamcoco.com/content/dropkick-murphys-signed-and-sealed-in-blood-exclusive-album-preview[/link]. Free Music Friday think it’s sub-Pogues Oirish poo but you may feel otherwise…
The hippest name to drop in hip hop circles at the mo is Joey Bada$$, the teenage Brooklynite who together with his Progressive Era homies has a free mixtape available from [link]proera.tumblr.com/post/38495551842[/link]
There’s more hot mixtape action to be had at [link]www.hulkshare.com/6q94e09wgoao[/link]courtesy of the impressively whiskered Action Jackson; Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige’s mate 9thWonder weighs in at [link]batshare.com/qs52qidpigj0[/link] with Black American Gangster; and Kool Keith debuts the modestly titled Total Orgasm 2 below.
Advertisement
A hip hop name you’ll be hearing lots of in 2013 is Grip Playaz, a disgustingly youthful Atlanta MC who’s been on ‘repeat’ in the FMF office.
DJ Shadow was understandably a mite miffed last month when he was kicked off the decks at a commercial EDM club in Florida for being “too hard”. And no, they weren’t referring to the content of his trousers! Here’s the set the gobshites objected to:
The Portland Cello Project treat us to a full rendition of Song Reader, the album Beck released in sheet music form last year. Formerly signed to Kill Rock Stars, the collective have collaborated in the past with The Dandy Warhols, Emily Wells and Dan Bern.
Dave Hartley takes a sabbatical from War On Drugs to release the debut album from his psych-folk outfit Nightlands. Check out a previous EP below.
Bearsville, NY resident Matt Pond is giving away his The Natural Lines EP – although if you’d like to leave a little something in the tip jar he’d be much obliged! Around in various guises since 1998, he makes an alt-folk noise that Band Of Horses, Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver fans will appreciate.
Advertisement
Also new from the Noise Trade stable is the eponymous EP from Sooner The Sunset, an American boy/girl duo who are equal parts The Civil Wars and Of Monsters & Men.
Boy are a female (of course!) duo who’ve sold over 100,000 albums in their native Germany and are now launching themselves internationally with the gorgeous Regina Spektor-esque Music From… EP.
This week’s visual treats start with the retrotastic vid for ‘Merry Go Round’, the breakthrough US single from Texan country sensation Kacey Musgraves. A tale of trailer parks, cheating dads and mums hooked on hillbilly heroin, it’s the first entry on our ‘Best Of 2013’ list!
Advertisement
Damien Rice’s cello-playing pal Vyvienne Long and jazzy Slane resident Shannon both guest on ‘Tell Me Your Name’, the debut offering from The Evora.
And that is where we must sadly bring the curtain down on the first Free Music Friday of 2013. Comments and links please to @stuartclark66