Free Music Friday

We’re all adults, right? Man United being dumped out of the League Cup by lowly Sunderland shouldn’t be an excuse for childish crowing and ner-ner-ner-ner-nerring by Everton fans in David Moyes’ direction. We should show the once proud but now mid-table Red Devils compassion and indeed pity during these difficult times.

Okay, sporting matters dealt with – oh dear, Craig Fitzpatrick is throttling Stuart Clark with his ‘I Love Sir Alex’ scarf – our favourite Free Music Friday thing this week is the new split-7” from Out On A Limb/Popical Island recording artistes windings and Land Lovers. A mini nationwide tour is being embarked on to support the vinyl release while you can fill your digital boots here.

From boots to what lies beneath them and the aforementioned Mr. C is the unlikely subject of the Prefab Sprout-sampling ‘The Lost Socks Of Stuart Clark’, the latest genius offering from Auxiliary Phoenix who really shouldn’t be massaging our Assistant Editor’s already ginormous ego!

[link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] has new album streams from Hospitality, Dum Dum Girls, Angélique Kidjo, Laura Cantrell, Quilt and The Autumn;  Upfront tuneage from Milky Chance, Young The Giant, The Polyphonic Spree, Thee Oh Sees, Indian and Jon Kwest x Munchi can be found at [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link]; depending on where you and your computer happen to be residing, [link]albumstreams.com[/link] lets you try Peggy Sue, Dossier Negro,White Sea, The Anchoress, Thurston Moore, Color War, Nina Persson, Snowbird, Drowners, Uncle Tupelo and Cities Aviv before you buy, and [link]www.theguardian.com/music/series/album-streams[/link] has an exclusive playback of Ásgeir’s In The Silence, which has a touch of the Icelandic James Vincent McMorrows about it! 

Those nice Noise Trade people want you to meet Jeremy Fisher, an Ottawa singer-songwriter whose Live At Catherine North album explains all the favourable John Mayer and Bob Dylan comparisons.

Also getting the alt-folk ‘thumbs up’ is Get To Know, a four-track sampler from Jonah Tolchin who’s signed to the same US label as Bell X1, Yep Roc.

Gulf Shores, Alabama’s fabulous looking Hangout festival has a monster 24-track sampler featuring such coming 2014 attractions as Jack Johnson, The 1975, Pretty Lights, The Avett Brothers, Balkan Beat Box, Moon Taxi and Los Lobos.

Glen Hansard is among those contributing to Bob Dylan In The ’80s: Volume One, which according to ATO Records is deigned to “highlight Dylan’s most ignored, understood, and maligned decade.” Glen tackles ‘Pressing On’ from Saved, his 1980 Born Again offering, which landed outside the top 20 in the States but has recently been reappraised.
Also getting in on the Big Zim act are Aaron Freeman of Ween & Slash, Reggie Watts, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Lucius, Langhorne Slim, The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, Deer Tick, Dawn Landes, Blitzen Trapper, Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket, Elvis Perkins and Built To Spill whose take on ‘Jokerman’ is available as a free sampler download.
The album itself drops on March 23.

One of our new issue’s Hot For 2014 picks, The Bohicas, have their fab ‘Swarm’/‘Crush Me’ double-whammy available for free [link]www.dominorecordco.com/thebohicas[/link] download. PLAY LOUD!!!!

Elaine Mai has come up with a pretty damn genius remix of Cat Dowling’s ‘Somebody Else’. If enough DJs of taste and discerning pick up on it, we could have another rebooted dancefloor smash à la Lykke Li’s ‘I Will Follow’ on our hands!

Duck Sauce - AKA  A-Trak and Armand Van Helden – are back with a new EP, the charmingly titled Duck Droppings, which is available for free download. 
If ‘Louie The First’ sounds familiar, that’s because it contains a juicy sample from Hot Chocolate classic ‘Brother Louie’. 
So go on now, shake your tail feathers!

[link]www.rollingstone.com/music/daily-download[/link] is the go-to place for freebies from Fever The Ghost, Outlands, John The Conqueror, Warm Soda and pop ’n’ funk’s hardest working man, Nile Rodgers, whose latest musical hook-up is with The EEL.
Sarah Packiam demonstrates why she’s on many a ‘Big In 2014’ list with quality new – and free – single, ‘Before I Fall’.
Born in Greystones to an Irish mother and Indian musician dad, Packiam won the 2fm National Song Contest aged 14 and signed to EMI Records. Leaving home four years later, she lived in Spain and Holland before pitching up in Miami where she fell in with Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jon Secada. 
Following a spell  – the story gets better and better! - as Shakira’s backing-singer, Sarah decided to embark on a solo career, which has seen her support the likes of Smashmouth and Jason Mraz.
The accompanying video was shot in her friend’s swimming pool, suggesting she’s made the right lifestyle choices!

SARAH PACKIAM before i fall from iván Garcia on Vimeo.

Fresh from speaking inordinate amounts of sense about the Limerick rap censorship row – you’ll find the story on the [link]hotpress.com[/link] archive – Rubberbandits have treated us to this fab video for equally fab new tune, ‘Dad’s Best Friend’.
It's a banging techno thumper with a tantalising hint of auto-eroticism and some commendably gruesome SFX towards the end.
By the way, the chaps assure us that no spiders were injured in its making.

And that’s where the Free Music Friday hook has to be slung for another week. We would wish David Moyes and Man U all the best for tomorrow in the FA Cup but, of course, they’ve been knocked out of it by fellow Premier League strugglers Swansea. Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66 whose attentions at the moment are focused on Seamus Coleman’s hamstring.