Free Music Friday

To round off an amazing week in which Brian O’Driscoll and his teammates made more sporting history – some of us are less happy about Man United progressing through to the Champions’ League quarter-finals, but hey… – Free Music Friday has straddled oceans and continents to bring you the finest no outlay required tuneage the web has to offer.

Glen Hansard is among the celebrity admirers contributing a cover – he opted for Saved’s ‘Pressing On’ – to Bob Dylan In The ‘80s: Volume One.
Lucius, Built To Spill, Reggie Watts, Craig Finn and Dawn Landes & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy also do the Big Zim proud, as you can hear at [link]music.cbc.ca/#/artists/Various-Bob-Dylan-in-the-80s-Volume-One[/link] stream.

This week’s hot streaming action kicks off at [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] with the latest from Twin Forks, Moonbow, The Cult Of Dom Keller, The Men, Damaged Bug, HARK, Horses On Fire, Lyla Foy and Tycho; [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] is the go-to place for the awesome new Future Islands and Liars records plus the pretty damn decent The Bad Plus, Tho and Yasmine Hamdan ones; depending on where you and your computer happen to call home the bounteous [link]albumstreams.com[/link] delights include Itch, Michael Brock, John Sinclair, Wye Oak, The Horrors, Dustin Zahn, Sia and Ages And Ages, and a visit to [link]pitchfork.com/advancewill[/link] be rewarded with sneak listens to The Range, Tony Molina, Gang Wizard, Horseback, Twilight and the wonderfully named Chimurenga Renaissance.

Dublin AOR-sters The Shoos are back with new single ‘Wide Awake’, which starts off all mean ’n’ moody and then gets its epic gospel rock thing on. If there’s any justice, radio will be all over it like a rash.
It’s taken from their second album, Panic Slowly, which will be getting an Upstairs @ Whelan’s airing on May 9.

Little League Records have released a 27-track name-your-price sampler featuring the likes of Supernormal Prophets, Pencil, Tiny Rainbows, Heliocentric, Ghost In A Sundress, The High Elders, Quirky Love Interest and American Haiku.
It’s very diverse and very good!
There’s also a fancy limited-edition red cassette version limited to just 35 copies, which costs €4 and is available from their Bandcamp.

Blood Red Shoes played an incendiary show this week in Paris’ Gaîté Lyrique, which – yay! – has gone straight to archive.

This week’s Noise Trade treats include a “nice to meet you” three-tracker from Royal Teeth culled from the effervescent Louisiana popsters’ Glow album. They were a guest turn recently on American Idol, but don’t let that put you off.
From Brooklyn comes The Bones Of J.R. Jones whose Reliable The Unreliable EP has a nicely bonkers retro goth feel.
If you’re of a classical disposition, Future Of Forestry have come up with a beautiful string ’n’ piano-driven collection of baroque pop.

They’re not downloadable – boo! – but The Gloaming and Pixies sessions to be found respectively at [link]www.npr.org/blogs/world-cafe/2014/03/18/291127310/the-gloaming-on-world-cafe[/link] and [link]www.npr.org/blogs/world-cafe/2014/02/28/283917350/pixies-on-world-cafe[/link] are both essential listening.

Dublin rockers The Ride Or Die Gang have come up with a real kitchen sink drama of a vid for ‘What About Love’, one of the tracks that features on their Bad Beat Story EP.
If you’re into Van Halen-esque crunching power chords and close harmonies, this is for you!

You can iTune the remarkable acoustic session though from Diane Cluck, a Virginia purveyor of ‘intuitive folk’ who’s got a Marmite voice that we happen to love.

Undertone and Today FM DJ Paul McLoone gets to indulge his Elvis fantasies in the video for The Minutes’ ‘Cherry Bomb’ single.
The man does things with his pelvis that ought to be illegal!

It was rave reviews all round last fortnight as Pulp: A Film About Life, Death And Supermarkets premiered at SXSW. Described by the Hollywood Reporter as “as much a warm and witty love letter to the band’s home city of Sheffield as it is to Pulp itself”, it’ll hit screens here in June and is trailered here.

And that’s yer Free Music Friday lot for another week. We’re protesting against the current cold snap by sitting on our sofas all weekend watching footie. That’ll learn it! Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66