Free Music Friday

Short or not, it feels damn good to have another week over and another bumper crop of Free Music Friday tunes to luxuriate in. Add in the small matter of the World Cup being precisely five days away and, well, the atmosphere here in Trinity Street is positively carnival-like.

Some bona fide rock ’n’ roll history was made at the weekend when the Rolling Stones were joined on stage at Rock In Rio in Lisbon by a certain Mr. B. Springsteen.
The version of ‘Tumbling Dice’ that ensued was pretty damn special!

Last week it was Hozier, now it’s Juana Molina’s turn to drop by America’s NPR for a superb semi-acoustic set that’s available for free download.
We couldn’t agree with the accompanying “Molina sounds as if she’d been raised by wolves and discovered the world of music on her own” blurb more.

This week’s star Noise Trade offering is the 14-track Asthmatic Kitty Records sampler featuring old and new tunes from the likes of Half-Handed Cloud, Chris Schlarb, Hermas Zoupula, Fol Chen, Denison Water and label/musical community leader Sufjan Stevens.

There’s also free (but you’re welcome to tip) music from hip dance things Fenech-Soler and Catfish And The Bottlemen, a Welsh outfit reckoned by Mumford & Sons’ Ben Lovett to be “truly one of the most exciting bands I’ve ever heard.”

[link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] sets this week’s streaming agenda with new offerings from Tombs, Verma, Tijuana Panthers, Beaty Heart, Eaux, The Hidden Cameras, Parquet Courts and Knalpot; try First Aid Kit, Jose James, Clipping and Mary Gauthier before you buy at http://www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen; depending on where you and your electronic device happen to be residing, [link]albumstreams.com[/link] can sort you out with new music from Tweedt, Lana Del Rey, Monument Valley, Cathedrals, Library Voices, The Order Of Good Cheer, Motel Raphael, Royal Tusk, Caribou, Tennis, Memory Map, Got A Girl, My Brightest Diamond, Bruno Pronsato, Crystal Stilts, Zella Day, Kasabian and Jack White, and Craft Spells, Lust For Youth, The Atlas Moth, Tomas Barfod and Wreck & Reference are waiting to meet you at [link]pitchfork.com/advance[/link].

Lily Allen shoots… and scores with her unofficial England World Cup anthem, ‘Bass Like Home’. Surely it’s time to forgive 800-years of tyranny and cheer for our near neighbours. No? Okay, so…

Former Everything But The Girl man Ben Watt serves up the third of his Deep Folk mixtapes, which includes choice tunes from the likes of Shearwater, Joni Mitchell and that especially well-known finger in the ear merchant, Brian Eno.

Mixtapery of a somewhat more conventional variety is dished up by Wiz Khalifa who credits Rihanna with inspiring his epic as-many-songs-as-there-is-in-the-title 28 Grams set.

[link]www.datpiff.com/Wiz-Khalifa-28-Grams-mixtape.613330.html[/link]

Love him or loathe him – we’re firmly in the former camp! – it can’t be denied that Morrissey is a genius at rustling up iconic collaborators. Having shared a screen last month with Nancy Sinatra, he’s made another spoken word video with Pamela Anderson featuring lyrics from his new single ‘Earth Is The Loneliest Planet.’
Shot on top of the Capitol Building in Hollywood, it’s culled from Mozza’s World Peace Is None Of Your Business album, which drops here on July 14.

We’re loving our first listen to Stockholm, the debut solo offering from the 62-year young Chrissie Hyde whose voice has never sounded better.
From perfect pop start (‘You Or No One’) to plaintive acoustic finish (‘Adding The Blue’), it’s a stunning piece of work which can be listened to in its entirety at [link]www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/exclusive-stream-of-chrissie-hyndes-new-album-stockholm/story-fniwj43s-1226940394563[/link]
Produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn &… fame, it also features guest riffing from Neil Young and tennis great John McEnroe. No, really!

And that, comrades, is your Free Music Friday lot for another week. As always, @stuartclark66 will gleefully receive any links you’d like to throw our way.