- Music
- 05 Feb 15
Villagers, Hozier, O Emperor and Delorentos lead the charge for a decidedly green FMF...
Currently stocking up on Deep Heat ahead of tomorrow's Six Nations opener in Rome – you really ought to give smearing yourself in the stuff pre-game a go! – Free Music Friday has some scrumming attractions of its own with a championship-winning array of tunes, vids and trailers.
Jumping straight this week into the streams, Screaming Females, The Dodos, The Subways, The Notwist, Twerps, Guster, Esmé Patterson, Alasdair Roberts and the magnificently monikered You're Smiling Now But We'll All Turn Into Demons are previewing their respective new offerings at [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/albums.html[/link]; [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] is the go-to place for J.D. McPherson, Paperhaus, Rhiannon Giddens, Quarterbacks and Diana Krall; if you're in the right place [link]albumstreams.com[/link] can sort you out with Vaults, Blind Guardian, Fat Mike, Ashley Shadow, Marina & The Diamonds, Kind Of Like Spitting, Modest Mouse and Jennie Abrahamson; [link]www.theguardian.com/music/series/album-streams[/link] has upfront listens to Indiana and Gaz Coombes, and making waves at [link]www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?_r=3&[/link] is veteran rapper Sisqo.
John C. Reilly proves he can play swoonsome old-timey country as well as act with this download session, which features a selection of church and porch tunes from American days of yore.
We're also loving We Are The Music Makers: Preserving The Soul Of America's Music, an 11-track sampler featuring tracks from such magnificently named ladies and gents as Cootie Stark, Essie Mae Brooks, Whistlin' Britches and Willa Mae Buckner who've been making fabulous music down south for decades without always receiving the wider recognition they deserve.
Also new and notable this week from Noise Trade are collections from Liza Anne, a Nashville resident with a winsome streak a mile long; Morrow who are no relation to James Vincent Mc and make a Coldplay-esqe noise that for once doesn't grate, and Edinburgh strummers Duke Of Norfolk who sound a bit like a sedated Josh Ritter. Which, chaps, is most definitely a compliment!
League Of Legends game players can get a free download of its swooping 'n' soaring soundtrack from [link]promo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/music-of-league[/link]
FMF is still trying to master Sonic The Hedgehog, but the music really is fab.
Hot Press' old pals O Emperor are giving away ace new tune 'Switchblade', which with its fuzzbox vocals and jangly riffing rather puts us in mind of that first Strokes album.
Also in generous mood is Eoin Dolan, a Galway singer-songwriter whose free Placid Ocean EP is a slowburning delight.
Before embarking on a Libertines reunion tour that includes a Dublin 3Arena show, Carl Barat is releasing Let It Reign with his other band The Jackals. The latest taster is 'A Storm Coming', a glorious racket of a tune, which features some vintage porn in the accompanying video.
As the late February release of his Gliss Riffer album nears, we were reminded of the wonderfully bonkers Wish Book Vol.1 EP that Dan Deacon has available for free download.
Father John Misty, AKA former Fleet Foxes drummer Josh Tillman, has a load of back catalogue treats available for free http://www.fatherjohnmisty.com/sap download. If you like what you hear - and FMF thinks you will, lots - his new I Love You, Honeybear album is out today. Whilst there check out the rest of his somewhat unconventional website.
Seattle's fabulous KEXP Radio has free tunes from local hopefuls Summer Cannibals, Au.Ra, Is Tropical and Doldrums at [link]blog.kexp.org[/link]
They're a talented bunch up there on the northwestern seaboard!
She's been feted as the "indie Loretta Lynn", and South Carolina's Nikki Lane delivers with new album All Or Nothin', which came out last year in the States but is only dropping here now. We feel a bit of a crush developing!
Ethereal Brighton hip hoppers Iyes have some sonic loveliness available at [link]www.unlock.fm/182[/link]
Villagers and Delorentos treat us to ace new promos, which add weight to Mark from The Minutes' Soapbox missive in the new Hot Press calling for Irish TV to come up with a modern day version of No Disco.
Hozier had slipped off the radar recently - where's that sarcasm font when you need it? - so it was good to see him in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge this week covering Ariana Grande's 'Problem'.
Of the several trillion covers of 'Take Me To Church' to have appeared on YouTube, this one by L.A.'s Jaclyn Glenn is by far and away the best. The "new 'It' girl in the atheist community" apparently, she includes Richard Dawkins - see pictorial proof - among her admirers and can routinely be found "laying the smackdown on Muslim extremists, anti-gay bigots, and anyone else with an ignorant outdated dogma that needs to be crushed." We're intrigued!
Free Music Friday is delighted to make the acquaintance of Gloryhound who've just broken into the Canadian top 20 with this Willie Nile co-written belter.
And with that Free Music Friday returns to its pre-rugby prep, with the small matter of a Merseyside derby to also look forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be painting the town a celebratory blue afterwards. In the meantime, keep those links coming to @stuartclark66