Free Music Friday

Whether or not you managed to see the sun get mooned this morning, it's time to stop looking up to the heavens and get back to the business of investigating the latest tunes on offer here on earth. No major digging is required – as ever, we've assembled together this week's finest free tunage in one handy package for you.
Our favourite FMF thing this week is 'Wasteman', a killer new tune from the Rusangano Family, AKA Limerick 'n' Clare crew MuRli, God Knows and mynameisjOhn. Get it at [link]www.okayafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/Rusangano-Family-Wasteman.mp3[/link]
Catch 'em live tonight in the Dublin Workman's Club.

Mastodon look like they could be cast members but otherwise the connection between Game Of Thrones and the artists gracing its spinoff Season 5 mixtape - Method Man, Talib Kwesi, Snoop Dogg, Raquel Sofia and Ty Dolla $ign among them - appears a trifle tenuous. It does make for some very intriguing listening though!
Download the lot here.
Swans, Ben Frost, Swans, Sam Amidon, the Dublin-bound Rhiannon Giddens and The National's Bryce Dessner & Kronos Quartet are among the bounteous delights on the Big Ears Festival Mixtape 2015, a primer for Knoxville, Tennessee's March 27-29 celebration of all things electronic and left of centre.

Also new and recommended from the Noise Trade stable are a generous 24-track introduction to neo-soulster Kan Wakan; a four-tracker from Georgia's twangtastic Lauren St. Jane; Sketchbook, a mini-album of tunes from Oviedo, Florida's Florence-alike Lilly Van Sickle, and a live Seahorse Session from Sam Morrow who might just be the missing link between Damien Rice and Ray Lamontagne.






Free Music Friday bids a tearful farewell to Groom, the Popical Islanders  who are giving away their final single, 'Another Day', to coincide with their Friday March 20 swan song gig in Whelan's. Thanks chaps for some excellent memories.

To the streams now and Lightning Bolt, Portable Sunsets, Ghold, The Skints, Douglas Firs, Will Butler, Johnny Dowd and Cancer For Bats await your [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/albums.html[/link] delectation; [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] adds Buena Vista Social Club, Laura Marling, Liturgy, JEFF The Brotherhood and The Go! Team to the mix; depending on where today finds you and your device, [link]albumstreams.com[/link] has the latest from The Staves, Chirping, Django Django, Them Are Us Too, Jimmy Whispers, Father, Gabrielle Papillon, Annalibera, Bad Veins, Hayden, Of Monsters And Men, Etiquette, White Cowbell, Death Cab For Cutie, Jam City, Mark Knopfler and Aidan Moffat; [link]www.theguardian.com/music/series/album-streams[/link] is the go-to place for Lonelady and The Cribs, and [link]www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?_r=3&[/link] really wants you to listen to Them Are Us Too, a Californian drone-meets-shoegaze duo who we're expecting great things of.
NPR also treat us to a download set from The Punch Brothers, Brooklynite purveyors of alt. bluegrass with the occasional chamber music classical twist. As you might suspect from that description, they really don't sound like too many other people around at the moment.

Team Hot Press is loving 'Lucid Dreaming', the new tune from alt. hopper Emzee A. Currently based in Navan but moving soon to Dublin, A tells us: "With my best friend experiencing sleep paralysis, I've taken a big interest in how the mind works when in a dream state with the help of the book Dreams by Carl Gustav Jung; a must-read!" A video shot with Bob Gallagher, who's also responsible for Girl Band's 'Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage' and Simi Crown's 'Pressure' promos, premieres o Sunday. "I can't wait to share it, looks cool as fuck" he enthuses.

That most superstar of DJs, Calvin Harris, invites others to exercise their fader-fingers by making a cappella versions of 'Blame', 'Summer', 'Outside', 'Feel So Close' and 'Sweet Nothing' available for free download.

Slaine marked Paddy's Day with a House Of Slaine: For The Love Of The Irish mix that was assembled with Danny Boy and DJ Lethal from the original House Of Pain. Despite the title, it's a funkily jazzy affair that doesn't overdo the blarney.
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Here's the first taster from Can't Forget: A Souvenir Of The Grand Tour, a 10-track collection of rarities either performed in front of an audience or during soundcheck by Leonard Cohen on his recent Old Ideas trek. 'Never Gave Nobody Trouble' is one of two new Cohen originals, the other being 'Got A Little Secret'. Due in early May, it includes takes on George Jones' 'Choices' and Georges Dor's 'La Manic' that he's never attempted.

Hot Press fave Rainy Boy Sleep whets appetites for his 'Manchester Post' single and video with this 'making of' clip, which suggests serious fun was had by all, not least Stevie himself.

Muse serve up this first everything including the kitchen-sink taster from their Drones album. Let's hope those Dublin stadium gig rumours are true...