Free Music Friday

Never before has Free Music Friday basked quite so lazily in the sunshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine, as Liam Gallagher once so eloquently put it. Inbetween sipping tall drinks with umbrellas and a fruit basket in 'em, we've managed to assemble another top notch cocktail of downloads, streams and vids to suit every taste.
Can we interest you in a 36-track mixtape from the acts playing at next month's Bonaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee? Yes? Excellent! Step this way for a whopper featuring the incandescently hot likes of Courtney Barnett, AWOLNATION, Brandi Carlile, Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Districts, Guster, Run The Jewels, Trampled By Turtles, Benjamin Echo, Sylvan Esso, Against Me! and lots more.

The monster compilations keep on coming with Brooke Waggoner, The Vespers, Christa Wells, Dida, Amy Stroup, Maggie Chapman and Katie Herzig among those contributing to Noble Women, which accompanies the American release of the Deirdre O'Kane-starring Noble. Read Olaf Tyaransen's remarkable interview with the woman whose life it documents here.

Discover why Beach Slang and Chadwick Stokes are both extremely hot properties in the States with the free download sessions they recorded this week for NPR. The former's mainman James Snyder peddles a neat line in gravel-throated acoustic punk while Mr. Stokes sounds like a folksier Paul Simon.

To the streams now and [link]3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/albums.html[/link] has new offerings from Sufjan Stevens, The Dirty Aces, The Mountain Goats, Calexico, GFJF, Tori Y Moi, Josh Rouse and a load of really cool Dutch acts; [link]www.npr.org/series/98679384/first-listen[/link] lets you feast on San Fermin, Alabama Shakes, Speedy Ortiz, Built To Spill, Squarepusher and The Alchemist & Oh No; [link]www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/13/skinny-lister-down-on-deptford-broadway-exclusive-album-stream[/link] has the Down On Deptford Broadway newbie from riotous London folkies Skinny Lister, and the quality over quantity 
[link]www.nytimes.com/interactive/arts/music/pressplay.html?_r=3&[/link] wants you to hear Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers' blissful Loved Wild Lost. And by the way, Gramblers is not a tipogrophical orror.
HP pal Viv Albertine and legendary dub man Dennis Bovell tell the story of The Slits' genre-bending punk-era masterpiece 'New Town' in this superb mini-doc.

Bitter Rocc and Lethal Dialect go all outdoorsy on the vid for Mr. D's '26 Laws', which also features the delicious vocal stylings of Jess Kav.

"Ever chased a girl who's too hot for you?"  enquire Keywest with the video for new single 'All My Mistakes'. Taking them all the way from Dublin's Grand Social venue to Venice Beach, it's made us even more convinced that the chaps are going to be massive. The answer to the question by the way being, "Yep, almost on a weekly basis."

Elsewhere, in La-La-Land, Gavin James performs 'The Book Of Love' atop the iconic Capitol Records building. Proof positive that our man is really going up in the world!

Rappers from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia have recorded a track called 'Unity' in response to the recent wave of xenophobic violence in Durban.
"I'm so ashamed right now to be called South African," says local hip hopper Prinston. "How ignorant are we? What is happening in our streets right now stems from our leaders. How do we forget this and act like it didn't just happen; do we want this as part of our history?
"This is definitely going to affect our economy in a negative way. Every person living on this continent is our brothers and sisters; i'm so disappointed. I wish we could do more instead of post these updates on social media."

Mixtape of the Week goes to Trey Songz who unexpectedly gifted us this ace Intermission set as an apology for postponing the release of his official new album. Apology accepted!

Seasick Steve has come up with this super-cool puppet vid for his new single, 'Roy's Gang'.

And here's another super-cool puppet vid from our old pals Rubberbandits and Gabriel Byrne. We'll have more from the chaps in the Hot Press Best Of Ireland 2015 special, which will be hitting shelves in a fortnight.

It's Record Store Day tomorrow, so here to celebrate are offerings from Johnny Marr and Stephen Hawking - yes, that Stephen Hawking! - which you'll be able to find in limited quantities in all good vinyl emporia.


And with that, we rub a little more Factor 15 into our bronzed bodies and wish you a happy weekend. Keep those links coming to @stuartclark66