U2, Travis, Noel Fielding & Serge Pizzorno and Sharon Jones lead Free Music Friday charge

Whilst Christmas jumpers are strictly verboten in Hot Press Towers, we’re getting into the festive spirit this week with a veritable selection box of downloads, streams, vids and trailers which demand nothing of your wallet or credit card.
So, dim the lights, pour yourself a glass of Egg Nog, and rejoice in the new Free Music Friday!

Noel Fielding and Kasabian’s Serge Pizzorno are giving away the ‘Can’t Wait For Christmas’ single they’ve recorded under the Loose Tapestries banner. There’s also a guest rap from Idris Elba and a Terry Gilliam-esque - ask your parents! - video. The lyrics are as arch as you’d expect and the tune banging..

Our Noise Trade pals get in the yuletide mood with their 20-track Holiday Mixtape, which features the alt. rocking/folking likes of Sleeping At Last, Jars Of Clay, Jetty Rae, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors and JJ Heller bashing out the Crimbo tunes.

They’re no longer downloadable - boo! - but NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts continue to delight with wonderful new sessions from a Hanukkah-celebrating Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the nine-piece The Oh Hellos and Protomartyrs who’ve a bit of an ‘80s post-punk thing going on.

Them Travis boys are back and giving away their ‘Everything At Once’ single in return for furnishing [link]travisonline.com[/link] with your email address.

Hozier was rocking a very snazzy Christmas jumper when he popped into the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge the other day. Cup of Rosie Lee imbibed, he treated listeners to wondrous versions of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘Jackie And Wilson’
Interviewed by our man Olaf Tyaransen in the soon-to-be-with-you 2016 Hot Press Annual, Hozier treats us to a sneak preview of a new song and reflects on the highlights of what’s been another magical year for him.

To celebrate their running round the country this week with Kodaline, Little Hours have recorded this gorgeous cover of ‘Brand New Day’. Shot in the wilds of Donegal, it features some impressive chunky knitwear.

The much-fancied Otherkin have unveiled the fuzzy VHS-style video for ‘Feel It’, the lead radio track from their 201 EP, which also features Annie Mac-approved debut single ‘AY AY’, ‘20 To 11’ and ‘Love’s A Liability’. Signed to Rubyworks, the same label that looks after Hozier here, the Dublin four-piece have just completed a mega run round the UK (it was no sleep ’till the Hope & Ruin, Brighton!) and are readying themselves for Ash supports in the Roisin Dubh, Galway (December 17); Cyprus Avenue, Cork (18); Dolan’s, Limerick (19) and Empire, Belfast (20). We reckon 2016 is going to be a massive year for the chaps!

It turns out that former soccer guy Alexi Lalas also does a neat line in winsome alt. rock

Due in Dublin on December 13 for their maiden Irish show in Vicar St., EL VY treated KEXP Seattle Radio to a stunning live performance, which you can watch here. It’s a stunning collaboration between Portland musical legend Brent Knopf and moonlighting National man Matt Berninger who’s interviewed in the 2016 Hot Press Annual, coming to a newsstand near you soon!

Free Music Friday is delighted to meet the acquaintance of The Gentleman Outlaws who have Christmas firmly on their minds.

The man with the most productive shed in Ireland, Auxiliary Phoenix, treats us to the absolutely gorgeous ‘Decimated’.

Myles O’Reilly, AKA Arbutus Yarns, will have his All The Young Dudes: Songs In Memory Of Tony Fenton film screened by TV3 on Stephen’s Day. O’Reilly and his camera were down the front in Vicar St. on May 14 for the tribute gig to Tony that included performances from Something Happens, The Stunning, The Minutes, Wallis Bird, Mick Flannery, Jerry Fish, Gavin Glass and The Grand Parade, Mario Rosenstock and Dermot Whelan. Here’s some more of his recent work - the Ye Vagabonds footage was shot while the lads were supporting Glen Hansard in Europe, and will feature in the All Aboard The Good Ship Hansard short film.

Our good pals Cronin have teamed up with Matt McManamon to give Frankie’s ‘The Power Of Love’ a muscular rock ’n’ roll makeover. Better still, you can download it for free. Reverting to their former guise as The Aftermath, the chaps join The Strypes for a December 18 Yuletide party gig in The Fence, Mullingar. Proceeds will help the Mullingar Music Box and the Youth Cafe bankroll their new recording studio, which will benefit up and coming bands and solo acts from all over the region. Admission is a bargain tenner.

It was a fan footage-tastic week on the U2 front with brilliant clips of Eagles Of Death Metal and Patti Smith joining them for ‘People Have The Power’ run throughs in Paris, and Bono and Edge rocking it up in New York at a special World AIDS Day gig.

And that is your Free Music Friday lot for another week. We’re donning our faux reindeer antlers for Therapy? tonight in the Button Factory - be warned: we might be armed with mistletoe - so it will be anything but a silent night. In the meantime, keep those links coming to @stuartclark66