This one's for you V...
This marks the first time that I recommend a local upstart band and hopefully it will not be the last time. Granville is made up of a bunch of guys I knew through my high school years that have really come into their own as musicians and also probably the only local artist I can think of to offer free music. The music fits into an interesting mesh of rock and ambient/trance with strong southern guitar and synth leading most tracks. Makes for some great chill music...
They've got a few tracks that are really worth checking out spread across two EPs on bandcamp. The first is their demo EP which costs $5 as a whole album but 6 of the 9 tracks are free as individual mp3s. The second EP contains remixes of a few songs on the other EP but are not a good starting place for their music. Try the other stuff first and come back if interested. And as always I hope you enjoy some great music!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
He Is We
Hooray for two really obscure bands today!! I have said before among friends that I am not fond of female vocalists and for the most part that can be true. Too many female singers in my opinion either feel that they have to be a diva and go crazy with pitch and tone and often leave the actual melody unattended or can only sing in high pitches with little control over their voice levels or pitch. I love to be proven wrong on this front and enjoy finding great female singers both in and out of the mainstream. Singers like Sarah McLachlan, Annette Olzon and Tarja Turunen (of Nightwish), and Amy Lee (Evanescence) are great for some variety in my music but one female vocalist has really caught my attention recently.
This awesome band simply titled "HE IS WE" initially popped up in one of my internet raids for music and sadly ended up in my back catalog. After listening to the handful of free tracks available on purevolume, I went digging to find more and ended up finding a whole album available for free off of their bandcamp page. The music borders on acoustic with the strong leading vocals filling in for all the other instruments that would normally be in a band. Her voice is vulnerable yet strong and carries real weight (try a cover of "House of the Rising Sun" in the bandcamp album for a great example.) They seem to be gaining a following but are still relatively small (only one song on iTunes? Really??) Seriously, give them a try and enjoy whether or not female singers are your thing!
This awesome band simply titled "HE IS WE" initially popped up in one of my internet raids for music and sadly ended up in my back catalog. After listening to the handful of free tracks available on purevolume, I went digging to find more and ended up finding a whole album available for free off of their bandcamp page. The music borders on acoustic with the strong leading vocals filling in for all the other instruments that would normally be in a band. Her voice is vulnerable yet strong and carries real weight (try a cover of "House of the Rising Sun" in the bandcamp album for a great example.) They seem to be gaining a following but are still relatively small (only one song on iTunes? Really??) Seriously, give them a try and enjoy whether or not female singers are your thing!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Cage The Elephant
I finally feel like I can feature an artist that hasn't been in the top 40... and I am loving it!!! That and one of my best sources for good punk just cut all of its stock for some reason with bands like Bad Religion, Rancid, Pennywise, Millencolin, Bouncing Souls, Dropkick Murphys, etc... Pity. And in the spirit of keeping things obscure, I thought I'd feature Cage the Elephant!! Wait... they aren't obscure anymore? They have a song that has been featured in television shows, commercials, movies, and videogames like Borderlands? Oh well.
Daytrotter has a four song live recording including "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" and all of them are great quality. If you haven't signed up, it's simple and there is tons of music to sort through. And Spinner is also offering another free single, "Tiny Little Robots." I get the feeling that these guys are only going to get bigger from here. Enjoy!!
Daytrotter has a four song live recording including "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" and all of them are great quality. If you haven't signed up, it's simple and there is tons of music to sort through. And Spinner is also offering another free single, "Tiny Little Robots." I get the feeling that these guys are only going to get bigger from here. Enjoy!!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Plain White T's
One more big name band before I switch things up some more. Everyone knows "Hey There Delilah" but there is more to this band than just a one hit wonder. When they aren't being acoustic balladeers, they play alternative rock with Fearless Records who were kind enough to share a couple songs from their first album with the studio. The album "All That We Needed" has free mp3s for the title track and "Take Me Away." DO NOT BE FOOLED!!! Other albums from the band on the site say they have free mp3s but they are just 30 second previews. I really like the song "Take Me Away" and I would have posted the music vid but the video itself is quite tasteless in my opinion. Daytrotter also has a live EP with the band from early last year. Sorry for no vid this time but I couldn't find anything good...
Rogue Wave
In keeping with the big name bands recently, I thought I'd pull out another with a lot of songs to offer. Rogue Wave is a band that seems to keep popping up when mentioning indie rock and for good reason. The music is great, the vibe is unique, and the free music is always appreciated. Purevolume has 4 songs from various albums on their profile although not quite sure if it is really the band's... Anyway, Daytrotter on the other hand has 2 free live EPs, one recorded in early 2008 and the other in July of this year. One of the only bands to be featured on Daytrotter twice might I add... If you're new to Daytrotter, sign up is easy although downloads will take place through an odd external program that you will have to download. Enjoy!! (Sorry for the lack of things to say...)
Housekeeping (Not a Band)
Hey peoples!! I have a couple things to say before I jump into the music this week.
Firstly, I love being able to share this music with anyone who has stumbled their way here and hope to continue to deliver the content that I've promised. But it is a little hard to judge how to maintain things without any feedback... So I'm opening the floodgates to anyone willing to respond for open comments, criticisms, conversations, whatever! Please, if you are enjoying this site (or hate it) contact me through this site or through my facebook and tell me what you think. Do you want something changed? A genre I've overlooked? A poor choice in music that you want to tell me off on? Go ahead!!! No matter how trivial, every comment helps.
Secondly, I want to stress how some of the material I am posting are temporary items. I know that some of the links or files that I have posted have since gone dormant or have been removed and I will try my best to update older pages to show which have gone down. Also tell me if you find any... Enjoy everything you can!!
And lastly, I hope you enjoy this site (notice how I like the word "enjoy".) If I'm keeping track correctly, then I have posted somewhere in the ballpark of 300 songs (!!!!) already with so much more on the way. Keep checking in and... I'll let you fill in the blank.
Firstly, I love being able to share this music with anyone who has stumbled their way here and hope to continue to deliver the content that I've promised. But it is a little hard to judge how to maintain things without any feedback... So I'm opening the floodgates to anyone willing to respond for open comments, criticisms, conversations, whatever! Please, if you are enjoying this site (or hate it) contact me through this site or through my facebook and tell me what you think. Do you want something changed? A genre I've overlooked? A poor choice in music that you want to tell me off on? Go ahead!!! No matter how trivial, every comment helps.
Secondly, I want to stress how some of the material I am posting are temporary items. I know that some of the links or files that I have posted have since gone dormant or have been removed and I will try my best to update older pages to show which have gone down. Also tell me if you find any... Enjoy everything you can!!
And lastly, I hope you enjoy this site (notice how I like the word "enjoy".) If I'm keeping track correctly, then I have posted somewhere in the ballpark of 300 songs (!!!!) already with so much more on the way. Keep checking in and... I'll let you fill in the blank.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Thrice
Another mainstream band, another punk influenced past, and another drastic departure from older material. Thrice is a band that can be depicted as many things: a great alterna-rock band, that band with a song in Tony Hawk and Burnout, or in the case of some people I know - a band that can't put on a live show. Whether or not that be the case, they do have a great thing going right now and with songs like "Image of the Invisible" I can understand why.
Once again thanks to Vagrant Records, several tracks from the albums under that label are available as free mp3s. Unlike Alkaline Trio's tracks, these are the newest albums to be released and can be different from people's past experience with the band. The 4 disc EP entitled "The Alchemy Index" is a radical departure from Thrice's normal sound especially in the last 2 discs. I bought the second half (Disc 3 and 4) as an impulse purchase and have come to thoroughly enjoy it as one of my favorite albums of the past couple years. The music is more toned back, almost an acoustic sound for much of it, and has a specific evocative theme for each disc. Disc 3 focuses on the element of Air and an ethereal and disconnected sound while Disc 4 focuses on the element of Earth with a much harsher western sound and darker tones. A fierce departure from their normal sound and style but a beautiful experiment nonetheless. PLEASE check the video for "Come All Ye Weary" from Disc 4 of "The Alchemy Index" below!
And for those looking for a slightly more traditional Thrice sound, Daytrotter has a free four track live recording from the beginning of the year. Daytrotter is a great site featuring exclusive live recordings with indie or lesser known artists as free downloads but will require a simple registration and a small exterior program to download the music. Enjoy!!!
Once again thanks to Vagrant Records, several tracks from the albums under that label are available as free mp3s. Unlike Alkaline Trio's tracks, these are the newest albums to be released and can be different from people's past experience with the band. The 4 disc EP entitled "The Alchemy Index" is a radical departure from Thrice's normal sound especially in the last 2 discs. I bought the second half (Disc 3 and 4) as an impulse purchase and have come to thoroughly enjoy it as one of my favorite albums of the past couple years. The music is more toned back, almost an acoustic sound for much of it, and has a specific evocative theme for each disc. Disc 3 focuses on the element of Air and an ethereal and disconnected sound while Disc 4 focuses on the element of Earth with a much harsher western sound and darker tones. A fierce departure from their normal sound and style but a beautiful experiment nonetheless. PLEASE check the video for "Come All Ye Weary" from Disc 4 of "The Alchemy Index" below!
And for those looking for a slightly more traditional Thrice sound, Daytrotter has a free four track live recording from the beginning of the year. Daytrotter is a great site featuring exclusive live recordings with indie or lesser known artists as free downloads but will require a simple registration and a small exterior program to download the music. Enjoy!!!
Alkaline Trio
I realize that I've been covering a lot of indie artists when I also promised to follow mainstream bands so I'll put up a few big names over the next few weeks. Alkaline Trio has some pretty humble punk roots and have blown into a very mainstream band lately. Thankfully for those interested in free music, their older record label (Vagrant Records) has an impressive spattering of free songs from their older material. In the media page, each album listed has 1-2 free songs. As can be the case with punk, the material can be hit or miss from song to song but these are pretty good tracks with personal recommendations for "Mercy Me" and "Armageddon."
And before I finish, the title track from their newest album "This Addiction" is available for free from Spinner. The newer stuff has a heavier emo feel and sounds all too familiar to many other bands but is still good. Best of both worlds, huh? Enjoy!!
UPDATE: Turns out I forgot other sources of music. There are other record labels that have hosted Alkaline Trio but not many offer free music. This one has two free tracks from a dual album with another artist.
And before I finish, the title track from their newest album "This Addiction" is available for free from Spinner. The newer stuff has a heavier emo feel and sounds all too familiar to many other bands but is still good. Best of both worlds, huh? Enjoy!!
UPDATE: Turns out I forgot other sources of music. There are other record labels that have hosted Alkaline Trio but not many offer free music. This one has two free tracks from a dual album with another artist.
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