Secret Ocean

For those that like anything Japanese or just something that sounds unique, then I highly recommend this free album from a Japanese band named Secret Ocean. It is fully enjoyable without understanding Japanese so don't worry... The band fits into a unique style of pop that borders on acoustic folk with an emphasis on acoustic guitar and bongo-like drums. A well put-together album with strong vocals (even if you don't understand them) and rhythms to chill along with. Also vaguely reminiscent of Katamari Damacy (if any of you know what that is...)

The whole album is available for free at Jamendo. The site may ask you to sign up for a mailing list but that is well worth what you're getting out of the deal. Really worth checking out!!! Enjoy!

UPDATE: Turns out I was wrong, this is not the full album. The whole thing is available through iTunes with six more tracks that seem to be just as good and I would highly recommend purchasing the full album if you enjoyed the other tracks. Sorry for the mistake.

Tips to Finding Your Own Free Music

I wanted to do this from the start to let you search reasonably for your favorite bands without cheating. I sort of have a list of what and where to check if I want music from a band and I thought you might appreciate the advise.

1st stop: Band's website

Always a great place to start. Find out more about them, check the media or songs or albums section for possible mp3s or other fun goodies, and check the news sections that will sometimes have links to other websites that might have music.

2nd stop: Band's Record Label Website

Not many people try this but either the band's website or a quick wiki search will pull up all record labels they have worked with. Lots of labels will offer free music from their bands as a promotional tool. One of the general rules usually is the bigger the label, the less likely to find free music. If they are owned by a company like Sony or Warner or something similar, move on.

3rd Stop: Purevolume.com

Probably my favorite site for music discoveries! Tons of bands have profiles through purevolume and a lot offer free music as incentives. The site even has a chart feature for bands offering downloads (signed and unsigned). Word of caution here though because sometimes fans make profiles and upload music for download that is completely illegal. Tips to find the real deal: if labeled "Pro" at the top (if they are professional), labeled "On Tour", has an actual band description or a decent picture, links to the real band site or itunes. These are definitely safer bets but it can still be hard to tell...

4th stop: Band's Myspace or Facebook

Myspace has closed its mp3s for download but that doesn't mean that some artists won't still find ways around that. A lot of bands will offer special promotions or pre-releases to fans through myspace or facebook and occasionally even twitter so consider adding them.

5th stop: Various other music hosting sites

There are tons of other sites out there like Shockhound, Jamendo, Stereogum, Amazon's free mp3 section, LastFM, Soundclick, and others. Some of these sites might require membership. I'll update as I find and remember more...

6th stop: Google search

The reason this is so far down the list is the temptations are too great and the searches usually too broad. Warning!!! Do not open any sites with mp3 in the name or anything involving torrents. These are mostly completely illegal!! Because google has modifiers be sure to put a - in front of any word that you don't want popping up. I would suggest adding it with the words lyrics and torrent.

Enjoy these tips to finding your own music. If you find anything good, tell me.