Archive for September, 2005
I’ve held onto to these guys far too long. I discovered them earlier this summer and should have made it a priority to post about them much, much sooner. This talented UK trio South generously makes 6 MP3s available on their flash site under the Downloads section and, boy, are they doozies. My two favorites are the groovy yet smooth, 60s-tinged “Loosen Your Hold” and also the stunning acoustic “Motiveless Crime“. South reminds me of the best parts of at least half a dozen Manchester acts who appeared on the scene in the early 90s (and whom I could almost never keep straight): The Virve, Charlatans, Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Beloved, Inspiral Carpets to name a few. And although South is a London-based band, they have captured that pure musical essence that is unique to the region.
September 27th, 2005
StarTime Intl. Records makes four FREE MP3s available in their MP3 section. Since I’ve been trying to educate readers about music that’s not only free but also legal to download, I am also trying to put into words why a certain “sound” resonates with me more than others and hence, why I chose it for the Guide, I will say this about today’s selection “Following Waves“: You had me at ‘Hello.’
Now, I’m a tough critic. Not only do I judge books by their cover, I judge songs by their intros. And any song whose first thirty seconds is as gorgeous as this has me hooked. It could spiral into utter crap by the one-minute mark, but you gotta love an intro this catchy. Luckily for us, the vocals are just as cool and terrific. Case in point, when lead vocalist Nick Stumpf claims “I will love what you are.” Why does that get me right here?? [I’m pointing to my concave chest cavity.] But I digress… back to the intro. At the fifteen second mark, the piano kicks in reminding me just how effective it can be in a mainstream pop/rock song; It is also faintly reminiscent of “Clocks” by Coldplay (which I mean as a compliment, by the way).
On the band’s page, you will also find two more MP3s from their latest album, “When You Heard You” and “One More Time” (they are also FREE, naturally). I found these two to be less of my sound than today’s standout selection. So is “French Kicks” a Molly O’ Poverty One-Hit Wonder? I’m not sure. To be fair, only time will tell. But as I said before, finding just one free song –that you actually like to listen to– is like finding gold. Besides, 1 out of 3 ain’t half bad, is it? [Please, no comments about 33% being more than half. The reference was intentional!]
September 26th, 2005
Climber offers 3 FREE MP3s on their purevolume.com page. Best of the bunch is the vocoder-effects laden “Horns“, a mellow electronica number perfect for late summer nights driving with the top down. I like that it feels almost instantly familiar although I don’t know from how or where.
September 23rd, 2005
L.A.-based Jed Smith (who records/mixes/produces under the moniker betafish) sent me a note recently saying nice things about my Guide. After checking out his site, I returned the compliment and asked if he’d like to be featured here. Thankfully for us all, he agreed.
So, without further ado, download the beautiful and soul-stirring “Dubu“ , an exclusive to MO’PGTMFM.
Visit betafish and have an other-worldly auditory experience. Many of the tracks available for streaming at his site have a Eastern influence that meshes nicely with his downtempo grooves. betafish is definitely a unique talent and now, a F.O.M. (Friend of Molly’s)!
September 22nd, 2005
Hey, kids! Good News/Bad News time: I went over my bandwidth limit so I’m having to upgrade – hence no post yet this week. The ubiquitous “They” promise I’ll be back up to speed tomorrow. I’ve got loads to post about and am anxious to start churning through the backlog of music I’ve handpicked just for you.
In the meantime, do yourself a favor and head back over to the Labrador Records’ Sounds page and download “Stand By Your Story” by Mondial, a tremendous slice of electro-disco by way of Saint Etienne.
September 20th, 2005
“Hi, my name is Molly and I am obsessed with this song.”
This doesn’t usually happen with new material but I’m literally bonkers over its sun-drenched, happy, 1960s folk/pop goodness. I know I’ve made reference to songs that sound New Order-esque in previous posts (and that’s only because they were such a seminal act that their influence is bound to be felt for decades) but The Legends seem to have globbed on to all that is light and airy about NO’s sound but left the morose and heft behind.
A few months back Labrador Records was kind enough to make a minute-long preview MP3 available to download, but what really hooked me is the full-length video (available for viewing on the Labrador homepage, in the Video Of The Week section). Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a download store available where one can purchase The Legends’ single or their new album, PUBLIC RADIO, immediately. The Labrador Records shop allows you to buy a CD with PayPal… but then you have to wait for it to be shipped from overseas. And like most -aholics, I want instant gratification! I’ve checked the usual suspects (iTMS, Bleep.com, etc.) and haven’t yet found it for sale. If anyone has more information, please drop me a line.
Back to business, I haven’t forgotten why you visit MO’PGTMFM: You want good, free stuff! Well, it just so happens the very same label has dozens over thirty excellent MP3s on their sounds page. With so many choices, I’ll make it easy for you. Check out the 3 FREE MP3s by the band with the misleading name: Acid House Kings.
September 16th, 2005
The Octopus Project offers up 16 FREE MP3s for download on their Music page. The best of the bunch that I sampled was the seven-minute “The Way Things Go“, a fantastic instrumental track. You are free to disagree but this one just seemed to get it right and has a sound I listen for.
To define the Molly O’ sound, I’d say it has to have a certain rhythmic quality and it has to hook me within the first twenty seconds. Harsh, yes, but if it doesn’t grab me from the get-go, usually the song is out of luck. Let’s say a song starts out with loud screeching or dial-up modem sounds, I doubt I’ll be able to listen all the way through. It’s really hard to define what appeals to me sonically except to say it has to be pleasing… and pleasing can change day to day (heavy indie guitar riff, alterna-goth moans, orchestrations or vocal arrangements, 4/4 club beat or a blippy electronic intro). An example of what’s not pleasing to my ear: I seem to recall Fluxblog featured something by the Tuvan Throat Singers a few weeks ago that was truly, truly horrible. It was neither pleasing nor rhythmic. Imagine an even more gravelly voiced Harvey Fierstein belching the alphabet – and not for comedic effect either. Now, Matthew Perpetua may find artistic merit in that endeavor –and I am not here to trying to define what is and isn’t music for the masses– but MO’PGTMFM would never feature something like that! Spotlighting free and legal music that I would actually listen to are the mandates of this here blog.
You may have already gleaned the “Molly O’ sound” if you’ve been visiting this blog for awhile. There have been a few stragglers here and there, but let me tell you, it ain’t always easy to find music that is exactly suited to my taste AND free to boot. But I find that joy is in the discovery. I hope you do, too.
September 15th, 2005
I’m pleased to spotlight a very accomplished and refined piece of electronica. I can’t recall how I managed to find this album earlier this year, but I do know that on first listen I didn’t “get” it. I hastily removed it from my playlist and never gave it a second thought. (This happened to me before with Weekend Players’ PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS; didn’t get it on first listen, now one of my all-time faves.) Flash-forward to a week ago and I started listening to POTPOURRI in order to write about it and now, I can’t stop listening! Like other music I’ve featured here, this thirteen track album is available for FREE but I’d happily paid full price for music of this quality. Here’s my theory about buying CDs from an unknown artist: If there’s at least one song that grabs me, it’s worth it. In this case, with four tracks that I truly like… it’s miraculous. And when the cost is free, you can’t go wrong.
The album opens with a lovely, light drum-n-bass number, “Antwerp” and mid-way through progresses to a guitar-happy, sample-heavy religious ditty, “Genesis“. But nearer the end is when this album truly shines, with numbers like “Bliss” and my personal favorite, the dreamy/swirly “It’s OK” - for me, an paean to sleep at the end of the day. (Don’t let my description of “Genesis” throw you off; This isn’t a God-squad record. There’s lots of whimsy and even a hint of dirrty with tracks like “Safe Sex” and “Safe SeXXX“.)
Download the entire album (including cover artwork) at QED Records or at the Internet Archive.
September 14th, 2005
I’ve re-ordered the playlist so now newest songs are at the top. Not a biggie, but now you don’t have to scroll all the way to the bottom in order to hear a track that matches the current post.
September 14th, 2005
Brian Tester of Triangle had this to say about his band: Triangle is an “electronic experiment in pop music… garage rock, soft rock, idm, krautrock, dub, chamber music, college rock, sound tracks”. All those style can be found on display in the four MP3s available for FREE download at their site. I’m especially liking the way “Gold and Grey” starts out all New Order-like and continues to explore that band’s earlier sound. There’s something comforting about hearing another band’s influence in a new work. Another track, “Decimal Places” has a fantastic glitchy, dark techno intro; recorded three years ago, it might be just slightly ahead of the curve. Check out Triangle at their myspace page, too.
September 13th, 2005
An especially fine songsmith, arctic (nee Marcus Martin) has made two FREE MP3s of his work available on his site. His melancholy melodies burn with ache and longing. And that voice! Is “dreamy” the right word I’m looking for?? I’m most impressed with arctic and hope to hear lots more next year when his album is released. Thanks to Kirsten for pointing me in his direction.
September 12th, 2005
When not confined to scrounging around the web for free tunes, here’s some of the music I’ve been listening to in the last couple of months. Playlist runs the gamut from deep house and dub to techno, lounge and downtempo tracks –- plus a few perky pop oddities in between.
If you like what you hear and decide to purchase the entire iMix or individual tracks, please know that this is not a money-making scheme; I just thought you, dear reader, might like a glimpse into my eclectic taste and see what strikes my fancy when money’s not an issue. Clicking the link should open up iTunes and take you directly to the iTunes Music Store iMix page. Molly O’Poverty’s Not On-The-Cheap iMix
FYI: the Jacob London, Trafik, Ananda Project, Rithma, UNKLE and Britalics tracks are also available at Beatport.com for 50¢ more (each) in higher quality 320kbps MP3s or 192kbps variable bit rate MP4s (AAC format).
September 11th, 2005
Beatport has three nine excellent FREE MP3s to offer you right now on their homepage. Perennial Molly O’ favorite Kaskade offers the Big Room mix of “Everything” and Markus Schulz’s “Largo” is a space-trancey number that’s out of this world. Unfortunately, there’s no direct linking so you’ll just have to navigate; Click on the LOVEPARADE Redeem Free Tracks ad to get yours. I love free stuff I’d buy anyway!!
UPDATE:
There’s actually three separate sampler singles, each boasting three tracks; Loveparade, Nocturnal Wonderlands and SAMC on the homepage. There’s repeats in there but each sampler has at least one new track.
September 9th, 2005
I’ve been getting lots of reader submissions since I started MOPGTMFM and it’s taken me awhile to get around to posting about them. So here goes…
Nice guy Mark Rushton emailed me the day my little old blog was mentioned on Lifehacker.com. He’s got six terrific MP3s available at his site, all FREE. My personal favorite of the bunch is “Theme From Lincoln Highway“. It’s one of those fine, instrumental/ambient tracks I could listen to all day long (playing a song repeatedly is a sad hobby of mine). Go visit Mark, say “hi” and tell him Molly O’ sent ya.
September 9th, 2005
How do you define a band who’s own bio states that they’re influenced by “early Talking Heads to middle-era Velvet Underground to late-period Beatles”? Well, for me, The King of France has a retro-sound that doesn’t necessarily seem to be stuck in any era, either the 60s, 70s or 90s. Their sound isn’t of “the now” but it’s not dated either. It’s singsongy-meets-storytelling. There’s even a great Johnny Cash-esque moment on “Mexico” right before lead singer Steve Salad takes it up a notch higher vocally.
By special arrangement, MOPGTMFM has been given exclusive permission to post the MP3 of “Mexico” for you to download FREE – something you can’t even do on the band’s own site! Grab it here.
TKOF is currently on tour with another Molly O’ selection, Robbers on High Street. Visit their myspace page for further tour details.
September 8th, 2005
Tomorrow night, Dubfire & Sharam of Deep Dish will be holding an event in Washington D.C. to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Not only will they donate all proceeds to the American Red Cross, the nightclub MCCXXIII will match all proceeds from the door! A great night of music for a very worthy cause.
More details are available here: DEEP DISH AT 1223.
September 8th, 2005