Bits ‘n Bobs 2
It seems I’ve gone an entire month without posting again. And in an effort to make up for my transgression, I’m making another Bits ‘n Bobs posting (short takes on lots of music). Enjoy your long holiday weekend and I hope your eardums enjoy the tunes that follow. Some of it is not so new anymore but they’re all worthwhile. And on a personal note, I appreciate your continued interaction with my Guide; I’m getting emails from all over the world with tips to music that you’ve found and would like to share with me and my readers. Cheers!
• Beatport has 10 FREE tracks available in their newest promotion that coincides with DEMF (Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival). Direct link to those ten tracks is here. Feel free to skip right over the dreadful “Late Night Freaks” by the cleverly named Starski, Clutch. It’s too bad their song isn’t as good as their name. “Beyond Seven” is prolly the best of the bunch.
UPDATE
Be sure to subscribe to the Beatport podcast. I find it a tremendous value in sorting out the gems from the junk.
• Along the same lines as my Gate Keyz post, another Italian hip-hop tune, this time by a guy named Zizzed, can be downloaded for FREE here. I may be mistaken but I believe the name of the song is “0.5%“. Even time I listen to it, I’m reminded of Moulin Rouge! for some reason.
• The newest Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape (No. 12) snuck up on me. I’m giving it a good listen-thru now and will post an update with my favorite tracks. The tastemakers at MB continue to impress.
• Rockin’ girl group Client has lots MP3 and video downloads available at their official site under the free music downloads section. (Their album, CITY, available at the iTMS ain’t bad either; check out these two stand-out tracks: Come On and Radio.) [linkage found via p3dro.co.uk]
• James Blunt has a made a demo of “Out Of My Mind” available at his site.
• Travis Sullivan’s Björkestra has two orchestral versions of Björk songs “Cocoon” and “Army of Me” available under the downloads section. This is just another example of Björk’s influence and artistry on the music community. I’m fascinated by this.
• MO’P favorite J-Punch has three FREE MP3s available showcasing his talent. “Temple” has been a mainstay on my playlist ever since it was featured on this post.
• The World’s Fair label continues to offer up stellar cuts, such as this one by Róisín Murphy “If We’re In Love” (Dani Siciliano’s What Will Be Will Be Remix).
• Manuel from Brussels was kind enough to send me loads of links to music he thought I might like… and he was right!
– From excellent UK label Global Underground, in the members section, you’ll find two exclusive MP3s. You’ll need to register (free), though here are the direct links: Pako & Frederik - “Oxalic Line” (6.08 MB) and Trafik - “Your Light” (9.15 MB)
– From superb French label F Communications (co-owned by Laurent Garnier): You can select French or English at bottom right of screen. Here also you need to register (free), then in Free Trucs (meaning Free Stuff in Frenglish), you have 20-30 MP3’s, sorted by artist.
– From German label Compost (home of Jazzanova and Minus8): 15-20 MP3s available in the downloads section - you need to fill in a form each time, then you get the link by email immediately.
– From UK label NinjaTune: 3 FREE MP3s in the downloads section.
Thanks, Manuel! So much great stuff here! I feel compelled to say (since it is my blog, wink, wink), that I much prefer the Luke Chable Vocal Breaks Dub of Trafik’s “Your Light” as opposed to the instrumental version offered up by Global Underground (but for free I’m not complaining!). You can find that remix at Beatport but it’ll only set you back a measly $1.49.
UPDATE:
Be prepared to spend some time fixing the ID tags on songs downloaded from the F Communications site.
• Niche netlabel Nishi offers up the delightfully unusual album by Cagey House called “OCTOPUS TWO” for FREE. Described to me as “psychedelic-pseudo-post-synth-rock-exotica”, it’s a melange of interesting Far East sounds and western influences. I highly recommend you grab it today. “Aristotle Bombay“, the short “The Ming Thing“, and the subtle “Tuesday Was A Swan” are the stand-outs for me.
• The Verve Pipe (remember them?) have four live tracks available for FREE download at their site.
• Reggae quartet qr5 sent me an email with a link to their latest single “Revisited Gone” which can be found here. It’s a short and smooth ditty. I don’t think I’ve ever spotlighted a reggae track… there’s a first time for everything apparently.
• Future Appletree Records’ artists Chrash and The Multiple Cat have new albums out. Get a taste of their guitar/folk-tinged pop rock sound by checking out “All Roads“ by Chrash and “I Like a Bridge“ by The Multiple Cat.
• Get a Blue Note label jazz sampler of here by joining their mailing list.
May 27th, 2006