The only thing better than free music is free music that's actually really good. White Denim's Last Day of Summer is an appropriately named collection of self released songs. It's a great variety of music,; filled with abrupt changes and the loose structure that White Denim is known all too well for. There's never really a moment of clarity, which makes this record largely aggressive; but between the mishmash of jazz, math rock, and blues riffs lies a uniquely commendable record, one that will surely hold us over for their soon to be completed third studio LP.
"Civilwarland" beings with a dingy, held down synth backed by a basic 4/4 drum beat. Needless to say, I starting to become a tad inattentive.
Then, there's a sudden break.
The synth and drums drop out, and the guitarist makes his debut; he plucks a welcoming riff, an almost direct contrast to the abrasive synth. The vocalist falls next in line "All our life / the butter knife / will melt inside / this house". The bass drum starts pounding, my foot begins to tap along; who knew, there was a gem hidden in this track.
There are many sporadic moments, drawing comparisons to Modest Mouse and Cymbals Eat Guitars. At one point, the song even goes blank. The singer softly sings away from the mic, his voice peeling away at your anticipation for a climax. It's all too predictable, as we're answered with an admirable conclusion that's entirely satisfying.
Although nowhere near perfect, Royal Forest have made a great debut of an album. You can download the entire album for free here, or you can stream the tracks above.
Hooray! is my latest bandcamp ambient find. Although the album starts off like a spa infomercial, it'll surely grow on you shortly after. Puddles is a really pleasant listen, and I really don't think there's nothing wrong with that. You can stream the tracks below, or you can go here to download this album.
I absolutely love finding obscure bands with a lot of promise. Earlier this year, I predicted the rise of Blackbird Blackbird. Upon discovery, his last.fm profile had around 9000 plays; now it's peaking at around 161,000. Excuse my language, but holy shit! This guy is getting a ton of hype now, and I really hope he can continue with more success.
Moving on, my latest bandcamp find is Teenage Reverb. He's young, unknown, and he makes really great music; basically, a perfect candidate for my blog.
His music varies from beautiful ambient, to deerhunter-esque indie, relying heavily on bass at times and making use of synthesizers and other effects. The songs are short, but sweet, and at times cross experimental plains; all the while remaining perfectly refreshing to the listener.
Teenage Reverb's first two EP's are Summit Demos and Isolation Tape Night . You can download both, for free, at his bandcamp here. Or, you can stream both albums below.
Deerhunter, Deertick, Deerhoof, and now Deerpeople. At this point, I think the deer should just be retired by indie bands. I honestly do believe that there are like two hipsters in some underground bunker hard at work trying to figure out the next ironic animal (considering Bear, Deer, Mouse, and Panda are all pretty much taken)... But hey, maybe that's just me.... Anyways, here's some awesome, free, indie rock for you. Nothing wrong with that! Go here to stream/purchase the debut EP from this Oklahoma indie band. They also have a pretty sweet deal where, for only 5 dollars, you can have the CD shipped right to you, with custom artwork by the band and even a personal letter! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, and at the rate this album is growing on me, I might have to check that out.
Our first preview of Halcyon Digest has finally been released by Deerhunter free of charge! Go to this website (password is tapereel), and click on the reel-to-reel tape player. This will open the link to the single for "Revival", which also includes the B side "Primitive 3D".
Other links on the page bring you to demos that are now being released for the first time (none of these will appear on the forthcoming album, but you can download them for free for the hell of it). The other songs are "Radio Play", "Scruffy Scruff", and "Daybeams".
Glitch artist Oval has released a new EP online which you can download for free. It's definitely got it's moments, even if it is extremely abstract, loud, and poppy. You can stream the album here, and if you dig, you can download the album.
I love me some ambient, minimal techno. I also really enjoy albums that artists release for free. If you agree with both of those previous statements, go here to download RxRy's self-titled release.
For the first edition of the Weekly Mixtape, I decided to make something really pleasant. Go outside, crank the volume and just chill. You'll find the majority of these tracks posted in previous blog posts. Enjoy!
Talk about a great deal; Big Boi's new mixtape (which is being released 3 days before his studio album) covers a large variety of songs from both his Outkast and solo career. From his twitter, Big Boi claims that this is the perfect 4th of July road mixtape. I guess I'll have to test that out tomorrow when I drive down to cape cod. This one's too good of a deal to pass up, download away.
tracklist: 01 Mix Tape for Dummies Intro 02 Playa's Ball 03 Benz or Beamer 04 Dirty South 05 Royal Flush 06 ATLiens 07 Shutterbugg 08 Throw Ya Hands Up 09 Cruisin' in the ATL Skit 10 Hootie Hoo 11 Hood Figga 12 D-Boy Skit 13 So Hood 14 Kryptonite 15 B.O.B. 16 Ghetto Music 17 The Way You Move 18 Henry Welch and Lil Rod Skit 19 Hold Up [ft. Chris Brown] 20 Record Store Skit 21 Love in Your Mouth 22 So Fresh, So Clean 23 85 24 Elevators 25 And I Luv U 26 Tell C-Bone 27 She Got a Friend 28 Gangsta Shit [via]
This 5 song EP is an excellent, well produced release by a little-known band from San Francisco. You can stream the album at the above link, and if you like what you hear, you can download it free of charge.
Click album cover to download, or click here for a stream of the album.
In the span of 2 years, Sadsic has released 9 albums. You'd think the guy would take a break, but his latest, [son], is an hour and thirty minutes long, and full of lo-fi electronic goodness.
To ease us over for their debut full-length, Collarbones has posted another single for free on their bandcamp. "Beaman Park"starts off as wobbly chillwave, but soon segues into a chopped up, breakdown filled electronic track with crazy vocal layers. [via]
San Francisco resident Mikey S. is the sole songwriter behind Blackbird Blackbird. He is arguably the best unheard of chillwave artist out there. Do yourself a favor, and check out his first two EP's, which can be found on his bandcamp completely free.
According to this interview here, Blackbird Blackbird will be releasing "a 10” or 7” on Arcade Sound Ltd, a split 7” with Treasures on a new label called Double Denim (UK), and a sweet cassette on Orchid Tapes." Also, Blackbird Blackbird tells of a soon to be completed full-length, as well as a possible tour with Mathemagic (!).
