Category: Music

Back in the late 90s, finding music online was easy – you just fired up Napster and downloaded away. Unfortunately, Napster was powered by a centralized server, which made it super-easy for the Music Police to shut it down. Since then, several alternatives have popped up, like Bittorrent and the Gnutella network (which powers several different programs, like BearShare, FrostWire, iMesh and LimeWire).

While all these technologies are great for finding specific songs or albums, they all kind of suck when it comes to simply browsing for new music. But fear not: one of the greatest resources for free music lies just under your nose: mp3 blogs.

(Author’s note: most Internet sites call blogs that offer links to free music “music blogs”. I tend to call them “mp3 blogs” to differentiate them from legitimate sites that discuss music. However, for the rest of this article, I’ll call them “music blogs” to stay in line with the rest of the Internet.)

Before we begin, let me first dispel you of the notion that these “music blogs” only offer a track or two from some indie band you’ve never heard of. While those types of blogs certainly exist, the blogs I’m talking about offer full albums from artists you’ve absolutely heard of.

So – how do these blogs work? Well, most of them are hosted on free blogging sites, like blogspot.com or wordpress.com. Some music blogs simply have lists of albums along with links to download the music from file-sharing sites like RapidShare, zSHARE, Megaupload, etc. Other blogs might include professional reviews of the album(s), along with a link to the band’s MySpace page. Still other blogs might focus on one artist at a time, giving a long history of the band in addition to numerous links to the band’s albums and singles. Some blogs focus on a particular type of music (“Jim’s Disco Blog”, “Jim’s New Wave Blog”), while others have a much more general approach (“Jim’s ‘Whatever’s In The Top 40’ Blog”). Some blogs appear to be written by people that are only interested in sticking it to The Man, while others (like a blog that deals only with the B-sides to 80s singles!) seem to be written by true fans that delight in bringing little-known music to fans all around the world. In short, there are literally thousands of music blogs out there, appealing to almost every taste under the sun.

Continue reading “Finding Free Music Online”

Most of my friends (especially Scott) know that I will sometimes find a new song that I like and listen to it over and over and over and over again.

The latest tune in my “endless loop” is Swedish pop star Lykke Li’s 2008 song “Little Bit” – specifically, a remix of the song by LA wondertwins The Villans. I discovered the remix last week, and have listened to it at least 100 times so far.

A popular indie music site described Lykke Li’s music as “a mix of soul, electro and powdered-sugar pop”. The original version is pretty good, but this remix is absolutely infectious!

Have a listen:

[audio:little_bit.mp3]

Here’s the playlist I put together for my birthday party, in case anyone wanted to take a gander:

1. The Puppini Sisters – Walk Like An Egyptian (2:44)
2. Pet Shop Boys – Love Etc. (3:32)
3. Saint Etienne – Method Of Modern Love (4:23)
4. Saint Etienne – Everything I Touch Turns to Gold (3:30)
5. Lady Gaga – Just Dance (4:03)
6. Bloc Party – Signs (4:39)
7. Mates of State – Now (2:39)
8. The Fratellis – Flathead (3:17)
9. The Clash – Janie Jones (2:06)
10. The Pixies – Gigantic (single version) (3:13)

Continue reading “My Birthday Playlist”

My string of hearing great new songs on TV shows continues!

At the end of this past Monday’s episode of Chuck, Sarah and Chuck have a long conversation about their relationship. This awesome song played softly in the background. It had some dreamy synths and a glockenspiel in the background, and it sounded really cool.

I found out that the song was called “Signs” and it’s by Bloc Party from their 2008 album Intimacy. I must admit, however, that I was completely gobsmacked when I looked up the lyrics for the tune. When I saw it on Chuck, it just sounded like any other sweet song about a relationship. When you read the lyrics, you just might agree that it’s one of the saddest songs ever written. But, in my mind, that only makes the song more beautiful.

Have a listen, and be sure to check out the lyrics after the jump:

[audio:signs.mp3]

Continue reading “The Saddest Song Ever Written”

Saint Etienne’s new single is out… and it’s awesome!

In fact, I daresay that it’s the best thing they’ve put out in years! Produced by the always-reliable Richard X, this is one of the best dance-pop songs I’ve heard in a looonnnngg time.

Just one listen is all it’ll take – and it’ll be in your head for hours. As the lyrics say “One touch is not enough\When you start, you can’t stop\That’s the method of modern love”

Go ahead, have a listen… you know you want to!

[audio:saintetienne.mp3]

The BBC makes up a list of around 130 up and coming British bands every year. Through website polls and other means, they eventually whittle the list down to a dozen or so bands. These bands make up the Beeb’s official “Sound of [insert year here]” list. Here’s this year’s list.

One of the bands making the cut this year is London-based synth-pop act La Roux. I first heard them via the BBC list, then scrambled to find some more tracks from them. They have an awesome 80s pop sound, yet fully updated for 2009.

As I always do with songs I like, I found a version of the song in question (in this instance, the “AutoKratz Drags to Riches mix” of “Quicksand”) and listened to it over and over again. The remix is addictive… once it’s in your head, you won’t be able to get it out!

Check it out here:

[audio:quicksand.mp3]

I seriously meant to post this on Monday. Seriously. I’ve been counting down for years to post it, but it totally slipped my mind in the wake of all the Super Bowl hoopla: Monday was the 30th anniversary of the death of Sex Pistols’ bassist, Sid Vicious.

On February 1st, 1979, Vicious was released from New York City’s infamous Riker’s Island jail. He had spent 55 days there after his arrest for the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Sid had actually used his time in Ryker’s to fully kick his heroin habit. The night of his release, a party was held in his honor. However, Sid’s mother had some heroin delivered to the party – against the wishes of everyone else at the party. The heroin was of remarkable purity, and Sid accidentally overdosed. According to NYC’s then-Chief Coroner, Dr Michael Baden (who you may know from countless Autopsy specials on HBO), Vicious died peacefully in his sleep at around 10 am on the morning of February 2, 1979.

Most everyone in the 30-50 age bracket knows the story of Sid Vicious; for those of you that don’t, here’s a summary:

Continue reading “R.I.P. Sid”

Did you, by any chance, happen to catch this week’s episode of Fringe on Fox? Because if you did, you would have heard The Watson Twins’ cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”.

The Watson Twins – comprised of identical twins Chandra and Leigh Watson, along with Aram Arslanian, Russ Pollard, Jason Soda, and Jenny Lewis – are a band based out of Los Angeles, California.

Born and reared in Louisville, Kentucky, Chandra and Leigh attended the University of Evansville before moving to Silverlake, California in 1997. There, they formed a band called Slydell. A few years later, they formed The Watson Twins.

What can I say about this song… other than it’s awesome? Imagine a slightly more folksy version of Mazzy Star covering The Cure and you’ve got this song down pat. I was watching Fringe on my computer, then saw the scene with this song in the background. I immediately paused the video player and looked online for this song… and after I’d downloaded it, I listened to it over and over and over again. It’s just so… hypnotic!

Tell me what you think:

[audio:watson_twins.mp3]

Check out their MySpace page here and their Wikipedia page here.