Free(?) Tunes

Looking for some new tunes to listen to while I work I decided to try a "free music" tag search experiment on bandcamp (by "new" i mean new to me!). I thought I'd share what I found. Some are no longer free to download, though I hope that shouldn't stop people from forking out a few quid for what you like. I should point out, I in no way condone illegally downloading music. Things like bandcamp are great for people to get their music out there, but at the end of the day, music is something many of us get huge amounts of joy and inspiration from and it requires a great deal of work, effort and time. If you like any of these bands and can afford to support them, please do. Anyway, if you're interested in discovering bands you may not have heard (or genres - throw pop, boxwave, swag-core?), here's a few note-worthy ones I came across;


Overhead, The Albatross - Instrumental, alt rock, little touches of electronica. Think Thank Thunk is a pretty good track, sort of starts off Rachel's meets Rednecks ends up around Amusement Parks on Fire/Explosions in the Sky. (Ed.Had these guys stuck down at the bottom, then listened to the track again. It's a goodie.);

Battle Ave. - Maybe just cause he sounds like he's crying and needs a hug. I'm a sucker for the emotion and a bit of feedback. Souled American's sense of genuine melancholy with Clap Your Hands/Shaky Hands style jangly indie rock. But with crashier cymbals. Pay what you want. I went for $4. 

Paws Genesis - Quite like this, ambient electronica, few beats, few melodies. Has that homemade, layered sampler pedal feel. Reminds me of Quality Fellow Sunburnt Jets. Freaky crying baby on Sleeping Song though, what's that about. Bought.

Grand Lake - This is pretty good. Folky, indie stuff, with that 60s vibe like a lot of whats going around these days. But I approve.

Air Cushion Finnish/Lichen Yes. This is my kind of stuff. Improvised, ambient, guitar-based electronica. Unfortunately the "free" tag was for "free improvisation", but I think I'll be handing over a bit of money for some of this.

Anez -  Eh....Soundtrack for a 1950's Hungarian sci-fi film about clowns from space? I actually downloaded this one. That's how I roll.

The Ugly Club - Uptempo straight indie rock. Decent tunes, not really my thing, but easy on the brain. Maybe if you're into the Strokes/Kings of Leon.



Other tunes;

Rupert Lally - The free download was Growing Up On Mars, but I linked the album Process, I think its a bit more interesting. Overall I don't like it, but some pretty cool sounds in there, few nice drones and ambiences. If he kept it striped back a bit, left out the cheesy distorted synth sounds, maybe. Intro to Process and Ampexia are nice though. After that it's pretty europop.

Scottish Fiction - Some very nice tracks. Compilation of various Scottish artists.

My Body Sings Electric - I used to have a secret love of My Chemical Romance and the surrounding pop punk scene, in a "If I were 16 again I'd totally be an emo" sort of way. I think I was cheated on that one, generation-wise. We were just coming out of a mix of grunge and goth, heading into boy bands and brit pop. It wasn't a great time aesthetically for youth culture. Not that there ever is... I digress. No shortage of this kind of music, but if you're into it, this is pretty decent, solid indie punk. Some very Incubus style guitar melodies and arrangements;

Ben k Adams Feels a bit forced. Sort of Boards of Canada, Xploding Plastic, but not quite as interesting. He has loads of other stuff on there though, so could be worth a look. You'll Die Regretting Everything is a good track with some pretty cool sample choices.


I'm getting through a lot of bands here, so I think I'll leave it at that and do another post later. Let me know if anyone is interested in this post. I don't use this blog any more, but I might as well put it to some use.

I no longer update this blog with art things. Check Facebook for that.