Weekly Update - November 2nd edition

Free Music ALERT:

I've been browsing the net a lot this week, searching for some cool places for music to share.  Here's the best of what I found: 


Brown Bird - Fingers to the Bone by supplyanddemand

This is one of the singles from the new Brown Bird album Salt for Salt, released in October a few weeks ago.  This album and the corresponding E.P.  The Sound of Ghosts are just infectious.  If you start listening to them, it will be very hard to stop.
Brown Bird just started touring with the Devil Makes Three another incredibly enjoyable band.  Catch them if they come to your town.  Regrettably this match up won't be coming to Philly just yet.  For more info on Brown Bird, check out the interview with one half of the band MorganEve Swain!

While browsing SoundCloud.com for some free tracks, I came upon more of the Dum Dum Girls. They are currently on tour in support of  Only In Dreams.  Feel free to preview the album.  Pay attention to 'Bedroom Eyes'!  It will sneak up on you and having you sing a long in no time at all!
Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams by subpop


Today, I received an e-mail from Noisetrade and this sampler caught my eye.  I have most of the tracks I was interested in already (Freelance Whales, Sleeper Agent, Sleigh Bells) but I was very excited to see more tracks from Metric, Tokyo Police Club,  and  An Horse  to check out.  Do yourself a favor and check out all of the tracks. 
   


This song is not free, but this one of the first free downloads I made from Amazon a few years back.  'Belated Promise Ring' is such an underrated Iron & Wine song.  In fact this whole B-sides set Around the Well, barely gets a mention, but it has fantastic versions of 'Trapeze Swinger', the New Order cover 'Love Vigilantes', and Shepherd's Dog B side 'Arms of a Thief' 

Iron and Wine - Belated Promise Ring by subpop


There's a new CMJ download including a new Andrew Bird song!




- Music News..  

Here's a recent email I received from Daytrotter.com:

"Dear Daytrotter Universe,

Many of you have been with us for the bulk of our nearly six years of working our butts off to shed some light on all of the great music being made out in the world, through our words, markered illustrations and our one-of-a-kind analog recordings. You've helped us make the transition from a scrappy start-up to a site that amazingly enough is now seen as something of a household name, in the right households. We have never had more people visiting Daytrotter and we have you to thank for that.

Keeping the lights on and paying the bills through advertising revenue - and thereby passing along these unique recordings to you freely - is not working. We want to keep Daytrotter in everyone's lives and so we're looking for a little help.

We need you to sign up as a Daytrotter member for the modest fee of $2 a month.

We wouldn't ask you for this if we didn't need it. We believe we're doing something special and important, but we can't afford to do it for free any longer. We're hoping Daytrotter means enough to you that you will stay with us by paying the cost of a coffee a month to keep it going.

Membership isn't the only change here - there is a bunch of dope new stuff: - We're now posting three new sessions of great new music every weekday. - No more ads - they are gone from Daytrotter. - Live Sessions streaming while they're being recorded at the HorseShack! We're really excited about this one. We've been testing this for the last two months and the quality is amazing. It's a bit extra, but the great thing about it is that we're allowing each band to come up with the admission price to hear their session live. All of the money from these live streams will be split evenly between the band and Daytrotter. You'll be directly helping Daytrotter and your favorite band if you eavesdrop! - HD video and lossless audio from our legendary live Barnstormer concerts. - We've doubled the quality of our streams and free downloads, and we've added a fantastic new queue player.

Your next visit to Daytrotter will kick off a 7 Day Free Trial - so please get familiar with our new look, listen to some live streams, and, if you love us, do us a tremendous solid and sign up for a membership!

Thank you so much for five and a half amazing years! Here's to many more! -- Mr. Daytrotter"

GO DO THIS!  I know I personally have downloaded 52 individual bands already from this site.. at 3-4 songs a clip... that's quite a chunk of awesomeness for FREE!   It's a wonderful way to get familiar with a band before buying their album, or just to get that fix, if you don't have the funds for the moment for the disc.  If you need any recommendations on where to start,  feel free to comment below for some ideas, or search Daytrotter in the search box on the top left, as I have mentioned them quite a few times.  

If you were to ask me for ideas, I will tell you my first immediate response would be try Iron & Wine, Low Anthem 6/18/09, Devil Makes Three, Blind Pilot, Trampled by Turtles, and Justin Townes Earle 9/8/10. 



MY HOLIDAY WISH LIST - 

It makes me sick, that I am already thinking of this, but I am already eager to download to Holiday Albums.  The first, which is already at the special $5.00  AMAZON.com rate.  She & Him's A Very She & Him Christmas. I credit Zooey Deschanel for getting me back into holiday music as is, with her unplanned duet with Will Farrell's character in ELF.   Her style is very fitting for holiday tunes, and I can't wait to check it out. 

My other 2011 Holiday must have is Erin McKeown's F*ck That! Anti-Holiday Album.  My wife picked us up tickets for the upcoming (December 4th) show at the World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, but I had no idea there was an album to go with it.  Her wit, charm & brilliance shone brightly on 2007's Sing You Sinners especially 'Melody'.  My imagination is running wild anticipating tunes 'Santa is an Asshole' and 'It's A Very Queer Christmas'

 
LAST CONCERT:  
Blitzen Trapper played last Thursday at the TLA.  It was fantastic!.  Check the review if you haven't done so already.  Looking at set lists from other shows in the last week, it looks like Philly got the major hook up.  Especially since this is a co-headline tour, meaning Dawes & Blitzen Trapper take turns with the main set.   I should be getting a ultra familiar with Blind Pilot before this Thursday's show, but I keep playing Blitzen Trapper's new album  American Goldwing and their previous "hit" album Furr that I picked up at the show!



NEXT CONCERT(s):
As mentioned above, Blind Pilot plays this Thursday at the brand new Union Transfer in Philadelphia.   This should be an incredible show to cap 8 shows, 7 targeted bands in a span of 35 days, which for you young folk is a ton for middle aged career guy with a 3 and a half year old.  Either way, Blind Pilot  will be playing in support of their new release We Are The Tide, (September 13th).

The lead single, 'Keep You Right' is a free download from the Blind Pilot site, or from Amazon.com.  It's 'Half Moon' that grabs me the tightest with Israel Nebeker's beautiful and humble lyrics.

Excerpt from 'Half Moon'

'So hold high how faint your reasons

Boy, you'll never get on

Don't forget you come from nothing

Boy, you'll never get on

That wind is calling my name and I won't wait, or I'll never get on."

On top of the impressive new sophomore album, 3 Rounds and a Sound was Blind Pilot's incredible debut, which I will also be experiencing in person for the first time.





WISH I WAS GOING TO BUT, NO:
Trampled By Turtles - November 19th - Philadelphia. - I'm taking Molly to another show that night

Brett Dennen - November 5th - Philadelphia, opening for Amos Lee - I need to rest!

Tori Amos - December 1st - Philadelphia - No Love for the small blogger, no $$ for concerts