Free legal albums!

This is the kind of thing we need to post more of. I don’t know if it’s due to personal bias, but it just seems there isn’t so much good free and legal metal out there as there is of other genres.

I set out today to find some metal. Something great. I figured it may take a few listens to a few records before I found something worthwhile (because hey, I admit, there is a load of rubbish out there), but I was wrong! This was the first album I downloaded, and it instantly hit me as something I need to post here.

I’m not at all sure how to classify it. We’ve got death metal vocals, but we’ve got a lot of other elements in there and it certainly isn’t death metal. It’s very electronic, but I’d never call it ‘electronica’. If you like you’re music eclectic, you really need to give this a listen.

In the download, I’ve labelled it as gothic metal. It’s the closest I could get to a proper genre.

I have no information at all for you about this band. They are a side project of some other music project and are Russian. That’s the most I could get. I think in this case, the enigmatic quality adds to the feel of the music though, so I’m not complaining!

We’ve got a good deal of atmosphere in the music. Almost doomish at times, although not quite. The album isn’t particularly long, but it’s enthralling throughout, and varied. A few of the track could even get a non-metal fan interested for at least a few minutes (and that’s saying a lot!).

If you like your music traditional, or if you’re one of those metal fans who HATES electronic elements, this is not for you. I personally love it because it is so experimental. I honestly can’t tell if the lyrics are in English or Russian, but it doesn’t matter. Musically, this is excellent, and it’s professional-sounding enough to compete with anything else. I am not as into metal as I used to be, but I can still enjoy this record. It’s something you should certainly listen to, even if just for the sake of interest.

Claire Hamil is probably one of the most well-known artists I’ve posted thus far. She has a Wikipedia page, even -

You can get any background you want on her from that. There’s no point in me going into it. She seems to have been pretty successful, although not hugely. She reminds me of Allison Crowe, although not for any more reason than the fact they’re solo female artists who have been around for a while.

The music on October is highly varied. It starts out sounding very jazzy, and it changes throughout. It speeds up and it slows down. We’ve got folksy stuff and rocky stuff in there. If you like variation, this is definitely a record for you.

Claire Hamil has a lot of music you can download for free. I’ve posted October here because it’s the only one I’ve got round to listening to and therefore know it’s a good one. If you enjoy it, feel free to have a look at her other stuff. I sure as hell well. Go here to download (or donate, hey, it’s up to you!).

Sun Airway is two guys from Philadelphia in the USA. Oh, Naoko is their only record to date, although hopefully they’ll release a full-length album sometime soon.

Anyway, when I started listening, instantly I started trying to think of bands to compare Sun Airway too. I thought of The National and The Killers, but after the first track that seemed a bit silly. They’re more laid back than either of these bands. The comparison doesn’t really work even within the first track.

The music is calm and relaxing. It’s indie-pop, but not fast and bubbly stuff. It’s ambient indie-pop. It’s your typical “lazy summer day” music. The EP is only 4 songs long unfortunately and lasts for a total of 17 minutes. I personally like to listen to it two or three times each time I listen. It’s not the kind of music one can sicken of too easily. The first track is the “loudest” and as the record progresses, it becomes increasingly relaxed. It makes me think of the time of day just before the sunset, when things are starting to slow down and unwind.

If you like gentle indie music (like Death Can For Cutie), you should download this record. It really would be better if it were longer, but I’ll just have to keep an eye on this band, catching whenever they release a full-length album.

Right well, first off, I have not been posting here enough at all. I said I would and I failed. Thank you, Andy, for keeping this blog alive. You’ve posted some awesome stuff already!

The different between Andy and myself is, well, we do have a slightly different taste in music. So this album I’m posting here is not something he would post. It’s been a while since I’ve posted any rap myself. I apologise to any rap fans out there. Don’t worry, there’s plenty more to come!

So yeah, Shape is a rapper from New Jersey in the US. He’s a white guy who looks like he should be studying for a PhD in philosophy…but when listening to his voice, I wouldn’t have thought of him as some nerdy white guy. He has a great rapping voice, and the music is far from boring. I want to turn it up loud and drown in it.

What generally captures me about rap is the quality of the background music, and this is definitely good quality stuff. He does it all himself, but you don’t get a DIY feel from it at all. It’s professional and very polished. There’s atmosphere to it too. It makes me want to nod along and keep pressing the volume up button, but it also makes me feel. I’m very impressed, and if you’re into rap, you should DEFINATLY download this, especially if you like your rap with a more experimental edge. We’ve got all different instruments and sounds thrown in there. It’s great stuff.

Shape currently has two records available for free download. The Glass House is what seems to be his most loved record (and his second), but if you’re interested in checking out his first, go here.

I am nearly at the end of my first listen of this album, and I have already decided that it will definatly be getting many more listens in the coming days and weeks.
First thing first- The Motion Sick are an Indie/rock band from Boston in the United States. And The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait… is their 2008 album. The harder stuff, the softer/slower stuff, and the ridiculously catchy stuff- this album gives you everything you could ask for from an indie/rock release.
Standout songs that should give you an idea of what The Motion Sick are all about include: Tiny Dog (Nobody Cries), which kind of sounds like an irish sing-a-long song set to country-ish acoustic music; Losing Altitude, which falls into the softer and “ridiculously catchy” category I mentioned above; and Jean-Paul, a simple easy to sing-a-long to indie/rock song.
If i had some sort of rating system, such as thumbs, The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait… would definatly fall in the higher end of the scale (perhaps using thumbs wasn’t a good idea here, since that would make the highest score 2)
All in all, a very enjoyable album, and I certainly hope to hear more of The Motion Sick in the future.
You can download this album (minus 1 song- Love Will Tear Us Apart, being a cover it has copyright issues and such which stop it being availabe for free) here.
If you like this, don’t forget to check out their official site, where you can also download this album or their previous album for free (although there is nothing stopping you from donating!)

Today I would like to introduce you to Eating Pebble - an indie/rock band from Sweden.
Eating Pebble are…well, an indie/rock band from Sweden, as stated above. With a really catchy sound that is kind of like a halfway point between early Shout Out Louds work and Millencolin, Eating Pebble is my personal favourite discovery of recent times.
But instead of blabbering on trying to explain what they sound like too much, why not take a listen for yourself? They have two (YES, TWO) free EP’s on offer, both of which you can download by clicking on the images below.
2 EP’s, 7 songs, and only around 20MB for both, YOU’D BE STUPID (or on a really shitty internet, or you might have other reasons, WHO AM I TO JUDGE?) NOT TO DOWNLOAD.
After you have listened to Sammi! Oh, Sammi! and Summer Soundcheck, go and check out their official site! You can listen to their latest release (an album!) in full, but you won’t be able to legally download it for free. I highly suggest purchasing it though!

Sammi! Oh, Sammi!

Summer Soundcheck

Ok, this is going to be a fairly short and simple review. Kambodge are a band from Russia, and since most of what i find about them is in Russian, i’ll just give you a short snippet of what Last FM has to say about them:

“Kambodge is a metal\alternative\mall emo band from Chelyabinsk(Russian federation). Band formed in 2005…” and “The group’s music is a blend of modern brutal-riffs and punishing-breakdowns coupled with melodic elements and guitar effects.”

I have absolutely no idea what “mall emo” is, so you should probably just ignore that part. Other tags describe them as a “metalcore/hardcore” band, which would fit the bill a whole lot better.

Onto this album…I have no idea what it is called, and i’m not even sure if Russian writing will work on this site. But if so, the album is called Ветром стал. 11 songs, roughly 40 mintues of Russian metal/hardcore/whatever music. I cannot understand a word said throughout the entire thing, but that is quite common even for English speaking bands of this genre.
Despite that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable album. It won’t get me singing along anytime soon (unless i wake up understanding Russian tomorrow!), but it did get my toes a-tappin’ and my feet a’…well, also tapping. The music was fast enough and good enough, and the singing was enjoyable enough for me to really like this album despite the language barrier.
The official Kambodge website is also in Russian, so i’m not entirely sure what is on it; but by the looks of things, they are offering 3 albums for free download (including this one). I highly recommend you download this one and check out the others if you enjoy it!
You can download this album here, and visit the official site here.

Far From Chicago is an EP from Cavanaugh, a Swedish band that would probably squeeze itself into one of the Rock/pop genres. It is difficult to say where exactly though, as this EP has a nice mix of sounds. Rock/pop will have to do; music with enough “pop” to appeal to those who aren’t generally fans of the harder music, but also enough on the “rock” side of things to distinguish themselves from other bands in the genre.

Anywho, now that we’ve established that I suck at putting things into genres, lets take a quick rundown of the six tracks:
Come Look For Me - A nice solid start to the EP.
Long Gone - A pleasant piano pop-rock song. Kind of sounds like something The Fray might do (except unlike The Fray, Cavanaugh have songs that don’t all sound the same!)
Get It Right - Switching from softer piano rock right back into stronger stuff. Again very pleasant.
Little Things- Much like Come Look For Me and Get It Right, more on the rock side, with dashes of ear-friendly characteristics. (God, that made absolutely no sense)
Far From Chicago - The title track from this EP is a simple acoustic-y one, with a catchy and powerful chorus.
Fade Away - Personal favourite song of the EP

All in all, Far From Chicago provides with a very enjoyable 20-or-so minutes of music. Oh, and did I mention that it is available for FREE AND LEGAL downloading? No? Well it’s in the web address. GOD, DO I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING? >:(
But anyway, feel free to download the EP here.
Also, don’t forget to check out their website to learn more about them or find out how to stalk them on social networking sites and such.

Although I have no information about him, I do know he is signed to the same netlabel that a lot of the stuff I’ve posted here before is on, such as The Notes And Scratches and Casey Meehan. It’s a pretty awesome netlabel - check it out -www.rockproper.com

Anyway, Samuel Stiles does pretty, slow folk music. His voice is mid-range and it’s relaxing to listen to. It’s sad music, but it won’t make you sad. Good Sunday music, or good for evening time, when you get home from a hard day and just want a glass of wine and some time to relax on your own.

The process for choosing the band and album to write my first review on this site about was a completely random one. It wasn’t until looking at a large image of the album cover that I noticed “LOOK OUT” was written in small letters. This is an inside joke, and approximatly 1-2 of you will see the humour in this.
Anyway, onto the musical side of things now- The Big Bang EP by Azoora consists of 6 songs. Well, 3 songs, but with 2 versions of each of them. The first 3 songs would be jammed somewhere in the acoustic-y folk rock genre…if such a genre exists.
The opening song, Cruise Control, is probably the standout track on the EP. Starting with soft, folky guitars and spoken lyrics, it builds up with the inclusion of some electronic-ish drums and a mighty catchy chorus.
The second song, Lying Back- Fire in Our Eyes is similar in format; in that it starts of soft and builds into another solid folk-rock song.
The final song of the first half of the EP, She’s Coming, is probably the weakest of the 3. But considering the praise i give to the first 2 songs, this doesn’t really mean much.

The second half of the EP is essentially a set of remixes of the first half. Well, sort of. The band have many tastes and ideas, and therefor deliberatly record 2 versions of their songs.
The 2nd half companion song to Cruise Control, Cruise Control Attacks!!!, is basically an electronic version, and is the strongest of these “2nd version” songs.

Overall, The Big Bang EP is sure to be an enjoyable addition to any music library.
You can download the EP here. If you enjoy it, other Azoora releases are availabe for FREE AND LEGAL downloading here!