However, as always, we want to point out that ‘free’ does not have to mean pay nothing in this context. Indeed, the title of the post says ‘free’ music because it’s snappier than ‘name your price’ music, but really that’s a convenient/attention-grabbing misnomer. Last year we spoke about how paying artists makes for the best soil in which to sow creative seeds, and things are no different now. Indeed, with the dawn of Spotify and the all-powerful algorithms, it is more important than ever to support independent artists and labels, and in reality there are already enough free ways to consume music that we don’t need to encourage another.

So please delve into the below list, curated entirely by humans, and spend whatever is left of your Christmas money when you stumble across something you like. We can vouch for the quality of everything here, so don’t be afraid to judge a record by its cover to begin with.

Here’s a handy mix featuring one song from each of the free / ‘name your price’ albums featured:

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Details about Henoheno are scarce. We know that he is based in Japan, but that he wrote this album before leaving wherever he was pre-Japan (hence the title). Aaaand… that’s about it. ‘Destroy’ is a lo-fi bedroom pop song with misleadingly chirpy instrumentation and some rather dark lyrics. Imprisoned within the adolescent cell of Home, the narrator deals with suffocating anxiety and dread, denouncing his situation and pleading for help:

“I hate my parents they really fuck me over. I just want to leave this house.
I hate my family they really fuck me over. Don’t want to see them ever again.
Get me out, get me out, I can’t say it enough. Get me out, get me out ‘cause living here is tough.
I go out, I go out, the stress is killing me. I go out, I go out where nobody knows me.”

With it’s imperfect instrumentation and candid, painfully honest lyrics, Henoheno has more than a bit in common with Coma Cinema. Here unbearable emotional suffering is presented in a detached manner, as if the narrator has transcended into an outer body experience or else knows the pain so well it lacks the immediacy it once possessed. The talk of drastic action in the strangely catchy chorus only furthers this sense of dissociation between the narrator’s body and self:

“I stopped that feeling but it has come back. I feel like shit and I just want to destroy myself”

The album might not be the easiest of listens, but will speak to many who feel alone and afraid and in need of connection. In a world where social media pushes photoshopped portraits and misleadingly exciting lives, artists like Henoheno are needed to remind us just how hard life can be.

I Made These Songs Before I Moved will be released on the 2nd of July on Fox Food Records. You can pre-order it now via Bandcamp, both digitally or on limited edition cassette tapes (which are a lovely pea green, see below).

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New Alhambra is held together by a variety of samples, snippets of recordings that act as tiny, fervid interludes between the deadpan songs. From wrestling commentary to the title track’s televangelist, these clips are packed with half-remembered meaning, sharp, alluring passions which time has driven out of reach. The result appears to be indifference, the waves of agony and joy synchronising perfectly and flat-lined by destructive interference. For every wound avoided is a comfort missed, the roulette wheel of pleasure and pain thrown out in favour of a vague and nagging ache that no amount of distraction can overcome. The question is, do we accept this trade-off?

For me, this begins to get at the biggest misconception about Cothran’s songs. Many view his impassive style as the message of his music, the emotionless delivery sucking life from his poetic words, showing his deadened apathy toward a meaningless life etc., but really it’s the other way around. Cothran is challenging his numbness with his words, refusing to give in, attempting to break out as opposed to barricading himself in. Do we accept the trade-off? On New Alhambra, as typified by closing track ‘Wastes of Time’, Cothran says no:

“If you try I will try,
when we fuck up it’s alright,
there is always more to life,
than all these wastes of time.”

When you take a second look you find the entire album illuminated in this way, light seeping through the cracks in the shadows. What first appear brief sparks are revealed to be points of a sustained blaze which guide you from the murk, like some form of celestial navigation for our age of smog and light pollution. Suddenly the samples begin to sound sincere, what was mistaken for an ironic smirk revealed to be the fragile, vulnerable smile of someone who doesn’t get much practice. The tables have turned 180°, no longer stark, bravely honest songs confronting darkness but rather straight-faced, easily-mockable hymns of the light. This is made clear on ‘N.M.S.S.’ (‘No More Sad Songs’), a song whose I initially assumed ironic that turned out to be an ode to the unshakeable faith of a better future:

“Someday never came so I keep waiting
I will go to sleep still believing

No more sad songs
I will serve no purpose
I love everyone that I have ever known.”

This is not a born-again Love-The-World-Because-Life-Is-Great sort of album. Elvis Depressedly will not mend broken bones or cast out demons or have you walking across hot coals. Instead they say that afflictions are not all there is, that you are not defined solely by your circumstances. They say that peace and hope are never out of reach and offer an achievable version of optimism, one which does not require manic enthusiasm or God-like goodwill but instead a pinch of determination and a firm belief in love.

New Alhambra is out now on Run For Cover Records, including some rather lovely vinyl editions.

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But with the internet, oh boy, I didn’t even have to look! I just clicked a few links that looked vaguely interesting and now I’m sitting here listening to Truesdale, trying to describe why this modest, minimal little piece of music is so damn beautiful. If you liked Small Wonder’s Wendy or Adieu Caribou’s I Do Care About You, then I think you will like this.

This is a very personal album, one of those ones that you just know was borne out of compulsion rather than a desire to please. Citron says it best himself:

“This album was not written for anyone other than myself, and I am wary to upload such a personal lens into myself onto the public of the web. So all I ask in return is your support if you enjoyed it! Share it! Tell your sad, sad friends who enjoy sad, sad music!”

So sad friends, if you’re out there, please enjoy this album. You can download Truesdale on a pay-what-you-want basis over at the Fairweather Currents Bandcamp page.

P.S. Fairweather Currents also have two collections of covers including takes on tracks by The Antlers, Nana Grizol, Waxahatchee, Coma Cinema and many more. They’re pretty lo-fi and morose but also really nice.

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As with the majority of Orchid Tapes releases, expect lots of pitch-perfect lo-fi pop, undercut with a decidedly gloomy, lonely atmosphere. As with Coma Cinema before him, Alex G has a downbeat feel with an almost monotone delivery that kind of embodies the detachment of many young people today. Some tracks do buck this trend slightly, while keeping with the general distaste of arriving into adulthood at present. For example ‘Harvey’ has a Why? vibe, with lyrics and vocals that possess that heart-on-your-sleeve sincerity with a slightly weird/self-deprecating underbelly that is so familiar to Yoni Wolf’s writing.

I don’t want this to descend into a typical blogger over-analysis – where something that is good/true because it is simple/real is intellectualised to become less simple/real, and therefore less good/true – but I do feel this whole idea is an important one. It is the success in capturing this detachment in music that makes Alex G (and other acts in this crowd, Ricky Eat Acid, Matt Cothran’s Coma Cinema/Elvis Depressedly, etc.) such important songwriters. They are amongst the few people who are tackling the current feeling of young people (or Millenials, but that seems to be a frowned-upon buzz word used by authors of think pieces).

The bottom line is that most music (and indeed art) ditches any attempt at tackling this in favour of some form of escapism (be it nostalgia, melodrama, adrenaline, etc.). Those that do try usually use irony to ridicule the situation – the Youtube ‘star’ Sam Hyde and his MillionDollarExtreme videos are a good current example, and there have been many books that aim for the same thing (Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney etc. etc.). The problem with mocking vapidity is that after a while it becomes just as shallow and empty as problem in the first place.

Alex G and his colleagues seem to be doing a bit more. There seems to be an element of positivity, even if that positivity is nothing more than a connection, an appreciation that we are not alone. Even bringing up the emptiness faced by young people risks appearing naive or falling victim to the everything-is-lame ironists (I can imagine this post being made fun of as I’m writing it), so laying things out in a way that is open and halfway-constructive is as admirable as it is important. It’s sort of like saying that yes, sometimes thing are shit, and no, we don’t have any real answers and no one would listen if we did, but we are here feeling the exact same thing as you and that has got to count for something, right?

So, umm… this wasn’t really much of a review, but DSU is a special album and you should buy it. Maybe I’ve got the wrong end of the stick, but if the album speaks to you as strongly as it does to me then it has done it’s job, and the rest is a matter of interpretation.

You can get it on vinyl from Orchid Tapes (currently on its third pressing, after proving hugely popular via pre-order. I can attest that the folks at Orchid Tapes are really nice and throw in goodies like stickers and sweets and teabags), and on a pay-what-you-can basis from Bandcamp. and be sure to check out Alex G’s back catalogue on his Bandcamp page.

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As ever, please support any of the acts you like and buy their own music. There are some super-talented and prolific acts on here who release a lot of their stuff for free, and I’m sure a few dollars, or even just an email of appreciation, would be very welcome.

Tracklisting:

1. Seasons (Waiting On You) (Future Islands Cover) – Slow Club
2. Don’t Let Me Get Me (P!nk Cover) – Arrange
3. Doin’ It Right (Daft Punk Cover) – Verdigrls
4. Flotus (Flying Lotus Cover) – Spazzkid
5. This Charming Man (The Smiths Cover) – SKATERS
6. Ain’t That Enough (Teenage Fanclub Cover) – Nai Harvest
7. Son Of Sam (Elliott Smith Cover) – The Provincial Archive
8. Her Sinking Sun (Coma Cinema Cover) – Julia Brown
9. Thru The Wall (Paul Baribeau Cover) – Matthew Lee Cothran & Delaney Mills
10. It Is What It Is (Blood Orange Cover) – How Sad
11.Dreams (Fleetwood Mac Cover) – Emily Reo
12. Is This Is (The Strokes Cover) – Total Warr
13. Everything Is Embarrassing (Sky Ferreira Cover) – Saturday Looks Good To Me
14. Bein’ Around (The Lemonheads Cover) – Courtney Barnett
15. Call It What You Will (Joe Pug Cover) – Vandaveer
16. Waking Hour (Vandaveer Cover) – Joe Pug
17. The Promise (When In Rome Cover) – Sturgill Simpson
18. The Mother We Share (CHVRCHES Cover) – SOAK
19. Game Of Pricks (Guided By Voices Cover) – Meursault
20. Ooh La La (Faces Cover) – Manchester Orchestra
21. Romulus (Sufjan Stevens Cover) – Donovan Woods
22. Drive All Night (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Sharon van Etten

Covers Mix #11 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Today is the first volume. It features a mix of styles and bands, covering classic songs and new music. We hope you enjoy these re-workings as much as we do.

WTD’s Covers Mix, Volume #1:

1. Crystalized (The XX Cover) – Holly Miranda
2. Her Vore (Coma Cinema Cover) – Fog Lake
3. There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths Cover) – Dan Mangan
4. Don’t Haunt This Place (The Rural Alberta Advantage Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
5. Tears Are In Your Eyes (Yo La Tengo Cover) – The Antlers
6. Cars (Gary Numan Cover) – The Leisure Society (Thanks to TWR for the shout!)
7. Old Old Fashioned (Frightened Rabbit Cover) – John Statz
8. Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes Cover) – Grizzly Bear
9. I Fought The Law (Bobby Fueller Cover) – Titus Andronicus
10. I Will Truck (Dirty Projectors Cover) – Painted Palms
11. A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell Cover) – James Blake
12. Devil Town (Daniel Johnston Cover) – Bright Eyes
13. Like A Diamond (Glass Ghost Cover) – Sharon Van Etten
14. Ex-Girl Collection (The Wrens Cover) – Will Sheff
15. Angst In My Pants (Sparks Cover) – Signals
16. Sleep All Summer (Crooked Fingers Cover) – St Vincent & The National
17.Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado Cover) – The Head And The Heart
18. Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton (The Mountain Goats Cover) – Andy Hull
19. Godbye Again (John Denver Cover) – Youth Lagoon
20. Long Desert Train (Jason Molina Cover) – Strand Of Oaks (Thanks to CXCW)

You know the drill – support the bands. Each of the artists’ names above will take you to their website so explore further. Don’t be an Emily White, musicians have to eat too.

The Covers Mix: Volume #1 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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There was a staggering number on the long-list we first compiled, so we’ve split the list up alphabetically. If we’ve missed anything you think deserves a place (by a band that’s name starts with A-D) then let us know! Stay tuned for the rest of the list in the next week or so.

Antiques – JWNS
(RIYL = Indie Rock, Lo-fi, Summertime)

Arrange – Plantation
(RIYL = Bedroom pop, Melancholia, M83)

Bewildered Hallelujah – The Sky Is A Dream Occupied With Birds
(RIYL = Mash Ups, Weird Shit)

Bonjour – Motivational Suicide
(RIYL = Pop Punk, Fun)

Bright Whistles – TWO
(RIYL = Indie Pop)

Caddywhompus – The Weight
(RIYL = Noise pop, Indie Rock)

Cheerleader – Cheerleader
(RIYL = Indie Pop, Lo-fi)

Chris Kiehne – Pray For Daylight
(RIYL =  Americana, Folk, Hank Williams, Ghosts)

Chrome Pony – Illegal Smiles
(RIYL = Indie Rock, Garage Punk, Hooks)

Cities Aviv – Digital Lows
(RIYL = Hip Hop, Bedroom Pop)

Clams Casino – Instrumentals
(RIYL = Mixtapes, Electronic)

Coke Weed – Volume One
(RIYL = Folk Rock, Psych Rock, America)

Coma Cinema – Blue Suicide
(RIYL = Bedroom Pop)

David Shane Smith – Shampoo EP
(RIYL =  Bedroom Pop, Experimental, Weird Shit)

Death Grips – Exmilitary
(RIYL = Hip Hop, Experimental, Violence)

Dynooo – I Feel Like Playing Sim City Straight From The Floppy And Run A Tornado Over My Perfectly Functioning Town After I Put The Fire Department Way Too Far So They Won’t Be Able To Help My Sim City People.
(RIYL = Oneohtrix Point Never, Loops, Experimental)

The post Favourite Free Music of 2011 Free Music (A-D) appeared first on Various Small Flames.

He has 3 albums to date: Baby Prayers, Stoned Alone and the new release, Blue Suicide. All of his albums can be downloaded from his website for free, which I can’t recommend highly enough.

The issue of releasing his work for free is an important one for Mat. Or maybe it’s so unimportant, so obvious and natural, that it doesn’t need mentioning? He has said that real art should be selfless and therefore charging for digital releases removes what makes it art in the first place. In his words, people who charge for MP3s are “fucking delusional”.

If you can afford it his new album will be released on cassette very soon on Wonder Beard Tapes. If you lack the funds (or a cassette player) then share his music. As stated on Coma Cinema’s website: “If you feel the need to compensate us, we only ask that you share the music with others.“

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