I was never much impressed by the British punk group The Stranglers but the best thing about them was the testosterone loaded voice of founder and lead singer Hugh Cornwell. While the Stranglers are still around, Cornwell left in 1990 and recorded several solo albums. The latest album is titled Hooverdam and is available as a free and legal download from Mr. Cornwell’s web site.

Cormwell’s voice has mellowed out through the years. The music on Hooverdam is less aggressive than that of The Stranglers which is a plus in my book. There are some nice rock tunes here including “Please Don’t Put me on a Slow Boat to Plowbridge”, “Wrong Side of The Tracks” and “Delightful Nightmare”. My favorite track is “Within You or Without You” with its talking-blues styled lyrics and its Bo Diddley rhythm. Not every song is a winner but there are enough good times to merit a listen.

Hooverdam is available in 128kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music support the artist by buying the higher sound quality CD and check out his other efforts.

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This bit of psychodelic punk psychodrama is brought to you from sunny Spain. Psicodelic FunKilljazz combines 60s psychedelica and 80s funk with a decidedly post-punk mentality. Sort of Country Joe and The Fish versus Funkadelic in a mosh pit. Their self titled album is a bit undisciplined but each track has a certain wild charm. The group sails through jazz riffs, flamenco, cabaret tunes, and screamed vocals with ease as if it makes perfect sense to them. Probably does. Fortunately they have the talent and imagination to get away with it. The four track suite “La Odisea de la Langosta” is the best showcase starting with a quiet mood and ending in hardcore chaos. My advice is to just play the damn thing and go with the flow.

The album is available in separate tracks or full album zip of 128kbps MP3.

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If you have heard of John Wesley before, it is probably as the sometimes guitarist for Progressive Rock band Porcupine Tree. In his prolific career, he has graced a number of bands with his substantial talent on guitar and his powerful voice. He has also managed to put away a few solo albums, all offered for free on his web site. You can find five session albums and a live recording. The five studio recordings especially got my attention due to their strong songwriting, hence are featured on Free Albums Galore.

Of the five albums the best and most varied , in my humble opinion, is Chasing The Monsters. It is a tour de force that melds alternative rock, folk, and progressive rock into an interesting mixture. Much of the album reveals a strong Roger Waters influence in both the vocals and guitar but there is also much that is derived from American folk rock. The best tracks include the title song and the jaunty rocker “Who We Love”. I also enjoyed the moving ballad “Velvet Dreams”.

The newer Shiver is almost as good. Starting with “Pretty Lives”, this is a more dramatic album with a lot of tension. At times it feels a little over-produced but is still full of good songwriting and poignant vocals. I especially like “The King of 17″ , “Your Round”, and the title track.

The last three albums comes from the 90s and represented some of the earlier songwriting of John Wesley. The Emperor Falls, The Closing of The Pale Blue Eyes, and Under The Red and White Sky all offer superlative songs in electric and acoustic styles. My recommendation is to try Shiver or Chasing Monsters, then go for the earlier albums if you enjoyed what you heard. While I liked all of them, I expect Chasing Monster will be the one I listen to the most.

The albums are available in MP3 format of either 160 or 192kbps bitrate. If you enjoy the music support the artist by buying the CDs.

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The German darkwave/electro-pop band Curious has placed their 2004 full-length release The Intimate Stranger on Jamendo as a free and legal download. The band has a heavy synthrock sound that harks back to The Cure and OMD while also showing a distinct Goth influence. The lush but driving “Thought of Angels” pretty much sets the pace while “The Silent Voice” is a haunting darkwave ballad. After these two exceptionally strong starting tracks, it becomes a little redundant for the 50 minute album but music still remains intriguing with some well crafted songs like “Your Apology” and “A Thousand Sunrises”, the best rocker in the set. This album is a nice addition to your collection if you like your rock slightly Gothic or have an infinity for Cure styled electro-pop.

The Intimate Stranger is available in VBR MP3 from the link below. You can also download it in 128kbps MP3 from their Last.fm page. If you like the music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Trent Reznor never stops, does he? After releasing the four volume instrumental set Ghosts for free on the internet, he follows it with a another totally free Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip. This time it is typically awesome NIN complete with Reznor’s tight vocals and heavy industrial rock. And again it is free. You still have to give an e-mail address to download it but the creative common license clearly allows free distribution so you will probably start seeing it soon on fan sites, CC archives, and torrent sites.

I probably do not need to say too much about the music. Either you love NIN or you don’t. There’s little middle ground in their uncompromising music. “Discipline ” appears to be the ‘commercial’ cut. You can catch a very funny “official” video here. However other strong tracks include “Head Down”, “1,000,000″, and “Demon Seed”. There are also a couple instrumental tracks, “Corona Radiata” and “The Four of Us are Dying” that are more reminiscent of the ambient Ghosts. Overall it is an exceptional album, one of the best of 2008.

You can download The Slip from the official site in a variety of formats “including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE”. If you find any fan sites that have the album available without registration, you might want to mention it in the comments. And, of course, support the artists and buy their CDs.

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The Belgian band Moving Sand has a fondness for down tempo angst. The band’s best asset in this musical emo-fest is a female vocalist that is able to channel the folkish sparseness of Cat Power with the existential despair of the more rock oriented P.J. Harvey. The slow and sensuous pace of the group, especially on Gray Cells, also reminds me of an European Existential version of Cowboy Junkies.

Gray Cell is a sublime but disquieting collection of tracks. The title tune is a haunting song that hovers between ballad and chant. “Don’t Forget Happy Hour” is a beautiful duet of voice and guitar while “Even If God Saves Me” has a jazzy beat accompanying its somewhat pessimistic message. My favorite track “Should I” is a bit atypical with its exhilarating electric guitar solo.

Secret Garden is a little more as ease, even jaunty in parts. On some tracks like “Don’t Break My Head” there is a stronger jazz influence and some tracks reveal a fondness for Latin beats. . The opening “Global Hard Girl” shows off the entire band well. Yet there is still enough angst to make the emotionally obsessive happy. Both albums give us a nice taste of this talented but introverted band.

The albums are available from Jamendo in VBR MP3.

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Gray Cell
Secret Garden

Fresh Body Shop is one of the more interesting indie rock groups to show up lately. They have three albums on Jamendo, each one just a little different but sporting a signature sound.

Tasteless is the latest and my favorite of the three. Fresh Body Shop’s basic sound is somewheres between Indie rock, Emo, and Industrial. From the first few track, it is clear that Nine Inch Nails is a major influence. The first two tunes, “My Great Descent” and “The Game” show this influence well and are also two of the best on the album. The title track reminds me of Radiohead with its Yorke-like vocal and its polyrhythmic backing . This is the album to get if you have not heard this group before.

But Make This End isn’t bad either. In fact if you like your rock loud and intense, it might be a better bet. This is a more industrial, metal-tinted effort. “The Middle Line” starts it in a hard hork frantic style and it lets up only a little. There’s a few atmospheric soundscapes here, but industrial is the key word for this session.

Orgamilk does a 180 degree turn and goes acoustic. This is the album that allows the listener to enjoy the lyrics and the calmer mood. Pedro is the lead vocalist and this is primarily his showcase. It’s a peaceful album that features nice vocals and good songwriting. Whatever album you like, we can all agree that Fresh Body Shop has the chops to become a prime time player.

The albums are available in VBR MP3.

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Tasteless
Make This End
Orgamilk

John Frusciante is best known as the guitarist for The Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is also quite active in putting out his own solo albums. He gives away a very generous amount of demo and acoustic tracks at his web site.

Currently he has three collections of free music available. One is a set of demos from his album Shadows Collide With People. These are rough, not fully realized tracks that are not necessarily to my liking. However, two other collections are definitely more in line with my preferences and therefore featured on the oh-so-ever-exclusive Free Albums Galore

Songs From Shadows offers acoustic versions of songs from Shadows Collide With People. These are tracks that John recorded in his living room and they sound like it, which is a compliment. The songs all have an intimate “recorded-for-friends” style that is not usually heard from an artist of his stature. John writes that he used to do these songs in an acoustic tour but is not planning to do any more acoustic tours. Let’s hope he changes his mind as this is delightfully personal music.

From The Sounds Inside is an internet-only album of previously unreleased tracks that are unlikely to see the light of commercial release. The collection of demos and experiments have an expected uneven quality but there are some nice tracks here, most being solo acoustic or acoustic with accompaniment. Some of the more interesting songs include “Three Thoughts”, “Dying”, and “Fallout”. Certainly, the fans of The Red Hot Chili Peppers will love these albums but I think even the non-fans will enjoy seeing this other side of John Frusciante.

Songs From Shadows (acoustic versions) is in WMA format while From The Sounds Inside is available in 160kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying his CDs.

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One of the requirements for inclusion on Free Albums Galore is for the album to actually be free. Not only does it have to be monetarily free but also free from any type of registration through giving your name, address, e-mail or any other information that can be used for mailing lists or whatever. I have never made an exception to this rule…until now.

Nine Inch Nails’ new album Ghost I is the first CD of a four album set, appropriately titled Ghosts I-IV and Trent Reznor is giving it away as a audio free download. However you must give an e-mail address to receive the download link. I made the exception because; A) it’s Nine Inch Nails and B) the album is Creative Common licensed allowing for its free distribution for non-commercial purposes. In fact, the album is available in bit-torrent seeds and it is rumored some of those were placed by Treznor himself.

As for the music, it is entirely instrumental. The nine untitled tracks are unmistakenly NIN yet varied in range from an opening track of acoustic piano over ambient electronic sounds to a poly-rhythmic third track to full-throttled industrial (track 4 and 8). My favorite track is number 5 which reminds me of a ultra-dark Ennio Morricon film score. Reznor is never boring and usually eye-opening in his creativity. This album is no exception to that rule.

Ghost I is available in a zip of 320kbps MP3. You can also buy the entire four volume set in either a download or a CD for a very reasonable price. I bought the set and I can attest that all four volumes are excellent and one of the best albums I’ve heard this year. So if you like Ghost I do yourself a favor and buy Ghosts I-IV.

Update: Trent Reznor has placed the entire Ghosts I-IV in the open source section of the Internet Archive. You can download it here. Thanks to Lizzbee who mentioned this in the comments.

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I’ve been waiting months for this. The Charlatans have released their new album You Crossed My Path as a totally free download. This is not a collection of b-sides, demos, or throw-aways but a fully realized album of new material that is as good as anything they have ever recorded.

Available from the web site of radio station Xfm. You Crossed My Path is a lively example of The Charlatans’ signature sound. Blending elements of alternative, 80s new wave, and a little 60s psychedelica, the band still sounds as fresh as they did in the early 90s. “Oh Vanity!” moves along with a driving rhythm and a equally riveting vocal. The title tune is high intensity rock and roll and one of my favorite tracks. Except for the bizarre “My Name is Despair”, every track is an upbeat winner. It’s too early to say what the best album, free, online or otherwise, of the year is but this is certainly a contender.

The album is available as separate track or album zip in 192kbps MP3. If you like the music, support the band by buying their CDs.

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Bill Mallonee writes and sings nice rock and pop tracks with a casual beauty in the melodies and lyrics. There’s a seventies feel to his brand of rock; slightly mellow with a good beat and with a folkish edge to it. He has a number of CDs for purchase on his web site but Summershine appears to be a perennially free online treat and a good introduction to the songwriter’s art. Throughout the album, his back-up band The Vigilantes of Love provide rock-hard support to his songs. This is a good album of well crafted popular music.

Summershine is available as separate tracks in 320kbps MP3. If you like the music support the artist by buying his CDs.

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One of the best albums of 2007 has to be Okkervil’s River’s The Stage Names. I found this group and album via my fellow subscribers over at eMusic and quickly learned what all the buzz was about. Part alternative and part folk-rock, Okkervil River has a disarming sound that perfectly mixes poetry and pathos. Lead songwriter Will Scheff’s vocal soars over the complex yet accessible arrangements with the ease of Morrissey but the emotional directness of Conor Oberst.

The artists are offering a free album titled Golden Opportunities Mixtape. It is a collection of cover songs, with the exception of one Scheff original, recorded live on their 2006-2007 tour. Any disappointment over the lack of their own unique songs is dissipated by the original takes on these eight cover tracks. Whether it’s a song by Randy Newman or John Cale, Scheff manages to put his personal stamp on it. Of the covers I especially like Joni Mitchell’s “The Blonde in The Bleacher”, John Phillip’s “April Anne” and Sandy Denny’s “Solo”. “Listening To Otis Redding at Home During Christmas” is the one original. It will give the first time listeners a good sense of how exceptional this band is with their own material.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3. If you like the music support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Cattywompus is a Austin, Texas based band that really likes to show off their love for American roots music. Their free online album Gospel Hymns & Original Sins is practically a primer in the American folk rock sound. Lyrically their songs are related to the music of Gram Parsons and Townes Van Zandt, but you will hear a lot of influence from others like The Allman Brothers, Tom Petty, and The Black Crowes. This is music drenched in country, folk, and blues with much of it bearing a social conscience. I especially like the back hill sounding “Elizabeth Rose” and the emotionally charged “The Soldier”. If you’re looking for a southern rocker, try “Leaving Virginia”. This is a tight and very enjoyable rock outing and one of the best free album of its type on the internet.

The album can be found on their web site in an album zip of 192kbps MP3.

No longer available

Onalaska is a indie rock band led by vocalist and songwriter Tom Harpel. The group disbanded in 2007 which is unfortunate as they had a nice touch with a folk rock sound full of lonesome and sad lyrics.

At least they left two good albums, both free under a creative commons license.. To Sing For Nights was released in 2002 and features sparsely arranged songs with lyrics and melodies reminiscent of Sounds Like Fall and The Mountain Goats. The feeling is late night and down tempo with a backwoods accents. There is also a definite Emo atmosphere in these songs about loneliness, rejection, airport tedium, and everything else that is depressing. If anything, Onalaska can be faulted for never letting up on the dreariness but if you’re into that, this will be your cup of tea. You and Fisherman is even more minimalist and morose. I especially like “On Alaska’s Greatest Train”, a mini-epic about desperation and last chances. These two albums are recommended for those who like their indie rock on the edge of despair.

To Sing For Nights is available in 128kbps MP3 while You and The Fisherman is in 160kbps.

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To Sing For Nights
You and The Fisherman

Houdini Roadshow is the kind of road and roll band that knows how to play no frills good time hard rock. The boys come from Germany but sound like they spent their childhood in the New York streets and the New Jersey motorways. There’s more than a little Ramones surging out of the blaring guitars. The first two tracks of Down in The City are especially rockin’ and sets the stage for the black leather jacket motorcycle vibes so prevalent in most of the songs. Other favorites includes the menacing “Get Out”, “All The Way”, and the fast-lane “Betsy”. I’m playing this album a lot and it’s driving my classical music loving wife crazy. Houdini Roadshow is one part punk, one part The Wild One and a lot of attitude.

The album is available in 160kbps MP3. If you like the music, support the artists. I don’t see any CDs for sale but there’s some pretty cool T-shirts.

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The online release of Radiohead’s In Rainbow has created quite a stir. Other top artists have not overlooked the fact that Thom Yorke and Company’s experiment in creative marketing is both a financial and artistic success. Trent Reznor is making noise about doing the same thing for his next album. Trent has also been paying attention to the less publicized remix collections made available by such artists like The Beastie Boys and R.E.M in which they make available open source tracks for others to remix and manipulate to their hearts’ content.

Now Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have collected 21 of the best remixes of their own open source tracks and placed them in the free and online The Limitless Potential. This is one of the best remix collections I have heard mainly because Reznor’s original tracks are of very high quality. The selected remixes are also high quality, adding unexpected nuances to the original works to some cases and creating a different but still unmistakable NIN sound in others. While it is not making the noise of Radiohead’s marketing ploy, this is still an essential download for all NIN fans and, for other music fans, just plain ol’ killer rock.

The album is available as separate tracks in MP3s of varying bitrates from 128 to 320kbps.

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Darker My Love is a band from sunny California who prefers to live in the shadows. Their dark music is filled with droning guitar, fuzz and reverb reminding me of The Velvet Underground or The Jesus and Mary Chain. Their self titled album is released by Dangerbird Records and is freely available at the label’s web site.

Darker My Love alternates between manic metal tracks like “What’s a Man’s Paris” and more goth-style psychrock such as “Catch”. Either way, this is heady stuff suited to those times of self reflection or self pity depending on your viewpoint. It doesn’t hurt that the musicians put 100 percent of their talent in this music. My guess is that this is another band that puts on awesome live shows. Until you see them live, this album will be an excellent substitute.

The album is available as a full album zip in 256kbps MP3.

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The Jennifers play an upbeat rock that has both the accessibility of Weezer and the cleverness of They Might Be Giants. Their website has a generous amount of sample tracks from their CDs and one free EP of rock and roll covers. The Covers Project is a collection of cover songs that the band e-mailed to their fans while working on the last album. All six tracks have their own quirky charm. My favorite is a cover of “Friction” which was first recorded by the greatly under-rated Television. There is some fairly amazing guitar work on this track. Robyn Hitchcock’s “Queen of Eyes” is another great song. Hitchcock is cited by The Jennifers as a major influence. Other tracks include a totally obscure, at least to me, “Ilya Kuryakin Looked at me” (a nod of geek approval to the first person that can mention the TV show reference) and a weird tribute to pop hippiedom in “Good Morning Starshine” from Hair. Overall, a fun 20 minutes of music.

The album is available as separate tracks in 192kbps MP3. If you enjoy their music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Glossary fits nicely into the genres of alternative and Southern rock. The Tennessee based band have an exciting sound whose influences are equal parts of The Allman Brothers Band and The Drive-by Truckers. Their new album is slated to go on sale the end of October but the guys are now allowing free and legal downloads under a creative commons license.

The Better Angels of Our Nature is a rock and roll treatise on pain and death. The somewhat morose lyrics are nicely balanced by southern harmonies, back-bar piano, and tight guitars. This is a well produced , immaculately played collection of tracks. But the thing that impresses me the most are the lyrics. Like The Drive-by Truckers, this is a group that wants to do more than just make good music. Their songs speaks to us about the nature of the human soul as it deals with death, pain and hopelessness. It is serious but steeped with an odd optimism. We can use more rock groups like this.

The album is available in 192 or 320 bitrate in either AAC or MP3 format. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs through their online store.

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This Beef is not the Dutch reggae band nor does it have anything to do with the British Energy Efficiency Federation. This Beef comes from upstate New York and may explain why the British let us go in the first place. It is rude, crude, loud, and lots of fun in a sick sort of way.

There are four albums available from Gay Tastee’s Upstate Wasted web site. Frankly two of the albums are not very good. But the other two gets things together and gives you a bit of a country punk roller coaster ride.

Stink, Stank, Stunk starts with a hard metal/punk number called “Food and Punk Boy Scout”. It a good but typical barrage of sounds guaranteed to burn out a few brain cells. This is the type of rock you crave in a dirty juke joint with unwashed glasses of warm beer. Once the electric sounds start to burn you out, Beef moves to acoustic on “Nicole Kidman” I prefer the faux “hillbilly” sounds which continues on “Nitrous”. Some people might be offended by the crude lyrics but I like the satiric poetry of it all.

Drinking in a Drunk Tank, Drunk in a Think Tank is better. The instrumental “Ass, Gas or Grass” moves Beef past the three chord songs on the first albums even if the titles remain a bit sophmorphic. The band is also settling firmly into psychobilly, sometimes sounding a little like The Cramps and other times leaning to the country punk of The Drive-By Truckers. Again, my favorite tracks leans to the country tinged songs like “Mountain Music”, “Native Brook Trout” and “Town Car”. Of the ear busters, I especially like “Superflu”. Beef will never be confused with the first or second ranked rock bands, but I do like their “F— the World” attitude and their rock and roll energy comes through loud and clear.

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Stank, Stank, Stunk
Thinking in a Drunk Tank, Drunk in a Think Tank

The one man band 1984 borrows elements of 60s psychedelica, alt. country, indie pop, and other genres and melds them into its own personal vision. The result is sometime dreamy, sometimes quirky but almost always entertaining. 1984 has two free online albums currently available.

Ritorno a Casa in un Poweriggio Estivo was released in 2005 and is primarily instrumental. The most striking aspect of the music is its casual and folksy quality. Acoustic guitars weave and slide by each other in a sunny afternoon sort of way. “Senza Parole” is a nice example of this. “In Campagna” has a pyschedelic feel while “Ballata” ends the set with a dreamy alt. country state of awareness. This is a very enjoyable album of acoustic rock with folk leanings.

2007’s Matite Spuntate has a heavier emphasis on vocals. I’m not sure this is necessarily an improvement but I do enjoy the wider variety of mood and the move to indie rock influences that is found on this album. All in all, it shows a growing development of style and structure in the artist’s music. “Palline di Spugna Verdi” is a joyous trip to 60s psychedelica and a nice little rocker. The artist’s country and folk influences are still quite evident in numbers like “Una Giornata Storta” and “A26 Verso sud” but there is a clear attempt to find an unique and individual sound. The attempt to incorporate more adventurous sounds makes for a sometimes uneven album but this actually makes it more interesting. Two of the more experimental tracks are “Dedica in 3 Movimenti” and “Non ho Trovatole Parole che Cercavo”. They are cinematic tracks that remind me of Van Dyke Park’s eccentric stylings. This is an interesting album that should please fans of thoughtful and unusual indie rock.

Both albums can be downloaded at the Internet Archives in either MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.

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Matite Spunatate
Ritorno a Casa in un Pomeriggio Estivo

The Adult Swim web site regularly posts free online albums and EPs tailor-made to their young adult target audience. I’ve featured the enjoyable Occult Hymn but found the collections Chocolate Swim and Definitive Swim not to my liking. Their latest offering is Warm and Scratchy and is closer to my own rock and roll sensibilities.

Thirteen artists are featured on this compilation with rock music that ranges from pop-heavy to experimental. TV on the Radio is one of my favorite new groups and also one of the most inscrutable. Their contribution “Me-I” is not one of their best. I would rather see you go out and buy the outstanding Return to Cookie Mountain. However there are a lot more excellent tracks amongst this album’s international roster of artists. The Raveonette’s hybrid of 50s pop and grunge titled “Dead Sound” gets it back on track while Les Savy Fav barges in with a great rocker of a track. Other favorites of mine include the pop-goth “Justine” by 120 Days and a Chorale-like instrumental by SOUND Team. I also give high marks to two atmospheric tracks by Asobi Seksu and Fennesz. There’s something I like about all the songs on this collection.

The album is available in 256kbps MP3. While you’re there check out the other albums if you haven’t already. And if you find a artist you really like, support them by buying their CDs

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Dead Heart Bloom is the solo project for Boris Skalsky who once played bass and keyboard for for the East Coast band The Phasers. For all intent and purpose, these two albums represent his solo debut and what a fine debut it is. Mr. Skalsky has made both albums freely available from his web site.

The self-titled album Dead Heart Bloom is quite an effort exhibiting good songwriting and a tight hand at arranging. The music often reminds me of early Beck in its ability to keep you a little off kilter. Yet much of it, like “New Messiah”, also reminds of The Eels in its tight beat and unconventional storytelling. Skalsky can evoke folk-rock sentimentality as on “Listen” or rock you in a dark bitter way as in “The Marchers are Coming”. There is even an excellent cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” that squeezes out more anguish and desolation than the man in black may have thought possible. This is an impressive debut album that bears repeated listening.

The second album Chelsea Diaries is no less impressive. The production, good on the first album, is even better here. There a bigger emphasis on vocal harmonies, the songs are a bit more upbeat, and the lyrics remain exceptional. This is a folk-rock treasure of an album with the emphasis on acoustic intimacy. There isn’t a weak track here but I especially like “Save The Last Verse For Me”and a heart-felt rendered “The Love Song You Always Wanted” . However the final track “The Up and Down” stays with me longest, a bluesy alt-country jewel that leaves me wanting more.

Dead Heart Bloom is available in 192kbps MP3 while Chelsea Diaries is in 256kbps. If you enjoy the music support the artist by buying his CDs.

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Spanish for 100 is the latest contender in a long line of Seattle bands. Bearing a standard rock instrumentation of two quitars, bass and drums, the group sports a sound somewheres between grunge and alt. country. It’s a good sound back by well-placed guitar riffs and a vocalist who knows how to get the best out of a lyric. But it is the interaction between guitars that sends this band above the crowd. Complex melodic lines plays with other each others setting a complex and engaging arrangement of sounds. The band has two free online albums on their web site.

Newborn Driving was released in 2002. It’s a strong debut with the emphasis on a mid tempo indie sound. The title track has a bittersweet feeling to it. “Drove Me Here” drives up the rock and roll credentials a bit. It’s a sharp catchy number. “Come Rain or Shine” is not the Harold Arlen standard but still bears some of the better lyrics on the album and is one of the more impressive tracks as is the final “Five Hours In”.

2006’s Metric is a more subdued affair. The lyrics seem more personal and the band is getting tighter. “Jungle with Lions” is an exceptional track, a waltz tempo rock ballad with powerful guitar backing and one of Aaron Starkey’s best vocals. “Fell a Bird” is a good faster tempo track and part 2 of “Golden Days” betrays a Tom Petty influence.

Newborn Driving is available in 128kbps MP3 while Metric is in 192kbps. If you enjoy the music, you might want to purchase the band’s new CD Say What You Want to Me. You can sample four full tracks from the music download page.

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The Black Keys are a rock duo out of Akron, Ohio. Guitarist / vocalist Daniel Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney play an intense blues based rock that many compare to The White Stripes. However, in my opinion, the Black Keys have an earthier, primal sound that owes much to the juke joints of the South and to blues stalwarts like R. L. Burnside and John Lee Hooker. They are certainly one of the most exciting rock groups today.

The Black Keys now have a free online EP titled The Live EP on their Myspace page. The four tracks total slightly over 16 minutes and are typical of the hard driving music they do so well. “No Trust” shows off Auerbach’s snarling vocal style. “Elevator”‘is a nice example of how well just guitar and drum can rock out a crowd. But “Girl on my Mind” and “10AM Automatic” are the best tracks, showing incredible intensity and a raw power that is rare among current rock bands. If you never heard The Black Keys before, you are in for a treat.

The EP is available in separate tracks of 192kbps MP3 format. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

No longer available