Mercury Revved

THIS POST HAS BEEN HIT WITH A DMCA TAKEDOWN NOTICE. BRILLIANT. MERCURY REV? F@#$ING IMBECILES. THANK YOU.


posted by me

SUB POP LIVES?

MEMORANDUM
TO: Everyone
FROM: Sub Pop Records
SUBJECT: World Domination
JP/cmn
"Mission Complete"

"Uh. OK. Well, maybe that’s overstating the case. (Sub Pop has, ahem, been known to do that.) But really, did anyone expect a little label like Sub Pop to see its 20th birthday?"

Well, they did, as you've no doubt gathered from the "Memorandum," and you can read more from "The Sub Pop Story" here. No longer known as home to the Grunge elite, the little label that could (and did) still releases some solid music from such bands as The Shins and Iron and Wine.

I've been thinking about Halloween, my favorite holiday, and with only a month to go, decided to raid the SubPop.com collection in order to have some links for your digital goodies bag. Trick or treat!

Hmmm. I think I'll start with some stuff from The Shins (incidentally, this is their Sub Pop page). Here are five MP3 downloads for your consideration, and although these songs might not change your life, what the [censored by Blogger] are you on about? It's free! ;}

Phantom Limb
Know Your Onion!
So Says I
Kissing the Lipless
Australia

I hope that you've cleaned your HD recently, BTW, because there's more SUB POP in your future, and my 8-Ball confirms it (although it's notoriously wrong, I must admit -- it once told me that I'd be a finalist on American Idol, and that would most certainly bring about the Apocalypse! Not to worry. I can't sing, and I have never watched American Idol! ;) Too early for that sort of Samhain-inspired chaos anyway! Right.

How about some Iron and Wine?

Southern Anthem
Lions Mane
Jesus the Mexican Boy
Naked As We Come
Woman King
Boy With A Coin
Innocent Bones

A reasonably generous contribution of treats for your e-bag, but now for a performer that is, in some ways, my personal fave, and yet there's only 1 bloody MP3 available! D'OH.

Does this that I might actually have to pay for music? ;) In this case, I probably wouldn't mind. Nonetheless, here is some Sera Cahoone, courtesy the fine folks at Sub Pop:
Only as the Day Is Long

Other odd songs that seized my attention:
Going Back Song by The Baptist Generals
On Your Way by The Album Leaf
Furr by Blitzen Trapper
Eraser by No Age
The Birthday Wars by Oxford Collapse
Small Town Crew by The Brunettes
Such Great Heights by The Postal Service
Dumb Luck by Dntel
The Funeral by Band of Horses
Balloons by Foals

Additionally, from the NEW TO US section of SubPop.com, here's a couple more tricks/treats:
Soft Airplane by Chad VanGaalen
Stray Age by Daniel Martin Moore
Santa's Coming Over by Low

Wait! Intentional comedy! Ah, I almost forgot. In looking through today's NON-Nirvana Sub Pop catalog, I was struck with the presence of a couple of comedians, or "funny fellers" as my Mom is fond of saying. Patton Oswalt, for instance, with his track The Dukes of Hazzard. I was also rather pleased to find David Cross, a personal fave, and one of several public figures who helped to keep individuals like myself (well, I sincerely hope there are no others like moi, really) somewhat sane during the past eight years of what can only be called, from a fairly imbalanced perspective, bliss at home -- and abroad. Thankfully, Sub Pop dropped a couple of free Cross MP3's on us, too: My Wifes Crazy! (Unedited); and Certain Leaders in Government Look or Act Like Certain Pop Culture References.

Ok. Hearing the name Sub Pop mentioned a few too many times could have a creeping (creepy?) sense of nostalgia as a side effect. Well, even though there aren't digital offerings from the "inactive" artists -- i.e. Cobain & Co. -- I might have found something for you. Mudhoney might have left Sub Pop, but they're back, and continuing to write and record music. Here's a sort of free 5-song sampler to perhaps reconnect to the Halcyon daze of grunge:

Sonic Infusion
The Straight Life
Blindspots
I'm Now
In 'n' Out of Grace (Live in Berlin, 1988)


"So when they tap our Sunday heads
Two zombies walk in our stead
This town seems hardly worth our time
And we'll no longer memorize or rhyme,
Too far along in our crime,
Stepping over what now towers to the sky,
With no connection

Oooh waooooooo waooooooo ..."

Bach 'em, Danno!

In August, 2007, Simone Dinnerstein released her recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, produced with a sort of DIY ethic, grabbing the top spot on the U.S. Billboard Traditional Classical chart and, according to NPR, “for a few surreal hours, outselling Bruce Springsteen on Amazon." The Berlin Concert was released as a follow-up this summer, “a live recording of Ms. Dinnerstein's recital debut at the Kammermusiksaal of the Philharmonie in Berlin, which took place on November 22, 2007. The program features J.S. Bach's French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816; the world premiere recording of American composer Philip Lasser's Variations on a Bach Chorale; and Beethoven's landmark Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111.” MP3 excerpts of these beautiful works are available online, and I’ve included some links below.


The J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations

An excerpt from SimoneDinnerstein.com:
Variation 26

Additionally, there are MP3 clips for each of the recording's tracks available at the Telarc International Web site:
Aria; Variation 1; Variation 2; Variation 3; Variation 4; Variation 5; Variation 6; Variation 7; Variation 8; Variation 9; Variation 10; Variation 11; Variation 12; Variation 13; Variation 14; Variation 15; Variation 16; Variation 17; Variation 18; Variation 19; Variation 20; Variation 21; Variation 22; Variation 23; Variation 24; Variation 25; Variation 26; Variation 27; Variation 28; Variation 29; Variation 30; Aria da capo


THE BERLIN CONCERT

"Dinnerstein chose this program because of how the pieces speak to each another, and because of their relationship to the music of Bach," according to her Web site.

"My hope with this concert was to program a group of pieces that would contrast with and relate to each other, despite being separated by hundreds of years," Dinnerstein said.

Excerpts from SimoneDinnerstein.com:
Johann Sebastian Bach -- French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816 (1722)
Track 4 – Gavotte
Philip Lasser -- Twelve Variations on a Chorale by J. S. Bach
“Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott” - Cantata 101 (2001)
Tracks 8 and 9 – Chorale and Variation #1


BEETHOVEN: COMPLETE WORKS FOR PIANO AND CELLO, VOL. 1, with Simone Dinnerstein and Zuill Bailey
An excerpt from SimoneDinnerstein.com:
Sonata 3 No. 9

Some music that Simone listens to, according to a list she submitted to Amazon:

Jordi Savall - TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE (Soundtrack)
You can download .ram files here

Jacques Loussier -- Bach's Goldberg Variations

The Miró Quartet -- George Crumb Edition: Volume 7. MP3 clips: Unto the Hills; Black Angels

A L S O
Simone Dinnerstein performed "Eine Kleine Mitternacht Musik" by George Crumb live at WNYC's Studio 360

A N D
Links to other free Telarc downloads:
Joy by Hiromi
Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D major by Jacques Loussier Trio
Blues Overtook Me by Charlie Musselwhite
Train My Baby by Robert Lockwood, Jr.


RANDOM MEDIA CAPTURE:
Q: Your version of the Goldberg Variations has a very “pianistic” quality. But of course the work was originally written for harpsichord. Do you see yourself as doing something a step away from “old school”?

A: "Well, my favorite musicians are from the old school. Pianist like (Alfred) Cortot, Artur Schnabel, Dinu Lipatti, Myra Hess. I love their sound; it’s illuminating. But I’m drawn to anyone who plays with vitality, so there are some early music players whose playing I find really vigorous and imaginative too. I just think if I’m going to use a piano — especially this one — then I’m really going to use it. To me it’s about the beauty of the music; I’m not interested in the historical aspect. For me, the music lives today — I don’t see the point of trying to make it sound like a harpsichord."

Mission of Burma!

Matador Records has reissued Signals, Calls & Marches, Vs., and The Horrible Truth About Burma ("The Definitive Editions") by the seminal group The Mission of Burma, making a free MP3 from each of the records available at their site -- whether you need to hear the quality of the digital reissue, or are simply curious about this band your friends, compatriots, enemies, and others just won't bloody well shut up about.

Simply go here, and right click Max Ernst, OK/No Way, or Weatherbox (Live) to grab an MP3 (or WAV) of each.

More contemporary releases are available for download, too, including Mogwai's Sun Smells Too Loud, Jennifer O'Connor's Valley Road '86 (from "Here With Me"), and see_saw by Jay Reatard. Looking around the site, I even found some Cat Power -- Metal Heart.

UPDATE: Here are a couple of additional Mission of Burma downloads courtesy Aquarium Drunkard: Dead Pool; Learn How


"In the burning sea
In the laughing lights
In the luminous sea
In the brash gold night
In the turtle's head I blacked out fast.
In the city's halls always it laughed.
HA HA HA HA HA HA
Dada
Dada
Dada..."

I miss God

One price of free these days, in this context, involves honoring the request by an artist and their Web site to supply some basic personal information in order to have the link to a downloadable digital song or collection delivered via e-mail. Brooke Waggoner, for instance, still has her "Fresh Pair of Eyes" EP available gratis, where it'll cost you almost $6 on iTunes. (Incidentally, if the following "temp" link is still working, you can simply skip the registration process.)

UPDATE: Go here and right click on "live for the sounds" for a more recent freebie from her album, "Heal for the Honey."


"I want, I want to be seen
With a fresh pair of eyes
The single, the single white tree
In a black hood of disguise

I miss God ..."

The Living and The Dead

In March of this year, the ANTI-label, through its blog, released a 15-song sampler as a free download, a digital collection that included tracks from Billy Bragg, Nick Cave, and Bob Mould. That's no longer available, but ANTI wisely offers samples from new releases, including Jolie Holland's the Living and the Dead, which will be out in October. Right click on Old Fashioned Morphine under "recent media" in the left sidebar for a free taste (or click on the names of the songs here if the links still work). You can also download Black Stars, I Wanna Die, and Back Hand Blues.

You can still download Bring It On by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and Bob Mould's The Silence Between Us from the site. There are also cuts from a forthcoming live album by Mavis Staples -- We Shall Not Be Moved and On My Way.


"There were trails of fallen trees
Deciduous and weeding marsh
The lowland birds and crickets roared
The final sound of fall
Along the banks of the river
We approached the footbridge
Entering the wilderness
Following my footstep"

"The silence between us is the time
When I can't hear the thoughts
That's on your mind, yeah"

THE POWER OF LARD!

In another lifetime, I was a college radio DJ, and a huge fan of Jello Biafra, Dead Kennedys, and Alternative Tentacles. Lard is one Jello's post-DK musical projects -- an unholy union with the maniacs from Ministry -- and I thought that some free MP3 files from the band would be a great place for this blog to start.

Go here, a link to the AT site, in order to download The Power of LARD and HellFudge! Cheers to the high priest of harmful matter!

A short list of other post-DK Jello freebies:
JELLO BIAFRA / NO W.T.O. COMBO -- "Let's Lynch The Landlord" and "New Feudalism"
JELLO BIAFRA & NOMEANSNO -- "The Sky Is Falling And I Want My Mommy (Falling Space Junk)," "Jesus Was A Terrorist," "Bad," and "The Myth Is Real - Let's Eat"
JELLO BIAFRA & DOA -- "That's Progress" and "Power Is Boring"
JELLO BIAFRA & THE MELVINS -- "Plethysmograph" and "Yuppie Cadillac"

A L S O
Jello's tribute to Joey Ramone (from Machine Gun In The Clown's Hand)
A Wesley Willis tribute to Jello (from Greatest Hits Volume 2)


"Lard is the Om.
Lard is revolution.
Lard is the tapeworm,
in the bottle of cheap tequila.
That comes alive at night,
And sneaks up and bite our nipples.

LARD!"

"Everything in America's free!"

Well, it should be. The above quote is something that performance artist Copernicus once said to me and some friends as he paid for a couple of cabs to take us back to our NYC hotel one night years ago after we'd spent too many hours drinking with the charming, deranged man.

The idea behind this blog is very simple. I love music, particularly tunes provided gratis, and as online distribution of music slowly evolves, more artists and labels are providing free downloads. Stricken with insomnia, I often spend twilight hours hunting down free MP3 files, and in the process, occasionally find some great spots for multiple free files. But, I have yet to find a site that sort of aggregates solid online resources -- or at least in a way that I'd personally like to see. So, I've decided, very simply, to create a resource for finding free MP3 files myself!

Please feel free to contact me with suggestions, links, & so forth, and thank you for stopping by. Prost!

9.27.08
F-burg, Texas


"You know, she couldn't believe what she heard at all
She started dancin' to that fine fine music
You know her life was saved by rock 'n' roll ..."