FREE SHIT!

I finally got an Ipod. Here are some of my downloads…

LCD Soundsystem 45:33: Nike Original Run-James Murphy made this specifically for Nike to promote…running. Not sure how it really compares to all the records he’s done recently, wet with critical drool. Housy, krauty electo-stuff that makes me run a few more laps up the hill. I spent $9 on ITunes and I guess it was worth it.

Antiopic The Allegorical Power Series- “The Allegorical Power Series is an ongoing series of freely downloadable audio meant to address the possibilities and roles of abstract or experimental music as social and political response.” OK. They say it better than I ever could at the label website. A collection of free mp3s loosely centered around civil dissent in the early days of the Iraq war. Instrumental, electronic, often minimal, fleeting stuff. My favorites: William Basinski, Atelia, Ultra Red, Project Qua Project, Okkyung Lee, Tim Barnes and David Daniel, We’re Breaking Up, Blevin Blectum, Kaffe Matthews, Barry Weisblatt and Annette Krebs. “Free Music, Literally,” as they say at the site.

Je Suis France “California Still Rules”-This thing opens up the way lot’s of their songs open, with a guitar that seems to fly into the sky, and then moves into this bass riff that makes you wonder if they’re just gonna take it uncharacteristically mellow, and then builds into this crescendo drum roll, aided by more guitar, that explodes into a ridiculously infectious few minutes of deliciously distorted vocals, France-style name checking, and more guitars. My favorite thing they’ve done since that early 7” where Jeff Griggs was talking about “dollars, dollars, dollars.” You wonder if Afrikan Majik will sustain the momentum. I’ll be there to find out.

“M_1_11_20” and others. Found this stuff when I googled “field recordings.” Some guy basically recorded the sound of radio waves out in the mountains or desert or whatever. The results sound as eerie as EVPs and sometimes as familiar as the pops and crackles of liquid ear cleaners.

Stones Throw podcasts-Stones Throw is about the coolest label around that I own about zero records from, which should change soon but…until then these guiltily free nuggets should tide me over. The Tribute to James Brown is an hour long education in some of Brown’s finest via Peanut Butter Wolf, J Rocc and Egon. Thank You Jay Dee is a 54 minute mix that samples stuff from A Tribe Called Quest to Public Enemy to stuff that I’m not really cool or informed enough to identify…either way, though, great stuff. Both demonstrate the strengths of matching 70s guitar lines and drums so funky and kinetic they could break with stuff you would have heard on late nite Saturday Album 88 hip hop jams in the late 90s. Count on both as soundtracks for that first cookout of the summer. Stone Cold Psychedelic Soul and Madlib’s Jukebox 45s Mix I haven’t listened to yet, but, given the titles, how could they not be awesome?

School of Seven Bells “My Cabal”-My old roommate’s band with one guy (ex-Secret Machines), the Dheza sisters from On!Air!Library! (and some Prefuse73 records) and a pretty ridiculous drummer who plays with Rhys Chatham. Kind of shoegazer, kind of 4AD, krauty, with subtle blips and industrial sounds that interact and move in and out of the groove with a compelling synchronicity.

Blackalicious/Nirvana “Feel All Apologies”-Inspired by MB’s recollection of a Coolio/Nirvana “Come as You Are” mashup I took my chances on this one. Only problem is that it led me to FFWD past the real “All Apologies” tonight when I was rocking Unplugged.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks- Live at the Matrix, Portland, OR-For basically the last two SM records people have been predicting some sort of jam record, but we still haven’t really gotten one. We might with the next one. Most of the new songs at this show clock in at around 7-10 minutes and are constructed with lots of guitar, keyboard noodling and structural segues that depart from the main form and then come back. At times the guitars sound just like Led Zeppelin II and other times Moby Grape. Maybe we’ll finally see what Brighten the Corners could have sounded like if they had made the album like they played the songs on tour, with jams.