Archives for December 2011

It's the final MPFree EP of the year, and after last week's MPFree Festive Giveaway we're back to normal.

As you'd expect, there's more big names on the EP this week, including Moby, Cut Copy and soul veteran Lee Fields.

Your final free download comes from Wheat. The track forms part of a doube A side single, with an album, potentially, following next year. You'll find the track and the link below.

Your tracks this week are...

Lee Fields - You're The Kind Of Girl

Cut Copy - Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Miike Snow - Devil's Work

Moby - The Right Thing (Kleerup Remix)

Wheat - House Of Kiss

Some tracks may no longer be available for download. Merry Christmas!

The final Memory Tapes of the year comes from Katy Bullock, and yes, once again it's all about love. Katy writes...

"It's the playlist my husband and I (okay, I) made for our wedding reception back in 2009. Our main stipulation was that if it wouldn't get played on 6 music, we wouldn't play it either!

"We are both pretty lo-fi and most of our friends are too (our families think we are insane, that is okay because at least they know what to expect from us, i.e. endless disappointment, which is one of the things my husband and I bonded over), so we had the best night ever."

Fair enough, here is the mamouth tracklisting:

Harper's Bizarre - Witchi Taito

Eels - Mr E's Beautiful Blues

Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger

LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is playing At My House

Saint Etienne - Sylvie (Good Humor)

Kinks - Victoria

Fine Young Cannibals - Johnny Come Home

Pj Harvey - Good Fortune

Haircut 100 - Nobody's Fool

Voxtrot - Four Long Days

Redskins - Keep On Keepin' On!

Jenny Lewis - Big Guns

Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move

Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing

Left Banke - She May Call You Up Tonight

James - What's The World

Dear Prudence - Siouxsie And The Banshees

Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That...

Flatmates - Shimmer

Supremes - My World Is Empty Without You

Felt - Whirpool Vision Of Shame

REM - Gardening At Night

Belle and Sebastian - A Summer Wasting

Paragon - Charlotte Hatherley

Heavenly - C Is The Heavenly Option

This Is Not Who We Were - Mull Historical Society

Locked Out - Crowded House

Libertines - Can't Stand Me Now

Elvis Presley - That's Alright Mama

Smiths - Vicar In A Tutu

Magazine - Song From Under The Floorboards

Tindersticks - Her

Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes

Modest Mouse - Float On

Weezer - Surf Wax America

Ida maria - I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked

Chicken payback - The Bees

Pulp - Party Hard

Velvet Underground - Waiting For My Man

Beck - Heaven Hammer

Slow Life - Super Furry Animals

Bluetones - Marblehead Johnson

Camera Obscura - Eighties Fan

Magnetic Fields - Deep Sea Diving Suit

Smokey Robinson - Second That Emotion

Pixies - Gigantic

Suede - Metal Mickey

Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb

Go Betweens - The House Jack Kerouac Built

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Rattlesnakes

Ben Kweller - Walk On Me

Sebastien Tellier - Divine

Organ - Sinking Hearts

Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Smiths - Nowhere Fast

Sparks - Amateur Hour

Florence & The Machine - You Got The Love

Roxy Music - More Than This

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

Beatles - Eight Days A Week

Jackie Wilson - Higher And Higher

Fall - There's A Ghost In My House

Pavement - Trigger Cut

Saint Etienne - Pale Movie (Casino Classics)

Noisettes - Never Forget You

House Of Love - Destroy The Heart

Stone Roses - Made Of Stone

Cocteau Twins - Iceblink Luck

The Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town

Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays

A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray

David Bowie - Modern Love

Black Kids - Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance

Fischerspooner - Emerge

Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

New Order - Ceremony

Annie - Heartbeat

Hidden Cameras - Ban Marriage

Manic Street Preachers - Wrote For Luck

James - Avalanche

Smiths - Hand In Glove

Joy division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Fancy taking part in Memory Tapes? Drop Lauren an email with the details of your mix.

Your MPFree is a Kleerup remix of Moby's track The Right Thing.

The original version of the track features on the album Destroyed which was released earlier this year.

Moby - The Right Thing (Kleerup remix)

Today's MPFree is an early taster of the new Miike Snow material. It's been two years since the group's debut, with the first official single expected in January.

The second album is expected to follow the single, as soon as they give it a name!

Miike Snow - Devil's Work

Today's MPFree is an 'Andrew Weatherall remix'; three words that always lift the heart. The remix is of Cut Copy's Sun God from their recent album Zonoscope.

Sun God is coming out as a single with a couple more Weatherall remixes, so here's a taster of what's to come.

Cut Copy - Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Your MPFree today comes from 70s funk veteran Lee Fields.

His upcoming album Faithful Man is released on 13th March through Truth & Soul Records - you'll find this track on it, and you'll also find it below:

Lee Fields - You're The Kind Of Girl

Welcome to the final day of the MPFree Festive Giveaway; and what a week it's been...

Your final track comes from The Kills, which was recorded during their session in October. Download it for free below, where you can also grab the rest of the tracks from this week. Merry Christmas.

Download:

The Kills - Silent Night

This track is available until 11:30am on 23 Dec 2011. To download, right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' (if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click).

Also Available:

Thursday's MPFree: Jamie N Commons - White Christmas

Wednesday's MPFree: Scott Matthews - River

Tuesday's MPFree: Lucy Rose - Driving Home For Christmas

Monday's MPFree: My Morning Jacket - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This week's Memory Tape supplier is Kim Chistie Ostberg who's gone all Christmasy. She writes...

"I have a relatively recent, very festive memory "tape" well, more playlist, as it has never been on either tape or CD but a downloadable memento of something never to meant to be.

"I love Christmas and this playlist made me love it even more. I have, and still do, play it relentlessly every year from the 1st Dec til long past the appropriate point that Christmas tunes should no longer be played.

"It's a mixture of memories that I have added to as I have picked up new and wonderful Christmas tunes over the past few years from friends and loved ones. At the end of the day it is a string of memories sewn together that I have collected from several people, but with the basis coming from a person who is dearly loved.

"The original was more or less compiled of the funny songs on the mix, and maybe a few of the slightly more melancholic ones too. Anyway, it opened my eyes to a whole new world of Christmas music and showed me there was more to it than just Christmas time by Slade!!!"

Here are the tracks...

Bing Crosby - Mele Kalikimaka

Barenaked ladies - Elfs lament

KT Tunstall - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Barenaked ladies - Footprints

Blink 182 - I wont Be Home for Christmas

Celia Cruz & La Sonora Matancera - Feliz Navidad

Gayla Peevey - I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

Coldplay - Christmas Lights

Jackson 5 - Frosty The Snowman

Barenaked ladies - Jingle bells

Aimee Mann - Christmastime

Barenaked ladies - Green Christmas

Aimee Mann - Winter Wonderland

Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas

Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick

Barenaked ladies - I Saw Three Ships

Barenaked ladies - I Have A Little Dreidel

KT Tunstall - Lonely This Christmas

Barenaked ladies - Hannukah Blessings

Maria Mena - Home for Christmas

Sinead O´Connor - Silent Night

Celtic Woman - O Holy Night

Would you like to submit a Memory Tape? Email it to Lauren then...

Your penultimate free festive download comes from one of the show's favourite session guests of the year. Jamie N Commons and band played an amazing session for Lauren in October, and after they'd blown our minds, they recorded a version of White Christmas.

If you're new to all of this, each day across this week Lauren is giving you an exclusive free download. So far you've been given tracks from Scott Matthews, Lucy Rose and My Morning Jacket. Tomorrow it's the turn of The Kills, but for now, help yourself to the Jamie N Commons cover...

Download:

Jamie N Commons - White Christmas

This track is available to UK users only, until 11:30am on 22 Dec 2011. To download, right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' (if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click).

Also Available:

Wednesday's MPFree: Scott Matthews - River

Tuesday's MPFree: Lucy Rose - Driving Home For Christmas

Monday's MPFree: My Morning Jacket - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Happy Wednesday folks, welcome to day three of the MPFree Festive Giveaway. So far this week, we've given you free and exclusive tracks from Lucy Rose with her version of Driving Home For Christmas and My Morning Jacket's take on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Today is the turn of Scott Matthews with his cover of River by Joni Mitchell. The song was recorded off-air following Scott's session for Lauren in September and kept secret up until now. Help yourselves....

Download:

Scott Matthews - River

This track is available until 11:30am on 21 Dec 2011. To download, right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' (if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click).

Also Available:

Tuesday's MPFree: Lucy Rose - Driving Home For Christmas

Monday's MPFree: My Morning Jacket - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

On the show today (Tuesday) Lauren was asking for photos of your questionable Christmas decorations. We had a range of submissions; from the rather odd to the down right rubbish.

You can view the gallery here, and email Lauren your photo.

It's day two of the MPFree Festive Giveaway, and today's offering comes from Lucy Rose. Lucy recorded this version of Driving Home For Christmas when she was in session in October with Huey sitting in for Lauren.

In case you're new to all of this, every day this week Lauren is giving away an exclusive Christmas cover version from some of the show's favourite session guests. Still to come, Lauren has sessions from The Kills, Jamie N Commons and Scott Matthews all for free.

Yesterday, Lauren gave away My Morning Jacket's version of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Download:

Lucy Rose - Driving Home For Christmas

This track is available until midday on 20 Dec 2011. To download, right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' (if you're using a Mac it's Ctrl+click).

Also available:

Monday's MPFree: My Morning Jacket - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

Mr Stuart Dredge, our resident app expert reviews a couple of new apps, and an oldie but a goodie.

Dickens Dark London (iPhone / iPad)

Launched by the Museum of London, this iPhone and iPad app takes people on a tour of London, based around Charles Dickens' Sketches By Boz short stories. It'll be released in monthly editions, and the first one is out now - it's an 'interactive graphic novel' with voice narration from actor Mark Strong.

Yellow Submarine (iPhone / iPad)

The Beatles' Yellow Submarine has been turned into an interactive e-book for iPhone and iPad. It's being offered free on the App Store, and includes video clips from the film, music and interactive animation. And it's the latest example of the boundaries blurring between books, films and games.

Flipboard (iPhone / iPad)

Flipboard is described as a 'personalised magazine', which means it sucks in articles linked to by your Facebook and Twitter friends and shows them as a digital magazine. You can also add in sections from your favourite websites, including Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair etc. It's just launched on iPhone - but for non iOS users, alternatives include News360, Pulse and Taptu.

Merry Christmas everyone! Welcome to day one of the MPFree Festive Giveaway.

Every day this week Lauren is giving away an exclusive Christmas cover version from some of the show's favourite session guests. These include The Kills, Jamie N Commons, Lucy Rose and Scott Matthews.

Your first freebie comes from My Morning Jacket with their version of 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas'. This cover was recorded off-air after their session in October and squirreled away until now...

The download is available below for seven days; help yourself:

Download:

My Morning Jacket - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This track is available until midday on 19 Dec 2011. To download, right click on the links and choose 'Save Target As' (if you're using a Mac, it's Ctrl+click).

Brace yourselves; Christmas is coming early on BBC 6Music.

All of next week, Lauren will be offering up five exclusive Christmas cover versions for you to download - for free!

These covers will come from Lucy Rose, The Kills, Jamie N Commons, Scott Matthews and My Morning Jacket. All the songs were recorded after the band's sessions across the year and then locked away in a secret 6 Music bunker...until now.

Your first free download on Monday will come from My Morning Jacket so make sure you tune in from 10am.

Lauren with My Morning Jacket

To tie in with the Davent thang Lauren's running across the blog, today's dad is not only today's Dadvent, but also the MPFree EP artwork. The photo is a cracker, and the story of the man is even better. More on that later....

Meanwhile, there's some more big names on the EP this week; Mark Lanagan, Caitlin Rose, School of Seven Bells - all for free! Lucky dogs.

Sticking with that trend, your final free download comes from Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great's Christmas album. The track is called Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing) and don't forget that Tim and Emmy are in session for Lauren on the 15th.

Right then, to the Dadvent/EP artwork photo. Today's comes from Corin Jeavons who writes: "This is my Dad Trevor in Isle Of White Festival 1970(ish?) mode! He was an Art teacher and Deputy Head, later a Head Teacher, but always very creative and a walking encyclopedia of popular music.

"He has always been a legend, not just to his own kids, but to all who know him! He's the coolest boogie-woogie pianist this side of the Atlantic, but could've been the coolest blues pianist in the states too, if only he'd not left his band in London, Savoy Browne, just weeks before they got a record contract and were shipped off to the states to become nearly as big as The Rolling Stones! The band rehearsals were keeping him away from home too much! He even went to school with Jagger and Richards, and his school jazz band were bigger locally than those Stones boys' (for a while)!

He used to be very jealous of the local lad David Jones, as at the tender age of 19, this Jones boy owned the trendy local Jazz club! Then he went on to change his name to Bowie! My Dad's work with kids continued after early retirement when he became a pioneer in the field of Child Art Therapy and Psychotherapy! One clever boogie-in' dude!"

Just epic. Check him out:

Your tracks are:

Alpines And Maya Jane Coles - Why

Caitlin Rose & Keegan DeWitt - You Never Come Home For Christmas

School Of Seven Bells - The Night

The Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song

Tim Wheeler & Emmy The Great - Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing)

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

This week's Memory Taper is Nikki Morton who delayed sending us the mix because "we had to wait for the ring to arrive before we could announce that we got engaged on our 11th anniversary a couple of weeks ago!"

Fair enough. This tape was made for listening whilst Nikki and her beau James' car journies to gigs. Nikki writes:

"This tape, bearing the highly imaginitive name of "Compilation 3" (well, it worked for Led Zeppelin...) was the first mixtape James and I made together after we started going out 11 years ago. As a result, it's about 30% stuff he would never listen to, 30% stuff I would never listen to, and 40% stuff we both like. At the time, James' favourite band was Placebo, and mine was the Manics, which is why we doubled up on those artists.

"In retrospect, some of the choices are pretty cringeworthy, but if anything they illustrate that even after less than a month together, we were already comfortable enough with each other that we didn't feel the need to fake being cool. Plus, if being forced to listen to the Longpigs/Eminem respectively didn't break us up, I'm not sure what could!"

They didn't bother with any artwork, but this is the tape complete with funny sticker:

SIDE A:

01 - Eminem - My Name Is

02 - Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People

03 - Grand Theft Audio - We Luv U

04 - Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch

05 - Placebo - Miss Moneypenny

06 - Coldplay - Yellow

07 - Mansun - Taxloss

08 - Muse - Plug In Baby

09 - MSP - Sleepflower

10 - 3 Colours Red - Nuclear Holiday

11 - Longpigs - She Said

12 - Starsailor - Fever

SIDE B:

01 - Dandy Warhols - Godless

02 - Supergrass - Caught by the Fuzz

03 - MSP - Locust Valley

04 - Blur - End of a Century

05 - The Bluetones - Soloman Bites the Worm

06 - Beastie Boys - Intergalactic

07 - King Adora - The Law

08 - 3 Colours Red - Copper Girl

09 - Primal Scream - Rocks

10 - Placebo - Slackerbitch

11 - Terrorvision - III Wishes

12 - Feeder - My Perfect Day

13 - Super Furry Animals - Do or Die

14 - Kiss - God Gave Rock & Roll to You II

If you have a mix tape lurking somewhere, dig it out and email the details to Lauren.

Here we are then, today's Dadvent. This offering comes from Sue Knibb who writes: "Here is a picture of dad, in the middle, before he settled down and had me and my two younger twin sisters Lizzy & Jo Jo.

"He was in bands all of his younger life and this picture is from when he played on the cruise ships around the Caribbean. I like to think of them as an early Foo Fighters!

"I'd like to put him forward for the greatest tache ever and for doing the best "eh? What?" pose! (gangster style I imagine) I love this photo!.... also of course for being absolutely the best dad in the world and in my eyes, the coolest person ever!!"

Agreed. Here's the pic:

Submit your dad photo for the Dadvent Calendar by emailing it to Lauren. Thanks.

Mark Lanegan is the man behind your MPFree today. The Mark Lanegan Band releases the album Blues Funeral in February which features guest appearances from the likes of Greg Dulli, Josh Homme and Jack Irons.

It's Lanegan's first album since 2004's Bubblegum and was recorded in Hollywood with Alain Johannes. This is the album's opener:

The Mark Lanegan Band - The Gravedigger's Song

Today's featured dad on the davent calendar is the dad of Sarah West who's blowing some serious sax!

If you have a photo of a cool dad, or a festive one for that matter, email it to Lauren and he could feature on the Dadvent calendar (it's advent + dads you see...)

Wednesday's MPFree comes from School Of Seven Bells. Now operating as a duo, the band will release their third album Ghostory at the end of February.

This is an early taster of the track 'The Night' which features on that album.

School Of Seven Bells - The Night

The Dadvent Calendar takes photos of your dads, and marries them to the idea of an advent calendar.

Today's comes from Louise, who writes: "This is a picture of my partner, Todd, in a festive jumper he made for a Christmas Jumper party. He had never sewn anything before and wouldn't stop going on about how well he had done! You wouldn't think he was into doom and drone metal... not very rock 'n' roll. He became a Dad to our daughter, Maya, in June this year."

Have you got a photo of your dad being festive, funny or well cool? Email it to Lauren and we'll consider it for the blog.

Your MPFree today is a festive offering from Caitlin Rose and Keegan DeWitt.

The track appears on the For Folk Sake Christmas CD which also feature Leisure Society and Paper Aeroplanes who Lauren played last week.

Caitlin Rose and Keegan DeWitt - You Never Come Home For Christmas

In the run up to Christmas our app reviewer Stuart Dredge will be throwing in a 'classic app' for anyone who's getting a smart phone as a present. You'll find it below with the two new apps.

Path 2 (iPhone / Android)

Path is a social location app that used to just let you share photos with your favourite people, but now it's extended to videos, music - everything you do in your daily life. They're calling it a 'Smart Journal', and it's a beautiful app. But does anyone need this who has Facebook?

Paddington Bear (iPhone / iPad)

Another classy book-app: Paddington gets updated for the iPad, with the ability to record your own voices telling the story, as well as take a photo of yourself with Paddington to send to friends.

CLASSIC APP:

Songkick Concerts (iPhone)

Find gigs near you on your phone, based on the bands in your collection. Will aim to dig out some Android alternatives - or at least talk about the website that's accessible to all.

Todays MPFree is a collaboration between Alpines and Maya Jane Coles with a cover of Carly Simons eighties classic Why.

Alpines are Bob Matthews and Catherine Pockson, an electronic duo from South London. They are launching an album of covers to showcase the UK's most prominent DJ's and producers. The first of these covers features Maya Jane Coles, an already well established producer from London. Her EP 'Don't Put me In Your Box' released in November is just a taste of things to come from her in 2012.

The single is available to buy physically on the 26th December, but you can download it for free right now!

Alpines And Maya Jane Coles - Why

Day two of Dadvent, and today's photo of a dad comes from Emma Davis. This isn't the first photo Emma's sent us of Dennis, or Big D to his friends, but it is the photo that perfectly encapsulates Christmas; dozing with fake sideburns and a slightly crumpled golden crown. Epic.

Feeling Dadventurous?! Fancy sending Lauren a pic? Email her now.

Another Friday; another Memory Tape. This week's comes from Claire Denby, who writes....

"The story goes back in 2007 after a summer of being sick of Glasgow, my boyfriend and job I decided it was time to get out and on the 3rd January 2008 I moved to Sydney. It was a bit of a rash decision and after one month of living in a hostel I was pretty homesick. I missed my mates back in Scotland and as a wee pick me up my mate Pieso made me a series of mix CDs.

"The CDs arrived in Sydney after I had found a house and made a great bunch of mates. They acted as the soundtrack to that time of my life and as I really didn't have much stuff with me on my trip they were a bit of a prized possession. I am now back in sunny Scotland and Pieso is in fact now living in Melbourne. I am in the process of making some CDs for her but am still working on them. It is hard!

"I still love this mix CD and am suprised it is still going after all it has been through."

Here's the artwork, apparently it makes sense if you know Pieso (nice work Pieso):

And here's the tracks:

1. Valentine - Delays

2. Talk Amongst Yourselves - Grand National

3. Baby Please Don't Go - Van Morrison

4. Stop Your Sobbing - The Kinks

5. Louise Louise - Orange Juice

6. This Is The Day - The The

7. Jesus, etc - Wilco

8. Jezebel - Iron & Wine

9. Free Salute - Little Barrie

10. Low C - Supergrass

11. Making Plans for Nigel - XTC

12. The Light 3000 - The Orb

13. August & September - Elbow

14. Earth Angel - Death Cab For Cutie

15. True True - U Roy

16. Close Call - Rilo Kiley

17. Footsteps In The Dark - The Isley Brothers

20. Avril 14th - Aphex Twin

Inspired? Email Lauren your Memory Tape

As you may have heard on the show today, it gives us great pleasure to unveil the first 'window' of Lauren's Dadvent Calendar.

It's a simple concept that mixes photos of your dads, with the tradition of an advent calendar. I'm sure you'd worked that out though. So every day we'll be posting a photo of one of your dads.

Today's comes from Claire Sheppard, who writes: "this is my lovely Paddy Daddy Mr Ginger Sullivan. He looks like a rock star no? He is Dad to Marie, Sarah (that's her with the little dog) and me Claire and we all think he's the cats pyjamas." So do we:

To include your dad on the calendar across the month, email Lauren a pic and some details. Thanks.

It's MPFree EP time once again dear friends; and what a fine selection we have for you this week.

Completing this week's EP is a new track from Little Boots remixed by Azari & III. 'Shake' comes from the currently untitled follow-up album to 2009's Hands. You'll find the link below with the oithers from this week.

Your tracks are:

Paul Thomas Saunders - Let The Carousel Display You & I

MiniBoone - Man/Woman

People Get Ready - Uncanny

Black Star - You Already Knew

Little Boots - Shake (Azari & III Mix)

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

Today's MPFree is a new track from Black Star which is the project of Talib Kweli and Mos Def.

They released one album back in 1998 before going their seperate ways to work on other things. Now, there's something new in the pipeline which is a tribute to Aretha Franklin called 'Black Star Aretha'.

This free offering features production from Madlib's little bro Oh No and is called You Already Knew:

Black Star - You Already Knew