Archives for August 2012

Another Friday; another collection of free tracks. Your final offering comes from Ladyhawke, or rather a remix of Ladyhawke. The track is Blue Eyes which appears on Pip's second album Anxiety and was released back in May. The remixer is German producer Ron Flieger, and you'll find the link below with the other tracks from this week.

Your tracks are:

Sweet Lights - Red Lights

Chrome Canyon - Generation

Crocodiles - Picture My Face

Matthew Dear - Her Fantasy (Poolside remix)

Ladyhawke - Blue Eyes (Ron Flieger remix)

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

This week's Memory Taper is Philip Baker recieved his mix from his daughters, as he explains....

"My Memory Tape is a CD compiled by and given to me by my two daughters Romy(13) and Nonny(11) as a 22nd Wedding Anniversary present.

"Its title is "Awesome songs for an awesome dad" and the box is personalised with pictures of me and family.

"The songs are a mixture of past and present. The present songs are by artists they know I like and the older songs are ones which have special meaning, e.g. the ZZ Top album was played rather loudly from my wife's wedding car on its way down the High Street on the way to the registry office. Pink Moon would always be played when I came home from work and Romy as a toddler would insist on having a smooch in my arms to it."Astral Weeks" harks back to my Hippy days - my only vice these days is Homebrew!

"Further to the girls present, my wife Laura, in her card to me, enclosed a small "first aid kit" pouch with comments in the card to say I should read the instructions inside, as the previous week I had hurt myself at work and they might prove useful. Inside were two tickets to see First Aid Kit in November at Shepherds Bush!"

The tracklisting looks like this:

1. Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top

2. Sixteen Saltines - Jack White

3. What Makes A Good Man - The Heavy

4. Skinny Love - Bon Iver

5. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes

6. Spectrum - Florence and the Machine

7. The Lion's Roar - First Aid Kit

8. Pink Moon - Nick Drake

9. Sensitive Kind - J.J.Cale

10. Riverman - Nick Drake

11. Hold You In My Arms - Ray Lamontagne

12. Astral weeks - Van Morrison

13. Through The Night - Ren Harvieu

14. Passing By - Zero 7

15. Emmylou - First Aid Kit

16. Lucky Man - The Verve

Hey, why not send Lauren your mix? Go on...

Your penultimate MPFree of the week is a remix of a track from Matthew Dear's new album which is out this week.

The track is called Her Fantasy, and comes from the album Beams. The remix comes courtesy of LA duo Poolside who, if you've spent more than five minutes scanning the music blogs, you'll be well aware of.

Matthew Dear - Her Fantasy (Poolside remix)

Your MPFree today is a cover by Crocodiles. The San Diego band released their third album Endless Summer earlier this year.

This track doesn't appear on that album, but was recorded during the sessions. It's a cover of Teenage Head's Picture My Face. In case, like me, you were wondering who Teenage Head are, they're a Canadian four piece who peaked in the early 80s.

Crocodiles - Picture My Face

Today's MPFree could've easily feature in any 80s sci-fi TV series. It comes from Brooklyn based Chrome Canyon; the solo project of artist Morgan Z.

He has remixed the likes of Phoenix, Passion Pit and Foster the People and in October his debut album Elemental Themes will be released.

Chrome Canyon - Generation

App expert Stuart Dredge returns with more apps for your consideration...

Broadcast for Friends (iPhone - free)

This is an app to broadcast live video from your iPhone to all your friends on Facebook - possible uses for gigs/festivals, as well as parties, sports and amazing things you see in the street. But is it legal?

A Story of a Band (Android - £1.56)

Ever fancied yourself as a budding Malcolm McLaren? A Story Of A Band puts you in the shoes of a music manager trying to guide your hapless band to the top, touring, recording and cultivating a fanbase of hipsters. It's a roleplaying game about music, and it's fab.

Your MPFree today is from Sweet Lights aka Shai Halperin, original member of band War On Drugs and also Capitol Years.

He has now gone truly solo, playing all instruments on his self-titled debut album, which is out now on Highline Records.

He is playing a headline show at the Wilmington Arms in London on the 31st August, The Big Festival on the 1st September and End Of The Road Festival on the 3rd September.

Below you will find 'Red Lights', a track from the album which not only shows off Halperin's multi instrumentalist talents, but is also absolutely free.

Sweet Lights - Red Lights

It's been a blissed-out week of MPFrees, and that continues into Friday. Your final track this week comes from The Joy Formidable.

The band have a new album on the way called Wolf's Law; this track won't appear on the album, but it does share the album's title. Make sense? Good. You'll find it below with the other tracks from this week.

Your tracks this week are:

Zero 7 - The Colour Of Spring" (feat. Only Girl)

Rollo Jean - St Tropez

Cate Le Bon - What Is Worse

Superhumanoids - Too Young For Love

The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

This week's mix was made for a'travelling. As Brian explains...

"It's a decade old now, first created in late 2002. I was pleased enough with it to upload it to The Art Of The Mix site.

"The mix itself is based around travelling. At that point I had a job which kept me moving, travelling and flying a lot. I find the whole experience of airports and flights and checking in/out, the buses, taxis and hotels quickly becomes rather unreal. It's not your real life. It's not what you actually DO. It's just the process of getting to where you can actually do things. To compound things, my family were at home in Scotland. My kids were both under ten at that point and I missed them.

"I wanted something which kept the whole idea of travelling and transit, as dreamlike as possible. It kept the whole thing at a distance and allowed me to treat it all as something which wasn't important and certainly wasn't real.

"So, I came up with a mix which involved a lot of my favourite elements. There's a little post-rock/shoegaze in there (Mogwai, Bowery Electric, Mogwai), some trip hop and chill out (The Aloof, Portishead) and some slightly more up beat trance (PPK, Chemical Brothers) since I didn't want to actually fall asleep and miss my plane/train/whatever.

"This is still my favourite mix for travelling. It's gone from the original C90 mix, to a minidisk, to MP3, Spotify (though they're missing a lot of the remixes) and has helped me cover some serious ground. I don't travel nearly as far or as often these days, but it's a mix I think anyone who's away from home on business would get a lot out of."

Here are the tracks:

Mogwai - Tracey

The Aloof - Wish You Were Here

Stone Roses - Fools Gold (Grooverider Remix)

Underworld - Cups

Arab Strap - New Birds

Bowery Electric - Saved (Ripley Remix)

PPK - ResuRection (The Perfecto Edit)

The Dandy Warhols - Godless (Massive Attack Edit)

Moby Feat. Gwen Stefani - Southside

Garbage - Cherry Lips (Howie B Remix)

Neil Young - Dead Man

Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar

Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Original Elvis Mix)

Regular Fries - The Pink Room

Saint Etienne - Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix)

The Hissyfits - Giant Ants

Placebo Mix - Pure Morning (Howie B remix)

Archers Of Loaf - White Trash Heroes

Massive Attack - Be Thankful (Paul Oakenfold Mix)

The Wedding Present - Carolyn

Art Of Noise - Moments In Love

Ruby - Paraffin (Richard Fearless Mix)

The Beta Band - Dry The Rain

Puretone - Addicted To Bass

Portishead - Theme From To Kill A Dead Man

You really should email Lauren your Memory Tape, no? Yes.

Your MPFree today is a woozy little number from Superhumanoids.

They're a trio from LA who put their first EP out two years ago. The debut album will appear next year and will be called Exhibitionists.

Superhumanoids - Too Young For Love

Your MPFree today comes from the brilliant Cate Le Bon.

Cate's Cyrk II EP was released on Monday and this track is lifted from it. She'll be in session for us on 13th September, after which she'll be whisked away to begin a North American tour in Toronto.

Cate Le Bon - What Is Worse

Your MPFree today is a different side of an artist who we've been playing quite a lot on the show.

Cellar Of Love by Bristolian Rollo Jean has had its fair share of airplay, but now we're flagging up another track which is a little less disco. I'm not going to attempt to describe it, just download and make your own sense of it.

Rollo Jean - St Tropez

He's had a week off, but now Stuart Dredge is back refreshed, and talkin' apps...

Bloc Party (iPhone / Android)

Just in time for their new album Four, Bloc Party have released their own app. Besides the usual features (news, videos, tweets etc) there's a daily weather forecast (or 'FourCast') which checks the real weather for your town, then gives you the forecast in a pre-recorded video from the band themselves. Lots of other treats for fans are promised.

Pinterest (Android)

Image-focused social network Pinterest has a brand new Android app, helping you share pictures on virtual walls and browse those of friends. It's a good time to talk about what Pinterest is, and its reputation as being a service mainly for women. What is it for, and how does music fit in?

CityBeats (iPhone / iPad)

Football! Not content with winning the Premier League last season, now Manchester City have designs on music fans' smartphones. CityBeats is a remix app: "showcasing the great up and coming bands from around the UK". You can tap on simple buttons to mess around with their songs, then share the results with friends.

Your MPFree today comes from a Talk Talk tribute album. 'The Spirit Of Talk Talk' sees bands like Bon Iver, The Verve, Grandaddy and Arcade Fire covering tracks from the band.

The one the big bods have decided to give away comes from Zero 7 and features Only Girl on vocals.

Zero 7 - The Colour Of Spring" (feat. Only Girl)

This week's Memory Tape guest is Ollie Nicklin who has his sister to thank for the mix tape, as he explains...

"Here's a compilation my sister made for me when I was travelling around the world over 10 years ago. At the time I was 20 years old and took with me a minidisc player with enough music (or so it would have seemed at the time pre-ipod) to last the trip.

"The only problem was when I was about 6 months into the trip the mini disc player took on more sand that it could handle and broke leaving me music-less.

"Missing my music and home my older sister Nat posted out this compilation to Australia which I played out at every opportunity for the rest of my trip and for a long time after I got home. It's just a great compilation of mash ups and classic tunes all wrapped under one of the best mixtape titles I've come across to this day (Between A Soft Rock And A Hard House)."

Here's the tracklisting:

Cassette Boy - Hello

The Gourds - Gin & Juice

James Brown - Funky President

George Clinton - Atomic Dog

Frenchbloke - Where's Your Ice At

Edwin Birdsong - Cola Bottle Baby

The Maytals - 54 46 That's My Number

Soulwax - Smells Like Booty

Soulwax - No Diggity

Freelance Whales - Stroke Of Genius

Osymyso - Introspection

Beta Band - Broke

The Maytals - Money Man

Jim White - Hey You Going My Way?

The Beach Boys - Mama Says

Hey you! Email Lauren your Memory Tape. Do it.

There's a few newbies on the EP this week with the likes of Permanent Collection and Darlings, but finishing off the five days is the new one from Toddla T called Cherry Pickling, featuring Roisin Murphy on vocals. You will be able to get this on the remix album 'Watch Me Dance: Agitated' by Ross Orton & Pipes out on Ninja Tune in September. Or you can just get it for free below...

Your tracks this week are:

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Black Mold

Darlings - Pet The Ghost

Permanent Collection - One Thousand Sins

White Denim - Darlene

Toddla T - Cherry Pickling

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

Your MPFree today comes from White Denim. It's nothing new, it's a previously unreleased track which they've decided to give away.

There are actually two free songs up for grabs, both of which were recorded during the sessions for their 2011 EP 'Takes Place In Your Work Space'.

There's no news on what the band are currently up to after releasing their fourth album D last year.

White Denim - Darlene

The MPFree today is a big slice of mumbly shoegaze.

It comes from Permanent Collection who are a four piece from San Francisco. They've just released their debut album Newly Wed Nearly Dead which follows their 12" EP Delirium from last summer.

Permanent Collection - One Thousand Sins

The MPFree band today are a new one on us. They're a four piece from Brooklyn who started playing together in college in 2007.

So far, they've released a couple of tracks online and this free download will be their next single. It's a bit 60s, and a bit early 90s. Download it and see what I mean:

Darlings - Pet The Ghost

Your MPFree today sees the return of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion!

Meat And Bone the band's first new studio album in eight years, and hits the shops in September.

Spencer says: "We still have that psychic glue that allows us to create music together. Over the course of a year touring and writing new songs and recording, we rediscovered our shared history as a band. We circled the wagons, and went back to our roots. In a way this is almost like another first album."

If this first song is anything to go by then it'll be a belter!

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Black Mold

It's been another fine week of MPFrees, with a lot of light and shade from Paws to Graph Rabbit.

The final track this week comes from Cody Chesnutt. This track is a foretaste of the new album 'Landing On A Hundred' which will be released on October 29th. It'll be his third album, and you'll find a link for it below with the rest. A word of warning; the version we played on air is a radio edit, and the version you'll download below contains strong language.

Paws - Miss American Bookworm

Paul Banks - The Base

Wild Nothing - Paradise

Graph Rabbit - Only Fields

Cody Chesnutt - That's Still Mama

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

This week's Memory Tapes comes from Mr Bob Arthur, who writes....

"A few years back, I was returning to work following a long-term off work due to illness. Unsurprisingly, getting back into the swing of things was pretty damn stressful. However, armed with a new phone with Internet radio on it, I was able to tune into 6 Music for the first time, and it'd be no exaggeration to say it was a huge help in maintaining my sanity while getting back up to speed--especially in conjunction with other Internet music discovery services.

"When Christmas came round that year, as the illness had been a bit of a strain on finances, I was looking for something I could make to give to our friends. It'd been years since I'd made up mix tapes, but only a few months with 6 Music had opened up more avenues of interest--old and new--than I used to find in years.

"So I made up the first compilation, and it went out to a few friends. And it's become an annual thing--the third was made up last Christmas, and it seems to be circulating further each year. The tracks are loosely based on the music I'd been listening to each year, so not constrained to music actually released that year."

Bob sent us through tracklistings for a couple of years, but we went with 2010:

1. Katzenjammer - Overture + Bars in Amsterdam

2. Operator Please - A Song About Ping-Pong

3. Liam Frost - Your Hand in Mine

4. Caro Emerald - That Man

5. Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

6. Jesca Hoop - Four Dreams

7. Steve Mason - Lost & Found

8. The Broken Family Band - Twelve Eyes of Evil

9. I Am Kloot - To The Brink

10. The Duckworth Lewis Method - Jiggery Pokery

11. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - You Won't Let Me Down Again

12. Grinderman - Worm Tamer

13. Gil Scott-Heron - Me and the Devil

14. Ruth Theodore - False Alarm

15. Plan B - She Said

16. Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip - Get Better

17. Sage Francis - The Best of Times

18. Janelle Monáe - Tightrope

19. The Jim Jones Revue - High Horse

20. Half Man Half Biscuit - Joy Division Oven Gloves

You too can email Lauren your Memory Tape. You should!

The MPFree today is beautiful! it comes from Graph Rabbit who are Brooklyn duo Austin Donohue on guitar and vocals and experimental pianist Shy Kedmi.

Their debut album Snowblind is out in October on Butterscotch Records and was produced by Allen Farmelo (who has also produced Cinematic Orchestra) and mastered by Valgeir Sigurðsson (who has worked with Björk, Sigur Rós).

Graph Rabbit - Only Fields

We are blissing out for the MPFree today, courtesy of Wild Nothing. Jack Tatum's shoegaze electronica outfit return with a new album at the end of August.

The album is called Nocturne and is based on the lunar cycle. It's the follow up to 2010's Gemini and will contain the song below which you can have for free.

Wild Nothing - Paradise

Well, this is exciting. Only a few weeks after we feature a free download from Paul Banks under his Julian Plenti guise, he's gone a dropped another one, but this time under his real name.

The Julian Plenti Lives....EP hasn't been with us for long, but hot on its heels comes news that Paul Banks will release a solo album under his own name. The album will be called Banks, and was recorded with Interpol producer Peter Katis.

The song below will be the first single.

Paul Banks - The Base

Resident techexpert Stuart Dredge returns to talk about these things...

AutoRap (iPhone / Android - free)

Want to rap like Snoop Dogg? AutoRap lets you try, and share the embarrassing results with your friends. "It turns speech into rap, and corrects bad rapping," claims its blurb. Beats and samples from Snoop, the Beastie Boys, Outkast etc are provided, although you have to pay for them.

Tap Tap Revenge Tour (iPhone - free)

Tap Tap Revenge was the first big music game for mobile phones, and now it's back with its biggest version yet. Tap, slice and shake your phone to the sounds of more than 300 songs - some are free and some you pay for - with Coldplay, The Prodigy, Justice and LCD Soundsystem all featuring.

Rumpus (Android - free)

Rumpus is rare - a music discovery app that's launching on Android first. It's for Android tablets, and let's you type in band names to find out more about them, buy their music and see similar artists.

Your first MPFree of the week is a ripper! It comes from Glasgow 3-piece Paws.

This tracks will be the first single from the forthcoming album Cokefloat! released through Fat Cat Records.

Enjoy!

Paws - Miss American Bookworm

This week's Memory Tape is, as usual, the story between a boy and a girl. That story is told by Pam in Edinburgh...

"My husband Laubscher and I grew up in South Africa, and started dating when we were 17 in 1998. He was always making me tapes, especially when I came over to Scotland for a year after school. Having fallen in love with Edinburgh, I eventually got him to move over here with me a few years ago.

"My mother asked me (the youngest of 3) not to leave too much stuff behind for her to store and in a fit of madness I threw out all my old tapes, including those my lovely man had made me. Over the years I have come to regret this insanity, as you can imagine! So picture my joy when we were home in April for a few weeks and I was sorting out some old stuff and came across one sneaky survivor, cover intact but with no track listing!

"I couldn't wait to get it to a tape player and have a listen. Now, I have to admit it doesn't really reflect my current music taste, but it is a delicious slice of late 90s-ness and every song does have good memories attached."

Here's your tracklisting...

Side 1

Counting Crows - Round Here

Oasis - Wonderwall

Fatboy Slim - Praise You

Matchbox Twenty - Real World

Dog's Eye View - Umbrella

Smashing Pumpkins - Today

Bush - Warm Machine

Marcy Playground - Coming Up From Behind

Goo Goo Dolls - Slide

Semisonic - Singing In My Sleep

Counting Crows - Colourblind

Side 2

Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet

Goo Goo Dolls - Song 13

Smashing Pumpkins - Stand Inside Your Love

Jamiroquai - Cosmic Girl

U2 - Sweetest thing

Blink 182 - Dammit

Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

James - She's A Star

Radiohead - High and Dry

Presisdents Of The USA - Lump

Abra Moore - Trip On Love

Beatles - Thank You Girl

If you'd like to have a go at Memory Tapes, then drop Lauren an email.

It's been a mixed back of free downloads this week, and your fifth and final offering comes from Dum Dum Girls. It's taken from their upcoming EP which is called End of Daze and is expected in September. You'll find it below with the rest of this week's downloads.

Your tracks this week are:

Blonds - Time

Two Gallants - My Love Won't Wait

Jim Noir - Tea

Scraps - Secret Paradise

Dum Dum Girls - Lord Knows

Some tracks may no longer be available for download.

Your MPFree today comes frpm Scraps. Regular listeners will be aware of the name as Lauren played the single 1982 a couple of times, but for those of you who don't know...

Scraps is Australian Laura Hill. This free download was originally released as a single back in June and her new full-length album due for release in early 2013.

Scraps - Secret Paradise

Your MPFree today comes from Manchester's own Jim Noir...

New album 'Jimmy's Show' is out in on the 17th of September. He describes it as the best bits from his 'Noir Club' selection of 16 EPs, which have been released monthly since late 2010.

This catchy number laments the discovery of an empty box of tea in the cupboard, a position many of us can sympathise with.

Jim Noir - Tea