(Legal) Free Music

In these days of file sharing and illegal downloading it's possible to get the vast majority of music for free. It's a fact that the lost revenue from album sales due to this is killing the music industry. However it's also true that if one can obtain a band's album for free more people are likely to listen to it. So often as a result of file sharing a band's popularity can increase dramatically, however popularity on its own won't keep a band going, what is needed is album and ticket sales. As a result of this many artists have released portions of their work for free download online. Since the artist themselves have allowed this it has the benefit to the downloader of being entirely legal.

Releasing albums for free download has been going for a while now. It was made famous in 2007 when alternative rockers Radiohead allowed fans to set their own price when downloading their album. Since Radiohead did this many bands have followed suit. So now there are numerous artists out there who let people obtain their work for free. In this article I'll detail a few of these that I've come across during my internet wanderings.

Dahlia Seed

Dahlia Seed were a hardcore band from North Carolina, USA. They were in existence for only 4 years, from 1992-96, but during that time produced some great work. As far as I know they produced three albums, one of which is a compilation of new studio tracks and live versions of songs from previous works. All of these are available to download for free from their website at: http://www.dahliaseed.com/. I've so far listened to two of their albums of which their debut album Valentine Kid's Litter is my favourite. At 160kbps the recording quality isn't fantastic, and sometimes this shows where songs feel a little rough around the edges. However it's not really a problem as the overall tone the band uses is a little distorted (intentionally) anyway. The power of this band is astonishing, their songs are fuelled with a great energy. This is due largely to the vocals of Tracy Wilson whose ferocity electrifies the music and brings the raw emotion of the songs to the fore. As far as particular highlights of this album go, I'd have to say my favourite songs are Teas and Milk. Teas starts with a great riff before launching into a bridge-type part which leads into the main section. As an overall piece the song isn't perfect, but it's very catchy. Milk is the best example of the way Wilson's vocals captivate, the emotions of regret and hate in the lyrics are brought across to the listener with the force of a battering ram. Dahlia Seed are a band with a level of raw power that many bigger and more popular bands lack.

Dia de los Muertos

Another band that alllows some of their music to be downloaded free of charge is Dia de los Muertos, these metallers hail from Los Angeles, California. Like with many other legal free albums, in order to get the music you need to fill in a form. The album they offer is called Satánico Dramático, which translates as something along the lines of "Satanic Drama". The vocals are in spanish, but this isn't always obvious as, like a lot of death metal, the lyrics can't always be understood. The music itself isn't all that unique, but the use of spanish guitar in places is a nice touch. Their Myspace is here: http://www.myspace.com/quevivanlosmuertos.

I Have Clones

I came across this project today and have taken a liking to it. It's a nice combination of Electronica and Hardcore. The songs are often interspersed with speaking, with the occasional snatches of conversation that are present for just the right amount of time, which add a splash of creativity to the music that is already fairly inventive. Since I've only listened to the album once I can't say too much about it without listening more (which I plan to do in the future), but it's definitely worth the bandwidth it takes to download (it took about 3 minutes on my very poor connection) and the time spent listening to it. Here's the link to their website: http://ihaveclones.com/.

Credit where credit is due: Two of the above bands (Dahlia Seed and I Have Clones) I discovered using this blog: http://freealbums.blogsome.com/, so please give them the praise for finding the bands. The other band (Dia de los Muertos) I found on the website of the UK magazine Classic Rock, their website can be found here: http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/ so please don't give me credit for locating them either.

Well that's all for now. I won't say when I'll be back, since I don't know, but I hope to be back soon. Just think this is the second proper entry in 2 days, I think that's some sort of record for me.

Thanks,

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I feel obliged to say that, through this article or in general, I am not condoning or supporting illegally obtaining music or any other intellectual material. I also feel the need to say that I am not affiliated in any way to any of the above bands, websites or corporations thereof and will make no profit from purchases from any of those bands, websites or coporations, or the publication of this article.

Top Shelf Records

Greetings all. I recently downloaded a selection of albums for free from Top Shelf Records, it's their fifth anniversary and to mark the occasion they were offering a bundle of albums and EPs from their label for free. Their website can be found here: http://www.topshelfrecords.org/

I'm part way through perusing the collection from the zip file I downloaded from their site. It's a nice mix, not everything in it is "my thing" but then it wouldn't be a collection would it? I have a varied music taste but it doesn't quite encompass the entire world of musical diversity.

Anyway, so the bands in the bundle. I'll begin with the first and end with the finale. Actually I'll just find them from the folder in some semblence of coherent cohesion. With the alliteration out of the way I'll move onto the bands. In the bundle are:

• Caravels
• Into It. Over It.
• Castevet
• Lion Club
• Stand Up. Get Down.
• The Clippers
• The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die
• Us Against the Archers
• Aeroplane, 1929

It's a very varied bunch. Ugh, no more alliteration, must not use to much rhetoric in these posts. Of the ones that I've listened to my two favourites are Caravels and Stand Up. Get Down. They've got a great sound and energy to them. I also think Us Against the Archers are ok as well. Although in one of their tracks they used a fake clap effect, and it made me cringe. I don't know why but I've discovered I find fake clap effects terribly annoying. However a fake clap track was used in another track from the bundle, this time from a different band, and somehow I was able to tolerate it. It wasn’t quite as garish, slightly more subtle. Mind you it still annoyed me, and I was pleased when the ten seconds of its use were over. So I think this is a conclusion, it may be the first I’ve come to since this blog began back in 2009. I don’t like fake clap sounds. At all.

Cheers,

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The Final Frontier: Review

Recently I managed to get hold of the new Iron Maiden album- The Final Frontier, in fact I went and got it the day it was released. In this entry I aim to review it in full. As you may well know I am an Iron Maiden fan, so I will be biased, but I will try and make this an accurate critique of the album.

Ok, here goes. The album starts with a track called Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier. This is a two part song. The first part (Satellite 15) is a very atmospheric song, with roughly the first half being instrumental. It's not bad, but I feel it is too long. It should be shorter, acting as an into to The Final Frontier. The second half of the song, The Final Frontier is a straightforward Iron Maiden classic, it's got the clear chorus, and would easily fit into a live set.

El Dorado, the second track of the album, was previously released as a free download from the Iron Maiden website. I downloaded this the day it was available I believe, but it took me a couple of listens to really get into it. After about two or three times through it dawned on me that this is actually a fantastic track. The lyrics are tight, creative, and the vocals are well delivered. Overall this is one of the best tracks on the album.

The next two tracks: Mother of Mercy and Coming Home are both good tracks. The former is solid track with a lovely intro. The lyrical content is alike to something from A Matter Of Life And Death, with a war related subject. It's a good track, not a classic, but I quite like it. Coming Home is one of the songs that Maiden do very well, those that start dark and slowly, picking up pace as they go. The chorus to this track is brilliant, well suited for live performance in my opinion. A really good track, very catchy.

The next three tracks are The Alchemist, Isle of Avalon, and Starblind. All of them are the tracks that are not designed to be hits, rather they are meant to fill the album while still being solid tracks. These manage that task well. I particularly like Starblind, it's my favourite of the three at the moment.

After that the next two tracks are The Talisman and The Man Who Would Be King. The Talisman starts slowly with a lovely guitar part creating a melody to work in conjunction with the vocals. After a couple of minutes the heavier riff begins and the song picks up speed. I have to admit that the chorus gets a little repetitive after a while, which you notice because it's a very short line. It's a pretty solid track, a good song. The Man Who Would Be King is another track that is up there with the best tracks of the album. Like so many others on this album it starts with a lovely intro. It's a bit of a weird song, but it's especially good towards the end.

The album ends with an 11 minute epic called When The Wild Wind Blows. It is, for me, hands down the best track on the album. It takes a ballad like form, with a lyrical content of an impending disaster. The lyrics fit in beautifully with the guitar to form a fantastic song. It's definitely one of the best tracks of it's type Iron Maiden have written, a great way to bring the album to a close.

Overall it's a fantastic album, it's a little different to what they usually produce, but it's still a brilliant piece of work. My top three tracks of the album have to be (in order of appearance): Satellite 15..... The Final Frontier, El Dorado, and When The Wild Wind Blows. If I had to give it a rating I'd have to say it hovers around the 9/10 mark. It's one of their best albums, but it's not quite on the same level as The Number of the Beast, but then that's not really a fair criticism because I think that it's nigh impossible to match that album. So in my opinion this album is one of the best I've heard in a long time, certainly the best so far this year.

Thanks for reading, as usual leave a comment if you want.

Cheers,

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