For the past few weeks, I have been keeping track of some free music downloads from Google Play and iTunes. I might be putting too much effort into assembling the lists, so I might want to treat this like more than a monthly effort. Here are the free music downloads I found for the week of November 11, 2012.
Google Play Free Songs of the Day
Monday, November 11
Too Easy (Feat. Ludacris)
Tyrese
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| Album art for Open Invitation by Tyrese |
Recent developments in mainstream
R&B production have favored an understated weirdness. With “Too Easy,”
Tyrese makes bedroom grooves sound outright abstract over mystic synthesizer
squiggles that constantly feel like they’re going to explode into a full-on
dance track but never quite go there. Instead they hover around this
minimalistic brink, staying quiet even as Ludacris bends his trademark growls
around it. – Andrew Nosnitsky, Google Play
Tuesday, November 13
Mira
Melody Gardot
From the Album
The Absence
Melody Gardot
An American who quickly reached
star status in Europe, Melody Gardot became obsessed with music when it was
used as therapy to get her moving and speaking again after a horrific traffic
accident. Her third LP, The Absence, is a rich musical travelogue that kicks
off with this upbeat samba before things get slower, bluesier and smokier. A
sensualist, Gardot channels decades of international musical styls into
sensations you can see, feel and touch. – Nick Dedina, Google Play
Wednesday, November 14
Latona
Blondie
From the Album
LaTona
Blondie
Though Blondie emerged from New
York City’s gritty urban punk scene, it has always been the group’s
chameleon-like pop smarts that have made their sound such a unique and
long-lasting proposition. Recorded at the band’s recent YouTube sessions, the
slinky “LaTona” refracts baroque synth-rock through a swirling Latin rhythm,
with the still seductive Deborah Harry placed at the center. Sophisticated and
timeless. – Justin Farrar, Google Play
Thursday, November 15
Kopter
Toy
From the Album
Toy
Toy
Brit-rock obsessives might know
three of Toy’s four members form the memorably named act Joe Lean and the Jing
Jang Jong while newcomers should thrill to this relentlessly propulsive track.
“Kopter” has some definite Krautrock parrells, as Toy burn bright through this
blazing, 10 minute long exercise in moody vocals, intensifying guitar textures,
and hypnotic rhythms. – Eric Grandy, Google Play
Friday, November 16
Seen It All Before
Amos Lee
From the Album
Amos Lee
Amos Lee
On this slow-burner from his 2005
Blue Note debut, Amos Lee epitomizes the concept of folk-soul. Seemingly
steeped in the spirit of forebears like Bill Withers and Terry Callier, he
croons sensually atop an organic blend of acoustic guitar and weeping organ,
buoyed by an old school R&B groove. “Seen It All Before” is a declaration
of independence from the chains of an ill-starred romance. – Jim Allen, Google
Play
FILTER Magazine’s Psssst Sampler
By Eric Grandy
For over a decade, FILTER Magazine
has adeptly covered the alternative and indie music scene, faithfully abiding
by their slogan, “good music will prevail.” This month, Google Play teams up
with FILTER to provide you with a killer sampler featuring this year’s biggest
alt-indie acts, from Father John Misty to Dum Dum Girls.
Indie folk continued to boom in
2012, but Father John Misty – a.k.a. former Fleet Foxes drummer Joshua Tillman
– pushes against the genre’s increasing formalism with sardonic humor,
hip-swinging swagger and a floating folk rock croon on songs like “Nancy From
Now On” from this year’s Fear Fun.
Meanwhile, with chillwave in
decline, Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bundick released June 2009, a collection of early
demos that finds him in a pre-chill mode, kicking out bright and bounding
guitar pop on “Dead Pontoon” with hardly a synthesizer to be heard.
Elsewhere, Major Lazer teams with
Dirty Projectors singer Amber Coffman for the downbeat, dubwise “Get Free,”
Cloud Nothings offer the propulsive and bratty guitar jag “Stay Useless” and
ex-Grandaddy dude Jason Lytle delivers the faux-motivated ditty “Get Up and
Go.” There’s also electropop act Niki & the Dove, alt-country vets
Calexico, slow-core swooners Beach House and more.
Listing
Minus the Bear
Good As New
Vacationer
One Woman Army
Kate Earl
Lord Knows
Dum Dum Girls
DJ, Ease My Mind
Niki and the Dove
Other People
Beach House
Album: Bloom
Nancy from Now On
Father John Misty
Album: Fear Fun
I Still Believe
Frank Turner
Splitter
Calexico
Dead Pontoon
Toro y Moi
Stay Useless
Cloud Nothings
Do the Trick
Dr. Dog
Get Up And Go
Jason Lytle
The Rebound
Tristan Prettyman
Maracas
Mates of State
Pique
Menomena
Album: Moms
Fever
Maps & Atlases
When I Was Young
Nada Surf
La Grande
Laura Gibson
---
Rolling Stones Bootleg Series:
Leeds ’82
By Time Quirk
This concert in Leeds’ Roundhay
Park was the final show of the band’s tour for Tattoo You, which had begun over
a year earlier. The crowd is massive, the band is tight, and Mick’s pants are,
well, they’re equally tight. Multicolored, too.
Mick wasn’t just making
questionable fashion choices – as he explains in our accompanying video
interview, the set list is a bit baffling in retrospect, with band-pleasing
covers such as “Going to a Go-Go” and Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” not
necessarily guaranteed to keep the crowd’s energy up. But as you can hear, the
fans keep cheering throughout, and the band only gets better, ending with a
litany of hits from “Honky Tonk Women” to “Satisfaction.”
Band Intros
The Rolling Stones
From the Album
Roundhay Park (Live, 1982)
The Rolling Stones
iTunes Single of the Week
Twenty Eight
The Weeknd
From the Album
Trilogy
The Weeknd
With this sensual ballad,
Toronto-based vocalist and songwriter The Weeknd flaunts his admirable and
extraordinary penchant for restraint. When the rhythm track of “Twenty Eight”
finally kicks into a libidinous groove after two whole minutes of suggestive
come-ons, heartbroken falsetto, and atmospheric synths, the song’s cinematic
climax is all the more satisfying.
Starbucks Pick of the Week
When the City Lights Dim
Cold Specks
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