Two free albums worth paying for

As readers of my essays know, I've been listening to free music recently. That's not to say that I participate in file sharing of otherwise for-pay music. Rather, I enjoy music which artists choose to share for free. I've even donated a bit or bought for-pay albums as a result.

This month, I've found two new items that really tickle my fancy. The first is Commence, the second free album from Paul Lisak & After the Ice, the first being It Happens All the Time.That album's clear and nearly hypnotic rifs and commanding vocals were my first taste of free music that I could actually love. Commence doesn't live up to this standard, but it's a solid rock/pop/alternative album which far surpasses the bulk of the free music I've been listening to of late. It's a bit bluesier than Happens which can definitely be nice if that's what you're in the mood for.

The second is the instrumental/ambient album, Shedneryan by Roger Subirana Mata whose work was covered in 2008 on Free Albums Galore (I've also linked to one of his CDs on Amazon, to the left, if you're not ad-blocking), an excellent blog for finding free music. This new album was released last month and I'm not sure that I agree with one poster to Jamendo who said that it was on-par with Tubular Bells, but it's an excellent atmospheric piece that I'd compare favorably with Tangerine Dream (especially the first track), Vas (the second track) and many of my other favorites. There's even what I think is a little bit of dark soundtrack ala Danny Elfman and John Massari thrown in for good measure.

iTunes vs. Amazon

Have you ever compared iTunes and Amazon for music download services? I have, and while both services have something unique to offer, I can quickly point you to the two largest differences between the two. Here's a link to a page on Amazon:

 Free Albums on Amazon

And here's a link to a similar service through iTunes.

 Free on iTunes

You will notice these differences:

1. The iTunes link doesn't go to a Web page that has the items on it. Instead it goes to a nearly blank page that, if you have the right browser features, will allow you to launch iTunes to go to the iTunes store.
2. The Amazon mp3 store has 120 free albums for download. The iTunes store has two songs and a music video. No, I'm not kidding, check it out.

Enough said? Of course, free music isn't all there is, but I figure it's worth going through those 120 albums from Amazon first and then maybe browsing their over 1,500 individual free songs and then think about which music service you want to patronize for your non-free music purchases.

Song Review: Methylchloroisothiazolinone by Josh Woodward

Sometime in late 2008 or 2009 I began paying attention to freely available music via Free Albums Galore. Through that site I found a plethora of download sites that supported artists by giving them a forum in which to share their own works with the public. Publishers, music social networking sites and archives are all working hard to figure out what the right model is. Among them I've found some gems like Diablo Swing Orchestra and After the Fire. But one performer who I've always been on the fence about is Josh Woodward.

I first came across Josh via Free Albums Galore's review of The Simple Life which I feel is a heavily mixed bag. I did enjoy the upbeat and catchy Afterglow, but that kind of light fare seemed to be all he did, and in many of his others songs it just became too saccharine for me to take.

Flip forward to Christmas 2009 when I was trying to turn people on to the blocSonic netlabel and their netBloc series of free collections. It was then that I stumbled upon Methylchloroisothiazolinone in volume 8 (blocSonic has put together an astounding 26 albums of free music!) Here, Woodward shows that he can rock and even bring a dark sense of humor to the table. The song is about a preservative found in many personal hygiene and moisturizing products, but also triggers an allergic reaction is some that causes eczema-like symptoms. The oft-repeated line in the song, "you make me feel so clean," makes me chuckle just a bit, but at the same time it makes me wonder how many people have been caught in a cycle of using more and more moisturizer to treat the condition caused by that very same product.

I'm still of two minds when it comes to Woodward, but this song has lead to a re-examination of his work, and that's never a bad thing.

The Diablo Swing Orchestra

I've been listening to a lot of free music recently. Most of it comes from Amazon's free deals (mostly indie label samplers) or from reviews that I read on Free Albums Galore. Today, Free Albums Galore covered Diablo Swing Orchestra, and I was intrigued by phrases like "insane combination of heavy metal, swing jazz, [and] traditional European music." Typically, I enjoy good music of any sort, and I'm always hopeful (and usually disappointed) when I see that someone's tackling a unique fusion of genres. So I hopped over to Jamendo to download The Butcher's Ballroom, and am listening to it now... all I can say is wow. This is arguably the best classically-inspired heavy metal that I've ever heard, and I cannot recommend it enough. Even given that it's in a different language, it's quickly hiking its way to the summit of my iTunes play-lists.