Once a week high quality digital recordings of cassette tapes purchased at the Dalston Oxfam Shop in East London.
posted on Apr 14, 2008 - View this thread

Music is good. Free is good. So free music must be double good. With over 1000 albums listed from netlabels and other sources, Free Albums Galore (mentioned a while ago) is a well-curated collection of links to some of the best free full-length releases on the 'net. Of course, there are a lot more netlabel resources out there.
posted on Apr 8, 2008 - View this thread

Idle nostalgia led me to check on the mp3 page for Bulb Records (early home of Quintron and Andrew WK).

That all reminded me of space/noise rockers Gravitar, whose drummer Ben Cook has put up a fair amount their music (and other music he's made) for free. Oh, and he has a (rarely updated) music blog, which mentioned the Weird Sound Generator and Noizehole.
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

Anglo-Finnish artist Sanna Annukka's vibrant, flat design work (especially her Icons series) got me curious about her, well, iconography.

She mentioned The Kalevala previously, the Finnish national epic poem (in Finnish here), a tale of creation and heroism that arguably spurred the Finns to independence from the Russians.

Like so much else epic and awesome, it spawned a '70s prog band, with three albums.
posted on Feb 25, 2008 - View this thread

Improvisations on modified banjo and guitar by Paul Metzger. Please click through to his videos first, then to his recordings. His use of java means that I can't link directly to them.
posted on Feb 22, 2008 - View this thread

last.fm has gotten a major upgrade. Full tracks stream on-demand without login. Easily get a peek into genre favorites.
posted on Jan 23, 2008 - View this thread

AEROTONE. | Hello!
posted on Nov 10, 2007 - View this thread

Serein v3
posted on Nov 9, 2007 - View this thread

arhiva7
posted on Oct 6, 2007 - View this thread

Indiana's Sardina. The New Pornographers of the '90s, the Sardinas released two fantastic albums full of mixtape fodder. Now everything they've got, including some live gems, is up online.
posted on Sep 25, 2007 - View this thread

Fuck Yuo I Am a Robot are offering their album Compensator for the Accelerator for free download from their site. Infectious ass-shakin' Estonian electro-pop. Lyrics to track 2 NSFW, likewise sleeve art jpgs if you opt for the .zip download. You can sample one of the tracks, Hydraulic, on YouTube if you don't know them and would like to check them out first, though personally I can't get enough of Zukunft (direct mp3 link).
posted on Jul 12, 2007 - View this thread

OK X - Radiohead's OK Computer covered by 12 modern artists. Free download.
posted on Jul 11, 2007 - View this thread

Andy Fraser, the man who wrote and played on 'All Right Now,' one of the great swaggering rock songs, talks about his music, sexuality and living with AIDS in this exhaustive interview
posted on May 22, 2007 - View this thread

Disco cellist Arthur Russell is the subject of a new documentary. MP3s for those who don't know him: Sidebar here, here, here (photo may be NSFW), more here.
posted on May 3, 2007 - View this thread

Hip hop history— It's the Rub! Along with a handful of other shows, Brooklyn hip hop lovers The Rub compile a history of hip hop. Eleven parts through 1989.
posted on Apr 28, 2007 - View this thread

Tom Smith is your average guy who likes comic books, Harlan Ellison short stories and Julie Newmar in a Catwoman suit (who dosen't?). Except the thing is, the guy can sing and write music too. And he releases a free song every week at his iTom page. Like most artists his music can be hit and miss, but there's some great free music to be found there such as Contessa and the awesome Jim Henson tribute A Boy and His Frog. Oh, and he also runs the 'Digital Acoustic' livejournal, where he discusses all manner of things such as comics, politics and of course, music. Sure, he's no cortex, but he's pretty damn good and well worth a listen.
posted on Apr 24, 2007 - View this thread

music files is a neat site I found while looking for information on a classical piece I'm learning on guitar. It seems to predominantly cover classical music but also covers other genres. It has biographies, mp3s, sheet music and so on.
posted on Feb 21, 2007 - View this thread

Get your international pop tune fix. Slate has an article on the funky pop and rock gems available from the Japanese iTunes Store. From Straightener to NICO Touches the Walls, the Japanglophonic music scene is available to the whole world in the standard 30-second snippets, but the article hints at ways to buy songs for those located in other places. If you just want a crack at the weekly free downloads, you can take a crack at workaround and score yourself an account on any one of the 22 iTunes Stores. (via Macslash)
posted on Jan 24, 2007 - View this thread

WaxDJ.com - an excellent source for free downloads and streams of original electronic music mixes of all sorts, from seasoned pros to beginning bedroom amatuers, all told numbering in the hundreds or thousands. My current brand new favorite is the very diverse and well-versed Detriot/Chicago techno stylings of DJ Rubsilent. Recomended mix: Future Funk 23: (Direct MP3 link) (Streaming mp3 link) But don't let me divert you - search for your favorite local DJ or browse for new ones.
posted on Oct 11, 2006 - View this thread

OH NO! THERE GOES TOKYO! GO GO GODZILLA! (Nearly) every Godzilla soundtrack. (Thanks to my girlfriend for hipping me to this)
posted on Oct 10, 2006 - View this thread

Blogmusik is just what it says it is: a free internet virtual ipod. Search, find, play, save, make playlists. So good I feel like I am missing something.
posted on Sep 9, 2006 - View this thread

Every Brian Jonestown Massacre album for free. Druggy, poppy, woozy, Rolling-Stonesy music. Want more free music? Butthole Surfers- Double Live Jad Fair- Sunshiney Sunshine Complete Dolly Mixture discography Animal- Sawn Creator and Deaf Ox and John Vanderslice. (some via)
posted on Jul 13, 2006 - View this thread

Mish Mash Mush A series of mixes from Providence eclectic label Fort Thunder, home of Ninja Versus Wrestler and Forcefield. As part of an aplty amorphous and chaotic "noise" scene, the mixes contain otherwise unreleased music from bands like Lightning Bolt, Mindflayer, 25 Suave, and a bevy of other bands from labels like Load, Animal Disguise and Bulb. Good music with a dirt-simple interface.
posted on Jun 27, 2006 - View this thread

Properly Chilled, "a great guide to the downtempo music scene/lifestyle, spotlighting not only the essential release reviews, label/artist profiles and other data on the genre but also exclusive DJ mixes and all kinds of other goodies" (via). Check out the totally free, totally chill Radio Jazztronica #3 mix from DJ Chicken George. It's 55+ minutes of "unpredictable, energetic and heart-felt" downtempo that packs a serious punch. Did I mention it's free?
posted on Feb 8, 2006 - View this thread

50FootWave is seeking new earballs. "We thought it'd be interesting to ask for your energy & enthusiasm rather than your money and see what happens. To that end, please share this music in any and every way you see fit. Burn CDs, post the mp3s, seed Torrents -- whatever's comfortable for you. It's an experiment. Who knows how it will go? Wheee!" [via]
posted on Dec 16, 2005 - View this thread

Outrage in Deadheadland: fans are furious since the Grateful Dead pulled thousands of freely available concert recordings from Live Music Archive. Some threaten boycotts. Are the Dead really looking out for "Grateful Dead Values" or simply protecting their commercial interests? Have Deadheads been spoiled by free access to the music? Bassist Phil Lesh says he had no say in the matter, Barlow thinks it's "like finding out that your brother is a child molester," and heady bloggers are torn. Or is it all moot anyway? "The idea that they could stop people from trading these files is absurd... It's no longer under anyone's control. People have gigabytes of this stuff." (Previously on Mefi.)
posted on Nov 30, 2005 - View this thread

Free music from Muncie!
posted on Nov 13, 2005 - View this thread

What would you do with $100 million? OK, scratch that. What would you do if you were the head of a top US university with an anonymous gift of $100 million? Well, if you're Richard C. Levin, you'd take a cue from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and decide to let music students in for free.
posted on Nov 7, 2005 - View this thread

Vinyl Sharity There's a lot of exotic*, odd†, thrilling‡, and strangely catchy° music out there on the net. Through Weirdo Music and Record Brother, I've begun to touch the tip... And while there's a fairly proscribed etiquette regarding the sharity sites (limited time for downloads, out-of-print only, desisting when asked), I find that Free Albums and Strange Reaction have put me off of buying new RIAA albums more than Napster or Kazaa ever did. (Well, there is Regnyouth, but the downloading is such a pain in the ass for most of it that I only ever really bother with things that I own on a format that I can't convert like cassette, or that I listen to once and delete, like Interpol). But where do you go for weirdo music? Anything you've found in digging through these sites that's struck your fancy? (And if you have sharities to, well, share: You Send It, Rapidshare and MegaUpload are pretty much the gold standard.) *From Bellybongo †From WM ‡From Basic Hip °From Comfort Stand
posted on Sep 21, 2005 - View this thread

As a follow up to this earlier thread, the BBC has just posted the final installment of their Beethoven Experience, free mp3s of Beethoven's symphonies 6 through 9. Get them while you can, they're only up for a week (Number 6 goes down on Monday).
posted on Jun 30, 2005 - View this thread

Free stuff at the SXSW Music Festival for the wristbandless.
posted on Mar 16, 2005 - View this thread

Classic Cat describes itself as "the free classical music directory," and offers links to 3rd-party-hosted downloadable recordings, sliced and diced by hits, composer, performer, and more. There are active fora. Given the old-school look of the site, I was surprised not to find it in my repost search.
posted on Feb 13, 2005 - View this thread

3 Hive This is a great source for free, legal and cool mp3's. The folks at 3hive have put together a great collection of links to bands and the free mp3's they have available, including a short description/bio of each artist. New posts appear almost every day making this an excellent source for new music. Radio who needs it!
posted on Jan 16, 2005 - View this thread

Everybody needs free music "Welcome to Comfort Stand Recordings, a community-driven label where all releases are free with artwork and liner notes. We strive to bring you recordings that we find interesting, compelling and downright enjoyable." Inspired by Dydecker's post about the Thinner music netlabel, I would like to speak up for Comfort Stand - legally free music in many tastes. I particularly like Very Proper Dragonflies and The Apartment.
posted on Nov 26, 2004 - View this thread

If you don't know much about contemporary music, there's some good edumacating here: Cuff the Duke, Dirtbombs, Interpol, LIARS, Manitoba, Spiritualized, Stars, Ween, Amon Tobin, Decemberists, Controller.Controller, Heavy Blinkers, Peaches, Gentleman Reg, Calexico, Ted Leo, D.O.A., Blonde Redhead, The Constantines, Hayden, The Notwist, C'Mon, Sea & Cake, A&C, Do Make Say Think, Royal City, Oh Susanna, Death From Above 1979, White Stripes, Tobin Sprout, TV On the Radio, Add n To (X)... some of the stellar bands with streams at CBC Radio's Just Concerts: Live and Studio recordings. {All the recordings I tried were top-notch quality. Unfortch, the streams are Real, but definitely still worth checking out.}
posted on Sep 19, 2004 - View this thread

Better Propaganda is a site with hundreds of free (and legal!) mp3 downloads by independent musicians. The range is pretty impressive, going from TV on the Radio to Dizzee Rascal. Good times.
posted on May 13, 2004 - View this thread

Median's Relief! If you like Little Brother, you should like these three free mp3's from Median. He's in the Justus League too and he's got beats from 9th Wonder, hip hop producer of the moment right now.
posted on Feb 25, 2004 - View this thread

Psst! Wanna download some mp3s? Now you can do so without looking over your shoulder to see who is watching. Creative Commons has compiled a selection of tracks utilising their licensing system for free download. The ability to create derivative works and share them around has resulting in some interesting remixes of one of the original tracks, also. via A Whole Lotta Nothing
posted on Oct 22, 2003 - View this thread

The Mutopia Project and the Choral Public Domain Library are repositories of public domain music in a variety of sheet music formats and sometimes MIDI performances.
posted on Aug 4, 2003 - View this thread

Staggeringly weird MP3 collection over at April Winchell's blog. Everything from Hindi ABBA covers to hideous celebrity sing alongs from the likes of Hulk Hogan and Catherine "Daisy Duke" Bach. My favorite so far is the german cover of the theme music from Bonanza.fromCKB's blog.
posted on Apr 7, 2003 - View this thread

free music? Stumbled on this, it seems like a good idea the artists actually approve the download of their mp3s...
posted on Feb 5, 2001 - View this thread