July 1, 2011 | In Free Music Collection, Music, Smile | No Comments

Free Music Collection: July 2011

This month has been one of transition for me, I’ve moved back to Michigan, started a new job, and still have no internet at my place. As you can imagine it’s disrupted my routine and severely hampered my daily music exploration. But thanks to coffee shop wifi and amazing friends who relentlessly devote themselves to discovering new music, we haven’t missed a beat. Just in time to fill your bbqs and holiday travels with sonic intrigue, Dave, Tim, Nada and myself bring you…

Stadiums and Shrines

APOCALYPTIC SUMMER MIXTAPE by Noah Wall: MacGyver has about an hour to diffuse this loaded mixtape, or the world ends. Will he do it?
DUDES – NARCISSISTS ANONYMOUS: A wildly unclassifiable funhouse locker room gathering arranged by the 1986 LA Lakers. DUDES are all over the textural court, impossible to cover with just one genre. Marv Albert is speechless. He tried “freak-funk-hop…” but then quickly took it back: “…nah that’s not it.”
The Bilinda Butchers – Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams: A pop dream you’ve had a thousand times and counting. Worthy of a force-nap, just to get back there again. This is way too easy; this is a big hit. $
Daniel Klag – Weird Fiction: If mountains could talk…perhaps they’d drone amongst themselves, trading static thoughtscapes from peak to peak, all heads literally in the clouds. And if that phenomenon were then recorded, it might come out sounding like the ambient transmissions of Daniel Klag.
The Wandering Lake – In Passage: Deep, minimalistic celebrations of a life In Passage, or in transit, inspired by Native American myths. At times, its strum-hum-centric inflections recall Panda Bear’s classic, Young Prayer.
FWY! – NOWHERE/SOMEWHERE: “Music for freeways”… hard not to picture someone driving somewhere (or nowhere) to this. Open tight, zoom out slowly, pan across desert, now pixelate; cue drum machine, climbing synth, whispers of guitar rock from car radio, fly hits dash. Toll booth $1 per song, but that bandcamp has much to stream.

Smoke Don’t Smoke

Stand Up Against Heart Crime – Stand Up Against Heart Crime: Love fueled drum machine pop.
Gracie – For Summer EP: Exactly what it sounds like, summer electronic tunes to get it warm. $
AAURAL: Ann Arbor compilation filled with the goods.
Flash Forest – Early Morn Sessions: A set of some early morning inspired beats.
Dakota Fish – Many Moons: some eclectic yet extremely cohesive jams for all your summer feelings. $

Friends With Both Arms

Think or Smile

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Modcast #82: it’s Bobby Brown in a spacesuit, it’s rhythm-n-blue-skies, it’s the darkside of psychedelia mixed with crystal clear pop acapellas.
Holy Other – Altered Zones Mix Series v9: tantalisingly dark and beautiful soundscapes.
Youth Lagoon – Mix for Salad Fork: slow and immersive, like sunshine breaking through storm clouds.
Pandit – I miss you Boise mix: as happy as sad pop can get.
PEAKING LIGHTS – 59:36 (mixtape for The Minimal Beat): obscure summer-appropriate sounds from around the world.
Memory Tapes – Ghosting Notes mixtape: ambient, soul, gospel, psych folk, synth funk…
Samaritan – Part Of The Jurys Vol. 1: chopped, screwed, dark electrics.
PURPLE – PURPLE: dark and strange and warm and dark.
WALSH Longing Part I (ep): late night driving when you need to feel sad.
Seabright – Feel Good: electric summergazewave.
Bon Accord – True Delusion EP: last summer’s chillwave continues to come ashore.
FACT mix 260 – Laurel Halo: ghostly overpasses of Detroit techno and electro paint the sky. (Limited time download – hurry)
Death Grips – Ex Military: raw lo-fi experimental hip hop. think early MIA mets Low End Theory.
B+ (Mochilla) – Mix for Brainfeeder of George Duke: taken from Duke’s catalog circa 1969-1981 that has influenced the likes of Dilla, Madlib, Pete Rock and A Tribe Called Quest, among many notable others.
A Compilation of Experimental Jazz and Soul Music, from Hard Mix: title says it all.