MPFree - November 2015

Monday 30 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

We launch into another week of free music with Mute’s newest signing, London duo, On Dead Waves. Their brooding debut single is a perfect of marriage of melancholy guitar and delicately layered vocals.

Download On Dead Waves – Blackbird

On Dead Waves is James Chapman (aka Maps) and Polly Scattergood. James and Polly first played together for the Mute Short Circuit Festival at Roundhouse in 2011 where they performed each other’s songs for a one off collaboration. They remained in contact with each other after the gig and following the release of their most recent solo studio albums they met up again and wrote and recorded the songs that have formed their debut album, which will be released in Spring 2016.

Thursday 26 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

As we sink deeper into the season, today’s MPFree is one to match the mood outside. From London group, ALMA, ‘The Lighthouse’ is a cold and clear winter night of a tune.

Download ALMA – The Lighthouse

Taken from their self-titled debut EP, out now on Fierce Panda Records, ‘The Lighthouse’ finds ALMA doing what they do best: building atmospheric and quietly epic soundscapes that creep up on you unannounced. You might describe the music as ambient if it weren’t for Pete Lambrou’s crystal clear vocal work, which cuts through the noise like a beam of light through a dark, cold night. You can catch ALMA at Mutations festival in Brighton this weekend.

Tuesday 24 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

For today’s MPFree, we’re dropping you off in rural Denmark in the height of summer. The Migrant’s ‘Silence’ is a hazy fever dream of a tune, a luscious and psychedelic jam that takes on the proportions of the atmosphere it was recorded in.

Download The Migrant – Silence

The Migrant is the moniker of Danish songwriter Bjarke Bendtsen. ‘Silence’ is the first glimpse of his new record, Flood, which comes out next month as the inaugural release of Cardiff-based label, Rockpie. After playing with the likes of Kurt Vile, Villagers, and Dry the River, Bendsten recorded Flood with his touring musicians in a summer cottage in Denmark. As a result, ‘Silence’ is a pastoral summertime tune – intricate, unhurried, and deeply atmospheric.

Tuesday 24 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

To mark the end of a mammoth world tour, Foo Fighters have released a brand new EP, Saint Cecilia. Whilst the record was put into motion back in October, recent events have given the project a new perspective. In Grohl’s words, the intention here is ‘to remind us that music is life, and that hope and healing go hand in hand with song.’

Download Foo Fighters – Saviour Breath

Recorded in Austin’s Saint Cecilia hotel (from which the EP takes its name) over the course of Austin City Limits Festival’s two weekends, this five-track release could be the last we hear from the Foos for some time. In an open letter published on the Saint Cecilia website, Grohl details the toll of a long and brutal tour – the same one that saw the band miss out on their Glastonbury headline thanks to a broken leg; understandably, a period of rest may be on the cards. You can download the entire EP for free or pre-order it on vinyl right now.

Monday 23 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Sometimes it can be hard to let go of the weekend – a problem today’s MPFree articulates perfectly. Shunkan’s ‘Our Names’ is a happy-sad power pop tune, as fun, intense, and painfully short as the late-night party it depicts.

Download Shunkan – Our Names

Released on the consistently bonkers Art Is Hard label, Shunkan’s new EP, The Pink Noise, is available now on limited-run vinyl and cassette. Following on from the LA-born New Zealand-native’s Honey Milk and Blood EP, these four tracks mark a move away from lo-fi production; the strength of Marina Sakimoto’s songwriting is instead allowed to take centre stage. Indeed, in the record’s fourteen minutes, a startling range of themes and emotions are covered – and each one to devastating effect.

Thursday 19 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Garage rock born out of a London shed. Need we say more? Tangerines’ ‘Skin Dives’ is today’s gruff, loose, and swaggering MPFree.

Download Tangerines – Skin Dives

Released as a stand-alone single while Tangerines finish off their debut album for RIP Records, ‘Skin Dives’ is a promising taste of what’s to come from the London quartet. An unabashedly nostalgic rock ‘n’ roll core lays the foundation for frontman Gareth Hoskins’ raw vocal work. You can catch Tangerines live at Hackney’s Moth Club for a Christmas shindig on the 18th of December.

Wednesday 18 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

We’ve hit the MPFree gold rush. A 16-track collection of tunes from a bunch of our favourite labels, lovingly compiled by Tru Thoughts and offered up for absolutely nada.

Download Rival Consoles – Helios

Featuring show favourites like Mbongwana Star, Quantic, and Jane Weaver, Label Love is now seven volumes deep into spreading the good word of independent record companies. From this collection of eclectic and consistently ace tracks, we’ve picked out Rival Consoles’ ‘Helios’ as a particular highlight. Originally released earlier this year on the Sonne EP for Erased Tapes, the track finds the often-restrained London electronic composed at his most elated and bombastic.

Tuesday 17 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

For today’s MPFree, excellent electronic duo, Sylvan Esso, remix excellent electronic duo, Pure Bathing Culture. And guess what? The result is glitchy, danceable, and excellent.

Download Pure Bathing Culture – Pray for Rain (Sylvan Esso Remix)

Just a month after releasing their second album, Pray for Rain, on Memphis Industries, Pure Bathing Culture have dropped a new remix of that record’s title track. Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn had this to say of the edit: “Sometimes when you get asked to remix a song you already love, it can be tough to find a good angle without completely changing the vibe, so it was really cool of Pure Bathing Culture to give Amelia and I so much leeway on this stylistically. If there are any house DJs out there who ever get down to 105bpm, this one’s for them.”

Monday 16 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Let’s get the ball rolling on another week of free music with a sprawling slow-burner from Belgian multi-instrumentalists, BRNS. Lying somewhere between post-punk and electronic soundscape, ‘The Way Up’ is today’s MPFree.

Download BRNS – The Way Up

BRNS are a quartet of instrument-juggling musicians from Brussels. Due out on the 4th of December, ‘The Way Up’ is a one-off single released to coincide with an extensive European tour. This is the first new material since last year’s sophomore LP, Patine, and it hints at the growing confidence of the group – with restraint and patience, the delicate tune gradually mutates into a distorted beast. It’s not hard to imagine the track as the centre-piece to their notoriously captivating live performance. You can catch them at the following UK shows:

November 24 – Electrowerkz, London
November 26 – Gwdihw, Cardiff
November 28 – Mutations Festival, Brighton

Friday 13 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

For your final MPFree of the week, we’re offering up a rare tender moment from an artist more commonly associated with the ominous end of experimental electronic music.

Download Aphex Twin – avril altdelay

Released as part of an ongoing hard drive dump, ‘avril altdelay’ is an alternative version of Drukqs’ ‘Avril 14th’. That track always stood out as particularly revealing in the context of Richard David James’ reputation for boundary-pushing electronics; it was a candid glimpse at the fundamental principles of Aphex Twin’s output – an interest in melody that was always present but often disfigured, or at least obscured. This newly released version, drenched in electronic delay, drags the tracks away from nostalgia and lends it a contemporary tone. Indeed, it would feel at home amongst the current roster of neo-classical pioneers on Erased Tapes.

Thursday 12 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Today’s MPFree finds former Women guitarist and singer, Patrick Flegel, deconstructing 60s girl group pop to devastating effect. Cindy Lee’s ‘Power and Possession’ is haunting and beautiful in equal measure.

Download Cindy Lee – Power and Possession*

After Women’s infamous on-stage split in 2010, the Flegel brothers have taken two very different paths. While Matt Flegel (and Women drummer, Mike Wallace) formed Viet Cong and honed in on their revered brutal, hard-edged post-punk, Patrick moved further into the world of experimental and ambient music, first with Androgynous Mind and now as Cindy Lee. The latter project’s new album, entitled Act of Tenderness, is released physically on Boxing Day, but you can download the whole thing right now for free.

*Click through to Gorilla vs. Bear for instructions on how to download.

Wednesday 11 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Philadelphia emo revivalists, Hop Along, provide today’s MPFree. ‘Powerful Man’ is a smart bit of off-beat indie with a menacing narrative at its core.

Download Hop Along – Powerful Man

Hop Along began as the freak-folk solo project of Philadelphia’s Frances Quinlan while she was still a high school student back in 2004. Since then, the project has gathered new members and a much fuller sound, but Quinlan’s sometimes-whispered-sometimes-screeched observations still sit front and centre. Their second album, Painted Shut, is out now on Saddle Creek – a label most closely associated with the rise of middle-American emo in the early 2000s; it seems an appropriate home for an act who have retained that era’s attention to narrative-driven songwriting and stark, powerful melodies.

Tuesday 10 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Another day, another download. New from Brooklyn collective, Space Captain, ‘Two’ is a future-soul jam full of twists and turns, and it is yours to keep for absolutely nothing.

Download Space Captain – Two

Lifted from a forthcoming EP, to be released on Tru Thoughts at the beginning of 2016, ‘Two’ is a bold piece of spiralling R&B from relative newcomers, Space Captain. With just one previous release under their belt it seems the septet band have already carved out their own distinctive take on modern soul music, encompassing everything from hip-hop to psych music.

Monday 9 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Heck, let’s start the week with an odd one. Austin alt-rockers, Ringo Deathstarr have covered T’Pau’s 80s classic, ‘Heart and Soul’, and the result is a sludgy and abrasive bit of pop gold.

Download Ringo Deathstarr – Heart and Soul

Ringo Deathstarr recently announced their fifth album, Pure Mood – to be released on Club AC30 on November 20th – with new single, ‘Guilt’. Now, the Texan shoegazers have let us get our grubby mitts on the track’s B-side, a wonkily reimagined 80s standard that somehow manages to sound like MBV while staying true to the T’Pau original. Hats off to anyone who pulls that off without sounding (too) daft. Catch the trio live in the UK at the following dates:

Nov 13 Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bacj
Nov 14 Chester Compass
Nov 15 Leeds Brudenell
Nov 17 London Electrowerkz

Friday 6 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Bonfire Night was yesterday but who says the bangs and booms have to stop there? Your weekend-ready MPFree sees remix kings Vessels mess around with a dark, atmospheric track from Oslo’s Snasen, and the result is a winter soundscape as ominous as it is huge.

Download Snasen – Vaapen (Vessels Remix)

Robin Snasen Rengard’s roots lie in the Norwegian hardcore scene, and whilst his current output leans more towards ambient electronics, it’s not hard to see the influence of the former on the latter. The original ‘Vaapen’ is a stark and eerie beat, as stripped back and deconstructed as any hardcore song, in its own way. At the hands of Vessels, the track becomes more erratic, and all the more threatening for it.

Thursday 5 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

With the weather taking a nasty turn outside, why not slip away for a three-minute vacation? It’s just heating up in Melbourne, Australia, and after listening to The Ocean Party’s warm and evocative ‘Black Blood’, the long, hot days of summer don't seem quite so far away anymore.

Download The Ocean Party – Black Blood

Taken from The Ocean Party’s fifth album, Light Weight, ‘Black Blood’ is an ‘80s-leaning slice of bleached-out pop, reminiscent of The Go-Betweens, The Wake, and, dare we say it, Tears for Fears, whilst also sitting comfortably alongside contemoporary indie revivalists like Real Estate. What’s not to like? The Melbourne's sextet's new album is released through Caroline International next Friday.

Wednesday 4 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Today’s MPFree comes from transatlantic ultra-collab, DJ Format & Abdominal. They’ve reprised their partnership for a string of UK shows and a two-part single. Best part of all: you can download said single for zilch, nada, nuffin.

Download DJ Format & Abdominal – Reflective Meditation Rhymes

DJ Format is a Brighton-based hip-hop producer and all-round beat man. His work with Toronto MC, Abdominal dates back to 2001, though we suspect it’s a little easier now – faster broadband and what not... Anyway, the pair are back at it with the jazzed out ‘Reflective Meditation Rhymes’ – an acrobatic exploration of growing old, or at least older, in the rap world. Download the single and peep their live dates over at Bandcamp.

Tuesday 3 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

Soundtrack the lingering mist with an atmospheric bit of post-rock from bright young things, Horse Party. ‘Looking for Life’ is an exercise in threat and restraint – the dark, whispered song seems intent on unravelling into something heavier, but ultimately finds its voice in resisting the temptation to shout.

Download Horse Party – Looking for Life

Horse Party are a trio from Bury St Edmunds. Formed in 2012, the group self-released a string of single and EPs before Integrity Records out their first full length, Cover Your Eyes, last year. Now they’re back with a free four track EP, Money Talks, from which ‘Looking for Life’ is taken. Download the whole thing over at their website.

Monday 2 November, by Frank Palmer Team Laverne

The weekend’s over, but not in our hearts. We launch into another month of free music with an infectious low-key groove from German trio, Sea Moya.

Download Sea Moya – Slow Down

‘Slow Down’ is taken from Sea Moya’s debut EP, Twins, which was released last month on Heist or Hit. The self-described ‘psychedelic beat outfit’ deal in late night slow burners – there’s a touch of Mount Kimbie to the manipulated vocals on this track, but the foundation here lies firmly in disco. The perfect way to ease yourself out of the weekend.

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