creative commons music

Wordsmith: The Vintage Vault Mixtape

He's back!!! Mr. "more than a million downloads", Wordsmith, is back and has let loose 15 tracks from his personal archive; compiling them into The Vintage Vault Mixtape. Giving his fans something to satiate themselves while waiting for his new album, Vintage Experience, to hit shelves on March 30th. As expected, Wordsmith delivers tracks filled with expressive lyrics which coalesces perfectly with equally diverse rhythm and beats. A true rapper/actor (he has a degree in theater to boast of) Wordsmith effortlessly strings together words and phrases creating meaningful lyrics rather than just spitting out meaningless rhymes.

Starting Somewhere: Relax

Starting Somewhere's music album Relax features relaxing beats and melodies with a touch of trip-hop. Perfect as a lounge music, all of its 13 tracks greatly describe the album's name. Featuring Andy Natusch as the only member, this talented guy uses his own guitar, keyboard, turntables and beat machine to bring a fresh compilation of relaxing music to us.

Zhang Liming: A Gift of Despair for My Friends

Okay, for a moment, I want you to stop thinking of music as entertainment, and stop thinking of musicians as being the ones fully responsible for bringing their music to you and spoon-feeding you its meaning. Instead, just for a short while, consider the process of making music more as a collaborative effort, where you and the musician share equal obligation in the end result.

Krakenti: Mice Plan

I was familiar with Krakenti’s work in the context of heavy industrial music – kind of like Trent Reznor in his angrier days. While I do like industrial, I find that most independent industrial albums can get very same-y after a while. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Krakenti’s latest release on Bumpfoot, Mice Plan, was described as a mix of “various styles,” industrial blended with trip-hop and ambient. I wasn’t disappointed.

Boom Boom Beckett: Vélos

Italian band Boom Boom Beckett presents Vélos, an album featuring soft and sexy Italian lounge music. The 8-track music album ranges from soft jazz-like music, to the faster blues-like music. Almost each of the music track features the sexy sound of saxophone, paired with a little play on the bass and the drum beats, so be prepared to feel a little sexy while swaying your hips.

Jimmy Behan – In the Sudden Distance

Jimmy Behan is one of those artists I kind of discovered accidentally. I had a couple of his releases on my hard drive, but they were mixed in with a lot of other things I'd downloaded at approximately the same time, so I didn't really notice they were there. Then occasionally a track would pop up on shuffle, and I'd think, this is great, who is this? I'd look at the name, and nine times out of ten it would be Jimmy Behan. So I dug his releases out and gave them a proper listen.

Bangguru – Bang the Guru! EP

For those born in the '70s, or even youngsters who just foster an invented nostalgia for what it was like to be a kid in the '80s, there's a certain timeline of sounds that inevitably weave their way through the collective memory. Portuguese electropop band Bangguru have a sound that embodies all these elements within a single package, and not only is this the kind of music I like to listen to, these seem to be exactly the sort of people I'd like to hang out with.

netBloc 13

"Color in a world of monochrome" is the tagline for the thirteenth netBloc compilation release from blocSonic, and there couldn't be a more appropriate way to describe this collection of photos, artwork, and of course fantastic free music. A feast of visual and audio delights, there's more than enough here to keep you interested for the long haul, and to make you want more.

Pequea Fiera! “Secrets with no words” – dreamy and hazy experimental art rock release

Another great release from the Error!Lo-Fi Records (Spain). Pequea Fiera! is a band that explores the border between lo-fi and experimental/art rock (vide Radiohead, Sigur Ros, etc.). What we got on Secrets with no words are 5 very dreamy and hazy tunes that take us somewhere very much behind the rainbow. If the band thought about the compositions a little bit thoroughly than it would definitely be a minor underground hit-band.