Free Music Update - 2/19/2012

A bunch of really good free music has been popping up lately, so I thought I'd round some of it up into one post for people who are interested.

First, Hanalei, one of my all-time favorite artists just decided to release all of his old albums along with a new album of miscellaneous covers and alternate versions of tracks for free on a new Bandcamp page. Click here to check it out. I wrote about Hanalei a while back if you're interested in reading that. If you're looking for a place to start, "Parts and Accessories" and "We Are All Natural Disasters" are two of my favorite albums (and not just by Hanalei). The former has an alt-country feel with moments of rock interspersed. It also features some of my favorite lyrics of any album. Very few artists can't paint a picture of a time and place as well as Brian Moss does. Often the songs just feel like tiny movies that you're living inside of. "Parts and Accessories" is one of those albums that I could listen to anytime anywhere. Almost anytime I'm in the car for more than an hour or two it gets a listen. On the other hand, "We Are All Natural Disasters," Hanalei's first album, was a solo project that is a bit more in the indie pop vein. Electronic elements make it just a little bit reminiscent of The Postal Service. It was the album that originally made me fall in love with Hanalei.

Next up is Beat Radio, who a couple days ago released a free EP in anticipation of their new full-length which came out today (for the more than reasonable price of $4). The EP, which you can pickup here, features an excellent cover of "The House That Heaven Built" by The Japandroids. While The Japandroids version is a high energy anthemic romp, Beat Radio strips the song down into just acoustic guitar and vocals. While that approach would seem to risk losing the energy of the original, it works surprisingly well, instead highlighting the vocals. That cover was my first exposure to Beat Radio when I heard it a couple months ago, but it instantly turned me into a fan.

Miracles of Modern Science, a New York based orchestral pop group, has released their new EP (here) today as a "pay what you want" album. I was introduced to the band about three weeks ago by We Listen For You. Rather than your standard guitar, bass, and drums, they use mandolin, violin, cello, standup bass, and drums. At the time We Listen For You shared the track "Singularity," which was a great introduction to a band exploring what pop music beyond the usual fare. The album is worthwhile on its own merits, but the fact that their doing something different gives even more reason to check it out.

Today I also got an email that Eric and Magill, an indie folk duo originally from Wisconsin, are releasing a free EP (via Bandcamp). I know I've heard the duo's music before, but I just realized today that one of the members is from the now defunct Decibully, another band I used to listen to. I haven't given the new EP a listen, but you can't beat free, and I'm guessing it should be an enjoyable listen.

Lastly, if you haven't picked up the Hilang Child EP that I talked about last month, what are you waiting for??? The EP would almost certainly have made my top albums list last year if I had found it before the year ended. As is, it's one of my go to late night albums when I'm unwinding before bed. The Hilang Child facebook page (which is up to 152 "likes" after being under 100 last month!) has mentioned that they have a couple live acoustic videos coming up soon. I'll continue anxiously awaiting anything new to come from them.

This should be enough free music to tide those of you cash-strapped music lovers over for a little while. There is a lot to enjoy there, so hopefully everyone can find something of interest.

Happy Valentine's Day from No, The Moon Ain't Romantic

I know everyone has different feelings about Valentine's Day as a holiday. It has never particularly been one of my favorites, so I can relate to anyone that doesn't feel like listening to love songs today. However, it's hard to deny that there is a whole lot of good music out there that's appropriate to today. Therefore, I couldn't resist putting together a list of a few. Here are 6 of my favorites along with a particularly good quote from each song.

For any Parks & Recreation fans (and really if you aren't, you should re-evaluate some things in your life), the picture on the left is from this site. They've got quite a few good ones, so check them out. I've also found some cool Valentine's in these places if you like Lost, Community, Fringe,
or just generally nerdy things. Anyhow, onto the music!


First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes

Yours was the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go

I'll Be Yr Bird by M. Ward

Then when there's no one to care
I could protect you like I've always been there.
I'll become your bear.

Such Great Heights by The Postal Service

I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and when we kiss
They're perfectly aligned

Kathleen by Josh Ritter

All the other girls here are stars, you are the Northern Lights
They try to shine in through your curtains, you're too close and too bright
They try and they try, but everything that they do
Is the ghost of a trace of a pale imitation of you

(What an insanely good way to start a song...)


We're So Far Away by Mae

Did you know how you would move me, did you know?
Did you know how you would move me?
Well, I don't even think so,
but the moment's magic swept us away.
And it's so close, but we're so far away.

(I really wish I could find a non-live version of this song, but this one is pretty good. This whole album is gorgeous and really recommended if you haven't heard it)

John Hughes Endings by Hanalei

Two arrows struck when their eyes first crossed paths
They were paralyzed by each other causing cupid's content
He broke the stare shyly, she brushed her hair from her face
They were pulled to each other by the center of the room

John Hughes Endings
(I hope this player works, but it is way too hard to find Hanalei's music. It always frustrates me that they aren't bigger. One of my absolute favorite artists.)

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As a little bonus, that I forgot about until right before posting this, here is Colin Meloy covering Sam Cooke's classic "Cupid"

Artist Spotlight: Hanalei

Hanalei is a hard band/artist to write about because he/they is/are hard to follow. How's that for a coherent sentence?

My roommate my freshman year of college, Todd, introduced me to Hanalei. Todd was from Chicago and a pretty big music fan. He was probably one of the biggest influences in shaping what I listen to today, which I am immensely thankful for. It took me a while to realize that Hanalei wasn't an artist that most people, or really hardly anybody knew about. Hanalei is by far the least listened to of the artists I have written about so far. A quick check of Last.fm band pages shows that Hanalei has a total of around 3,000 listeners. This is 10 times smaller than Joe Pug (the next least listened to artist I've covered) and anywhere from 100 to 400 times smaller than every other artist. The band's MySpace page is rarely updated and information regarding tours or releases are hard to come by. Sometimes I worry that the band will break up and I just won't find out about it.

Hanalei started as a solo project by Chicago-area musician Brian Moss. The first album, We Are All Natural Disasters, was filled with acoustic guitar mixed with electronic elements from a laptop. It isn't really the same as The Postal Service album, but I've seen the comparisons made. That album was my introduction to Hanalei, and I loved it. At some point after that, Moss moved to California and added members, turning Hanalei from an indie pop solo project to a indie rock/alt country collaboration that resulted in the band's second album, Parts and Accessories. The change in sound caught me off guard since I had fallen in love with We Are All Natural Disasters, but the new album grew on me more and more and eventually I found that I actually liked it better than its predecessor. Around the time I realized that, I heard that the band had disbanded, and it was returning to a solo project. Last year, Hanalei released their third album, this time another solo album, called One Big Night. It is currently my least favorite of the three, but like the others, the more I listen, the more it seems to grow on me.

I really wish Hanalei had a bigger following. Brian Moss is a wonderful lyricist (one of my favorites at coming up with good lines), and the music is pretty fantastic on its own. Hopefully he/they will find a bit more of a following at some point, so that Hanalei doesn't just disappear like so many other talented bands that never gain traction. I really can't recommend We're All Natural Disasters and Parts and Accessories enough. Both albums are available from Amazon for $8.99.

Since information about the band is hard to come by (which is made harder by the band name being the same as a region in Hawaii), good videos are no different, but here is a video of possibly my favorite song on the second album. It is called "Resonate Remain":



To finish the post, below are a few of my favorite lines from Hanalei songs:

I lock all the doors when I sleep
You always find a way to break in
My tired eyes, they don't wanna trace your face
You always find a way to make them

-MLK, You're OK

The buildings, they are so tired of the lives inside
Eternal tenants of sedated dreams
Communicate this through the radiator hiss
The creak in the floorboards and bad pipes

-Chamomile

Up on the Oregon coastline, where the forest kisses the sea
Laid back on the backwoods backroad is where I'll, it's where I'll be
Off the map and under the stars, running in the redwoods, getting caught in the rain
Out of the rat race and into the good life, where it's beautiful oh and it is plain

-Better Days