The Butcher’s Ballroom by Diablo Swing Orchestra – Another great name, and an album that I can only describe as a cross between Opera and thrash metal. Except it is a lot better than I’ve made it sound, and is the sort of thing that should be made into a musical.

Before We Stand… We Crawl by Hungry Lucy – Interesting trip hop, with a female singer who can sing, and some killer melodies to go with it.

All are freely available to download.

I like this a lot. It’s lazy, charming and creative indie music, and fits the mood of a summer week off work perfectly. I’ve just downloaded two more albums in the hope that they are at least half as good (see http://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/Pinkle for a full catalogue of releases). I’d buy “The Sounds of Music” and will certainly be trying to find out more about the artist (EDIT: I’ve now found a website at http://www.pinklemusic.com which explains more).

Dinner for One by Amity in Fame

Quite heavy, in a largely acoustic way (in the same was the new Mars Volta album is). I like this, and have found that it has got better with each listen. The only downside is that I’ve not wanted to play it from end to end for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Certainly a burn it, although the title track in particular I’d pay for.

Animals are People Too by The Wind Whistles

A record I waited over a year for, and one which has not disappointed. The songs are shorter than the last album, but there are more of them and they have a more indie rock feel to them. None of these are a bad thing, and I would gladly file it next to “Window Sills”, which has been played a very large number of times over the last year.

So High by Le Galago

A British melodic indie group who come from Birkenhead, and sound a lot like Muse to my ears. This is not a bad thing as such, and they certainly have a sound (and in particular a singer) that could take them places. I like this, but it doesn’t tell me anything new about the world or myself, but I’m more than happy to listen to their songs when they appear on my playlist.

2 Days a Night by The Liquid Kitchen

I downloaded this a while ago, and listened to it a fair bit on my way to and from work. To my ears they sound a lot like Neil Young fronting a bar band, and I really have to remind myself on occasions that I’m not actually listening to Neil Young. Great if that is what you are after, but it seems like this really is their only trick and I’m not sure it would stretch to a second album without an input of new ideas. Worth a download though.

Born in the USB by William Doyle

I downloaded this for the title alone, but the music itself is rather fine too. It’s indie with a slight psychedelic edge, and opening track “Beneath the Soil” is possibly my favourite song of the last few weeks. It tails off a bit towards the end, but still warrants a good few listens.

It’s availabe for free from Jamendo, and from the artist’s website, and available to buy from iTunes.

• The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
• Robyn Hitchcock – Goodnight Oslo
• …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – Century of Self
• Beruit – March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland
• Chris Difford – The Last Temptation of Chris
• State Shirt – This is Old (available for free)
• Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction/Street Sweeper – NINJA 2009 tour sampler (available for free)
• Split Seconds – So Sad About it All (available for free)
• The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (and in fact all their other albums too)
• British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
• The Dada Weathermen – The Green Waltz (available for free)
• Morrissey – Years of Refusal
• ne:o – illoj (available for free)
• No, Really – Rust (available for free)

I’d love to write about each one at some point, but I never seem to have the time.

These are the places I go when I want something new to listen to and don’t have any credits left on eMusic:

• Last.fm have a page of freely available (but not always freely distributable) songs available at http://www.last.fm/home/freemp3s
• For an example of a site that makes individual songs available in the “sampler” model, try http://www.jagjaguwar.com/mp3.php. I’ve bought a lot of music based on listening to things downloaded from here.
• Jamendo (http://www.jamendo.com/en/albums) have a vast array of great music licensed under Creative Commons. They also have a lot of recordings that should probably have never been made. I spend a fair bit of time playing “spot the difference”.
• The Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/) has a lot of free music available, and if you look closely you’ll find live performances by some fairly major artists, as well as a few things also available on other sites mentioned above.
• For an example of a net label that understands about free music you could do worse than try http://aaahh-records.net/. They released the Wind Whistles album last year which makes them great in my book.
• For an example of a single-artist model of distribution, try http://www.joshwoodward.com/music/. I’d recommend almost anything on here really.

I’d like to recommend iTunes singles of the week, but they need to strip the DRM off first. Although I should say that I did buy something on iTunes this week which plays fine in Rhythmbox, so the claims of trying to make their music more accessible to non iTunes/iPod users are not just an empty promise.

• The Broken Symphony by Degiheugi
• Lost Horizon by Chronique
• [1] by Heet Seas
• [2] by Heet Seas

1. The Wind Whistles – Window Sills
2. Abscondo – Midnight Snow
3. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
4. The Rest – Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour
5. Robin Grey – Only the Missile
6. Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
7. Death by Panda – House Made of Glass
8. Josh Woodward – Not Quite Connected
9. Depressive Art - Bye Bye Dear Everything
10. Robin Grey – I Love Leonard Cohen
11. Josh Woodward - The Simple Life
12. Brad Sucks – Out of It
13. Icarus Crash – 13 Segundos de Caida Libre
14. After The Ice – It Happens All The Time
15. Mountain Mirrors – Dreadnought
16. Death by Panda – One Fifteen Four
17. Silence is Sexy – This Ain’t Hollywood
18. Sungod Abscondo – Imperfect People
19. Saint Jean – Zikophren
20. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV

The label has so far only released three albums, but two of them happen to already be on my list of favourite freely available music for this year, which makes me think I’m likely to like anything they put out.

The new album is called Straight Lines in Subjectivity (direct download).

I’ve also downloaded a fair amount of good music from emusic (Julain Cope, The Wedding Present, Okkervil River and I Am Kloot), but that will have to wait for another post.

“Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour” sounds a little like quite a few bands I like, but also does a good job of sounding exactly like it should. There are quiet parts, loud parts, and screamed-into-the-microphone parts (sometimes within the same song). There is rock, orchestral pop, electronica, and a strong sense that this is the start of something beautiful.

I feel the same way I felt when I first heard The Fleet Foxes, The Arcade Fire or (if you can remember that far back) Jeff Buckley’s “Grace”. I can’t pick out favourite tracks because you just have to listen to it all and see if you have room for it in your life.

“Atlantis, Oh Our Saviour” can be downloaded for free from Jamendo.

It makes me wonder how much longer he’ll keep doing this, and whether he will ever run out of songs. I also wonder how many of these albums will make it onto Jamendo, because Last.fm is really best suited to individual tracks.

As I’m not really a fan of the genre, I didn’t expect to like this as much as I do. It sounds like a more compact and more melodic The Mars Volta, but also has a great deal of crossover potential, and I think that this would be a bit hit in rock clubs as it has the sort of energy that will drag people up to dance even if they don’t normally like to. My favourite track is “Ro”, but there isn’t a bad track on it really, and the whole listening experience is really enjoyable, which was a nice surprise.

The whole album can be streamed or downloaded for free from Jamendo.

Window Sills by The Wind Whistles – They think they sound like the Violent Femmes and the Lemonheads. Other people compare them with The Decemberists and the Moldy Peaches. I’d agree with all the above and add the White Stripes and the Fiery Furnaces to the mix.

The music has a traditional edge, but deals with modern (yet universal) subjects. Both singers can sing, and it sounds like they would be amazing in a live setting (anywhere from a concert hall to a camp fire).

I think I’ve just found my “walking to work” record for the next few days.

I will now attempt to describe these sounds.

Azhrak : Below the Arctic Ocean – This is a single track of keyboard based atmospherica, which really works on several levels and which suggests should a full-length work appear at some point it will be rather special.

Death by Panda : One Fifteen Four Four (direct download link) – This is the followup to “House Made of Glass”. It’s got less vocals, but still works on most of the levels that it’s predecessor operates in.

Kouki : Revolute – I don’t know what to make of this group. They have recorded hours of music, mostly in huge blocks of sound like this. I would describe “Revolute” as mainly ambient music, and very worth listening to, but don’t expect everything else they have recorded to be either of these things. I’m considering putting together a CD of some of their shorter works to see if they make more sense in bite-sized chunks which I suspect they will.

Saint-Jean : Zikophren – The new album from my favourite French group is a bit of a departure, in that it actually moves beyond the Chanson sound they have trademarked into something a little more modern. Feedback lurks under the surface of a couple of tracks, and it is a darker and more satisfying album than anything that has gone before.

Tryad : Listen – This is one of the most popular albums on Jamendo, so I thought I’d give it a listen. The first track is amazing, but after that is meanders along and doesn’t really go anywhere. This is a fairly good album, and probably the most professional sounding set of songs I’ve reviewed this week; it just lacks a little soul.

Usta : Pierwszy Pocałunek – Polish progressive jazz with vocals anyone? I like this, but would only listen to it when alone or on headphones. And I can’t even begin to understand what they are singing about which I suspect is a good thing.

I’ll update this as and when I find new things.

It’s a very quickly thrown together MySQL database with a PHP front end.

Midnight Snow by Abscondo – I downloaded this about a week ago, and there has not been a day since when I have not listened to it at least once. This is singer-songwriter fare, but with a twist and a dark underbelly I really like. Download it here for free, or buy it from iTunes for £7.99. I did the former, but had I discovered it from another direction I would happily have paid. You might also want to check out Imperfect People, by a related group called Sungod Abscondo who I might grow to love almost as much.

Not Quite Connected by Josh Woodward – This is more acoustic and folky than the other two albums I have, but I think it is actually my favourite. There are no stand-out songs as such, but it’s all really good and has been my “walking to work” music for over a week. It also makes me feel really happy, and I suppose will be the record I associate with getting married as it is the last thing I played before the ceremony.

And that will have to be it for now. Tomorrow I head off to Italy with my lovely wife (and my EeePC for potential blogging opportunities of course).

Dirty Wings by Josh Woodward – I downloaded this on the back of listening to his most recent album last week. “Dirty Wings” is less acoustic, rockier, and gets downright political in places, but is still obviously by the same person who recorded “The Simple Life”. I really like this record, have played it on several occasions over the last few days, and would recommend it as a good starting point. I’d give this a “Buy it”, but if you are burning selected tracks then go for “Gallows Hill” first.

Orgamilk and Make This End by Fresh Body Shop – I’ve only had these a couple of days, but felt they were worth a mention. “Orgamilk” is a totally acoustic record, with quite delicate melodies and some fine songwriting. “Make This End” wants to be Nine Inch Nails, and almost manages it on a couple of tracks. I’m not sure if these guys have a career plan, or are even still together, but they are certainly worth checking out in a “Burn it” kind of way.

The Intimate Stranger by Curious – This band want to be The Cure. A lot. I really wanted to like this, but I actually couldn’t make it all the way through to the end. The songwriting is ok, but the singer’s voice really grates, and they are not doing anything I’ve not heard a thousand times before. Trash this, or better still accept that I’ve suffered so you don’t have to.

Take it or Leave it by Terremoto – Great songwriting, which reminds me of the Go Betweens (who I adore). Unfortunately, the sound quality is dreadful, and some songs are almost unlistenable because of this. I really hope someone pays for them to record these songs in a proper studio, because if they did then this would be a “Buy it” record.

Then by Black Era – I wanted to download something Italian, in preparation for our imminent trip to Italy. This was the most promising thing I could find, and it’s actually nothing like I expected it would be. It reminds me a lot of Massive Attack and Tricky, and has a darkness that I find quite appealing. All the vocals are in English, and it is the sort of album that drags you in and forces you to listen even if you find it a little uncomfortable at times. I’d give this a “Burn it”, as there are some tracks that don’t have a great deal of impact, but you do really need to hear the first few tracks if nothing else.

The Simple Life by Josh Woodward – At first listen this comes across as standard singer-songwriter fare. After a couple of further listens, I realised that this is at least as good as anything else in the genre, and that there is a professionalism evident in the music that belies the fact it is avaialble for free from Jamedno (or for “pay what you like” for physical CDs on his website – http://www.joshwoodward.com/). This is a “Buy it”, and I’ll be downloading further albums on quiet weeks I think.

House Made of Glass by Death by Panda – I will begin by saying I don’t know how to catagorise this. It’s my album of the last two weeks, and it can best be described as sitting somewhere between melodic Ambient and Post Rock. Listen to this early in the morning and it will make sense, but TRY and make sense of it and you will be left wanting. I’d buy stuff like this (and do), but for most people it would be something to stream once to see if it sooths you or annoys you, as I think it has the potential to do both equally.

The Grasping Hands of Possibility by Ruined Machines – This is fairly standard guitar led Post Rock, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. I’d say Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai would be reference points, but it touches on a few tried and tested sounds with a couple of surprises thrown in. This is a “Burn it” record that at present I will keep and listen to, but I’m not sure how much staying power it has.