Free Download Friday #134: Fourth Friday In Advent

Give Love On Chrsitmas

To make up for what is possibly the latest Free Download Friday ever, here's an eleven track Christmas download:

This is another one where you can download the tracks for free but, if you want, you can make a donation to a charity; in this case to a charity called Blood:Water Mission. The Noise Trade site gives the following information about the charity:

Blood:Water Mission was established by Grammy Award winning band Jars of Clay to empower communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in sub-Saharan Africa. Since its launch in 2005, Blood:Water has raised millions of dollars through the creative efforts of individuals seeking to make a difference. To date, Blood:Water has partnered with more than 1,300 communities in Africa, providing life-saving water for 800,000 people in 11 different countries and access to HIV/AIDS education, treatment and support for nearly 40,000 people.

Have a good Christmas!

International Rush Day

What a good idea!

Since tomorrow is the 12th of December, or 21/12, some bright spark came up with the idea of making it International Rush Day. (It's like 2112 - see what they did there?)

I'm not sure that I'll get away with wearing a Rush t-shirt at work but I'll have to wear one at some point tomorrow.

And hopefully the Rock Radio stations will pick it up too and play plenty of Rush throughout the day.

Rock Advent Calendar

Should have posted this a couple of weeks ago... my Rock Advent Calendar is back... I admit, it is very similar to last year's but there are a couple of new tracks in there. Feel free to make suggestions on tracks I should have included.

Day one is an obvious choice... and I don't care what anyone says, they are a rock band! As the days go on though, I hope you will find a diverse and occasionally bizarre mix of Rock and Blues Christmas songs. Enjoy!

Free Download Friday #133: Third Friday In Advent

A few Christmases ago, iTunes gave a copy of the Glasvagas song A Snowflake Fell And It Felt Like A Kiss as part of its 12 Days Of Christmas promotion. It is an achingly beautiful track and is about as far from holly and jolly as you can get.

They have released another  track this Christmas that can be downloaded for free. It's called No Her, No HYmN.

While it can be downloaded for free, if you go to their website, they suggest making a donation to Scottish Care & Information On Miscarriage, an organisation that "...offers counselling for women who have suffered miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death following loss, before trying again and in pregnancy following loss. Our counsellors are university trained and have personal experience of loss."

Despite the liberal application of jingle bells throughout, this is not your typical Christmas song and I'm not sure it will find its way onto my Christmas playlist but it's worth a listen and it's a worthy cause.

Landfillharmonic

Not my usual style of music but I felt I had to share this:

Stunning!

Cross-posted to EdCompBlog.

Free Download Friday #132: Second Friday In Advent

I was a bit worried last year when I started the Advent downloads because I didn't have enough downloads up my sleeve but as the weeks went by, I ended up with more than enough. I assumed the same would happen this year but I am still struggling.

I am, however, relatively pleased with this week's freebie:

The download is described as a "Holiday EP" but only one of the six tracks on offer is overtly Christmasy - I Don't Need No Santa Clause. It's largely acoustic and has a Country music feel to it - not my usual taste but it belts along at a good pace and it is Christmas after all!

The other tracks are worth a listen too, for example, I like track 6 - My Forgetful Baby. One of the great things about the NoiseTrade site is you can listen to the tracks before downloading. It's also interesting that you can download for free but, if you want, you can leave a "tip" for the artist.

So have a listen, download if you want and let me know what you make of Fiction Family.

Free Download Friday #131: First Friday In Advent

As I've done the last few Christmases, I hope to give a links to free Christmas music every Friday on the run up to Christmas.

First up then is a three track sampler from a band called Willet.

They are not a band I'd heard of but they give a rousingly raucous (or should that be rock-ous?) renditions of two Christmas classics before offering up an original song called Glory which is a bit more mellow.

Of the three tracks, I'd say I like the sound of the first one best. What do you think?

...Oh, and happy Advent!