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.

Free Music Friday #88: Glasvegas

I featured Glasvegas in a free download from iTunes, which they gave way on the run up to Christmas 2009 (see Free Download Friday #39: iTunes Holiday Sampler). The Glasvegas track was one of my favourites on this EP.

I had featured the band in an earlier post (see Free Download Friday #21: Glasvegas) and I liked what I heard from the band so much, I bought their album. This début album was released in 2008 and since then... not a lot but at last, a new album is on its way. It will be released in April of this year and revels in name of EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\ (I guess it seemed like a good idea to the band!) April is still some way off, so to whet our appetites, they are giving away a free track. It is called The World Is Yours, and you can listen to it below:

The World Is Yours by glasvegas

I love the vocals, and the drums, and... well, I really like the track! And, as a techie aside, I like the comment track in the player widget. It seems to be provided by SoundCloud - a site that I'll have to spend some time exploring.

So, how do you download the track? Just go to the download page on the Glasvegas site, sign up for their newsletter and Flo's your auntie.

What do you think of this new track? Are you looking forward to the release of their second album?

Free Download Friday #21: Glasvegas

I heard a comedian having a go at the Mercury Prize so went to see who the nominees were and was pleased to see Glasvegas there.

glasvegas
Originally uploaded by princess toadie

I think the first time I heard their music was when Radio 1 gave away a session track for free on the run up to Christmas 2008. I liked what I heard and subsequently bought their début LP called Glasvegas.

It was a bit tricky finding legal Glasvegas downloads but the two on the RCRD LBL site look legit. You can download Geraldine (which is excellent) and a remix of Go Square Go (which is OK).

They are described as Indie Rock and they remind me a bit (although just a bit) of The Ramones. Usually, however, they are described as being like Jesus and Mary Chain. Their songs often have a strong, basic beat from the drums overlaid with distorted, incessant guitar noise with a vocalist that sings in pure Glaswegian. Brilliant!

Check them out and let me know what you think.

P.S. I also found a download on the Preveiw New Music site - a live version of Daddy's Gone. However, I couldn't find any information about the site so I'm not sure how legal it would be to download from there. Does anybody have information about this site and the legal status of the downloads it links to?