It doesn’t roll off the tongue with quite the same alliterative ease but let’s call this Freeloader Monday.
If you’re heading down to Austin next week, it’s a good bet that you have started to assemble an elaborate SXSW itinerary that will take you all over the city to see literally dozens of shows, from day parties, to official showcases, to late night performances taking place in weird and wonderful locations like, say, the middle of a bridge at 4 am. (Said itinerary will hopefully also take you to many many delicious Tex-Mex and BBQ joints as well but that’s for another post. Sleep, however, is for the weak).
Navigating the list of artists can be a daunting experience but we’re here to help. Our free Don’t Mess with Texas: SXSW 2012 New Music Sampler contains tracks from 23 can’t-miss-artists.
Click HERE to download the compilation. Starting tomorrow it will also be available for streaming on services like Spotify, Rdio and Amazon.
Check out the track list after the jump.
No matter where you are in the world, the first weekend in March is something to be embraced. The coming of Spring means so much more to us than a change of weather or new garden blooms; we are incredibly excited for the plethora of new releases that are about to be bestowed upon us all!
Kicking things off the way we always do on Fridays, we have lined up some excellent free track premieres for you!
If you haven’t heard of them already, effervescent indie jammers RACES will be coming out later this month with their debut full-length album. Meanwhile, Yellow Ostrich have a new record out next week that’s full of gearing energies and driving drumbeats.
RACES: “Lies” via Paste
Year Of The Witch out March 27th on Frenchkiss Records
Yellow Ostrich: “The Shakedown” via Rolling Stone
Strange Land out March 6th on Barsuk Records
With another February comes yet another Groundhog Day where the groundhog does in fact see his shadow and we are doomed yet again to six more weeks of winter. Since you’re inevitably going to be staying inside, why not get cozy and settle into the weekend with some free tunes?
Start the month off right and warm your ears up with single streams from RACES and Dinosaur Feathers or download tracks by CFCF and The Big Sleep:
RACES: “Big Broom” via Facebook
Year Of The Witch out March 27th on Frenchkiss Records
Dinosaur Feathers: “Untrue” via Paste
Whistle Tips out April 10th on Ernest Jenning
CFCF: “Exercise #3 (Building)” via Soundcloud
Exercises out April 24th on Paper Bag Records
The Big Sleep: “Ace” via Sterogum
Nature Experiments out now on Frenchkiss Records
The story behind RACES, the band who brought us Big Broom EP [Frenchkiss Records], is a poignant one, and the kind that always makes music better.
RACES exists as a result of artistic rebirth and personal rediscovery, but it all started at a point in Wade Ryff‘s life where motivation was at its most scarce. Disillusioned with music, beset with the bitter ending of a relationship with a real life witch and faced with the overwhelming stagnation of being a 23-year old in the sleepy suburban outpost of Van Nuys, Ryff wrote the pleading lyrics of “Big Broom” in the bathroom of his parents house. He explains the song’s message as “accepting that every ending is a new beginning, and even if we may have no control over when things are given or taken from us, we can always choose how to respond.”
Whether he realized it or not at the time, it would serve as a mission statement for a handful of musicians in the area who were also idling through their 20′s and desperate for a new beginning. Breanna Wood, Garth Herberg, Lucas Ventura, Devon Lee and Oliver Hild knew each other prior to RACES‘ first show, played in bands together, and oh yeah, either had dated or were currently dating each other. Still, no one would have expected it all to come together for Year Of The Witch, a life-affirming project forged from the pain of a time when life feels most uncertain, and for everyone involved to come out of it renewed.
It’s FRRRRRIDAAAAY! What better reason to celebrate than a Friday afternoon. With every Friday comes free tunes that Orchard artists have released over the previous week. This week we have free streams from Frenchkiss’ new signing, RACES, and Stereogum’s “Band To Watch”, Zambri. We also have new tracks from Devin & Rhett Miller that were premiered at Rolling Stone. So, sit back, throw your headphones on, turn up the volume, and start planning your weekend!
RACES: ”All For You” via Under The Radar
Big Broom EP out now on Frenchkiss Records
Devin: “You’re Min” via Rolling Stone
You’re Mine out now on Frenchkiss Records
Rhett Miller: ”Queen Bitch” via Rolling Stone
The Interpreter Live out November 22nd on Maximum Sunshine Records
Zambri: Glossolalia via Soundcloud
Glossolalia out now on Kanine Records
