The weekend is upon us once again, and you know what that means… tons of free tunes from us to you. That’s right, Freeloader Friday is back to provide all you weekend warriors with loads of new music that is sure to make you start saying TGIFF — Thank Goodness It’s Freeloader Friday!
If you’re in the mood for exclusive content, then you’re in luck, as Javelin dropped a previously unreleased song this past week that oozes maracas (pair some guacamole with this track and you’ll have yourself quite the fiesta). But that’s not all, both Hey Sholay and Andrew Cedermark have new tunes for your listening pleasure as well. Yes, this weekend is going to be one awesome aural experience.
The visuals are on lock for you this weekend too, as Young Galaxy appreciate senior citizens and dance it out with their new video, while Thee Oh Sees get lethal. (We’re not joking, viewer discretion is advised for the San Fran rockers’ new vid!)
Oh, you want more? Well, we have four, count ‘em, FOUR full album streams for you this weekend. To start off, The Melvins premiere a cover record of classic artists ranging from Venom to Queen. Make sure to head over to Spin to read frontman Buzz Osborne’s commentary on each track. In addition, Beacon usher in the ambient pop vibes and Coultrain bring the funky, soul train sounds with their respective album streams.
Finally, The Casket Girls are streaming their eponymous record over on FILTER. If you’re unfamiliar with this group, they consist of Elsa and Phaedra Greene and Ryan Graveface of Black Moth Super Rainbow, who recently released their new record Cobra Juicy a few months ago. If you missed it, they also promoted the album with one pretty cool Kickstarter campaign. Let’s just say, masks were involved.
Whew, that’s a lot of tunes. Happy listening!
The Melvins: Full album stream via Spin
Everybody Loves Sausages out April 30 on Ipecac Recordings
Beacon: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
The Ways We Separate out April 30 on Ghostly International
Hey Sholay: “WDYRWMTB” via Middle Boop Mag
Clouds, Castle, _______ out June 3 on Fierce Panda Records
Javelin: “The Marimba Song” via Noisey
Hi Beams out now on Luaka Bop
Andrew Cedermark: “Canis Major” via Pitchfork
Home Life out July 16 on Underwater Peoples
The Casket Girls: Full album stream via FILTER
The Casket Girls out now on Graveface Records
Coultrain: Full album stream via OkayPlayer
Jungle Mumbo Jumbo out now on Plug Research Records
Young Galaxy: “Pretty Boy” music video premiere via Pitchfork.tv
Ultramarine out now on Paper Bag Records
Thee Oh Sees: “Toe Cutter – Thumb Buster” music video premiere via Pitchfork.tv
Floating Coffin out now on Castle Face Records
You made it through the week once again, and now it’s time to get rewarded… with music! That’s right, Freeloader Friday is back and we’re bringing you a plethora of new tunes that are sure to jumpstart your weekend.
If you’re in the mood for mellow sounds, Emma Louise has you covered with “Mirrors,” a smooth track with a smokey finish from her upcoming album. The Postelles keep the chill vibes going with their new song premiere, while Tripwires get ethereal and Dirty Fences up the tempo.
The free music love continues with The Casket Girls bringing the Electro grooves to your weekend soundtrack and the wondrous Thee Oh Sees spinning a full album stream of their anticipated new record, Floating Coffin, over on Pitchfork.
Not enough music for you yet? Then check out these clips from Grim Tower and Young Man — both dropped music videos this week that are sure to transfix you with crazy visuals. One features a banjo player on a snowcapped mountainside with a wolf, the other, a man sprouting from a black trash bag in a museum. Yeah, it’s going to be one of those type of weekends. Happy listening!
Emma Louise: “Mirrors” via Spin
vs. Head vs. Heart out May 21 on Frenchkiss Records
Tripwires: “Catherine, I Feel Sick” via Quietus
Spacehopper out June 18 on Frenchkiss Records
Dirty Fences: “White Lies” via The Obelisk
Too High to Kross out now on Volcom Entertainment
The Postelles: “Heavy Eyes” via Paste Magazine
…And It Shook Me out April 23 on +1 Records
The Casket Girls: “Universal Language” via Rollingstone
The Casket Girls out April 20 on Graveface Records
Thee Oh Sees: Full album stream via Pitchfork
Floating Coffin out April 16 on Castle Face Records
Young Man: “In a Sense” music video via MTV Hive
Beyond Was All Around Me out now on Frenchkiss Records
Grim Tower: “Reign Down” music video premiere via Stereogum
Anarchic Breezes out in June on Outer Battery Records
Warm weather looming on the horizon means that outdoor music festivals are just around the corner. So dust off those Birkenstocks, lather yourself in SPF 40, and soak yourself in patchouli because festival season has officially returned.
The popular West Coast music festival, Coachella, will begin the first of its two weekends this Friday, April 12th, with many talented artists taking the stage. This year, The Orchard is very proud to have 18 of its current artists performing at the festival. Here are a few you don’t want to miss:
Local Natives [Frenchkiss Records]
Set Time: Friday, April 12th/19th | 7:00pm – 7:50pm | Outdoor Theatre
The Indie Rock quartet made a splash this year with their sophomore release, Hummingbird, which debuted at #12 on the Billboard Top 200, and #6 on Billboard’s Digital Albums Chart – not too shabby for a band who released their debut record, Gorilla Manor, just a few years prior. Local Natives have been on the road promoting their record since the week of SXSW, and have been selling out nearly every venue they visit. They will continue to tour until the end of April, with additional plans to perform at New York City’s Governor’s Ball in early June.
Thee Oh Sees [Castle Face Records]
Set Time: Sunday, April 14th/21st | 3:15pm – 3:55pm | Gobi
Lead singer John Dwyer, and the rest of Thee Oh Sees have been creating music spanning a wide spectrum of tonalities for quite some time. Their forthcoming record, Floating Coffin, which is due out next week, is no exception as it juxtaposes optimistic songs of hope with dreary tunes of despair. It’s clear that Thee Oh Sees have a penchant for exploring every possible crevice of music that they possibly can. Playing shows at venues in places everywhere from Austin, TX to Beijing, China, the band’s eclectic sounds reach a myriad of people who grow to love the music.
Rodriguez [Light In The Attic]
Set Time: Sunday, April 14th/21st | 6:35pm – 7:15pm | Gobi
Rodriguez may have the most unique story of any artist at Coachella this year. A documentary about the artist, Searching For Sugar Man, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival to raving reviews. The film tells the story about Sixto Rodriguez, a Mexican-American singer/songwriter from the 70s who found no success when his albums were first released in the US. But his songs about protest found their way to South Africa, where his music deeply resonated with the people and became wildly popular. The success of this documentary catapulted Rodriguez into the nation’s spotlight, and he has been taking his tunes on the road ever since.
These are just a few of The Orchard‘s great artists performing at this year’s festival. Others include Infected Mushroom, Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School Of Medicine, Lee Scratch Perry, Poliça, Sparks, Seth Troxler, Descendents, The Make-Up, Booka Shade, The Selecter, Tommy Trash, The 2 Bears, Vintage Trouble, The Three O’Clock, and Dirtyphonics. If you’re attending Coachella this year, be sure to catch them all!
Last year’s Orchard-IODA merger brought a veritable treasure trove of great new music into our system. We’ve had the very pleasurable opportunity to do a fair bit of exploration over the last 13 months and thought we might share a cross section of highlights. The following playlist includes household names to some of today’s buzziest / most acclaimed new artists to formerly obscure musicians who have only been rediscovered in recent years.
The list includes “Head Like A Hole,” the song that put Nine Inch Nails on the map in 1990, Arlo Guthrie‘s 1972 Top 40 hit “The City Of New Orleans,” and “After The Laughter (Comes Tears),” a 1964 Soul masterpiece by Wendy Rene which has been sampled by The Wu-Tang Clan and Alicia Keys and used in films like Lucky Number Slevin and The Wackness.
It also contains early tracks by contemporary Rock royalty like My Morning Jacket, Rise Against, and The Black Angels; and music from fast-rising up-and-comers like Portland bands STRFKR (“Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second” has been heard in a Target ad on the TV show Weeds) and Blind Pilot (their 2008 debut, 3 Rounds And A Sound led them to tours with The Hold Steady and The Decemberists), as well as San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees, (Breaking Bad fans may recognize the 7″ single “Tidal Wave” from a pivotal scene in season four).
It’s not all Rock by any means. On the Electronic end of the spectrum, we have selections from the Mercury Prize-nominated debuts by the UK’s Burial and Zero 7, and a single from Minneapolis duo Poliça, whose (late) 2011 debut Give You The Ghost earned praise from the likes of Jay-Z and Bon Iver. We have also have Jazz from three-time Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride (a track recorded with Grammy-winning world music legend Angélique Kidjo), and Hip-Hop from Deltron 3030, an Alternative/Hip-Hop supergroup comprised of Dan the Automator [Gorillaz], Del the Funky Homosapien and Kid Koala, (their self-titled album was “the most purely enjoyable Hip-Hop album of 2000,” according to NME).
We’ve also included a few slightly under the radar picks from some personal favorites, including pioneering all-female Post-Punk trio The Raincoats (who were extensively championed by the late Kurt Cobain), influential Los Angeles Blues Punk-ers The Gun Club (“Carry Home,” featured here, was covered by Mark Lanegan on a his 1999 covers album, I’ll Take Care Of You), and Santa Barbara Folk musician/Vietnam veteran F.J. McMahon, whose lone album, Spirit Of The Golden Juice [1969], was a highly sought after/highly priced collector’s item that was only recently reissued by Rev-Ola [CD + digital] and Sacred Bones [vinyl].
Now, without further ado…
Listen to this playlist on Spotify or ShareMyPlaylists.
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Friday, everyone! To celebrate the end of the week and everything in between, here is some great free music.
Let’s start with the largest spoils: two full album streams of the irresistibly psychedelic Black Angels and the soulful Charles Bradley. They’re both rocking new releases next week, and we just. can’t. wait.
Also giving us a full stream of their album is Dirtyphonics, who released their latest EDM masterpiece last week.
Then, to lighten up your weekend, Cheech & Chong have got a “high”-ly recommended track for you from their animated movie soundtrack. Also sharing new tracks are Young Man and Odonis Odonis, and closing out this Freeloader Friday are Thee Oh Sees with the mythical music video to “Minotaur,” starring… you guessed it… a minotaur.
Happy listening!
The Black Angels: Full album stream via Pitchfork Advance
Indigo Meadow out April 2 on Blue Horizon
Charles Bradley: Full album stream via Rolling Stone
Victim of Love out April 2 on Daptone Records
Cheech & Chong: “Medical Marijuana” via A.V. Club
Cheech and Chong’s Animated Movie! Musical Soundtrack Album out April 9 on Ode Sounds & Visuals
Young Man: “Unfair” premiere via Stereogum
Beyond Was All Around Me out April 9 on Frenchkiss Records
Odonis Odonis: “Intelligence” premiere via Stereogum
Better out April 16 on Buzz Records
Dirtyphonics: Full album stream via Vibe
Irreverence out now on Dim Mak Records
Thee Oh Sees: “Minotaur” music video via Spin
Floating Coffin out April 16 on Castle Face Records
