Category: Downloads

Free Music – Jamie Myerson

My hero Jamie Myerson (ambient drum n’ bass producer/ singer-songwriter) is giving away several of his albums for free. I’m not sure what prompted this; maybe I’m on to something with this New Economy business. Maybe in the future, musicians will be able to make profit secondary to their personal satisfaction. Recording costs will drop and distribution will become free and easy. Maybe gigs and merch will become the primary income source for musicians.

Anyway, here’s the link to all the free Jamie Myerson music. Here are some highlights:

Sky City – Ambient drum n’ bass/electronica
Merge and JM Jamie Myerson – Songs w/ vocals a la Depeche Mode
Remixes – Check out David Poe’s “Apartment”
Covers – Great acoustic stuff

Jamie is sickeningly talented and everything he does is gorgeous. Not many people can go from being an electronic music producer to singer-songwriter.

Precious, Precious Silver and Gold

Sometimes music comes along that demands something of you. It throws you up against a wall and steals your lunch money. And when you regain your wits you have to go and tell everyone. So I’m here to tell you. I just got Jeff Buckley’s Live at Sin-é, the 2-CD/1 DVD Legacy Edition. It may just be the greatest testament to what one voice and one guitar can do to you. Here are the tracks that will completely re-arrange your furniture:

Be Your Husband (a cappella blues tune)

Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai (spot-on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan cover)

As always, right click to “Save As…”

Unusual Tunage

I came across this CD, The Kings of Diggin’ at the Tower Records sale in Nashville, and it’s the best $10 I ever spent. I highly recommend it. DJ’s Kon, Amir and Muro share two discs worth of their favorite vinyl relics, culled from their years of audio spelunking in the back of America’s record stores: obscure soul, funk, jazz fusion and other groovy nuggets abound. In particular, one track stood out, as it’s the basis for a current chart hit.

The Moon People – Hippy Skippy Moon Strut

Astute listeners will also recognize that the tune splices its groove with a variation on “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell and the Drells.

The chart hit in question is Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man,” and I’m glad this gave me the excuse to address something. Her new record is fantastic. Yes, you heard right, Colter has purchased a Christina Aguilera CD. Why? Because DJ Premier is behind the boards for several tracks and Christina cuts loose from the constrictive pop format here and there. You’re already tired of her “Candyman” from the Verizon commercials, but it’s a nice homage to that 40’s/Andrews Sisters sound. There’s also a convincing gospel soul number, and several legitimately funky songs. And her voice. It has some magical direct line to the spinal cord. I had hoped that her new record would lay off the studio gloss, as her voice is one of the few in pop that does not require multi-tracking. My hope is that she’ll someday attempt a raw, stripped-down soul/jazz record, but I’m not holding my breath.

David Grahame

If I had to recommend one artist recently added to my collection for everyone to listen to, I would say, David Grahame. Here are three good examples of this unassumingly amazing songwriter. Right click to save as…

Steady Thing – Might as well be Big Star
LA at All – How can you live in a town where everyone is writing a song?
Each First Kiss – Someone give this to Faith Hill and let Nashville gloss it up and make millions

As far as I’m aware, Grahame’s only major contribution to pop stardom was co-writing Mr. Big’s “To Be With You.” But don’t hold that against him. In other news, I think he has retired from the music business out of frustration. Please buy his CDs from the good people at NotLame.

Freakish Coincidences

So I’m a big fan of this guy Bryan Beller, bass player for Mike Keneally. Bryan has just recently moved to Nashville, and in looking for work has set up a transcription service. Send him a tune and he’ll transcribe it. When I read this in his email newsletter, I immediately thought, “hmm, bass player offering transcriptions…I should commission a transcription of John Patitucci’s “Scophile,” one of the knottiest melodies in the known jazz-rock universe.

I keep reading the rest of his newsletter, and as I scroll to the bottom he says he’ll have a column in the next issue of Bass Player magazine wherein he will transcribe the melody[1] to John Patitucci’s “Scophile.”

Now, kids, that’s just freaky. And because you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the song in question:

John Patitucci – Scophile (right click to save as..)

And for those who might care, here’s the column in question, Bryan Beller’s Woodshed at BassPlayer.com.

1.) Or “head” as the jazzers call it.

Download/Overload

Why spread it out over time when you can have it all now? Here are some live and rare tracks from some of my favorite people:

NOTE: Bandwidth increased, tunes re-uploaded.

Deaths All Around

The long shadow cast by the death of Don Knotts[1] has perhaps obscured your awareness of other, lesser known luminaries who have recently passed away. 2006 has brought us the news of the deaths of two of the remaining Cowsills, Billy and Barry. Who are the Cowsills, you say? They’re actually the group upon whom The Partridge Family was based, a family band of teens and a mom that fused the gooey pop of the Monkees with the harmonic inventiveness of the Beach Boys. Take a listen:

The Rain, the Park and Other Things (right click to save as…)

I’m pretty sure the tunes were written by Brill Building songwriters, but we don’t hold that against the Monkees, do we?[2]

We also lost avant-garde jazz guitarist Derek Bailey. I only have some random remixes of his stuff, and since it’s skronky, atonal electric guitar, I’ll spare you a sample.

1.) Can death cast a shadow?
2.) Yes.