Free Music Archive: Free Music Archive MP3 of the Day's Blog

MP3 of the Day: Violeta Päivänkakkara, "Sateenkaari"

2012-05-16T23:44:19-04:00

Violeta Päivänkakkara was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1992. She has always felt drawn to cosmology, planets, nature and the dream world. She creates environments and personal and melancholic atmospheres, using instruments like the glockenspiel, guitar, piano and electronic sounds of nature, among others. She currently lives between Helsinki and Barcelona. -La Gramola

"Sateenkaari" can be found on Kuu, a collection released this week on La Gramola Netlabel.

> Violeta Päivänkakkara on Facebook | Bandcamp | FMA

> La Gramola on FMA | Homepage

MP3 of the Day: The Nighttime Adventure Society, "She's In Mind"

2012-05-11T10:36:43-04:00

The Nighttime Adventure Society plays rollick 'n roll music by Laura Zax. They are currently working on their debut LP, but their music has already been featured on NPR, Delta radio, and in a commercial for Sally Hansen. Based in Washington DC, the group has performed nationally and internationally, including a several shows at the World Expo in Shanghai. (via)

Chapter One: The First Chapter is the Nighttime Adventure Society's four-song debut, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license. The whole EP's a treat, but "She's In Mind" is an especially infectious tune and a very fine production with guitar licks, glockenspiel, square waves and harmonized vocals that delight the ears.

Nighttime Adventure Society | Bandcamp | Facebook | FMA

MP3 of the Day: Phoniandflore, "Melodica Time"

2012-05-09T11:30:21-04:00

Like stepper dub? Like melodica? Then you’re going to love this new EP from 4 of the best and most prolific dub artists from the netlabel community in France.

Phoniandflore (aka P.A.F) starts the musical journey with the original mix. With a driving bassline, swirling eastern groove and melodic melody, P.A.F treats us to some classic stepper goodness.

Additional remixes by Shan-a-Shan, Injham and Jideh High take the track to additional heights. Injham refines the beat a little, whilst keeping true to the original groove. Shan-a-Shan treats us to a more liquid sound and Jideh High takes this one stage further with a distinctly watery dub.

This is French electrodub at its finest.

via Angel Dust Records & Marée Bass

MP3 of the Day: Hypermagic, "Piffy On A Rock"

2012-05-07T12:39:36-04:00

Introducing London’s Hypermagic, a forest of echoes and polychrome phonographic vibrations inspired by acts like Grouper, Emeralds, Do Make Say Think and Teen Daze. Layers of rustic beats, rusty clicks, shrouded voices, kaleidoscope reverbered guitars and rheumatic feedback. After 4 well-received EPs and a full-length (everything on free download) here are new sonic textures and rhytmes that will ride you along a time warping tunnel headed straight for the moon. Stay tuned for more music at Magic Rub Cassettes and check out the interview.

Read interivew & more on Bad Panda

MP3 of the Day: Miss Emma, "Une Glace au Citron"

2012-05-04T11:49:53-04:00

Miss Emma lives in Chambéry, France. Her dad is Juan Naveira, creator of the band Juanitos.

When Emma wrote the lyrics to her first song, "Une Glace au Citron" ("A Lemon Ice"), she gave the page to her dad and hummed the tune for him. He played it on the guitar for her.

Within a few weeks, they put together more songs, and a full-length album. Soon they were performing small concerts and appearing in the press. The video for "Une Glace au Citron" ("A Lemon Ice") became a hit on the Internet! Well-known American DJs Ursula 100 and Martinibomb have promoted Miss Emma, and she has since developed a following in the USA.

via Kazoomzoom.com, the world's first netlabel for kids!

MP3 of the Day: Spade Cooley, "Better Do It Now"

2012-04-26T16:46:09-04:00

One of the most notorious figures in country music history is western swing pioneer Spade Cooley. Cooley was known as the "King of Western Swing" in his heyday, but due to a gruesome incident in his private life, he is often viewed these days more as the Sid Vicious of Western Swing. His is a model lesson in how a brilliant musical legacy can be overshadowed by unsavory personal problems. (via JoeMc, "He Did It Then" —> Read More)

This song features Tex Williams on vocals, and can be found on Shame On You, a set of music from Space Cooley & The Western Swing Dance Gang featuring Tex. The collection was issued by Bloodshot Records' Bloodshot Revival Series.

The Bloodshot Revival Series is a fantastic historical resource for country music in the early/mid 1900s, with a focus on the music of Bloodshot's hometown of Chicago.

Browse more promotional Bloodshot Revival/Soundies tracks on the FMA, and pick up these fantastic reissues at Bloodshot Records. Show 'em some love in honor of Preservation Week (#preswk12)!

MP3 of the Day: Smersh, "My God Those Legs"

2012-04-19T19:26:05-04:00

Smersh are legends of the NJ cassette underground, previously featured on WFMU's blog. Beat studio guru Mike Mangino and Chris Shepard started recording together in 1979 and began releasing cassettes as Smersh in 1981, improvising cuts nearly every Monday night for over a decade.

"My God Those Legs" is a later recording featuring Roger Johansen on sax. It's sourced from 1994's Isomorphic Records comp The Arbitrary Nature Of Meaning where Smersh appeared alongside artists like Illusion of Safety and Jim O'Rourke. The track closes out a 15-track Smersh Library Sampler compiled by Mike Mangino especially for WFMU and the FMA.

Mike is still releasing fantastic small-run releases over at M-Pop, and if you dig these sounds, then you are encouraged to reach out in the true spirit of the cassette underground.

Today's song was selected by @miscellaniac.

MP3 of the Day: Quint Baker, "Hand"

2012-04-19T10:49:48-04:00

Quint Baker is an experimental home-fi / collage pop artist from Auckland New Zealand. He releases Creative Commons visual art on flickr, and today's MP3 can be found on his Kill Mommy Records netlabel release, Psychic Cat'z Golden Fleece.

"Hand" recalls the retro-futurist pop stylings of Broadcast or Pram, through the home-taped aesthetic of Ariel Pink.

The track was originally ntroduced to the FMA by Breitband, a radio show from Deutschlandradio Kultur.

-Jason

MP3 of the Day: Vanatei ft. Semi, "Bitch You Ain't A Barbie"

2013-05-01T15:21:30-04:00

Vanatei grew up in a musically driven Newark household, studied fashion, and joined forces with fellow New Jersey female rapper Semi on this track, "Bitch Yout Ain't A Barbie".

She was featured by FrostWire, surpassing 100,000 downloads, and "Bitch Yout Ain't A Barbie" made Side A of FrostWire's massive Creative Commons Mixtape.

Vanatei also distributes her music videos for free online. There's some debate on YouTube whether "Bitch You Ain't A Barbie" is a jab at Nicki Minaj, or at people who try to imitate the pop star's style rather than stay true to their own vision.

Check out the video for this song after the jump and let us know what you think!

MP3 of the Day: Andy & Zeus, "MCMLXXXI Choir"

2012-04-18T17:29:19-04:00

Here's a track to put you in the Monday zone. Andy & Zeus are two friends in a spacecraft, navigating the outer limits via analog synths. The Brooklyn-based duo have roots in Boston where Andy played in Astronaut with Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) and "Zeus played in Chas Mtn with Gary War.

Originally released by Electrick Gypsy Service Records & Tapes on the sold-out Tales of Power cassette, "MCMLXXXI Choir" has gone on to float the web as a free download. Its kosmische energy has fueled remixes by Duchess Leo, Double Entendre and A.B.B.M. The track can also be found on this month's massive release by BEKO-DSL featuring 100 artists including Alligator Indian, Excepter, Maps and Diagrams and many more.

>> Andy & Zeus @ FMA @ Facebook @ Bandcamp

MP3 of the Day: Expwy, "Cargo: Headstones"

2012-04-18T17:29:19-04:00

Expwy is Matt LeGrouix from Montreal, recording solo lofi psych-folk garage jangle in the vein of White Fence or Sic Alps. He's released three free albums under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

"Cargo: Headstones" can be found on Expwy's latest album, Bag of Waters, which is out today!

>> Expwy at Facebook | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | FMA

MP3 of the Day: Maya Solovey, "A Vida"

2012-04-18T17:29:19-04:00

Maya Solovéy is a trilingual singer/songwriter who lived in Massachusettes, Ecuador, and Spain before settling in New York. She sings in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

"A Vida" is sung in Portuguese over Brazilian-style guitar. It can be found on Maya Solovéy, I:II , a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA release.

If you've enjoyed Maya Solovey's music thus far, you can invest in her next EP and receive commissions just by spreading the word—a pretty cool idea from the new fundraising platform Sokap.

Maya Solovéy @ FMA | www | Bandcamp | Sokap |

MP3 of the Day: Aoiroooasamusi, "Rattan Chair"

2012-04-18T17:29:19-04:00

Aoiroooasamusi is Ryosuke Sone from Japan. Citing influences from Dead Can Dance to Lhasa, she composes repetitive dreamworld music with organic voice, rhythmic samples and experimental electronics.

"Rattan Chair" comes from Aoiroooasamusi's Headphonica release Root of Sorrow. It is built around the deviating patterns of what sounds like a gamelan, the slight variations bringing focus to her story (in Japanese) of "the legendary insect and boy" according to the version posted on youtube.

Listen to the full album here, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

:: Aoiroooasamusi :: @FMA @Headphonica @myspace
:: Headphonica :: @.com @FMA

MP3 of the Day: Yva Las Vegass, "Polo Margaritenoio"

2012-04-18T17:29:19-04:00

Yva Las Vegas was born in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. She sings and writes songs on the nylon-stringed cuatro, playin' it like a self-proclaimed mofo. As a street performer in 1990s Seattle, Yva developed an iconic reputation and even joined forces with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic to form Sweet 75.

I Was Born in a Place Of Sunshine and the Smell of Ripe Mangoes is a new release from Moniker Records—"a raw and astonishing distillation of Yva's vast and varied life-experiences." The songs range from traditional Venezuelan styles like "Polo Margaritenoio" to soul-purging epics like "Crack Whore."

WFMU's #NewRekkid of the Day, 4/4/2012

Yva Las Vegas @ FMA | Moniker Records @ FMA | Buy LP/CD

MP3 of the Day: "Freeway" by Kurt Vile

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

Leading up to the launch of freemusicarchive.org, we released two FMA samplers featuring Ariel Pink, Vivian Girls, Dan Deacon, Big Blood, Alan Vega/Oneida, The Ex/Getatchew Mekuria, Lucky Dragons and many more (v1 | v2).

The second volume opened up with this anthem by Kurt Vile, Philly's "Constant Hitmaker," from the album of the same name. It's hard to fathom anyone hearing this song and not being hooked on Kurt Vile. Originally released by Gulcher, the LP was reissued by Woodsist, and KV went on to sign with Matador. This has helped KV more than live up to his nickame with a string of albums and EPs that are consistantly full hits. Check 'em out here, along with upcoming tourdates in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, US, Germany, Sweden and beyond! / -Jason

MP3 of the Day: Rafter, "Long Ago, A Rodent As Big As A Bull Lurked In South America"

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

"Long Ago, A Rodent As Big As A Bull Lurked In South America" was the headline of a New York Times article on Josephoartigasia the week that Rafter contributed to 52 Weeks (Peppermill Records).

Each week for a year, starting with the winter soltice of 2007, 52 artists like Mochipet, Binärpilot, Daedelus, Jason Forrest, and Gangpol & Mit each took a turn composing songs inspired by that week's news. After seven days, they passed their creation on to the next artist to pick up from where they left off (Rafter's tune feeds off of Nathan Michel's fantastic "Time To Fire Isiah". The entire project is divided into four seasonal albums: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

Rafter is a San Diego-based producer who runs Singing Serpent studios and has been releasing albums for Asthmatic Kitty since 2007. A remixed version of "Long Ago" appeared on Rafer's 2010 album Animal Feelings under the name "No F**cking Around." Also check out the accompanying remix album, and the video for the song after the jump.

MP3 of the Day: Decade in Exile, "Steel Pin Raindrops"

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

An irresistible dream pop tune by contemporary UK shoegazers Decade in Exile.

"Steel Pin Raindrops" can be found on their new EP, Trail Places, due April 23rd.

Decade in Exile released their self-titled debut EP in 2011, including "Patti's Town" (below). Copies may still be available on vinyl from Rough Trade shops. There are a few additional selections here on the FMA.

MP3 of the Day: Khaira Arby, "Dja Cheickna (Live @KEXP)"

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

A cousin of the Farka Touré family, Khaïra Arby took Mali's national music competition by storm in 1970 when she was just eleven years old. But despite her gift for song, she soon found herself given to marriage with a man who forbade singing. After years of frustration, Khaira Arby divorced to embark on a career in music. She joined Mali's national band and blossomed into a renowned solo artist in the 1990s, known as "The Nightingale of the North" to the south's "Songbird of Wassoulou," Oumou Sangaré.

On the heels of her first international release, Khaïra Arby visited the KEXP studios in Seattle for this live performance on The Best Ambiance with Jon Kertzer. She performed with her band from the deserts north of Tombouctou, Kevin Suggs with songs in the Sonrai, Arabic, Tamashek, and Bambara languages of the Sahara. Video after the jump, with more on KEXP's blog.

Khaira Arby is on Facebook & Twitter. MP3s @ iTunes

MP3 of the Day: Kidkanevil & Oddisee, "Zo0o0o0p!!!"

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

Kidkanevil is the musical alias of UK producer / DJ Gerard Roberts. His releases for First Word Records have earned him a far-reaching reputation for smooth, sinister and ingenious electronica.

Oddisee, born Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, is a multi-talented MC & producer from Washington DC. Active since 1999, he is a founding member of Diamond District.

"Zo0o0o0p!!!" came out of an RBMA collaboration and was featured on the fantastic Oscillations Part 2 compilation presented by Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break. Kidkanevil's video for the song after the jump.

MP3 of the Day: "Fair & Tender Ladies" by Roger McGuinn & Gene Clark

2012-04-18T17:29:20-04:00

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds is not only a folk-rock legend, but a web pioneer and folk archivist. He started the Folk Den Project in 1995 to share his own original performances of public domain folk music. Originally using 8-bit mono .wav's in the pre-mp3 era, he still posts one song every month.

"Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" is a folk standard that originated in the Appalachias and has been covered by the likes of The Carter Family, Peter Paul and Mary, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton. This version was recorded at New York's Bottom Line while McGuinn was on an acoustic tour with fellow Byrds founder Gene Clark. "Gene was playing his beautiful Martin D-45 and I was finger picking my Rickenbacker 370 12-string – dripping with compression," Roger McGuinn writes at the Folk Den. "This arrangement could easily have been on a 1965 Byrds record." (Read More | Chords/Lyrics)

Roger McGuinn on FMA | Folk Den HQ | Folk Den 4xCD | Gene Clark Sundazed Reissues

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This is today's #FMAmp3, a new series offering a daily gem from the FMA's library of 45,000+ curated, free & legal mp3s. Distributed via our RSS, twitter, fbook, and other channels—it's music that wants to be shared!