Album Spotlight: Machinarium Bonus EP

Happy New Year!  I hope that 2009 was as good as it could have been for you, and that 2010 is shaping up to be a good one as well.  I'll do my best to ensure that the musical side of things is at least interesting.  I'd like to start off with a little EP that was released back in November: the Machinarium Bonus EP.

 

Machinarium, for those unfamiliar with it, is a puzzle adventure game that was released last fall for multiple operating systems.  It has been widely hailed as one of the best independent releases of 2009, and after having played through most of it (I'm still working on the rest), I can easily see why.  The hand-drawn graphics are gorgeous, and the gameplay is extremely engaging - as soon as one puzzle has been solved, the little robot character proceeds to another location, which is often bigger and more complex than the previous one.  It reminds me (very favourably) of some of the older adventure games I used to play like Day of the Tentacle, The Dig, and Sam and Max Hit the Road, although with more emphasis on puzzles and brain teasers in addition to the inventory-based gameplay of those games.  The free demo on the game's website that gives a good taste of what it is like in case you'd like to experience it firsthand.

 

Those who purchase the game get a free MP3 copy of the entire soundtrack, but like the demo, this bonus EP is completely free for anyone who wants it.  There is a nice variety of music on its five tracks, from the jazzy, percussive "The Robot Band Tune" (a song which comes together piece by piece in the game), to the absolutely grooving "Pipe Wrench Dubstep", to the more mellow and atmospheric "By the Wall".  I haven't heard all of these songs within the game yet, but the ones I have heard are actually incorporated into the game extremely well, serving as little rewards for solving some of the longer puzzles.

 

If you're a fan of video game music at all, this EP is well worth checking out (and you may want to see some more free video game music that I've featured in the past).  Let me know what you think about the music, and also the game itself if you decide to play it.  Happy listening!

 

http://machinarium.net/blog/2009/11/22/free-machinarium-soundtrack-bonus-ep/

http://machinarium.net/demo/

Song Spotlight: Smashing Pumpkins - "A Song for a Son"

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, the ambitious new Smashing Pumpkins album, has had the first of its 44 songs released.  As of December 8, 2009, "A Song for a Son" can be downloaded for free from the band's website.  I've been trying to figure out the best way of covering this album here; for example, do I post an album spotlight of the entire thing, 44 individual song spotlights, or something in between?  Since a lot depends on how the band itself decides to release the album, I'll just post about this song for now and figure out the rest of the details when I know more.  Given the amount of people who come to this blog looking for free Smashing Pumpkins music (my post about Machina II is the most popular single post on this site by a very wide margin), I think that's the best thing to do.

I really like "A Song for a Son".  Billy Corgan has stated that it has "the right epic quality to it that says, ‘OK, here we go on this massive journey!’"  I have to agree.  The song starts quietly, with piano, acoustic guitar, and what sounds like a Mellotron providing the backdrop for Corgan's vocals.  Later on, it moves into more progressive territory with layers of harmonized guitars.  If this is even a taste of what is to come, then the rest of the album is definitely something to look forward to.

You can download the song from the band's website.  They're using a widget that I will try to embed at the end of this post.  If you don't see anything there, then I guess it didn't work.  If you do see something there, please let me know what you think of it, as I generally like to keep my posts pretty plain, but if people find it useful (i.e. it makes it easier to download the music), perhaps I'll try things like that more often in the future.  Happy listening!

URL:

http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/

Song Spotlight: Paul McCartney - "Meat Free Monday"

One of my favourite moments on The Simpsons was when Paul and Linda McCartney showed up to support Lisa's efforts to become a vegetarian.  As Lisa was preparing to leave, Paul asked her if she would like to hear a song, to which she responded very enthusiastically.  Paul then handed things over to Apu, who began singing, rather terribly, "I'm Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Man, I hope I will enjoy my show."  At this point, Lisa began backing quietly away with a nervous (or was that terrified?) smile on her face.

 

Some 14 years later, Sir Paul himself has composed a song about vegetarianism called "Meat Free Monday".  Now, as I mentioned before, I'm not terribly familiar with McCartney's solo output, so I don't know if he's done this kind of thing before.  I'm pretty sure that he hasn't offered any songs about vegetarianism for free before, though.  Well, technically the song can be downloaded for making a donation to the Meat Free Monday campaign, but the site also includes a link to download the song without making a donation; how you obtain it is up to you.

 

"Meat Free Monday" is quite a fun song.  Musically, it reminds me of some Beatles songs like "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Octopus's Garden".  Lyrically, he's not going for anything terribly complicated, with lines like "Meat Free Monday, it's a fun day, and it's happenin' all around the world," but that actually works in the song's favour; by keeping things simple, the song takes on a certain charm, not unlike something you might hear from Sesame Street or Schoolhouse Rock!  No matter what your views on vegetarianism are, I think it's pretty hard to deny that this is a really catchy song.

 

To download "Meat Free Monday", you need to enter your email address in the widget, and the download link will be sent to the address you provide.  Happy listening!

 

URLs:

http://www.supportmfm.org/donate/

http://www.supportmfm.org/donate/download.cfm