Jamendo is a site that offers free access to music that has been published with Creative Commons licences. For more information on Creative Commons (since it's really beyond the scope of this blog), please see the Creative Commons website; for the purpose of Jamendo, all you really need to know is that it allows you to download as much music as you want, freely and legally.
I find the entire interface and design of the Jamendo website to be very intuitive and user-friendly. Clicking on the Music tab yields a list of albums with thumbnails of the cover art; these albums can be sorted in a variety of ways, including popularity (overall, monthly, or weekly), latest releases, most downloaded, most listened to, and others. A list of tags on the right can be used to narrow down the list of albums; you can also search for tags if you don't see what you're looking for in the list. A general-purpose search box is also available; this will search through just about any text associated with an artist, album, or song and can be very useful if you are otherwise unable to find what you are looking for. Finally, a music player is available to listen to songs directly on the web page without having to download anything; I have found myself using the player to preview a track or 2 from an album, and if I like what I hear I just download the whole album. The entire website is also available in both French and English.
Everything I have described in the last paragraph should be availalble to anyone who visits Jamendo. Those who choose to register (for free) will also receive some additional benefits, including the ability to create playlists and select their favourite albums. The FAQ also makes mention of "additional services" for members, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
I have been actively using Jamendo for about a week now and have already been able to discover a ton of great music, which I will certainly be featuring on this blog as soon as I can find some words to write about it. In the meantime, why not head on over to Jamendo and begin discovering what it has to offer. If you come across any really great finds, please leave a comment here so that all of this blog's readers can check them out too.
Happy listening!
URLs:
http://www.jamendo.com/
http://creativecommons.org/
http://www.jamendo.com/en/faq
2008-02-01
Free Music Resource: Jamendo
2008-01-27
Artist Spotlight: Thumpermonkey Lives!
Who are these guys? They are awesome.
That's a direct quote from the notes I made whilst listening to some new music recently. Doing this blog has enabled me to hear all kinds of interesting music, and occasionally I discover an artist that really blows me away. In this case, "these guys" are Thumpermonkey (also known as Thumpermonkey Lives! on their latest releases - I'm not sure why the name changed), a British band that absolutely defies categorization. As of January 2, 2008, all of their music can be downloaded freely from the Internet Archive.
Their music is primarily progressive rock-based, twisting and turning its way through all kinds of tempo and time signature changes; where it will end up from one minute to the next is anyone's guess as you're taken on an epic journey through musical lands both familiar and unfamiliar. For example, I think that fans of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle will love this band; the vocals in particular show a strong Mike Patton influence, and the music has the same out of control, chaotic feeling that was often present in the music of those bands. "Shchrodinger's Cat Lives!", in particular, sounds like a mutated resurrection of Faith No More's "Surprise! You're Dead!" Other parts of the album remind me of Tool (the instrumental section in "Slug City"), Fates Warning (the main riff in "Asymptote", although it is much groovier than anything I've ever heard from Fates Warning), and Steve Vai (some harmonized guitars near the end of "My Reality is Stronger"). None of this is meant to say that the music is unoriginal in any way; I am merely trying to describe it in terms of music that I am familiar with so that people who are also familiar with those artists may have some idea of what to expect. Thumpermonkey Lives! have definitely managed to forge their own sound, which is something that's not always easy to do.
Bring Me Sun for Breakfast is the latest release from Thumpermonkey Lives!, and so far it is my favourite. But their older albums and EPs are well worth checking out as well, and it is amazing to hear how far they have progressed in such a short time. Links to all of their releases are included below. From what I've heard so far, Thumpermonkey Lives! will definitely be a band to watch out for; I'm already looking forward to hearing more from them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
Happy listening!
URLs:
http://www.thumpermonkey.com/
Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Inmates [EP - 2001]
Alpha Romeo [EP - 2003]
Pigheart [LP - 2004]
Chap With The Wings, Five Rounds Rapid [LP - 2006]
Bring Me Sun For Breakfast [LP - 2007]
2008-01-21
Totally Free Music Index
I also maintain a list of the most popular content on this blog. There you can see what posts have been popular over the last week, month, year, and of all-time.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (Choral Symphony / Ode to Joy) (Ludwig van Beethoven)
"All You Need is Love" (Grayson Matthews)
"Angel" (live from Lilith Fair) (Sarah McLachlan and Emmylou Harris)
"Beds Are Burning" (various artists)
"Child of the Night" (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)
"Creep" (Radiohead cover by Allison Crowe)
"Down the Road A Piece" (Moonalice)
"Earthquake Song" (video) (Melissa Pierre-Louis)
"Echoplex" (Nine Inch Nails)
"Going Home Tonight" (Allison Crowe)
"Let Me Roll It" (Paul McCartney)
"Meat Free Monday" (Paul McCartney)
Miscellaneous
A few brief updates (September 2009)
The classical music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Beethoven's Last Night album
The end of an era (April Fools' Day post)Free album from Suburban Home Records
Free your mind: the legality of free music
Halloween Treat Bag
Happy Star Wars Day!
Most Popular Content
Some free music for Easter
