Freebies: Folk America - Altco Recordings Compilation #1

I seem to hear the term Americana used with increasing frequency these days. Although it has been around for many years there is certainly a growing interest in this genre here in the UK.

Alto Recordings, started in 2013 by Stevie Tombstone, has become home to some excellent artists, encompassing various forms of American roots music including Country, Blues and Folk.

This ten track sampler is a great introduction to Altco and provides a taste of what you will find here. You need to register to get the free download but it's well worth the small effort.

Download here

Free Downloads: Triple Shot

It's been way too long since I linked to any free downloads so here's a triple shot of E.P.'s for your listening pleasure. A mix of rockabilly, pop-punk and cowpunk courtesy of The Crevulators, The Ex-Gentlemen and The Supersuckers. Enjoy!

 

First up a great five track Rockabilly E.P. from Brooklin's The Crevulators. This was released in back in 2006 but if you haven't heard of these guys give it a listen.

Although I got this from Bandcamp it's no longer on there but it's still available here at Free Music Archive.

'Better Late Than Never' is last years excellent debut E.P. from LA pop-punks The Ex-Gentlemen. Five seriously catchy tracks here including the brilliantly anthemic 'Judy Is A Slut'.

This is name your price download so you can grab it for free or do the right thing and drop 'em a couple of quid - it's worth it. 

Get it here at Bandcamp.

 

As freebies go this is one of the best I've ever come across. If you're not familiar with the Supersuckers then '50,000 Middle Fingers Can't Be Wrong' is the perfect introduction. Loud, brash cowpunk from one of the best live bands I've ever seen. 

This E.P. opens with the blistering 'Rock n' Roll Records Ain't Selling This Year' and also includes the well established favourite 'Pretty Fucked Up'. Download here.

Free Download - Snake Eyed Rollers

 

Blues and rockabilly from down under.

Australia's Snake Eyed Rollers have their new single "Love Belongs To The Blues / Crazy" available as a free download at Bandcamp. Go get it here. You can also download their free four track mini-album here.

If you like what you hear go visit them on Facebook and look out for their debut EP release coming in 2014.

Free download - It's Better With Fuzz Babe​!

An absolute belter of a compilation of Surf and Garage Punk from Fuzz Overdose Records. Released in January 2013 this fifteen track sampler features some of the best artists recording on this Athens based label. Free download from Bandcamp.

Crank up the volume and get yer dancin' shoes on!

Check out the full catalogue at Fuzz Overdose Records.

Free Download - Fear Report

This time around I've found something for all you metalheads out there. Fear Report are from Brooklyn and released their first album Theory of Threes in 2009. Currently at Bandcamp their 2012 album Pandemic is up for grabs as a freebie - download here.

This great rock album with favourable reviews from Rock Sounds and Powerplay magazines among others and I'm surprised an album this good is available for free.

If you wish to buy the CD itself or get more info on the band go to http://fearreport.com.

Free download - Cooking Vinyl Sampler 2013

The first freebie of the new year is an excellent sampler from the Cooking Vinyl label currently free to download from Amazon.

This is a more mainstream collection than my usual freebies, with a variety of genres from artists including The Cult, Ocean Colour Scene, The Orb, Marilyn Manson and Reverend & the Makers to name but a few. I should also mention it includes the new Madness single.

Get it here Cooking Vinyl Sampler

Free music player & tools

Ok, so you've downloaded a few free albums from the links in previous posts and probably have a decent collection of stuff from iTunes and your own CD's ripped to your hard drive. This week I will point you in the direction of a superb alternative to Windows Media Player for your music along with a couple of handy tools to optimise and organise your mp3's and some other audio formats - all for free.

WINAMP

Winamp has been around for a long time and is still my player of choice. Easy and intuitive to use, Winamp can handle all popular music formats and many video types as well. Import music into the library, create and save playlists, edit tags, listen to online radio and download podcasts.

There are thousands of skins, plug-ins and visualisations available to let you get the most from Winamp and modify it to your needs. I find the cross-fade and normalise plug-ins really handy when DJ'ing parties, often using a visualisation for some eye candy. Other plug-ins include lyrics, karaoke, alarms, equalisers, enhancers and more.

All this is in the free version, if you need more you can always upgrade to pro but I have never needed to. Get either version here Winamp

  Mp3Tag

Correct tagging of your Mp3's is probably the best form of housekeeping you can do with regard to your music files. Properly tagged files are a great help when it comes to searching for tracks and organising libraries and playlists. 
A tag will give information such as artist, title, album, year, genre along with embedding a cover or artists image. Mp3Tag will do all this and is the ideal tool for the job. Customisable features include  filename to tag or vice versa, auto numbering, case conversion and batch conversion with which you can tag an entire album in seconds. 
Supports many other audio formats. Download from Mp3Tag

BonkEnc

BonkEnc is a simple yet versatile ripper and converter with a basic interface. There are options to rip to MP3, AAC, MP4, FLAC, AIF, VOC, OggVorbis, AU, WAV and convert between formats with various bitrate/quality options and CDDB support. Download here BonkEnc
A newer version, now renamed fre:ac free audio converter is avalable from here  fre:ac

Free Download - The Zipheads

A triple treat this time round. The Zipheads are a damn fine trio from St. Albans UK, playing rockabilly/ska/punk influenced tunes. They have an infectious upbeat sound that's impossible to ignore. 

For what I suspect may be a limited time they have two E.P.'s and a single available for free here http://thezipheads.bandcamp.com/

Enjoy!

Free Download - The Maggoty Brats

The Maggoty Brats hail from Quebec and play a blend of celtic folk, punk, rockabilly they define as 'folkabilly'.
Their 2006 debut album "Rodeo" is available as a free download from Bandcamp. An excellent first album and well worth a listen, especially since it's gonna cost you nowt.
Download here http://themaggotybrats1.bandcamp.com/album/rodeo

Free Download - Snakebit Drifters

We return to Bandcamp this week with four freebies in one from the Snakebit Drifters. This trio from Costa Mesa, California are currently turning out some fine rockabilly/country/punk influenced rock 'n' roll.

I'm really hoping these guys will be releasing an album but in the meantime four E.P.'s are available for free download here http://snakebitdrifters.bandcamp.com/

If you like what you hear you can get more info and show your support at Reverbnation and Facebook.

Free Download - Bang Bang Boogaloo

 

I downloaded this excellent compilation about a year ago and I'm pleased to see it's still available.

This album features track from 11 unsigned New York bands with a rock 'n' roll/garage sound. 

Get it here http://www.bangbangboogaloo.com/?page_id=213

Free Download - DieMonsterDie

  I recently got into horror punk / metal band DieMonsterDie after hearing them get lots of plays on the Diablocast podcast. To my great pleasure I found their 2010 album "Fall To Your Knees" available to to download for free from Bandcamp.

Although only fifteen tracks appear on the page, the download actually had sixteen tracks, the extra one being a great cover of "Dead Flowers".

Influences include Black Sabbath, Type O Negative, Gwar, Ramones, Misfits, GG Allin, Slayer, Alice Cooper and more.

Head on over to http://diemonsterdieslc.bandcamp.com/album/fall-to-your-knees for the free download in a choice of digital audio formats. If you like what you hear you can buy more from the back catalogue of DieMonsterDie for as little as $5, that's something like a measly three and a half quid for us here in the UK.