Free Music: The Wind Whistles

Tom and Liza are the Wind Whistles and they live together in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada. As an indie folk duo, they both sing and both play acoustic instruments (guitar,bass). Sometimes they play alone and sometimes they bring friends, more times not. They think they sound like a cross of Lemonheads and Violent Femmes while people tell them they sound like a cross of the Decemberists and the Moldy Peaches. Beginning in the spring of 2006, they’ve done the usual artist thing: demo, radio, festivals, tours, friends and lots and lots of shows. In 2007, they have released their first full length “window sills” and try to spread it around as much as they can. That’s why they have decided to re-release their 12-track LP under a creative commons license. Aaahh-records, your new favourite netlabel for absolutely charming music, is very proud to have “window sills” their first release and will do its best to promote the album. In April, Tom and Liza have quit their jobs and headed across Canada with the the Greenbelt Collective, then they will head alone to Europe in May, June, July, August, and back across North America in September and October starting from the East Coast. Annually the Wind Whistles organize the Annually the Wind Whistles organize the celebrated local Beanstalk Folk Festival; a festival in which the ‘Folk’ is a loose term for some of their favourite artists that aren’t rock or too loud. The Wind Whistles are notorious do-it-yourselfers and love to meet generous and creative people that make beautiful things happen. So, please do not hesitate to get in touch with them. Get the FREE album here.

@ Vancouver, Canada
♫ Indie, Folk, Pop
♥ Gold Fever (mp3)
♥ Communication's Dead (mp3)
▸ Myspace
+ Free album "Window Sills"

Stephanie Lang

Hailing from the tiny logging town of Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada, 20 year old Stef Lang is perhaps at first glance an unlikely troubadour. But the unique combination of her mixed heritage coupled with growing up in the remote working town of 7500, provided just the right atmosphere to fuel Stef's youthful pursuit of truthful expression and self-knowledge. This drive to achieve her ultimate expression eventually caused her to pack up her guitar and walk away from small town life at 17 and relocate, on her own, to Vancouver, a city of over 2 million, to chase her songwriting dreams and locate kindred spirits. An extremely prolific writer and performer, Stef now works closely with many diverse and talented musicians in the vibrant Vancouver songwriting scene. This includes vocals on indie boys The Dudes latest record and a co-writing credit for “Dust In Gravity,” which will appear on Delerium’s upcoming album. She is also a participant in the respected weekly songwriting circle known as Hipjoint Throwdown, of which she has become a core member. Stef recently penned a publishing deal with Nettwerk/H-Songs and was accepted to play at The Canadian Music Café during The Toronto International Film Festival, which in past years has seen the likes of Martha Wainwright, City and Colour, Chantal Kreviazuk and Steven Page. Stef Lang is currently writing, recording and producing her 4th studio record in Vancouver. Her brand new EP titled “Blood and Bravery” is set to release Oct.1st 2009 prior to her Western Canada Tour.

@ Vancouver, Canada
♫ Pop, Rock, Acoustic
♥ Give A Little Bit (mp3)
♥ Diamonds (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Twitter

Rock Paper Safety Scissors

Rock Paper Safety Scissors (RPSS) are two girls from Calgary, Canada who sing indie pop songs in perfect harmony. In a way they sound like the acoustic version of the earlier featured linden. "We're not really a big deal but we absolutely love what we do. Our music may not always be the happiest of tunes, but sometimes it is. It's there for you in the dark and it's there for smiling. Each song is written with care, not to mention a few tears, hugs, and laughs along the way." was what they said about their just finished first EP entitled 'Don't Cut Yourself' released not too long ago and available on iTunes. They hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as they did making it. The production of the EP is very simple and basic, but the lyrics are clever and the combination of their enthusiastic voices make it worth a listen. With the willpower these ladies show at their age, it can't mean anything else than this won't be the last we've heard from them.

@ Calgary, Canada
♫ Acoustic, Indie, Pop
♥ Skin + Bones (mp3)
♥ Democracy! (mp3)
▸ Myspace

LMTY Shorts: Sarah McLachlan, Ariana Gillis, Gin Wigmore, The Hussy's, Hannah Georgas, Les Singes, Rachael Cantu

Canada based singer-songwriter Ariana Gillis that was first featured here about two years ago is finally releasing her debut album "To Make It Make Sense" this October. There are three official cd release shows planned. For more info visit her MySpace. This is a release I am really looking forward to..

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Gin Wigmore’s debut album 'Holy Smoke' makes its entrance, led by the unmistakable urgency of the hit single ‘Oh My’ . The 10 tracks on the album almost defy description, a unique hybrid of pop and soul and blues and down-and-dirty rock & roll, often in the same song. Buy the album here.

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The Hussy's, the pop group from Glasgow are releasing their third album "Japanese Graffiti" this October. It is said to sound really different than previous released albums "We Expected" and "Super Pro" and contains 9 tracks, would've been more if they did not run out of money. So help them record a proper full length album next time, and buy the album!

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Singer-songwriter Hannah Georgas previews two songs from her upcoming full-length album on a special split 7-inch vinyl release, The Quarter EP. It is available on iTunes, with the physical record available on tour this fall.

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Les Singes, the twee pop duo from Amsterdam just released their first EP. Containing 4 songs, Recorded by jan schenk. The did not give it an official name, so you can call it an ep, a demo or a pre-ablum! Send them an email if you're interested and we will send it to you! (it costs €5,-) Have a look at the albumart over here.

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Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan wrote and recorded a new song called "One Dream". She wrote it for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. A new studio album is planned for April 2010.

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The artwork of Rachael Cantu's upcoming album "Far and Wide" was revealed a few seconds ago. Have a look at it here.

Free Music: Jodi King

In a day and age where the prevailing pop culture loves nothing more than to pit women against one another and provoke confrontation and antagonistic independence, Winnipeg born singer/songwriter Jodi King is a breath of fresh air. Non-confrontational and non-aggressive, Jodi is every girl’s best friend and every guy’s “girl-next-door”. Honest, sincere and intimate, the songs evoke KT Tunstall or Colbie Caillat. Jodi’s forthcoming LP, This Is Jodi King is a modern take on the female acoustic pop album, showcasing Jodi’s vocal and musical talents and refreshing songwriting skills. LP includes collaborations with Kyle Riabko and Colin Munroe. While playing in one of her favorite clothing stores in Toronto, the owner of Roots Clothing. Don Green, happened to be shopping and enjoying Jodi’s music. This lead to Roots offering their unflagging support to Jodi’s musical development; seeing her play in the major Roots stores and selling her CD across Canada. Music is quite simply what Jodi King was meant to do. Jodi is now offering her first EP "Street Lights" as a FREE download, get it HERE.

@ Winnipeg, Canada
♫ Acoustic, Pop
♥ Breathing In/Breathing Out (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website
+ Free EP

Susie Ro & Ayla

Susie Ro & Ayla is an harmonious folk soul duo, consisting of two incredibly talented songstresses: Susie Ro and Ayla who first made name for theirselves in music by releasing several albums and playing countless gigs. The combination of their voices will astound you with a mix of strife and serenity, politics and peace, and their enchanting vocal prowess compels the heart and evokes the soul. These two travelling Sirens wander this land weaving the tales of their journey through beautiful melodies sewing the seeds for the fruition of a conscious future. They've toured Spain, "hitching there with no money and a guitar we sung our way, stumbling upon tipi communities and glorious secret beaches where we lived and played and mingled our voices with astonishing musicians. Living from busking and selling the new album, from smiles andthe heart-opening generosity of others" And are just about to embark on another kind of journey through the United Kingdom. Recently they released their first album as a duo called "She and I" featuring 12 beautiful soulful folk tracks. You can order it at their MySpace.

@ Brighton, UK
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Soul
♥ Silver City (mp3)
♥ As The Ivy Grows Tall (mp3)
▸ Myspace

Chère Françoise

Armed only with a few instruments and her alluring voice, this chanteuse knows how to fascinate an audience. The Toronto based Swiss singer creates a unique English, French & German cocktail, mixing traditional song writing with a touch of jazz and European flair. Educated as a jazz singer, Chère Françoise possesses an extraordinary powerful and captivating voice. She has performed twice at this year’s Canadian Music Week and in the summer Chère Françoise will return home to tour Switzerland and Germany to promote her debut solo EP. On her tour she will be playing gigs in Berlin, Hamburg, Bern and Zurich, sharing the stage with acts such as Portugal. The Man, The Howling Bells or Sophie Hunger. Where irony meets unpredictability and melancholy says hello to happiness, Chère Françoise’s music comes alive. So don't hesitate and give this talented lady a chance!

@ Toronto, Canada
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Pop
♥ I Am Chère Françoise (mp3)
♥ Milupa The Cat (mp3)
▸ Myspace

LMTY: Plumb, Basia Bulat, Brooke Waggoner, Seabear, Jose Vanders

On November 3rd, Plumb will release a new double cd Beautiful History: A Hits Collection featuring two new songs ('Hang On' and 'Beautiful History') three 2010 mixes of 'Stranded', 'Here With Me' and 'Godshaped Hole', and a remix disc. (click on the album cover for a better look)



Following on from her Polaris nominated album Oh, My Darling, Canadian songstress Basia Bulat is raring to go on album number two. Her sophomore album Heart Of My Own will be released in the UK on the 25th of January. Basia is giving away the track "Gold Rush" from the upcoming album for free. Get it HERE.


Brooke Waggoner returns on November 3rd with her second full-length album titled Go Easy Little Doves. All twelve songs on the album were not only written and composed by Waggoner, as with her previous releases, but Go Easy Little Doves was entirely self-produced. Brooke Waggoner has a full run of tour dates starting on September 1st with Denison Witmer. She will join Owl City on the road beginning October 8th. Brooke's official website offers a preview of 4 tracks of the upcoming album.


Seabear posted an update on the recording of their new album saying: "We are really happy what is happening with the new album. We are now in the studio and finishing mixing the album that will be released in february or march 2010. PLUS we will be on the road in march (US/CAN) and april (EU)." Can't wait to hear the first track(s) of this upcoming album.


Jose Vanders is releasing a new mini-album called "Literature Lovers" October 12th. All eight songs are recorded last summer with friends, fun and hard work. It is featuring a beautiful handmade 12 page scrapbooklet, filled with photos, words and souvenirs collected from all sorts of places over the last few years. If you preorder it now, you'll get it a week early!

fun.

Today's feature was actually inspired/recommended by Greta Salpeter from The Hush Sound, that tweeted that Fun's debut album was currently her favorite album. She was right, Fun's debut album "Aim and Ignite" is a lot of fun, that will remind you of summer and get you through the upcoming winter months. Fun is what happens when three extraordinarily talented musicians come together to create something altogether new and wonderful. Nate Ruess, late of The Format, has teamed up with ex-Anathallo multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost and Steel Train’s Jack Antonoff, resulting in their ingenious debut, “Aim and Ignite.” The trio melds a stunning array of diverse inspirations – spanning Broadway to The Beach Boys, “Nillson Schmilsson” to “Pinkterton” – into an irresistible collection of freewheeling pop songcraft. Songs like “Benson Hedges” and “All The Pretty Girls” are fit to burst with richly prolix lyricism and intricate melodic twists and turns, which provide plenty of room for Ruess’ distinctive vocals to soar. With “Aim and Ignite,” Fun have crafted something special indeed, a contemporary rethinking of classic 70s pop, where ornate arrangements and inspired orchestrations meet present-day rock ‘n’ roll.

@ New York, USA
♫ Indie, Pop, Rock
♥ Be Calm (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Asha Ali

Asha Ali is a swedish singer/songwriter whose music contains elements of indie pop and soul. She was born in Ethiopia, moved to Uganda and came to Sweden as a 9-year-old together with her family and now lives in Svedmyra, outside of Stockholm. Asha also lived in London for a year between 2001 and 2002. She first became famous in 2005 when she released a acoustic EP. called "Warm Fronts". At the end of 2006 she released her first album "Asha Ali", which almost immediately got nominated for both a Grammy and a P3 Guld. Musically she's inspired by Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Nina Simone, Tom Waits, Cat Power, Gillian Welch, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. This october, Asha will release her second album "Hurricane" featuring titletrack and also first single "Hurricane" and her new single "The Time is Now" which is featured in an ad-campaign for Saab.

@ Stockholm, Sweden
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Hurricane (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Free Music: The Black Atlantic

The Black Atlantic is an acoustic indie pop band based out of Groningen, Holland. The Black Atlantic's music is in introspective and intimate affair of melancholy, folk influenced acoustic pop, relying heavily on vocal harmonies and melody on soft strummed guitars, piano and minimal percussion. The band often uses nature imagery to express their stories on love, death and family. The band has toured in various incarnations around the world (US, EU, UK) and have played with bands such as Nada Surf, Patrick Watson and Saturday Looks Good to Me. They recently finished their debut album, entitled “Reverence for Fallen Trees”, most of which was recorded over the fall of 2008 in a log cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. Everyone but especially fans of Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Sigúr Ros and Patrick Watson should download this album for FREE, highly recommended!

@ Groningen, NL
♫ Ambient, Acoustic, Pop
♥ Fragile Meadow (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website
+ Free Album

Edwina Hayes

Edwina Hayes is a singer/songwriter who has been a regular performer on the UK acoustic scene since 1999. Edwina was born in Dublin in June 1973 and grew up in Preston, Lancashire before moving to the East coast of Yorkshire as a teenager, where she has been based ever since. Dividing her time between the UK and America, Edwina's second home is Nashville where she is much loved as a songwriter and artist. In March 2003 Edwina signed as a writer with Warner Chappell. Her influences include Mindy Smith, Ray Charles, Carole King, Van Morrison, Nanci Griffith, Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and Bob Dylan. In 2005 Warner Brothers released Edwina's debut album 'Out On My Own' produced by Clive Gregson and John Wood, and her song 'I Want Your Love' from the album was included on the No.1 bestselling CD 'Acoustic Love'.Edwina appears as a guest vocalist on recent albums by Alastair Artingstall, Christopher Holland, Kate Bramley, Jimi Alexander, Shane Lynch, Joan Coffey and Dan Webster.In 2008 Edwina released her second album 'Pour Me A Drink' on her own label Twirly Music. Much more acoustic and reflective of Edwina's onstage style, it continues to attract an increasing number of sales and excellent reviews. Nanci Griffith's June 2009 album 'The Loving Kind' features Nanci's recording of Edwina's song Pour Me A Drink and Edwina's version of Randy Newman's Feels Like Home features in the New Line Cinema major motion picture My Sister's Keeper (June 2009) starring Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin. Also in June 2009 Edwina supported Roger McGuinn on his UK Tour and her 3rd album Good Things Happen Over Coffee will be released later in the year.

@ Driffield, UK
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Pop
♥ Feels Like Home (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Nat Johnson and the Figureheads

Nat Johnson is the former singer, songwriter and guitarist of Monkey Swallows the Universe a indiepop band I was quite fond of. That unfortunately decided to take an indefinite hiatus two years ago. Her debut solo single, 'Dirty Rotten Soul' was released in September 2008. Since then, she has put together a band operating under the name of "The Figureheads". One of The Figureheads (Kevin Gori - Guitar) should be familiar to fans of Monkey Swallows the Universe. Kev and Nat have been playing music together since 2003. The Figureheads are completed by Chris Loftus (bass), who has previously played with Fury of the Headteachers, and Neil Piper (drums), who also drums for Champion Kickboxer. Having recently signed to Damaged Goods, Nat Johnson and the Figureheads will be releasing their debut album, "Roman Radio", on October 19th. This will be preceded by a double A side single, "Wonderful Emergency / Don't Worry Baby", on October 5th. From what I've heard so far Nat Johnson seems to have found and formed a new indiepop band that will make abscence of MSTU easier and with only two songs released so far I dare to say that Roman Radio might even going to be my favorite (british) indiepop record of the year...

@ UK
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Wonderful Emergency
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

LMTY: Nejra, Laurell Hubick, Catherine Feeny

Nejra, one of my favorite Swedish singer-songwriters is finally releasing her debut album "In Hindsight", on October the 14th. The album will be available in stores and via iTunes, cdon, and other providers. It's already available for pre-order here. The next single from the album will be called "Dancing"and can be listened to on her MySpace, together with three other tracks of the new album.



Canadian singer-songwriter Laurell (Hubick) which we featured here two years ago is now releasing her third album on October 13th. It will feature her newest single "Can't Stop Falling". You can have a listen to some of her older songs over at MySpace.



Catherine Feeny's new album “People in the Hole” is now available for pre-order here. When you order the album you will get a signed and numbered album in beautiful matte eco-wallet, as well as an MP3 version of the album, downloadable immediately. Copies ordered between now and Sept. 20 will be shipped by the end of September, and received well before the album is available at other retailers. Six track of the upcoming album are now streamable at her official website.

Leena

Hello everyone, I'm back from France. Since last friday actually. Yesterday all college madness started again, but you really deserve some new music so I saved some time to post this. Enjoy!
Leena is one of my latest discoveries found through a random MySpace browse. She describes herself as "a girl who moved from Hobart to Marseilles to Cork to Fremantle To Los Angeles To Melbourne. And after writing a million songs, having a million adventures and meeting a million lovely people, the time came to release her first EP called ‘Mean Old Clock’ which released a few months ago in Australia. She's find inspiration in other talented aussie's like Bob Evans, Whitley, Josh Pyke and our earlier featured Jess McAvoy. And also has been playing support slots for some on that list. Leena is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (she plays the electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, synths, ukelele in her songs) Australia can be proud of!

@ Australia
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Universe Can Wait (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website