Summer brings the heat and long days, and with that the music industry shifts into full throttle - music concerts, tours, festivals and new releases.

It is literally impossible for any one blogger - much less a staffed music publication - to seek, listen to, review, write and post all of the great music that comes from the 'indie' music world.

So, in the spirit of supporting indie music, here is a collection of recent free MP3 songs from indie artists, including one of this year's new 'buzz' bands (and well deserved at all), The Fleet Foxes, plus Celestial, The Afternoons, The Mars Volta, Destroyer, The Jukebox Ghost, The April Skies and Band of Horses guitarist Tyler Ramsey.

MP3: "Hope, You Know" by Celestial from Orebro, Sweden off self-titled debut

MP3: "Hold It In" by Jukebox The Ghost from Washington, DC off their debut album Let Live and Let Ghosts

MP3: "When The Leaf is Not Green" by Astrolab from Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

MP3: "Madame Butterflies" by Destroyer from Vancouver, Canada. You'll need to be logged in or register to download the song.

Other 2008 Indie MP3s

MP3: "How It All Played Out" by The April Skies from Hershey, Pennsylvania off the album How It All Played Out

MP3: "Ships" by Tyler Ramsey (guitarist for Band of Horses) from Asheville, North Carolina off the album A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Ocean (Echo Mountain Records)

Note: MP3 links may expire or be removed. A label or artist who wants an MP3 link removed, see IRC's MP3 policy below. IRC encourages listeners to buy music, and attend concerts, from artists and bands they enjoy.

Increasingly, rock radio stations play 'indie rock' and more so-called indie bands and artists are getting mainstream press as the popularity of indie grows. One sign of the explosion of indie rock is the number of rock festivals that are overwhelming packed with what are mostly indie music artists and musicians.

The definition of what constitutes indie music is definitely not set in stone, and it means different things to different people, but it's generally accepted that indie music is created by bands and artists who are signed, or not signed at all, with an independent record labels.

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