Best new indie rock songs, indie news, best bands, reviews
Philadelphia’s East Hundred formed in 2004 as a ‘basement recording project’, toured relentlessly, built a following and have just released their debut LP, Passengers.
Comprised of brothers Brooke and Will Blair, and Beril Guceri on vocals, the band creates synthesized pop with low beat tracks, reminiscent somewhat of The Sundays.
“Slow Burning Crimes” – East Hundred from Passengers
Stream East Hundred at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/easthundred
To celebrate the release of The Eels’ acclaimed Blinking Light and Other Revelations four LP deluxe vinyl limited edition, the band is offering a four-song EP download for free until October 28th.
The deluxe Blinking Lights package includes three LPs from the critically acclaimed album on vinyl with a fourth disc featuring an exclusive 17 track live album, Manchester 2005.
Pressed on 180-gram vinyl, the four LPs each have their own covers, rice paper dust sleeves, and a hardback book of lyrics and photos. The edition is limited to 2,500 copies and will be sold in order of lowest cover numbers first, 0001 – 2500.
The free EP contains four songs from the exclusive Manchester 2005 and is available on The Eels’ official website. Simply enter a valid email address and you’ll receive an email link to download the free EP. All four MP3s will play on any iPod, MP3 player or computer.
EP TRACKLIST:
01 fresh feeling
02 packing blankets
03 jeannie’s diary
04 climbing to the moon
To order the deluxe edition box set, go to http://www.merchlackey.com/eels.
I’ve always believed that if indie rock artists and bands want to attract a loyal following, one of the most important things they need to do is offer free, no-frills MP3s for download on their official website.
Evidence that this approach works follows a path of logic and a huge demand for such a service by music lovers searching to discover new bands.
During the past year, popular rock bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have offered for free to anyone a full download of their most recent albums. The response to both has been overwhelming.
Not only does an indie group or a more ‘established’ rock band get plenty of positive publicity for
offering their music for free download, but they also build and solidify coalitions of loyal fans who
will often promote the band via the irreplaceable WOM (word of mouth), purchasing merchandise, buying their other music and attending their shows.
We all know how much that can cost, especially after TicketMaster and LiveNation often charge in fees up to, and more, than half of the original price of the concert ticket itself.
Over the next year, IRC will be featuring artists and bands, ranging from indie rock to ‘mainstream’ rock, who offer free MP3 downloads of their music on their websites, whether individual songs or entire album downloads.
In the first installment, IRC spotlighted NIN’s newest album, The Slip. After announcing that the entire album would be available to anyone for free after a simple registration, the album has been downloaded tens of thousands of times on NIN’s official website.
Here is that story and information on how and where to download the album in MP3 format.
This installment features the popular Austin, Texas indie rock band The Octopus Project. While there are no full album downloads, nor no free downloads for their latest release, individual tracks from all of their albums dating back to 1999 are available at the following link:
Download Free Octopus Project MP3s:
http://www.theoctopusproject.com/mp3s.html
Enjoy.
