Freebies and free stuff

I’ve always said that I have had a good appreciation for music. I can thank my parents for that. When my Mom would drive me and my friends in to school, it was an adult contemporary mix station from the 70’s through the 90’s that we listened to, and we always loved it when Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it Through The Grapevine” came on. And when we were on road trips as a family? It was usually my Dad’s country music, so I heard a lot of Garth and learned every word to Alabama’s “Song of the South” by the time I was in eigth grade.

So when I found these free Mishka Radio Friendly Unit mixes (volume 1 and volume 2), they reminded me so much of the music I’d listened to when I was at home, practicing guitar: Soundgarden, L7, Cake, Weezer, The Pixies, Sublime, etc.

And to get two mixes downloaded for free like that? Can’t complain at all… Now just to sync up my mp3 player…

Speaking of random and extraordinarily interesting musical mixes, there’s this free Subpop summer sampler download.

However, I don’t know what’s better about this: the completely random tracklist, or the horribly mid-90’s style website with ASCII graphics, hot pink background and blue writing, and the dancing guitar graphics and popups. Its horrifically brilliant and a reminder of everything NOT to do with a webpage! Genius!

I’ll be honest. I haven’t been listening to as much music as I used to. Maybe its because I’ve been working on a new album, maybe its because I’ve heard Seether’s “Careless Whisper” cover and I’ve had Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” stuck in my head. Or maybe its because I made two references to U2’s The Joshua Tree yesterday and I got nothing but blank stares.

Needless to say, I think I need to raise my street cred and download this free mix from Nylon Magazine. Well, I guess it would raise if I actually knew any of these bands…

Today has been beyond slow in terms of freebies. I found this 10 free iTunes summer songs offer yesterday and initially wasn’t going to post it, but geez there’s just nothing out there today. Basically, you have to become a fan of iTunes on Facebook and then they’ll give you a code to download the 10 songs, which happen to be:

• Bat For Lashes – Daniel
• Ben Kweller – Wantin’ Her Again
• Blind Pilot – Go On, Say It
• Dave Matthews Band – Cornbread
• Dave Matthews Band – Dancing Nancies
• The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song
• Elizabeth & The Catapult – Taller Children
• Gomez – Airstream Driver
• Other Lives – Black Tables
• White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

Sweet, music I’ve never heard of!

EDIT: Link updated

Coldplay is giving away a free album download of LeftRightLeftRightLeft, which is really just a live CD of the following songs:

1. Glass of Water
2. 42
3. Clocks
4. Strawberry Swing
5. The Hardest Part/Postcards From Far Away
6. Viva La Vida
7. Death Will Never Conquer
8. Fix You
9. Death And All His Friends

They actually released this yesterday, but I never could get the darn thing to download until now. People like to make fun of Coldplay, but I love their music. I’m also a fan of polka music, so take my musical suggestions with a grain of salt.

Goob and I aren’t really talking to each other anymore.

I think the fall-out started when he and I got into a disagreement over the new U2 album. See, he thinks its phenomenal and everything that’s awesome. Me? I think that its mediocre and bland. I mean, sure, I’ve seen U2 live (November 2005), and the show was beautiful and everything amazing. Better than when I saw Aerosmith and KISS (and I’m a huge Aerosmith fan), but the new album just doesn’t do it to me.

There might be hope for his and my reconciliation, though. See, he and I both enjoy the single, “Get On Your Boots”, and with this free 7″ copy of U2’s new single, maybe he and I can get along again…

Just maybe…

[via the forums]

I’ve got to hand it to Pizza Hut. Even if I feel sick whenever I eat from them, they’ve put together a free mix of 25 songs that you can pick and choose from and download whatever you’d like, and some of the tracks on there I don’t feel all that bad about! And they seem to have every genre that they could put on there, just all there. Not bad at all, Pizza Hut…

I mean, seriously, who else could put Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin alongside Joe Bonamassa, Tift Merrit, and Ray J? Well, except for me and some of the mixes I have on my iPod…

[via the forums]

Recently the wife and I got a new exercise bike. We set it up in the living room and now we can sit down and watch TV and workout. Can’t really beat that.

And cooler than that too is that our new bike has an iPod port on it, so I could load up this free Bally Total Fitness Workout mix and listen to it while pedaling away. Though, with two RuPaul tracks on there? Well, I might have to stay a ways away…

In case you’re wondering what all else is on there?

1. Workout – RuPaul (Tony Puccio Remix) 6:14
2. Mindbuster – Jocelyn Brown & Oliver Cheatham (Frankie C Radio Mix) 3:22
3. Everybody Rise Pt.2 – Muriel Fowler (Funky Junction Radio Edit) 3:09
4. That Sound – Brinsley Evans ft. Sy Smith (Funky Junction & Antony Reale Radio Mix) 3:16
5. Candy – The Lollypop Gang (AudioPhreakz Radio Mix) 4:22
6. Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous – RuPaul (Funky Junction Radio Edit) 3:25
7. Let Me Step Inside – Darrell Martin ft. Paul Cortes (Funky Junction & Antony Reale Radio Mix) 3:17
8. Found A Cure – Plaza People 4:27
9. Send Me An Angel – Michal Nicolas (Georgie’s Dirty Angel Mix) 3:38
10. I Like – Darrell Martin ft. Muriel Fowler (Raul Rincon Radio Mix) 3:02
11. It’s Alright – Darrell Martin ft. Ramona (Funky Junction & Antony Reale Elektro Gryphon Radio Mix) 3:00
12. Do You Like My Body? – The Lollypop Gang (Audiophreakz Vocal Radio Mix) 2:49
13. Ding Dong (Pick Up The Phone B*tch) – Cell Phish (Money and Fun Club Mix) 6:21
14. Lost In Vietnam – Jah Sound (Dark Mix 2) 8:41
15. One Nation – Darrell Martin Vs. Paul Cortes (Groovepusher Mix) 6:42
16. You Got a Whole Life – Papi Vs. Bellakayla (Constantino Pavadano Radio Mix) 2:53

All day today its been quiet around HIF. Not because Goob and I aren’t here, but because we were here, but constantly refreshing Swagbucks for codes and trying to boost our totals. I don’t know how much the big guy got today, but I know I shot up about 30 points today amidst my own referrals and some searches and codes…

Despite all of that, I assure you that the freebies are there. Things like this free John Heffron comedy CD that’s a button right under his picture. We’re ready to laugh at this, and needing something seeing neither of us hit the jackpot on Swagbucks.

So I guess that means we’ll be back tomorrow, still searching… and using Swagbucks, of course…

[via the forums]

The buzzword of our times seems to be “stimulus.” Be it economic, coffee from Starbucks, or uh, other forms that involve various married governors, everyone is doing whatever they can to get stimulated. And here is where we enter with Officer Roseland.

Officer Roseland had a pretty cool idea with their latest album, Stimulus Package. And with that, you can head to a website they set up just for that and download it for free and get a buck for doing so. You can donate that buck to the Mr. Hollands Opus foundation or take that buck right to your PayPal.

One way or another, head to their myspace and check them out. I’d say even without the buck? You’re getting 11 tracks of aural stimulus.

[via the forums and Zachary]

The other day, I ran across a free album download from the Damnwells. Apparently they decided to give away their latest album, One Last Century, for free. So like any good freebie hunter, I just posted it to the forums and went on with my day.

But then, on Friday, a friend of mine with fairly close and particular music tastes sent me a message with the free offer and suggested that I check them out. With a strong recommendation. I knew that I had to get around to it…

And after sampling their music on their myspace? I’m sad that I didn’t share these guys with you earlier. Very well written popish rock. More alternative than pop, but it fits in well with my late-90’s rock radio tastebuds. But I’ve been too busy looking for a freebie from The Gaslight Anthem, because believe me, those guys are worth listening to too…

[via the forums]

Mashups are always fun and funny to listen to. One of my favorite ones by far has to be “Oh Baby, It’s an Arms Race” by The Silence Xperiment. Yup, Britney and Fall Out Boy.

Though, I can’t wait to really sit down and listen to this free Ziggy Stardust Remixed album. Ziggy Stardust is one of those phenomenal albums to begin with, so I can’t even imagine where they take it here…

Maybe straight to suffragette city?

[via the forums]

It seems that the freebies are coming to skin and bones, folks… We’re still finding them, but you know they’re getting bad if I’m resorting to posting something like this free mix tape from Urban Outfitters. I mean, just look at some of the band names: Vetiver, Mt. Saint Helens Vietnam Band, Deastro, Mayer Hawthorne, and Rainbow Arabia. If you’ve heard of them? Well then, please let me know, because I listen to a lot of weird stuff, but I don’t feel like telling my friends “Oh yeah, I’m jamming out to that new track by Polly Scattergood.” I draw the line at Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Or maybe I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness.

[via the forums]

Bands that give away free music? Always a cool thing. Enter: Making April.

In the studio now recording their second album, they’re giving away their first album and various other tracks, all for free on their site. Yup, they’re so down with it that they just made a simple page and you head to it and right-click and save-as all of their songs to your hearts content.

[via the forums]

The art of the mix feels like its long gone and moved on. There’s something magical about being able to put together 10ish songs and make the flow just right.

So when I saw that the admin of a band fan site are giving away nine free mix CDs they made as holiday gifts for free download? Well, needless to say my hats off to them…

I’ll stop being all John Cusack now.

[via the forums]