Each week we select music from an independent artist we’re excited about and bring it to you, for free, as our Indie Free Download. Brooklyn singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten excels in a powerful confessional aesthetic, where whispers speak higher volumes than screams. With “Serpents,” Van Etten uses churning, cascading guitars and choice words to cleanse her vulnerable wounds—it’s the ideal antidote to the venom circulating in her bloodstream. “Serpents” appears on the Van Etten album Tramp.
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
Each week we find a track from an artist or band we’ve been enjoying and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. Novalima is Peruvian producers Ramón Pérez Prieto, Rafael Morales, Carlos Li Carrillo, and Grimaldo del Solar. The Lima-based collective merges traditional instruments such as the cajon and conga and plays with funky bass and contemporary programmed rhythms. “Mamaye,” which can be found on Karimba, starts as an acoustic number before fierce bass and dub effects come in amid a pulsating beat.
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
Each week we find a track from an artist or band we’ve been enjoying and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. It’s hard to believe that Band of Skulls hail not from a dusty Detroit garage or an Oklahoma basement but merry ol’ England. The trio of Russell Marsden, Emma Richardson, and Matt Hayward play a scowling blues-rock meditation that transcends geography on “Sweet Sour.” The amplified intensity matches a ragged tempo that stomps more than struts, letting a skinny-jean nation redirect its shaggy bangs-tossing from east to west to north to south. “Sweet Sour” is the title track to Band of Skulls’ second album.
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
Each week we select music from an independent artist we’re excited about and bring it to you, for free, as our Indie Free Download. Hospitality’s Amber Papini has a quintessentially twee voice: self-aware, quivering, and mild-mannered. The band’s latest single, “Friends of Friends,” is about bucking up and getting on with life after a breakup. As the lyrics suggest, March is a bit chilly for sightseeing in New York—but it might be just the thing to cool off from a cad.
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
Each week we find a track from an artist or band we’ve been enjoying and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. This soul-pop burner steadily builds from a carefree foot-stomper to a stirring, string-assisted powerhouse (courtesy of Graffiti6 member TommyD, who’s helped arrange and orchestrate for ADELE, Kanye West, and others). Jamie Scott’s tender vocal delivery—which stretches to falsetto heights—makes this ode to a lover an intimate, emotionally rousing affair. “Free” is a standout cut on the British band’s debut album, Colours.
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
Each week we select music from an independent artist we’re excited about and bring it to you, for free, as our Indie Free Download. We’re pretty much hypnotized by this this gorgeous, drone-drenched winner. It’s a spacy, psychedelic whirlpool with a shimmering pop melody that recalls The Cure’s “In Between Days” slowed way down—befitting an act called Porcelain Raft performing a song titled “Drifting In and Out.” This weightless track sets in motion Strange Weekend—an eclectic, beautiful debut album from Italian-born Mauro Remiddi (a.k.a. Porcelain Raft).
IMPORTANT: Downloads are only free on iTunes for approximately 1 week from this post date.
