A Little Entertainment... How to Hear Lots of Free Music

Mara Haslam

If you're like me, you love to listen to music but want to pay as little as possible. And as much as I love my iPod playlists, sometimes I want to branch out a little and hear something new. Here are my recommendations for discovering new music for free, based on how you want to start.

I want to discover something similar to a band I like... Pandora is the way to go in this situation. You simply start with the name of a band or song that fits your musical mood and Pandora will create a "station" for you made of music with similar characteristics. You can skip songs you don't want to hear (up to certain limits) and, if your mood changes, simply start another "station" based on another band or song or customize your station. Pandora allows up to 40 hours of free listening per month. I used Pandora to explore the hip-hop of the 90s by starting a station based on one of my favorite artists, Aaliyah, and found out about other similar artists such as TLC and Monica.

I want to discover the music of a certain culture or country... You have a number of great options for learning about what is going on musically around the world. If you would like to learn about more traditional music, look for CDs published by Putumayo, Rough Guides, or Network at your local library. (These labels are easily accessible for purchase online as well.) These CDs are compilations that are meant to serve as a musical introduction to a culture or genre. Through listening to Network's guide to the music of Venezuela, I found out about Lilia Vera, who is now one of my favorite folk singers.

Once you get the flavor for a certain music, you can continue to explore the albums of artists you particularly like by checking out their albums at the library. My local library has its entire catalog and hold system online so I can find items and request that a CD be sent to my local library and held under my name, all from my computer. The library also provides a service called Freegal, which allows members of library system to download three free songs per week, no strings attached (contact your library system to see if they subscribe to this or another similar service). Freegal offers what appears to be the entire Sony music catalog I am a big fan of new wave music, so I used Freegal to find and download songs from the Swedish new-wave artist Eva Dahlgren.

Want to hear what's playing on radio stations around the world? I'm not aware of any more comprehensive website than Mike's Radio World, which is a simple site that provides links to radio stations that provide online streaming. I used this site to discover a radio station from Serbia that is great to listen to while I am working. Here's another list of streaming radio stations including some stations that are broadcast only to the Internet.

I want to make my own playlists... Yahoo! Music offers music videos from a number of different genres. You can make your own playlists and save them with your account for future play. You can watch the most recent hit videos or get a little deeper into the musical past. I found plenty of videos from the 80s that tickled my musical fancy. While it's not quite as customizable as Pandora, as you rate songs you hear on Yahoo!'s streaming radio stations and music videos, Yahoo! creates for you a personal "station" based on things you like. Just choose "Play My Station" or "Play My Video Station" after logging in.

I want to get lots of free mp3s... The iTunes store features new free songs and videos to download every week as a way to promote new artists. Go to the iTunes Store and scroll down to the bottom where it says "Free on iTunes". (To access the iTunes Store, you need the iTunes program, which you can download for free here.) If you like iTunes on Facebook, you will receive occasional updates about playlists you can download for free. You can play your downloads on your computer or transfer them to an mp3 player. iTunes offers not only free songs and music videos but also movie trailers and TV episodes, including lots of episodes that kids would like.

If that isn't enough free stuff for you (it isn't enough for me!) the free mp3 downloads on Amazon.com are next. The Amazon MP3 Store offers a free song of the day to promote new artists. Click here to get to their extensive collection of free downloads, provided by music labels to get you interested in their music for sale. The list is much too big to browse in one sitting, but you can narrow it down by selecting from the genres at the left. I discovered Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, a fabulous funk/soul band, through their free downloads on Amazon.

I want to hear a certain band or artist... Any band or artist who is anyone (or who is trying to be someone) will have a page on Myspace Music where you can stream songs for free. Keep your eyes open on social media sites for occasional free downloads. For example, Coldplay is currently offering a free live album for download on their band website, which I first learned about on Facebook.

I hope you enjoy listening to all this free music! Please share other ways you have discovered great music in the comments.

A Little Music...A Little Plea

Well ladies, sorry for the loooong break from music suggestions. It's certainly not because I didn't have any, turns out 2010 was one of my favorite years ever for new music.

So I have a few fun tunes for you to start 2011 right.

"If a Song Could Get Me You"-Marit Larsen
What is it with these Scandinavian countries and their super talented musicians?? Cute voice, great melody, adorable lyrics. I sometimes wish a song "could get me you" too. I get a tiny Dolly Parton vibe out of her voice which makes me so very happy.



"Soldier"-Ingrid Michaelson
2010 was a year of falling in love, breaking up and trying again. I have been using this one as a theme for 2011-the battle of the heart isn't easily won, but it can be. I sure love Ingrid Michaelson.



"Starting"-Matt Pond PA
I can't think of a single Matt Pond PA song I don't like. They write warm, comfortable music that isn't trite or cliched. I missed this album completely until a good friend put it on her year's best and now I'm hooked.


I have some great stuff on tap for this year. Some of my favorite artists are releasing albums soon-so stay tuned!

A Little Music-Falling Slowly

Sometimes I worry that in this world where we have personalized iPods and Facebook pages and blogs, we'll only ever be exposed to exactly the things we choose. That surprises might not find us anymore once Facebook tells Pandora that I only listen to Ryan Adams and Broken Social Scene.

So I really love little public stations like KEXP in Seattle that are still plugging along, digging up great music and keeping us all on our toes.

This is a perfect fall track by a band that it definitely on the way up called The Head and the Heart. It has pretty much stolen mine.

A Little Music... Boys with Girlfriends

As a single girl in my 30's, navigating the world of male-female friendships has gotten slightly more complicated then it used to be. Most of the men in my world are now married, engaged or in serious long-term relationships.

This song came on Pandora last night and I couldn't help but giggle. "I know better than to be friends with boys with girlfriends."

Meiko is cool, she has a sort of Colbie Caillat, Tristan Prettyman feel to her. Good girl music. Check it.

A Little Music... Moneygrabber

I have mentioned before that the KCRW's "Today's Top Tune"podcast is one of the best ways to find great new music. Subscribe to it and then let them stack up for a week and you have a pretty nifty little mix tape of future favorites.

I was flying to New York City for work a few weeks ago and after I had my fill of "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", I flipped over to the top tune. I had one of those moments I absolutely love where I sat up straight in my seat and had to remind myself not to freak out because no one could hear what kind of awesomeness was in my headphones. I have been on a pretty serious neo-soul kick this summer-Mayer Hawthorne, Raphael Saadiq, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings...I'm loving all these artists who are so clearly inspired by the Detroit sound of the 50's and 60's. Thanks for the podcast, Fitz and the Tantrums has jumped to the top of that list. Their new album "Pickin' up the Pieces" came out last Friday and it will get you MOVING.

A Little Music... Dog Days

One of the hazards of being something of a music nut is that sometimes people who aren't as crazy about it as you are get nervous about recommending stuff to you. They are afraid that you've either a) heard it-and heard it like a million years ago or b) you'll judge their taste.

Recently I've been hanging around with a new boy and although he knows way more than I do about snowboarding and mountain biking, I have him fairly well beat as far as music collections go. So last week he sort of nervously told me that he had discovered a band that he thought I would like. And yes, I was pretty sure that whoever he was going to suggest was likely someone I probably knew. Turned out I had never heard of her but thanks to my trusty iPhone (a music addict's very best friend as it turns out-I can download from the iTunes store ANYWHERE!!), I was able to sample a few tracks right there in the Noodles and Company parking lot.

Obviously if I'm writing about the artist, she kind of blew my mind. He told me to just trust him and get the whole album which I did and which has been in my ears nearly constantly for the last week. The band is called "Florence and the Machine" and Florence herself has got a voice that will probably make you want to make some kind of the deal with the devil to sound as awesome. The melodies are fantastic and the lyrics are beautiful. It's the best $10 you can spend this week. I'm using it as my house cleaning soundtrack today and I promise I'll be done in half the usual time.

A Little Music... Tenderness

"Tenderness"
by Otis Redding is one of the greatest songs of all time. "Pretty in
Pink" is one of the greatest teen movies of all time. So it makes an
enormous amount of sense that one of the greatest movie scenes in the
history of celluloid is in that movie and uses that song. I can't watch
this without a)being frustrated that Andy ends up with the jerk and not
Ducky, b) downloading more Otis Redding and c) maybe getting a little
teary eyed.

Check it.

A Little Music... Summer Heat!

I love summer. I love longer days and less clothing and sitting by the pool, I love that my boss seems to think it's a travesty if we work past 4 on a Friday. I love it that last night we watched a movie on my friend's lawn and last weekend we sat in a hammock for hours without one bit of guilt. I just flat love it. And maybe if it was always summer it would lose some of it's thrill but I kind of doubt it. I lived in Huntington Beach for a few years and I really never got tired of year round running on the beach or meeting friends for Taco Tuesday at the pier.

So it follows that I love music that feels like summer. This song by "The Avalanches" is one of my all time favorite "summer jams." I was sitting at lunch on Thursday and it happened to come up on my iPod and it was honestly all I could do not to start a one woman flash mob in the middle of Chipotle. The video also happens to be quite fabulous as well-that big fella can MOVE! Happy August everyone, make sure to take advantage of this last month of popsicles and watermelon and dinner on the deck.

A Little Music... An Apology

Several years ago I was living in Boston and dating a boy in San Francisco. Somehow all of the planets aligned one weekend and I had to be in the Bay Area for work right on his birthday. It also just so happened that one of our favorite bands was playing that night. I got tickets to the show, he rounded up a small army of our mutual friends and after my workshop, he and a buddy picked me up and we headed over to enjoy a perfect evening with a band called Low.

But before Low could start, we had to endure this really annoying opening act. There were about 15 of us in our little group and all of us were so irritated by her. Her music wasn't great, she talked too much and she played way, way longer than we thought an opening act ought. She finally finished and the boy and I finally got to the business of holding hands and swaying to the main event. It still ranks as one of my favorite nights of all time.

That opening artist was a woman named Jolie Holland and to my utter surprise, her name started popping all over the place on the lips and blogs of people I really trusted. Could it be the same woman whose set we all grumbled through? So I resisted. Because I heard her firsthand and well, you don't always have to love everyone right?

Well yesterday we sent out on a pre 4th of July adventure and my friend popped in the CD he can't stop listening to. And ladies, I stand corrected. Jolie Holland is completely wonderful. This is from her 2008 album, The Living and the Dead. And it's perfection.

 

A Little Music... A Truly Dreamy Song

June was a busy month and I spent far, far too much of it on an airplane. However, time alone in airports meant plenty of time to catch up on all the old podcasts stacking up on my iPod. Loads of This American Life and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. And of course, KCRW's Today's Top Tune.

I was headed to Portland when Santa Monica Dream by Angus and Julia Stone cycled through my  iTunes. Maybe I was tired, maybe it was the altitude, but I started to cry, right there on the airplane. Santa Monica was the first place I moved all myself as an adult. Something about this song takes me right back to the summer of 2002 and trying to figure out what the heck to do with my life now that I had run up to the end of all the goals my 16 year old self had set.

It's a lovely summer tune even if you have never even seen the ocean. Angus and Julia are brother and sister. Wouldn't it be fun to be in a band with your brother? Especially if you wrote such lovely things together.

A Little Music... A Little Old

Friends ask me all the time where I find new music. I guess it's like anything-when you love something, you kind of look for it everywhere. I might hear something in a movie preview and scribble down enough lyrics so I can google it when I get home, I scour blogs, I beg for mix tapes from people who know more than I do. I listen to KCRW. 

But mostly, I think I'm just fairly open to giving things a shot. A few weeks ago I bought the new Broken Social Scene CD and they threw a funny little sampler in the bag. There wasn't much on it worth passing along but track 7 knocked the wind out of me. It's by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. You listen to this song and you are pretty much convinced that you've found some long lost Motown tapes, but this little gem came out in April. As usual, I promise the entire CD is worth checking out, this is just a little taste. And ladies, don't be afraid of the sampler. Even if you only find one song you like, isn't that better than just listening to the Twilight soundtrack again?

A Little Music... YouTube Hopping

One of my favorite things to do is YouTube hop. You start with a song you really like, then you start clicking on all the suggestions YouTube gives you for similiar artists or videos and you see where you end up.

I was looking for Bob Dylan videos (and that is a subject for another post entirely) and I ran across a version "Boots of Spanish Leather" by Nancy Griffith. I love a good cover song. It's not always easy for an artist to interpret someone else's words well but when it's done right, well, there's nothing better.

And in case you need to know if Nancy Griffith is totally awesome on her own? Check this out- a song I originally heard on the Party of Five soundtrack a million years ago that has become a favorite.

A Little Music... The National

Last Memorial Day my friend Traci came from New York to visit me in Boston. A band we both really love happened to be in town that weekend but it was totally sold out. We combed Craigslist for tickets to no avail and as it got later on Saturday night, we decided to rent a movie and make BLT's instead. Traci want to go change into her stretchy pants so we could eat our faces off but when she came out of my room ten minutes later, she was dressed to the nines and in full makeup. "We are young, and we are hot, and we are NOT going to watch a movie on a Saturday night in Boston-let's go get into that show!". So we drove to the House of Blues and in the time it took me to park the car, Traci scored us two tickets and we enjoyed one of the best live shows I had seen in a long time. We flirted with cute boys and got to hear one of my favorite songs of all time live and in person. The lyrics are just lovely and there is a fanfare in the last few minutes of the track that nearly makes my heart explode everytime I hear it.

Here it is live on David Letterman, the whole album is worth a listen.

A Little Music... "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"

I am madly in love with iTunes. I was one of those kids who would listen to the Top 40 countdown on Sunday nights with my finger on "record" so I could tape the songs I loved so being able to buy individual songs whenever I want is a dream come true.

Unfortunately that means I rarely buy full CD's anymore. And to tell you the truth, a full album is rarely worth it anymore. There appears to be a lot of filler in the music world these days.

So it's sad because I do love it when you find an album you can listen to start to finish. The good news is that there are hundreds and hundreds of classic records to explore that warrant a full listen. One of my all times faves is Carol King's "Tapestry". It was number one for 15 consecutive weeks when it came out and is STILL the longest charting album by a female artist.

She and her husband wrote a whole bunch of songs in the 60's that you would recognize-"The Locomotion", "One Fine Day", 'Pleasant Valley Sunday". She's enormously talented and "Tapestry" is an album I can listen to over and over-it feels like a soundtrack to an adult woman's life which I love.

Here is one of my very favorites from the record-"Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"

 {Read all posts by Katie}

A Little Music... The Canadian Tenors

I saw these guys, The Canadian Tenors, on a rerun of Oprah the other day.  I used to be a loyal Oprah watcher.  These days it's real hit and miss.  Celine Dion was on too.  I am not a Celine fan.  Anyway, I loved their rendition of Hallelujah.  I pretty much love anyone's rendition... it's one of the best songs ever!  I was singing it this morning and my daughter asked, "What song is that?"  So I found it on YouTube and played it for her.  She sat on my lap and swayed, hugging and kissing me.  It was precious.  This song stirs emotion.  Try to ignore the cheese factor of the picture below, and just love this song for how it makes you feel.  It's perfect for a Saturday morning.
Watch them perform on the Oprah Show.

{Read all posts by Aly}

A Little Unattached... Wedding Day by Rosie Thomas

My best friend got married this weekend. It was a lovely wedding and since the bride is the best person in all of the world at keeping in touch, it turned into a giant Southern Utah University reunion. My dear one looked stunning and happy and it put back everything a few long, crazy years have taken out of me. Still. I'm the last of our college girlfriends to get married and we are now deep in our early thirties. Weddings are at once a joyous occasion where I'm delighted to see someone I adore so in love and exhausting as I dance that line of "my life is totally good and fulfilling and blessed so don't feel sorry for me but yes, I want this too someday and I'm a little worried about it."

 

 So as usual, music is the thing that lets me deal with the weird emotions a thirty three year old single girl feels at her best friend's wedding. A few years ago my one of my favorite couples sent me a CD in the mail with a note saying they had just seen an artist that just sounded like me. Her name was Rosie Thomas and the cover art was sweet and feminine. After one listen I was both delighted and flattered that such a lovely CD would remind them of me. She became a favorite and it's her song "Wedding Day" that I listened to on full blast repeat on my drive home from the airport last night. Falling asleep in my cute apartment, in my big comfy bed, with the windows open to a deliciously spring feeling night, my own life is exactly the one I want.

 

 

Take a listen: Rosie Thomas-Wedding Day

 {Read all posts by Katie}

A Little Music... Absolute Workout Faves

by Katie
Although I really enjoy working out, I am not one of those natural athletes who loves to run with only the sound of my own heartbeat in my ears. No, my iPod is pretty much as necessary a part of my workout gear as my shoes and I like to keep it well stocked with truly motivation tracks.  A lot of good workout music can lose it's effectiveness pretty quickly so it's kind of a neverending task. However, there are a few songs that have been on my list for years and years and can still wind me up when all I want to do is quit. I went for a ridiculous run straight up a mountain this weekend with my interns-all of them at LEAST ten years younger than me-and these were my go to songs. Because don't we all need some extra help when it's cold and I'd really rather be watching 30 Rock and eating?  Here my suggestions...

A Little Music.. The XX

by Katie

One of my favorite things about music is how fun it is when a song just explodes into your brain and you simply cannot stop listening to it. And I especially love it when such a song comes out of nowhere on a random Tuesday night. I was catching up on a little Facebook the other night and my sister, who has wonderful taste in both clothing and bands, had a particularly lovely lyric posted in her status update. I googled them and came up with The xx, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_xx) a little British Trio whose first album came out last summer.

The song is called "Islands" and there are about a hundred reasons to love it. I'll give you three 1. Boy/Girl vocals. There is something about two voices in a love song that melts me right into the ground. 2. Instant catchiness. This song doesn't need one second to "grow" on you. The attraction is immediate. 3. The lyric that caught my attention? "I am yours now, so I don't have to leave anymore." Yep. Sounds about right to me.  source:  wikipedia

The xx-Islands

A Little Music... Country and Rap

by Katie

There are two kinds of people I don't trust. Anyone who thinks Two and a Half Men deserves it's Emmy Awards and anyone who claims to like music "but not rap or country". What the what? Dismissing an entire genre because you think country is "too twangy" or rap is "too hardcore" means you are missing out on some of the most talented and creative artists in the business. So don't be scared, I'm here to hold your hand and steer you towards a couple of gems.
You probably already know the usual pop country suspects-Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood. But all of those current artists owe a huge debt to the trailblazer who ranks up in my top ten artists of all time, Miss Dolly Parton. I could go on for days giving you reasons that Dolly is fabulous but it really comes down to the fact that the woman is a songwriting wizard. I have loved her since I was just a little thing listening to "9 to 5" on my tape player but this song she wrote for "Transamerica" a few years ago is one of my favorites. And proof that a lifetime of fame hasn't killed her ability to write lyrics that will make you tear right up. I love how unapologetically spiritual this song is. At about the 3:30 mark I just dare you not to get goosebumps. You sure you don't like country?   Dolly Parton-Travelin' Thru
And then we have rap...

A Little Music... The Weepies

by Katie

In one of oldest photos in existence of me, I am about seven or eight months old, sitting on the floor looking up adoringly at my dad playing the electric guitar. I never had a shot at being anything but a complete and total slave to the sound of that thing. I know it's a terrible girl cliche love men who play the guitar but alas, you can't fight your genes can you?

Music was big in our house, my parents listened to everything from the Beatles and the Beach Boys to the soundtracks to Broadway plays I still know by heart. I feel like I got to know my parents as people and not parents through what they listened to. As an adult I still see music as a way to express myself. The right song can cheer me up, make me homesick, bring back a great memory, help induce a good cry when I need it. It's the very best kind of therapy.

So ladies, I'm here to help you go beyond just what you heard on the Twilight soundtrack or the Taylor Swift mania sweeping minivans everywhere. Mommies can lose a little bit of themselves in the chaos of taking care of everyone else and music is a relatively cheap way to get back in touch with YOU.

We'll start slow. This little duo is a husband and wife team that goes by the name The Weepies. The song is called The World Spins Madly On-a sentiment I think we can all understand right? Their music is breezy and pretty and their lyrics are thoughtful. This one is from the album Say I Am You and I have no problem recommending you buy the entire thing. Happy listening. And Happy New Year!

http://www.mediafire.com/myfiles.php-

The World Spins Madly On-The Weepies.

Or on You Tube