Dedicated Ears Legal / Free Album/ep List

DIY folk from Mission Viejo, California based Your Yellow Dress. Thanks to Your Yellow Dress for the download! Your Yellow Dress - Orange County We  are Nothing Like The Shows is a free download on last.fm. Thanks to Your Yellow Dress For The Download!

Electronic, ambient, folk, pop from New York based Awning. Thanks to Awning for the download!

Cool electronica from NY. Thanks to Fatty Acid for the free download.

   


made of buildings - The World Has Been Stolen By C  is a free download on last.fm.  Thanks to made of building for the free download.

post metal post-hardcore post-metal post-rock sludge metal Russian Federation

Here's some pretty Christmas acoustic folk folk , ukulele style. Thanks to Hillary for this free download!

Interesting mix of singer songwriter indie rock and jazz. Thanks to Brooklyn's Marigold Opera for the free download.

Thanks to The Andersons for the free Christmas download!

Thanks to hi54lofi records for this free Christmas compilation.

This some beautiful sung and peaceful Christmas music. Thanks to Conrad for the free download.

Wacky indie Christmas music from Indiana. Thanks to Dan Snodgrass for the tip on this and thanks to Amo Joy for the free download.

Thanks to An Operative me for this free harder edged Christmas music.

Here a nice Christmas sampler from Ohio courtesy of donewaiting.com and eachnotesecure.com. The genius track here is "All I Want For Christmas (is an Afghan Whigs reunion)" by Bicentennial Bear which uses Afghan Whigs-esque music. Also of note is 1913 by Paper Airplane whose music you should definitely check out. Thanks to donewaiting and eachnotesecure for the free download.

Chicago native Katie cooks up some pretty songs the are straight forward and emotive. Thanks to Katie for the free download!

Indie Christmas sampler from Indy. Thanks to Standard Recording Co for the free download!

Cool Christmas sampler that Gavin from The Bears Of Blue River posted on fb. Gavin's previous band This Story does a song on here. Thanks to Standard Recording Co for the free download.

Acoustic guitar Christmas music from San Francisco. Thanks to Venetia for the free download.

Here is some melodic percussive ambient music from Portugal. Thanks to DC at The Waiting Room Radio Show for the tip on this. If you haven't checked out their podcast it is must that you do. Indie music you won't hear many other places.

Chicagoan Greg Gibbs offers up a mixed bag on The Lights consisting of indie pop, electronic passages and folk/songwriter songs. Most of the lyrics are straight ahead coupled with a healthy dose of melody. My favorite is "Wasted Plans"with it's happy bounce and laconic electric lead guitar this reminds me quite a bot of the earlier work by The Eels. Greg just keeps driving at that same simple yet effective riff that is accented with some electronic percussion.

The catchiest of these songs is "Most Guitars Is Made Of Trees" that features some nice touches on the vocal tracks with an echo effect as opposed to harmonies. 


I was first introduced to Greg's work by August Forte from Novo. I have been able to hang out with Greg a few times as well and he's a really nice guy (even if if he is a Buckeye).

Thanks to Greg for the free download. Get your below...

Doesn't everyone need some shoe gaze Christmas music? Well here you go then. Thanks to Davey and Meredith for the blissed out free Christmas songs!

Sweet and haunting alt country/folk. Thanks to Boy River for the free download.

The Juliets are:
Jeremy Freer - Piano, Guitar, Vocals
Sarah Myers - Violin, Vocals
Kaylan Mitchell - Cello
Ashton Hopkins - Bass
Jacklyn Phillips - Drums

After the Juliets self titled debut album landed in my most listened to albums last year, I eagerly awaited the release of their follow up, Perfect Season. I had the good fortune to book them for a show at The Chopin (video below), see them play some of the songs they were working on for Perfect Season, and talk with the band. It was great to talk to Jeremy about his influences (Motown) as well as see that he had a big picture view for the band and knew how he wanted to get the band to that place. As far as their sound goes the Juliets are able to blend elements of rock, soul, indie and baroque that all add up to a sound that can only be claimed by them.

Where their self-titled debut was tight and sounded as if they had made it all at once in one massive great session, Perfect Season has an array sounds on it and finds them experimenting with their instruments, as opposed to incorporating other sounds and instruments. Some nuanced turns of the strings are played incredibly capably by Sarah Myers (violin) and Kaylan Mitchell (cello),  as evidenced on the song "A Perfect Season".  The way they fill the background from the middle to the end of the song is not something you would describe by proclaiming "yes there are strings in there". But the effect on the listener is a rich sound that is accentuated by Jeremy Freer's swooning vocals, light falsetto, and just the right amount of guitar played by Jeremy as well.

The pop punch of "Heart In Heart" is a rollicking track that easily could have been on their first album, although slightly different with the drumming of Jacklyn Phillips, replete with loose marching snare rolls and nice jazz touches as well.  Jacklyn just joined the band (didn't play on their first album), and to see her  play live was happily surprising due to the way she mixed more traditional rock and hip hop drumming together. Who would have thought?

"The Lost Memory" is a bit of a change up for the band, and a welcomed one at that with waltz timed instrumentals and contributions from the whole band. Hell, if they put out a whole album of this I would really enjoy it.

"You Found Me Out" finds Jeremy's falsetto and piano interplay being accentuated by Ashton Hopkins bass line almost as a call and response. Add short burst of strings and this is a delicious pop nugget that leads you to bob you head with the rhythm.

With as well as Jeremy can write a pop hook and marry it to his piano playing, the one thing that might not scream out at you is the arrangements of these songs. It goes without saying that all the members of this band contribute and do it well. The Juliets have incorporated the strings so well that they sound seamless amongst the sounds of rock music. Add some hip hop drum flavor and Perfect Season  is a singular sounding album that you won't be able to stop listening to. I know my wife and I haven't as we listen to this every few days since it came out. This album will be on my most listened to wrap up in a few weeks. The band has this album as a "name your price 0 minimum download". So help them out with some dough if you are able, but above all share their bandcamp link if you like it like I do.

Here's the video for The Juliets  performing "Loon" the opening track of Perfect Season. (Dedicated Ears Showcase at Chopin Theatre Chicago on June 19 2010.

Indie rock/pop from New York. I have the bc player for you to listen to the ep. It's a free download HERE. Thanks to Wishes and Thieves for the free doqnload.

Experimental, ambient, folk weird America from Brooklyn's Heidi Harris. Off kilter and sometimes dissonant, right up my alley. Thanks to Heidi Harris for the download! Thanks to D. C from The Waiting Room Radio Show for the tip. You can hear more songs by cool bands like this on his podcast.

Freak folk/ singer songwriter Heidi Harris. Raw and immediate sounding. Suspenseful in parts and some really nice harmonies. Thanks to Heidi for the free download! Thanks to DC at The Waiting Room Radio Show for the tip on this. If you haven't checked out their podcast it is must that you do. Indie music you won't hear many other places.

Weird Americana/ exp from Brooklyn. Thanks to Hawk Horses for the interesting free download.

Free freak folk from Somerville. Pretty vocals.

Some lo fi indie from Wales that shows some definite late 90's indie guitar influences. The rawness works really wee on this. They have a few other eps for free and a full length for sale. Thanks to DC at The Waiting Room Radio Show for the tip on this. If you haven't checked out their podcast it is must that you do. Indie music you won't hear many other places.

Thanks to It's Your Local Music out of Central Mass. for this free Christmas music.

Christmas music from Provo. Thanks to Whisper Sands for the download!

Raw emotive - indie rock from L.A. Thanks to Westfalia for the free download.

8 bit Christmas music. Thanks to Square Wail for the free download.

Enjoyed A Tribute To Bjork's Post is a compilation done by Stereogum.  This is a pretty cool cover album with a wide array of artists tackling Bjork's album Post. I really enjoy the Atlas Sound and Dirty Projector tracks. Thanks to Stereogum and the artists on this comp for the free download.  

Indie exp pop/folk from Vancouver's Patchy. Thnka to Patchy for the free download!

Ambient, dream pop, shoe gaze from Russian Federation based NERPA. Thanks to NERPA for the download!
NERPA - Whalesong is a free download on lastfm.

Male/female vocals folk from Red Hook. Thanks to Fairweather Blonde for the free download!

Free post rock/ambient/baroque from Somerville. Nice violins and the composition shines. Thanks to The Slowest Runner In All The World for the free download.

This is a sampler from Sounds That Matter  a site based in Indiana that covers some pretty cool indie music. Certainly worth checking out. Thanks to them for this free sampler download!

Indie folk from Brooklyn. Thanks to Sticklips for the free download!

Indie Christmas music sung and played on by Nathanael Mehrens and by Aimee Romero from the band Marrow and The Broken Bones. Please check out those two acts. Thanks to them for the free download!

Chamber folk, rock, indie rock from Seattle, Washington based Black Swedes. Thanks to Black Swedes for the download!

Christmas, indie, unconventional songs from Rotterdam, Holland based That Band From Holland. Thanks to That Band From Holland for the download!

One of my favorite Chicago electronic pop acts. Right off the bat with the first track "Grow" Collages (Jesse Bustamante) have a delicate balance of catchy rhythm as well as louder noise elements. Thanks to Jesse for the free download

Chamber folk, indie, rock from Seattle, Washington based Black Swedes. Thanks to Black Swedes for the free download.

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!

Rock, alternative, grunge, post-hardcore, post-punk, from Brooklyn based Exploding In Sound presents... compilation. Thanks to Exploding In Sound presents... for the download!