Free is the best

The past few day I have come across a bunch of free albums that were released online. Al of these albums should be available for you to download as well. I will post the link where you can download the albums after my two cents and a few tracks. Enjoy!

I am going to start off with my favorite underground rap group of all time Atmosphere. Slug and Ant have put out an album full of party time anthems, brilliantly clever and witty rhymes, and beats that will keep the guys heads noddin' and the girls asses shaking. If you never heard Atmosphere there is no better time than with this album to introduce yourself. If you already know about the Minneapolis "Minisnowta" based hip-hopers than you'll love this. I was sort of disappointed with When Life Hands You Lemons..., it was alright but the beats weren't as great as say Lucy Ford and it seemed to be a lot of emo and little emcee. I like to think that this album would be the punch in the face if you called Atmosphere an emo rap group. Consider me K.O.'d in the best way possible.
Atmosphere - The Things That Hate Us
Atmosphere - You Played Yourself

The next free album might not suit everybody's tastes but it's at least worth listening to a song or two just for coolness and nostalgic purposes. The album is called Da Chip! : The Music Of Daft Punk Revisited On Vintage Game Systems. Yes you read that right, Daft Punk music done in 8bit. Remember NES music, well this is exactly like it. Only better. There are some variations as far as quality go, but it's a fun listen. Especially if you like Daft Punk and know a few of their songs. It would make a great little something to listen to while doing computer related things or if you ever get tired of other video game music. Even if you hate Daft Punk and video games I would still say give a track a listen because it's unique.
Daft Punk (Da Chip!) - One More Time
Daft Punk (Da Chip!) - Veridis Quo (No Longer Available)

The other night I realized that there is one genre that I have been leaving out of this blog which is soul music. I am a huge fan of soul music. In fact the other night I searched for new soul music for about 5 hours. I found some good stuff which will be coming soon, but I came across this James Brown Regrooved album that I thought was decent. Basically it's remixes of The Godfather Of Soul. Some of the songs I think are brilliant but there are a few duds that don't keep it true and therefore loose the flavor that was Mr. Brown. Despite the few not so good tracks, thats what the next button was made for, the whole album is a fun and funky ride. so "Get on it!"
James Brown - Superbad (Regrooved by The Sly Players)
James Brown - It's A Man's Man's Man's World (Regrooved by Parker)

Last but not least is an album that from my best guess is a collaborative effort lead by Sam Barsh who has his own band (Sam Barsh Band). He is a well know modern jazz musician and has toured around the world and worked with quite a few well known artists such as Cassandra Wilson, Boyz II Men, Bobby McFerrin, The Brand New Heavies and many others. To be honest I really don't know that much about him and never heard of him until I started writing this. What I can tell you though is that the album Vosotros Presents: The Years, is a musical journey that touches on different time periods. It's got everything from blues, to soul and 80's to hip hop. It's been slowly growing on me the more I listen to it and Amazon rated it as one of the best albums of 2009 that you should know about but probably don't. Hey, download it and give it a spin, it's not like your paying for it.
Vosotros Presents: The Years - Lose My Number (feat. Jesse Palter) (No Longer Available)
Vosotros Presents: The Years - Heartbreaker (feat. John Robinson & Tiffany Paige) (No Longer Available)

The Feel Good Revolution

When I was little and my parents were still starting out We used to live in a trailer park. There was this guy in the park who rode motorcycles and I thought he was the coolest dude that ever lived. I called him Motorcycle Joe. I don't know if that was his real name but thats what I called him. I'd hear the rumble of his bike and I'd run outside to catch a glimpse of him, he'd wave to me and rev the bike which made me spazz out with delight. He used to take me for rides around the park, I felt like the most badass kid in the park, frankly because I was. If you were wondering, yes that is a picture of me on one of Motorcycle Joes bikes.
Daniel Johnston - Speeding Motorcycles

The other night I watched "A Bronx Tale" for the 500th time. I have to say that is one of my favorite movies. It touches on so many subjects and it's not your typical mob movie. The Ataris were one of my staple bands growing up. I was just getting out of my punk phase and starting to expand my musical horizons. This song is from what I consider to be the Ataris last really good album. After that they went way more emo and less pop-punk. I think them covering Don Henleys "Boys Of Summer" ruined it for me. Anyway I loved this song even though it is really emo. The main reason for that was because of this clip at the end. At the time I had no idea what movie the clip was from, and didn't know for years after. When I bought "A Bronx Tale" and watched it for the first time and heard this line I knew that this movie was going to be one of my all time favorites.
The Ataris - Your Boyfriend Sucks

Since today is Friday I thought I'd share one of my favorite Friday songs. I worked for a few factories in my day. I didn't mind it, the work week was Monday to Friday, the pay was top notch and I met a lot of cool people. Parts of it did suck though, waking up at 4AM to get ready for work, the heat in the summer (factories usually don't have air conditioning in the plant) and it was fast paced. Come Friday though you knew you had the weekend to relax. So being the music nerd I have always been I would make mix tapes to listen to and keep me motivated. I had one in particular that was my Friday mix. It was filled with poppy happy songs that would make you push through the day, because we all know how hard it is come Friday. You may recognize this song from another little movie called Office Space. It's one of the first songs you hear in the movie when everyone is in traffic. Every time I hear this I crack up because I think of Samir in his car at the beginning.
[Stuck in traffic]
Samir: Mother... shitter... Son of an... ass. I just...
[punches steering wheel]
Happy Friday!
Perez Prado - Mambo 8

The other day my family and I were discussing cartoons. My sister was telling my how she won't let my nephew watch half of the shows on cartoon network because they are just to violent, or all about fighting. Now I know what cartoons have always had violence, but it was usually good versus evil. The characters didn't fight just for the sake of fighting, ok, maybe a few did but it was more slapstick. The same is with regular television too. Things just seem to be getting more and more dark. When I was little you hardly ever heard anyone use the word bitch, or saw dead bodies uncovered. What happened to the good shows that taught morals and decency. The news is the worst. It's nothing but one depressing story after another. People killing people, rape, beatings, bloodshed and all out war. I heard a This American Life story a few weeks ago about a guy who got sick of all the negativity on TV so her tried to pitch a new channel. It was called the puppy channel. Nothing but cute puppies doing puppy things 24/7. I know that life is crazy and fucked up things happen, but damn! Give me something with a little more hope and positivity. Give me the puppy channel!
James Brown - World (Part 1 & 2)

Super Sweet Bonus Song
Ben Sollee - Only A Song