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Fitz & the Tantrums: Free download

It’s been awhile since we have had some fine blue-eyed soul. Fitz & the Tantrums, a six-piece soul band from LA (with Fitz (Michael Fitzpatrick) on lead vocals, Noelle Scaggs providing vocal counterpoint, James King blowing the saxophone, keyboards from Jeremy Ruzumna, and the rhythm section of Ethan Phillips and John Wicks, bass and drums respectively), fills the bill and gets us moving with hand-clapping Motown-influenced retro-soul with an indie sensibility. Word has it that they are riveting live. Pickin’ Up the Pieces is their brand new debut and a free download of “MoneyGrabber” from the album is the Song of the Day.

MoneyGrabber by Fitz & the Tantrums

Sufjan Stevens: Free download

Sufjan Stevens is the wildly eclectic multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter hailing from Detroit but now firmly ensconced in Brooklyn. Known to many for his Fifty States Project, he once planned to write an album for each of the U.S. states. But with only Michigan and Illinois under his belt, he now says that it was just a joke. His 5 CD box set Songs for Christmas is a staple for me during the holidays and when he is not producing records, recording commissioned pieces or guesting on other musicians albums (most recently he can be heard on The National’s High Violet), he releases music on his own label, Asthmatic Kitty. The EP All Delighted People just became available as a digital download and his first completely song-based album in 5 years, The Age of Adz (pronounced Odds), is scheduled for this October. From the forthcoming album, the song “I Walked” is a free download and becomes the Song of the Day.

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“I Walked” by Sufjan Stevens

Ra Ra Riot: Free download

Ra Ra Riot have been around since 2006 based out of Syracuse, NY. Six members in all, the usual lineup of vocals, guitar, bass and drums, plus a violinist and cellist. They tragically lost their original drummer, John Pike (from Hamilton, MA), to a drowning accident in 2007 (evoking eerie thoughts of Jeff Buckley) but carried on. Their just-released 2nd album is entitled The Orchard. The song “Boy” from the album is a free download from the band’s website and is the Song of the Day.

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“Boy” by Ra Ra Riot

Jens Lekman

Jens Lekman, the idiosyncratic Swedish musician currently residing in Australia, has recorded very little music since 2007. Suffering through a broken heart, he was inspired by the Obama victory in 2008 and emerged from his pain. Reminiscent of the melancholy sound of Morrissey, “The End of the World is Bigger Than Love” is available as a free download and is the Song of the Day.

“The End of World is Bigger Than Love” by Jens Lekman

Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn will be releasing his 5th solo album in September. Produced by Frank Black of the Pixies, it is simply entitled Pete Yorn. This self-title gives us pause to re-appreciate and to rediscover this unique artist. His career has taken some unusually interesting turns, from recording with actress Scarlett Johansson to his haunting version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas”. (I personally had the privilege of a live Pete Yorn performance in my home with other music aficionados a number of year back.) His generous spirit extends to us all with a free download of “Precious Stone” from his forthcoming album and is the Song of the Day.

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“Precious Stone” by Pete Yorn

She & Him

As we have previously discussed, cover songs continue to gush forth in the internet age. Earlier this week we heard Amanda Palmer playing Radiohead. Today we return to She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) whose album, Volume Two, was previewed here a few months ago and has proven to be one of the delights of the year. With a free download we now hear their version of a classic. Originally written in 1940, Frank Sinatra sang it as did Elvis Presley. Brook Benton, Etta James and Rick Nelson all had hits with it, the latter in 1963 when it reached #12 on the Billboard charts. Bow Wow Wow covered it in 1980 and here we have She & Him’s interpretation of “Fools Rush In” as the Song of the Day.

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“Fools Rush In” by She & Him

The Shins

The web has not only made it possible for artists to present their music quickly and efficiently without the necessity of middle men (record labels, physical distribution channels, etc.) but also to share their interpretations of some of their favorite songs by other artists that they admire. There have been so many wonderful cover songs of late that we may have to have a separate category for cover song of the week. Passion Pit, Mates of State, Smashing Pumpkins and The Pixies have covers elsewhere on this site. “Goodbye Girl” originally appeared on Cool for Cats, the album from Squeeze in 1978. We present this delicious version by The Shins as the Song of the Day.

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“Goodbye Girl” by The Shins

Smashing Pumpkins (Free Download)

The new Smashing Pumpkins album is entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope and all of the songs from the album are being released periodically for free from the Pumpkins’ website. There will be 44 songs in all. Each time 4 songs have been made available, they will be packaged and sold over the net and in physical form as an EP. Eventually all 11 discs will be available as one box set. In February on this site we featured “Widow Wake My Mind” from the first EP. “Freak” is the first song from the 2nd volume available now as a free download and is the Song of the Day.

Mates of State

The married duo Mates of State (Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel) from Lawrence, Kansas, have released Crushes (The Covers Mixtape), songs of an eclectic group of artists including Belle & Sebastian, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Fleetwood Mac and The Mars Volta among others. On their website Mates of State are offering a free download of “Laura” by Girls. We feature it here along with the original as the Song of the Day.

Mates of State-“Laura”

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Girls-“Laura”

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Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells is a duo out of Brooklyn, NY: Alexis Krauss, vocalist; Derek E. Miller, songwriter, guitarist and producer. Noisy and intense, they just released their debut album, Treats, on M.I.A.’s label, N.E.E.T . Recordings. “Infinity Guitars” is free on ITunes (here) and is the Song of the Day.

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“Infinity Guitars” by Sleigh Bells

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