Dexter Freebish - Shine On (2010) (mp3 @ V0, 100% .log, .cue)

Genre: Alternative Rock / Electro-pop
Quality: mp3 @ V0 with .log and .cue
About: In the long awaited followup for a small group of dedicated fans (it has been 6 years since their last LP), Dexter Freebish moves in more of an electro-pop direction while still retaining their unique rock sound. I was upset they changed their style at first, but upon many listens it just sort of "clicked" and I found the songs running through my head. As you progress through the album they use the Pop-beat less (and not at all) which is good because it makes for variety. The best ones are "Everybody Knows Somebody", a more hard-rock sounding "Shine On", and the final track "Come Down" is completely acoustic.

Mediafire Download

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy ($10 - CD, $9 - MP3 or FLAC or ...)

Alex Band - We've all been there (2010) (v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue)

Genre: Alternative/Pop Rock
Quality: v0 mp3, 100% log, .cue
About: It's kind of a long story how I came to own a signed copy of this album. A while back I heard The Calling's "Wherever You Will Go" on the radio and I was like, oh crap I remember this, I love this song and this guy's voice makes me melt into butter. That doesn't make sense but who cares. So I got both of The Calling's albums but found out they broke up in 2005. But I found out the vocalist, Alex Band was doing a solo album so I followed him on twitter. I didn't give it much attention even until one day I saw "Get a signed copy of my album now..." on my twitter feed. So I listened to the album, loved it, and thought it was good enough to deserve my hard earned money. I got a signed copy off his official website, since the collector in me needed it.

Since I got it I have listened 100 more times. I thought it was worthwhile to go through the PITA process of setting up EAC for V0. While I'm not a music quality elitist, I appreciate that v0 is the best trade off between quality and compact file sizes. I don't honestly know what to do with a .cue (something about burning it back to CD, not that you'd do that anyway *AHEM AHEM*) but I provided it anyway in case someone might want it. And let me know if it does work as I'm curious.

Enough techno babble, on to the album. It's alternative rock at it's core but not like the majority of alternative rock on the radio where people are like "I'M GROWLING CAUSE IM SO HARDCOREEEE" and generic riffs. Here we have really melodic guitar and vocal lines, tons of unique ideas all over the place. At the same time it seems like one coherent thought process and all the songs fit together like a puzzle to make a great album. It's difficult to listen to just one song cause I always end up listening to the whole album.

Stand outs are "We've All Been There" "Euphoria" "Never Let You Go" "Start Over Again".

I also included "Cruel One (feat. Chantal Kreviazuk & Emmy Rossum)" which is not v0 because it is an iTunes-only bonus track (why??????). Enjoy, let me know what you think, and let Alex know by buying it!

4shared Download - removed by request 8/9/10. But you can preview at the iTunes link below!

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you - Buy their albums and go to their concerts (if possible)!
Buy signed album (CD) - 14.99
Buy iTunes - 7.99

Sofa Surfers - Blindside (2010)

Genre: Alternative Rock, Trip-Hop, Downtempo, Chillout, Experimental
Quality: AAC @ 256
About: After a long delay, the trip-hop gone chillout-rock quartet is back, as of yesterday. They keep their downtempo and relaxed rock style from the previous album, but sound like they are going back to their roots a little, on songs like "Hardwire" and "Heavy Water". Hardwire is a trip-hop song with that relaxed style of rapping that sets this band apart, and Heavy Water is a speedy instrumental rock song. Their lyrics are often unbelievably deep, which keeps you coming back for more, wondering what the true meanings are. My only complaint is the album is too short.

Here's track 1, "Playing the Game." You can see this relaxed and unique style the band has is exemplified by this video.


4shared Download

Please support the musicians that spent so much time, effort, and money to make this great music for you! Buy their albums, and go to their concerts (if possible)!
- Buy - Only $8.91 on iTunes!
- CD
- Vinyl

EQXClusives (25 Years 1984-2009) (Live alternative/indie rock compilation)

Genre: Alternative/Indie Rock
About: This is a compilation by a local radio station, 102.7 WEQX, released for free (at local bars) for a 25th anniversary. I don't even like indie rock in general, but I like these. Some are local bands, some are international phenomenons. The latter includes (ones i have heard of before) Bell X1, Ludo, They Might Be Giants, OK Go, World Party, Metric, Eric Hutchinson, etc. They are live, but most of them have no audience sounds and are recorded so well they sound like studio. I actually saw track 19 performed live back in September, also for free. Free stuff is nice. So here you go! :D

(Apologies, I think there's something wrong with my particular CD... about 2:45 in track 18, the ripping slowed to a crawl there, and the actual ripped audio file has a very small skip. I may try again using the EAC program in the future but I doubt it'd be any better. Just another reason I do not like CDs...)

Mediafire Download - part 1
Mediafire Download - part 2

Mars Electric - Fame Among The Vulgar (2003)

Genre: Melodic Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative
About: Seems a bit heavier than their first album, but it's the same great band. See the previous post for more info on this criminally underrated band.

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Jimmy Eat World - Always Be (Instrumental) (256kbps AAC / m4a) (Chase this Light Single)

Genre: rock, emo, alternative, alternative rock, indie
About: This is my favorite song off of their 2007 album, Chase this Light. Unfortunately the instrumental version is only available in Tiger Woods 2009. Ripped by myself through a 3.5mm cable and a Creative Audigy 2 sound card, converted from WAV to AAC through iTunes. I apologize since the quality isn't perfect but I tend to be an audiophile and it's acceptable to me.

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