FREE HIP HOP
Tim Fite was born with a bullet in his head. And his new mocku-rap album may just be the most dangerous album of 2007, especially if it gets him shot some more. Fite’s “Over the Counterculture” is like that moment in Office Space where the white-guy office nerd is bumping the gangsta rap, then rolls up the window as a black man walks by. But it’s also bold as terror, calling out the entire rap community – from 50 Cent to Kanye – as a bunch of fakers. “I been shot so many times the bullets had to make room for each other,” sings Fite in “I Been Shot”. Despite Tim’s constant, cutting parody, this is no Weird Al comedy album — the man who built his first album by splicing together scraps of hidden genius from 99-cent bin albums into completely re-born material has some serious digital chops; he knows how to spit lyrics and he knows how to drop a beat. When his first album came out – “Gone Ain’t Gone” [featured in SURFING Mag; MARCH 2005] – the media fixated on the strange phenomenon of Fite being born without any blood in his body (owing to a rare medical condition; odd, huh?). Considering he survived that intact, we’re fairly confident Fite can survive a couple of well-earned drive-bys. The album is instantly downloadable on his website, so go to www.timfite.com and check it. Hey, it’s free. How can you go wrong?
FREE TRANCE
Eric Jordan doesn’t need your money. As one of the world’s most well-known web-designers and owner of 2Advanced.com Studios (probably the most copied website of all time), he’s doing just fine. But DJing trance music is his passion, and he really just wants to get it out to the people. Every month he makes a new, hour-long trance set available through his music blog www.neverrain.com This is great background grooves to zone into whatever it is you zone into. Check it.
FREE INDIE ROCK SINGLE
Pearl Jam fans should immediately to www.theskyiscrape.com (an unofficial fansite) and download the bands recent cover of The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” — tracked for an upcoming Adam Sandler film called Reign Over Me. (Geek out on the PJ Wiki-pedia while you’re there — TMI, LOL, FYI.)
Bright Eyes’ crooner Conor Oberst has been hard at work on a new studio album and if the B-sides are any indication, it should be another painfully, heartwrenching work of brainiac beauty. Download the leaked, pre-release singles from “Four Winds” at www.music.download.com — and while you’re, browse around for other free offering from your favorite artists.
FREE I-FORGET-WHAT-I-LIKE SITES
You know how you walk into a music store and instantly forget what music you like? Well, here’s a free site that actually figures out for you what new bands you might like. Just plug in something you know you like into www.pandora.com and the site will analyze beats, styles and lyrically content to determine what other bands you might like. Try it. You’ll be surprised what it digs up.
If you’re listening to music on your computer, check out the Free Internet Radio finder on www.live365.com, and you’ll be rocking to whatever genre you’re feeling, commercial free, right away.
YES, FREE MUSIC RULES
This is just a small sampling of what’s out there if you start digging a bit. See, these bands, they want you to hear their music so you’ll go check out their live shows. Myspace.com is filled with free, downloadable music (check Tim Curran’s myspace and you can download his whole EP). We’d love to know what free music you’re listening to. If you’ve got some killer tips (or just bands you’d like us to look into), email us at surfing@primedia.com with FREE MUSIC in the subject box. Until then, be free.