Sick of your iTunes playlist but short on cash? How about another compilation of great listens that are totally free? That’s the proper ‘no hidden fees/strings attached’ kind of free by the way. You’re welcome.
Sure, you might be thinking ‘who needs free when I’ve got Spotify!?’ Well, we’re not gonna claim to give you 20 million songs for nothing – but we can offer you some great aural delights and hidden gems beyond the confines of your typical music streaming service, without having to do any of the leg-(mouse?)work yourselves.
Don’t fret either, the following picks are all legal, we’re not interested in sending you off to some dodgy page, just check out the first 7 albums we dug up followed by the extra 6 after that Tone Deaf could not get enough of, and if they’re not enough, grab another 6 here.
BADBADNOTGOOD – BBNG2
Canadian jazz fusion trio, BadBadNotGood (BBNG) produced a seriously masterful album back in 2012 bringing together electronic, jazz and hip hop fans and inviting them into their dark deep world of music.
BBNG2 has a brooding and mellow feel to it, driven by hip hop rhythm influences. Featuring powerful tracks such as ‘Rotten Decay’ reference their signature jazz roots style with their other experimental electronic and hip hop tracks such as ‘CHSTR’. The percussion is tight and cutting, the double bass is mellow and smooth and the various organ and piano instruments tie in the floaty high end melody. With the appearance of saxophone player Leland Whitty, the album is very much minimal, tight jazz. Overall the album has a softer and more experimental vibe compared to their acclaimed 2014 release ‘III‘ and 2011’s ‘BBNG‘ and is slightly divergent, while still keeping their Jazz roots, from their latest project with Wu-Tang clan member Ghostface Killah, ‘Sour Soul’, which has prominent a hip-hop focus.
Download it here
Death Grips – Exmilitary, Government Plates
Death Grips, infamous for their onstage and offstage shenanigans and especially for dropping these fantastic free albums (whether or not it be in their own, or their label’s, best interests to do so). To commemorate DG’s recent breakup (although whether this is true is up for debate after their newly announced world tour) here are two classics from the infamous punk, noise, hip hop, electronic trio.
Starting off with their debut album Exmilitary, DG left listeners thinking ‘what the shit did I just hear? I’m not sure if I want to compare them to Kanye West or Lightning Bolt’. Songs like ‘Beware’ and ‘Spread Eagle Across The Block’ have a classic/psych rock vibe especially ‘Spread Eagle’ with the blaring Link Ray sample and MC Ride’s booming effected vocals tie in the staple DG style. Tracks such as ‘Lord of the Game’, ‘Takyon (Death Yon)’ and ‘Cut Throat’ have a heavy electronic vibe with drum machines, fluttering distorted synths and heavy sampling (also seen all throughout the album) to infuse the electronic element of the group. There is also a subtle tribal percussion theme woven throughout the LP.
Government Plates is very much on the path of experimental electronic mayhem, possibly one of their most deviant albums yet. The album starts with electronic heavy ‘Anne Bonny’ followed by ‘Two Heavens’ to set the scene for the rest of the album, it stays pretty much consistent from here with the exception of the two last tracks ‘Bootleg (Dont need your help)’ and ‘Whatever I want (Fuck who’s watching)’ which leaves us saying ‘what’.
After being climatised by Exmilitary DG fans could pretty much expect something weird was going to happen in Government Plates and is exactly what fans received, and to an even better surprise, the album is free on their website.
Download them here (NSFW Album Cover Warning)
Freddy Todd – Golden Tremendous
Freddy Todd is a fantastic glitch-hop, trip-hop, neuro glitch artist from Detroit who has absolutely smashed it in his 2014 album Golden Tremendous. The album includes tight production, original and heavy sound design and fascinating sampling. Most of the tracks like ‘Wave Therapy’ and ‘Fastenator, get up’ have a churning bass that moves through the track like a snake and some high melodic vocal chops and synths in small bright bursts around the album, the double bass in ‘Wave Therapy’ is a nice touch on the glitch heavy track.
Songs such as ‘The Jestler’ and ‘Infinitesimal’ have an almost jazz influence in the rhythm and melody. The entire album features tight, punchy percussion that really brings in the glitch and hiphop elements including some real and sampled plus some heavy dubstep kicks and snares sounding like something from a KOAN Sound track.
This LP has a great happy, glitchy and jazzy vibe that makes us feel happy and wavy on the inside.
Download it here
Adult Swim Singles – 2014
Back again this year with an excellent line up of artists is American Cable Network Adult Swim with their annual singles program which never fails to impress. Starting off with a fantastic throwback style track from who else but Giorgio Moroder who has had a second wind of success with his recent collaboration with Daft Punk in their grammy winning album.
The compilation continues with some fantastic artist such as Machinedrum, Destruction Unit, Fatima Al Qadiri, Tim Hecker, Speedy Ortiz and even stoner rock heavy weights Sleep with a classic grungy track called ‘The Clarity’ making Adult Swim of all labels to be the first label to release any fresh material from Sleep in over 20 years.
Flying Lotus’ alter-ego Captain Murphy makes an appearance with a very Flying Lotus track paired with Captain Murphy’s soulful rap style followed by Deafheaven, RP Boo, Ka and wrapping up with metal legends Mastodon with a huge, energetic track featuring Gibby Haynes from Butthole Surfers. With a huge lineup of acts like these, you can’t go wrong and like everything else on this list, it is 100% free.
Download them here
LIZ – Just Like You EP
Californian R&B beauty, LIZ has outdone herself with her newest EP Just Like You released early last year. With a heavy lineup of producers and collaborators such as Mr. Carmack, Lido, Djemba Djemba and Tyga, LIZ really is an underrated figure in R&B compared to huge pop figures like Ariana Grande.
Fans of hip-hop, jersey and R&B will love this EP and it’s interesting blend of style. Some classic R&B vocals from LIZ tied with a blend of hip-hop, jersey and house backing tracks produce a great flow through the album for some diversity between genres, still keeping that R&B feel.
Tyga’s feature offers an interesting rap spin on the otherwise very soft R&B track ‘Don’t Say’ produced by Djemba Djemba, Colta and Mike Parvisi. The use of classic breaks and samples by each of the producers caters to fans of heavy sampling, common on SoundCloud and similar platforms.
LIZ’s style really plays on the internet aesthetic style popularised by fellow SoundCloud artist Yung Lean. This EP was released on Diplo’s label Mad Decent for absolutely zero pennies on their SoundCloud page to perfectly reflect the aesthetic internet style of LIZ.
Download it here
GoldLink – The God Complex
Self proclaimed ‘DMV-bred’, SoundCloud rapper GoldLink has very much set, or more appropriately, created the scene of ‘Future Bounce’ rap with his debut project The God Complex. GoldLink presents some solid verses with a fantastic lineup of producers and collaborators such as Soulection favourite Louie Lastic and lovely R&B singer Kalis Uchi.
The album starts of with the solid track ‘Ay Ay’, produced by Fingalick its airy and tribal vibe is propelled with a killer kick bass and some lovely lady samples in the mix. The next two tracks ‘Planet Paradise’ and ‘Bedtime Story’ both produced by Louie Lastic, really reflect that ‘Future Bounce’ title with some hip-hop and house fusion for some killer dance tracks paired with some great bars by GoldLink himself.
‘Divine’ featuring Kalis Uchi has nice beach, tribal, R&B and even house vibe for fans of acts like Kalis or even Tchami, the vocals are a nice touch from Kalis for a dancy, leaning more to the side of house over hip-hop track. A fantastic interlude ‘Hip-Hop’ produced by Teklun brings a seriously superb classic hip hop element to the mix for the more standard fans. GoldLink seems to go back some some roots with the next three tracks ‘Fuck Being Polite’ produced by Lakim, ‘How It’s Done’ produced by Bunx & Jaylen! and ‘CNTRL’ produced by Fingalick. The final track ‘When I Die’ produced by McCallaman ties in with the first track, playing on GoldLink’s “God Complex” and finishes the album with the sweetest and most laid back ‘crash’.
Download it here
