Spin the Black Circle

Born Anchors have a new record they’re planning to release this summer called Colorize the Grey. The record is one of my favorite local releases of the year so far and it shows amazing growth for a young band. It’s a massive shift from the group’s aggressive and hard rock sound heard on last year’s Sprezzatura to a more mature, melodic sound. I really like this album and I’m pretty sure you’ll dig it too. You can stream the album below and hear the band’s growth for yourself and you can see Born Anchor’s next Seattle show at the Cha Cha on July 24 as part of the Cha Cha’s CHBP offerings.

Colorize the Grey by Born Anchors

Am I the only one who has been keeping tabs on the Jay-Z/Oasis feud?

Of all the blokes for Jigga to start some verbal warfare with it seems odd he would choose the Gallagher brothers. But hey, to each his own, right?

If you’re looking for something to listen to this afternoon, check out this free Jay-Z/Oasis mashup mixtape from Cooking Soul out of Spain. It’s called OJAYZIS and you can download it for free here. 

One of the greatest things about the Internet is how easily accessible it has made music. More specifically, it has made a lot of music free. And I don’t mean in the Y2K, Napster, stealing music kind of way.

There is a lot of great free music out there and it’s all yours for the taking. To give you a glimpse into what I am rocking on my iPod and some insight into my own personal music universe, here are four albums (well, okay, three albums and one EP) that are 100 percent free and well worth the download.

Girl Talk “Feed The Animals” — Okay, so this one isn’t exactly free. The mash-up artist known as Girl Talk has released his latest masterpiece and he will give it to you for free if you want it. However, he will also take money for it if you want to give it to him. How much money? Well, that’s up to you. The record is available for a pay-what-you-want price. Sound like a familiar digital distribution method? Well, if you want to get what is possibly the best dance record of the year, I recommend picking this up, for whatever cost you think is appropriate. You can download the record here. Girl Talk plays Seattle at the Capitol Hill Block Party on July 25.

Patient Patient “The Free EP” — This group of Seattle indie popsters released a free EP of new material earlier this year. The Stranger described the band’s sound as indie Radiohead and for the most part the were spot on, so I won’t bother boring you with an attempt at pigeon-holing Patient Patient into a category. I will tell you that this EP is a solid five-song taste of Patient Patient and it does what all good EPs do: it gives listeners just enough music to leave their ears salivating for a full-length record. You can download the album here.

Dyme Def “Three Bad Brothaas Mix Tape” — This crew of young MCs (none of them are older than 21) are the future of Seattle hip hop. Last year the group released its debut “Space Music” and once I got my hands on it I couldn’t stop listening to it. The success of that release helped the group land a main stage spot at this year’s Sasquatch! Music Festival and they will be at several Warped Tour stops this summer (including the Aug. 9 Gorge Warped date) as well as the Rock The Bells Festival at the Gorge on Sept. 6. This mixtape, which the group is distributing for free, consists of mostly new material, including a track that does a killer job of sampling the “Pinky and the Brain” theme song.
You can download the album here. Dyme Def next plays in Seattle on July 11 at Sole Repair.

Nine Inch Nails “The Slip” — Trent Reznor’s gift to his loyal fans, this album has been available for free on NIN’s Web site for a few months. While the record is no “Pretty Hate Machine” or “Downward Spiral” it is way better than “The Fragile” and more in line with Reznor’s last few non-instrumental records “Year Zero” and “With Teeth.” Download it here. Nine Inch Nails comes to KeyArena July 25.

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