Free Music!

Some of the bands I like these days allow their music to be heard endlessly for free on the web. A good thing if you're in the small, select group of people with tastes like mine.

Muse: No originality -- their sound is direct mimicry of Radiohead's early albums "Pablo Honey" and "The Bends." But Radiohead is a fantastic band, and so their imitators still sound pretty good. Besides, Radiohead has stopped putting albums out.

Kings of Convenience: Mellow, feel-good acoustic pop. For mental hygience purposes, I force myself to listen to it instead of the usual metal and rap. But they do have a pleasant sound and respectable lyrics. Perfect background music for working.

The Offpring: Pop-punk, i.e. too melodic for punk fans and too loud for everyone else. Their average fan is a 14-year old male, meaning this music does unhealthy things to one's brain. But after I've spend too many months listening to mature, respectable music, my neighbors are bound to feel the walls shuddering to "The Kids Aren't Alright" or "Hit That" at maximum volume.

Iron and Wine: This has been a link on my blog for a while, despite the fact that it doesn't offer many of his songs. Peaceful, uplifting folk-pop.

Arctic Monkeys: Currently the most talked-about rock band in Great Britain. Hailed as the next British Invasion. Not an accidental comparison -- they sound exactly like the Rolling Stones and some of the more straightforward rock songs on the Beatles' "white album." But their songwriting is better than the Stones.

Suggestions welcome.