Feb MMVIII

NEWS
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From last month was all about free music we now have a plethora of legal music for your burning ears.

Amazon.com has recently started seliing music in DRM-free format, which means you'll be able to copy/burn/share your music as much as you like, good news if you ask me and will hopefully be the prod in the back the apple needs to do a similar thing for it's all seeing eye, the I-tunes store. The current downside though, is that it's only for USA customers. But at it's current prices ($7 for the Vampire Weekend album) is a bargain for people in the UK. However you can't use it, yet you can buy the CD for the exact same price. So, putting the future of the eco system aside I quickly clicked 'buy' and am having a couple of CD's shipped all the way to me from the states. Though I will have to wait for anything up to a month before I see it.

Q-trax has recently hit the news too, claiming to be the first legal peer2peer software, basically it allows you to share music with other, much like Kazzar and Napster back in the days of yonder, but revenue is generated from ad banners which goes directly to the artists that you're sharing. Or something along those lines. What made the news though was the false claim to have signed up 4 of the big music labels, when infact it had only signed on the dotted line with two of them. Which isn't surprising since this is pretty much how Pandora raises it's money but failed to get a deal with any company outside America. However the software's available to download, and is clearly overwhelmed since i've yet to get past the download and register stage to actually see if I can do anything else.

There's also RCRD.LBL which releases free downloads of upcoming unsigned bands and independent labels. It's really worth checking out as there is a mountain of downloadable content on there.

Black Kids are giving away their latest EP to download from the official Black Kids website.

Everyones favourite Might Boosh extras; Robots in disguise, have released their new album and are resorting to myspace friends to phone/txt into radio stations to get there single played, kinda desperate if you ask me, anyway, if you want to listen to the song In the Music Biz. Take a listen My first listen opinion is it sucks lollies, but it might be a grower....I doubt it though.

Voting for Indie Music Awards is now on: You can listen to a track of each band plus there are links to myspace pages and the like.



UPCOMING
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Glastonbury Registration has started, get your name down to be in with a chance of buying a ticket. Registration ends on 14th March. The festival takes place from 27-29 June at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

Operator Please have got a few gigs lined up, alas none of them are in London. Tickets and more info.

Bell X1 Play KCLSU, London on Tuesday 04 March 2008. Listen


MEETUPS
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15th March Button Down Disco @ Koko. A good excuse to drink lots, and dance around to DJ's playing great music, and if we're lucky a live band or two...though to be honest I've no idea if there will be any live music. Keep your eyes peeled on facebook and meetup.

STUFF YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO
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Wolf Parade - Shine a light.
I've no idea how Shine a light ended up on my player, infact I can't even remember buying or downloading their songs, however when Shine a light came on it just blows me away everytime. Download it

Charlot Webster
While it seems that every tom, dick and harry is now a female singer/songwriter like Adele. This is one you wont know about and probably far more talented than most that spring out of the big studios band wagons.

Metronomy
They've been about a while now, playing festivals such as the O2 last year. Though there weird light boxes work best in smaller dark venues...worth checking out.


...and if that's not enough, have a listen to The Moths (only 1 song but more of them at RCRD.LBL)


END
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Mixtape of the month