Perhaps everything is free in the age of downloading, but more and more artists are releasing music free of charge. Or, rather, free of the idea of initially charging for music. Though it’s a tough environment for musicians to try and make a living, some artists — such as Brooklyn hip-hop duo Das Racist — have built and broadened their audience because of their free tunes.
With the growing presence of Bandcamp, which allows bands to upload and customize paying options for their music, the ability to share new, free music has never been easier. Which has also led to a certain glut of free music. Still, with so many free mixtapes, blog-sponsored compilations, and band-sponsored MediaFire download links, a handful of free albums have managed to stand out.
These may not be everyone’s top picks, and there’s always a good chance something no one’s noticed this year will be a huge hit in 2011 — Tyler, the Creator’s free album from last year, Bastard, saw many reviews packed with praise just this year. Ultimately, these are the albums and collections of songs that stuck out and stuck with me in 2010.
Album: EARL
Label: Odd Future
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US Release Date: 2010-03-31
UK Release Date: 2010-03-31
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List number: 10
Earl Sweatshirt
EARL
Of all the rappers in the Odd Future crew, a collective of L.A. teens who have captured the minds of many music critics and bloggers, Earl Sweatshirt has the most palatable and accessible tunes. Much of the conversation about the crew has been focused on morality: that being, how can we listen to kids who spit out misogynistic rhymes about rape and violence that seem tethered to reality due to the sparse and bleak instrumentation beneath their shocking prose? Yet, Sweatshirt stands out because he fully confronts the absurd nature of his rhymes and lyrics. Take the opening few lines to “Earl”: “I’m a hot and bothered astronaut / Crashing while jacking off to buffering vids of Asher Roth eating applesauce.” Sure, it sounds dark and depraved, but there’s a bit of humor in the bleak imagery that’s quite compelling.
Album: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010
UK Release Date: 2010
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List number: 9
It’s a King Thing
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Philadelphia-area indie-pop act It’s a King Thing has quietly been churning out emo-flavored pop-rock akin to the Get Up Kids for years. Perhaps that’s why their newest album, despite having one of the more annoying album titles around, sounds so well polished. The twelve tunes in Buffalo are the kind that could easily pack a big venue with folks looking for hook-filled, sweet-natured tunes. Perhaps giving an album away for free will help It’s a King Thing get there.
Album: More About Nothing
Label: The Board Administration
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US Release Date: 2010-08-03
UK Release Date: 2010-08-03
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List number: 8
Wale
More About Nothing
Wale’s major label debut, 2009’s Attention Deficit, didn’t quite light up the music world the same way his earlier collection of mixtapes did. But rather than sulk in defeat, Wale jumped back into the fold by returning to his breakout mixtape, the Seinfeld-inspired Mixtape About Nothing, with this year’s More About Nothing. Perhaps the lukewarm reception Wale received for what was supposed to be his big mainstream hit was the kick in the pants he needed to churn out some more great material, though at 21 songs, More About Nothing is a tad sluggish. Fortunately, Wale’s sheer passion and perseverance make More About Nothing an enjoyable listening experience.
Album: Remainder
Label: Community Records
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US Release Date: 2010-05-11
UK Release Date: 2010-05-11
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List number: 7
Caddywhompus
Remainder
New Orleans’ Caddywhompus makes the kind of indie music that straddles the line between a perfect, complex mathematical equation and utter chaos. Though only a duo, the band is able to make lush blasts of noise that streamline diverse sounds that are trademarks of some top-tier names in indie such as No Age and Animal Collective. Sure, it may sound like a bit of a mess, and some points of Remainder certainly are turbulent: fortunately, the chaos on the album’s eight tracks is the creatively induced kind that many musicians before Caddywhompus have tried, and failed, to create.
Album: Fear of a Clear Channel Planet
Label: Ruby Hornet
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US Release Date: 2010-03-15
UK Release Date: 2010-03-15
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List number: 6
BBU
Fear of a Clear Channel Planet
BBU is the kind of hip-hop act that comes out guns blazing. “BB Who?”, the first proper track on this year’s Fear of Clear Channel Planet is an energized blast of fast-paced juke music that sees the Chicago trio passionately name-check everyone from OutKast to Bad Brains, Nina Simone to Gil Scott-Heron. The fact that the mixtape is a riff on Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet is intentional: BBU’s sound owes a lot to P.E., and the mixtape features songs that juggle political sloganeering, unexpected and shocking blasts of noise, cultural demystification, and thrilling, danceable tunes. Clear Channel Planet isn’t without a few bum notes, but when BBU is on, the result is electrifying.
5 – 1
Album: The Anchorman Mixtape
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010-08-11
UK Release Date: 2010-08-11
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List number: 5
k-os
The Anchorman Mixtape
When Canadian rapper k-os dropped The Anchorman Mixtape this summer, a lot of write-ups tended to focus on three distinct questions: Why an Anchorman-themed mixtape now? What’s Drake doing on this mixtape? What’s a k-os? Fortunately, anyone who got past those questions discovered a real gem of a mixtape. In a collection of tunes packed with guest spots, k-os muscles his way in and takes a stand, delivering some outstanding rhymes with a simply dynamic flow. The mixtape’s presentation is borderline gimmicky, but k-os makes it work, and makes it sound great.
Album: Shit Computer
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010-10-18
UK Release Date: 2010-10-18
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List number: 4
Kids & Explosions
Shit Computer
Girl Talk delivered a surprise new, free album in the middle of November. Yet, All Day is missing from this list. That’s because the best free mash-up album of the year goes to Kids & Explosions’ Shit Computer. On this debut album, Kids & Explosions delivers everything that’s been missing from Girl Talk’s music since Night Ripper: tunes like “Everything” and “Use Your Words” are informed by a singular voice, not by the presence of well-known pop song sampling. There’s real warmth to the ditties on Shit Computer, and it helps create a great range of emotions at play on the album. Instead of spending your time trying to figure out what bands are sampled in a particular song, Shit Computer is the kind of album you can put on and simply experience as its own distinct and complete product.
Album: Signals/Supple Youth Tour Mixtape
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010-03-29
UK Release Date: 2010-03-29
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List number: 3
Signals Presents
Signals/Supple Youth Tour Mixtape
Part of what makes the Signals/Supple Youth Tour Mixtape so great is that it helps document the ever-evolving independent music scene in LA. There are four new offerings from Signals, a trio formed in the ashes of sorely missed spaz-punk act the Mae Shi. There are great tunes from acts like Abe Vigoda, Bipolar Bear, and Hawnay Troof. There’s even a Crass-Liquid Liquid mash-up, and a fantastic remix of Major Lazer’s “Pon De Floor” by Jacob Safari and Kid Static. Free Internet compilations come and go, but Signals/Supple Youth is one of the few that feels lovingly crafted by a constantly evolving musical community.
Album: Thunder Zone Vol. 1
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010-02-09
UK Release Date: 2010-02-09
Album: Journeyman from the Heartland
Label: Self-released
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US Release Date: 2010-10-19
UK Release Date: 2010-10-19
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List number: 2
Juiceboxxx
Thunder Zone and Journeyman from the Heartland
Milwaukee rapper Juiceboxxx has toiled away in the underground for years, sparsely releasing EPs and singles before he dropped his first two mixtapes this year. Though thematically unconnected, they represent two distinct sides the rapper constantly wrestles with in his music. Thunder Zone is a party mix, filled with plenty of remixes, drops from famous friends, and fist-pumping anthems. Journeyman is a down-to-the-basics rapper’s mixtape on which Juiceboxxx’s rap skills are front and center. Both offer some of the best songs in his growing discography and should be seen as a whole for any new listener looking to wade in the waters of one of hip-hop’s more audacious voices.
Download Journeyman from the Heartland
Album: Shut Up, Dude
Label: Mishka, Greedhead
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US Release Date: 2010-03-29
UK Release Date: 2010-03-29
Album: Sit Down, Man
Label: Mishka, Made Decent, Greedhead
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US Release Date: 2010-09-14
UK Release Date: 2010-09-14
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List number: 1
Das Racist
Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man
A year ago, few people could have seen Das Racist’s one-two mixtape punch coming. Or, at least, few people would have admitted to it. It seemed every corner of the Internet took a different condescending tone with the Brooklyn rap duo, largely because of their rapid ascension to Internet fame thanks to the irrepressibly catchy song, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”. Fortunately, that song is only one side of the band, a fact Das Racist’s Victor Vazquez and Himanshu Suri made clear with the 36 songs not named “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” that appear on Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man.
Released in March, Shut Up, Dude clued many skeptics into the raw intelligence, humor, and spirit hiding under the surface of the duo’s most famous song. Songs like “Who’s That? Brooown!” and “Hugo Chavez” are packed with rhymes that strike a balance between name-checking pop culture and questioning racial identity that’s both fresh and sharp. Shut Up, Dude feels like a well-tuned album, with a few strong singles — “You Oughta Know”, “Rainbow in the Dark”, and, of course, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” — to boot: the yang to Shut Up, Dude‘s ying, Sit Down, Man, feels like a proper mixtape. Packed with plenty of guest spots from well-known hip-hop artists (Jay-Z, El-P, Diplo), Das Racist stepped up its game to deliver plenty of smart stanzas in one great tune after another. Mixtapes in hip-hop were (and, arguably, still are) a place for artists to flex their musical muscles, and by and large the group managed to do just that on nearly every track of Sit Down, Man. Alone, these two mixtapes are more than noteworthy efforts, but as a packaged whole, Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man make for one highly irresistible and downright memorable musical creation.
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