It turns out that allot of young people subscribe to my free mp3s and I have been getting some requests for more hip hop and pop music. If you know me and my music at all you have probably noticed that I have very eclectic taste so I have been keeping my eye out for the readers.

Jessica Mellott

I heard about Jessica Mellott through a friend who was telling me how she won the LA Music Awards for “Pop Female Singer/Songwriter of the Year”. She is an independent artist who could let us download her MP3 so I thought hey, let’s have a listen…and I really liked the track! I think she has a great voice, and the song “Life Grabs You” has an enjoyable catchy chorus with a super smooth and solid vocal.

Her sound reminds me of Hillary Duff’s Metamorphosis album which is my favorite CD that I have listened to with my daughters. She is going to Berklee College of Music perfecting her craft while she is becoming a big hit on the Web. Much like Hillary, Jessica is huge on Myspace, so check out her profile where she gets up to 4,000 plays a day!

Free Pop MP3 Download: LifeGrabsYou.MP3 (Not licensed under creative commons, for personal downloading, contact artist for more information)

Artist: Jessica Mellott

Website: www.jessicamellott.com

Myspace: myspace.com/jessicamellott

Also this week I revamped my home page to include all my royalty free instrumental background music in one place.  There is a rock love song and some blues tracks up too that were kind of hidden away in my blog.

Have a great week and let me know if you have any requests or suggestions.

Peace,

Dan-O

This week I have been listening to a musicSUBMIT.com artist called “The Above”. Founding member Lenny Stearns has created a very uplifting, energizing electronica sound that struck me as high-quality and enjoyable right away.

What I like about The Above is how they combine elements of new age, rock and techno in a way that blends tastefully. I’m also into the spiritual roots and inspiration that they infuse into the compositions. When you read about the project it’s clear that the music serves it’s purpose - “To inspire you, make you feel good and give you goosebumps”.

The track the act has provided us for download is called “Two Feathers”. It’s an upbeat stunning instrumental mix of Asian embellishments, Spanish guitar and spacious beats with a thumping, popping bass. The production quality is excellent too, so this is a great one to listen to on headphones.

MP3 Download: TwoFeathers.MP3 (Not licensed under creative commons, for personal downloading, contact artist for more information)

Buy CD: http://cdbaby.com/cd/theabove

Artist Name: The Above

Album: The Above

Email: info [at] theabovemusic.com

Website: http://www.theabovemusic.com

Style of music: Electronica/Downtempo/New Age

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theabovemusic

I got to listen to a bunch of other tracks on the CD too. Check out “Beautiful Right Now” it’s a cool vibe with a feel good sample-style lyric.

If you want to check out more chill-out rock and techno instrumentals you can go here on my site.

Dan-O

MusicSubmit.com Website

I was recently checking out this site called Music Submit to see if I wanted to use them to promote some of my music.  The opportunity I came across there was much better than I thought.  I got the chance to sign up as one of their many music resources that review the independent artists that use musicSUBMIT.com instead!

One of the genres I signed up for is “world music” since I am huge fan of instruments from around the world.  You can hear some of the Indian rhythms in my free song download “Night Birds” on my home page, which recently got used as a soundtrack in this fashion video.

I get two submissions from artists every day and at the rate I am going, I pass on 9 out of 10 of them.  I have very particular taste I guess.

Discovering Fumosonic

The band Fumosonic is the first that really grabbed my attention.  They blend percussion from India with American pop and jazz to produce a sound I have really never heard.  That is rare and what I am always waiting for.  The featured performers are John Fumo on trumpet and his wife  Kelly Fumo on vocals.  Its amazing how they combine distorted electric guitar, trumpet and tabla and come up with a very catchy and engaging sound that could be played right along some of the pop tracks on Madonna’s Ray of Light CD (which I love).

Since the point of this blog is to find totally free songs to download and burn I contacted John and asked if we could have permission to allow my favorite song “I Have the Perfect Kind of Love” here for download, and he said to go right ahead.  This is an incredible jam that is unpredictable and inviting during every moment.

Free Song Download: IHavethePerfectKindofLove.MP3 (Not licensed under creative commons, for personal downloading, contact artist for more information)

I won’t go into their entire biography because you can get more information here:

Buy the CD at CDBaby

Fumosonic.com

Fumosonic is really worth listening to and the other tracks on the CD are great too!

Peace and enjoy.

Dan-O

Open Mic Jam Story

I have been going to an open mic in Danbury, CT at a rock n roll bar called Cousin Larrys for many years. Its a great place to try out new material and just jam with friends. In fact the live version of my blues tune “Antarctic Moon” was recorded there on an open mic night.

One of the guys I met at Cousin Larry’s is Pat Fitzgerald who goes by the name “Six7″. He’s a hard rocker with an attitude that doesn’t get on your nerves. Six7 and I have done allot of shows together and I am familiar with his music but I just recently got to listen to his CD.

“The Cookie” Free Hard Rock Mp3

Well his CD rocks and I love this one song called “The Cookie”. So I asked him if he would mind if I upload the track for you to download and listen for free on your iPod or whatever, and he gladly obliged.

Free Music Download: TheCookie.MP3 (with permission for download and copying for personal use from the artist)

I love the loose raw groove in “The Cookie”.  It’s one of the few songs that is hard, dissonant and quirky (a la Primus) but still poppy, fun and keeps throwing unexpected turns at you through the entire track.  My kids listened to this with me and were laughing out loud.

If you want to use six7’s music in a podcast, video or commercial project you can reach him at six7 [at] optonline.net or http://www.myspace.com/six7rock.

Peace and thanks for reading!

Dan