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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Good and Free For Back-To-Work Week

Just in time for Labor Day weekend for some of you (and a patch of light at the end of the first week back after the holiday for the rest of us), here's this week's pick of the freebies and goodies. Get them while they are hot, they are sure to go away after a while.

For UK Readers

These are free from the Amazon UK MP3 store. Amazon UK won't let you download unless you are connecting from a UK IP address, regardless of your account status.

• Kate Walsh Acoustic EP - three lovely acoustic versions of tracks from her new album. The charming-näif-style gets wearing after a while so I'll take some convincing I want the album, but this EP is definitely recommended. This just showed up on Amazon US as well.
  


• Thomas Dybdahl I Need Love Baby, Love, Not Trouble is a good track but isn't grabbing me like his earlier stuff.
  


• The Sargent House Sampler is a real mix, with some decent tracks between - uh - less good ones. My highlights were tracks 1, 5, 7 and 12, especially that last Red Sparowes one which brings to mind The Engineers. This selection is also available from Amazon US.

For US Readers

These are all free from Amazon US MP3 store. Amazon will let you download from anywhere, but only people with a US address and credit card can do so.

• Four Quarters 20/20 World Vision world music sampler. Every track has something good to offer, well worth the download.


• Constance Amiot Clash Dans Le Tempo and Ceumar Feliz e Triste from the Putumayo Digital Sampler (which is not bad but is unlikely to get on my playlist).


• Banda da Boca Samba de Bahia (from a sampler that I listened to so you didn't have to) is delightful, made from group vocalisations.
  


• Dolores O'Riorden The Journey (Cranberries lead singer) off her new solo album. I like it, but then I like The Cranberries.


• Kate Walsh Acoustic EP - see above. Very cute.


• Sargent House Sampler - see above. I can see me buying more Red Sparowes...

It's not music but it's too good a deal to ignore - Cory Doctorow's excellent book Little Brother in hardback for the price of a cheap paperback. It's a modern polemic about digital freedoms, set in San Francisco and intended for children but a good read for everyone.

Labels: Amazon, Books, Music

posted at 12:43 PM (UK) | |