exploremusic

Here’s the Deal with Exit Stencil

This is an interesting way to let people know about your record label.  There’s a company called Exit Stencil (say it fast and you’ll get the pun).  They’re an indie label based out of Cleveland.  Not a lot of people know about them, so to fix that, they’ve made nearly every single bit of music in their entire catalogue available free for the entire month.

This includes 7-inch releases, 12-inch remixes and albums.  If it’s been digitized, it can be yours for nothing down and no payments, ever.  A lot of these bands will be completely brand new to you—but if you’re into discovering new music, that’s perfect. 

Here’s the Deal with iTunes

Speaking of digital music, iTunes pushed out an update this week.  This is version 9.0.3.  One of the things it fixes is that iTunes will no longer ignore your “Remember password for purchases” setting.  About time.  That was annoying.

Here’s the Deal with Big Upcoming Albums

I had a chance to hear some unreleased albums yesterday.  First, there’s Peter Gabriel’s album of covers called Scratch My Back.  The first single will be he re-imagining of a Lou Reed song called “The Power of the Heart.”  Meanwhile, Pete’s offering a free download of a song called “Flume,” which is a Bon Iver cover.  Here’s the link. 

Then there’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.  Their next record is Beat the Devil’s Tattoo.  The Canadian single will be a fuzzy thing called “Conscious Killer.”  It’s very good.  The whole thing will be out March 9.  They just had a ton of gear stolen, too, including some very sweet and very irreplaceable guitars. 

And I got a peak at the solo album from Slash.  No title yet, but it might be F’n R’n’R.  Lots of guest appearances, including Chris Cornell, Ozzy, Lemmy, Iggy, Fergie, Dave Grohl—and Ian Astbury of the Cult.  In fact, that song with Ian will be the first single.  It’s called “Ghost.”  No release date yet, but I’d bet on April.

Here’s the Deal with My Sister Ocean

And let’s end with this.  On Monday, I told you about the Edmonton band, My Sister Ocean.  They have a plan to release a new song on the first Tuesday of every month for a year. 

We played the January song on the show earlier in the week and the February song just came out.  It’s called “Burn the Truth”.

In the end, everything will be compiled into an album called “The Month of Tuesday”.

There’s also a goofy video where Sarah Palin expresses here hate for My Sister Ocean.  You have to see it to understand.