It’s been another week of misbehaving computers round here. If anyone would like to buy me a new hard drive, or indeed a whole new computer, that would be smashing. Maybe I should start a Kickstarter or something. Donate £20 and you can punch me in the face.
Enough of my complaining though, it’s freebie time. Fans of reading stuff at lunchtime will be happy to see I’m back on an earlier schedule this week too.

Mondegreen
A mere year and a half since releasing their first EP, and a year since Peenko and I roped them into gigging for us, Mondegreen have gotten round to making a second one. I was just thinking on the bus today about how long I’ve enjoyed this band - I think about weird things on the bus - and the answer involves things like exchanging messages on MySpace, so ages. Mondegreen play The Glad Cafe on the southside of Glasgow tonight, then at Bloc on September 13th (two days after you are all coming to my next gig yeah?), all of which seems like an awful lot of activity from them. Anyway, go get Aberdoom! here, because it is ace.

Falls
Speaking of people I’ve put on at gigs (have I mentioned that I’ve got another one coming up soon?), loud and handsome Welshmen have gone and slung out a free new single. Two thumbs up for this, one for being right good, another for being well named. Get Heisenberg for free here.

Music Language Festival
The Music Language festival takes place across various spots in Glasgow on this Saturday and Sunday, for full details pop over to the website. To get you into the spirit of things there’s a 19 track download compilation available for whatever price you want here. Some of my favourites from the compilation are Aggi Doom, Hector Bizerk, Big Ned (who I thought had vanished entirely), Palms, Rob St John and Mother Ganga, but there’s plenty more good stuff in there too.

Idle Fret
Lots of good stuff on this compilation from London club night/record label, Idle Fret. Favourites of mine in there include a new song from Monster Island, an oldie but a goodie from The Lovely Eggs and Giant Burger sneaking in to make back to back Friday Freebies appearances. Snag the compilation here.

Congregations
This submission came with an offer to kill to have it included in the freebies. I’m saving the email, just in case I need to call in a favour in future. Circular Ruins is a bit of ambient/electronic music, the kind of stuff that I need to be in a certain mood to properly enjoy, but handily caught me in that mood at about 3am on the first listen, so enjoy it I did. You can name your price for the download from Bandcamp.

Secret Motorbikes
I’m possibly just tired, but the info section of the Secret Motorbikes Facebook page has highly amused me. Here’s a new song from them. It’s free here. Good too. “Good too” - an internet blog.

The Darien Venture
The Darien Venture have a new EP somewhere up their sleeves, due out later in the year. To help you work up an appetite for it you can get hold of a free three song sampler here.

Gastric Band
I won’t lie, I’ve barely listened to this, and it is being included almost entirely on the basis of the pervy album art. I’ll listen to it later, if it turns out to be terrible I’ll quietly edit this part out and hope no one notices. Download Party feel here.

The State Broadcasters
This has been a bit of a week for “blimey, I’ve not heard anything from them in ages!” entries. The State Broadcasters have been fairly active of late, with gigs and singles and such, but it has been a long time since that first album. Not to worry though, their second album is just a few weeks from release - of of the perks of being a barely known internet blog is that I’ve heard it already, and liked it plenty - and they’ve got a new, free single available now to put you in the mood for Ghosts We Must Carry. Download Kittiwake for free here.

I’m out of clever ways to plug the next Aye Tunes gig - some might say that I never had clever ways in the first place - so here’s a clumsy and inelegant reminder that I’M PUTTING ON A GIG ON THE 11TH AND YOU SHOULD COME. Thanks.

Got the year right first try this time.Still didn’t get the post finished for lunchtime though.
Sorry, I was laughing at a ferret.

Louie
Hot off the presses, this one. Recorded just yesterday, here’s a brand spanking new slab of hip hop from one half of Hector Bizerk. Download Stoichkov for free here.

Giant Burger
Related to Baaneex, who I liked and had on before, Giant Burger do proggy, folky rock that I struggle to describe. There’s nothing hackneyed about these guys! They come from Hackney. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Anyway, find there stuff here, there’s some name your price downloads, and a 7″ you can buy.

Sean Armstrong
Practically worth a Friday Freebies column of its own, Sean Armstrong has released his third album, and didn’t hold back in the process. 71 (seventy one!) tracks, a couple of hours long, and available for whatever you feel like paying, you can get Effluvial Juggernaut here.

Aidan Moffat
Recorded as part of Scottish Book Trust’s My Favourite Places project, here’s Aidan Moffat singing about about the wall where he used to meet up and hang about with his mates as a Falkirk youngster. Free download here.

Euros Childs
Him again. It’s not my fault Euros has been busy. This week he released his latest album, which is, unsurprisingly, rather good. Summer Special can be downloaded here, and you can make a donation for it, or buy a physical copy.

Male Pattern Band
I’d thought Male Pattern Band had pretty much chucked it, since they all but vanished for a while there. They haven’t though, they’ve come back with a new line up and a new song. Download Sunday Driver for free here.

Tribal Fighters
Rounding off the freebies this week are a band we’ve not had on here since Christmas. Manchester gents Tribal Fighters have been beavering away at their debut EP, and now it’s been set free into the big wide World for you to have a listen. You can listen to it, and download it for whatever price you fancy, at Bandcamp.

That’s your lot, see you next week at another random time on Friday.

Who had three weeks on the “how long until Jim is late with the freebies” sweepstake? I’m only a couple of hours behind schedule, so I’m not that late. Blame a combination of my computer being a temperamental wee bitch and me having spent most of the week scrabbling around trying to book the next Aye Tunes gig. That’s on September 11th by the way, but I’ll tell you more about it later.

Kowalskiy
First freebie of the week is a multi band one, as Kowalskiy has his latest free EP out now. Featuring tracks from Esperi, Slow Building Seas, Shooting Stansfield, Run/Lucky/Free and The Sunset Clause, you can grab the EP for free here.

Father Sculptor
I told you they’d be in the freebies a fair bit. Father Sculptor continue releasing a new song every fortnight, with the latest, Aristide, available here.

Neil Milton
Long term friend of the blog Neil Milton has not one, but two new EPs out. They are name your price rather than free, so if you want to pay a few quid for them, that would be good. Skies is available here, while Seas is available here.

The Cherry Wave
This lot are pretty new, I think. If you like fuzzy, lo-fi, droney shoegazey alt-rock, and goodness knows I do, then pick up their EP for free here. They also play their first gig at Pivo Pivo on Sunday.

Burning Buildings
Here’s a twinkly new song from Manchester’s Burning Buildings, available for free here. I rather like it.

Euros Childs
The former Gorky’s man is back again, with another new single ahead of the imminent release of his latest album. That’s Better can be downloaded here for free, or you can make a donation if the mood strikes you.

Peenko’s Pick
Cancel the Astronauts
Peenko’s choice of freebie this week is a preview of the debut album from Cancel the Astronauts. Making Dynamite is available for free here, and you can listen to the whole Animal Love Match album here. It’s a cracking album, and I’ll have more about it on the blog soon.

Politics and music blogs are two things that shouldn’t really go together if you ask me, but it’s probably worth noting than one thing I reckon should be free on this particular Friday, isn’t. If you’ve not seen the news yet, Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in jail each. It’s hardly a surprise that Russia isn’t a wonderful oasis of human rights and free speech, but it’s still lousy.

It’s Friday, here’s a bunch of music that you can get without paying any money.
Enjoy, and do let us know if there’s anything that tickles your fancy.

Discopolis
Starting off with something bleepy from Discopolis, Summer Mixtape is available for free here. Two new tracks, two new versions of old ones, all for nowt.

Rollor
From bleeps to distortion, Rollor have a new album! I forgot about this last week, apologies. Beats In Men Shapes is available from Bandcamp as a free download, or you can buy it on tape.

Evil Hand
Evil Hand just finished the first track from their as yet untitled new album Rather kindly, it’s available as a free download. Get Ten years here. S’good.

Chemikal Underground
Released a wee while ago on Amazon, Chemikal have now made their label compilation Secret Hits available to download for free on their website. Containing tracks from Chemikal releases old and new, it’s pretty much brilliant. Get it here.

Be Like Pablo
Be Like Pablo were a couple of hours to late for inclusion last week, so here they are this time round. They’ve made their debut album, The New Adventures, available to download for absolutely free, all you have to do is register at their website. It’s a nice wee pop album, goes well with sunshine, and worth signing up for.

Fresh Fringe
Another year, another Fringe, and another compilation from the people at Fresh Air Radio. The Inside Track Volume 3 has ace bands like PAWS, Sparrow and the Workshop, Kill the Waves, Dolfinz and more on it. It also has Bwani Junction and The LaFontaines, but there’s a down side to everything. You can name your price for the download, but do note proceeds go to the Waverly Care charity when choosing your sum. The album is available from Bandcamp.

Pulco
Described by Pulco himself as “a bit eclectic and weird”, the Eh - Vont - Gade EP mixed odd noises with spoken word packages. It is a bit eclectic, and a bit weird, and I like it. Grab it for free at Bandcamp.

Falls
If you missed out on Falls playing in Glasgow a few weeks ago for Aye Tunes (and statistically you probably did, I was counting) then you missed out on having to peel your eyelids from your face after they finished. You can however get hold of a few of their songs, as four demos are available for free on Bandcamp.

Zombie Girlfriend
Zombie Girlfriend are my favourite Hungarian lo-fi garage rock band. Admittedly, they are the only one I know, but that doesn’t stop them being fab. They’ve just followed up last year’s Music For Porn album (one of my favourite albums of 2011) with not one but two new EPs. Gray and Pink & Blue will cost you a minimum of $1 each on Bandcamp, but if you hop over there and look closely you’ll see how you can get them for free if you are cheap.

Peenko’s Pick
Holy Esque
“I guess it’s true that the Scottish blogosphere can quite often be accused of over hyping up and coming bands, only to see them fall flat on their face when they venture south of the border. In Holy Esque I reckon we have a band that seem to be living up to their early buzz. Following on from their cracking self-titled EP, the band are currently giving away a free download of an track called ‘Tear’, every time I hear this band I can’t help but think of Two Gallants, which is no bad thing in my eyes/ears. If that sounds like it might be your cup of tea then get downloading here.”

It’s been an interesting wee week in the Scottish music blog World, with both The Pop Cop and Peenko making a few changes top how they run. Never one to miss an opportunity, and in an attempt to make myself do at least one post a week, with Peenko’s blessing I’m taking over his long running Friday Freebies feature.
He now owns a 51% controlling stake in my soul. More fool him.

So, stop by here on a Friday afternoon and I’ll try to keep your ears busy with a selection of free (or sometimes “pay what you want”) music. Maybe you’ll even like some of it?

Father Sculptor
With the promise of a new, free song ever fortnight over the summer I’d imagine Father Sculptor might make a few appearances here. Their latest release, Frances, came out this week and can be downloaded for free here. Have a little click round their Bandcamp page while you are there and you’ll find some other treats too.

Magnetic Island
This Brooklyn bunch’s self titled debut album came out at the start of the year, as has been a firm favourite with me since. Nice timing then that this free download popped up in my inbox just as I inherited a feature dedicated to free downloads, so I can feature it! Magnetic Island’s bare bones take on the Sleater-Kinney song Turn It On is available free from their Soundcloud page, and you can listen/download from the wee embedded player below too.

Battery Face
Battery Face released their debut album, Addams Family Values, earlier this week. Nine tracks of noisy alt rock, each taking a name from an Addams Family character. A bit experimental, a bit messy, and quite a large amount of fun. Addams Family Values is available as a name your price download, or you can buy a pretty looking CD, at Bandcamp.

The Spook School
I love The Spook School, they are fab and contain my favourite regularly shirtless drummer. They’ve also got a 7″ coming out soon on US label Cloudberry Records. That 7″ is available for pre-order now from the Cloudberry website, where you can also snag a free download of A-side Here We Go. Hop over here and scroll down a bit.

Thirty Pounds of Bone
Confession time, I mostly missed out on The Ships Log until this week. This week happened to see the final instalment of it though, so I didn’t snooze too long. I’ve come to expect really good things from Thirty Pounds of Bone, and Mr. Lamb has yet to let me down. Download free from Bandcamp, and find out the full story behind the project there too.

Tiny Birds
How about something rather jaunty sounding? Well, here’s Tiny Birds with their new single Bread and Pickle, coming along to remind me that not all a bit twee jaunty indie-folk-pop sets me teeth on edge. That’s supposed to be a recommendation, by the way. Download Bread and Pickle for free here.

Relatives
More people from Brooklyn? Well, ok then. This is the kind of thing that all too often pops up in my inbox, gets listened to lots and enjoyed, but never actually makes it on the blog, so hopefully now there’ll be less of that kind of thing happening now I’ve got the freebies to mention stuff in. Relatives have a couple of gigs in Scotland coming up in September, so I’ll get back to them properly before they come to visit, but in the meantime their latest EP Tardy Mark has been floating my boat. It’s a bit folky, a bit odd, and can be had for the price of your choosing on Bandcamp.

Doppelganger
When both the lovely Welsh bands that have travelled up to Glasgow for an Aye Tunes gig recommend someone at the same time, I pay attention. So it happened that Falls and Exit_International nudged me in the direction of Doppleganger. Their three track EP is a nice wee slab of rock, and free to download here. Play loud.

Scottish Fiction
Before I go it would be poor form of me not to direct you towards our blog buddies Scottish Fiction. Not only is the latest instalment of their monthly free EPs available now, but to celebrate one year of putting them together, there’s a treasure hunt going on with 12 new tracks scattered across the previously released EPs. Head over to the Scottish Fiction blog to find out more, and Bandcamp to download.

Peenko’s Pick
That’s right, we’ve not gotten rid of him entirely. Peenko will be lending a hand when he feels like it with his choice of freebie of the week. To start with he’s nominated Euros Childs. This double A-side was released way back at the end of May, and is a pretty ace little slice of pop, with Childs backed on the single by the gentlemen from The Wellgreen.
Spin That Girl Around/Just a Dream is available to download here. You can donate to Euros if you want there too.
Here’s what Peenko has to say about it:
“So this all a bit odd, me writing about a free track on Aye Tunes?! I think it’s pretty safe to say that this has been one crazy old week on the Scottish blogging scene. Personally I think it’s great to see so many changes happening at once, it’s always good to freshen things up a bit.
Thanks to Jim for taking over the Friday Freebies mantle, good luck that dude! Being the nice fella that he is, Jim has offered me the chance to contribute one free track every week. To start it all off I have decided to go with former Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci frontman, Euros Childs and his track ‘Spin That Girl Around’ which is available to download from his homepage.
Although this came out a few months back, I only just started listening to it last week after he impressed the fuck (I am allowed to swear on here right?) out of me at Fence Record’s Away Game Festival on Eigg. Most of the weekend is a still a bit hazy, but I can remember loving this song. It’s a catchy wee bugger alright.”
I don’t know, you let him in and already he’s swearing all over the place. Tch.