The Easy Gramophone ft Sunparlour Players

5 songs you can legally download and listen to - free

Feature by Sean Michaels | 13 Sep 2006

1. Sunparlour Players - Talk It To Death (live)
Two Toronto Mennonites get on a stage and thump out a song: it's bass-drum and acoustic guitar, xylophone and bellowed HEYs. While the term "alt.country" might evoke swaying fields of wheat, here it means a pop song to rouse the pigeons in the roof of a barn. With a voice like the Arcade Fire's Win Butler, Garth Hudson summons the winter and banishes it; he sends sparks through this summer's day.
Download at: http://www.sunparlourplayers.com/Music.html

2. Ola Podrida - Instead
Ola Podrida is the work of David Wingo, the Texas songwriter who worked with art-house director David Gordon Green to score films such as 'All the Real Girls' and 'George Washington'. His songs are grassy, flickering folk songs, not far from the realm of Iron and Wine or Elliott Smith. On Instead, his sadness is clothed in spring hues - hear blooms of organ, glittering guitar, Wingo's wistful voice.
Download at: http://www.myspace.com/olapodrida

3. Tap Tap - 100,000 Thoughts
England has joined the world of jangle-jangling yelp-yelping indie rock! Shades of Modest Mouse and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah as Tap Tap handclap and squirm, dance and la-la-la, strum the heartache right outta your chest. It's the sort of song where you can't decide if you should bob your head or dance along, sneakers squeaking. Someone give that bass drum a medal.
Download at: http://catbirdrecords.com/cbr_005.shtml

4. Antarctica Takes It! - I'm No Lover
Another band with an exclamation mark and a rattlin' tambourine; I'm No Lover opens a concept album based around - you guessed it - Antarctica. Listen to clapping hands and galloping snare, creaky violins and kitchen sink percussion, one minute and thirty-seven seconds of fun fun fun. There's just enough time to sneak in a trumpet part that's happier than anything Belle and Sebastian have ever produced: a fanfare announcing the arrival of what might be your new favourite band.
Download at: http://www.myspace.com/antarcticatakesit

5. Wrapping Paper - Hold up the Neon Sign
Overdriven drums and distorted electric guitar are more often the realm of The Hives and Sonic Youth than a wistful pop group like Wrapping Paper. But on Hold Up The Neon Sign the combination works perfectly; as the guitar and drums throw up smoke, a glockenspiel clears the air, bright as sky. Tim's melody's pretty but not too soft - as much Guided By Voices as Jens Lekman, something to roll down your windows to.
Download at: http://www.myspace.com/wrappingpaperston