It’s the Ides of April – Music Alliance Pact (MAP)

     As noted in the blog entries of February 15^th and March 15^th, on the fifteenth ("Ides")  of each month the Music Alliance Pact (MAP) makes a collection of songs available for free and legal download. MAP is a collective of 36 blogs (at least) in an equal number of countries.  Each blog chooses a song by an artist from its home country for the monthly post.  Approval from each artist is a requirement. This month, there are 37 songs in the MAP collection.

     There are three options:

1. You can merely listen to the 37 songs at one of the MAP authorized sites. For example, the Scottish participant is The Pop Cop, and the MAP page is accessed by CLICKING HERE. 

2. You can selectively download the songs by going to one of the MAP authorized sites and using the "Save as" capability of your web browser.

3. You can download all 40 in a ZIP file at CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ZIP SITE.

     For the April collection, our recommendations are:

     1. Austria's Francis International Airport. This band was the subject of a February blog entry. If you appreciate "The Right Ones," check out the other songs of our February entry - CLICK HERE.

     2. England's Tiny Dancer. We don't know the original name of this 18 year old and cannot confirm that her performance name is based on the Elton John song. In MAP, the introductory paragraph for Tiny Dancer notes a similarity to the singing style of Gwen Stefani. The comparison is appropriate. So, fans of No Doubt, or Stefani as a solo artist, should sample the music of Tiny Dancer.
     "Who Am I?" by Tiny Dancer


      3. Russia's On-The-Go. The MAP description identifies the genre as “dreamy indie pop.” But we favor the central portion of the almost 6-minute song, when the band gets away from the vocals and moves closer to a post-rock style.
     "Deception" by On-The-Go

     4. Scotland's Father Sculptor. The MAP collection features the song “Sault.” We recognize that Father Sculptor and the blog that nominated the song (“The Pop Cop,” which is one of our favorite blogs) have other considerations. But if the only factor were taking advantage of the attention given to MAP in order to promote the band, we would have selected the song “Blue” from a previous release or “Lowlands” from the same EP that includes the MAP selection. So, in order to promote this band, we are including a non-MAP song below (namely, “Blue”).
     "Sault" by Father Sculptor - this is the song in the MAP collection.

     "Blue" by Father Sculptor - this is the song not in the MAP collection

     5. South Korea's Rainbow99. Maybe it’s just that the political situation in North Korea  makes everything from South Korea seem more relevant, but we like “Walk.“ Unfornunately, we cannot find a legal stream of "Walk," so you'll need to go a MAP site to hear it. But here is a different song from Rainbow99.
     "Soda" by Rainbow99