Monday, July 15, 2013

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

          As noted in previous blog entries, on the fifteenth (the "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 29 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 29 songs in the MAP collection.
                There are three options:
     1. You can merely listen to the 29 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 29 in a ZIP file at CLICK HERE.

     We look forward to each collection of tracks from MAP, because of the promise of discovery. With certain songs on our personal playlists of favored music, we can identify a single instance that brought awareness of the song. That is, if not for a specific blog, concert or television program, it’s possible that we would be unaware of the song. More than once, the awareness stems from the MAP monthly offerings.
     Unfortunately, the July collection is smaller than normal and contains only a few tracks that seem blog-worthy after only one or two listens. Looking at it optimistically, the July MAP collection may be “chock full” of songs that can be appreciated only after multiple listens.

     Trials and Ways (the contribution from the United States) is a band we have seen in concert twice this year. We only reviewed one, but both concerts were very favorable experiences. The band hales from Oakland, California, and associates itself with the dreampop genre. The MAP contribution is “Como Te Vas.” The SoundCloud stream indicates that the song is available for free download, which it is, but through MAP and not Soundcloud. A second Trails and Ways song is included, but it is not available for free download from either SoundCloud or MAP – we just like it.
     "Como Te Vas" by Trails and Ways

     "Border Crosser" by Trails and Ways (this one is not a MAP offering)


      Noiserv (the contribution from Portugal) is David Santos. Santos is one of the better artists of the growing number of multi-instrument solo musicians.
     “Today Is The Same As Yesterday, But Yesterday Is Not Today” by Noiserv (this is not currently available on SoundCloud)


     Air Marshal Landing is the source of the Canadian contribution. We owe these guys an apology. They sent us emails that invited us to be one of the first blogs to introduce them, but we missed the boat. My Bad.
     "Move with You" by Air Marshal Landing


     The contribution from Italy is “Sixteen” by Wolther Goes Stranger. But it has been censored by Indie Obsessive.

     Kins is the source of the contribution from Australia. It is synth-pop heavy, which that may be a “plus” for some of our readers.
     "Aimless" by Kins

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