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

          As noted each month, on the fifteenth (the "Ides") of the month the Music Alliance Pact (MAP) makes a collection of songs available for free and legal download. MAP is a collective of 27 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 27 songs in the MAP collection.

              There are three options:

     1. You can merely listen to the 27 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 27 songs in a ZIP file at CLICK HERE. 

     The January offering is one of the stronger ones. In some months, we hunt for songs that might have long term interest if given enough attention. On the other hand, this month some songs are not embedded below because we have a concern that too many songs in a post is discouraging for readers with slow Internet connectivity.

     Beerjacket is an interesting name for a band. It’s a Scottish band that will release an album later this month. The song “Antlers” will be one of the thirteen songs on the album. Unfortunately, “Antlers” is not yet available on Soundcloud or Bandcamp. But it is available within the MAP offer. As a taste, embedded below is an acoustic version.

     Spain contributes some interesting pop guitar work. The song is "Keep Moving" by Polar Beats.

 
     The contribution from France is the song “Faith” by Bloum. This contribution is Indie Electronic, which is a clear departure from the Beerjacket song.

      A second interesting band name comes from Portugal - You Can’t Win, Charlie Brown. The song “Be My World” is simple but attractive, particularly as instruments are added starting with the electric guitar at the 2:26 mark of the song.

     Staying with songs that are minimalistic in part, the Romanian contribution is “Bebop” from Velosonics.

     India offers a post-rock song with vocals. The band is As We Keep Searching and the song is Tattva.

     Queridas is from Argentina. “Drama Bomb” is the MAP song.