iTunes: Free Wednesday
Once again, TUAW is pleased to present you with a selection of free songs and videos from around the world. Many of these iTMS items won't be free for long, so grab your copies before the week is up. And don't forget: If you want to buy these on your iPhone or iPod touch, make sure to sign into your account in iTunes before you sync.
Follow the jump for all of this week's tasty free goodness.
US Items
US: Hercules and Love Affair, Blind - Single of the Week
Each week we find a track from an artist or a band we've been enjoying and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. Hercules and Love Affair is basically one Andy Butler, who has invited a variety of people aboard to vocalise his electro-pop experiments. "Blind" is an extraordinary record thanks to the inclusion of Antony (he of the Johnsons), who plays the role of melancholy, amazingly-voiced, electro ingenue like Jimmy Somerville and Alison Moyet before him. The group is signed to James Murphy's DFA imprint, so you shouldn't be too surprised when Hercules and Love Affair go global sometime this year.
US: James Carter, Bossa J.C. - Discovery Download
On this original composition, James Carter lays down a subtle understated groove driven by elegant arrangements, carefully pared down to the essentials. Says Carter: "I'm dealing with more lyricism on this album, and I'm making more concise statements in the music versus playing out for 10 or 11 minutes." This creates the perfect setting for Carter's solowork - and work it is, as he leaps large intervals in single bounds that would make any superhero blanch. Little wonder then, that the Detroit native recently topped Downbeat's annual Critics Poll in the Baritone Saxophone category for the third year in a row. Our Discovery Download puts the focus on a different genre each week, offering up a free track we think is worth your attention.
US: Valeria Gastaldi, Despertar - Canción de la Semana
Each week, we find a track from an artist or a band who's on the cusp of success and bring it to you, for free, as our Canción de la Semana. Argentinean singer Valeria Gastaldi branches out on her own with this new song from her solo album Cuando No Estas. The former reality TV show winner and member of the pop group Bandana creates her own brand of light and hook-filled contemporary rock with a sugary edge. "Depertar" has a dreamy, sing-along quality that makes it one of stand-out tracks on the new release.
US: Ax Men, Ax Men, Season 1
Explore the past and present of the rough-and-tumble logging industry in the first-ever nonfiction series about the treacherous life of Pacific Northwest timber cutters, Ax Men. For more than a hundred years, larger-than-life characters, many of whom are members of logging families that go back to the time when the West was being settled, have spent their days among towering trees and powerful machines, and their nights in outposts far from the comforts of civilization. Snapped cables, runaway logs, and treacherous machinery are among the many dangers that threaten their lives and safety today. Follow four logging crews through a season in the remote forests of northwest Oregon and see how - plagued by mechanical failures, relentless weather, and violent and unpredictable terrain - these men risk their lives every day in a constant struggle of man versus nature.
International Music
Australia: The Ting Tings, We Walk - Single of the Week
Each week, we find a track from an artist or a band who's on the cusp of success and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. Without a doubt one of the most exciting new pop bands to come out of the UK in a very long time, the Ting Tings become the definition of raw adrenaline and snappy choruses on their debut release "We Started Nothing". Angular guitar work, whipsmart drumming and a succession of loops permeate the album, and the synth-pop "We Walk" is no exception. Get a taste of the Ting Tings flavour for free right now.
New Zealand: The Ting Tings, We Walk - Single of the Week
Each week, we find a track from an artist or a band who's on the cusp of success and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. Without a doubt one of the most exciting new pop bands to come out of the UK in a very long time, the Ting Tings become the definition of raw adrenaline and snappy choruses on their debut release "We Started Nothing". Angular guitar work, whipsmart drumming and a succession of loops permeate the album, and the synth-pop "We Walk" is no exception. Get a taste of the Ting Tings flavour for free right now.
Canada: She & Him, Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? - Single of the Week
M. Ward is an incredibly good musician whose albums like Post-War and Transistor Radio are a mixture of hushed folk-blues and gloriously sad and romantic pop songs. Zooey Deschanel is a film actress who has starred in films like Almost Famous and Elf. What's more . . . she can actually sing. Together they make up She & Him - indie-pop duo whose music is like countrified Dusty Springfield songs with a bit of sweetened Patsy Cline on top. The slightly British Invasion pop of "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here" is our free Single of the Week. Each week, we find a track from an artist or a band who's on the cusp of success and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week.
Nederland: Plantlife, Sumthin About Her - Single Van de Week
Iedere week vinden we een nummer van een artiest of band die op het punt staat door te breken, en bieden het jou dat aan als Single van de Week. "The Joke Is On Me", is een geestig, springerig en vrolijk popnummer van Gram, uit Amsterdam. Gram is eigenlijk het kind van Marg van Eenbergen (Gram is Marg achterstevoren, snappie?) en zij zweeft door dit nummer van haar album Four Letter Word, het lijkt wel een Belle & Sebastian b-kant. Als je houdt van popmuziek met een snelle Motown vibe, met vleugjes hoorngeschal en ietwat hese Franse chanson-achtige vocals (en wie houdt daar nu niet van?), dan is dit echt iets voor jou.
UK: Cut Copy, Lights & Music - Single of the Week
EEach week we find a track from an artist or a band we've been enjoying and bring it to you, for free, as our Single of the Week. Cut Copy blew us away at South by Southwest in Texas back in the early spring. Their new album, In Ghost Colours is an exercise in drawing parallels between favourites old and new and trying to find a meeting point in between - from the vocodered robo-pop of French house to prog's soaring harmonies to the texture of shoegaze, "Lights and Music" lands at some sort of trans-galactic intersection between these disparate planets.
France: Didier Super, Je veux être une star - Single de la semaine
Single de la semaine
Japan: ONE OK ROCK, 100%(hundred percent) - 今週のシングル
ブレイク直前、注目の新進アーティストを紹介するこのページ。今週は、シングル「内秘心書」でメジャーデビューしたてのロックバンド、ONE OK ROCK(ワンオクロック)。激しくしなやかな美しさのあるメロディアスなロックサウンド、10代の心情を巧みに表現した歌詞、しっかりしたヴォーカルは一度聴いただけで耳に残るはず。シンプルながら揺るぎない底力を感じさせて今後が楽しみな彼らの"100%(hundred percent)"をフリーダウンロード!
