December 3 -

We’re offering up a double dose of free music for our lovely readers this Friday. Consider it an early Christmas present, an on-time Hanukkah present and a sign of more free music to come.

First up is free music via Matthew Loiacono, musically-known as Matthew Carefully, who recently updated the free music section of the Collar City Records website. New are some tracks of “soulful lamentations” from Ike Snopes, and you can fill out your music library with other offerings from the Collar City musicians if you haven’t already. If you’re short on megabytes, we recommend “Community Balloon” and “Penny Riddle” from Matthew Carefully as well as the “We Are Giants Now” EP from Ben Karis-Nix.

The second item isn’t actually from a local band, but it does come via my favorite radio station for local music, 97.7 WEXT. This independent, listener-funded radio station is the only one that commits to playing local music every hour and has great programs like the Local 518.

Check out their Facebook post, offering up a free download of the G Love track “Fixin’ to Die”, produced by the alt-folk Avett Brothers.

Are you an area musician will free music in need of some ears? Drop us a line at therecordbeat@gmail.com.

December 1 -

The B3nson Recording Company, which over the past few years has amassed a cast of talented and facial-haired characters too numerous to list here, hosted it’s 3rd Annual Family Funsgiving in November. Not only did they give a considerable amount of canned goods to a local food pantry, but the Funsgiving keeps on giving in the form of free music with the 3rd Annual Family Funsgiving Compilation.

The compilation, featuring 16 tracks from B3nson bands, friends and hypothetical bands, is available for download on their BandCamp. You can download individual tracks or the entire album for the low price of an e-mail address.

There’s a nice combination of genres, all with the quirky B3nson twinge. In particular, I enjoyed tracks from Scientific Maps, Wesley Rose, Pinguinos, Slender Shoulders and the release-an-album-already supergroup Que Caro.

B3nson’s website appears to be down, so for now check them out on Facebook, and grab the album at BandCamp.