This is Jeremy from the Fingertips web site and it’s time again for a quick look at the best free and legal downloads featured there last month. If you want some background on what this is all about, check out the May edition, in which I more fully introduced myself.

Week 1:
“The Organ Grinder” – The Migrant
What begins as a simple, plaintive guitar-and-voice composition acquires offhand grandeur as a graceful parade of instruments (accordion, melodica, organ, various percussive devices) add their voices to the mix. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 1: Eux Autres, Jenny Wilson)

Week 2:
“I Walked” – Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens returns, in an electronic-based setting, singing a poignant, affecting tale of lost love. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 2: Laura Veirs & Mount Analog, Goodtimes Goodtimes)

Week 3:
“Cockleburrs and Hay” – Jared Mees & the Grown Children
An engaging, homespun hoedown featuring an ongoing tension between its cosmopolitan lyrical concerns and its back-porch, fiddle-fronted ambiance. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 3: John Vanderslice, Liam Singer)

Week 4:
“Doubles” – Amy Bezunartea
“Doubles” is a small gem, combining a swaying, mournful melody with a deft lyrical touch; don’t miss this one. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 4: The Fresh and Onlys, Justin Townes Earle)

You can read the reviews and listen to the free and legal MP3s on Fingertips every week. Better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed and you’ll never miss any of the songs.

Thanks again for taking a look and giving a listen. Keep reading Musicgoat and I’ll be back in early October with the September highlights from Fingertips.

Hey, it’s Jeremy from the Fingertips web site and I’m back with a selection of the best songs featured on Fingertips in August. If you want some background on what I’m doing here, check out the May edition, in which I more fully introduced myself.

Week 1:
“Down By The Water” – The Drums
Setting a ’50s-style melody to a stately, hymn-like march, “Down By The Water” is beautiful and odd and tormented and stirring. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 1: Meridene, The Rosebuds)

Week 2:
“Little Miracle” – Kim Taylor
Strong, nuanced singer/songwriter fare from an under-appreciated Cincinnati musician. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 2: Chris Hickey, Cloud Cult (MP3 however no longer available).

Week 3:
“Lines” – Elsinore
Well-crafted and melodic indie rock from a Champaign-based quartet; nicely sung, too. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 3: Icarus Himself, Like Pioneers)

Week 4:
“If You Wanna” – The Vaccines
Muddy, lo-fi music with a shiny and polished spirit. Joy Division meets the Ramones, somehow. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 4: Land of Talk, Sarah Kirkland Snider (featuring Shara Worden))

You can read the reviews and listen to the free and legal MP3s on Fingertips every week. Better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed and you’ll never miss any of the songs.

Thanks again for taking a look and giving a listen. Keep reading Musicgoat and I’ll be back in early October with the September highlights from Fingertips.

Hey, it’s Jeremy from the Fingertips web site and I’m back this time with a two-month digest of the best songs featured on Fingertips since the summer started. This time I’ll pick out three songs from each month, to give you a taste of what I’ve been charged up about. If you want some background on what I’m doing here, check out the May edition, in which I more fully introduced myself.

From June:

“Dear God 2.0″ – the Roots
You don’t have to be a hip-hop fan to sense the glory in this performance, which is a reworking of a song originally recorded by the Monsters of Folk. Jim James can still be heard, but the song centers on Black Thought’s weary, rumbling, tumbling rap. (Read the entire review.)

“Here Sometimes” – Blonde Redhead
Elusively appealing song from the veteran NYC trio, with a characteristic mix of dreaminess and electronics. (Read the entire review.)

Orange Yellow – the Spires
Jangly guitar rock, with a nod to the Velvet Underground. The band is from Ventura, however, so it bounces with more of a SoCal than a downtown groove. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured in June included Simian Ghost, Sea of Bees, and Sambassadeur.)

From July:

“Zorbing” – Stornoway
Bursting with melody and innocence, as invigorating as a bright blue puffy-clouded day. In a better world than this one, this is the song of the summer of 2010. (Read the entire review.)

“Alouette!” – Tallest Trees
Gleeful, skewed, clattery pop from a Nashville duo. Electronics are used with good humor, and the entire arrangement is great fun. (Read the entire review.)

“Noisemaker” – Two Hours Traffic
Nothing more or less complicated than brisk, sharp power pop. No summer should be without this one either. (Read the entire review.)

Other artists featured in July included Lost in the Trees, Like Bells, and Saadi.)

Hey everyone, my name’s Jeremy and I’ve been running the Fingertips music site since way back in 2003. Every week I sort through a mountain of free and legal MP3s that I find online and pick out three really good ones. While I don’t range too widely across genres (there’s no jazz, no hip-hop, no blues, no genres ending with the word “core”), I try to keep the sounds varied each week so that the three songs together take you an interesting place.

What I’m going to start doing here on Musicgoat is write up a quick monthly summary of the songs Fingertips has featured by pointing you to one song out of three each week–I’ll give you the link and a very brief description. This is the digest version to be sure. On the site itself, the reviews are longer and more descriptive; my aim is to give the reader a strong sense of what each song sounds like and I why I think it’s particularly good. And remember, because I’m picking just three songs every week, all three of them are really quite excellent, so it would be a great idea for you to go visit the site to hear all three songs each week.

Thanks to Corey for the invite, and let’s get right into it with an abridged look at what I picked out for May. Remember, these songs are all available as free and legal MP3s that you can download to your heart’s content.

Week 1:
“Let the Record Go” – The Mynabirds
A slice of stompy, retro perfection from Laura Burhenn, who used to be half of the duo Georgie James. The entire album is highly recommended. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 1: The National, Hey Marseilles)

Week 2:
The Mermaid Parade – Phosphorescent
Both laid back and expansive, this one brings a slow-burning quality to its sauntering vibe. Phosphorescent is a Brooklyn-based band featuring Matthew Houck and whomever else he can get to play with him at the time. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 2: Villagers, Beach House)

Week 3:
“The Kiss” – Pallers
A graceful, beautifully unfolding electronic dance-ballad, from Sweden. Builds without hurrying to a moving climax. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 3: Sarah Blasko, The King Left)

Week 4:
“Captive” – Sarah Harmer
This super-talented Canadian returns after a bluegrass project to some straight-ahead pop. Very appealing. (Read the entire review.)

(Other artists featured week 4: Light Pollution, Sarah Jaffe)

You can read the reviews and listen to the free and legal MP3s on Fingertips every week. Better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed and you’ll never miss any of the songs.

Thanks for looking the picks over and maybe giving a listen. Keep reading Musicgoat and I’ll be back in early July with the June highlights from Fingertips.

I am a big fan of all kinds of music but, back in the day, it was metal that caught my attention first. After weeks of listening to a ton of great music from other genre’s, I have to admit, I was a little excited when I received a review request from a metal band.

The Daughters of Fission bill their sound as a mix of rock, alternative and progressive but I will go ahead and throw them into the metal bin as well.

You can hear elements of Tool and Dream Theater (Stereomud even came to mind on a couple occasions). I would not put the Daughters of Fission in the same category instrumentally or compare them talent wise just yet, but they have a good start on developing a sound that uniquely their own.

Here are a few songs I was really into. Don’t let the opening piano on “behind the primates” fool you this song this song rocks hard. Probably my favorite in the album. The song “torso of…” has sort of an 80′s new wave thing going on and is probably the best tune vocally. The final cut “ape’ is just over a minute long but it packs a serious punch. Pure old school thrash and I love love it.

Every songs is solid and worth a listen if you appreciate rock or metal. The sound quality of the music is excellent (props to the production team). Only suggestion would be to involve some more lead guitar by adding some solos and fills. There were many songs where some solid lead guitar could have brought the songs to a higher level but it was nonexistent.

But don’t take my word for it, go see for yourself. You can check them out on MySpace or if you’d like you can download the DRM free high quality version of “Abandonatomy” free of charge on eMusic now (click on buy above).

Serve with headphones while surfing the web or playing video games. Also would be good mixed in a play list and turned up when having a few beers with your metal buddies.

I realize this is sort of old news but how cool is this? In another sign that the music industry is loosing ground, a major artist is using non-traditional means to distribute music. Mega-legend Paul McCartney has made his new album, “Memory Almost Full” available on the DRM free music download service eMusic.

What is even cooler is the fact that you can go there right now, sign up for free and take advantage of the 25 Free Downloads promotion to get the whole album for free.

Check it out and while there take a look around, there is a ton of great indie music available throughout the site.