Free Legal (Good) Music Downloads 2

Light FM is a band, not a radio station, and the name is a bit of a misnomer. The sound is cheery, but the lyrics dark and deep. If by "light" they mean that the music makes you bounce around, then, yes, they are light.

I like them because they sound old and new at the same time. Light on the outside, and not so light on the inside. Like if the mind of The Cure was beamed into Devo, or Weezer performed Nine Inch Nail songs. And of course, there is no such thing as too catchy or too many hooks. I'm pretty sure there isn't such a thing, anyway.

If you're thinking you might have heard them before, then you might be right. Their songs have been featured on "Gossip Girl", "The Hills", "The Dollhouse" and "One Tree Hill". And you might also recognize the backing vocals and/or bass, because it's Nicole Fiorentino (of Veruca Salt), and the drumming of Byron Reynolds (Sea Wolf, Everest, Possom Dixon.) Keyboards and additional vocals are by Sophia Male. I've never heard of her, but I like what I hear. And last, but certainly not least is lead singer and songwriter, Josiah Mazzaschi.

They are unsigned, although I do believe they used to be on a label. And, refreshingly, they don't mind being wide open with their emotions, even writing and singing a song about a friend who committed suicide after losing a battle with paranoid schizophrenia ("Eli Miller"). A sentimentality, fragility and fearlessness/fearfullness mixed with buzzing guitar riffs and tight harmonies. So, what's not to like? There are lots of newer artists who try to do this, but fail miserably, they end up sounding like whiney babies. And to the other extreme, there are bands who, I think, won't flinch even if you burn them with cigarettes. On their eyeballs.

Influences: Grandaddy, Cars, Radiohead, Weezer, Phoenix, Mew, Broken Social Scene, The Cars, Grandaddy, Wire, Colin Newman, Missing Persons, Zombies, Arcade Fire, Eli Miller, Olivia Tremor Control, Cocteau Twins, Wolfgang Press, TV on the Radio, Neil Young, Jesus and Mary Chain, Earlimart, Clan of Xymox, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Kinks, Uriah Heep, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Felt, ELO, Queen, Bee Gees, ABBA, Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, PJ Harvey, Gary Numan, Psychedelic Furs, The Cure, etc.

The following songs can be downloaded at their last.fm page -- http://www.last.fm/music/Light+FM

"Stormtroopers"
"Thrift Store Clothes"
"Eli Miller"
"Friends aren't Friends"
"16 Below"

The song "The High" is available at: http://www.reverbnation.com/lightfm.

The song "Waiting Room" is available at: http://radiofreesilverlake.typepad.com/rfsl/2009/10/interview-light-fm.html

And here's a link to their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/lightfm

When I first heard Cinnober, I thought to myself, this is like people describe Coco Rosie as sounding. (Coco Rosie does not sound like people describe them... at all.) This band seems like a "light rock" cross between Bjork and Portishead, very smooth and very mellow, in a good way. Cohesive and flowing, quirky, but minus the overt quirkiness that can make Bjork's music hard to swallow at times, and an aching sweetness that, at times, sounds very much like a scarce few Portishead songs. (Portishead's Beth Gibbons sings with feeling, without a doubt, but often it's as if she sings about emotions that she lost long ago, and misses dearly, a jaded tough cookie that can't be hurt anymore. Not that that's a bad thing. It's part of the charm of Portishead; smooth, but with jagged dark and funky edges.)

Cinnober goes down like a smooth latte.

You can download "Already Been Here", "Clockwise", "Armies of Disdain", "Green Concord", "Fate Is Out (to Get Me)" and "Re*sound" at bandbase.com (just follow the links) -- http://www.bandbase.com/Cinnober/

And if you want to know more, you can check out their myspace page -- http://www.myspace.com/cinnobermusic
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Krystov is an electronic music artist. Normally, as much as I love electronica, I can only sit and listen to a whole CD of perhaps a handful of electronic artists, and only if I'm in the mood. For a while I thought I liked IDM music, and then, after sampling quite a bit of it, I discovered that I couldn't stand 99% of it. Electronic noise is still noise. If you can get the same sound by recording a malfunctioning machine and looping it, then, quite simply, it isn't music. (It really isn't.) But, I said that for a reason. I sat and listened to 19 tracks of his fully free, fully downloadable album. 19 Tracks! Did I get a little anty-in-the-pantsy at any time? Yes, but only a little.

Krystov touches on IDM and noise, but overall, is quite listenable and enjoyable. It's sounds like an instrumental Skinny Puppy. Or a harder version of video game music. And throw in an occasional bit of drum n bass to make it really pop... Excellent. (For this I'm touching my fingers together and making the evil Mr. Burns grin. It just seems fitting.)

Download it here -- http://krystov.com/.