Jeffrey C. Long

Some new discoveries in music some of you might be interested. They are all rock, so if your tastes aren’t there, you might enjoy Hober’s webpage and RealAudio stream or the soothing environmental sounds of Naturesong radio that I’ve been listening to when music and silence aren’t on the agenda.

I’ll go in order of music that can be downloaded free.

First is The Secret Machines. I found their music from the Jamcast podcast of their performance at this year’s Bonnaroo music festival. They are a slow burn band. Not blues. Just steady medium-slow tempo rock. You can download the jamcasts at the following links. Jamcast #28 Jamcast #29 and Jamcast #30

Second up is Elvis Costello. Caught his electric performance on Austin City Limits last weekend. Wow! What an honest, energetic performer. The most exposure I’d had up until now was that he replaces Paul Schaeffer as band leader on the Late Show with David Letterman. He is really the only suitable replacement for Schaeffer. Honest rock. Funny personality. There’s a wealth of audio for download at www.elviscostello.info

Finally, The Mars Volta. I discovered this band through an article that was critical of Trey Anastasio’s live show because bands like The Mars Volta were tearing up stages. I went search for live music from my usual sources, bt.etree.org and archive.org only to come up empty. I listened to some samples on the itunes music store and was very impressed. They are a progressive band with a lead vocalist that reminds me of Freddie Mercury. They are fairly intense and not for the faint of heart. For the life of me, I can’t understand any of the lyrics from Scab Dates (their recent live album). A quick search on the lyrics sites revealed that they are very introspective and interesting. You can listen to the Scab Dates album at their website here.

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