Saturday Free Music Downloads: Compilation from Classic Rock Magazine

The latest issue of latest US edition of Classic Rock Magazine features an 18 song compilation album of up and coming rock and roll bands.

Check it out over at Classic Rock Magazine.com ... http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/download-classic-rocks-us-only-cd-for-free/

Under The Radar: Die Pretty

Die Pretty is a promising female-fronted pop-punk band from New York City.  I say pop-punk, but Die Pretty has got a harder edge than most so-called pop-punk bands, so let's call them accessible punk ... the gateway drug, if you will ...

Die Pretty just released their second EP, a self-titled collection of 7 songs, many of which appeared on their earlier release "Bittersweet".  But you can't blame them for repeats, as not enough people noticed the earlier album, so they're continuing to refine the songs.

Led by the brother and sister team of Skip and Sarah, "Grin and Bear It" is one of the standout tracks ... here's a video for the version off the earlier "Bittersweet" release ...



Listen to more at their MySpace site:  http://www.myspace.com/dieprettynyc

Future Hype: Valora

It's very possible that by this time next year, I'll groan at the thought of having mentioned Valora a year prior.

I mean no disrespect ... the few songs available now from Valora sound pretty good, especially the new song "Live".  Comparisons to Paramore are inevitable, because lead singer Syd Duran does sound quite a bit like Hayley Williams ... but the music is heavier.  Not hard rock like Halestorm ... it's still leans more toward the pop side of things, but with more of an epic feel ... some would call it a sense of self-importance, or theatrical, but whatever it is, it's working for Syd and Valora at the moment.

Here's the video for "Live", which is the band's current single ... and part 1 of the graphic novel series that follows our heroine Valora as she carries her secret through the ages (did I say sense of self-importance?) ...



Follow the story at http://www.valoraofficial.com.

Valora has had a couple of other songs featured on movie soundtracks.  "Extreme" was on "Almost Alice", the soundtrack inspired by the Tim Burton interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland", and "No Matter What" played during the credits of "The Last Song".



Interestingly enough ... Valora's recording deal is credited to the success of a self-made video that the band made 3 years ago for "I Waited For You".

Seems that their record company is in the process of deleting all known copies of this video, but this one's been up on YouTube for 3 years and has survived thus far:

Random Monday: Electric Boys and the Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride

Random is a wonderful thing.  It's been too long since I listened to the Electric Boys ... but random brought them back for me.



Mix 2 parts late 1980's metal, 1 part funk, 1 part 1960's  psychedelic, and then add 1/2 part The Beatles, and you've got the Electric Boys ... a short lived musical explosion that produced one of the best albums of 1990 in "Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride".



The follow-up 1992 album "Groovus Maximus" was good, but not as strong as the debut ...



Dropped from their label, an independent release "Freewheelin'" followed in 1994 ... admittedly I don't really listen to that album except for the single "Ready To Believe", which had some of the spark of the debut ...



I always loved Conny Bloom's vocals, and I've been waiting for a follow-up ...

He did release a solo album in Europe in 1999 ... and "Neon Delta Blues" is a pretty good song off that album.

But aside from that, he's been playing guitar for other bands.  He played guitar on "Black Leather Mojo" with Ginger from The Wildhearts in Silver Ginger 5 ... another classic album of the funk-o-metal genre that was released in 2000.

In the mid-2000's, Conny, and bassist Andy Christell of the Electric Boys, joined Hanoi Rocks until the final break-up of that legendary band.

Last  year, the Electric Boys got back together and did some touring in Northern Europe in support of a greatest hits album titled "Now Dig This".  And rumor is that come 2010 they've recorded some tracks for a new album ... in fact, here is a medley of demos ... so the story may not be over yet.




For more info, visit http://www.connybloom.com and http://www.electricboys.com.

Fresh Tracks: Cromwell

Cromwell has been around for a few years, so this might not be the first time that you've heard of them ... and it's not going to be the last.  They released their first EP back in 2005, and they were on the 2006 Warped Tour.

A full length album "Illusion & Obsession" followed in 2007.  Good, but in retrospect, not very memorable.

Fast foward to 2010 ... and things appear to be looking up with the addition of a second guitarist, and collaboration with producer Ulrich Wild who has produced and/or mixed albums for Breaking Benjamin, Stabbing Westward and Incubus, among others.

The recently released 3 song EP "Daniela" makes me look forward to see if they can deliver a full album as good with as much quality as this EP.  "Faces" and the title track "Daniela" are solid modern rock ...