Mongo Nation

The Black Lips, P.O.S. and more!

It’s time once again for you to have your musical palette enhanced and stimulated by nine of the most intense tracks since last month’s badass songs!

Eff Yeah!

Artist: Longwave
Song: Sirens In The Deep Sea

I have heard of Longwave being compared to one of my favorite post punk bands, Television, who are particularly notable for being one of the only post punk bands to actually pre-date punk rock. Anyway, the connection is comparison valid, so if you can imagine what pre punk post punk must sound like and also can imagine that you might like it, then you’ll probably also like Longwave, too.

Sirens In The Deep Sea

Artist: Red Fang
Song: Prehistoric Dog

I’m afraid I am unable to describe how awesome these guys are as well as their latest video does, so instead of trying to explain it to you I’m going to just post it right here so you can see for yourself:

Prehistoric Dog

Artist: N.A.S.A.
Song: Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits and Kool Keith)

N.A.S.A. stands for “North America/South America”, and exists a s a collaborative platform for artists from both American continents. Although I’m reasonably certain that while Tom Waits is indeed from North America, Kool Keith is most likely from somewhere in another galaxy.

Spacious Thoughts (feat. Tom Waits and Kool Keith)

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The Bronx, Lady Sovereign and more!

This month’s free MP3s are a approximately this metal on a scale of one to “holy shit that guy shaved an upside down cross into his thick mass or course, matted body hair”:

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Artist: The Bronx
Song: Young Bloods

Our resident music columnist, Johnny Firecloud, picked The Bronx’s latest album, “The Bronx (III)” as the number one album of 2008. If you can look past Johnny’s questionable love of Kanye West and NIN, you’ll probably get the impression that he generally knows what he is talking about when it comes to music. Will “Young Bloods” make a believer out of you as well?

Young Bloods

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Artist: Jedi Mind Tricks
Song: Monolith

Jedi Mind Tricks are one of the best selling independent hip hop artists of the decade, moving hundreds of thousands of records without any label representation for years. “A History of Violence” features the return of estranged former member Jus Allah to the group, after a prolonged absence teaching underwater bingo to underprivileged teens in New Jersey.

Monolith

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Artist: Lady Sovereign
Song: I Got You Dancing

Lady Soveriegn is only the second most popular rapping midget (after Bushwick Bill), but she is without question the single most popular female rapper of the burgeoning UK “Grime Scene”. A scene that includes at least one other person that I have heard of because I am not from the UK (that being Dizzee Rascal). For those of you that are unfamiliar, Grime is sorta like gangsta rap that you can dance to, hence the name, “I Got You Dancing”.

I Got You Dancing

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Artist: Illa J
Song: Strugglin’

After the passing of legendary producer J Dilla, an album of unreleased tracks fell into the hands of his younger brother, John Yancy, who raps under the name “Illa J”. “Strugglin” is one of the standout tracks from the posthumous collaboration between the two brothers.

Strugglin’

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Tom Gabel of Against Me!, DJ Babu and the Swedish Pink Floyd!

By Jeremy Azevedo

It’s a new month, and once again it is time to consume new musical knowledge in the form of free MP3s!

Make sure you download every last one… There are download-starved people in other counties you know!

Om nom nom!

DJ Babu is one of the premiere DJs in the world, and not like one of those asshole birthday party DJs like DJ AM, either. More like a legendary battle DJ/super producer, and a full-time member of Dilated Peoples and the Beat Junkies. On “Dearly Departed”, DJ Babu teams with gangster icons M.O.P. to brag about how tough they are or whatever.

Dearly Departed

The Primeridian is an experimental hip hop/R&B group similar to Outkast or the Pharcyde. In fact, the Pharcyde’s own Imani appears on this track, a spacey lounge jam that was scientifically engineered to be the perfect song to listen to whilst hot-boxing your van. You know, the one with the wizard airbrushed on the side of it.

Takuthere

Dungen is pretty much the Swedish version of Pink Floyd. I urge you to give them a chance, despite being in Swedish, obviously, “Satt Att Se” is one of the most musically rich songs we’ve heard all year.

Satt Att Se

You may recognize Tom Gabel as the singer of popular punk band Against Me! You may also recognize his first solo single, “Anna is a Stool Pigeon”, from the radio. And now you may download the song here for free. That was relatively painless now, wasn’t it?

Anna Is a Stool Pigeon
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By Jeremy Azevedo

It’s the end of the summer, the Olympics are over,  and the political media coverage bias is beginning to sound like a wall of douchebag celebrity-approved, Obama worshiping white noise. For the love of god, where can one go to drown it all out?

The answer, of course, is the September Free MP3 Roundup! Try something new for once, because the one thing that we all want is change, amirite?

Artist: Yeti
Song: Deep Creek

Yeti is keeping the torch lit for southern-style metal in the vein of Pantera and Corrosion of Conformity while at the same time injecting it with modern, Hollywood hardcore attitude. “Deep Creek” may just be the most brutal metal song you will hear all year… Yeti is definitely a band to watch out for in the coming months!

Deep Creek

Artist: Street Dogs
Song: Two Angry Kids

If the Street Dogs sound a lot like Dropkick Murphys to you, it’s probably because they share the same lead singer, Mike McColgan, who left Dropkick in ’98 to try out firefighting, but returned to performing music full time in 2002 with Street Dogs. It’s everything you’d expect from an Irish punk rock band, which is always a good time.

Two Angry Kids

Artist: Saviours
Song: Cavern Of Mind

If there were such a thing as “Desert Metal”, Saviours would be at the head of the scene. Dusty, dry and savage, they sound like the sonic equivalent of a Mad Max movie. Fans of stoner metal acts like The Sword and Early Man will love “Cavern of Mind”.

Cavern of Mind

Artist: The Mighty Underdogs
Song: The Anthem

The Mighty Underdogs are a hip-hop super-group consisting of Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef the Truth Speaker (Quannum Projects) and Headnodic (Crown City Rockers). If you don’t recognize any of these names, you need to retire the Lil’ Wayne/Flip/Bow-Wow CD or whatever and get with the program, you f**kin’ slacker!

The Anthem

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Ladytron, MC Chris, The Futureheads and more!

By Jeremy Azevedo

If you can manage to stop going to see The Dark Knight over and over again, writing reviews about how great it is on your blog and constructing your homemade Batman cosplay outfit long enough to actually hear any music, this is what you should be listening to!

It’s what The Joker would have wanted.

The Petes is the kind of band that we need more of, creating their own style while still honoring the classics that came before them. In a musical climate in which hipster assholes clamber over one another to copy each other’s foundationless style, it’s refreshing to hear a talented group of musicians actually focus on the songwriting for once.

Edith

Ladytron is one of the leaders of the current generation of dream-pop electronica. With their hard edge and gothic undertones, Ladytron will greatly appeal to fans of NIN, Joy Division, Depeche Mode and the Raveonettes.

Black Cat

Albert Hammond Jr., for those who don’t already know, was (still is?) the guitarist for the Strokes. This makes him sorta like the George Harrison of skinny jean wearing, early 2000s indie garage rock. Even if you’re not a Strokes fan, there’s a lot to like in Albert’s solo work, as is demonstrated here on “GfC”.

GfC

Dr. Dog’s new album, Fate, is one of the best albums we have heard all year. There is no genre in existence that could effectively describe it. It’s like, if Modest Mouse was half as good as everyone says they are these days, they’d be Dr. Dog.

The Old Days

Jukebox the Ghost is a quirky group of artists that look like an emo band but really sound more like Devo or something. “Hold It In” is really worth checking out for it’s unusual timing and fun, throwback production.

Hold It In [Andrew Maury Remix]

When MC Chris isn’t doing voices for Adult Swim shows like Sealab and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, he’s out rapping about nerd culture on Warped Tour. If you can get past the remarkably high pitch of his voice, you will find one of the most unique MCs out there. For synth-hop jams about Boba Fett and Animal Crossing, look no further than MC Chris.

Nrrrd Grrrl

Where did this guy come from? Apparently this dude has made something to the tune of 16 albums since 2000, and is notorious in the underground battle-rap scene in Chicago (there’s an underground battle rap scene in Chicago?). Anyway, all that hard work has paid off. Check out “Agape Rain”, it’s great stuff.

Agape Rain

The Stills are a rock band from Canada, that despite that glaring limitation, somehow manage to rock as hard as the best bands out there. Last month, they eve opened for Paul McCartney, if that tells you anything!

Being Here

The Futureheads are Post-punk band from the UK with a unique, youthful approach to New Wave music. Their new album, “This is Not the World” is about twice as fast as their last one, as is evidenced by their first single, “Broke Up the Time”.

Broke Up the Time