It’s Friday, and we’re back with another installment of our regular roundup of downloadable MP3 goodness, both from around the web and from our own servers. This week there’s lots of spacey, ambient, atmospheric stuff to ease you into the weekend, along with a new song from the ever-prolific Dâm-Funk, a cracking track from new Flavorpill faves Light Asylum, a previously unreleased Joanna Newsom instrumental, and an entire mixtape from Titus Andronicus. In other words, there’s plenty of interesting sounds awaiting you after the jump, and since they won’t cost a penny or land you an RIAA lawsuit, as your attorneys we advise you to start downloading immediately.
Joanna Newsom — “Instrumental 1999” As its name might suggest, this instrumental dates from 1999, but only surfaced online this week thanks to Newsom’s record label Drag City. It’s available via Stereogum, who gleefully grasp the opportunity to accompany the download with Portlandia jokes.
Dâm-Funk — “Serious” As Prefix, who drew our attention to this download, point out, if you’re not following the ever-prolific Dâm-Funk on SoundCloud, you’re missing out. The producer habitually takes to his account to upload unreleased tracks, demos, remixes, and anything else that happens to take his fancy, and more often than not they’re worth hearing. Like “Serious,” for instance, which you can find right here.
Light Asylum — “IPC” Certain members of the Flavorpill staff have been going absolutely crazy over Brookyln-via-Berlin duo Light Asylum, and rightly so — their industrial-tinged synthpop could have walked straight out of the glory days of Mute Records, and we’re very much looking forward to the arrival of their self-titled debut album in May. In the meantime, here’s a track that’s due to be on said album — get it via their label Mexican Summer. There’s a pretty great picture of them with one Genesis P-Orridge on their Facebook, too.
Big KRIT — “I Got This (Dirty)” He’s got this. He’s got this here.
Clams Casino — “Moon and Stars” (instrumental remix) And while we’re on Big KRIT (he’s got this, y’know), here’s an instrumental version of the beat to Clams Casino’s 2011 remix of the man’s track “Moons and Stars.” We’re quite partial to instrumental hip-hop, and this is a quietly understated piece of work that’s just fine for a slightly hazy Friday morning. Get it via Pitchfork.
Santigold — “Disparate Youth” (The 2 Bears Remix) After a couple of years’ absence, suddenly it seems that Santigold is everywhere — “Disparate Youth” is the third single from her unwieldily titled album Master of My Make-Believe, and the damn thing isn’t even out yet. The remix is by London production duo The 2 Bears, and is available via Prefix.
Synkro — “I Miss You” XLR8R’s download section is always the source of much, much goodness, and our favorite discovery this week is this sparse and atmospheric track by Manchester producer Synkro. Its release apparently precedes an album, to be called Broken Promise, for which we’ll definitely be looking out. Get the song here.
Howse — “VBS” Also via XLR8R, this is a new track by Tri Angle-signed producer Howse, taken from his upcoming Lay Hollow EP. XLR8R reckon it sounds like “a percolating, juke-inspired” track — to us it sounds more like a sampler having some sort of weird digital orgasm. Either way, check it out here.
Bronze Radio Return — “Wonder No More” Bronze Radio Return are signed to Nashville label Digsin, who are notable for their “freemium” approach to selling music. There’s more info about the label here, and you can get this song — which will appeal to fans of Bon Iver and other honey-voiced bearded types — right here.
Titus Andronicus — free mixtape And finally, an entire free mixtape from shouty Jersey punks Titus Andronicus. The band uploaded this collection of live tracks, demos, unreleased oddities and other completist-friendly tidbits to their Tumblr earlier this week — fans will want to click right here and get downloading quick smart.