Monday, August 22, 2011

Free Album Streaming: New CDs from Dave Stewart, Stephin Merritt, CSS, & More


Video for "The Gypsy Girl and Me," from Dave Stewart's new album.

After last week's free preview of the debut album by Jeff Bridges, I was curious to see what album previews would be showing up online this week. Well, how about "The Blackbird Diaries," the first solo album in 13 years by Dave Stewart (of The Eurythmics), recorded in Nashville with guests including Stevie Nicks and Colbie Caillat?  Or a collection of outtakes and rarities from Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields? Patti Smith is also represented with "Outside Society," the first single-disc retrospective (18 songs) to span her entire career.

Some other new previews this week that I haven't heard yet but am looking forward to:
"Dos" by Andrea Echeverri, half of the Colombian rock band Aterciopelados ... a new CD from Canadian singer-songwriter Ana Egge ... the self-titled album by Committed, the gospel-singing winners of NBC's a cappella singing competition, "The Sing-Off" ... "La Liberacion," the latest album by the always entertaining Brazilian party-rock band CSS ... and "Tassili," the newest effort by Tinariwen, the guitar-based collective from Mali.

See the websites below for even more free album previews, since the titles below are just a sampling. Generally the albums stream online for one week; I give the date if the album is available longer than that.

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"The Blackbird Diaries" by Dave Stewart
"Obscurities" by Stephin Merritt
"La Liberacion" by CSS
"Rise Ye Sunken Ships" by We Are Augustines
"Bad Blood" by Ana Egge
"Outside Society" by Patti Smith (a greatest-hits album)
"Let Alone Sea" by Arrica Rose & the ...'s

NPR First Listen:
"Dos" by Andrea Echeverri

KCRW Album Preview: 
"Tassili" by Tinariwen (streaming through Sept. 20)

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Committed" by Committed

Which albums are you looking forward to hearing the most?

2 comments :

T said...

You have to listen to the Stephin Merritt and let me know what you think. I believe I listened to 69 Love Songs on repeat for pretty much six months straight last year.

Dave B said...

I listened to it once & liked some songs more than others, which is not unusual for me. (I often need to listen to an album a number of times to let it sink in.) want to hear this one more while it's still online.