One question I’m frequently asked by co-workers and friends is - “How did you find that band?” And usually, this is after an incredible show that I’ve been to with them, or after I recommend a certain band, or burn them a mix disc.

Because I’m online entirely too much, and I love music like a fat kid loves cake, I manage to find a LOT of music for free. All the music I download is entirely legal, so I don’t have to worry about the RIA busting down my door and trying to seize my precious Macbook.

Due to my love for singer songwriters, one of the best sites out there that is finally getting the exposure it deserves is daytrotter.com. Daily, Monday through Friday, they release anywhere from 3 to 7 tracks of free folky goodness. This means that if you go every day, you get nearly 30 songs in a week. Granted, you won’t love all of it, but you’ll find some great new music that most people don’t know about. Like, did you know that Jeff Daniels (dumb and dumber) is actually a musician as well?

Many music lovers out there know that Amazon.com has released MP3 downloads, but have yet to participate. Over the past few months, Amazon has curbed my fear by allowing me to download free tracks. Follow these simple instructions to get some of your old favorites, and find new ones.

> Go to Amazon.com, and then Digital Downloads -> MP3 downloads
> Leave the Search Bar blank, and just press “GO”
> Sort the results as Price:Low to High

You’ll get a lot of music that you are unfamiliar with, but what the hell, why not try it out anyways? I mean, I’m no fan of Ted Nugent, but I’ll sure take a free song any day! You never know when you’re gonna be in a camouflage kind of mood.
I’m being very nice, and if you click on that above picture, it will take you to all the Free Downloads Amazon is offering as of June 4th.

You’re welcome.

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from the indie quartet from the northwest. About a year and a half ago, it was nearly impossible to keep Ben Gibbards name out of any sentence that concerned new music. DCFC had been around for awhile at that point, but the buzz was finally catching up. With the release of Plans, and the prior Transatlanticism, Cutie seemed to be out for our ears.

Not only was Soul Meets Body flooding the airwaves, but radio stations actually clued into the fact that The Postal Services ‘Give Up,’ was actually a good record. And now, Death Cab will be releasing a new disc, ‘Narrow Stairs’ sometime in the near future. It was Daytrotter that broke the news to me, with even more good news on the subject. They have exclusive tracks that are going to be available for download sometime in the next two weeks.

I think they’re slyly planning to release these mid-week before Coachella, where the quartet will be one of the near end acts on Saturday night. When the tracks are released, I’ll let you know, so you can head over to the trotter and load them up on your ipod for your trip. Til then, keep rockin socks.