"Believer" by American Authors

This week we have another band from the east coast delivering our free music. You may recognize American Authors from their recent radio hit, "Best Day of My Life", which rose to platinum status after being featured in a handful of commercials and a summer movie trailer. That single was integrated into their first full album, Oh, What a Life, released this March.

Unlike some of the indie trash we've been listening to, the American Authors have a solid pedigree. Its members - Zac Barnett (lead vocals), James Adam Shelley (guitar, banjo), Dave Rublin (bass) and Matt Sanchez (drums) - met while studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. They graduated in 2006 and went on to form a band called The Blue Pages. In 2012, the band moved to Brooklyn and reinvented itself into the group we know today, American Authors.

Their alternative rock sound is peppered with full-bodied choruses, Shelley's folksy banjo accents, and background vocal work that is infectiously easy to sing along to and provides beautiful harmonies. This first album is convincingly energetic and passionate thanks to Barnett's vocals. Either there's something in the water at Berlee, or they really are teaching them something. Our free single, "Believer", is the first track on the album, so without any further ado, we'll dive into it.

Summer Recap

Oh, my summer was great, thanks for asking! I drank, danced and sang along to some fantastic summer singles courtesy of iTunes. Yes, that's right - just because I wasn't blogging doesn't mean that I didn't keep up on my free music. I hope you all were keeping tabs as well, because I wanted to recap the summer with a highlight reel of sorts: my Top 5 iTunes Free Singles.

This summer was a veritable gold mine of alternative jams, soulful melodies and anthemic pop songs. I could attempt to drum up my usual witticisms but I'm rather out of practice and need to get back into the swing of things, so without further ado... starting at the bottom of the list.

5) "Help Me Lose My Mind" by Disclosure, feat. London Grammar

Disclosure, an English brother act producing electronic music, has really burst onto the music scene this summer with the release of their first full studio album in June. Their original tracks and remixes were featured on a number of DJ summer playlists (see Diplo's Endless Summer) and has brought the pair some deserved prominence. This track from their album Settle has the ethereal elements of trance but a drum beat worth hearing at a summer party. It was a favorite of mine this summer and starts our list at number five.

4. "Beekeeper" by Aoife O'Donovan

I told you there were some soulful melodies from this summer. I am, admittedly, biased towards this song and this artist since I've had the privilege of seeing her perform live! Aoife (pronounced EEF-ah) O'Donovan toured with the Punch Brothers in the spring of 2012, and her Americana angel voice was the perfect opener for my favorite bluegrass group. This track shows her ability as a rock-oriented singer, and showcases her vocal talent and her guitar work. If you take the time to look up some of her folk music, you will not be disappointed.

3. "Un Dia de Sol" by Los Claxons

That's right - Hispanic pop. Based on my aversion to reggae, you might have assumed that I'm not open to, shall we say, "cross-cultural genres". Not so! I was pleasantly surprised by this track. The incorporation of both the English and Spanish languages is a great way of appealing to audiences. The chorus is a catchy monosyllabic riff that anyone can sing along to. If ever there were a way to get Americans to appreciate Hispanic music, songs like these are the way to do it. I can't listen to this song and not move and sing along. It's a fantastic song from this summer, and makes the middle of our list at number three.

2. "Pompeii" by Bastille

We've all heard this on pop radio by now. Released at the start of the summer on their new EP Haunt, Bastille weaseled their way into the American pop music scene. This English alternative rock band did a great job of writing a summer anthem. It's catchy, singable and bursting with summer energy, and is a great testimony to iTunes' ability to find those soon-to-be hits. It was a favorite on the Billboard charts, and a favorite in my library, landing at number two for this summer.

1. "Chocolate" by The 1975

If one of the biggest hits of the summer only landed at number two, then what could possibly hold the throne at the top of this list: diamond in the rough, a buried treasure, and one that I expect to soon be exposed. "Chocolate" by English pop rock group The 1975 was my favorite track of the summer. It made it's way on to the iTunes freebie list with the release of their EP stateside, IV. Now, I mentioned that I expect this track and this band to gain some ground soon. The 1975's first full album, self-titled, is scheduled to drop in September. This band is poised to do some great work, and is likely to permeate American pop radio just as Bastille did this summer. Look forward to that album, and enjoy this track in the meantime.

Now, these five tracks aren't the only worth listening to, by any means. Below are some honorable mentions I encourage you to give a listen to:

"The Wire" by HAIM

"You Know You Like It" by AlunaGeorge

"Second Chances" by Gregory Alan Isakov

"The Way We Touch" by WE ARE TWIN

Give them all a listen, and stay tuned week to week as I get back to reviewing the fine work of the iTunes select! If you have any other singles that are worth an honorable mention, let me know in the comments below.

"Recovery," by Frank Turner

Leaving my usual introductory witticisms at the wayside, I want to take an opportunity to wish iTunes a very happy 10th birthday! Yes, back on April 28, 2003, Apple first opened up iTunes for business - a decade later, they're giving their songs away for free. Doesn't seem like a very sound business model to me.

So happy birthday! Cakes and balloons abound! In a nontraditional birthday celebration, iTunes has given us a gift. This week's free single, "Recovery," brings us farther away from the reggae tunes that I was finally becoming accustomed to (no I wasn't) and introduces us to another English singer/songwriter that you've likely never heard of. This time, though, he's a...well, he's a "he".

Frank Turner accrued much of his fame as the lead singer of British punk group Million Dead. The band dissolved in 2005, he dropped the punk act, and embarked on an alternative, folksy solo career. Five full studio albums later, we see the release of Tape Deck Heart. The tracks on this album capitalize on the feelings associated with the fallout from a breakup. This seems to work well for Turner - it can be a pretty gritty subject, heartbreak. It allows him to bust out some of his punk influences, while also capturing the more tender, heart-wrenching aspects of breakups with his acoustic folksy tune. After listening to a smattering of the tracks on this album, you can tell that Turner has made a go at capturing the whole spectrum of emotions after a messy relationship. And it's a pretty damn good job of it.

But, the song at hand! We delve into our free single, "Recovery," below.

"Running for Cover," by Ivan & Alyosha

This past week has marked the fabled second coming of the great 2011 Snowmageddon, or Snowpocalyse as some are wont to call it. The Midwest has been a blanket of white for the past five days or so as I write this, and it continues to snow right now. Fortunately, with classes cancelled and a healthy stockpile of microwaveable goods, I'm able to weather both the musical and meteorological apocalypses that face me, safely under cover. Unwilling to venture outside, I've also got plenty of time on my hands to write one more review of this week's free tracks.

Tim Kim, Pete Wilson, Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary of Ivan & Alyosha. 

Photo courtesy of their tumblr and their photographer, Veronica Alba.

With this last review, I'm happy to feature a new single by Ivan & Alyosha, "Running for Cover," off of their first full-length album, All the Times We Had, released today, Feb. 26. The group's name is a bit of a misnomer, as none of the band's members are named Ivan, nor Alyosha (though two of them are named Tim). The group's founding members, Tim Wilson and Ryan Carbary derived the name from The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky when they started working together in Seattle in 2007. Token Asian on electric guitar and a band name derived from Russian literature? I'm sold.

Tuesday, Feb. 26: Song-mageddon

Let's get serious, folks. These are desperate times, and that means desperate measures. No goofy intros, no artist back stories, and ranting and raving will have to be kept to an absolute minimum.

Because five free tracks were released to the iTunes store today.

That's right - five! Five whole songs: "Running for Cover," by Ivan & Alyosha, "Reggae," by Etana, "Black Roses," by Escondido, "Make Me Famous," by The Fades, and "Roll it 'Round," by The Lions.

I tell you what, my jaw dropped when confronted with such a beautiful, beautiful sight. It's more free music than you can shake a stick at (and also more than I know what to do with) so it's time for a music review lighting round!!

"Symptoms," by Atlas Genius

If you're sweaty, feeling clammy, perhaps a little nauseous, and just ate month old seafood then you're probably showing symptoms of food poisoning. You should probably find a bathroom. Maybe take some Tums or something. Hey, don't look at me like that - I'm no doctor.

On the other hand, if you're feeling chipper and keen and love good bass and acoustic guitar, then you probably just have good taste in music. The first of this week's two free tracks - released Feb. 19th to the iTunes Store - is a bass-ridden, electric piece by Atlas Genius. This indie rock band hails from South Australia and is made up of the three brothers Keith, Michael and Steven Jeffery pictured to the right, and their keyboardist Darren Sell. They released their first hit single, "Trojans," back in 2011 and it has since gained a lot of traction on Sirius XM.

I tell you what, folks, I love free music, but after researching and listening to that single, I enjoyed it so much that I actually made an iTunes purchase (gasp)! Click the link above and jam to that tune.

But of course, we move to the main dish, the topic at hand: the freebie. Off of their first, full album, When It Was Now, released this Tuesday, these geniuses have put up their track "Symptoms" for free download.