11 Entirely Legal & Free MP3 Album Downloads [Sound Sunday]

Party this Sound Sunday!

This edition is heavy on punk and rock, with a little folk and electronic sounds mixed in. Since it also contains a lot of shorter EPs, I decided to give you one additional album to make up for it. As you may have noticed, I’ve been playing around with the title a little. This has become necessary to convince the search engine algorithms that the content here is indeed unique. Do you find it unique enough?

Feedback and comments are most welcome. Feel free to email me [tina at makeuseof dot com] with genre requests or album suggestions.

Josh Barsell – What’s The Plan

Genre: alternative, indie, pop, rock

Originally from Boston, Josh Barsell started out as founder of the band Transit in 2001. The band soon moved to Los Angeles and after playing many shows over the years, Transit split up in 2006. Still in LA, Josh recorded his first solo record at Sunset Sound this May.

What’s The Plan is a free download from Bandcamp.

The OutBreaks – The OutBreaks EP

Genre: alternative, indie, rock

From their Biography: “The Outbreaks have been apart of the Chicago music scene since 2006. (…) The Outbreaks rhapsodizes on soulful singing, truthful lyrics, poignant keyboard lines, punchy guitar licks, and driving back beats – a simple formula that produces memorable songs.”

The OutBreaks EP is a free download from The OutBreaks Homepage. You can stream the entire album at PureVolume.

A Brighter Life – Where Tonight Can Go

Genre: pop, rock, punk

The 5 piece punk band from Columbia, South Carolina has a sound that is strongly reminiscent of Blink182. Where Tonight Can Go is their debut EP, which they have been promoting with gigs in and around their corner of the world. Let’s hope they will soon follow their music and cross the borders.

Where Tonight Can Go is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Like Pacific – The Worst…

Genre: pop, punk

From their Facebook Biography: “Five dudes with a common love for fast, hard-hitting, melodic music. No glitz, no glam, no flashy shit.  This is what we do, get stoked or get fucked. Say it like you mean it Pop Punk!”

The Worst… is a free download from Bandcamp.

Asbestos – High Hopes

Genre: hardcore, punk

From their MindViz profile: “Asbestos have been going since 2006 and started off as a old school hardcore punk band. Since then our styles have changed a lot using a wide range of hardcore influences.”

High Hopes is a free download from Bandcamp.

Rice Cultivation Society – Leaves Again

Genre: experimental, folk, indie, rock

You would think this is something like a big band. Rice Cultivation Society, however, is merely a one person collective with an associated live band.

Leaves Again is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Subforms – Fragments

Genre: experimental, alternative, electronic

From the Cold Tear Records artists profiles: “Subforms is a prospective dub/techno/ambient project from the Ukraine. Two young lads (Yevgeny Konovalov, Dmitry Oleynik) have combined their efforts and experience to create a project independent of any commercial framework. Subforms play and write great minimalistic music which has never been limited, they are free to experiment with sound and style.”

Fragments is a free download from Bandcamp.

Marches and Maneuvers – Apathy

Genre: indie, acoustic

From the Bandcamp page: “A collection of songs that should have been released a long time ago if I weren’t so lazy.” Now if you could be so kind and share a little more information about this project? We would all love to find out who you are, great singer / songwriter!

Apathy is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Jan Grünfeld – Summerfrugl

Genre: folk, minimalist, shoegaze

From Headphonica: “Talk, noise, voices, guitars. Beauty is everywhere. Your hand touches my hand. I ask you for the time. I’ll pick you up from school today. Thou headphones plugged into his ears. Everything is the same. All is well. I improvise on the doorstep, in the woods, on the field. Music comes out of the car radio, from the ICE seat, from the computer to the I-pod, the TV, mobile phones, the street, the room next door and my guitar. Fragments of my soul. Or yours? Random is a uniformly active principle. The butterfly principle. No principle.“

Summerfugl is a free preview and download from Headphonica.

The Vespers – Tell Your Mama

Genre: alternative, folk

From their Bio: “It’s two sisters, two brothers, four friends, eleven instruments, one fun little folk band. However you do the math, The Vespers are a force to be reckoned with. In the spring of 2010, the newly formed group released their debut album, Tell Your Mama, which has been received greatly by critics and fans alike. The indie release even managed to sneak on to a few top 20 lists before the year’s end.”

Tell Your Mama is a free download from NoiseTrade.

Paul Dempsey – Everyting Is True

Genre: experimental, folk, rock

From his Facebook Bio: “Paul Dempsey is the singer,guitarist and principal songwriter of Australian band, Something for Kate. Dempsey has also always played solo shows and toured solo when not busy with Something for Kate as well as producing records for other artists.
Paul released his first solo album, ‘Everything is True’ on August 14th 2009 to an overwhelming response. His album debuted at No.5 on the ARIA chart and was nominated for 3 ARIA Awards, A JJJ Award, announced as iTunes album of the year and Paul has won the Age Music Award…”

Everything Is True is a free download from NoiseTrade.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.