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50FootWave, "Free Music"
This five-song EP is just what the title says: free music. The entire album can be downloaded from the 50FootWave Web site,along with artwork, and the band is encouraging downloaders to sharethe love through online file sharing, burning CDs for friends, oranything other means they can think of. And music this good should beshared. ThrowingMusic
Kristin Hersh and her post-Throwing Muses band are back with not only atight EP of solid rock, but a different approach in delivering thatmusic. 50FootWave is one of the growing number of bands who actually encourage the sharing of officialreleases among listeners. Fed up with the money-mindedness of the musicindustry as a whole, Hersh is lashing back by taking the opposite tack.The music is what matters here, not the money, and reaching fans is thegoal, rather than reaping profits. Word of mouth has always been thebest advertisement and while giving away an entire EP of brand-newmaterial might be a risky move, I think 50FootWave will see it pay off,and in spades.
Looking past the delivery method, the EP itself is five songs of roughrollicking guitars and Hersh's distinctive sandpaper-wrapped voice. Sheclearly hasn't lost her edge and the songwriting is as strong asanything the Muses ever released. The lyrics are distilled down to thebones, cutting with a sharp bare directness and filled with images ofclear blue skies, dark dark days, and coming to terms with it all. Itsometimes seems a voice as soft as hers can be could be drowned out bythe heavy guitars, but she overwhelms them with sheer attitude. Hersh'sguitar may not snarl the way it on Limbo or University, but the soundhas a menace all its own, much like the band's watery moniker itcrashes down in a more solid and inescapable way.
This small set of songs is perfect in a way to release in this form;there's more than enough here to get any new fan hooked and headed tothe record store to find more and just enough to satisfy an older fan,at least until the next full-length release.
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