You may remember my recent post about all of the streaming music services, especially the part when I whined about no proper iPhone apps for the Amazon and Google streaming music services. Today I discovered that two apps have been released by Interactive Innovative Solutions LLC (that's quite a trio of business buzzwords) that are native music players for each of those services.

aMusic is a native Amazon Cloud music player, and gMusic is a native Google Music player. Both cost $1.99, which seems reasonable. I personally bought the aMusic app today and it seems to work fine, although it definitely doesn't show all of my music - only about 25% of it seems to appear. Hopefully this is something that will smooth itself out as it stays connected.

Unfortunately, neither solution addresses my last.fm scrobbling issue, but I emailed the developer and they said that it's on their to-do list. With iTunes Match's imminent release (some are predicting the next day or so), things should get interesting really soon!

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If I was a gambling man, I would say that the era of physical media is coming to a close, and that includes physical hard drives. One of the biggest benefits of having online storage of everything would be the ability to forgo managing my physical music library - specifically, not having to lug around an iPod classic, or picking and choosing what songs to put on my iPhone's hard drive (which really should be devoted to apps/games anyway). I would like to be able to have a streaming music library.

For my own personal streaming needs, I only ask two things - 1) to be able to access and stream my music library on my iPhone as cheaply as possible and 2) to have my listens scrobble to last.fm (an essential for OCD music nerds like me). Here's a roundup of all the music services I've used or researched to meet these needs.

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I have a well-kept secret in that I have been writing and recording music for over 15 years now. I spent a good portion of last year recording a five-song EP called Trinidad, WA, which I am making available for download starting today. You can find it for $2 at this link, and it will show up on iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, etc in the next few days. Also, you can stream it for free using this player:



Also, the album art was drawn by none other than our lovely Mr. Giang Cao. no comments

So now that the new year is well under way, you're probably looking to move on to newer, shinier, bigger and better things, right? If that's the case, then I'm here to help, friend.Also making good on special deals for the new year, Charlotte based indie record label Deep Elm is currently running its Superfan promotion. The promotion itself is a simple concept: for a one-off payment of $99, subscribers will receive DRM-free mp3 copies (containing embedded artwork and lyrics) of every album released on the label for the next five(!) years. Given that the average cost of an album on the site is around $9, and that during the course of 2010 the label released 24 albums, this deal will likely pay for itself in record time.To find out more about the Superfan promotion, go here. Alternatively, to get an idea if this is your kind of music,you can check out the labels roster, (and stream most of it for free) here. no comments

So now that the new year is well under way, you're probably looking to move on to newer, shinier, bigger and better things, right? If that's the case, then I'm here to help, friend.

Following on from the success of last year's '10 collection, indie label Big Scary Monsters are now starting up another year-long promotion, this time called (you guessed it!) the '11 collection. What is it, you ask? Well, the '11 Collection gives subscribers a new mp3 single every week, for all 52 weeks of the year, delivered straight to your inbox every Monday. The tracks will be comprised of new and upcoming unsigned bands, new recordings from the label roster, and also tracks from other indie label rosters.

That's not all though: subscribers will also receive a free album of their choice, as well as receiving a code which will entitle them to an 11% discount on all orders placed through the webstore over the next twelve months.

To sign up, or to find out more information, go here. no comments

Reflecting upon a year's worth of music can be an overwhelming task (this post was due last week). Thankfully, 2010 has been an enjoyable ride with plenty of great musical moments to choose from.

See: Russ' Top 20 for 2010

Love it or hate it, here's my list for Best Albums of 2010:
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As a way of celebrating a strong year, UK independent labels Big Scary Monsters and Alcopop Records have teamed up to release a fourteen track sampler featuring tracks from some of the bands in their catalogues who have released albums/EP's this year.

The sampler is available now for the low, low price of just £1 (around $1.50), and can be downloaded from BSM's Bandcamp site.  Alternatively, if you're feeling cheap (come on, it's just one measly pound) you can also stream the entire sampler from the same link.

The sampler features a particularly strong line-up (I highly recommend the tracks by Kevin Devine, Talons, Tall Ships, Ute, My First Tooth and Walter Schreifels), and at just £1 it's an absolute steal.  If you're intrigued and want to know more, the full track list can be viewed below:

1. Tellison - "Edith Wharton"
2. Stagecoach - "Hieroglyphics"
3. Kevin Devine - "She Stayed As Steam"
4. The Attika State - "Sound Of The Stereo"
5. Hold Your Horse Is - "Welcome To Obscurity"
6. Johnny Foreigner - "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives"
7. Talons - "In The Shadow Of Our Stilted Homes"
8. Ute - "Innocent Tailor"
9. Tall Ships - "Plate Tectonics"
10. Screaming Maldini - "As Dew In Aprille"
11. Mimas - "La Moustache Formidable"
12. My First Tooth - "Dubrovnik"
13. Walter Schreifels - "An Open Letter To The Scene"
14. Jumping Ships - "The Matterhorn" no comments

Update:I recently received some links for another couple of festive tracks, so figured I would share them with you.  They're down at the bottom of the post, so go check them out!

Hey there! Are you looking to get into the festive spirit, but are tired of hearing the same old Christmas songs? If that's the case, then I might just have a little something-something to brighten your spirits a little - in the form of two Christmas tracks for you to listen to.

The first is an original new track from the band Johnny Foreigner, called "Santa Fu**ing Claus". Despite the name, it's actually a remarkably serene track, and well worth a listen. The track can be streamed from Soundcloud, and if you like it, you can also download your very own copy to keep forever from that very same link.

The second track comes to us from Big Scary Monster signees Hold Your Horse Is, and is a re-interpretation of Paul McCartney's classic "Wonderful Christmas Time".  Again, the track can be streamed from Soundcloud, or you can download a copy to keep here.

Joining the tracks listed above are two new ones: the first track is a festive mix by the band worriedaboutsatan for Drowned in Sound. The mix is called "Worried About Santa - A Very Merry DiSmas", and can be streamed from here.

The second track is by one of my favourite bands of recent years, called Cats And Cats And Cats. The track "Christmas Lions" was released as part of an advent calendar over on Joyzine, and can be downloaded from here by clicking on the door for the 16th - though you can go right ahead and check out the rest of the doors if you want to.  Enjoy!

Here's hoping you have a holly, jolly Christmas!

Image courtesy of Indierockcafe.com no comments

Continuing a long-standing tradition of giving away free music in order to get people hooked - like socially-acceptable crack addicts - Deep Elm Records are offering up a new sampler. The World Won't Spin Forever features fifteen full tracks, which consist of one track from almost every new release in the label's 2010/2011 catalogue.  The sampler contains a wide variety of different music types, and should manage to cater to a wide variety of tastes.

To check it out, you can either stream the album in its entirety, or download a copy (in exchange for providing your e-mail address) here. no comments

We at the The Easy Mode aren't all video games and indie rock, so right now we want to turn you on to some new hip-hop coming out of Gainsville, FL by an artist named Dave Raps. Here is what his manager Vee Nyce told us: 

His name is Dave Raps and he's outta Florida, and his latest mixtape is out right now and it's called "Too Unknown". The mixtape is hosted by Ashley Outrageous and it's his third project for this year. He's currently recording his EP. He already has two videos out for this mixtape, and there are two more coming in a few weeks. no comments