The Music Alliance Pact is whereby bloggers from all across the globe come together and each month select a band or artist they think the world should hear and provide a song for free download. This month I present you with Dance You’re On Fire.
SOUTH AFRICA: Musical Mover & Shaker!
Dance, You’re On Fire – Little War
Dance, You’re On Fire make music “for the love of music as a form of art”. Their sound is a smooth slice of indie progressive rock mixed in with a slight alternative edge. Their single, Little War, off their new album, shows their ability to write rock songs with catchy hooks and also showcases a new, more polished sound that they have cultivated since the release of their EP. Dance, You’re On Fire have all that is needed to succeed – with a catchy name and an even catchier sound, they are certainly a band to keep an eye on.
ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
Mompox – Feel Alright
This is one of our favorite tracks from Mompox’s debut album, Mompox & The Big Umbrella. The recording process took almost two years and if you listen to the album it’s easy to understand why – it contains 16 songs with more than 30 musicians playing all kinds of instruments. The sound is a mixture of American pop from the 50s, with a bit of psychedelic rock and experimental sounds. It’s a very eclectic record, so start with Feel Alright and then visit their MySpace for more songs if you like them.
AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Fishing – OOOO
For a pair of low-key beat-makers from Sydney, Fishing have seen an impressive ascent from small Tumblrs through to Pitchfork’s Playlist with barely an official release behind them. Without wanting to reduce them to a fad, Fishing capitalise on the chillwave trend and infuse their summery vibe with an heavy dose of limping glitch-hop. Heard it before? You may have heard something similar, but Fishing really do have the skills that leave the other bros with their blunts and laptops in the dust.
BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Neon Night Riders – South Travelling
Echoes from bands such as M83, Arab Strap and The Jesus And Mary Chain can be felt in South Travelling by duo Neon Night Riders. The song infuses the synthpop, Britpop and shoegaze influences that are the hallmark of their work. Their first full-length, The Neon Album, is available to download at the band’s Last.fm page.
CANADA: I(Heart)Music
The Love Machine – Be A Path
Once upon a time (that is, their first two EPs), The Love Machine were a fairly generic emo-pop band, albeit one that knew how to bring it live. With the release of their first full-length, Sweater Weather, however, TLM have transformed. They’re still a great live band but, for the first time, they’re equally great on record. This song captures that growth as well as anything. It’s dark, heavy and, best of all, impossible to forget.
CHINA: Wooozy
The Fallacy – As I Leave
Up-and-coming post-punk rockers The Fallacy have a unique blend of grungy badassness, noise and harmony that puts them right at the crest of China’s post-punk wave, in which PK-14 and Re-tros have already gained a serious fanbase, both local and worldwide. Formed just two years ago in Xinjiang, Henan Province, their songs have a distinctly quelled energy brewing under a thin quilt of funk, punk, nefarious riffs and crooning vocals that are sure to secure many fans from all sorts of musical preferences.
COLOMBIA: Colombia Urbana
Profetas – Baila
Profetas is duo Antombo and Pablo, and new single Baila is a good representation of their fusion sound, which takes in some elements of indie-pop.
FRANCE: ZikNation
Smooth – Music
When listening to Smooth’s music you get the strange impression of finding an old friend, a road companion, because their music draws on our own imagination where it moulds itself, each day, each rainy season, with pleasure or ecstasy. The trio borrows and mixes sounds and rhythms from their forefathers, displayed and put back together with inventiveness, jubilation and sensuality.
GREECE: Mouxlaloulouda
Chris Nemmo – Half Human (feat. Etten)
After experimenting with different electronic dance genres and releasing material in several record labels worldwide, Chris Nemmo has just brought out his sophomore album, The Nautilus Project. It consists of several different aspects of the scene, employing dirty funky basslines, vintage melodies and atmospheric vocals in an effort to simulate a warm analog perception of the disco groove and aesthetics. This is Etten’s second collaboration with Chris and she again provides a unique touch. Much of Half Human’s seductive allure is owed to her lyrics and passionate vocal performance, which is as technically stunning as it is expressive.
ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
Barujarn – Skuggasorf
The band Barujarn, Icelandic for “corrugated iron”, started in the fall of 2008. They play gloomy surf garage rock flavoured with metal or disco. The band members are Oddur on bass, Sindri on guitar, Leifur on drums, and Hekla on theremin. Barujarn has recorded an EP that features the song Skuggasorf and will record a full album soon.
ITALY: Polaroid
A Classic Education – Gone To Sea
A Classic Education recently described their sound as “night music for lazy afternoons”, but I think there’s more to it than that. Dreamy and strong at the same time, vibrant and uplifting, Gone To Sea is a lush pop gem, a perfect example of their amazing songwriting skills. It’s taken from their new Hey There Stranger EP, out this month on US label Lefse Records (Neon Indian, Dominant Legs).
JAPAN: JPOP Lover
World’s End Girlfriend – Les Enfants du Paradis
World’s End Girlfriend is the orchestral post-rock and experimental electronica project of Katsuhiko Maeda. He has just launched his own label, Virgin Babylon Records, and released an irregular pop album, Seven Idiots, on September 14.
NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
Sharpie Crows – Fifteen Golden Balls Pt.2
Thumping drums provide the foundation for this fantastic song that starts with the drums, vocals and keyboard before going instrumental, adding post-punk guitar chords and then, remarkably, at around the two-thirds mark, brass (or at least brass samples). The song is so well constructed I keep coming back to it to just listen to how they put it together. Sharpie Crows, from Wellington but currently living in Australia, have two EPs available on their Bandcamp.
PERU: SoTB
Pastizal – Apoxon You
Pastizal are an innovative band that almost came out of nowhere. Based in Lima, their music comfortably delves into psychedelia, shoegaze and experimental beats, but essentially rock is at its core. Apoxon You was first included in a free compilation released by Peruvian label Dorog Records.
PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
Triplet – Like It’s Going Out Of Fashion
The band Triplet have been around for eight years and have played all over Europe, but they only released their debut album, A Fight For Your Heart, in 2007. Their new EP, Noise, Noise, Noise, is being distributed freely here. Even though they are called Triplet they have four members – vocalist Jasmin Jones was our guest in February’s MAP with her solo record.
ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
Alternativ Quartet – Insemnari La Intamplare
This month, for the first time, we have a band singing in Romanian. Alternativ Quartet are rather new on the Romanian scene: four young men from a small town – now living, studying and making music in Cluj. They are about to release their debut album, Linistea Astupa Goluri, which is a combination of experimental, post-rock, prog and other styles perfectly mixed. They sing about dreams and monsters, revelations and silence.
SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
Endor – Chapel Doors
Modern technology has made it easier than ever before to make and distribute music. This is most definitely a bad thing. The deserving are being drowned out by a tidal wave of bands and bedroom musicians, and the din of mediocrity is deafening. One of this year’s finest albums came out in July and I never even saw it coming. At times it sounds like the missing link between Pavement and REM. It is engrossing, unpretentious and displays a real understanding of how to write a song that people will actually want to hear more than once. The band is Endor, the album is called Endor, and you can buy it here.
SWITZERLAND: 78s
Choo Choo – It’s A Good Thing
Choo Choo is steam-powered indie-pop from Bern, the capital of Switzerland. The band has just released new track It’s A Good Thing from their forthcoming as-yet untitled record which will be released in January. They recorded it in the Svenska Grammofon Studion together with producer Kalle Gustafsson (Jose Gonzalez, Junip, Shout Out Louds, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, El Perro Del Mar, Mando Diao, Jens Lekman and many more). Definitely a big promise for 2011.
UNITED STATES: I Guess I’m Floating
Marnie Stern – Transparency Is The New Mystery
Marnie Stern hails from New York City and is a thirty-something female rocker with guitar chops and stellar songwriting skills. After the success of her 2008 release This Is It, I wondered how Stern would build upon it, but her upcoming self-titled LP looks to be just as solid. New single Transparency Is The New Mystery is an awesome jam, from heart-pounding drums and shrilling vocals to the shreddable guitar – Stern’s doing edgy rock and roll right.
VENEZUELA: Barquisimento
Kuartzo – No Estas Aqui
Kuartzo is a band from Barquisimeto that started in 1998 playing mostly covers. In 2000, they ventured into writing their own material and recorded Cabalgando Mariposas, their first CD. They put their previous music experiences in the mix, developing the band’s original sound of refreshing rock ballads. They are now working on their third album, Victima de la Moda (“Fashion Victim”), from which this song, No Estas Aqui, is taken.
To download all 35 songs in one file click here
Musical Mover & Shaker! 
