FREE MUSIC FRIDAY | The She Makes War edition

July 15, 2011 by Alan Pedder in Blog

free music friday • the she makes war edition

Regular readers will know that occasionally we like to turn over control of our Free Music Friday to artists we love. Joining previous contributors Caitlin Rose, Peggy Sue and Cocknbullkid is She Makes War – aka Laura Kidd – whose excellent debut album Disarm got a nationwide re-release this week and is now available in actual shops for the very first time. (It’s also available on Bandcamp, on a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth basis.)

Here, she picks five songs from fellow musicians she’s struck up a friendship with over the years – frequently through Twitter, where Laura is something of a tweet fiend and has a loyal band of followers. Why not listen to Laura’s own freshly recorded cover of the classic ‘I Think We’re Alone Now‘, revived in the ’80s by US popstar Tiffany, while you read on. It’s free to download, too.

<a href="http://shemakeswar.bandcamp.com/track/i-think-were-alone-now">I Think We’re Alone Now by She Makes War</a>

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“I came across Hysterical Injury when they performed after me at Ladyfest 10. I met Annie backstage and managed to get some footage of her combing her hair with a plastic fork for my video blog. I was absolutely blown away by their performance and have spent much of this year looking forward to their album coming out. It should be soon, I think!”

FREE MP3: Hysterical Injury, ‘Pastel Face’ [demo]

Hysterical Injury on Facebook

“Dana Jade got in touch with me after she read my name in a Guardian piece about women in rock, and after some emails back and forth I was very excited to finally meet her in the flesh when I put her on the bill at ‘Re-Dress’, a female-centric music night I curated last August. It took me a little while to realise she was part of Gaggle as well as writing and performing her own raw, gutsy tunes, and I remain full of admiration for her work. She was kind enough to ask me to do a cameo in her most recent music video for ‘Little Sister’ and was an absolute pleasure to work with.”

FREE MP3: Dana Jade, ‘Shudder’

Dana Jade on Facebook

“I don’t remember who followed who first but somehow I ended up with Kat Arney on my Twitter radar, and when I was in the studio recording Disarm and needed a beautiful outro for my song ‘No Fireworks’ the name @harpistkat just leapt out at me. After that Kat brought the house down at my album launch gig with a dizzying array of rock covers played on her beautiful harp and we’re going to be recording together again very soon. Kat plays in numerous bands including Sunday Driver and Shadow Orchestra.”

FREE MP3: Shadow Orchestra, ‘No Other’ [via Bandcamp]

Find out more on Kat’s blog and at the Shadow Orchestra website

“I heard about transatlantic collaborative project A Hawk In The Rain via my good friends Hope & Social, whose bassist Simon is a member of Birmingham based Lantern Music, the UK half of the story. The US half is singer/songwriter/accordionist Cassis Staudt, and together they’re a heady mix. Watch out for some exclusive one-off shows at the start of August – not to be missed.”

MP3: A Hawk In The Rain, ‘I Run From You’ [via Bandcamp]

A Hawk In The Rain website

“I followed Anna Madeleine online before I ever met her in the flesh, but when we did we hit it off immediately and I loved her quirky ethereal music so much I invited her on to the bill for my album launch show at Tamesis Dock last October. This is her gorgeous new single, released last Monday on a name-your-price basis.”

MP3: Anna Madeleine, ‘Milk & Water’ [via Bandcamp]

Anna Madeleine on Bandcamp

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She Makes War plays the acoustic stage at this year’s Ben & Jerry’s Summer Sundae in London on July 23.