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| Round One: Fight! (Just Kidding) |
Looking back on 2011, I posted my
top five hip-hop albums of the year for Heard Mentality readers to check out. Had the scope been broader to include more albums and different genres, I definitely would have shown love to a lot of artists featured on
Nacional Records most recent
iTunes download card. The
Latin Alternative label is giving away 24 songs released last year for free featuring musicians like
Diego Garcia,
Hello Seahorse!,
Latin Bitman and
Ana Tijoux (whose superb album
La Bala dropped worldwide yesterday). If those names ring familiar, it's because I've covered and interviewed them last year for
the Weekly as the links go to show.
Always a good introduction to artists folks may or may not be in the know about, the downloads also include tracks from Venezuela's Latin Grammy nominated
La Vida Bohème,
Pacha Massive,
ChocQuib Town,
Jarabe de Palo,
The Pinker Tones and so much more. Check the streaming player below to sample the offerings of what amounts to a double-album's worth of material and follow the download link if you like what you hear:
In the past, Nacional Records used to distribute their annual iTunes free giveaways as physical cards with a password code, but are changing up their approach. (They've also gone greener by digitizing their review copies to us humble music journalists). This year, the label has teamed up with
MTV Tr3s to offer the collection of free songs completely online, in part to promote the weekly music video show
La Hora Nacional hosted by label founder
Tomas Cookman on the channel.
Take them up on the offer quick though as the download code expires in less than a week's time on January 31. If you come across this post after that date, my apologies for being assed out. Better luck next year!