Download 35 Free Tracks Each Month From The World’s Music Blogs

Sounds like a great idea, right? Somehow this international initiative has missed our radar for the last two years. In fact, this October, the Music Pact Alliance (MAP), a consortium of blogs from 35 countries that publishes free downloads of local artists each month, celebrates two years in existence. While you may not have heard of the Zonaindie blog from Argentina, or Popop from Estonia, you likely will recognize the new UK representative, The Guardian Music Blog. The British taste-maker has signed on with MAP, replacing The Daily Growl, and for their inaugural pick, they’ve chosen The Visitor’s “Hello Moon.” Here’s a snippet of what they have to say about their home town boys:

“[‘Hello Moon’] speaks of years spent orbiting Bowie’s legacy, drifting on the dark side of the Duke before taking a quantum leap into Wayne Coyne’s shoes. More years spent Waitin’ For A Superman to spin earth backwards, to rewind to a time when we were still wide-eyed about space, glam rock and the power of a good, solid tune.”

What’s great about the MAP collective is that it’s a monthly, one-stop-shop for a lot of interesting international music that you probably wouldn’t get the chance to be privy to otherwise. MAP shows a nice cross-section of what the world listens to, which, unsurprisingly, is extremely eclectic. There’s an alt-prog group from India, indie-folk from Ireland, and a glo-fi band from Japan called Hotel Mexico.

For representation from the U.S.A., indie blog I Guess I’m Floating has Twin Shadow, the Brooklyn project of George Lewis, Jr., who’s voice is a dead ringer for the Morrissey croon.

You can head over to any one of the partner sites to read about the artists and stream the songs. Or they’ve also set up a .zip download of the comp here.