SPIN Magazine gives away free Newermind download

Three things we like at Bobbysix.com:

1. Introducing people to new music. We love it when someone comes up to us and says something like "I read about Bridezilla at Bobbysix.com and they are my new favourite band."
2. Introducing people to old music. We equally love it when we influence people to listen to, say, Tom Waits' Blue Valentine from 1978.
3. Free shit.

So, imagine our joy when we discovered the opportunity to combine all three, by pointing you in the direction of SPIN's free download of their Nirvana tribute, Newermind. The album has the same tracklisting as the seminal 1991 grunge classic, but all songs are re-imagined by a mix of new artists and Nirvana's peers. On this eclectic record, you'll find Meat Puppets and The Vaselines, you'll hear Midnight Juggernauts taking things in a dance direction, Bobbysix favourite Jessica Lea Mayfield offering some country and Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band bringing some garage soul to the table. Perhaps the main thing this brilliant collection does is highlight the sheer quality of Nirvana's songwriting. Two decades on, these songs still sound fresh and thrilling. Compare them to the shit that clogs up today's charts and try not to weep.

Grab your FREE DOWNLOAD over at SPIN's website. Also, you can read a little interview with each band about their chosen track there. Check the full tracklisting below:

01 Meat Puppets: Smells Like Teen Spirit
02 Butch Walker & the Black Widows: In Bloom
03 Midnight Juggernauts: Come as You Are
04 Titus Andronicus: Breed
05 The Vaselines: Lithium
06 Amanda Palmer: Polly
07 Surfer Blood: Territorial Pissings
08 Foxy Shazam: Drain You
09 Jessica Lea Mayfield: Lounge Act
10 Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band: Stay Away
11 Telekinesis: On a Plain
12 JEFF the Brotherhood: Something in the Way
13 EMA: Endless, Nameless

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Jessica Lea Mayfield - Tell Me

If you don’t know who Jessica Lea Mayfield is then pay attention, because hers is a name you are likely to be hearing a heck of a lot in the future. Fans of The Blacks Keys will perhaps already know of her, as she was the first guest voice ever to be heard on one of their records at the age of just 17. Tell Me is the second album from the now 21-year-old country singer from Kent, Ohio and, just like her acclaimed debut, is produced by Dan Auerbach, who also performs some vocal duties as well as playing moog and guitar.

With her tendency to deliver bleak, dark yet beautiful songs at such a tender age, Mayfield comes across like Laura Marling’s country-lovin’ American cousin. Her melancholic words certainly have a similar weight and weariness as she is perpetually trailed by ominous storm clouds. "I can't let you fill my head with lies," she sighs on Grown Man. Her words may be cynical, but they are contrasted interestingly by some lovely, melodic country-folk-indie tunes, not least the raw guitars and thumping drums of opener, I'll Be The One That You Want Someday. When light does occasionally shine through the cracks in what is a largely dark and bruised album, it leaves a lovely glow. "This heart of mine is ready for the Spring... suddenly I can see blue skies again," she sings hopefully on Blue Skies.

Tell Me is shrouded in beautiful, dark emotional resonance, and the fact that it was authored by someone so young makes it an even more impressive achievement. A marvellous record.

Review by Rob Townsend