UK indie pop musicans The Crimea, are officially indie. The real indie, as in independent. Not just because Warner dropped them from their american label last year, more so because their upcoming new release Secrets Of The Witching Hour will be available as a net release starting May 13th. Total cost to download - $0.00. It’s free. It is a ploy to attract more fans, more future record buyers. But, isn’t that the way music should be marketed? If you enchant enough people that want to hear more of your music, enough to support recording another album, then do you really need all the other hassle? The Crimea are certainly worth a listen. This music isn’t my cup of tea, but i like it enough to suggest it to people who like enchanting pop music. Not Bjork enchanting, but maybe Spiritualized when they aren’t playing Spectrum stuff. And i fully support the DIY punk ethic behind it. i LOVE net releases! So do go check it out!

www.thecrimea.net

+UPDATE+

They just released this late breaking news :

‘The Witching Hour is Upon us…’ - Monday, April 30, 2007
Folks,

To be super quick, we’re pushing the free on-line release to… now!!! ‘Secrets Of The Witching Hour’ is ready to go, and awaiting your MP3 player of choice everywhere as of NOW.
Just head towards www.thecrimea.net
and let your mouse do the work. Nice and simple.

That’s it for the moment. We’re in Beijing at the moment and are proud to announce we’ve been made cultural envoys of the Wang Jing district, Beijing. Come and see us on our UK shows for a full explanation, it’s a bizarre one, but worthwile…

Lots of Love

The Crimea

You can listen to a few tracks on the Last.fm band page.

Net Labels

For more great net releases and internet record labels, check out :

JAHTARI Music
NoiseUsse

i can’t get enough of these 2 lately. On JAHTARIs page, be sure to click on tapes. You can listen to mix tapes of wicked roots style dub, you know, tape machines, spacey echoes, and the heavy pressure of the drum and the bass. But it’s all made with old Ataris and C64s or something equally weird sounding…. NoiseUsse just changed their whole site design and now it looks like a blog, when it is actually a Net Label. Loads of glitchy breaky digital electronica and enchanting atmospheric shoegaze music made by people with really interesting shoes, or heroes of the sludge metal underground. NoiseUsse albums are only available as net releases. All the music on both of these sites is FREE!