The Squawkatiel's Dozen #1

Welcome to The Squawkatiel's Dozen, a new feature on this blog where I bring you 6 great songs you can download for free, and 6 songs that aren't available for free but are worth a listen. I have an excellent mix for you, featuring some songs you may have heard on Flight of the Squawkatiel and a bunch of new ones.

Let's start off with the downloads:

1. Dios Mio is a band from London, I recommend them if you like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' mellower songs. Here is their latest single, "Proto":



2. At WRUV, we recently added HeadShy's new album La Belle Epoque, which is a triple EP containing the EPs The Head Chord, The Heart Chord and The Bass Chord. Here is one of my favorite songs from it, "Coma":



3. Straw Man Standing is the project of Travis Webster-Booth, a friend of mine on Facebook who I knew back in junior high/high school. Here is the lead track off his new EP Two Inches of Ash, "Go On Rewind":



4. perth is an experimental band from Australia who have a new album called What's Your Utopia? Here is their song "Drank and Kites and Tomorrow", which I played on my show last week:



5. Snowflake is the musical project of producer D. James Goodwin who has worked with a diverse range of artists including Norah Jones, Murder by Death and Devo. Here is his song "Snakes and Spiders" off the new album We All Grow Toward the Sea:



6. Finally, here is "Sweep" from Leverage Models, off their self-titled album that I have played on my show quite a bit.



Now for the streams. Don't miss out on these, there are some really good songs here!

1. Bombay Bicycle Club are releasing their new album So Long See You Tomorrow on February 3, and from it we have the first contender for my Top 20 Songs of 2014, "Luna". Don't miss this one.



2. Morning Arms are a band from Chicago who caught my attention with the title track to their new Moon & Tide EP, which is available from their bandcamp page.



3. Tycho is one of my favorite electronic artists right now, and he has released another song from his forthcoming album Awake, which will be out on March 18. Here is "Montana":



4. Yumi Zouma is a group from New Zealand who have been getting a lot of attention lately for the two singles they have released. They will release a 10" EP on February 11. Here is their debut single "The Brae", which has a dream pop sound you will enjoy if you like Wild Nothing.




5. German band The Notwist are back with their first album in over seven years, Close to the Glass, which will be released on February 25. Their new song "Kong" is more rock and less electronic than their recent albums:



6. Lastly, we have the band NO, who have signed to the label Arts & Crafts. They are releasing their debut album El Prado on February 18. Here is their great new single "Leave the Door Wide Open":



That wraps up this week's Squawkatiel's Dozen. Thanks for checking these songs out, and let me know which songs you liked! Will be back with more in a couple weeks.