It’s been another massive year at Real Gone. Over the past twelve months, we’ve shared well over a hundred reviews, introduced people to a world of new bands, and even seen the return of a few old favourites with some of their best albums ever.
Our audience have been really supportive. Visitor numbers have been more than consistent with previous years, and the response to a few of the reviews has been overwhelming. It’s been a great reminder of why this website continues to exist.
It’s that time of year again when Real Gone takes stock of all of the great music that’s been sent our way over the last twelve months. Changes in how people consume their music has meant shifting from providing a free download to offering an album length stream, but the variety and quality of the new music remains very high.
It’s long been a tradition at Real Gone that we bring you an easily digestible reminder of some of the year’s best new music as December starts to draw to a close. This year, we’ve got some great stuff to share with you – it’s probably our most varied selection yet!
A yearly tradition, the Real Gone Sampler is one of the most popular things in our calendar. In previous years, we’ve given away great music by Kurt Baker, The 1957 Tail Fin Fiasco and Black Moth. Every year, the project rounds up the very best in DIY acts and aims to get great music out to a new audience.
On occasion, we’ve even been lucky enough to give you two end of year samplers. This year, the download is only one disc long, but we bring you over seventy minutes of underground sounds. We’ve got dream pop, shoegaze, roots rock, garage rock, singer songwriters and a whole bunch more. It could just be the best Real Gone freebie to date.
As always, reviews for each album can be found behind the band name links.
Sleeve art designed by Elena Barrio.
An important and popular fixture on the Real Gone calendar, the free sampler has offered a broad range of tracks for keen-eared listeners since its inception back in 2010. Usually, the samplers would cover a broad range of music. This year, in line with 2014, we’ve covered so much metal, it needed it’s own free download!