Every year from late December on through January I realize just how much good music I missed during the preceding twelve months. In just the last two weeks I've discovered a collaboration by two my favorite emcees (Lateef the Truth Seeker and Gift of Gab's The Mighty Underdogs), the resurrection of Charlie Louvin on his record Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads, and a wonderful record by a band/collective calling itself Forest Fire.

It's Forest Fire's Survival that's free and legal. It was released by Catbird Records, which from what I can tell is the record label started by the guy who writes the blog Catbirdseat. You can download it for free and if you like it you can pay. The record is quite good, made up of mostly pretty classic New York rock music a la Lou Reed. But it also features near dirges that would make Low proud (Sunshine City is quickly becoming one of my favorite tracks from last year this year). The song writing is very strong and it strikes just the right balance of nostalgia for Loaded era Velvet Underground forward-looking chanty/choral rock and feedback. And don't forget to pay attention to the stellar quality of these recordings. Lots of one-mic takes with perfect overdubbing. You can get it for free here.