´óÏó´«Ã½

It's to mark World Peace Day.

You can learn more about World Peace Day and Heal the Last Stand by visiting the links below:

Heal the Last Stand are a lighthouse of optimism and brotherly love (sisterly, too) who distil West Coast harmonies, sunrise melodies and unallayed belief in music's power to do good. It's easy for cynics to scoff at such 'hippy' ideals, especially in the dystopian, apocalyptic wastelands of 2009. But, you know, they will win you over, eventually: and you'll end up smiling and exuding hope along with them.

Maybe not all of you.
Give it a go.

They'll be joined by the not inconsiderable talents of Brynford's Andy Hickie. I might even go along to bang a tambourine myself.

Elsewhere, we cheapskate freeloaders can today download rap dynamo Mr Phormula's new EP.

Ed's a supernova of beat-iful creativity. When he belches, perfectly-balanced rhymes drop out.

He's become North Wales' ambassador for hip hop in his roles MCing for Genod Droog, Diwygiad, Pen-Ta-Gram and as a one man beatbox.

The new EP is called Panad. For a man who can be guilty of letting his boundless enthusiasm propel him onto a new track / project before the current one is finished and polished to the best of his ability, this is a remarkably consistent and enjoyable EP.

The lead track, Graft At This, might be the finest example of his rhyming and production skills, yet. It's about working hard at what you do to become the best you can.

The irony that he's having to give this away for FREE because we don't seem to value this kind of creativity any more (or, perhaps, more accurately we've grown to expect much of our music for free) and the fact that I'm here celebrating its FREE-ness, isn't lost on me.

But that's probably a subject for a different day.

You can download the EP from the link below:

Please note that the EP features some mild swearing. Still, it's not all that cuss-encrusted. If it were to bump into 2LiveCrew or an average episode of The Wire, it'd sound like a playschool conversation in comparison, but your discretion - if you are offended by such things - is recommended.

Enjoy the gig and the EP. If you know of any other bargain gigs or releases, treat me like the low-rent, albino David Dickinson that I am and let me know about them, below.

Adam