• Band / Artist : bill
• Genre : Pop / Rock
• Sample Track Download : Sound Scientist
• Buy CD : Buy
• Buy Digital Download : Buy
• Rating : 8 out of 10

bill is a band that has been making quite a stir in the podcasting scene. Their songs “Sound Science” and “Panacea” have been featured numerous times and to give their thanks to the podcasting community, they made this album freely available for a limited time. A week later and over 1,100 downloads, it’s easy to see that bill have already established a pretty good fan base and deservedly so.

The album starts of with a relatively short accapella track, which could easily have been turned into a longer track, but in any case starts the album off nicely. There are many different influences on the album and it’s nice to see bands not constraining themselves. For instance with “Sound Science” the band creates a very Snow orientated track. Do you remember Snow, the guy who used to try to squeeze as many words into a short space as possible. Actually it’s not unusual as I remember Bare Naked Ladies doing something similar as well, but who cares, it works and is a great pop song, that wouldn’t sound out of place on commercial radio, oops sorry, didn’t meant to say the dreaded “R” word (and commercial at that). “Kiss the Stone” is one of the songs that cannot fail to get your feet tapping, with it’s catchy tune and great guitar accompaniment. “Panacea” is another standout song on the album.

This is an album that sounds like a lot of thought has gone into it. The musical arrangements all gel nicely with the rich vocals and go to make a wonderful listening experience.

*Rant Mode On* Whilst it’s great when bands make their albums freely available, we also have to realise that for many of them, this will hopefully be/is their livelihood, so it’s quite understandable when the bands also charge for their stuff. I have no problems with that, especially when the difference in CD and download prices is so spot on. I have no problems spending $15 on an album, but I’ll be buggered if I’m going to spend the same, or as near as, on a digital download. This for me is where iTunes falls down, and to compound that, the DRM that restricts your access to the music, well let’s not go there. bill offer their album for download at just $5.00, this for me is a ballsy move and one that I wish other artists would follow. I want MP3s of all the music I buy and I want it at a reasonable price. *Rant Mode Off*

Conclusion : OK, so you missed the free download, but don’t let this put you off. This is a wonderful album that I’m sure will take pride of place in your CD player.