Way before Radiohead’s In Rainbows and Nine Inch Nails’ The Slip was the Smashing Pumpkins’ Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, an album that Billy Corgan more or less gave away for free back in 2000. Now he’s back with the same self-promotion tactic. He decided that the Smashing Pumpkins are to give away more than an album’s worth of free songs, which they are in the process of recording.

Recording of the new record which will be entitled ‘Teargarden by Kaleidyscope’ began on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009. The album will feature 44 songs, 4 of which are now being recorded. The band will release each and every song for free one at a time and the first will be available for download at the end of October. “My desire is to release a song at a time beginning around Halloween of this year, with each new release coming shortly after until all 44 are out,” wrote Billy Corgan on his blog.
“Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.”
Along the way, 11 four-song, “mini-box set” EPs will be made available for buying to superfans who want something to look at and hold while listening to their music. A decidedly non-mini box set will also be available once all 44 songs are completed.
As for the music, Corgan promises a return to “the original psychedelic roots of The Smashing Pumpkins: atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty,” which sounds pretty sweet. He also says, “the album is based on ‘The Fool’s Journey’, as signified in the progress of the Tarot. It is my intention to approach this by breaking down the journey of our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic.”

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 2:28 pm and is filed under News.