Catching The Waves

Dial M For Mmmarvellous

Here's a short but sweet package: M, a three-track EP released by British netlabel Minordust, is full of aural goodness for chillout and minimal fans alike.

Tobias Lorsbach, alias Keinzweiter, must be one of those strange beings who haunt record shops, working their fingers to the bone as they search for a rare vinyl cut, taking home nothing but the choicest grooves - only to disregard everything on them apart from the dusty crackles between the tracks. This perverse discard-the-fruit-but-keep-the-peel attitude is especially evident on the first track, Magnolia, where close-up pops and crackles are spliced with field recordings and slotted into a cool rhythm to the accompaniment of slowly alternating cool chords. A jazzy hi-hat drops in to keep things ticking along until Keinzweiter, unable to resist displaying his production chops, plays with its pitch and filtering. Like the other two tracks, Magnolia is ostensibly a restrained exploration of "noises off" and clicks 'n' cuts, but if you turn the volume up your cranium will belatedly discover that the rest of you is sitting on the washing machine and enjoying the spin cycle. See what you think:

Keinzweiter - Magnolia

Now you know what to expect - namely pops, crackles, a dash of jazz topped off with field recordings and nougaty vinyl static - you can relax, safe in the knowledge that you're now trendier than everyone else in your social circle. Put that hand-mirror down. Things get even funkier with Mircoobee, wherein a swinging jazz drum rhythm kicks off a beautiful minimal–techhouse track. Speaking of jazz/be-bop, who'd have thought, back in the '50s, that music production would advance so far that a talented producer like Keinzweiter could add myriad rhythmic clicks 'n' cuts to a fast drum beat without swamping it? Take any ten seconds from this and count the number of things going on: there's echoing conversations, crackles, synth embellishments, a bumping bass, the aforementioned jazz drumming, a lovely high-pitched synth run, and numerous tics and pops, yet they all blend together perfectly in a light stew that instantly makes Mainz, where Keinzweiter has his Batcave, one of the cooler places in Germany. Oh, all right. You all know you can twist me round your little finger:

Keinzweiter - Mircoobee

Now, off to bed with you, stopping only to give Moriaan a goodnight kiss. Let the adults dance to its funky and cheerful style. No, you can't stop to listen to its upbeat crackly goodness. And don't poke your tongue at me, you young scamp.

M is a free Creative Commons-licensed taster of a talented electronica artist. Should you wish to hear more of Keinzweiter's stuff, his new album Globus Cassus is now available for free (at an ear-shreddingly low 128 Kbps) from spontanMusik netlabel or you can buy it (at an ear-caressingly high 320 Kbps) from Beatport. My thanks to Mike Gregoire of Blocsonic for releasing netBloc Vol. 22, Life On Ceres, where I first heard Mircoobee. By the way, Vol. 23 is out today and it's utterly free, hipsters. Yes, I'm good. Daddy loves you too. Now run along.

Keinzweiter – M (link to individual files & zipped album - click on the album title when you get there)

Keinzweiter website and MySpace

Minordust netlabel

Never Mind The Width; Feel The Quality

The astute blurb on the release page at IDMf netlabel for Halogen - Length and Brecht (Remixed) compares it to a classical composition. Uncannily, the EP, consisting as it is does of one track by Halogen, a Brighton-based artist, and three remixes by other musos, feels as though it's the work of one person bent on producing a four-movement composition; there isn't the usual jarring, though often enjoyable, scramble of disparate sounds one associates with remixes essayed by musicians eager to parade their own production's fireworks.

Halogen's original track features a langorous descending piano motif in an abyssal acoustic that is so big it allows for the hammering of the top notes, whose fortississimo is made bearable by the cushioning reverb. A ghostly female vocal joins in and wraps your ears in swaddling clothes while a cello adds to the warmth. Remove 60 seconds from the five-minute running time and you have a contender for the chill-out track of the year. The combination of a cavernous reverb and a leisurely theme reminds me, scandalously you might think, of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, composed specifically to take advantage of Gloucester Cathedral's superb acoustics. It's a wafer-thin connection, to be sure, but the ethos - if not the execution - is similar.

Strangely enough, the third track, the Field Rotation remix, is a gnat's todger longer than Halogen's original, but feels shorter even though the pace is funereal. A feather-light percussive rhythm, bass booms and swirling vocals blend into the mix to make something that should not be listened to while operating heavy machinery. Play it on a good stereo and alert the coast guard for beached whales. /badtaste

The tempo ups with the appearance of the Woodnote remix, whose synths and crunchy, granular goodness are the fibre in Halogen's musical muesli. It forms an impressive ending to "/Remixed/" as we must call it.

Today's recommended track, Synaecide's remix, (track two) could be described as the allegro of the four movements. Its snippets of the album's overriding piano motif and heart-stoppingly beautiful grainy vocals will give listeners a taste of what to expect elsewhere in the EP. However, Synaecide has also pressed the big red button marked (wears nose-peg in distaste) “IDM” and given us a whirlwind of glitches and clicks that provide an outlet for the suppressed emotion in the other three tracks. It becomes an electro romp with a gnarly bass line punctuated by a brief mid-riff "skip" in tempo; a compositional flourish that I'm sure RWV would have enjoyed. If Woodnote adds fibre, this adds roughage. Halogen - Length and Brecht (Synaecide Remix) is track two in the Soundcloud player below, which has barged its way in like an orange sore thumb because IDMf doesn't supply an open mp3 link for CTW's Yahoo media player, which is now feeling increasingly sorry for itself. (Feed readers click here to listen.)

Free music is rather scrumptious, isn't it?

I'm now going to undermine completely my pretentious burblings about over-arching compositional structures, etc., by advising listeners to rearrange the tracks' order so that Halogen's effort is followed by Woodnote's and then Synaecide's. That way, your ears build towards a climax (I apologise for that mental image) and then get a rubdown from Field Rotation's chill-out track: when the piano motif resurfaces, it feels like an old friend has returned. I've listened to /Remixed/ a lot and the track order is the only minor quibble I have, even though I've wibbled on about the importance of structural unity. Me = idiot. The album is a treat however you want to listen to it.

I dust memove by - sorry, I must remove my nose-peg to admit that I have nothing against IDM per se apart from the term itself, which I think is nonsensical and divisive. I especially have nothing against IDMf netlabel, which should be proud of itself for releasing such marvellous collections, and the IDM Forum, which should be proud of itself for keeping its shy and retiring members safe and secure in their little padded cells. Please keep the wardens on their toes by sending the netlabel lots of congratulatory emails and a promise of a gold watch - if a Paypal icon ever appears on their site. ;)

Halogen - Length and Brecht (Remixed) (link to zipped album & individual files)

Halogen's blog and MySpace

IDMf netlabel

Getting Down To A Fine Art

It seems that every other album I review has a pristine white background. But don't worry your pretty little head about it: instead, come home from work/college/the pub/prison, select Blue Swerver's The Art of Collapsing from your extensive collection of CTW recommendations, flop onto the sofa, sip something good (tea, beer, wine, life partner) and listen to smoky vocals drift over eleven electronic blues-jazz morsels. Yeah, baby. For those of you out there wondering how to blend jazz and the blues with electronica, look no further than the first track, the spookily good Untempo, which morphs from jazzy blues to downtempo IDM to electronica before culminating in a short slice of trip-hop and an ending that suits the final lyric perfectly. Less than four minutes long, its many changes in tempo and mood provide real value for money – if that's not a surreal thing to say about a free CC album. Don't blame me if you wake up tomorrow surrounded by empty wine bottles, a full ashtray and a trilby you've never seen before. As I said, it's the first track (apologies to feed readers - I'm waiting for Jamendo to do something about its invisible media player):

The Art of Collapsing is a disciplined album from Blue Swerver, a five-strong band from London. There's no egotistical jazz twiddling (which is something I love, when in the mood): all the musicians serve the song. Nick Street's electronic trickery and Robin Grey's (for it is he) bass provide a firm bedding for Adam Green's whispered/slurred vocals and Jules Fenton's judicious drumming. Ben Oliver is a dab hand at jazz-blues piano. According to them, the god Orpheus helps out on triangle. So they've got that going for them.

A true fact about track seven: Zinedine Zidane is not the name of a French footballing wizard but is actually a formula invented by Louis Armstrong in his bid to discover jazz's equivalent to the theory of relativity: Satchmo found that those five syllables, pronounced in that precise order, immediately increased a singer's hipness by a factor of cool. He died too soon to publicise his findings – so thank CTW for the research. Adam Green's vocals in the verses totter along the ragged edge between ultra-jazzy and off-key, but the chorus is the coolest, catchiest thing you'll hear all week. (Find Zinedine Zidane by clicking on a track name in the Jamendo player and choose from the pop-up playlist.) It ends with a marvellously pithy line: The rest of the week was much better/I finally had it out with my neighbour's dog/He's been pissin' on my roses/for way too long.

Speaking of which, what a pleasure it is to hear such distinctive lyrics. This from Job, where a jazz piano and light electronica help to tell the Biblical tale: They said, “Crazy, you're crazy still praying to Him.”/He said, “God is my shepherd even though he burns my skin.” Or there's this from At The Movies: Side by side at the movies/disappointing pizza and a slow walk home.

There are a couple of beauty spots in the album's otherwise flawless complexion: the vocals suffer from too much sibilance and my crappy sound system distorts the trumpet solo in Tasky, though the latter's verses of beat poetry come through very clearly, which, depending on your taste for wordplay, may or may not be a good thing.

Right, this review is getting longer than my alcohol-deprived tongue, so I shall leave you to discover the other tracks with the advice to stick the album on your "chilled Anjou/Muscadet/Gewürztraminer/Buckfast Cider" playlist, if you have one. Please think about making a donation to Blue Swerver to thank and encourage them - it's easy to do at Jamendo. I can't remember if I found The Art of Collapsing via the peerless Free Albums Galore, but that's not going to stop me from a drive-by plug. ;)

Blue Swerver - The Art of Collapsing on Jamendo & Modifythevan (zipped album & individual files)

Blue Swerver on MySpace

Modifythevan netlabel

Cologne Commons

I have temporarily conceded my claim to be the centre of global cool to a deserving cause. Today and tomorrow sees Cologne (for geographically challenged readers: yes, that's in Germany) host a festival and workshop of Creative Commons culture including music, art and various forms of media. The idea is to investigate and promote the possibility of a free sharing culture that will be beneficial to all, while not entirely ignoring the possibility of a crazygonuts weekend of drink, dance and debauchery.

There will be workshops, how-to's, panels and expert discussions; musicians and VJs will demonstrate in a quiet, subdued manner how CC sound and visuals might cause one's heartbeat to raise ever-so-slightly; and all involved will try to counter the media's demonisation of shared media as the province of scoundrels, charlatans, thieves and Country & Western fans pirates.

Anyone lucky enough to attend in person will not only hear some great music and see amazing videos but will also learn a lot about promoting CC culture on the internet. An exploration of the Cologne Commons website will reveal links to the hard-working funksters who are part of the Cologne Network. Their efforts should ensure this weekend will be a huge success - but I suspect they might be feeling a little fragile on Monday morning. Is there such a thing as CC aspirin?

Next up at CTW is, oh, I don't know, maybe some free music? The last few days have seen a spate of public service announcements and, fun as they've been, it's time to get back to my stock in trade, which is wibbling about free music that you can download and listen to at your leisure. It's the best way I know of supporting the great things that are happening in the CC world. Besides, I need to get my hips a-swingin'.

While you're looking at the Cologne Commons website, feel free to download their two compilation albums, cunningly entitled:

Cologne Commons Compilation 01 and, wait for it...

Cologne Commons Compilation 02.

You'll be more stylish in no time. Anyway, whisk yourself to Cologne via this magical interwebulator Tardis button thingy:

The Italian Blog

Every now and then, I try to convince you that I am not some sort of free music deus ex machina but merely an online simpleton who likes to recommend things that he likes. You, of course, refuse to acknowledge any flaw in my perfection and insist that I am the source of all that is good, free and funky. Not so, planet. There are those who deserve a place in the pantheon that is CTW's “General Netlabel Sites” category. The gilded olive wreath goes, rather appropriately, to Eldino, a native of the Calabria/Marche regions of Italy.

What has he done to deserve this Nobel-like honour? Well, he has taken it upon himself to curate netlabel music. All of it. The lot. Come with me into the heart of the matrix and grasp the scale of his madness.

For the last six years, Eldino has collected and catalogued everything he could lay his hands on. A "Netlabel Music Meter" on his website shows that he has collected...wait for it...316GB of Creative commons/netlabel music. To put that into perspective, the iPod Classic stores 120GB of music, which translates to 30,000 songs, albeit songs stored at a rather lo-fi 128kbps. Actually, Eldino's meter is eight months out of date: he currently has nearly 400GB of netaudio in his private collection. He must have over 100,000 tracks; all free, all legally downloaded. Not only that, he has tagged every track correctly, assigned the appropriate album cover, rated the music and even placed albums in a logical and easy to understand hierarchy of folders instead of emulating the mess of files that you'll find on my most people's hard drives.

His chosen task is Sisyphean. No matter how close he gets to scooping up everything with a CC licence on it, there will always be an obscure Lithuanian label who decides that what the world needs now is 100 albums of tuba nu-jazz. And Eldino will cry a little, bend himself to the task and try to push the huge boulder up the hill once more.

Why is he doing this extraordinary thing? He is thinking of posterity. Netlabels and artists come and go. Without him, countless songs and albums would have been lost in the depths of the net. Anyone looking for anything online knows that the internet is a near-impenetrable jungle; we often discard our accidental discoveries, dismissing them as worthless, on our search for treasure. It is not for us to decide what is worth preserving; Eldino is giving the Future the chance to pick and choose.

Visit his site and you'll find various articles (mostly in Italian, some in English) on Creative Commons culture, occasional album reviews, tutorials on proprietary and open source software, and tips on how to fill your mp3 player without becoming a pirate. Anyone who is curious to find out just how deep the netaudio rabbit hole goes should join his five news feeds, where you will discover oodles and oodles of albums to wade through. You have my extra-special permission to ignore CTW and discover things for yourself. (My ambition is to make CTW redundant.) But I warn you, your cerebellum will explode. Only experienced Italians with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the internet and an obsessive compulsion to bring order to chaos will be able to stand the strain. I'll take a wild stab in the dark and suggest that Eldino is probably the world's leading expert on netlabels & CC music, although Mo Sauer of Phlow or Marvin of Free Albums Galore might give him a run for his money.

I'm sure you've read of philanthropists who have handed their collections over to museums. Eldino has compiled an archivist's dream of Creative Commons material, but it's still less than half of what is floating on the electronic high seas. Wouldn't it be lovely if someone far-sighted from the Italian government or, better still, the Creative Commons rewarded Eldino's insanity industry and diligence by offering him some financial help or - and he might prefer this - seconding an attractive secretary to his side? For now, he ploughs a lone furrow. We salute him. Please visit his site and, should you feel like it, send him an email thanking him for his Herculean efforts.

I must also thank Eldino for helping me to convert CTW into a mobile phone format. (Wanting to go mobile was akin to a toddler deciding to upgrade the Hubble telescope.) He is an evangelist for the Creative Commons music scene and was happy to help.

Il Blog di Eldino

Motor Skills

Professor Kliq - Trip Home from Harald Walker on Vimeo.

Harald Walker (of the very accomplished Sonic Walker, source of countless fine netlabel mixes and a much nicer blog than mine, damn him) has made an excellent video for Trip Home, Professor Kliq's ambient-ish triphop ode to the surreal experience of getting back to the family home/wigwam/igloo. There are lots of nice touches, such as the blurred scenery that accompanies the introduction of ice-cool flanging drums, which show that Harald really knows how to track the mood and tempo of a song. The flashes of humour, like the bicyclist riding while holding an umbrella (who does that?), and a couple's snatched kiss, balance the trippy effect that comes from a sideways look at life flashing by.

EDIT: The comedy cycling routine is apparently quite common in Holland. Spot the odd one out: Rembrandt, Cruyff, a tolerant society, great beer, a cricket team capable of beating England, unicycle with red nose and huge feet. You see now the error of your ways. Stop it and get wet like everyone else.

Trip Home is a track from Professor Kliq's most recent album, The Scientific Method, Volume II, (available from Rec72 netlabel & Jamendo) and displays his recent penchant for splicing ambient sounds amongst his rock-solid rhythms and melodic wanderings. CTW has already reviewed the Prof's wondrous penultimate platter, Guns Blazin' and once again recommends readers to give it and The Sci-Meth 2 disc a try. If you like Fatboy Slim, big beat, funk, and hip trip-hop, you really should investigate him and brighten your weekend.

The Prof is a little under the weather at the mo, so let's hope he enjoys this, the first video ever to grace the hallowed halls of CTW Towers. My sincere thanks to Harald for his exceptional patience in advising me how to use my motor skills and opposable thumbs. You could also brighten Harald's weekend by visiting his website to see how a real Creative Commons music blog should be done. Git. Nice work, H.

Professor Kliq (link to review of Guns Blazin' and other info re. the Prof)

Sonic Walker (as professional as CTW is amateurish - so it's very professional)

Free Music Is A Stupid Idea

I've heard the above quite a few times. Some people even get irate at the very notion of free music, not realising that there's room for both commercial music and properly licensed free music in this big, increasingly not green and blue world.

I reviewed Sean Fournier's Oh My exactly a month ago. It's wonderful to announce that Sean has just signed a contract with a few major shows on MTV, E! and Oxygen who want to use his perfectly formed six-tracker. If you're talented, determined, understand the power of publicity and enjoy a modicum of luck, the Creative Commons paradox holds true: you can give away your music for free and make money out of it. Here's a reminder of his stuff:

Lovely, isn't it? You'll find further details at his beautiful and internet-savvy website, where you can goggle at the man's talent. Before you go, I'd like to point out that there is no connection between Catching The Waves reviewing Oh My and Sean getting a contract with major TV networks a scant month later. It's merely a coincidence and does not in any way mean that CTW is a big hitter, a man of influence, a big swinging dick or a master of the music universe. To reiterate:

D'you see the power of CTW, people? DO YOU SEE?!? I WILL CRUSH MY ENEMIES AND DRIVE THEM BEFORE ME AND HEAR THE LAMENTATION OF THEIR WOMEN!!!

*cough*

Ah, that's better. I haven't said that for ages.

Sean Fournier home page

Undercover Brother

The heart of Sliptone's six-tracker lies firmly in that nebulous genre of music known as, er, “old school funky disco-ish latin/big beat sort of thingy – oh, go on, you'll like it”. My reasoning? Witness the wah-wah guitar chops, electric piano, clavinet riffs, slap bass and movie dialogue that are sprinkled liberally throughout Funkagent 1. If I may be so bold as to venture an opinion, the most successful track here is the opener, Birds and Bees, which immediately drops the hammer and begins a head-nodding enquiry into sex education from a time when men smoked pipes and women just smoked. The track is tight, contains vinyl crackles, a bluesy piano riff, a kick and snare that swing, and chopped vocals: just some of the many things that keep CTW happy. Guinness is another, if anyone's offering.

An electro bass at the start of Mrs Brown presages the odd scream from Mr Brown, the Godfather of Funk himself. It's joined by a slap bass; an unusual combination but one that works. A clavinet joins in the fun, and it quickly becomes impossible to say which musical decade has influenced Mrs Brown the most. Then a Hammond organ turns up and I decide to use the Grove Dictionary of Music to stop my kitchen table wobbling.

If Funkagent 1, the disco-ish title track, were to lose two minutes it would gain a lot; brevity is the soul of hip, as Shakey almost said. The samba piano of Melos Liberal brings Latino funk to the table, though Sliptone abandons it for a trip-hop interlude only to return with a lo-fi flanging effect that goes down as nicely as the previously mentioned pint of porter. A fun break-down section is marred slightly by a snare that is just too late to sit comfortably in the pocket.

Sugar throws trumpet, organ, funk guitar and breathy female vocals at a bass guitar and lets them fight it out. Strangely enough, it's the bass, normally rock-solid in these type of workouts, which to my ears sounds slightly ahead of the beat. But then, my rhythmic sense is as reliable as a politician's promise.

/bitterness towards lazy, corrupt governments and opposition

Don't Stop does what the rest of the album does: it settles into a rhythm and ...doesn't stop. (These tracks are less songs, more extended grooves in a laid-back funky Big Beat style.) Its rolling drums, echoing sax and 60s style vocals bring the EP to a satisfying conclusion. Yeah, baby.

Sliptone's philosophy is to keep things sounding natural; he'll tolerate the odd, er, slip if the performance feels alive. Consequently, Funkagent 1 is raw-boned in places; a couple of tracks need their screws tightened - but there's definitely enough of the good stuff to pass the time pleasantly/move your money-maker. Unfortunately, I can't show you what I mean because Budabeats, in their Hungarian wisdom, supply only a zipped file of the album. True, you can listen to the stream of this straight-outta-Carlisle EP at their website (please do) but it does make things difficult for hip and happenin' blogs who would otherwise be only too happy to spread the word. I'll try some Magyar:

*clears throat*

Kérjük, vessen mp3 link "Madarak és a Méhek" a honlapjára. Köszönöm.

I can tell you're impressed. ;) There's no tip box for the talented Sliptone or the tasty Budabeats so please consider sending an email thanking them for the free virtual platter of funky fun. It would brighten their day as much as Funkagent 1 did mine.

Sliptone – Funkagent 1 (link to zipped album only)

Sliptone's MySpace

Budabeats

All your mobile are belong to us

Ah, my first use of a classic internet meme. I'm so down with the cool kids. Right, pay attention. Run your eyes over my body this website and you'll notice a blue blob that, as Prince Charles once said of modern British architecture's effect on London, is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend. It's for all you trendies out there, swanning around with your iPhones and Nokias and cranial-audio uplinks. In other words, Catching The Waves is now formatted for web-enabled mobile phones. Please use the button or bookmark this link: http://catchingthewaves.wirenode.mobi/

Like any other new technological wheeze at CTW, the blob is there on sufferance; if it doesn't work or if I don't like it – it'll disappear.

Inevitably, there will be some teething problems. I'm not sure if my recommended songs will be playable for now, and Jamendo's media player doesn't want to appear at the moment. However, the links to recommended albums will still be at the end of each article and will still work.

So here's a rare request (apart from my pleadings for you to shower the musicians with “thank you” emails and maybe even a little cash) for user comments/emails: please let me know if it works or if it doesn't. You may laugh at the new cack-handed logo as long as you tell your trendy friends with trendy phones about CTW – I need to know if the service is compatible with the major phone brands.

Yes, that last plea was a blatant attempt to court popularity. Sue me. My next post but one will feature someone who has helped me tremendously with "CTW Mobile", as I like to call it in my more pretentious moments. Next up is - and I know you'll find this hard to believe - an album review. I like to ring the changes. ;)

In which I'm late, lazy and help a struggling band

Coldplay released a free live album nearly two weeks ago. Left Right Left Right Left places you in a front seat at one of their concerts as they reprise songs such as Clocks and Viva La Vida. You may have heard of them. Please note the album will only be available until the end of Coldplay's 2009 touring schedule.

And that's the end of my review. Everyone and his dog will already have reviewed this, and professional reviewers will make a much better job of it than I could - so I'm shutting up.

Thank you to Coldplay for releasing a free slab of fun that, would you credit it, also doubles as a useful promotional tool. Give them an email address, admit to which country you live in and it's yours.

Thank you also to Kymberlie R. McGuire & Sean Fournier for their stint in Thunderbird 5 monitoring worldwide announcements of free albums. I do the heavy lifting in Thunderbird 2. If you're unfamiliar with the inhabitants of Tracy Island, prepare for an adrenalin rush. ;)

Coldplay - Left Right Left Right Left (link to zipped album)

Coldplay Home Page

Funkenclickengeschlagzeugenpoppen

 

I've read somewhere that Bach's Brandenburg Concerti are considered the ideal musical accompaniment for students who can't study unless there is some form of music playing as they read. (My terrible memory hints that this may have been the opinion of Peter Jay, the former British Ambassador to the United States, but the same terrible memory is so untrustworthy that I'm willing to concede, just this once, that I may be spectacularly wrong. Perhaps I shouldn't have been listening to music when I first read that anecdote.)

Tracknames I Can't Pronounce by Erdbeerschnitzel, the latest release from Alt Recordings, is a bipolar album that goes one better than old Johann Sebastian: you may use its five tracks for background music while you study for exams or paint a fence, or you could turn up the volume and reveal that your nethers are, in fact, the long-thought-mythical perpetual motion machine. How so? Well, there are no great dynamic flourishes in these tracks; they sound like well-oiled machines that get funky when no one is looking. Yes, there are myriad thumps and bumps but no great melodic or percussive swellings to scorch your eardrums. As such, they're like my trousers: understated but ready to rumble.

Normally, I would recommend the first track, Drehundangelpunk, and its use of everyday minimalist motifs such as ...elephants, chickens, horses and cows, but its successor Klaus Kroete is a pristine example of groovin' German minimal. The triangle clinches it for me, so now it gets one of mine:

Erdbeerschnitzel - Klaus Kroete

Potentiopeter gets down and grooves, courtesy of a flanging snippet of white noise that provides the pitch-shifting meat in the bass and electronic drum sandwich. (Metaphors fear me.)

Miez und Muskel veers dangerously near my patented Theory of Dance Music: "all dance tracks are a third too long", but gets away with it because, like the rest of this very classy EP, it's stuffed with beautifully panned and mixed ticks, pops, clicks, scratches, snipped vocals and warm bass lines, the last being similar to oxygen in that you notice them only when there's no more.

The Tone Def remix of Drehundangelpunk is the most kick-heavy of the five tracks. Worry not: its sparseness is interrupted by an insistent bass line and leavened by the occasional angry elephant. (I'm not making this up.)

In Tracknames I can't Pronounce, Tim Keiling of Mainz (for it is he) has manipulated micro-samples with Teutonic aplomb and no little ingenuity to produce a superb free album of joyful funky minimal that will occupy your ears while your fingers leave a fervent "thank you" on his MySpace and Facebook pages. You can use your toes to leave offers of money and no-strings sex in CTW's comments section. I'm waiting.

Tracknames I Can't Pronounce – Erdbeerschnitzel (link to individual mp3s & zipped album)

Erdbeerschnitzel's home page and MySpace & Facebook thingies.

Alt Recordings

A Face In The Crowd

        

   

That cover is a slice of summer, isn't it? Curiously, the album's six songs are tagged as “blues”. That's a misnomer, pop-pickers, for Oh My is folk-pop and perhaps the cheeriest album ever to appear at Catching The Waves.

Oh My is composed of newly recorded versions of select songs from Sean Fournier's two commercial albums, Put The World On Stop and Paper Tiger. All the tracks are fine examples of the songwriter's art – well, they got me singing along with them. (My neighbours love me.) It enjoys a stellar vocal mix, although a more sonorous piano would strengthen the sound considerably. However, there's nothing wrong with the sparkling guitar in Broken Stereo, a jaunty opener that will give you a suntan.

Speaking of pop, Goodbye's call-and-respond cadence between piano chords and vocals seems to have occupied the pop charts for the last few years, and Sean is also guilty of committing that crime against music, Autotune, on Holding The Hand Of The Hurricane. But the charm of Oh My is that any minor faults are laid waste by pure, infectious melodies and touchingly optimistic lyrics.

If MTV or VH1 were to get hold of Holding The Hand Of The Hurricane, it would no doubt remaster it and then set it to a video of a rainswept raven-tressed lass running through lightning-lit cobbled streets: its air of gothic/Latin romance demands no less. And, would you believe it, MTV & VH1 recently licensed Oh My, so keep your eyes peeled. If they do set it to said video, I shall buy a lottery ticket.

Another Like You is a beautiful, sensitive, piano and cello-laden paean to true love. Send it to your other half and they'll let you touch them in their naughty place.

If you happen to need cheering up, listen to Put The World On Stop, an upbeat tale of recovery from ennui that will put you in a good frame of mind:

Oh, my God, I put the world on stop

Somehow I gotta add to something

One time before the curtain drops

I'm all right, I'm all right

Today's recommended song is the final one, Falling For You, which you should file under “Exemplary Good-Natured Catchy Love Song” in your music collection. Oh My is currently riding high at Jamendo; here's their natty music player so that you can ignore me and play the songs in whatever order you damn well please:

You're right – I still can't get Jamendo to tell me how to insert one, and one only, mp3 in Yahoo's media player. *shakes fist at cruel world* Jamendo is fast becoming the iTunes of the Creative Commons music world. Let's hope that's a good thing.

Sean Fournier currently has a single, What I Must Do, on release. There's also lyrics, videos and more info available at his very pretty website. You'll see that he's also a talented graphic artist. Yup, I'm envious.

Slap a couple of extra songs on Oh My, get a top producer to polish the sound and there's no reason why it shouldn't enjoy an outing in the upper reaches of the charts. (Failing that, please investigate Sean's two commercial albums if you wish to hear an alternative fuller mix of these songs.) If you know someone who likes to sing into their hairbrush, tell them about this album. Then tell them that it's a tribute to the last words of James T. Kirk. We geeks are evil.

Sean Fournier – Oh My (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Sean Fournier home page

Jamendo

The gamut of emotions from Q to Z

The 5th Qwartz Electronic Music Awards ceremony was held in Paris on 3rd April. It was quite a gathering, full of electronica bigwigs. Unfortunately, I couldn't honour my gilt-edged invitation and attend the glittering ceremony in the Cirque d'Hiver because my Learjet was grounded in the Caymans, awaiting a new crunk juice cup. But it wasn't all bad news. Professor Lawrence Lessig, creator of the Creative Commons licence concept, received a well-deserved Qwartz d'Honneur pour l'Innovation for enabling artists to take part in a global sharing culture and know-nothing music blogs to sully it.

All right, sez you, scratching your string vest while pausing momentarily in your search for hamster porn, what's that got to do with the price of fish?

I'll tell you, scruffsters: in October 2007, this greasy corner of the net reviewed and recommended an utterly superb album, Urlaub auf Balkonien by Krill.minima. Lo and behold, after sifting through 430 albums (I know the feeling) the Qwartz jury, with the aid of the public's votes, gave the "Best Album" Qwartz to the very same. Congratulations to both Krill.minima and Thinner netlabel. Other nominees included Autechre (yes, that Autechre), so both artist and label should be very proud of themselves and have an extra slice of cake with their tea.

Over 3 million people have visited the Qwartz website over the last five years - it's exciting to think that many thousands of people have heard/watched the nominees in the various categories and taken the trouble to vote. Roll on the 6th awards!

Such great news deserves another attempt by me to try and get the album cover to appear without mucking up its dimensions/pixel quality:

         

Sigh. So much for opposable thumbs. To make up for my technological shortcomings, here's the opening track. It will have you running baths and lighting candles in no time:

Krill.minima - Somerdellen

Ah, that's better.

I can tell you're itching (literally) to get back to your search for dirty movies involving small fluffy things, so I'll bring this to an end. Find mp3/album links to this superb slice of ambient electronica in my original review, deep in the sepulchral bowels of Catching The Waves. Remember to wash your hands when leaving.

Pretty Advanced

Few things get me off my sickbed quicker than the National Health Service prospect of a decent electronica album. Bitbasic, already the recipient of a CTW review (the lucky beggar!), has provided the medicine and called it, er, Leonard. He made it in a month as part of the RPM Challenge, netaudio's equivalent to National Novel Writing Month. Now, don't curl your lip. The Beatles' early albums and Mozart's last three symphonies all took less than a month to come to fruition. Leonard isn't quite in that class - but it's still a boatload of glitchy, grooving bliss.

My first (gasp! You mean there's more than one?) recommended track, Choice of Harp, ably demonstrates that sampling doesn't have to be all about chopping a choice hook or stuttering a vocal to within an inch of its life. It's one thing to slap a hip-hop beat over a sedate conversation about harps; it's another to add sub-bass and phasing synths and thus create electronica that conveys emotion.

Bitbasic - Choice of Harp

Wanton artiste that he is, Bitbasic has divided one of his songs into three parts and placed them at the start, middle and end of the album. Called Might...As Well...Not Bother, it will force those of you with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to put them together on a playlist. It will also compel fans of Radiohead's Kid A era to send it to their nerdy perceptive friends.

*taps screen*

I said Radiohead. Wake up at the back there.

To save space, here's a summary of what else is here: Treeboy (jazz guitar & glitch); Skuppered (glitchy breakbeat with a lovely dash of chiptune); Mignon Forestry (crushed beats and soothing synths); Cdr882 (huge pads, a mid-section straight out of Pink Floyd and a headlong rush to sonic destruction); Six Junglists (breakbeat and suitably fast accompaniment); I Love Flin (chiptune, glitch, breakbeat and comedy carhorn) and Ode to Seed (ethnic percussion, reverberating sweeps, ring-modulated* percussion).

One of Bitbasic's most appealing characteristics is his gadfly nature; he can turn his hand to so many electronica genres that it's impossible to predict what's going to pop up on one of his tracks. For example, Plinks and Plonks for Stonks is a glitchy groover with acidic Daft Punk overtones and a ridiculously gorgeous sinewave-ish refrain. I can't resist giving it an outing.

Bitbasic - Plinks and Plonks for Stonks

Some of my trillions of readers flipped over Bitbasic's Grating Rainbows - they'll definitely want to meet Leonard. Although there's no tip jar or Paypal icon at Bitbasic's site, please think about sending him a "thank you/I want your babies" email.

Bitbasic - Leonard (link to individual mp3s & zipped album)

Bitbasic website

Bitbasic on MySpace

Rec72.net netlabel (German supplier of beats to the gentry)

*This is me attempting to sound knowledgeable and making a complete fool of myself.

One Meadow To The Gallon

Begone, rancid guitars! Kneel to the power of non-melodic mechanistic rhythm. Herewith five tracks of cheerful tech-house minimal, each guilty of ignoring CTW's most hallowed mantra: all dance tracks are a third too long. Sigh. Never mind. Right, grab a plastic bottle of water and a too-tight t-shirt. We're going in.

Your first outing on the dance floor is set to Check My Cumbia, an experimental groover that features a jazzy, pitch-shifted and stuttering organ solo whose carryings-on are quite cheerful and experimental for danceland. (Unless I'm sadly mistaken, cumbia is a type of Argentine dance and music responsible for gyrating pelvises in that corner of the world.) I suggest you turn off the lights and play this one loud. You will need elbow room.

Santos Resiak - Check My Cumbia

Well done. You're already a nightclub legend.

Next up is Enduido, a roller with incessant hi-hats, pattering bongoes and a Latin feel to its bassline. Instead of using build-ups, breakdowns, drum rolls, reversed cymbals and all the other tricks of the trade used to drop a bassline, Santos just turns it on and off as the fancy takes him. It's crude but effective and must be a floor-slayer in the clubs. Less crude but equally effective are the noises off and vocal puckishness that keeps the track fresh.

Miércoles is a spooky house track that keeps trying to be minimal thanks to the loud, whispered vocals and background ticks. But that clap and hi-hat rhythm won't have it. House it is. Or is it? Genres: the reviewer's curse.

Timba is good but not great. It has all the requisite ingredients: glutinous bass, ethnic percussion, endlessly echoing vocals, high tempo, etc. - but I fear it needs to be surrounded by nubile young things before CTW can truly get his groove on. (Before you ask - it's an awesome sight, like a cargo plane lumbering into the air.)

Lost Weekend is what you'll have had if you make it to the end of the looong final track. But you'll also find yourself suffering from Stockholm Syndrome thanks to what is a paradoxically uptempo trip-hoppish second half. It makes for a good chill-out track while you eye up the exits.

This EP feels cheerful, its upbeat nature less a consequence of its high tempo and more a result of the jaunty basslines and electronic flourishes. There are some strong minimal influences (Richie Hawtin wants his reverb-drenched vocal snippets back) and some melodic and rhythmic influences that wouldn't be out of place in jazzy electronica. The sound quality is a little "thick" in places, but all in all this five-tracker is a slab of fun. Send it to your friends - you know, those slim, fashionable, permanently sunglass-wearing friends of yours - and prepare to get invited to rooftop parties.

Santos Resiak a.k.a. Dante Costantini, an Argentine hipster who spends a lot of time in Berlin, is on tour at the moment (he's no stranger to extensive touring in Europe and North and South America) and has commercial albums available from Immigrant Records and Gluckskind Schallplaten as well as this Creative Commons release from the good people at Unfoundsound. He is possibly probably no doubt celebrating his fellow countryman Angel Cabrera's victory at the US Masters. Ah, golf and dance music: two titans of dress sense. Mind you, it's no surprise Cabrera won - have you seen the putting green on that album cover?

Incidentally, there's a shiny blue Paypal icon on the album's release page that is just aching to be fondled. Please have a roll in the hay with it.

Santos Resiak - Miércoles EP (link to individual mp3s, flacs and zipped album)

Santos Resiak on MySpace and Facebook

Unfoundsoundrecords.com

His Appearance Is Quite Disturbing

Forgive the bragging, but I think today's post - at least, the part that I didn't write - is essential reading for amateur and professional musicians alike. Bear with me.

Jonathan Coulton is one of those strange types who gives his music away for free. He's met with no little success, not the least of which is escaping his former job as a computer programmer. I've been intending to write about him for ages but I was too lazy busy. To give him a criminally short summing-up, he writes folk-rock music with a geeky bent and specialises in two outmoded elements of song-writing: catchy melodies and witty lyrics. His website describes his music as: "Well crafted geek folk-pop. Hilarious but heartbreaking songs about mad scientists, robot armies and self-loathing giant squids." Just like Prince.

Before I go on to explain why I'm finally writing about him, here's a taste of the “JoCo” love juice. This track is charming, jolly and entirely good-natured – it's also extremely NOT SAFE FOR WORK:

Jonathan Coulton – First of May

Heh. I hope you didn't snort coffee over the screen.

A relative of mine heard this next song and asked, in all seriousness, whether Mr Coulton was quite all right. It freaked her out, whereas I think it's a scream. But then, I'm not all right.

Jonathan Coulton – Skullcrusher Mountain

Right, on to business - literally. Many music fans, be they consumers or musicians, are very sceptical of this whole “free music” idea. How on earth does that work, they cry? Someone, somewhere, must be getting their wallets pinched, surely? Like it or not, nefarious usage of technology has undermined the traditional entertainment paradigm; as I write, there's a copy of the new Wolverine film floating around the net a full month before its cinematic release. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle. If some ne'er-do-well is going to get hold of your music without paying for it, no matter what you do to prevent it, why not adapt to the situation? Why not give your music away for nothing, build up a following and make money that way? 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Also, with respect, there are quite a few budding musicians who will never get a sniff of a three-album deal, but if they give away their music then they've got a good chance of getting heard, a slim chance of getting paid and they're fairly certain to have some fun. Creative Commons and netlabel music could increase the number of musicians who can make a living from their passion. It's worth a thought.

Coulton has given his music away in order to attract fans and garner publicity. It's worked. People download his music because it's free, find they like it and then either donate in gratitude or pay for some of his commercial music. Apart from giving away a lot of his tracks for free, he also sells CDs through CDBaby, Amazon and at his gigs. You can buy mp3s from his own online store, iTunes, Songslide and elsewhere. There are also t-shirts, mouse pads, mugs, the inevitable thongs and plenty more stuff to buy. However, his ringtones are free because, as he says, “It's never seemed right to me that you should have to pay someone three dollars for a tiny snippet of a song you probably already own. So screw it.” There's also a wiki and lively forums. He's put a lot of work into giving his fans a lot of stuff to wade through enjoy.

He's also responsible for Still Alive, the end title song to Portal, Valve's hit computer game. That last sentence made me sound as though I'm smoking a pipe and leaning on a mantelpiece. Perhaps I am.

So, does all this ingenuity add up to more than a hill of beans? I'll leave the answer to JoCo, who has done yet another outmoded thing by writing honestly about how his different revenue streams have enabled him to make poop jokes a living as a musician. On 16th March he released a song, Blue Sunny Day, about a suicidal vampire (prime Coulton territory) and said, "As always, you have a choice: stream it, download it for free, or buy it." A week later, 1544 people had viewed the free download link, the song had been bought 179 times and it had earned him $196. His reaction:

Worst case scenario (every unique view = one free download), the ratio of paying customers to freeloaders comes to about 13.4% if you count dollars instead of purchases. That’s actually pretty good in my opinion. And maybe I just have my rosy glasses on this morning, but I’d guess that some of the people who bought Blue Sunny Day were tipped over into buying other stuff.

So how does this work? I put out a new song and make $200? Obviously it’s a lot more complicated than that, because I’m making a pretty good living considering my recent output is about 2 songs per year. Even not considering that - I’m not getting rich exactly, but I make more money now than I did when I wrote software.

He concludes that it is the accumulation of all the previously mentioned revenue streams, spread across his catalogue, that enables him to keep his head above water. In other words, his online and gigging activities have now gathered enough momentum that the cents have turned into quite a few dollars. Another important point - he's his own boss and can record what he likes, when he likes: there's no longing for a record contract, no owing record companies huge amounts of money for studio time, promotion and cocaine, and no reluctant cancellation of, say, a heartfelt bagpipe operetta because a studio executive says it won't sell.

If you're interested, JoCo goes into more detail about his incomings in a blog post entitled Payday. Endearingly, he's rather relaxed about how his business model works; all he knows is that it allows him to be a full-time musician, and that's the important thing.

Anyone can attach a Creative Commons licence to their music and release it online. Jonathan Coulton did just that and is now earning more money than he was as a computer programmer. There's also the small point that he's now a, y'know, gigging rock star who tours America and Britain, gets to scream, “How ya doin', generic Mid-West town?!?” and no doubt gets the odd request to sign pert, abundant breasts. The man is patently an idiot.

However, we wish him and his beard well. His appearance is quite disturbing, but I assure you he's harmless enough. ;)

Jonathan Coulton Primer Page (for JoCo newbies)

Jonathan Coulton songs (Some are $1 each, some are free - look for the smileys.)

Jonathan Coulton main website/blog (A live concert DVD is imminent.)

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp

 

I've followed Typepad's well-meaning advice about attracting readers to this greasy corner of the net, and have therefore used an obvious and explicit post title instead of my usual artsy-fartsy and obscure fare. Don't try to make a clever pun: just say what it is you're writing about.

*looks up*

Yeah, that's really going to help. People type that into Google all the time.

Modem, an aspiring sound designer from Tempe in Arizona, first essayed Wooly Mammoth Stomp, a fine example of IDM fast-paced, glitchy, danceable electronica, in his ModEP003 album of 2006. Two years later, with a little help from his friends, he released an EP of remixes of the aforementioned stomp. Now CTW will add some unwarranted amateurism to this hitherto orderly and professional process.

The first remix of Wooly Mammoth Stomp, by Terminal11, features a filthy electro riff, some nifty vocal stutters, an accordion and synth embellishments. Overall, it's a...wait...back up. Accordion? In an electro track? Oh well, in the wacky world of electronica one must expect the unexp...accordion? It should be disastrous, but it's so incongruous yet so well done that it somehow works.

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp (Terminal11 Remix)

Following that is Captainmarmalade's Eskimo Kisses Remix, two minutes of blazingly rapid IDM glitchy percussion garnished with choppy synths and smash edits. The Nero's Day at Disneyland Remix by, er, Nero's Day at Disneyland is another two minutes of the same, albeit with a tired house-ish intro that is redeemed by smart synth work and an electro bass line.

Talve's Remix is a stealth song: this is an unremarkable, if well-produced, piece of uptempo electronica that, without announcing its intentions, engages you in polite conversation, lulls you into a false sense of security and then gently slips a cold hand up your thigh. Gradually, without any fanfare, the tempo drops and drops...and drops, until the track finally becomes slower than underfunded public transport; uncannily, the formerly percussive bleeps and blips morph into ambient pings reverberating against a shimmering synth pad. It's like sitting in a hot bath: two minutes of ooh-ing and aah-ing followed by deepening calmness and scented candles. Recommended for those who need to chill out. One might say that it's a mammoth track.

Glix's Anxt Remix is a deft slice of (dread acronym) IDM with odd flashes of synthy interest and glitchy tomfoolery. The Floorcrusher Remix by ANgR. MgMT. is a suitably aggressive reworking of the title track which confirms that every remix on this 26-minute long EP is impeccably produced and realised. There's nothing woolly about it at all. And yes, I did use the British spelling. W.o.o.l.l.y. So there.

If you like this free album, please don't forget to thank Modem. Don't forget to think about downloading his other free albums, MODEP003 & MODEP002. You could also visit his website's "Friends" section for links to the artists featured on Wooly Mammoth Stomp. End of orders.

Modem - Wooly Mammoth Stomp (link to individual mp3s and zipped album - it's a rather primitive download page. "192.rar" is the zipped album. As yet, Modem hasn't added an album cover, but you could always copy the picture he gave me for this review. Go on, rub my wool.)

Modem (much less primitive)

Modem on MySpace

Brad Sucks - Equality Doesn't

  

Picture credit: J.Howard Miller & anonymous Brad Sucks fan

We interrupt normal service to bring you an emergency announcement. Brad Sucks, proud recipient of two CTW reviews for his highly popular albums, I Don't Know What I'm Doing and Out Of It, has just released a demo song for desperate men who like women, women who like to laugh at desperate men who like women and, er, women who like women. (Actually, it's a rather disastrous sweet gift to help a friend with his wedding proposal.) Here it is:

Brad Sucks - I Command You To Be My Woman (demo)

It's rare that CTW writes about just the one song (I like to stack 'em high), but this is a fun song that you might enjoy sending to loved ones and friends. Or not. It's probably best not to send it to Angela Merkel or Margaret Thatcher. Michelle Obama? Britney? Your one true love? I'm not sure. Good luck, O brave one.

Please remember that this is just a demo - which hasn't stopped it from being a kick-arse rock song with a message that romantics/chauvinists everywhere will detest/adore. If you haven't heard of Brad Sucks before, please note that he isn't normally this sexist, but he is usually this good.

By the way, Typepad recommends that I use more obvious and self-explanatory titles for my posts so as to attract more traffic to Catching The Waves. It's a good idea but I write CTW for fun, not fortune, as you can tell from my lackadaisical posting schedule...

...and there's no way I was going to have "Brad Sucks - I command you to be my woman" misconstrued all over the internet.

Brad Sucks

The guitar's only natural enemy

In the above photo we see impeccable form from Robin Grey as he distracts a pesky dog intent on peeing on his guitar. Note the seemingly casual display of the wooden mirror frame as he interposes his body between the dog and its target of delicious, unsullied sculpted wood and strings. Will the dog take the bait and settle for micturating on the mirror frame, thus creating a work worthy of Duchamp, or will he shimmy past the folkster's crumpled trousers and play his own tune on the acoustic? Let's find out.

Only The Missile is a 10-track album that will appeal to lovers of Leonard Cohen, folk music, introspection, pointed lyrics and open hearts. If you're stuck in a factory, office or general urban sprawl, listening to it will feel like you're warming your feet in front of a peat fire while sipping huge vats of Guinness the beverage of your choice. If you're stuck in open country, call the emergency services.

Hackney (East London, guv) resident Grey has filled his marvellous outing, released on modifythevan netlabel, with all sorts of familiar instruments that will enable him to play on when the electricity runs out: acoustic guitar (minus dog), banjo, ukelele, mandolin, double bass, organ and some tasteful percussion. That list will give you some idea of his sonic universe, although it doesn't hint at how the album's transparent mix warms the listener's ears while giving centre stage to the understated vocals. Nor will that list hint at how Robin Grey can be feisty as well as fluffy. For instance, The Last Time I Saw David, an unflinching tale about overcoming religious hypocrisy to reach an atheistic/agnostic state of mind, ensures that Robin will not be booking a gig in America's Bible Belt any time soon. It's refreshing to hear a heartfelt song that isn't all: "I wuv 'oo; 'oo wuv me."

Then there's the soothing lullaby of The Finchley Waltz (play it to any baby and watch them drop off), a quintessentially English response to the terrorist bombings in London on 7/7:

I daydreamed for hours in the traffic jam

As the good guys and the bad guys stopped play

There's more lyrical puckishness in Women, where the words "women" and "money" are used in place of what one imagines to be an extremely rude word. Women themselves might want to note that the entire song is a perfect encapsulation of the male mind. To digress: imagine Women remixed as a hip-hop track. Catchy, non?

Our besuited protagonist admits that he's still finding his voice (which is mostly right on the money), and I think that's evident in Every Waking Hour, where the vocals sound a little strained.

As I've found it impossible, despite much pleading and wringing of hands, to extract a single mp3 from the album's listing on Jamendo (this blog hangs by a thread most of the time - I think the internet is witchcraft), you lot out there get the chance to use Jamendo's dinky media player. I could recommend any track, but I'll be unoriginal and suggest the opener These Days, an uptempo mandolin and banjo-laden number with a paradoxically slow but optimistic chorus that will get you singing in the bath and, if you've suffered because of the credit crunch, because you've taken a bath.*

The title track is a toe-tapper with some wailing harmonica - do harmonicas ever do anything else but wail? - and Your Man is another in a seemingly endless supply of huggable love songs. Swan Song and Five (featuring some very welcome ethnic percussion - bongos, tablas, that sort of thing) bring things to a dreamy close - they're the aural equivalent of a favourite jumper.

Goodness, what a lovely album. It never ceases to amaze me at what talent is lurking in the darker corners of the net - though in this case I must whistle innocently and hide my blushes by thanking the scrumptious Free Albums Galore for recommending Only The Missile months and months ago. (CTW's motto: "Last with the first.") I urge the lumpen but sexually attractive mass of CTW readers to visit FAG, a wonderful asset to the internet, let alone the netaudio community.

Only The Missile is available for free from Jamendo, but you can also buy the mp3s at iTunes and the CD from Robin Grey's website. Please think about sending him a little cash, or, failing that, bake him a cake. He likes cake. A lot. Finally, if I may venture a little advice to Mr Grey: tuck your shirt in, young man. This is the internet - we have standards.

*thinks*

Maybe it's all that cake.

Robingrey.com (for bags of downloads, lyrics, interviews, photos, etc.. Exemplary.)

modifythevan netlabel

*High-falutin' financial terminology. Thank goodness that banks paid stratospherically high salaries so as to "attract the talent". Just think what might have happened if greedy idiots had been in charge of the markets instead...

This album has been rated IDM and is suitable for all IQs over 18

(I.D.M., the tag used on this album's mp3s, stands for "Intelligent Dance Music". It's a loathsome, divisive moniker so please understand that I've used it in this review's title because I'm highly proficient at weak humour.)

Listening to this three-track EP by Detroit resident Richard Sudney, released under his artistic pseudonym of Monopole, is akin to taking your seat in a darkened cinema and hearing the swish of parting curtains; suddenly, you're not in Kansas anymore. Monopole is a fan of Big Band music and jazz and, strangely enough, this shows: despite Silent Movie Surround Sound being a very modern essay in electronica, all three tracks use a clickety-clack rhythm that is a distant cousin to the purring movie projectors of those madcap years between the world wars.

Today's recommended track is, in my oh-so-swaggering opinion, an absolute stunner. Stereo-vision Radio makes epic use of hypnotic chimes, flanging white-noise, rattling percussion, dusty crackles and field recordings to steal a few minutes from your life and point you down a yellow brick road. Listen to this without interruption and you might experience one of those "I am the centre of global cool" moments that sometimes occur when trawling through the wonderful world of Creative Commons music:

Monopole - Stereo-vision Radio

It's quite a stew, isn't it? Real headphones territory. It's surprisingly fast-paced for a track that contains so much ambient noise. I especially like the compositional line that takes the listener on a David Lynch-esque journey, including a spooky bridging section that slows everything to a standstill before slurring back up to full speed. There are snatches of barely audible field recordings buried in the mix that ensure the listener is drawn deep into the track. When Monopole slams a door at the song's end and complains, "Ah, this won't work!", be sure to send him an email and assure him that it does, in fact, work rather well.

The title track, Silent Movie Surround Sound, is ostensibly about the upfront percussive glitches, but they're just the bones; the meat comes from the breathy white noise and the synths swelling slowly in the background. Again, chimes add a contemplative air to proceedings. The latter part of SMSS probably employs, like the rest of the album, manipulated field recordings from the abandoned factories and warehouses of once-busy Detroit and/or samples from the analogue electronics and outdated valve-driven communications equipment that Monopole has stashed in his basement recording studio/Dr Evil lair. 

Main Feature Intermission, with it's low-key snap, crackle and pop percussion, is the final and most straightforward of the three tracks - until drones and background noises join the party, when it claims its rightful place as the third part of Monopole's introspective trio. Like the rest of the album, there's a still, meditative quality to the composition even though every last second is crammed with notes, sounds, clicks and burrs. (If Silent Movie Surround Sound were vinyl, it'd need a duster.) Phasing synths, airport announcements, gruff percussion and echoing footfalls bring proceedings to a transcendental close. Don't they always?

Monopole is one of those musicians who makes me realise that there's still a lot of music yet to be composed. He has yoked his talent and imagination to music technology and produced some enthralling results. I hope his efforts bring him the recognition he deserves.

It's a pleasure finally to snuggle up to Test Tube netlabel, known for its exemplary presentation of experimental electronica (and alliteration). I couldn't quite click with some of their releases but now I'm happy to give them the glad eye and pat the empty seat next to me in the back row of the cinema.

Monopole - Silent Movie Surround Sound (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Monopole on MySpace (where you'll find other treats)

Test Tube netlabel