Catching The Waves

Because You're Worth It

It seems that Germany, despite losing last week's European Football Championship final to Spain, isn't quite ready to admit defeat. In response to the previous CTW recommendation, the German coach has thrown on an extraordinarily last-minute substitution straight from the heart of Berlin:

Dubplates From The Madhouse by Dub One! (The exclamation mark comes as part of the package. It helps if you say it as. If! YouwereCaptain...KIRK!)

The first sound on this five-track EP is a cool double bass, then a cooler dusty beat. Hmm, so Jack's Pot (Radio Edit) is trip-hop, surely? But no, here's a pulsing organ and swelling horns. Sit back and enjoy dub delirium. Rather appropriate for something from a madhouse.

A minute in to Odd Man's Planet Dub and what was an exemplary dub track gets a bespoke, crackly trip-hop drum beat that elicits a Neanderthal grunt of satisfaction from CTW. Play this (not the grunt) to your friends and watch their jaws drop when you tell them that you got it for free without resorting to a balaclava and sawn-off shotgun. Your friends may scoff at your claim, but you will remain calm and untroubled because your inner soundtrack is set to "trip-hop", permitting your yin and yang to enact a slow-motion duel between sitar and guitar. Satisfaction ensues. You've just been levitated by the Sitar Sensi (2007 Jah Crazy Edit).

Next is Wise Man's Dub, in which the narrator tries to find the path of enlightenment by bothering old age pensioners for the answer to life, the universe, etc. He gets nowhere until he talks to a nubile young lady. That's wisdom. And it's extremely wise of Dub One! to produce such a blend of trip-hop, light dub and rock guitar, not to mention a dusting of sitar.

We end the EP surrounded in a cloud of smoke with Dub One!'s whimsically titled "Sedative Gunjah Remix" of Knock Me Down by ETF. There's sax, flutes, organ, a soaring rock guitar solo, and a lithe young woman singing along - all it needs is a reverberating snare drum and you could file this remix in the dictionary under "Dub". And, would you credit it, the snare drum's there too. Somebody give the Oxford University Press a call.

I think this glimpse inside an asylum is the best thing that Dub One! has dub done. Each track is a head-nodding treat, and there's a professional sheen to the sound. If you want more of his stuff, you'll find it at ever-reliable Ideology, where he joins up to good effect on various releases with Authist, his usual partner in crime.

Dub One! - Dubplates From The Madhouse (EP) (link to zipped album and individual mp3s & oggs)

Dub One! on MySpace

Ideology netlabel

Death By Bureaucracy

Memo to world: please invent a cure for manflu and computer problems in one easily gulped pill. Thank you.

Until such ailments are cured (probably around the time we all get our free jet-packs), the only thing that will get me out of the sanitarium and back on the net is good free music. Yes, you've guessed it. By the power of Greyskull the internet, I give you the following, available in liquid, capsule and mp3: Folk Hero by No More Music Komite, available from all good chemists and Miga, the highly competent netlabel from Granada. One of CTW's unwritten rules is not to review albums from the same netlabel in successive posts, but I've got a cold ib by dose, so I don't care. Besides, Folk Hero is delightful. Unlike folk music. Heh. Joke. Joke.

The first of the four tracks, Big Bag, begins with a synth riff that has a nursery rhyme quality to it. It's soon joined by a double bass, guitar and some of the most delicate sampling you'll hear this side of an Olympics drug test. Brief snatches of female vocal and what sounds like a barber shop quartet or old-time spiritual flit in and out of a soufflé-light drum loop and make me grateful for the internet's curative qualities. Following this is Elles, which could be described as prime acoustic electronica due to its crunchy snare, its summery guitar accompaniment, and a lovely twisted, choppy synth phrase that drops in now and again, all encased in a gentle, glitchy hip-hop rhythm.

The palette of bells/xylophones, banjo, accordion(?) and dreamy vocals in Kinki & Bike might fool listeners into enjoying a brief fling with the sounds described and then move cheerfully on, pausing only to straighten their clothes. Those with decent speakers will know it's all about the humming deep bass that breathes slowly in and out, providing aural momentum and the hint of a shotgun-wielding, straw-chewing father.

After an aggressive, slowed-down, backwards intro, At Your Convenience II morphs into something funkier, its laid-back trumpets encouraging the drums to get it on until the track eventually climaxes with muscular breakbeat. Quite a journey from the start of Big Bag.

No More Music Komite's release, despite being crammed with numerous samples, glitches and sundry noises, feels spacious and relaxed. The subtle panning and chorus(ing) allows the ear to take in a lot without suffering from sensory overload. Folk Hero wears a short-sleeved T-shirt and trendy sunglasses, and snacks on olives and chorizo. So it's definitely not folk music. Joke. Joke. Wooh. Tough crowd.

The group's name is officially "No More -music komite-" but I couldn't be bothered to type it properly. Sorry. Besides, they're only a talented collection of Spanish music and video artists, and it's not as if the Spanish ever get together as a team and do anything of merit...

No More Music Komite - Folk Hero (link to zipped album and individual mp3s)

Miga netlabel

Unregulated Nuclear Power Can Be A Good Thing

 

CTW tends to stay away from that big yellow thing in the sky unless it comes in the form of a five-track minimal EP. As luck would have it, Bertech's The Sun, released on Spanish audio/video netlabel Miga, is just that thing. What are the odds?

The EP starts with the title track. The introductory bars to any dance track always fill me with fear - is this going to be yet another tired, uninspired, four-to-the-floor, will-this-ever-end dance track, bereft of interest, groove and personality? Fear not. The Sun rises to the occasion. Heh. The track's simple drum track is augmented by a plethora of beeps, tinkles, pops and other sundry noises resulting in something that is booty friendly yet titillating to the ear.

The flecks and tics of Blocked create a metronomic soundscape that should be as boring as basketball, but Bertech keeps rearranging his minimalist elements in such a way that the track remains upbeat and enticing. Like the other four tracks, it feels detailed, textured and craftsman-like. Cemento Negro somehow manages to be an attractive listen despite consisting mainly of a hectic bass and kick drum combo, a hi-hat, and reverberating thumps and sweeps. It's a relentless, highly competent track whose compact sound will keep exhausted dancers shuffling around the floor even though they know the last bus home is due any minute.

Bon Voyage is a roller. An understated, bubbling bass keeps things moving while acidic synths and filter sweeps par-tay. Lastly, arpeggiated synths, a tight beat and a bass as sturdy and reliable as a company car mean that Crema Caliente epitomises the whole EP.

Listening to Bertech's breakdowns is like sucking on a lemon sherbet; the more you do it, the sweeter it gets. He ramps up the white noise and then returns a stripped-down, pristine beat to the dance floor so smoothly and funkily that it doesn't get tiresome. If this very professional album was a doorman, it would be well-dressed, polite, friendly and ex-special forces.

Bertech - The Sun (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Bertech on MySpace

Miga audio/video netlabel (Lengua española y inglés. Gracias!)

Triple Word Score

*taps screen*

Still here? Life gets in the way, etc. Thank you for your patience.

I'm torn. I have in my hands an album and its remix. How to choose? What to do? There's only one way to settle it. In the immortal words of Harry Hill: FIGHT!

In the blue corner, weighing in at 11 tracks, 24 minutes and 16 seconds, is an instrumental hip-hop album, Scrabble by Cresh Frazy, released in 2005.

In the red corner, weighing in at 11 tracks and a much heavier 38 minutes and 41 seconds, is Scrabble: The Unauthorized Remix by Qu.one, released earlier this year. The remix packs a punch but the original has the reputation. Let's get rrrrrrrrready to reviewwwwww. Now, listen closely: no gouging, no low blows and break when I tell you to. Come out fighting. Scores at the end of each round.

Crayola - Listening to the original chime-laden slice of trip-hop is a cool way of spending three minutes; its remix maintains an hypnotic groove that makes my head go up and down. 0-1

Krillionix - There's an 80's fretless bass in here: feel the fear. Fortunately, there's some breakbeat, piano and flute to ease the pain. Qu.one gives Cresh Frazy's beat a steroid injection. It feels chunky. Your speakers will like it. 0-1

Piano Lessons - A piano riff reminiscent of John Carpenter's Halloween gets bashed about by an acid bass and hip-hop one-two. Qu.one's bass line benefits from a much punchier sound. Again, it's 0-1 and the crowd is baying for blood.

Pleasant (Interlude) - This is a snippet of dialogue from Pleasantville, a film about the contrast between today and the 1950s. The remix is bit-crushed and delayed to within an inch of its life. 0-0. The crowd boos, unappreciative of this lifeless round.

In Hindsight - The remix is twice as long as Cresh Frazy's chillout original. Despite lots of ambient crackles and a tempo that accelerates towards the end, Qu.one overextends himself and comes off worse. 1-0

The Nex - At just over a minute long, this is a relaxing piece of breakbeat-ish electronica. Again, Qu.one beefs up the sound and the bit-crushing, but then slips in a little drum and bass to invigorate the track. 0-1

War - Two minutes of lightweight breakbeat. The remix slaps on an additional five, yes, five minutes, and a heavier kick and snare, but not much innovation. The judges wimp out: 1-1

Live @ The Latin Quarter - Ooh, latin jazz and breakbeat. The remix has nothing to do with such trifles, preferring a housey dance feel. 1-0. The crowd roars. Cresh Frazy is coming off the ropes!

Art Test (Interlude) - Almost a knockout from Cresh Frazy. Bruce Dern extols the virtues of an art course while sounding so bored that it's a wonder he stays conscious to the end of the advert. Qu.one's version, though containing more overtly funny lines, can't compete with the almost comatose Dern. 1-0

Visualeyes - Cresh Frazy mooches around an ambient intro, then wallows in a gentle guitar and trip-hop track; it's soothing and groovy. The remix does away with the noises off, ups the tempo and drops the hammer; it's energising and groovy. 1-1

Outriz - Breakbeat, vinyl crackles and jazzy guitar. I'm happy. The remix samples Thank You For The Music, a fitting end to Qu.one's tribute to Cresh Frazy's opus. He's also, you've guessed it, beefed up the bass and beats a bit. 1-1

So Qu.one slugs it out and wins 7-6 on points. Congratulations to the new kid on the block. Don King is waiting for you. Run away!

Qu.one's album doesn't remix Cresh Frazy's original so much as give it a wax and polish. There are no great compositional flourishes but it definitely sounds better - it's heavier, crisper and hence more immediate, though he's overfond of bit-crushing, IMHO. But the bulk of the credit must go to Cresh Frazy - they're his tunes. Let's say that the boxing board of control is referring the decision to arbitration.

Like a lot of people, I don't have the wherewithal to buy an album and its remix just for the fun of comparing them. Thanks to the netlabel scene, I've been able to contrast and compare these musicians' works and keep an eye out for them in the future. Why not visit their sites (and the good people at Sixteensteps netlabel) to boost the traffic of all concerned? I must stop ending these reviews with cheesy brochure-speak. There, did it.

By the way, Cresh Frazy owes me treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome. Try typing his moniker and see how many mistakes you make. And a special thank you to Typepad for its crappy picture editing.

Cresh Frazy - Scrabble (link to individual mp3s)

Cresh Frazy's MySpace

Qu.one - Scrabble: The Unauthorized Remix (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Qu.one's MySpace

Sixteensteps netlabel

 

Let's Do The Time Warp Again

Netmusic enthusiasts are rushing to hear French musician Degiheugi's latest release, Only After The Show, because they've already heard the subject of today's egregiously late recommendation of an album that was released a whole three years ago. (Yep, Catching The Waves might as well be called Behind The Times.) Anyway, though Degiheugi's current work is fine and upstanding, it's his 2005 opus, Aquilon, that gets CTW shaking its finely toned and not-at-all-sagging booty.

Aquilon is a pretty seamless whole; tracks bleed into each other in a manner reminiscent of a concept album. No, don't run away. You'd be missing out. It's chock-full of samples, though I've no idea what is entirely original, what's been chopped up or what's been lifted wholesale. The album is ostensibly an instrumental hiphop workout but it's actually a finely detailed piece of experimental electronica. It's like buying a second-hand car from a back-street garage, only to find that you've acquired Herbie.

First off is Comme un enfant sans mère, which starts off with a crushing drum beat, calls in some dubby elements and then quotes from Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child, a well-known Negro spiritual. (Please note that I use the word "Negro" in its historical context only. Don't hit me.) It's a head-nodder.

The second track, Intro: Aquilon, (yes, intros should come at the start - don't blame me) makes good use of doom-laden strings, ambient drones and record scratches to place the listener in a comfortable armchair and a glass of something special, warm with the knowledge that a good album is underway.

There's some witty sampling in Un jour de printemps, featuring a sample from Greenfields by The Brothers Four. Degiheugi raises the pitch of "Once there were green fields..." so that it sounds like the Munchkin Massed Choir, slots it into a trip-hop rhythm, and then cuts it to just the first syllable, punning on the basic funk rule of emphasising the "one", the first beat of four. He also throws in some Spanish guitar, some gently mewling trumpets, and all of a sudden a track that could have been irritating becomes delightful, getting deeper and more reflective as it progresses, notwithstanding, and here my cup doth overflow, a breakbeat workout near the end.

My Rickety Piano is like something Michael Nyman or John Adams might have pounded out on their Steinways late one night in a who-can-use-fewer-notes contest. (A Steinway is not a euphemism. Get your minds out of the gutter.) A two-note piano riff gets chopped up and sampled until it sounds, well, rickety. It's a confident piece of music.

Mild-mannered hiphop is a feature of Ami, tu veux devenir poete until it rips its suit off to reveal a Superman drum 'n' bass costume, turning an atmospheric piece of maudlin Franco-jazz into something more invigorating.

My baby don't cares the shows [sic] introduces Nina Simone to glitchy beats and a thudding distorted bass. I'm not sure if this track is entirely successful. It's followed by Soldier In The Sky, an unusual mix of dub and electro with contributions from Virus and DJ Oscan.

Hot Girl (trip hop with naughty female noises), Entr'track 1 (lo-fi pop) and Plus de Souvenir are each just over a minute long, cleansing the listener's aural palate before serving meatier fare. Plus de souvenir is a dusty jazz loop with a trip-hop beat. CTW is defenceless against that sort of thing.

Baby Boom is helpfully self-descriptive, as you'll discover on hearing a baby gurgle delightedly through a breakbeat romp. For Organe au Gramme, Degiheugi produces a laid-back electronica piece reminiscent of Moby's Play. A thumbs up, in case you're wondering.

The album ends with Le Pince Oreilles, which is over ten minutes long. Hey, it's a netlabel release; no kow-towing to corporate record companies here. If Degiheugi wants to slap a Pink Floyd-ish cinematic/prog rock/trance/trip-hop epic on the end of the album, good for him. If you've bought into Degiheugi's ethos by now, you'll be a little annoyed that it's so short; it might even be the best thing on the album.

Aquilon is available from the mellifluously named Electrobel label and Degiheugi's own site, where you can also pick up the previously mentioned Only After The Show. If you're hungry for music, visit both sites, have a rummage, download Degiheugi's stuff and then leave a donation at your preferred site. Or both of them. Or neither, if you must.

I'm so reasonable. Sickening, isn't it?

Aquilon on Electrobel netlabel (Zipped album only. Sorry.)

Degiheugi's home page

Degiheugi's MySpace

Electrobel netlabel

 

Colour Me Pink

I'm still getting used to surfing the planet, and now I've been stung by an internet jellyfish. It seems that one of the links in the "Netlabels" sidebar on the right of this blog didn't actually go to the intended label but to, erm, a not entirely music-centric site that features people thoroughly enjoying themselves sans clothes and sans inhibitions. Usually, I copy and paste web urls to make sure the link works properly, but this time I must have typed in the address and, would you believe it, the lack of a hyphen meant I'd typed in an address to an entirely different website with exactly the same name. I've corrected the link but, oh, the embarrassment. I am now this colour.

By way of an apology to both the netlabel, Thierry Boucetta aka The Orientalist, and the esteemed CTW readership, at least I can now point you to the squeaky-clean link: Fresh Poulp, a lovely French netlabel run by lovely French people. It features some great albums, including one of my favourite netlabel finds, 1000 Sounds Lotus by The Orientalist (also with corrected link) and is well worth visiting, especially if you want to feel trendy and Gallic - often the same thing, in my limited experience. And their octopus always looks that annoyed, though I can't help feeling it's staring at me.

Right, I'm off to confession. Behave yourselves - not that there's anything wrong with ripping the clothes off each other and getting some McLovin' before we all die of old age/natural disasters/global warming; it sounds like a plan to me.

(...and I thought CTW was globally popular because of my astoundingly impressive reviews. Serves me right for using the word "pawn" in my previous post. Pawn, I said. Pawn. I'll try to, you know, actually recommend some music in my next post. It's been a while...)

Fresh Poulp netlabel

Go with the Phlow

To paraphrase an old Indian chess proverb, free netmusic is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe. The subject is so vast, so hard to comprehend, that Catching The Waves can do little more than take the occasional sip and buzz ineffectively at the ocean of music stretching to the horizon. But there are some elephants who enjoy a good wallow: Netlabelism, Free Albums Galore and Netlabel Review, for example. Here's another pachyderm, and this one's wearing lederhosen: Phlow.

Phlow has quite a team beavering away: Sven Swift, boss of 12rec.net; Brigitte Bijoux, netlabel musician and producer; Christian Grasse, netradio (Frequency at Byte.FM), webzine (Metawelle.net) and netlabel guru; and Martin "020200" Wisniowski, founder of 2063music netlabel. All of which means that Phlow plucks the ripest fruit from the netlabel tree and posts new recommendations/reviews almost every day. Did I mention that the site is overseen by Moritz Sauer, founder of

*cue celestial light and distant thunder*

the Netlabel Catalogue? Herr Sauer/Mo must be the netlabel equivalent of Johnny Mnemonic or Tim Berners-Lee, though I can't imagine Tim saying, "Woah, dude. The net is, like, ossom."

Phlow tries to chart the unknown waters of netmusic, providing lots of navigational aids for the intrepid musical explorer: the aforementioned reviews; the monthly Their Finest Hour best-of-netlabels mp3 compilations; mixtapes; a regular podcast and a slick audio player loaded with the best tracks from the latest reviews. The "free mp3 downloads" section is organised by genre, making it easy to look for your preferred style, something that is surprisingly rare on the netmusic scene. (It also supports Creative Commons music and is a thoroughly pleasant and inspiring place to visit, so please think about making a huge big small huge donation.) It's the perfect diving-board for the netlabel newbie.

/seafaring analogy. I was getting green around the gills too.

What's more, Phlow Magazine, to give it its full name, is the English language offshoot of the much bigger and in-depth German webzine of the same name, so if you don't mind placing verbs at the end of sentences go there and yourself enjoy.

Of course, the most note-worthy thing about the site is that it's just earned a place in CTW's notorious famous and imaginatively named "General Netlabel Sites" sidebar, available to the right of this blog. No, not that far right - that's the wall, dummy.

Finally, I accept the award for Most Unoriginal Pun In An Article Title with gratitude and not a little pride. However, if "Phlow" actually rhymes with "cow" instead of "go", thus rendering my pun ineffectual, I'm not giving it back; it's going straight to the pawnshop. Pawn, I said. English is a tricky language.

Phlow (in English)

Phlow Webzine (in German. Bigger too. Can I say über?)

Fluffy Or Evil?

(Photograph by Will Simpson)

There's been a fascinating debate at Analog Industries on whether free music is harming musicians. I first heard about it in a thread at EM411, which is where I chipped in. Is Catching The Waves fun, useful and harmless, or helping to destroy future careers in the music industry? I really don't know. (There is a miniscule, tiny possibility that I might just be ever-so-slightly overstating the importance of CTW.) Anyway, please tell me what you think. Here's what I posted at EM411:

I have an amateurish and sporadically updated blog, Catching The Waves, in which I enthuse about netlabel releases that have tickled my fancy. I became interested in netlabel music because it allowed me to hear styles of music that I was curious about but couldn't afford to buy. It allowed me to explore genres that were new to me: chiptune, ambient, minimal, IDM, dub, electronica, breakbeat, experimental and so on. Now that I've heard some of those genres I am far more likely to buy songs/albums in those genres. The other day I bought a song from Jonathan Coulton, an artist I would not have heard of but for his online presence and habit of giving away free music. Similarly, I downloaded an album by Brad Sucks (Brad Turcotte) and liked it so much that I intend to buy his new album. Those are two artists who are going to get my money who would not have done so otherwise.

I don't make any money from my blog. In fact, it costs me money, but it's my way of saying thank you to people who have given away their music: the more publicity they receive, the better. I always link to the netlabel and the artist's own website, and I encourage visitors to my blog to make a donation or pay for some of the artists' other fare, whether that be albums, merchandise or concert tickets. Many netlabel musicians give away their music for no other reason than because they want to, though many use it as a marketing tool, building up a fan base that hopefully will “tip” them for their current music and/or pay for future releases. It's up to them. Either way, these people have made albums that might not otherwise have seen the light of day. The quality may vary greatly but no one is forced to listen.

It's not just one-way traffic. Netlabels spread the music; a website like Eventful allows music fans to “demand” that their favourite bands visit them. If a nascent band learn that 100 people in Nowheresville want to see them then they can stage a concert there, with a very good chance of a great reception and merchandise and record sales.

I'm not proposing an either/or music world. All I'm saying is that the netlabel/own-website scene can complement the existing music industry paradigm, allowing people to hear music without hindrance from financial constraints or perceived wisdom. Perhaps a site like Magnatune is a good compromise, allowing people to stream artists' music as much as they want to and, if they like it enough, to pay for a DRM-free mp3? There's also Jamendo, which offers over 8,000 albums of Creative Commons music, and allows listeners to donate to artists who might otherwise struggle to see any payment for their music.

Piracy is a bad thing. I am fully in favour of paying for music. If I want U2's latest record then I'll hand over the cash for it: I don't want to rip off musicians or companies. But the internet, whether in the form of netlabels or artists' own websites, allied with cheap software, now allows anyone to attempt to make a living as a musician. Most music, like most art, isn't very good. But the “long tail” theory of the internet allows people to find the music that chimes with their taste. Compose an opera for xylophone and noseflute and no record company will give you the time of day – but the internet allows the xylophone and noseflute lovers of the world to search for their favourite genre and discover your opera, which you've recorded and released under your own steam. Who on earth is to say what's good music and what isn't? The record companies?

Admittedly, everything is up in the air; it's difficult to predict what will happen to the music industry in the next few years. If I thought that netlabels were harming music and musicians then I would close my blog. But I don't think that netlabels and “free” music will hurt the Madonnas of this world. The large record companies will continue to dominate the charts and make money from sales, merchandising and tours. But those artists who sell “only” 1,000 albums, and can't continue because their record company has dropped them, might now be able to carry on because, thanks to the methods I've mentioned, they too can make money from sales, merchandising and tours. It depends what you want from your music-making. There might be fewer multi-millionaire musicians in the future but there may be more people who are able to make a living as full-time musicians. And there will be more choice for the listener. That's a good thing, surely?

*phew*

Time for a cup of tea. While I'm slurping the brown stuff, why not join in the debate at Analog Industries, EM411 or even, m'dears, at Catching The Waves?

The lovely photo was provided by Will Simpson under a Creative Commons licence. He's happy to see his images used so long as he receives attribution. I'm happy to oblige.

It's got a wonderful defence mechanism...

Listening to minimalism always makes me feel as though something weird is happening. It's music, but not as I know it. Tom Ellis's Switched Off EP, just released by Berlin netlabel Pentagonik, is strange. Different. Alien. It's like hearing a Martian watchmaker count sheep in his sleep.

The opener, Switched Off, is switched on from the very start, abruptly dropping the listener into a soundscape that could only be minimal: hardly any melodic content, precious little development, and an all-pervading rhythm made up of dry, short sounds. Snippets of piano flirt with spoken vocals and thus lend a jazzy, naturalistic feel to what would otherwise be a robotic listen.

Slim is reminiscent of what little Richie Hawtin I've heard. The beat is easy to dance to, but it's the barely noticeable synths and ticks and taps that give it that unmistakeably "minimal" flavour. The slurred, whispered vocals make it an intriguing listen.

Sixty One Be has a guitar-ish riff that tries to break through the super-detailed beat but fails, becoming a rhythmic element instead of a melodic one. Again, it's only after a while that you start to notice the subby, bubbling bass, so subtly is it wrought. Unlike that last sentence.

Beginners is minimal with an ambient slant; the dancefloor rhythm is still there, but background hisses and crackles and ghostly vocals lend the track a more human air than the rest of the EP, until the final minute ends in a sparse 4/4 beat, ideal for any DJ who wants to throw it into a mix.

I'm sure the whole EP will see the light of day gloom of night at minimal clubs everywhere. The precision and attention to detail is deeply impressive; more than that, Tom Ellis's exploration of jazzy, funking minimalism is a chunk of fun. And if you think that's difficult to say, remember that he comes from Wales, the land of vowels and phlegm. (He's also a co-founder of Trimsound netlabel, so is obviously an all-round good egg.)

Repeated listens will reveal more and more detail in these tracks, not least because their bit rate is an exemplary 320 kbps, but unfortunately this means that the mp3s are large. Pentagonik have thoughtfully provided the option to download individual tracks so those without broadband can still hear the music. It might be an idea for Pentagonik to offer the option of choosing a lower bit rate so that minimal aficionados on dial-up get to hear Switched Off before nature ensures their heads will no longer need shaving. Failing that, visitors to the label's very snazzy website can pretend to be a DJ on its ultra-cool home page. Now you're curious...

Tom Ellis - Switched Off EP (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Tom Ellis on MySpace

Pentagonik netlabel

Hit It Again, Sam

You know how sometimes you're walking along the street and you suddenly become Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, pondering how to merge jazz, hiphop, the Middle East and 20th century music into a pleasing, full-bodied cup of coffee? You get that too? See, I knew it wasn't just me. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

You're strolling down the shadowy alleys of a souk when a gold-toothed chap stands in your way and tries to interest you in a double bass, some reverberating middle-easterny woodwind, a cheeky saxophone and his shop's finest hand-made dusty beat. You agree to his offer, providing he throws in a completely new riff right at the end of the track. You shake hands and walk off with La Mousse des Femmes.

Life is good. Looking up at the roofline, you Applaudir Les Oiseaux and the backing they give to the chime-laden drum beat that serenades you along the streets. However, one whiff of the uncompromising, rather monotonous next rhythm and you hurry past the hunched figure who offers to show you Sous Les Cotes. Brrr. Salvation awaits as you pop into a cool, calm bar, and listen to Eol et Leo tinkle the ivories, crush some drums and waft soothing strings over the clientele.

How much more of this do you need?

All too soon, the song is over and you must face the sultry streets once more. Ah, Etre Un Papillon, you think, and float away on a jazz piano and drum loop...

There, see, I knew you'd understand. Either we're crazed or we've been listening to Impressions, a five-track sampler EP by ThoTho, available from...

*busts a move*

...Dusted Wax Kingdom netlabel, Bulgarian purveyor of lo-fi, crackly, dusty hiphop to the gentry, and the rest of the world if it asks nicely. ThoTho, a lover of Stravinsky and DJ Krush (that's the kind of talk that CTW likes to hear) comes from Dijon (goodness, the French are so funky nowadays) and has released Impressions in the hope that it will encourage you out there to buy the full album. If you do, you'll find an iTunes link at ThoTho's MySpace. Failing that, send a donation to the very huggable and kissable Dusted Wax Kingdom, where you'll find a few pearls of lo-fi hiphop and triphop.

If you download ThoTho's EP, not only will you have a few head-nodders on your hard drive, you'll also be able to peruse the Lovecraftian album cover in all its sepulchral glory. Why not make a poster out of it and scare yourself silly?

ThoTho - Impressions EP (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

ThoTho's MySpace

Dusted Wax Kingdom

P.S. Marvin of the marvellous Free Albums Galore took my little jest about his site's acronym in good heart. Phew.

By the way, the French weren't always quite so funky...

Grand Theft Auto 5: Ambient City

I first heard Choc's work at the music production website KVR, where his Mimesis Algorithm knocked the dregs from my clay pipe. It's a click 'n' cut track, full of atmospheric glitches, with a sparse but effective piano and cello accompaniment. The clincher is the bridge, which is the sound of a modem firing up; in the context of the track, it's perfect. If you have a friend who likes classical music but isn't too keen on contemporary stuff, or vice versa, point them to Mimesis Algorithm. I don't think it's available for downloading at present, but you can still hear it at Choc's MySpace.

All of which leads me to Choc's highly downloadable four-track EP, Solstice Urbain, available at Jamendo. But first, a haiku:

8000 albums

All free, no hidden charges

Jamendo calls you

Learn to say this in one breath and repeat it to friends and acquaintances. Your procreation will soar as people discover how cool you are. Back to the review:

Choc is a Frenchman who works in signal processing, statistics and telecommunication, making him eminently suited, I would have thought, to produce ambient electronica. To quote the man himself: "Solstice Urbain is a collection of four songs composed in 2004-5 which reflect the universe of a fictive city." The album could be classified as "industrial ambient minimal" because intimate clanks (oxymoronic, I concede) and rhythmic thumps and thuds abound. Now, I could easily kick a dustbin downstairs and claim to be an ambient artist; the only difference between Choc and me is that he's composed addictive music whereas my effort would still sound like a dustbin being kicked down a staircase. I don't know how he manages to convey emotion through abstract sounds, but I'm happy to listen in dumb admiration.

First off, Choc gently prises your ears open with Resurrection industrielle. Imagine listening to the world's biggest glass harp being played inside a Tibetan monastery's boiler room and you'll get the idea.

Introspection digitale introduces a pulsing bass and a flapping (yes, really) kick drum with feisty interruptions from what sounds like a short-circuiting fusebox. Most high frequency sounds are filtered out, giving the music a muffled feel befitting the track's title. It ends with a heartbeat, Pink Floyd fans.

The third track, Chaos Indus-nat, finds us among leaking pipes, their echoing drips slowly increasing in frequency until we stumble upon a hard-working computer terminal. It's like exploring a sewage system, but in a good way. I release that last sentence under a Creative Commons licence. Do with it what you will.

Misanthropie Numérique follows a classic electronica recipe: glitchy drums, smooth synths and a bit-crushed ending. Like the rest of the EP, I'm sure it contains a subliminal "keep listening" message.

It's perfectly possible to listen to this album while cruising the streets of GTA 4's New York. But I warn you, you might have to pull over, switch the engine off and recline your seat. Let others investigate the city; you're busy exploring sound. And, although it's optional, you can always put something in Choc's parking meter. It might prompt him to correct the typo on his album cover. ;-)

Choc - Solstice Urbain (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Choc's MySpace

Pussy's Nerdy Younger Sister

FREE ALBUMS GALORE

Slide your eyes to the right of this wondrous part of the internet and you'll find a sidebar entitled "General Netlabel Sites". Two of the websites linked there have been garlanded with the ultimate accolade:

*drum roll*

...a CTW article. (Hey, any more sniggering and you'll have to leave.) Now, at last, strong coffee and guilt have finally pushed me into writing about the third link.

Free Albums Galore is probably the most famous website that regularly features free music. (Well, it's the only one I've seen mentioned in a national newspaper, so there.) Here's why: once a day, Marvin, the diligent administrator, uploads a succinct, elegant and informative review of a free album. As the name suggests, the site deals with full-length EP's instead of recommending odd tracks from here, there and everywhere - not that there's anything wrong with that. There's a pleasing consistency about this approach; new music appears so frequently that it won't be long before your musical taste gels with a selection, and when it does you know that you're going to get a substantial addition to your music library. (The musicians will gladly receive any donations for the free albums, or you could pay for some of their other fare.)

Refreshingly, classical music and jazz get a fair (and knowledgeable) shake of the stick; unlike a great deal of the music-enthused part of the internet, music doesn't have to have a 4/4 beat and be suitable for a nightclub in order to get a review. But there are still plenty of mentions of rock and electronica.

FAG's extensive and...

*snigger*

Sorry. FAG's extensive and well-organised...

*cackle* *splutter* Stop it, it hurts. *laughs out loud* Wooh. *cough* My apologies. Yes, I know it's an unfortunate acronym and I'm being incredibly childish. (For the record, I don't care who rubs their furry bits together. Life is short. Have fun.) At least FAG is a more memorable acronym than CTW. *jealous* Who's laughing now? To continue...FAG's extensive and well-organised collection of links reinforce how lucky we music lovers are to have the web as a conduit for the only universal language. You could do a lot worse than pop over to Marvin's excellent website and let him plug a Babelfish* in your ear.

Yes, I know mathematics is the only universal language. But have you tried whistling algebra lately? And the lyrics are awful.

Please visit Free Albums Galore and run around stark naked, incredulous at the wonderful things the internet can do.

*Two, count 'em, two Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references in one short sentence. I'm a babe magnet!

Campanologists Rejoice

My last review raved about an album that hit the net in, um, 2003, so as compensation here's something that's just appeared, mewling and puking, in the maternity ward. Foolk has released an EP with five remixes of Bells, a track from his new album Red Pills For Daddy, soon to be released on the Deadred label. CTW isn't the type of website that reviews all the latest netlabel releases (I'm too lazy discerning for that), but Foolk's Bells Remixes EP is definitely worth a listen. You can hear the original track at Foolk's MySpace. So, from the top:

1. Bells (Abuse/Rain & Hail Mix) - a rolling bassline and breakbeatish drums greet gently descending synths and blend with a bit of chopped guitar. We're off to a good start.

2. Bells (Karaoke Tundra & Peto Tazok Remix) - I'm guaranteed to love anything with the words Karaoke and Tundra in it, as I've said before. But curse my monolingual ways - all I can make out are those two words in the characteristically mad-as-a-hatter chopped vocal. Did Mr Tazok have to place KT in a straitjacket in order to finish the track, I wonder?

3. Bells (Millex/Latin Lover Remix)  - Here your ears get the old "kick/snare/kick/snare/here come the trancy synths" treatment. Enjoyable, but it fades out just as it gets going.

4. Bells (Milos 120 Remix) -  Hmm, let's see. *takes a swig* Ooh, glitchy, moody. No, wait, *sluices around teeth* here's a kick and a snare and *makes disgusting sucking noise* I'm getting some some bit-crushing and a taste of elderberry. Hey, it's minimal! *refuses to spit out* What's more, the tiny little pops and clicks create a melodic soundscape. *swallows mouthful and looks for more* Minimal fans might have heard it all before, but I found this remix to be an absolute treat. It feels futuristic. Excellent production, too. *hic*

5. Bells (Ear Drum Kru/Ring The Bell Remix) - Steel drums, a screaming James Brown - from Think (About It)? - and a sampled, silly vocal. What's not to like? It's a jolly dance-pop track that leaves me reflecting that the whole EP has put a smile on my face.

All of these remixes approach the one track differently, thus avoiding the curse of the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" remix that makes you wonder why the remix was attempted in the first place. This is a fun, free EP that has piqued my interest in Foolk's forthcoming record. I hope it does the same for you.

Foolk - Bells Remixes EP (zipped album)

Deadred label

Foolk's website

Foolk on MySpace

Neither Do I

Brad Turcotte's album title is disingenuous. He knows that getting free music publicised is difficult because there's so much of it. He's a canny operator whose excellent website reveals a keen understanding of the effect that the net is having on budding musicians who won't/can't deal with the big record labels i.e. get the music heard by giving it away for free and then make a living out of concerts, merchandising and subsequent albums. I first heard Brad's music because Reaper, the music production software, uses the first track on his album as its demo project; then I saw his album on Jamendo and wanted to hear more of his stuff. Like I said, canny. But first, a quick digression:

1. If you make music using Cubase, Logic, Fruity Loops, Sonar, etc., check out Reaper. It's programmed by the same guy who made Winamp and it's got a lot of the music production industry excited/scared. The software works beautifully. And it's free until you want to pay for it. Read the previous sentence again, think about it, and then go meet the Reaper.
2. Jamendo has over 8,000 free albums available to download - all you have to do is register. There's no charge, no hidden fee. The software works fitfully. The music is free unless you want to make a donation. Read the previous sentence again, think about it, read the first sentence again, think about it, and then take a large shopping bag to the musical equivalent of The Matrix.

The opener, Making Me Nervous, is the album's cuckoo, having pushed itself to the front so it gets fed before everyone else. The bouncy dance-rock is out of step with the rest of the mid-tempo album, but it's really catchy. And that's Brad's secret. I Don't Know What I'm Doing is the catchiest free album I've heard so far. Just a couple of listens and you'll grab the nearest broomstick/toothbrush/current squeeze and belt out lyrics like these:

"I wanna know where the hell the days go." (Look and Feel Years Younger)

"It seems you've mistaken me for someone who cares, I'm just a dirtbag under the weather..." (Dirtbag)

There's a bit of Beck in there, but I also get a strong whiff of Nirvana. The album betrays its one-man-band home-recording origin, but it still sounds good. Sometimes the vocal needs pushing to the front, and the drums could definitely do with beefing up and a little more variation (Bad Attraction, I'm looking at you). All in all, the album is crying out for a top-line producer to make the sound fly. Though it's still very good, you understand. God, I'm anal.

I like all of the twelve tracks but will mention only a few more for brevity's sake:

Fixing My Brain discusses neural correction and whether it should be stimulated by chemicals and/or love or whether one will lose one's sense of self in the process. Oh hell, it's got dreamy vocals and strumming guitars - just sing along to it. Sick As A Dog is a slow, restrained grind with multi-tracked vocals on top - just the type of thing Nirvana did so well. Give the track a course of vitamins via a top record producer and it would reach rock, well, nirvana. Overreacting, a life-enhancing message for Earth's depressives, sounds like something John Lennon might have written: heartfelt lyrics and a tune that stays with you. I'm not overreacting.

The album's strengths are the multi-tracked vocals, the quirky lyrics, the meaty acoustic and electric guitar riffs and, above all, the melodies. You will find yourself singing these songs in the street/bed/bath/lavatory. CTW's infallible test of quality - only the classiest songs get sung in the toilet.

There are more excellent things on Brad's website: free sound files for each song so you can remix them (a round of applause), remixes from fans, lyric sheets, the opportunity to buy the album in CD format or from iTunes, and t-shirts, etc. And Brad has a new album coming out fairly soon; I hope it's a huge success.

A good song is a good song. I Don't Know What I'm Doing is a good album. Why not suck it and see?

Don't look at me like that.

Brad Sucks - I Don't Know What I'm Doing (link to album at Jamendo)

Brad Sucks home page (there's a lot more here than just the music)

Reaper (if you make music on your computer, take a look)

Jamendo (English language version) (where you will find an insane number of free albums)

Eyedrops and cigarettes and absinthe are all a Tribble needs

It's the internet - you have to expect Star Trek jokes.

I dread to think how many man-hours BitBasic put into making the eighteen minutes of music that constitutes Grating Rainbows, but I'm glad they did: it shows.

The first track, Soap, is schizophrenic. Its first minute is soothing trip-hop; the second is jumpy, glitchy funk. It's followed by Left Here, a 60-second jazz-funk workout with lots of stretched vocal glitches and a chiptune-ish quality to the hip-hop beat, if that makes sense.

Emaze is more "traditional" breakbeat and drum 'n' bass with skittering beats, a hoovering bass, a seductive female vocal (no lyrics, just "aaahs") and mellow synths jazzing away quite happily.

Next up is Shroom. Yes, you're right: it's fungus-inspired hallucinogenic drum and bass that starts off tunefully and then descends into frenzied smash-cuts and edits.

Amen Break Steals The Show begins with a slow rock beat and a jittery sampled guitar but the pressure tells; eventually it has to give the world's most famous drum break a good seeing-to, but does so between juicy organ chords, which leavens the mangling and gives the drums something to bounce off.

Any track that can use creaking doors as an instrument gets my vote. Grating Rainbows, the funky and melodic title track, does all this and more before unearthing a wonderful organ riff that struts all over the accompanying glitches then departs the scene to allow breakbeat mayhem to commence.

Watch Less TV is good advice and is also the seventh track here. It's stuffed with countless cheesy audio snippets from British television that may or may not tell the story of a torrid affair. (These things lend themselves to adding your own narrative.) Is there anything more bathetic than snooker commentary? "Enter the king of the nineties" is my phrase of the week.

The album ends with Rest, which I am forced to call experimental electronica because it jumps from one style to another - breakbeat, nu-jazz, hip-hop, glitch, etc. - before settling for chill-out. A slowed-down and stretched vocal bids us goodbye and says "take care". Health and Safety would approve.

Perhaps the mix is slightly muddy here and there, but that may just be my cheap headphones and personal preferences. The sheer weight of effects, synths, samples, and the plethora of editing and arranging on Grating Rainbows is certainly impressive, but better still is the fact that the album is an enjoyable listen. Once the ear gets used to the melee of jump cuts and glitches, Grating Rainbows becomes a lot of fun.

BitBasic - Grating Rainbows (link to zipped album and individual mp3s)

BitBasic's website

BitBasic on MySpace

Monotonik netlabel

First Contact - emails 'r' us

Anyone who would like to contact Catching The Waves to say:

1. "Hi, I think you're absolutely wonderful. Let's make babies."
2. "It's more like Catching The Crap."
3. "I'm going to give you all my money."

can now do so using the magic of the internet. (It's only taken me the best part of a couple of years to work out how to do it. I'm allergic to computers.) Just click on the "Email Me" link on the top right of the website.

Seriously, please accept my apologies if anyone out there would have liked to contact me but couldn't because the bozo at this end of the internet didn't have a public email address. Sorry. But at least now you can give me all your money and have my babies. Form a queue.

:-)

And I've changed the blog's appearance so its darker background will make the text easier to read - if not more palatable. I'm not overly keen on the new look but I'm constrained by TypePad's limited range of templates for "basic" users. Please tell me if it's an improvement or not. EDIT: the appearance might change a lot over the next few days, partly because TypePad's software refuses to acknowledge some of my updates. Grrr. But I'd still like to know whether you prefer the original "blue and blinding white" scheme.

"Yes, of course I've got my trousers on...oh, damn."

Just when CTW's musical palate was getting a bit furry, along comes the musical equivalent of a wine-tasting session: DVA's Ringtones for Mobile uPhones released on Surreal Madrid netlabel. There are no two-hour ambient drones here - the longest track is a minute long; the shortest, eight seconds. The "songs" range from fruity reds to the driest of whites, and I swallowed them all.

DVA are a boy/girl duo from Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic, who combine electronica (beatbox, loops) with traditional acoustic instruments (saxophone, clarinet, cello, guitar, accordion) and, er, doll. That's what it says on their website. Vocal duties are shared, though the female vocals make my tummy feel funny; ah, the Czech Republic, land of luscious lager and exquisite cheekbones. The country's also renowned for its theatrical and folk music tradition, and DVA (Czech for "two") spring directly from that; they got together during a radio recording of an Isaac Asimov play and have recorded a soundtrack for the classic film, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, and are deeply involved in making soundtracks for theatre performances. They are influenced by the circus, cabaret, beatboxes, the tango, electro-acoustic music, acoustic-electro music and "non-existent languages". Again, that's what it says on their website.

Instead of describing the various ringtones, I'm going to list the main elements of a few of my favourites - Nova Zprava: Cold War clarinets, Tyrolia Ring: yodelling, Alpen Ring: cow bells, Scifiring: jolly saxophone, Harmo Ring: low-fi accordion, Elektroring: glitches, Ping Ring: lots of drugs, Cirkusring: woodwind, Press Ring: typewriter. The last track, Trampring, sounds like a crazy campfire singalong - quirky humour is an essential element of this album.

Now, instead of forcing your phone to pump out the latest aural burp from the latest corporation, why not sluice your mobile phone's taste buds with an ambient ringtone, a dusty accordion ditty, or a glitchy, reverberating slice of out-there electronica? It's a very good sign that most of the tracks feel too short. DVA aren't afraid to experiment - you won't be able to guess what the next track will sound like. Music needs more people like them.

Train users of the world unite - you have nothing to lose but the disinterest of your fellow commuters.

DVA - Ringtones for Mobile uPhones (link to zipped album - it's a small download for dial-up users)

DVA's website

DVA on MySpace

Surreal Madrid netlabel

One and-a Two and-a Three and-a Seventeen

If you need something that will shorten the journey to work/school/college, and last just long enough for you to get dressed up for a night out or dance long enough to decide that you'd now quite like to sit down and sip a cold drink, here's something for you. It's hard to describe. It's something...something like...er...let me think...

It's Something Like Jazz by Foolk (formerly Foolcut), a Slovakian jazzy/glitchy wizard capable of dismantling a jazz tune and reassembling it into a chopped-up workout with hip-hop overtones. Listening to this three-track ep, you'll find yourself nodding your head and smiling, thus freaking out all your fellow commuters with the fear that you might be concealing some C4 explosive in your delighted mp3 player. Hey, at least one person on the dawn train to work will be happy. Progress, non?

By the way, the image at the start of today's article is the result of not having an album cover to post, and of taking the only suitable image on Foolk's website and enlarging it until it looks all pixelly and suddenly finding out that there actually were other images and eventually replacing my shoddy replica of Foolk's logo with a moody photo of the man himself and - ta-dah! - the pristine logo itself. As regular readers know, CTW is allergic to jpegs and electronic images in general. Sigh. My apologies to Foolk and Slovakians everywhere (for future reference only, because I have now redeemed the situation with the above photo. You never know when you might need a Slovakian get-out-out-of-jail-free card.) and the general public. And I love that buzzsaw/halo thing.

Still with me?

The title track is two minutes of saxophonic chopped-up jazz that bounces off a busy double bass, an organ and a piano. The drums are jazzy, edging towards funk and breakbeat. The whole tune has a terrific stop-start feel to it, which continues until the whole things slurs to a halt and you wonder how two minutes went by so quickly.

Glue Me features more double bass, funky drums, a staccato organ riff and a one-word lyric. It's strange how enjoyable it is to hear someone say "alright" between riffs and drum breaks. Foolk brandishes his electronica credentials mid-song by dropping a looped trumpet riff that pans from side to side and pitches up and down like a mad thing. Delicioso.

Push The Square pushes all the right buttons. It sounds as though a DJ invented a time machine and gatecrashed a 1950s trad jazz band's evening session at a club. The usual culprits appear - piano, double bass and wacky trumpet - but they get their groove on.

Foolk's style is subtle - his music is sort-of jazz, but with funky drums and a lovely chopped, jerky feel to it, with extraneous noises, a little light bit-crushing and mangled pitch and tempi to satisfy those of us who live in the early twenty-first century. The good news is that there are three other three-track albums on his website and they're all free to download. While you're there, follow the links and contemplate buying some of his stuff and/or going to one of his gigs. You'd be a foolk not to.

Oh, come on. I've been dying to say that.

Foolk - Something Like Jazz EP (link to individual mp3s at archive.org)

Foolk

Foolk on MySpace

International Velvet

After a hard day fighting crime and introducing green-skinned women to the Earth custom known as "kissing", I needed to hear something soothing wafting across the foyer of CTW Towers. Fortunately, my secretary was playing Songbox by Velure, and its appropriate opening track, Walk Home, did the trick. On hearing Dale Arden batting her eyelids at Flash Gordon over a bass line with white-noise overtones, CTW's ears immediately tucked themselves in for the night with a nice cup of cocoa. All was well.

Velure are Australian purveyors of dubbish trip-hop electronica. (The internet: ears love it.) The quintet crafted Songbox, a five-track EP, in 2003 and recently decided to let we're-not-worthy uber-netlabel Ideology have the album in a splurge of Ocker-Teutonic McLovin. This is what's known as a Very Good Thing.

Throughout the second track, What To Do, as in the rest of album, Lynelle (Nelly) Moran's voice is set to "tickle". It brushes up close to the listener's ear and flirts with the dubby, bouncy bass and lonely-sounding harmonica.

*loosens collar*

Dub permeates Do You Feel Right? thanks to its soporific vocals, skanking guitar and a refusal to explain why such a lethargic track feels up-tempo. It's catchy. You'll be singing the chorus in the bath. Actually, there's not much echoing and endless reverb going on here. Perhaps it's better to call it "G'day Reggae".

Sorry.

There's something wrong with Birdy, the fourth track. The symptoms: slooow, meaty drum beat, vinyl crackles, simple accompaniment, slurred strings, noises off, and breathy are-we-there-yet vocals from a young lady. My diagnosis: Birdy has a nasty dose of trip-hop and the only cure is to listen until dawn. The track finishes with birdsong and should be sponsored by hypnotists worldwide. Three thumbs up.

The drum 'n' bass of Resonate does what it says on the tin (or the songbox), and feels as though Velure are all sitting on the lid to stop it getting out, only for the beats to pop out and have their say. It's singalong, dinner party drum 'n' bass. And that's Another Very Good Thing.

In-depth review: sounds great; catchy; suitable for all Homo Sapiens; eminently satisfying to fondle; free.

Velure have another album, Care For Fading Embers, available from iTunes and other music corporations via Velure's website. Let's hope the generous gesture of releasing Songbox for free is rewarded by sales. Go on, feed and clothe some talented musicians and further the cause of free internet music.

Velure - Songbox (link to individual mp3s)

Velure's website

Ideology netlabel

Bring Out Your Dead

I've just had to chuck a load of festering, maggoty breves and semi-breves onto a horse-cart that's passing down the street; every note longer than a minim has died from lack of use. I blame Kampion and his Invisible EP, released on Mexico's Filtro netlabel. Kampion is the alter ego of Guillermo Guevára, who forms half of the two-man electronica outfit, Duopandamix. Invisible is what might be called "glitch-funk". Not sure about the genre name. How about funktronica? Nu-jazz? (Yuk. "Nu" should be thrown into a wood-chipper.) Microfunk? Never mind, I'll leave it to CTW's six billion* readers to decide.

Kampion eases us gently into his sonic universe with Pirata, a stately groove that seems hectic because of the plethora of glitches that dance around the speakers while snippets of vocals provide the minimalist tune. Next up is Primaveral and its brutally chopped melody; if its fragments were any shorter the melody would become incoherent - it's amazing how little information the ear requires before the brain fills in the gaps.

Routes is full of polyrhythms, record scratches, and spliced vocals: all ingredients that tickle CTW's fancy. A modest bass pops up and ushers in the appearance of some very mild reverb and delay to fill out the track. Two-thirds of the way in, the track gets even catchier when a lovely (if you like that sort of thing), high-passed stab of white-noise appears in an impeccably groovy riff that sounds like a pastiche of futuristic car horns. Anyone who likes glitch, funk, IDM, electronica, etc. will enjoy and learn from this track.

The start of the title (and final) track, Invisible, shows that Kampion is not adverse to creating a dreamy reverberating soundscape only to slap it away with a glitchy, funky beat. My only quibble is that a kick drum/bass element is rather forward in the mix, so forward that my speakers struggled with it somewhat, but as the rest of the EP is an exercise in sonic expertise this may well be intentional.

This danceable music is unusual - there's hardly a bass line worthy of the name; everything sounds "trebley" but not piercingly so. Invisible's sounds are clean and spare with little sign of reverb or delay, so tightly are the snaps and pops packed. The rhythms are tight, funky, and garnished with a South American special sauce that adds a delicious swing to proceedings. The panning is excellent, with glitch breaks coming at just the right speed - quick enough to stay funky and slow enough to retain intelligibility.

This is a surprisingly gentle, good-humoured album that displays a high level of skill and inventiveness. Ah, free Latin electronica, how I love thee.

Kampion - Invisible EP (link to individual mp3s and zipped album)

Kampion on MySpace

Duopandamix on MySpace

Filtro netlabel

*potentially...