Catching The Waves

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, Something Like Jazz, 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