Catching The Waves

The Tip of the Goldberg

Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations were first published in 1741, and have long been recognised as one of the mainstays of the classical music canon. "So what?" you ask, spraying crisps and beer over your laptop screen. Well, today is a special day for music and for the internet: firstly, you will learn not to talk with your mouth full; and secondly, anyone with an internet connection can now download the "Open Goldberg Variations" for free. 

Most classical music enthusiasts with a reasonable standard of living will own a recording of the work; most people who can barely scrape together the cash for an internet connection will not. The Open Goldberg Variations project has tried to remedy the problem. Its proponents thought that music of such quality and importance should be a common inheritance, available to all who wished to hear it.

The thinking behind the project was as follows: Bach's music is in the public domain. Wouldn't it be a nice idea to record the piece to the highest possible standard and then release it to all and sundry under a Creative Commons Zero licence? But who would play the piece? Kimiko Ishizaka, that's who, a renowned award-winning pianist who just happens to live in Cologne, which I've always thought of as the capital of netlabel-land. Wheels within wheels...

But how to pay for the recording? How to finance the studio time and technicians? In short, an appeal at the crowd-sourcing finance platform Kickstarter asked for $15,000, yet raised over $23,000 in just a few days, making the plans more than a pipe dream. Then some wonderful things happened: Bösendorfer sponsored a top-class grand piano, and Anne-Marie Sylvestre, a seasoned sound engineer and producer, offered her services for free. Such largesse meant that the recording could take place at the hallowed Teldex Studio in Berlin.

In other words, talented and committed people have done their very best to make the best possible recording of a truly great piece of music - and then give it away for free. Here it is (if the Soundcloud media player behaves itself, which it often doesn't):

The Open Goldberg Variations by Kimiko Ishizaka (J. S. Bach, BWV 988) by Open Goldberg

If you wish to download the entire album in one go (mp3s and lossless FLAC files are available), you can visit the Soundcloud page or, even better, go straight to the Open Goldberg Variations download page. You can even write a review *cough* and win a double CD.

You may ask yourself if issuing a recording of this standard will divert money from commercial recordings and publishers. If you do, stop talking to yourself. It's a bad habit. Then forget about piracy. Thieves will always steal from the internet if they can. Don't waste time on those people.

The important people are the potential customers. There are a billion people online who can now hear and own a pristine, high-quality recording of this wonderful work. They won't have to record a low-fi radio broadcast to hear it; they won't have to visit a torrent site and inadvertently spread viruses; they won't carry the psychological stigma of knowing they have stolen something, and they won't have purloined a slice of someone's wages. No, they will be dignified, legitimate owners and listeners and, if Bach has anything to do with it, will learn to love the music and, lo and behold, become fans of his other works. This increases the likelihood that they will purchase recordings of his music, attend concerts, and even - I can barely credit it - play the actual music on actual instruments made out of actual wood and stuff.

This recording will eventually percolate its way around the world, finding a home in schools, universities, homes and mp3 players. If just one per cent of one billion people become fans of Bach's music because of this recording, classical music publishers will have a potential ten million new customers.

But if you own Ms Ishizaka's recording, why bother to buy another version of the Goldberg? Well, that's the beauty of it: every pianist has a different approach to the work. There are amazingly different versions of the work, as Glenn Gould, Andras Schiff, Murray Perahia and many others have demonstrated. It's like Pokémon: gotta catch 'em all. Ahem.

Just as excitingly, Musescore has created a brand-new score of the work after making their initial efforts available to academics and Bach enthusiasts for revision. This too will be online for anyone who wants it.

While I'm on this topic, it has always surprised me that classical music has not taken advantage of Creative Commons licences. Surely there must be many music undergraduates and post-graduates who could record, for example, famous/obscure chamber music and release the work on a classical music netlabel (if there were any)? Nowadays, recording software is powerful and cheap, and the means of distribution is the PC, laptop and smartphone. Someone might even record the Goldberg on the harpsichord...

If you have enjoyed the Open Goldberg Variations, please consider thanking its instigators for their energy and foresight. After that, say thank you to J.S. Bach, who is doubtless quaffing beer from a freshly-tapped barrel, moaning to his brother about the shocking cost of import duties, and saying what he really thinks about having to write long, obsequious letters to obdurate royalty.

The Open Goldberg Variatons

Musescore.com

Herr Bach

 

With Apologies to Bayern Munich Fans...

...and congratulations to all other German football fans. I'm interrupting my publishing schedule to post the above screenshot which proves that The World's Most Important Free Music Blog* has been featured on Breitband, the highly-respected Deutschlandradio Kultur (German state radio) programme devoted to media and digital culture. Yes, I was flown out on the express instruction of Angela Merkel just to be photographed strolling along Germany's sun-kissed north coast and ignoring an autograph request from an annoying child.

It's interesting to note that co-presenter Volker Tripp, who is heavily involved with the excellent iD.EOLOGY netlabel, favoured CTW's highlighted pop, rock and folk songs and mostly eschewed dance and electronica, although this was possibly due to time constraints and a wish to appeal to a large audience. (I apologise for not knowing whether his velvet-tongued co-presenter was Julia Eikmann, Jana Wuttke or Anja Krieger.) Equally notable was the number of songs with vocals (all sung in English). This tells me three things:

1. Creative Commons music would be more popular if there were more rock and pop netlabels.
2. Germany is enviably bilingual.
3. There are parts of Europe where the mullet can still be seen in the wild.

Germany has an endearingly high regard for Creative Commons culture. I've always thought of the country itself as Netlabel Zentraal; it's no coincidence that Beat Magazine is probably the only major music magazine that treats the CC netlabel scene seriously. It's an honour to be a tiny part of that culture.

Please click on the illustration to visit Breitband and hear the show, or listen below:

Breitband - Auf Wellenfang

My next review will appear quite soon; well, as soon as Typepad's software stops sulking.

*There are lies, damned lies, and my claims for this blog's status.

Happy Culture Freedom Day

Today is Culture Freedom Day - but you already knew that, didn't you? I certainly did, and in no way did I stumble upon it by accident, he said unconvincingly. The 19th of May has been plucked from the Official Big Book of Open Source Gregorian 365-day Calendars to celebrate Free Culture worldwide. To steal/borrow/adapt-with-the-full-permission-of-the-creator:

Culture Freedom Day is a worldwide celebration of Free Culture. Initiated in 2012 by the same organization promoting Software Freedom it aims at educating the worldwide public about the benefits of using and encouraging Free Culture as well as providing an international day to serve as a platform to promote Free Culture artists. The non-profit organization Digital Freedom International coordinates CFD at a global level, providing support, giveaways and a point of collaboration, but volunteer teams around the world organize the local CFD events to impact their own communities.

We have envisioned Culture Freedom Day as a day where Free Culture art is exhibited, as much as possible, and celebrated. Be it a photo exhibition, a concert, playing music in the streets or organization movie screening, as long as it is clear to the public that what you are showing is Free Culture you would be right on target. Of course a combination of all forms of Free Culture art is fine too, with short discussions about the definition of Free Culture, how to make one's work Free Culture and where to find Free Culture online. The cherry on the cake would be to showcase one or several Free Culture artists who would happen to live in your area. We have set up a special section in our forum for such match making opportunities.

Culture Freedom Day will be hosted annually starting on Saturday May 19th, 2002 and probably every third Saturday of May each subsequent year.

Our Vision

Our vision is to empower all people to freely connect, create and share in a digital world that is participatory, transparent, and sustainable.

Objectives

1. To celebrate culture freedom and the people behind it
2. To foster a general understanding of culture freedom, and encourage adoption of free culture licenses
3. To create more equal access to opportunities by growing the body of cultural work accessible to all
4. To promote constructive dialogue on responsibilities and rights in the cultural society
5. To be inclusive of organizations and individuals that share our Vision
6. To be pragmatic, transparent, and responsible as an organisation

I hope you read and memorised every word of that; I will be asking questions later. Here is a reward for slogging through that worthy (and inspiring) prose: another green graphic, beneath which is Pixel Mixel by the very talented BitBasic, a song that encapsulates all that is good about free culture in five minutes of superb jazzy, breakbeat-ish, glitchy electronica. (Original review here.) See you next year.

BitBasic - Pixel Mixel

Culture Freedom Day

Spring Clean 4: Going Out On A Limb

This site is known around the globe* for its venerable dictum regarding dance music:

All dance tracks are a third too long.

Yes, I realise that dance tracks traditionally include extended, rather plain intros and outros so that DJs can beatmatch their sets, but the fact remains that most dance tracks, like terrorists, carry excess baggage. However, after intensive research on the subject, CTW can now announce with some certainty that there is a corollary to my (in)famous axiom:

All dance tracks are a third too long unless I say so.

I think that's reasonable. *cough* Anyway, today's Spring Clean gasps over the finishing line at a not-going-to-the-Olympics time of 8'33". Why on earth is it worth hearing? Well, there are two types of dance tracks in this world:

1. Bangers
2. Groovers

Ask Wikipedia if you don't believe me.** Bangers are generally aggressive, high-tempo, and replete with risers and drops designed to prompt wrecked nightclubbers to expose their armpits like they just don't care. Groovers are the beta males of the dance music world: they observe from afar and then quietly seduce the nubile blonde whilst the alpha male is combing his chest hair. In other words, they start off fairly sedately, gradually adding percussive (and percussively melodic) elements until they achieve an irresistibly catchy rhythm.  

Too Much Botox by Alex Medina, a talented and busy DJ-producer originally from Las Palmas in Las Islas Canarias (the Canary Islands if you English speakers insist on getting all Falklandish about it) is an object lesson in squeezing disparate elements into a rapid groove. For example, the first things other than percussion to appear on the track are some lovely, slow synth chords that you'd expect to hear in downtempo jazz. When those same chords are then distorted, panned and moved back in the mix while some bass pops up, your ears will start to twitch.

Seductive things keep appearing throughout: at the two-minute mark, what sounds like a sitar chord acts as an unexpected bridge; tablas/congos drop in at 3.12; vocal snippets punctuate the track here and there, and at 5.50 a simple bassline just squats on the dance floor and digs in. In fact, there are numerous moments when the listener will feel that the bass and/or the main rhythm has kicked in, only to be surprised when it keeps getting just that little bit funkier. As I said: a groover.

Alex Medina - Too Much Botox

This skilful and pleasurable funky minimal comes in a pack of five, the Punos Punof EP, and derives from the credit-to-the-internet Unfoundsound/foundsound netlabel. CTW is not unfamiliar with this excellent supplier of Creative Commons music, as you can read here and here.

You want the album, don't you? Hmm. You'll need to concentrate. In its wisdom, Unfoundsound does not have separate pages for each album in its catalogue. Instead you must visit its "Un releases" section, select albums "39-45" and then choose "unfound42", where you will finally alight on a little place reserved for the Punos Punof EP. Individual mp3s and flacs, and a zipped album will then be yours to keep. Should you need more of Sr. Medina's music, look for his Octupus Vulgaris EP in Unfoundsound's catalogue: it's number 45.

If you enjoy the free music, please consider thanking Alex Medina/Unfoundsound for their efforts or buying something from Unfoundsound's commercial wing, Foundsound.

Alex Medina - Punos Punof EP (download zipped mp3 album)

Unfoundsound "un releases" album catalogue.

Unfoundsound netlabel

*I'm on the internet so technically this is true.

**So gullible. Heh.

Spring Clean 3: Robots in Disguise

 

In their more spiteful moments, people who hate folk music dream of the day when nasal-voiced troubadours do a Hendrix and set fire to their mandolins. With Burn, the second track of his unpredictable UV EP, Matthew Stenning almost grants a few wishes by deciding that the perfect percussive accompaniment to a lilting guitar riff is... a box of matches and a lighter. Ah, electronica: musical pyromaniacs sneer at all other genres.

The very nicely handled percussion is soon joined by a phasing pad, another stringed instrument, lashings of reverb, a reversed tape effect, an engaged telephone tone, a Moogish synth, a bit of looping and a complete non-sequitur of an ending: a ringing telephone. All this should sound like a dog's breakfast (by the way, has anyone ever heard a dog's breakfast?) but Mr Stenning, a UK-based producer, knits it together with aplomb. (Has anyone ever seen a plomb?)

Anyway, I hope the first appearance at CTW of Typepad's ugly, life-draining media player doesn't spoil your enjoyment of this lovely example of folky electronica:

02 UV - Burn

If you liked it, good news: the Creative Commons music world knows full well that there are six more imaginative tracks to be heard on the UV EP, hosted at the excellent, sadly expired but joyfully ransackable Plainaudio netlabel. Now you know too.

UV - The UV EP (link to individual tracks and zipped album)

Plainaudio netlabel (may it Rest in Peace)

 

Spring Clean 2: Super Nova

Having shredded my eardrums during the years I scoured the matrix for good free music, I've come to two conclusions:

1. What did you say? Huh? SPEAK UP, YOUNG MAN.

2. There seems to be a preponderance of electronica, techno and ambient music in the Creative Commons music world.

The latter conclusion is unsurprising. Perhaps it's because of the affinity between music software, the internet and nerds open-minded individuals that most albums sound like they were made with a laptop. There's nothing wrong with that; one of the joys of CC music is that anything goes, and it's always fun to hear musicians experiment with new sounds and genres.

However, one does sometimes hanker for stuff that sounds as though it was made outside the spare room/attic/dungeon; stuff that involves strumming, plucking and blowing. Yes, I'm talking about nipples old-fashioned things like brass sections, guitarists and real drummers.

Look no further than a track picked from the compilation album Tiuqottigeloot (netBloc No. 24), namely:

Juanitos - Hola Hola Bossa Nova

Juan Naveira and his France-based collective, Juanitos, have been blasting out, and I quote, "Calypso, rock'n'roll, reggae, Cuban sound, bossa nova, reggae, gospel, electronica, soul, boogaloo, jazz!" for nigh-on twenty years. As you've just heard, they're rather good at it, although the vocals can be a little rough and ready.

Want some more? Ahem. I hope you're planning some beach parties in the near future. There's the 2009 album, Best Of, whence originally came Hola Hola Bossa Nova; the follow-up called, er, Best of Volume 2, and the latest, Welcome to the House of F.U.N.:

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

Royalty-free music for professional licensing

It's as retro as it gets, isn't it? As is well known, when the French start to boogie the result is always ever-so-slightly naff, then kooky, and finally triumphantly joyful and funky. Juanitos epitomise this noble tradition and long may they do so. Try these three albums (there are another three at Jamendo) and see if your hips behave. EDIT: Jamendo seems a bit under the weather today. If you want to download the albums, use the "download" link on The Best Of, Vol. 2 and visit the other albums from within Jamendo. Sorry...

Remember, these songs are CC-licensed, so they are free to download - but please contact Juanitos if you'd like to do anything commercial with them. I'm sure they would welcome some appreciative emails (and even cash) to distract them from the doubtless riveting slanging match televised debate between Messrs. Hollande and Sarkozy.

My thanks to Mike at BlocSonic for his heroic work in compiling 93(!) albums full of free music. If your mp3 player is looking a little chubby these days, pop over to his awesome website and give it a workout.

(Apologies if the Jamendo players don't appear in Google Reader or on phones. I'm an idiot, remember?)

Juanitos.net

Juanitos at Jamendo

Blocsonic