Catching The Waves

The gamut of emotions from Q to Z

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

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

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

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

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

         

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

Krill.minima - Somerdellen

Ah, that's better.

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

...the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

    

Dimomib is a Greek producer of dubby, technoish, ambient-flavoured stuff that might sit well on your shiny new works-ok-but-has-a-crap-battery-life mp3 player. His 10-tracker, Lo-Fi, is a platter of calm grooves and deep reflection that will calm anyone who's just realised that there are less than seven shopping weeks until Consumerism Christmas Day. (The rest of the world can carry on regardless. As Dave Allen always said, may your god go with you.)

CTW can't showcase a track because the album, released on the otherwise entirely wonderful Dead-Channel, is zipped. When are netlabels going to understand that there are millions of people on the net who still use dial-up? Why exclude potential fans?

/grumble

EDIT: Dead-Channel has sprung Lazarus-like from the audio underworld and provided me with a clip from Clipping Digits, a track with a dusty vibe, a cavernous reverb and a kick that's a chest-thumper. If you like it, please have a listen to my recommended track, which is mentioned approximately five centimetres due south of this sentence. Thank you for listening, D-C.

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

*cough*

Sorry.

So, anyway, to discover for certain whether Lo-Fi is Hi-Def, please visit the album's release page on Dead-Channel netlabel and play Double Shuffle on their media player. You'll have to trust me on this one, folks. The first two minutes sound as though Dimomib is rummaging through his "spare samples" drawer; the middle two constitute some thoroughly decent dub; and the final two minutes unveil a wonderful reverse-sounding synth riff that, just like The Dude's carpet, really ties the room together, before ending in an uplifting chord sequence. I suspect it'll take about three plays for the track's excellence to sink in. It's one of my favourite internet finds.

Another one to try out is Testing Soundsystems, which, with its forceful, glitchy kicks and sub bass, will do exactly what it says on the tin.

Those three tracks should let you decide whether you want to download the entire album, which is a big decision if you don't have broadband. But I think Dimomib and Dead-Channel have combined to give us something that, despite the name, is most definitely high quality. Much obliged, gentlemen.

Lo-Fi is an example of hi-def, slow-burn, ambient-esque, dub-like trip-hop. Give it a whirl before I run out of hyphens.

Dimomib - Lo-Fi (link to zipped album, with apologies to dial-up users)

Dimomib

Dead-Channel - a netlabel from the north of England, but we won't hold that against them. ;-)

And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint...

CTW interrupts its gentleman's-calling-card-on-a-silver-platter service to announce a credit crunch antidote for all you cheapskates peasants lovers of music who find themselves unable to fill the spare corners of your 1trnGB iPods due to the global economic downturn. Fret not - today, thanks to the hard-working people of netlabel land, CTW can recline with a cool drink and reap the benefits, as can you. It's a parasitical relationship, admittedly. Well, if bankers and bond traders can get away with it...anyway, here's a few morsels for you:

Ideology, fluffy German purveyor of hip/trip/dub-hop & dance, celebrates its 50th release with the unsnappily titled Re-iD.d 2, a remix compilation by the iD.EOLOGY Allstars. This slice of jazzy cinematic noir-hop should give you the idea: Zengineers - Un Taxi la Nuit (Dub One! la première fois). The office party must have been a good one, because Ideology has also released...

...the much more palatably titled Frühwerk, a compilation of tracks from the label's early years, when Ideology's artists were dipping their collective toes in the water.

Regular readers will already know of Phlow's Finest Hour compilations (Vols One, Two & Three):

   

...but might not know that fab Phlow has also given us Destination Cologne, a taste of the burgeoning Cologne (I nearly said Colonic) netlabel scene. Here's a track from it that's tighter than a cat's bottom: Phonout - Jutro. But Phlow haven't stopped there. Because they're rather good at what they do, and because they're evangelists for the netlabel cause, there's also...

 

...their latest compilation: Nivel del Mar - Sounds for Soulsurfers, a chill-out compilation that's well worth listening to, especially as it features some tracks from poor suckers who've already endured a CTW review. This one escaped a review thanks to my extreme laziness, the lucky blighter: Crookram - Hostile. Did Erik Satie know he could get his groove on? I like to think so.

 

Netlabelism, Belgian keeper of the Creative Commons flame, has unleashed the first in a new series of compilations based on genres. The new baby is called Netwaves Bytes: Electro 1 and concentrates on, er, electro. Try this and see if it's to your taste: Pero - El Ghost.

 

You could always join the never-ending story that is BlocSonic, who now offer 17 free compilation albums and will keep adding to this number until the internet explodes. No. 17 is entitled Refined Excursions For The Discriminating Listener.

 

 

If that isn't exciting enough for you, how about the very latest in netlabel chic, the hot-off-the-electronic-press Netaudio London 2008 Festival Compilation from the trendiest music event on the planet? (Apart from this blog, obviously.) Download the low-fi 128 Kbps mp3s from Last.fm and, if you find something you like, grab the high-quality FLAC files from archive.org.

I have yet more music for you, but I think this post has already veered dangerously close to "OMG, CTW is blowing my tiny little mind with the near-infinite possibilities of free netmusic and I shall have to propose marriage if this post goes on much longer" territory. Don't worry, my nubile slaves - CTW will let you recover for a while before providing another dose of netaudio lurve. In the meantime, to preserve the general public's morality...

*dons bow-tie and tuxedo, adopts BBC received pronunciation*

If you'd like to thank the netlabel community for the above offerings, please consider crossing their palms with silver - or copper, wheat, sugar or any other sellable commodity now that the world's financial system is kaput. Even a simple "thank you" goes a long way. Remember the unofficial motto of Creative Commons buskers:

"Netmusician - will work for praise, but money helps."

You're watching BBC 2. For our last programme of the evening, we invite you to sit back and enjoy a weighty philosophical dialogue that posits the significance of an innocent after-dinner mint. Goodnight.

The Caribbean Century

 

Most financial and political pundits opine that the 21st century will belong to China. Now, I have nothing against the fine people of China but I can't say that the current regime's mix of oligarchical communism and untrammelled capitalism fills me with much joy. Wouldn't it be better if the dominant political force was tempered by a, how can I say this without offending anyone, a more relaxed culture that takes a less aggressive attitude to life, realising that, as Wittgenstein Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton once sang, we are islands in the stream?

Karaoke Mouse must have had the same idea for their EP, Shanghai Reggae, which is a thick brew of the Far East and the Far Out. The three tracks here are the work of the highly talented Karaoke Tundra, one of the very first unfortunates to appear at CTW, and MM^TM, a psychedelic cum experimental cum tropical sound-mangler from Ireland. You lucky people also get to hear three wonderful remixes, should you choose.

To celebrate CTW's new CERN particle collider/media player, and in a bid to get you to download the EP, today I'm recommending double the usual quota of "today, I'm recommending a single track in a bid to get you to download the EP" recommendations. (Ah, the English language - nature's Moebius strip.) First up, I give you:

Banjo Boy, which begins with glitchy, breathy percussion and ends with the same, though somewhere in the middle it turns from beautifully realised minimalist glitch into a jolly, bouncy dance track that got me pogoing up and down. It's a quite stunning piece of electronica.

Secondly, DJ Side, victim of a previous CTW review, has chipped in with a remix, Shanghai Reggae (DJ Side's alternate take). There's nothing special about it except that it's three minutes of pounding hip-hop reggae bliss. Tell your friends about this and watch your Cool rating rise by a factor of Fonz.

The title track itself, Shanghai Reggae, is a reggaeish, ambient blend of Far East city life that features a wonderfully sampled treatment of babies giggling, mangled so as to sound like car horns. (There's a sentence I never thought I'd write.) I've listened to Takže Tak quite a bit and have concluded that it's a beatbox sampling masterclass - rarely will you hear vocal noises manipulated with such dexterity; its Krátkodobá Pamět remix by Watesino passes two minutes pleasantly enough. Michal Mariánek's click 'n' cut remix of Banjo Boy is hypnotically funky, and is a strong contender for the title of "Best Track".

Finally, the undersized album cover picture is a recurrence of my traditional difficulties with inserting images correctly. Tsk. The next hundred years certainly won't be named the CTW Century...

Karaoke Mouse - Shanghai Reggae (link to individual mp3s)

Karaoke Tundra, MM^TM

Surreal Madrid netlabel (no "Tip Box" but you could always wear a lobster on your head in gratitude)

It's What I Do Best

Some techno/dancefloor music tries to hammer a spike through your temple; some brushes its lips against your ear and inveigles you into bed. When I tell you that Entering Sleep Mode is the product of Frenchman Vincent Raude, an experienced proponent of dub, jazz and drum 'n' bass who is exploring the world of minimal, you'll have no trouble deciding which type of techno this is.

Trainscommin, the first of three tracks, starts off with a relaxed, dubby feel about it, as though your ears have settled into a comfy leather sofa in the corner of a good bar. Gradually, tiny little pops and clicks augment the exemplary kick-snare pattern until your corner of the bar is filled with comely members of the opposite sex, attracted by the hip-jogging bass and the pervading air of coolness.

Or This is a fairly standard minimal techno track, allowing you to swap phone numbers with the aforementioned group of babes/hunks (your mileage may vary), but it's beautifully produced with an upfront bass/drum combo backed by washes of echoing synths and a scratchy hi-hat that keeps everything moving.

Finally, you impress your new fan club by ordering a fashionable aural cocktail. (Be careful when using that last phrase.) Driving Upwellings features a modest can't-quite-tune-this-radio riff backed by dubby pulses, rolling kick drums and a driving hi-hat. You could play this track at a planet-splitting volume yet it would still sound as though you're eavesdropping on a Women's Institute lecture about jam-making, by which I mean it sounds warm and comforting, although WI women occasionally let rip, so don't think that Driving Upwellings doesn't bring the funk.

If you want to convert a friend who isn't into techno/dance to the ways of The Church of Scientology Minimal, Entering Sleep Mode is a very good place to start. The more you listen to it, the more you realise that Monsieur Raude has packed a lot into each track, yet his compositions feel spacious and subtly groovy; the mix is warm where you want it to be, powerful when you need it. All in all, it's iron-fist-in-velvet-glove material, courtesy of weapon-against-the-forces-of-darkness netlabel, deepindub.

Of course, the real reason I'm recommending Entering Sleep Mode is because it's fun to stare at your reflection in the album cover and pretend that your disembodied head is speeding through hyperspace.

You're all doing it now, aren't you? Heh.

Upwellings - Entering Sleep Mode (link to zipped album and individual files)

Upwellings on MySpace

deepindub netlabel (Warning: you are entering a whirlpool of free and excellent dub, minimal and techno. I know - I'm wonderful. Thank me later.)

Fabergé Eggs? I'll Take Two

Imagine, if you will, a craftsman hunched over a workbench, his concentration bent on producing a matchless gem fit for none but the cream of society. Further imagine, for the sake of an uninspired analogy, your nose pressed up against a jeweller's shop window as he places a Fabergé egg on a cushion of crushed velvet. If only you had access to the riches inside.

Let's face it, buster - you ain't gettin' no steenkin' jewellery. But do not fret. Succour is at hand in the form of one of the internet's great untapped music resources. If you visit blocSonic you'll get the following free musical Fabergés:

• Sixteen (you heard me, sixteen) zipped compilation albums, each painstakingly sourced from netlabels and Creative Commons websites around the world, available for free download in lossless FLAC format or mp3 (with a choice between 320kbps and 192 kbps). All tracks can be downloaded individually, which is good news for the many people without broadband.
• Highly professional and distinctive packaging artwork in tif, eps and pdf formats for your CD and jewel case, should you need something more tactile than an mp3 file.
• A substantial PDF file giving full track information and biographies, etc. of the artists. From netBloc 16 onwards there'll be a brief Q & A session with each artist.

As with all compilations, the tracks will elicit the following reactions: yuck/meh/dat is da shit, boyeee. With 16 albums to choose from, CTW's modus operandi was to download the 192 kbps mp3s, compile an enormous playlist in Microsatan's Windows Media Player and whittle the list down to tracks that rang my bell. Those tracks left standing in the rubble are the ones I will download at the better-sounding bit-rate of 320 kbps. I can tell you're impressed.

Of course, the compilations serve as a great starting point when searching for free netmusic. We all know how difficult it is to find music that suits our tastes perfectly, so being able to sift through blocSonic's compilations makes things easier and is also a lot of fun. Sites like blocSonic, Free Albums Galore, Phlow and Netlabelism are vital signposts on the open road to free music, and will help artists who don't have the backing of a record label to contemplate/sustain a music career, or who simply enjoy the buzz of releasing their music to a global audience.

BlocSonic should go from strength to strength. But here's the rub: given the high production values and the superb value for money (the music is free, donations to the artists are optional but welcome), the download figures are criminally low. It seems to me that the netlabel/Creative Commons scene is music's best-kept secret. Please, do me a favour - email your friends and colleagues with a link to blocSonic. They'll think you're terribly trendy, you'll walk a little taller, and the netlabel scene will continue to gather momentum. And, dammit, CTW's sidebar of "General Netlabel Sites" is far more exclusive than any hawker of trinkets to high society, so if blocSonic's been allowed to perch there for the last few months then you can rest assured it's worth visiting.

*gets off high horse*

The illustration at the top of this article is the cover for the latest compilation, Sweet Sixteen. Not only does it look lovely and give you an idea of the high standard of presentation common to the entire blocSonic website, it stops me having to use the blocSonic logo as the main illustration. I mean, as lovely as it is, it's this big:

 

..and the CTW computer boffins can do nothing with it. Stop laughing.

netBloc Volume Sixteen (Sweet Sixteen) (link to zipped album and individual files)

blocSonic

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

International Velvet

EDIT: It seems that Velure has withdrawn Songbox, which is a shame. But if you'd like to hear some of their more recent music, please visit their website. CTW offers a cheery but tear-stained, handkerchief-waving goodbye from the end of the railway platform.

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

Ideology netlabel

Lingers On The Palate

DJ Side is a Czech DJ who makes dubstep, grime and hip-hop. "All well and good, and we're very happy for him," I hear you say, "but what about those of CTW's enormous readership who don't want to nod their heads and consort with people of the opposite sex?" Fear not, O basement dwellers. With a surreptitious wink, DJ Side has sneaked an ambient hip-hop EP into CTW's coat pocket. You heard me: ambient hip-hop. Bittersweet Love is a five-track slice of hypnotic audio bliss, released on parole by those unstable people at Surreal Madrid netlabel.

Wikipedia defines dubstep as "distinguished by its dark mood, sparse rhythms, and emphasis on bass," which goes a long way to explain the soundscape you'll hear in Bittersweet Love. What's especially intriguing is the use of ambient sounds in hip-hop rhythms, though the glitches are set at such slow tempi that it's more trip-hop than hip-hop. Standing on the Olympic podium: 1. Lo-fi beats over lengthy delays and reverberations. 2. Deep bass drones. 3. Glitches.

The EP kicks off with Amb Part 2, wherein we discover an electric piano, a snare drum made of stretched white noise (sort of), and a distressed seagull strapped to a dub delay. Hey, it's how I roll. [/Americanese slang]

Clicks is just that, the sound of a dusty record with lots of panned clicks 'n' cuts. It sounds like a fireplace getting its groove on while an ominous, pulsing bass runs around the house and tries to find a way in. It's difficult to make such sparse elements engrossing, but don't worry - a Czech DJ is, er, in the house. Heh.

If the Cold War ever returns to Europe, D33P should be the soundtrack for its newly employed spies as they don mackintoshes, smoke far too many high-tar cigarettes and rendezvous in bombed-out buildings. Bell-like tones haunt the crackly, delayed clicks that run in and out of a lo-fi drum break. The bass sounds as though DJ Side parked a diesel engine in the corner of his studio, threw a thick tarpaulin over it and left it to run while he got on with making music. The track takes its time and thus gets under your skin. It broods. It's deep ind33d.

In Klear you'll hear giant filter sweeps, background thumps and a low, pulsing bass. It's rather like listening to distant warfare while the United Nations deploy a blue-helmeted click 'n' cut groove to keep things almost civilised. Like the rest of Bittersweet Love, it won't grab you on the first listen, but it's detail and rhythmical qualities might eventually win you over; it did me.

Metatron provides an optimistic-ish ending to our aural journey. A plain clap-and-kick beat overlays background noises and snatches of conversation before a muted guitar and lo-fi strings leaven the mix.

I'm not sure if there's much point listening to this fascinating EP on your/my standard crappy PC speakers because much of the intricate detail will be lost. It's definitely headphones territory; either that or play it late at night on a decent sound system. Your neighbours will love you. Trust me.

Perhaps someone will tell me where the album cover image comes from. Donning my deerstalker hat, I've deduced that it's from an Asian gangster film, and furthermore, my magnifying glass tells me that it might include the odd bout of fisticuffs or at least a sharply worded letter deploring misbehaviour in general.

DJ Side - Bittersweet Love EP (link to individual MP3s)

Surreal Madrid netlabel

DJ Side's website

DJ Side's MySpace

Speakers for Earmuffs

Stolen unashamedly from the comprehensive music production website KVR:

Q: "Please recommend an ambient album."

A: "Go for a walk."

Well, it made me laugh. But then, I don't have to go for a walk. I can sit here and get fat and happy because I've already got today's CTW recommendation, he said smugly. I'm new to ambient but I understand it eschews traditional rhythm sections and most melodic elements, preferring to concentrate on disparate and ethereal sounds to form a pleasing, almost hypnotic, whole. (Not a bad analysis, eh? This is all free, you know.)

CTW usually features albums that have been online for an ice age or two, but today's choice, Urlaub auf Balkonien by krill.minima, was released in October on the sainted Thinner netlabel. I'm in danger of getting trendy, but I don't care; this album is so good that it's usurped my vetting procedure like James Bond getting past Customs.

What to expect: white noise, scratches, clicks and pops, echoes, delays, sepulchral reverberation, the most gorgeous otherworldly pads and synths, and an occasional oh-so-cool-if-only-they'd-play-a-proper-blues-phrase-but-actually-this-is-ok electric piano waving hallo. The stunning Strandpalast is like hearing a pebbly beach express itself through music (trust me), and the tempo of the eerie Projektor deviates just enough to unsettle the listener, but if you're wondering whether Urlaub auf Balkonien is your cup of mint julep, try these:

CTW's recommended tracks:

Sommerdellen, a Satie-like conversation between two (sometimes three) notes that will resonate right between your eyes.

Leichtes Glimmen, a track that sounds vaguely industrial until overtaken by a wash of lullaby synths and endless echoes. It's currently my favourite track on the album.

This album is sneaky; before you know it, you've stopped what you're doing and you're swaying in time like a rabbit hypnotised by a snake. The soundscape is so intimate I keep debating whether to strap my computer's speakers to my head. I am normal. Sort of.

Broadband users:  krill.minima - Urlaub auf Balkonien (zipped album)

56K dial-up people: Individual mp3s