Catching The Waves

Street Busking

We weturn to the wonderful, wassailing world of Josh Woodward to weveal that he has a bwand new album, Bweadcwumbs Breadcrumbs, for you. (This is a cause for celebration, as I hope my previous review of his work will make clear.) The convention at such moments is to recommend the new album in the hope that you will download it, unwrap it, fall in love with it and then explore the artist's back catalogue. However, being a perverse sort of blog, CTW has decided to buck the trend and recommend an older album by Josh in the hope that you'll enjoy it, etc., etc., and then explore his new album. Contrary to my usual behaviour, I do have two good reasons for this apparently deviant thought process.

Firstly, Josh has just changed the Creative Commons licensing on all his music to Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, meaning that anyone can use his music for any purpose as long he is attributed. As he says:

"You're welcome to use my music, free of charge for your projects. This includes movies, ads, podcasts, YouTube videos, karaoke, background music for your grandma's 90th birthday celebration, anything. There's no problem using them for commercial purposes. You can use them as is - instrumental or regular, or you can hack them apart to use in your songs or projects.

What's the catch? Just one: you need to provide attribution. A simple mention of my name and the song title in the credits, with a bonus if you give my website URL. If for some reason this isn't practical, it's possible to arrange a paid license for my music through Jamendo."

Such largesse means that the Woodward back catalogue is now accessible to all and sundry to do with what they will. I hope this generous decision provides Josh with the oxygen of publicity and the H₂O of cash.

Secondly, Josh has remixed his 2005 album Crawford Street, something that pleases me greatly because such a superb collection of songs deserved a livelier recording. Before I wibble on about how Crawford Street is an avenue of delights, try this for size - it's suitable for anyone who finds zoos to be depressing places:

Josh Woodward - Twelve Monkeys

That's the thing about Woodward; not only does he write memorable melodies, he pens lyrics that stay with you. Here's some of the topics you'll come across in this collection: small and big-town prejudices (Can't Take Our Love Away); first loves and living/losing the American Dream (Thanks For Coming); an actor hates the violent B-movie he's making (Shower Scene); overhearing a "domestic" next door and falling in love with the battered woman (Hey Ruth) and religious fundamentalism (The Spirit World). All that may sound worthy and dull, but the winning lyrics, sparkling guitar work and butter-smooth vocals ensure that you'll soon be swaying with pleasure, like a cobra facing a snake charmer. Personally, I think Thanks For Coming should come with a free chaise longue and a bottle of Anjou/Thunderbird/Buckfast Cider.

A quick confession: in recommending free CC albums, I try to avoid over-egging the pudding. Just because a record is free, it doesn't follow that it's any good; I prefer to let the music speak for itself. Either you'll like it or you won't.

*takes anti-hyperbole pill, fails to wait two paragraphs before operating heavy machinery*

But I think Crawford Street (and other albums like the previously reviewed Dirty Wings and The Simple Life) place Josh Woodward firmly in a long line of modern American troubadours that include Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Leonard Cohen. His music should be better known.

Another name to drop: Bruce Springsteen. If The Boss had written Big Disco Ball, a sentimental and romantic encounter amongst urban decay, he'd be blinded by his audience's lighters/camera-phones. Find somewhere quiet and let this steal a few minutes of your life:

Josh Woodward - Big Disco Ball

*still waiting for pill to work*

Visit Woodward HQ and you'll find Crawford Street's songs and lyrics, seven other albums, photos, videos and a polite request for donations and sales. If the sounds find favour with you, please think about rewarding J. Woodward Esq. for his endeavours or at least send him an email with the subject line, "I thought you were a dirty, good-for-nothing hippie but now I've put your name on my organ donor card as a recipient". Or similar. Go on, you can do it.

*pill kicks in*

I'm not sure about the Autotuned vocals and eurotrash synths on Waiting Takes Time, the last track on CS. Hey, even Homer nods...off in front of the TV. Ah, a classical allusion and modern satire in one sentence. Anyone got an anti-ego pill? Edit: someone not unadjacent to JW says that Waiting Takes Time is a parody of Cher's infamous Believe. D'oh!

Before I forget, here's the cover of Breadcrumbs because I'm not stingy and because some of you need visual prompts. ;)

Josh Woodward website, Crawford Street and Breadcrumbs

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Sorry about the small album cover. Come on, you've missed my traditional difficulties with graphics, haven't you? At least there are waves.

Paper Navy is a four-piece band from near Nashville, Tennessee, that draws its inspiration from be brave, you can do this Country & Western and American pop from the 70s. I think they've drawn their instrumentation from the past, too, because there's not a whiff of a synth, digital effect or anything with a microchip in it. Doctor Who could smuggle All Grown Up into a Nashville record shop circa 1972 and no-one would be any the wiser.

Pleasingly for those of us with OCD, today's recommended track, Swan Song, adheres to its title and is the last track on All Grown Up. It's a charming, foot-tapping folk song with a surprisingly bleak attitude and a jaunty whistled riff that will rest awhile in your cortex before continuing its search for a spaghetti western it can call home. (Somewhere, Sergio Leone is gnashing his teeth in frustration.) Have a listen via the first appearance at CTW of Bandcamp's media player:

(Apologies to feed readers: Google Reader hates me. Please visit the link at the end of the review or visit CTW and get grimy.) Apart from being unable to resist whistling that riff for the rest of the week, you'll notice from the lyrics that there's none of that twee "my jiggling dashboard Jesus will guide me through the roadworks of life" C&W nonsense. (Please note, anonymous angry internet person, that CTW respects all creeds from devout to aetheistic. I'm so fluffy.) Instead, All Grown Up takes an existentialist but pragmatic view of life. For instance, I Can't Read essays the following thought: Do we persist out of fear/The afterlife ever near/I'd be remiss were I not a critic/So God save the cynic.

The title song is a lament for childhood by someone who isn't too keen on adulthood. It's child-like guitars, rocking singalong chorus and Beatles-ish backing vocals will soon have you singing All Grown Up at work, shortly before you curl up in a foetal position and force the boss to call social services. But I regress digress.

If you're a fan of the album Homecoming by that quintessentially American folk-rock band of the 70s, America, then make a bee-line for Factories, where Shawn Anfinson's folky vocal harmonies about bitter-sweet love and longing should remind you strongly of that classic bit of, er, Americana.

Make Time is just about the simplest, most everyday love song I've ever heard. How's this for a lack of artifice: I'm not a superstar/but I can cut the grass and clean the car/And I'll make time for you/I love the woman I'm married to. That's either the apogee or the death of romance. Answers on a postcard, please.

To save this review turning into a boring list of song descriptions, allow me to be lazy inform you that  in All Grown Up, Paper Navy have produced an album that is more than the sum of its twangy Telecaster-laden parts; it's a beautifully produced set of hummable songs that display a questioning sensibility about modern life. Not all albums need the latest whiz-bang effects to make their point: music fans know that there'll always be a place for good melodies, harmonies and lyrics, pure and not so simple. Now, having avoided doing my job properly given this lovely album a thorough reviewing, it falls to CTW to encourage you to send some "thank you" emails to Paper Navy and ask Shawn how the band managed to record the tracks in his laundry room and yet still produce such a sparklingly pristine set of underpants songs.

I apologise for being so witty overdoing the strikethrough gag.

Paper Navy - All Grown Up (link to zipped album and individual songs in most formats)

Paper Navy website

Free Music Is A Stupid Idea

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

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

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

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

*cough*

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

Sean Fournier home page

A Face In The Crowd

        

   

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, my God, I put the world on stop

Somehow I gotta add to something

One time before the curtain drops

I'm all right, I'm all right

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

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

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

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

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

Sean Fournier home page

Jamendo

His Appearance Is Quite Disturbing

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

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

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

Jonathan Coulton – First of May

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

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

Jonathan Coulton – Skullcrusher Mountain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jonathan Coulton Primer Page (for JoCo newbies)

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

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

The guitar's only natural enemy

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

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

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

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

I daydreamed for hours in the traffic jam

As the good guys and the bad guys stopped play

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

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

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

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

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

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

*thinks*

Maybe it's all that cake.

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

modifythevan netlabel

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

Jitney Cheers

 

Colds love me. Manflu adores me. It was only a month ago that I had to don my night-cap and gown and retire to the four-poster with nothing but pints of Lemsip and my harem for company. Yesterday, Disease kindly donated a spare plague to me, and so I found myself yearning for something warm and comforting, like hot chocolate or a good rock album. Or my harem. Fortunately, Casey Meehan aka Jitney administered eleven doses of medicine via my (ultra-cool) mp3 player's headphones and made me feel less nauseous.

Before I bang on about this album (entitled 86-300 - the only duff note about the whole enterprise), please listen to the very short opening track, Fin, and tell me if it doesn't immediately give you that warm and toasty feeling that is exclusive to utterly reliable down-tempo folk-rock.

Jitney - Fin

Thought so. The grizzled rockers out there are already reaching for their bottle-openers and rocking chairs. Heh. Written, arranged and performed by Casey Meehan with occasional help from various musician friends, 86-300 is shot through with rock influences: in his more soulful moments, Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) would have loved to sing the chorus of Butterfly Knife; Tricky Be reminds me of the Fab Four and anyone from ELO to Supertramp; and Long Time Coming's opening comes straight out of The Doors before settling in to a Ray Davies/Kinks frame of mind. (Please note that I'm a blob of mucus at the moment, so I may be talking complete tosh. I'll probably come to in a few days and find that I've been listening to a harpsichord concerto.)

Love Draws Blood will draw listeners like a solid rock song should. Listen to Twilight a few times and you'll soon be irritating insomniacs everywhere by reminding them not to mistake the twilight for the dawn. (You can't beat homespun folk-rock wisdom.) Unfortunately, I can't get on with Get Lost Kid - the beat is so laid-back that it doesn't sound in the pocket. Laser Battle is one minute of synth/guitar-laden When The Levee Breaks-type drumming. Nice.

Casey's vocals (helped by a sensitive mix and mastering) are warm and rich - he keeps to a comfortable range and thus sounds more powerful than some tonsil rattlers I could mention. He's also fond of stapling electronica-ish fade-outs to some of the tracks, just to keep listeners on their toes. The album ends with Walk (dreamy guitar/flutes/winsome vocal) and Coda, which features just Casey and his acoustic guitar before eventually bursting into a feel-good rock song. Yay.

You want more? Ok, see if you can spot the ghost of Phil Lynott in the chorus of:

Jitney - Butterfly Knife

Casey Meehan & Co. recorded 86-300 for Rock Proper netlabel from Chicago/Illinois. I'd like to thank them for supplying a bowl of chicken soup for the ailing folk-rock fan. Jitney cheered me - I hope they do the same for you. Of course, you could always flirt with Rock Proper's "Donate" tab and thank them all properly...

Jitney - 86-300 (link to zipped album & individual files)

Casey Meehan on MySpace

Rock Proper netlabel

Woodward Wules The Wacetwack

Wegular weaders - sorry, regular readers of Catching The Waves will know of my fondness for the music of Josh Woodward. I reviewed his music a while back, discussed a song, I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful, recommended another, Shadows In The Moonlight, and gave another of his songs, Stickybee, the unmatchable honour of first dibs at the unveiling of this site's shiny new Yahoo Media Player. The more I've listened to Josh's work, the more I've come to value him as a songwriter and singer. How can I put this?

He. Is. Talented.

Was that last sentence of mine irritatingly pseudo-trendy and patronising? Look, it's the internet - the twin graveyard of grammar and good manners.

...anyway, Audiosurf is a rather good computer game that adapts music, the actual mp3 files of songs, to produce racetracks for people to race around and have fun on instead of doing some work and saving the global economy. The chart of "Most Played Songs" (click image to enlarge), taken at 1500 GMT today, shows that the most popular "racetrack" is I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful. Stickybee is at No.3. Methylchloroisothiazolinone, a hairy-chested rock song, is No.4. And there are a couple more of his songs in there too. (Even Jonathan Coulton sticks his oar in. I'm a fan of JoCo but I've been too lazy to write a review.)

Coldplay gaze up in awe from their lowly eleventh place. It's great to know that Josh is getting run over. Repeatedly. There's only one thing to do. Press the button and have a listen to one of his most beautiful efforts:

Josh Woodward - Gravity

Many congratulations to Josh - he's finally gathering some momentum thanks to his talent, hard work, and the decision to release his music under a Creative Commons licence so that people could hear his music for free.

See, folks? I knew he was good.

Either that or his music is only good for driving over.

Josh Woodward

Audiosurf (a clever, cheap, fun game that uses indie music. Hats off!)

Unscheduled Wormhole Activation

 

In which I apologise to my readers in this galaxy and others:

Internet and lifestyle problems have caused a temporary hiatus in CTW's stream of witty, prescient, and dazzlingly handsome reviews. This blog, the literary equivalent of a Bach cantata, should be back to "normal" in a week or two.

You'll just have to go cold turkey.

To help you while away the intervening hours as you crouch naked in a corner of a dank room, rocking gently to yourself and whispering, "Free music...catching the waves...creative commons...catching the waves...love-god...music of the spheres...catching the waves...":

...here's a "song" that will help you with intestinal cramps and in your everyday life. It's one minute and six seconds of irrefutable logic that will provide the last word in workplace disputes, pub quiz arguments and frank exchanges of views with your family and partners. Please send it to your boss, your sister, your friends, your lover, your colleagues, your sister, your utilities supplier, your internet company, your sister, or anyone who you know hasn't quite grasped the essential truth of a situation. Or you could send it to your sister.

Don't worry - it won't annoy them in the slightest. Not at all.

Supertalented - You're Wrong

Supertalented on MySpace

Birdsong netlabel (who specialise in lo-fi "home recorded" releases)

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.