Catching The Waves

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.

Knowing Your Audience

Phlow, Germany's greatest national treasure after Holbein, Dürer, Beethoven, Beckenbauer, lager, speaking better English than the English, terrible perms, adopting The Hoff, and BDSM - there's a career arc for you - is worse than superglue. I picked up this album from them months ago and I can't shake it loose.

Julia Kotowski AKA Entertainment For The Braindead comes from Cologne, and made the ten tracks for Hydrophobia in her parents' living room with little more than a guitar, a flute, a USB mic, percussion made from household implements and a light, airy voice that makes me go a bit misty. Her recording situation accounts for the album's light background hiss, which actually sounds reassuringly analogue and vinyl-like. She deserves applause just for making music under such circumstances, never mind producing such a winning album, which she describes as "songs about drowning".

As the readership of CTW (how big? Think Chinese TV statistics) know, sometimes I recommend a track to help you decide whether an album is your cup of tea. Have a listen to this...

Entertainment for The Braindead - Run!

...and if you like it, feel happy - there's another nine tracks of it.

Hydrophobia's sound is sparse - most of these folk/pop songs rest on a bed of guitar picking and fluttering flute, leaving the bulk of the work to a winsome voice that is judiciously chorused to lend emphasis when a song needs it. Ms. Kotowski sings close to the microphone so we can chew over her lyrics, like these from Resolutions:

Cast the yellowed postcards away

Leave the house at least once a day

Don't let the monsters lead you astray.

Other highlights include Colours (dreamy vocals), Mi Corazón (featuring *gasp* synths and a drum track), What You Get (an I-told-you-so-you-idiot ditty about infidelity) and the title track, Hydrophobia, which sounds like...a sea-shanty. Other instrumentation used in these gentle songs: ukelele, jars, cans, peppermill and Edgar Allan Poe. What else would you expect from an innovative student at Cologne's Academy of Media Arts? Perhaps Germany has a new treasure to add to its collection. File under "Eftb".

This is a simultaneous release by aaahh records (where you are most welcome to buy the CD or make a donation towards this excellent Creative Commons release) and Aerotone netlabel, whose byline is: "We are a netlabel and we love melancholic music." Bless. (EDIT: Bless Aerotone even more - they've now taken a sabbatical. *sigh*)

Entertainment For The Braindead - Hydrophobia (individual files & zipped album at aaahh Records)

Entertainment For The Braindead - Hydrophobia (EDIT: Aerotone netlabel is now defunct.)

Entertainment For The Braindead - Hydrophobia (ditto at archive.org)

entertainmentforthebraindead.com (where you'll find another album, Hypersomnia. Yay!)

Strings That Go Bump In The Night

   

Goths, emos: walk away now. You're lovely people but I don't want you to be subjected to this slab of emotion when you're clearly in a vulnerable state. Go and read some Neil Gaiman, play World of Warcraft and get a good night's sleep - only then, when you're in a happy place, should you listen to this non-Gothic EP of folky electronica.

Long story short: I really wasn't in the mood for anaemic music that doddered about like a drunken geriatric, and banished Canciones del Futuro to a dark and distant corner of my hard drive only because I couldn't be bothered to delete it. One day, my cantankerous media player popped it in a playlist and told me that (this may not come as a shock to you) I'm an idiot. This three-track EP by Ghosts and Strings, released by Resting Bell, reminds me why the netlabel scene is so exciting. Some of the sounds you'll hear: guitars, Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer (yeah, me too), broken autoharp, drums, cello, flutes, field recordings, found objects and children's toys.

The man responsible for this mélange*, David Molina, aka Ghosts and Strings aka Los Veneremos, is not only a composer/musician; he's also a sound designer and recording engineer, which means that his epic, cinematic, ridiculously intimate songs float on a warm, soft bed of reverberating goodness.

Wondering why I disliked this at first? The musical contents of the first track, Heights, include a stately bass drum, a lo-fi lunatic whispering a glitchy, martial tune in your left ear, and a wobbly flute.

*cups ear*

Is that sympathy I'm hearing? Why, Internet, you're too kind. But don't worry, Heights is a grower - there's an atmospheric synth accompaniment, a few noises off, and a whispering vocal that says: "I can change. I can do this. I can change." It feels like telepathy.

Up next is Searching, which starts with chimes and clangs (probably that broken auto harp and dulcimer thingy), then drops a low mechanical bass groove and lets loose a snare that sounds like a vase smashing on the floor. If that's not enough, the emo vocal and guitar and bass accompaniment will have you floating away in no time.

Exotic birdsong opens Judgement Day, is met by a lovely guitar refrain and then, magically, joins in with the rhythm. His voice is not the strongest, but Mr Molina compensates by panning, chorusing, eq-ing and reverberating it until your ears accept it as just another instrument, although it's one which delivers such a paean of regret that it will leave fans of sci-fi, castles and black roses with mascara running down their pasty faces. I did warn you.

Canciones del Futuro is an innovative, beautifully weighted EP that gave me one of those wonderful "I am now the centre of global cool" listening moments. I hope you experience it too.

Ghosts and Strings - Canciones del Futuro (link to zipped album & individual files)

Ghosts and Strings on MySpace

Resting Bell netlabel will press a damp flannel to your clammy forehead and spoonfeed you with some of the most beautiful, meditative and inspiring free music on the net.

*this word is delivered free of charge

Woodward Ho!

 

Let me explain that title: Josh Woodward is worth listening to; Westward Ho! is one of the very few places in the world that includes an exclamation mark in its name; and Catching The Waves is the type of website that can't resist a dreadful pun. Plus I wanted to reassure you that, in this context, the word "ho" has nothing to do with ladies of the night.

I must thank the fantabulous Free Albums Galore for pointing me to Josh Woodward's music. Not that I took any notice. "Maybe later," I thought, ignoring FAG's sage advice. It took a song on netBloc Vol.12 to get me scurrying for more of the same; Shadows in the Moonlight will have you singing along to it or I'm a monkey's uncle. I'd love to hear this arranged by Benjamin Britten and added to his gorgeous A Ceremony of Carols. Maybe one day. When science can revive his corpse.

So, my one track recommendation for today is (ta-dah!): Josh Woodward - Shadows in the Moonlight

There are three sides to Woodward's music: folky, poppy and rocky. There are also three sides to his lyrics: jokey, bitter-sweet and just plain bitter, you sons of bitches. Here's an example of the latter type of lyric from the opening of I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful:

My dear, I'll give you sixty seconds to disappear
And if you don't get out of here... who knows?
Cuz I've been trying to find out if an angel bends or breaks
Or shatters like a stone

Chilling. Good stuff.

Visit his website and you will find 145 free songs. That probably sounds unpalatable. OK, try this: of the seven albums of goodness that you can download for free, please start by downloading the excellent Dirty Wings; if you like that, grab Josh's latest release, The Simple Stuff (Parts 1 & 2). Looking at his website, it seems to me that he has done everything possible to exploit the Creative Commons movement, making it as easy as possible for everyone to hear his music. I quote:

Feel free to download, burn and copy my music for your friends. In fact, I insist that you do it. If I find out that you have slacked around and not burned copies for all of your friends, I'll sic Grover after you. And you do not want Grover after you, trust me on this one. If you want to buy a physical copy of my CDs, that's cool too. I want them to be affordable for anyone who wants one, so I'm selling them on a name-your-own-price basis from my online store.

I think he deserves to see some bullion, not out of sympathy for his undoubtedly worthy efforts, but because his music is highly enjoyable. Although his rock and folk doesn't break any new ground, he is undoubtedly a fine songwriter. Josh has also provided lo-fi previews, lyrics, musical notes, videos for many of the tracks and even instrumental versions of his songs, ripe for remixing. You might think "overkill" but you might also find yourself stealing back to the website in the dead of night for just one more hit of the good stuff. You've become a Woodward Ho.

SORRY, sorry. Bad taste, I know. Why is it that I'll say things on the net that I'd never say in real life? It's probably because no laptop has ever punched me. I'm sure Microsoft are working on it.

Josh Woodward - Dirty Wings (link to zipped album and individual files)

Josh Woodward - The Simple Stuff (Part 1) & (Part 2) (link to, etc.)

Josh Woodward

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

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)

"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

A Razor Blade in the Ice Cream

As this is my first post in the brave new world of broadband, CTW has pulled out all the stops to bring you the very latest, most up-to-date, cutting edge release available on the internet today.

Yeah, right.

Here's something that was released into the wild in 1999 on Comfort Stand netlabel, which in internet years makes Soda Fountain by Twizzle older than the Big Bang. If you like free internet music then you've probably heard this charming four-track EP before, but I'm new to it and this is my blog so yah-boo sucks to you. If one person discovers and likes Soda Fountain after this then my work here is done.

*sticks hands on hips, Superman fashion*

Your first sip from the fountain will be a mouthful of Falling, an ethereal trip-hop tune whose haunting vocal is enhanced by studio trickery. Next up is a visit to Black Elk Mountain for an apparently innocent jaunt through David Lynch country where oscillating guitar chords bump into swooping strings, low chuckles and a vocal that does that stretched-vocal thing that worked so well in Fatboy Slim's Praise You.

This Is No Chanson could be sued by Magritte fans; it may not be a pipe but it's certainly a song. It's another sickly-sweet confection with a taste of sitar, a hint of clarinet and a topping of dreamy vocal. Having come to the end of the EP, Twizzle invites us to rest easy at a speakeasy for a late-night drop of bluegrass/jazz with accompanying bass and honky-tonk piano; Barefoot Girl/Pebble Road is a care-free love song that might be hiding a black heart behind the blood-red lipstick. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you:

"He's as sweet as lemonade drunken through a straw. I'm his little barefoot girl and we are joined by law."

Four things to note: the production is impeccable, the song-writing is accomplished and the vocals are enchanting in a squirm-in-your-seat fashion. That's three. The fourth thing to remember is that this is a Little Red Riding Hood of an album - there's something dark and disturbing going on here. Oh yes, CTW notices these things.

*taps nose*

Naughty Twizzle.

Twizzle - Soda Fountain (zipped album)

Twizzle - Soda Fountain (link to individual mp3's)

If you're hungry for more of this excellent two-piece band duo, visit the Twizzle website where, as luck would have it, they have a new album that you might like to buy. (Who says CTW isn't at the cutting edge?) Here's hoping the release-free-music-and-hope-to-build-a-fanbase method of sustaining a career works for them. Soda Fountain is very persuasive.

Scientific Progress Goes Boink...and Beep...and Twang

(The unpredictable sizes of these album covers are all part of CTW's charm, he said weakly.)

Rock/pop has always had trouble mixing new sounds with old. When Dylan went electric, when synths usurped guitars, and dance usurped melody ;-) it was an either/or situation for quite a while. These things take time to bed in. The combination of acoustic and electronica might be the latest of these combinations. Bear with me. I'm new to all this. :-) Anyway, Rob Hunter, from Bristol in England, has taken sub-Mario Bros sounds and spliced them with sampled acoustic guitars and pianos on his eponymous EP from 12rec.net, and I'm glad he did so.

Here are sounds that are crude but endearing, used in snatches of pop that verge into "chiptune" territory. Add acoustic instruments and a lo-fi approach and you're on to a winner.

The first track, Spectrum, starts with bursts of static and develops into something that might have been produced by, well, a ZX Spectrum. This is as lo-fi as computer music gets - cheesy synths and cardboardy percussion. It's excellent. Just when you've had enough of lo-fi, along comes Waiting, which sounds like a folk song that's been chopped up by someone who wanted to dance. First Day Back starts off with a somnolent, almost shambolic piano introduction before the squeak of fingers on guitar frets announce a spliced guitar hook accompanied by distorted crunchy drums. The rather delicate vocals in Spill become another instrument alongside the stuttering guitar.

There's a lot to relish: the contrast of classic computer sounds with acoustic guitar and piano; subtle sampling and chopping of the "real" instruments; and an ear for the melodic. Best of all, the EP isn't an assembly of loops (a fault of much electronica) but a collection of songs and compositions. Each track is whistleable; this, surely, is scientific progress.

Rob Hunter's EP showcases another approach to music: it doesn't have to be either/or. If you like folk, electronica, lo-fi, or just plain music, have a listen.

Complete Album: Rob Hunter EP (zipped) 47MB

Individual mp3s available from here at archive.org.

Album website: Rob Hunter EP on 12rec.net