The Indonesian cornucopia of music on netlabel Yes No Wave gets especially weird with this online album by a group of anarchic rockers called Zoo. The 25 minute EP titled Trilogi Peradaban, actually a trilogy of three shorter EP that come together in a download zip, is an unrelenting barrage of screaming and frenzied musicianship . I’m not sure of their point most the time but the brevity of most tracks makes this music not only tolerable but interesting. The two longer tracks, “Kelana” and “Eskalator” gives the band a chance to stretch out a little. I admit I have a soft spot for chaotic experiments like this, so give it a listen. It might help you break that apartment lease you have been trying to get rid of.

The album is available in 128kbps MP3. The very brief Kebun Binatang is also available from Yes No Wave.

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When the words “experiment” and “music” are used together I usually know what to expect. An experiment is just that, an attempt at something in which the actual results are not totally known. It may be interesting, even groundbreaking, or it may be a failure. Australian avant-garde violinist Jon Rose loves to experiment. His album Fringe Benefits is a two disc, 29 tracks collection of experiments from 1977 to 1988 ranging from brilliant to “WTF!”. Fortunately for the listener, very few of these tracks can be called boring.

The tracks tend to fall into not-so-well-defined areas. Many of them are played on prepared instruments such as a 19 stringed violin or complex installations involving violins and other apparatus. Others can be loosely called field recordings but are essentially duets with nature. A couple of the more interesting are “Cattle Train and Violin” or “Fly trapped in violin”. I was especially amused with “Chinese 1:4 violin with 50 feeding parrots”. Some tracks are more conventional, as if that word can be used regarding the eccentricities of this artist. One cut, “The Relative Band 1984″ involves Rose’s continuing collaboration with other like minded improvising musicians. The string trio might actually be considered a conventional composition at least by post-classical standards. Finally I enjoyed Rose’s rendition of Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady” reminding me of the tongue-in-cheek “America Drinks and Goes Home” by Frank Zappa. Rose shows some good jazz chops but Ray Nance and Stuff Smith need not be worried. Overall, this large collection will bewilder some and dismay others but hopefully some will be fascinated by the wide range of ideas that are explored in this avant-garde retrospective.

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The Justnotnormal netlabel has released what may be the best online collection of experimental music currently available. no-R-mal is a 4 CD collection of 52 tracks and over 5 hours of music representing some of the finest experimental music artists you will find. The vast majority of these tracks are previously unreleased.There are a number of musicians that I have heard and featured in the past including Mystified, D’Incise, and Phillip Wilkerson. However there are also plenty of new artists and amazing music to marvel upon. A sampling of previously unknown artists to me that I want to hear more from would include Bob Dickinson, Kendall Station, Gurdonark, and Controlled Dissonance . Most of the music is on the tonal but “dronal” side although there are a few that stretch the ambient limits like Nagual Arts’ “Niobe and The Sea” and Cousin Silas “Dreaming in Dunwich” which I suspect is a eerie salute to H. P. Lovecraft. Overall, this is a nice retrospective that will be essential listening to anyone into experimental music.

The album set equals 4 CDs of music and is available in 320kbps MP3.

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The first comparison I can make to the avant-garde ensemble Volcano The Bear would be to Henry Cow. This is not surprising since the current state of the art owes a big deal to Frank Zappa, of course but also to the less revered British maniacs known as Henry Cow. Having said that, Volcano The Bear, hailing from all parts of the United Kingdom, goes their own unique way in presenting the bizarre and non-commercial. Originally formed in 1996, the group has released an impressive series of albums with a few of them now freely and legally available from The Free Music Archive.

The most known album is Classic Erasmus Fusion. Released in 2006, it gained quite a few critical raves from the critics. The first thing one notices on the title track is that they used a number of odd instruments to make their statements. If you are looking for a group with the usual guitar, bass, drum setup, look elsewhere. However the strange guitar and vocal on “Did You ever feel like Jesus” is eerie but a little more down to earth. Most of the “avant-rock” tracks on this fascinating album is way more avant than rock. Yet Volcano The Bear rarely bores the listener. This is one of those groups of artists that give you a what-are-they-going-to-do-next feeling. That is one of my favorite feeling in the music experience. Also worth the bewildered feeling is “Russian Milk” and “The Last Song of Norway”, a oddly beautiful ending to a fine album.

Paris 2nd December 2007 is a live recording. Divided in two tracks, it exhibits the band’s odd ways on stage. While it is easy to call Volcano the Bear a improvisatory band, this live concert clearly shows that it is actually a highly structured affair that could be called performance art. It is an excellent album but I suspect there are visual aspect that are lost in the audio documentation of a live performance.

The Idea of Wood starts like some kind of tribal processional. The sound is quite shamanistic at times. “Curly Robot begins somewhat impressionistic then goes of into a Joan La Barbara / Meredith Monk sort of thing. The five track album is surprisingly calm and meditative considering all the experimentation that is going on.

The Volfurten EP is only three songs and 15 minutes long but it might be a good introduction to the band. The first track is droneful yet little swirling dervish surprises await throughout the track. In the same style are the other two tracks, “Chariots of Fur” and “The Woman Who Waited For The Woman Who Weighs The Fur”. Don’t try to figure out the titles, just enjoy.

All these album are available for the Free Music Archive in 160kbps MP3. There are a few briefer albums also available. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Classic Erasmus Fusion
Paris 2nd December 2007
The Idea of Wood
Volfurten

Un Reve Nu is a new netlabel that specializes in experimental improvisational music. Their first album titled Running Away features eight tracks by Ivory Coast bassist Guillaume Viltard. These are solo efforts on the upright bass but there does appear to be some electronic effects on a few tracks. However the main attraction is Viltard’s clear virtuosity in getting a wide range of emotion and sounds from this sometimes unwieldy instrument. Another interesting musical experiment that you will never hear from the commercial music concerns.

Running Away is available in 160kbps MP3. If you like the music support the artist and netlabel by buying the limited edition CD.

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Sandro Marinoni’s Ten Little Songs from The Clinical Archive netlabel reminds me of Faberge eggs; small, mundane (eggs?..I mean…really!), but full of exquisite details and flourish. The ten tracks are short, none being over 3 minutes, yet are tiny gems of sounds. Some are repetitive, others are simple, and some do manage to soar like a song. Marinoni plays all the instruments with the exception of the Coltranish “Dark Solo” in which he is joined by pianist Andrey Kutov and were recorded between 2006 and 2009. I especially like his playing of the tenor sax on “Dark Solo” and “Requiem” yet he is more than competent on trombone (”Head Bone”) and flute (”Frame”). This album is a quiet but delectable treat.

Ten Little Songs is available in 320kbps MP3.

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The lute is not exactly the first instrument I think of when someone says “avant-garde” or “contemporary music”. Yet Jozef Van Wissem uses his lute virtuosity to create exactly that. His compositions are clearly minimalist with the use of musical palindromes or mirror structures rather than precise compositional forms. Hearing a Jozef van Wissem compositions is a hypnotic trip down a rabbit hole. I think it is safe to say that most people have never heard the Renaissance minded lute in such a modern yet beautiful way.

A Priori is freely available through Ubuweb and is an excellent introduction to the the composer and lute virtuoso’s odd and quiet world. Very accessible yet very meditative, these tracks lulls you into a calm. Yet this is not casual listening but the kind that pulls you into the structure and gives rewards with every listen. While Van Wissem does work with electronics on some albums this is a pure acoustic effort and, in my opinion, the best way to experience his music.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying his CDs.

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Jason Mullinax aka Pilesar is a talented manipulator of loops and sounds and anything electronic or percussive. On Nine Strings+ Pilesar, he is joined by bassists Daniel Barbiero (How does one play a pizza?) and Gary Rouzer on NS bass cello and found objects. The duo is also known by the name Nine Strings, hence the title. The results is a quietly tense collection of eight tracks that can be categorized post-classical or avant garde. They are also very meditative tracks as the two bassists supply the droneful lines in a live session which are deftly manipulated by Pilesar creating a beautifully eerie soundscape. This is one of those albums best played alone and in a quiet room.

The album is available in 256kbps MP3.

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Quiet Orchestra is a Los Angeles collective of local musicians. The twenty-plus musicians come from all genres of music including rock, jazz and world. The music tends to be improvisational yet strangely cerebral. While the ensemble has some very innovative artists in its ranks, its best known member is guitarist Nels Cline. There is an hour and a half of challenging and beautiful music on this self-titled on-line collection with three of the tracks being over twenty minutes. There are also brief solo excursions by several of the members including Nels Cline, keyboardist Aaron Arntz, bass player Gabe Noel, drummer Barbara Gruska, and tabla player Zach Harmon. Odd but angelic music from The City of Angels.

You can get the album in an album zip from the orchestra’s web site or in separate tracks at FWMU’s Free Music Archive

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Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Aus den Sieben Tagen is a large composition of fifteen pieces. Rarely played, it asks the performers to improvise under rigid written direction from the composer. Supposedly the direction for the last section reads “Play, you do not need me anymore, everything you will do from now on will be right and good.” It is music that Stockhausen described as being from the performer’s intuition rather than his intellect. Certainly, it is an unusual piece even from a seminal 20th century composer who remained ahead of his time.

Le Car de Thon is a large contemporary music ensemble from Switzerland and is exactly the type of artists that would take on a monumental work like this. They have been playing and recording the fifteen pieces for quite a while and collected their four favorite performances, mostly from a concert in 2008, on this free and legal album Nos Meillurs Stockhausen from the Insubordination netlabel. I listened to this album from beginning to end in one sitting and to say it is mind altering is an understatement. It is truly a masterpiece of contemporary music and my only regret is that the do not have the other eleven pieces of music from this work to listen to. This is one of the best online albums of contemporary music on the internet.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3.

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Iranian-American composer and instrumentalist Dariush Dolat-shahi is adept at both contemporary electronic music and traditional Persian music. He is also a master at the tar and setar, which are Persian stringed instruments related to the lute. His five compositions on the album Electronic Music, Tar and Setar, released in 1985 and now offered as a free download from Ubuweb, is a fascinating amalgamation of both the contemporary and the traditional. The pieces are surprisingly percussive and somewhat minimalist yet has a strong folk influence that will appeal to many. I especially recommend a listen to “Sama” which I think brings the contemporary and traditional together in a most appealing way. Those interested in the setar can hear an exceptional performance of the instrument on “Shabistan”. This is an interesting album that will appeal to those who wish to widen their listening experience.

Another album titled Otashgah is available. It was released in 1986 and is a more modern work with little sign of the traditional. It appears by my ears to be written for an ensemble that include some acoustic instruments but is primarily electronic. It is an atmospheric piece that easily keeps your interest for its 35 minutes. Both albums offer a look at the two sides of an unique instrumentalist and composer deserving of more attention.

Both albums are available in 192kbps MP3.

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Joxfield ProjeX’s sound constructions may be avant-garde yet they have an accessible appeal for those who are not necessarily familiar with the more “out-there” performances of experimental music. Sound artists Oax and Xan have an involving style of music-making. These are complex compositions that ropes in the listeners. Clinical Archives currently have three very good albums by these interesting musicians.

Bits and Pieces #1-13 are short vignettes. While existing independently from each other, their sum make up a coherent suite of sounds. Aside from the various electronic manipulation, the duo uses samplings of spoken word by Guillaume Apollinaire, Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, James Joyce, Allen Ginsberg, William S Burroughs & Ezra Pound.

Picnic is based on a single drone work created in 2007. However the artists added samples, rhythms, and various effect to develop this set of seven “variations”. Again, we have an experimental work that is interesting, a bit challenging yet entertaining.

The newest album, Virtual Dreams and Realities, consists of two extended compositions. The title work is a sampler’s paradise mixing everything from bird sounds to sneezes. “New August Sense Of Ease And Pain” is off-the-mainstream electronic dance. These two tracks amuses and entertain. This is the Joxfield ProjeX album I would recommend the novice listener to this style of music to start with.

All three album are available in 320kbps MP3.

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Picnic
Bits and Pieces #1-13
Virtual Dreams & Realities

The demise of Autoplate is a huge loss to the netlabel world. For seven years Autoplate has specialized in experimental electronic music introducing listeners to innovative artists like K. M. Krebs, Gultskra Artikler and Emil Klotsch. However, you can still find the Autoplate releases by going to this archive page on its parent label Thinner’ web site.

Phlow Magazine has put together this 18 track compilation of the best of Autoplate. Sebastian Redenz has carefully chosen these tracks to give an excellent representation of the variety of sounds this net label has placed into the public ears. Much of it, like the tracks by Taavi Tulev, Arrial or Affective Disorder, is surprisingly melodic despite their unusual sounds. Other offerings, such as the ones by Kenneth Kirschner or Gultskra Artikler, have strong post-classical leanings borrowing from the traditions of Stockhausen and Cage. Hans Appelqvist’s odd vocalized ballad mixes a blend of orientalism and electronic experimentation, making this my favorite single discovery on the collection. Tlon and Emil Klotsch turns field recordings into exciting ambient experiences. The choice of music on this anthology is quite excellent and is the perfect introduction to this already missed netlabel. Listen to it, find your favorites and then explore the Autoplate albums. There won’t be any more!

The collection is available from The Phlow Magazine web site In 192kbps MP3.

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I can’t think of another solo cello album, so that makes Vladislav Makorov’s Multiplying - Multicello fairly unique. The main instrument is an electric cello yet it is enhanced by overdubs and preparation of the instrument using objects like bamboo and combs, reminiscent of John Cage’s prepared piano. Makarov also tends to play the instrument like a guitar which causes the end result to be like a lower octave Derek Bailey. This is an album of surprises. Makorov makes an array of sounds that often seems to outrace his imagination. Some will be bewildered by the cascades of sound but I find it utterly fascinating.

The album is available from The Clincal Archives records in 320kbps Mp3.

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This self titled one track EP by In Zaire is nothing less than sonic overload. Musicians G.I. Joe and Claudio Roditti man this live recording, a grindcore assault of overbearing guitar, drum, tribal chants and noise. It reminds me of the equally loud and abrasive efforts of the John Zorn & Bill Laswell fronted Painkiller. The 18 minutes track can really get under your skin if you allow it to. My guess is that this album will result in one of three things. An appreciation of the creative interaction of these two musicians, a seriously altered state of mind or one hell of a headache. Your pick.

In Zaire is available from the Vuoto netlabel in 256kbps MP3.

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Simply put, Tao is a concept of the fundamental nature of the world, a world that is constantly fluid, continuing and changing rather than the static definition of a never changing reality. The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu is the best literary depiction of the concept and remains one of the most significant spiritual works of all times. The tecnoNucleo net label has put together a 28 track and almost 3 hours long collection of musical interpretions of this seminal work. The tracks include a wide range of experimental electronic artists who uses various means including field recordings, sampling, electronic drones and more to complete their interpretations. Like the concept itself, there is no absolute and finite meaning to these works. The meaning is in the sound, creating an intuitive feeling and holistic environment rather than any intellectual definition. And in this way this anthology succeeds. This is a album that is meant to be felt rather than understood and in that sense, it becomes a highly spiritual experience.

This online anthology is available in Flac, Ogg Vorbic and MP3 formats.

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Pianist and composer Gianni Lenoci plays and conducts on this 28 minutes long album of structured improvisation titled Ephemeral #2. The composer write short fragments of music which are used as the beginning of an improvisation by the musicians in this large ensemble. The piece develops through the mutual “structuring” and interaction of the artists. The most interesting part of this piece happens in the first ten minutes which isprimarily Lenoci on piano. He has a Cecil Taylor influenced style that is complex and turbulent but quite fascinating. The ensemble doesn’t really get involved until the next two-thirds of this work when it becomes a complex example of structured chaos. It might be too chaotic for the average listener but those who like challenging music and have some knowledge of free improvisation will find this album to be a worthy addition to their collection.

The album is available from the Insubordination net label in 256kbps MP3.

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The best compliment I can paid H Stewart is that she has a very personal and unique sound. Her four albums sound as if they are coming from the innermost depths of her soul. While she manipulates liberally with electronic affects, her main instrument is her voice and it is haunting and intimate. Her music reminds me strongly of Gregorian chants, Buddhist meditation music and Aboriginal drones so I can be forgiven if I also interpret her music as being created in the spiritual realm.

The four albums are free and online from the Clinical Archive net label. Her descriptions of these albums strengthen my perspective that they are quite personal and searching. Lost is described as “a collection of love songs written in a time when love was lost, and ideals were shattered”. Fevered and Childless “is meant to be a sculpture of a woman, left longing, loving, and living”. De La Souffrance (My Suffering) “talks of wants, dreams and emotion”. To Touch The Taste of Sound “serves as an audio “play” the script writer being my own voice. It is meant to have livid femininity, longing, and actualization of emotion”. The artist’s description may lead you to believe that these soundscapes are depressing and a bit self-involved but this isn’t the case at all. The music holds up well on its own and is hypnotic and irresistible in a trance-like way. It is personal but not self indulgent. The four album works best as peaceful solitary listening and will probably move you as it did me.

All four albums are available in 320kbps MP3. Some of the other albums can also be downloaded in Ogg Vorbis.

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Lost
Fevered and Childless
De La Souffrance
To Touch The Taste of Sound

Normally I like to write my own review but WM Recording’s description of Wal*Mart Approved Music is too entertaining to miss, Here it is in its entirety…

“The Hathaway Family Plot is a musician from Buffalo, New York, whose mission is to make music with whatever is at hand. The Hathaway Family Plot struggles, however futilely, against late-industrial capitalism, consumer culture, and music-as-commodity.

Inspired by the increasing practice of musicians sponsored by corporations, these 16 tunes are The Hathaway Family Plot’s latest attempt to make music that is the anti-commodity: sloppy, unmarketable, and sometimes flagrantly difficult to listen to.

The Hathaway Family Plot encourages people to burn an extra CD, complete with color artwork, smuggle it into your local Wal*Mart, and leave it somewhere inside with the attached note:

Congratulations! You have located a free copy of Wal*Mart-Approved Music by The Hathaway Family Plot. It was left here by a friend, Wal*Mart does not own it, so it is not shoplifting for you to carry it out, free of charge.”

…You gotta like their nerve! As for the my opinion of this music, it is bizarre and entertaining in the style of The Residents. It should also be mentioned that this is not music for children.

The album is available from WM Recordings in 192kbps MP3.

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Usually the term “sound sculpture” applies to a construct or simply a planned organization of sound that exists as art rather then music. The sound is the structure or the structure is the sound. This 1985 double LP release originally from Wergo records and long out of print, throws us a curve. The 10 tracks on Sound Sculptures refer to music that is actually played on sculpture or, in some cases, musical constructions that also exist as free-standing art. Not surprisingly, like on the opening “Metalaphonie” by Seigfreid Fink, the music is quite percussive resembling contemporary classical pieces of Stockhausen, Boulez, or Varese. Hans-Karsten Raecke’s “Das Mecklenburger Pferd” is somewhat jazzy. A few are not percussive at all, often concentrating on drones or chant-like sounds such as on Wolfgang Roscher’s “phonetische Etude” or repetitive tones as on Peter Vogel’s “Klienes Funstimmiges Minimal Music”. All of the tracks are above average for the post-modern / avant garde art of the time. It is a very interesting listen from the first track on and also a fascinating historical artifact.

Sound Sculptures is available from Ubuweb in 160kbps MP3.

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Here’s is Zack Kouns’ description of his album A Catalogue of Erica’s Misfortunes…

“…examines in brief a fragile and lost human organism. The first track finds our young heroine speaking with her father, exhibiting early mental disorder and predilection to tragedy, hallucinating and choking with fear. The second track finds her many years later, a bystander happening upon her in a Public Restroom raped and left for dead. This horror encourages the bystander to muse about the abject misery of the often apparently random and brutally violent interactions between human beings. The third track concludes nothing, the subtle terror allowing the listener to draw upon their own reflections concerning the seeming brutality of God’s Holy Grace.”

Needless to say, this is an immensely disturbing album and is not for everyone. The three tracks are primarily instrumental with a few voices used to accent the emotional content rather than to carry on any narrative. However you feel about this album and its subject matter, there is no denying it is a moving if somewhat terrorizing experience. The first track starts out innocently enough with a Eastern drone and fragments of a melody. But the tension builds to a disquieting level and beyond. The second and third track adds to the discomfort and eventually descends in the nightmarish. While the composer’s above plot lines are helpful, I’m not sure the album needs it. With no narrative, this is still easily seen as a depressive and bleak look at our existence. Some listeners may be put off by the negativity of Kouns’ music and his conclusions but sometimes art has to pull us out of our hiding places.

The album released by the Clinical Archives net label and available in 320kbps MP3.

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Pianist Ben Stepner has played with previously featured saxophonist Eugene Lee on Lee’s two free and legal albums Meditations and Srivbanacore. His contributions were gentle but virtuoso efforts in free jazz. However, Stepner’s new solo album titled Sleeping in The Forest is something altogether different. There’s no jazz here, or any keyboards for that matter, but seven untitled tracks of quiet guitar drones enhanced by electronics. This is incredibly peaceful music that is deceptive in its simplicity. When I played this I actually stopped what I was doing and lost myself in the soundscapes for the duration of the album. This would be an excellent choice of music for meditation or just relaxation.

The album is freely available from Pure Potentiality Records in 320kbps MP3 or you can download it directly from the link below. I also recommend you sample his keyboard music that you can find on his music page. And of course, enjoy the music? Support the artist by buying his CDs.

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Tellus’ next to last audio cassette was numbered issue 26, released in 1992 and titled Jewel Box. It is a survey of eight artists-in-residence in the Harvestworks program and was recorded at New York’s Studio PASS. The nine tracks are well conceived soundworks from the early 90s. The represented artists are all female, which I believe in itself made it a unusual collection for its time.

The album has a high variety of sound experiences. Anne LeBaron ’s two blue harp studies start and end the anthology. Bun Ling Lam’s “EO-9066″ is a elegy to the Japanese internment victims of World War II. At 15 minutes it is the longest of the pieces and one of the more interesting, although bleak, entries. Fascinating spoken text pieces include Laetitia Sonami’s “Story Road”, Sapphire’s “Boys Love Baseball” and Michelle Kinne’s “Coordinated Universal Time”. Mary Ellen Child’s “Ruler Etude” is totally played on a…what else?…ruler. I was es[ecially thrilled with “Smell”, a collaboration between Catherine Jauniaux and Ikue Mori which weaves an exotic spell between Jauniaux’s voice and Mori’s creative percussion. But the star attraction has to be “Navai”, an exquisitely beautiful accappela piece by Sussan Deihim. This is one of the better outings from Tellus and is available in 160kbps Mp3 format.

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This single track improvisation titled Extensions features Rafal Mazur on acoustic bass guitar and Michal Dymny on electric guitar. As with most of the Insubordination net releases, this is music that border between the jazz avant-garde and the post-modern. Both Mazur and Dymny are exceptional musicians who clearly know each others’ talent enough to have a intuitive sense of interaction bordering on the supernatural. Michal Dymny’s improvisatory excursions remind me a lot of Derek Bailey. The over 30 minutes performance stays fascinating throughout. Listeners into improvisation and exploratory music will enjoy this album.

Extensions is available in VBR MP3 around 192kbps.

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Depending on your perspective, Canadian artist Brian Joseph Davis is either an innovative musical genius, the most original perpetrator of Found Art since Duchamp, or a total charlatan. I’m sure there are no indifferent opinions about the way Davis makes his music. You may hate or love what he does but there is no middle ground.

Take for instance, 10 Banned Albums Burned Then Played, The concept is just what the title says it is. Ten vinyl albums that were banned at some point are burned then played on a turntable. For the most part they are distinguishable noise. Yet there is a odd magnetism in these tracks. Snippets music appear but are then are destroyed by the hissing and jumping of the burned vinyl. Social commentary or the result of too much alcohol? You can decide for yourself. Personally I was all set to hate this but I found the tracks to be strangely hypnotic and found it worth several listens. Probably the most intriguing thing is that “Louie Louie” doesn’t sound all that different after be burned. I’m reminded of a column by Dave Barry in which he wrote that if you dropped a guitar off a cliff it would play “Louie Louie” as it bounced off the rocks.

Then there is Yesterduh in which Davis took people off the street and asked them to sing the Beatles’ song “Yesterday”. It didn’t matter if they did not know the lyrics, just make them up. Davis took the best of them and mixed them to make this odd and funny album. At times it is funny but at other times, such as on the second track, it becomes haunting and beautiful or more often, just embarrassing. I have a lot of empathy for these poor souls as my own voice is woefully lacking in aesthetic worth. I have learned from secret sources that this is how William Hung was really discovered.

If you can get in the swing of these two bizarre but entertaining albums you might want to check out Davis’ three other albums, all being offered free and online from Ubuweb. Minima Morelalis is a tongue-in-cheek attempt to turn Theodore Adorno’s book of the same name into a punk record. This is a raucous satire of either punk or Marxism…probably both. It is actually darn good punk rock. Greatest Hit takes six greatest hit albums by Whitney Houston, Kenny G, The Carpenters, The Police, The Rolling Stones and Metallica, then plays All of the tracks at the same time. Again, what should have been a mess becomes a fascinating cornucopia of sounds. Finally Original Soundtrack is a live performance using 20 TV sets and DVD players and is of course reminiscent of John Cage’s exercises in randomness with radios. This stuff can grow on you but even if you are shaking you head in skepticism, you should give this a try. The future may look kindly on these experiments. After all, this is now considered a masterpiece.

You can find all of these albums plus some other works by Brian Joseph Davis at Ubuweb or go directly to the album’s download page through the links below.

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Minima Moralia
Greatest Hit
10 Banned Albums Burned Then Played
Yester Duh
Original Soundtrack