The Kyoto Connection claims they are on of the most successful Creative Commons bands on the internet. I’m not sure how someone verifies that but I have previously reviewed their first two albums on Free Albums Galore and would say that the honor, if true, is deserved. Their third release is their most commercial effort yet. The Asian connection is very minimal in this recording. This is very commercial, very glossy pop dance music. Yet it is very good and it is hard to discount its irresistible appeal. There is a good mix of electro-pop, disco, and techno in these tracks. Some of the highlights include “Take on Me” (not the old Ha-Ha song), “Blinded by The Lights of Tokyo” with just a little of that Japanese touch (and no Springsteen), and the instrumental closer, “Vista Panoramica”. This is one of those albums that should have a broad appeal.

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I hear Digi G’Alessio has a bit of a reputation as the king of Italian electronic dance music. I can believe it after listening to the four Creative Common licensed albums available from the Free Music Archive. They are made for the dance floor yet carries a lot of wit and imagination. If I had to pick a subgenre for this kind of electronic dance music, I would say Dubstep. Each of the four albums have their own mood. Love, Beats, and Pina Coladas has a tiki bar environment going on, sort of a martini drenched techno thing. L’Attentato ai Mondiali starts with a middle east world beat and alternates between that and straight dubstep. The Cinar Session is his first album on the Bedroom Research netlabel and borders on the “glitches and beeps” / industrial line, yet it stays danceable and perfect for those who like their dance beats heavy and with plenty of electronic effects. The Rain Book has a more down-tempo side than the previous efforts but is still focused on the dance floor. If I had to pick only one album to download I would go for Love, Beats and Pina Coladas due to the lounge vibes but if you are into wonky dance music, go for all of them.

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Love, Beats, and Pina Coladas
L’Attentato ai Mondiali
The Cinar Session
The Rain Book

Adam Szabo aka Ant on Wax creates some of the most interesting electronic dance music I’ve heard. It is techno, sometimes down-tempo, but usually perfect for the dance floor. Yet the thing that makes it stand out is the infusion of Hungarian and Balkan influences, both pop and traditional.

Hungarium has a lot of that Balkan influence. All of these tracks have vocals that tends to push the sound into high quality Balkan pop. Ant on Wax exhibits great production values throughout these songs. My favorites feature the female vocalist Vera. “Titkon” is my choice for the best of her contributions. But I also like the three tracks with Orkestra Bohemika, especially on the traditional sounding “Sor Bor Palinka”. The final three tracks are headed by Kesh. His “Indul A Party” sounds a bit like Chris Brown goes Balkan.

Club and Dance is earlier and is more is the line of mainstream techno although world music does rear up its head every now and then. It is primarily instrumental with the exception of two tracks featuring Orkestra Bohemika and “Suddenly” with Viktoria.

Lastly, From Liquid 2 Neuro Funk starts with a little dub and throws in plenty of Acid House to make this is most night club heavy of the albums. Personally, I prefer Hungarium due to my love for world music. Yet check out all three and party on.

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Hungarium
Club & Dance
From Liquid 2 Neuro Funk

Sliptone aka British producer Tom McNab can lay down some very tasty grooves. A little techno, a little hip-hop and lots of funk. There is a lot more George Clinton going on here than Dr. Dre. His album Funkagent I is full of danceable and soulful riffs and beats; enough that you will have a hard time just sitting throuhg a listen. Birds and The Bees and the title track is full of funky sampling and dance floor hooks . I also like “Melos Liberals” which brings in a Latin groove. If you are looking for something with a soulful style for the dance hall, you’ve found it.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3 from the Budabeats netlabel.

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Zoe.Leela’s album titled Queendom Come is some of the finest electronic urban soul I’ve heard on the internet. The Berlin artist has a silky smooth sound that rides a fine line between naughty and sexy. Her voice is casual yet seductive. The production values on her album are almost impeccable. Yet it is her vocals and breathy persona that tempts me into each replay. “Bridges” and “Destroy She Says” are two excellent examples of her alchemy. Download this and surrender to the temptation.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3 from the Rec72 netlabel.

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Tracky Birthday’s Animal Audition may be a bit of a joke but it is a very smart joke. Harboring a rap style that shouldn’t keep Kanye West up at night and borrowing lounge bits from Arthur Lyman, Tracky Birthday creates a funny disco lounge environment that comes off as a cross between Weird Al and The Streets. One of the things that make this “joke” successful is the variety of surprises Tracky places in these cleverly arranged tracks. Accordians, kazoos, bird sounds, and little snippets of samples keeps it interesting. My favorite track is the seriously hip “Balla!” and the exotically kitschy ” Free Dschimi”. This is a clever album mixing comedy with a serious musical aptitude.

Animal Audition is available in 192kbps MP3.

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I acquired Glass Candy’s debut album Love Love Love in 2003 when it was released and it still gets regular play on the CD player. Glass Candy has a somewhat campy sound that wavers between goth, punk and disco. Often billed as Glass Candy and The Shattered Theatre, Its primary attribute is the tortured voice of Ida No who often sounds like she is channeling Siouxise and Deborah Harry at the same time. She also reminds me a lot of Wendy O. Williams on the more turbulent songs. Johnny Jewel’s pulsing electronic riffs are also instrumental in giving the music a somewhat ominous sound.

Glass Candy has placed three of their earlier albums, plus quite a few demos, on WFMU’s new Free Music Archives, a rather unusual move for an established band that is still going strong. Love Love Love is more punk and goth than the others making it danceable but disturbing. “Crystal Migraine” and the title track are standouts but I also recommend the over-the-top “Love on a Plate”. There is an interesting take on The Rolling Stones’ “Last Time”. The Sick Sounds of Glass Candy has more of an electro-pop sound and shows strong Italo Disco influences. “Your Dream Lover’s on Video Again” and the following “Life after Sundown” are representative tracks, both unusual in their seven minutes plus duration. “La Brea Tar Pits” is a good atmospheric instrumental piece. The third album is titled Iko and the title track is the classic New Orleans “Iko” made famous by a number of musicians including Dr. John. Glass Candy’s version has little to do with the song’s Cajun roots which is why it is so interesting. However its jaunty rhythms also makes it one of the happier tracks by this band. There are two other tracks plus three remixes. As these albums become more recent it appears that the group is paying more attention to the disco aspects of their sound. Overall, I find Glass Candy to have a distinctive sound that will appeal to a number of rock, punk and electronic dance enthusiasts.

The three albums are available in 256kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Love Love Love
The Sick Sound Of…
Iko

Candy Chang’s clever electronic dance pieces may be a little sparse but they make it up in wit and humor. Typography/Gestalt consists of four tracks from a previously released 12″ and some unreleased material from 2000-2004. Chang manages to combine techno with funk and disco but still kicks in with a few moves of her own. The tracks are instrumental except for the collection’s highlight, “Rochenko in my Bauhaus”. It is a witty and funky number that reminds me of a clean version of Peaches. Well, maybe not totally clean, but at least Chang knows the meaning of ‘double entendre’ .

The album is available in 160kbps MP3.

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Kiff’on’s all-to-brief EP Nes Funky is a all-so-French look back at funk, disco and polyester. It’s hard to take this little album very seriously but it’s almost hard to keep your foot still while this funky little band starts up. The guys endlessly invoke James Brown as an influence but my mind immediately goes to more disco related icons like KC and The Sunshine Band or Chic rather than the godfather of soul. The 6 tracks all evoke a carefree dance mood. This free online album is a lot of fun and gives you a good excuse to shake your bootie.

The EP is available in 160kbps MP3, OGG, or WAV.

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It is hard to take Stereo Total seriously. Listening to this European group for the first time evoked the same reaction I had when I heard The B-52s…”Damn! They’re good. But are they joking?”

Rare Songs is a free on-line album of 13 tracks that were either unreleased or are no longer available on disc. They were recorded from 1996 to 2002 and represent a hodge-podge of styles from punk to disco to oldie rock. Indeed, Stereo Total’s gift seems to be the ability to lift from many genres and create a music that is fun to listen to and a little bit insane. There’s a lot of intentional humor but never so much that the result overflows into silliness.

The first track, “in/out” is a nice example of the campy lo-fi euro-pop that the band embraces. The song moves along like a beach party romp as vocalists Françoise Cactus and Brezel Göring lay on a mock seriousness. Francoise continues with a sultry but punkish “Prend Moi” then breaks out with “Carta Postale” which is a wild and thinly disquised cover of “California Sun” made famous by The Rivieras and later, The Ramones. I do not understand French but I’ll bet you a warped frisbee that they are not the original lyrics. “Ex Fab Des 60ties” is a sweet and wistful number about dead rock stars while “The Other Side of You” is sweet with a taste of bitters. “Party Anticonformist” reaches back to disco as does “Schon Von Unten”, a breezy little electronic trifle. Each song has its own twisted charm. It can be argued that Stereo Total makes light-weight dispensible pop but I doubt you will be able to get some of these infectious tracks out of your head once you hear them.

The album is available in 128kbps MP3. If you enjoy the album support the artists and buy their CDs.

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I’m a little late in finding a best of 2005 compilation, but better late than miss dinner altogether…or something like that. The electronic music blog Knobtweaker has put together a fine collection of free electronic and indie pop tracks off of netlabels throughout the web. There are 36 tracks in all, more than enough to sate that hunger for the hippest bleeps and blips.

Knobtweaker managed to find some pretty tasty tracks. Most of the artists are obscure. Of the 36, I’ve only heard of DJ Spooky and Imogen Heap. I don’t expect any one to like everything here. I didn’t. But there is a lot to get excited over. Most of this music is quite poppish and would fit comfortably on top 40 radio or MTV. No, actually most of it is better than what passes as popular music now.

How can I possibly mention some of the songs I like in this small space without doing a diservice to others? I can’t, so here a few highlights anyways. The trip-hop styled Bliss is enchanting with “Rain Slows The Time” followed by Ainestead and Kilowatts’ equally trippy “Ideal Chameleon”. DJ Spooky and Saul Williams contributes a powerful rap track that reminds us that social activism through music is not dead. Listening to Cause and Effect’s “Into The Light” is like reliving 80s Disco without polyester. Transient’s “Direct” has a simple melody made interesting by a gamelan influenced electronic backing. Japanese Seizure Robots’ “Alone in a Crowded Room” is the most ambient track of the bunch and arguably the most beautiful composition in this compilation. Almost as accomplished is Pelp’s rhythmically mesmerizing mini-epic, “Snow”. Reggae and hip-hop is nicely resonated in “Clear Light” by K-oscillate who wins my “I-want-to-hear-more” award. Throttler pushes a few envelopes with an industrial track titled “Obey” while The Marbles “Out of Zone” is charming malt-shop indie pop Weezer style.

Aside from serving up a lot of nice music, this compilation is a good answer to those who say netlabels do not produce music that can be competitive with corporate music companies. Check it out then go support the artist and netlabels you like by buying their CDs. Take that, RIAA!

The music files are in MP3s from VBR 192kbps and up. You can download track by track or go for the full album Zip.

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