If Party People in a Can is a reasonable example of what passes as party music in Portugal, I think I’ll stick to California. On the other hand, if you like your music in the nature of Bauhaus mixed with surf and lazy rhythms this super laid back band from the You Are Not Stealing Records netlabel may be your nirvana. Way Off, Where The Spirits Are is a bit of voodoo served up with panache and a little tongue in the cheek on the side. “Leaving The Home Tribe” has a low mysterious vocal that is paired with a roaming beat reminiscent of Wall of Voodoo. “Surfing With My 2 Little Brothers” is a light little surf homage of an instrumental and “Ayahuasca” definitely has Ennio Morricone in mind. A little surf, a little goth, and lots of atmosphere is what you get with Party People in a Can.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3.

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When it comes to odd music, I don’t shock easily but Diablo Swing Orchestra got even me off guard on its first listen. This Swedish ensemble has one of the freshest and most exciting sounds I’ve heard in a long time and they manage it through an insane combination of heavy metal, swing jazz, a traditional European music smorgabord, and a classical soprano voice that probably broke wine glasses in the studio. By the time I got through the first two tracks, I considered going to the emergency ward for the possibility of impending head explosion. There is an operatic feel throughout the tracks and an intensity that hold up marvelously through every musical twist. There are actually two vocalists, male and female, and these two work to good effect on “Rag Doll Physics”, a weird cross between Wagner and Ozzy Osbourne. Just about when I thought my head might explode, soprano and guitar make love on the gorgeous ballad “D’Angelo”. However if you really want to get the sense of this album start at the first track with “Balrog Boogie”, a full-assault barrage of swing and metal that has to be heard to believe. Other tracks all have their surprises like the Raga influenced “Gunpowder Chant” and an epic “Zodiac Virtues”. Finally, in case, you haven’t received the message that no limits are spared, Diablo Swing exits with a marvelous “Pink Noise Waltz” that offers flute and violin solos among the metal barrage, swing overtones, and the operatic power of the vocal. This soars to the top of my best free online albums of 2009 list. Actually it may be one of the best albums of 2009 of any type.

The Butcher’s Ballroom is available in VBR MP3 from Jamendo. If you like the music, support the artists by purchasing the better sound quality CD or their newest release.

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Here is a unusual and interesting “electronic” album. Perhaps the moniker “field recording” would be a bit more accurate. Blood and Water was created at the haemodialysis unit in King’s College Hospital serving the South London area. The sounds are all from dialysis machines. The sounds of the “unit environment, the dialysis machines and the all important water treatment facilities” are shaped by Tom Wallace into this soundscape. Aside from the introduction of the process and unit by Sister Rachel Mwansa, all sounds are from the machines that are allowed to create their own narrative. It is a very unique composition that manages to hold its own and provide a fascinating 18 minutes.

The album is available from the Internet Archives in MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats.

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There is a sort of Alice in Wonderland beauty to the music of Ödland. Their new online album on Aerotone titled The Caterpiller is an all acoustic journey into the rabbit hole. The five tracks on this album have an innocence and wonder that is highlighted by the lead vocalist’s child-like narration and singing. The group’s enchantment with 19th century music is obvious but there is still a post-modern but very melodic sense to it. The opening title track and the following “Les Yeux de L’Loiseau” waver between new age and classical chamber music but the result is an unique dreamscape of its own. “Le Chanson du Parasite” and “Sur Lews Murs de ma Chambre” are beautiful if slightly surrealistic torch songs. “Mathilda Rossignal” is atypically jaunty and a fitting way to end this different but exceptional collection of Chansons.

The Caterpiller is available in 320kbps MP3.

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The exotic percussive beats of Humberto Luis Schenone’s Un Puerto” A Percussive Trip, another great find from the Clinical Archives, can be mood altering. Play this album on your Ipod for a quiet day (rainy days work well) and you are instantly transported to the jungle or the pampas or wherever your mind takes you with these primarily South American rhythms. This solo album is all percussion with a blend of world beats and somewhat post-modern leanings. “Child Dreaming” has a consistent beat and melody while “Pachangachula” sounds a little like Harry Partch…if Mr. Partch was an Amazon tribesman. Despite the heavy percussive environment this is actually a very ambient setting that will lull you into different worlds.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3.

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The unofficial sub-title of this blog is “Free and legal albums I like”. However sometimes I find an album that I do not like but think it is just too unique or weird to ignore. These two out-of-print albums, now available through Ubu, are a case in point. These two recordings feature the great poet Allen Ginsberg “singing” the poems of William Blake. They were collected originally as two albums, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The idea of Ginsberg reading Blake would be an easily imagined delight but these attempts at creating actual songs from his poetry is just plain weird. It is also an unique project of the psychedelic sixties. In fact, I don’t think this project would have even been considered in any other time. Ginsberg is joined in the vocals by Peter Orlovsky who adds nothing but a little enthusiasm. The accompanying musicians include two of my favorite jazz artists, Bob Dorough and Don Cherry, yet you would be very hard pressed to be able to identify their contribution. If you must ask for one recommended track, I would pick “Little Boy Lost” because of its brevity and because Ginsberg is almost in tune. Actually, “Laughing Song” is kind of fun. The best thing I can say about these notorious albums is that they are an unique historical artifact and should be experienced at least once.

Both collections are available in 192kbps MP3. After you get your fill, I suggest you go down the page and listen to Ginsberg’s 50s poetry reading that include Howl. Now that’s a keeper!

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It’s nice to see You Are Not Stealing Records again. They disappeared for a short while but have resurfaced with old and new online albums. YANST is a long-time stalwart of the net label scene with a eclectic mix of surf rock, blues-rock, and unclassifiable electronic music . The new two volume Music of The Gods by Doctor Phibes & The Ten Plagues of Egypt is a combination of the familiar and the odd. The two volumes offer classical music played on organ (or maybe synthesizers?) with lots of distortion. It reminds me of the type of organ background played in theaters for silent movies but with a top of metal throw in for the hell of it. The first volume start non-classically with Bernard Herrmann’s suite for the film Psycho but then you get some perverse interpretations of music from Saint-Saens, Stravinsky, and Mendelssohn. The second volume gives you treats from J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Beethoven. It is a bit eerie. I can see these tracks adorning a low budget horror music. Spooky but fun.

The two volumes are available in 256kbps MP3.

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Music of The Gods Vol. 1
Music of The Gods Vol. 2

The Bird Ensemble is influenced heavily from the jazz fusion and minimalist movements of the seventies. The result of this delicate combination is quite evident on their free and legal online album The Last Songbook. It is a gentle but engrossing collection of instrumental music that is melodic yet quite beautiful. It sounds highly arranged but still fresh and spontaneous. “Mr Moss” and “West Helena are two highlight tracks that should endear you to the quietly stimulating sound of this band. It is a splendid effort.

The album is freely available in 192kbps MP3 from the band’s website in 192kbps MP3. If you like the music support the artist by leaving a donation via Paypal.

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While I enjoy exposing the unwitting public to experimental music, I occasionally get strange e-mail that basically states “”WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?”. I understand that music created solely from rubber bands or chaos may not be some people’s idea of the perfect concert. However I often find this extreme music quite intellectually challenging and even entertaining. Experimental music opens the ears and minds.

I said all that just to say this. Not all experimental music need to “hurt the ears” as one perplexed person stated, or even challenge your limits. Take the Italian music collective Zero Gravity Toilet as an example. ZGT is certainly experimenting but their sound is quite melodic and easy on the ears. It also is flooded with imaginative ideas, odd time signatures and other things that tells you this is no ordinary band. The three “Toilet Jams” (I’m sure the pun was intended) are the best examples of this casual improvisatory journey. Actually I’m not really sure how much is improvised and how much is structured which I consider a compliment for this type of music. This is not easily classifiable music borrowing from rock, jazz, and even the avant-garde (see Toilet Jam #3) yet there are very few “fillers” and very little waste (pun is intended). “Morning Comes” is the track that I tend to play over and over. If there is any minor complaint it is that I find some of the playing and especially the vocals a bit tentative at moments but this may just attest to the exploratory style. Overall the musicianship is strong and creative.

Antidotes for imaginary Friends is available from Jamendo in VBR MP3 format.

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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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The free and legal album Lost Memories is a showcase for the talents of Serbian singer / composer / guitarist Daameer Stone. I use the triple description deliberately as this talented artist is attempting to display all of these attributes in this recording. Unfortunately it ends up somewhat uneven. Hip-hop influenced pieces are paired with cinematic soundscapes. Acoustic folk music is mixed with more modern pop oriented material. While Daameer is equally adept at all, the album becomes a bit muddled and doesn’t really focus on what is his particular strength.

And that strength is found in those acoustic tracks that focus on traditional and world music influences. Songs like “Home” and “Munin’s Flight” are calming fancies between new age and folk/traditional. “Diffused Bursts” starts out voice only but melds into a successful electronic fusion hybrid. From “Runnin’ in The Wood” and on, the tracks take on a more pop music stance but Daameer’s quality songwriting and Serbian influences are still evident. Only in the last two tracks on the album do the electronic element totally take over and they seem out of place. For the most part though, Stone’s blending of folk, pop, and electronic generally work. I would love to see two albums, one of folk acoustic numbers and the other being a more world/pop fusion set. For now, the artist has given us a taste of both and that will do for now.

The album is available from the artist’s web site in 256kbps MP3.

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Chimney Fish is a musical project of Annie Culver. Her trademark is her solo voice, overdubbed and accompanied by viola and/or electronics. This is very melodic but basically ambient music. The feel is tentative, warm and cerebral. Her 39 minutes EP Drown, Sailor, Drown is a good example of all the various colors and emotion she can get from her deceptively simple arrangements. I especially like her compositions when it is nothing but layered voices as on the Judds cover “Love is Alive” or her original “Fourth Month”, Occasionally the beat becomes more pronounced as on “Marble Glitter” which has an early Enya sound but Chimney Fish is most original when the voices and electronics floats and seduces as it does on “Let our Hair Down”. This is odd, serene and addictive music.

You can find Drown, Sailor, Drown plus a brief four track EP titled Color Wheel from Rack and Ruin Records in 128kbps MP3.

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Tracing Arcs has an unusual but pleasing sound. While trip-hop in design and jazz in concept, there is a sense of free association in their album titled Fin. Luscious female vocals almost ramble in their lyrics and often the song ends abruptly rather than resolve. The result is a dream-like soundscape that lulls you into a trance, and a pleasant one at that. One of the more interesting aspect of the band is the use of an acoustic bass that gives a jazz-like grounding to some tracks. It works especially well on “A Pig & a Cow” and “Desperate Measures”. Another favorite track is the rather heady “Crytalk”. This is an exceptional album of sensuous sounds.

The album is available from Dusted Wax Kingdom in 320kbps MP3.

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It’s a little late for Inaugural Day and too early for The Fourth of July. However this fine album of patriotic compositions played by The United States Coast Guard Band will still be appropriate for President’s Day in mid February. These 14 tracks serve as a musical tour of America, taking us to “Niagara Falls” and “Kitty Hawks”, introducing you to “The Arkansas Traveler” and “Men of Ohio”, experiencing “The St. Louis Blues”, and enjoying a “California Jubilee” and “Kentucky Sunrise”. The U. S. Coast Guard Band is high in the ranks of the many superb armed forces bands that has been an American tradition but has gone way beyond simply marches and cadences. Some of the delights include superb arrangements of Morton Gould’s “Santa Fe Saga” and Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living”. Plus we get a little icing on the cake with a euphonium solo of “Yellow Rose of Texas” and a nice rendition of “America The Beautiful ” by soprano Lisa Taylor. This is a rousing album of exceptional concert band music that reminds me of the best from Sousa’s Band and other concert ensembles like The Boston Pops.

The album is available in 160kbps MP3.

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Compared to some of Tellus’ challenging compilations, Tellus 12: Dance is downright foot-tapping. The sixteen tracks are either commissioned dance scores or pieces representative of a dance. It is easy to envision most of these tracks accompanied by beautiful bodies swaying to the beat. Bill Obrecht’s opening untitled track even has me doing the cha-cha in a post-modern way. However the second track by A. Leroy gets a little techno. Richard McGuire’s “You” uses that single word for its base and boogies the hell out of it. Carol Parkinson’s “Heavybeat” is miminalism with a pulse. As the album continues there are a number of mellower even down-tempo pieces. Jim Farmer’s “Emporer’s Clothes” has a nice Latin thing going for it. I’ve always liked the post-punk pulses of Liquid Liquid and their contribution titled “Groove to Go” is no exception. Al Diaz’s “What’s in a Name” is a witty piece whose lyrics exists solely of famous names. Brook Williams “Demented Folk Tune” is Asian traditional music from the Twilight Zone and I am not quite sure what you would call David Linton’s “L’eau D’artifice” except fascinating. The quality of music on this issue of Tellus remains consistent and interesting.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3.

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One of the most exciting net labels to show up recently is Clinical Archives. There is a huge amount of music on this label which is described as the “independent netlabel for eclectic and illogical music”. Their release Clinical Jazz may be of some help in defining the music of this label but it may not be too helpful because the anthology album itself is so huge! It has over 10 hours of music and is the equivalent of 9 CDs. Once you get past the size of this collection, you will find an exceptionally consistent quality of music that is either in the jazz genre or outside the genre of jazz but beholden to the the influence of this improvisatory music. Not everything here fits my definition of jazz but that is not the point. Clinical Archives is about expanding the definition of music and that is certainly the intent in these 94 tracks from all over the globe.

This mammoth collection gets off to an astounding start on CD 1 with “Asphodel” from France’s Strings of Consciousness. This collective’s music has the feel of a soundtrack for a David Lynch film. The second track by The Black Hakawati comes a bit closer to nu-jazz with an almost weeping tenor sax solo. Model Of The Invisible’s “Bluffing The Archons” is somewhere between jazz fusion and tiki lounge while “Popsong” by Broken Quartet ends the first CD with a minimalist melody.

There ’s just too much to go through on each CD but the variety of music as well as the high quality of the artists is extremely impressive. This page from the Clinical Archives website will give you a rundown of each track. Most of these artists do not have albums on Clinical Archive which is a shame but their web sites are listed for further exploration. Here are just a few of the tracks that stands out for me. Benzolnye Mertvecys’ “V Mast” on CD 2 has a neat bit of Zappa-like chaos through it while the following “First Meeting Took Place in a Tram” by BF is crime jazz waiting to be used in a vintage Polanski film. The Greek trio of Outward Bound is one the best examples on CD 2 of more mainstream jazz yet still manages to go off in new directions.

On CD 3, Pianist Cedric Piromelli also explore mainstream jazz with a firm nod to bebop on “Bye Bye Blues” and I love the playfully teasing quality on “Satan i Uppsala” by The Stoner. CD4 has tracks from artists like BLOB, Wozzeck, and Konstrukt which could be called free jazz and the CD primarily stays in the avant garde. Much of CD 5 is also avant-garde improvisation but sounding more post classical than jazz. Check out guitarist Tony Renner’s “Irk Bee Delay” which is a nice Derek Bailey styled improv. Yuri Yaremtchuk’s “fragment ?1″ for prepared piano, Bb clarinet, tenor sax and percussion offers a bit of a Cagian perspective. By the time CD 7 begins, most of the music has gone far beyond the normal definition of jazz and is also beyond categorization but there is still a lot of exceptional music ahead. Christopher Hoffman’s avant-shredding on “Dissipative” (CD 7), Vortex’s untitled track of industrial sound on CD 8, and Joe Frawley’s meditative but sometimes disquieting “Mistress of Ceremonies”(CD 9) all attest to variety of unusual sounds to be found on this collection. It is impossible to single out every good track so if you find something you really like, feel free to mention it in the comments.

This huge collection of music is available in 320kbps MP3. If you find something you like, please use the Clinical Archive website page mentioned above to explore the artists more thoroughly and support them by buying their CDs.

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Does anyone know how the Netaudio festival in London went down? If the album is any indication, it must have been interesting at the least. The compilation titled Net Audio London 2008 Showcase was released before the show to highlight the bands that were going to appear. It is a nice collection leaning toward the techno side with a hearty sampling of electro-punk, ambient, experimental and other side dishes of the electronic genre. Favorites tracks range from a beautiful soundscape from the alway fascinating D’Incise to the tongue-in-cheek techno-exotica of Disrupt’s “Samauri Showdown” to the industrial punk “Hello Africa” by Indian Jewelry. But the show stopper comes at the beginning with A.R.E. Weapon’s “Don’t You Fucking Die on Me” a stunning piece of electro-punk that manages to channel both Iggy Pop and The Doors. You might not like every track on this album but there is a good chance you will find enough to make the download worth it.

Net Audio 2008 London Showcase is available in 128 MP3 files from Last.fm (one of the festival sponsors) or from the Internet Archive in huge but better quality FLAC files.

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MP3 files
FLAC Files

It was once said about Thelonious Monk that even his wrong notes sound right. While I am surely not saying Michael Ace aka M.Ace is comparable to Monk, or for that matter not even in the same stature as his evident musical influence John Fahey of which the same could be said, there is a certain similarity in that statement to this odd and different guitarist. What M.Ace has is a clear vision of what his music is to be and just enough technique and more than enough imagination to pull it off. This second album shows an improvement over both his ideas and guitar playing. The opening “Mysterion” and “Cockroach Stomp” are quite representative of his work. “Anarchist Circus Monkey” is one of my favorite tracks sounding like a cross between Stravinsky and a barn dance. “Chain Dance” is one of the more conventional compositions and it is quite impressive. I enjoyed his other solo guitar album but A Fretful Menagerie is quite an improvement. Perhaps Michael himself says it best. “Better recorded, better guitar, better technique,…same old backporch stumblebum execution.”

The album is available in separate tracks or a full album zip in 192kbps MP3.

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Phlow bills itself as the “MP3 culture magazine” and it is an essential site for those looking for free and legal online album. although the bulk of reviewed albums tend to be in the electronic arena , there is a nice amount of folktronics, indie rock, ambient and a few other genres. It is a regular stop for me as I search for the best online albums.

Phlow has been regularly releasing their own compilations since the beginning of January. These include a series of collections appropriately titled Their Finest Hours featuring tracks from the artists that have been featured on the web site. So far there are three volumes and they all deliver some fine music to while away your time. For the most part the tracks are what I would call”Chill-out” due to the calming mood they place on the listener but there are a number of dance worthy tunes. You will find a lot of music here and it is hard to pick favorites but I am partial to Superbus’s “The Place” and Bobby Baby’s sweeter-than-sugar “Bye Bye Snow”, both on volume 1. On volume 2, I would call your attention to the tracks by Iambic2, Incognito Travelers (whose previous EP I have reviewed here), and The Twombley Spiders. Volume 3 keeps up the good quality with such gems as Soto’s “My Blue Plane”, My Awesome Mixtape’s “The Giant Squid”, Sabian’s can’t-stay-off-the-dance-floor “Rhode-O”. These three compilations should please any kind of musical palate.

their Finest Hour is available in MP3 format at varying bitrates but none under 192kbps MP3.

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Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3

Indonesia’s internet record company Yes No Wave is a curious label specializing in pop music just off the radar of common taste. Their eccentric collection of online singles and EPs range from punk to reggae to just plain weird. I’ve already reviewed two albums from this label by The Upstairs and Shorthand Phonetics but I would consider both to be on the mainstream side compared to most of what Yes No Wave offers.

So these two full-length compilation albums titled Music Beyond No Border are quite welcomed. They offer a representative array of the artists this label has to offer. Volume 1 doesn’t sound too weird at first. The three opening tracks by Dubyouth Soundsystem, Hengky Strawberry, and Jaeger Boy Transfer would sound at home in any dance party. Then it gets a little wild. There some nice punk from Coffin Cadillac, Punkasila, and Gegabah. The weird part comes from some strange tracks like Zoo’s manic babbling on “Takluk” and “Enigma of Sucker’ by the primal Denda Omnivora & The White Liars. These ten tracks should keep you fairly amused.

Volume 2 is quite similar with a little more attention to the punk and hardcore. South Beach Terror’s “Wild Sea Horse” is fun surf punk. If I ever finish my opus film Nazi Surf Bunny Zombies, this will be my opening song. The quality is not quite as consistent as the first album but there are some nice surprises. Sunsang Lelam Telak’s atmospheric jazz trio sound a bit out of place but quite excellent while Shorthand Phonetic’s atypical piano instrumental “When Women Congregate” is still rather fun. Weirdest track? Probably Bla Bla Blast’s “Rediscovering Atlantis” while Jimbodivine’s closing song “Merah” is pretty and conventional in a good way. These two compilations make a good case for checking out Yes No Wave’s other offerings.

Both albums are available in MP3 formats with tracks being in varying bitrates but no lower than 128kbps.

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Music Beyond No Borders Vol. 1
Music Beyond No Borders Vol. 2

Volume 10 of the now defunct audio magazine Tellus is devoted to guitarists. However this is not the usual parade of rock and jazz guitarists. In fact you may have trouble recognizing that some of the sounds are coming from a guitar. As usual, Tellus concentrates on the challenging, the innovative , and the extreme. There are some serious names in this collection including Glenn Branca, Lee Ranaldo, Butthole Surfers, Arto Lindsay, and Lydia Lunch. Ranaldo’s opening contribution is a spoken word piece enhanced by his always riveting guitar playing while Butthole Surfer’s “U.S.S.A.” is extreme even for them. Bond Bergland’s “Moonlight Ride” is disturbingly melodic while Joseph Nechvatal brings us to the brink of chaos with “Dalychtocracy”. Bob Mould of Husker Du practically invents Shredding and Elliot Sharps’ “Solition” reminds me a lot of the late and great Derek Bailey. All 28 tracks will stretch your definition of guitar music.

The album is available in 160kbps MP3.

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When we join special agent Jack Bauer in 24: Episode 2, he is mourning the death of his wife, foiling another terrorist plot and whining about torturing people even though he manages to find a way to do it every half hour or so. Even those who enjoy the show, as I did, can’t help but wonder about his paranoid neo-conservative universe centering around a world in which no one ever has to go to the bathroom and you can get anywheres in Los Angeles within five minutes.

Jon and Al Kaplan have managed to create a very funny musical based on the second season of this popular American TV series. Whether you find songs like “I Will Torture You” humorous will probably depend on how well you know the source material but even then you will enjoy some nicely crafted songs with witty lyrics.

The Kaplans have previously composed Silence! an internet musical based on the film Silence of The Lambs. The well-known movie makes this a more accessible choice for a musical and certainly the terrifying themes makes for some delicious parody with or without fava beans. I do find it funny that the most poignant song in the play has a title that assures it will never get any radio play or be recorded by any self-respecting celebrity. The other tracks are all amusingly perverse. It is a bit of a compliment to say I can’t watch the movie without hearing “Put the F—ing Lotion in The Basket” go through my head.

Both internet musicals for better or worse are freely available in 192kbps MP3. If you like Silence! you can purchase the CD from the web site before or after you get psychiatric help.

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24: Season Two: The Musical
Silence! The Musical

I’m really excited about WMFU’s free music archive which will open in November. Anyone who has listened to the radio station or perused its blog has a good idea about how much great music must be hiding in their vaults. The new Selected Sounds From The Free Music Archives may be just a teaser to what we can expect. Since it is volume one, we might get a few more of these which is fine with me.

Volume one will more than do for now. The offerings are split between cuts from indie produced albums and tracks from live studio performances. The 21 tracks range from punk to experimental rock to world music. In other words, the album is as far-out as the radio station. Most of the artists are obscure so I hope the archive will provide more info on these musicians. It’s hard to pick favorites but Fursaxa’s eerie “Song of the Spindle Berry” sent shivers down my spine which continued with Nautical Almanac’s bizarre take on the children song “Rolling in The Green”. Of the live studio takes, I especially liked New Bomb Turks, Kinski and Citay’s somewhat Celtic “On The Wings”. Of the others, Lucky Dragon does a good job mixing cute with bizarre while Food For Animals w/ Faust provides the only hip-hop track of the anthology. This album will certainly hold you over until the full archive is unveiled in November. Thanks WFMU!

The album is available in separate tracks or a full album zip in varying MP3 bitrates.

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One of the best ways to get a grasp on the variety of music that is available through netlabels is to browse the several compilation series that has been put together by music fans and bloggers. I have already reviewed a few of them including Netbloc and The Silent Ballet. A new kid on the block is the Netmuzyka.com, a humble blog presenting Niesencje, a creative series of online albums bringing what they consider the cream of the netlabel crop. Their focus is somewhat mainstream, meaning no avant-garde, but there is a wide assortment of electronic music, IDM, nu-jazz, dance, introverted folk/pop, and ambient . There are currently seven collections, all having a consistently high quality with all tracks well chosen and each separate album having a listening duration of 40 to 60 minutes. Quite a few of the artists have already been discovered and written about by yours truly including Umma Project, ST, Post Human Era, and Stockfinster. However I am also unearthing a number of other promising artists which I have made a note to check out more thoroughly. These include the new age Virculum, an urban-percussive Skarv, and a exotically Latin Trafficjam. There’s just too many interesting tracks on these albums. Suffice to say, I’m currently listening to Vim’s fairytale of a tune titled “That Smell of Spring Rain” while it is 114 degrees Fahrenheit outside and digging it. All in all, this is a very fine series, nothing too challenging yet all enjoyable and worth checking out.

The seven albums are available in zips of 192kbps MP3.

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Niesencje Vol. 1
Niesencje Vol. 2
Niesencje Vol. 3
Niesencje Vol. 4
Niesencje Vol. 5
Niesencje Vol. 6
Niesencje Vol. 7

The Rhaaa Lovely Festival in collaboration with The Silent Ballet brings us two exceptional compilation albums featuring artists playing at the the yearly event in Cortil-Wodon, Belgium. This is an idea that I hope other festivals adopt: a free and legal souvenir of what must have been an interesting gathering of indie rock bands.

The 2007 compilation offers 14 tracks by 14 bands. Many of the artists have a cerebral sound that lends to a pleasant and relaxing day. Matt Elliot’s “Our Weight in Oil’ sways along in what sounds like a gypsy melody. The opening track by Whisper in The Noise is between introvert indie and new age. Rothko is the only one of the artists I have heard before and has alway been one of my favorite Tortoise influenced groups. But all is not calming. Hard metallic sounds comes from bands like Pentak and Pelican while We Cut the Tape and Scatter has a disquieting but attention getting style that makes them a group I would like to hear more from. This Lovely Festival isn’t afraid to take chances.

The 2008 compilation has 12 tracks from 12 other artists. Magyar Posse has an symphonic sound while Youthmovies’ “Shhh! You’ll Wake It” has full-bodied indie rock credentials. “Floodwaters” by The . J. Boyd Sexxxtet provides a odd but beautiful setting of chorus and strings. M0re traditional rock sounds can be found on tracks by Dead Meadow and Mutiny on The Bounty but my favorite track is a complex fusion number by Sleeping People. These two albums are fine samplers of music by independent musicians out of the mainstream. Those who went to the festival will have a nice reminder and those of us who didn’t will probably be clearing our calender for next March.

Both albums are available in 192kbps MP3.

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2007 Rhaaa Lovely Festival Compilation
2008 Rhaaa Lovely Festival Compilation