Essential indie pop/rock compilation. Only 7 tracks, each covering a different style, makes this an essential part of CC music legacy.
diym netlabel is (or was?) a netlabel focused on non-electronic genres, that is, mostly rock and pop music. I have already covered their seventh compilation, called 7, in an earlier review. This ninth instalment is a small but excellent collection of mostly, but not only, quiet music: Continue reading “Various Artists – [2011] Nine”
Soundtrack for a hard-to-get movie. Melancholic atmosphere, with a hint of suspense.
Xcyril is Cyril Humbert, a professional composer, who has published 11 of his albums, under a Creative Commons license to Jamendo. He specialises in soundtracks for films and video games. This soundtrack in particular has a dark atmosphere, most fitting to accompany a rainy autumn evening. Continue reading “Xcyril – [2007] Alter ego”
Classic netaudio compilation. Pop and electro, selected by reviewers from Phlow magazine.
This release is thanks to a very active curator in the netlabel scene. While Phlow magazine seems no longer active, its main author Moritz »mo.« Sauer still pushes work to his public GitHub profile for other projects like netlabels.org. But to talk about the music: it’s mostly pop, some electro sprinkled in and 2 tracks that I don’t get. Of course, I have picked two different ones to represent this compilation: Continue reading “Various Artists – [2008] Their Finest Hour, Volume 1”
I can’t best user deaddreamer‘s review:
This compilation is irrestible. It is a chronicle of victory spoken by a silent reader whose emotions are large and resonant so much so that they ripple outward the glory of triumph.
Got curious? Then read on! 😉 Continue reading “Various Artists – [2006] The Silent Ballet, Volume I: Poetry Without Words”
Disco fuel. Decent party music compilation from Germany.
frei² by Robert Bienert is a program featured in Freies Radio Kassel, an independent radio station in Germany’s wild centre. For several years, this program has been sending out a steady stream of Creative Commons music. This release consists of individual tracks, on air for a clubbing night over 10 years ago. Enjoy! Continue reading “Various Artists – [2008] Super Sommer Clubbing-Charts”
Rhythmic metal opus. Serves all from Metallica to brainy poetic lyrics.
Netlabel Sirona Records does not specialise in metal; even better than that this excellent work of band Croak has been published here. In contrast to many other in this genre, their singer’s pronunciation is excellent, i.e. easy to understand. Continue reading “Croak – [2013] Croak”
Laidback easy listening. Simple ambient tracks with distinct flavour.
Another entry from prolific netlabel Enough Records, who have been releasing over 400 albums and EPs since 2002, and are – unlike many others – still active. This weeks album features guitar-based trip hop served on top of ambient synth sounds. A bit too busy for coding, this album makes for a great pool party backdrop (not that I had a pool to test this). Continue reading “Daizy – [2011] The Daizy Factory”
Lavish dance tracks. Old-school underground house from the ’00s.
Not much is written online about netlabel Bevlar, that has published music from 2004 to 2007. If you like the following tracks, it might be worth for you to hunt through their back catalogue of about three dozen releases. Or just wait for me to review my favourite releases in time… Continue reading “Various Artists – [2005] We Are Bevlar 2”
Swedish indie pop. Vocal vocals, acoustic and slightly synthy sound.
Tobias Borelius is part of Emerald Park (review of one of their EPs), who produce straight-up enjoyable indie pop rock. This release leans more towards pop, with a focus on its Swedish mellow lyrics. Continue reading “Tobias Borelius – [2011] Du känner mig för väl, farväl”
Excellent ambient compilation. Many artists collaborate in this long-standing series of relaxing electronica albums.
With Vol. 13 having been released in 2016, I might be a bit late with pointing to this release, but I’d rather point you to some old friends of mine rather than to new acquaintances. This compilation features artists like EugeneKha, one whose solo albums I have reviewed here already some years ago. Continue reading “Tunguska Electronic Music Society – [2011] Tunguska Chillout Grooves, Volume 7”
Musical guitar-focused post rock. Spacy in more than one sense.
This release at Cologne-based netlabel Der kleine grüne Würfel comes from ESA’s communication officer, who produces music for a hobby; what a nice surprise! 8 tracks of laid-back, slightly trippy instrumental post rock want to be discovered: Continue reading “Marco Trovatello – [2018] Not At All”
Meditative tech house. Long loops, straight beats, simple two-chord harmonies. Great background music.
This oldie from still active (as of 2018) Colombian netlabel Monofonicos mostly plays with sound texture. Both rhythm and harmony loop with only slight variations, while voicing, instruments and effects vary. The result is a meditative musical carpet. Continue reading “Qk – [2009] 415”
Groovy relaxed vibes. Electronically produced jam sessions.
This old gem from the earlier years of Jamendo was one of the early motivators that searching for excellent music outside the realm of radio and CD retail stores was fruitful. If you need an ear pleaser that can provide a decent background track to a late night sit in with friends, give this one a go. Continue reading “Revolution Void – [2006] Increase the Dosage”
Classic netaudio electronica. Still sounding fresh after well over a decade.
Kahvi does what kahvi does best: introducing us music addicts to obscure but resourceful artists out there. This classic only slipped through my earlier release schedule because there was (and still is) no MP3 version of the release available on archive.org. But now that all browsers (yes, I’m looking at you, IE/Edge) support OGG natively, I can include this three track EP here without fear. Oh, yes, the music was worth the wait: Continue reading “Mosaik – [2004] Minutes”
Fun indie ska rock. German band, faux tropical sound, with an air of punk.
Wow, only 9 years after release I come to review this album. 11 tracks of honest ska punk rock, fully equipped with brass section, off-beat guitar riffs and half-screamed lyrics. I find nothing special about this album, but that’s a good thing: it represents its genre well. Continue reading “Boxing Fox – [2009] The Shepherd Hates Us”
Just in case you do not check this page daily: the article free music on the internet has received an update with my currently (2018) up-to-date information on other Creative Commons review blogs, lists of netlabels, and pointers to good starting points if you want to go hunting for cool music on your own.
Manifesto of a dead netlabel. Long live Starquake!
Starquake was an active netlabel from 2011 to 2015. During that time, it was dedicated to promote music by their creators and DJs in Torino, Italy. Although short-lived, their music remains an important contribution to the Creative Commons music catalogue for me. Continue reading “Various Artists – [2011] Quaking Stars”
I recently switched on tikzexternalize on a document with several figures created by TikZ in it. Activating this Tikz library has the advantage of compiling the figures only once (if unchanged), speeding up the creation of the completed document. As a nice side benefit, one gets the images as separate PDF files, which in my case was the main motivation. One simple call to ImageMagick later, one has all images in a format of choice. However, I could not get it to work at first due to my using the PGFgantt package to create a gantt time chart. Here is the (not compiling) start point: Continue reading “How to use TikZ externalize with PGFgantt”
Rough indie rock & roll. Simple, straight-up songs without bells & whistles, but with guitar & drums.
Electronic music is rather easy to find online. Good, honest and analogue music is much harder to find. Therefore, it’s great to even find cool, classic rock & roll music. This 4-track EP sounds much older than it is. (Yes, this was a compliment.) Continue reading “The Dots – [2006] The Dots”
Unforgiving hard trance. Take upeat house, remove unecessary vocals, keep just the beats.
Following up on my plan to review more from Bump Foot’s catalogue, I dig through over a decade of electronic music. This release could stand up in a fight against Juno Reactor and Paul Oakenfold – if music were a competitive combat sport, that is. Continue reading “AKU – [2010] Insomnia”
