Category: Audio

Reviews for free music. Short articles pointing out foobar2000 usage.

Lorenzo’s Music – [2017] Cool ships and heat exchangers

(Un)conventional alternative rock. With netlabel blocSonic, it’s hard to not be impressed. I adore how they keep publishing consistently solid to exceptional albums and compilations year after year. The word conventional is meant as a compliment. Although it is not strictly correct: the use of brass instruments and synth sounds clearly is an exception to…

Wed, 5th Jul 2017
stockfinster – [2009] Dead Line

Carefully crafted electronica. This is a gem from now defunct netlabel Sutemos, back from 2009. Artist stockfinster, whom I have reviewed in this blog before, is a household name in the Creative Commons scene, and for a reason. His productions occupy a quiet, warm corner somewhere between New Age ambient and IDM electronica. I like…

Wed, 28th Jun 2017
Antethic – [2017] Ghost Shirt Society

Electronic post rock greatness. We probably all have heard those drawn-out, long, boring post rock extravaganzas with minutes of continuous distorted guitar sound carpets without sense or measure. This not one of those… Instead, the genre is enriched by upbeat tracks, careful addition of electronic effects and ornamentation. In short: it sounds pretty fresh! Read…

Wed, 21st Jun 2017
Triplexity – [2008] Between Light and Shadow

Diverse trip hop lounge world jazz… did I say diverse? Oh my gosh is this album diverse. The common theme is laid-back background music, but otherwise all bets are off. Just listen to the three picks I have selected this week and decide for yourself…

Wed, 14th Jun 2017
M-PeX – [2017] Carianae

Portuguese electro ambient guitar. Excellent mostly instrumental guitar and contrabass, just with a tiny bit of electronic ambience in the background. The release for me has an incredibly intense cinematic touch. Highly recommended for headphones to capture the subtle effects. Already a modern classic, I would say.

Wed, 7th Jun 2017
Mr. Bitterness And The Guilty Pleasures – [2017] Songs From The Surveillance Age

Coming to save alternative rock. Wow, what an excellent production. It’s rare to be blown away by so “little” happening on the surface, while so much falls all into the right place in the background. Electronic effects left and right, used in subtle ways for great effect make this a well crafted release.

Wed, 31st May 2017
Bralitz – [2017] Bralitz

Beach folk grandeur. Sounds a bit like Newton Faulkner. Vocal guitar folky pop, with violin strings for effect. If you are more into “self-made” sounding music rather than overproduced electro-pop, you’ll very much like this small EP, published at blocSonic in their maxBlocs release cycle.

Wed, 24th May 2017
Esgi – [2008] Echoes in Time

Soundtrack-style ambient music. This album developed out of writing a score to an unnamed project. To me, the result would make the perfect fit with one of the older Civilization or Age of Empires titles.

Wed, 17th May 2017
Eva & Manu – [2011] Still Traveling EP

Acoustic vocal indie pop. This gem from French-Finish duo Eva & Manu has unfortunately been de-published by the creators from the original sources, but the archive.org mirror is still up. And thanks to the nature of Creative Commons license, I can be sure that it remains legal to download the original EP. Four songs long,…

Wed, 10th May 2017
Dream Generator – [2007] Glazed

Old-school techno meets IDM. This gem from long-standing (active since 2001 and running) netlabel Kahvi offers an interesting blend of 90’s techno sounds and 00’s more refined approach to Electro. While the beats and bass synth lines sound almost retro to my 2017 ears, melody and harmonies sound fresher.

Wed, 3rd May 2017
Dream Mechanics – [2009] Screensaver

Casual ambient soft rock. This oldie (i.e. published last decade) is a perfect mental “screen saver”. According to the release notes on Bandcamp, the artists were called a “Russian Massive Attack” for their psychedelic, trance-inducing sound. Judge for yourself what you make of it..

Wed, 26th Apr 2017
Candlegravity – [2013] Junpei

Trippy glitch electronica. This album leans more towards the experimental side. It might need some time to be heard in total. But it might yield some exceptional moments in return. I better let the artist explain: All of the other songs are from personal experiences both good and bad and the making of this album…

Wed, 19th Apr 2017
Frenic – [2011] Lessons From The Past

Melodic instrumental hip hop. Soft beats and beautifully aranged samples make this album a very special and very seductive entry into the instrumental hip hop genre. The tracks are not completely free of repetitive arrangements, but they have less repetetive arrangements than this sentence contains repetitive arrangements… 😉

Wed, 12th Apr 2017
Hermelin – [2008] Hermelin

Straightforward post rock. Hermelin is 4 guys from Hanover in Northern Germany, performing at least since 2008. On April 1 this year they have released their newest album called Tüdeltüt. While their newest work certainly has increased in terms of production (sound quality, mixing), their first full-length release has its charm, too.

Wed, 5th Apr 2017
Gorje Hewek – [2007] Sur-Dramatic Nature

Silently impressive. Gorje Hewek is a master of deep house and similar styles. He has performed at Burning Man 2016. In this old release back at trusty netlabel Fuselab, he shows a more silent side of his craft.

Wed, 29th Mar 2017