Category: Review

Recommendations to music releases I like. Each review features track descriptions of my favourite tracks. A download link can be found at the bottom of each posting.

Knoxband – [2010] Emerging From The Shadows

50 minutes of pure harmonies. Walls of synthetic chords, structured by spares percussion. Knoxband on diym netlabel is a wonderful example that soundscapes don’t have to sound blurry. If I wanted to describe the album in three words, “musical space journey” would be my best bet. Find previews to my two favourite tracks below.

Wed, 7th Dec 2011
Lunatic Scale – [2011] VII

The Clinical Archives is one of the major netlabels out there. While most of their releases are too experimental for my taste, over 400 releases allowed me nevertheless to find some good ones. VII by Lunatic Scale is fresh, melodic alternative (or mainstream) Rock from Russia. Three sweet tracks, short and good.

Wed, 30th Nov 2011
Various Artists – [2008] The Silent Ballet: Volume 9

The netlabel Lost Children specialises in Progressive Rock and related music genres. They offer a magnificent collection of free music compilations called The Silent Ballet. Here I present my favourite release of this series, being on the quiet and ambient side of the musical spectrum it offers. Volumes 1, 5 and 6 are my next…

Tue, 15th Nov 2011
Colida – [2006] Eyes Shut and Ears Wide Open

Colida is a hard alternative rock band. And pretty good at it. This release at the German netlabel analog und ehrlich was recorded in 2005 in Oldenburg and is Colida’s third album. It only has four tracks, but those are worth the download. Fast, driving riffs, dry drums and a great voice — what else…

Sun, 2nd Oct 2011
Derek Clegg – [2011] Beautiful World

This album is so conventional that it’s almost boring. It has the default Pop-Rock instrumentation, that familiar singer-songwriter sound and unsurprising song structures. But hey, that does not have to be bad. Especially when it sounds as good as on this release by DIY Musicians. Like always, two commented preview tracks await you below, together…

Sat, 17th Sep 2011
Carlo Serafini – [2011] Gammatar

Why always stick to the boring, twelve-halftones-per-octave, well-tempered diatonic scale? That’s what Wendy Carlos (creator of the soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece Clockwork Orange) might have thought when inventing his muscic scales Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. Carlo Serafini took the Gamma scale, tune his guitar and recorded nine songs with this tuning. The sound…

Sat, 17th Sep 2011
Pretty Lights

Usually I only write reviews of music that is hosted on the Internet Archive, from time to time I have to make an exception to this self-imposed rule. Remix artist Pretty Lights from Colarado, USA, has distilled a glitchy style of sampled instrumental hip hop with disco attitude. Fortunately, I found two of his tracks…

Wed, 6th Jul 2011
IlKobra – [2010] Cogito Ergo Beat

This week’s release is unusually hard electronic music by released last year at the Sostanze netlabel. It features monotonic, stomping, pure Breakbeats or Drum & Bass — I’m not so sure about the exact classification. Six tracks with well chosen names like Preludio or Santo Hertz await to thrill your nerves and your neighbours if…

Wed, 23rd Feb 2011
Various Artists – [2010] The Best Creative Commons Music Moments 2010

Huge multi-genre compilation. Electro, dance, acoustic vocal pop, all represented in exquisite detail. A good year to choose from.

Wed, 19th Jan 2011
Paper Plane Pilot – [2009] This Place

Cute. Pop. Music. That’s this EP in a nutshell. Sweet like early child memories, with a faint glimpse of melancholy. The netlabel Corporate Identity serves this yummy musical candy. What a pity that it only has two tracks. Like usually, I strongly suggest to listen to the samples below and to download the release. This…

Wed, 1st Dec 2010
stockfinster – [2005] All becomes music

Great ambient shoegaze Electropop like AIR. Hm… that’s stockfinster in a nutshell. What else to write? Of course they don’t sound exactly like them, they seem to have taken up influences by Zero 7, too. They are more difficult to classify as purely easy-listening, a little bit of Trip Hop is in the mix. 10…

Wed, 24th Nov 2010
Cam Butler – [2004] Dreamland EP

Cam Butler would easily win any “Be the next Ennio Morricone” contest, the composer of well known italo-western movie soundtracks like Once Upon a Time in the West. Cam Butler’s music sounds just like one of those soundtracks, but much happier. Guitars and violins ride into the sunset, riding on a chivalry of classic march…

Wed, 17th Nov 2010
Khonnor – [2003] Lost Pets

Early CC music smash hit. One of the most-played and -remixed EPs.

Wed, 3rd Nov 2010
Younnat – [2010] His Name Is Radar

The Japanese netlabel Bump Foot is a great source for a wide range of free music. His Name Is Radar is a very organic sounding Pop Funk release. Younnat’s other album The Duct, released in 2007 at the same netlabel, is among the Top 10 of most downloaded releases. He also has released some tracks…

Wed, 27th Oct 2010
Yasahi – [2005] When Earth Fell On The Moon EP

A well mixed one-file EP comes from Yasahi, released at the netlabel Sublogic Corporation, which specializes in electronic dance music. This release is a solid breakbeat breakfast. Five songs with a total playtime of 17 minutes wait to be discovered. In this case, both download and this preview contain all tracks in a single file.…

Wed, 20th Oct 2010