pheedbakk

Well, well, well.

2006-03-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

As you can probably see from the lack of updates, I've grown bored with reviewing music. So from now on i'll just ocassionally pop in to throw up some links to netlabel tracks i'm digging at the moment.

Starting wiiith -+/*

http://www.ideology.de/archives/000137.php
The Sunshine Family - The Love Of
the way
... and this she did say

KiNK - (random tracks from internet)
daddy acid
a kinky groove
mr. ripptertone - coolbass (KiNK mix)
guests

damn, those are really sweet.

http://www.rohformat.de/?page_id=80
dupont - simpleton
simpleton_02
simpleton_04

rohformat / schleudertrauma .. still the best music in this style ever made.

http://www.yukiyaki.org/releases/YkYk004/Scaff/Knobs_and_Jacks
scaff - knobs and jacks
foh

http://www.papergoose.net/release_comp_pgooseisntreal/
papergoose isn't real - v.a. comp
fredo - the turn (a pagan lament)
man this guys stuff is wildy cool, great voice.

http://one.dot9.ca/2/releases.php?id=027
loscil - stases
subaquatic
faint liquid
stratus
this is one of those nice mellow ambient release you can put on an infinite loop. gorgeous and absorbing.

ochre - random track from the net
zelda rmx
awww .. what a cute zelda remix. I love it.

http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp160.html
ernesto aeroflot - strogoly - everything within
odour is poison
shaky hands
this stuff doesn't get nearly as much attention as it should, really solid cool eclectic tunes.

http://www.kahvi.org/102.php
madstyle - fine sounding seasons
basal control
morphing structure
seasons sounding fine.

wisp - archive
http://wisp.kaen.org/
man, i'm not going to bother listing every track here, because you really should download every track listed. go to the right, select all them yummy zip's, download the shit, stick on some headphones, yeah yeah yeah, you won't be sorry you did.

Yogi Rulez - Contemporary Art from the Black Market (language lab)

2005-12-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

Firstly, let me say how great it is to see the classic 'language lab' netlabel, home to so many of the scenes freshest and funkiest tracked pursuits, back in action. With their latest 'Contemporary Art from the Black Market' from the artist 'Yogi Rulez' we see there has been no lapse in quality. I knew from the first few beats I was in for something special, and as I listened to the effort unwind I was blown away. Tight crisp well produced trip-hop with enough groove to light up all your cold winter hearts. A definite don't miss!

(val)liam - early reflections (dewtone)

2005-11-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

The (relatively) new kid on the block Dewtone drops nine tracks of lush electro-acoustic soundscapes in the form of the 'Early Reflections' ep from a young Canadian new? artist named (val)liam. Perfect soundtrack for bedtime, or taking in the sunrise with a cup of tea. Brings to mind artists like FSOL, Global Communication, or the better moments of Vangelis. Prepare to be floored by the beauty.

Off the Sky - Caustic Light (autoplate)

2005-11-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

Want to escape tangible reality for a half hour? Why not throw on a set of headphones and load up Jason Corder's (aka Zen Savauge, Color by Numbers, Off the Sky, etc.) newest masterpeice 'Caustic Light'. This ep's worth of gorgeous flowing ambience has been putting me to sleep and guiding me through my dreams every night since it's release. If we could some how pipe this music thoughout the universe into every available earhole (or hearing apparatus) there would be some great peace. Perfection.

Oxygenfad - Direction (postunder)

2005-09-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

Holy breakbeats batman! This is some of the best brokenbeat extreme idm i've run across in recent memory. These tracks are all supreme. This is what would happen if you mashed a gameboy musician and squarepusher together. Thanks to the postunder label and oxygenfad for making this music available as a download. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Electronvc - Aebinstuutgart EP (acedia)

2005-09-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

I was first turned onto Electronvc's music through an Acedia compilation. His music would definately fit into the idm niche, but there is something special hidden in the core of the music presented here. Even though this Ep rounds off at a mere 7 minutes and 14 seconds it is still a whole and satisfying electronic experience. Well executed beat work and giddy bubble melodies bring this experience to life.Only the last (and shortest) track starts to explore a little to far into the forest of 'experimentation'. The first three tracks are superb examples of idm that doesn't take itself to seriously. Fun listen from an artist I look forward to hearing more from. Check it out @ acedia!

Marko Fürstenberg - Classics (thinner)

2005-09-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

Marko has always been my favorite from the talented roster of artists assosiated with thinner. His music always seems to have every detal in the right place. Every sound carefully chosen, each twist of the filters, and each breakdown of the simple complexity of the programming all seems to be one thing, perfect. Again, I'm blown away by his mastery on 'Classics', a sweet little 4 tracker of mellow/unmellow dubby techno. This is the kind of thumping techno that could fill the floors all night, or put you to sleep at night all in one breath. While your over @ thinner, check out all his other great releases there too!

Bo Marley - Bauhelm (jahtari)

2005-09-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

Sweeeeeeeeet! This is some pure chillage and easily my favorite release from the dub bleep label Jahtari. Which in itself is saying alot because I've loved every release so far. The wiggly dub beats and excellent vocal work melt into a smoked out, mind expanding, head bobbing musical experience. More like this please, and thanks for the awesome tunes!

Koordinate of Wonders - EP (please do something)

2005-09-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

The short lived, but none the less highly productive netlabel 'please do something' was/is home to quite a few of the gems of our beautiful little netlabel scene. Luckily these releases are still available to the general listening public through the archive's netlabel section, so classics like the Belarussian duo KoW's wonderful EP can still be enjoyed.
The six tracks presented on this ep are all complex synthetic idm that all feature nice builds and take you on an emotional journey into the living sounds. The sound of KoW, made up of Trimute-Ti (Drums, Keyboard, Programming) and An2one (Keyboard, Programming), brings to mind artists like Autechre. So set your Koordiantes to this wonder of magical electronics..

Izmar - Concious ep (Monotonik)

2005-08-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Izmar has already released a couple of ep worth of his funky original style of tracks on Mono211, the more downtempo/breaks sublabel of Monotonik which has been for the most part silent for the past few years. This time he drops a sweet ep of clever trip-hop on big daddy Monotonik. While i've always enjoyed Izmar's releases, this one is by far the tightest, and most accomplished work i've heard from the dutch downtempo wizard. Starting with the solid breakbeat excursion 'walking' complete with sitar jam out and funkily sung harmonies. Then, 'Ippeoppe' cuts and pastes the jazzy samples in a stoned scratch filled collage. Completing this sweet 3 tracker is 'weird friend', with more sitar jamming and some challenging odd time signatures. My favorite Izmar effort to date, well worth checking out.

Altemark - Collected Distorted Works (N.O.I.S.E)

2005-08-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

Released in 1998 on one of the early and no longer active "netlabels/modlabels" n.o.i.s.e (new.objectives.in.sound.exploration) Altemark's two tracks that make up the amazing 'Collected Distorted Works' ep are a couple of the best hardcore death metal styled IDM noise terror I've ever stumbled across. Behind the resonant filled cacophony of distorted hissing beats, is a insanely twisted genius that pulls you into the chaos and doesn't let go until the last brainshattering drop. To prepare, remove all cats/dogs/animals with "sensitive" ears (this ep just isn't for them.) adjust you stereo's output to low (pheedbakk isn't responsible for any damage to your speakers/equipment/or health) and gradually increase the volume until breakdancing sparkler stars appear in your mind. While your there, be sure to check out the rest of the noise archive for some of the greatest moments in tracked music!

William Fields - Branches (Hippocamp)

2005-07-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

William Fields, who also releases as one-third of the stellar 'Team Techno' trio, has recently dropped some of his gorgeous electronics in the form of a sixteen track full length on the hippocamp netlabel. The title 'Branches' does well to describe what you'll find within, as the music branches out into various different forms and feelings. The first half of the recording is synthy idm reminiscent of old warp records, and the second half drops the beat in favor of droney and melodic ambient tracks that melt into each other with ease. This release really shows off Fields clever programming skills and excellent sense of melodicism. This is one of those rare releases that deserve a listen from start to finish from a face that, while new to the netlabel scene, has been concocting excellent electronic music for years.

Dorthy's Magic Bag - Sfinxen, Påsen och Garderoben (X-Dump)

2005-07-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

To describe this release, from my favorite of the new batch of netlabels The X-Dump, in one simple word, the obvious choice would be eclectic. Contained within these six tracks is the most wild diverse trip into electronic experimentation I've had the pleasure of diving into for a long while. It starts off chill and beautiful with 'Cola', then track two takes a bizarre twist into a sort of bossanova boogie woogie on 'Mon a Carte Velèur' with it's silly leads and LaLaLa singing. Then the industrial laced, german vocaled, pumping basslined 'Eier Sind Der Finder'. Then things get a little crazy with the psychotic distorted speed beats 'Efedrin' (which they apparently took one too many of), and this theme is carried into 'Pedofil' with more over the top experimentations.Finally, this odd trip is laid to rest with 'What I Like', with it's strange rants like 'Lots of expensive stuff, that's what I like', in what I'm hoping is a sarcastic version of MTV like bling-blingology. Wow guys, if the X-Dump can keep up this quality (and I just downloaded the newest release from Paza which kicks some serious ass too!) they are quickly moving their way to the top of Pheedbakk's beloved netlabel list!

Sleepy Town Manufacture - Latatoo (monotonik)

2005-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know why this release didn't originally strike me when I downloaded it over two years ago, but only recently I discovered the beauty I initially overlooked. Latatoo consists of three original tracks from Russian artist STM, and a handful of remixes from the likes of tao, sense, lost bit, and secede. Where the three STM tracks are mostly beatless gorgeous ambient, the remixes tend towards a more structured beat oriented approach, which under the circumstances, doesn't manage to capture the beauty of the originals. Not to say the remixes are bad or unlistenable in anyway, but I would have personally preffered a more subtle approach. The title track 'Latatoo' is a swelling shifting landscape of energy that lifts you into the clouds and rocks you back and forth into bliss. Emotions pour out from each crevice hidden in the sounds and give rise to hope and pain all in one breath. It's like all the most touching moments in life rolled into one. Magnificent. Then, the five enjoyable, but not quite as moving, beat oriented tracks. Ending off with a return to the ambience, with 'latterly' a remix of 'latatoo' by STM with it's graceful orchestral strings playing heartwrenching melodies. A nice uplifting experience from Pheedbakk's long time favorite Monotonik.

Abstract Avenue - Audio Port (legoego)

2005-07-05T18:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't had the opportunity to check out much of the output from the 'realitively' new german netlabel legoego, but I became an instant fan when I chanced upon a cut from 'Audio Port' on a german radio show. While the track featured was of a trip-hop nature, I was suprised to find a wide variety of sounds when I checked out the full length. Skipping across the fringes of ambient, idm, and glitch, with a sprinkling of jazz and even indie influences, 'Audio Port' will keep even the most seasoned electronic listener guessing. A few personal favorites are 'FreeDAY 10aClocK', 'Zwischenraum', 'Eden', and 'Champs Elesees'. I must however make special mention of the track that was featured on the aforementioned radio show 'Rama', which is a complete jazzy trip-hop masterpeice. Clocking in at a bit under 10 minutes this smokey scratch filled epic is about as good as they come. I would have loved to hear more tunes from this lp geared towards this direction, but that absense in no way brings this fine recording down in points. True quality.

H.Kyllonen - Fissura ep (kyoto republik)

2005-06-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

Finland's H.Kyllönen has long been one of my favorite trackers and the 5 track 'Fissura ep' is a great example of this module masters work. Released on the now defunct 'kyoto republik' modlabel, play with modplug player or xmplay for best results. Kyllonen has the formula down for rousing your emotions with his charged combination of melodic ambience and effective, complex idm beatery. 'Decimal Music' sets the tone of the experience with it's funny repeated robot voice declaring 'This is Decimal Music.' over a floating paddy melody. 'Risky' combines mixed up backwards vocals with orchestral stirring strings. 'Shelly' is all distortion laden with chippy rhythmic beep beats. 'Computer Love' unleashes a barrage of synthy styled beats over a tinkling bell tone melody. 'Three Three' completes the set with complex beats over airy pads that feel just right. An amazing cohesive tracked release that makes me wonder why we ever switched over to those pesky bandwidth hogging mp3 files.

Vexion - Line Drop ep (mute)

2005-06-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

I'll be dealing here with Aaron Munson's, aka Vexion, otherwise known as 1/2 of the now mostly solo Ilkae, classic 'Line Drop ep' released in 1999 on the late modlabel mute. Presented on this ep is about an hours worth of clicky subtle ambience. While most of the tracks remain minimal with soft washes of sound caressing you mind, their is some more upbeat moments like 'Caal Point' with it's crunching gurgling beats. The ep reaches a high point on the simply titled 'ö', with it's effectively beautiful melody lines over a nice steady idm beat. Even with it's age, this release still finds it's way regularly onto my playlist. A nice peice of electronic music history and essential listening pheedbakk style. You can get the zip here, and play it with either modplug player or xmplay.

Stephen Orsak - Silly Someone (hippocamp)

2005-06-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

This is an incredibly interesting release from US artist Stephen Orsak. While it combines many different peices of ambient, idm, and downtempo aesthetics, it isn't quite strictly an electronic release. Thanks to touches of guitars and other organic elements that seperate this release from the wave of technical electronics so common in the scene. Some standouts include 'A Simple Response' with it's shuffled stacatto beats, the jazzy abstract guitar plunkering trip-hop of 'Her New Form', the chimey down beat 'Gabriel', the brainwashy philosophical ranted 'Open to Encounters', and the bell tinkling fell good 'Silly Someone'. Like a breathe of fresh air in a smog filled musical world. Head on over to the good folks at hippocamp for these fresh sounds!

Psilodump - You Sick Little Monkey (X-Dump)

2005-06-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Previously here on Pheedbakk I reviewed the debut release of the new X-dump netlabel. Continuing with the quality X-dump 02 has arrived! This time we are presented with a mini-album from label founder Psilodump. All the tracks have a definite videogame feel, but this time there is a healthy dose of other influences that come into play for the total albums sound. Starting with the title track, we have whacked out pads interacting with porta scratch madness in a pixelized ensemble of insanity. Sick litttle monkey indeed. Things continue in this fashion, from the standard lobit Idm of 'Follow the Leaders', to the synthetic upbeat 'Senki Otus'. Which brings us to what is easily the best track on the record, 'Ninja Cookies' with it's barrage of over the top complex beat work that easily rivals the works of artists like Aphex or Squarepusher, and even some 'Ren & Stimpy' samples too boot! This track is the sickness, and really shows off Psilodumps programming genious. Included in the release are 3 nice remixes from the artists Pippilina, Dorthy's Magic Bag, and Lithis. More great brain fuckers from the X-dump crew.

goto80 - bravo (candy mind)

2005-06-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

Goto80 has a reputation for releasing great videogamey music made with old school computers. I've always enjoyed his monotonik ep's and had a good time with his low bitrate release on 20kbps. This time the release comes from a netlabel called candy mind. Sillyness prevails throughout his music, and it's in full force again with this release. 'Valkompstvisan', the opener has funny sped up vocals over a bitcrunched beat and chirpy chippers. Track two, 'Semieasy', has a more NES feel. 'Wombatman' is some whacky big bass vg experimentations. Included in the release are two remixes by Hally and Liquid Stranger. Hally's mix of 'Semieasy' reminds me alot of the Contra soundtrack for NES with it's sweet leads and high energy. The last track, a remix of 'Wombatman' from Liquid Stranger, is probably the best track from the release, it's got a great feeling of velocity and motion with it's fast breakbeats and roleplaying style melody. It reminds me alot of Darkhalo's tunes. Fans of retro or bleeps will find more than enough in this release to satisfy their button mashing minds.

Xhale - Polaroid Skulk (self released)

2005-06-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

Erik Skodvin aka Xhale, founder of the fantastic netlabel Miasmah, has recently released the 'Polaroid Skulk Ep' through his personal website. Xhale is one of the few artists who have managed to create their own personal easily recognizable sound. Had I not known the artist for this release I could have definately guessed. The 8 tracks presented here mostly travel the path of twitchy, glitchy Idm with odd tempo and time changes. Some standouts include the dnb-ish 'uncut lawn' with it's multidimensional breakwork, the mysterious 'film people' with it's bongos and eerie vocal manipulations. 'pencil type b1' is more straight laced beats and droney ambience, or 'your mind' which takes a more danceable approach. This is a nice release from a long standing staple of netaudio, and for that matter commercial music scene. While some of the tracks might even break the boundry of tolerable experimentation for some, fans of labels like warp for example, will find themselves in good company.

Makunouchi Bento - Live @ TM04Base (ogredung)

2005-06-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

The Romanian duo of Waka X & Qewza aka Makunochi Bento, have been releasing awesome quality idm, ambient, and experimental music through the net scene for quite some time now. With a plethora of amazing releases on netlabels like Miasmah and One, to name a few, they are a driving force in today's netaudio. With this episode we are treated to a live set of their trademark sound, and what a set it is. I would have loved to be in the crowd for this one. I didn't recognize all the tracks in the mix, but the ones I did, I was suprised at how obliterated they were from the originals. Things stay mostly on the more extreme idm side of the spectrum, ocassionally lapsing into ambient interludes, only to crash into more sweet & lovely experimentations. So props to the boys of Bento, keep gving me some more of that fine ear candy. You can find this release on the consistenly pleasing ogredung netlabel.

Sun, Cancelled - On my 8th Day at Sea ep (Sundays in Spring)

2005-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm really glad a label like 'Sundays in Spring' exist in the netlabel world. They really filled a gap taht previously just wasn't properly represented in the scene. Mellow, dreamy, depressed emotinal music for contemplation. It's the kind of music that takes you back to your high school love affairs. I haven't gotten a chance to check out the entire catalog, but I haven't downloaded a release yet that I haven't fallen in love with. I'll deal here with the release by an artist called 'Sun, Cancelled' which is the second release on the label. This ep consists mostly of guitar and vocals, with an ocassional light sprinkly of keyboards. The soft subtle vocals intertwine with the reverberating finger picked guitar like a dream. There's even some intrumental moments like the title track 'On my 8th Day at Sea'. My personal favorite track 'Ursa Minor' ends the experience with a rousing chorus that evokes serious waves of nostalgia with lines like 'I saw Ursa Minor, She winked back at me, I haven't seen her, Since I was thirteen.'. A beautiful release that's definately worth checking out and is a good introduction for those uninitiated with the label.

Lump - Vending Machine (textone)

2005-06-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

For a couple of years now, Finland's Lump has been broadcasting his unique blend of minimal techno on the textone netlabel. Last year saw the release of their 'Six Feet and Sinking ep' which was an absolute minimal gem. Lump manages to salvage a new sound out of a genre that is often times tired and derivative. On 'Vending Machine' we have a return to the sounds introduced in 'Six Feet'. Minimal textured soundscapes blend seamlessly with slower tempo 4/4 rhythmic elements. On 'Matto' we have a more ambient feel with found sound sampled beats. 'Electric Duck Parade' is a more steady pulsing affair, with glurpy analog sounds. Quack Quack. '2nd Rate Conflict' becomes a little more coherent and uptempo with it's shifting grooves. The ep closes with 'Kumina' where the beats fall out of 4/4 rhythm into a smooth break beat shuffle. Always fresh, lump is definately on my watch list.

enjoy - need 4 speed (laverna)

2005-06-18T19:31:00.000-07:00

Ale Corsini aka Enjoy, a member of Juice Looser, a collective of djs, musicians, visual artists, videomakers and actors located in udine (north of Italy) who have had tracks featured on good looking records, has released some sweet dnb action on the italian netlabel Laverna. These tracks hit hard and fast just like they should. Quality dnb like ya grandma used to make. There is a sort of oldskool flavour to the tracks with nice warbly basslines and vocals. Nothing to crazy or out there, just some quality tunes for your casual listening. If your a fan of straight up dnb I highly recommend this release to you, you will not be dissapointed.

Plug - Low-Batt ep (filtro)

2005-06-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

I recently discovered the filtro netlabel from mexico on during some random internet surfing. Suprisingly I haven't heard of this 6 month old netlabel that has already outputted an impressive 8 releases. I've only scratched the surface of what this label has to offer but I can tell from the first two releases we are talking some serious quality. I will deal here with the release from Cristián Cárdenas, otherwise know as the artist 'Plug' (not to be confused with Luke Vibert) entitled 'Low-Batt ep'. From the moment the first subbass hit I was hooked. Synopated grooves and washes of ambient textures parade over clicky glitchy house beats. Fans of labels like Thinner will feel right at home with this release. The ep also features two remixes by artists Karras and Panoptioca (nortec collective). A really impressive release that has me incredibly excited to check out the rest of the output from the filtro crew. Respect.

The Sunshine Family - The Sunshine Family ep (hippocamp)

2005-06-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

Man! Wow! What can I say about the Sunshine Family? I haven't been able to get these fools out of my playlist or out of my head for weeks now. This is one of those netlabel releases where you just can't beleive that it's a free download. This is some QUALITY downtempo ambient and loungey jazz. The tracks all have a perfect sense of melodicism and a nice mix of electronic and organic elements. Tracks like '9teen80none' remind me of a more listenable boc, with it's emotinally stirring pads. 'Snow Maggots' clocking in at only a little over a minute, brings to mind the 'sleeping music' in old squaresoft roleplaying games. 'Cafe O.K' is probably my favorite of the bunch with it's loungey mellow grooves, breaking in the middle with some well placed samples as a women expalins her 'small talk' at the cafe is in fact 'world shaking conversation'. It's a nice moment that really brings the track to life. The sun set's on this episode of the sunshine family with 'Bank O.k' with more gorgeous ambience over a more complex and uptempo beat. It's a formula that works well for this excellent 'collective?' of musician. I will also, at some point, review their 'is Hot, Hot, Hot!' release also on hippocamp, because it's another truly fantastic release. You can check it out at Hippocamp.

stakka - alone ep (camomille)

2005-06-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Poland's Stakka drops his first release ever, some funky experimental synth trip-hop on the excellent camomille netlabel. It's hard for me to try and put a label on this release, as the term 'trip-hop' does little to describe the music within. The synthy melodies float above downtempo structured rhythms that walk with one foot squarely in a more 'idm' border. The opener 'Finlandia' has a shuffled r&b beat over lightly strummed guitars and cascading waves of ambience. 'Snowball' is some bilssful easy downbeat 4/4. Then we have some wicked distorted beat work in 'lucky people [headphones version]' with it's stuttering sputtering electrical currents. Next 'Mosaik' is more straight forward hiphop vibes with harpy melodics. To end it all say goodbye with 'farewell' with a more organic clappy funk beat. It took me a few listens before this ep really hit me, overall this is a very listenable record that becomes more enjoyable with each play. So shut the door, throw on the headphones, head on over to camomille
and be alone with the 'alone ep'.

Skruvmejsel - L8 Mas-Q (X-Dump)

2005-06-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting release from an interesting artist that I've never heard of before. Thanks to h0l's FFWD linklog for point this one out to me, because otherwise it would have flown under my radar. At first glance I expected this release to be a standard run of the mill idm romp in the woods, but instead I was treated to an album that is equal parts 70's funk, soul, world music, videogame influences, chiptune, all wrapped up in an idm blanket. It's cool to hear an artist who is really having fun making music, and the result is (big suprise) a fun record to listen to. The tracks presented all feature great production skills, but you get a sense of irreverent silliness running through them. The title track and start to the journey 'L8 Mas-q' skips around different sounds, funky at first, runs into a digeridoo jam, and then skips back to funk to finish off with a neat little snes sounding jam. 'Spacebaselap' is phat vocoded funk beats with a wobbly bassline that hits hard and feels right. 'Maksomolgan' starts out with some cut-up vinyl that breaks into a latin timed rhythm, then builds into a more straight forward 4/4 deal. Then 'Q-Alarm' continues that 4/4 theme with chippy synth melodies. Lastly, the ultra retro 'Fiskmat' hits which eerily reminds me of the circus song played with an NES. A great release that doesn't take itself too seriously. You can check it out at X-Dump.

johan alpmar - aminet module archive

2005-06-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

An artist that has had an incredible and long lasting influence on my musical taste is an old school mod artist that I discovered back in the early BBS days through a local board that had the aminet (amiga archives) cd for download over their site. His name is Johan Alpmar and he has his own peculiar sound that is both warm and disturbing at the same time. The tracks are often a hybrid combination of melodic ambiences mixed with many experimental elements. Of the 108 tracks offered through this archive, the largest file is a mere 382k. The files are in an amiga compression format (.lha) extractable with windows archiving programs like WinAce and can be played with a program like Xmplay which supports the 4-channel mod format. (Select the 'All Files' option in the file load dialouge box because the Amiga mod filenames are backwards i.e. mod.abigplace instead of abigplace.mod but will still play when selected.) There seems to be a particular fascination with Johan for the subject of extraterristials, which makes me wonder if maybe they didn't finally come and take him away for good, explaining his complete absence of any musical output (as far as I can tell.) in the more recent years. This theme runs in and out of each track and the sounds presented have an amazing otherworldly feel. While much of the archive is excellent, some tracks are a bit lacking, and have a feeling of being produced from deep halluncinogenic state from which no intelligble conclusions can be drawn. Some personal favorites include angeleyes, bubbles, current, dukhanbo, etherealabduct, extlight, infrapulse, kexihalsen, magicmister, mypulse, outlinexit, patterngrey, planetary, pussdub, saucersoul, sunburn, sunbeamdance, thebest, thinkofyou, and visionenh to name a few.
You can find the archive here. Enjoy.

strala - skyjacking ep (kahvi)

2005-06-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

The 'skyjacking ep' by strala, who went on to be known as vae, and was the original founder of the kahvi netlabel, is a sweet little 2 tracker ep in the XM (fastertracker2) foramt. This is the first kahvi release in fact, but can no longer even be found on it's website. Shame considering this is my personal favorite kahvi release of all time. In the first track 'Altimeter Failure' we have a creeping build-up that does indeed sound like a plane loosing altitude. Around the midpoint a crunchy smashing beat starts to build into the mix with all the glips and glups in all the right places. The second track 'aerospace luggage' gets right to the point with tricky distorted beats over a slippy bassline. A great debut for a long standing and respectable netlabel from a personal favorite artist.

ceniq - voq ep (milk)

2005-06-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Voq ep by Ceniq is probably my favorite net release of all time. Released in it's open source format (impulse tracker) on the classic and beloved milk netlabel, it is a shining example of tracked ambience and idm. Being a tracked release, I recommend playing this with either Xmplay or Modplug Player. Things start off calm and flowing on the track 'Flud (Tec7)' with it's soft and emotive strings as a backdrop to a skittering subtle beat. Simply gorgeous. Then it kicks off with a little uptempo idm wizardy in 'd.e was wrong (edit)' with mellow synthy melodic pads clashing against the complex and twisted beats. Next up is the b-side edit to the previous track where the melody becomes more background, and the beats start to shift and grind in a strange and rewarding synopation. The ep ends with IMHO the worlds most insanely beautiful song, which reminds me alot of something you might hear on Aphex's SAW2. A choir of voices hum some chords in the background as a string slowly plays out a heartwrenching melody. Fire this baby up on a cold lonely night, and breathe in the air, fantastic. Available for download here.

Paniq - Neurons: Fire at Will (self released)

2005-06-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

This new release from longtime scenester Paniq is more of what I've come to expect from this excellent German demoscene musician. This release is divided into four sections that loosely categorize the tracks into genres. The first section 'ElectroBaroqueBeats' is some tight big beat ballads like 'elektronische musik' with it's vocoded vocals set over an uptempo reggae like melody. Then there's tracks like 'heavy working robot' that combine arpped out chip melodies with robotic voices chanting 'heavy robot, working robot' like a twisted videogame version of daft punk's 'harder, better, faster, stronger'. It's also nice to see an artist pushing shamanistic thoughtforms into their art with tracks like 'Life (The Little Song), like a diary of self awakening. Now things shift gear and attempt something new while maintaining a nice general flow. Section two, entitled 'SteadyPulsedelic' starts to do just that, steadily pulse and make you feel psychedelic. You've got chip influenced house tunes like 'the manual', the grooving remix of the night rider theme song 'psy rider' which stays faithful to the original while bringing it into the present. Some hardcore brainwave smashing 4/4 in 'theta' and 'I love only you' that would certainly carry their weight on any dancefloor. Then things REALLY shift gears, in fact, they shift into reverse, in the third section 'Nonsensimatic'. Here you'll find such oddities as 'in the club (acapella)' a silly beatbox/mouth noises remake of the original, the banjo plunkering 'thoughtcrime' which brings strange images of tripped out black and white cartoons dancing a jig to mind. And finally, we have the fourth section 'Tribal Ambientropy', some downtempo tracks to end the experience on a good note. Tracks like the progressive melodic 'progressions', and some ambient/industrial experiments in tracks like 'randomness decides'. It completes itself with a secret track with the aforementioned plucky banjo track mixed flipmode style with some busta vox. Another great release by a great artist that always keep the listener guessing. The recording is available on the artists website (paniq.org) and a hard copy lossless CD version in DVD case is also available for purchase for those who, according to the website, are 'attached to material things'.

netaudio in the hizzouse

2005-06-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

I eat netaudio for breakfast.