Text written in 2006 for Sceen Magazine by: Moritz "mo." Sauer and Alexander Scholz
Translation from German into English: Stepha Zanella
Photography by Matthias H. Risse shot in 2006

Being a nerd can also be cool. Especially if you manage to produce something as catchy as what Disrupt came up with. His first netlabel release came out in May 2004 on the electronica label Phonocake.org from Dresden, Germany. It was melodious, hard to get out of your head and surprisingly successful. A separate netlabel platform was needed — a project Jan quickly baptized Jahtari.

Know your roots

The success and ease of these recordings lies in the clever but simple recipe that’s at the heart of most of Disrupt’s music.

1. Take the bass riff from something rockin’ tune or,...
2. Compose your own riddim.
3. Melt together with a melody from the 8-bit generation. (Monkey Island coconut flavor or something from the pantry in the Maniac Mansion)

Wanna taste? Check out "International Karate" ("IT+ Version").

At the age of 31 Jan has already experienced a big chunk of music culture. Travelling through gabba and drum-and-bass; over experimental to minimal techno he arrived at the happy island we call dub. On this journey he was influenced by more than classics loved in Jamaica. Inspiration came to him via the Berlin Basic Channel posse, Moritz von Oswaldt and Mark Ernestus, all of whom were a part of the Rhythm & Sound project.

As Disrupt it was never Jan’s intention to just fall into old catagories. He wanted to find a way to let his beloved dub reggae develop. That’s how the Digital Laptop Reggae concept was born. Because after all, at the bottom of it there’s a singing notebook CPU and the music software Ableton Live. For the charming 8-bit feel of his trademark sound he threw in an extra bunch of rusty freeware plug-ins.

To all this, Jan combined the idea of the riddim. A riddim is like the musical open source code of dub. A hook line, if you will. It’s basically a short bass instrumental. Riddims have an original source but are used again and again by diverse artists to make new songs. Often enough riddims have been used and changed and mutated so much that the source or even the original composer can no longer be identified. It’s generally the rule that a riddim is not simply copied and used. As in hip hop and drum-and-bass, where a classic drum loop is rearranged into a new beat, Disrupt takes a riddim and after slicing and dicing, adds it to his own recipe. If he can’t find a riddim that fits, he simply cooks up his own.

Sound signature

There’s a certain nostalgia listening to the sound of Disrupt — be it at Phonocake.org, iDEOLOGY.de or right there at Jahtari.org. The idea of recompiling retro-esque C64 game soundtracks is as simple as it is clever. For Jan it is more than a fondness for computer nostalgia though. It’s a deep musical appreciation of the composers of the 8-bit era, as their timeless songs have their very own sound and composition aesthetic. Jan rolls them up in massive bass and serves it up hot.

Sometime, of course, it’s got to be sampled. When Jan samples, he’s using game sounds as heard on his EP Drum Sounds. On one particular track he recorded a round of Space Invaders and built it into his beat. The melodies from games however, are not sampled. They’re ‘original’ copies made with the help of plug-ins. The boys from Jahtari aren’t just recycling old wrecks, but respectfully honouring the oldschool elders. Tune into their recent Monkey Island bootleg mix — a dub tribute that came wrapped up appropriately in a little online adventure game.

Disrupt vs Bo Marley

Jan has created something new with his Disrupt project. But that doesn’t mean that everyone releasing at Jahtari has to follow his lead. The primary directives are having fun, being your freaky self, and loving reggae and dub. One such freak also on Jahtari is Bo Marley.

Bo Marley is the Danes Max, Benjamin, Kristian und Theis. It’s also Jan’s hottest dish on the dub menu. In their fun tracks Bo Marley fuses dada-esque mutated German text with live instruments that the band has hunted down on their Space Echo trips. The result is original, catchy music, that you can’t get out of your head nor shake off your tapping feet.

As opposed to many other netaudio artists, Bo Marley is anything but a studio band. Together with Disrupt they have rocked such festivals as Fusion in Germany or Jazzjuice in Aarhus, Denmark. But Bo Marley are actually best known for their spontaneous live acts in public. They cruise over hill and dale in their jerry-built Space Echo analog electronic caravan and put on shows of Danish dub in dead-end streets and market squares. The accidental audience is stunned but also thrilled enough to stop and dance.

Disrupt and Bo Marley are a perfect match. Together they’ve also released a conventional CD, the first ever produced by Jahtari. Bo Marley vs. Disrupt is a concept album of small trilogies strung together from different Bo Marley tracks. Each trilogy begins with an old-fashioned ‘Tracker’ intro produced on an Amiga, followed by the actual Bo Marley track. Disrupt then rounds it all out by remixing it in his dub style. Very Jahtari.

The CD is available for a very friendly price and is sent by Jan himself. Included is your Bo Marley button of choice and good vibrations. The first physical release from Jahtari stays true to the netlabel concept though: you can listen to the whole album online.

Flea market fortune

Jahtari — where Jan does most of the label work besides releasing his own tracks — is an uplifting example of free music culture and how to release and market your own stuff. This simply wasn’t possible 15 years ago. That Jan is now invited to festivals and getting DJ gigs and that thousands are hearing and loving what he does, is only thanks to the internet and the netlabel idea of making and sharing music. “I could ever charge people for a faceless MP3 that would just end up on somebody’s hard drive. MP3 encoding costs pretty much nothing,” says Jan. But what about the creative value of his music? “Music will always be made, no matter what. The only question is, what will it cost to bring it to people.”

Ultimately, both MP3s and CDs seem a little inappropriate for the sound of Jahtari. “Reggae and dub are actually vinyl music,” says Jan. Unlike techno and other electronica that works fine in the MP3 format, dub in digital formats never really caught on. Vinyl and reggae culture simply grew up 100% together. No wonder Jan is constantly being asked when the Jahtari stuff is finally coming out on vinyl. Soon, he says. In the future real record releases are going to take priority over netlabel downloads. Not just because of demand but because of Jan’s utter love of it. “I want 7”s you can throw on the turntable. I want 10”s, 12”s on 45, LPs and covers for the shelf. I want people to stumble over Jahtari stuff in record shops and in 10 years to find it again at the flea market where, of course, it’ll carry a collector’s item price tag,” he says. “That’s how reggae works. And hopefully this will never change.” Full analog 8-bit rewind going fast forward!

In the meantime impatient DJs keep cutting their own Jahtari dubplates and a pipeline full of net releases by old and new Jahtari artists will rock your DSL. At least that’s the promise we extract from Jan before he waves goodbye and heads back into his 8-bit-chip-dub-digital-laptop-reggae wonderland. You know, where Pac-Man’s high on dope not pills and the Giana Sisters have dreads.

Links to Jahtari

Website: Jahtari.org

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Charming Melodic Ambient | In general it's Sven Swift's part to introduce you to the world of creative commons ambient music. But where Sven gets crazy about experimental tunes, I still love the classic ambient tunes. And this is what "Spaces" by Feldmaus is about. Colourful and melodic ambient floating like water. It's like a trip to a peaceful surrealistic world.

Feldmaus - "Lively Inner Shore" (MP3)
Feldmaus - "The Sky Turned (feat. Imachi Akira)" (MP3)
Feldmaus - "Put On A Magical Hood" (MP3)

Passage Netlabel is an ambient sub-division of Fragment Music netlabel established in 2009. While the russians deliver HiFi-Minimal Techno and similiar tracks on Fragment Music the main course of Passage is to explore the deepest and most charming forms of abstract musical expression. Passage is handling flexible style borders with several main settings - flowing ambience, organic structure and depth.

Feldmaus is a collaboration between Evgeny Shchukin and Alexander Tochilkin both known as Modul. The title of their album describes best what the music is about: spaces where you find musical ambience in each corner.

Starting off slowly and subtle with "Sunbeams In High Grass" and "Lively Inner Shore" you will listen to ambient music with a subtle 4-to-the-floor kickdrum like a pulsating heart. In one of those tracks Japanese guitarist Imachi Akira joined with Feldmaus to build a fantastic trip through space and time in track called "The Sky Turned (feat. Imachi Akira)".

A beautiful, relaxed and cinematic adventure.

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Download: Feldmaus - "Spaces" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Feldmaus
Release: Feldmaus - "Spaces"
Netlabel: www.passagemusic.net

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Machtdose navigates you through the world of creative commons music | Photo by shwe

Podcast Birthday Party | We call him "A Passionate Podcaster with no Boundaries" and since four years already, Roland from Machtdose produces his wonderful netaudio podcast. Every new episode is a bucket full of musical adventures with a calm and sophisticated moderation. Not only playing some jewels ranging from ambient to electronica to indie pop to techno, Roland offers always some insights of those netlabels. I am always surprised by the range of music styles and the picks he makes. Let's call him the John Peel of creative commons music.

In my view one of the best points to start digging deeper into the creative commons music scene. So don't miss the new anniversary november show!

Machtdose Podcast November 2009

Playlist of Machtdoses November'09 Edition

1. The amber room & nica - Lights II [kosmo 026]
2. Emily In Love - Sow the Seeds [Corpid 029] Extra: Video
3. Julien Mier - Windmills & Lantarnlights [Bump Foot 114 and inqb8r 012]
4. Mapmap - 090426 [PublicSpacesLab 010]
5. Torsion - Sundrops on the Ocean (Original Piano version) [PublicSpacesLab 003]
6. The Lights Galaxia - While She Sleeps (Morning Edit) [Luxus Arctica 001]
7. Nienvox & 813 - Reflections [Bump Foot 115]
8. Lavajaz - Missing [spontanMusik V 012]
9. Nik Jade - in your system [IVDT mp3 073]
10. Jahzique - Transience [Tropic 55]
11. Sea Inside - Snow Dance [Elpamusic 26]
12. Beatamines - Inspirationsdoping [Prozent Music 013]
13. Radarfilm - On my way [Fantomton 002]
14. TkY - Under Sky [Diggarama 034]
15. W10 - Schmooze [kosmo 021]
16. Michell Phunk - Dream about you [Brennnessel 004]
17. AXMusique - Faith [Brennnessel 006]
18. Midibyte - People Don’t Dance (No More) [Signorafranca 049]
19. Professor Kliq - All Control [rec72 023 and audiovisual theorem 017]
20. glomag - Red Pixel Dust [8bitpeoples 095]

If you like Machtdose, than subscribe to his Podcast and get every new episode automatically!

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Deep House | If you like Deep House Music with a juicy kickdrum and a relaxed mood, Supafeed is the netlabel of choice. Nearly every release sweets up the dancefloor. Superloader makes no exception and the power of his tunes - like his fellow mates on Supafeed - come from the stoic grooves, some little chords and the continous trippin on a mellow vibe.

Superloader - "Let if off!" (MP3)
Superloader - "Fusion" (MP3)
Superloader - "Wig Wam Bam" (MP3)

Superloader makes that sort of house music which seems to never stop. If you're not down in the club with the crew, you feel the lax mood. The night is long and Supafeed sucks us into that endless groove we get hypnotized by the whole night. Just take "Let it off". You start the track and the groove is there. It will still be the same, when the track stops. Nevertheless you get some damn nice sounds while seesawing under the disco ball with Superloader.

Grab the love handles of you girlfriend and drag her onto the dancefloor!

MP3 Music Download

Download: Superloader - "Let it off!" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: Superloader - "Fusion"
Netlabel: www.supafeed.net

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Far-Out Beats | E.T. getting weededed? Starship Enterprise floating above a field of ripely Marihuana shrubs? All this hand drawn and arranged in flashy colour in front of a space backdrop? The art on Raleigh Moncrief's enigmatic "Combed Over Chrome EP" did not made me hit the download button immediately but from the first noises I heard I was sure: this one is a doozie. And eventually, the artwork ain't too bad.

Raleigh Moncrief- "Goldrush (Chandeliers Remix)" (MP3)
Raleigh Moncrief- "Similies" (MP3)
Raleigh Moncrief- "Combed Over Chrome" (MP3)

Ah c'mon! I can't find out ANYTHING about neither "Raleigh Moncrief" nor the remixers (?) "Chandeliers" and "Dash!". Obstructive Vibrations, please! Moncrief is from Cali, is he? Everything I got is the private Myspace of designer Brandon Kalarney and these five tunes...

Well. "Combed Over Chrome" is massive. Spliffed-out and dirty. Fresh and experimental, yet catchy and compatible with any Hip Hop and Dubstep dancefloor. Astro Nautico, well-informed source for Bay Area Rap as usual, says "Hudson Mohawke and Matthew David had a baby and named him Raleigh Moncrief", and that's a good comparison indeed.

All five tracks are dope. While "Combed Over Chrome" features heavy beats and glittering synth arpreggios, "Goldrush (Chandeliers Remix)" focuses on IDM-ish melodies and baaad ass bass. With "Similies", Raleigh Moncrief fuses wobble-wobble Dubstep with an Old School Hip Hop beat and Mohawkesque synth leads. Timeless. Eventually, "Quiet Please" closes the chromo dance with a deep 'n' dirty piece of solanaceous Dubstep that equally sounds L.A. and London. OMG what a BOMB!

MP3 Hip Hop Music Download

Download: "Combed Over Chrome EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Netlabel: obstructivevibe.com

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Underwater Ambient Mix | Listening to Aqual(o)unge 4 is like swimming through a coral reef. The sunrays falls into the water and enlighten the colourful submarine world. Everything seems to float here a little slowlier. The colours of the plants overwhelm you when sunlight touches the leaves or make the dandruffs of fishes glimmer. That's what comes to mind while listening to the music mix from Roland of Machtdose called "Aqual(o)unge 4".

Roland from Machtdose - "Aqual(o)unge 4" (MP3)

Without no doubt: Roland from Machtdose has a wonderful taste when it comes to music. More fascinating are his skills to find those wonderful nuggets in the huge pond of creative commons music. Even though he says about himself not being a dj, this blend of dubby techno, lush electronica and bright ambient speaks different.

Simply a wonderful selection while swimming through the reefes of netaudio.

MP3 Dubby Ambient Music Download

Download: "Aqual(o)unge 4" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: DJ Mix - "Aqual(o)unge 4"

"Aqual(o)unge 4" Playlist

1. Beyond Absence - Heavy Breath [Webbed Hand 117]
2. Vertical67 - Blue [Acroplane 027]
3. Grids/Units/Planes - Flickering Fluros (This Brittle Night) [IDM Forums 002]
4. Umbrellas in the Rain - Unbroken Surface [test tube 142]
5. Ingredient - Striations [Zenapolae 051]
6. Foam - Trouble [Archipel 056]
7. Fatiq - Race to Love [MonoKraK 24]
8. Pesina Siller - Miss Kittin [Konfort 023]
9. Yagya - Coconut Rice [Sutemos 023]
10. freund der familie - 000 [broque 046]
11. hoax - Regis [insectorama 031]
12. Matthias Springer - Realm of Minds [Rumpfunk 018]
13. Echonoise - Telonius Trak [This Side Music 007]
14. Phillip Wilkerson - Sun Up [Bypass 038]
15. Zzzzra - Mutation [bio-mechanics 004]
16. Dev - Mirror Error [parastate 001]
17. Mr. Zu - In the Distance [deepindub 030]
18. Optic - Untitled [schall 025]
19. deep source project - drifting under [white in music 08]
20. Ryko - Swimming Places [auflegware 028]
21. Marsmellows - oh my dear [insectorama 030]
22. glander - untiten [Yuki Yaki 010]
23. Waveform - Dub Inside Of Us (re-edit) [deeplimit 10]
24. Roman Slavka - Paste [Pincet 004]
25. EugeneKha - Moonshine [bypass 019]
26. Pirata - Fotones en la oscuridad [Pueblo Nuevo 043]
27. Braun - Finalizer [dreiton 016]
28. Dino Dumandan - Refraction Rarefaction [Deep Lever]
29. Winterstrand - Seawater Mountain [laridae 040]
30. Lokua - Water Rock [Soft Phase 03]
31. Audiodump - May [Electronica 03]
32. Background Noise - Neptune [Ruidemos 012]

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Melodic Movers | "Automatic Behaviour" is one of these cosy and melodic electronic music albums. It operates inbetween the genres techno, trance and elektro and melts everything in a classic way together. On the one side you feel warm synthesizer grooves and trip on those fine appregiators and on the other side you listen to those classy drummachines and the fabulous 909 and 808 kicks.

Isma Serrano - "She Is Electric" (MP3)
Isma Serrano- "Everything Is Alright" (MP3)
Isma Serrano- "Mi Eleccion" (MP3)

I like this album because it remains somehow calm, friendly and chilly. Nothing really spectacular hides between the patterns, no freaky sound experiments scrape your your. All but solid grooves and reflections of the past when techno still had this trancy flavor. When techno was more than minimal, when techno was still pure sound, when techno was friendly.

Just listen to a track like "She Is Electric". Have a seat on the rolling 808-elektro-rhythm and smile happy about those synthesizer sweeps. Than proceed and taste some of the sweet acid bleeps in "Processing". Yeah, right, that's classic DubTechno.

"Automatic Behaviour" is a true and solid album.

MP3 Techno Elektro Trance Music Download

Download: Isma Serrano "Automatic Behaviour" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Isma Serrano
Release: Isma Serrano "Automatic Behaviour"
Netlabel: Antiritmo Netlabel

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August Ambient Bliss | Slow surfaced when Autoplate went down - maybe you remember their exquisite "Love" EP which was released as apl050 on Christmas Day 2008. I'm quite positive unbreakable Resting Bell will not cease with Slow's latest EP "Dual Box". Actually, there are already two new releases online as I'm writing... Well. "Dual Box" is kinesope Ambient at it's best. Experimental and august.

Slow - "Miracle" (MP3)
Slow - "Ioma" (MP3)
Slow - "Insomia" (MP3)

Wonderful we get such music for free! Even more as it's Fall in Middle Europe and it does not take much imagination to syncronize to contemplative songs of Slow to the sound of rain on the other side of the window.

Behind the telling moniker is young Sergey Suokas, hailing from Karelia, Russia, close to Finland. Sergey released a lot of music under different names, including a set of 12"s for his Techno outfit Suokas. The US-American record label Self Storage published the first full-length Slow album just recently ("Sealand"), and "Dual Box" is Sergey's second EP for Resting Bell already. His engagement with experimental Ambient duo Feldmaus is worth a note as well. Boy... he's a maniac!

It always feels a bit stupid to connect geographical ancestry and sound identity.  However, with all Slow release so far I had the strong impression that Sergey Soukas combines something somehow Scandinavian with something somehow Russian. Quixotic, naive melodies on the one hand, clear and focussed song writing on the other. His sound design is lush and playful.

I only have a very few timeless favourites in Ambient music, among these probably Nest and Direwires & Freder, but "Dual Box" by Slow has a realistic chance become classic as well.

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Download: "Dual Box" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: sergeysuokas.ru
Release: Slow - "Dual Box"
Netlabel: restingbell.net

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Atmospheric Progressive Techno | "Dejaview Watchers" is one of those groovy Techno Dub tracks where you sit on an ice rock drifting through a cold, wide and abstract world. With "Metasphera" you glide on a spaceship through a progressive house world meeting natives from the Psytrance Movement. "New Suite" introduces you to your new minimal techno sci-fi apartment. And "Structured Abstractions" is the slightly mysterious cellar, where all the machines calculate the artificial world you just visited.

The Unique Matter - "dejaview watchers" (MP3)
The Unique Matter - "metasphera" (MP3)
The Unique Matter - "new suite" (MP3)
The Unique Matter - "structured abstractions" (MP3)

The Unique Matter delivers you with four tracks an insight of the russian soul of techno. My favorite track is "Dejaview Watchers", I just enjoy dubby techno from time to time. It's just a perfect sound to surf through the web. But the excellent fact of this EP remains: All tracks come with a different approach and give you an excellent release to use as a dj as well as enjoying it at home or your mp3 player.

"Douze points, russie!"

MP3 Techno Music Download

Download: The Unique Matter - "Metasphere EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: The Unique Matter - "Metasphere EP"
Netlabel: Sologroove Netlabel

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Bitter-Sweet Folk Pop | Oh wow. This one totally got me... Aaahh Records made themselves an excellent name in the scene. More important, they did so for many people not explicitly following the CC move. Me personally, my heart was barely involved in an AR release up to know. With Ms Emilie Lund however, they put me down. Unadorned heart-break music with black spots here and there...

Emilie Lund - "Childhood Friend" (MP3)
Emilie Lund - "Rewind" (MP3)

Five tiny songs, acoustic guitar, vocals, some little gimmicks every now and then. Emilie Lund's voice is slightly girlish but brings forth a certain mature timbre I enjoy a lot. I tend to say she sounds very Swedish although I can not explain what this means - maybe it's the very rolemodel Nina Persson burned into my mind. Hard to resist however.

Despite her voice and the fact Emilie writes beautiful and mesmerizing melodies, her songs are always more than just folky lullabies. There is a strong 60s feel about her selftitled EP. I can hear she is up for the likes of Vashti Bunyan, Nick Drake, Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks and everything in-between. Still the record does not sound dated by any chance.

Emilie Lund opens a jewel case filled with delicate Art-Pop, dreamful abstractions of US-American Folklore and these little bit of edges I called black spots in the introduction. In "Rewind", she sings "He went searching for her love as if  / his love weren't imporant / Even tried to heal her scars as if / his scars weren't important". Boy she's gorgeous.

MP3 Folk Pop Music Download

Download: "Emilie Lund EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: myspace.com/emilielund
Release: Emilie Lund - "Emilie Lund EP"
Netlabel: aaahh-records.net

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Mixtape Love | Phlow-Magazine.com and Phlow.es present you the best of the best of our music reviews with a charming musicplayer. We feed our mixtape with the best songs and tracks of each review and presents it to you in that good'ol mixtape look. The flash player comes out of the ashes of mixwit.com. After the RIAA teared down Mixwit, the programmers were so nice to give the beautiful player to everybody. Why hadn't they used creative commons music?!? Nevertheless, grab the code on mixwidget.org and build your own mixtape. or listen to the Spanish Phlow Mixtape or the English Phlow Mixtape. In the future just click on the pumpin' loudspeaker!

The Spanish Phlow Mixtape

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Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/dearsomeone/

Short Note | Some weeks ago I did a work-over of the Netaudio News Section of Netlabels.org. I like playing around with software, especially with online software. But a month ago I also asked Twingly.com to let me create a special channel only for blogs writing about creative commons music. Today this Twingly Thang called the Phlow Channel went online and it collects now articles and reviews from known blogs and magazines loving cc music. So please let me know, if I forgot any important blogs. I won't include blogs which review cc music from time to time. This channel focuses only on the "hardliners". Have a look, and hopefully Twingly Channels will have an RSS-Feed soon, so you won't miss any review in the future.

And tell me, which blogs I missed!

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Festival Compilation | When I think of electronic music from russia, I always think of minimal music and melodic IDM. And when I listen now to the two beautiful "NetAudio Russia Compilations" I am once more convinced that Russia especially Moscow has a strong eletronic scene I would like to explore by night. Both compilations are compiled with care and are just great.

Iky Que - "10msec" (MP3)
Frunk29 - "Alenkin Home" (MP3)
Feldmaus - "Put On A Magical Hood (Passage Version)" (MP3)
Vadim Lankov - "Impudence" (MP3)

On both "NetAudio Russia Compilations" you find in general three music genres: breakbeat-driven tracks, melodic techno and ambient tunes.

At first I thought, the compilators would have separated four to the floor-tracks from IDM from Ambient, but that's not the case.

The main idea of both compilations is to let the listeners explore the variety of electronic music done by musicians performing on the festival. And I have to say, both trips are just wonderful and fit well together.

You dive into dreamish IDM like "Rosolam (Novomix)" from moroza_knozova or breakbeats with vocals like "10msec" from Iky Que or more straight elektro like "Liquid Fur" from Stud.

On the more upfront side I adore especially two tracks which would best be described as poetic minimal techhouse. Give "Put On A Magical Hood (Passage Version)" by Feldmaus and "Alenkin Home" by Frunk29 a listen. Wonderful tunes, to dance in the morning hours to with your eyes shut of course. Truly extraordinay how Frunk29 weaves some jazzy flavor into his track.

But also DJs with a heart for more pushy grooves get something for their sets. Vadim Lankov knows how to give the bassdrum that adequate kick. He hands us two excellent tracks over. With "Lankov - secondsun" he explores minimal techno with some tricky shuffling and experimental sounds and "Impudence" is that rave tune, you need to heat up the dancefloor.

A really fantastic double-feature from Russia. Don't miss it!

MP3 Electronic Music Download

Release: Various - "NetAudio Russia Compilation Volume 1 & 2"
Download: Various - "NetAudio Russia Compilation Volume 1 & 2" (ZIP)

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Festival Impressions | You missed Netaudio Berlin Festival in 2009? Let's start the diashow above and have a look what you just missed...

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Minimal Techno Magic | Techno-lovers should download this EP right away. Charged and pumping techno-grooves meet the unexpected. This is what you can say. Most of the tracks start like "ordinary" techno-tracks, but then they mutate into forms, you never would have expected. The unhuman machine gets to life. Organic structures unfold and play with the strong 4/4 grid. It's absolute lovely to observe the magic. You will never know, in what direction this track will go next.

Alec Troniq - "The Hills Ashore" (MP3)
Alec Troniq - "I'm the foolaloof (Tim Susa vs Jan Yang remix)" (MP3)

The soundquality of this production is very high, but we wouldn't have expected anything else from the Broque-labs. Alec Troniq is living in Dresden/Germany and this is his first release on Broque.

On his "AAA Efficiency" EP are remixes as well, that surely speak a different language, but they are funtional and fictional as well. Techno-lovers from all ages will love to heat the dancefloor with this sound. Poetic, playful, strong. Sometimes a little more like minimal house, sometimes a little more like lean techno. Sometimes a little more like listening to indie-rock. Does this make sense? Well, of course it does.

MP3 Techno House Music Download

Download: Alec Troniq - "AAA Efficiency EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: Aleq Troniq - "AAA Efficiency"
Netlabel: Broque

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IDM Jam Session | The first of the twins is the endearing and imaginative way that Chris Da Mouse, aka 2nd Mouse (could that be his real name?), introduced his new album "Levite" in an email that pinged into my inbox less than a week ago. This album is indeed the first of two works compiled, I am told, during an explosively creative period of six months when, due to being internet-less, he was able to concentrate on living life and making music. Well, I’m pleased to say that the big net machine’s loss was music’s gain, as he put his time to excellent use.

2nd mouse - "Times are hard for dreamers" (MP3)
2nd mouse - "Fistful of beats" (MP3)
2nd mouse - "Ai Moo" (MP3)
2nd mouse- "So, tell me Oscillato" (MP3)

2nd Mouse describes his music as being like Plaid, Depeche Mode, Aphex Twin and Square Pusher having a jam session - imagine what a party that would be. So, with this illustrious company in mind, standards are set very high.

Mister Da Mouse chooses his sounds well with an ear to individual combinations of both classic and new sounds that cause you to re-assess your assumptions. "Levite" is an album whose feel is, in one respect, cinematic; tracks such as "Times are hard for dreamers" and a "Fistful of beats" create a sense of place, atmosphere and narrative in the listener that is evocative and entrancing. On the other hand Levite is also an album stuffed full with good old synth pop tunes. Throughout there is a sense of playfulness.

The already well honed sense of melody, displayed with such aplomb in his previous album "An Armful Of Opposite Lock" has now been refined. This, allied to an undoubted sense of creative confidence that comes with hitting one’s stride, produces some delightful and surprising moments of wry musical wit and humor. Where "An Armful" had more moments of darkness "Levite" is an exercise in balance. A track like "Drone Revolt", which has something of the nasty about it, contains an excitable super fast keyboard lick to offset the sinister elements. What we have here is a mature collection of compositions that deploy pop sensibilities and mix them intelligently with more cutting edge elements to produce exquisite tracks such as "So, tell me Oscillator" and "Ai Moo". Here there are parallels with the music of the excellent King Bastard from Herb Recordings.

The wistful and atmospheric "Times are hard for dreamers" transports you to a caberet club, complete with crooning vocals from Mister Da Mouse, brushed drums, string and echoed guitar strikes and meandering keyboards. This is down at heal dreaming; a nostalgia for a past yet to happen; a place for gin soaked regrets from the future. On "So, tell me Oscillator" inspiration is drawn from the little known electronic artist Plone and continues in a retro 50s kitch vibe often favoured by 2nd Mouse. This kitch element is further explored in the whimsical "Fistful of beats" a Spaghetti-western themed track complete with clomping woodblock sound and honkey-tonk-esque piano.

I enjoyed the previous offering, "An Armful of Opposite Lock", because of 2nd Mouse’s ability to imaginatively combine classic synth sounds with unusual and unexpected elements, without making it seem forced. Levite takes this a step further in what is an album of both considerable maturity and childish pleasure. Can’t wait for the second twin, "Minerva", to be born on www.sampleoakrecords.com. Play it loud with the lights out.

MP3 IDM Electronica Music Download

Download: 2nd mouse - "levite" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: 2nd mouse @ soundcloud myspace
Release: 2nd mouse - "levite"
Netlabel: Fwonk Netlabel

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Complex Samurai Drum'n'Bass | As a Beat Samurai N-Noiz follows the path of Photek and his comrades-in-arms. His "Unbounding The Future EP" is an epic trip with haunting sounds, elaborate chopped-up beats and a unique style which makes every former master proud. You rarely find so deep, complex and intelligent Drum'n'Bass beats.

N-Noiz - "Red Spider Nebula" (MP3)
N-Noiz - "Hasaki" (MP3)
N-Noiz - "Engines of Abundance" (MP3)
N-Noiz - "Vibin The Crook" (MP3)

This is one fantastic peace of drum'n'bass art. It's dark, yes. There are no melodic hooks, yes. But if you are a beat addict as I am, you just have to admire the craftful work. You will be sucked into the deep atmosphere.

With enthusiastic love N-Noiz formed outstanding drum'n'bass-tracks. And also if Photek is the sword-swinging leader, N-Noiz has his own fighting style. Just listen how the bass diggs a grave for every opponent, how the beats travel through the stereo field. My only critisism concerns to the last track "Vibin The Crook". There N-Noiz repeated the vocals to much or the MC had no more rhymes in his pocket. Nevertheless the voice by Semtex M fits perfect to the music vibe.

Dark, powerful and fresh!

MP3 Drum and Bass Music Download

Download: N-Noiz - "Unbounding The Future EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: N-Noiz
Release: N-Noiz - "Unbounding The Future EP"
Netlabel: www.plainaudio.com

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Ambient Electronic Mixture | Regardless what anyone may think, Psychon has not been asleep for the past five years. After releasing “apocalypse has been dubbed the weekend pill", the band submerged into a sea of sounds redescovering new textures, shapes and forms of music. Eventually that led them to a path where different musical tastes were found.

Psychon - "Blinddayton" (MP3)
Psychon - "Nanamissouri" (MP3)
Psychon - "Cancelwashington" (MP3)

It is good to notice how the words “new” and “discover” can easily merge into what we usually call “evolution”. So basically this means Lars Meijer, Coen Polack and Jantijn Prins bring us this new release as the result of the progressive change on their musical tastes. The complexity and density of their tracks remain intact, but the several layers of sound are now refined.

“Field recordings, electronic minimalism and acoustic maximalism” were blent with such various styles, redefining the band's bounderies in a studio. They reconstructed their own patterns of what music production might be, allowing the existence of new sonorities, where there is no space for inconsistency. Everything plays a specific role in the track as a whole, letting harmony breath there. The long tracks counteract the short ones and give the record a certain dynamic.

Ultimately, fluidity is the key-word.

MP3 Downbeat Music Download

Download: Psychon – "Slow Country for Old Men" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Psychon
Release: Psychon – "Slow Country for Old Men"
Netlabel: www.narrominded.com

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Where The Wild Synths At | Blame me to be an anachronistic fool. Call me old-fashioned. Still I got to let you know: an analogue synthesizer sounds better than a digital one. It may act like a diva (detunes randomly, hisses like hell) but eventually you get a sound that has soul and a physical form. The Latvian duo Astrowind took the hard road and conquered their machines.

Astrowind - "Lost And Found On The Moon" (MP3)
Astrowind - "Mute Pilot" (MP3)

Astrowind are Kriipis Tulo and Mahi Bukimi. I follow them since their first releases at long-gone ElektroSound Netlabel and their retro-style synthesizer Ambient always made a little bell ring in my head. After two record that did not get me too much, this one is just right again. "Fresh Wind in the Valley of Dreams" is released on the young Moldavian Netlabel Silent Flow.

Astrowind play old Russian synthesizer, record their jams live on tape (!) to carefully rework them at home (I love the idea they do it with a cutting knife and Scotch tape but I guess on this account they do NOT do analogue). Outcome is multicoloured streams of dense synthesizer Ambient, enhanced by extensive pedal processing and vocal samples from Soviet cosmonautics (In particular, "Fresh Wind in the Valley of Dreams" is dedicated to A. A. Leonov).

Astrowind music flows like water. And like water can vary from runlet to tsunami, Tulo and Bukimi play with dynamics as well. Modus operandi changes from lovely to destructive, from contemplative to rude health - but the overall mood is august mellifluence. The cosmonautics reference works beautifully as well and given this, the link to 70's German Kosmische Musik ain't too far-fetched. Lovin' it.

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Download: "Fresh Wind In The Valley Of Dreams" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: astrowind.net
Release: Astrowind - "Fresh Wind In The Valley Of Dreams"
Netlabel: Silent Flow

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Twin Peaks Ambient | Boy this one has been sleeping on my HD for a long time! Brian Grainger hooks up with long-time partner David Tagg to delivers an epic four track EP for the US-American Ambient imprint Rope Swing Cities. It is about a year the "Sawdust Aromatics" EP has been released but the record is timeless and worth a listen no matter how old.

Brian Grainger - "Summer's Parting Ways" (MP3)

Recently, my focus shifted a bit from the Ambient and post structuralist music I have been reviewing for Phlow since the beginning. This is quite a natural process. But every once a while, a record hits me like a slingshot and throws me back in time. This happened for Tiago Sousa's debut LP (available via Humming Conch soon). And it happend for "Sawdust Aromatics" by the likes of David Tagg and Brian Grainger.

Allow for a brief historical abstract. David Tagg was behind the wheel at Expanding Electronic Diversity. In 2006, David and Brian Grainger of Milieu Music met to first found a band and subsequently launch the experimental music imprints Install Sound and Second Sun Recordings, the later of which is an exclusive market place for their own collaborative music. "The Future of  Modern Guitar", as we can learn at the SSR info site.

For "Sawdust Aromatics", Rope Swing Cities (another key player in US experimental music) compiles two songs of each Tagg and Grainger, giving a total running time of +50 minutes. Brian Graingers pieces are intensively harmonic mediations on simple guitar motives. The epic "Summer Parting Ways" exactly feels like late Summer paralysis, with a wonderful synth texture beneath delayed guitar. The howling and otherworldly processings in the later half of the song are mesmerizing.

David Tagg, in contrast, focuses less on harmonics but the Gordian entanglements of field-recordings and processed guitar. Rather sound design than song, Grainger's composition are more easily to get into. Still, beyond the crackling textures of David Tagg's music, a lot of goodness can be found.

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Download: "Sawdust Aromatics" (ZIP)
Artist-Website: David Tagg | Brian Grainger
Release: "Sawdust Aromatics"
Netlabel: ropeswingcities.com

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Smooth, Melancholic, Jazzy | Jazzy drums, a regular bass line, a sound somewhere between an oboe and a clarinet - but is in fact an accordion: “Woody Allen” has arrived to the set. And there it was, a tiny impression that something mysterious is about to happen. Some suspense, please.

Evgeny Grinko – "Woody Allen" (MP3)
Evgeny Grinko – "Poirot and Tarutz walk in Paris" (MP3)
Evgeny Grinko – "28359840921=42" (MP3)

Well, the big mistery question here is "Why was this debut EP released so late?". I am sorry, but I'm a lame detective and have no answers for you. However, I can assure you that once you start to listen to it, you probably will not stop the music before you get to the very last second, because it is just like a movie.

You get the opportunity to smile, to laugh, to think about life, and maybe shed one or two tears while you do it. Actually, you can find a bit of every emotion in the record, from smooth jazz to melancholic piano solos. The best thing about it? Probably the fact that you can choose your own screenplay, in order not to get disappointed. But with a soundtrack like this, I severely doubt that you can dream about a bad plot.

Review written by Rute Correia

MP3 Music Download

Download: Evgeny Grinko – "Cinematic Melodies EP" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Evgeny Grinko
Release: Evgeny Grinko – "Cinematic Melodies EP"
Netlabel: www.raig.ru

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Jazz meets Drum'n'Bass | Bitbasic's new album Sprinkling Rainbows, released on Monotonik, delves deep into the world of smooth and funky Jazz stylings, in a follow up the 2007 "Grating Rainbows EP". This is an album of deft and clever combinations that soothe and then surprise the listener, as exquisite jazz chords and chromatics give way to drill and bass rasps and glitchy repetition, before falling luxuriously back into a pleasing bath of strings or mellow guitar. Bitbasic presents music that plays on the tensions between heavily quantized, truncated sound and free style playing; indulging in a playground of cut ups and programming.

Bitbasic - "Realization" (MP3)
Bitbasic - "Damaged Beyond Repair" (MP3)
Bitbasic - "Ain't No Sunshine" (MP3)

At over fifty minutes, this wonderfully cohesive album treats the listener to a variety of gear shifts and mood changes that make the whole experience engaging and enervating from beginning to end. Whether it is the rapid, funky breaks and signature changes of "Realization", the acoustic guitar sound, descending Resident style analogue synth sighs and stuttering, reverby drums of "Damaged Beyond Repair", or the surprising but beautifully executed cover of "Ain't No Sunshine", this is an album that will make you grin at the pleasure of it all.

At some point during Roxy and Elsewhere, Frank Zappa declares that "Jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny": a statement that adroitly encapsulated the moribund state of much of what jazz had become by the mid 1970’s. For Zappa, a playful and creative engagement with jazz, and his combinations thereof with other musical styles, served as a platform for countless reinventions. While George Duke, Ruth Underwood, Don Preston, Napolean Murphy Brock et al may have been superseded by samples, perhaps, in some tenuous way, Bitbasic’s Sprinkling Rainbows is another step along a path of enlightened, intelligent and wry experimentation.

Review written by Greg Healey.

MP3 Electronica Music Download

Download: Bitbasic - "Sprinkling Rainbows" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Bitbasic
Release: Bitbasic - "Sprinkling Rainbows"
Netlabel: Monotonik

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Demoscene meets Phlow | Right between July and August the demoscene party Evoke 2009 took place in the beautiful city of Cologne. That's where I met Juergen Beck, demoscene enthusiast and music lover. He asked me for a cooperation and all I had to do, was to dig into our music archive to find some really stunning creative commons music and of course some 8-bit-music-gems to please the demosceners. The mix was done by Vincenzo who combined the different styles together. Delicious!

Bitfellas Podcast meets Phlow (MP3)

In the last two years I more and more discovered, that cooperations between like-minded are the best elixir to make magic moments happen. And you have to meet them in reality. Since two years now, I rock this magazine together with Sven Swift. And it's pure fun. This year a team of creative comons freaks rocked our city with Cologne Commons. And now you can discover with me another of this fantastic moments. Listen to the excellent and with love crafted BitFellas Podcast. And don't miss to grab their Podcast Feed.

I just handed over some of my favorites to Juergen after our talk. I discovered these tracks in the last years while digging archive.org, scene.org and all those netlabels. And someone else mixed these tracks and I just can say: Perfect! I would never had done it in this way. And this is the magic, you discover new ways on looking, listening and so on...

And one more thang: I am jealous, when I see these beautiful graphics they did for the show. And the podcast logo is amazing! Space Invaders forever!

PS: You find also a cue-file for the the mp3 to cut it in peaces, but I would rather not. The mix by Vincenzo is perfect as it is.

Playlist of BitFellas Podcast Mix

1. Cornbeast - "Megablast"
2. Coehn and Foehrb - "Mittel zum Finger"
3. Comfort Fit - "Rock da Dam (feat. Portfomat)"
4. Prymer and Blaktroniks - "Pimp Knowledgy (Krii remix)"
5. Winnie The Shit - "I Love You"
6. AEED - "Cry now"
7. Willbe - "Zephyr"
8. enLounge - "Morning espresso"
9. The Groove Guerilla - "That day"
10. Essell - "Daydream"
11. Henrik Jose - "Possibilities"
12. cie - "Schwedische Gardinen"
13. Sudio - "Ion Funnel"
14. Vincent Casanova - "Take Me Beyond (Paul Keeley remix)"

Click on a musician to read the review.

MP3 Podcast Music Download

Download: Bitfellas Podcast meets Phlow (MP3) (cue-file)
Website: podcast.bitfellas.org
Demoscene: Evoke 2009

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Don Ludwig, Antina Michels and Raimund Reintjes prepared one - if not the most - exciting creative commons festival in 2009. Netaudio Berlin 2009 will present nearly hundred artists, groups or music projects making noise in the free culture movement called netaudio. Since weeks music lovers from all over europe wait for the festival. We interviewed Antina and Raimund to get to know what will happen in october in Berlin.

After two years the second Netaudio Gathering in Berlin will open its gates from 8th to the 11th of October. Who is taking part in the Netaudio Berlin Festival and who are the main creators of the event?

Who is taking part? It would be a long list if we were to mention all the artists, speakers and participants! Solely the night program from Thursday to Saturday contains close to a hundred artists, groups or music projects. The free daytime program on Friday and Saturday is also packed with workshops, lectures, discussions, showcases and various art installations resp. performances. It would be better for you to flip through the lineup on our website.

Your second question is a lot easier to answer. The main driving forces behind the Netaudio Festival Berlin are – ladies first – Antina Michels, a European Ethnographer and author of the book about "Netlabels – social networks on- and offline", Don Ludwig – free Graphic Designer and long time Netaudio activist (Pentagonik, Netlag etc.) and Raimund Reintjes, an Event Manager and Netaudio Supporter, who emblazed the initial flame to the Berlin Festival activities in 2007. But without the network of activists: Henry, Sarah, Jon, Timor, Kevin, Kirsten, Hannes, Volker, Saskia and some more friends surrounding us, a festival of this velocity would still only be a dream.

What is the main driving force behind your engagement for the free music movement, also known as creative commons music or netaudio? Why do you have such a love for this culture so that you spend so much of your time creating such a festival?

Raimund: It’s the strong belief that there should be a fair and a strong relationship between the artist (formerly known as the producer), the music (formerly known as the product) and the listener (formerly known as the consumer). Creative Commons on the legal – and netlabels on the physical side of life provide the best starting point. I have realized in the past 15-20 years to re-organize the perverted relations within the music business we have to start from the very beginning, to bring the whole thing back on its feet again – but so many artists, music lovers and professionals are working on this subject.

It’s exciting to see the growing impact and effects this movement has had on the rules of the game already. Music is basically something to touch your heart and soul – not for the profit of a few big companies. Netaudio is bringing dignity back into the music business by eliminating the financial aspect as the roots of engagement. This is not the end of the story – but it’s meant to wipe out the conditions of greed and replace them with an economy of trust and attention.

Antina: The festival is the practical realisation of more theoretical thoughts in my book. The festival also stands for the "face to face" interactions, stepping away from the internet as Andi Studer from the Netaudio Festival London 2008 has previously remarked: "The offline festival for online music."

Netaudio needs the real life physical exchange – and thrives from it. The participants and guests will have personable experiences together; strengthening the relationships already formed online and making new friendships face to face. These contacts can be valuable for musical and artistic collaborations which become possible by the connections made at the festival, as an example the Trioon project which is a collaboration between J-Lab (former Netaudio London, now Berlin), Dr. Nojoke (Netaudio Berlin) and Servando (Spain, now Berlin). The Festival also allows the artists to promote themselves, to be heard and to raise their profile.

One aspect of my personal motivation is the practical/my experience of a ‘community of practice’ – (a form of collaboration in a team, which is based on- and offline communications, a learning concept developed by Lave and Wenger) working and learning together under the recent circumstances like project orientated, temporally limited collaboration. It facilitates the in-sight in collective, co-working and (co-) learning processes. I have to admit that my research instinct comes up sometimes ;)

Another aspect of my motivation is the opportunity to bring people from different cultural backgrounds together, to give them the possibility of exchange, for example in discussions. In equal measure more informal meetings are important and motivating: having fun together on the dance floor, listening to music, chatting, catching up and networking at the netaudio fair. In this way ‘offline contexts’ and a feeling of belonging are created. This gives the possibility of remembering ‘former’ online friends more enduringly than if it were just left at a single online contact.

What has changed during the last two years? What can we expect from Netaudio Berlin and why should we come?

Raimund: mo. – you should be coming because we invited you to moderate a round table discussion about online distribution and the role of netlabels as a hinge between the “market” and the creative output of the artists! All the others should come to watch you of course…

Ahem… ok, we’ve invited a few more experts for an informative daytime program. There will be some 40 netlabels presenting themselves – so if you are an artist and in search of top level contacts within the netaudio scene – we have a plethora of them. And if you love exploring the progressive developments in music & styles you should not miss our widespread night program with all sorts of electronic music like Techno, Minimal and House – but also Dubstep and Drum’n’Bass, Triphop and Nujazz, Pop, Dub, 8-Bit, HipHop, Techdub and especially the Experimantal Stage at the opening night on Thursday… The variety of styles is one of the main attractions, also the extension of the festival which now starts on Thursday. We have also extended the daytime program - which now has two long afternoons and three parallel branches of activities. We have also upgraded to a better venue – which has provided us with some better working conditions. We do not have to squat in order to have enough space…

In spring you called for entries. Now the program is finished. How many entries did you get and under which criteria did you choose the artists? What was your main goal?

We got roundabout 150 entries. But through a multi-leveled procedure and also through the required amount of information we tried to support requests from those artists who really wanted to get involved in this specifically – and not just in any other festival. We tried to give some extra support to artists from Eastern countries. So we have now announced artists from Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Morocco and Serbia – and we hope that they all get visas and permission from the authorities to play in Berlin. Other criteria were mainly subjective. We’ve chosen what we liked the most. Around half of the program is filled with artists from the “Call for Entries”, the other half has been asked by our bookers if they would like to take part. We thought this would be a fair arrangement between our own ideas and the offers from the communities.

When organising and inviting musicians and artist to such a happening like Netaudio Berlin, I’m sure everybody has their own favorites. Which musicians or artist are your favorites and what do you yourself not want to miss?

Netaudio Ping Pong: partly music performance, partly a game for all to play.

Raimund: As I have been in charge of the booking for the Experimental Floor and the Dub & Techdub Floor you’ll find nearly all my favorites here. For sure I am also very happy about a whole bunch of artists on other floors – and I helped on decisions with one or two of the others. But to be honest I am really proud that we can present something like the Experimental Floor on Thursday.

There has never been such a line-up at a musical event before. It is a unique combination of artists and due to the nature of their music you would never normally see them billed at this time, on this day, in this setting, so we are very pleased to be able to offer them and the visitors this treat. Here we have about eight representatives with extremely creative and free minds, experimenting with sounds and musical atmospheres all combined on one floor! And the Dub & Techdub Floor on Saturday contains a close to perfect selection of my personal favorites. I can’t live without one or the other release of their music on my mp3 player – always ready to sweeten my days…

Antina: The most interesting thing about a festival is a variety of styles, not only music genres, but also varied forms of presentation like musical showcases, audio-visual performances, films, discussions, workshops, lectures and ping pong sessions. Personally, I’m especially glad to welcome reggae, dub and 8-bit artists in the night program and also to have more experimental, downtempo and ambient artists in the day program. The netlabel showcases will open up the possibility to chat, network and enjoy the music at the same time.

Besides music in the evening Netaudio Berlin also focuses on other creative commons art forms and has some knowledge to offer. What exactly?

We are showing, for example, a selection of CC-movies from Stefan Kluge of VEB Leipzig – who informs us about the ideas behind CC movies and also why they even allow these movies to be used for commercial purpose… Then we have the netaudio ping pong game, an interactive game which uses netaudio sounds. We also have some field recording projects with concerts, sound- and net-installations as well as an exhibition on netlabels. Also there are a lot of discussions about various aspects of CC on the daytime program.

In many contracts with the musicians you "signed" the music of the artists. Do you plan to offer free live recordings afterwards?

We will record the whole festival for our own documentation and maybe for live streaming – but also we might release some of the recorded material afterwards. There are only a few artists who do not want that. In matters of post-festival releases we are maybe a little more interested in the intellectual outcome of the day program. We’d love to think about spoken word releases like lectures and discussions. There are enough netlabels to release high quality netaudio music. But there is no such thing like a publisher for CC-audio books resp. intellectual creative commons.

Only here and there you’ll find single releases of this kind. We would like to develop this aspect. But we might also release some live sets of the music program. If everything goes well we might broadcast a live radio and live net-radio from the festival – but the venue is very difficult for that. During the next few days we are investing a lot of time, energy and also some money in trying to set up an infrastructure for broadband streaming. It would be so nice - and also appropriate…

Thank you very much for the interview and see you at Netaudio Berlin 2009 in october!

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Cracklin Beats & Samples | Mo'Town Junkie is not a newbie in the Scene: he has published several works on different netlabels, ending up on founding his own, Phonotactics. By the way, let me suggest you a visit to the new website. Ok, so it is not new to have a netaudio album just made out of raw samples. But somehow in between all the megabytes we can collect on the web, it seems that there is always something that amazes us.

Mo'Town Junkie - "Do Bongo" (MP3)
Mo'Town Junkie - Lost in a Lonely Road (MP3)
Mo'Town Junkie - Cocaine Blues (MP3) 06

Most of the times, it is not about the melody or the rhythm. It is all about the texture. And, of course, the smell of the beverage you feel like drinking at the time you listen to the tracks. “Cuts and Raw Tapes” makes me want to drink something really vintage, and yet really soft. Maybe with the lovely Laura with whom Mo'Town spent the night. After all, the samples maybe unclean, but they're definitely not raw. A record to be served chillled.

This article was written by Rute Correia

MP3 Downbeat Music Download

Download: Mo'Town Junkie – "Cuts and Raw Tapes" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: www.myspace.com/motownjunkie
Release: Mo'Town Junkie – "Cuts and Raw Tapes"
Netlabel: www.phonotactics.info

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Belgium Conference about Copyrights | Wow, this year, a lot is moving in the Creative Commons World. After our fantastic Cologne Commons Happening, Belgium is the next place to stop by. From the 24th to 26th of September 2009 our dear friends from Netwaves open the gates to Copy Feast in the City Library of Leuven.

Netwaves describes Copy Feast as a three-day festival during which copyrights, and more specifically the copying of creative works is taken under consideration. Using music, film, debate and workshops the Copy Feast teaches the public that downloading and distributing certain works indeed can be done legally. The Copy Feast is a collaboration of the radio program "netwaves" (Radio Scorpio) and the City Library of Leuven (BE).

More Information

Website: www.netwaves.org

Related posts

• No related posts.

Break-Dominant Drum'n'Bass | Breaks, Breaks, Breaks... Plainaudio is all about breaking up patterns and resetting them. Their artists love the art of aesthetic surgery. With love they cut drumloops under the microscope into delicious parts and than reassemble them with precision. Also Sub does this job very well and surrounds his drum work with a shady atmosphere.

Sub - "ID" (MP3)
Sub - "When Jupiter and Saturn meet" (MP3)
Sub - "The Monk Tune" (MP3)

Sub know the art of breakbeat science. You have to listen carefully to get sucked into his world of dark break-dominant beats. Enjoy the deep funkyness of  "The Monk Tune". Or slide onto the disharmonic strings into the title track called "ID". The only aspect you will miss with this release is the absence of melodies. It's about atmosphere and serious beat-bizniz.

MP3 Drum'n'Bass Music Download

Download: Sub - "ID" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: Sub - "ID"
Netlabel: www.plainaudio.com

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Dreamy Indie/Folk-Pop | After touring internationally for two years, the Groningen (Holland) based indie/folk-group The Black Atlantic have recently put out their debut album. "Reverence for Fallen Trees" is a lovely affair of melancholy moods. The album is packed with mostly folk influenced acoustic pop attached to sweet and soft vocal harmonies, soft strummed guitars, piano and minimal percussion.

The Black Atlantic - Dandelion (MP3)
The Black Atlantic - Heirloom (MP3)
The Black Atlantic - Old, Dim Light (MP3)

It all started with a Valentine's gift. It was back in 2006 when Geert van der Velde wrote a song for his girlfriend. She must have liked it. They married and Geert formed a band. The Black Atlantic was born. Two years, several gigs and countless jams later, the group has recorded its debut album, "Reverence for Fallen Trees". It was created over the fall of 2008 in a log cabin in the Adirondack Mountains.

It seems as if Velde and his band took a deep breath to capture the world around and inside of them - "Reverence for Fallen Trees" is the introspective and intimate outcome. For the lovers of soft tunes and sweet melodies, The Black Atlantic might be a new favorite band that it's really worth watching out for.

Virtual omnipresence. The Black Atlantic do the right thing. As an indie band, the dutch four-piece has not only signed to a wonderful and dedicated netlabel (Beep! Beep!), they are also virtually omnipresent. Next to their official site, they use Twitter, Myspace, Last.fm, Hyves, Facebook, Mininova and man, they are on Wikipedia! That's how it should be! Another great thing: You can get their album on vinyl and/or cd. Even better: You can see them live on their upcoming european tour.

Free Pop MP3 Music Download

Release-Download: The Black Atlantic - "Reverence for Fallen Trees" (RAR-Archive)
Release Site: The Black Atlantic - "Reverence for Fallen Trees"
Artist Website: http://www.theblackatlantic.com/
Artist Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theblackatlantic
Netlabel: Beep! Beep! Back Up The Truck

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A collection of Boom-Bap Hip Hop | "Turn of that hippe-di-hip-hop-hop-music, son!" Yeah this is some of that raw NYC shit. A style where Hip Hop rhythms roll straight forward without trickery. An MC bragging and rolling out his rhymes. "The Catastrophic Connection" sounds like Hip Hop in the old days. The old days, where Hip Hop was filled up with stolen samples from the disco era. Where 2Live Crew ruled Miami and Wu-Tang the east...

Luck & Ripps- "Roll Call" (MP3)
Luck & Ripps- "Complicity" (MP3)
Luck & Ripps- "Matty Ice" (MP3)

This release is classic hip hop music. Classic in every sense. Luck and Ripps brag about coolness, rap about how fantastic they are,... This one is truly classic also if you listen to the beats. Somehow they are cheesy, with a hihat ticking and a loop running straight through the whole track. But nevertheless I enjoy tracks like  "Never Be Another", "Complicity", "Roll Call" or "Matty Ice".

Especially the last one with this sick laugh-sample makes me grin. Or pick up "Roll Call" with those funky horns and the retrospective about who much fun school was when you've been young, with all that nagging sentences...

About the wonderful Booklet

And at last some sentences about the wonderful PDF which comes along with the release of "The Catastrophic Connection". Chapeau, Monsieur Michael Gregoire! I think you did a wonderful job on this one. Because if you open the PDF you get the lyrics of each track to train your rap skills ;) and you get a well-designed booklet. And most of all we get important information about the musicians. In my eyes this is so important in a world of digital anonymity. Thumbs up, for another thought-throug release at Blocsonic!

MP3 Hip Hop Music Download

Download-Packages

• "The Catastrophic Connection" (ZIP FLAC) (incl. PDF booklet)
• "The Catastrophic Connection" (ZIP 320kbs MP3) (incl. PDF booklet)
• "The Catastrophic Connection" (ZIP 192kbs MP3) (incl. PDF booklet)

Artist-Website: Luck & Ripps & Catastrophe
Release: Luck & Ripps - "The Catastrophic Connection"
Netlabel: Blocsonic

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Universal Downbeat Trip | Oh my god! Grab this amazing space funk release from the shelfes of Monotonik. With it you get smooth running downbeats, a funky bag full of organs and some of that reggae dub flavor you like so much. This smoked out space joint will make you smile, forget what you was working on, just take it and leave to the dancefloor.

aleksi virta - "o tema de viagem especial" (MP3)
aleksi virta - "whirlwind pistols dub" (MP3)

I don't know why, but I like voice samples in music tracks, babbling some weird sentences like "Are you rrready to accept my domination?!?". And aleksi virta does so, too. He found some sources talking about the universe, space men, whatever... Just listen to "outer edge intro", you'll hear what I mean.

Together with the melodic grooves, the offbeat rhythmics in tracks like "whirlwind pistols dub" or the bossa nova-inspired happy-grooves in "o tema de viagem especial" you get a wonderful release. This will be my favorite in the downbeat genre for a while!

A damn cool space trip into the world of melodic downbeats...

PS: Thanks to our writer Martin aka 020200 for the hint...

MP3 Downbeat Music Download

Download: aleksi virta - "..meets torsti" (ZIP-Archive)
Release: aleksi virta - "..meets torsti"
Netlabel: Monotonik

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Back Like Boom | Welsh Netlabel Serein is one of my top five sources for high quality Ambient, not only in the context of Netaudio. It has been silent at Serein for a quite a while, but after a period of hibernation, Serein is back with a new design. Check the "Reintroduction" mix by Huw Roberts.

"Reintroduction" by Huw Roberts (MP3)
Daniel Maze - "Steampunk" (MP3)
Neuf Meuf - "Zul" (MP3)
Herzog - "Perhaps She'd Like To See Me Fall Apart" (MP3)

Huw Roberts, the face behind Serein, is a critical mind that shaped the label's identity for the last three years, choosing artists and artwork with greatest care. Roberts starts Serein 4.0 with a mesmerizing mix of favourites and unreleased material. Highly recommended if you are digging rich and analogue-ish Ambient music.

For the future, Huw Roberts promises new release by The Inventors of Aircraft, 1000 Hours of Staring (sooo looking forward!) and the Phlow Mag darlings Nest. Website looks clean and beautiful, only the loss of all previously released material is a miss - still, via archive.org, everything remains accessible. Watch this place!

Reintroduction by Huw Roberts

01 Marcel Türkowsky - Kuro Sawa
02 Herzog - Perhaps She'd Like To See Me Fall Apart
03 Nest - Kyoto
04 1000 Hours of Staring - Deliverance (unreleased)
05 The Inventors of Aircraft - All, Nothing
06 Stephane Leonard - Words in Progress (unreleased)
07 The Inventors of Aircraft - The Black Dog
08 Michael Trommer - Long Line Building (unreleased)
09 Nest - Wheatstone (unreleased)
10 Segue - Half Way (unreleased)
11 Marcel Türkowsky - De Dodu
12 Huw Roberts - Atlas Oryx (unreleased)
13 Pine - Flume (unreleased)
14 1000 Hours of Staring - Wintincubator

Release Page

Bettina's favourites from the back catalogue

1000 Hours of Staring - Co-operative Thread (ser006)
Neuf Meuf - It's Cold in Space (ser009)
Nest - Nest (ser013) @Phlow
Daniel Maze - Red After Image (ser016) @Phlow

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Lush Ambient, Crunchy Beats | Hot off the heels of mo.'s Para-review last week, I got to let you know about the latest Archaic Horizon releases: "Nowcast" by Trenton McElhinney, more commonly known as 2%. I've been listening to both records in a row and found them doing fairly well in these days of late Summer haze.

2% - "Leeward" (MP3)
2% - "Glory" (MP3)

Californian Trenton McElhinney is a tech-savvy kid. For his second EP "Nowcast" he is using Max/ MSP, the Monome controller and his acoustic guitar. While the pattern-based programmings of the Monome do not easily allow for crazy breakbeat frenzy, it suits the 2% music perfectly well: monochrome, rich textures and crunchy Hip Hop beats.

"Stop", you might want to object, "All music at Archaic Horizon sounds like this!" - fairly true, but somehow 2% does better than most. Microloops dream in concentric stagger, textures intensively fill the room with warm noise and canny harmonies. A certain feel for what is necessary is manifest in McElhinney's music. Here is another connection to Para I guess: minimalism as compository guideline.

Young McElhinney is a man of taste and virtuosity. His art- and photoworks supply a fine complement to his music and are worth a minute of your attention, e.g., whilst listening to the "Nowcast" EP. Archaic Horizon sums it all up: "2% loops samples into vaporous drones creating a milky haze for his melodies to refract within then drops beats that land you back on solid ground." Wooord!

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Download: "Nowcast" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: myspace.com/2pourcent
Release: 2% - "Nowcast"
Netlabel: archaichorizon.com

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Peaceful Dub | It's always fascinating how you can create so much with just some ingredients. For his vision of  Dub Italian musician Para used just organs, delay echoes a warm subbass and some percussion. Together he offers us a beautiful 5-track EP filled up with melodic slow-motion-groovers. A joint venture into the dubby realms of the echobox.

Para "Slow Dub" MP3
Para "The Dubbers" MP3
Para "Component" MP3

A Quiet Bump cares about quality. Para, too. Slowly he builds up a relaxed mood, uses all the dub trickery to hypnotise us. Unhasty with ease his tunes let their magnetic field work. Get lost in "Stop motion", swim in the bass pool of "Component" and smile while listening to "slow dub". My favorite, by the way...

MP3 Dub Music Download

Download: Para - "Motion dub" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: Para
Release: Para - "Motion dub"
Netlabel: A Quiet Bump Netlabel

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One-Song-Feature | OK, Today I have to share only one song with you: "Possibilities". I found the track on the average compilation "apegenine volume two" released by the apegenine Label. "Possibilities" from Henrik Jose totally blows me away with its pop-appeal, idm-ish sounds and a beautiful voice. Since I discoverd Henrik Jose on the "Cycles" compilation by Camomille I am a huge fan.

Henrik Jose "Possibilities" (MP3)

I truly love this slightly pathetic voice of Henrik Jose. I adore these little electronic experiments with sounds. And I simply get hooked by the frenetic flavor of "Possibilies". It's warm, enthusiastic and beautiful. It made my day.

The whole compilation called "hypocondriac" doesn't work for me in general. I skipped a lot of the tracks. To many different styles, sometimes to dark, sometimes just boring. There are only two more interesting songs to mention. One is called "jesus was a b-boy (makunouchi bento remix)" which is heavily inspired by the sound of Burnt Friedmann. It's a playful spoken-word-hip-hop-track. And give a listen to "koi"by Kyle Dawkins a simple but warm electronica track.

MP3 Pop Music Download

Download: Various - "hypocondriac" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: www.henrikjose.com
Netlabel: Apegenine

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Lo-fi Folk Scribbles | Zymogen has been a little quiet for the last six months. After the Summer down, however, the label is back with a beautiful record. The artist's name is Oskar Hallbert and he brings forth a new shade to the monochrome Zymogen label sound. Lo-fi Folk scribbles, you kidding? No.

Oskar Hallbert - "21 (Unsent Letter)"
Oskar Hallbert - "03 (From the Stockholm Tape 2)"

Oskar Hallbert is a Swedish composer who does not only incorporate instruments like piano, guitar and woodwinds in his music but intensively focuses on blurry field recordings and the warm hiss you got from cheap microphones. Beauty, in case of Hallbert, seems to happen as in passing. Like not intended. In a sudden, harmonies cross and form melodies, then move apart again. A moiré effect.

This is wonderfully fragile- and the more you don't expect a song to touch you the more you're moved if it does, eventually. For me, Oskar Hallbert is a kindred spirit to Vienna wunderkind David Schweighart whose album is online for free with 12rec. Netlabel and worth every second as well.

Hallbert's EP "Sids Apartment" (ZIP link!) was out on Rainmusic in 2008. You easily will agree that the French label is the perfect place for music like his. "1123581321345589" was released on an US CDR label before, now luckily Zymogen re-publishes the 10 + 79 tracks (!) for free. Take your time and enjoy this tender trip into bliss and beauty!

MP3 Folk Music Download

Download: "1123581321345589" (ZIP)
Release: Oskar Hallbert - "1123581321345589"
Artist-Website: myspace.com/oskarhallbert
Netlabel: zymogen.net

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Fine Instrumental Hip Hop | Instrumental Hip Hop kicks me currently the most. I waited a long time for more releases like "Synesthesia" that stand in the tradition of music by Comfort Fit or my beloved Flying Lotus. AEED pushes Hip Hop music into the right direction. Playful rhythmic arrangements, definetely electronic and with a funky flavor. Music that makes us grin and nod happily.

AEED "Cry Now"
AEED "Elektricity"

"Synesthesia" is colourful like the album cover itself. Listen to that pop appeal in "Cry now". AEED rolls out the bass as a pumping fundament and than gets lost in melodies. This album has nothing to do with loop-orientated Hip Hop instrumentals. AEED feds his music with sweeping synths, funky or jazzy melodies which seem to glide easily from the keyboard into the corners of his broken beats.

Sometimes "Synesthesia" is full of melancholy like in "Strange Dreams". Sometimes AEED delivers us funky anthems like "Elephants Dance" bouncing on a sparkeling bassline. If you like electronica, chip music and if you have some b-boy-blood in your venes. This is the exact soundtrack. Error Broadcast gets bigger with each new release. Can't wait for more eye candy!

MP3 Hip Hop Music Download

Download: AEED - "Synesthesia" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: www.myspace.com/aeedmusic
Release: AEED - "Synesthesia"
Netlabel: www.error-broadcast.com

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HiFi Techno | Sudio is one of my favorite Netaudio producers around. He likes to produce complex electronic music. With his release "Strange Attractors" he delivers four colourful techno tracks where he jams around with his filters, effects and software in general. For purists who like straightforward techno, this is sometimes surely to much. I dig it.

Sudio "Sonic Impact"
Sudio "Ion Funnel"

You may have a problem with music by Sudio, because he has problems himself to reduce his ideas, tricks and fun to play around technics. He can't stick to one idea or just one loop for one track. On the other hands, that's his strong part. You have to listen to his music more than once. And the more and more you listen, the more you get suck into his wonderland. And the more and more you know the twists coming around the next corner, you will love the complexity.

If you're a DJ, maybe these tracks ask to much to clubbers. It's like playing Future Sound of London where people demand Chemical Brothers. But I was always more the listening type of guy, so five stars for this one.

MP3 Techno Music Download

Download: Sudio - Strange Attractors (ZIP-Archive)
Release: Sudio - "Strange Attractors"
Netlabel: www.ideology.de

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Electronic Pop Music from Italy's Finest | For nearly one year, I have been waiting for this album. I asked Andrey of Nexsound for "Decivilice After Consumption" when I informed him about the review I wrote for his latest record- and he told me that the album is done already and waiting to be released. After Giovanni's first album was free for download, "Decivilice" comes off as a beautifully wrapped CD.

Bluermutt - "Before Going To Bed" (MP3)
Bluermutt - "Fashion Arithmetics" (MP3)

Bluermutt refined his style on "Decivilice After Consumption". While "When I'm Not" showed Giovanni Civitenga's addiction to leftfield Pop only in traces, the new Bluermutt album can be considered an avowal to groove, melody and vocals in general. Therefore, it suits the Nexsound Pickup-series beautifully.

Be aware: Bluermutt music is light years away from radio-friendly muzak. But Giovanni's stumbling IDM and Hip Hop beats are do not stand isolated in tracks but form songs nowadays. Bluemutt is accompanied by a vocalists Fredo Viola, Steph Thirion and Linn Rasimelli plus a series of random sample voices. The wonky IDM hymn "Fashion Arithmetic" is outstanding, "Self Approach" strongly reminds me of Canadian Electropop wizard adcBicycle and "Before Going To Bed" is nothing but bewitching.

Much goodness can be found along the way. However, "Decivilice After Consumption" works best when listened in a whole. I like he subtle guitar meditation "Jimmy Coda" a lot, and "Daily Explosions" with songstress Kinn Rasimelli with all its out-of-space synthesizers is uplifting. Last but not least, it should be noted that the opening "Welcome To A Clear Bluer Sky" features Rap wunderkind Dorian Concept on synths. Damn good!

On www.decivilizeafterconsumption.com, you can listen to the whole album and read about production details.

Phlow CD Raffle

Kids, we keep it simple this time. The three first to twitter this post (#phlow #bluermutt #nexsound) and send me, Bettina, the link will get a CD copy of "Decivilice After Consumption" for free. How does that sound? Come on!

CD Electronic Music Purchase

Release: Bluermutt - "Decivilice After Consumption"
Label: www.nexsound.org
Artist-Website: www.skyapnea.com
Microsite: www.decivilizeafterconsumption.com

MP3 Purchase via www.necodo.com

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Epic Ambient | Wixel is the experimental Folk moniker of Wim Maesschalck. In 2009, after his epochal "Somewhere Between the Sun and the Moon" CD album, Wim started a project called "12 Records in 12 Month". On a monthly basis, Wim releases a new EP, each 20 -25 minutes in length. June is especially great.

Wixel - "Skatebeats" (MP3)
Wixel - "Bacterial" (MP3)

I'm a keen fan of Belgian Wim Maesschalck's work and music since 2004. Starting as a solo outfit, Wixel soon became a band with Wim as central songwriter. The latest Wixel CDs "Heart" and "Somewhere Between the Sun and the Moon" in particular are wonderful pieces of postmodernism Folk- and Avantgarde music everyone should be familiar with.

2009 saw the launch of Wim's "12 Records in 12 Month" project. Up to now, six records are online for download via bandcamp. You can choose what you want to pay for the MP3, including nothing, or you go for the limited edition CDRs available from Slaapwel (the tiny record label Wim is running).

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The June EP "An Empty Canvas" is the preliminary highlight of the series. Wim discards the fragile Folk approach and delivers a dense piece of dim and orchestral Ambient, not too far from Gas, Nest or 1970's German Electronica like Cluster or Tangerine Dream. Wim himself notes Arvo Pärt and Dubstep for influence. Check "Skatebeats" and the massive "Bacterial" to get an idea.

What I like best about "An Empty Canvas" is the multilayer sound. A lot of dirt and noise twinkles through the washed-out textures and synthesizer patches, you can discover new aspects on every new listen. The beats, however, could deserve some more elaboration. But taking in account the facts this record was programmed in a month, that is pretty OK I guess.

MP3 Ambient Music Download

Artist-Website: slaapwelrecords.com/wixel
Release: Wixel - "An Empty Canvas" via bandcamp

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Breakbeats for the morning after | For quite a long time, Arcoplane went below my radar. The label is around since 2003, but only due to the advice of my dear friend Ian Hawgood I follow them now. Londons' Red Box Recorder represent the label sound perfectly and deliver a mature album with superb artwork.

Red Box Recorder - "Up With The Bunting" (MP3)
Red Box Recorder - "My R2 Unit" (MP3)

You know, I'm a sucker for elaborate artwork. In case of Red Box Recorders' second album "Colour Codes", the frontcover made me download the record blindly deafly. Once unpacked I was delighted to find a PDF with a lot more wonderful images... Thumbs up for the man Max McLaughlin, who is some sort of in-house designer at Acroplane. Take a look:

But hey - I would not write this if the music didn't kick me at all! Red Box Recorder (aka "DJ Particle Fusion", lol) came a long way, picking the best from Drum & Bass, Hip Hop, Downbeat and Soul music. The outcome, however, is difficult to categorize.

There is a wealth of instruments used, and they mix beautifully with the complex beat patterns. Some tunes recall older Ninja Tunes records, some feature influences from UK breakbeat more clearly. Programmings are always soulful and performed with a good sense of musicality. I had to think of Koen Park and Resynthsize every now and then. "Colour Codes" is a bit too long to be without a spot, but a lot of goodness can be found in here!

MP3 Electronic Music Download

Download: "Colour Codes" (ZIP-Archive)
Artist-Website: myspace.com/djparticlefusion
Release: Red Box Recorder - "Colour Codes"
Netlabel: acroplane.co.uk

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