What I bought from eMusic last month.

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Comments

  • edited June 2020
    - And then I am having a 3 month break . . .
    The usual LFM bonus info:

  • edited July 2020
    Well, I've been keeping busy in the garden but with all the rain we've been having I did find some time to update my downloads. 
    May, June & July Downloads
    Sylvain Chauveau & Ensemble Nocturne - Jazz, Pop, Modern Classical, Chanson
                                  - Down To The Bone. An Acoustic Tribute To Depeche Mode 11 trks
    Syd Matters            - Rock, Folk Rock, Post Rock, Indie Rock
                                  - Brotherocean 2 trks
                                  - Brotherocean 12 trks
                                  - Ghost Days 17 trks
    Sven Laux               - Electronic, Abstract, Techno, Minimal
                                  
    Languish EP 4 trks
                                  - The Third String 5 trks
    Suzanne Kraft         - Electronic, House, Disco
                                  - Horoscope 7 trks
    Cameron Lam         - Contemporary Classical
                                  - Time Echoes Your Sound  4trks
    Lucy Kong              - Contemporary Classical
                                  - Colour Projections  3 trks
    Kammerklang         - Contemporary Classical, Various Artists
                                  - Kammerklang: Beta  11 trks
    Submerged             - Electronic, Dubstep, Breakcore, Experimental
                                  - 98 Moore St. Apt 4B  6 trks
                                  - Before Fire I Was Against Other People  11 trks
                                  - Stars, Lights, The End  12 trks
                                  - The Eradication of Untruth  4 trks
                                  - 110  2 trks
    Tom Fleming          - Classical
                                  - Steve Reich: Electric Counterpoint on Moog Guitar 3trks
    Stephen Vitiello + Taylor Deupree - Electronic, Ambient, Experimental
                                  - Fridman Variations  3 trks
    Stephen Vitiello + Molly Berg - Electronic, Ambient, Experimental
                                  - The Gorilla Variations 10 trks
    Stefan Wesołowski  - Classical, Contemporary
                                  - Kompleta  9 trks
                                  - Rite of the End  6 trks
    Smalts                    - Electronic, Experimental, Poetry
                                  - De Rijpe Sterren Pt.1 - een ode aan Louis Lehmann  17 trks
                                  - A Better Resurrection  3 trks
                                  - Nevelglans  17 trks
    Steel Pulse              - Reggae
                                  - Mass Manipulation  17 trks
    SØS Gunver Ryberg - Electronic, Industrial, Ambient, Drone, IDM, Techno
                                  - Entangled  10 trks
    Sonic Youth            - Alternative Rock, Leftfield, Experimental
                                  - Sonic Life  3 trks
    Sonny Landreth      - Blues Rock, Electric Blues
                                  - Elemental Journey  11 trks
                                  - From the Reach  11 trks
                                  - The Road We're On 12  trks
                                  - Levee Town  17 trks
    A Small, Good Thing - Electronic, Ambient, Experimental
                                 - Slim Westerns Vol I & II 26  trks
    Sergey Suokas       - Electronic, Techno, Minimal
                                 - Being  4 trks
    Sister Carol           - Reggae, Roots Reggae, Dancehall
                                 - Black Cinderella 12 trks
                                 - Jah Disciple 12 trks
    Single                    - Electronic, Pop, Chanson, Downtempo, Synth-pop
                                 - Su Recuerdo 3 trks
                                 - Honey 3 trks
                                 - Anexo 10 trks
                                 - Monólogo Interior 14 trks
                                 - Hola 10 trks
    Eleuteria                - Classical, Modern Classical, Voice, Cello
                                 - In My Chest 4 trks
    Soft Machine         - Jazz-Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Prog Rock
                                 - At The Beginning 9trks
    Roma di Luna       - Alternative Rock, Folk
                                - We Were Made To Forgive 9 trks   

  • @confused Thanks as always for meticulous documentation.  Most I've never heard of, so there's lots to explore.
  • ^^You're welcome, I really haven't spent much time exploring, just filling in the alphabet. Once the garden's been put to sleep I'll spend some time exploring your lists.
  • edited November 2020
    My Emu haul after 3 months break, starting at some point in september:
    - And the usual LFM bonus info:

  • Same as @Brighternow, my purchases after a 3 month break


  • edited November 2020
    Well, here I am once again catching up. I'm still mostly filling in the alphabet, except for the bunch in the middle that I had to download the day before my final booster ran out in Sept. With my wife taking early retirement due to that Covid, things are pretty tight right now. I'm limiting myself to my $6.49 lite subscription, the odd name your price from Bandcamp (as well as the free ones), interesting things from archive.org and UbuWeb as well I've been digitizing some of my vinyl to add in to the mix. I'd really love to take advantage of all these sales but I just can't afford it right now. I'll try my best to catch up in the new year. Meanwhile I'm happy and thankful I still have a place in the budget for music and for all you folks who have led me to so many interesting and inexpensive albums - Thanks again! 
    Other than all that, this first year of retirement has just been the greatest!!

    July, Aug, Sept, Oct & Nov Downloads
    Ali Khan                    - Ambient, Dub Techno, Downtempo
                                     - You Are Multidimensional 4trks
    Alessandro Alessandroni - Soundtrack, Psychedelic, Disco
                                    - Afro Discoteca (Reworked And Reloved) 4 trks
    African Ghost Valley - Ambient, Experimental, Abstract, Drone
                                    - Colony 6 trks
    Zachary Cale            - Ethereal, Folk, Country Blues
                                   - Blue Rider 8 trks
    Yone B                    - Ambient, Downtempo, Deep House
                                  - Wind In Her Eyes 6 trks
                                  - Burst of The Light 4 trks
    Vic Chesnutt          - Alternative Rock, Country Rock
                                 - The Salesman And Bernadette 14 trks
    Z'ev                       - Electronic, Acoustic, Abstract
                                 - Opus 3 20 trks
    Lapis Trio              - Contemporary Folk, Creative Jazz
                                 - The Travelers 7 trks
    Murcof                  - Abstract, IDM, Modern Classical, Minimal, Ambient
                                - Martes + Utopía 16 trks
    Matthew Bourne   - Jazz, Classical, Abstract, Contemporary
                                - Montauk Variations 17 trks
                                - moogmemory plus 9 trks
                                - moogmemory 9 trks
                                - Isotach 10 trks
    Zela Margossian Quintet - Jazz, Armenian
                                - Transition 10 trks
    William Parker      - Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
                                - Through Acceptance Of The Mystery Peace 5 trks
                                - Testimony 5 trks
    Jessica Ekomane   - Abstract, Leftfield, Modern Classical
                                - Multivocal 2 trks
    Narwal                 - Abstract, Experimental, Ambient
                               - Nirvana 9 trks
    Driftmachine       - Avantgarde, Dub, Tribal, Downtempo, IDM, Industrial
                               - Driftmachine Plays Marien Van Oers 4 trks
    Deadline Paranoia - Ambient, Dark Ambient, Dub, Drone
                              - Deadline Paranoia 2/3 6 trks
                              - Deadline Paranoia 1/3 6 trks
    Wacław Zimpel   - Drone, Contemporary Jazz
                              - Massive Oscillations 4 trks
    Wacław Zimpel Quartet  - Avant-garde Jazz
                              - Stone Fog 8 trks (Note, Emusic page has wrong cover art) 
    James Blackshaw - Neo-Classical, Folk
                              - All Is Falling 8 trks
    Wooden Wand    - Folk
                              - Death Seat 12 trks
    Palestine / Coulter / Mathoul - Electronic, Experimental, Ambient
                              - Maximin 7 trks
    Giuseppe Ielasi   - Minimal, Experimental, Ambient
                              - August 5 trks
                              - Aix 9 trks
                              - Tools 7 trks
                              - Five Wooden Frames 5 trks
    Julie Østengaard - Ambient, Experimental, Contemporary
                              - Is That You? 3 trks
    Christopher Bissonnette - Ambient, Drone, Experimental
                              - Wayfinding 8 trks
    Ultimate Fakebook - Power Pop, Alternative Rock
                              - The Preserving Machine 11 trks
    Two Lone Swordsmen - IDM, Downtempo, Experimental
                              - Stockwell Steppas 9 trks
                              - The Fifth Mission (Return to the Flightpath Estate) 18 trks
    Tujiko Noriko     - Glitch, Synth-pop, Experimental
                              - Trust 14 trks
    Tram                  - Indie Rock, Shoegaze, Post Rock
                              - Heavy Black Frame 10 trks
                              - A Kind of Closure 11 trks
    Tomas Phillips    - Ambient, Minimal, Experimental
                              - Limit_Fold 1 trk
    Thet Liturgiske Owäsendet - Abstract, Ambient, Dark Ambient, Experimental
                              - Catalina 1 trk
                              - Jartecken 6 trks
    Yves De Mey       - IDM, Dark Ambient, Techno, Experimental
                              - Sueda 8 trks
                              - Transfer EP 3 trks
    Tempelhof & Gigi Masin - House, Downtempo
                              - Corner Song / the Flying Man 3 trks
    Telectu               - Electronic, Jazz, Experimental, Ambient
                              - Off Off 4 trks
                              - Ctu Telectu 8 trks
                              - Biombos 9 trks
    Upperground Orchestra - Experimental, Fusion, Free Improvisation
                              - Euganea 5 trks
    Takahiro Mukai  - Techno, Experimental, Dub Techno, Acid
                              - 1409-1 6 trks
                              - The Simple Operation Method 11 trks
    Suokas               - Techno, Minimal
                              - Mirrors 1 trk
    Ps- Still 18,562 tracks with 0 plays since Sept. 2017.
  • edited January 2021
    Well, it's been strange being on my $6.49 "Lite" subscription plan. There's way more planning involved and there's no guarantee that a partly downloaded album will be there the next day when your subscription renews. I blame Co-vid (which I pretty much blame for everything)*. 
    Nov. Dec. & Jan. Downloads
    Glice                         - Electronic, Noise
                                     - Fleisch III 2 trks
    Billy Cobham Band    - Jazz, Fusion
                                     
    Live In Leverkusen 9 trks  
    Bert Jansch               - Folk
                                    - Sketches 13 trks
    Iain Chambers          - Electronic, Musique Concrète, Abstract
                                    - The Eccentric Press 2 trks
    Beatriz Ferreyra        - Electronic, Classical, Abstract, Ambient, Field Recording, Musique Concrète
                                    - Huellas Entreveradas 3trks
    Basil Kirchin             - Electronic, Experimental
                                    - Everyday Madness 3 trks

    - 16,874 tracks that still haven't been played since at least Sept, 2017.
    *  Except maybe these darn computers.
  • I've been on hold for quite a while.  I do occasionally see interesting things but wonder if the labels are getting paid?????
  • Well, surely some are getting paid. I still download with the expectation that they pay their debts. The law will decide in the end, I guess?
  • edited January 2021
    confused said:
    Well, surely some are getting paid. I still download with the expectation that they pay their debts. The law will decide in the end, I guess?
    Try to find someone getting paid. No point suing someone with no assets.
  • edited January 2021
    yarjazz said:
    confused said:
    Well, surely some are getting paid. I still download with the expectation that they pay their debts. The law will decide in the end, I guess?
    Try to find someone getting paid. No point suing someone with no assets.
    Well, I know this has been rehashed many times and my apologies for being a cheapskate, but if that is the case then I don't feel sorry for vendors that don't pull their products if they are not getting any kind of renumeration for it. 
  • confused said:
    yarjazz said:
    confused said:
    Well, surely some are getting paid. I still download with the expectation that they pay their debts. The law will decide in the end, I guess?
    Try to find someone getting paid. No point suing someone with no assets.
    Well, I know this has been rehashed many times and my apologies for being a cheapskate, but if that is the case then I don't feel sorry for vendors that don't pull their products if they are not getting any kind of renumeration for it. 
    You will find a number of "vendors " that only have long ago issued albums on eMusic. Several have told me that they were advised that their (admittedly slim) chance of getting anything from eMusic would be greatly reduced if they had no stake any longer.  Try to find a new jazz or classical album from any reputable label on eMusic or one that has been reviewed anywhere. 
  • I genuinely forgot that eMusic was still around.  I guess I just thought they'd shut down.
    I went and visited their site just now.  Was it always that slick?  I mean, that is a very good looking website, and moving around it was very simple.  Wasn't eMusic always a really clunky site, even at its best?  I recall a lot of problems when they moved from their old-school site to a wordpress theme, and it took them awhile to get their sea legs in the new environment.  But I don't recall it being that nice.  Of course, that isn't necessarily to the credit of current ownership; It may just be that wordpress theme platforms are just that much more idiot proof than they used to be (as a wordpress theme owner for the last ten years, I speak from experience; they have made it much more difficult for me to screw things up with my amateurism).
    Of course, none of that matters if they have fuck-all for music.  That jazz section was EMBARRASSING lol.  It's all smooth jazz compilations and their kin- the kind of playlist music that Spotify creates in-house to score some of the royalties they should be paying to actual artists.  It wasn't until the bottom of page three that I saw something legit (Jazz Engine label) and page five that I encountered the next legit rec (Discos Pendiente label).  They clearly went all in with their commitment to being an artist resource and the whole music retail thing was just sort of a by-product of it.
    Maybe that's one of the reasons why their retail side was drained of anything worthwhile.  They wanted to sign artists to their services and be able to say, look, the retail section will feature music by you and other signees and you won't get drowned out on the retail side by, y'know, better artists than you.  I dunno.  Baffling.  But I suppose the eMusic model was never going to last, and finally one ownership group in the parade finally said, hey, let's take a shot at making it something else... it'll probably fail, but maybe we capture a miracle or, at least, get some decent press out of it.  And oh man, I JUST REMEMBERED- They were after that sweet sweet crypto investment cash!  Hoo boy.
    Also, really sad that any retailer should still be up and running when there's legit questions about whether they're paying people.  I mean, I don't expect them to put up a banner on the home page that announces, "PAYING MUSICIANS AGAIN!!!" - But there's probably some indirect routes for getting that kind of information out there.
    Anybody still think fondly back on Amie St.?  I do.
  • edited January 2021
    - From at some point in november:
    And the usual LastFM:

  • At the risk of being a broken record, I think eMusic can still be a part of the solution to the real problem that streaming platforms’ compensation models only work for popular bands whose songs get streamed a zillion times, that Amazon, Apple, and Google might someday before long be the only options.

    I admit that my defense of eMusic is reactionary to everybody else crapping all over it (other than the site’s functionality) and mainly undertaken for selfish reasons (wanting to continue buying obscure stuff cheaply) and b/c nobody else is going to.

    Serious jazz people have repeatedly pilloried me for highlighting “non-reputable” and “unimportant” jazz releases, but I’ll just say again that for a casual jazz listener like myself, I’m not going to shell out for jazz on Bandcamp.  Since what I’m willing to pay for jazz is in a grey area, eMu remains my main source for jazz, and I’d listen to a whole lot less of it if they finally bit the big one.

    I'd appreciate any help in sorting this label list (from the "Emusers Label & Linernotes Database", the first link on this forum) for what's still on eMusic and what's "reputable" (if anything), currently in order of my preferences...   

    Jazz/Blues:  

    *Gondwana; *Jazz Engine; *Shifting Paradigm; *Roaratorio; *Trunk; *Skirl; *Club del Disco; *Eclipse Music Digital; *Visage Music SaS; 

    *For Tune; *Forwind; *Jazz Re:Freshed; *Jazzheads; *Jazzwerkstatt; *Kuai; *Philophon; *Naim;

    *Nagel Hayer; *Nonine; *Soliton; *Granvat; *Loumi; *Caligola; *Calle 54; *Balaio; *Rivorecords; *sjrecords; *Scubidu; 

    *AUM Fidelity; *Jazzman; *MPS; *In+Out; *Loop; *Audio Cave; *339; *54; *CHT MUSIK; *Turquoise Coconut; 

    *Michal Przerwa-Tetmajer; *Impossible Ark; *nusica.org; *Bost Espacio Creativo; *Vertigo; *Twitin;  

    *Discos Carnitas; *INB Musica; *Einstein; *Arte Sonora; *Rivbea; *Kindred Spirits; *JAZZWAVE; 

    *Rew; *Auditorium; *Bringing Music to Life; *Harrison James Music; *Polskie Radio; *Itinera; 

    *Alligator; *Armadillo; *Sello Misisipi; *Black Cat Productions; *Fonofabrique; *Provocateur; *21st Century Blues; *Horgi; *Nasjon Properties; *Red Parlor; *Margit Studios; *Rufftone; 

    *Milk Snc; *WM Boxes Ed.; *Noromusic; *Arision; *NATURE BLISS; *aCentro Folque; *Cinquillo;

    *ESP Disk (ESP-Disk)  *Blue Moon; *CTS Digital; *HHO; *Chameleon Archive; *Musicmaker; *Egea; *Knit Classics;

    *Hipster Healing; *River Records; *Terre Sommerse; *High Fashion Digital; *Green Blues; *HDJ; *Kansas Smitty's; *Discos Pendiente; *Sartorial; *Omix; *FreeCode; *Ingo Música; *Lautaro; 

    *Timmion; *Orrua Diskak; *Sound Art.; *PepperCake; *One Note; *Notivate; *Pamela Wise; *Eclettica; *Jazzline; *Aristo Jazz; *MnF; *Rede Pty Ltd; 

    *World Jazz Crew Rec; *Quadrifoglio; *Knitting Factory; *Xingra.com; *Mondstein; *BarCo; *SW

    *Futuristica; *Lautaro; *DIG dDIZ; *Saar Srl; *SFR; *Serge Vilamajo; *Tres Ceps; *Contrabaix; *ITSrecords; 

    *JETWorks; *Vaiven; *Ab Records; *Bis Music & BisMusic; *Frameworked; 

  • As a start, not all of these even have any product at eMusic anymore (i.e., Jazzwerkstatt) so they can be ignored. For others, if there are no albums (or tracks) after 2018 it is a label that has not been paid and, so, should not be downloaded. A couple of the others, Nagel-Heyer for example, recycle older material; I don't know whether they pay royalties on the older material, but they are now selling through Bandcamp and once had some decent own releases. The Bis is not the Swedish Bis which releases excellent classical disks and a couple of jazz albums. Most of the rest are releasing material that doesn't rise above what one can hear (could hear pre-covid) at your local on Friday night (Sultans of Swing, to cite Mark Knopfler). The odd one in your first line is Skirl. For a little more than a decade (ending in 2017) they had some interesting releases, but all the artists went off to record with other, more prominent labels and they seem not to have released anything since. They have a not very professional web site on which they claim to be on Bandcamp, but I could not find any of their releases there. The two so called 2020 releases are actually from 2017; I have no idea why these showed up as 2020 additions. I could find none of the artists at Club de Disco in any of the standard jazz discographies. I don't have time to go over all the labels, but I did notice that a lot of the entries appear to be singles rather than albums. If you are really interested in jazz you should look at issues of DownBeat (less mainstream than it used to be), Jazzwise (for coverage of Europe), Cadence (for creative music) and even Jazz Times (more mainstream). I recommend the blog Music and More ( it's free of course). And I always recommend Gary Giddens' book Weather Bird for an excellent collection of his insightful columns, mostly from the Village Voice. And, as always, quality over quantity.
  • @yarjazz Thanks, and I'll prune the list according to your notes eventually.  I'd be very interested in someone dividing all the jazz labels on Bandcamp into tiers of quality similarly, to guide the benighted such as myself still getting their jazz from eMusic.  Always plenty of work to do.
  • My downloads for February on the minimum $10 plan following a 3 month suspension.


  • Well, after 18 years I've finally cancelled my subscription to Emusic. Not only that, I'm converted-out. I got as far as The Kinks' Low Budget and decided to call an end to this round of living in the past. I've really enjoyed this session but it just takes sooo long to do. So it's back to finishing off my existing iTunes alphabet. 
    Since this may be my last Emusic Downloads post, I decided to go all out and add art work to my post. My "Lite" subscription took all the fun out of exploring and I had no desire to just add to the Wish List (that would probably disappear anyway). I found myself just relying on Important Records/Cassauna to finish off the month. Not that that was a bad thing as I've enjoyed most of what I've downloaded, but it's time for a change. When I get finished the alphabet I may start on my wife's Classical CD and album collection, plus now I have $6.49/mon to spend at Bandcamp.

    February - September Downloads
    mHz                                     
     
    Function 8trks
    Electronic, Techno, Minimal  -  Important Records

    Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard 
     
    Saturations 2trks
    Electronic, Drone  -  Important Records

    Celeste Boursier-Mougenot
      
    From Hear to Ear 2trks
    Electronic, Classical, Experimental  -  Cassauna

    Matthias Urban
      
    Dialoge____Gideon's Disease 5trks 
    Electronic, Abstract, Experimental, Musique Concrète  -  Cassauna

    Rosalind Hall
      
    Drift 3trks
    Electronic, Ambient, Experimental, Drone  -  Cassauna

    John Holt
      
    World Of Love 10 trks
    Reggae, Roots Reggae  -  Gorgon Records

    Curlew 
       
    Gussie 4trks
    Jazz, Free Improvisation  -  Roaratorio

    Larsen                                 
                          
    Arrival Vibrate 2trks
    Electronic, Experimental  -  Cassauna

    Masashi Isai                         
                           
    Five Musics (Plus One) 6trks
    Electronic, Experimental  -  Tsuku Boshi

    Martina Claussen                 
                           
    Verwoben 5trks
    Electronic, Abstract, Electroacoustic, Experimental  -  Forwind

    Robin Hayward
     
    Rubble Master 2trks
    Electronic, Minimal  -  Cassauna

    Janczarski & McCraven Quintet
     
    Liberator  7trks 
    Jazz, Modal, Soul-Jazz, Hard Bop, Contemporary Jazz   For Tune

    Theresa Wong
     
    Layered Events 8 trks
    Electronic, Abstract. -  Cassauna

    The Invisible Hands
     
    Insect Dilemma/Disallowed 2 trks
    Folk, World, Experimental  - Abduction

    Iceberg
     
    Tutankhamon 13 trks  -  Picap

    The Overtone Ensemble
     
    Overtone Ensemble 4 trks
    Non-Music, Sound Art, Acoustic  -  Important Records
     
    Longitudes 2 trks
    Classical, Modern  -  Cassauna

    Glice | Coen Oscar Polack
     
    Race to the Bottom 1 trk
    Electronic, Noise  -  Narrominded
     
    Dear Body 2 trks
    Electronic, Abstract, Noise, Musique Concrète  -  Narrominded

    Glice
     
    Cielo 4 trks
     
    Fleisch 2 trks
     
    Fleisch II 2 trks
    Electronic, Noise, Ambient, Drone, Experimental  -  Narrominded

    Einstürzende Neubauten
     
    2X4 8 trks
    Electronic, Rock Style: Industrial, Experimental, Avantgarde  -  ROIR
     
    Alles Wieder Offen 10 trks
    Electronic, Rock, Alternative Rock, Industrial, Avantgarde - Potomak

    Dr. Israel
     
    7 Tales Of Israel 7 trks
    Electronic, Illbient, Dub  -  WordSound Recordings

    Dengue Dengue Dengue!
     
    Fiebre 7 trks
    Electronic, Experimental  -  NAAFI

    Deadline Paranoia
     
    Deadline Paranoia 3/3 6 trks
    Electronic, Jazz, Folk, World, Dark Ambient, Dub, Ambient, Drone  -  Ongehoord

    Contagious
      
    Contagious 9 trks
    Electronic, Abstract  -  Morphine Records

    Ps- Thanks to Emusic and to everyone I've met along the way who've introduced me to some of the most interesting artists. I can't say I've quit but unless I hit the lotto, I've certainly stopped.
  • edited September 2021
    In a few weeks Confused you will be relieved you no longer need to search through eMusic to spend your monthly allowance. It took me ages each month before I left as there wasn't so much that I wanted. Some of the things I downloaded in the last few months I still habve not played. I purchase less at Bandcam and elsewhere, but I am getting quality rather than quantity. For much of my time at eMusic it was great, I downloaded so much great music, but it came to an end for me when I realised that many artists were not getting much if at all from my purcjases along with much less choice anyway
  • Early this year I missed my hold deadline and I got charged for an annual plan.  Despite reaching out to emusic within days of noticing my error, they were unwilling to refund even a nickel of fee even though I hadn't downloaded 1 track.  Great service after 16 years!  As noted above, I now spend more time trying to find anything than I do actually listening to what I select.  The only thing that adds to that misery is knowing that the artists aren't getting much, if anything.  
  • I've sampled Important & Cassauna but found them just OK in terms of wanting to listen to what I've downloaded more than a few times.  I've added NAAFI and Morphine to the high priority tier for exploration.  Thanks for highlighting them.  Sorry eMusic no longer floats your boat; if exploring the catalog isn't a pleasure, I don't know why anyone sticks around.  I continue to believe there should be room for both Bandcamp and eMusic in one's downloading diet.  If the masses who stream felt an iota of the moral compunctions we do on this forum, the music industry would be a much fairer and more just place.
  • edited September 2021
    Here's my emusic purchases from last month. Out of these Intimate Stranger, Shuma, Mary Hopkin, It's a Diferent Class and Lenine were all great albums. 
    1. Ребята нашего полка by Любэ. 4.99, 79 minutes, 21 tracks. Compilation of wildly popular Russian pop band who sing songs with an army theme. Goofy, sorrowful, beautiful, energetic, you never know what to expect from them.
    2. Further by Intimate Stranger (4.99 for 17 tracks, 72 minutes). Incredible synthpop/dreampop band described as “gritty, dirty, calm and ethereal at the same time, with beautiful vocals”. This is a compilation of several albums and excellent overall. Tessie Stranger is the English/Croat vocalist, but the guitarist is Anglo-Chilean. I also liked Above which has many songs in the same style.
    3. HiiDe by Babii, 9 tracks, 3.99. (bandcamp).
    4. Pasca Hipnotis by It’s a Different Class. 4.49, 10 tracks, 48 minutes. Every song here is a delightful surprise; these songs have a cheerful, dreamy quality. Singing is great, and the arrangements are always clever and appropriate. The songs feel progressive or jazzy or sometimes even bluesy. HEY BIN is a really rousing song….
    5. Zhnivo by Shuma. 10 tracks, 43 minutes, 4.49. Really beautiful and ethereal dreampop by a Belorussian girl’s group. Much much in the same territory as Ukraine’s Onuka or Russian/Kazakh singer Linda. This remarkable early album mixes the primitive folk with high end club electronica, with lovely folk-style singing by Rusia. Similar to Onuka, except that Shuma is all electronic and sampling. Later albums are slower & more meditative, but this album is a great introduction to their sound.
    6. Spill out by Mytbe.
    7. Two albums by Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin (of “Those were the Days” fame). Here’s a great Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1972 (5.99, 13 tracks, 49 minutes) and Painting by Numbers (a later album with original songs). Also, here’s her website for the latest.
    8. Sulinys by Babadag. 10 tracks, 57 minutes. Another gem from Karrot Kommando label (from Poland).
    9. Tourists by Psapp, 13 tracks, 43 minutes, 5.99.
    10. 7 Bidaderi by Naif (a very well known Indonesian band).
    11. Kubizm by Paweł Mańka Semiotic Quintet (a jazz band from Katowice Poland) , 19 tracks, 3.99, 46 minutes.
    12. In Search of Sunrise 15 by Markus Schulz, 3.99, 5 hour long mix.
    13. Ratatat by Malka. 34 minutes, 10 tracks, 4.99.
    14. Lenine in Cite (Deluxe) by Lenine. 99 cents, 79 minutes, 20 tracks. This live jazz album won a Grammy!
    15. Quando Brinca by Bel, 8 tracks, 26 minutes, 3.49.
    16. EPs from Moya Michelle (Моя Мишель): Дура (Deluxe Version) (5 tracks, 2.49) and Наивность. Часть 1 (3 tracks, 99 cents). Minor but lovely recordings by a young Russian pop singer before signing onto a major label. Here’s two vids here and here
    17. Several eps by 9T Antiope. (bandcamp & website) These experimental music duo (from Paris and Iran) make eerie & distraught soundscapes that employ voice, violins, electronic glitch and environmental sounds. The most decidedly classical is Grimace (1.99, 24 minutes) which despite being “constructed” seems most to resemble a conventional performance of classic music with some electronic noises occasionally throw in. Ithmus sometimes devolves into mindless/distracting world of electronic glitch, but it’s balanced by the singer’s lovely voice and the incessant energy of the violin. Placebo (1.49, 40 minutes), feels more glitchy and droney, with much less emphasis on voice except as distant background. (I think the vocalist Sara Bigdeli Shamloo is reciting a poem). Everything blends very well. I’m less impressed by the other albums which seem louder and more glitchy, but I like this group so much I might get them later.
    18. Percepcao by Poty, 99 cents, 38 minutes.
    19. Posguerra by Dafne Castaneda, 7 tracks, 26 minutes, 1.49
  • What I've been doing is switching to the  $6 monthly plan, buying $200 of credits (actually 75 dollars) and taking 3 months to spend that. Then putting my account as often as I can. There's a lot of hunting going on, and frankly I'm growing sick of browsing through  compilation albums of meditation, ASMR stuff and labels which haven't added anything in years.  I wouldn't mind the lack of USA albums as much as I do the lack of albums by up and coming artists... No more stinking compilation albums!  (I mean, once in a while is okay, but....)
  • Lenine offers a lot to catch up on, and I'll make an exception to distrust of live albums if they're 99 cents.  Looks like a good haul, and I still consider the lengthy browsing time part of the thrill of the chase.  Sticking w/ the interesting labels that exist now, I doubt I'll ever run out.  Thanks for sharing.
  • 9T Antiope are interesting, I have Grimace and Isthmus. It's kind of weird that emusic has only the albums by them from Eilean Rec, and not the other 97 releases on the label. They even extracted their track from one of the compilation volumes and made it a "single".
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