I haven't listened to this mostly free compilation (its NYOP, but almost all the tracks are individually free). However, it has one track from Makunouchi Bento.
The goal of Javasounds is to provide the most reliable introduction to the revered music of Java Indonesia, and to promote a new model for the collaboration of traditional music and listeners. If youre looking for new music, curious about what goes on musically in the less known parts of the Islamic world, or simply just want to hear some different music, this is a great place to start. Javasounds operates under the assumption that if you open your ears your mind will follow and we believe the music of Java has just that ability.
This label has 12 albums. Each is $3 on Bancamp, although from the label's website they sell for $1, $10 for the whole collection.
For those oldtimers looking for a serendipitous connection, Javasounds' ecommerce platform is powered by E-Junkie which just happens to be the same e-junkie we all chatted with back in the golden days of eMu and Mixtapers.
@thom Oh my. I can't believe loscil snuck another new EP past me. I'm a big fan - everything he's done since First Narrows has really spoken to my inner ear. The first EP, Versions, was nice, essentially slight remixes of some existing tracks that are not huge departures or reconstructions but bring different things to the fore. I feel a bit guilty paying for new music two days before I find out what my Christmas wishlist brought in, but a loscil EP...direct benefit of emusers membership right there! Thanks.
Just in case anyone else loves loscil and doesn't have these, there is a free album by him called Stases that consists of released tracks pared down to their background drones.
There are a few live recordings floating round as well but I can't find live links to them any more (at least not non-shady ones).
These guys (it's a band, not an individual) remind me a little of Dinosaur Jr., except that I don't really like Dinosaur Jr. all that much and I think I do like these guys. They're asking $5...
4 Euros (=$5.27) to download, but that gets you a free copy of the CD also.
"Markus Reuter's Todmorden 513 is a complex work of algorithmic composition of an hour's duration. Given Reuter's linguistic background, one might think that the title is an exercise in existential dread in German as "Tod" means "death" and "morden" means "to murder" - forming a truly grim portmanteau. However, the title's sourcing is actually of a small town in northern England, northeast of Manchester. 513 refers to its construction: it is a continuous movement and sequence of five hundred and thirteen harmonies and triads generated by a combinatorial compositional technique of Reuter's own design. The notes of each harmony or triad is then fed back into the same algorithm, resulting in a progression of chords and note clusters of highly varied density, ranging from simple two note harmonies to dense twelve note chords spread across several octaves. Starting on an A flat, the sequences of pitches form a kind of melodic or thematic line throughout. The rhythms of the performing instrumental trios and quartets were derived from the chord sequences themselves, which were looped across the whole piece, mapped to the notes of each chord, then mixed together. From there it was split into three or four independent voices respectively. The result is a shifting set of harmonic densities -- at times quite spare -- ranging from a harmony of two instruments to other moments of thick and lush instrumentation." - Henry Warwick
Well, well, well, a new offthesky recording! Jason Corder's material is always worth a listen, often a repeated listen. This sounds very tasty. File under ambient/experimental.
Interesting, but the $1+/track price tag elicits a knee-jerk response on my part.
4 Euros to download, but that gets you a free copy of the CD also.
Sind Sie in Europa?
That Maps & Transit ain't bad at all. I might wind up picking that up.
I'm back and forth on that one. The banjo playing is sufficiently different that it doesn't sound New Age.
From Dying for Bad Music:
After a 3 minutes countdown the spaceship starts smoothly with a sustainable cloud of white smoke. A moment of silence when it breaks through the athmosphere and enter the infinite space. In eliptic tracks the spaceship drift through the emptiness.
The crew receive signals from dead organs and drift into a dream, standing on mother earth. Someone smuggled in a magnetic tape with recordings from home. Its strange to listen to these sounds in space while they far away from their home planet. Its a midnight recording someone made when they lay in the grass and starring to the stars.
I'm strongly considering paying the $5 to get this one: Sonic Boom-style organ and loops.
@Bad Thoughts No, not in Europa, in chilly Michigan; the Reuter page does mention international shipping as included, but I haven't decided whether to order it yet. And you are right about the $5/4 track price - this would usually give me a lot of pause, and is not a bargain. In this case it's an artist I don't at all mind supporting - I've enjoyed a lot of his music, often for free through his various netlabel releases, and he even once arranged for me to buy from him directly (at a very fair price) a digital copy of an old release that had become hard/very expensive to get on CD and had not been released digitally (and it turned out to be a great listen). So I have quite a bit of good will stored up in this case.
This was a Kickstarter effort (you know, Yancey's life preserver as eMu started taking on water). It's very cool--[strike]Polyphonic Spree stripped down[/strike] to a Canadian spazz-rock outfit. Great for a cold, but sunny day. Name your own price.
I'm revising my recommendation on Sun Hotel (above): this is Beulah beefed up to a Canadian spazz-rock outfit. Nine tracks in I still think it's great.
Free Impossible Ark label sampler: "Free this month on our bandcamp page download a free compilation of some of the best songs from our recent releases. Tunes from Sara Mitra, Rhythmagic Orchestra, Jeb Loy Nichols and Nostalgia 77. All free until the end of December".
For the final Audio Gourmet EP release of the year, we welcome a little-known sound designer from Brazil called Gimu. His earlier music career was based around a pop/electronic band called 'Terrorturbo', in which he was lead singer. As the members of the band went their separate ways over time, Gimu found himself left alone and unsure as to what would be his next move.
It was at this time, that he'd grown very tired of lugging equipment around, endless wires, instruments and even of the sorts of chord progressions and conventional aspects of playing that had been the mainstay of the band.
He had in fact grown tired of writing 'songs' altogether and began to seek new methods of artistic expression through sound.
He decided to strip away all of the structure and rhythm of these 'songs' for his solo work, concentrating on ambient soundscapes with a focus on repetition. He began a fascination with how repetition can take you to a new level of consciousness to the point where you suddenly feel as if you are listening to things that may not even be present in the recording.
For his debut EP here on Audio Gourmet, Gimu has assembled two beautiful tracks that are a perfect representation of the sort of soundscapes he has been inspired to produce in his quest as a solo sound artist.
Through the two tracks on 'Beluga', Gimu tributes this work to close friend Patricia; a constant voice of encouragement and support to his music. This soundtrack is thematically based around the dead dreams of a biologist, the ocean and hope...
Group includes Ted Parsons (Jesu, Swans), produced by Justin Broadrick, mastered by James Plotkin (those names are not equally meaningful to me but various folk in online comments on this release seem to be quite excited about one or another of them so I thought I'd mention them).
And this is nice too, more ambient with a folky substrate and a gentle tone. In fact it might just be heard again with a glass of red wine later this evening - after this week I need some mellow. Also free and also from Hawk Moon Records.
While living in a 35-person village in the mountains of Corsica, David Berkeley wrote the most haunting and powerful music of his life. Upon returning to the U.S., he began recording a collection of these songs. The result, to be released on JANUARY 25, 2011, is Berkeleys 4th studio album, Some Kind of Cure, rich with the images from that Mediterranean island and even the sounds of the village church bell and Corsican singers that David recorded while there.
Sometimes quiet as Iron & Wine or the late Woven Hand, sometimes a fuller sound, maybe like Josh Ritter or Ray LaMontagne.
This is the first time I've tried to post an image here as a link. I tried it out first on BBCode playground; I hope I got it right.
Comments
I haven't listened to this mostly free compilation (its NYOP, but almost all the tracks are individually free). However, it has one track from Makunouchi Bento.
/memories-all-alone=in-the-moonlight
Just in case anyone else loves loscil and doesn't have these, there is a free album by him called Stases that consists of released tracks pared down to their background drones.
There are a few live recordings floating round as well but I can't find live links to them any more (at least not non-shady ones).
Very fine Bluegrass for everyone's holiday. Free! Frei! À libre! Gratis!
Weird original songs by SF artists. Free!
Slightly more traditional Christmas music from Hometapes artists. Free!
Very Cambridge sound--Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock, with splashes of Crismo-style prog thrown in. Name your own price.
That Maps & Transit ain't bad at all. I might wind up picking that up.
Todmorden 513 (+ free CD) by Markus Reuter
4 Euros (=$5.27) to download, but that gets you a free copy of the CD also.
offthesky & Ten and Tracer - to all the twelve year old girls who buy our tapes
Interesting, but the $1+/track price tag elicits a knee-jerk response on my part.
Sind Sie in Europa?
I'm back and forth on that one. The banjo playing is sufficiently different that it doesn't sound New Age.
From Dying for Bad Music: I'm strongly considering paying the $5 to get this one: Sonic Boom-style organ and loops.
- A bit pricey(4 euros for 21 minutes) - But OTOH, it's just so f...... brilliant !
This was a Kickstarter effort (you know, Yancey's life preserver as eMu started taking on water). It's very cool--[strike]Polyphonic Spree stripped down[/strike] to a Canadian spazz-rock outfit. Great for a cold, but sunny day. Name your own price.
The American Dollar
"Free this month on our bandcamp page download a free compilation of some of the best songs from our recent releases. Tunes from Sara Mitra, Rhythmagic Orchestra, Jeb Loy Nichols and Nostalgia 77. All free until the end of December".
Damian Valles - In The Shadow of The Occluding Body - released 17 May 2010
- Damian is also on Resting Bell.
Gimu - Beluga - released 14 December 2010.
name your price.
The Fading Voice Of The Old Era Speaks To Us, But Where Are The Ears Left To Hear It? by ...And The Earth Swarmed With Them
Instrumental ambient rock/post-rock. Some sparse female vocals. Nice work. Think maybe a less heavy Red Sparowes with less bombast. Free download.
Group includes Ted Parsons (Jesu, Swans), produced by Justin Broadrick, mastered by James Plotkin (those names are not equally meaningful to me but various folk in online comments on this release seem to be quite excited about one or another of them so I thought I'd mention them).
Standing Where Our Paths Shall Meet by Oathless
{Edit}You know, it could be the headache speaking, but I'm really enjoying this. Very soothing.
Good Weather for an Airstrike, Remixes for free, several other albums for cheap. They have some free tracks on Last.FM as well.
Sometimes quiet as Iron & Wine or the late Woven Hand, sometimes a fuller sound, maybe like Josh Ritter or Ray LaMontagne.
This is the first time I've tried to post an image here as a link. I tried it out first on BBCode playground; I hope I got it right.