Milieu

The ambient delight This Time we’re Infinite by Herzog released on Serein really inpsired me this morning. It reinforced in my mind why I love writing about netlabels and the creative commons movement so much, as the sanguine opening track Standing like towers, in a field, in the rain made the hairs on my neck stand up. Perhaps I was just in the mood to listen to something like this, but rest assured, This Time we’re Infinite is an interesting EP that’s worth listening to.

At just over 30 minutes, there’s enough food for thought. Influences are hard to track, so what I’m reminded of as I listen is probably different to anyone else. For instance, A short exchange of words by the triangulation point brings to mind traditional Japanese music, overlaid with contemporary 20th Century Western composition and an electronica composer’s adeptness for effects processing.

Despite the patterns and music appearing complex at first, there’s a coarse vein of simplicity running through Herzog’s compositional techniques. These roads are ribbons in the countryside hangs in the air with grace and charm, and Look at us only through microscopes now feels two parts of a story, each with distinct themes that are recycled throughout.

Eclectic electronica label Laridae celebrated its 20th release in January, with Sweepglade

Laridae proudly presents its 20th release, “sweepglade”, a compilation with tracks by almost every artist on the label. this time, we don’t celebrate the cold temperatures, but push a little glimpse of the upcoming spring through your ears into your brains. “sweepglade” contains everything laridae stands for: eclectic idm, neat songwriting, frosty soundscapes and fun-loving lo-fi-trash. we promise you to melt the snow.

Sweepglade is an excellent slice of Laridae talent, with excellent production throughout and there are even vocals on by Der Reisende on Die blendenden lichter dieser stadt. Woycheck features with a track that combines moments of sublime electronica with simple and catchy melodies, and fearsomely harsh drum programming.

Shapitonic by Mombus is one of the lighter points on the compilation, featuring delicate analogue synths (almost Boards of Canada-esque), mixed with acid-inspired bass and solid drums and rhythms. The synths really come alive in this track; the automation and effects are used with great care and creativity.

Orjo’s Rough Trade brings in an almost Massive Attack feeling track to the mix, with sparse vocals and distorted riffs. Schaua’s mb is one of the aforementioned lo-fi tracks, combining distorted chords and 8bit-style leads. Similarly, Firnwald’s The animal that speaks to me continues this feeling. Red.chamber’s Tiny hole, huge void is a great deal more abstract than the other tracks on the compilation, but is because of the way the compilation has been put together, it fits in nicely. hustler by Photophob is a good track, have a look at Photophob - The fragmentary i ep if you want to read more about Photophob’s excellent work.

By the time you get to the last track on Sweepglade, Im Kopf - Welk, you’ve gone through quite a journey of electronica. Welk is a cleverly composed 8bit-style track, and although he’s obviously mixing in samples and sounds that aren’t purely 8bit, the mix is interesting and enjoyable. I love the simple harmonies and counterpoints, it’s a good way to go out on a compilation.

Michel Berghs from Netlabelism.net sent me a message about the site:

We’re a new website dedicated to netlabels. Our main goal is to promote netlabels via 2 top 25 (weekly updated), parties, radio and concerts.

They’ve got RSS feeds of netlabel charts, which could be useful for those of you who download a lot of creative commons/public domain music.

Incidentally, if you write about netlabels or creative commons-oriented subjects, please get in touch with me using my contact form. I’m looking to start a site that aggregates high-quality writing on netlabels, to help people discover the artists that work so hard to entertain us for free (and draw attention to your blogs).

If you don’t quite get what I mean, have a look at 9rules.com. The site aims to:

[...] highlight the very best web content in the world, and package it in a nice bow for you to unwrap. Our members discuss a wide range of topics from interface design and technology, to business, humor, and many others.

I don’t want to collect a list of every weblog ever that includes posts about ‘free mp3s’, there’s already a lot of those around, and they don’t generally promote the netlabels, open audio or copyleft movements.

Gordon Tebo - Adaptive Immune, released on Test Tube, comprises of four tracks of ambient genius. Generally ambient albums and EPs have a flavour that runs throughout - you can quite often group artists into ‘illbient’ and ‘generally upbeat or optimistic’, but Tebo transcends my prior tendency to categorise by creating pieces more subtle and diverse.

Blue in you is an incredible piece, the synthetic sounds have a confident and seemingly propitious tone. These are manipulated gently as the piece progresses, as Tebo introduces noise and other random factors.

Process for Progress is more sombre, and I really love the way Tebo uses rhythm here. There’s a satisfying bass drum, that seems to gently oscillate with the noisy recursions in the backdrop. Chord progressions suggesting melody are introduced, and at this point the track starts to remind me of the illustrious Deathprod.

The dissonance introduced in Homeopath Inversion again reminds me of Deathprod, and there’s a lot of subtlety in the background of this track. It’s a shorter piece than the rest, and gently unfolds into a sustained bass note.

All new again is more like Phonophani than Deathprod, I suspect Tebo has had a lot of influence from Rune Grammofon artists. Test Tube calls Gordon Tebo “a man with very special music”, and it is special - perhaps Rune Grammofon should take note!

Markus Masuhr - Body Dismorphic Disorder, released on 1bit Wonder, is a four track EP of electronica, a little bit more abstract than mainstream house, which fits in nicely with the other releases on 1bit.

Entspannungsphase has an ambient intro and old-school drums that I love. The feeling quickly evolves into something more like house/techno than abstract Autechre-inspired electronica, and Masuhr experiments a great deal with the percussion in the background as the track progresses. Blunted My Transistor is harder, and this time the percussion is again developed to another level, with a firm four four bass drum stomping through the experimentation.

Es kommt manchmal anders als man denkt is the most interesting piece on the EP, with strange reversed vocals, and vocal snippets forming rhythm lines. It has a melancholic feeling, somehow conjuring images of long, hot summer nights and cannabis. Electronic Lounge does have a lounge feel to it, but it doesn’t have the same level of production as the other tracks - the bass drum sometimes feels like it’s too heavy and the bass guitar is a little cheesy.

Markus Masuhr - Body Dismorphic Disorder might work for you if you’re looking for something to listen to while you work, but if you dig beneath the surface there’s a little bit more to it than that.

Function Buttons by Mark Hamn, released on Complementary Distribution last December, is a diverse mix of electro-acoustic music and synthesized experimentation. Ultra-modern and almost folk-inpsired passages mix, blending with each other to produce something both pleasant and intriguing.

The first track, Un autre chose illustrates this pefectly. Noisy crackles gracefully give way to a strung instrument, probably an acoustic guitar, with a simple theme that is revisited throughout the piece. Hamn introduces sampled percussive sounds, and continues to explore the timbres of the “crackles” that organise themselves around the percussion.

Les structures a son inspiration is more sombre, and uses an electronic melody that slowly swells, incorporating other more esoteric sounds amidst the ebb and flow of Hamn’s experimentation. The piece has a simple structure that culminates naturally towards the end, leaving behind quiet feedback at the end.

Groupe scénique is more hectic than the previous pieces, and uses a technique many electro-acoustic composers use whereby samples are taken of passages and looped for a few bars, and then changed or layered with other melodies and sounds. This gives rise to interesting rhythms in the melodies, and because they are repeated it’s easy for the listener to get a handle on where Hamn’s taking the piece.

Unlike the other pieces, La dureé d’une respiration makes more use of sampled percussion, although only briefly. This time, the experimentation Hamn sets as the backdrop for the piece is more subdued, as if suggesting age or decay. Vocals rise above this backdrop, making this piece standout somewhat.

Chaos is apparent in the Le pragmatisme, and perhaps the title is a reflection on the mentality of the pragmatist. And cleverly, chaos gives rise to an optimistic ambience.

Hamn finishes Function Buttons with On cherche a se rapprocher d’un idéal, which I believe translates to “One who seeks has to approach an ideal.” This time, another miasma of experimental electronic sounds again suggest age, perhaps alluding to memory. Notes play a listless tune that borders on the melancholic, leaving in the listener’s mind a sense of tired forgetfulness.

Kreislauf.FM # 88 (December 6, 2005) is a 58 minute mix featuring 13 Comatronic classics, mixed by Joko13. The mix is a good reflection of Comatronic’s output, featuring both the abstract and more mainstream electronica moments. The intro has been prepared by Joko13, and it forms a natural and slick way to start a mix, leading nicely into Twile. You’ll find some recent Comatronic favourites in the mix, including Phonout’s Vonomo. Here’s the full track list:

00 - Intro - Conducted by Joko13
01 - Twile - Chiaroscuro - COM12
02 - Ars Deco - Nuvola - COM13
03 - Ojoruido - Sasa - COM03
04 - Receptor - Jazzio - COM08
05 - Phonout - Vonomo - COM15
06 - Twile - Chiaroscuro (Joko13 Remix) - COM12
07 - Jörg Müller - Es Gäbe Mehr Zu Sagen - COM11
08 - Kuba Connect - Savant Fou - COM05
09 - Dataman - Nonsense - COM06
10 - Joko13 - Morphine - COM10
11 - Philipp Weigl - Strangers - COM14
12 - Boris Heizmann - Placid States - COM04
13 - Agent 101 - Union - COM09

As you might have noticed, the music I cover here is generally electronic. My tastes aren’t really focused on one style of music, I’m as likely to have a string quartet, folk or noise on my mp3 player at any given moment. Although not at the same time. I have my limits.

To that end, I’d like to bring your attention to Soren Vinson, who has been writing music for 8 years, and resides in Springfield, Missouri. His music isn’t available for download in the same way that most of the netlabel releases I cover are, but you can listen to four excellent tracks on his site, or download a few from Soundclick (requires registration).

The free tracks from Nightglow are superb, relaxed post-rock tracks, with a wide-range of timbres and influences. Something about Valium made me take note and listen, and whatever it was, the production is excellent.