“Petcord Volume 1 – The Audio Fringe” is the netlabel Petcord’s first compilation, released after several years of development. Petcord specializes in “electroacoustic, dark ambient, drone and otherwise experimental feedback, clicks and crackling loops that fail to comply to stereotypes”. The music of this compilation reflects Petcord’s choice in genres nicely. Because different artists are [...]
I am usually not especially into live performances, with a few exceptions, but, ironically, my reviewing has pulled me into that direction, recently with my review of a piece by Mystahr, and now by the latest on Earth Mantra by Shane Morris and Dan Minoza. Most reviewers would probably point out that it is indeed [...]
Recently defunct but still with their entire catalogue up for grabs and immediate track stream, Hippocamp was one of the netlabels we constantly witnessed putting out new fresh releases during these past 9 years. They focused on electronic sounds, ranging in style but coherent in quality, based out in Manchester but releasing from all over [...]
Mystahr, the inspiring and mercurial spirit behind NTNS Radio, the JNN Netlabel, and other audio entities, also creates his own music. By all reports, he has been active in 2010 in this way, working on live sets with other artists as well as on solo material. It is in this context that I place “Experimentabolismic [...]
C.P. McDill is a big name in the netlabel scene. His netlabel Webbed Hand Records has been very popular and is often identified with the best of ambient music freely available. He himself participates in a number of projects, such as Djinnestan and Saluki Regicide. Recently, the industrious Mr. McDill began another project: “Drone Wallah”. [...]
The concept of an anonymous collective is interesting, and makes me wonder how many famous musicians have given themselves other names– not obvious ones like “Ziggy Stardust”, but even stranger, more obscure names, that we have never heard. For Digital Mass, who have written this piece, are an anonymous collective. Here we see they are [...]
“Prasantih” is the second of collaborative efforts between practiced ambient musicians Lucette Bourdin and Darrell Burgan (also known as “Palancar”, among other aural entities). According to the release notes, the two artists exchanged fragments of song, and gradually combined these fragments to make complete pieces. And to what effect! The effect of the music is [...]
Fosel’s “The Difference Machine” is named after an early automated device. Although in its liner notes, much is made of the mechanical nature of the pieces in this release, I was personally struck by the qualities of the music that are not mechanical. Fosel’s music is abstract but pleasing and I feel that a lot [...]
Sometimes music comes to me like birds fly– in groups, changing directions in similar ways. As with some releases previously reviewed here, it is not the complexity, in a compositional sense, that I enjoy about the tracks on Gridline’s Bump Foot release. In fact, it is their simplicity. What is it, about simple compositions using [...]
Mongolian act Crepuscolo offers a short but appealing release on the excellent Eg0Cide Productions. A complaint I have heard amongst the industry’s old timers is that netreleases like this one “dilute” the musical world, by supplying listeners with quality material at no cost (rather than creating an expensive run of 500 or 1000 copies in [...]