Month: May 2005

Some call it a podcast, while others call it a radio broadcast segment ported to the web. In either case, the estimable Echoes radio show has posted an interview, including musical interludes, with fourth-world trumpeter Jon Hassell. He talks about the increasing prevalence of non-western touches in popular music, and riffs on the correlation between so-called fusion cuisine and his own brand of global-blender ambient jazz. A search for “Hassell” on the show’s website, echoes.org, yields a null return. But you can download the MP3 directly here, and subscribe to the Echoes podcast here.

Bleep.com is the digital-music download service operated by the folks at Warp Records, and it’s running a special free-download promotion in conjunction with Rip ‘N’ Burn magazine, which is ceasing to publish (the magazine, not the download retailer). Bleep is a DRM-free service, which means you purchase unencrypted MP3s, not heavily protected, proprietary files, which is the case with, oh, the iTunes Music Store. (DRM = “digital rights management.”) You need to register for Bleep to be eligible to enjoy the promotion, but registering is free, and once you do, you’ll see “RIPNBURN” listed toward the top of the pulldown menu that names all the Bleep affiliated labels (among them Warp, Ninja Tune, One Little Indian, Domino, Lex, Schematic, Skam and others; in other words, the good stuff). If you’re already registered, you can also just click on over to bleep.com/ripnburn. Every time you access this pulldown or that link, the site rotates through various free downloads, from deservedly prominent artists such as DJ Vadim, Luke Vibert and Four Tet. You can also access the free tracks individually from the menu on the left side of the screen, which features the covers of the albums from which the songs were extracted. There are 11 downloads in all: Busdriver‘s “Unemployed Black Astronaut,” Colder‘s “Shiny Star (Matthew Dear remix),” Fog‘s “10th Avenue Freakout,” Four Tet‘s “Smile Around the Face,” the Go! Team‘s “Get It Together,” Jamie Lidell‘s “The City,” Mugison’s “Murr Murr,” One Self‘s “Be Your Own (radio edit)” (that’s DJ Vadim with rapper Yarah Bravo), Quasimoto‘s “Greenery,” Luke Vibert’s “Funky Acid Stuff” and Vitalic‘s “Wooo.” Locate the ones you’re interested in, and then “purchase” each file for $0.00. If you’re not familiar with the Bleep interface, consider this a free lesson. Particularly recommended are the Four Tet (a funky beat with these high-pitched glossolalia vocals), the Vibert (which finds a common ground between his more recent electro-retro sounds and his earlier blunted downtempo), and the Vitalic (a heavyfooted fuzzed-out organ grind).

With its offbeat tempos and prevalent mallet-wielding, Jaga Jazzist may be the second coming of Tortoise, or of Shadowfax, depending on your temperament. Neither of those acts, though, ever rocked as hard as Jaga does on “Oslo Skyline,” a soaring track off the group’s recent What We Must, now available as a free download from its label’s website, ninjatune.com. This may be the most hard-core prog-rock thing Ninja has ever unleashed on its devoted, and generally downtempo-fixated, audience. (How proggy? Picture Godspeed You Black Emperor’s tour bus hijacked by Keith Emerson.) Jaga is a 10-piece Norwegian ensemble that mixes standard equipment (bass, drums, guitars) with old-school (trumpet, vibes, flute) and new-school (drum machines, wind controller, various keyboards) touches. More info at jagajazzist.com.