Just about every week, Aaron Ximm uploads a new sound recording to his quietamerican.org-based series, One-Minute Vacations. They’re submitted by travellers who are as likely to carry MiniDisc recorders as they are cameras. Among the recent entries are a nightscape from Zion National Park (MP3), by Joshua Manchester; an Easter ceremony from Vietnam (MP3), by Eisuke Yanagisawa; and a typical morning in Lima, Peru (MP3), by Kathy Kennedy. There’s a podcast subscription for the series (XML), which includes, as a separate track, a narrative explanation for each week’s MP3.
Aquatic MP3
Another month, another fine free MP3 from the kracfive.com collective. This time around it’s a nearly six-minute exercise in aquatic orchestration that brings to mind Gavin Bryars’ The Sinking of the Titanic. “A Green Wall of Eyes” by Kettel opens with the bubbly real-world sounds of oceanic life before introducing held tones that gather in intensity as they rise up the scale, eventually to sink again into the watery depths (MP3).
Microtonal MP3
The Other Minds catalog of free listening at the Internet Archive, aka archive.org, now includes a fascinating interview with Russian-born microtonal composer Ivan Wyschnegradsky (1893-1979), in discussion with OM guru Charles Amirkhanian. It was recorded in Wyschnegradsky’s Paris home in early 1976. There isn’t much music, though toward the end he plays examples on his alternately tuned piano (MP3).
Ninja Tune MP3
Once upon a time, the website of Ninja Tune Records, ninjatune.net, could be expected to serve up a half dozen fine MP3s at any moment. Then came digital retail, and MP3s went from promo items to merchandise. But now Ninja has revived its free-music program, this time in the guise of podcasts. The label has three regular feeds, one of its estimable Solid Steel radio show (MP3), another from label founders Cold Cut and a third from its hip-hop arm, Big Dada. More info at ninjatune.net/podcasts. To be fair, the Ninja site does host the occasional free download, but they tend to be from Big Dada rappers, not from the likes of Amon Tobin, Funki Porcini or Kid Koala.
LX Rudis MP3s
Live, Lx Rudis, who’s based out of San Francisco, does many things, key among them using motion-controlled CD players to transform sound in realm time, a DJ more interested in texture than in beatmatching. He’s got three songs up for download at myspace.com/lxrudis. “Dong of the Damned” warps rising scales played on the piano, flicking them this way and that, before it veers into muffled death metal (MP3). “All Over the Landscape” maintains its slow, steady pace, a leisurely one that brings to mind early Peter Gordon (circa Innocent), with what appears to be William Burroughs (or someone doing a pretty good Burroughs impression) intoning on top (MP3). “Wanting Falling” mixes vocal and keyboard samples for an extended piece that gets more percussive as it goes along; the spoken bit, though, maintains an eerie consistency (MP3).