The netlabel format by its very nature frees individual tracks from the sets in which they appear. The word “album” seems outdated, since netlabels generally take no physical form, just floating music on the Internet and waiting to see who downloads it. Generally this is accomplished with release-specific webpages, allowing for individual track downloads, along with weighty “zipped” archives of the complete release, often including jpeg images of square-format “cover” art. At surfaces.tinkle.lt (that’s “lt” as in Lithuania, not “it” as in Italy), the Surfaces netlabel has found a way to keep its releases whole, at least initially. By way of example, for MonoCulture’s excellent and recent Lawn World, it provides one track for download on its lonesome, the elegant “Losing the Thread,” a long strain of glitch Morse code, with a maudlin-sweet overlay of toy piano, a very beautiful treat in all. To hear the rest of the album’s eight tracks, you’ll need to download a 40mb file and unstuff it. What treasures are locked inside? (More on MonoCulture, aka Nick Eymann, at urbansprawlrecords.com.)
Jeanrenaud MP3
And, yes, another fine download from the Internet Archive’s Other Minds catalog, over at archive.org. This time, a live recording of the solo “Hommage” by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, an exercise in electronically enhanced layers, reminiscent of David Darling and Hank Roberts. Jeanrenaud is best known as the former cellist of the Kronos Quartet. The 20-minute file is only downloadable via FTP, but the site provides clear instructions; just search for “jeanrenaud hommage.” Recorded last year at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco.
Varese MP3
Another fine Other Minds MP3, from the Internet Archive, at archive.org. It’s a 1973 KPFA broadcast of a 40th anniversary segment on early electronic composer Edgar Varese‘s historic percussion piece, Ionisation, which famously included a siren in its score. Nicolas Slonimsky, best known for his biographical dictionary, talks about the debut, which he had conducted all those many years prior. Slonimsky is perhaps best known to rock fans as a friend of Frank Zappa in Zappa’s later years; a mutual respect for Varese’s music was a cornerstone of their friendship, and a major inspiration for Zappa’s classical works. The hour-long file is only downloadable via FTP, but the site provides clear instructions; just search for “varese ionisation.”
Shoegazer MP3
After a long work week (President’s Day notwithstanding, at least here in the U.S.), nothing may be as soothing as a bit of navelgazing — or, more to the point, shoegazing. Yes, the genre is alive and well, and at least in the act Signaldrift‘s imagination, it has pondered (shoegazing, for all its hesitance to leave the rock song behind, is about nothing if not pondering) dropping vocals in favor of something dreamier, something less rooted in the now, something willing to relinquish any claim on the foreground. Not that “Missed but Hopeful,” a free 4:30 MP3 from Girl, Signaldrift’s new album on the Audraglint label, is a total update; there’s some reverberant guitar that’s straight out of the Cure, for example, but the typewriter percussion, the spacey effects and overall chime-y-ness is refreshing and calming, like a spiked lemonade. More info at audraglint.com.
Legal Thievery MP3
Free downloadable music appears regularly, in plain sight, and with little fanfare. Dig a little on the Amazon.com site, and you’ll find not only free music promotions for artists ranging from Cex to Sigur Ros to Depeche Mode to Brian Eno, but a portal page to the retailer’s free music offerings. It’s not clear if there’s a mnemonic direct link to the download section, but head over to the music page, scroll to the bottom, and there’s a link to “Free Music.” One highlight right now, coming in at No. 18 on the site’s “top downloads” list, is “Right Angles remix,” a dubby wonder by Thievery Corporation, off an old Om Records sampler, and unsullied by the cameos (Flaming Lips, Perry Farrell, David Byrne, etc.) that overpopulate the group’s recent Cosmic Game, just out this past Tuesday.