Various Artists - "Fonoteka 7 (Remixed)"

A quality compilation from a Polish retro netlabel (7/10) Związek Kompozytorów Polskich i Zakład Nagrań Dźwiękowych Estrady informuje: koniec z szeroko propagowaną akcją popularyzowania ckliwych serenadek czy wesołych uwerturek w rytmie polskich tańców ludowych. Istniejące i powstające nadal kompozycje rażą szablonem, banałem oraz żenującym poziomem artystycznym. Nie chodzi tu wcale o tytuły granych pozycji – bądź ich brak – ale o styl interpretacyjny, który nawiązuje najczęściej do najgorszych tradycji muzyków estradowych. Wśród nadesłanych do nas materiałów niewielu kompozytorów pokusiło się o wykroczenie poza zwykłą przeciętność, co najwyżej poprawność, graniczącą jednak z monotonią, szablonem i sztampą. Postawa wielu wykonawców trąci abnegacją i rutyniarstwem. Wieje nudą i szarzyzną. [...] Przed państwem ci, których wszystko co napisaliśmy nie dotyczy. [Read more --->] This is a quality compilation of contemporary club music: from electronica and nu jazz through hip hop to disco, all with a nice retro feeling, typical for productions coming from Estrada Nagrania netlabel. The retro feeling is strengthened through masterful mixing, blending modern tunes with sampled fragments of Polish radio programmes from the 1970s - often to very funny and surreal effects. Only several of these tracks suit my personal taste, hence the rating of "7". However, trying to adopt a more objective view, I have to admit all of this material is top class and should satisfy a more club-music-oriented listener. And for people longing for "good old times", ready for a nostalgic time travel back to '70s - this should be a masterpiece. If somebody is interested in my choice, here is the list of my favorites: 04 - Symbiotic Sounds - 1987 08 - 2 Pac - Thug Style (produced by ylaib) 15 - Printempo - Szarosc poniedzialkowego popoludnia 17 - Ortalio - Cynematyka 19 - Graf Cratedigger - Lotniskowiec 21 - Sawersky - Spectral Type 1 22 - Synnc - Nights Of course, the clear winner is the one and only Printempo, whose new track is equally fabulous to the material from the debut album of this act, which I reviewed earlier. The album has been released by the Estrada Nagrania netlabel and you can download it for free in mp3 format. The lossless version is available in the netlabel's Bandcamp store under the "name your price" scheme. You can also listen to the full album online on Bandcamp. Of course, if you like this album and you intend to keep it, I encourage you to make a donation (purchase) through Bandcamp, even if you need only a free mp3 version. After all, "name your price" means any amount you can afford. PLEASE SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS.

Magnetar / Toltek Industries - "Liftoff"

Mixed feelings... (5/10) This is a collection of tracks dating from 2000-2004. I called the project Magnetar. I have plans on releasing another album of tracks from this period. Phineous I have mixed feelings after listening to this album. Some tracks are very good, some are rather boring for me. But overall, the album would earn maybe even 7 points, if not... two issues. Firstly, the sound volume variations. Some parts are so quiet, you must turn the volume up to the maximum. Then, you are attacked by sounds so loud that you cannot hear your own thoughts. So listening to this album requires constant struggle with a volume slider. It is a very stupid and annoying "feature" of some records, which on this one is pushed to extremes. Secondly, who in their right mind would name such song as no. 3 on this album "Elven Lore"? What these guitars, drums and dark mood have to do with elves? "Orcish pit" would be a much more appropriate name. If the dear author wants to hear music that fits a theme of elves, I will recommend albums of Enya or "Robin Hood" by Clannad. Of course I did not really lowered my rating because of the name of the track, but because of the sound volume problem. The album has been published under the Free Art License, which is more or less equivalent to the CC BY-SA license. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

Royalty-free music for professional licensing [mirror @ archive.org] | [Myspace]

Hype - "Just A Catwalk From Heaven"

One great track + four decent ones (7/10)

[Artist's Myspace]

"Parfaite alchimie de lyrisme pop électrique, rageuse et entêtante grâce à un songwriting subtil, des gimmicks et un chant à vous coller des frissons…" c'est ainsi que les premières chroniques ont définies la musique de HYPE.

Grâce à un chanteur franco-allemand, un batteur britannique d'alliance et deux "frenchies", HYPE est riche tant par ses origines que par ses influences.

Le groupe qui a déjà 2 EP à son actif, s'est forgé une solide expérience "live" en défendant ses titres avec rage sur les plus prestigieuses scènes de la capitale (Elysée Montmartre, Maroquinerie...).

"Ain't That Far" - I recommend this track to every true rock fan. Really great song. The others are nice, but not so catchy. They are just ordinary rock songs lacking freshness but "Ain't That Far" definitely will stay for good on my 'Favorites' playlist. Although I must say that after several times I started to like all the five. I just had to give the others some time, because they are not immediate hits.

The album has been published on Jamendo under the Creative Commons license and later removed from this website. Fortunately, a CC license is irrevocable and the recording has been archived by the one and only archive.org Internet library. You can listen to the album online or download it in mp3 or ogg format - all of this legally.

Hype - "Lies And Speeches"

Very good REM-like and Live-like rock (9/10)

[Artist's Myspace]

"Parfaite alchimie de lyrisme pop électrique, rageuse et entêtante grâce à un songwriting subtil, des gimmicks et un chant à vous coller des frissons…" c'est ainsi que les premières chroniques ont définies la musique de HYPE.

Grâce à un chanteur franco-allemand, un batteur britannique d'alliance et deux "frenchies", HYPE est riche tant par ses origines que par ses influences.

Le groupe qui a déjà 2 EP à son actif, s'est forgé une solide expérience "live" en défendant ses titres avec rage sur les plus prestigieuses scènes de la capitale (Elysée Montmartre, Maroquinerie...).

Association with REM is obvious. But I do not say these guys are plagiarists. I say that to get them people's attention. They just explore a similar area of rock music and the vocalist has a voice resembling that of Michael Stipe. I will not be original either, saying that I agree with everybody that "My Innocence" is definitely the greatest song on this album. But I will say more - it is so awesome that it would be high on any list of the greatest rock hits of all time - if only more people had a chance to listen to it.

Apart from REM, several tracks remind me of Live and I think Hype is even more similar to Live than to REM. Especially with regard to "My Innocence", but also "Anybody here", which is almost as good as "My Innocence". Both songs could be placed on "The Distance To Here" right beside "The Dolphin's Cry" and nobody would notice any difference in quality. In my opinion Hype has a potential for a big career - not only in France but on international scale.

And one more thing - how stupid one has to be to rate the music album by the quality of the cover? Maybe such people should move to the graphical arts website? So, 10 points for "My Innocence" and "Anybody here", 7 points for the rest. Overall: 8,5. I must choose 8 or 9 when rating, so I choose 9 - those two songs are REALLY great. Check them out - it is free, remember? And also check out their second album "Just A Catwalk From Heaven", especially track no. 2 "Ain't That Far". One more precious gem.

The album has been published on Jamendo under the Creative Commons license and later removed from this website. Fortunately, a CC license is irrevocable and the recording has been archived by the one and only archive.org Internet library. You can listen to the album online or download it in mp3 or ogg format - all of this legally.

Akusto, Ben - "Ambience Session"

Really great ambient (8/10) This album was kind of an experimental in 1997. It was never released until now. Some of you have maybe heard the Enharmon in some of my gigs. Once again, thanks to Al Cabaro being with me in these studio sessions as a mental help and co-drinker. And thanks to all my friends for just being there all the time. Please sit down in a peaceful corner, take a deep breath, relax and press play. This is a really great album. I recommend it to every fan of the darker side of ambient. I also recommend it to people who think this is a boring genre. It sometimes happen - with bad ambient albums. But Ambience Session definitely belongs to this genre and it is not boring even for one second. Boring ambient is just bad ambient. [mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace] SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

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Subterrestrial - "Goddess of Atvatabar, the"

Interesting but too repetitive dark ambient (6/10) The debut album from this San Francisco Bay Area artist, The Goddess of Atvatabar is inspired by the 1891 hollow earth adventure novel by William R. Bradshaw and leans heavily on dark ambient, tribal ambient and middle eastern musical themes. The Goddess of Atvatabar is a self-released web album and is available as a free download. This is an interesting dark ambient recording, although too repetitive for my liking. I like experimenting with dark atmosphere and strange sounds. The drawbacks are the said repetitiveness and absurd sound volume differences, forcing a listener to adjust the level throughout the album. For me the best tracks are nos. 01, 02 and 07, because they are not overly repetitive. If you like highly repetitive type of ambient, you can safely add 2 or 3 points to my rating. I guess using a word "repetitive" in every sentence, when reviewing a repetitive album is somehow repetitive, I mean, is somehow OK, isn't it? Apart from Jamendo the album is available at archive.org on Subterrestrial's own "netlabel" channel - possibly in better quality, because Jamendo is notorious for very low quality of their mp3 files. Please note that this edition is governed by a different CC license: . I guess it means you can choose the one that better suits your needs. [Jamendo mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace]

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Akusto, Ben - "TeddyBear Trilogee"

Very good album (8/10) This single was originally published somewhere between 1996 ans 1997. Can't remember exactly when. Some of these songs were also made together with Al Cabaro alias Parametric. Thanks to AC and thanks to all my friends. Republished May 2007. Have fun! Very good album. Interesting electronic tunes plus one of the funniest parodies I've ever heard (07 - Sick Ted). It's completely crazy and I love it. [mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] | [Myspace] SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation on this page - use the button "Donate" in the upper left corner.

Royalty-free music for professional licensing