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.

Various Artists - "Newcastle Sampler"

Interesting hardcore techno compilation (6/10)

All Tracks Built In Newcastle, Australia Published By Len & Jen Music (ASCAP) Distributed By Soundbase Music Germany Newcastle Sampler is a compilation released by the label Bastard Loud Records, presenting several acts from the Newcastle hardcore techno scene, recording for the famous label Bloody Fist Records. This is an interesting album, offering quality tunes, and although I personally dig only two tracks out of six, the compilation remains a great insight into the history of hardcore techno. My favorites are Nasenbluten - Treadmill and Disassembler - Ants. They are fast, aggressive, disturbing, but without being too repetitive and without overuse of speech samples - two weaknesses of so many hardcore techno tunes. The other four do not fit my taste, being haunted by the said flaws. They represent the type of hardcore techno, which is totally boring for me, despite its aggressiveness and high tempos. Still, they should appeal to hardcore hardcore techno fans out there. If you happen to be one, you can safely add some points to my 6/10 rating. I guess this album is very rare now, but if you happen to run into it somewhere along the links, be sure to check it out, if you are a fan of hardcore techno. And do not forget to visit the official Bandcamp website of Bloody Fist Records, where you can listen to and buy some other releases from this label.

Various Artists - "Newcastle Hardcore Vol. 2"

Interesting hardcore techno compilation (7/10)

Bloody Fist Records was an independent record label based in Newcastle, Australia. Bloody Fist was one of the most prolific labels involved in hardcore/gabber, industrial, breaks, noise, and related genres. Founded by Nasenbluten's Mark Newlands (formerly known as Stigs/TDU) in 1994 as a platform for local artists, the label initially began distributing cassettes and moved on to become a major label in the hardcore techno scene. Newcastle Hardcore Vol. 1 & 2 [1994] was a first vinyl release of this label, presenting a compilation of artists from the local Newcastle hardcore techno scene. Vol. 2 supposedly contained 7 tracks from 6 acts. The version I had a chance to listen to included only 5 tracks: a1 - The Shaftman - Shaftman a2 - Xylocaine - Luftwaffe a3 - Pendulum - Uncle Sam b1 - Overcast - Rougher b2 - Syndicate - M'shit Hardcore

The album is very interesting, as they all are quality offerings, and although I personally dig only two of them, the compilation remains a proof that the guy behind Bloody Fist knew what he was doing right from the start.

My favorites are Pendulum - Uncle Sam and Overcast - Rougher, two fast pieces reminding me of The Prodigy from the Experience period. Even if they are not the most original songs ever recorded, they are catchy, energetic and never venture near the border of plagiarism.

The other three do not fit my taste, being comprised almost exclusively of samples from other songs or speeches mixed with extremely fast techno-style drums. This is not creative, this is not catchy, this is not original, this is not anything interesting - for me this type of hardcore techno is totally boring. Still, I guess all three acts are good at what they are doing, so for the purpose of such a compilation they are suitable.

I guess this album is very rare now, but if you happen to run into it somewhere along the links, be sure to check it out, if you are a fan of hardcore techno / breakcore. And do not forget to visit the official Bandcamp website of Bloody Fist Records, where you can listen to and buy some other releases from this label.

Various Artists - "Newcastle Hardcore Vol. 1"

Interesting hardcore techno compilation (6/10)

Bloody Fist Records was an independent record label based in Newcastle, Australia. Bloody Fist was one of the most prolific labels involved in hardcore/gabber, industrial, breaks, noise, and related genres. Founded by Nasenbluten's Mark Newlands (formerly known as Stigs/TDU) in 1994 as a platform for local artists, the label initially began distributing cassettes and moved on to become a major label in the hardcore techno scene. Newcastle Hardcore Vol. 1 & 2 [1994] was a first vinyl release of this label, presenting a compilation of artists from the local Newcastle hardcore techno scene. This is an interesting album, offering quality tunes, and although I personally dig only two tracks on each of the two records, the compilation remains a proof that the guy behind Bloody Fist knew what he was doing right from the start.

My favorites on the Volume 1 are Pendulum - Feel The Pain and Syndicate - Lower Level. The latter reminds me of the early The Prodigy from the Experience period, but while the inspiration is very clear, this is not a blatant copy. The former has great disturbing dark atmosphere. Both songs are catchy, energetic and just pure fun to listen.

The other six do not fit my taste, being comprised almost exclusively of samples from other songs or speeches mixed with extremely fast techno-style drums. This is not creative, this is not catchy, this is not original, this is not anything interesting - for me this type of hardcore techno is totally boring. Still, if they are typical for 1994 Newcastle hardcore techno scene, they fit this compilation.

I guess this album is very rare now, but if you happen to run into it somewhere along the links, be sure to check it out, if you are a fan of hardcore techno. And do not forget to visit the official Bandcamp website of Bloody Fist Records, where you can listen to and buy some other releases from this label.

Various Artists - "Feu‘netik Sampler"

Very good drum & bass compilation (8/10)

With our first release we open the floodgates and fill up your ears to the brim with a vivid variety of music in order to let it be heard in the way it's meant to be: totally free of charge and as individual as those who produced it. Whether it's intricate electro, smooth breakbeats, fresh hip-hop or relaxed ambient - a personal note always goes hand in hand with the musical ones. The phonetik fellas team up with the long-legged lady to define what a colourful and interesting compilation can be. And what it should be. :)

iDEOLOGY has entered the building. Leech on!

Very good compilation of independent electronic music. This is the first release of the netlabel iD.EOLOGY and right from the start they set the bar very high. The album is oriented mainly on (but not limited to) drum & bass. Some elements of breakbeat, nu jazz and downtempo can be easily found too, making the record more diverse and interesting. There is only a one flaw - a very unfortunate hip-hop song "Late At Night" by Broke Gringos. Not only it does not fit here stylistically, but what worse it is simply bland and boring. All the others are top quality, so if you like intelligent electronic music, do not hesitate to check it out.

The album has been released by the iD.EOLOGY netlabel and is available for downloading at the netlabel's website in mp3 and ogg formats. It has been released under a specific Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives license described here.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the netlabel and its artists by purchasing goods in its shop.

Grieg, E. & Brahms, J. - "Peer Gynt Suite" (Various Artists)

Tracklist: 01. Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite, No. 1 Op. 46 Performed by Philharmonic Ensemble Pro Musica. Conducted by Herbert Fleischmann. 02. Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite, No. 2 Op. 55 Performed by Philharmonic Ensemble Pro Musica. Conducted by Herbert Fleischmann. 03. Grieg, E. - Symphonic Dance, No. 4 Performed by Nurnberger Symphoniker. Conducted by Rato Tschupp. 04. Brahms, J. - Tragic Overture, Op. 81 Performed by Nurnberger Symphoniker. Conducted by Hanspeter Gmur.

Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 -- 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (which includes Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King), and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces. Peer Gynt Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to compose incidental music for the play. Grieg composed a score that plays approximately ninety minutes. Grieg extracted two suites of four pieces each from the incidental music (Opus 46 and Opus 55), which became very popular as concert music. Two of the sung parts of the incidental music ended up in these suites (the famous In the Hall of the Mountain King in the 1st suite with the vocal parts omitted, and the last part of 2nd suite, Solveig's Song, the solo part now played by violin rather than sung, though the vocal version is sometimes substituted). (Originally, the second suite had a fifth number, The Dance of the Mountain King's Daughter, but Grieg withdrew it.) Grieg himself declared that it was easier to make music "out of his own head" than strictly following suggestions made by Ibsen. For instance, Ibsen wanted music that would characterize the "international" friends in the fourth act, by melding the said national anthems (Norwegian, Swedish, German, French and English). Reportedly, Grieg was not in the right mood for this task. The music of these suites, especially Morning Mood starting the first suite, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and the string lament Åse's Death later reappeared in numerous arrangements, soundtracks, etc. The four Symphonic Dances of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, form the collection notated as Op. 64. They were written c. 1896 and draw their inspiration from the earlier folk works collected by Ludvig Lindeman. * Dance No. 1, G major, Allegro moderato e marcato * Dance No. 2, A major, Allegretto grazioso * Dance No. 3, D major, Allegro giocoso * Dance No. 4, A minor, Andante: Allegro risoluto [Read more --->] Johannes Brahms (pronounced [joːˈhanəs ˈbʁaːms]; 7 May 1833 -- 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered on December 26, 1880 in Vienna. Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes. Brahms chose the title "Tragic" to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms was not very interested in musical storytelling and was more concerned with conveying and eliciting emotional impressions. He summed up the effective difference between the two overtures when he declared "one laughs while the other cries." Brahms quotes some material from the last movement of the Second Symphony in this overture. The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor. * Allegro ma non troppo * Molto più moderato * Tempo primo ma tranquillo. The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. [Read more --->] Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011 EAC extraction logfile from 21. December 2011, 12:00 Various Artists / Peer Gynt Suite Used drive : PLDS DVD+-RW DH-16AAS Adapter: 1 ID: 0 Read mode : Secure Utilize accurate stream : Yes Defeat audio cache : No Make use of C2 pointers : No Read offset correction : 6 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000 Gap handling : Appended to previous track Used output format : Internal WAV Routines Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo TOC of the extracted CD Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector --------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 0:00.32 | 14:14.43 | 32 | 64124 2 | 14:15.00 | 16:32.50 | 64125 | 138574 3 | 30:47.50 | 10:28.05 | 138575 | 185679 4 | 41:15.55 | 12:25.42 | 185680 | 241596 Track 1 Filename C:\01 - Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 46.wav Pre-gap length 0:00:02.42 Peak level 35.7 % Extraction speed 6.5 X Track quality 99.9 % Test CRC 53BEEEAD Copy CRC 53BEEEAD Copy OK Track 2 Filename C:\02 - Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite No. 2 Op. 55.wav Pre-gap length 0:00:02.93 Peak level 29.9 % Extraction speed 8.5 X Track quality 99.9 % Test CRC 8F5C6946 Copy CRC 8F5C6946 Copy OK Track 3 Filename C:\03 - Grieg, E. - Symphonic Dance No. 4.wav Pre-gap length 0:00:02.17 Peak level 86.6 % Extraction speed 10.0 X Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC F8567EA6 Copy CRC F8567EA6 Copy OK Track 4 Filename C:\04 - Brahms, J. - Tragic Overture, Op. 81.wav Pre-gap length 0:00:03.50 Peak level 82.3 % Extraction speed 10.9 X Track quality 100.0 % Test CRC 465B5F9A Copy CRC 465B5F9A Copy OK No errors occurred End of status report PERFORMER: auCDtect Task Manager, ver. 1.5.1RC4 build 1.5.1.5 Copyright (c) 2008-2010 y-soft. All rights reserved http://y-soft.org ANALYZER: auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2 Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved. FILE: 04 - Brahms, J. - Tragic Overture, Op. 81.flac Size: 60571825 Hash: ADADD2179A31268E4F950FB8A145763A Accuracy: -m0 Conclusion: CDDA 100% Signature: 8B937C1DC4652C9AE00CCC6D4C4C215CCAE8ACC2 FILE: 03 - Grieg, E. - Symphonic Dance, No. 4.flac Size: 42264881 Hash: 73A8A03D53367E173D6A99F50DA1FD80 Accuracy: -m0 Conclusion: CDDA 100% Signature: 6737FAAB5F823898AC2CF598A333F134E01FC671 FILE: 02 - Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite, No. 2 Op. 55.flac Size: 51964650 Hash: A11D6809954D8EAB6F902D0A136BB100 Accuracy: -m0 Conclusion: CDDA 99% Signature: 8307005242379169D414D8A11573133229C3A6AC FILE: 01 - Grieg, E. - Peer Gynt Suite, No. 1 Op. 46.flac Size: 48275529 Hash: 2603B66E3990140DF61D577F7D3632C8 Accuracy: -m0 Conclusion: CDDA 100% Signature: CBA488E7E594D1EA65C3FBA56992342749A9E6E0 Interested? Follow this link: http://winstonsmith.wrzuta.pl/katalog/7RIFnAYw0aB/va_-_grieg_e._-_peer_gynt_suite

Various Artists - "The WIRED CD Rip. Sample. Mash. Share"

Very good compilation (8/10) Editée par le magazine américan WIRED à plus de 750 000 exemplaires, cette compilation d'artistes reconnus, la première du genre, marque un tournant dans l'histoire de Creative Commons, et peut être même dans l'histoire de la musique. Elle est le témoignage de l'adoption de Creative Commons par des groupes tels que les Beastie Boys, ou Gilberto Gil, le ministre de la culture Brésilien (et artiste avant tout !), et bien d'autres. This is a very good compilation from the variety of artists, some of which are well-known, like Beastie Boys or David Byrne. The compilation is very diverse stylistically, ranging from hip-hop, r&b and latino through rock to electronica. Most of the tracks are really good - I didn't like only 4 tracks out of 13, so it's a quite nice ratio. Be sure to check it out! The fact that some famous artists support the CC licensing mode deserves the highest praise on its own, of course, and makes it a very important work just because of that. By the way, visit the official website for three more tracks not included on the Jamendo edition.

Royalty free music for professional licensing ***Check out the official website for licensing information*** [Official website]

Various Artists – "Music For Danny DeVito"

What a brilliant idea! (9/10) This time Mixgalaxy Records made a special compilation for Mr. Danny DeVito. Why? Because nobody have never done this to him before. At least officially. We sorta didn’t know what kind of music he prefers so we’ve set up a tracklist of a wide variety of genres for him to pick from. We decided that making it a private release would be unfair to our listeners so you all are very much welcome to give this record a listen and share it with your friends of course. It’s an easy bet to say that for Mr. DeVito all the names here are new, however for our regular listeners this release is once again a mix of old timers (even including Jacobo – a raggae-dub side project of Sinestesia) and a couple of guest artists which we would like to present. Meet Abel Mariam from San Jose, California, USA who contributed an opening track and meet Russian-Norwegian duo Zunzagi which consists of sound producer Sergei from Tomsk and singer Julia from Oslo. And finally welcome Without Time band form Grodno, Bealrus. So, as you can expect from Mixgalaxy Records it’s a nice one hour set of high quality tracks fluctuating from deep ambient, easy listening and folk-pop to electro-house, breakbeat and even hip-hop. And if by any chance you are an acquaintance of Mr. DeVito – make sure to pass him the link, that will do us all a big favor.

This is a very good compilation of songs by independent artists. It is very diverse stylistically, ranging from various genres of techno and electronica, through hip hop and pop up to rock. So I guess everyone would find here something of interest. Mr. DeVito included.

I liked 10 tracks out of 16, which is not a perfect, but still very very decent, score. While some songs are first class records, there are a few, which are below average for me. However, I'm giving this compilation one additional point for the brilliant surreal concept of making this album as a gift for the great actor Danny DeVito. I love this kind of humor. And this hilarious cover - guys from Mixgalaxy Records totally rule.

I won't elaborate on bad tracks for a change. Let's focus on the good ones this time:

02 - Grosse - Mousy Cheese Song
A funny parody (I hope so ;-) ) of an acoustic rock ballad - vocal line is comprised of "la la la" sang out-of-tune over an acoustic accompaniment.

03 - Cubic - Unded
Another not fully serious recording. Looped kitschy sounding trumpet as a leading tune for some electronica. Funny and catchy.

04 - Zunzagi - Empathy
Classy trip hop / pop. Nothing too original (like the most of trip hop), but very atmospheric and catchy, with nice dreamy vocals and good accompaniment.

06 - Bear and Lampshade - Witch Hunt
Great breakcore. Don't miss this one!

07 - Gipa - Mad Electric Dog
Very good creative techno / electronica.

08 - PiXtar - Space Adventure
Electronica flirting with industrial and synthpop.

11 - YARA - Walk On Clouds
Creative and interesting ambient.

14 - Without Time - Trap
Great rock / post rock. Atmospheric, dreamy, catchy, powerful.

15 - Fedorov Mark - By The Sea
Calm acoustic instrumental rock. Not bad at all.

16 - Waterplea - Spring Reprise
Calm instrumental rock. Nice dreamy atmosphere.

The album has been released by the Mixgalaxy Records netlabel and is available for a direct download as well as at archive.org in mp3 or ogg format. Additionally, it is available on the sonicsquirrel.net website and in the BitTorrent network.