Baiki - "Do It Yourself"

A promising act - check it out if you like folk rock (6/10) The title of the album soon imposed itself : We had no label, so we threw ourselves in self-production We had no distributor, so we went into self-distribution We had no promoter, so we self-promoted We had no website, so self-webmastered Knowing we could only rely on ourselves, we named the album after this self-attitude. And to push the concept further, we declined the imagery of a multinational DIY furniture store to create the cover of our album. It was nothing more than a gimmick, no bad intentions… We must confess that the end result was remarkable thanks to the combined talents of 2 friends : Michel and Chan. So we had a good laugh though that didn’t last long. This multinational got really upset. The end result was that we had to bring their minds at peace and promise to put an end to our misdemeanour and commit to stop annoying them again in the future. This CD was therefore “released” in a fairly confidential way in Belgium at the end of 2003. Nevertheless, there only remains a handful of this “outlaw collector”. And then hope came from the South, from Montpellier to be precise. A modest label, Musiquémo took “Do It Yourself” under their wings and signed a licensing agreement. A new cover was created, the CD repressed and bang “Do It Yourself” now proudly sits in the music shop racks in France since mid-February 2005. This is quite an interesting work, blending rock, pop rock and folk rock, based on heavy use of acoustic instruments, with the singer trying to sing in four different languages. I do not know if it was such a good idea, because I have the impression that because of lack of language skills his performance is much weaker than it could be. This is definitely true with my native Polish, but Spanish also sounds very unconvincing, as if he had much trouble with proper pronunciation. Nevertheless, it is a promising act, with a potential to grow. For the time being some tracks lack good melodies, the others have them too obvious and simple. The ugly cover of the Polish folk standard "Sokoly" shows clearly that they should work much much harder on their arrangements and ability to transmit musical energy through their recordings. Still, I listened to this album with interest and I put them on my watchlist, hoping they will improve. Check them out if you like folk rock.

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO [Artist's website]

Celibatfighters - "Remise en ordre"

Lack of interesting melodies, too eclectic (5/10) Second album d'une longue série: Plus guilleret, il mêle une grande partie de nos influences musicales. Parlant des choses qui nous entourent, qui nous font rire, pleurer et nous énervent. Cet album est moins intime mais reste très proche de notre état d'esprit. I was not too pleased with this recording. It lacks interesting melodies and is too eclectic. Eclecticism must not be a bad thing, but only if it is a planned action. Eclecticism on this album seems to be a result of a coincidence: "we somehow succeeded in composing some songs, so here they are". Also technical skills and quality of recording of some of these tunes are questionable (e.g. 03 Qu'est ce qui m'arrive?). Only two tracks are better than average: 1 Aller simple - a very dark and moody tune with an interesting melody; 10 Bande a part - a light acoustic guitar song with a funny melody. [Artist's Myspace]

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

Diablo Swing Orchestra - "Butcher's Ballroom, the"

Sell your souls, people - it really pays off (10/10) The Diablo Swing Orchestra dates back to 1501 in Sweden, where history tells the tale of an orchestra that played like no other. With music so seductive and divine that the ensemble overwhelmed audiences all over the country, and people from all social classes took them to their hearts. Their performances rapidly earned a reputation of being feral and vigorous and gained the orchestra a devoted crowd that followed them around. [Read more --->] Some time ago I decided to check out some albums from one of the Jamendo's popularity ranking lists. A disclaimer: I am fully aware of the fact that due to the constantly broken stats these lists do not tell a thing about true popularity of the albums - it's more or less just a random list. Still, some popularity is required to get there, so I was curious what else can be found there quality-wise, as I know one really terrible record that haunt these lists. I probably shouldn't bother writing this review, as others wrote everything before me. But I just have to write how totally amazed I am; I can't keep it to myself - it's unbearable. I chose Diablo Swing Orchestra's "The Butcher's Ballroom" mainly because of the great cover and because it said it's metal and you don't find many good metal albums here, so I became tired of all these electronic tunes.

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

And metal it is. But what kind of metal! Not some rusty iron but true gold. First of all, these guys spice up their mainly heavy metal music with influences coming from each musical genre known to man (and several more coming straight from outer space). A recipe for disaster? Yes Sir! So, do they fail? No! I don't know how they do it (selling souls to the devil obviously comes to mind), but they succeed. They can include opera singing, ethnic instruments, classical instruments, nature sounds, growling, electronic samples, super-heavy guitars and jazzy passages within one track and it all works. You don't feel it's too eclectic, you don't feel it's chaotic. You don't feel some elements don't fit. Instead, you think: "I never thought metal could sound like that but it is perfect". And it is true. Everything is perfect on this album - singing, skills of the musicians, professional production, ability to write super-catchy and powerful tunes. The level of awesomeness of this work is inhuman (the devil comes to mind - again). It is unbelievable that such recording is given here for free. Diablo Swing Orchestra should receive a highest praise for that. Because the place of this album is right beside Metallica on the shelf labeled "thrash metal" (OK, now Metallica plays pop, but their old albums should still be there), right beside Apocalyptica under "classical metal" label and replace Nightwish in the "best of opera metal" ranking. Speaking of Nightwish - I was never a fan of combining metal with opera singing, as it usually doesn't work. The band plays their part, the poor woman screams for her life in the front and their efforts don't correspond in any way. It almost always sounds like two radio stations trying to jam each other on the same band - one with opera music and one with heavy metal. The result is embarrassing chaos. And here we have a miracle (or the devil's work) - I suddenly realized I love opera metal! Under condition that it's played by Diablo Swing Orchestra. To summarize - it doesn't matter whether you're a metalhead or a fan of opera or classical music. If only you like good music - you just have to check out this recording, because it is a landmark album that should be praised as one of the greatest works in the history of heavy metal, being at the same time surprisingly accessible for people that don't listen to this genre. PS. Considering the quality of this album, they had to sell not only their own souls, but also those belonging to their families and friends (maybe even some of the neighbors). The devil that signed the deal obviously must have got a big raise from the Satan with month-long all-inclusive vacation in Heaven. [Artist's Myspace]

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by buying it on CDBaby website. Do not buy it through Amazon or iTunes - not only are they evil, but the artist won't see a single penny from your purchase.

Abnormal Bunx - "Teleportation"

Very good electronica (8/10) Hello! I Lukinykh Sergey Leonidovich, borned on May, 19, 1983 in Ukraine, in town Berislav, Kherson city. [...] For today I am a musician with higher education. Musical instruments: Guitar, Fortepiano, Synthesizer, Drums... Very good electronica album. Highly eclectic, though. Every track is in a different style, but each of the high quality. The first track contains at least one sample from a copyrighted work, so watch out if you planned on using it commercially. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

TenGooz, the - "Inertia"

Good but... (7/10) Our spirits soar high,but we are GROUNDED IN GROOVE! The TenGooz play very soulful original music in a style all their own, which they have forged over the years- what sax player Michael Frei has dubbed WORLD FUNK.Their LIVE performances have been known to keep the dancing going for HOURS! Inertia was recorded in 2 days at the Niji no ongaku do, deep in the rural heart of Ibaraki Prefecture. Avi Landau- Vocals Sagara Kenya-trombone Hase G- Bass Tanaka-Guitar Jon hicks-Drums Joe Kern plays drums on Stranger Almost all reviewers praise this album as if it was a masterpiece. Gimme a break! It's good, but nothing more. I like the trombone, not so often used in such popular music. Melodies are quite nice and catchy. Blending so many genres on one album (even on single songs!) is done quite wisely, so the result is not chaotic but raising interest. But... It's too nice, smooth and lightweight. The result is these songs lack power and don't impress like they should. The same can be said about the singer's voice, which is sooo nice, pleasing, delicate and sweeeet. He could make a big career in a boy band. Teenage girls would be delighted. But music with roots in funk, punk, rock etc. need completely different voice and completely different manner of singing. "Johnny I" is an anti-war protest song??? :-0 I would never guess judging from the song's shiny happy atmosphere. "Kanashibari" is about a creepy medical condition??? :-0 So it's not about sweet girly eyes, what singer's voice and intonation suggests? ;-) So 7 out of 10 is a rating with a credit... In hope they are capable of setting the stage on fire during their live acts. Instead of sweetening the public to death, what they are trying to achieve on this recording...

Royalty-free music for professional licensing [Artist's website]

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation.

Yello - "Touch" (2009)

Yello is a Swiss electronica band consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank. They are probably best known for their singles "The Race" and "Oh Yeah", which feature a mix of electronic music and manipulated vocals, as does most of their music. [Read more --->] On what is only Yello's second album of the last ten years, the duo of Meier and synth wizard Boris Blank has taken a somewhat schizophrenic route; roughly half of Touch Yello is based around the kind of pulsating, electronic dance-pop grooves that have been the group's strength for three decades. On the other half, they venture too far into moody, downtempo pieces full of chillout atmospheres and bathtub jazz. By the end, one wishes the contributions of German trumpeter Till Bronner would have been left in trash can of Blank's laptop, as his parts take things entirely too close to smooth jazz territory. Thankfully, the funkier, more dance-oriented cuts where Meier's deep, dusky voice is right up front pretty much save the day. [Read more --->]

Warning! The artist probably* does not sell this record outside of the official distribution, so if you buy this album, almost all the money will go to the recording industry mafia and will be used later for committing crimes such as unlawful harassment of fans and bribing authorities to implement changes in law, which would infringe basic human rights.

*) If you know the way of paying the artist directly for this work, please let me know and I will gladly update this page.

Tracklist:

01. The Expert 02. You Better Hide (feat. Heidi Happy) 03. Out of Dawn 04. Bostich (Reflected) 05. Till Tomorrow (feat. Till Brönner) 06. Tangier Blue 07. Part Love 08. Friday Smile 09. Kiss in Blue (feat. Heidi Happy) 10. Vertical Vision (feat. Till Brönner) 11. Trackless Deep 12. Stay (feat. Heidi Happy) 13. Electric Frame (feat. Till Brönner) 14. Takla Makan (feat. Dorothee Oberlinger)

2:55 4:15 3:13 3:57 4:17 2:42 3:42 3:36 3:34 4:18 3:20 3:02 3:36 8:33

[Wikipedia] / [Official website]

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 7. October 2009, 16:25

Yello / Touch Yello

Used drive  : HL-DT-STDVD-ROM GDR8163B   Adapter: 3  ID: 0

Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction                      : 102
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              : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate                : 320 kBit/s
Quality                         : High
Add ID3 tag                     : No
Command line compressor         : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T
 "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s 


TOC of the extracted CD

     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector 
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  |  0:00.00 |  2:54.50 |         0    |    13099   
        2  |  2:54.50 |  4:08.00 |     13100    |    31699   
        3  |  7:02.50 |  3:10.67 |     31700    |    46016   
        4  | 10:13.42 |  3:57.15 |     46017    |    63806   
        5  | 14:10.57 |  4:16.30 |     63807    |    83036   
        6  | 18:27.12 |  2:39.48 |     83037    |    95009   
        7  | 21:06.60 |  3:43.02 |     95010    |   111736   
        8  | 24:49.62 |  3:30.70 |    111737    |   127556   
        9  | 28:20.57 |  3:33.65 |    127557    |   143596   
       10  | 31:54.47 |  4:19.48 |    143597    |   163069   
       11  | 36:14.20 |  3:19.30 |    163070    |   178024   
       12  | 39:33.50 |  3:02.60 |    178025    |   191734   
       13  | 42:36.35 |  3:35.65 |    191735    |   207924   
       14  | 46:12.25 |  8:35.60 |    207925    |   246609   


Track  1

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\01 - The Expert.wav

     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.00

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 2744BE8F
     Copy CRC 2744BE8F
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  2

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\02 - You Better Hide.wav

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC CBF3DA04
     Copy CRC CBF3DA04
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  3

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\03 - Out Of Dawn.wav

     Peak level 97.5 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC A52AA334
     Copy CRC A52AA334
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  4

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\04 - Bostich(Reflected).wav

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC B655102F
     Copy CRC B655102F
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  5

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\05 - Till Tomorrow.wav

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC E20F46F7
     Copy CRC E20F46F7
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  6

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\06 - Tangier Blue.wav

     Peak level 97.4 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC FF97224F
     Copy CRC FF97224F
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  7

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\07 - Part Love.wav

     Peak level 97.3 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC A0CBC730
     Copy CRC A0CBC730
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  8

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\08 - Friday Smile.wav

     Peak level 97.5 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 37109160
     Copy CRC 37109160
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track  9

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\09 - Kiss In Blue.wav

     Peak level 97.5 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 7DD95E56
     Copy CRC 7DD95E56
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track 10

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\10 - Vertical Vision.wav

     Peak level 97.0 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 79CA64C4
     Copy CRC 79CA64C4
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track 11

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\11 - Trackless Deep.wav

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 8225218D
     Copy CRC 8225218D
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track 12

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\12 - Stay.wav

     Peak level 97.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 6722BE62
     Copy CRC 6722BE62
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track 13

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\13 - Electric Frame.wav

     Peak level 97.6 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 2987DFB5
     Copy CRC 2987DFB5
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK

Track 14

     Filename D:\EAC\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\14 - Takla Makan.wav

     Peak level 96.2 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC A2A1825B
     Copy CRC A2A1825B
     Track not present in AccurateRip database
     Copy OK


None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

AUDIOCHECKER v1.2 - by Dester - opdester@freemail.hu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

01 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 01 - The Expert (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

02 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 02 - You Better Hide (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

03 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 03 - Out Of Dawn (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

04 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 04 - Bostich (Reflected) (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

05 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 05 - Till Tomorrow (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

06 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 06 - Tangier Blue (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

07 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 07 - Part Love (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

08 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 08 - Friday Smile (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

09 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 09 - Kiss In Blue (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

10 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 10 - Vertical Vision (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

11 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 11 - Trackless Deep (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

12 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 12 - Stay (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

13 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 13 - Electric Frame (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

14 -===- E:\Download\Yello - 2009 - Touch Yello [FLAC]\Touch Yello - 14 - Takla Makan (Yello).flac
  Extracted successfully
  Conclusion: This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

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