Bownik, Adam Certamen - "Magma"

Fine ambient electronica (8/10) Musical reflection of Mundus subterraneus. Fine ambient electronica. Especially fans of space music, the sound of 80s and such artists as Klaus Schulze or J.M. Jarre should be delighted. The only thing I didn't like is a track no. 2. It's a short piano miniature and while Adam is a skilled player, this piece lacks the power of his space-musical compositions. [mirror @ archive.org] | [Artist's Website] 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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Pan:core - "Memories (2001 - 2005)"

Piano + electronica + beautiful melodies (9/10) auf diesem album habe ich eine auswahl an tracks zusammengestellt, die ich im laufe der letzten jahre gemacht habe. jeder einzelne von ihnen hat für mich eine persönliche bedeutung. die klangqualität ist eher mittelmäszig und das mixing ist wirklich nicht so gut - und dennoch; ich mag es sehr. vielleicht kann euch das eine oder andere stück berühren. More classical album than other Pan:core's recordings. It mostly comprises of simple but beautiful melodies played on piano / keyboard with electronic background. A very melancholic album. And it includes another stunning electronic cover of a classical tune - this time a piece from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons (17 - spaetsommer). Pan:core's covers are masterpieces. As to the rest of the album, it is very good, but I prefer his more electronic and experimental side, as on No Way To Win. He's a true master of this genre. It becomes clear after listening this album to the end, because the last track is completely different from the rest - it's not a simple piano tune, but hard electronic experimental madness. ;-) I instantly felt sorry that not all 18 tracks were in this style. And a final remark - I like both sides of Pan:core - simple piano pieces and experimental electronic madness, so I don't mind mixing them on one album. But I'm afraid that for some listeners, who like only straightforward music, the ending of this album would be unbearable and could ruin all the fun they had from listening to this record.

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Massia, Thierry de - "Shift"

Almost like Beethoven... (6/10) New age très mélodique, les différents morceaux sont tour à tour torturés, mélancoliques, doux ou apaisants. Casque sur les oreilles, yeux fermés, la musique invite à la rêverie. I have mixed feelings after listening to this album. Thierry de Massia is definitely a talented composer. In fact he even can be compared to Beethoven. Like his famous predecessor, he's talented but he must be completely deaf. These cheap synthetic sounds imitate real instruments so poorly that ugliness of the sound kills any fun one could have from listening to nice melodies. In my opinion, Mr. de Massia should limit himself to composing only and give his score to a real band or to a person who is properly equipped and knows how to use synthesizers. As for the tunes, some tracks bear classical influences ("Un signe", "Tales of mister frog", "Shift"). They have very simple melodies, as if composed for children, but could be quite nice if not for those synthetic sounds. In their current form they are practically unlistenable. The other half of songs sounds like transferred directly from the '80s ("La chanson de Julie", "RailRoad", "Jet Set"), straight from the recording session of Jean Michel Jarre. So these tracks are extremely unoriginal, but on the other hand, imitation is almost perfect. In fact "RailRoad" could be advertised as unpublished Jarre's tune from the '80s and I think everybody would believe it. And in these electronic tunes the artist does not try to imitate the classical orchestra and therefore ugly synthetic sounds can be tolerated (in fact they even give this "old '80s" feeling that can be treated as done on purpose). So this part of the album is quite nice if one is not bothered with lack of originality. 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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Abogix (J.K.), the - "Welcome in my dreams!"

Just Abogix (8/10) Hier ist es nun...mein 5. Album! Wieder hat es mir sehr viel spass gemacht beim produzieren dieses Albums und hoffe es macht euch genau soviel freude beim zuhören!!! Dieses Album ist diesmal etwas fröhlichergeworden,nicht so dunkel. Es sollte gute laune verbreiten und hört sich auch teilweise lustig an. Es geht weiter Freunde...und es ist kein ende in sicht! Wer meine Musik liebt,der darf sich ruhig auf viele weitere Alben von mir freuen...denn in meiner fantasie...in meiner Welt...gibt's noch viel viel mehr zu entdecken! Das Cover zu diesem Album wurde von "ducadidoom" gemacht! Ich find's toll!...tausend dank!!! (Ach...muss das schön sein von Bergen umzingelt zu sein und gesunde Luft einzuatmen...seuftz!) Schönen gruss an meine Familie....Mom (Mi-Schops)...Dad (Pirat) (Sean Connery)... Jim (J.P.) & Sandra & Lou...Steve (MonChichi) & Cindy The Abogix (J.K.) Just Abogix. Anybody need more recommendations? For those who didn't listen to his other albums yet: electronic sounds arranged with talent. Very atmospheric tunes. However, I must say I prefer his darker compositions. "Tales of mystery and imagination" are the best. 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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MuzaOla - "MuzaOla"

Not worth a listen... YET! (5/10) mam 16 lat uczę się w szkole muzycznej staram się grać muzykę poważną w nowych aranżacjach oraz komponuję. Violin playing over primitive disco beats. Firstly, these electronic backgrounds are of rather poor quality. And secondly, they do not correspond well with the foreground violin. It works slightly better only in track no. 3. Of course one could also accuse her of total lack of originality (think of Vanessa Mae), but that's not a problem for me. There is a room for both of them on a musical scene. :) However, this girl is only 16 years old! And this album isn't in any way a disaster comparable to so many pieces of garbage you can encounter on free-music websites. She seems to have a genuine talent, if she is able to create such work now. So I keep my fingers crossed, because in a few years time she may become an outstanding artist. Keep up the good work, Ola!

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zero-project - "Disabled Emotions Suite"

Beautiful melodies (8/10) "Disabled emotions" suite is an album that talks about the feelings that must be "disabled" sometimes in our life. Disabled emotions because we choose to disable them, or because we were forced to... Thank you for your support. Minimalistic neoclassical instrumental album. It is characterized by beautiful melodies, which are - unfortunately - wrapped in plastic pseudo-orchestral accompaniment. Not particularly good electronic samples of winds and strings lower the positive impression generated by high composing skills of the artist. I would love to hear it re-recorded by a real orchestra - these tunes fully deserve it, as they deserve 10 points on Jamendo scale. For the tunes as they are recorded now I give 8 points, which is still not bad rating. Let it stand as a proof of quality of this work. Every note is exactly at its right place, so that combined with others they can form a perfect melody striking the listener with a full power of its haunting beauty. How come this guy doesn't write scores to the Hollywood blockbusters? Zimmer, Horner and Williams would have a strong rival.

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zero-project - "Fairytale 2: The orchestral expansion"

Well executed but way too pompous (7/10) "Fairytale 2: The orchestral expansion" is an additional album to the "Fairytale 2" game soundtrack. This album contains five orchestral parts: Three new compositions and two improved and re-mastered versions of "Valley of tears" and "Lux aeterna". All contents of this album can be used for free for any purpose. I hope you enjoy it :) Well, it is not a bad recording. It is well orchestrated and quite good from the technical side - the artist uses quality samples or other electronic equipment to successfully imitate orchestral sounds. It is still obvious that these are not real instruments, but your ears would not bleed like with so many similar works. Of course, these songs would be much more enjoyable, if played by an orchestra, but thanks to the artist's skills, the sound is tolerable. So what's wrong here? The melodies. Yes, yes, I know, they are so beautiful, powerful, full of emotions, drama etc. that... it's really too much. They are totally overblown, just like their pretentious Latin titles - desperately trying to be something more than simple pop neoclassical music. Everybody likes sweet taste, right? But what about a typical wedding cake? They are so sweet and heavy that you have enough after just one bite. This album is a big, colorful, beautiful, dense wedding cake, covered with pink icing. Try to eat all five tiers. Despite the above complaints, I still quite enjoyed this work, but my taste for music is highly eclectic. So if you're a dedicated fan of "real" classical music - beware.

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Van Syla - "Death of a Star, the"

Wow! There are so many musically deaf people around here... (1/10) A very weak attempt at electronic piano ambient. The tunes are primitive (with a catastrophic climax in the horrendous title track). They could maybe work as a soundtrack for Teletubbies or as background music in a hotel's elevator, but that's all. Then we have orchestration. The artist totally loses his grip when it comes to combining more tracks in one piece (see "The Death of a Star" again). Particular instruments do not form a cohesive whole, but rather fight with each other for supremacy. Pure piano pieces with only subtle synthesizer background are better (see "Passing Passion", the best on this album - I'd give it something like 5/10 rating). And finally, the biggest crime of Van Syla - use of primitive cheap keyboard with terrible plastic sound (or lousy samples on computer). It renders this album almost unlistenable for someone with even traces of musical hearing. There's nothing wrong with plastic sound, where it fits - where the artist deliberately goes for synthetic sound (see the whole 8bit genre, for example). But in such Oldfield-like music that Van Syla tries to record it does not fit at all. All these background effects that accompany piano are supposed to add space and atmosphere to the main piano melody. To achieve this they would have to sound natural. You cannot substitute a plastic bucket for a tubular bell, just because it is hollow. And you cannot substitute $20 Casio keyboard for real instruments, nature sounds and field recordings. It can be done with synthetic sounds, but it is really really difficult. It requires good equipment and high skills. Van Syla lacks at least one of them. Of course, piano on this album is probably also synthetic, but it sounds better (as usual). I don't know the reason - either piano is easier to mimic or keyboard makers have more experience, but they usually more or less succeed even in cheap equipment. The effect is almost never as atrocious as with other instruments or sounds. But maybe I am insane? As you can easily see this album is highly praised by the masses. So, can they all be wrong??? Well, it seems for many people the simple melody is everything they need (and the simpler and more primitive the better). These tunes could be written by a talented graduate of a two-week correspondence harmony course (or - these days - by a good computer program). That's OK with me, even if I don't dig it. Many genres feature primitive melodies (check out eurodance, for example) and may still be fun, if done properly. But festering this particular genre with cheap synthetic sounds is a crime (like it would be with classical or early music). That is something I cannot understand or accept. So, to summarize, if your favorite musical genre is nursery rhyme and you think you wouldn't notice if Mike Oldfield replaced tubular bells with steel barrels on his debut album – Van Syla is waiting for you with plenty of beautiful music. If not – for Mozart's sake, stay away! The album has been released on Jamendo and is available for downloading in mp3 or ogg format.