Nymphomania - "Unashamed"

Dark ambient of the highest quality (10/10) From the artist: Earthy meditation loops of processed voice, bass guitar and wind chime, which resound unceasing throughout my new home by the woods. An album for eating nectarines and grapefruits in the early morning. The sequel to "In Spiral Expression". From the label: This is a real trip into mind. The fractal image of the inner self. A kaleidoscope of visions that have a meaning, but you should be sure, because taking the wrong path leads you nowhere. The labyrinth built by one's mind may look confusing, but it gives the hints - just listen. And never touch that green switch! All instruments programmed and played, vocals, music written and arranged by Josh Landry. Artwork by Mike Winchester. Dark ambient of the highest quality. With long drones flowing slowly through time and space. Only sometimes strange sounds of ethnic instruments or tribal chants remind you that you are taking part in some kind of a primeval ritual. This record is hypnotic and repetitive, but never boring like so many bad ambient works. Highly recommended to both ambient fans and people looking for a good introduction to this genre. The album has been released by the artist himself through his Bandcamp store under the "name your price" scheme. You can download it there in a variety of formats, including a lossless FLAC version. This release is copyrighted. It has been also reissued by the Russian label USC (United Studios Corporation), under the Creative Commons BY-SA license. On their website you will find links for downloading the album for free from several file storage websites, but only in 320 kbit MP3 format. They inform that "By downloading our files from links below you directly support artists and label". By the way - they release music on physical CDs too. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation through Bandcamp.

[Artist's Soundcloud]

Silence Industry, the - "Edge Of Illusion, the"

Songwriting skills vs production skills (7/10) The 4th release from The Silence Industry. This time The Silence Industry can be heard refining their unique sound which combines elements of post-punk, industrial, noise, dream-pop, psychedelia and goth-rock. "The Edge of Illusion" is a reference to our dispossession and our struggles to overcome it: a theme that runs throughout the release. It is sad and frustrating. Because this band truly knows how to write great gothic rock/metal songs. Even if they borrow heavily from Fields of the Nephilim, these tunes are so good that it would not be a problem. So why is it sad? The reason is all the work and talent they put into songwriting is wasted because of lack of production skills and/or equipment. This album sounds like recorded in a bucket full of water, but with the mikes placed not only outside the bucket, but also in another room. The mix is flat, with all the instruments forming an undistinctive mass of dull sound. The vocals are particularly awful, unintelligible and buried deep in the background. Yuck. I pondered how to rate this work and I am giving it 7/10, but only because the songs themselves deserve 9 or even 10. The quality of sound deserves 2 or 3. One could say it should not matter - Jamendo is not for professionals and I should rate only the quality of songwriting. But what if poor production makes the recording almost unlistenable? Should I award 5 stars to the album that I can barely listen without my ears aching? No way. That is not going to happen. Re-record this album, guys, and I will be happy to give it full 10 points. The album has been released on Jamendo as well as by the now-defunct netlabel Ekleipsi and is available for downloading at the following locations in mp3 and ogg formats: Jamendo / Jamendo mirror at archive.org / Ekleipsi mirror at archive.org You can also download it directly from the artist at Bandcamp in a variety of formats, including a lossless FLAC version. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation at Jamendo or Bandcamp. I would choose Bandcamp to support sharing lossless music.

[Artist's Myspace]

Floating Mind - "Krak" [EP]

Interesting minimal techno (7/10) Floating Mind is Roberto Vitali, the man behind monoKraK. first release on the netlabel from Geneva (Switzerland) mainly oriented in ambient and minimal techno music. Interesting minimal techno, characterized by repetitive sound patterns. Making such music is difficult, because it is easy to fall into boredom, if things get too repetitive. Floating Mind succeeds in almost all the tracks utilizing broken beats and strange samples - successfully building disturbing atmosphere. The one exception is the tune "Loving U", which seems to drag on forever with annoying vocal samples in the front (if I hear "I'm still loving you" one more time I'm gonna go postal). The album has been released by the monoKraK netlabel in mp3 format and is available for a direct download as well as at archive.org.

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the netlabel and its artists with a donation.

Various Artists - "Behind The Corner"

Very good drum & bass compilation (9/10) We would like to present our first release : "Behind the corner" as a FREE twelve tracks compilation. Melody and liquid side of drumandbass from such a great producers like Dissident, Drone, Radicall, Atmospherixz, Ultracode, Silrbfish and more. Enjoy ! Very good compilation of independent electronic music. This is the first release of the netlabel Absys Records 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 and nu jazz can be easily found too, making the record more diverse and interesting. All the tracks are top quality, so if you like intelligent electronic music, do not hesitate to check it out. The album has been released by the Absys Records netlabel and is available for downloading at the netlabel's website in mp3 format. 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.

Printempo - "Printempo"

A masterpiece from a very strange netlabel (10/10) Debiut Printempo można uznać za wyraz nostalgii za czasami, gdy muzyka instrumentalna była muzyką popularną. Pomimo dużego rozrzutu pod względem doboru utworów, płyta jako całość jest niezwykle spójna – elementem scalającym jest indywidualność muzyczna artysty, którego bez wątpienia uznać można za jednego z najbardziej obiecujących instrumentalistów i kompozytorów młodego pokolenia. [Read more --->] Estrada Nagrania, the netlabel that released this album is very mysterious, indeed. They do not have a regular website. They use a blog instead, where they publish not only their releases, but also Polish videoclips and articles on music from the 70-ties. The blog's design is stylized to resemble Polish record companies from that period. If only Internet existed in the 70-ties, one could think this is an archival website, not updated for the last 30 years. Very well done indeed - browsing their blog you feel almost like a time traveler. Previously Estrada Nagrania released only top quality compilation albums of Polish music from the 70-ties. So this album is not only Printempo's debut, but also the netlabel's first contemporary music release. Now to the point. This album contains instrumental downtempo / nu jazz. And the execution is just superb! If only you like the genre, this is simply a must-have. It sounds natural, with a classy lo-fi tint here and there. All instruments sound like... instruments, not cheap artificial samples. The melodies are interesting, there is a perfect chillout atmosphere. Someone in the other review compared it to Bonobo and this is a very accurate comparison. Not exactly because of Printempo's derivativeness, but because of top quality of this music. Get it ASAP! The album has been released by the Estrada Nagrania netlabel and you can download it from the netlabel's Bandcamp store for PLN 15 (~EUR 3) in a variety of formats, including a FLAC version. You can also listen to the full album before making a purchasing decision. Please note, however, that Bandcamp release has been probably made from mp3 files (at least according to AuCDtect). Because Bandcamp requires sending them lossless material, the result is that when downloading mp3 version you end up with files that have been recoded into mp3 twice! Do I have to say what influence should it have on the quality of the music? So if you are going to buy this release, I recommend downloading and keeping a FLAC version - bearing in mind, however, that this is not true lossless, because the files are made from the mp3 source.

[Artist's Myspace]

Mr. Nooze - "Fanatic" [EP]

Solid techno / electronica (7/10) Mr. Nooze - single producer, dj from Gdynia in Poland. Inspired by french music scene, and produce music in this french style (especially remixes). There's not much to say... more to listen: Mr. Nooze at Fairtilizer A solid techno / electronica recording. Not a landmark work, but a short enjoyable straightforward electronic album. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format. [Artist's Myspace]

Manta Raya - "Remix My Ass! Vol. 1"

Mostly dull electroclash (5/10) MANTA RAYA is born in 2000, in Argentina. Mecha, George and Quique knew each other studying Visual Arts in Mar del Plata city. At that time, 1998, they played in different bands. This is how they shared their art and gigs and parties sometimes. After a while, destiny and the same love for music brought them back together. And they had no other choice but to do what they like the most. to Rock!! They've played in every single place they could. From the smallest shitty underground bar to big venues, clubs and festivals. In march '07 Manta Raya was selected by Paste Magazine and Coca Cola Company to be one of the independent artists promoted at Coca Cola's website. Finally their new album Yeah! was released in October 2007. Produced by Manta Raya. Mixed by MantaGeorge and Luciano Siclari. Mastered by Luciano Siclari. Supported by UMI ( Independents Musicians Union ). And one week after the release, they started their first European Tour performing in Berlin, Hamburg, London, Paris and Guadalajara. I never listened to Manta Raya, so I cannot compare these remixes to their original versions. I will, therefore, judge them on their own merits. Most of the remixes fall into electroclash genre, with accompaniment based on 8-bit - to a rather tiring effect. Dull punkish vocals combined with primitive disco-like beats add up to a really ugly whole. The only two interesting tracks are nos. 02 & 08, because of much more intelligent, breakbeat-based instrumentals. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

[Artist's Myspace]

Fau - "Unwanted Machine Noise" [SP]

Nice techno (7/10) Fau is a young producer from Poland focused on: techno, tech house, electrotech and similar genres. He says that he is better in producing music than talking about himself. A short techno tune with mechanical, industrial feel to it. Nicely done - check it out. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format. [Artist's Myspace]

Rastadeush & Mr. Nooze - "Split"

Mr. Nooze wins (6/10) Mr. Nooze - single producer, dj from Gdynia in Poland. Inspired by french music scene, and produce music in this french style (especially remixes). There's not much to say... more to listen: Mr. Nooze at Fairtilizer Split album consisting of tunes by two electronic music artists - Rastadeush and Mr. Nooze. Each of them is represented by three tracks. In my opinion, Mr. Nooze wins. His tracks are much more interesting, intelligently combining breakbeat, minimal and 8-bit. Rastadeush delivers more straightforward techno, very repetitive and lacking creativeness. Mr. Nooze would get 10 points from me, while Rastadeush only 4. I would love to hear a full length album from Mr. Nooze. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

FusionArt - "Details"

Very good trip hop (8/10) Another solid series of deep sounds from Absys Records stable. This time, however, drum & bass gives way to a different type of music, usually defined broadly and encompassing genres like idm, ambient, breakbeat or dubstep, but at the same time always well-acknowledged by similarly different listener environments. We’re talking about “Details” LP – the newest album by the Polish producer collective known as FusionArt. Recently there have been some changes in the group – the producer duo has been joined by MC Susiah whose role is to soften the otherwise rough and austere tracks with her soft but spirited vocals, thus supplementing the already coherent whole by additional intriguing details, as it is the case with the deep, slightly metallic “Believe” or the dreamy “Details”.

[Artist's Myspace]

Rather calm electronica with instrumental part based mainly on breakbeat with some traces of dubstep and downtempo. The half of the album includes female vocals, adding to the dreamy atmosphere and justifying placing this work under trip hop label. Highly recommended to fans of intelligent calm electronica.

The album has been released by the Absys Records netlabel and is available for downloading at the netlabel's website in mp3 format.

Chlopomania - "Lodowisko Remixes"

Be eco-friendly - remix your garbage (0/10) Florian filsinger, Television Tom, Hydrator, Aqpa, Puzia remixes well known chlopomania track called Lodowisko. It's a bland electroclash tune with extremely stupid lyrics that were meant to be funny, but failed miserably. The original mix is accompanied by several remixes of varying, but not so high, quality. It doesn't matter anyhow, because remixing such an atrocious piece of garbage like this one is pointless anyhow and does not qualify for listening. Even one star is too much for this - it deserves 0/5 rating. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

[Artist's Myspace]

Rastadeush - "Hard Beat Dilla"

Hard techno, heavily influenced by house and disco (5/10)

Newest full length release of our most controversial artist! This guy refused to cooperate with people from electroclash.pl, he was made one of the best Michael Jackson (when king was alive) and Madonna cover that we ever heard .. not the end .. this bonker young hooligan prepared a great never released remix for one of well known polish electroclash/power-pop group called yummy cake. if you're thirsty of dirty, street electro, ghetto tek sounds in the horrorist mood, this release is waiting for you...

This is a hard techno album, heavily influenced by house and disco. Too much influenced for my liking... While it is professionally crafted, it just felt primitive with all those tiring marked beats and stupid generic vocal interludes. However, 4 tracks stand out from the crowd, showing the true talent of Rastadeush:
02 - No One Knows
05 - Hard Beat Dilla
09 - Dark Symphony
12 - Billie Jean (Rastadeush remix)
Check them out.

The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

[Myspace]

KraftiM - "JamatriX"

Nice ambient (8/10) Musictrade info: Jamatrix is the second full album release on Musictrade from the Dutch experimental electronica artist and sound architect KraftiM. The Jamatrix project was based on samples collected from five artists who all are releasing their music on the French Jamendo website. From each source track six samples were distilled and subjected to a thorough processing treatment, resulting in a matrix where each of the six KraftiM tracks uses material from five selected samples, one from each of the contributing artists. These are the contributing artists and their works being sampled: The Abogix (J.K.): "I dreamed... I was a bird" from album "Welcome in my Dreams" Arne Pahlke: "Projekt Demon" from album "Dunkel" Albert B: "Pichu's Suite" from single "Pichu's Suite" Melchiades Estrada Band: "Symbiose" from album "Music of Youth" pan:core: "Another Day, Call from Italy" from album "Breath On" Especially for this Jamendo release an intro, outro and bonustrack are added. These tracks won't be on the Musictrade/Mininova release. KraftiM thanks the above Jamendo collegues for their great trust and contribution. NOTE: a special 24bit audiophile version of the album is available as a torrent: 24 bit/44.1 kHz FLAC encoding, 472 MB download on Mininova.

Royalty-free music for professional licensing [Myspace]

Your works get better and better. This one, for the first time, has no weak points for me and the songs are of equal quality. Every track is very fine. It's pure ambient, but creative and full of interesting sounds, melodies and atmosphere.

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

NULLL Collective, the - "Silent Night" [SP]

Totally brilliant (10/10) "The Nulll Collective" is a group of like-minded artists from around the world who are sick of commercialism and artistic conformity in both the world at large and in the microcosmic wasteland of underground extreme music. Through NULLL Infra, the NULLL collective will periodically release their music as free downloads. These tracks are all previously unreleased and will also be made available on CD. With this first release in the NULLL Infra series, we bring you a cover of a traditional Christmas song, to keep you from taking the typically hectic end-of-year mass hysteria too seriously. This is a doom metal cover of a Christmas carol. ... Yes. Your eyes are not deceiving you. You read correctly: "doom metal", "cover", "Christmas carol". Highly distorted low-tuned guitars, extremely slow tempo, growling and dark atmosphere. And a sweet melody of the famous "Silent Night" carol. A blasphemy? For some right-wing morons probably it is. And that's what makes it so brilliant. I love intelligent provocations and who thought before of such mix of the genres? And as if it wasn't enough, in the middle of the song there is a purely electronic part, equally crazy, out-of-place and brilliant. I just can't wait to play this carol during the next Christmas Eve dinner. :-> And I want a full length Christmas album, guys! You can also download this album for free in a lossless FLAC version from archive.org (OGG version is also available there).

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

This piece is accompanied by a video, which can be downloaded at archive.org.

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

Monsieur Connard - "Du ciel tombent des cierges"

Great experimental electronica (10/10) Careful people remember that few years ago, Switzerland producers from audio - visual collective Audioactivity Sound System (also members of Audioactivity net-label) were visiting Poland with Monsieur Connard on the mothership board. In year 2003 they played with such artists as: Funkstorung (Chris De Luca and Michael Fakesch), RDJ2, Luke Vibert (Wagon Christ), Zion Train or High Tone. Connard being asked about what they want to play answered in a poetic way: Our intention is creating intelligent dancefloor where boom boom is present, unknown melodies and acid sounds comes from nowhere leaving dirt and dark connections still active. We'll vomiting all our musical inspirations… Five years later through the virtual channel vomiting gentleman from France comes back to our country. Du ciel tombent des cierges EP is seven fresh compositions which we present with great pleasure. Cavalcade of nosing beats infiltrates with lissome IDM glitches. Background is full of still changing ambient passages. Admirers of French in touch will enjoy poetical declaims of Connard. Are you wondering how looks Vichy folklore? We have sizable doze for you! Truly great recording. Broken beats and distorted sounds on a noisy ambient background. So much is happening in these tracks that they could easily fall into chaos. But the artist never loses grip and is in full control of his vision and the resulting creation. Well done! Thanks for sharing this outstanding work for free. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format. [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.

DJ Hydrator - "Atomic Structure" [SP]

Distracting annoying speeches (4/10) Brilliant dubstep release recorded by one person Russian-American project. This piece could be quite good if not for the annoying speeches, which distract you from listening to the music. I know it is popular in techno/electronica music but I hate it. A terrible fad. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

[Artist's Myspace]

KraftiM - "etSitara"

Almost flawless ethno-ambient (9/10) This is the official etSitara album, released as MT013 on www.musictrade.info Musictrade info: "Here comes the first full length Musictrade release from the Dutch experimental electronica artist and sound architect KraftiM. Modern western electronic sounds meet the serenity eastern instrumentalism on this album - think of a raga in a spaceship. From his first released tracks KraftiM has had a unique sound and a unique emotional atmosphere to his works, and this album is no exception. KraftiM is a musical travel agency specialized in surprise destinations. " Contributing artists: Krita Yuga (Japan) sitar on tracks 1, 4 till 11; KIGAS (Japan) violin on tracks 2,3 and4; Geechi (USA) vocals on track 3. Sleeve design: Doc etSitara features the tracks from the previously minialbum etSitara released here on Jamendo. This minialbum is removed to avoid double releases. Now this etSitara is KraftiM's fully "Japanese" album, due to the contributions of the Japanese artists KIGAS and Krita Yuga. A new long version of mRat is released, as well as Hamagito and Solyuga who are added to complete this oriental trip. Have fun... Note: a 24bit/44.1kHz audiophile version of this album is available on http://www.mininova.org/tor/1069597

Royalty-free music for professional licensing [Myspace]

Great ethno-ambient. Would be perfect if not for the track no. 3 "Hamagito", which is an older work of KraftiM - based on annoying speeches and not a particularly good tune.

However, the rest is GREAT and I encourage you to check it out - of course only if you're a fan of creative atmospheric electronic music.

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

Technox PL - "Yobbo"

Very good drum & bass (8/10)

49 manekinow kitted with plastic drums in effect of what there is our first drum'n'bass's bent release. Marcin Gawron's project TechnoxPL splayed between Polish and German country presents a section through drum sounds with atmospheric bent. We'll hear ambient samples - Franziskaner Psychopath, house backgrounds In Teriparatid Injektion. Idm middle bodies native to Bpitch Control leaks with Switch Reloaded. A cherry on the cake is a title Yobbo which carry on his jazz ancestry with dignity and arouses yearning to Roni Size. Download, caper and look how the city flows breaking into coloured pieces. Very good drum & bass. Recommended for every fan of quality techno / electronica. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format. [Artist's Myspace]

Chlopomania - "Chlopomania" [SP]

Bland electroclash (2/10) Some of our friends started to practice old polish idea of life. They were tired of everyday citylife. They decide to go back to the village. If you like to know what they found on their way, download this short single neccesary. Chlopomania is a nice piece of fresh commodore, acid electroclash with nice vocals and lyrics. This song can fight for a title of 2009 summer hit! In some ways, this song is similar to some well known polish electro / rap hit. Do you know which hit is it? Do you know why? Do you want to guess?

It's bland electroclash, with lyrics that were meant to be funny, but are just stupid, and a tiring synthetic tune. Waste of time.

The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format.

[Artist's Myspace]

Coma Stereo - "Binary Endings"

Very good post rock (8/10) "Binary endings" is an over 50 minutes of a very spatial, a bit nostalgic and melancholic sounds evoking such a bands as the silver mount zion, godspeed you! Black emperor, trans am and explosions in the sky. Sometimes ,when the forlorn vocal is present( "obsessions and a tulip"), it may be associated with xiu xiu, no twist or even The Cure. Four musicians from Slovenia take us in a imaginative trip arousing a full scale of perceptible emotions and associated with their memories. A light electronic and an extensive passage created by guitars intertwine with mind-blowing, sometimes a bit brutal and dramatic mood. It`s a great challenge for a post-rock band to achieve a balance between an experimental guitar formulas and electronic-ambient threads. Coma Stereo gives it to you and for this reason it is an obligatory position for connoisseurs of the style. Binary endings gives you a 50 minutes of sound which is a perfect connection between hypnotic and magic motives and dose of field recordings. So if you like to listen music full of sadness and filled with pain but with a ray of hope at once, don't hesitate to download this album. It's perfect music to listen in the dark and alienation. Very good post rock album. Great gloomy atmosphere, depressive melodies. Highly recommended for fans of dark guitar music. The album has been released by the 49manekinow.net netlabel and is available for downloading at archive.org in mp3 format. You can also download it directly from the artist at Bandcamp for free in a variety of formats, including a lossless FLAC version. [Artist's website / Myspace]