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]

Nationale2 - "ElectroService"

Minimalistic approach, yet quality kept at the maximum (10/10) 9 years after the release of 1 opus of ElectroService 1 on the label UCMG, Nationale2 offers the album "ElectroService." We have kept the 4 tracks from the EP most other tracks of the same ilk. What lovers rejoice electro old school ! Minimalistic approach, yet quality kept at the maximum from the beginning to the end. Intelligent electronica, not for disco freaks. Just brilliant. Thank you for sharing such a great recording for free. SUPPORT INDEPENDENT ARTISTS If you like this album and you can afford it, consider supporting the artist by making a donation.

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

Hobby Horse - "Dry Flower"

Not bad, but doesn't fit my taste (6/10) Ep comprenant 6 titres, enregistrer en novembre 2006 par Pierre David. Nade : Guitare et Chant Sylvain : Guitare et Chant Rémi : Betterie et Choeurs Vianney : Basse et Choeurs The musicians are skilled, but I do not like the vocalist's singing manner. There is no passion in her voice, she sings as if somebody pointed gun at her head and made her do it. There are no catchy melodies and the noise is not powerful but dull and boring. I love noisy music but it has to appeal to me because of its qualities. When there are no melodies, we should be able to feel the "power of noise" - the overwhelming desire to smash a chair on a wall and break windows with your head (a great example would be the band "Therapy?"). During this recording I had only an overwhelming desire to go to sleep. There is one exception - the first track "Alex". This one is really fine. But not because of the singing manner, but because of the great riffs. Their sound is heavily influenced by Sonic Youth, what can be seen as another drawback or a recommendation depending on whether you are a fan of Sonic Youth or rather originality.

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

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.

31 fevrier..., le - "Vous penetrez dans une piece dont les murs sont couverts de circuits et d'ecrans de controle divers"

Mediocre achievement (5/10) Il est là... servez vous. ecoutez le, critiquez le, aimez le, detestez le. Mais surtout, dites le. Ici, maintenant. Good technical skills are not always connected with a composing talent. The tunes on this album are just average - the band plays exactly the same as thousands other nu-metal bands nowadays. So the result is rather boring, because you are not surprised with anything. A solid work without the soul. I also have to mention drums, which are particularly bad, with overwhelming annoying hi-hat in front. Yuck! Slightly better than average: 1 Bonanza 2 Koto le satellite 6 Z.2 (this one is only a small electronic interlude - but a surprisingly good one)

Royalty Free Music - Stock Music Library | Jamendo PRO

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]

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.