Way Wild: Something Like Hip Hop | The Netaudio scene is a laboratory for musicians, a place to publish sounds the mainstream isn’t ready for yet. Exactly the right knothole for Portland-based Owl Dudes. Their approach to experimental lo-fi Hip Hop incorporates shoegazing textures, hardcore rap and a good amount of knob tweaking. Fresh and challenging. The Owl Dudes are Jesse Johnson and Paul Wig, two white breads from boomtown Portland, Oregon. They published their debut “For The Feelers” by the hands of UK La Familia label, one of the most miraculous and enigmatic Notlabels I know. We get to know nothing about the Dudes despite free access to their songs in MP3 format. That’s fairly enough, no? “For The Feelers” consists of nine rather short tracks and drafts, blending into each other like a mixtape. Part vocal part instrumental, the Owl Dudes take the best from Hip Hop, Punk and electronic music to create something exciting and new. Their snotty raps sound tight and draw influences from both Hip Hop and US Hardcore. Beats are scattered loosly about their tracks, changing seats with noisy textures and unexpected samples which is excellently matched by the trashy sound of the EP. Where some of the vocal tracks make you think of Anticon-head Sole and in face of the Ambient textures Odd Nosdam has to be mentioned, the Owl Dudes do something very unique and refreshing. Night time, owls at work. MP3 Hip Hop Music Download Release Site: Owl Dudes - “For The Feelers” Direct Download: “For The Feelers” ZIP Netlabel: www.8302.net/familia Artist Website: www.myspace.com/owldudes Less

Soundscapist Compositions | Clinical Archives is the biggest “Dark Ambient” Netlabel - and honestly, I never got into their catalog by heart. But their 150. release finally got me. Preslav Literary School and is the alter ego of Adam Thomas, UK-born Berlin resident, head honcho of Glosses Fur Die Masses records and serious researcher of experimental Ambient. “Autumn Bricolage” is the MP3 re-release of Adam Thomas’ first album as PLS, published on CDr back in late 2006. Thomas labels his way of compositing “Tape Music” which means that he’s using old tape decks, dictaphones, radiobroadcast rather than digitally piling tracks. Enhanced with various found sounds and field-recordings, Collage Ambient is the new genre I’d like to coin (ah, by the way, that’s Musique Concrète, no?). Half way music, halfway aurual investigation, “Autumn Bricollage” is subtitled “Soundscapist Compositions Set In English Parkland”. For experimental electronic music, the way things are recorded and the specific hardware used are of utmost importance. The approach of PLS results in rich textures and a specific sound that makes his tracks unique and memorable. Analogue hissing blends with lo-fi field-recordings, minimal melodies are introduced, synth textures correspond with the tonal shift in the found sound of an air con hum (or whatever). The whole album mixes seamlessly so please make sure to listen to the whole thing rather than just the track I picked! MP3 Ambient Music Download Release Site: Preslav Literary School - “Autumn Bricolage” Direct Download: “Autumn Bricolage” ZIP Netlabel: www.clinicalarchives.blogspot.com Artist Website: www.myspace.com/preslavliteraryschool Adam Thoma’s Label: www.myspace.com/glossesfurdiemasses Less

A Candle For IOD Netlabel! | To celebrate its first birthday, Paris top-notch Ambient Netlabel IOD releases an exclusive compilation. “Miniature Forest Remix” is a chosen collection of seven, well, remixes from the corresponding The Green Kingdom song released by IOD mother ship SEM. Everybody with just the slightest interest in experimental Ambient: go download! Usually, I avoid talking about the same Netlabels over and over again. But this release is too important to keep it in the closet just because I wrote about Brometer and IOD two weeks ago. The Green Kingdom, Detroit-based musician and graphic designer gave out the song “Miniature Forest” from his self titled CD debut for a bunch of house-keeping IOD artists to let them redraft his delicate Ambient textures. Exile-Irishman Darren McClure takes the original with him on a trip underwater. Not a trip to abysmal pits but a smooth skin-dive through colorful coastal waters. SEM-mastermind Alexandre Navarro treats the song with his cine scope delay mainly. Navarro’s edit is pretty close to his own sound of semi-experimental, melancholy guitar Ambient and brings forth a sniveling feel of prairie vastness. Letna (SEM) and Mexican Manrico Montero (of Mandorla-fame) rework the track from a similar minimalistic point of view, the former with a good amount of Pop, the later with a rather dark approach. Both at huge success. My favorite remix comes from Jason Corder a.k.a. offthesky, a guy you probably have heard of. His “Miniature Forest” is the most song-like rework and so full of fresh textures, strange sounds and beautiful melodies that it’s a pleasure to zoom in and listen closely. Did I mention the best place for Ambient music is the Netaudio scene? Go download the proove! MP3 Ambient Music Download Release Site: The Green Kingdom - “Miniature Forest” Netlabel: www.semlabel.com/iod Artist Website: www.thegreenkingdom.wordpress.com Less

Desert Music For Airports | OK, strange heading I admit… but a precise one. Tiago Sousa of Portuguese Merzbau Netlabel releases his fourth album “The Western Lands” at Resting Bell and manages to establish himself as the Brian Eno of desert Rock. Textures that flicker like hot air, wishful guitar melodies and desolate folk pickings make up for a unique piece of campfire Ambient. “The Western Lands” is a Folk record. Despite all the processing, Sousa’s guitar-play is what makes up all songs on his album. A handful of simple melodies, some improvisation and a lot of repetition, an trashy amp and the courage to go public with it, Tiago Sousa doesn’t need too much to release a cool album. Weightlessly draped on the infinite howl of a fuzzy guitar, piano and acoustic guitar come together for a beautiful waltz at “The Roads To Western Lands”. It’s stunning to hear the instruments merge, interfere and ab initio build new structures. Imagine Belgian Free Folk-collective Kaboom Karavan in a slightly more traditional arrangement. Focusing on the interplay of noisy, electric guitar and fine unplugged pickings on top, “Waghdas” is another good example for Tiago Sousa’s approach to experimental (Folk) music. With it’s haunting distortion grim, first drone “Can Any Soul Survive (…)” is the one extreme, while calm piano/ guitar ballad “The Valley” shows Tiago from his rather dreamy side. Chapeau Tiago! Make sure to check the excellent liner notes at Resting Bell for some infos about the concept of “The Western Lands” and take a look at the attendant photo session. MP3 Folk Music Download Release Site: Tiago Sousa - “The Western Lands” Netlabel: www.restingbell.net Artist Website: www.merzbau-label.org/tiagosousa Visit Merzbau Netlabel as well Less

A Quilt Of Experimental Hip Hop | If Max Ernst would have been a b-boy, his beats would have sounded like this. Right from their junk flats in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg, glue-sniffers DJ Internet and Kid Kool combine a myriad of jumble sale samples to atmospheric collages of experimental Hip Hop, digital Turntableism and, every now and then, the old floozie Pop. Ingenious on second try. Most innovative music needs repeated listen. Consider Free Jazz: the unexperienced ear can’t sort out the fractalized grooves and widespread harmonies. Autechre might sound random if you’re not used to experimental electronic music. Madlib’s beats for himself as Quasimoto can be considered as unfinished drafts someone accidentally dropped rhymes on top. Internet & Kool are neither Free Jazz or IDM but can be compared with Madlib, Kid Koala or cLOUDDEAD. Both guys are well-known producers and label heads from the (East-) Berlin Rap underground. Internet spins the wheels as DJ V-Raeter and forms the duo Sichtbeton alongside MC Lunte. Kid Kool is Felix K., founder of Dubtech label Hidden Hawaii, journalist and producer. He’s also part of the Hungry Men crew. As a band, Internet & Kool produce loose sample-based Hip Hop, sometimes smooth and atmospheric, sometime rough and edgy and closer to radio play than truebred Rap. Dressed to size with a fine sensibility for Pop structures, “God Likes The Picture of You” is a fresh piece of intelligent Hip Hop music. MP3 Hip Hop Music Download Direct Download: DJ Internet & Kid Kool - “God Likes The Picture Of You” Netlabel: www.hungrymenrecords.com Artist Website: DJ Internet | Kid Kool Less

Some experimental ambient textures and layering. Contains samples from Hulk Hogan & The Wrestling Boot Band, Unique Ason, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Björk, Four Tet, Morgan Freeman, and Busy P. Also some sampling of dirty audio jacks. Title from Fadhil al-Azzawi (Iraqi Poetry Today). Less

Experimental Lo-Fi Folk | Brometer is Mark Sargison from Nottingham, UK. His wonderful five-track EP “Three Feet Of” was secretly released at IOD, the French Netlabel build from the leftovers of EKO and SKM. Airy-fairy lo-fi Folk, psychedelic chamber music and ad hoc recordings into the microphone of Sargison’s laptop. Ingenious. IOD Netlabel is run by Alexandre Navarro. He had a good time with EKO and Standard KLIK Music from 2005 to 2007 but decided to go “for real” with SEM in 2008. Up to now, SEM published two beautiful CDs (The Green Kingdom and Navarro’s solo debut “Arcane” ). The tiny Netlabel IOD is used to host the free back catalogue of it’s Netaudio-precursors and features fresh downloads every now and then. Alex, we’d like to see some more enthusiasm, some more promotion for IOD because EPs like “Three Feet Of” by Brometer need to be heard! “From One Two” is a composition of subtle brilliance. Loopy guitars, organ, chimes, some dull beats and everything is filtered through omnipresent field-recordings. Like a Four Tet-remix of a Nick Drake song. Elegantly entangled, “A Trap” fuses forward- and backward guitars with tape hiss and ghostly synth beeps. A midnight walk trough the moor can be imagined at “Rotation” . A slow synth pulse, grumpy noise and a wobbling synth-line makes me think of the recent Portishead album. So much talent! Hope to hear more from Mark Sargison and Brometer soon. MP3 Folk Music Download Release Site: Brometer - “Three Feet Of” Netlabel: www.semlabel.com/iod Artist Website: www.brometer.co.uk Less

SciFi Downbeats | Oskar Rudzki aka Phonout has a faible for futuristic electronic productions driven by broken beats. These beats are built with care and love for sweet details. While his music communicates in a slight dark and moody temper, his album “Da ni” on the German Netlabel Zimmerlautstärke still reveals some fine melodies and melodic atmospheres. I am sure Oskar Rudzki digged a lot of Autechre, Squarepusher, Plaid and listened closely to musicians from Warp Records and the early era, the so-called “intelligent techno” era. His art is filled with details, details, details and a love for extra ordinary sounds. But wait, this ain’t IDM in the old-skool way. Phonout loves - I guess - old school breakbeats which he enjoys to chop up to build new fascinating beats. With “Da ni” he created a nearly perfect album where tricky production meets soul, melodies and grooves. A deep and excellent soundtrack to read science fiction literature. MP3 Music Download Download: Phonout - “Da ni” (ZIP-Archive | ZIP Archive 2) Artist-Website: www.phonout.de Netlabel: Zimmerlautstärke Less

Ambient Takeover | Phantom Chanel is a brandnew UK Netlabel and they hit the scene with an exclusive mixtape that makes you remember the innovative power of ambient Electronic music. Seamlessly glued to one big jam, PC-member Alan McNeill aka Engine7 proves his talent not only as a musician but as a filejockey and sensible A&R, too. McNeill and Phantom Chanel introduces nine rather unknown Ambient composer, all of them working at the edge of Electronica, Drone and something like Postrock. Mercury synth-textures, drifty memories of guitar and a lot of noise are the common elements. Wonderful! Engine7 opens the mix with his trademark sound of Electronica beats and deep Ambient harmonies. Bleeding in, Parhelion (Ihor Dawidiuk from Toronto, CAN) basically produces sugar Noisepop that sounds like received from the bottom of a glacier lake. Experimental band Brakhage (CH) shift the overall sound to something more sparse and dark, extensively using field-recordings over bass-saturated instrumentals. Michael Henaghan aka Mosca, next to Engine7 the only artist I was familiar with, resembles this sound with his subtle melodies buried under a lava flow of down-pitched synth textures. Finally, youngster Lee “Svefn” Chapman takes you home with a high-spirited piece of Drone muzak from his recent EP “Lightness“. MP3 Ambient Music Download Release Site: V.A. - “Phantom Channel Presents - Part I” Direct Download: V.A. - “Phantom Channel Presents - Part I” (ZIP) Netlabel: www.phantomchannel.co.uk Less

Adjusted Post-Rock | The great talent of the post rock five-piece from Rotterdam is to carry easy accessible melodies and themes into a genre that is known for its difficult access. Solaire pull you into their spherical world of music and just before you seem to drown in this fairly deep ocean of instrumental guitar driven sound, they give you an unexpected push from below that hits you just hard enough to realize where you are: somewhere safe. Solaire can not be labelled as a typical post rock band, because they are expanding the range of this genre by introducing lyrics, samples (that partly seem to come from original movie quotes) and easy to follow guitar melodies that somehow make the songs predictable. But this impression of predictability won’t last for long, because their repetitive and catchy melodies seem to be a thoughtfully placed stylistic device to prepare the forthcoming musical eruption, that creates a unique and intense moment. Their debut full length “…and then I strapped explosives to my body” is a collection of those intense moments and it is available at the dutch online promotion and distribution platform for independent bands, as well as record label Dying Giraffe Recordings, where you can download some of their songs for free, published under a Creative Commons License. If you want to know what they look like, you can click here to see them in action in their video to “the great went”, directed by Margarita Kouvatsou. Free MP3 Download Release Site: Solaire - “…and then I strapped explosives to my body” Artist Website: http://www.solairemusic.com/ Artist Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/solairemusic Less

Refreshing Electropop Psychedelica | Daniel Maze is a name you stumble about every now and then. Despite his new record for the Welsh Serein Netlabel, Vancouver-boy Maze has an opulent discography in the back including releases for Test Tube, EKO, 12rec. and many more. His electronic music incorporates diverse genres from glitch to Pop. “Red After Image” is Daniel Maze’ masterpiece. While some of his former releases were either a bit too poppy or a bit too noisy for me, his full-length debut is just right. Not only well-balanced and “quality music” in terms of craftsmanship, slippy Maze can’t be hold to any style conventions. “Delightfully strange”, as Huw Roberts puts it on the liner notes. Warm in tone and texture, Maze mixes processed instruments like flutes and strings with a lot of crackling noise and programed beats. His melodies are splendid and lush and create an artificial 70’s Progrock-feel that goes along with the analog sound very well. The idea seems to resemble Jan Jelinek’s approach to Krautrock on Kosmischer Pitch. It is hard to pick certain songs as the whole album works best at full listen… my personal favorites are the first three tunes: “Steampunk” for it’s wishful slide guitar, the flutes and the wafting beats, “Nested Companion Template” with it’s cut-up vocal samples huge tonal synth-pads and finally “Subtropical Blasting Officier” which is just an incredibly weird piece of, well, Maze muzak. Yummy. Don’t forget to check the delicious artwork! MP3 Electronic Music Download Release Site: Daniel Maze - “Red After Image” Direct Download: Daniel Maze - “Red After Image” (ZIP) Netlabel: www.serein.co.uk Artist Website: www.maze.walltapper.com Other netlabels Daniel Maze released his music on: Netlabel: Test Tube Netlabel: EKO Netlabel: 12rec. Less

Indie Rock/Pop from France | Another Record is a small French record label that uses CC-licences as a promotion tool. Because their music can be shared freely, the attention to their artists and their physical releases is growing. In the end of February they have released a nice compilation called “Sweets For The Wild 3”, where you can find various kinds of indie rock/pop music ranging from melancholic singer/songwriter to experimental, psychedelic pop songs and guitar-driven indie rock. “Sweets For The Wild 3” comes along as a double-album featuring 22 songs by 22 artists. Because most of the bands are French, you can gain a pretty interesting insight to the French indie scene. All songs are well produced and of high quality. While most of the songs are easy to follow, some of them need some time to get used to, so be patient. One thing is for sure: your patience will be rewarded, because there is a lot to discover: new and upcoming bands and more importantly, a lot of interesting approaches towards pop music. “Sweets For The Wild 3” is freely available as MP3 and OGG and while you are surfing the Another Record Website, make sure to check out their other releases, too. Free Indie Music MP3 Download Release Site: V.A. - “Sweets For The Wild 3″ Direct Download: Volume I MP3, OGG, Volume II MP3, OGG Netlabel : http://www.another-record.com Less

Rich Diversity of Netaudio-Sound | Dharmasound released a compilation of their best tracks from 2007, that underline the diversity of this Italian netlabel. “Absolute Balance” features pop, jazz, downbeat as well as classical composed piano and experimental tunes. This netlabel is about urban moods and love for music in general. Each single track leaves me fall into lovely worlds of sound and imagination. The opener is the insanely brilliant easy-listening pop-hit “handful of dust” from the band Musetta. Catchy vibes that take you from float to float, while real instruments play over a nice bubbly bassline. What surprises me most is, that Dharmasound also releases music that is played on a piano only. Also music, that would fit into the category of “classical composed” music. “Silence” or “Going to the city of Emeralds” from Francesco Lettera are such tracks. But my favorites are jazzy pieces. Some tracks are deeply rooted in trippy experimentalism, only suited for “special” ears, with not perfect polished sound. Pictures of small undergrounds couch-parties emerge. If you slice the more unusual tracks, like the classical or experimental ones, than a groovy, smooth and jazzy compilation stays. That compilation was thought as a DVD to buy or to made yourself, but I am somehow fond of the idea of customizing this one, in order to have it always on your side and to surprise people who say to you: “Ahh, netlabels. They only feature electronic music.” I really have my problems selecting according categories, because the cover every singe genre that is listed here, maybe except drum and bass or techno. Broad spectrum, almost all extremely listenable. Really worth a download. Also check out this interview with Dharmasound on Phlow-Magazine. MP3 Compilation Music Download Download: Various Artists - “Absolute balance” (ZIP Archive) Release: Various Artists - “Absolute balance” Netlabel: www.dharmasound.com Less

Japanese Ambient Benefaction | To readers of Phlow Magazine, Ryonkt ain’t a new name. I wrote a review about his debut EP “Slow Time” in November 2007. Back then, Ryo Nakata aka Ryonkt promised to releases some more music in the near future. After appearances at Audiotalaia, Mandorla and Noise-Joy, Nakata delivers his most recent masterpiece via the welcome hands of Resting Bell Netlabel. The four track EP is epically entitled “The World That was Surrounded by a Deep Forest and Warm Light”. The artwork shows a vivid painting by Karl Bodmer, a 1809 Swiss-born artist who traveled the “new world” portraiting the North American indigines and white folks settling the west. Alongside the highly figurative title and Bodmer’s moony paintings, you get a good idea of Ryonkt’s music without having heard a single note. Ambient guitar music, smooth in tone and rich in texture, this is what Ryonkt is known for. The overall warmth and sunlit harmony of his short-term meditations is striking at first try. Where “Slow Time” was lightly linked to Folk- and Pop music, “The World That was Surrounded” has a more experimental purpose; the fact that Nakata does not forget about certain harmonic and structural changes makes his music unique. Pick your favorite tune, they’re all worth it. MP3 Ambient Music Download Release Site: Ryonkt - “The World That Was Surrounded (…)” Direct Download: Ryonkt - “The World That Was Surrounded (…)” (ZIP) Netlabel: www.restingbell.net Artist Website: www.myspace.com/ryonkt Less

Experimental and Catchy Guitar Music | Fiktion is the moniker of Gustaf Erik Lundh from Gotheburg, the album “Morfint” his second LP for the Swedish Frukt Netlabel. On his website, you can find his debut “Gryning & Skymning” and three EPs, all of them recorded since late 2006. Definitive a man of quantity, Lundh’s latest releases is a rich source for suckers of high quality Indie Pop, too. The Fiktion music is mainly based on warm guitar-chords, smooth bass-frequency synths and a handful of clicks & cuts. I hear a lot of Americana in his lugubrious slide guitar sighs, Bonnie “Prince” Billy for example, or Califone (listen to “Subjektiv” and “Mjukt, Varmt and Fiktivt”). Taken in account the harmonious luxury and sugary darkness, even Chris Isaak works for comparison. The way Lundh uses bass guitar and synthesizers brings a cool Dub-element to his already splendid Pop-tunes. In comparison to Americana or Alt. Country, Fiktion is what UK Grime to traditional Hip Hop is: a dark twin, a hardheaded bastard, something new. Tortoise bassist Douglas McCombs (solo as Brokeback) is the only kindred spirit I have in mind. Songs “Fågelfostret” or “Coopers Dröm” will convince you to believe me. Wonderful EP! Out in the woods with headphones on, what’s up with you kids? MP3 Pop Music Download Direct Download: Fiktion - “Morfint” (ZIP) Netlabel: www.fruktrecords.se Artist Website: www.fiktion.nu Less