Syndrôm – Nomades En No Man’s Land [BP060]

Ambient & Experimental, Broken Beat, Downbeat & Downtempo, Drum & Bass, Instrumental // By: simiolioliocloseAuthor: simioliolio Email: simon@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (40) // 27/07/2012 // No Comments

The existence of net labels is a wonderful example of globalisation being put to good use. Tens of thousands of people running their own labels for zero profit would have seemed like a ridiculous prospect for the hundreds of label owners before the turn of the millennium. Now that the netaudio scene is in full flow, it is exciting to imagine how advances in web design will change the way we browse netlabel websites in the coming years.

I recently stumbled across Bypass net label, which has thrown a vicious curve-ball when considering the ways in which netlabel content is presented to the viewer. The site does not present you with a big list of mp3s, social music widgets, and a sensible menu bar. Instead, it is an emulation of a Unix-like application which runs in your browser. To display a list of releases, you type ‘list’ at the command line. To get more information about a release, you enter its catalogue number. From here, you can use the ‘play’ and ‘get’ commands with appropriate arguments to stream or download tracks from the chosen release.

This is, of course, completely bonkers. The primary goal for web developers is to present information in the most readable, functional, and stylish way possible. A large percentage of casual internet users would not have a clue what was going on after reaching the homepage. Although its lack of readability and usability is quite severe, I personally think it is a fantastic idea. The brittle interaction required by the user is forcing them to engage with the site in a more intense way. They must read instructions carefully. They must play a major part in their own experience. They must make a decision to play just one track, or bundle tracks into a playlist, but using a very basic interface. I think this heavily user-dependant quality gives the music on the label a bit of extra value. What do you think, is this netlabelism gone too far? Or is this an inspiring example of diversifying the netlabel experience?

The favourite release I played (whilst thoroughly enjoying the audio player!) was Syndrôm’s. Melodic, glitchy, beat-driven, sample-laiden electronica, which is always a winner in my book. It is 20 tracks long and took the artist around a year to complete. There is a lot of Luke Vibert shining through here; quirky use of sampling, dusty beats, uplifting melodics, and witty genre-hopping. If you are not surprised by the mashed jungle explosion in ‘La Vallée Noire’, then you either have no soul, or you need to turn it up. Likewise, the hiphop MCing at the end of the track is delightfully unexpected.

Like a lot of longer albums, the overall consistency of quality is low. The energy is constant, and each track seems to bounce off each subsequent track, but some tracks are significantly stronger than others (for example, ‘Oppression’ just doesn’t quite exhibit the same delicacy and care as found with other tracks). The production is good, but some sounds can be a little bland and raw (like the main hook on “Dala Dala”). However these ‘stick-out’ sounds are so few in number, and bound by such short passages of ever-changing content, this does not become too much of an issue. This music is certainly not ‘current’ by any means, and many of the techniques heard are borrowed from the last 20 years of sample-based triphop (on labels like Ninja Tune). However, although it has all been done before, there is a certain individuality to this music which left me strangely satisfied.

So, all in all, a great release, on an innovative netlabel. It is sad for me to inform you that this label has bitten the dust, and will not be releasing any more material. But with the website only taking up a minuscule amount of server space, and all the content streaming from archive.org, this delightful website is bound to linger in cyberspace for a fair ‘ol while.

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Dorian Concept – Seek When Is Her [EAR022]

Ambient & Experimental, Broken Beat, Drum & Bass, IDM, Instrumental // By: simiolioliocloseAuthor: simioliolio Email: simon@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (40) // 29/05/2012 // 1 Comment

All artists must start somewhere, and when Oliver Thomas Johnson aka Dorian Concept released his 8 track EP at the prolific Earstroke Records in 2006, I should think he had no idea he would be signed to Ninja Tune just five years later.

Oliver’s music is absolutely exceptional. I have been a huge fan of his for a while, and stumbled across his release at Earstroke completely by accident. It is a remarkable mix of glitchy electronics, jazzy progressions and snappy riffs, and is loaded with creativity and expression. The amount of actual music you get in this release is quite incomprehensible at times, but a first-time listen is still highly enjoyable considering a ferocious amount of intricately crafted sound is thrown at you with every bar.

Due to the dense nature of this release, I felt I would take a slightly different approach to the usual dive-in, and list my ten favourite moments with track names and timestamps, in order of occurrence.

1) When Things Go Wrong – 1:36 : The spiralling chord sequence finally settles on the root chord. It is almost like the track has made friends with you, and is about to introduce you to the rest of the EP.

2) This Might Hurt – 1:04 : The first dose of tetchy, complex drum break manipulation. The artist’s original style becomes magnificently apparent.

3) This Might Hurt – 2:40 : A brutal and almost nausea-inducing gate is placed across the whole track and intricately sequenced to perfection.

4) Define Soft – 0:47 : A glitchy slow-jam drop comes from nowhere, but glides into the foreground so naturally, you barely notice it happen.

5) Define Soft – 2:12 : The beautiful chords in this ambient breakdown give this tetchy track a warm aura.

6) Seek When Is Her – 0:48 : A wonderful development brings forth a fantastic hip-hop-esque drop. It is quite hard to stop yourself from shouting ‘Aw yeah…’.

7) I Am Glad That Things Happen – 1:01 : It’s almost like Squarepusher has popped in to play some bass. This little funky section presents quite a quirky contrast to surrounding moments on the EP.

8) Water Thank You – 0:00 : Such a delightful intro for a track, the vocal sample and jungley Amen drop had me grinning with glee.

9) Water Thank You – 3:09 : This quite sporadic tune suddenly becomes greased in oil and slides down a teflon helta skelta.

10) You See Full –  1:13 : A slight imperfection in the guitar sound is accentuated through the delay and chorus, and forms a wonderful spine-tingling shimmer.

I have had this on repeat for the last 3 weeks, and I am still not bored with it. Such wonderfully bizarre and perplexing music squeezed into a tiny EP. His musical knowledge and technique shine through in this super-virtuoso EP. Also it is rare to find a solo electronic musician with such incredible performance skills (check out a video of Dorian Concept noodling on his MIDI controller).

Dorian Concept – This Might Hurt

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Various Artists – 80Hz Sacred Surplus [IDMf034]

Broken Beat, Drum & Bass, Dubstep & Garage, Electronika, IDM, Instrumental // By: simiolioliocloseAuthor: simioliolio Email: simon@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (40) // 14/04/2012 // No Comments

Just now (at the time of writing), @Idmforums tweeted to @Skrillex, inviting him to hear some real bass music. I had to laugh. “Look Skrillex, you’re doing it all wrong. Our bass compilation will show you where you can improve.” I can only hope he listens to it, because he could really learn a thing or two (perhaps we should look out for his avatar cropping up on the forum in the next few weeks!).

The IDMForums netlabel has always been a clean-cut showcase for pushing the vast talent cooped up within the walls of the forum out into the world of netaudio. Now with 34 releases (I am on IDMf003, track 2!), they have managed to keep this branch of their community alive through hard dedication and strong collaborative spirit. When hunting around the internet, it doesn’t take long to find stale forums with stale podcasts and stale release schedules (well, we are not that surprised at the occasional death of a netlabel either, but for every dead netlabel, at least three newer and better labels will take its place). It certainly looks like the IDMForums label is thriving harder than ever…

Understandably, this compilation is quite eclectic, but welcomingly so. From brain battering clunky beats to quirky melodic ambience, this compilation covers a very wide range of textures and emotions, whilst retaining a good coherence which is hard to achieve with a large number of separate contributors. As promised, the low-end is very prominent, but not in a clichéd way. There are ‘big’ basslines, but none as brick-wall-bland and brainless as Skrillex’s frequent portrayal of Transformer-gangbang. There is a strong melodic presence and compositional awareness included in every track, which is always a big plus for my ears in particular.

So, a brief play-by-play: The first track by ‘Circus of Mind’ is absolutely fantastic. I haven’t heard a slow jam so hefty, yet so polite and reserved. Some wonderful cutting and deranged melodies grabbed my attention and sent my coffee-fuelled brain into orbit. I expected track 2 (by Michael Kneed) to pick up the tempo, as is so usually the case with compilations of this nature; but no! A tuneful ambience brings peace and awareness to your listening position. CyStemSell’s early-aphex-esque future tune was also a big pleasure. Wild scary pads and rolling percussion; a little more variation and a stronger melodic direction would be nice, but a great atmosphere nonetheless. SB-Six has a great little track ‘Only You’, which I think has one of the nicest bass sounds on the album.

I didn’t like ‘Lucky One’ ‘s track. A little too brash and lifeless, and reminded me of feeling quite ill at a stale rave. Qianta softens the blow with a tender and reassuring rub on the back. IG88 gave me the shock of my life. It’s a new DnB tune, with a female vocal, which I really like! I never thought I would ever like DnB ever again, but this has proved me wrong. Smooth and careful, with excellent mixing, and just enough cheese for the genre. Stereoglyph made me feel a bit sick; the big bland synth lines sound like something acquired free with a cheap electronic music magazine cover CD, and couldn’t quite compete with the quality and careful complexity heard in the majority of previous tracks. Neuroscientist also rekindled an element of the DnB woe with a cheeky shuffle, Vibert-style sampling, and a feral, squirming bassline. Lastly, a fabulous finish by Concierge_Weetr, a captivating braindance which sent me somewhere quite delightfully dark indeed.

So, mostly good if you like beat-makers pushing their sound to the limits and giving it their all. Mostly bad if you are trying to complete a complex task, or are having a relaxing Sunday afternoon. The production on these tunes is truly wonderful, and as a free release for anyone to obtain and hear, it is a great album to keep as a reference when making your own mixes. These guys, and many other electronic music veterans (who are doing their utmost to support and contribute to the net audio scene) are actively posting over at IDMforums right now, so I suggest you check it out and start increasing your MC status!

Circus of Mind – Jiggawatt 

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