10 Anos Bodyspace Compilation

Hip Hop, Indie & Indietronica, Instrumental, Review by Genre, Singer Songwriter // By: pscloseAuthor: ps Email: filipe@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (26) // 13/12/2012 // No Comments

“10 anos Bodyspace” is a compilation released through Optimus Discos celebrating 10 years of Bodyspace, a Portuguese webzine dedicated to music. Ten years is a long time for a webzine to be around, and Bodyspace has become somewhat of a reference in Portugal.

Optimus Discos is a free music platform tied to Optimus, one of the 3 big mobile telecommunication companies in Portugal. There is a big focus on supporting music events from mobile telecommunication companies in Portugal, mostly by being involved in the organization of summer music festivals. In 2009 Optimus also launched an initiative to make their records (of relatively famous Portuguese artists) available free for download on their platform. They are basically operating as a netlabel, without calling themselves a netlabel.

Considering the quality of both projects I was quite curious to check out this compilation which consists of 10 tracks, all of them collaborations between two different Portuguese music acts.

Stereoboy & Emma Curl – Little Secret

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After giving it a couple of listens I must say I’m disappointed with the outcome. The tracks are good but they don’t fit together at all. Some might argue that that is the point of compilations; to showcase different artists and aesthetics, and in that case I guess it works. But as a record it doesn’t bring much replay value to me.

Taking a closer analysis at the different tracks, all of them sound quite well produced. Track 1 by Stereoboy & Emma Curl “Little Secret” mixes the delightful indie pop vocals of Emma with some nicely produced electronics, putting together an uplifting tone in a well structured indie pop track.

Track 2 by Memória de Peixe & Octa Push retains a certain indie pop feeling and introduces some folk sounds and guitar motions, and if you know the sound of the individual authors you are left wondering just where Octa Push is to be found in this track. “Marraquexe” by Black Bombaim & Rodrigo Amado takes you into the sludge stoner sounds of Black Bombaim, complemented nicely by Rodrigo Amado’s saxophone.

Osso Vaidoso & Ghuna X breaks the mood back into the more cliché indie pop rock, with great vocals by Ana Deus, Ghuna X’s expected beats and bass sounds remain mostly illusive in the entire track, probably relegating his part of the collaboration to some background electronics. Track number 5 by RA & Jibóia brings the sounds Ghuna X failed to deliver on the previous track, deep beats, electronic wanderings, but with a leading guitar driving home a track that feels like a borderline case of progressive industrial. DJ Ride & Capicua bring a more compact collaboration, DJ Ride dropping the beats for the lyricist Capicua to rap on.

“Pulse Modulated Blackness” is an electronic track by Photonz and Robert Foster with some reminiscence of repetitive techno house. Track 8 by Tiago Sousa & Tó Trips is an instrumental track of guitar and piano in a moving performance. Track 9 is a 13 minute electronic progressive ambient piece by Sensible Soccers & Blac Koyote. The last track of the compilation is titled “You can find a will in me to stay”, a track which manages to mix The Astroboy’s electronics with Old Jerusalem’s lament drifting vocals.

Overall the tracks are good and eclectic, which might work as a sampler but doesn’t really strike home with me for long-term replay value. Still, worth checking out if you’re looking to hear what Portuguese music talent sounds like. Some of these projects had released their tracks as netaudio before through Portuguese netlabels such as MiMi, Phonotactics, Merzbau and Cobra Digital.

Tiago Sousa & Tó Trips – A conquista do pão

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Deep Link to Release Page

Dusk at the Mansion – Will you wake up today?

Indie & Indietronica // By: pscloseAuthor: ps Email: filipe@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (26) // 11/11/2012 // No Comments

I received an email recently from a Portuguese artist letting me know of an EP recently re-released under the Japanese netlabel Bumpfoot. Bumpfoot splits their catalogue in two branches “Bump side: techno and house, or based on them. Foot side: ambient, IDM, or etc… other than bump side.”

The release I got forwarded was foot209 Will you wake up today? by Dusk at the Mansion. The bumpfoot website describes it as “a mixture of acoustic and electronic music, featuring vocoded vocals. Highly interesting EP by a band from Portugal. The songs were recorded between 2011 and 2012 at “The Mansion”, Golden Pony Studio and Ricco Vitalli’s (Cavaliers of Fun) studio – who also mastered and mixed the EP. Written, performed and programmed by the band.”

The cover looked really good, and checking out the website of the band you can tell they pay close attention to coherent design. Dusk at the Mansion are a 3-piece band “formed in 2009 by David Costa (Drums), Leihla Pinho (Cello) and Ricardo Mestre (Vocals/Keyboard/Laptop).” They seem to focus on laidback electronica. Their sound reminded me somewhat of Ladytron, Air and Kraftwerk, except they never had a cello accompanying them and Dusk at the Mansion do.

The EP sounds good. Very well produced. The tracks follow a coherent aesthetic feel of laidback electronica with vocoder vocals and an indie pop touch. They manage to pull a unique sound from their influences of legendary electronic acts. I’m not much into pop to tell you the truth, but this EP sounds quite good and I can highly recommend it.

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Deep Link to the Release Page [foot209]

Nova Robotics – Popola EP

Audio, Dubstep & Garage, Indie & Indietronica, Trance // By: AshcloseAuthor: Ash Email: ash@netlabelism.com
More Authors Posts (5) // 31/07/2012 // No Comments

We all know the mainstream music scene is turgid with generic bilge. As a result, pop can be a dirty word. But it is my belief that it doesn’t have to be.  The term pop is short for popular; meaning that it is appealing to a wide-range of people by design, therefore writing something with wide appeal can be an art-form in itself.

In this case, pop is short for ‘Popola’, the name of the latest free EP by Bristol-based two-piece Nova Robotics. They have emerged quietly out of the cacophony of genre-slamming artists who manage to marry ‘technically interesting’ with the hallmarks of popular music. NR have been steadily chipping away at their stream-lined, club-friendly brand of post-rock for the best part of 6 years now. This latest effort verges on the grandeur of generic post-rock, only to fool the listener with some cleverly placed commercially viable sounds and motifs.

…that brings us to the wub.

The wub is a bone of contention for many electronic music fans these days since commercial Dubstep reduced this beloved moniker of synthesised sound to nothing more than shit short-hand for a shallow genre.

Nova Robotics have interlaced the quintessential ‘wub’ with a straight, pounding 808 kick and snare; drawing it away from the predictable dush-pah! of almost every commercial dubstep track. This is basically a trance-step fusion with a surprising hint of text book post-rock guitar lines. Delayed one-string noodling patters dance across pumping kick drum and a rising and falling crescendo. As a point of reference, think Explosions In The Sky meets Deadmau5.

The EP is a logical step forward from previous releases; showing off what seems to be their over-arching style but with a developed sensibility that nods to elements of mainstream dubstep as well as trance. Genre-slamming is perhaps NR’s intention as that formidable ’wub’ presses hard against the delay-laden guitars but at times this technique feels over-used. NR are far from one-dimensional as tracks like ‘SupaNova’ and ‘Overproof’ show but the other two tracks on this EP feel somewhat rigid by comparison.

For this reason, the EP is split right down the middle. The title track ‘Popola’ is almost NR-by-numbers, with its meandering melody and perpetual umph! umph! umph! But compare this against the phenomenal phazing bassline that comes in 0.35sec’s  into ‘SupaNova’ and you can’t deny that their sound has developed somewhat. The darkly experimental ‘Overproof’ quietly does away with the largely forgettable third track ‘Devola’, daring the listener to relax with its eerie fizz then slowly introducing those brooding distorted chords before bending said chords across a stuttering off-beat drop. A touch of  post-rock guitar is the only sense of familiarity in this track as its daring and brooding brings this short yet snappy EP to a close.

The ‘Popola EP’ is a testament to what is achievable outside of a pro-studio these days and compliments their hitherto DIY ethic with its big synthy textures. It also successfully binds a pop sensibility with elements of guitar and electronic sub-genres. It does however, seem to hint at something great rather than be something great. This reviewer would like to see a full album of songs as cleverly structured and sonically satisfying as the tracks 2 and 4 from this record.

Nova Robotics – SupaNova

Deep Link to the Release Page