Frequency One

The posts are slow, but i assure you they are steady. 'Frequency' will be a series of posts dedicated to current musical findings: albums, songs, websites, sandwiches etc.

Net-Labels

Some of the best music i have heard recently has not been bought, but downloaded (and no, not illegally). Net-labels provide quality EP and albums for download complete with artwork, all for free. Most music is held under the beautifully tame jurisdiction of the Creative Commons License, an alternative to Copyright.

some of my favourite's:

http://www.acroplane.org/
- An incredible collection of free releases from "Irelands best free net label".
Mostly deals with music of IDM/Electronic tendencies.

Recommended downloads:

• Barry Lynn - 98 ep

A melodic and rolling hip-hop ep similar to Dj Shadow's 'Entroducing' album from Barry Lynn aka Boxcutter.

• Koen Park - Pastoral Pioneer

Glowing synths and crisp beats immersed in glitchy tape saturated warmth.


http://www.net-lab.co.uk/
- Another electronic music orientated net-label that also includes a some very inspiring independant short films.

Recommended downloads:

• TV Youth - Dawn EP

A must have. Some tracks are jaw-droppingly beautiful.

• Michael Manning - A Week At Night EP

Moody textures and sharp half-step rhythms centered around vocal loops and samples.

• pani K - Tramway

A short documentary about the tramway in Poland. Beautifully shot with interviews with the tram drivers. Who knew trams could be so interesting?

Albums

Pivot - O Soundtrack My Heart
(Warp/Inertia)
I started a math-rock band called Penguin with some friends from uni and Teej, the drummer, recommended we all listen to this album. Pivot are a three piece from Australia creating seizures of post-rock instrumetation with a distorted sheen. Squealing guitars over minimalist synths all underpinned with a thumping rhtyhm section. Maybe not for everyone, but it should be for everyone.
http://www.myspace.com/pivotpivot