Taiga - Re:Wireless

Band / Artist: Taiga
Year: 2010
Genre: Dub, Dubstep, Breaks, Downtempo

My Review:
Weird, Chill, and a great way to enjoy a few minutes of an evening. Actually, this is the music I'd imagine in a scene moment of japan at night in the rain. I'm happy to find some good stuff from Russia though, because I always wish I had more of that region to share.

Anyway, i'm pretty sure the netlabel that originally posted this one is dead, and I haven't found much about the band, other than it's name is referencing a Russian forest.

Here is a little blurb about the music.

The new album of Denis Taiga from Saint-Petersburg is a collection of electro-dubstep, sampladelica with a fresh ethnic melodies.

Taiga - Re:Wireless

-{:(.SINGLES.):}- Pete Lund, Banks, Wood Holly, kNIFE

Here's a nice lump of singles since it's been so long. I'm gonna have to get more of these out there.

Banks - Warm water (Deignated flip)
listen to that old 90s sampling! A pretty female voice, over a nice calm dancey track.

Pete Lund - Gypsy Cab
Indie, Rock, Alt Punk. It's 2 tracks, and its good punk.

Wood Holly - Sorry 4 the Wait Too
Trap, Bass, House. An odd, downtempo version of chopped & screwed remixes. 3 tracks.
Neat stuff. Its like Trip-hoppy Trap, Heh, Trip-Trap.

kNIFE - DieNasty
Rap. It's mean, with some nice beats running back behind it. I like those beats against that style of vocals.

Yeah Yon - Pasen y Vean

Band / Artist: Yeah Yon
Year: 2012
Genre: Hip-Hop, Pop, Rap

My Review:
I swear to god I wrote a whole review for this once already, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how that vanished. Anyway, this is a rap artist from Spain, who I enjoyed, though he isn't my normal style.
He's from the Mesdemil Netlabel, who I've been enjoying the hell out of recently.
I am not about to rewrite all of that I had on here, so I'll just share and hope you enjoy.

Yeah Yon - Pasen y Vean

Ana Bogner - Multiple Proportions

Band / Artist: Ana Bogner
Year: 2014
Genre: Experimental, Indie Alternative, Acoustic, Downtempo

My Review:

And then, all of a sudden, as if the storm came to an end, the room became silent. One heard a silent rattling reminding us of sundering thoughts, but still the room was silent. There was a roar of anepia around us, a shaft of light above the horizon starting to scream. Then we lay, floated, lay again on the constantly shapeshifting floor, being held by contemplation’s grip. Bridges formed, ruptures yawned, their mouthes, wide open at first, slowly closing (this is the work of our scars set in motion). There are monsters in that soul, waiting for you. The spiral repulsed, and the waves broke against the rock, untiredly seeping further towards the Nothing of this world. You’ll be found by waves which pass through everything, and if you dare to follow them, you’ll find entropy. But not an entropy of loudness, no. An entropy sketched and betokened, an entropy enmeshing and unwinding. And all of this in a feedback of reciprocity, freed from the hierarchy of a predetermined approach. It repeats and remains non-identical to itself. Since I built it in my mind i know: they haven‘t built the city we need. The room was filled with sound, but still the room was silent.

I want to bury myself in the first track on this EP for the whole day. I want it to just be the soundtrack of my life for a day. I want to go lay on a mattress in a lightly wooded field. I want to stare off blankly in the breeze of a dying winter, and I want this to play.

Its a strange softness, that seems like it rests between happy and sad, in a place of peacefulness. Really great album, and totally worth a listen if anything about this sounds appealing.

Ana Bogner - Multiple Proportions 

And then, all of a sudden, as if the storm came to an end, the room became silent. One heard a silent rattling reminding us of sundering thoughts, but still the room was silent. There was a roar of anepia around us, a shaft of light above the horizon starting to scream. Then we lay, floated, lay again on the constantly shapeshifting floor, being held by contemplation’s grip. Bridges formed, ruptures yawned, their mouthes, wide open at first, slowly closing (this is the work of our scars set in motion). There are monsters in that soul, waiting for you. The spiral repulsed, and the waves broke against the rock, untiredly seeping further towards the Nothing of this world. You’ll be found by waves which pass through everything, and if you dare to follow them, you’ll find entropy. But not an entropy of loudness, no. An entropy sketched and betokened, an entropy enmeshing and unwinding. And all of this in a feedback of reciprocity, freed from the hierarchy of a predetermined approach. It repeats and remains non-identical to itself. Since I built it in my mind i know: they haven‘t built the city we need. The room was filled with sound, but still the room was silent. light above the horizon starting to scream. Then we lay, floated, lay again on the constantly shapeshifting floor, being held by contemplation’s grip. Bridges formed, ruptures yawned, their mouthes, wide open at first, slowly closing (this is the work of our scars set in motion). There are monsters in that soul, waiting for you. The spiral repulsed, and the waves broke against the rock, untiredly seeping further towards the Nothing of this world. You’ll be found by waves which pass through everything, and if you dare to follow them, you’ll find entropy. But not an entropy of loudness, no. An entropy sketched and betokened, an entropy enmeshing and unwinding. And all of this in a feedback of reciprocity, freed from the hierarchy of a predetermined approach. It repeats and remains non-identical to itself. Since I built it in my mind i know: they haven‘t built the city we need. The room was filled with sound, but still the room was silent.

You Me & Us - Paperweights

Band / Artist: You Me & Us
Year: 2011
Genre: Pop-punk, Pop, Garage Rock, Noise Pop

My Review:
Sweet femme punk! There was a band I liked called Paper Weights, which I think might have gone defunct. While I was looking to see what they were up to, I came across this little gem.

They started up back in 2010 (congrats on the 5th birthday.) They are from Palm Springs.
Their Facebook is here. They describe themselves as Noise Pop, which I think is a pretty neat genre. Its a very soft, melodic form of punk, with female singers. Its very pleasant.

Hopefully you have a good time listening to it.

You Me & Us - Paperweights

Turbo Suit - Out Here

Band / Artist: Turbo Suit
Year: 2015
Genre: Electro House, Jazz, Breaks, Breakbeats, Hip-Hop

My Review:
Formerly known as Cosby Sweater, but changing their name due to the current news, and probably because there is a good chance that using the Cosby name was gonna get them sued. I'm sad to see the name go away, because it was so awesome.

Anyway, they put out their announcement here.

This one is fun, flashes of hip-hop, funk, and some really pleasing electro and dubstep. Its faster, and cleaner than their past efforts, with a great, clean mixing. I am jamming to this one a LOT, I'd love to see them come out to play live at a party from around Mardi Gras time.

Alright. Favorite track; Wake Up

Turbo Suit - Out Here

Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs - Jalikebba and the Toubabs

Band / Artist: Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs
Year: 2005
Genre: World, Spoken Word., African, Indian, Folk

My Review:
Swedish folk, Classical violin, Indian tabla, and African kora. All together. God. Damn. I like it a whole lot.

Here's a breakdown of the members

Two members of the group, Jalikebba and Haruna were born into griot families. Griots [ /grēˈō/ ] are a social caste who perform traditional music and poetry, jaliyaa, carrying on the oral tradition from antiquity.

Tommy is an Austrian performer and composer who specializes in the Indian tabla and other percussive instruments. Violinist Sandra and vocalist Kasja are both Swedes.

Jalikebba Kuyateh was born and raised in Gambia, and is a skilled kora player who has performed with many groups in Africa. He is in demand for festivals, weddings, and ceremonies. He also teaches music workshops both at the museum and abroad.

Currently, Jalikebba is the lead performer at the Tanji Village Museum in Tanji, Gambia.  The museum presents and preserves the traditional culture and the natural history of Gambia. These tunes were recorded live at the Tanji Village Museum, January 29, 2005.

So they make this neat melded sound, that seems like a much more melodic version of Bjork's weirder music, just infused with a ton of African influences. Listen to a track or two, and I'll bet it grows on you.

Jalikebba Kuyateh and the Toubabs - Jalikebba and the Toubabs

2015 VDAY MIXTAPE - LOVE

Band / Artist:
Sunny Side Up,
Low Leaf,
Eric Serra,
Dive,
Hot Mouth,
Frank Guerrero,
Ivan & Alyosha,
Mr. Meeble,
Cruxshadows,
DJ not-I,
Blur,
Pet Shop Boys,
Nightmares on Wax,
Grant Cornish,
The Kleptones,
Texas Paul Sutherland,
Toadies

Year: 1994-2013
Genre: Ska Revival, Indie Dance, Nu Disco, Industrial, Electro, Latin Dance, Acoustic, Goth Rock,  Mashup, Breakbeat, Hip-Hop, Easy Listening, Southern Rock, Alt Rock

My Review:
It's here, it's eclectic. I like it. Enjoy!

Password; Howdy

Ser.aph - LOVE (2015 Mixtape)

2014 VDAY MIXTAPE - LUST

Band / Artist: 
DMX Krew,
Nine Inch Nails,
Andy Iona,
Die Warzau,
Wobbly,
AVAN LAVA,
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult,
Robotanists,
Crystal Waters,
Scooter and Lavelle,
Plumtree,
Snake River Conspiracy,
Hiroyuki Namba,
ST,
White Flashes,
Tobacco,
NEVADA BASE,
Cosby Sweater,
Paper Weights

Year: 1934-2013
Genre: Industrial Rock, Electronica, IDM, Jazz, Synthpop, Indie, Electro, Chillout, Alternative, Hip-hip

My Review:
LONG AWAITED, WITH MANY REQUESTS. I mean.. I think people like these? Whatever, if you dig them, leave a comment to let me know so I'm not just wasting my time. I made this one last year and the next I finished up this year.

Jam on!

Password; Howdy


Ser.aph - LUST (2014 Mixtape)

VDAY MIXTAPES

So, last year I had a bit of a hiccup in sharing mixtapes, mostly being that I didn't give a fuck about making anyone Valentines day mixtapes.

I'll take that back partly. I had one done, and another halfway done. SO, what do you do when you're far more interested in the crazy around you but you have a tradition to uphold? You put it off till next year!

Anyway, here they come in 2 posts.

And. - Dans

Band / Artist: And.
Year: 2013
Genre: Chiptune, Breakcore, Jungle


My Review:
This one is super catchy chiptuney breakcore. The tracks all seemed to have been started out as full chiptune compositions and then warped and layered with breaks and glitchy drum tracks.

And. is a musician out of the UK.he has a myspace here.

It's a good middle Ground between what Ralp and Psilodump have made that I've shared here, being very game-ish and jungle. If you like dancey gamey breakcore, then I can't see you disliking it. I've missed sharing a lot of weird lately.


And. - Dans

The Melker Project - Ballin' Oates

Band / Artist: The Melker Project
Year: 2013
Genre: Mashup, Bastard Pop, Rap, Alternative Hip-Hop

My Review:
I completely forgot this one! Man i love it. I jammed to this for weeks around last Christmas and forgot to make a review. Take Hall & Oates, and add hiphop & rap. Its so so good, and I helped make a small war between lovers with this album. Worth it.

Gonna let you do more searching on your own this time. See you next time around.


The Melker Project - Ballin' Oates

Sound Awakener - Five Chapters

Band / Artist: Sound Awakener
Year: 2014
Genre: Dark Ambient, Free Jazz, Modern Classical, Experimental, Field Recordings

My Review:
*EDIT - I'm a twat, and forgot to ask, Nhung is female. All gender references have been changed. Sorry!*

Today's artist of note is Sound Awakener. I got an email from her right before the new year. She lives in Vietnam, and makes ambient, experimental style field recordings with piano. She describes it this way.

Five improvisations recorded on upright acoustic piano. Each piece has a really extinctive character .Vibrate has layers of reverb and exteneded techniques on piano string. Gather Eternity has loud hiss noise and distorted sound. Gallery of emptyness is sort of a lo - fi recording. Remembering all passing things and Untold are a mix of piano chords and field recordings.
"Five Chapters" refers to the endless search in life.

Here's the interview that we had.

Jumbly Music: It's nice to meet you. How are you doing?

Nhung Nguyễn : I’m doing good. Thank you. Things are getting musicaly marvelous for me.

Jumbly: So, whats your back story?

Nhung :  My musical journey started in 2002 when I began taking private classical piano lessons. The training ended in 2007 and since then I have been developing my own techniques and focusing on composition and improvisation.
In 2011 I started my solo musical project - Sound Awakener but no material was released until 2014. My aim is to live with the sonic journey as close as possible. It has always been a natural process.

Jumbly: Where are you from?

Nhung : I was born and now living in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Jumbly: Do you find it influences your style and your music much?

Nhung : Obviously it does. The city is full of thousands types of sounds. That’s why I use a lot of field recordings from everyday life in my music. To be more specific, in “Five Chapters”, there are field recordings from streets and restaurants.

Jumbly: Who makes your album art?

Nhung : Right now my album artworks are stock photos and each of them connects strongly to my music. I hope in the future I’ll invite someone to work with me on that aspect.

Jumbly: What way do you think is best to enjoy your music?

Nhung : The best way is to enjoy with an empty mind.

Jumbly: What would you say is your favorite thing you've done?

Nhung : Interesting question. My favortie thing I’ve done is the thing I do everyday – appreciating and collecting sounds.

Jumbly: Do you like giving away your music for free? Do you hope to continue or would you rather move to a pay system?

Nhung : I like giving it for free when I feel I need to do that. I have some for free on my Bandcamp page and actually “Five Chapters” is free too. But I also have some paid ones  – honestly I need to support myself financially.

Jumbly: If anyone wanted to do a collaboration with you, would you be interested?

Nhung : I’m always open to collaboration.

Jumbly: How should they get in touch with you?

Nhung : The best way is to fill out the contact form on my website (http://soundawakener.weebly.com/contact.html) or the contact form on my Bandcamp page (soundawakener.bandcamp.com)

Jumbly: What kinds of projects do you really want to do in the future?

Nhung : I really want to focus on making music for moving images and installations. Of course other forms still interest me.

Jumbly: Do you follow the blog? What would you like to see more of? Or any suggestions?

Nhung : I’ve been following the blog since June and I much enjoy the content. One thing I would like to see is more interviews of artists

Jumbly: Do you know any other great sites that people should check out?

Nhung : Haha, this is self – promotion : I have a pretty private music blog called Cánh đồng âm nhạc (Vietnamese, which means “Field of music” in English) (http://canhdongamnhac.weebly.com/ ). The reason I write it in Vietnamese is that there are few music blogs here, especially for genres like ambient/experimental or even classical music.

Jumbly: Thanks for sharing your music with me.
I have one last question. What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Nhung : The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen hmmm is maybe the calm sea in Đà Nẵng (it is a city in the central of Vietnam, which I’ve visited twice) Thank you so much for the great talk! 

Here are some other places that she shared with me to check out
Facebook page
Soundcloud
Youtube

Alright, enjoy it.

Sound Awakener - Five Chapters

Volcanoes - Future Sorority Girls of America

Band / Artist: Volcanoes
Year: 2014
Genre: Punk, Thrash Metal, Noise Rock, Dance Rock

My Review:
Afternoon Records is their label. They live in St Louis. They erupt music. Punny punny punk.

Okay so they make a fest, thrashy, gritty sound that makes me imagine that their shows have a lot of moshing or jumping around. The use of synth is great, because it's more grimy than I'd expect.

I found their band site here.

And I got their facebook here.

I'm out. enjoy some punk.

Volcanoes - Future Sorority Girls of America

Bitbasic - Leonard

Band / Artist: Bitbasic
Year: 2009
Genre: IDM, Electronica, Shoegaze, Ambient Techno

My Review:
He brought you Meek, and I liked it, so I'll just pretend that you did too.

This one has some similarities, and keeps his sense of style, but is an obviously different approach to making an album. He made the whole thing in one month. ONE. I'm very impressed. Its so polished, and has so many good parts. I like to think of it as easy listening for the weirdos and people who get bored by easy listening.

I hope you get a kick out of this one. Bitbasic is London-based electronica artist Simon Haycock. I'm hoping that one day I get to chat with this fellow.

Enjoy!

Bitbasic - Leonard

Youniverse - Dirty American

Band / Artist: Youniverse
Year: 2010
Genre: Indie Rock, Alt Rock

My Review:
I have held off on this album mostly due to forgetfulness, but this is actually the album that started me down the path of sharing free music I had been finding. They are great. In 2010, I was out at a bar in Memphis TN with my girlfriend of the time, and heard that a band was about to play, and that their guitarist was turning 18 that day. I figured, hell, why not?

They had a good sound, which the bar did not showcase well. They told me afterward that they were using bandcamp to share their first album. I had never heard of bandcamp before, so I checked it out, and since then, it has become a mainstay of the indie music world.

Here is the facebook page they have going, but nobody has posted on it since 2012.

Hopefully they come back around one day.

Youniverse - Dirty American

Mishka - Surf & Turf

Band / Artist: Various Artists
Year: 2014
Genre: Hip-Hop Beats, Trap, Dubstep, Chillstep, Trip Hop, Chillout

My Review:
Miska can be really hit or miss for me. This time around, I'm pretty happy with what they offered to the world. It's a great mix. Mishka is a New York fashion/anti-fashion label, that supports some really varied sets of music. This is their self description;

A New York City fixture since 2003, Мишка (“Mishka,” or “bear cub” in Russian) clawed their own path through the often homogenous streetwear world, beginning humbly as a small t-shirt upstart and maturing into a full blown cut & sew powerhouse.

Find them here.


Surf & Turf are hiphop/trap/dubstep/triphop blends that work really well as the music for your chill tent at a party, or as something to play in the background during that fancy soiree that you put on, so you can prove that you're hip, and know a lot of cool underground shit out of new york. That sounds like a total jerk description, but I've been driving around listening to these, and its really a good set mixes.

Mishka - Surf 

Mishka - Turf
 

Howler Toad - Lickin' The Toad

Band / Artist: Howler Toad
Year: 2009
Genre: Stoner Rock, Prog Rock, Rock

My Review:
You'd think that this was going to be something completely different than it is. My first thought was it would be some laid back, long form prog rock. It isn't, by any means. This album is very driven. Its got a hard rock punch to it, that I would easily see myself going pretty crazy at a concert with. Maybe even hitting up the mosh pit.

Howler Toad comes out of Barcelona, Spain, and they may have broken up. I can't find much information for them, and their myspace page is shut down. I am sure to keep an eye out for new albums from them, because this really is a good band, one that I would love to see touring.

Since I can't find any more details for them, I'll just leave it there.

Howler Toad - Lickin' The Toad

_yi. - Irasshaimase & Sayonara EP

 

Band / Artist: _yi.
Year: 2014
Genre: Glitch, Funk Techno, Breaks

My Review:

MERRY CRHIRSTMARS

A short, sweet EP from the same guy that brought you a longer one not too long ago.


Much like the last one, this is a funky, dancy progression of bleeps and bloops and songs that were decimated to make all of the right sounds to go in just the right places. I like this guy, and I hope he keeps doing his thing, because it keeps me dancing in my car.

If you dig this, make sure to go on to listen to his new album, IDEO-POP!, which he is selling for 5 bucks.


_yi. - Irasshaimase & Sayonara EP

Harvey Danger - Dead Sea Scrolls

Band / Artist: Harvey Danger
Year: 2009
Genre: Alternative Rock, Rock

My Review:
A collection of B-sides, rarities, and live recordings sold exclusively on the band's final tour dates.

Its a great album of tracks, and really shouldn't be missed out on. They actually keep the albums available from their website, or by torrent. You should consider throwing down a buck or two to cover the hosting costs by clicking here. I tossed down 5 bucks to them, because I loved them.

I just shared Harvey Danger a little bit ago, so i dont think we need much more description. just go enjoy it.

Harvey Danger -  Dead Sea Scrolls