The album starts off with a pretty exciting track in the unassumingly titled Intro. Here, Substight lays rap over piano music while a backup cast adds some flavour with some nice shouts. By using an effect at the end, “Intro” glides effortlessly into the next track Mienenbruch where we’re presented with some well structured rap with a great sounding chorus section. This track quickly transitions to a skit, which again seamlessly moves to yet another smooth sounding track, Up 2 Sky. This almost seamless progression between tracks adds much to this album making it feel almost short for one consisting of 20 tracks.

Given the length of the album, it is probably inevitable that quite a bit of it is filled with similar sounding material. Thankfully, the huge crew contributing beats guarantees that usually not more than 2 tracks sound similar. As an MC, Substight really hits it on the spot - delivering impeccably timed rhymes that are addictive even after multiple listens. Some of my picks from this album include Up 2 Sky, the strangely titled but very lyrical EsZuDemUbe and the very 90s soundtrack like Glaubensfrage and the 11 minute long Outroskit with its eclectic stitched together music and of rap in multiple languages.

In the end, It doesn’t take an expert to figure out when an album sounds great. The rapping and rhyming is catchy and the beats made for the rhyming share that same catchiness. For those who understand german, do let me know what you think of the lyrics as I am surely missing out on a huge part of listening to the album by not being able to understand the lyrics.

Thanks to Substight himself for the recommendation

The style of Endlos is very much Post-Rock, with its gradually shifting instrumentation and layering towards a climax. However, it’s not strictly post-rock as some of the tracks like Gestern warst du anders had a more electronica feel to them.

The album is 5 tracks long but each track is over 5 minutes long with some stretching to 8 minutes. The album begins with a build-up track in the form of “Gestern warst du anders”. The track begins with static noises and incidental sounding instrumentation before whisking off into a giant whirlpool of melodies, textures and rhythms that totally envelops the listener. The slow transformation of the lead line into a distorted mess, beautiful synth lines and guitar lines give this slow track a raw energy that satisfies thoroughly.

The second track, Renne durch dein Leben focuses on a totally different sort of mood. More frantic and spontaneous, it brings the listener on a ride where the destination is a cavernous sounding combination of guitars, drums and reverb effects.

The album slows down from here on, making good on its promise of melancholy. The next 3 tracks are all melancholic excursions. Ich bin Dur is a slow number featuring the appearance of a saxophone line. Although I had hoped for greater involvement, the saxophone playing was brief and lacked impact. It is however a great try at something different.
Hast du viele hast du keine didn’t strike me as too different from other melancholic post-rock songs I have heard and Ist das alles sounded like a melancholic and slower version of “Renne durch dein Leben”.

In all, the album by Endlos is one that I don’t regret having listened to. There are some great moments in there and if you like your music epic, all the better. I’m looking forward to more from these guys in the future.

Thanks to Benne at One Bit Wonder for the introduction to Endlos on his fantastic netlabel.

Netlabel: One Bit Wonder

Firstly, it runs for 5 days a week. That alone shows a lot of dedication on Pete’s part. I’ve been listening to the shows for the past week or two and I really felt that the quality of music on the podcasts is consistently good. Pete’s got a knack for picking some great tracks to put into every podcast. There is also a lot of variety and it is not uncommon for disjunct genres like breaks, house, electro and classic chipmunk raves to all be featured on a single podcast. Most importantly, the podcast sound quality is also crystal clear ensuring a great listening experience.

The structure of the podcast is actually quite simple. There isn’t much talking at all. Pete usually just introduces a track and lets it play till the end. Sometimes, he does let off a casual comment or two about the track to be played. This is entirely sufficient, in my opinion, as the music selection is good enough to hold you over. I eventually warmed up to Pete’s style and found myself effortless immersed into the great wealth of music that he plays every show.

Another great thing is that Pete also doesn’t feel the need to limit himself to feature only Creative Commons electronic music. His latest podcasts have featured a commercial artist Acen (by permission), who had tracks available for free download. Similarly, we at Gratisvibes believe that tracks should be featured based on merit, even non Creative Commons ones. However, we do encourage all artist who put out free music to protect themselves by putting it under a CC license.

Overall, a great podcast that any electronic music fan who has an hour to spare a day should listen to. This reaffirms that there actually is quite a lot of good CC electronic music out there. Thanks Pete for doing the community a great service.

*I’ve attached an episode from bleepshow.com that I felt would do the show justice. Enjoy listening.

The free, but unfortunately not creative commons licensed, release Notes from Number 14, is an 11 track pop album. The album covers many common themes in pop, but deals mainly with relationships with people and such themes like redemption, beauty and the like. The production of the album is definitely top notch with nice, refined instrumentation. There are stylings of synthpop, electronica and soft rock all throughout the album making things more interesting than a straight up pop album.

But, it is not the most straightforward of pop albums. Lyrically, it’s a bit complex as I wasn’t really able to get what John was trying to say in most tracks after an initial first listen. There are some catchy chorus sections here and there but I can’t really remember any of the verses. That’s not to say that every song is lyrically complex and vague. Luckily, one can easily find appreciation in songs with familiar and easy themes such as Breathe You In, Wake Up to Your Beautiful Self and the almost lullaby like I Won’t Let Them Hurt You. In a pop context, I felt that the album suffers from an identity crisis lyric-wise trying to be too complicated in quite a number of songs for most pop listeners.

With that said, I’m a believer that truly long lasting music shouldn’t be too straightforward but still leads you on in some way. The vagueness and applicability to different situations makes it worth listening to again while the familiarity firmly grounds the song in your mind. Songs like Slide With Me and Water Falls fit into the above criteria.

In Slide With Me, self-retrospective lyrics are coupled with vague references to another person who we never really get a full explanation of. This, and a bridge and coda section with old school hard rock guitar solos really sealed the deal.

Water Falls, on the other hand, is an upbeat song with lyrics of amusing almost self-deprecating nature. You never really get the point of what John was trying to say as a whole but you just really go for the ride because it’s fun.

Other than the brighter sounding songs mentioned, there are also some songs in the album covering darker themes. The one I found most appealing was One Hell of a Time. It had that really synthy feel to it together with a moving chorus section.

To wrap it up, this is an album best listened to closely. There’s material here that is really worth listening to over and over again. If you like the album, do support John in his commercial endeavours. You can find his commercial 6 track EP release Preparations here.

Thanks to Hannah for recommending John’s music to us.

Is it getting colder where you’re at? I’ve found a release that’s almost perfectly suited for autumnal weather. Ontagon’s full length album “Shapes and Sizes” has a pastoral, introspective, hypnotic, sweet-dreams feel to it thats perfect for those stay-in-bed mornings nestled under the covers.

The album is quite diverse, from the fairly straightforward opening two tracks which are typically ‘chillout style IDM’, (ie. slow, crisp percussion and ambient synth textures) we progress to the glitchy “Misanthrope”. Moving on we have “Karate Fight Champion” and “Cardiology” which are rich, upbeat, melodic yet complex. “Ionoi” unsettles the mind with its eerie ghost-voice hums and slow, trippy barely-there beats.

All in all, a varied, complex and intriguing album. Listen to this when you need to do some soulsearching!

Standout tracks:
“This is Fairydust”: Light, airy cheerful melodies, intricate percussion
“Deep Motionless”: A great trippy bassline and a cool head-nodding hiphop beat.
“Pushoff”: An eerie lullaby to put you to sleep. And maybe cause a sad dream.
“10 August 86″: Sweet and nostalgic!

You’ll like this if you like: Christ. , Benbecula Records

Also check out: Ontagon’s “Forgetful” EP on Post-Digital.net

Label: Eerik Inpuj Sound

In my search for great CC trance music, I stumbled upon another promising house/techno label, Stratospherik. The releases on the label are mostly EPs with most releases clocking about 2 to 3 tracks at the standard 6 to 7 minutes a track. A quick listen to the tracks on the site, and I found some nice tunes that deserved a listen. One release caught my attention and that was the Enlighten EP by Uriel Asher. The album is simple enough, mainly focusing on a techno vibe with a house feel. It is lighter than most techno tracks and pretty melodically driven as with most things we review at Gratisvibes.

The first track I Don’t Know is definitely the catchier of the two tracks featuring chilled out cut up vocals, a nice diving bassline and a simple 4 note bass lead that just catches your attention. The title track Enlighten retains the same light feel of the EP but adds more filter sweeps and subtle elements. If you’re one for detail in your house/techno music, you’ll like this track. Somewhat melancholic and with some pretty drastic changes at different points in the track, this one may not fill the dance floor but it sure has its quirky moments that you will come to enjoy after repeated listens.

All in all, a nice release but I’m still looking for that CC trance album that will brighten up my day. If you happen to know any such release, do recommend it to us!

Netlabel: Stratospherik

Fuzzy - A Collection of Reflection is a V/A album featuring a mega list of artists including well-known ones such as Lackluster. The diverse cast makes the flow of the album somewhat unpredictable. Truthfully, there isn’t any concrete flow but what you’re assured of is that every song has something new to offer you.

The album has a ton of variety. There is techno, garage, IDM, soundscape like tracks, ambient experimental tracks, tracks that sound like they were meant for movie soundtracks etc. No style really dominates but the majority of tracks on the album are rhythm intensive. Tracks with vocals such as Appetite for Love by Bazaar and Blackbox by Org tended to stick out much more in the relatively vocal barren lineup. These two tracks are each good in their own way but I found Appetite for Love to be particularly amusing to listen to.

Other great tracks on the album are the infectious garage track Tooltime by Carsten Rausch, Erlösung by Sinus Force with its weird kick structure that still gets you hopping, Aurum by Toxonic, which not only featured some great melodies but also managed to squeeze in a sample of some guy saying “go” pretty much out of nowhere and Notes Aren’t Enough by Lackluster, which somehow lasted 19:45 without me realizing and that really was an achievement on its own.

The above are the tracks that I could remember off the top of my head after listening multiple times. There are many more neat tracks on the album that are worth listening to. To wrap it up, if this is the kind of weird that is coming out of the Weird and Wired netlabel, then it is good kind of weird that will surely have an audience.

Thanks to Massju for the recommendation. I really loved all the new sounds when I started listening.

Netlabel: Weird and Wired

The music of Broadleaves and Conifers consists mostly of melodic post-rock with its soft-loud contrasts and lavish arrangements. Most pieces are undoubtedly emotionally charged with the chorused and delayed guitar riffs giving either a feeling of joy and hope or darker feelings like sadness or despair. The first track, “Pilot’s handbook”, starts off the EP with a slow crescendo to a pounding reverb filled chorus section that makes you feel like the whole world is behind you. This feeling is more than offset by later tracks such as “Matacabras” and “Long Song” that revolve around darker, heavier themes. “Reflections upon the Asfalt” feels like a continuation of “Pilot’s Handbook”, only quicker. Motorral, though, is definitely the pick of the EP with its distinct opening melodies and driving bassline and shoegazey tendencies.

In all, I felt that this is quite a standard sounding rock EP with a post-rock structure. The sound is not as polished as could be but it sounds great musically. There was very little of the post-rock experimentation, which is both a good and bad thing. The music all sounds very familiar and takes very little time to get used to but it also all feels like it’s all been done before. Hopefully, Transit explores more ground in their next release and we’ll see something a little different. This release definitely sounded better than their first demo Harmattan. Other than that, this is a great release for people who love any kind of melodic rock not just post-rock.

For more bands like Transit, the Lost Children Netlabel is a great site to go to for finding bands that play post-rock, experimental and instrumental rock. There are some great bands there that are definitely worth checking out like the noise infused instrumental rock band, Loss of a Child.

Thanks to the owner of the Lost Children Netlabel for informing us of the label.

Netlabel: Lost Children

After an initial listen, ‘Adrift’ sounds unmistakeably like a throwback to the trip-hop era of the mid to late 90s, although its clear that Moosefrog have updated the template and the sound for the 21st century! If you liked Morcheeba, Thievery Corporation or other acts in that oeuvre, you’d definitely enjoy this album!

This stylish album has a alluring, sensual, yet dark and brooding quality to it. Maybe not as dark as Portishead but not as cheery as Hooverphonic were in their later days. The highlights include Anji Bee’s vocals on two of the tracks on this release. Anji (from the band Love Spirals Downwards) reminds me of Sade’s sultry voice. In fact ex-MTV VJ and well known podcasting personality Adam Curry calls it “the sexiest voice in podcasting”. Yes thats right, Anji does podcasts as well!

Definitely a release for all those skeptics who still think that the netlabel scene isn’t producing quality.

Our aim for the mix was to move from chillout to dance to some high bpm hardcore stuff. Mixing across genres definitely yielded some interesting results. Given our rudimentary mixing skills, there are some rough edges in the mix but nothing too major. Overall, I think it is a fun mix to listen to that lets you sample some of the great music we have reviewed since our inception. So, enjoy listening!

On a side note, do check out the mind-blowing chiptune album Chips on Speed by Ikuma*, who also had a set during the gig, over at Kittenrock.

Thanks to all the CC artists that make Gratisvibes possible and the organizers of the Flash Forward 2007 Party in Singapore.

*Ikuma is a Gratisvibes editor. Guess who.