Rebirth?
The world of online music has changed greatly since I started this blog. When I started this blog, the idea was to highlight great music that I found online from non-commercial artists; the bedroom producers and the garage bands.
Now, everyone is on soundcloud or garageband. It’s harder to find quality, freely downloadable albums. Of course kahvi and the like are still around, still producing quality content. But I don’t want to become a lame repost blog for a handful of sites.
So what I’m thinking of doing here is highlighting one track per week from soundcloud. There are many quality artists there producing massive amounts of great music that needs to be heard. I will attempt to post one great track every week from one of these artists. Is it a rebirth of the orbit? Who knows – I may lose impetus after a couple of weeks, or I may not. I feel like I’ve turned a corner in my personal life though, and am in the process of reinventing myself so this very well may stick.
Let the blogging begin!
Hammock – An Introduction To Hammock
Hammock, a well established post-rock group that gave us the fantastic albums Departure Songs, Kenotic, and others, offers a huge collection of their work for absolutely free! It’s for a limited time, so jump on this asap. The website does require an email address, and they add you to their mailing list, but that’s a small price to pay for over an hour of music.
Nice Wings, Icarus! – Aurora
And now for some good news from Ukraine – Nice Wings, Icarus is a post rock outfit based there and they have two albums, both excellent, of their own brand of post rock. I’ve posted the first, self-titled one here before way back in 2010. Their more recent one, Aurora, is every bit as fantastic. Heavy guitar driven tracks peppered with violin melodies create a unique style that’s a pleasure to listen to. If you loved their first album, you’re going to love this one as well.
Set Adrift: Sequence 2c | Into Orbit
Post-metal act Into Orbit is releasing their single Set Adrift: Sequence 2c for free. It’s a decent track, very mellow with a far-away sound. This two-piece from New Zealand has created a lush soundscape punctuated with heavy tones in just the right amount. I’m looking forward to checking out more of Into Orbit.
Starcadian – Chinatown (Official Music Video)
Starcadian has just released another video. I posted his last one, HE^RT not too long ago (scroll down just a tad and it’s right there). The new video is every bit as superb as the last one. Recalling cyberpunk imagery reminiscent of Blade Runner, it tells a good guy / bad guy story set in the neon glow of a club in Chinatown. Really, if you haven’t listened to the album yet, get on Spotify and do yourself a favor. It’s called Sunset Blood. Every track on it is great music. Also, watch carefully, you’ll notice that The Pilot is in the club.
Civil Protection – Stolen Fire
For a limited time, Civil Protection is giving away their release Stolen Fire for free. Merry Christmas, go get some free music. Support them if you can. It’s a great release with a powerful intro that sets the mood for the rest of the set. Constantly swelling and calming, Stolen Fire has a compelling energy that will grip you all the way through. They have a polished sound, with guitars slicing through the mix like a knife, and elements of post rock, alternative and math rock combine to create a unique sound. This is definitely one you don’t want to miss out on.
Starcadian – HE^RT
I came across this while on reddit.com. Some posted that they had made a music video with a donated cockpit and $200. I was absolutely blown away by the mood that the video conveys. The slowness of it – the music, whats happening in the video, combine to create a mellow, subdued atmosphere that is perfect.
To begin with, the video has a “VHS” effect applied to it that takes me right back to 1986, when my family would stop by a brand new store in town called “Adventure Land Video” and rent a VCR and a couple of movies for the weekend. Back to the Future, Explorers, Tron, The Black Hole, they all filled my Friday nights around that time. It was nothing short of miraculous to be able to watch a movie whenever you wanted, to be able to rewind and watch it again.
The video is set in a cockpit, in space, with a pilot on some sort of mission involving a 3 1/4″ floppy disk. Whats on the disk? Coordinates, autopilot instructions? Some secret of the universe? The disk seems to be mystical somehow, you’ll see why at the end. Nothing much really happens in the video though, but this is not a bad thing. It’s a couple of minutes of the stars reflecting in the pilots visor, some interior shots of the cockpit, and a computer generated face somwhere (possibly on some exterior part of the ship?) which is singing the lyrics to the song. The end of the video features some slight 2001-esque action, with the pilot flying into some sort of fantastic light field.
Now, normally I link you to a free album. This time I’m linking you to a video and telling you to go buy the album. It is on spotify and the rest of the entire album is just as perfect as this one particular song. I would describe Starcadian’s music as a sort of modernized, subdued and mellow Jamiroquai.
Starcadian – HE^RT on vimeo
Starcadian – Sunset Blood, full album on spotify
Arbor Lights – Hatherton Lake
A four-piece band that offers an excellent postrock release on bandcamp, Arbor Lights has worked on this release for two years. I especially like the name of the band – it makes me think of a stranger walking through a forest, noticing odd glowing orbs floating in the tree tops. This album just rolls along, seemingly nonstop, with five tracks clocking in at just over thirty two minutes. Starting out with an experimental noise type of sound, it quickly coalesces into a bright and rhythmic stroll through a deserted city block. Then it’s off to outer space and back, running the gamut of sonic textures in the process. It’s not too light – just the right amount of heaviness. The last track ties the whole album together nicely, and completes a total package of artistry that is very moving. One more thing – the cover art is perfect.
Name your own price (even free) but please consider supporting the artist.
Nult: Instrumental Soundscapes
An absolutely beautful release of melodic, mellow guitar tracks sprinkled with ambient noise, piano, drums and spoken word that all comes together to create a lush, chilled and slow postrock record.