BBC Scotland 10.8.9 - The Second Hand Marching Band

Track list:

1. Bottle of Anger/Lies
2. A Hurricane, a Thunderstorm

Running time: 10 minutes
Released: Unclear

So I am advancing this up the order to break up the Folk Awards albums a little. I am not certain where I came across The Second Hand Marching Band but I know that I fell in love with A Dance to Half Death from the release of the same name. They are made up from members of other Scottish groups, including Eagleowl, who I love a lot, so that comes as no surprise. These two tracks, freely available here, form part of a session recording, along with one more track that is not so free, but my search-fu is weak and I cannot find a date.

Bottle of Anger/Lies is a mass-sung number and to be honest it is quite unpleasant. The only instrumentation for the first 90 seconds is a quite harsh, unmodulated organ and the harmonies in the chorus are not great. However when the tune picks up and the other parts come in the tone changes completely to the sort of charming, under-produced, raucous play-along that easily tugs at my heart. A song of two halves - brittle then brilliant. Annoying then heart warming. I think the opening is enough to damn it though as I have more of the latter feeling. The main piece here is the second track, a longer effort which keeps the tumbledown charm and slightly off-kilter performance. The tone of the delivery means that the harmonies are much more pleasant and there is a lilt to the singing that works well with both the arrangement and the disparate voices represented. It is better whilst it maintains a sense of purpose, and when it dwindles down to almost nothing it becomes dull and some of the worse aspects of the harmonies reappear - I keep waiting for it to build again for a better finish but it does not.

Frustratingly there are 2 halves of really nice pieces here, but alas it is the second half of one and the first half of the other. I do not think either are worth keeping, which saddens me some.

The Barometric Sun - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Hymn 1 (Through the Barometric Sun)
2. The First Glimpse of the.....
4. Crysanthenum Ocean
5. In the Outer Reaches
7. Endless Glass Metropolis
10. Silence
11. Dream (The 49th Sheep)

Running time: 48 minutes
Released: 2007

A quick follow-up to The Barometric Sea, I can only guess that The Barometric Sun was meant as a companion piece, especially as it was within a year. I have 7 tracks from this disc. 5 are free right now, and 2 must have been in the past.

It has been a busy week, so I haven't got to many of these. Out Monday, guests Tuesday, unexpected co-op with a friend on Wednesday and my weekly Blood Bowl game on Friday. I did squeeze in a post on Thursday though. Today was a family birthday so it has been tough to find time to just sit and listen until now when I have that chance. It is late(ish) on a Saturday evening and I have just watched something about rebuilding a Spitfire - I am suitably relaxed.

The first impression generated by Hymn 1 is good. There is more body to this than some of the other Deepspace pieces I have on file and that is appreciated. It is still a soundscape, still inherently lonely, but the depth adds warmth to that so it is not so stark and distant as I felt some of The Barometric Sea was. Less ice floes, more beach or valley flooded with morning light. Some chimes kick in near the end that remind me of those of Big Ben which is an odd juxtaposition, and then we move on to a first glimpse of something. Here the artist proves that, like my younger self, one can be careless when typing an ellipsis. I swear I always used to end up with four periods, here he uses five. The track itself carries on the theme. It felt like a return to emptier sounds for a brief moment, then the additional embellishments showed up, including sampled (?) voice - choral singing by the sound of it. This definitely evokes Vangelis with the atmosphere created totally in line with the Blade Runner aesthetic. The song feels like it goes on forever, but it is actually shorter than the first track. I suspect that means that under the general appeal of the image it creates there is not too much to sustain affection. In any case, I am glad when we move on.

Crysanthenum Ocean - oops, looks like that is a typo in the title - feels like sci-fi videogame music from a downtime cutscene or, more likely, a front-end menu. It seems to fall into a cyclic pattern that fails to enthral. The warmer tone is still present but the ambience of this one is flat for me. What follows is more bombast than I would have expected, louder and stronger notes than have been stock-in-trade until now. This is a nice change, with the intricacies introduced in the fades, the lulls. I realise that I use "swells" a lot in writing - but perhaps I do genuinely see music as waves, building and crashing, rippling and calming. It feels truly appropriate here as there is the sense of a crescendo then a diminuendo on each tonic shift. It creates a really comforting sound space, an aural pocket of calm, a rhythmic effect of relaxation. I like this a lot, right up to the point where it seems to dead-end very suddenly. That ending was a shocker.

LastFM has b*****ed itself up again - it seems to do this if I remove a track from my library whilst it is in an active playlist - and thinks I am hearing Silence when actually it is Endless Glass Metropolis. Too bad, I was going to tag the title for its awesomeness. I would not want to live in a city of glass, but the image that generates is certainly one in keeping with the future/sci-fi ideal, supported by the sounds crafted here. I should really pass on these tracks to the gamers I know who love sci-fi RPGs, I think they would get far more atmospheric use of them than I would as I have never been particularly drawn to that genre (as a whole). Actually, I'll be fair on LastFM, looking more closely it seems to be picking up the problem from WMP giving bad information. You might have thought that the player would load the info of the track when the track starts, not somehow manage to display the info for another track altogether because it pre-loaded it then somehow skipped in the playlist. Actually I would have thought that, until I started working in software design by accident and optimisation (and some methods to achieve it) became a relevant concern. Still, it is an error.

Silence is not, well, silent. It is certainly emptier than the other tracks thus far but even then it contains some pretty bold notes. It feels slower rather than colder or less involving, no obvious rise-fall-rise-fall wave pattern here - more a sense of pulses through empty space. There are background transitions and a reverb effect that underlies most of the piece but they fade and merge together. We wake up from Silence and enter into a Dream. It does not immediately strike me as dream-like or particularly relevant to sleep though after a while it does pick up that sort of fuzzy, intangible quality that is alike the soft focus effect often used visually to depict dreams on screen. It also breaks down as a theme a bit by the halfway mark and feels like a different piece to the one I was listening to a moment ago. I do not really care for the switch initially either, but it pulls around. The second half of the piece then rushes by in a sense of swirls and twirls, to the point that when it ends I am abruptly catapulted out of whatever semi-conscious state my mind had fallen into.

Overall, I think this was better than The Barometric Sea, but less good than Another Empty Galaxy; I like the warmer sounds and appreciated the visuals my brain supplied on hearing it more than the cooler, isolation-based ones that accompanied the last post. I would not say Deepspace is genius, but he has something in these pieces alright that can really make for surprisingly engaging experience.

The Barometric Sea - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Energy Failure On The Sibelius
2. The Astrology
3. Sol
4. The Barometric Sea
5. Leaving The Hub
7. The Drop Of Nowhere
8. Euphandemonium
11. Map Of The Pleiades

Running time: 55 minutes
Released: 2007

A return to Deepspace, whose ambient track Another Empty Galaxy I rather enjoyed. This time it is more free tracks from a different album. Not an entire free disc this time, but most of one. I had 5 tracks already, 3 more were free which I have just grabbed, and a final 3 were not. I can guess this will be more ambient material but not at its themes.

Immediate electrics hum and give a deliberate (I would guess) sense of being underwater through an intangible oscillating quality that seems to slow everything down. It is quite an oppressive piece, atmospherically speaking and veers into discord in places. Energy Failure on the Sibelius is not winning me over, but I could see it being decent mood music for a deep-sea or deep-space adventure. There is a part of me that thinks I should be assigning tunes like this some metadata, or maybe just to a playlist, to take advantage of  actually listening and building a picture of them because thematic background music is a plus in at least one of my hobbies. I have to say though, I think I will stick with simply deleting it this time.

The Astrology is the first of the longer pieces (there are three around 10 minutes each), and it starts more promisingly but then fails to build on that. A haunting tone is all well and good but it does not play with it enough to create lasting interest. I got really into Another Empty Galaxy but somehow I am not feeling the same draw here. I don't know if the cold outside seeps in a bit with these vast empty sounds - this tune reminds me more of icy wastes than any other kind of land- (or sea-)scape. And as I commit that, something else is added to make it feel a little less empty. A mechanical kind of chugging bass loop. Maybe a caravan of some sort, slogging across the floes. Repetitive as it is, this loop really adds depth to the track and lifts is enough to make it work.

As it ends, I have a moment where everything is borked - I'm listening to one track but it is reporting and recording another; I do not know whether I am coming or going. So I sort it out by deleting the album and re-downloading everything except Sibelius and sort it out, listening to the end of The Astrology again as a result, but that's an acceptable enough price. Only the LastFM scrobbler does it again as Sol starts, recording it as The Astrology again. Some odd things have been happening recently; most Mawkin:Causley tracks were scrobbled twice during that listen a couple of weeks back. I'll put that aside though and go by the on-screen in WMP. Sol then. It is vaguely reminiscent of Vangelis in some respects and I approve.

Yup, every track now seems to be scrobbling as the one before it. Oh well. This is a lonely pursuit at the best of times, albeit one that through its engagement wards of loneliness, but tracks like this really emphasise the feeling. I can see this as being stuck on a rock in the middle of nowhere, looking out over vast swathes of nothingness, a big empty sky above and no landmarks to guide. Bleak, that's the word. And yet there is a warmth of sorts to the music itself that undermines that sense, even as it creates it. Since the opening track, I have fallen in to rather enjoying this again. It does help that I can see other uses for it but there is enough here to be oddly fulfilling in its own right. Leaving the hub is suitably dark, trepidatious mood to it, that you could see it as a fearful step into the unknown. It reminds me a little of prog rock, with long-held chords transitioning from one to another, but this is stripped back not embellished so the comparison quickly falls down.

The tracks have definitely gone a little darker to my ear; The Drop of Nowhere is less interesting as a result. Perhaps my attention has wandered a little, but this track is more of a drone with not enough to lift it or provide gems that sparkle against the black backdrop. Euphandemonium (great title!) lifts things a bit, which is welcome, but only brief. The strains that gave it the lift fade fairly quickly then linger there just in the background a bit in a way that makes the track really not work for me. Then it is over, for this is a short song, and we are on to the final piece, the "bonus track" - this is also shorter and has more obvious instrumentation rather than the strict ambience of prior tracks. The sustained chord is a little wearing though and this will be joining a few of its disc-mates in my recycle bin. For the second time tonight, too!

All in all this was a hit and miss set of tracks with the middle better than either end. Another selection of Deepspace's freely available work, The Barometric Sun is next, unless I fiddle with the order.

Badger Stamp Records Compilation 2008 - Various Artists

I only have one track from this compilation - Bellshill Station Fast by The Just Joans (length 2:34). There are others available free according to the listing on LastFM, but the download links were non-responsive when I just tried them so I am not too bothered about filling out the freebies. There's no cover either, so I am dispensing with the post structure for this micropost.

Strumming their organ then charmingly off-key singing. The Just Joans come across as a novelty act with their accessible indiepop about the little things in life; I do not mean that in a sneering way either. I like this well enough but it is nothing special, gone too fast for me to really register any of the specifics.

Baby I'm Yours EP - Math and Physics Club

Track list:

1. Baby I'm Yours

Running time: 2 minutes
Released: 2007

I only have the title track from this EP, which is free on Last FM along with 2 other tracks from Math and Physics Club (I have them, too). i can only assume they were recommended based on someone I actually listen to, so I simply grabbed free stuff, because I do not know this band at all.

I debated crunching the three together but it makes for a titling and labelling nightmare so I figured I would do them separately. Three short posts instead, then; this one is especially short as this song is less than 3 minutes long.

It is twee indie-pop, which makes sense for both the band name and the likelihood of me having picked up some random track somewhere. The jangly guitars and percussion are quite nice, the singing less so. It feels a bit light... like a cut down Allo Darlin' (which is likely where the recommendation came from). Unfortunately cut down too far to be enjoyable enough to make it worth keeping.

The Ayrtime.org Digital E.P. - Alasdair Roberts

Track list:

1. Babylon
2. Little Sir Hugh
3. Lord Ronald
4. The Calfless Cow

Running time: 16 minutes
Released: 2010

This a free digital-only EP available here. 

 

I have apparently racked up 9 scrobbles of these tracks without ever realising it or any of them sinking in so this is pretty much like a first (and possibly last) look.

I do not recall what exactly got me to pick up music by Alasdair Roberts. It may have been an appearance on the BBC's Transatlantic Sessions, perhaps but I might be pulling that out of my behind. I do not have much by him and have generally found him slightly too dry for my taste - simple and plain guitar and him singing in a voice that does not entirely sit well with me. That pretty much describes Babylon to a T - the song does nothing for me and his too-quick progression from line to line, as good as joining them together helps un-sell me fast.

Little Sir Hugh is more promising, a different tone and a slower, more structured vocal give this a more full, rounded sound despite the same minimalist approach. I actually like this song, and the more intricate and stronger guitar of the bridge just confirms this impression. Roberts' voice carries an edge that is tough to appreciate but to give him his due it works with certain tones, bleaker and darker themes suit his plaintive style whilst with more melodic or lighter songs it grates. Lord Ronald gives it too much space, for example, and I find that it sets my teeth on edge. Whilst the song is pretty dark, the instrumentation is not - lightly picked and with no backing it gives him the rope his voice needs to hang him from the tree of my disinterest.

The final song here is The Calfless Cow, which I have to say is a crap song title. It is a short number (sub 2 minutes) that has a nicer guitar part again. Unlike Little Sir Hugh though, on this occasion the improved instrumentation does not offset the element of Roberts' voice that wears upon me, so it will be joining Lord Ronald in Babylon away from my machine. Little Sir Hugh can stay with me.

That concludes my posting for 2014, and concludes the selection of albums, EPs and individual tracks listed under A in my Windows Media Player library. In the last 4 1/2 months I have managed 95 listens for this project - significantly less than 10% of the total. I am pleased to have got this far and still maintain the desire to continue. Looking ahead to B I can see some favourites coming up, as well as a load of random bits and bobs and the first occasions where I am likely to tinker with the order for reasons other than new purchases. Roll on 2015, and Happy New Year to the world.

A-side B-side Seaside - Randolph's Leap

Track list:

1. Please Don't Belong   
2. What Have I Done?

Running time: 6 minutes
Released: 2009

A two-track e.p. that I believe I got free - indeed I did - I do not know what to expect from this. Randolph's Leap fit into that bracket of band names I can place but cannot put a sound to... you know, the sort of band there seem to be 1500 of in Glasgow alone. That sounds pejorative but it is not meant as such; lesser known Scottish bands feature quite heavily in my library as a whole. The truth is, though, that I only have this because it was free, and even then it was a relatively recent download. Time to see whether it should be kept.

The first track is a song sung over a very sparse and quiet background, with a harmony introduced for the chorus. It is a self-deprecating number with a certain charm to it, but not something that I would listen to through choice. What Have I Done starts similarly, though the vocal is less tuneful on this occasion. More instrumentation is added instead and this crafts a pleasant strum-along sound. In contrast to the song which seems to be about someone arseing up a relationship really badly. Ultimately there is not quite enough here to keep me interested past this listen, but two short free tracks are worth the time if you like acoustic indie Scottish stuff. It's only 6 minutes, and the price is right.

Another Empty Galaxy - Deepspace

Track list:

1. Another Empty Galaxy

Running time: 59 minutes
Released: 2008

So this is one long ambient track. I do not have a clue what got me to look at Deepspace and then grab all the freely available tunes on LastFM and I suspect that by the end of this project I may regret having picked them up. Pick them up I did, though, so now I have to find an hour to listen to this. If you are curious, the track can be found and downloaded here.

No big bang to start, but its a galaxy not a universe. This post could go a number of ways. I could get really into the spacey ambiance and go wild with descriptors. I could detest it and write a diatribe about the hour I am committing. I could simply zone out and make a really short entry. Its that latter I am betting on; not certain of my staying power for this. That said, I am in the right kind of mood for ambient relaxation - just come off the back of a Bloodbowl game where I won but lost 2 players to death, had to pay £160 to get some connectors replaced and repaired in my car, and had a busy day catching up on 7 days worth of missed email - and found that my tomorrow afternoon is a wall-to-wall teleconference. And to top it off, I missed (or rather could not pay adequate attention to) Only Connect. Bah, intellectual nourishment denied!

So I am in need of something soothing, and on that score at least I think I am on to a winner with this piece. Five minutes in, and the track is wide open. There is nothing really musical here a lot of the time, background hums, waves and sounds; layered to provide a sense of space and wonder. I am feeling the space, less so the wonder. There is certainly something to this composition as, now at 12 minutes, I am not bored yet. I am also not really paying full attention - I think that is virtually impossible without the shut down of other senses. I am half tempted to turn out the lights and lie back on the couch - how I imagine this track is best enjoyed - but if I did that I would likely fall asleep, wake up in the middle of the night with a crook neck and fail to have an entry (so need to listen again).

The sounds are generally soothing. There is no drone - the longer notes are a more pleasant tone, and the resonance from them softens their impact rather than amplifying it, though on occasion it sounds like the note is about to lose tune. The waves and pulses of other sounds are generally soft, too and there are refreshingly few sparkles (you know, those electronic "star drop" sounds that one associates with the ambient cliché. There is no harmonic metals of the Vangelis kind, but flatter, emptier sounds that suit the vastness of space better. Deepspace gets the distance right - even when there are some bolder sounds, the tone of the background lends volume and everything feels further away, as if it is constantly receding (which it is, of course).

The track is approaching half way; my head is going slightly. Tiredness creeping in, eyes drooping. The track is having a positively reinforcing effect on that natural reaction to the end of a busy day. I have to admit to a little boredom, but I am resenting the time a lot less than I thought I might, and I can certainly see how listening to this in a more appropriate (and less live-logged) format could be mind blowing. There have been a few more falling stars, but they remain rare. The oscillating bass is the most consistent feature, a thrum to underlay all else, but around it things are in flux, the sounds that make for a tune, to provide the part that a melody might in more traditional music, are many and varied and I find it hard to describe any of them sufficiently. Bold one minute, soft the next. Clear now, then muted, or echoey or both. More stereotypical space creeps in more over the length of the tune - you would expect it to in a 60 minute marathon just to keep the change ups coming - but this is easily forgiveable as it is not overdone.

20 minutes to go now. It continues to provide a soothing aural skyscape, the bassy hum has lightened, ad there are more optimistic top end sounds arising. Ah, now that is interesting. There is a notable tonal shift at or about the 45 minute mark which makes me wonder if the piece is, consciously or subconsciously, divided up into movements even if it is presented as a single megalithic track. I cannot say I noticed the others (if they are there) but I happened to be checking how long was left as the clock went 45 and then the sounds shifted on me. Probably just coincidence, but who knows, eh? More chimes and musical stars in this latest segment - it almost sounds like a fruit machine in places (but for the bass).

I have mostly enjoyed it, though I would admit my concentration has been all over the place. I feel that grabbing it was a good decision, and keeping it is worthwhile, even if the chances that I will ever make the time to listen whilst shutting down my eyes are slim. I could well see it being used as background music for a sci-fi game at some point (playing in a Trek game at the moment so it could happen). Switch between this for exploration, and Ben Prunty's FTL Soundtrack for moments of conflict. Could work really well. That said, I am not a great believer in the use of music for roleplaying sessions - I find having to talk (or more accurately listen) over the music more of a burden to my enjoyment than any sense of atmosphere generated by a soundtrack. This could work though, because it is empty enough. I am into the final stretch, and I wonder if it is because I know that, or whether I can genuinely hear denouement in the soundscape, as if it is drawing in, contracting to a close. It is a tough call, but there is definitely a darkness creeping in, a bit more of an edge than there has been throughout. I find myself wondering how it will actually end - that must be a big decision in a composition like this. The answer seems to be by devolving into the hum, having that become all, then adding an echo before fading out. It is quite an anti-climactic end in truth.

Another Empty Galaxy is awe-inspiring in some ways, and definitely worth investigating if you like spacey or ambient tracks. If you have a good pair of headphones, a large couch and blackout curtains then building yourself a makeshift sensory deprivation chamber and indulging is a worthwhile thing to try, I would reckon. I am certainly amazed by how little I got bored by it, even as my mind started wandering and refused to pay full attention. In a piece this long, that speaks to a good variety; I have got bored a lot quicker to shorter tracks with more going on. So I end with two thumbs up for this, even if I am unlikely to ever give it this much attention again.

And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots - And None Of Them Knew They Were Robots

Track list:

1. Falling Figures
2. Idle Vessels
3. Division Formed Thus
4. Instrument
5. Playsets With Lights
6. An Equation
7. Twenty Six O'One

Running time: 27 minutes
Released: 2001

So this disc was my first exposure to hardcore. A blind gift, I found myself loving it completely unexpectedly, not that I went out and bought myself a load, but I did acquire the rest of the Robots available material - I think it was all free on LastFM at one point (some demos still are).

All I knew before I heard it for the first time was that it was derived from punk, so I was expecting tunelessness and anger. Cliched view, I know. When it opened with a great melodic riff I dropped my jaw and was sucked in. There is definitely anger here... Falling Figures builds to an explosive release, screamed vocals faded down behind twanging guitars and punchy drums. The edgier playing is evident in places too but mostly it has tune that engages. To be honest, after the first bout, I could leave the shouting behind quite happily, but the emotion driving it is part of what makes the track one I love. The rest of this mini-album does not quite reach the same standard for me, but then Falling Figures would be a longshot for a place in my top 10 tunes ever so that does not condemn the rest.

To be honest, I could take or leave Idle Vessels, and I am leaning towards leave. There is less melody and the vocal is far messier, general shouting rather than targeted rage, but then the melodies come back in for Division Formed Thus. The tune has drive, pace and space for a more melodic vocal to shine over that engine that keeps it loud but controlled throughout. That is something else I was expecting but did not receive on first listening to these songs: to be blown out of my seat by exceptional volume. No - the levels are sensible, well controlled and set so that the noisier parts of its constructions do not overshadow the more musical. I came in with so many incorrect preconceptions and poor expectations, and - as with Fig 4.0 - had them peeled away one by one. That was a good few years ago now, and I am still enjoying this a lot. Division Formed Thus runs to 6 minutes, which is a little excessive, and I think the song loses its way a bit in the middle but that is about the only real criticism I would chuck at it.

There is a nice, noisy rumble to Instrument - it is more typical of what I was expecting, in my former ignorance, but far better performed and much more palatable than that former position would have held. I would never want to listen to this particular track more than once in a blue moon, but as the midpoint of the album it fits nicely, guitars humming into my skull, but all at a volume that is suitable. It, like Idle Vessels is noisier and less melodic but sandwiched between 2 songs that play up the melodies more. It is a nice little artefact of the construction. Smooth, rough, smooth. Loud, quiet, loud etc. These have been used by other bands in other areas before and they work here too. OK, so the "smooth" has rough edges, but that is a feature not a bug. Playsets With Lights has a nice rhythm and swell to it but the main line that always sticks in my mind is the top end, the guitar melody, and how it closes.

The last two tracks have not memory association to play on, so what is there? An Equation (free download here) splits the loud/quiet dynamic up with elements of both but errs on the loud side, it is also very short and sweet, before giving in to the hooky guitar intro to Twenty Six O'One. This is an intro melody that gives way to the now familiar spiky chorus of a wall of guitars and screamed lyrics which is over like a flash leaving a very sparse tune to bridge to the next hit of rage and fire. Pretty intense stuff, because you are constantly switching between modes, on edge knowing that it could all kick off any second, and yet 4 of these songs give you the opportunity to settle back and enjoy too.

I love the dichotomy of it, the execution is accomplished and so the whole disc works. Was I thinking of ditching something? Not anymore. I think the album would be weaker without any of these tracks. The energy from the loud tracks sustains whilst the melodies of the more musical ones builds an interest that lasts. I do not believe robots could make music this good.

Allz Saintz Dayz - Martin John Henry

Track List:

1. Allz Saintz Dayz

Running time: 4 minutes
Released: 2010

This is a free single from former De Rosa songwriter Martin John Henry. It is a re-imagining of All Saints Day from Mend from his former band. 

I like the De Rosa recording more. This is remixed with electronics that are interesting but not particularly compelling. It is a little too sedate and does not contain the same fire in the delivery. Not sure it is worth keeping.

All India Radio - All India Radio

Track list:

5. Evening Star
9. Waukaringa

Running time: 9 minutes
Released: 2003

A stub; 2 songs from this album, one downloaded free at LastFM just now, another which I can only surmise was previously available free on LastFM but is no longer, which is why this is in my library.

I do not know much about All India Radio, but I seem to have a fair number (18) of tracks by them from a number of different releases. I would imagine all free and all from LastFM; they still have a number of downloads listed there, though the tracks do not all line up with what I have. I cannot think of any other source, though... I do not believe I ever bought anything by AIR, I have no physical discs, and I am not in the habit of downloading stuff illicitly. Anyhow - 2 songs, lets hear them.

Evening Star is pleasant enough - familiar sounding guitar-provided instrumental over (I would guess) synth backing. It evokes a wide open sky on a warm summer night - which is probably intentional to go by "Australian" and the cover image. It is perfectly listenable, even if it does repeat refrains too often. It is pretty good background music, a settled rhythm to the piece, and entirely inoffensiv.e. Waukaringa is the currently free song linked above. It is sparse. I think I prefer this. It eventually gets a beat after 2 minutes in and goes downhill a bit. The lovely light touch replaced with a generic-sounding loop which - like Evening Star - is perfectly listenable but not really engaging.

I would say both songs are reasonable pieces but there just does not feel like there is any heft to them, anything other than a nice hum to remove silence - a shame because I thought Waukaringa was going to be a stunning ambient track at first. Never mind. Whilst I could listen to either again and not complain, I have no drive to do so, too little engagement. Another casualty.

All Hour Cymbals - Yeasayer

Track List:

1. Sunrise
2. Wait for the Summer
3. 2080
4. Germs
5. Ah, Weir
6. No Need to Worry
7. Forgiveness
8. Wait for the Wintertime
9. Worms
10. Waves
11. Red Cave

Running time: 46 minutes
Released: 2007

I was sold on Yeasayer by a performance of 2080 on Later... With Jools Holland. 

I picked up this album, and (later) Odd Blood, which I found too odd to like. I am not sure how well this stands up (I find the above-linked video cringeworthy now - mostly for the singer's antics), but I have fond memories of both that tune and the opener, Sunrise. The rest of the album does not conjure any specific recollections.

Sunrise (free on LastFM) is fairly cute, jazzy bass combined with odd sounds and an affective vocal, it all comes together pretty well for the first half of the song, but the latter half is an over-long outro where nothing really changes and it plays out to boredom. I hope that is not a sign of things to come.

Wait for the Summer is... yeah, what was I thinking here? Look the styling of the arrangements I quite like - the elements used to craft this song are all reasonable but they come together as a tangled mess - the worst offender the ridiculously over-levelled percussive bells that dominate. It feels rudderless in a way that neither Sunrise nor 2080 (also available free on LastFM) do. Speaking of 2080, I have little doubt that this is the best crafted track on the album - a great hook, big brash sound and accessible. Whilst I cannot watch that vid linked above without tensing, listening to the album version stimulates the original love of the track. It feels tight, well constructed and most importantly catchy. I do not really care for the vocal but it suits the track OK... the main draw is the hook, but even after that fades there is interest and coherence in the track. It does end rather weakly though.

I am not expecting much from the remaining tracks - there is too much of a hippy-ish "out there" tinge to Yeasayer for my appreciation. I find some of it atonal, and other bits of it boring. There are flits of interest around the edges of tracks but nothing as big and statement-like, or as successful in fusing their "freakier" elements with good old fashioned radio-friendly music as 2080.  I hope that somewhere here there is a gem I have forgotten but I am sceptical, mostly because of the vocalist. His style does not appeal, and I cannot get those performing antics out of my head.

Honestly, I cannot quite believe I bought Odd Blood based on this experience. Forgiveness is the next track that holds my attention for any time thanks to interesting hooks again. Unfortunately it has a horrid atonal opening, a "feature" that recurs through its length - I cannot even begin to describe the sound well, but I find it offensive. And that is a shame because I like the parts of the song which do not have it obliterating the more musical tones. I will be trimming down what I hold from this disc, the only question is how much will be left?

I am probably making a false association but something about the music of Wait for the Wintertime reminds me of early Pink Floyd (who seem to be getting a lot of passing mentions!). Specifically A Saucerful of Secrets, though I freely admit my actual memories of that album are practically confined to the line "set the controls for the heart of the sun" so the importance of the parallel is questionable. I think the song may pass the keep test though. It feels a little bit directionless but I quite like the main hook and I find the "weirdness" less intrusive on this one.

Then we hit an interesting point where the track titles in my library do not match those in the legend here. This time I am pretty sure mine are wrong - but looking one of them up ("Many Waves" in place of Worms, Worms in place of "Waves") suggests I may not be alone. A quick check of my CD (running up and down the stairs) confirms that when this got ripped I trusted a borked source to title tracks correctly - but also doesn't give a name for track 11. Oddities like this annoy me and so I have just renamed the tracks... even though I am about to delete them because neither inspire me.

That missing track 11 from the CD, Red Cave, is probably the most pleasant sound on the album. Or it would be if the song was a minute long. The problem with the pleasantness is that it is very dull and goes on for 3:30 before it devolves into a badly delivered vocal and atonal backing. 

I think this is the frustrating thing for me here: Yeasayer clearly have some talent, and demonstrated with 2080 that they could fuse more mainstream song forms with elements of New Weird America to create something different and exciting. Alas it seems that was a moment of alchemy and not a reproducible effect. All Hour Cymbals is a lot less interesting than I remember, and I found it genuinely unpleasant in places, so it goes - with only two freely available tracks to mark its passing; in hindsight Wait for the Wintertime does not pass muster for retention.

Afraid to Dance - port-royal

Track List:

1. Bahnhoff Zoo
5. Decadence

Running time: 14 minutes
Released 2007

So this is two tracks that are free on LastFM.

I cannot recall what led me to pick up Decadance, but I only just downloaded Bahnhoff Zoo (I could see that as a band name) now, as I prepare to listen. A friend of mine who I speak to too infrequently these days has several plays of this band though, so that might have had something to do with it. Still, I do not know what to expect here, even though I have apparently scrobbled Decadence 8 times prior.

I do like the oh-so-dated cover photo though. Look at those short shorts!

Bahnhoff Zoo is low-key, a rolling loop of a background with some very light tunes over the top. It is a nice contrast, though it probably rumbles on too long before the change comes in. Unfortunately rather than giving a more audible melody, the change breaks up the ominiously established loop and the tone of the piece was lost at that moment. Still, a reasonable find.

Decadence has more of a beat - it is too front and centre for me though. There are more melodic stylings over the top though, which remind me of I Break Horses. This is a long track - 9 of the 14 minutes - and after about 3 it switches and the prominent beat is replaced by something less intrusive. Unfortunately most of the more interesting tunes go with it. It recovers a bit after 5 minutes, but ultimately there is never quite enough going on in the track for me to really get into it. The 9 minute track is more like 3 or 4 shorter tracks mixed together in some ways, there is no real continuity or coherence. It is pleasant enough once that initial thumping beat is dropped though and is decent background music.

There is not enough here to have me looking up where to acquire the whole album but there is also no reason to remove this from my library.

30 Days - Various Artists

Track List:

1. KKFS - First Day, Some Lake
2. Kilowatts - Glob Story
3. Ruairi Lazers - Blown Subs
4. Rochie - The White Grass Bending
5. Bogsnarth - Acid Casualty
6. Antenne - Blue Light
7. Spark - The World Has Spoken And Blow
8. dgoHn - roasted
9. Darren McClure - Dec_19
10. Aligning Minds - sEkrAT
11. Cube - Rampant Zoo Sex Orgy
12. Atomly - Medianoche
13. the Square Root of Evil - Frolic
14. Peekay Tayloh - Vast Minority
15. sawe - Brain Cloud
16. Domotic - Ma Stereo
17. Sunny D. Levine - Got Something For Ya
18. Secret Mommy - Bowls
19. Venetian Snares - Peeing_yelloq
20. Zephyr Nova - Patterns and Parallels
21. Nedavine - Nihongo De
22. Svenedikt - The Attack Of The Jellyfish
23. The Flashbulb - Smoking Blue Midi
24. Santosh - I Am Not Mad
25. Lee Hutzulak - Drops
26. Polichinelle - Dans My Poitrine
27. Orangebox - Our Lines
28. Sky Barstow - Can We Leave This Place
29. Peter Fuhry - No Is A Wonderful Word
30. Alice Rose - A Poem In Slow Motion

Running Time: 82 Minutes
Released: 2006

So hot on the heels of one odd free music project comes another from the same label which predates it. 30 songs in 30 days by 30 artists. 27 of which are free on LastFM here. As with 52 Weeks - Fall I have not heard of the majority of artists here, though obviously Orangebox and Sky Barstow were in the prior listen, and Venetian Snares ring a bell for some reason.

In finding the release date for this work, I stumbled on http://freemusicarchive.org/  which could be dangerous. I am not sure I really want to go digging through for reasons of time and wonder. It did at least let me recover the three tracks LastFM did not make available from this album, though.

I suspect this 82 minutes will feel like a shift... only one way to find out.

It starts simply enough with a piece that is incredibly repetitive in nature and could be a soundtrack for a skit or sketch in some kind of black and white film. It is not something I want to hear again. Like 52 Weeks - Fall the artists have shaped their tracks to produce seamless transitions, and track 2 has pretty much the same underlying rhythm as track 1. It breaks down into a more interesting electronic mashup but again, is not a keeper. Whilst I quite like the overlay, the beat pattern does my head in.

There is more of a break before Blown Subs starts and this is more tolerable, even tuneful in places. I think the beats have a bit to much weight to them, but this is actually a reasonable ambient track with airs of the FTL soundtrack by Ben Prunty which will be coming later. It gives way to The White Grass Bending in a nice switch that gives me hope I might actually salvage a few keepers from the 30. Two are gone already and this one is probably going to join them after devolving from a promising start. The beats get less interesting, and the overlay is too weak to hold interest.

Acid Casualty picks things up again though... from a keys-based start to interesting patterns that remind me of that track from Dark Side of the Moon (the name of which escapes me now). This is never music I would listen to a lot, but I am hearing merit for occasional play. The first vocals enter with Antenne's Blue Light - quite light and sparse over a spacious backing, this tune grows on me as it goes. Already I am keeping as many as from the last effort, and so far it's a 50% hit rate. Hurrah!

Downhill again now though... good job I can keep half an eye on the BBC's Transfer Deadline Day coverage whilst doing this, to keep myself amused by the outrage and entitlement of their audience pieces if nothing else. I am not engaged as a fan of any team involved, which allows me to snigger and harbour scornful thoughts about the correspondents. That said, there were some great team formation graphics produced earlier in the day after ManUtd signed Falcao. I particularly liked this one (who knows how long it'll be here).

Man Utd 2014/15?

That aside, a couple more uninteresting tracks have slid by. One quite unpleasant, one OK but dull. That gives way to ambient so ambient it is barely there; not my cup of tea at all and that 50% hit rate is back down to 33%. How close to the minimum 10% will it get?

I am not well disposed to sEkrAt before it begins. The leet-speak capitalisation annoys me much more than the crappy alternative spelling for secret. When the tune starts it is more of the same, so-so, nothing electronic ambient that cannot decide what it wants to be, jumping from one tempo and sound combination to another at whim. Still - it is not called "Rampant Zoo Sex Orgy", and you have to wonder about anyone who names a tune thus. It is worryingly a much more enjoyable tune to listen to, and even their vocal sampling seems to work reasonably. Not quite a keeper though.

I somehow managed to close my typing window with the palm of my hand, whilst typing. Thankfully the regular saves mean no wasted effort. I hate this trackpad.

I do not want to sound too harsh here; these tunes were all pulled together in a day each, so it would be wrong to expect too much. A number of them are disappointing in that way that leaves me thinking they could have actually been something if they had had ample time and effort applied. It is a neat idea - especially since the artists are from all over the world and so many may not even have had a day to get done and pass on (the supposed format of the working).

As I go through and tag all the tracks I got from LastFM as "last fm download" I am embarrassed for whomever left the other tags I see, a direct result of too many numbers substituting for letters. In that time a few more dull tracks have blown by, taking me to half way. Unless there is something good soon, my patience will be severely tried!

Even without exploring more of the free music archive I have more "odd" stuff like this to come. I am certain that OLO Worms fall into this category, for instance... I do not believe I have listed to Yard Is Open at all since picking it up on the strength of the delightful I Shot Shrieff (I only just realised it is not "sheriff") from Bare Foot.

More guff has passed, whilst I fiddle with graphic placement and fail to find a decent location and margin. I should have written more up top, but I have not got anything more to add. I really want out of this listen now but there is still half an hour and 9 tracks to go. I thought for a moment that The Attack of the Jellyfish was going to be good. It started well then fell apart before pulling itself together again. Unfortunately the falling apart overrides the rest in my appreciation. Smoking Blue Midi also starts reasonably, but does not grow and so gets thrown out... oh wait. There is a little development there and actually I think this may be a 4th keeper. The transition to I Am Not Mad is cool and that song continues the upturn. It really helps that they are short works though... not leaving time to really get too bored providing there is a little change-up in there somewhere.

The listen practically stops for a track, there is so little going on. Like a background noise recording but with no attention paid to turn it into anything. Colour me unimpressed. Still, down to 5 to go; it will all be over soon.

Word to the wise, do not search for "poitrine" at work. I could not place the word (my French is very rusty) so the internet told me it is "chest" or "breast". Guess which it had images of? I do not feel bad for not recognising the word now. The track of which it forms part of the title is dull, dreary. It gives way to the Orangebox track I grabbed after hearing their effort for 52 Weeks, but I am immediately disappointed. There is much less of interest in this tune, and it will be purged with the rest.

Seriously flagging now waiting for the end and a chance to scrub out my brain before going to bed. I am vaguely hopeful for the last track because of the title, but I do not really expect that hope to be well founded. It is certainly nicer than most of the disc, and the hope was not a million miles from the mark. There is more music here. A keeper to end with.

Glad this journey into the wonders of free music has ended though. 52 Weeks was short enough to endure, but almost an hour and a half for a total of 6 tunes worth holding on to is a rough trade. 20% return in terms of tracks. Still, it could be worse. For a long stretch it looked like 10%

The other 80%? Purge them with fire (or, y'know, just hit delete).

52 Weeks - Fall - Various Artists

Track List:

1. Psy-Sci - Myanmar government imposes curfews
2. Set In Sand - Playing In The Dirt (To Counter Depression)
3. Ernest Gonzales - Cowboys Still Matter
4. Populous feat. Penny - Early Humans May Haved Used Makeup, Seafood
5. Medusa Palace Casino - Eat It, Lick It, Snort It, Fuck It
6. The Van Allen Belt - Solar Crosses Stolen from Cemetary
7. Coppe and Cal Murphy - This Is My Cancer
8. Orangebox - From Minus 19 to Zero in One Night
9. Sky Barstow - Quick Fixes to Bring Back Damaged Voices
10. Ceschi - Injuries Being Called Suspicious
11. Nathan Michel - Time to Fire Isiah
12. Rafter - Long Ago a Rodent As Big As A Bull Lurked In South America

Running Time: 33 minutes
Released 2008

OK so... I only had 1 track from this album when I went to start this post, but 11 of the other 12 were free downloads on LastFM so I figured I would grab those before I begin. Not knowing any of these artists from Adam, I fully expect to be deleting the lot as soon as I am done - but even at 12 tracks it only clocks in at half an hour and the track titles are pretty fantastic so it is worth a punt.

I start the listen and am confronted with waves, then synths. It does not make me think of Myanmar, but the sound suggests that Psy-Sci is probably an apt name for the artist. It is pleasant enough until some really bad harmonics cut in towards the end... weirdly the first two tracks seem to cut together. Was this a mix in origin rather than just a sampler/compilation?

The music continues to tend to the odd, I suspected as much, but Cowboys Still Matter is more tuneful. The whole thing has an air of the forgettable about it though.

Medusa Palace Casino's track is less offensive than I would expect from the title, though there are some uncomfortable chords and dissonant sounds emerging throughout. I won't be sorry to see this go.

"The Van Allen Belt" is a great band name, and Solar Crosses... is the first track from the album that I think is any good. Cowboys was alright, this is a step up. The construction of the tune, layering of sound textures and pulling together of the different pieces works. I am sad when it segues into another tune, especially one a lot worse, as it does. Despite that, by the end I am into the rhythm of This is My Cancer.

Orangebox's track is a little atonal in places but otherwise quite lovely, so I go download another free-through-LastFM track which I shall add to the end of this listen since it was from another compilation called 30 days (and is thus the first item to be acquired after the point I would encounter it in the project)... oh, wait. That album is also made up of largely free music. I guess I will grab the lot and come back to it in the next post. Time to Fire Isiah was the tune I already had, I think as a result of having a Nathan Michel track on another compilation somewhere. I am not enamoured of it, but it is better than most of the rest here.

The final track I have (there are 13 on the full disc according to LastFM) has the best name but uses some really horrible vocal effects that mean it is also a definite dumper. In summary, I expect to keep just 3 tracks here. Orangebox, The Van Allen Belt and Ernest Gonzales made those. The rest are gone. Free is always worth investigating, but the price of acquisition is not a reason to keep a hold of something!

4 Tracks - Steve Smyth

Track List:

1. Scarlett Roses

Running Time: 4 mins

Released: 2008

Yay, free music!

I do not know Steve Smyth from Adam, but I do know that this was, indeed, a free LastFM download (and is still available as such). What pointed me in this direction I could not say, though since Adrian Crowley is listed in similar artists that might have some relevance.

Sounds like generic blues/rock as it starts. Vocal reminds me of Ron Sexsmith. An awful lot of Ron Sexsmith. An awful Ron Sexsmith who cannot sing. I have never used Sexsmith 4 times in a paragraph before. Adrian Crowley does not appear to be relevant.

Of more interest than the music, at least to me for this project, is that this is the first "singleton" track; there are almost certainly more. It also hints that WMP, which I use to manage my library despite it falling over with scale a bit, treats numbers at the front of album titles as numbers rather than strictly alphabetically, even when combined with letters to make words/units/measures.

Sorry Mr Smyth, but free though this was, I'll be deleting it now but leaving the link above so others might find it and perhaps form their own, better, opinions of Scarlett Roses and your work. Generic music and awful vocal do not make me want to hear it again. Unfortunately it somehow took me 5 plays to determine that... I can only conclude I was AFK for the prior 4.