Free Release Friday
Best New Music.
Power und Beauty: The Gnome E.P.
2010, Peppermill Records

This album is available as a free download here.

The netlabel world is typically a world of ambient electronica experimentalism.  This is not a bad …Continue reading this entry

Best New Music
Hanalei: One Big Night
2010, Big Scary Monsters Recording Company/Brick Gun

In the early 2000s, Chicago was a haven for Jawbreaker-esque punk rock bands that rocked.  Out of the scene came no less than the Alkaline Trio and …Continue reading this entry

Free Release Friday.
Best New Music.
The Strait of Anain: This Wandering Winter
2010, Qunabu
This album is available for free download here.

Precision is the logical complement to delicacy.  It is the choice to be precise that reveals sensitivity to environment, …Continue reading this entry

Free Release Friday
Listen to this.
Socket Science: Ephedra
2010, Astor Bell

Free Download

Socket Science’s second release, Ephedra, is a study in themes and hooks.  Each of the album’s three tracks study similar territory–poppy, danceable, moderate-speed electronic music that begs to be …Continue reading this entry

Listen to this.
Samantha Crain: You (Understood)
2010, Ramseur Records / Thirty Tigers

Samantha Crain’s voice is a star.  She doesn’t sing in your typical Billie Holiday-faked warble, though she does have a throatiness that might remind you of that cliché.  …Continue reading this entry

Free Release Friday
Suns: The Howl and the Many & Close Calls in the U.S. Space Program
2010, Self-Released
Available as a free download here.

Rating: 8.3 / 7.5

The only appropriate adjective for Suns would be ‘savage.’ And while the term …Continue reading this entry

Best New Music
How to Destroy Angels: How to Destroy Angels
Self-Released
Available as a Free Download Here

Rating: 8.8

I am of the opinion that Trent Reznor is and remains a genius.  At the same time, I believe him to be …Continue reading this entry

Free Release Friday
ZOE.LEELA: Queendom Come
2010, Rec72
Download Here

Rating: 5.0

Dance music.  Yes, and not just any dance music, German dance music.  And what’s to say that hasn’t already been said by an …Continue reading this entry

Kings Go Forth: The Outsiders Are Back
2010, Luaka Bop

Rating: 6.5

In the late 1990s, a ska revival began to sweep across the United States.  Like the years prior with punk, this seemed to be the time that …Continue reading this entry

Free Release Friday
Adam & Alma: Back to the Sea
2010, 23 Seconds Netlabel
Download Here

Rating: 7.8

Adam & Alma are a deceptive electronic duo.  They are equal parts American indie rock, European trip-hop, and …Continue reading this entry