Black Sweater, White Cat is the home of the One-a-Day Project.
BSWC puts a focus on Creative Commons or copyleft music from around the internet and the world. Playlists, podcast feed, links, topical posts, random thoughts. Thanks for listening.
A recent blocSonic release is resonating with me. BlocSonic put this tune out as part of their fortyFive series (net releases with an A and a B-side). Described as "ill pop", Treason has a very smooth, enjoyable sound. The blocSonic artist page describes Marco Mestichella thusly:
Marco Mestichella is a 24 year old music artist originally from Italy and now based in London, UK, where he’s been producing music since 2009. Calling his music ‘ILLPOP’, he describes the sounds as being a blend of trip-hop, soft rock, retro-pop and cinematic soundtracks. Marco’s musical influences are mainly from the 70’s and 90’s. Portishead, Isaac Hayes, Pink Floyd, Madonna & George Michael are just a few of the artists Marco borrows from. He works with co-producer, Bristolian arranger/composer Joe Rodwell for all his music.
One of my pleasures in this project has been the relationship with blocSonic and today's post gives a good example of the interplay between the two sites. Back when we began the One-a-Day project blocSonic was pretty new and quickly became a go-to for excellent taste in CC music.
That it became a two street with the release of netBloc Volume 7 (10 From 200 plus one) was very cool. netBloc Volume 7 was the blocSonic selection of 10 tunes from our first 200 One-a-Day posts. One of the selected posts was a tune by Mabafu called All the Working Girls.
And now the loop comes around. Back in March 2013, blocSonic released a collection of work by Mabafu called Little Boy with 6 tunes. Love it. Mabafu presents a wonderful blending of styles that is difficult to describe. The release page takes a stab:
a six track EP of soulful, fun & dubtastic lounge music which also features a talented group of collaborators.
I went with this lovely vocal number, but go get the entire release and don't miss out on the instrumental, Bersarinplatz.
It is called 10 from 200 plus one. Thanks to Michael at BlocSonic for appreciating our gig over here at BSWC. I know I can speak for Subsystem when I say we sure appreciate his gig. This is his 7th netBloc compilation and they are terrific.
I love to see his selection of One-a-Day posts. Perhaps regular readers have their favorites, too. If so, post them below...I'm interested.
Another blocSonic release hit the net last night. It is a good one. Perhaps a little quieter than some, but there are some fantastic cuts on this compilation.
This Trondheim tune is from an Aerotone release called Zum Abschied (AER013). Aerotone is a netlabel with the catch phrase, "welcome to aerotone. we are a netlabel and we love melancholic music." This gives you an idea of what to expect from this track.
Like other Trondheim efforts, this one has a strong classical feel to go along with chill beats and gentle atmospherics.
I've posted material included on blocSonic compilations in the past (last week, as a matter of fact) and really appreciate the work that blocSonic impresario, Michael Gregoire has put into the effort.
Straight from a Various Artists release from our friends at blocSonic comes this mesmerizing tune. This is music from Detroit-based duo Alex Kaye and Lianna Vanicelli. They approach their music as something of a mission:
The fusion of their individual styles result in experimental yet accessible pop songs with a prominent focus on melodic character and polished production. Their intention is to create meaningful and conscious pop music that will help offset a genre that is over-saturated with unhealthy content.
The result is really quite remarkable. I'm looking forward to delving more deeply into what they are doing with their music. The blocSonic release that this comes from [netBloc Vol. 47: Grooves For The Sentient] is one of a wonderful series of CC netaudio releases that they call netBlocs. If you want to survey a broad horizon of recent Creative Commons licensed music this will be an important place to look. Hat's off to blocSonic. Valley Hush - Bedrooms
Always keep the music moving… share it… blog it…a motto from our friends at blocSonic. Here goes. This track debuted on blocSonic as part of the fourtyFive series of releases. Nic Falcon is an American based in Italy. Acoustic elements married with tasteful production results in an excellent product. blocSonic has been prolific and consistent in promoting a wide variety of Creative Commons music releases. The catalog is deep and the dedication is obvious. Word on the street is that there is a new interface in the works and of course the music just keeps on coming. Nic Falcon - Playing Fair
We are staying in Malmö for today's post. We have liked Garmisch since we first heard them BlocSonic's netBloc Volume 5 (The threat at Goliath's feet...). Black Paint was a wonderful introduction to the band and it was nice to revisit BlocSonic's marvelous back catalog to listen to more recent offerings. And Now We Stand Against the Wall is a magical anthem that at times sounds like early Pink Floyd, but always stands out as uniquely Garmisch. The tune appears on a BlocSonic release called Fishes. There is a more recent remix of this tune posted to their Soundcloud page. Their Facebook page has this helpful note:
They’ve from the start been putting together a mixture of influences and ideas, still trying to find their intended style; without any intensions about ever really getting there.
To continue from yesterday's post: Blood donation is a good thing... This release, Country Western Star, dropped at the blocSonic netlabel on April 3. It features an extensive collection of the music of Andrew Cosentino. Our selection today was recorded in 2014 and is among the newer of the tracks included on a two disc release (21 tracks in all). Mike Gregoire describes Andrew's sound:
Either way, Andrew’s sound is something unique and the way he merges
live instrumentation with samples is intricate and makes for adventurous
listening. I’m quite sure that this young man has much more to say,
musically and I look forward to what comes next.
If you haven't hipped to the doings at blocSonic, consistency and craftsmanship are the byword for this excellent netlabel.
There is synchronicity in the universe. Today is March 5, 2015. 8 years ago to the day we posted a track by Nic Bommarito on the netlabel, 12 Rec. The track was called Once a Freak, Always a Freak. We noticed this when preparing today's post which is a single from a release coming out next week on BlocSonic. We are posting a remix of the track that was recorded by Cheese N Pot-C. The remix features some calm, relaxing Hip Hop...dreamy, dreamhop. The coming release is called Quiet Age. The release notes on BlocSonic give an idea of the artist's sound:
If you’re not already familiar with Nic’s distinctive sound, get ready to hear something special. Floating somewhere in the realm of shoegaze, ambient & folk, it’s an ethereal sound with a substance that sticks with you. The single’s title track is made even more incredible by the work of Brendan Held on violin.
Fresh sounds from blocSonic for your Saturday morning. This single dropped yesterday and it is outstanding. A dreamy feel seemingly with the mists of the old world swirling around your ears.
He uses illpop as the category. This works for me.
Calling his music ‘ILLPOP’, he describes the sounds as being a blend of trip-hop, soft rock, retro-pop and cinematic soundtracks. Marco’s musical influences are mainly from the 70’s and 90’s.
Marco is from Italy and now works and gigs in London. His work has become a BSWC favorite and we look forward to more.
Well, I'm still mourning the loss of Candy Mind, but life moves on, eh?
The fourth BlocSonic compilation, netBloc vol. 4: Soundtrack for the Coming Revolution was released overnight. As I write this in a hotel in Boston I'm listening to another excellent collection of net music from BSWC favored sources such as archive.org, Jamendo and ccMixter.
A couple of the tunes have been featured on these pages...call that synergy.
The item from Maniax Memori really stood out for me. A track with some raw, but restrained power that you can feel building from the first note.
BlocSonic is an excellent project. They put together a mediated collection of net music, package it very nicely and do a good job with distribution. It is an excellent exercise in tastemaking in the CC licensed, netlabel world. Thanks, Michael.
BlocSonic is continuing to release their compilations of excellent net music. As we have mentioned
in the past, the NetBloc releases are the complete package with art, music, variety and information. All for the downloading.
When I want to sample the latest sweet sounding net releases, BlocSonic provides an excellent sampling. Including this number from Dub One on the iD.EOLOGY netlabel.
BlocSonic has recently debuted a new series of Compilations that explore the Netlabel Movement. This week they unveiled the first of this series--the release is called NetBloc Vol. 1: The Opening Salvo and is really quite a triumph.
What makes this compilation different from most of the others that are out there is that they went to the trouble of selecting artists from a variety of netlabels, secured permission from the artists and their netlabels and released it with a variety of download options including losslessFLAC and 320 kbps along with unique cover artwork. That is going the extra mile and they should get a lot of credit for their effort.
Fortunately, the selection matches this effort with it's quality. This is a really excellent release and the tunes fit together. I have selected a Pablie tune called Trying Jazz. When I sampled the release, this tune really stood out. Smooth, intelligent and a little bit loungy--BSWC has been trending towards lounge lately and Pablie fits right in...Welcome to the party.
The post that accompanies the release addresses one of my pet peeves--think fingernails on the blackboard--the idea that because it is online and under a CC license the music is always free:
Many of you have probably heard about netlabels before, but think that it's primarily electronic music that's released. Sure, a large quantity of netlabel releases are electronic in nature, but there's a growing number of releases that are not even close to being electronic. Pick any genre, and you can find it online via netlabels. When you discover a new favorite group/artist/netlabel (we know you will) please support them by paying to see them perform, purchasing products or music they have for sale or just making a small donation. These people are gracious enough to supply the music for free, the least we can do as fans is to help them see a return for their efforts.
Amen, brothers and sisters--We couldn't say it any better than that!
Trying Jazz is from a release called Prelude to Anything Exactly Specific. He has played drums since his youth and was in a band before setting off on his own creative journey. I'll let his bio describe the Pablie sound:
Obviously his base is the instrumental hip-hop, over it he built structures with sounds of pop, psychdelic and electronica, allways keeping his mellancolic and emotive sense. Pablie get your mind fly away over images, remembrances, hopefull moments or whatever you feel listening his music...
So, kudos to BlocSonic--great job and we look forward to future developments. Thanks for putting together an excellent compilation and for turning us on to Pablie.
The second Blocsonic netlabel compilation is out and it is called, "netBloc Volume 2 (DRM killed the music-product machine)." It is a nice, representative collection of netlabel sounds from around the internet. Always nice to see Alexsi Virta from Finland out and about (his release on archive.org is huge). But, today's selection is the tune, A Lot of History in a Very Short Time from Giraffe.
Giraffe is from Santa Cruz, California. They record on the netlabel, 12Rec. They tag themselves as "alt-rock" with traditional rock elements placed unusual auditory territory. They are looking for new band members, "Passionate what-have-you players interested in the greater good of a band dedicated to making original music are needed!"
Blocsonic has a mission with these compilation and makes sure you know about it:
Music listeners' faith in the industry as a whole is decreasing all the time. At the same time, their awareness of netlabels is increasing. With that increased awareness is an opportunity for a new paradigm in music.
Definitely download this release and enjoy these artists. Compilations are always a good entry point for netlabel music...some artists you like, some you don't. Also, tune into BSWC-The Show tonight...I'll have more from this release.
Jamendo.com is a fantastic source for free music covered by Creative Commons licenses. I need to make some time to get over to this Euro-resource, but BlocSonic has me covered for now. They released a compilation of ten artists that have posted their music at Jamendo this last May.
BlocSonic has released over 20 compilations of net music with plans for two more coming in the next few months. They are doing great work and if you are looking for a mediated approach to collecting free music from the net this is a good starting point.
Ethereal pop from our friends at BlocSonic.com. This tune is from a release called Commodify Your Dissent. It is a pleasant collection of instrumental pieces. BlocSonic is a great netlabel out of our fine state of Maine. Here is a description of Walt Thisney from his Bandcamp.com page:
Walt Thisney music ranges from the 80´s inspired Synth Pop / Electro / Funk tunes to Space / Cosmic / Chill Out soundscapes, with incursion in other sound territories like Smooth Jazz / Elevator Music.Produced over 20 releases under different monikers since 1990.
The Doctors are in at BSWC. This morning a turn with Dr. Freebs and this evening a moment or two with Dr. Mindflip. This outstanding tune is from a Summer release called Every Waking Moment from blocSonic. The netlabel, blocSonic is an incredibly deep project launched in the middle decade and still going. It is diverse and strong and dedicated to helping populate the commons with really great sounds. Dr. Mindflip has done a turn here at BSWC and we are happy to feature his eclectic sounds (I'm thinking "rabid lounge") for your enjoyment. Here is a little bit from the liner notes:
With Every Waking Moment, Dr. Mindflip brings his brand of sinister, hallucinogenic pop, but the band lends a depth not heard thus far.
The netBloc volumes are compilations put together by Michael Gregoire at his site blocSonic. Gregoire has really devoted himself to promoting the netlabel, copyleft music scene and in the process has captured and documented some rare finds. He is meticulous in the preparation of liner notes and artwork, as well as full and complete permissions and licensing. This is no small effort.
Volume 14 has some really great material. There are ten tracks, but the first track really grabbed me when I gave it a spin. This tune was originally released on Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka - Porn Music For The Masses Vol. 2, a February 2008 release from WM Recordings. John Cage samples in a sexy milieu that is full of little musical surprises. Very cool.
Last week we posted a remixed Nic Bommarito track that foretold of an upcoming album release. Exactly 7 days later, here is the first track of Nic's brand new BlocSonic release, A Quiet Age. Layered, textured, tempered, restrained, emotional, evoking hope and joy, building up and easing off - we think you'll enjoy this track, and the album:
A Quiet Age is a collection of eight gorgeous tracks that builds on and refines the Bommarito sound that fans have come to know and love. Download it… turn it on and chill.
Listen to this, and once you're done, download the whole album, play it, and let it seep into your day and psyche.
Lucky Criminal is the nom de plume of William Arthur Clark who is from Michigan. The track appeared on netBloc Vol. 46: #returnofthenetbloc. The netBloc series is a product of blocSonic. Each edition features a wide range of artists and styles. Cool. Lucky Criminal pieces appear on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. His latest work has a metalish sound and he bills it as alternative metal. The Indifference is a lovely piece of song writing in the electropop tradition. Fantastic find. Love it. Lucky Criminal - The Indifference
