Vuzh Music Blog

My post detailing my favorite netlabel releases of 2010 was quite popular, and led to a lot of people discovering some cool music, which is one of my main goals, aside from promoting my own music. It is my humble opinion that all netlabel artists ought to have the same goal: namely to promote the stuff in the netlabel underground that they think is really great at the same time as they promote their own stuff. That way ALL of us benefit, both listeners and producers. Right? Right.
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With this in mind, I am going to be focusing on each artist (hopefully-this will depend on if they want to participate or not) whom I reviewed in the best of 2010 post, re-running the review I originally wrote, but I’m ALSO going to ask each of the artists reviewed to recommend a few completely FREE netlabel albums that THEY have enjoyed recently.
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Previously we’ve had recommendations from 1.) Mystified.
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This time we’ll get Marc Weidenbaum’s recommendations. His indispensable website Disquiet is one of the netlabel underground’s most important resources. He curated a compilation which was one of my favorites from 2010.
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V/A – Despite the Downturn: An Answer Album
http://www.archive.org/details/DespiteTheDownturnAnAnswerAlbum
Marc Weidenbaum’s sonic activism compilation reacting to an article by Megan McArdle in the Atlantic Monthly, in which artists used the article’s accompanying illustration as a graphic score. Nice concept, and lots of cool music on here, including one piece by yours truly.

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Here are his comments and recommendations:
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I’d like to add one comment by way of introduction. I entirely agree with your statement that it’s “important for the netlabel underground to actually talk about netlabel music,” and not just “promote” it. I do, though, want to propose that not all talking is verbal or written. A lot of the best netlabel communication occurs in the form of remixes and collaborative projects. However, that is musicians talking to musicians, and I agree it is necessary to communicate in a more broadly accessible language — e.g., the best-of list. So, here goes. Three of these five are on netlabels, one is a podcast, and one is a project housed on a musician’s website. The latter, two, though, being freely available, strike me as being netlabel in spirit.
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For a Touch Radio podcast entry, saxophonist Thomas Ankersmit did a spell of Deep Listening inside an echo-heavy Estonian hanger:
http://www.touchradio.org.uk/touchradio_56_thomas_ankersmit.html

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Elisa Luu’s The Time of Waiting emphasizes variety: playful beats, quasi-orchestral extravagance, and a real keeper that artfully employs processed vocals:
http://www.archive.org/details/LBN003_-_Elisa_Luu_-_The_time_of_waiting

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The music on Diego Bernal’s Besides… is the like some secret side-project team-up between Ennio Morricone and DJ Premiere, mixing atmospheric melodrama and rough beats:
http://exponential.bandcamp.com/album/besides

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The track “Homage to Jack Vanarsky,” featuring viola and motorized gadget, on the album Solo Viola d’Amore by Garth Knox, sounds more and more like a duet the more you listen to it:
http://shskh.com/

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Tim Prebble’s Synaesthesia project invites musicians to respond in sound to photos that he posts. In this case, one from Bali. Gamelans not required:
http://disquiet.com/2010/01/07/tim-prebble-synaesthesia/
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Full list of 2010 favorites at:
http://disquiet.com/2010/12/31/best-free-releases-2010/
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Happy new year.

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Thanks Marc!