pushbinlou (FMA Admin)

A nice big fat best of mix for all of you to enjoy. There was a ton of great stuff on the FMA this year and there is no way I could catch all of it in a best of mix so apologies to all the tracks that I slept on.

I'll admit that the majority of the time I tend to lurk in the electronic corner of the Free Music Archive but every now and then when things are slow I'll see what new things have landed in some of the other genres.  In doing just that I have discovered some really good hip-hop releases that have surfaced here in the last few weeks.  My favorite release of the moment is Dead Herring from Mild Maynyrd (Dan Black).  Dead Herring is Dan's second full length release with an EP and a few Notorious B.I.G. remix records under his belt as well.

All of the tracks are dark instrumental numbers with tons of great rock samples (some very recognizable and some not) and experimentation peppered throughout.  The majority of the album has a dark brooding feeling that is akin to some of DJ Shadow's early work.  There is also a very organic live instrument feel to the tracks as well.  You definitely get the sense that these songs are not simply a cut and paste job that is being done by someone on a laptop.  I cherry picked a few of my favorite tracks from the album but like most of the albums that I pick for these blog posts I recommend that you give the whole thing a listen.  Enjoy!

One of the more prolific artists on the FMA at the moment is mGee (Michael Gregoire).  Producer, remixer, founder and curator of the blocSonic netlabel are just a few of the hats that mGee wears.  He has been releasing tracks at a furious pace as of late and has taken up the task of releasing a new track every Monday for the foreseeable future.  Some of the tracks are featured here and the rest can be found on his website.  It's hard to pigeon hole his sound so I guess I will just say that they are beat and sample heavy and leave the rest up to your ears to figure out. A few of his tracks like Kick It Along The Transit line have a trip hop/ big beat feel to them while others have a more modern techno sound to them.  It is obvious that mGee has a love for all sorts of electronic and dance music and that seems to shine in the music that he has released as of late.  There is also word that a full length album is on the horizon so keep on the lookout for that as well.  Enjoy!

I have been really beating the bushes here at the FMA turning over every rock and stone on this massive site in a search for the best in electronic music tracks for my new podcast.  Needless to say I have uncovered a lot of amazing stuff that I had overlooked previously and I want to share a few with you over the next couple of weeks.

Sleepy Town Manufacture (Anton Lukoyanychev and Alexander Ananyev) is an electronica/ambient duo that hail from Russia and have numerous releases on a slew of labels.  Churning great sounds out since 1999 STM has led a wave of electronica and IDM artists from Russia.  Dreamy, playful IDM a lot of their tracks bring early Boards of Canada among other artists of that ilk to mind.  Inspired By You is their full length that was released by the Sutemos label and is featured in its entirety on the FMA.  However, if you look around hard enough you can find tons of other tracks by these guys littered all over the internet.  Enjoy!

It's nice to see another label land on the FMA shores and upload some free goodies for people to listen to.  Sockets Records is an independent label based out of Washington, DC that has been pumping out various sounds on various formats since 2004.  With a focus on experimental pop and dance, the label has recently spotlighted a number of their newest releases.

My favorite artist on the label at the moment is Macaw (Wilson Kemp) who is a DC based art teacher and multi-instrumentalist with a great new album out.  Kemp is a very busy man.  Not only does he have a solo release out but he is also in Hume which is another band on the Sockets label.  Blissed out swirly ambient pop is the best description of Macaw's music that I can come up with.  Take a listen and enjoy!

Well it's been awhile since I did an "Ears Wide Open" post but that's not because there has not been a lack of exciting new artists posting their tracks on the FMA.  Andy & Zeus (A.R. Plovnick and Zachary Wilson) are a space rock/drone/electronic/experimental duo based out of Brooklyn who have put out a slew of recordings in the past year.

If you dig swirling, guitar hazy melodies then this is definitely the group for you.  Although at first I gravitated towards the longer drone pieces, the shorter pieces on The Stranger File and Tales of Power have really caught my attention of late.  I included various tracks from all three of their releases to date in this post but everything they have released so far deserves a listen.  This is perfect headphone music in my opinion.  Enjoy!

Hey Gang!

Don't have time to cull through all of the wonderful electronic sounds that the Free Music Archive has to offer?  Well, have I got the solution for you.  Digital Dump is a new podcast that I just started courtesy of the mighty WFMU.  It is a bi-weekly podcast that shines a spotlight on electronic music released under the Creative Commons license.  The bulk of the tracks will be coming straight from the Free Music Archive.  The first show aired a few days ago.  Give it a listen!

Wow... I can't believe this is already my second end of the year mix for the Free Music Archive! Well, just like last year I will let the music speak for itself. Needless to say the FMA saw a lot of great music come through it's doors. I'm sure 2011 will be even better. Happy holidays!

It's been a while since I did an "ears wide open" post so I thought I would turn everyone's attention towards Torino, Italy.  Peter Sharp has been involved with too many bands and projects to mention but let's just say he has been a pretty busy guy.  Except for one track on a compilation Peter has not had much solo output.  Well I guess he has been saving up because this is a great little release.

If you are into the classic Italo-Dance sound then you will surly dig Why Not?.  Lots of great dance beats, vocoder and breezy sounds will help you put your coffee down and get out of your chair and dance. It also has a nice modern sound to it which makes for some good listening if you don't have the inclination to do a little office dancing. Enjoy!

I have to admit that I was a sucker for those punk bands from the late 90's or so who did songs strictly about hockey (Hanson Brothers, Zambonis...).  I was not a huge fan of that type of music at the time but I loved the fact that these bands were so obsessed about one specific topic that they dedicated their musical careers to it.  I really have not seen too much of that on the music front lately.  Enter Hogan Grip.

Hogan Grip is a project that consists of Tony Higgins (Junior 85, So Cow) and DeclanQKelly and is dedicated to the game of Golf.  More specifically the music is based around a golf instructional manual written by Ben Hogan in the late '50's.  A little weird and obscure (we all love weird and obscure don't we?) the subject matter may be but the music really fits the topic.  According to the band if you listen to their EP "Stance Gives You Balance" it will help in lowering your golf score.  I don't know if I'm going to try that out but the EP is one of my favorites on the FMA at the moment.  Check out this EP and let me know if your game improves.  Enjoy!