Creative Commons: All Mixes

Artwork: I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In, Hryck | CC BY

check out Wired Magazine's page for this release here, with a great article by Thomas Goetz.

Also check it out on ccMixter here.

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For all the activism in the Open Music movement, nothing pushes the
ball forward like brilliant, evocative music. While there is plenty of
underground music of all sub-genres at ccMixter, there is also a
growing collection of mainstream, above-ground producers who
understand the value of sharing as a means of boosting their own
creativity along with their exposure.

This playlist represents a sampler of "straight" pop and R&B done by
producers who have an ear for the popular without sacrificing
artistry.

VS

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Original Mix at ccMixter

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Catching The Waves has been reviewing free netlabel and/or Creative Commons albums since 2006. That's pretty much it. The catalyst was a desire to thank CC artists for their marvellous free music and to further the cause of free and legal CC music. The reviews, which are the work of one lone idiot, are infrequent, short and badly written yet undeniably sexy. Visit CTW and you'll find reviews of anything from rock to IDM, trip-hop to minimal and even Country to Western. (I've used that joke before – I'm all for recycling.) You won't be bothered by fees, hidden or otherwise, advertising, requests to register or even recommendations for teeth-whitening regimes. However, there is a rather decent collection of links to netlabels and CC music portals.

I am deeply honoured to join in the fun at the FMA. My mix consists of some of the best tracks from some of the best albums that have been lassooed (SP) at CTW. It features lots of different genres, tempi and moods (rock, IDM, trip-hop, minimal, folk, ambient, etc.,) from as far afield as Germany, Japan, Colombia, the United States, France, Canada, Italy and the U.K. It was murderously difficult to whittle the mix down to a still unwieldy twenty tracks. It would be wonderful if people who were new to netlabels, and CC music in general, stumbled upon these songs and realised, as I did, that there's a whole world of wonderful music just waiting to be discovered – and that it's all free, legal and made by artists who want their music to be downloaded, copied and shared. Catching the waves can be fun...

My dirty secret: I've compiled this mix specifically to cause arguments in the FMA and in Creative Commons.org offices around the world as they argue as to which is the best track. Let the chaos begin!

Comfort Fit – Sorry
This hip/trip-hop will increase your factor of “Cool” by infinity.

Kriss – Jazz Club
Italian minimal that feels, well, jazzy.

Monopole – Stereo-vision Radio
If you know any David Lynch film buffs, send them this amazing electronica.

Nobara Hayakawa – Trail
Ethereal vocals & Colombian/Japanese electronica – you were expecting something else?

Paper Navy – Swansong
Country & Western can be good – honest...

Professor Kliq – Bust This Bust That
Meet the love-child of James Brown and Fatboy Slim.

Robin Grey – These Days
Folk is not a four-letter word.

Sean Fournier – Falling for You (Piano Version)
Soppy, romantic, etc. - one to snuggle to.

The Lights Galaxia – While She Sleeps (Morning Edit)
Radiohead fans, this is like listening to bunnies having a pillow fight.

The Orientalist – Islamatronic Cantillation
Cavernous, Middle Eastern-tinged, grooving trip-hop....from France.

adcBicycle – Poor Economic Policies
This fantastic brass-laden, insane pseudo-Native American chanting, epic slice of rock (from a concept album) will be the most original track you'll hear today – or your money back.

Choc – Eigenvalue Subspace Decomposition
An utterly sublime blend of electronica and neo-classicism.

Entertainment for the Braindead – Run!
Featuring a winsome, winning woman on vocals, guitar and inspiration.

Erdbeerschnitzel – Walkampfchampagne
Get up onz your feet und danz till you fil better, ja?

Halogen – Length and Brecht (Synaecide Remix)
Press “play” and hear beautiful contemplative music morph into catchy, driving IDM.

Karaoke Mouse – Shanghai Reggae (DJ Side's Alternate Take)
You need a shot of stone cold hip-hop reggae, don't you?

Keinzweiter – (Mircoobee)
This is how Germans cram a jazzy loop till the minimal is maxed out.

Krill.minima – Sommerdellen
Taken from a Qwartz award-winning album, this is ambient at its best.

Brad Sucks – Total Breakdown
Never has mental illness sounded so rocky and uplifting.

Josh Woodward – I Want To Destroy Something Beautiful
One of America's great undiscovered songwriters, IMHO.

The Machtdose team is honored to be invited to the Creative Commons curation project at the Free Music Archive.

 

We discovered the wonderful world of netaudio and netlabels some years ago. From the start we were fond of the idea of freely distributed music and how Creative Commons gave license models for it. Since 2005 we have done a monthly podcast, presenting our favorite tracks from netlabels all over the world. The netlabel scene is so rich in terms of sounds, styles and personalities that we're always coming back for more.

 

Our selection highlights some of the true gems we found over the last years. We recommend not only the single tracks but especially the full albums where we have taken them from - they are all worth a full listening. Enjoy!

Eloi Brunelle - Bernard (2005)

from Psychotronic EP [Epsilonlab 14]

An ageless dancelfoor stomper. You shouldn't care too much about the pseudo-philosophical talk, simply enjoy the compelling beat which makes every crowd to freak out.

Granlab - Memories (2006)

from Mitsommerkollektion [Broque 013]

Whispering ghostly voices, but you won't be scared. On the contrary - this is pure cosiness.

David Sugar - Boss Man (2006)

from Fresh Off The Chip [8bitpeoples 060]

A brillant 8bit / chiptune track. Only thing I have to critize: way too short!

Glenny 417 - Biskopsgården Night Life (2006)

from Find out what You Are Missing [Ageema Music Club]

I don't know where Biskopsgården is and what's really up there. But it sounds like a lot of fun.

Iambic - For You... (2007)

from Under These Stars, We'll Sleep Again [Laridae 031]

More proof that you don't need too much for getting an excellent song. Here it is one superb loop and a nice voice.

Arnaud Roy - Blue sox (2007)

from Another delayed action snowbal l [Vaatican Records]

The harp by itself is one of the most beautiful sounding instruments, here it also has been used for percussion.

Robintone - Cowboy Song (for Martha) (2007)

from she ate all the pancake EP [Beatismurder 09]

Home recording at its best, just admirable.

Elektronova - Das Muss Liebe sein (2007)

from Wortsport [Stille Macht Taub 013]

The German title means "This must be love". Yeah, that's right.

Tom Caruana - Get it off your chest (2008)

from Welcome Aboard [Budabeats 004]

Let it out when you're frustrated - if this is the result, I'm fine with it.

Ghosts and Strings - Judgement Day (2008)

from Canciones del Futuro [Resting Bell 037]

Mixes Tuvan overtone singing with pop harmonics and that fits like a charm.

Nic Bommarito - Lhasa (2009)

from Harp Fragments (12rec. 058]

Slide guitars and strings in a post-rockian journey.

Ketsa - between cloud and land (2009)

from The X Inside [BFW recordings 028]

Tricky beats, someone might call this "intelligent", for me it's just a good song.

Hoax - Progress (2009)

from The Insomnia EP [Qunabu 009]

Over 11 minutes long, maybe it doesn't happen too much, but the track will put you in such a good flow that you want to listen to it over and over again.

the menu - moss eisley canape (2010)

from Tatooine EP [Silenced 04]

Starts like your everyday Minimal House track, then it turns in something completely different and goes back to the days of Charleston. At the end it returns to presence. Strange enough - but that works.

Uniform Motion - The Pen Fallacy (2010)

from Pictures [aaahh-records 008 and no-source 007]

A broken flute, a 4-string guitar, fallsetto Chorus, that's it.