macedonia (FMA Admin)

One of the musical highlights of 2009 for me was seeing the Free Music Archive come to fruition: getting here, playing around, discovering new music and netlabels, and interacting with other users as well.  While it is virtually impossible to pick just a handful of absolute favorites from the almost 15,000 tracks hosted here, I did manage to find some memorable cuts from Year One of the FMA.

Big shouts to KBOO and KEXP for keeping me engaged with some great live recordings, as evidenced by the included pieces from Os Mutantes, Thavius Beck, and Pezzner.  Real and surreal forms of hip-hop weigh in heavily throughout this mix, whether it's the contemplative feel of Just Plain Ant, the beat-centric brilliance of the Custodian of Records, or the out there spaceiness of DJ Ilya Monosov or Anti-Pop Consortium.  Space is saved for Nikki Giovanni to wax poetic on the Reverend Dr. King, and time is allowed for our beloved DJ Donna Summer and his laptop to digitally carve up the "Chicken Dance" (does anyone else miss his Advanced D&D radio show as much as I do?).  And don't sleep on the Error Broadcast netlabel, one of my absolute favorites of 2009.  Shlohmo holds it down for them, closing out the mix in fine form.

You may have noticed the "plus one" within the title of this entry.  That's just me coming up with a good excuse to throw you a bonus track from Just Plain Ant, who is hands down my favorite producer within the Creative Commons realm, a true ambassador of hip-hop's  production and potential.  His Just Plain Sounds netlabel is an unquestionable favorite of mine, bringing the heat with every release.  The attached track below is a 10-minute sampler from a JPS release entitled The New Black, which includes over 30 of Ant's fabulous instrumentals.  Here's hoping that you enjoy the sampler as well as the mix, which you can find after the jump.  The archive is host to a ton of hidden gems, so please feel free to leave comments and let me know what your FMA favorites are...