the submersible dirigible

Falling for a new artist or label, some uncovered nook of the DIY microlabel and avant world, can be a really exciting and rewarding experience in the DIY/microlabel/avant universe. Little is more frustrating then, when exploring these new and relatively unworn tracts of musical pasture, to find everything of interest already long out of print, with one of the 10 numbered discs available only at ebay, selling with a reserve price of three pints of human blood.  Just as frustrating can be the complete absence of sampler material at certain labels.  Fortunately, a growing number of avant and microlabel pioneers are finally hopping onto the internet’s world wide web, merging onto the information superhighway (pictured below) and providing abundant sampler material to anxious music consumers.

For Barry Ray’s John Chantler has been utilizing last.fm’s streaming tools and label pages to great effect.  While their handmade tour cdr, ‘Gabriella Says‘, was limited to only 42 copies and has long since sold out, John was thoughtful enough to upload the entire recording for streaming through last.fm.  As if that wasn’t enough, it seems FBR’s latest gorgeous ambient full length, ‘New Days‘, is also available in its entirety streaming on last.fm, included alongside the bulk of Room40’s recent catalog.

Several other smaller artists appear to be following Room40’s splendid example, offering large portions of their newest releases for streaming at the site.  Wouter van Veldhoven’s latest, a playful, creaking, spindle of sunny, ambient sound entitled ‘four simple songs for five dead bumblebees‘, is another recent addition to a swelling catalog of albums already available for preview at last.fm.

With any luck, last.fm’s splendid streaming tools should end the myspace monopoly over those small labels & bands looking for free bandwidth and easy access to fans.  Hopefully, last.fm’s developers will recognize the site’s potential for artists and labels, and start providing RSS feeds of some sort for new album offerings, updates, and tour information.  The sooner I can swear off the rotting corpse that is myspace — along with its bloated, laggy design, its eye-bleeding ugliness, its dependable tackiness — the better.
For Barry Ray – Gabriella Says

Beyond FBR, Wouter and Room40, there’s a veritable abundance of brilliant material already available on last.fm, though it’s not entirely clear whether these streaming offerings were added by the artists as a generous offering to potential consumers, or unauthorized files uploaded by devious/overzealous fans.  Hopefully, it’s the former.  Whatever the case, I’ve foraged some familiar artist pages for a bit, and compiled the following list of artists with substantial material already available, and I’m certain there’s plenty more to be found…Machinefabriek — Belong — Tim Hecker — Eluvium — Growing — Charalambides –  Wouter van Veldhoven — Hala Strana — James Blackshaw — Grouper — Peter Wright — Richard Youngs — Loren Connors — Pumice — Sir Richard Bishop