Music with interesting stories...

I love music. I'm not musical but I love it nonetheless. Acoustic guitars. Distorted guitars. Ambient synths and glitchy electronica. Choral arrangements. These are the kinds of sounds that keep my soul alive.

Here are some tunes that inspire me with their sounds... and their stories:

First off is my Iowan friend Jake Bouma with a fab EP of acoustic guitar orientated tunes (with the odd bongo drum thrown in). Jake is a pal on twitter >> I responded to a tweet (aka a post on twitter) intimating a post on his blog >> he was (at the time) giving away 20 copies of his EP for free to commentators. I was 13th (I think) and was not alone in being directed to his blog from the tweet (although I do read the blog) >> what amazes me is the immediacy of the whole thing... tweak >> blog >> comment >> EP. Nice - thanks Jake!

Expressive. Free. These are the words that come to mind as I listen to songs like the opener Stuck in my heart and last time >> fiery and spirited performances of self-penned material... love songs for today that drip with sentimentality and ache with real life. The EP shows promise... and I look forward to following Jake's progress.

Next up is a beautiful slice of electronica that I found out about on one of my fav blogs... boingboing >> it has the distinction in that it is...

The first-ever Creative Commons-licensed electronica album that is backed by a collecting society has just been released. This means that the artist will get paid for radio-play and live performance (which the collecting societies get money for), a major breakthrough since many collecting societies have been hostile to CC, telling members that if they adopt CC licenses, they can kiss their radio-play money goodbye.

This is big news for the netlabels I just soak up >> just because it is released for free on the 'tinterweb does not mean the music is not worth anything... if it is used in a commercial setting then Tone gets paid. Who knows... maybe this is the future of the music industry?!?

The album itself >> small arm of sea >> by Tone aka Sofie Nielsen from Aalborg, Denmark; is gloriously bittersweet and melancholic... with ambient electronic soundscapes layered over glitchy beats and other-worldly vocals. Overall it reminds me of the Icelandic band Mum. Wonderfully atmospheric... fab for dark nights in cold climates.

Aerotone have released another fab album... this time it is a series of remixes for the Portuguese band >> Norton >> their blurb on myspace describes them as...

Four young guys who make music for the world to hear. They are from a city in the middle east of Portugal called Castelo Branco and they’re the perfect symbioses between the simplicity of Múm, the soft pop of The Postal Service and the tension of Mogwai.

All bands I really dig.

I don't know their album Kershe but I will check it out after hearing these remixes. An album full and distinctive in its own right with beautifully ambient and glitchy electronica. Artists from all over the world ::

From Iceland with FM Belfast, side Project of Örvar Smárason from Múm, to Malaysia with Muxu, Germany with Corwood Manual, Hidden Letters, Nuuk and Trondheim, Portugal with Loto, Stereoboy and Daily Misconceptions, Sweden with Lost Room, U.S.A. with Cars & Trains and Transient, England with Will, Switzerland with And Me and Netherlands with You Echo.

Love it... good stuff! Each song has its own identity and feeling... expressive and futuristic. The best remix album I have heard since Bebel Remixed.

Check them all out... and support true creativity.