Great great stuff this week, especially for fans of the XTREEM TECHNOES! Also, free commercial shit! Whoa! The quantity is not so great as it usually is, but the quality is way above normal 😀
Planet Boelex – Suunta
“As promised, Kahvi Collective returns from its summer vacation with
some exclusive material from the one and only Planet Boelex. Previous
releases have enjoyed great success; each track having great style,
flair and production and most important, each track a mini epic in
itself. This time around we have a ‘mini-lp’ – 44 minutes of blissful
works entitled Suunta (Direction) full of beautiful vibes, deep,
atmospheric sounds, resounding basses with an analogue twist and those
fabulous bleeps that Boelex is reknowned for. Throughout the release
the highly polished results of many sleepless nights (right up to the
day before release!) are apparent – this is a release to treasure, take
a small taster and then dive right in.

Planet Boelex has made available FLAC versions of all the tracks for a small donation. Head over to the Suunta Micro-Site to donate, download and enjoy the highest quality grooves around!“

Muxu – Show Us Your Weak Side
“This new release is most definitely Monotonik’s first from Malaysia,
thanks to duo Euseng and Liang, also known as Muxu, who’ve followed up
their self-released debut album ‘Above Us, A Clear Summer Sky’ with
this wonderful 6-track EP, ‘Show Us Your Weak Side’, here as the 190th
release on Mono.

Other highlights include the careful groove of ‘Moving At 30’
and the end track, ‘People Running Away’, which has us running towards,
not from Muxu’s lush sound from an unusual place. Thanks, guys.“

Platonist – Alien & Human
EU Mirror (thanks to GaMeBoX)
US Mirror (thanks to SGX)

This week’s release from Reunion Studio is from the label’s regular, Platonist, one of the few guys left that still use old apps like Impulse Tracker to make their music [me, I’ve moved on to Renoise :P]. Still, the production is good enough that you can’t really tell at all, and this is a fun dance track, if a little overdone [yeah, more sampling of old movies about aliens from Mars :D]. GG.

Benefit of the Boomerang – Virgil’s Impending Techno Swing
Okay, for those not in the know, Benefit is a crazy dude. Well, his music is crazy, but crazy enough to be enjoyed by only the coolest dudes. If you don’t like glitch breaks or drill’n’bass, you might want to stay away. Otherwise, this is an awesome release. I know you fgts out there in VGMland will love this too: the first track is a glitched up version of One Winged Angel. Not the best track though, I actually like the other tracks a bit better, but the entire release is a treat and a surprising release from Ronin Collective, mainly because I thought they were dead.

Bisohock releases 12 orchestral tracks for free.
Okay, I’m sure you bleeding edge of technology PC gamers [or Xbox 360 owners] will enjoy this one. Unfortunately I cannot run Bioshock because my videocard won’t support shaders or something like that, so the game turns into a black screen with blocks of fire here and there. UNPLAYABLE (for now!). Anyway, if you liked the music, here’s some free tracks for you. It’s a rare treat but I love when otherwise commercial stuff gets released for free on the internet.

Command & Conquer 1 for free!
Thanks to GeckoYamori for linking this to me! Yeah, it’s not music, but the game does have music inside it, and it’s free. Yes, I also love free games 😀 [Home of the Underdogs for the win].

This week was a great week for Free Shit! The next week might be even better! Or it could have nothing at all. Send me links, fellas! See you next week.

From Youtube:

“Turn your Guitar Hero controller into a synth instrument! It’s not as hard as you might think. And your old friend Powerglove will show you how!”

More good stuff this week! READ ON
048 – Candybag – Hypercube

EU Mirror (thanks to GaMeBoX)
US Mirror (thanks to SGX)

UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS UNTS

Helen Trevillion has a new site design and a new location.
Her site still has the old videogame remixes most of you know and love
her for… except Angel’s Dear. But I don’t really want that up on her
site anyway, it’s old and bad 😛 The site now features a “watch”
section where you can view some videos featuring her music. Please
download everything on her site because she is a fantastic composer who
makes beautiful music. Also, this is totally not something I say often,
but buy her CD. You will like it.

Ah finally, a letter from a fan of my column! This is what everybody should be doing.

“Hey OverCoat,

Wassup maing? Seeing as the free music thread died, & you have
a new column out, I thought I’d shoot you a pm to let you know about a
new album being released… probably when you get this, by this guy I
barely found out about. Here’s the myspace link

http://www.myspace.com/lordretro

Later lates,
David”

Jabdah3.sid

Electro SID by aegis and zabutom. It’s… well… European sounding 😀 Get XMPlay and the .sid plugin [best] or ChipAmp for WinAmp to play this file.

It-Alien – A Moment Elsewhere – III
Big and complex seem to be It-Alien’s favorite things, something I’ve noticed listening to his tunes. This 14 minute electronic/orchestral piece is very progressive and very technical. He would also like to specify that “there are some sample-based instruments in the song: the bass, the drums, the guitar, the hand percussions, the xilophone and the arpsynth are not made using VST technology.” And that’s the power of schlongs. Er, Renoise.

Pilot7 + mr_mark_dollin – Red Sands
I think all that needs to be said is that it sounds like the Zerg music from Starcraft. lulz

Garden Art (48.4 MB Compressed Archive)
SOC ALBUM +1! Contains two guest tracks by Skrypnyk and one guest track by Hollowtone, who also just released an EP called “op8“

THX2U Joker for the mail, THX2EVERY1ELSE4 the free music! See you next week.

Lots of good stuff for you this week! My sources have pulled through to create some fantastic material. Read on to see.
ansiform – qetoret (gong fog)
Starting the column out with some great ambient. Clocking in at 16 minutes 15 seconds, it’s the longest single track on ansiform to date. Which is good, because ambience should usually last at least that long 😀 It’s an ominously-toned track, a soundscape filled with a mix of ancient Chinese and tribal Australian textures. Highly recommended if you’re familiar with ambient or the ansiform label, also if you want to try something new and unusual. This is now one of my favorite releases from the suspiciously anonymous ansiform group. I also recommend “Artroom,” “Have You Seen Me?” and the”Memories EP.” And yes, you’re not supposed to know who actually created the ambience. Personally that concept appeals to me, which is why I have a release on ansiform. Guess which one!

Malty Media – Bracken Bed EP
h0l/Simon tells us this is a collaborative effort between familiar mono artist Aquaboogie and a “long-time electronic musician and Japanese resident” Jet Jaguar. Well, right off the bat, it’s certainly an interesting combination. You’ll find that, for some reason, the EP starts off like a drunken country music performance at a cheap bar, somewhere deep in the American heartland. Malty Media, take that for what you will :). It quickly evolves into the familiar-to-monotonik-fans crazy IDM that you’d expect from someone like Khonnor, with oddball sample mangling [for texture!] being the key element of the music. The focus is on being weird in this EP, for sure, and it makes for a fun listening experience. If you enjoy this I would recommend a few other releases on Monotonik, by Grandma, Khonnor, and Gaza Faggot [hint: same person].

Monodrive – Follow the Wind
EU Mirror (thanks to GaMeBoX)
US Mirror (thanks to SGX)
The newest Reunion Studio release is by Monodrive. It’s labeled “dnb” but despite that, is quite subdued and more like a quick chillout, with light, airy synths and beats. “Follow the Wind” is a very suitable title for this breezy track.

Juri – Thought it was Love EP
“This ep is similar to a short story, sad and beautiful at the same time. If you have read “White Nights” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, then you know what this is about. -Juri” Ah, Electronica / Other, the best kind of music! Even though Electronica isn’t considered the real term for electronic music [but Traxinspace and Myspace do, for some reason]. I find myself drawing comparisons to one of my own EPs, “The Sky Is Never Dark Anymore EP [also free!],” which has a similar tone and style, but of course my music sounds much more “stripped down” and minimal, as usual. Unfortunately it’s not downloadable, though I asked Juri about a download and am currently waiting for a reply. For now, though, it’s available to stream on his myspace page.

Sefiros – Under the Roots
Sefiros is a bit of an enigma to me. For reasons different than his music though. Actually, his music is pretty straightforward. If you want a quick description, it’s a blend of epic orchestral and electronic patterns layering and unlayering themselves at a kind of droning pace, with high quality and a full sound. This album is no different, except for the fact that this shota version of Trent Reznor improves with every release. Give it a try.

45 Min Plugexpert Backup Dj Set
This is a link to the thread on the Renoise board, which contains a tracklisting and download link. If you can’t get to the board, here’s the link. Basically just a quick and dirty DJ set plugexpert mixed up to make sure there was something to play if he fucked up during a live set. Fun mix of glitch, jungle, and breakbeat.

That’s all for this week, but boy that was a lot! It should at least last you until next Sunday night, when – who knows – my latest album might be done and [of course] freely distributed. Tell yo friendz!!!!

LOL U MEEN THEREZ TIMEXS WEN THE SIGHT IZNT DOWN?LOLOLOLOLOL

srsly. If you haven’t heard, I’ve been in a bit of a finacial bind lately, and the hosting company has just sent me an e-mail saying they failed to bill me think month due to “Do Not Honor”…which basically means I’m way broke. I’m not when the site will go down, IF it goes down at all, but if it does it will be back by Thursday-Friday. If it DOESN’T go down by Thursday-Friday…well then you can bet it won’t be going down at all…

Just a heads up.

Hi guys! I’m starting a column. My legions of fans will already know this, but I love free things. My studio, sans the computer, is practically built on salvaged or bargain hardware, free samples and free VST plugins. So it’s no surprise I don’t like paying for music either, especially when there’s so much talent out there releasing for free and breaking new ground. This column will be primarily about electronic music, though sometimes I might find something cool in a completely random style.
Just so I don’t have to play catch-up, I post everything I find inside the Free Music Thread, publically viewable on the OCR boards. I’ll still update the thread though [and others may finally post something?] so keep an eye on it if you want. The point of that thread and this column is to blend people from OCR and VGMix into other sites that offer free music, but aren’t necessarily a remix site.

You’ll notice that I have only a few netlabels that I visit, though sometimes I’ll hear something from somewhere else that I think is cool.

Let’s at least do a recap of the recent weeks, because I have a lot of cool stuff to share:
‘Renzu – Reiha EP’
“Chicago-based Renzu, a professional 3D animator and self-described ‘animation nerd’ and composer of rather deliciously lush IDM soundscapes. And the ‘Reiha EP’ is just a sampling of his layered, deceptively complex electronic music stylings.”

Kaneel, live set at Empo[empo-something] on 2007.07.13, with pictures!
A good mix set of Kaneel’s tunes, his normal style of glitched breaks and IDM. Also, smoking is bad, except in France.

ansi037 – Rebirth
Latest ansiform release, done by a friend of mine, but ansiform is an anonymous netlabel so I can’t tell you who it is :D. Ansiform, by the way, is a great ambient netlabel, so if you’re into totally relaxing and turning into a vegetable for hours, get their entire archive. I also have a release on ansiform 🙂 see if you can find it.

BeatBattle 5 entries
Renoise’s official yearly competition. There were 54 entries and I got 52nd place. OverCoat with a shitty song, or everyone else with really really good ones? You decide! I recommend downloading in place order until you start getting to the shitty ones. Where the line for that is drawn though, is up to you.

Kahvi multi-artist compilation, “Summer Selection”
Hot off the heels of Butano Beats, another multi-artist Kahvi comp. which I also recommend, comes the Summer Selection. Apparently “Kahvi was on summer break, but that doesn’t stop me [4T Thieves] from putting out a nice VA with a selection of quality tracks in the meantime” so this’ll be the last release until fall, as far as I know. This is a great comp, but when they say “Summer Selection” they really mean dark downtempo ambient and chillout, with great synth textures and dreamy sounds.

Ckid – Down With Ghosts
Latest Monotonik release, a lo-fi electro-indie rock with extensive distortion/noise abuse and light vocals. Simon says “Full of chanted and whispered vocals and an evocative, almost
shoegaze-centric attitude to idm/electronics, ‘Down With Ghosts’ starts
with the semi-conscious drawl of ‘From A To Z’, before the title track
crosses subtle beats with drifting vocals, and things flow swiftly on.”

His descriptions are always bizarre like that. That’s why we love him :3

Hollowtone – op8 EP
Short, 3 track ambient EP, by OCR forumgoer Radiowar. 1st track is a minute and a half of glitched up song-skipping, but the other 2 tracks are pretty cool, if a little normal, ambient textures.

GaMeBoX – Mindstorm
Cool dancey track with extensive soloing and cool heavily-modulated chippy synths.

SGX – Have No Tyrant
Electro stuff with trip-hop/big beat breaks things and strings and synths and stuff like that. He thinks.

If you think something is worth mentioning that I [likely] have forgotten, please comment on the news article linking to the release! Also, let me know how awesome I did on my column plz.

Listen up all you metal heads! The Minibosses are performing, LIVE, at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo), August 25th in beautiful, downtown Seattle, Washington! If you’re in the area, or plan on attending, you CAN’T AFFORD to miss this concert!

For more information, please check out The Penny Arcade Expo web site!

From Brendan:

“That’s right, you can now reserve a hotel room for MAGFest 6! Rooms at the Hilton Mark Center are $99/night (+tax) for 1-4 people per room, one king or two double beds. We have the run of house arrangement, but that means first come first serve for whatever kind of room you want. Reserve early!

There isn’t an online link to reserve yet, so for now, just call the hotel and tell them you’ll be attending MAGFest. The number is 703-845-1010 (just hit 1 if you get an automated system). If you have any difficulties, let us know!”

Details for MAGFest 6 have been announced. It will once again be the first weekend of January, from the 3rd through the 6th, in a new location at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, VA.

The discounted hotel rate from previous years continues, at $99/night this year, but reservations are not open yet. An announcement will be made once the room block is open. In addition to being accessible by any major highway on the east coast, the hotel offers a shuttle from DCA.

While too soon to confirm a guest list, many of previous year’s attendees are likely to return, as well as retaining the familiar format of games, music, and fun.