| January 2009 news
January 31, 2009
DANCE MUSIC FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED
• tube'|155 - March Rosetta - In Randomness There Are Numbers
«March Rosetta is Tom Carter and comes from London, U.K. Under March Rosetta he has released a handful - or better yet, two handfuls - of releases for several netlabels around the web, apart from releasing some physical ones for his own home, Verlaine Records.
Tom has a genuine talent to create songs, and his musical background and influences
take him to 80's pop territory, with a healthy dose of kitsch keyboard sounds thrown in sometimes, but still... great songs which he can be proud of because he also has a very sweet voice (reminds me of David Byrne sometimes) and his singing is just superb. You should get his latest release for Clinical Archives, 'Late in Time' (.ZIP) which is a great example of his singing and creative talent.
For 'In Randomness There Are Numbers' Tom puts his singing talent aside and concentrates in oldschool electronica disco dance tracks or whatever they should be called. These are five unbelievable sweet tunes for taking on the dancefloor of just nodding your head around. Better yet, take them out for some jogging or cycling, they work amazingly well.
Tom spreads his wings in almost every direction here, from 8bit techno to classic IDM to 80's synth pop to cheesy house. That should be enough nostalgia to keep your heart warm throughout this cold and windy winter.» - Pedro Leitão
'|
January 26, 2009
SILENT MOVING PICTURES
• tube'|154 - Monopole - Silent movie surround sound
«Monopole is Richard Sudney from Detroit, USA, but don't expect techno sounds from 'Silent movie surround sound'. Instead, expect some glitch-esque IDM mixed up with ambient electronica for good measure. Audio sources range from typical field recordings gathered around abandoned factories and old vacuum tube analogue equipment installed at Richard's basement.
This small EP is apparently influenced by old theatre projections of silent movies from the 20's and 30's. The quirky programmings and out-of-line samples make up for a very curious and cinematographical, while interesting, release.» - Pedro Leitão
'|
January 19, 2009
FRAILTY AS THE SOURCE OF ALL
• tube'|153 - Ian D Hawgood - Her Name Was Frailty
«This is one of those releases that floods me with metaphorical insights.
In the beauty of breakage we find some of the answers for our deepest questions.
When something breaks, we are able to perceive it as what truly is, a collection of pieces of different shapes and sizes. Ian D Hawgood gives us four pieces of these ruined goods. Beginning with incessant timing of a vertical sound along a sea of soothing horizontality.
If frailty is the source of all things, then we ought to go back to it. All the abundant arrogance and destructive strength present in human beings has brought us to irreversible situation, into a mood that swings like the weather, each time faster and more bipolar. I believe "Her name was frailty" implies The Earth. Whenever we observe The Earth from a distance, in this case from an astronaut's point of view, we can understand how far from reality we have strayed. The construction and sounds of this album allows me to, not only returning to a point of frailness, but also to activate a particular type of mental stimulation that empowers my psyche conceding me thoughts about restoration. Now, restoration implies an active participation in bringing the past back to life, in this case from broken to whole. This release definitely modifies my tiny rat heart.
Thanks Ian... or should I say ‘Ion’, an atom that has acquired a net electric charge by gaining or losing one or more electrons.»
- Sebastian Alvarez
'|
January 12, 2009
EASTERN BLUES
• tube'|152 - Mel - So
«After releasing several gorgeous and very intense guitar based drones as AO and later as on_14, Aogu Yoshida returns with a new moniker: Mel. 'So' is Mel's first effort and marks a shift in his aesthetic approach. Out with the drones, in with the lush pads and synth lines. Mel is all IDM, all intimacy, all luxury sounds.
Muffled beats and reverb keyboards go side to side with breaking waves and other field recordings, along with some trademark Aogu Yoshida soft drones. 'Autumn' is the best example of what Mel is and what Aogu has accomplished. 'Swee' is currently my favorite track.
Highly recommended!» - Pedro Leitão
'|
January 06, 2009
WELCOME TO 2009; THE LOST 4XT'S; AND MORE
Yeah, welcome to the new year. test tube will complete 5 years next July and I'm still a bit overwhelmed when I look at the proportions that this little hobby has grown into. It has changed from an exciting adventure into a big responsability. In any case, I'm very happy that we're still alive and kicking.
While browsing the 2008 news I realised that I never posted the test tube top ten's (4XT) from second half. I'm really sorry for that, so... before anything else, let's review the most downloaded releases of the last six months:
JULY 4XT
#01 - tube078 - Quest.Room.Project - Fiducial Banality [1161 downloads]
#02 - tube129 - Artik - Shaman Tones [919 downloads]
#03 - tube123 - d'incise - Les Restes du Festin [497 downloads]
#04 - tube118 - Platform - Templates [475 downloads]
#05 - tube130 - Ad.R - Short Dance Songs EP [291 downloads]
#06 - tubemm001 - David Vélez - 20:51 [286 downloads]
#07 - tube131 - Edoardo Romani Capello - Chrysopraze Spheres [184 downloads]
#08 - tube070 - Jan von Grafenstein - 13 [177 downloads]
#09 - tube120 - Gordon Tebo - Patina Turner [128 downloads]
#10 - tube132 - Morgan Jenks - Sound to Activate Space EP [114 downloads]
AUGUST 4XT
#01 - tube135 - Ilia Belorukov + Philip Croaton - Un[view]... [3031 downloads]
#02 - tube123 - d'incise - Les Restes du Festin [931 downloads]
#03 - tube136 - .at/on - fon ~ scape [918 downloads]
#04 - tube133 - Neubau - Definitions of Nowhere [444 downloads]
#05 - tube131 - Edoardo Romani Capello - Chrysopraze Spheres [432 downloads]
#06 - tubemm001 - David Vélez - 20:51 [413 downloads]
#07 - tube132 - Morgan Jenks - Sound to Activate Space EP [304 downloads]
#08 - tube134 - Tüsüri - Aizeola [231 downloads]
#09 - tube130 - Ad.R - Short Dance Songs EP [211 downloads]
#10 - tube113 - TrianguliZona - Flossy [199 downloads]
SEPTEMBER 4XT
#01 - tube138 - Mons Jacet - Songs of Night and Longing [1141 downloads]
#02 - tube137 - Lezrod - Fear and loathing in Rio-Tokyo [1022 downloads]
#03 - tube135 - Ilia Belorukov + Philip Croaton - Un[view]... [728 downloads]
#04 - tube139 - Project 5AM - Quixotes of Moons... [600 downloads]
#05 - tube119 - Spirit Elevating Brains - Pulsos Temporales... [463 downloads]
#06 - tube136 - .at/on - fon ~ scape [363 downloads]
#07 - tube100 - Pitch Boys - Son of a Pitch [292 downloads]
#08 - tube103 - Motown Junkie - Plagiarism Perversions [185 downloads]
#09 - tube123 - d'incise - Les Restes du Festin [179 downloads]
#10 - tube140 - Nicholas Szczepanik - Sundries [145 downloads]
OCTOBER 4XT
#01 -
tube142 - Umbrellas in the Rain - Wieder Daheim [1205 downloads]
#02 - tube141 - Long Desert Cowboy - Finareia [936 downloads]
#03 - tube137 - Lezrod - Fear and loathing in Rio-Tokyo [767 downloads]
#04 - tube123 - d'incise - Les Restes du Festin [655 downloads]
#05 - tube143 - Craque - Gamma [244 downloads]
#06 -
tube140 - Nicholas Szczepanik - Sundries
[240 downloads]
#07 -
tube135 - Ilia Belorukov + Philip Croaton - Un[view]... [217 downloads]
#08 - tube139
- Project 5AM - Quixotes of Moons... [184 downloads]
#09 - tube138
- Mons Jacet - Songs of Night and Longing
[128 downloads]
#10 - tube061 - Project Swirl - Alpha Centauri EP [125 downloads]
NOVEMBER 4XT
#01 - tube129 - Artik - Shaman Tones [5715 downloads]
#02 - tube131 - Edoardo Romani Capello - Chrysopraze... [4000 downloads]
#03 - tube016 - Gamma Ray Blast - 5 Dimensões EP [1519 downloads]
#04 - tube015 - Bacanal Intruder - Herramientas Para... [1422 downloads]
#05 - tube113 - TrianguliZona - Flossy [906 downloads]
#06 -
tube142 - Umbrellas in the Rain - Wieder Daheim [641 downloads]
#07 - tube141 - Long Desert Cowboy - Finareia [399 downloads]
#08 - tube123 - d'incise - Les Restes du Festin [384 downloads]
#09 - tube144 - The Sales Department - [Sub]ways [369 downloads]
#10 - tube137 - Lezrod - Fear and loathing in Rio-Tokyo [332 downloads]
DECEMBER 4XT
#01 - tube113 - TrianguliZona - Flossy [475 downloads]
#02 - tube148 - room101 - Subconscious [370 downloads]
#03 - tube147 - Philip Croaton + Ilia Belorukov - Still Fire [346 downloads]
#04 - tube149 - Tidy Kid - One Week With My Casio [343 downloads]
#05 - tube072 - Michael Trommer - Sleeping Satellites [259 downloads]
#06 - tube146 - Speed Chess - Speed Chess [235 downloads]
#07 -
tube140 - Nicholas Szczepanik - Sundries
[184 downloads]
#08 - tube150 - Naoto Taguchi - Untitled 9 Fragments... [161 downloads]
#09 - tube071 - Penca Catalogue - This is Hair Care [156 downloads]
#10 - tube145 - David Fungi - aal_sentieri [151 downloads]
Ok, by looking at the charts we can see that here and there we had some surprises (some of them big), like two-year-old and even four-year-old releases are still present occasionally. I can't explain why they are there, but the other ones seem pretty obvious because they were released by the time the month ended and server statistics were compiled. We also see some releases appear repeatedly in the top downloads, like the excellent 'Les Restes du Festin' by d'incise (probably the most downloaded release of the whole year) which is totally deserved. d'incise's album was present in a lot of netaudio fans' lists almost everywhere. Lezrod's 'Fear and Loathing in Rio/Tokyo' appears a couple of times also along with David Vélez mixed media experience '20:51'.
The name test tube also appeared in some of the 2008
lists and blogs that we respect, like Marc's always exciting Disquiet; The community moguls at Phlow Magazine; Matchdose's very complete information center and Benoit's little corner called Netlabels Revue. There may be others (of course there are), but I couldn't find more at the time this post was being written. If you have found some more, we would appreciate the sharing of that information. Thanks :)
All in all it was a great year for test tube. We were able to maintain a steady release schedule while keeping our standards high as usual. We hope that 2009 doesn't disapoint here as well.
Our big thanks go to everyone that keeps coming to check out our releases and ultimately enjoys the eclectic choice we strive to provide.
We'll get together again in a year. Happy listening!
Peace,
'|
top |
|
|
