Of Sacrificial Lambs, Satan and Free Music
Post Genre Blues
Michael Arrington posits in a recent article that «sacrificing» internet radio company Pandora may be a clarion call that will be heard by music fans, artists and music biz execs alike. Hey, maybe we can sacrifice our wetlands and the powers that be will be so moved by the extinction of the manatees that they turn the great military-industrial-oil behemoth about. A new Eden where fluffy bunnies and jackals dance together to the song of little birdies in flower-covered meadows would surely ensue.
While it’s very generous of Mr. Arrington to offer up a company he’s had no hand in conceiving or growing to the wolves, and far be it for me to discourage his touching child-like innocence, but we here at Alterati Towers do not flinch from the sight of the ugliness that is the top of the societal pyramid.
The purpose behind the legislation that levied these charges was precisely to put services like Pandora, Live365 and Last.fm out of business. Do not think for a moment that they wanted the relative pittance they would be able to collect. What they want is a monolithic dominance of internet radio similar to the one Clear Channel has over terrestrial radio. “Sacrificing” any of these services is exactly what the lobbyists had in mind when they drafted and greazed palms to make this happen. One notices that we’re not seeing any stories on how this is having an impact on Yahoo music, as one example.
Well, there’s one counterproductive argument taken care of. On to some music.
In our conversation about this issue at Alterati HQ we move on to other options that have not been choked off by the man yet. While we were speaking of music industry I was asked what I thought of http://lord-abigor.blogspot.com/, one of the many sources of free Blackmetal downloads to be found in blogs all over the web. Now, lyrical themes of Satanism, goats, nuclear warfare, sex, & war can’t be all bad, but my first impression was that more than half the entries on this blog are the usual suspects. (Impaled Nazarene, Thou Shalt Suffer, Darkthrone, Carcass, Immortal and even Dark Tranquility, for Satan’s sake.) And I tried a couple downloads, and it seems all the downloads on the blog are stored on the same divshare account which is currently locked doe to bandwidth limits having been reached.
I tend to find more interesting Blackmetal coming out of China, Singapore, Tunisia, India, and the Middle East these days. As for music blogs, Blackmetal and otherwise, I have a few regular stops I would recommend. There are many artists and netlabels who are offering free music that equals, and in many cases, exceeds the quality of commercially available music, so here are a few:
First up is a site run by Suleiman, a scribe from the ever excellent Avantgarde-metal.com and mastermind behind Burzukh. Hailing from Pakistan and currently working out of Saudi Arabia, he brings a fresh perspective and encyclopedic knowledge to metal and avant-garde music.
http://burzukh.webs.com/index.htm has links to bands and netlabels that give away music, much of it very intriguing. The good Suleiman who runs the site has his own project, Burzukh out of Saudi Arabia. Be sure to check out the many Burzukh albums available from the site.
http://www.shockmagazin.hu/english/download/download.htm#t has a number of videos and free downloads sanctioned by the bands in question, the highlight for me being a full album download of Thy Catafalque 2004 album Tűnő Idő Tárlat. The band has made more music available for streaming and download at Last.fm.
is a net label founded by the psychedelic blackmetal warriors behind the great Meads of Asphodel. Many free full length releases and compilations are to be had here, for the simple act of signing up for their news letter which includes exclusive logins for these releases. In their words:
DEATH TO MUSIC productions is the new “anti record label” media collective based in various locations, known only as “The D.T.M Forward Attack Squadron”.
… Founded in 2007, we are slowly expanding into a collective of molested musicians, aggravated artists, destructionist DJs and, in general, all-round fucked-up and fucked-off creative types.
The Never Ending Internet Mix Tape has regular posts of many different styles and moods. Admittedly, this one does not enjoy the same level of cooperation from the artists, but one can’t fault the enthusiasm and variety on hand.
And finally, the music blog that has my attention the most these days is http://theebradmiller.blogspot.com which I mainly love for Brad Miller’s loving research and ripping of dozens of Inner-X-Musick cassette releases, (Sleep Chamber, Green Sex, Jonathan Briley, and a young Michael Moynihan as Coup De Grace), among many, many live bootleg recordings of PTV, Death In June and the occasional gem like early Dictators live shows. We get excellent info on each release, so even the few recordings that get taken down leave posts that are worth reading. What makes the Sleep Chamber/Inner-x posts particularly cool is the fact that our intrepid blogger is in touch with John Zewizz, who occasionally slips him never before released material.
Head over to Mr. Miller’s John Zewizz Appreciation Society and you’ll soon get a good idea of what a treasure he’s sharing with us with his Inner-X-Musick downloads.
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