FMA Blog

Suicide may have lit the torch in the mid-'70s, but one could argue that by decade's end, its carriers lived on the other side of the country -- in San Francisco.  Sure, L.A. had the Screamers and some other odd ducks.  But SF hosted an impressive number of bent bands who used synths, tape machines and other electrical apparatus to extend punk's mutated left end by leaps/bounds.  Informed by avant garde composers and performance artists, fueled by apocalyptic abandon and paranoid pop twitch, groups like Tuxedomoon, Nervous Gender, the Residents, Factrix, Minimal Man, Chrome, and Pink Section would release timeless slabs of aggresively bizarre noise -- as would the Units, whose Digital Stimulation LP (415 Records, 1980) remains a personal favorite.  The album's a lush and moody salvo if there ever was one, and I was thrilled to ask former lead synth player and vocalist Scott Ryser (right) a few questions about the band and its M.O. by e-mail last week.

Violeta Päivänkakkara was born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1992. She has always felt drawn to cosmology, planets, nature and the dream world. She creates environments and personal and melancholic atmospheres, using instruments like the glockenspiel, guitar, piano and electronic sounds of nature, among others. She currently lives between Helsinki and Barcelona. -La Gramola

"Sateenkaari" can be found on Kuu, a collection released this week on La Gramola Netlabel.

> Violeta Päivänkakkara on Facebook | Bandcamp | FMA

> La Gramola on FMA | Homepage

The Happy Valley Band is the Great American Songbook heard through the idiosyncrasies of the machine ear. It is what happens when a computer tries its best to pick out the tunes by ear, writes down what it hears and demands that human performers try to play it. It combines audio separation and computer automated transcription technologies together with a twisted affection for American popular music icons.

In the process of creating the music, the original recordings are first separated into individual instruments and then transcribed by computer automated techniques. Arranging the music is an effort to parse the profusion of computer analysis data into playable form. The Happy Valley Band then plays the mercilessly over-specific computer transcriptions along to the sound of the lone extracted vocal track, offering a new accompaniment to a familiar voice.

Last month The Happy Valley Band squeezed into the studio at WFMU to deliver a set of unusual interpretations on popular music classics. Performing live on Kurt Gottschalk's Miniature Minotaurs Show, the studio quickly became an obstacle course of musical equipment—saxophones, violin, accordion, pianos, guitars, basses and drums, topped off with a Farfisa and a small army of music stands. By the end of the set, the floor was hidden beneath a carpet of loose sheet music, casualties of frantic page turns as the band carefully staggered through a set of classic songs by Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline and James Brown rendered in new, unrecognizable forms.

All software and sheet music will soon be available from the band's website. No classic recordings were harmed in the process. The Happy Valley Band is based out of New York, but you can catch them up north this summer at Electric Eclectics Festival.

Tracks to Sync is a monthly mix of music curated with the online video producer in mind.

As more and more people turn to video in the digital era, they are faced with the music licensing hurdles that have hindered many a film. At the same time, the increase in video production offers new opportunities for multimedia collaboration. This series aims to unite producers with musicians who have music to share for these purposes.

The tracks is this mix are available under Creative Commons licenses that allow for "derivative works," like a video (some CC licenses specify "NoDerivatives"), while retaining the parts of copyright that the rightsholders wish to keep. Creative Commons offers a few custom license combinations, and each is hyperlinked to a human-readable license + legal code, i.e. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, aka "BY-NC-SA". You can read more about the various CC combos here, and check out FMA's HELP & FAQ for more resources.

Before using any Creative Commons music for a project, you need to make sure you follow the track's license in order to avoid copyright infringement. If you're not sure whether your use is pre-cleared by a particular license, it's always a good idea to reach out to the artist directly. Click the "i" button below to view the license along with a URL or email address where you can secure 'more permissions.'

We always love to hear about collaborations inspired by FMA music, so if you use one of these tracks, please post a link to the track page as well as to our Video Showcase. We'll feature our favorite video made using this month's tracks in the next Tracks to Sync!

5. Denmark's Quantum Jazz [quantumjazz.net] released End of Line, their second and final album, via Jamendo under a CC Attribution-ShareAlike license. Jamendo PRO offers a cool way to secure more permissions directly from the group.

6. GaBlé's 2003 netaudio release le sac de l enfer 1 is a recent add from France's Los Emes De Oso netlabel. It's chock full of intriguing lofi folk-hop beats. More music available at gableboulga.com. "humm ok" is CC BY-NC-SA.

7. CBC Radio's technology program Spark first introduced us to Bulgaria's Antony Raijekov (tony.cult.bg). "By the Coast" can be found on Jazz U, a 2003-2006 retrospective [CC BY-NC]

via Bad Panda Records — We're glad to announce our 2nd physical release and introduce you Indian Wells. His first track "Deuce" [mp3] just debuted on XLR8R and was likened to Shlohmo’s lo-fi textures and Actress’ gritty techno mantras.

Debut LP "Night Drops" will be out in june, meanwhile pre-order one of the 100 numbered CDs before they’re gone forever and follow Indian Wells on FB or SNDCLD for more news/mp3s.

Dans l´cul Danku! is a 3 day Festival held at the Sub071 Multipleks squat in Leiden, now on its second edition. Unfortunately Noise Problems couldnt attend but to celebrate and spread the good word we posted last year gigs from Theme of Laura and Les Louise Mitchels that we managed to record amidst all the DIY madness.

In their own speak Dans l´cul fest "is a DIY (do it yourself) and non benefit fest. The only purpose of this fest is to share and meet together in happiness with concerts, infostands, workshops, eat & cafe and whatever. All money done are only to cover general costs as electricity water, food, drinks, materials and cover a maximum gazcosts for the participants (bands, people giving workshops)..."

There were good vibes and good music, good food and good movies!!! It was awesome and indeed happiness was ever present. For the this years edition line-up check out the new site. Theme of Laura is screaming emo-punk from Strasbourg. Les Louise Mitchels are free-rock jazz-punk from Paris. Oh la la! Dans l´cul danku!!!

And I don't care about what the prying eyes can see, i'll keep on walking without pants in the middle of this school of fish that never stop screaming; keep on dancing to not die in a life where death has more place than the laughter of fools. I'll not cry anymore and my hatred torn of my veins, thrown to the sheep, i prefer to live too much until a soon death, rather than die slowly on my shit. One more or less, you can tell about me what you want, soppy, silly, crazy, in the twisted right way or not, I would stay at attention under the banner of fools, flag I will burn before to run into the storm."

The Nighttime Adventure Society plays rollick 'n roll music by Laura Zax. They are currently working on their debut LP, but their music has already been featured on NPR, Delta radio, and in a commercial for Sally Hansen. Based in Washington DC, the group has performed nationally and internationally, including a several shows at the World Expo in Shanghai. (via)

Chapter One: The First Chapter is the Nighttime Adventure Society's four-song debut, released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike license. The whole EP's a treat, but "She's In Mind" is an especially infectious tune and a very fine production with guitar licks, glockenspiel, square waves and harmonized vocals that delight the ears.

Nighttime Adventure Society | Bandcamp | Facebook | FMA

Primavera Sound is one of the world's most incredible music festivals, unique in the way they unite (even re-unite) world-famous headliners while also digging deep to discover up-and-coming artists. Based in Barcelona, Primavera brings artists from all over the world, with an ear that is uniquely attuned to sounds from Spain's underground. 

Here's a mix featuring music by 32 of the artists who are scheduled to perform at this year's Primavera Sound festival, May thru June 3rd. 2012 will be the fourth year in a row that WFMU broadcasts live from the festival, and we're looking forward to archiving more approved Primavera Sound performances here on the Free Music Archive!

Sharon Van Etten (US) | Shellac (US) | Sictor Valdaña & The Check This Outs (ES) | Siskiyou (CA) | Sleep (US) | Sleepy Sun (US) | Sleigh Bells (US) | Spiritualized (UK) | Sr. Chinarro (ES) | Stasi (ES) | Steven Munar & The Miracle Band (ES) | Tall Firs (US) | Templeton (ES) | The Afghan Whigs (US) | The Chameleons (UK) | The Cure (UK) | The Drums (US) | The Experimental Tropic Blues Band (BE) | The Field (SE) | The Free Fall Band (ES) | The Ganjas (CL) | The Go! Team djs (UK) | The Lions Constellation (ES) | The Men (US) | The Olivia Tremor Control (US) | The Pop Group (UK) | The Rapture (US) | The Right Ons (ES) | The War On Drugs (US) | The Wedding Present plays Seamonsters (UK) | The Weeknd (CA) | The xx (UK) | Thee Oh Sees (US) | Trash Talk (US) | Unicornibot (ES) | Univers (ES) | Veronica Falls (UK) | Villarroel (ES) | Void Ov Voices (HU) | Washed Out (US) | Wavves (US) | White Denim (US) | Wilco (US) | Wild Beasts (UK) | Wolves In The Throne Room (US) | Xavier Baró (ES) | Yann Tiersen (FR) | Yo La Tengo (US)

Check out many more select recordings from past Primavera Sound festivals as we look forward to Primavera 2012!

On Saturday May 12, Interpretations presents an evening at of music at Roulette featuring a mammoth new Guggenheim commission from composer Earl Howard, and a performance of amazing new works for violin duo by FLUX Quartet members Tom Chiu and Conrad Harris.  

In anticipation of this event, we are offering two great tracks, one by Conrad Harris and one by Tom Chiu.  Alvin Lucier's duet for two violins with sine tones will be performed by Chiu and Harris on Saturday, and appears here in a version recorded for Lovely Music by Conrad Harris.  Tom Chiu will have a world premiere for two violins on the Saturday concert, and here we are offering a piece he wrote for the FLUX Quartet with special guest pianist Bobby Few. Enjoy!

Like stepper dub? Like melodica? Then you’re going to love this new EP from 4 of the best and most prolific dub artists from the netlabel community in France.

Phoniandflore (aka P.A.F) starts the musical journey with the original mix. With a driving bassline, swirling eastern groove and melodic melody, P.A.F treats us to some classic stepper goodness.

Additional remixes by Shan-a-Shan, Injham and Jideh High take the track to additional heights. Injham refines the beat a little, whilst keeping true to the original groove. Shan-a-Shan treats us to a more liquid sound and Jideh High takes this one stage further with a distinctly watery dub.

This is French electrodub at its finest.

via Angel Dust Records & Marée Bass