The other aspect of Netlabels is in their history.  Many of  the Netlabels have been around for quite a few years.  They derived from the Demo Scene: a group of hackers (hackers in the good and correct sense of the word) who work with computers at the lowest possible level to produce demonstrations of what the machines can do. In some cases you would be quite astounded by what could be done with an Apple ][ or Commodore 64.  A lot of the music that these intrepid hackers wrote for the demos were initially released as “tracker” files, which predated MP3′s.  Eventually, with the rise of the Internet and MP3′s these intrepid multimedia artists started releasing music on their own for the world to listen.

I have become something of a fan of the Netlabel scene.  I believe they contribute more to the libre culture movement than is generally recognized.  The fact that the demo scene and Netlabels have been around for years, and predate the Creative Commons and the  libre culture movement says a lot for them.

Here I am presenting several sites that I have found quite a bit more enjoyable material on.  It’s unfortunate that two of these sites is no longer releasing new recordings.  However, the releases that have been made by all of these labels have contributed something interesting to the overall movement of free (libre) music.

Comfort Stand Recordings

Comfort Stand Recordings: This is the label that is no longer making any new releases.  Their main website page states:

After a 2.5 year run the stand has closed. Simply because the project is over and staff members and bands have gone on to other projects. We may return one day, but most likely in another form and dimension. We will no longer release any new works, but our 80 albums, 16 singles, and 8 compilations will remain online. Free and for a very long time. Many thanks to our past and future friends.

And indeed, their recordings are still available, and definitely worthy of downloading and listening to.  While not exactly a standard Netlabel, coming out of the Demo scene as others have, Comfort Stand Recordings presented an inspirational look at what the Internet can do when people are allowed to conspire on inspire each other.

These recordings were produced by a bunch of people that gathered on a mailing list dedicated to “Exotica”.  These are recordings of unusual music of all sorts of different flavors and styles.  Some of the participants decided that they wanted to start producing some of their own recordings or remixes as an homage to the recordings they cherished, and thus the Comfort Stand was born.

There are a couple of compilation recordings that serve as a great introduction to this fantastic Netlabel.  The first is Two Zombies Later:

Volume One

1. Br. Cleve & His Lush Orchestra – Shaken Not Stirred
2. Eric & Ryan Kilkenny – Bongo Avenger
3. Marble – Wah Factor 3
4. Philip Jackson – Nature Boy
5. Jeff Chenault and Andrew Izold – Exotica Revisited
6. Tipsy – Kitty’s Daydream (Longhair mix)
7. Scotch & Soda (Max McMillan) – The Lonely Bull
8. Don Tiki – The Natives Are Restless
9. Jack Fetterman and the in Hi-Fi Music Direction – Acapulco 2000
10. The Weird Lovemakers – Quiet Spillage
11. Skip Heller’s Hot Seven – Spy Perfume
12. Otis Fodder – Brilliant Pillows (Many Moons)
13. Astroslut – Love Theme From Astroslut
14. Der Plan – Jungle Village
15. Misty Roses – Up in Flames
16. Künstler Treu – If Jesus Came
17. Sem Sinatra – Toryansay

Volume Two

1. mr_melvis – A Walk Through The Powerhouse
2. Weirdomusic – Fiber, Ruler Of Pinakel
3. djfreshmoney – Whammo
4. Dana Countryman – Cocktails In Space
5. Jan Fornell – Drift
6. Bruce Lenkei – Moonlight Zombie Dance
7. Bumpenstein – Fuad Motel
8. Narcotic Syntax – Pingpong Voodoo
9. Hybe – Venom
10. Impro – Farid, Astronauts from Maghreb
11. Black Sash – You People
12. Mental Anguish/NOMUZIC – Blissful in Enchantro
13. Songs To Drink And Drive By – Walk On By
14. Magnus Sandberg – Island Knockin’

Think of these recordings as lounge music on acid.  An homage to the hotel lounge or tiki bar of the 1950′s or 1960′s, but updated through the use of technology to make for an even more unusual listening experience.

The second compilation that is a lot of fun is Wakka Chikka Wakka Chikka:

Volume One

1. Nick Chapman – Take Me Now!
2. Martinibomb – The Love God
3. DJ Bootsie – Vuluke Khall (Instrumental Version)
4. The Lounge King – Ici la Femme (XXX Mix) Louise Vertigo
5. Ton Rückert – It Was A Dream
6. Mr. Juno – Hatesex
7. SonnyJim – Suck My Disc
8. Pearls of Joy – Gloria
9. Lubna Lux – Baise et Rebaise Moi
10. The Devil In Miss Jones – Half An Hour Is For Free (featuring Fats Bob Trumpet)
11. Maquina de Atender Telefone – Give Me Anal Pleasure Please
12. De Zwervende Keien (The Drifting Boulders) – Wooden Shoes In Tirol
13. Thybbuk – Silk And Sweat
14. Colektro – Brainwank (Psycho Foo Edit)
15. The Funky Filter – The Porn King
16. Eldad Tsabary – Lophophora Williamssii
17. mr_melvis – Whose Fantasy Is This, Anyways? (featuring R. Stevie Moore and Ms. Demeanor)

Sub-titled “Porn Music for the Masses” it hits the target with dead on accuracy.  Just about everything you’ve ever thought of as a porno music sound track is in these recordings: every cliche, every hip-swinging rhythm, every guitar scratch.  And the best part: you don’t have to go looking at porn to get it, and it’s a lot of fun to listen to.

The recordings on Comfort Stand Recordings were released with a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial license. The Comfort Stand may be closed, but they have left a legacy that I hope many others will discover and maybe even build on throughout the years.

Monotonik

Monotonik & Friends: I was a little upset to find out that this site has also gone on a long-term, if not permanent, hiatus.  This is one of the longest standing Netlabels around, having started all the way back in 1996, eventually splitting into two labels, and eventually having their main label emerge as a major force in the Netlabels.

As unfortunate as it is, Simon Carless has reasons for setting aside Monotonik at this point.  He feels that the overall music scene has changed so much that the concept of a net.label doesn’t make as much sense now as it did back in the 1990′s.  While this may appear to be true, I think there are other reasons to keep the label going, and I hope that in the future Simon will realize this as well.

A great place to start with Monotonik, as Simon points out, is the 10 Years of Monotonik:

1. ’10 Years Of Monotonik – The Mix’

mix produced by Chris Whaley. This 74 minute long continuous-mix excursion into the Monotonik catalog pays tribute to many of the truly outstanding artist the label has released over the years: Esem, Vim!, Sleepy Town Manufacture, Transient, and Lackluster, just to name a few.  The release is based 23 separate tracks, each one from a different artist.  I’m sure after listening to this, you will want to dig into the incredible resource that Monotonik has been over the past thirteen years.

As with so many online releases these days, Monotonik has gone with an Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.  While this is unfortunate that others are not allowed to build on these works, at least they are available for us to enjoy.

Also, check out another project of Simon’s: Legal Torrents.  This is a site that distributes movies, music, pictures, animation, audio books, books, and a wealth of other materials that are completely legal to download.

Resting Bell

I honestly cannot recall how I found Resting Bell, but I am certainly glad that I did find them.  They have a series of unique releases that are ambient, organic, experimental, and just different than most of the music that I have normally found on the net.  One of my favorite artists has a release on this label: K. M. Krebs, Symmetries:

1. Illumination And Division
2. Surfacing Briefly
3. Each Into A Darkness Of Their Own

is based on a live show the Kevin did, which is also available on another netlabel. The player above only has the first track from this release, due to a bug in the player. See the release page for all three tracks.

Another major work on this label is Birds Of Joy And Sorrow by Garden From Light. This is an ambient drone piece of massive proportions: it actually takes up two releases in the Resting Bell archive:

Birds Of Joy And Sorrow Volume 1:

1. Sirin
2. Rusalki
3. Bannik
4. Marowit
5. Likho
6. Vual

Birds Of Joy And Sorrow Volume 2:

1. Alkonost
2. Karzel
3. Sariel
4. Drekavac
5. Koschei
6. Kikimora

It’s unfortunate that most of the releases from Resting Bell carry a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license as I would love to think that there would be artists that would love to build on these pieces. However, even with that being the case, they are still worthy of downloading or streaming and listening to.

In Closing

So, there you have it: a journey into the realm of the Netlabels.  There is a completely wide range of music out there from kitchy-psuedo-lounge, to straight up idm, all the way to ambient-drone-atonal music.  Basically it’s all just a matter of looking, listening and finding what is appealing to you.