Artist: (Multiple artists)
Album: Volume 0
Label: Musicaoltranza

Want free IDM? Get Musicaoltranza Volume 0. (* Apologies for my clumsy use of the imperative.)

The Italian webzine / net-label released this sixteen track compilation of electronic listening music in November 2007 as a free download, and in the spirit of propaganda from the UK's Warp Label circa ten years ago they recommend that you pull up a comfortable chair or sofa in readiness. The compilation came to my attention because I keep an eye on the Italian scene via my great admiration for Retina.it.

There's good variety within the genre across this virtual disc and a nice upbeat through line. We're talking the IDM of beats, futurist textures, swooshy oscillations, the odd ticking sound and melodic and ambient fragments. The overall style here is more minimal, relaxed and in check than the British stuff I'm usually listening to. Sometimes it even gets downright simple and pretty at the same time, which can make the punk in you suspicious, but that guy should probably be donged on the head for a moment.

My fave track on here is Kreyk's Out V. A constant pulse of videogamey churning and ticking moves through an intermediate stage into a big, dark Autechre-like break, before coming back more aggressively for the finish. If anything I just wish this was longer. I also like Escape from the Circle's Coffee (ghost track) which hails from the Commodore 64 octave-bouncing school of spastic fun.

UnderElectricShock's Moki offers up one of the most steadfastly gradual developments of electro percussion possible, and does so over a Giorgio Moroder-like bassline. At first I thought this track might be too sparse for its own good but I ended up changing my mind. It also seems to have that particular Italian flavour that I really like.

Antani and Nheap's contributions rely too much on Buffer Override type retriggering of sounds, though NHeap's opener Az & Gio (intro) is still interesting and sounds exceptionally good. It takes a warm and noodly jazz piece and steers it slightly into electronic weirdness territory, rather than the more typical other way around.

Within the compass of what I've already described you'll also find examples of other current veins of electronica in Volume 0, including the classical samples and phrases meets breakbeats style (I'm not a fan). I like my electronica more up in the weird/extreme end than this compilation leans, but it's definitely a good collection of tracks with a distinct and consistent tone, and an overall lightness that makes for a fine straight-through listen.

You can download Volume 0 from Musicaoltranza for free here.

Artist: Magic Dirt
Album: Beast
Label: Emergency Music

I actually bought this CD by mistake - but don't worry, both this story and the review become way more competent and end happily.

I'd read in the Drum Media that long-serving local grunge-noise rockers Magic Dirt had a new album out consisting entirely of extreme guitar distortion. 'This is for serious lovers of noise,' warned the press release. 'It's unlistenable to most of the population!' This kind of talk was magnetic to me and I hastened for a music shop. However, the band had a twin sister mini-album of rock-rock out at the same time, and I got the names of these two CDs mixed up. For the record, Beast is the rock-rock album, the one I bought and the one I'm reviewing here. Roky's Room is the noise record.

Disappointment at my mistake was quickly overcome by Beast's majesty. Here are seven tracks of scary, heavy rocking and alternately venomous and howling vocals. Opener Horror Me has an epic feel born of its octave-straddling riff and frontwoman Adalita's ghostly vocals, which sound like they're swimming through the guitar fuzz. The production's got a lo-fi/'indie'/swampy feel, with the drums back, vocals raw and all the noise at the front. Normally I'm way down on swampiness, but it seems to work for this record because the soundscape is mostly about the noise. Transients are down, texture is upfront. It doesn't sound too punchy through the air, but it is immersive.

For more joyously straight-ahead rockin' we've got tracks like Bring Me The Head Of... (I always want to say 'Alfred Garcia' at this point) and the popular and lyrically rudey-rude closer, Sucker Love. The other tracks have stop-start or quiet-then-freaking-loud dynamics which change up the pace of the album. Of these, Lead Room is my favourite, with its quiet all-minor creepiness which explodes into a chorus of massive desperation and beauty. And which possesses the Nirvana-like sonic quality which I describe as 'like being fed into a jet engine.'

This album feels longer than its half hour, and I mean that in the best possible way. It feels grand.