NETVERK – August 2012

Welcome to the first NETVERK, The Skinny's new monthly column about the world of netaudio, netlabels and online music. Over the coming months, we'll be bringing you regular updates about new music available on the web, with a focus on the releases and artists who are blowing up on the network of music blogs, Tumblr pages and Soundcloud accounts which comprise the netaudio 'scene' – the fertile ground from which new trends and memes are born. Some of this music is free to download – some is sold direct to market by the artists and labels involved. Either way, it's a thrilling alternative to the over-familiar cast of bands and singers who routinely crowd the racks at your local Aitch-Emm-Vee.

To characterise netaudio as a 'scene' is somewhat misleading – rather, it is a loose affiliation of different scenes and micro-genres, constantly mutating and evolving to throw up new forms and shapes. Some of these solidify and are seized on by traditional and mainstream media, as in the case of last year's netaudio causes celebre, such as Grimes and Purity Ring. Others remain URL rather than IRL, or wither on the vine, to be remembered only by the select few who gaze into the clouds of hashtags, genre labels, GIFs and hacked-photo aesthetic experiments constantly being generated by the army of bedroom producers and bands worldwide, using music-based social networking sites like Soundcloud and LastFM, or independent marketing and sales platforms like Bandcamp. 

Let's kick things off with a roundup of the significant releases from the last few months, and give you a few hints about which labels to keep an eye on. Edinburgh bass-wrangler TeKlo, who recently performed a stonking set at this year's T-in-the-Park, dropped the two-track Mutilate EP in April on Edinburgh's ABAGA Records, and it's an absolute gem, featuring in-your-face bass madness with just enough intelligence in amongst the full-frontal-assault synth-and-sub-madness to satisfy both the dancefloor, and those looking for a headphone soundtrack for the urban dystopia. It's available from Beatport.

Sticking with Scottish artists, there have been two independent releases from Glasgow rapper Louie, better known as the rapping half of Hector Bizerk, in recent weeks. His EP with MacKenzie, the aptly-named Complexicon, is available as a free download, and sees Louie dropping some serious, socially-conscious raps over Mackenzie's tough boom-bap beats. The second release, Hector Bizerk's debut album DRUMS. RAP. YES. is currently streaming on the band's Soundcloud, and will be available from iTunes and other digital outlets very soon... apparently the band sold their entire stack of CD copies of the album at their launch gig at King Tut's, and if you give it a listen, you'll see why.

Another two bands from Glasgow we've had on heavy rotation are CUR$ES and ARM WTCHS FNGRS. Their recent split single Little Bear / Bowlin' showcases the differences between the two camps, with CUR$ES focused on reproducing ghostly, live-jammed interpretations of modern electronica, while ARM WTCHS FNGRS attempt a darker, sparser take on dancefloor music. Both bands are forces to be reckoned with live, so keep your ears to the ground for more from both producers.

Looking further afield, let us draw your attention to some excellent albums and EPs from a little further back in 2012. The always-dependable Aural Sects label have had a great year so far, with one highlight being the eponymous debut by female producer Fifty Grand. From the growling, sub-bass-infused opener Rabid Mastiff to the more ethereal, twinkling, dark electronica of First Lucid Dream, it's an assured debut with real depth, combining the trademark reverb-drenched miserablism of witch house with a tougher, synth-led electro feel. It's free to download, like much of the label's output. Also worth a look are the two EPs by Ron Hardly, an alias of sonic terrorist Nattymari, featuring his invigoratingly skewed take on classic house and techno, and the label's first physical release, Le Universe Perverse, by producer Witchboy. There's a wealth of great material on the AS bandcamp – be sure to check out recent releases by Flexdragon, VS//YOUTH CLUB and Ian Curtis Wishlist too.

Fellow travellers in the land of the never-sun, the Baku Shad-Do label has released some absolutely unmissable EPs since their start in late 2011. The latest and greatest of these is the stunning debut by Dark Mother, entitled Anda. Like London duo CRIM3S, Dark Mother combine excoriating, distorted female punk vocals with shimmering, distorted slabs of electronica, to overwhelming effect. If you like Dark Mother, seek out CRIM3S as well – their groundbreaking debut EP, originally released on the fantastic Black Bvs Records, defined a whole genre, and is still available as a digital download.

Dummy Magazine's Adam Harper wrote in a recent post about a new micro-genre starting to become known as 'vaporwave' – some of the artists mentioned, such as James Ferraro, will be familiar to fans of avant-garde electronics and lo-fi music, others are relatively unknown, but deserve wider prominence. Since reading Harper's post, we've been checking out the strange, video-game and corporate muzak-inspired electronica of Fatima Al-Qadiri and the sublime, achingly wistful synth-pop of Sun Glitters, who have several EPs available via their Bandcamp, and a number of free tracks and excellent mixes on their Soundcloud page. If you're digging this particular sound, try searching for more 'vaporwave' onSoundcloud.

We can't finish off the first column without a mention going to perhaps the most fashionable and best-known netlabels around, Mishka NYC. Mishka are ostensibly a fashion imprint and a blog, but they also have an excellent selection of hip-hop and electronica available free on their Bandcamp page. They were the label to unleash Das Racist on an unsuspecting world, and they've continued to drop quality release after quality release, with particular highlights coming from Mr Muthafuckin' eXquire, featuring production from Def Jux / Company Flow mastermind El-P, Das Racist's Kool AD, and some wonderfully hypercolour retro-future trance from first-wave witch house stars Ritualz and FUNERALS.

Bandcamp is used by a plethora of independent artists – one thing you'll find a lot of on the site is regional hip-hop... not all of it good, by any stretch of the imagination. Fighting the trend for tried-and-tested boom-bap beats in favour of lyrical precision and forward-thinking sample-craft, Mr Loop has several albums up for free on his Bandcamp, the latest of which is a collaboration with rapper Mark From The Zoo. Entitled ZooLoop, it is a satisfying, solid follow-up to last year's excellent Music From The Tannhauser Gate.

Coming off the back of the recent BBC documentary looking at Irish hip-hop, one rapper that really stood out as... well, not being a bell-end, and actually being able to rap, was Lethal Dialect, a member of the Working Class Army collective. His album LD50 Part II came out in January this year, and it's a great example of intelligent, well-crafted Irish hip-hop, with beats that recall early Wu-Tang.

Fellow Irish musicians Ghosts tread a very different path, combining chillwave atmospherics with dubstep and ghost garage influences to create a compelling, emotionally involving sound. Their latest, Judge, is available from Free Music Archive, a US-based site run by the people behind legendary independent radio station WFMU. The FMA is a who's who of established netlabels, mainstream industry professionals with half an ear cocked on the scene, and channels looked after by radio shows, labels and specialist curators. It's a great place to start if you're new to the world of netaudio, and their front page has a handy 'Recently Added' and 'Most Interesting Higlights' player which acts as the perfect gateway drug. You'll find more guitar-based music on FMA than on the other netlabels I've mentioned so far, with a particular gem coming from Krautrock-obsessed musicians Hisko Detria, whose widescreen, flawlessly inventive album Static Raw Power Kraut is a must for post-rock and math-rock fans.

We've barely scratched the surface – other highlights we should mention in greater detail include risng-star Glasweigian indie-electro songster BLOOD BLOOD, whose tracks offer a moodier take on the indie-meets-dance-music formula of Skinny favourite Miaoux Miaoux; the return of witch house pioneers WHITE RING, with a Neil Young cover version and a fantastic mixtape; and the ridiculously prolific German minimal / tech-house producer LetKolben.

There are swatches of netlabels out there on the net, and we will attempt to cover the best and brightest for you every month, right here on The Skinny website. If you run a netlabel, or have a Soundcloud or Bandcamp page you want us to bring to our attention, wade in on the comments below and we'll keep it in mind for the next edition. Furthermore, if there are artists or releases you'd like to see covered, get in touch – we aim to make this column a nexus for desirable netaudio of all types, genres and nationalities.