Reviews of releases or the label in general will appear here. Not that there'll be many, but just in case.
Diskette Etikette Rekords
http://www.myspace.com/disketteetikette - okay by now the most casual observers of these musings will be the first to tell you that we here have a particular fondness for labels who issue their product on (seemingly) obsolete mediums - cassettes especially are a draw for us, but hey how about floppy discs because that’s what the London based imprint Diskette Etikette (great name eh) trade their wares on. Of course its not the first time we’ve come across this rarely (in fact never) seen format I do recall those dudes over at Static Caravan issuing such (was it perchance by Dreams of Tall Buildings). As with ZX tapes this home spun imprint caters for a cross generic spectrum of styles, to date having released a dozen such offerings excerpts from four of which you can sample to your hearts delight via their my space player. If its all the same I’m going to bypass Portugal’s Fm-Ra cut ‘love eternal’ for now because via a link on the site this long sold out outing can be downloaded in its entirety - which we’ve done - and impressed so much that we’ll mention it separately in a day or so. Hailing from Moscow and having delivered the label its second release in the shape of ‘electro flopper’, microbit project serve up some wilfully crooked and kooky sound-scapes yet in ’yoker’ there’s something in the jitterbugging minimalist electronics that aside tapping into the glitch tripped worlds of Frank Wobbly and Sons and Tigerbeat6 draws strangely deep parallels with Raymond Scott’s (pre experimental electronic) big band powerhouse sound of the ‘30’s and as such I suspect deserves further investigation. Those of you up for a spot of tranquilly tutored and mellowed ice sculptured ambience may do well to seek out French ambi-alchemists Pollux whose frail and tearfully melancholic ’black flag of the sun’ offers a moment of detached refuge from a maddening world while our personal favourite of the showcase arrives courtesy of subterrestrial’s dinky ‘interior_world01.map’ whose playful lullaby chimed electronics should find admiring nods from fans of early ISAN, maps and diagrams and fortdax. Tasty indeed.
Mark, Losing Today
Review from the indie music magazine Losing Today, available online at http://losingtoday.com/tales.php?id=326
DER/DEN003 Fm-Ra - Timeless
Excellent atmospheric beautiful structured music! Portugal can be proud of Fm-Ra!
Review by Kai Nobuko on archive.org/diskette-etikette-net
Excellent atmospheric beautiful structured music! Portugal can be proud of Fm-Ra!
Review by Kai Nobuko on archive.org/diskette-etikette-net
DER/DEN008 Subterrestrial - Map of the Interior World
Comment: it is said on the blogspot/homesite of Subterrestrial that Map of the Interior World was available on a specially packaged 3.5" floppy disk from Diskette Etikette Rekords, catalog number DER008. It was originally issued on July 27, 2010 and limited to 35 copies. However, now is the EP issued on a label, Diskette Etikette Net. The 4-track publication consists of intimately chiming short-running developments, incorporating the elements of lo-fi electronica, chiptune-resembling shades, and art-tronica/IDM-tinged spawns. The favorite of mine is the closing notchinterior_world4.map which is an elusive vista based on glockenspiel/laptop folk-determined sequences and glitches. 9/10
Review from Agier Music (http://agier.blogspot.com/2011/12/subterrestrial-map-of-interior-world.html)
Comment: it is said on the blogspot/homesite of Subterrestrial that Map of the Interior World was available on a specially packaged 3.5" floppy disk from Diskette Etikette Rekords, catalog number DER008. It was originally issued on July 27, 2010 and limited to 35 copies. However, now is the EP issued on a label, Diskette Etikette Net. The 4-track publication consists of intimately chiming short-running developments, incorporating the elements of lo-fi electronica, chiptune-resembling shades, and art-tronica/IDM-tinged spawns. The favorite of mine is the closing notchinterior_world4.map which is an elusive vista based on glockenspiel/laptop folk-determined sequences and glitches. 9/10
Review from Agier Music (http://agier.blogspot.com/2011/12/subterrestrial-map-of-interior-world.html)
DER012 Guillotines/Lost in Bazaar - Split
As is the case with floppy disk releases, the washy tones of low bitrate music have to be tolerable to the ear. But I can’t imagine much bitrate snobbery in this underground anyway.
Kicking this disk off is Guillotines from Stoke-on-Trent, the vocalist being Jake Kent of Power Negi Records and the guitarist being Rich of The Madness of the Crowd zine. Their two sub-minute tracks are good songs, but a bit randomly thrown on to the split. “Everyone Loves a Piano” leaks frantic, chaotic melody, treading that line between subtly dissonant and fairly beautiful; a sound track. “Untitled One” is a much quieter, far more spastic track comprised of consistent atonality, that unfortunately sounds less imaginative than the first track and leaves you slightly bewildered about the last twenty-nine seconds of your life.
Lost In Bazaar from Turkey offer a single track, “Disposing Meanings,” clocking in at just over a minute and half. As is with anything I’ve heard from Lost In Bazaar, “Disposing Meanings” is absolutely beautiful; their dream-like guitar sequences are unique unto them, like they’re a dream pop band who took a bunch of speed. I honestly can’t get enough of these guys.
A nice, brief, awesomely-packaged floppy disk. But Lost In Bazaar win me over. I need to take a walk and be philosophical and cool now.
Review from Stapesaw Zine, online at http://stapesaw.blogspot.com/2010/11/guillotineslost-in-bazaar-split.html, and in print soon. Thanks to Sam!
