December, 2003 archive

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was misunderstood when it was released, but is now viewed as one of the most influential classics of science fiction.
Electronic music fans know it as one of the greatest combinations of electronic music and visuals in movie history. Vangelis’ exceptional score helped create one of the most vivid pictures of the [...]

This CD is a gift for fans of the music of Philip Glass. The music captures the lyricism of his best work, and showcases the full range of his style within a collection of short piano pieces.
The Etudes are an interesting collection. As etudes, they explore a range of piano technique. They also explore the [...]

The music of Stephen Halpern has lived outside of the electronica mainstream for 30 years, yet it’s been very influential, especially in the world of New Age music.
Most of Halpern’s music is peaceful and calm, and is free of the rhythmic pulse of most music. Instead, it uses a longer pulse, based on the [...]

ATB is best known for his memorable dance track 9pm (Til I Come). ATB mixes trance tunes with straight-ahead dance electronica.
ATB is the nom-de-dance of Andre Tanneberger, a German DJ/producer. His first album, Movin’ Melodies, set the pattern for his later work. ATB’s albums tend to have two or three great cuts, and the remainder [...]

This year, Native Instruments is helping you get ready for the new year by stuffing your stocking with a bizarre new instrument called Metaphysical Function.
Metaphysical Function is a self-playing sound generator that can be used as a stand-alone application within OS X or Windows XP/2000. The instrument combines “multiple waveform visualization with dynamic parameter automation”. [...]

Open Music Registry – This site has a database of audio files that are published using open content licenses. This allows users to download and freely user the files.
Downloads from the Open Music Registry are free, not just in price, but also in the way you can use them. You’re free to share the downloads [...]

Musicians, weed and free music have gone legit.
Weed Media Activator is a free Windows application that lets you download and listen to music, and even get paid. The software lets you use “Weed” files on your computer. The files can be played three times for free, so you can decide if you like them. After [...]

MP3.com.au – MP3.com may be dead, but don’t tell the Aussies!
This site hosts thousands of free MP3 files that are legal and freely downloadable. You can stream the songs at low or high bit rates, or just download them. If you see something you like, you can send a music e-card.
The site provides charts of [...]

Legal Torrents – This is a collection of legally downloadable, freely distributable ‘net.label’ electronica MP3 files which can be downloaded using BitTorrent. The site lets you download huge archives of free music from various online record labels.
The Legal Torrent server provides the initial seed, and they supply ‘BitTorrent irrigation’ for all the files by keeping [...]

Digitally Imported brings the latest european techno and trance music to the net. DI has several free streaming stations, including techno, trance, vocal trance, hard trance, chillout, and hardcore.
The site doesn’t provide downloads, but just high-quality streaming electronica. Streams are available at 28k, up to 128k. There’s community forums and chat room for each channel, [...]