folktronica

Cologne based electronic music producer Napoli Is Not Nepal is one of the most underrated artists coming from Germany. Debuting on Shitkatapult in 2002 with Revolv_er with an idiosyncratic mix of pop and IDM I would have expected him to be better known, yet he never made big like T. Raumschmiere, Apparat or Telefon Tel-Aviv..

Well not really, but if you look ‘ard enough you can find some solid things for free: A roundup of good netlabel releases we’ve checked out this month, from Auflegware, Breathe, Id.eology and Pulsations for You netlabels.

After all these years, I know that the blogosphere doesn’t have an attention span of more than a few days so whatever you present should either be shit hot or totally vintage, effectively rendering albums from say, 2006 out of sight. Today we make an exception for Eglantine Gouzy a lesser known bedroom pop artist from Paris.

A selection of tracks & mixes, including folktronica by Kettel courtesy of kracfive, electrodub from Sardinia Bass Legalize, free download on A Quiet Bump netlabel, electro acoustic guitar processing from Mark Templeton, soundscapes from Tauchsieder (free download album from their own website)

The collaboration between Kapotte Muziek & Goem’s Frans de Waard with fellow dutchman Freek Kinkelaar, Beequeen is a very prolific duo, with over 40 releases since their inception in 1989.

eleased in February 2008, this is something I had to mention before delving into summermusic. Behind L&P is the talented Kristofer Ström whom we know before from his work with Kama Aina and Gregg Kowalsky. He’s taken home a bunch of awards with his animations as well as his music this year.

Berlin based folktronica guitar duo Taunus was formed by the Berliner steel string guitarists Jan Thoben and Jochen Briesen in early 2001. Their sophomore album “Harriet” on Ahornfelder, features a cast of guest musicians playing clarinet, harmonium and vibes including F.S. Blumm on guitars.

Another standard bearing netlabel is 12 Records. Specializing in ambient and folktronica they’re close to achieving the milestone 50th release. On No. 46 they have the Austrian David Schweighart and on No. 47 they have Muhr whose Miasmah release is still doing chores on my playlists. Here’s what the label has to say about both releases.