YouTube Copyfraud Strikes again

Or, how to abuse the law to one's own advantage

On YouTube's page of our very own Down to Earth video (Public Digital Festival 2010 entry) you may see a message saying that it contains material from an entity called IODA.

And Life Be Nothing

A music video in retro tones

A somewhat Angeresque visual collage, made with edited and compiled Public Domain material from The Prelinger Archive. Music: Lost Galaxy by Dead Admiral (from the album Of Spirits & All Flesh, 2010). Vimeo Festival & Awards 2012 entry, in the Remix category.

T-Ho: Fit to Mold

A feathery touch of modern nostalgia

In a world where the ease and safety of ephemeral standards imposes a more and more alarming uniformity in artistic expression, inspiration drawn from purer, time-resisting sources can make a notable difference. South Korea based singer/songwriter Tim Haagenson (T-Ho) from Minneapolis proves that when stylistic "loans" and influences from the past are dexterously molded into a modern perspective, they can play a crucial part in the creation of a personal signature.

Nehoryn: Memory's Garden

Tripping down memory lane

A composer of prodigious talent and impressive musical inventiveness, Nehoryn offers a "retrospective" of his earlier compositions in a 12-track collection by the eloquent title of Memory's Garden. It is always exciting to observe how an artist's work has evolved with time, what elements and influences determined its development, which of them were left behind for good and which were the crucial ones to remain and mature into something even richer and more accomplished.

Fanfan l'elephant: Toi

Luminous elation in pastel tones

An appetising single of ambient electro, inviting us to a voyage of the heart and the spirit; the melodic lines, percussions/drums and sound effects form a universe of stark beauty, soothing for the ear and purifying for the soul.

vermillia: under the frozen rain. waiting for a rainbow

The meaning and beauty of sorrow

Vermillia is one of those one-of-a-kind artists who pursue their own vision regardless of genres and classifications. A musical as well as visual concept - concise collections of intensely evocative instrumentals, with very pretty hand drawn covers that depict Anime style female figures and faces.

Oscar Fantoche: Fantoche Orchestra

First and last waltz

An odd, haunted waltz suspended in mid-air through the mist. A slow oriental melody snaking its way along a lazy counterpoint of percussions and bassline. A fragmented, intoxicated march flirting with languorous violins.

Urzhia-Kan: Atlantik

Profundity in surface

A delicate mermaid choir, electric guitars, synth and an ostinato drum groove echoing the rhythm in Ravel's Bolero: the eponymous opening track of Urzhia-Kan's second album, Atlantik, promises an engaging and adventurous musical experience.

Juan Shaman: Solos y Azules

Alone and blue

I had first listened to Juan Shaman a few years ago, when his album Reevolucion was published on Jamendo. I was impressed by his very characteristic voice and the dark, rhythmic melodies of his songs, while his lyrics reminded me a little of Lorca's poetry - highly evocative, sometimes surreal, but also close to the pure lyrical and audacious imagery of traditional songs.

Aufklarung: My mistress eyes

In the end is the beginning

Five "cornerstone" poems by authors whose work marked Europe's (and the whole world's) literary history - the famous Shakespeare sonnet My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun, Wordsworth's The Solitary Reaper and She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways, Home Is Where One Starts From by T. S. Eliot (from the Four Quartets) and When You Are Old by W. B. Yeats - set to music in an ambitious yet unpretentious album, merging past and modern resonances in a peculiarly attractive mix.