PUBLIC MARKS with tags music & 2008

50 best artists, albums and songs chosen by music bloggers. Listen to full albums.

"Pop ruled 2008. From indie to hip-hop to dance to punk, no genre was immune to pop’s grasp. Even pop got poppier! In no particular order, here are my picks for the must-have albums for teen music collections in 2008."

"I recently downloaded the SXSW 2008 torrent file, which contains nearly 48 continuous hours of music from 763 acts appearing this week at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas (these bands elected to give away MP3s; they represent less than half of the total number of acts). I found myself wondering how to locate the songs worth hearing, and imagined that others were having the same problem. Thus, the 763 reviews you’ll find below. For brevity, I kept each to exactly six words."

Scott Robbin is a web developer, musician, photographer, bicyclist and general tinkerer. He currently lives in Chicago, Illinois where he is self-unemployed as a freelance programmer for the Internets.

Here’s Tristan Prettyman’s cover of the song “New Soul.” You’ll probably recognize it from the Macbook Air commercial.

sxsw participant

sxsw blog covering music, film and interactive

Radiohead Exclusive broadcast performance online on new year's eve

¥768 nebulo. avutma. cd. september2k8 tracklist: lactoz pill *.mp3 liminal *.mp3 p *.mp3 evice / revengine *.mp3 accident *.mp3 stramir *.mp3 kido / pause *.mp3 substeel animal *.mp3 limbes / coton-poudre *.mp3 videogamma *.mp3 trembledoux / varia p *.mp3 sirenavutma *.mp3 avutma is the latest release by nebulo after the album kolia, two remixes for architect and hecq, and even freely available nebulo ringtones. the outstanding french artist thomas p. with this cd has created a closed opus that might be seen as a concept album in which the listener has to decide what the concept is. nebulo's subtle approach forms a complex fictitious scenery by using seemingly minimal resources that are more visible than ever. electronically treated instruments like organ and piano, combined with synth layers and modified beats generate tempers that range from surreal to melancholic or even nearly frightening. listening to 'avutma' is like walking in a dimly lit basement never knowing what's behind the next curve, and who or what is actually casting these shadows on the walls... nebulo's trademark, a connection between ambience, idm, clicks'n'cuts and post-musique-concrète collages is presented here once again. as a reviewer wrote: "surreal dreamscapes painted with tears and sometimes even blood" - avutma might be the soundtrack of today's grand guignol. nebulo discography 09.2k8: kolia. cd. hymen records ¥753. 2006 avutma. cd. hymen records ¥768. 2008 nebulo websites: www.myspace.com/nebulo www.virb.com/nebulo nebulo. kolia. cd. hymen records ¥753 tracklisting: 1. ant, 2. automnal, 3. dr-ill, 4. darkopale, 5. wen, 6. reverse, 7. mecaniduction, 8. klik me, 9. nebula, 10. siapese, 11. nokta, 12. mecalangue (remix by alix), 13. darkopale (remix by ginormous) biographical note: french composer thomas p. (age 25) started as a visual artist. he studied at two art schools and as a visual artist he sees himself more as a 'graphic illustrator' than as a painter. now he has decided to work seriously as a musician. his attendance of electro acoustic composition courses at the bordeaux conservatoire radically changed his musical point of view. of course he knew of artists such as the aphex twin but the classes introduced him to the academic world of musical avant-gardism. prior to these classed he would have called this music 'just noise'. thomas received his degree in 2005 when he completed his composition, 'mecalangue'. however, he has to finish two more compositions to finally get his diploma. music is also his daytime job as he works for a sound design agency. he creates sounds for different types of media (such as radio, software or web pages). eventually he hopes to be able to compose film soundtracks - especially since his interests are still in visual arts. thomas's early musical influences range from erik satie and beethoven to serge gainsbourg and the beatles. when he was 18, he discovered aphex twin, amon tobin and squarepusher - which turned him on to electronic music. at the age of 19 he started to make own music with a 4-track recorder and later with a computer. as an open-minded listener he also likes other styles - from post-rock to triphop to breakcore. his interests in movies and literature are, as he describes it 'a dark aesthetic': david lynch, david cronenberg, stanley kubrick, h.p. lovecraft, william s. burroughs, e.a. poe, franz kafka and more. working as a musician, thomas sees himself more as a 'composer' than as a 'performer'. his aim is to create music that elicits strong feelings and makes the listener's mind travel inside imaginary landscapes. on the other hand, he wants to keep his music outside the academic ivory tower - so he uses beats or memorable melodies within his compositions. listening to nebulo should be like experiencing a story - that is, both sweet, melancholic and violent. 'kolia' shows thomas's skills in the creation of moods - electronica as a skeletal structure, enriched with a large variety of rhythmic patterns; from slow downtempo beats to fast breaks. chords and harmonies make sure that the tunes are recognizable and unique. finally, the economical usage of samples in the musique concrete tradition complete nebulo's concept perfectly. this might be europe's response to well acknowledged acts like lusine icl or the late gridlock. especially if their sound was melted with the deep red flavour of an old bordeaux wine and the playfulness of french tin toys. nebulo website: www.myspace.com/nebulo hymen records · p.o. box 1257 · 93135 lappersdorf · germany [email protected] · www.hymen-records.com · www.myspace.com/hymenrecords