An Irishman having lived in Chile, Hawaii and Newfoundland, surrounded by a great and ever-changing number of musicians throughout the years, ceaselessly tampering with musical instruments “in an effort to subvert and undermine our preconditioned expectations of sound”, Quinn McCarthy was definitely not the type to do things the usual way. From 1991 to 2008, he recorded dozens of albums, mostly accompanied by a core group of four musicians, under the name Tom Fahy.

Rachael Eisley was one of those musicians, playing with Tom Fahy since 1999. At his request, she now assumes curatorial duties, meaning she’s been busy uploading the group’s massive body of work “to venues on which Creative Commons licenses are made available: Jamendo and the Internet Archive primarily. Tom did not believe music, like ideas, could be owned in an absolute sense. It was his wish that his work be made available in a way that ensured maximum accessibility and flexibility to a broad range of listeners.”

Today, 79 albums by Tom Fahy are available on Jamendo alone. The music ranges from jazz to classic contemporary, but is, above all, experimental. “Many of Tom’s compositions could be referred to as experimental jazz, explains Rachael, but I think the simpler, more broad, catch-all term with which one could refer to the group’s efforts would be ‘experimental,’ as, indeed, Tom referred to most of his compositions as experiments and referred to our recording studio as a laboratory. Moreover, few of our instruments did not undergo some preparation prior to a recording.”

In 2000, Tom Fahy and his musicians moved to Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, where they built a studio. Envisioning recording as an almost spiritual experience, they never sought to release any material until 2007 (when they created their own netlabel, Stag Records) and didn’t cultivate a following, although they did play concerts around the US and Canada.

On June 19th, 2008, Tom Fahy died from Tay-Sachs, a genetic disorder affecting brain cells, at the age of 30-something (his year of birth was never disclosed). A short but full life. “He believed that if one makes so many compromises that he no longer has time to do the things he loves, then that is the signature of a life lived in vain. Tom made no compromises and with the little time he was allotted in this life, he did what he loved and his friends were more than happy to help him.”

The similarities between Fresh Body Shop’s music and that of Nine Inch Nails are undeniably strong. Pedro, the Nantes-based musician behind Fresh Body Shop, is even the first to acknowledge them: “My music has been compared to NIN a lot, especially the albums Make This End and Tasteless, with good reason. Trent Reznor (NIN’s mastermind and singer) is a great influence, not so much for the ‘industrial’ aspect of his music but for the way he composes outside of the usual ‘guitar/bass/drums’ model that can be a bit boring.”

Add to that “a strong vocal resemblance” and you’ll get why comparisons are flying. But Pedro says that the songs he’s working on at the moment “will veer away from that style”, stressing that many other artists influence him, such as Tricky, Beck, Kurt Cobain or Thom Yorke.

Fresh Body Shop’s musical formula, due in no small part to the fact that Pedro writes, sings and records alone (he does have a live band for concerts though), is all about mixing organic elements (guitar and piano) with synthetic beats and melodic vocals. “I don’t compose like a guitarist, he explains. I’d rather start form a beat or a bass line, and then add vocals straight away. If the melody isn’t any good, I’ll move on to another track. The vocals are the central element, I’d rather build around them then add them only at the end”, the way most bands do it.

Active on Jamendo since July 2007, Fresh Body Shop has rapidly become somewhat of a musical staple here, with over 140,000 combined listens of his four published albums. “I wasn’t looking to make money, but to get listeners and feedback, and I got lots. I’d been in contact before with a couple of record labels, mostly English and American, but I was always wary of locking up my music by signing to a label that wouldn’t have the means to promote it.”

Since then, Pedro’s posted his music all over the internet, but it’s from Jamendo he got the widest audience. “Building a fanbase is my main priority. If I was after money, I’d quit music and start selling clothes.”

Gruenanlage, the band, is three Berlin musicians playing some sort of electro-rock with many influences (Bauhaus, Radiohead, Einstürzende Neubauten, Joy Division, to name a few) and many guests (including actors, photographers and web designers). Gruenanlage.com, the website and indie label, was created around it in 2004, “when mainstream media couldn’t do anything with our work. The radios didn’t play our music because it was too strange, too complex and too sophisticated, explains Marcel Weller who, in addition to playing guitar and bass, programs the drum machines, records and does mixing and mastering. However, it’s nothing new to say that mainstream media does not leave much room for innovation and performance.”

Gruenanlage.com, a label striving to be “open to all possible forms of expression and to reach all people interested in the examination of society and the human condition”, not only features music by the band and its three members individually (Marcel Weller, Markus Wenninger and Jan Treuner), as well as Ewa Firsowicz (songwriting); it also offers other art forms, like visual performances, audio drama and even literature. Jan Treuner’s new novel will be available on the website next year.

Right now, the team is busy planning concerts in the next few months for Ewa Firsowicz and Gruenanlage at which they will sell CDs. On the web on the other hand, the music is all free: “the idea is to get more publicity, and that way there are no obstacles like Gema (the German ASCAP or MCPS-PRS) to overcome while using the web as an output.” Sounds appealing? Gruenanlage.com is open to “all artists with nuggets buried in their computers”...

From legal matters to playing live to manufacturing a CD, all issues concerning indie bands are addressed, with loads of links and info. The “Music hosting sites” tab lists Jamendo of course. Thanks guys!

She took up the guitar eight years ago because she needed to accompany her singing. Then she rapidly “fell in love with writing” and understood that “this was what [she] wanted to do for the rest of [her] life.” Now Pamela Garcia is some kind of an underground celebrity in Guatemala City (she’s also a theater actress): radios don’t play her music “because it’s not commercial”, which makes her “an outsider”, but “from time to time, people say hi to me in the street. That makes me realize that people who have heard or seen me really like what I do.”

She also explains that making a living from your music in Guatemala is hard. Local musicians, receiving little support because the public is generally more interested in international artists, need to work on the side to support themselves. “But, she says, refusing to be discouraged, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some who manage.”

Pamela has only uploaded two songs on Jamendo. She regrets not having had much time to devote to her music lately, but that’s going to change; and she’s got plenty of plans to keep herself busy. “Right now, I’m writing again. I want to record my new material and share it with you. I also want to play concerts more often again, and in the future write music for theater.”

Their 6-track EP “prePOPsterous” is the kind that impresses with just one listen: the songs, the recording, the melodies, everything is so masterfully crafted you’d think these three musicians from Brussels have an entire professional career under their belt. But Papa Dada only exists since 2005, and John, Julien and Hubert are just three mostly self-taught thirtysomething musicians who have been playing in bands since they were teenagers. “One of the great strengths of Papa Dada is that we’re not trying to impress people with our technicality, yet we have enough mastery to reproduce what’s in our heads”, says Hubert (drums and backing vocals).

Surprisingly, the band doesn’t have much of an audience yet, they say. They have only played a few dozen gigs in Belgium, “but the name is starting to get around, and we’re beginning to see people sing and clap at concerts without being our friends, which is nice.” “prePOPsterous”, their only release, was recorded in 2007: they sell it at concerts and published it on Jamendo, appreciative of the fact that here they “get reviews from musicians instead of journalists, explains Hubert. We don’t have a problem with giving out our music for free, that’s the best way it can get around! We’re not looking to become millionaire rock stars, we just want to make music and get it heard.”

Inevitably, similarities are striking between Papa Dada, with its piano/distorted bass/drums formula, and the band that popularized it, Ben Folds Five, particularly on a track like the brilliant “Art Gallery”. But comparisons are cut short: “It’s a band we like, sure, but we’re not trying to imitate them, clarifies Hubert. It’s only a coincidence that our line-up is the same as theirs.”

So what’s next for Papa Dada? A few gigs in september, but mostly work on new songs in  order to record a new EP by the end of 2008. “We’ve been playing together for four years, so we’re starting to explore new sounds and technologies… We might even bring out some guitars!”

She’s 37 and runs a picture framing shop with her husband on the island of Penang, in northern Malaysia. On her blog, Ching Teoh posts regularly about “[her] new paintings, [her] thoughts, [her] findings on the internet and [her]  travels.” One day, she made a video showing off her particular technique of painting over plaster-like paste and needed music to go with it. People on a forum had introduced her to Jamendo some time earlier, so she logged in and looked for an suitable track (which ended up being “Old Portrait” by Madjan), to accompany her images, putting to good use the magic of Creative Commons freedom.

“I like jazz, solo guitar, mostly soft music”, she explains about her musical choice, hoping that the video can help bring some attention to her work. “I don’t live 100% from my art yet, but I’m aiming to be able to.” In the meantime, she’s been telling her music-loving friends about Jamendo, helping us in turn build our reputation in Malaysia. Thanks Ching!

Below is the video in question.

In 1999, when he started Drop-Zone, a collective comprising a dozen hip-hop artists from New York City, and the label Zone Platinum Entertainment to go with it, Mr.Tac wanted “to create a music platform and a label home for all artists of all styles to release their music across the world”, himself being “a hip-hop artist with a huge following” (50,000 copies were sold of his first single with Drop-Zone). No room for small-time ambitions here: these guys are in for the big picture, with fans already calling them “the X-Men of music”.

Zone Platinum has a team of five producers creating tracks for its roster’s artists, Mr.Tac being the main one (producer as well as artist, that is). You can listen to their work on Drop-Zone’s two mixtapes published on Jamendo, or on the new album Mr.Tac published recently. But Zone Platinum does not limit its activities to hip-hop only: “It’s a place of our own where we create original style hip-hop, but also alternative, rock, r&b and pop tracks, with a fresh new sound, explains Mr.Tac. Most of the hip-hop artists on Zone Platinum are from New York (Nova, Cleva, Thomaz J. Edizon, Brianna, The TriBoro Order, etc.), other style artists are from elsewhere in the US.”

Regarding the American rap scene in general, Mr.Tac’s judgment is quite severe, and coupled with a strong bias towards his hometown. “Hip-hop right now in the US is going downhill. Too many artists, too many producers but not enough talent. As hip-hop started to expand from New York City to other parts of the US, it became spoiled and rotten.”

So it’s up to grass-roots activists like Drop-Zone and Zone Platinum Ent. to keep things real then? Quite possibly so. And of course, “Jamendo is the perfect place and idea for artists and labels to release new music to fans. It creates an opening slot for them to promote themselves on an international level.” And why not also meet fellow artists while they’re at it? Cartel, another NYC hip-hop favorite on Jamendo, will be interviewed here shortly. In the meantime, Mr.Tac “would love to network”. Gentlemen, introductions have been made…

SaReGaMa and Nikila were two Jamendo users exchanging good reviews about their music. Not just out of politeness, but because each one really appreciated the other’s work. And then one day of 2007, after SaReGaMa asked Nikila to send him the separate tracks of a composition of hers he really liked so he could remix it, their first collaboration was born, “Morning”, followed by a full album, …Not Too Far. This would lay the foundation of what would become the sound of Triplexity: smooth, introspective and mostly instrumental electronica.

And when SaReGaMa wanted to do something “more world music-influenced, more organic”, he turned to another Jamendo musician, Hamel1, who plays sax, clarinet and guitar. From this new three-way collaboration came out the track Three 4 Ten. “This was a milestone for Triplexity”, says SaReGaMa.

The fact that SaReGaMa lives in the woods of Mount Carmel (Israel), that Nikila is a Belgian citizen currently based in France, that Hamelin lives near Narbonne (South of France), and that the three of them have so far never had an occasion to meet physically was no obstacle. “The way Triplexity works is radically different from the ‘rehearsal/concert’ model, and that’s a really interesting experience, explains Hamelin. I often compare it to studio work, only deferred.”

On the contrary, the geographical as well as musical differences (SaReGaMa comes from a trance/new age background, Nikila is into world music and cutting-edge electronica and Hamelin is a jazz buff) are an asset for the group. “Triplexity is all about this complementarity through our differences, with a multicultural component, an openness to other horizons that I like a lot, says Nikila. And then there’s this complicity between us that makes it a real pleasure to make music together!”

These last few months, the trio has been working on its second album, “Live In Triplex City”, which is now published. Even though they make music just for pleasure “without any schedules or obligations”, the three musicians have a healthy work rhythm going. “Usually it’s a matter of a couple of days to finish a track, if all the members have enough time to spare, explains SaReGaMa. We all have dayjobs, Triplexity is our leisure.”

So, will the members of Triplexity meet one day? Maybe even play a gig? There are no such plans so far, but who knows. “I hope to meet my fellow musicians one day, perhaps for a beer, says Hamelin. The idea of making Triplexity a live band is still far-fetched, but nothing is impossible!”

Triplexity from left to right: Nikila, SaReGaMa, Hamelin