2003-09-27 01:55:56 2003-09-27 01:57:02 kikapu dreamers of dreams review. (here's an old review i wrote about this album when it was originally released) :) whether you are aware of it or not, there are actually people out there fighting your fights for you, winning your battles, and trying to make this interesting world of independent music safe for you. and they don’t even know who you are, but they are still happy to give a helping hand. those people of whom i speak, are of course the individuals who are running net.labels. what is a net.label, you say? well, it’s pretty much your average music label, with only one difference: instead of releasing music in hard-copy form, such as vinyl or compact discs, these net.labels distribute their releases over the internet in the mp3 format for you to download and enjoy. did i mention that they are giving all of this great music away for free? ok, i thought so. in what has to be one of the best examples of throwing a huge “fuck you” in the riaa’s direction, the sudden proliferation of online mp3 labels in the past few years is nothing short of astonishing. one of the new kids on the block is enough records, an experimental electronic label based in portugal. while only being in existence for a little over nine months, enough has already managed to release ten mp3 releases by eight different artists, and also started up their wildly popular enough radio project, a streaming online radio station. according to their website, “the dreamers of dreams compilation is a gift from enough records to everybody that’s been helping out, and listening to the stuff we release.” from artists who have already made a name for themselves through outside releases, to up-and-coming bedroom producers, the dreamers of dreams compilation boasts an extensive array of artists and producers, all of whom have been hovering around enough records the past few months. enough’s extended family has grown so large that this compilation is in reality a two-disc set. as a whole, this release stands out as one of the best experimental compilations to come out in the past year or so. part a tends to stay in the slower tempo/ambient range, but never really finds itself drowning in ambience, it pulls itself above water every now and then with some choice up-tempo tracks by md, atomchild, and i. another couple of standout tracks on the first disc of this release are the straight-up techno of chellovec and the old-school vibe of the friendly robber. and once again, sense takes the title of most beautiful track, with its tales of a sunset over an australian beach. part b starts off nicely with a long track by inf with a lot of world music sounds: flutes, drums, etc. setzer wins the award for most frightening track, almost reminiscent of that deep, dark voice present all over air’s virgin suicides soundtrack. teori lets you know that it’s fun to make out in shangai, and argon closes the compilation with nearly six minutes of conga-driven techno. releasing a compilation is always a toss-up: there might be some great tracks on there, but a lot of the material can also be piss. a truly successful compilation contains quality tracks without too many throw-aways, and has a great feeling of flow and cohesiveness, all of which is unquestionably present in the dreamers of dreams release. and what is even better is now that you’ve read this review, you can listen to this compilation for free by visiting the enough records homepage. 5 enrcmp01_-_dreamers_of_dreams 6428 1 5.00