Various Artists “netBloc Volume 30 (aldartea)” (BSCOMP0030, 2010)

Love of music is what the netBloc series is about. It’s not about hatred of the mainstream music industry, even though it may seem so sometimes (no matter how much I am against everything that the music industry represents these days). The fact of the matter is that there are artists, worldwide, who aren’t being heard because they don’t fit into some generic compartment that the current music industry has deemed economically viable. The industry has completely lost sight of the art. As with most American industries, it’s only guiding force is now the bottom line. Certainly, netBloc Vol. 30 artist Single Bullet Theory can attest to the fact that this tunnel vision isn’t a new phenomenon, yet it seems to have gotten much worse. I get it… business is BUSINESS, but what American corporate culture seems to have forgotten is the balance between business and creativity. Without the creativity and art of the product, the soul of it is gone. Yet, the soul hasn’t actually gone from music, sure it’s been forced out of the mainstream, but it still exists. It can be heard on hundreds, if not thousands of netlabels. It can be heard on portal sites such as freemusicarchive.org, jamendo.com and clearbits.net. It can be heard on numerous blogs and podcasts that devote themselves to promoting truly independent music. It can be heard directly on the countless number of independent artists’ websites. With all of this art bombarding us from all directions, it’s difficult to keep up with it all or to even begin digging into it to find the bits that please your soul. The netBloc series is my humble attempt to shine some light on music that truly deserves to be heard by as many people as possible.

‘Aldartea’, a Basque word meaning ‘mood’, seems a succinct way to describe this collection of netaudio that, as is always the blocSonic way, has been compiled with care to ensure the listening experience is more than what a thrown together compilation of tracks would provide. It’s always a thrill to see how completely different genres and styles can be juxtaposed and still retain a certain mood. While the music listening experience is a completely subjective thing, I do hope that with every netBloc release, I guide at least a few of you to appreciating new styles of music through the juxtapositions found in each and every one. I also hope that, through them, you discover new favorite artists. Artists that you continue to support long after their netBloc appearance.

Thanks again to all of the participating artists and labels and thanks to you for taking a moment to download and listen! Please… keep the music moving… share it… blog it… podcast it.