Peter Broderick is not afraid to try out some new directions. With his music (ranging from minimal electronics via minimalism to new-folk), as well as with the ways to distribute them.
Some of his records were released on fairly wellknown labels as Type and Kning, or on lesser known labels as Slaapwel Records and Fang Bomb. But also on cassettes, freely available mixtapes, and now even using Flickr (the web 2.0 photo sharing site).
As far as I know, he’s the very first artist creating a ‘Flickr Album‘ this way.
All songs were created in the second half of 2009, while on the road (he recently toured with Efterklang).
Most of them are quickly recorded compositions or improvisations, created and published without much re-thinking or hesitation. This gives the set a remarkable lo-fi feeling (and sometimes even literally since most of the files are published at a 160kbps bitrate, unfortunately).
This is not an ambient album: there is no music like on his recent Slaapwel record (‘Music for a Sleeping Sculpture…‘) or on Blank Grey Canvas Sky with Machinefabriek.
But the music presented will probably appeal to most ambient music listeners too.
It’s a collection of songs and sketches, clearly demonstrating Peter’s musical versatility. (And if you like this, you may also want to check out his sister’s album ‘From the Ground’, which he has produced and co-written).
One of the tracks (‘Numbers’) also comes in two ‘cover versions’ (by Colin Kenniff and Matthew Loiacono).
‘Luzern’ (the track below) is a live-recording from a performance with Nils Frahm on piano and Peter on everything else (voice, Yamaha CP-70 piano, violin, musical saw, shaker, postcard weevil, and field recorder).
What’s the reason Peter is giving away this beautiful music for free?
The answer can be found in “I do this” :
“I do this ’cause I want you to like me…”
The Flickr album can be collected [here]
Also, Subversion Central hosts a mix containing 8 of the Flickr album tracks.