These tracks make up the top four winners of the first netlabel battle and show just how diverse the music in this community can be. Please be sure to purchase the vinyl of these tracks, which will include an unreleased bonus track by Makunouchi Bento, in order to help support the winning artists and keep this competition going.

Makunouchi Bento – Rokurokubi Part 2
Introduced with perfection, this song integrates elements of chant and a resonant shakuhachi with tribal, jungle-type percussion to emanor its audience into a hypnotic trance. The song then progresses into a varied 4/4 rhythm pattern, keeping the pervasive aerophone as its dominant overlay. Slowly a set of taiko drums are introduced and build to create a complexity of rhythms to finish out the masterpiece.
Rokurokubi Part 2 is the second of a four part EP to be released by Makunouchi Bento in the future. When listening to this piece it may be helpful to know that the rokurokubi “are goblins or demons found in Japanese folklore. They look like normal human beings by day, but at night they gain the ability to stretch their necks to great lengths. They can also change their faces to those of terrifying oni (Japanese ogres) to better scare mortals.”

Vim! with Girl Afraid – Here She Comes
Hopefully more of a compliment than anything else, “Here She Comes” gets my vote for ‘song with most commercial appeal’ over anything I’ve ever heard in this community. Vim!’s high-energy production drives a dirty-bit rhythm that could shamelessly hook and catch any unsuspecting listener. This, accompanied with vocals from Girl Afraid and her nonsensical lyrics, makes for a perfect formula to hit #1 on Billboard. Jez listen to it and you’ll understand.

Kaneel – Matinée odeur cannelle
This song is a ying-yang between peaceful silence and noisy complexity. Beginning with a ying intro of calming simplicity the song takes a gradual and linear slide toward a yang layer of rhythm and instrumentation. These two dualities collide with occasional (and well-placed) interludes of silence only to finally slip into and be absorbed by the yang.

Säwe – Rottenfilthydirtylewdlasciviousjunk
This clever piece combines elements of rock’n’roll, nature, and electronica in a subversive response to its introductary sample: a commentary about the future of society due to rock’n’roll. While there is no concrete style for this music that I can put my finger on, it is definately a good balance of enegy and entertainment that could satisfy any like-natured listener.

Makunouchi Bento – Bonus Track
While this song won’t be available for download on archive.org, there will be a describition of the tune as soon as I get my hands on it.

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Makunouchi Bento takes netlabel battle.

After an intense 15 day vote session, Ogredung artist Makunouchi Bento takes the win at the first netlabel battle.
In the first round, Makunouchi, with their song “Rokurokubi Part 2”, dominated their voting group with an amazing 11 point lead over the runner-up “Matinée Odeur Cannelle” by Camomille’s Kaneel. Vim! with Girl Afraid, of Monotonik, (the winner of group 2) had a closer race with only 5 points over Säwe.

Round two was no competition. Makunouchi Bento started strong and ended with an overwhelming 21 votes vs the 7 raised by Vim! with Girl Afraid.
Makunouchi Bento is the duo component of Qewza and Waka X. Their track “Rokurokubi Part 2” is one of four parts in an up-coming EP based on a “mixture of strange electronic noises and natural sounds, with a strong psychedelic vibe”; be sure to check out the rest of the album when it’s released.
In the mean time you can also listen to Maku’s new release on Ogredung (www.ogredung.org), “a reprise of old amazing scene song ‘Morninfizik'”, featuring Nagz.

The winning tracks of the netlabel battle will be pressed to a limited edition vinyl, along with a additional bonus track by Makunouchi Bento, and will be distributed to the winners as a prize. The rest of the vinyl will be up for sale at numia.org to help pay for expenses. Pre-order your copy today!!
The netlabel battle is an ongoing series and encourages all netlabels to participate. Feel free to join the next battle by going to http://register.numia.org and filling out the registration form.

Notes

Limited edition of 100 copies (12″).

The 4 tracks (A1-B2) are the winners of the Numia Battle of the Netlabels. Makunouchi Bento, representing Ogredung, have won the battle. More details about the competition, plus all the songs available for downloading (MP3/OGG) and listening here.
Vim! and Girl Afraid representing Monotonik. Kaneel representing Camomille. Säwe representing Soulseek Records.

Credits

Track 01 written, produced, mixed and mastered by Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma (Makunouchi Bento)

Track 05 written and produced by Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma (Makunouchi Bento), Julien Neto aka Tao [, , ]; vocals by Mark Wilkinson (The ME Band []); mixed and mastered by Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma (Makunouchi Bento)

Artwork by Sugarush

Organized by Grant Kidd