My top ten net.label releases for 2004

Since this question came up over at the Internet Archive's Netlabels Archive (which I co-founded and continue to run with the help of the _amazing_ Internet Archive crew, helping set up a nice, stable hosting platform for free music), here's my pick for the Top 10 net.label MP3 releases for the year, in no particular order, all freely downloadable and Creative Commons licensed:

1. Transient - Over The River And Through The Woods [one16]
[Transient's own label Noisy Vagabond has a plethora of gorgeous laidback electronic releases from the man himself, but this latest album of his, on excellent Canadian netlabel One, is, as the release text says, 'his own niche blend of downtempo mixed with, well, everything else'. Essential.]

2. Inceptdate - Attics and Inventory EP (lp002)
[The Atlanta-based Lifeform Project was by far my favorite net.label to appear out of absolutely nowhere this year, and of its initial 8 releases, leechable via LegalTorrents, this 'dreamlike' cut-up hiphop release from a musical contributor to Cartoon Network (Adult Swim, Toonami) is perhaps the most vital.]

3. Text Adventure - Fantastic Disaster [os036]
[Although Observatory Online's releases slowed down quite a bit this year, the net.label counterpart to the excellent Skylab Operations still released some gorgeous EPs and albums, and Glasgow-based Text Adventure did the indielectronic thing with laidback, laser-guided precision.]

4. Psilodump - Washed [ECL001]
[The only release so far on the mysterious Eclectro, but Sweden's Psilodump, recently seen releasing on real-life labels Sound Of Habib and Q-Records, mixes up contemplative piano tracks and pretty spectacularly funky Yello-style groove in a truly beguiling style.]

5. Edith Frost - Demos [csr027]
[From one of the truly unique netlabels, the exotica/kitsch Comfort Stand, comes an absolutely beautiful whispered album of older demos from Edith Frost, signed to seminal label Drag City, and purveyor of tremendously evocative languid, downtempo indie music.]

6. Dub Jay - Songs For A Room [kpu055]
[The previous Dub Jay EP released in late 2003 on Kikapu is also excellent, but this collection of pulsing ambience is also symptomatic of his structured, melodic approach to music, and, more than that, of Kikapu's thoughtful, quality approach to the net.label concept.]

7. Bubzigohn - The Left-Hand Path To Jahweh's Doorstep EP [aCb.nl.0001]
[One of those albums, from the Florida-based Alpha Cat Boogie collective, that's pretty much indescribable, so we'll use the official release description, shall we? It's 'a seditious rock-opera response to American culture' which 'focuses on Harry, a burrito enthusiast who watches the war in Iraq on TV... works a lowly tech-support job, indulges in internet dating, and occasionally dips into deconstructing the flaws of humanity.' Just... wow.]

8. Kernel32 - Little Things Count [open001]
[Openlab Records are one of the newest additions to net.labels, and their debut release, by Manchester, UK-based Kernel32, mixer of the Soulseek Allstars Vol.1 compilation on ShutUpAndListen, is pure, pure idm of the highest nature, all sine tones and cathedral beeps.]

9. Proswell - Dryrot [one05]
[An album-length track from Proswell on One, mixing up old and new material from his releases on the ever-smart real-life label Merck Records. Basically, essential twisting electronic idm bidness, to borrow a phrase from another Merck album title.]

10. Tree Wave - Cabana EP [os034]
[Another Observatory Online gem, from Paul Slocum of Atari 2600 hacking and HomeStar Runner RPG fame, alongside vocalist Lauren Gray. 'Instruments include an Atari 2600, a Commodore 64, a 286 luggable PC, and an Epson dot matrix printer, all reprogrammed as sound generators.']