Indiecater is an offshoot of the mp3hugger music blog. It's not really a record label in the traditional sense as we mostly put out records (not really records per se as everything you see on here is a digital only release - in other words you can't touch it, although we do hope you can feel it) by people who've paid for the recordings themselves. And because we're picky buggers we only put out a record if it's something that we'd buy ourselves, that way we can put our heart and soul into telling the world how great it is. Indiecater initially released compilations of songs that had appeared on mp3hugger but we soon realised that there was much more that could be done. That's why we will be reissuing albums that we've always loved but are no longer in circulation (but blood pumping all the same!) or are hard to find. We've tried to keep our prices low in the hope that people like you will take a leap of faith and end up finding some music that will stay with you forever. It's all very simple really and the best thing of all is that the majority of the income from every sale goes straight back to the bands.

P.S. The ‘we’ is really an ‘I’ but self-promotion is no promotion as some famous royal once said.

What is indiecater?
I’ve heard mp3s sound brutal so what’s the story?
Why are your releases so cheap?
Where does all the money go?
Tell me how I can buy an indiecater release?
I’ve downloaded the album, now how do I play it?
Can I download what I buy from indiecater as many times as I like?
I prefer music products you can hold in your hands such as compact discs, cassette tapes and vinyl so am I wasting my time with indiecater?
I’d like to sample the music before I buy it, is there any way I can do this?
I’ve flippin’ lost/deleted/can’t find the album I bought from you, I’m distraught, can you help me?
Why should I shell out my hard earned cash on more that one release?
Blast, I’ve bought several indiecater releases already and never copped that there was a discount available, is there anyway I can claim it back?
I’m in a band that has released an album/EP and I wouldn’t half mind having it on indiecater, is that possible?
I have a blog/website/radio show/newspaper/magazine/fanzine and I’d like to feature one of your releases, can I get a promo?
Do you stock the Stereophonic's latest triumph?










What is Indiecater?

indiecater is a digital record label run by music blogger mp3hugger. By digital we mean that every album for sale is available to buy in mp3 format only, there are no CD’s although at some stage we’d like to release something on vinyl.

Back to Top


I’ve heard mp3s sound brutal so what’s the story?

All of the mp3s on indiecater are set to 256kbps (in laymen’s terms this means they sound just as good as what you’d hear on a CD, if you are a canine reading this I must convey our apologies) which ensures an extremely high sound quality.

Back to Top


Why are your releases so cheap?

While there is nothing cheap about the quality of the material we believe that music has been overpriced for too long. Charging €20 for a CD album is reprehensible in our eyes despite how good the music might be. By setting a reasonable price we hope to get as many people as possible to experience these great artists. What we offer is only a sliver of their back catalogue so we hope that indiecater can be the starting point of your voyage of discovery of them.

Back to Top


Where does all the money go?

Our primary objective when setting up this label was to give something back to the artists we love. So the majority of the income from every sale goes back to the artists in question. This will hopefully go some way towards helping them record even more wonderful music. What’s left is used to pay for the running of the site.

Back to Top


Tell me how I can buy an indiecater release?

We understand that buying stuff on the internet can be daunting so we’ve gone to great lengths to make the experience as easy as possible. All of our transactions are handled through Paypal which is renowned as one of the safest internet shopping facilitators. If you are still a bit wary just give us a shout and we can work something out using more traditional methods.

Back to Top


I’ve downloaded the album, now how do I play it?

After you’ve downloaded an album from indiecater it will appear on your computer as a zipped file. This file contains all the artwork, information and mp3s. The zipped file is characterised by a .rar extension (much like a word document would have a .doc extension) so if you’ve just bought Sunbear’s album it will be called sunbear.rar. The zipped file in itself is quite useless and it won’t emit as much as a single note no matter what way you click it. So to extract the mp3s from the .rar you need to have winrar installed on your computer. Winrar is a simple and free piece of software that you can download from here. Once this software has been installed on your computer just right click on the .rar file and chose the extract option and the mp3s will pour forth like honey from a summer beehive. With a bit of luck you’ll also be buzzing from the experience!

Back to Top


Can I download what I buy from indiecater as many times as I like?

At the moment we have set the download limit to 3 times but if you need more just contact us and we’ll sort you out.

Back to Top


I prefer music products you can hold in your hands such as compact discs, cassette tapes and vinyl so am I wasting my time with indiecater?

In our opinion CD’s have had their day (cassette tapes you say - where have you been living for the last decade, still have a smidgeon of love for them myself it must be said) but there is nothing stopping you printing out the artwork and burning the mp3s to a blank CD. At some stage we hope to release something on vinyl but not just right now.

Back to Top


I’d like to sample the music before I buy it, is there any way I can do this?

Yep, every release on indiecater is playable through the website players dotted around the site. Just go to the release you are interested in and scroll down to the end. We’ll also have a radio page set up soon that will provide a nice sampler of everything available on the site. Also, when our catalogue is big enough we hope to offer a free downloadable sampler.

Back to Top


I’ve flippin’ lost/deleted/can’t find the album I bought from you, I’m distraught, can you help me?

Of course, just get in touch using the same email address you bought the album with and we’ll send you a fresh download straight away!

Back to Top


Why should I shell out my hard earned cash on more that one release?

Delighted you asked that because if you buy more than one release at a time you can get up to 10% off the price of your total order.

Back to Top


Blast, I’ve bought several indiecater releases already and never copped that there was a discount available, is there anyway I can claim it back?

Crikey, well if you get in touch we can give you an instant 10% off your next purchase!

Back to Top


I’m in a band that has released an album/EP and I wouldn’t half mind having it on indiecater, is that possible?

Please, please talk to us. Indiecater is constantly on the lookout for new and exciting stuff to release and we guarantee that if we like what you do your music will be appearing on these very pages in the quickest possible time.

Back to Top


I have a blog/website/radio show/newspaper/magazine/fanzine and I’d like to feature one of your releases, can I get a promo?

We’d be over the moon for any exposure you can give so drop us an email straight away.

Back to Top










Don't go there.......




Do you stock the Stereophonic's latest triumph?

Piss off!

Back to Top

Solidarity and lickable covers, why it's gotta be the indiecater compilations series!


Hits In The Car gives the compilation the thumbs up by saying 'Indiecater Volume 3 is out now and features some absolutely wonderful artists!'

Man about town and self-confessed vinyl addict Matt had this to say 'features the best indie talent drawn from around the globe'.


Other Mentions

5acts

What is it about Vol. 2 and 8/10's? Not sure really but here is another one from the Clare People Newspaper.

8/10 ain't too shabby and that's what Volume 2 scores from the Clare People Interactive site, they also like the way it 'unearths some gems'.

Fresh Deer Meat prove that indiecater is certainly to their taste when they admit that 'few compilations this year will open your eyes to such a diverse range of quality artists'

indiecater gets its first review as gaeilge from slinky online mag nós* and in the process scores an impressive 4/5!

Matt Vinyl cuts to the chase and in the process hits the nail on the head 'reminiscent of old folk recordings in the way that it’s put together'.

'excellent tracks by some uniquely talented artists' is how our fav Danish blogger Stytzer puts it.

'a super affordable album of gleaming musical treasures' is how Gardenhead describes the album, extra points for acknowledging hugger's insatiable taste for punnery.

See what you hear likes what he hears 'the second part of this charming series has arrived'.


Other Mentions

5acts
Indie Limerick
Quiet Color
Side One: Track One
Silicon Republic
State Magazine
Tenacious T

indiecater achieves what appears to be a near perfect score, well 8/10 is pretty nifty don't ya think? from the newly revamped and now fully nationwide Analogue Magazine.

An ecstatic in-depth review from Tim at Tenacious T that culminates in ‘a good compilation is like sex and by god this one proves that point - the foreplay, the action and the sated yet yearning for more feeling at the end. God give me a cigarette now!’.

Album review which has comments on all 10 tracks from Pretending To Be Japanese.

From blogger come burgeoning record label Song, By Toad "a bloody good listen".

From the high priest of self-depreciation Matt Vinyl "a very diverse and wonderful range of music".

The Egocentric lads had this to say about indiecater "a compilation of underground music that's just too damned good to remain underground".

Jared from one of our favourite blogs 5 Acts had really nice things to say "I love it! And the best part: not one single track here is a letdown".

Danish Blogger Hits In The Car says "Now this could be very, very interesting!" in relation to indiecater.


Radio

mp3hugger was interviewed on Phantom FM on 29th July 2008 about the indiecater compilation, you can listen to some of it here hugger on phantom


Newspapers

The Clare People
The Irish Times
The Irish World & With Support From Emerging Mancs


Blogs

Asleep On The Compost Heap
The Bringer Of Song
The Devil Has The Best Tuna
Fabulist!
The Indie Hour
Indie Limerick
Keep Hope Inside
Largehearted Boy
Nialler9
Ohmpark
Pascal's Country Sounds
See What You Hear


Podcasts

Clare People Interactive

We have a lot to thank Conor Oberst for. First of all there’s the fact that his 2005 album ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’ is one of the years best. Secondly and perhaps more crucially he has been instrumental in giving Willy Mason a break by signing him to his label Team Love. 20-year-old Mason drifted in from Martha’s Vineyard on a tide of ramshackle chords, country tinged backdrops and wry lyrical repositories. And now he has gone and produced a debut of understated beauty. It’s like that feeling you got all those years ago when Beck drifted over the speakers for the first time.

Apart from his ability to engineer a great tune Willy Mason’s trump card is his vintage voice. Perhaps he has perfected the first homemade vocal chord sander but the noise he makes is remarkably cultured for one so young with the result that his insightful lyrics seem apt. The musicianship is loose and free wheeling like on the albums opening track ‘Gotta Keep Movin’ which could really be the output from an over enthusiastic rocking chair enthusiast from the deep South. Mason ideas may script life’s underbelly but many of his tunes are punctured by couplets delivered in fluffy coated choruses. ‘Still A Fly’ is one such, coming and going in just under 2 and a half minutes; its simple chord changes wander mischievously until Mason dips the vocals and begs not be forgotten.

‘Oxygen’ has become a torch song, Mason gently bares his soul amid a backdrop of acoustic guitars and sweetly vulnerable vocals. ‘Oxygen’ and the albums title track are the potential seeds for Masons progression into public consciousness. ‘Where The Humans Eat’ has a steady course, defined by a rolling drumbeat, Masons lazy delivery of super lines like “I just fed you, and your fat brother, so why are you now, still yelling at me?” and the odd spectral emission. It’s the albums defining moment, a true 21st century classic. While ‘Where The Humans Eat’ exposes Mason’s ability to come up with straight laced pop, it’s obvious his preference lies in off kilter strumalongs, the kind that would make his campfire the location for this years best party. ‘Hard To Hold’ shuffles unevenly, chords chime and Mason storylines until a familiar chorus has everyone joining in. ‘So Long’ is equally rousing, its youthful theme and energetic stance will have audiences all over the world in a tizzy.

'Where The Humans Eat' has two thirds of an album worth of memorable tunes. The scraps are not totally forgettable but are harder to embrace (‘Our Town’, ‘Letter #1’, ‘Sold My Soul’, ‘21st Century Boy’). This means the album sags a little in the middle but the initial flurry and closing fireworks are so wondrous that they are easily forgotten. Mason tempers his pervasive use of melody with topics as bleak as homelessness, broken families and incarceration. The general mood is undoubtedly one of melancholy, which could leave inlay card readers reaching for the nearest bottle of JD. By immersing oneself in the music however the experience is one that is best shared with a few friends on a balcony overlooking the city on a warm summers evening.

It’s hard to ignore this album such is the ease with which it readily deals shards of wisdom, off centre playing and pockets of honeycombed melody. There may be a little bit of work involved in appreciating its curious directions but the enormity of Mason’s talent is there to see from the get go. He and Mr Bright Eyes are beginning to deliver a rich seam of urban poetry put to equally compelling music. With Mason’s predilection for taking to the road in his campervan on a quest to take over the world he could yet become the 21st centuries most revered travelling minstrel. KD

Rating: 7/10


More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Where the Humans Eat [US] Where the Humans Eat

25 FREE Downloads. eMusic for your iPod® or any MP3 player

With a ragged beauty and grandiose formula suitably befitting a band from Iceland, Sigur Ros are a breath of fresh air in a sometimes stale indie market. While many of their contemporaries' follow well worn formulas, Sigur Ros have a sound that is uniquely theirs. One word of warning though, don't buy this album if you couldn't care less about missing out on something special. Every song on Agaetis Byrjun is an opera in itself. A ethereal voice that could cut through a glacier soars and swoops over arrangements that are so endearing you sometimes think that they could be wasted on an audience not willing to succumb to its charms. The lyrics are a melange ofIcelandic, Hopelandic (Sigur Ros language) and some English but as such it doesn't matter. Remember how you watched 'Life is Beautiful' and forgot there were subtitles, well it is the same here.

While every track is a winner there are a few inter stellar moments that actually produce goosebumps. Sven-G-Englar an early single has been re-released to coincide with their latest tour and proves a good introduction to the scope of Sigur Ros' output. Witness the vocal as the best instrument you've ever heard, so primitive but so hauntingly beautiful beside that submarine echo. Seeing Sigur Ros live is an experience you will treasure for life, it may even move you to tears on occasions. They play against a backdrop of a clear starry night, you'll stand hushed, incredulous that you are witnessing pure pop music. When an album like this is played with the same passion and power, there is no live experience that can come close. 'Starafur' will melt your heart. It will swathe you in a ready brek type glow as the soft vocals, electro twinkling and sweet strings create a concoction that is mesmeric. Try playing it to a fierce creature and watch the beast sit back and reflect on how great life is. I defy anybody not to be moved by it. 'Flugufrelsarinn' sails by for almost 8 minutes with giant slabs of soaring guitars intermittently interrupting the vocal gymnastics and organ drenched backdrop.

The longest track on the album, 'Vidrar Vel Til Loftarasa', starts out like a snowflake. Over the course of its 10 minutes it transforms into something altogether more powerful. Blending the finer strings with music box tittering and a pretend country strum, this song ushers in a frosty vocal. As the friction builds up the tempo warms until the movement is unstoppable. As you get caught up in it you can't breathe, but remember what they told you in ski school. Don't panic at all costs because help is on the way. Several minutes later as the sun filters through, you smile and the world becomes your oyster once more. A close thing but what a wonderful thing this avalanche of sound is. 'Olsen Olsen' has a seasonal ring and hearing it does create goodwill feelings that few things can produce. Made up of a hybrid of heavy bass riffs, Jonsi’s almost female sounding vocals, a wandering flute quiver and a sweet barrage of backing vocals, this is exceedingly good stuff. The title track appears soon afterwards and just ups the ante on an album on its way to the stars. It is fragile, vulnerable and so close to perfection it hurts.

Sigur Ros are a band to treasure. If they are nurtured well they could hold onto the incredible power that their music currently unleashes. As is the case in a cruel world it's unlikely they'll ever reach the heights of Britney Spears stardom but for a lot of people they will mean an awful lot more. And anyway, with bands like this you get greedy and want to keep them to yourself. Already national heroes in their own land there is a Sage being written about them as we speak. KD

Rating: 9/10

More Info: Official & Myspace
Buy Album: [UK] Agaetis Byrjun [US] Ágætis Byrjun
Listen: Sigur Ros - Starálfur

25 FREE Downloads. eMusic for your iPod® or any MP3 player