Peace Offering

Describing PEACE as “the first music atlas in the net” is definitely underselling it: what it actually is is a bumper selection of 180 mp3s collected from across the globe and available for as-good-as-free download in return for a very modest (€5 – €25) donation to the Catalan wing of Amnesty International.

And these aren’t just any old mp3s either, as coordinators Buffet Libre have managed to coax contributions out of a seriously impressive selection of international names. Donators of particular note include the truly mighty Mogwai, future electrician Dan Deacon, fun-personified in the form of Stereo Total, the delicate textures of Austria’s Fennesz and his Japanese mate Ryuchi Sakamoto, old Hefner-man Darren Hayman, the glossy electro-pop of Greek birds Marsheaux, Belgium’s new wave legends The Neon Judgement and France’s own dabblers in the same direction Black Strobe, our own friends from Catalunya The Requesters and Undo, the polite twinkles of Finland’s Jori Hulkonnen, beat poet for the computer generation AGF/Delay, Brazilian nut jobs Bonde Do Role and the naive electro-rave of South Africa’s Mujava feat Nonsense. Not to mention the USA’s Micah P. Hinson And The Pioneer Saboteurs, Marissa Nadler, A Place To Bury Strangers, Asobi Seksu, The Spinto Band feat. The Beast Pageant, Dent May & Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City and Jeffrey Lewis; Canada’s Buck 65 and Malajube; Venezuela’s Kid606 feat. Barbara Panther; the UK’s Marc Almond, 4hero, Patrick Wolf, Dubstar, Si Begg, Gyratory System, Cicada and The Boy Least Likely To; Norway’s Ane Brun; Germany’s Ascii.Disko, Console and Jeans Team; France’s Tahiti 80, The Toxic Avenger and Amélie-les-crayons; Italy’s Dusty Kid; Iceland’s Amiina & Kippi Kaninus; Sweden’s I’m From Barcelona; Netherlands’ Don Diablo; Switzerland’s Heidi Happy feat. Paul Niehaus (Calexico) and Low Motion Disco; Israel’s Nico Teen; and Australia’s Operator Please.

And that is just the artists I have heard of: the hard-drive filling bumper stash also includes plenty of random play surprises you didn’t realise you liked yet hailing from pretty much all over the world – Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Columbia, Bolivia, Argentina, Greenland, Denmark, Ireland, Hungary, Serbia, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Tibet, China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, India, Iraq, Palestine, Thailand, Singapore, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Mali, Uganda, Bikya, Mozambique, Congo and New Zealand. There ought to be something amongst that lot to expand even the broadest of musical horizons, so set the downloading and unzipping marathon in motion here.

The Buffet Libre team who have put together this mammoth undertaking have their fingers in many pies, mainly mp3 flavoured: the multi-platform site includes the Spanish language mp3 blog Continental Breakfast, a 150-strong series of downloadable cover versions in their Rewind division, and the typically ambitious remix competition project Batidora which gives access to remouldable parts from the likes of Cut Copy, Shitdisco, The Go! Team, Holy Fuck, The Bravery, Ladyhawke, The Teenagers, Does it Offend You, Yeah?, Passion Pit, The Mae Shi, Infadels, The Rumble Strips, Dragonette, Wolf Gang, Stereo MCs, Don Diablo, Munk and Frankmusik. That ought to keep you busy for a while.