As of October 31st 10pm PST, the Fake Science music store is no longer available. We would like to thank everyone for your support of both the store and our artists. If you would like to learn more about why we closed the store, please feel free to read this post about our decision.

Thank you all so much and continue to read our blog as we will continue to post in the future. If you are interested in listening to our Lab Report Podcasts, you can access our entire archive at fakescience.libsyn.com.

Chris, Maer, Josh, Christopher and James
(The Fake Scientists)

As I mentioned in our store closing post, some of the partners wanted to throw out a few of our favorite albums. Here are ten that I really enjoy, in no particular order:

• Nano - Primary
  Minimalistic yet beautiful techno out of the UK. Christopher helped bring Nano in and his music is the kind that fits in a swank lounge or blaring on a huge rig.
• The Feed - The Edible Album (Bon Appetit)
  Hip-hop for the mind and one with a sense of humor. Like the Roots, The Feed play every not themselves with real instruments not Akai samplers. They have a fantastic groove and I spent many a day jogging around Lake Merritt listening to them.
• Cell - Live at Glade Festival [Mixed]
  I first heard Cell via Ultimae’s Fahrenheit Project part 5 which Christopher featured for the Ambient Airlines segment on the Lab Report. His music is rich in depth and texture and I was very excited when we had the opportunity to carry his live set on the store.
• The Harbours - Second Story Maker
  I first heard the band via my then co-worker, Bob, who is the drummer. He was excited about the release and handed me a copy. Within hearing the second track I knew they would be a fantastic addition and since then I have had the pleasure to get to know and work with a lot of the band.
• Dr. Toast - Oz So Late
  Toast is a good friend of mine, an ex-scratch crew member of mine, an expert of toast (as in the bread) and one hell of a great producer. His music is always beautiful and gets you in a way that you want to listen over and over. I love all his work but feel Oz So Late really represents his stellar sound.
• David Last - The Push Pull
  I think this album really helped solidify the Fake Science crew. Christopher brought it in to review for the report and we were all floored by it. “Cat-Silver” is such an amazing track and I find myself picking songs out of the album whenever I am playing a downtempo set.
• dataspirit - Time Shift EP
  I love atmospheric drum and bass… it is by far one of my all time favorite electronic styles and this album is a perfect example of why I love it. Mellow yet aggressive, its just great music. Logan, the man behind dataspirit who is based in France, submitted a remix track for our contest. We all loved his track and after a few emails we were able to get him to release his EP with us.
• Ultimae - Fahrenheit Project part 5 [comp]
  There is so much amazing music to pick from Ultimae so I just had to pick this comp. Vincent and Sunny have been such an amazing supportive force for Fake Science. Their label puts out such solid music you can never go wrong with them. FP5 was a feature on the lab report and really stuck with me.
• The Seedling Escape - Photosynthesis
  Glitch hop brilliance. I have seen them perform a few times over the last two years and they always blow me away. Their album is brilliant and spent many, many rotations in my car at a very very loud decibel.
• DJ Olive - Heap As
  I had a chance to meet Olive when he was in town for a show. Truly a nice guy down to the core and his music represents this. A stunning mix of different styles yet they work so well together. One of our older releases this is one worth really listening to.

It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you that on November 1st, 2007 we will be closing the Fake Science Music Store. Fake Science was originally started as a labor of love by four friends who had an idea to help share music with people like you and has since grown into the online music resource it is today. However, we evaluated the amount of investment that it would take to keep the store running, as well as making necessary upgrades to keep the Fake Science standards high. We came to the realization that none of us could realistically keep the commitment due to the weight other important things in our lives, such as families, day jobs, and even other side projects. With this knowledge, we wanted to provide you with an opportunity to get back into to the store and purchase music that may interest you. Here are the quick and dirty details about the closure:

• The Store will be available until late October 31st / early November 1st
• Gift Certificates are no longer available for purchase, but existing GCs will be honored until we close the store, at that time they are no longer valid. If you have a GC or have sent one to a friend please use them ASAP.
• We will be updating the blog over the next few weeks with this information, our partners favorite albums, and any other tidbits.
• The Fake Science Blog will continue to exist as will the Lab Report podcast.
• Please inform your friends, family, co-workers that this is their last chance to purchase music at FS.

Through your patronage of our store and our artists, you have made the last two years a great pleasure and worth all the hard work!

Regards,
The Entire Fake Science Team
(Chris, James, Maer, Josh and Christopher)

Let me say up front that Radiohead is one of my favorite bands. So naturally I was one of the first people to pre-order the new release that they are selling themselves without a label. I decided to just order the digital download since the physical package was a whopping $80. I really liked the fact that they let the customer set the price for the digital package. I decided to buy for 5 pounds since that’s what we charge in dollars. A little bit on the generous side but what the hell.

On October 9 I got an email from them telling me that i’d be getting my download code the next day and that the digital files were encoded at 160kbps. Um, excuse me? 160? As anyone who has ever ripped an MP3 knows, 160 is considered pretty lo-fi so that was my first disappointment.

October 10 rolls around and I get my download code. I immediately download my new album and load it up. The first thing I notice is that there is no album art assigned to the tracks and that there is no track number of track number set. This is standard that is supposed to be supplied as meta data and it was missing. Humm, who put this package together? Maybe this is a minor detail to many but since it’s my job to release MP3 packages on a regular basis, I thought it odd.

So, on to the bottom line … the music. Song writing and production wise, this is another beautiful Radiohead album. No doubt about it. What I do have issue with is the mastering. I’m sure that the finished, physical release will be mastered properly but the digital download is weak. The levels are not high enough so the songs played next to other current songs sound less loud. The effect this has for me in my car is that the bottom end is low and the high end is brittle because my car stereo boosts the high end when you turn it way up - which you have to do to hear it well. (This is why I always test every track I mix in the car because if the bottom end is right in the car, then it’ll sound good anywhere.)

Overall I rate this release as weak and amateurish. Not at all what i’d expect from Radiohead or Thom Yorke. The great songs do not come across as they should. On the plus side though is that there is no DRM.