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In all honesty, I was not expecting to like The Free Estate, but Karl Olson, aka Ultraklystron’s difficult-to-categorize new release turned me right around.  Before I knew it I had his sharp rhymes and clever hooks bouncing around in my head at all hours, unable to be exorcised without touring the tracks a few more times back-to-back.

My expectation has to do with Ultraklystron’s rep for anime and manga fandom.  While I was a rabid fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion when I was younger, that’s the only anime* I could ever claim to be a fan of, and as for Manga, well, I feel that the best work was done a long time ago.  So I don’t expect to catch any of the references, and I expect the music to be as …how to put this gently… juvenile (whoops, that didn’t work) as those influences.

*Anything Hayao Miyazaki does transcends its medium and any genre-boxing to become simply wonderful storytelling.

But either I was mistaken in my impressions, or I’m losing my perspective as an outsider of this music scene, or this release was a departure from previous efforts, as it rests so lightly on any of those undesirable influences that they are easily digested.  Indeed happily digested, as this is one of those nerdcore releases that strikes me as having strong cross-over potential.  With great production, smooth performance, and engaging material, this has everything and more that you could expect out of a good pop album.

I challenge you to avoid nodding and grinning along to the refrain of Webcam Girls or Greatest, or if you go ahead and download the full, free release, empathizing with him in Not A Criminal and Dumb Crush.  I expect that, like me, you’ll wonder how it went by so fast when the whole album has finished playing, and that’s because (and this is the best part) this free version of The Free Estate is a subset of the tracks from the full release.  Kudos to Karl for embracing the new methods of getting your music noticed.  I’ll be the first in line when the digital retail release is ready!

Ultraklystron – Webcam Girls
Ultraklystron – Greatest

Karl Olsen’s Website, The Free Estate on Rapidshare, Buy Ultraklystron Music