Vids

I LOVE THESE!!!

I was fortunate to see this guy play dbfest a few years ago.  It is very difficult to find/purchase his works.  I'm still searching.  I saw him do this on a bigscreen projection.  Awesome!

oscillating continuum from RYOICHI KUROKAWA on Vimeo.


I would so love to see this guy/girl/group/whomever do an installation so I could experience this!!!

http://www.zimoun.net/

from this awesome blog:  basic_sounds.blogspot.com

White Rainbow - Prism Of Eternal Now

White Rainbow - Prism Of Eternal Now (Kranky, krank110, 2007) (FLAC)

An amazing disc from a stellar label.  See him live if ever you get the chance.

Review:

Boomkat:  Not one to do anything in half measures, Adam Forkner's previous release was a four-and-a-half-hour boxset, so the comparative brevity of this seventy minute set comes as something of a surprise, and perhaps even a relief. That's not to say that the bewitching hippie soundscapes Forkner produces aren't worth getting lost in, but there must surely come a point at which less really does become more. The durations of the various pieces that comprise "Prism Of Eternal Now" seem pretty spot on, giving you just enough time to luxuriate in White Rainbow's beatific dronescapes without having to worry about any sort of stagnation. To give you an idea of Forkner's background, it's worth pointing out that he co-runs a Portland, Oregan based CD-R label (that's right, he's one of those guys) with fellow Kranky-ite Honey Owens (aka Valet), and has previously hooked up with the likes of Devendra Banhart, Jackie O Motherfucker and Dirty Projectors. Certainly, Forkner has all the right new age credentials, but it's worth pointing out that White Rainbow benefits from a rare skill with sonic manipulation, meaning that at no point do these sonic drifts turn into pointless, slacker dirges. Take for example the wonderfully dense 'Warm Clicked Fruit': its depth of texture is worthy of the Fullerton Whitman oeuvre, and whistles by all too quickly in a brisk nine minutes. Proving there's far more going on here than mere drone, 'For Terry' makes nods toward Terry Riley's transcendental modal minimalism while 'Pulses' sets into an alien percussive stride with acidic lead guitar passages getting well and truly mangled by banks of unearthly effects. Awesome.

Check it in the comments.

Sub Dub - Sub Dub Ep's / Original Masters 1993 - 1995

Sub Dub -  Sub Dub Ep's / Original Masters 1993 - 1995 (theAgriculture, AG005, 2001) (FLAC)

This is a biggie.  When I previewed this at a Seattle record store that specialized in dub, there is a handwritten sticker on the back of the case that says "DEEP DUB" which is saying something coming from this place.  I listened to half the first track and immediately decided to buy it.  This is heavy heavy heavy dub.  It gets a bit dark in there, but worth the trip by far!

Review:

For fans of the experimental reggae-dub-Middle Eastern duo Sub Dub (Raz Mesinai and John Ward), the privately released EPs Babylon Unite and Dawa Zangpo were like minor Holy Grails, always to be sought and rarely to be found; Sub Tools was nothing but a cruel hoax, an EP that was rumored to have been recorded but had never been commercially released. Blessings be upon the heads of those at the Agriculture label who, in 2001, worked with Mesinai and Ward to produce this continuous-mix compilation of all three EPs, making these dark, funky, and exotic tracks available again to Sub Dub's small but adamant cult following. At this point in Sub Dub's career, the duo's sound consisted mainly of variations on a dark trip-hop and dub theme: "Monuments on Earth" leans to the reggae side with its slow, elephantine groove and one-drop rhythmic structure; "Dawa Zamgpo" is more of a rolling hip-hop affair, with jazzy acoustic bass, occasional turntable flourishes, and an ethnic vocal sample taken straight off an old African Head Charge album. "Babylon Unite" is a two-part instrumental steppers anthem that may or may not reference ancient Persia but definitely gets abstract and not especially fun in the second half. Overall, this is a fascinating and occasionally slightly disturbing excursion into the dark underbelly of dub, and is recommended without reservation to all fans of experimental dub and electronica.

videos are strangely hard to find for this album.  i can post a 320mp3 if you'd rather not make the flac commitment.



Check it in the comments.

To Rococo Rot & I-Sound - Hungry Ghost

To Rococo Rot & I-Sound - Hungry Ghost (Mute, mute 9153-2, 2001) (FLAC)

I was first exposed to To Rococo Rot because of the prior album, The Amateur View.  It has a sound that was different than other cds out there (to me).  Warm but clinical, to be brief.  This cd pushed those sounds and bleeps further into a dubbier and louder field.  This is one of those albums to put on and drift.  I was very lucky to have seen them live in London at some crazy brick club under a bridge.  Excellent show, to say the least.  There is an ep that preceded this album, that has some alternate versions... I'll probably post it in the next month or so.

Reviews:

Boomkat: The return of To Rococo Rot is one that we have anticipated eagerly here at the Neck. Recorded in collaboration with NYC wunderkid I-Sound, 'Music Is A Hungry Ghost' is a simply staggering piece of evocative beauty. Having pretty much invented the seamless fuse of harmonic accoustics and electronics, the brothers Lippok and Bernd Jestram have taken their time in producing what will inevitably be regarded as one of the finest LP's of 2001. Following the hazy radiophonic workshop signals of LP opener 'a Number of Things', 'For A Moment' eases in with Veiculo-era crisp key percussion and an array of spaciously vast background disturbances and a melody line that shifts... escalates until reaching an almost fairytale crescendo with I-sounds' static-scratch that makes use of turntablist techniques in a way that takes repeated listens to decipher. The almost painfully beautiful 'first' utilises a single looped bass sound and interwieves itself with found sounds and frequency modulations before ending abruptly before outstaying its welcome. 'From Dream To Daylight', featuring the tantalising Violin playing of Alexander Balanescu, is almost painfully heartwarming. We truly can't imagine anyone failing to be moved by this sublime piece of music......electrified subtle percussion, semi-accoustic guitars providing the engrossing bassline, midnight violins and all manner of subtle sonic manipulations taking place somewhere in the distance. There are too many highlights to this magical album and, we think, we are only just strating to get a grip on proceedings amongst the 15 tracks on offer. Sublime.

allmusic.com:  Though they quickly traded the warm electronic pop of The Amateur View for a colder vision of primitivist synth pop and atmospheric noise, To Rococo Rot proved with Music Is a Hungry Ghost that they're still at the top of their game artistically. Though they occasionally reference some familiar forms -- swirling ambient noise reminiscent of Oval as well as the angular, downtempo indie rock often found on Tortoise records -- the trio (plus guest I-Sound) clearly has a knack for creating music that's understated yet deeply felt. "First" frames a few beautiful, atmospheric chords around downtempo heart-monitor beats, while "Pantone" transforms a series of compact disc errors into surprisingly lush trance-state ambience. Two of the highlights are "From Dream to Daylight" and "Along the Route," a pair of Tortoise-styled tracks featuring another guest, violinist Alexander Balanescu, merging contemporary classical into experimental techno.

^^ I like the reference to Tortoise meets Oval.

I can't find any vids of songs from this album.  You could go here to the discogs page and play the songs there.  Here's some vids from the previous album, which I can post if you guys are up for it.




Check it!!!

Various - Partisan Volume 1 (Again)

Various - Partisan Volume 1 (Partisan, PARTCD 001, 1998) (FLAC)  upgrade!!!

I'll be honest, I bought this a long time ago.  I'm not even sure I listened to it that much.  And now listening to the cd, I'm not sure why I didn't.  It has all the elements of drum n bass that I was digging 12 years ago.   Yea, sounds great now too.

01 Justice – Mauve Flow (Matrix Mix)

02 Future Engineers – Life Support (Neil Trix Mix)

03 Banaczech – Deceptive Emotion (Total Science Mix)

04 Foul Play – Synthetic Bitch (Omni Trio Mix)

05 Perfect Combination – Remember (Technical Itch Mix)

06 Tertius – Structure (Deep Blue Mix)

07 Total Science – Espionage

08 System 4 – Black Cell

09 DJ Addiction – Live @ The Jazz Club

10 Banaczech – Ipcress File

Check it

(RE-UPPED by request, and upgraded to FLAC)

Efterklang - Tripper

Efterklang - Tripper (Leaf, BAY40CD, 2004) (FLAC)

This one is a little bit different.  Bit more ethereal and orchestral.  Totally gorgeous!  And highly recommended.

Review from Pitchfork:

Tripper is the debut full-length by the 10-piece Danish ensemble Efterklang, a band whose name translates literally to "after-noise" but more loosely to "reverberation" or "remembrance." All of these translations are in one way or another appropriate descriptors for the wondrous music created by the group, which settles beautifully into an open area somewhere between the elegant minimalist orchestrations of Max Richter, the electronically-enhanced chamber music of Rachel's albums like Systems/Layers, and the more contemplative moments of Godspeed! You Black Emperor.

The most obvious characteristic that separates Efterklang from these other artists is their extensive use of vocals to augment their spacious orchestral sound. The band regularly alternates between male and female lead vocals, and on many tracks it also employs a full Greenlandic choir. In addition, the band's roster now includes the trumpeter Kristina Schjelde, as well as Hildur Arsaelsdottir and Edda Run Olafsdottir from Iceland's Amina string quartet, who have also performed with Sigur Ros. The cumulative weight of these collected voices and players is considerable, imbuing even the group's most fragile melodies with an astonishing degree of dramatic authority.

Each track on Tripper is constructed meticulously from the ground up, with a base carpeting of electronically generated beats and effects providing the connective tissue between Efterklang's frequent slow-burning crescendos. On numbers like "Swarming" or the exquisite "Collecting Shields", every element of sound is patiently introduced in sequence, allowing the listener to become familiar with each layer before subsequent waves of instrumentation arrive to crash and roil. On busier tracks, like album closer "Chapter 6", electronic and acoustic elements are integrated less cautiously, resulting in jarring sonic leaps that occasionally require strenuous listening but can prove enthralling if you're willing to put in the concentrative effort.

Although most lyrics I can catch seem to be sung in English, I've only been able to pick up on every third word or so, and I'm unable to say what exactly these songs are about. Efterklang's extensive and strategic use of silence, partnered with their recurrent instrumental swells and surges will surely prompt many comparisons to Sigur Ros, and at their best the group is able to fleetingly capture something of the same dream-like, nebulous yearning that has made albums like Agaetis Byrjun or ( ) so endlessly compelling.

Though Tripper was a full year in the making-- and the members of Efterklang have obviously given their full attention to even the smallest detail-- the album is not over-composed to the point of sterility. Perhaps it's a credit to the sheer number of cooks in the kitchen, but even with this music's grand scale each song is allowed enough space to be able to breathe on its own. And with their vibrant, continually evolving arrangements, Efterklang here ensures that, as their name implies, this music should continue to reverberate in your memory for a long time to come.

link in comment, per usual.

Speedy J - Ginger

Speedy J - Ginger (Plus 8 Records Ltd., PLUS8025, 1993) (FLAC)

I picked this up randomly in a cd store in the late 90's and I keep coming back to it.  I was lucky enough to see him live a few years ago at Decibel Festival.  Fantastic!  Anyways, check this out.  I'll track down some reviews that has the time to go more in depth on this album.

This is one of the early 90's albums that got it absolutely right. So many artists fell into the Aphex Twins' style of distortion, tried to copy the Orb's ambient sound, or relied upon General Midi (GM) sounds to 'help' them out. There was a 'dull' period between 95-97 in which nothing really 'new' stood out, except for the odd release here and there. But Speedy J's Ginger is silky-smooth and has some very nice tracks for it's time. A must have.

A classic. Beautiful, discreet, warm, crystalline - "Ginger" is all of these and more. The vinyl version of "Pepper" is different, more upbeat, than that on the CD.

What a great piece of electronic music, silky & smooth, clean produced but there is something that no one write about & is the similar between the track Flashback & the William Orbit's Hardcore Mix of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity, only avaiable on the US 12'' edition of the track [Elektra 0-66486,1991] & it is not only the bassline with the same notes & same execution, more elements sounds similar but one track is before than the other so you judge.

Fantastic for its day and age, unquestionably it is. The only thing that strikes me even more is how Speedy J has sucessfully outdone himself with the next one, G-Spot". While "Ginger" displays a musical innocence he never looked backed to, as a producer and craftman, Jochem Paap only evolved and went on to forge even greater things afterwards. It's a great album, though, which showcases a broad array of sounds and ideas that would later on prove to be staples in a fair chunk of IDM albums. With an impressive ease he moves through various stops of electronic music; be it trance, soulful techno, slick electro or straight up ambient, the man rocks it like very few can. Full of deep, emotional tunes which don't move with haste, but deliver thoroughably enjoyable and dense material suitable for couch embracing afternoons.   It may never fully master the trancey IDM territory like his sophomore album does, and it will hardly ever reach or gain the thought provoking, genre bending and challenging status "Public energy #1" and "A shocking hobby" have, but nevertheless, "Ginger" remains a must own to fans of early Warp, Plus 8 and R & S Records. It skilfully embodies the overall feel electronic music can provide you with through a single album. It's lovely. One of those old school gems where the 'dare do' mentality is shamelessly clasped in both arms. 4/5.