This is one I've had on rotation for an age, would almost swear I'd posted it up but a cursory review makes it clear that I have the privilege of posting this now, rather than at a time when I had other bits to provide. This is a DAT bootleg of a latter-era Nude party. Mix is top quality, as you would well expect of this legendary party. Even the boot gives a great sound-image of what the party was: whistle brigade is out in full force and captured here.
Another mix that's been a mainstay for me. Doing an old-skool mix with twenty (or so) years perspective makes it so much easier to know the listening crowd. In this bit you'll find everything from pop disco cheeze to ace legowelt trax and a lot of acid and chicago shit providing substance. It's a mix so good you won't care that the old lady next to you on the train gives you the eye 'cause the 4/4 beat is spilling from your ears. Go listen to some choir music, ma'am, my church preaches a different gospel. Enjoy.
here's a bit for the breakbeat hardcore heads out there (easily my weakest posting constituency). nicked from the its all about old skool forums (hit that up if you're down with the sound). Homework assignment: lay down someting interesting.
I received a DMCA notice on my post of The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms not long after my computer died, and since I've gone back to school in the meantime I haven't had time to do many rips. I've since gotten a new computer and found that none of my old data was lost, I'll be moving into a new apartment soon where I'll be able to set up for new rips. I'll have some new material to post soon, so keep an eye on SRO: We ain't dead yet.
Ah! Sorry, it looks as if my ripping computer has died. I don't know when I'll be able to start posting personal rips again, since my laptop is a cheapie i picked up a few years back and isn't at all suited to it. I'll try to post rips I already have in the coming days, until I can get a proper platform to do originals.
The worst part is, since I can't listen to my mp3 collection I've been listening to my vinyl collection. I've found half a dozen lps I'd love to post but can't. Plus, half my collection is on a hard drive that isn't compatible with my external enclosure. I'll have to look over what I have, so for the time being everything I post will be the sort of thing I was into a few years ago.
Last one for tonight, an old tabla LP I picked up a few years ago. Throwing it up so my tabla-playing roommate can grab it. Can't seem to find any mention of it online aside from some old bookstore selling it on a few sites, so no info. I think it used to be owned by a DJ because there's some kind of locked groove on the last track which I could never fix. Nothing but tabla and tampura here, if that's your thing then enjoy. Note the tampura playing 'Greensleeves' in the background of Dadra-Tal! Only just noticed that. 60s traditional music records othered the hell out of whatever culture they were attempting to document, didn't they?
Quote: "They’re called “drunken Daft Punk” and “too pop to be noise and too noise to be yummy,” but Grabba Grabba Tape are the definitely the noisiest and weirdest shit to come out of Madrid in a minute.
Formed in 2004, Grabba Grabba Tape, Gros-OH!-Vot and Lol-OH!-Vot, are more like Devo on crack. Their track “Bue da Fixe” is extremely catchy, Mr. Roboto noise with an interesting ending that brings to mind Snoop Dogg after a gay orgy with Kraftwerk and Devo.
The band has played festivals such as the Primavera Sound Festival, Mira Mama Soy Raro, Pegatina Rock Fest, and Callarte and is poised to become the next classic cult band.
Out now is their latest release “Kurt Kobaya y G.R.O.X. Man Odia Nirvana” released by GSSH! GSSH! Records – the label run by Lol-OH!-Vot.
GSSH! GSSH! just relocated guerrilla-style to Lisbon from Madrid and, according to their Web site, they forgot their street so they’ll get back to us."
(that's a juno 106 on top with the label over the roland logo by the way)
This is a rip from the vinyl release. As far as I can tell there seems to be an actual fault in the pressing on Baila El Naja! Naja! which is what causes the skips (the grooves seem to cease existing at regular points, but only for that track so who knows if it's intentional). Recommended for fans of Polysics I guess, it's very 'new technopop' with little apparent sonic influence from the old Japanese school which informed that late 90s scene. Think Japanather fallen in love with analog synths. All vocals vocoded, it's even the drummer who sings!
Ismael Lo is a Senegalese musician who makes "Mbalax" music, which combines aspects of western pop with Cuban and Senegalese rhythms. From the wiki (There's a more complete biography on the Allmusic page):
He was born in Dogondoutchi in Niger on 30 August 1956 to a Senegalese father and a Nigerian mother. Shortly after Lo's birth the family returned to Senegal where they settled in the town of Rufisque, near the capital Dakar. He is a versatile singer and artist, and besides his singing abilities, he also plays the guitar and the harmonica.
In the 1970s Lo studied at the School of Art in Dakar later joining the popular group Super Diamono, but leaving the group in 1984 to start a solo career. Over the next four years Lo recorded five popular solo albums.
This is his 1984 solo album, Xalat. Soft guitar interplay with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and an upfront brass section. Highly recommended for fans of highlife music, although not quite the same as far as I know. I'm really not as familiar with this specific type of music as I'd like to be, I found this album by chance and picked it up as soon as I'd had a listen.
One of my all time favorite techno artists. One of the first techno CDs I was pointed to by more informed friends was the album under his Kaito pseudonym, Hundred Million Light Years which I cannot possibly recommend highly enough and may post in the future. Somewhere between UR and early 90s teutonic trance (back before everything went wrong). I've never heard anything by him, under any pseudonym, that wasn't absolutely beautiful music.
The Universe will hold us. We are just one tiny part of it. Think about the Earth, it is but one small planet in the Universe. So this makes us a family. No war - only love, peace, a newborn baby, children, humanity, communication, nature, cadence, sensitivity, crying, laughing, spririt, giving. Life is at times not easy but we were born here. We are living together. Here.
A set of ten roots dub tracks produced by Winston Riley sometime in the 70s. Horrifically low quality bootleg, just as it should be. Sounds like the record was mastered from another record, in fact. Odd problems with channels, there's at least one very large pop in the groove (I bought it brand new a few years ago and have only played it twice before now) and one track literally restarts in the middle of it. It's so bad this might even be a lathe bootleg, although the effort involved in that seems unlikely.
That said, there's some nice tracks here. At some point I need to sample Glambling Dub. The B-side is better than the A, in my opinion.
Alright, up today we have one of the gems of my tape collection. It's been posted elsewhere in various forms (actually having trouble figuring out where I found it in the first place, come to think of it), but this rip is from my copy of the original cassette. It remains in raw, full-side v0 mp3 form, since I don't think cutting it up into 'tracks' makes any sense. Have a listen and you'll see what I mean.
This release was a recap/medley of live performances for a 1983 Japanese Anarchist festival. Features bands such as A*MUSIK, Skeleton Crew (Fred Frith/Tom Cora), Remedy Control, and at least one or two noteworthy Japanese-name acts who I can't seem to remember and I'm having a surprisingly difficult time digging up the other blogs that have posted this in the past (I BELIEVE one of them is Zuno Keisatsu but I can't read Japanese at all). If anyone wants to translate the cover in the comments, there's a larger copy of the scan in the file. Anyway, I'm hoping to start varying up the posts from my increasingly regular dance single rips, so look for more like this in the future. Enjoy.
Got two classic full albums from the heyday for you tonight, Adamski's first two full-lengths. Classic tracks in high quality, sounds a bit dated but fun nonetheless.
Can sound horribly dated to the uninitiated now, but when I first heard this back in 1990 amongst other tunes, it was a revelatory experience. If only I had been maybe a few years older than my then 16 years, perhaps I would have been able to attend one of the orbital raves where these tracks were recorded but that didnt stop me appreciating the energy and enthusiasm of both Adamski and the crowds you can hear whistling and yelling in the background.
With N-R-G crashing into the UK charts in that same year, bringing the bleeps and beats to the ears of older generations who derided its cheap and cheerful sound; it became a bit like a beacon to people like myself, representing Our music precisely because older people didnt understand it. With the worldwide hit of Killer later that year (with Seal on vocals), Adamski became one of the first sort of dance pop stars. Unfortunately the follow-up lp to LiveAndDirect was a disappointment and very much over-hyped. Still, this lp stands as testament to what one guy with a sampler, keyboard and computer can do live.
Second post of the evening. Three electronic disco singles for your perusal, first up is Cheri Lewis' cover of "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself". Competent cover, not much to it though. However, the second single is an absolutely stellar cover of "Je T'aime (Moi Non Plus) by Vicious Pink Phenomena (Youtube preview here). The b-side on that one is a very neat bit of proto-techno that could have come out of detroit five years later, almost like what I'd imagine the detroit guys were inspired by. It's also 8 and a half minutes long and almost like two separate songs. Highlight of the post, honestly.
Last is "Living in Video" by Trans-X, an up-tempo synth-pop tune with a lot of vocoder. According to the album discog page, it was made using some combination of Roland Jupiter 4 and 6, CSQ 600, TR-808, Korg Vocoder and Polysix, Oberheim OB8, DMX, DSX Elka Synthex, Electric guitar, Simmons and Mattel drums.
Four track EP from this obscure (only one mention of them on the internet and a track on a discogs comp) NJ minimal synth duo, featuring a synthy cover of 'Time Has Come Today' and three other synth rock tracks. Reminds me a little of Nash the Slash without the virtuosity and much more of a punk edge to it. To guess, that's an 808 and a pro one or minimoog, alongside some guitar and bass. Enjoy.
Alright, got an LP ripped that I need to chop up before posting (freedom songs of thamil eelam, not quite timely but close enough I suppose). Until then, enjoy this set of Italo and Latin house. Got some real bangers on this batch, including a ten minute version of Sueno Latino and a real nice version of Cuban Gigolo. Also, this!
One of my favs. Dig that pro old skool music video (that's exactly how I dance!!). The version of Sueno Latino is off a late 90's double single set, it was apparently included to give legitimacy to the "Latin House Anthems" subtitle, because every other tune on it was contemporary and I've never heard of any of them. Anyway, jump on it and jack jack jack.
Second LP of the night, highly literate english synth-pop from The Passage. First track is one of my favorites of the genre, 'XOYO' is a paean to gender & sexual equality and features some of the lushest synth work I've ever heard. That synth work carries on through the rest of the album, and should strike a chord with both minimal synth fans and fans of more grandiose works (Schulze, for example, or the various albums I've posted in the past). 'Fleck', for example, is a mean little song with a couple of aggro little monosynth basslines, while '(Ourselves)' is a bit like Vangelis-gone-synthpop. Punky up-tempo synth lines and intelligent lyrics found here in spades. Enjoy.
Got two good LPs tonight. First up is a selection from the Stiff Records catalog (Feelies labelmates, you know you can't go wrong). The Equators were a 7 member pop-reggae group, up tempo almost to the point where I want to group them with the second-wave ska movement, except they're american rather than english so probably didn't have much in common with those groups. Not a bad track on the album here, standouts include 'Mr. Copper' and 'There Is Someone' but all around a well written, well produced album of highly-dancible reggae tunes.
I'm not dead! Just busy and waiting on a preamp that never came (so I bought another one). I'll try to start doing regular updates from now on.
This one's got three singles I've been dying to rip for ages, and I'm sure you'll understand why. Up first is MAW's deep house remake of Fela Kuti's "Expensive Shit" (feat. a remix of "Zombie" and an accapella of the A side!). 'Nuff said. Second is a brilliant mid-90s strictly rhythm tune called I Want to Get To You. Vince Ailey's first (and only, on SR) release. Lastly is something I'm not even sure can be called house, it's a promo remix by Bill Laswell from the 90's "Panthalassa" album of big name remixes of Miles Davis' seminal "On The Corner" album. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to dance to it. This time we've even got zshare previews!
Damn, been a busy few weeks! Too many parties, not enough time to kick back. My new preamp is in the mail, just waiting on it to start digging into the stack of records I've had sitting here. (Got a right good dancehall mix lp I can't wait to post) For today, a classic from one of my favorite 90s techno groups: Unit Moebius. Hard fucking lofi acid. The Zipper is one of my all time favorite tracks, along with Biosoft with that UR vibe. Not a bad tune on the album. Acid like a kick in the head.
This one's a demo my friend Ozzie passed along to me a year or two ago. We talked about getting together a live band (check the last track for his collab with Hypnotic Brass Ens.) but he was in a car accident and decided to take a little while before getting back into it last I heard from him. Soul guitar isn't exactly my forte though, so I don't know how much would have ever come of it anyway. Tight production and the man can fucking sing, that's all I have to say. Enjoy.
I just realized that I mentioned AR & Machines in the GAM post without giving any context. I think this is out of print, not sure, not adhering to my own rules too well I suppose. This is, truly, one of the greatest krautrock albums ever pressed to wax. My copy is a rip from a cd rerelease/boot from a few years ago. It's a level beyond Neu!, something like Can gone truly 60s-style psychedelic. Achim Reichel was a german pop artist, a singer and guitarist who was sucked up into the hippie movement. He built a system of tape echo effects which allowed him to compose songs which have never been duplicated, surround sound in 1970. Compositions which are frankly unlike anything else I've ever heard, and provide a tremendous inspiration to my own efforts as a guitarist and producer. This album is like nothing else produced before or since. Listen to it on headphones.
When the acid wore off and the money ran out in the late 70s, Reichel went back to disappointingly bland pop productions. Shame if you ask me, and I've no doubt you'll agree once you've heard this.
Two classic albums from south african bandleader/trumpeter Hugh Masekela, both from his 'funk' period in the early to mid seventies. 'I am not afraid' is great all around but is especially notable for being the first time he recorded 'Stimela,' a song he'd re-record at least a dozen times afterward. This is the shortest version I've been able to find, and one of the best. Some of his later live renditions of this one would push the twenty minute mark. Also notable on this lp is his interpretation of 'night in tunisia' and basically the entire second side. Probably my favorite album of his.
'Colonial Man' is a groovy anti-imperialist concept album released during the bicentennial year with some kickass cover art and some even better tunes. All of the songs on the lp- except for the Isley Brothers cover- deal with exploration or colonialism in one way or another, but the ideology never gets in the way of the groove. My favorite is probably 'whitch doctor,' which re-tells the story of Stanley's search for Livingstone over some spooky chants and slick guitar and horn arrangements.
And they've dropped a new mix via the absolutely incredible The Acid House blog. >>>>>>>>Check it here<<<<<<<<<<, not even gonna try to quote his article about it, read it there. Click this link. Give him props. This probably the best all around hardcore techno mix I've ever heard, just anthem after anthem and it works so well. I don't know if downloading it there benefits him somehow, but get it there before you get it here. The only reason I'm even posting this is because I tossed it up on zshare to show some friends. Two hours of the best tracks of the era. Top one, Get sorted.
Altern8 LIVE @ The Clarence Sligo 18-4-2009 - ZSHARE LINK DELETED get it off the above links or request a reup if unavailable
(even if you don't hit the link to that post, check out The Acid House on my BIA list to the right! ->)
Light up a cigarette and pour yourself a scotch, neat. Beautiful vocals from this Japanese jazz songstress (described someplace or another as having a "heroin and cigarettes voice"), with production from a legendary producer whose name escapes me.
This one's been tossed around on a few blogs but it's tough to track down since most of them have gone down over the years. Khorshid was the greatest guitarist of Lebanese descent in my opinion, even including Dick Dale. Listen to this album and you'll see what I mean. I posted an old tape rip I had of his tribute to Oum Kalsoum as my first post on this blog, but nothing I've ever heard of his other work compares to this. An extremely limited range of comparison, since his LPs go for about $50 on ebay and I've never been able to find rips of them anywhere and his catalog is totally out of print aside from bootlegs. which you can only track down if you read arabic. Believe me, I've tried. Everyone should hear this.
This was posted previously by a number of people, but I believe it was a single rip sourced from a poor quality bootleg. This is also a boot, but from a higher quality Seidr release (who have put out a number of kraut classics in reasonbly high quality cd-r bootlegs). Will have to scan the cover since I can't seem to track it down online.
Absolute classic of echo-guitar krautrock, think AR & Machines by way of Detroit. Less psychedelic and more driving. Was such a tremendous influence on me when I found it that I tried to start a similar band. You've no idea how hard it is to find someone interested in krautrock these days. Fav track is Für Elise und Alice but all of it is good.
Lofi noise from this great Nashville group. Was on heavy rotation when I stumbled across it, very much recommended for casual noise fans. Not at all harsh as far as noise goes, lots of shortwave/synth blips and heavily delayed guitar & vocals. Too active to call it drone, but it's very nice for a late night after a few too many glasses of wine, pints, slugs of whiskey, whatever your preference. Desperately wish I could have seen them live. Extremely old school-style industrial vibes in the area.
These guys were friends of mine a few years ago, haven't heard from them in ages though. I heard they broke up in '07. If I recall, this was a private press on their own dime done up in Russia. Psychedelic 4-track tape stuff done mostly with found gear. Live shows raged a lot more than this, which tends to be fairly laid back. One of my forgotten favorites. Stoned saturday afternoon music. Enjoy.
The only hour-long krautrock improv to become an Ibiza hit. The only proto-house anthem made by a founding member of Ash Ra Tempel. My favorite record. Nothing more I can add. Enjoy.
Another CD rip, this time TNoHH's 1995 Operation Sun Flower. They're from Tokyo, they're still active according to their myspace, and that is literally all the info I have. Great acid-indie psych record here, check out the 13 and a half minute freakout on track 3 and the following pleasant little acoustic & drum machine song. I'll try to remember to update this post with a cover scan when I get the scanner set up again.
I think this is in the Merzbox but here's my copy of the 5 C60 book set of Merzbow's epic 1984 masterpiece Pornoise. You can still get this from RRR, runs $25 and you should buy it because RRRon is a great guy and deserves your money for continuing to provide not only this but so many other amazing releases (like: a ton of United Diaries cassettes, a book set of the absolutely necessary Rising from the Red Sand comp series, cdrs of p16.d4, etc). Here in five parts, ripped in utterly unnecessary v0, is five hours of cassette noise from the master himself during (imo) his best period. I've got a few other things I might post tonight but who knows what I'll get uploaded.
Personal favorite side is #9, A-side of the last cassette, "Toy 69". Rhythmic noise blasts, either from an overdriven drum machine or a machine gun on a tape loop, a lot of freaked out shortwave & synth noise and a woman being tortured to top it all off. If you haven't got an RS account, get that one.
done in single tape zips, open 'em all to a folder.
wiki: Live 1977 is a live album by The Fall, first released in March 2000. Although the sound quality is poor and live documents of The Fall are plentiful, this one is of particular note as it is the earliest available recording of the group in action, apart from two tracks on the Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus compilation. It dates from December 1977, about six weeks after the group recorded their debut single "Bingo-Master's Break-Out!" (which wasn’t released until August 1978). It is the only release where early song "Hey! Fascist" can be heard, although it was reworked as "Hey! Student" and released on Middle Class Revolt some seventeen years later. There are also very early versions of "Oh! Brother" and "Cop It", both later found on The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall, the latter retitled "Copped It". In addition, it is only here that the group’s reworking of "Louie Louie" can be accessed, an opportunity for cult figure John the Postman to join the group on stage. The original line-up was caught on tape just in time; this was to be Tony Friel’s last performance with the band. After a couple of short-stay replacements, the job would eventually be taken by Marc Riley.
last one for now, classic deep disco & new wave mix here. sorry for the poor quality. zshare still doesn't want to work for me so its rapidshare again i guess. luckily someone else put it up on divshare, listen here! (or on zshare here if that doesn't work)
rough tracklist via djhistory Was (Not Was) "Oh, Mr. Friction!" Ron Trent-Love to the world (love dub) Talking Heads-Pull up the Roots Time Bandits-Live it up Talking Heads-I Zimbra Nancy Nova-The Force Marsha Hunt-The Other Side of Midnight Gino Soccio-S-Beat Dj Rush-I Wanna Magnifique 'Magnifique' Divine-Love Reaction Kebekelektrik's Wardance with 'Sensuous Black Woman' Lanier-25 Hours(nick the record edit) Was (Not Was)-Wheel Me Out Rinder & Lewis-Arabella El Coco - Afrodesia - ? Hott City-Ain't love grand Barbara Mason & Bunny Sigler-Locked In This Position Cerrone-Love In C Minor Queen-Body Language
much love to the djhistory forums for this one and so many others.
i spent most of tonight working on a big surprise for tomorrow night, but here's something i tossed in to clear my mind of what i was hearing for about three hours. two hours left to go on that...
for now, here's a bunch of early live dnb/hardcore rave mixes from '92. Not my links, thanks to whoever put them up.
I'm back! Not set up for vinyl rips yet so I'll be doing some cassettes from the stack. Still only about half unpacked, need to toss some things too and gotta ship out a ton of bits of equipment I unloaded on ebay.
Today's rip is one I'd been meaning to do for a while. Sorry I haven't got a proper scan, I'll try to get things properly set up by next week.
Compiled by Tina Pearson and John Oswald. Edited and Manufactured by John Oswald.
ⓒ UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION OF THIS MATERIAL IS PROBABLY INEVITABLE.
SIDE A
FM and Shortwave Radio of the North, 1982, from the collection of Marvin Green. Includes excerpt of a hymn sung by Joase and Susie Onalik.
Donald Suluk speaking at Inuktitut Music Workshop.* Donald and Alice Suluk sing Once in Awhile (Pisiq) Courtesy Canadian Ethnology Service
Katajaiit : Alice Alasuak and Nellie Nunguak from Povungnituk, Quebec. *
Katajaiit : Timanginak Petalaussie and Haunak Mikkigak from Cape Dorset, Northwest Territories.*
Canti Illuminati 1982 (LP Excerpt) by Alvin Curran. Shiphorns, A.C.'s voice and synthesizer. (FORE 80/SEVEN, Italy) cross fade to....
Aerosons, 1982 (opening section) by Leo Küpper, computer and vocal synthesis. From Music Gallery's Electronic Music Festival concert.
Young Love from In Vitro, 1978. Tina Pearson, with Paul Hodge, clarinet.
SIDE B
more FM and Shortwave Radio of the North 1982.
Aftersounds, Gordon Monahan's illustration for Faraway Sounds. 1983
Kissing Jesus In the Dark (excerpt) 1981, by Miguel Frasconi and John Oswald.
Inflexions Vocales, 1982, (ending) by Leo Küpper. Anna Maria Keiffer, mezzo-soprano, Leo Küpper, computer and vocal synthesis.
Ur Sonate, 1922-32 by Kurt Schwitters. Excerpt from Christopher Butterfield's performance at Mercer Union, Toronto, 1982.
Amazing Grace in Inuktitut sing and played by the participants in the Inuktitut Music Workshop: Raddi Kuitchak (song), Frank Cockney (fiddle), Steve Kikoak (guitar) from Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Donald Suluk (song & drum), Alice Suluk (song and drum), Charlie Panaguniak (song and guitar) from Eskimo Point, NWT. Emile Immaroitok (song and drum), Michael Qupak (song and drum), from Igloolik, NWT. Johnny Keeyootuk (accordian), from Broughton Island, NWT. Norman Ichaluktuk (song and guitar, Susie Onalik (song) from Frobisher Bay, NWT. Charlie Adams (song and guitar) from Baker Lake, NWT. Nellie Nunguak and Alasie Alasuak (throatsong) from Povungnituk, Quebec. Timanginak Petalaussie and Haunak Mikkigak (throatsong) Elelu Etedlui (guitar) from Cape Dorset, NWT. Joase and Sue Onalik (song and guitar) from Makkovik, Labrador.
* Inuktitut Music Workshop, Igloolik, NWT, 1982. Recordings by Marvin Green
Connecting voices are Inuit radio announcer, Anne Skinner and Leo Küpper.
You may still be able to pick up a copy here, I didn't get mine there though so I can't vouch for them.
Last post before the move (maybe, we'll see what I do before I tear down the rig tomorrow. got one more singles thing in mind.), among my favorite mixtapes and one of the biggest factors that lead me into house music. Absolute fucking deck wizardry. I was going to put this up on zshare for active listening but it failed twice, so here are two klf videos and a dl instead. Enjoy.
Bit of synthy electro-pop from this belgian starlet, featuring some help from superstars TELEX. From the booklet:
Born out of a belgian comics writer's imagination, the character of Lio soon became known all over Europe as the alias of glamour pop icon Wanda Maria de Vasconcelos, a 18 years old, smart and provocative singer. Teamed-up with belgian songwriters Jacques Duvall, Jay Alansky and Marc Moullin (from the electro-pioneer band TELEX), the alchemy was soon to be accomplished with their first single "Le Banana Split", a light-hearted sugary pop tune co-written by Alansky and Duvall - also known as Hagen Dierks. The first hit was launched, soon to be followed by plenty of others which would all hurl Lio at the top of european charts. The second single, and probably the most successful in France, was the now classic "Amoureux solitaires", a refreshingly naive and at the same time deeply emotional song. The text is signed by Eli Medeiros and the music is produced by Jacno (from the french infamous pop-rock duo "Eli et Jacno"), resulting a catchy halting beat with a minimalist melody which will be engraved in your memory as soon as you hear it.
Anyway, one can feel a clear and distinct touch of contemporary atmosphere all over the record, a certain kind of 'Avant-Gardism' which is not without reminding us the later oversea productions of electro legends as New Order, Yaz, Human League, etc. Intresting patchwork of typical french pop ("Si belle Et inutile", "La Petite Amazone") and dance oriented songs (see the amazing break part of "Comix Discomix" or the twisted beat of "La Panthere Rose"), this debut effort also includes, among other things, the more languid and ambient cover of Gillespie and Coot's "You Go To My Head", later interpreted by Billie Holiday.
I've got a stack of similar bits of euro and japanese electro-pop, probably start ripping more of it in the next month. Think of it like the minimal fan's answer to twee, only a lot more fun.
My first foray into minimal synth when it came out. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the original rips I did and the CD hasn't fared well, so it's missing the final three tracks. Otherwise a good rip. I'll update it if I can get the missing songs. Not a single bad track, but the one which caught my ear at the time was the Artefact track, "Mae". I'd listen to that over and over back then. To this day, I aspire to it. The rest of the tracks are amazing to me now, given a few years to increase my familiarity with the genre and contextualize. If you've never gotten into minimal synth, here's your starting point. Hit it.
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms (1980)Unfortunately, this post earned me a DMCA notice. With any luck, this amazing album will be re-released soon.
This is one everyone ought to have by now, but it means so much to me that I've got to post it. I found a copy of the 1990 cd release of this in a used bin in my hometown when I was 14, before I'd ever heard the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, or even the original Rolling Stones version of Paint it Black (shit, I think I was still listening to Blink 182 then. I picked up the album because the cover resembled the first Weezer album. I'm young. Forgive me my transgressions). Possibly before I'd ever heard Led Zeppelin, not that they're relevant but to give a proper picture of the impressionable mind that discovered this. This is one of those rare albums that surpasses the scene which allowed it's conception. It's one of those albums that probably shouldn't exist, the kind of thing that drives home how impressive a group of friends making their own kind of music can really be. Easily the greatest influence on my own guitar style after the Beatles and Hendrix, and only then because that was all I had until I was 12. Their later albums weren't nearly as impressive, that version of the Feelies only had two of the original members and fell into a bit of an REM-esque Athens-type rut in my opinion (though still retaining the style and approach that made this). The rips come from my original WAVs of the album, which was stolen many years ago. There has never been another album like this, and somehow I doubt there ever will be. Enjoy.
this is one of my all time Vortex finds, from the first trip i ever made there. i'll let the back liner notes speak for themselves. might do a re-rip at some point but for now, enjoy.
When asked to write the liner notes to this album, I questioned myself: "Am I the Nat Fletcher of Highlife Music, or is my prowess as a music critic being tested?" However, after listening to the album several times, I was obviously convinced that the RENAISSANCE of Highlife Music has finally arrived. The art has been dormant for over a decade. Attempts have been made by amateurs to revive the music, but their efforts contributed to its further decline in quality and texture.
There is no need prodding into Mr. Aquai's musical background; my colleague Mark Duodu took care of that on Aquai's premiere album "Wodo, Yi Ye, Odo" released in June 1984.
It is not an overstatement to compare the man "Aquai" and his music to Van Gogh and his painting. In a nutshell, it is a blend of artistic discipline, innovation and the interweaving of the sum of the parts that make Highlife a unique art form from Ghana to Guyana.
The frequency by which Aquai is releasing LP's and the quality of his compositions and arrangements is testimony that the man has a large REPERTOIRE and obviously has more surprises for his fans.
Music as a universal language has always been Aquai's central theme. As a composer and arranger, he makes sure there is a musical element in his work that touches the musical foundation of people from different ethnic and cultural background. Notice his treatment of "Mutea Masam". A mixture of African, Caribbean, Latin and Western contemporary ballad.
Although some of the lyrics are in Fanti or Twi, the message is about love and life as opposed to hatred and death. Isn't that what living is all about?
Against a warmly lush backdrop, Aquai instills, emotion, grace and depth; just other words for perfection.
This album celebrates the return to musical activity and creativity by a truly great keyboardist. The calmness and serenity that embodies the music of Aquai is merely an artistic extension of the inner peace of the man. This inner peace is translated into musical statements of delicate beauty. Aquai has this passionate infatuation about his heritage as an African. His parents are from Togo, Ghana and Sierra Leone. No wonder his lyrics are constantly directed towards his love for the African Continent and its people. He once confided in me that an artist should serve his or her people through the arts and not capitalize on their fantasies.
Some of the songs on this album are a collage of themes based upon Aquai's childhood experience of the joy, sufferings and aspirations of the black race south of the Sahara.
First up is a lesser-known single from one of my favorite pop stars who jumped on the acid bandwagon early on, Enzo Avitabile. You've probably heard his much bigger single 'Blackout' on the BaelaricBeats comp or just around, it was a Shoom fave back in the heyday of the Second Summer of Love and one of my favorite acid tracks. I'm not even sure it was intended to be an acid track originally, but this one certainly was. Alta Tensione, with the great cover art and the perfect "I know what acid is!" opening line, takes the Blackout vibe one step deeper into acid house with Enzo's trademark wild sax and guttural vocal delivery. Hell of a lot of fun. Dropped in '88 for those concerned with authentic 2nd SSOL anthems. Always looking for Enzo LPs by the way.
Next, one of my favorite thing finds. Mitsou - Bye Bye Mon Cowboy, french language acid house sung by a japanese woman in a cowboy hat and a miniskirt. The tracks here are the Shep Pettibone remix and are lightyears better than the original pop version (included as last track). I love the stereo effects (especially on the second and third tracks, the House mix and dub versions) and the singing is top notch, turns out Mitsou was Québécoise. This was a major Canadian hit at the time. The things we learn from Wikipedia! This one's way uptempo, by the way, former owner's sticker lists it as 133 which was high for the time ('89 is what the cover says, I don't trust wikipedia on their '92 assessment and discogs says '88 but frankly who gives a shit).
Third, a favorite of mine (becoming a pattern) and one of the few solid justifications for the existence of belgian New Beat if you ask me. Zazou-Bikaye was the collaborative project between belgian popster Hector Zazou and african bandleader Bony Bikaye, who happened to be putting out an album just as acid hit big in '88. Presumably they wanted to gin up some hype for it, so they handed over the tapes on Na Kenda to a belgian producer by the name of Mr. Big Mouse for a b-side. This produced one of the earliest instances of the collision between african music and acid house that was later found on No Smoke's incredible International Smoke Signals LP (still searching for a copy of that myself...) and would appear here and there throughout the last twenty years (such as on MAW's incredible deep house remix of Expensive Shit, which I'll be trying to rip tonight) until today when Kwaito and African House are getting recognition and honest respect i.e. Township Funk single on Warp. Anyway, the good bit here's the Afro-Acid b-side, which is a jittery bit of 303 & 808 laden techno acid house that just works perfectly. A side is fun too, don't get me wrong. I've got a New Beat comp someplace, where I found this single which has several other Mr Big Mouse productions, so I'll toss that onto the rips list once I get settled at the new place. Looking for the LP on this too.
Up next we have another neat thing find, a really left-field acid single from the Groove Robbers by the name of 'How Far Can We Go?'. Caribbean-tinged sampladelic hip-house, bits ranging from Sparks and Talking Heads to Jimi Hendrix and Star Trek. Arthur Brown in there somewhere too.
Finally, to bring us home from our late-80's global tour and fill out the list is a single that isn't quite acid, really. A friend of mine heard this and was very interested in getting a rip, so here we are. Blue Clocks Green, a late 80's alternative-synthpop band from upstate new york, apparently toured a bit in support of this Hemingway single and had a small college radio hit with it back when that still meant something. There's an uptempo (138bpm) club mix here (best of them if you ask me) so it's still sticking with the theme. Wonderfully dour lyrics about misogyny and suicide, certainly the happiest song featuring a chorus about blowing one's brains out I've heard. At one point you could still buy copies of it from the artist, but I believe he's had trouble with a flood which ruined his remaining stock. If this isn't the case, please support him by buying up one of the few remaining copies of this awesome single.
This is probably the greatest acid post I'm ever going to be able to make, if you get any of my house posts GET THIS.
Gonna do one last big batch of rips tonight before I have to start breaking down my setup in prep for a move this weekend. Hope it stops raining before then.
Huge file on this post, planning on two others tonight but we'll see what I get through. This singles post is not precisely WBMX but all of them fall under what I'd consider the 'style' they used to work within, a mix of electro-funk, early house and cut-up party mixing. First, my favorite track of the lot, is State of Grace - That's When We'll Be Free. A sparse sort of down-tempo electro-funk jam, the kind of thing you'd drop at the beginning or the end of a late night set. Very deep disco track. Next is Mr. K/Special G - Rock the House, a bootleg of old school turntablist funk cut-up. Then there's Morgan's mid 80's electrofunk soul jam Wanna Love Ya. So Tranquilizin' provides an uptempo bit of proto-house sampler overuse with a ripping guitar solo, from Jamaaladeen Tacuma produced by Francois Kevorkian. Don't know why the fuck discogs says it's 'Acid Jazz/Dub' but I don't know how to fix their shit and they get pissed like wikipedia editors about it when you do it wrong. The final two are proper house jams, It's Getting Better by Tammy Thomas squeezing into the WBMX era by a hair coming out in '87 and This Time Around by Deneen (not even listed on discogs, that one!) missing it by a bit at '89.
A bit of vintage cultural tourism for tonight, another roommate request. Cigarette Blues (love that organ) and Farewell to Tokyo are the standouts to my ear, along with Black Flower Petal. Enjoy.
VA - The Streets of Tokyo (195?) (if anyone has any info on Capital T10250 let me know, it's nowhere to be found online. Mono LP.)
From the back: Authentic Japanese pop songs and international hits in Oriental dress by Nippon's favorite singers... as you might hear them on THE STREETS OF TOKYO
TOKYO'S BUSY STREETS reflect the pulse of this modern metropolis of almost nine million. Besides being the economic and industrial center of the orient, Tokyo is also a fantastically active center of the lively arts.
Almost any evening in Tokyo you might choose your entertainment from many theaters offering traditional Japanese forms of drama and dance - kabuki, no, or bunraku - or lavish modern spectacles like the Takarazuka troupe; you might prefer to choose from some dozen nightly events of Western style symphony concerts or opera; or you might scan the brilliant marquees of the thousands of movie houses in the city, for the Japanese love both imported movies and their own fine dramatic and musical films.
Movies, radio, television, and especially long-playing records have stimulated the rise of many musical personalities. Splendid engineering facilities are producing records of excellent fidelity. Top stars compete for places on the best-seller lists, and the public is responding with devoted enthusiasm (and yen) for their favorites. Here are two girls and four young men who are among the very top artists in Japan today, singing a dozen of their hits that have won extreme popularity.
There's no international language like popular music, and just as American pops reflect many other countries - think of Morgen, Vaya con dios, and Gomen-Nasai - so Japanese pops are well up to date on European, American, and Latin-American trends. Some of these songs are characteristically Japanese, and others are Japanese versions of imported favorites. They are sung mostly in Japanese, with a chorus in another language now and then.
The older Japanese style, always fresh to Western ears for it's rhythmic brightness and its supple vocal style, is represented in this album by The Nikko Folksong and Farewell to Tokyo. The main current of Japanese pop music, with its characteristically "minor" keys and dark moods, is typified by Lullaby of the Birds and Cigarette Blues, while a strong American pops feeling is apparent in Black Flower Petal and Brown Leaves. Most of the other tracks are European and Latin hits subtly transformed by Japanese imagination and sung both in the original language and Japanese. Passion Flower is an even more fascinating transformation: it's based on the familiar piano piece of Beethoven, Fur Elise.
These then are the songs you might hear on the streets of Tokyo, piped out of the record shops and theaters. As crowds hurry by in kimono or Western style clothing they pause to hear their favorites, which belong to the world as much to Japan.
Sort of an early Hemi-Sync type recording without the 'binaural beats' backing, here replaced by record hiss accrued over the last fifty-one years. Guided meditation with Yogi Sachin Majumdar. Side one features chants along with the spoken word, side two is more focused on physical relaxation. Enjoy.
"Duck! Duck! Duck!" Recording date: Winter 1997 at Zenpukuji Lake, Suginami-Ku, Tokyo. Recorded with a sony digital audio tape-recorder TCD-D8, and an Aiwa stereo microphone CM-53.
"Cricket Voice" Recording date: Audumn 1996 at Saginomiya, Nakano-Ku, Tokyo. Recorded with a Sony digital audio tape-recorder TCD-D8, and a Sony stereo microphone ECM-909A.
An Academy find (of course). Pretty good shape, classic album from one of the bigger names in 70's Juju music. Got another one of his (Aura) I'll rip someday, but until then you can find a tape rip of it here and the previous album (out of the three he recorded while on Mango) Juju Music here and here. Lots of hand drum/machine drum interaction here, with some synth work. Anyone who knows Ade knows what a wizard he was on guitar, and he's in full effect here.
Ripping this was a bit of a fight, so I'll rip the Ade LP tomorrow. There's a skip on the first track that I can't seem to shake, so I've just included it anyway. I will re-rip upon request but this was a Thing find so the quality sort of 'is what it is' as usual (don't even have the original cover). Some epic tracks here, absolutely stellar deep acid comp. Enjoy.
Today it's four singles, two by classic belgian group Bernthöler, one belgian-only Section 25 release, and a classic Italo track off the 7" release. I'll also be trying to rip a House comp from '89 and a Sunny Ade album later on tonight. For now the singles, apologies for the quality but they were all Thing finds.
My favorite of the lot, I believe Japanese Garden is done with a 606 while The Other (which sounds like an earlier composition given the punky live instrumentation) is a DR-55, based on this site. The synths are monos, probably Roland but I can hardly ever tell. The single is mis-labeled as "the Others" and the band name was supposed to be Bernthøler. For fans of Tuxedomoon and their assorted side projects, I can really understand why they made the move to Brussels around this period.
This is their later song and a much bigger hit for the group. By this point they had moved past the minimal synth-pop of Japanese Garden and moved into live orchestral instrumentation, which has not aged as well if you ask me. My least favorite of the singles in this post, instrumentation notwithstanding it's just not a particularly interesting song (although it has been called one of the most important Belgian singles and apparently covered many times). Video confirms my previous suspicion, that's an SH-101 he's playing at about 40 seconds in.
Belgium-only Section 25 release from 1985, and the only 12" of the lot. First side is a great bit of Factory synth material while the second is a ripping sort of disco track (I suppose an example of what got the goth JD fan carryovers here in the US music press so disenchanted with them around this time) and a pretty little guitar/flute/drum machine peice.
Youtube Forgot that this was an Italo track last batch, otherwise I'd have included it. Fits this era a bit better anyway. I love arpeggiators. Probably Roland polysynths (Jupiters in the studio I imagine), Korg filters of the time tended to be a bit muddier. Could be a Prophet but I don't know how those went over in Italy.
I've decided to just make this a singles series, so it won't just be things classified as house. Tonight it's Italodisco, next time it will probably be minimal synth and euro post-punk. Two singles on tonight's roster are not technically italodisco, one is american funk (check it on the zshare links before you download the whole thing. or in addition to something if r-s gives you trouble.) and one is polish electronic stuff which is kinda disco, kinda not-quite.
you can still see the academy recs price tag on the last one/first one, but the rest of them were thing finds. one great trip there, haven't been so lucky since.
"24 hour trial periods" are nonsense... Same for music as they were for video games and movies. Everything I post is out of print and unavailable aside from the used market; if you can show me to be wrong I will remove the download. otherwise, cash in or get over it.
If I post links which I did not upload or rips I didn't do please feel free to comment the post or email me and I'll attribute them properly. I would prefer to do this but unfortunately most of them are things I've found without proper attribution.
Please leave a comment if you download. Not a requirement of course, but it makes doing this that much more fun.
