space runaway odeon

4 80s J-pop albums

2011-06-16T13:38:00.002-05:00

These are some rips I've had sitting around for a while. A few years back, every time I would go to Academy Records there would be a couple of old japanese LPs, either enka, J-pop, or anime-related. I expect they were parting out some estate sale they'd picked up. I'd pick up a couple of them on the cheap whenever I saw them, and that was the source of the synthesizer fantasy records I've posted previously. I've got about twenty records from that estate, I figure, but the only ones I've posted have been the truly strange ones. These four LPs are some of the more average ones, but they're also some of my favorites (not hard, I think there's four or five Yamato soundtrack/drama LPs in the mix). There's a great blog here if you're interested in finding more or finding these in better quality: http://tsuzilla.blogspot.com/

Akina Nakamori - Third
Kyoko Koizumi - My Fantasy
Marina - Evergreen
Creamy Mami - Last Curtain

Gear Change: SYSEX Bonanza!

2011-06-11T22:26:00.002-05:00

This time around, I've got a special treat for you guys. I've finally gotten around to dumping some custom patches from a few instruments I've had around, essentially the only ones that have bulk-dumping (or any kind of MIDI dumps at all, damned late-model Siel synths). Most of these aren't actually ones that I've made, I've sold off most of the synths that I used to tweak. On offer here is a sysex dump of an E-mu Proteus/1 (mostly factory patches but I've done some nice solid basses, might be worth a look), a Roland Alpha Juno 2 which was passed around the south Brooklyn Rave scene throughout the 90's and went through the hands of several big names, supposedly including Beltram, and the 3 Hoovers definitely lend some credence to that. There's some other absolutely great patches for the Juno 2, very soundtrack and dance oriented, with some evolving pads and moody drones. Finally, there's the custom patches from the Matrix-6R that I got for free when I picked up another keyboard last year (he thought it didn't work, turns out it was just that one output was dead). Some big custom leads, the usual strings, and some odd experiments, but the big sell on this set of patches is the tweaked upright bass preset, which he turned into one of the biggest, most gut shaking bass tones I've ever heard from any analog synth. You can drop these into a Matrix-1000 too, should work fine, and they blow away any of the presets on that box.

I did two dumps of the Alpha Juno 2 since it didn't belong to me and I couldn't confirm that they were correct. If anyone uses it and can confirm in the comments, that would be a big help! Thanks.

A Few Bits and Peices for E-mu Proteus/1
South Brooklyn Rave SYX for Roland Alpha Juno 2
Toolkit 6R SYX for Oberheim Matrix-6 or Matrix-1000

Should work in any SYSEX dumper just like normal, they were dumped to a Peavey Data Streamer and then copied onto an old laptop from the floppy disk though, so any confirmation would be welcome.

As always, remember to dump up your patches to a SYSEX file before loading any of these, because they will overwrite any custom patches you already have on your synth!

Gear Change: Korg DDD-1

2011-05-28T02:45:00.007-05:00

The DDD-1 is the second to last piece of gear from my old studio, and likely the last one I'm going to wind up letting go of. The reasons would be lack of space and necessity, since I've just started to move into computer-sequenced sampler-based production (Roland S-550 + the CTS-2000 of the first review, an FB01, an E-mu Proteus 1 and a Matrix-6R controlled by an old pc laptop running cakewalk pro 3 in win95: Still got that 92 hardcore cred to build). I picked up the DDD-1 when I bought an Ensoniq Mirage from a keyboardist who was cleaning out his basement of leftover gear from his touring days back in the 80s. He gave it to me for free, since he thought that some of the outputs/sounds were dead. Don't make this mistake yourself! Make sure that all of the sounds are routed to the main stereo outputs instead of the individual outs when testing if you are selling one, since I don't believe they show up even on the headphones when routed to individual outputs. If you're buying, then take any claim that the machine has broken sounds with a grain of salt. It's nearly impossible to kill these 12-bit machines barring noticeable physical damage.

The interface of the DDD-1 is extremely intuitive, based on the same grid-matrix idea from Korg's SQD-1 sequencer (a favorite of Juan Atkins up to the early 90's). The menus are laid out in a grid printed on the front of the machine, with buttons for each row and column. One simply selects the column and row of the desired function or setting and uses the number pad or +/- keys to change the settings. It's a very shallow learning curve and provides for a fairly fluid editing process for an 80's drum machine, although I wish they would have included an alpha-dial type knob instead of relying on +/- buttons. There's always something to be said for the physicality of programming sounds via movement, even on a 128-step (or less) digital interface.

The internal sounds of the DDD-1 are passable 12-bit samples which have a surprisingly good tune-ability range, as one would hope from Korg. They're a bit flat, with a usability range that stretches from fairly good (shaker, bass, tambourine) to utterly hilarious (the claps, which must rank among the top ten worst samples ever put to ROM). Thankfully, Korg provided several options for adding sounds, including 4 ROM card slots, a Sampling option which allowed for (I believe) 4 0.8 second 12-bit samples within a total 3.2 seconds of memory and a RAM card slot to save your samples and sequences (sequences are stored internally as well, of course, and while I think the sampling board has battery-backed RAM, I don't own one and therefore can't be sure). The Korg ROM cards were actually fairly good, with several latin percussion cards, the usual fusion/pop/rock drums, and various others including some basses and other sound effects. There are also some 3rd-party cards which feature samples from other drum machines, most notably the extremely rare Linn Drum card. The built-in sequencer, with memory for 100 patterns and 10 songs, is extremely flexible for the time. It allows you to program changes in pitch, decay, pan, velocity, roll & flam, and the usual tempo change-ups and swing variations. It also provides 12 pressure-sensitive pads for real time or step-time input. The flexibility of the sequencer, along with the 6 individual outputs (in addition to the dual-mono stereo outputs) and the ability to alter the pitch, decay, and other settings of the internal samples make the DDD-1 a very respectable alternative to similar drum machines of the time such as the TR-505 and TR-707, especially given the very reasonable second-hand prices, which range from $50 to $100 dollars and often undercut a TR-505 of similar condition.

The MIDI implementation is solid, the timing is bang-on and I believe the DDD-1 accepts sysex changes for all of the functions the sequencer offers. When paired with a cheap 8-input mixer (I recommend the Yamaha KM802, which usually goes for $50-$75 secondhand and has three independent stereo effects loops for reverb/compression/eq/etc), the DDD-1 becomes a very powerful old school drum machine for house, industrial, and minimal synth-style music. The DDD-1 also features a metronome/click out and a programmable trigger output which should work with any pre-MIDI sequencer/arpeggiator/gate gear you should care to throw at it.

The real beauty of this machine, and what makes it a total steal right now, is the availability of new ROM cards which feature samples that were, if not impossible, at least extremely hard to find for the DDD-1 in the past. This Brit techie has begun releasing homemade ROM cards with socketed sound-chips for prices which at least match (if not undercut) the prices of the rarest DDD-1 cards. The 3rd-party Linn Drum card for the DDD goes for between $75-100, while his £42 deals on two chips plus the socketed card, at present currency conversion rates, go for $70. I have the 909/808 set, and the samples are impressively clear and highly usable, although the pitch and delay configurability is somewhat less than one might wish. It's a homebrew project though, reverse-engineered and built from scratch, so the sound quality he's achieved is honestly leagues beyond my expectations. The sounds from a ROM card inserted into a DDD-1 are assigned to a given pad/note by the user, and the DDD-1 allows for up to 15 different drum sets to be created, which allows for a wonderful amount of flexibility when you're working with more than one card. This means that if you buy a set of ROMs from korgdddmods plus an extra socketed card, you can mix 808 and 909 sounds (or the CR-78 etc sounds of their Analog Percussion chip, the SDS-5 chip, or the Mattel Drum Box chip) with the internal DDD-1 sounds to create your own kits, making the DDD-1 not only an extremely flexible yet inexpensive studio machine, but also allowing it to act as a highly reliable alternative for more delicate and expensive analog gear. Were it not for the limited production runs of korgdddmods' chips/cards, I would recommend the DDD-1 as the most desirable live performance drum machine for anyone making or performing synth-based music with old school hardware given the extraordinary price/feature ratio shown above.

In terms of house, my recommended buys for the DDD-1 ROM cards would be a Latin percussion card, whichever of the korgdddmods 2chip+card deals you prefer (and if possible, definitely buy a second socketed card), and whichever of the other available cards you like (for me, ideally the Linn Drum card, although the synth basses are nice and second latin perc card couldn't hurt). An external dedicated mixer is definitely a smart buy if you lack the mixer inputs otherwise.

Some other sound examples and programming tips can be found here and individual sounds as well as a manual can be found here. VSE page here.

Pirate Radio: DJ Tat on SCR (Sheffield) 15-3-93

2011-05-28T02:20:00.003-05:00

This one of those pirate radio tapes that I've had on rotation for the last year and half, which is quite a long period for me to keep revisiting a 128k rip of a tape with a ground loop issue throughout. Sound quality is alright aside from that though, but the real reason I keep coming back to this tape is the tracks. The best thing about pirate radio tapes from 86-94 is that they provide a window into the real sound of the time. You can get best-of's like the Soul Jazz comps or some of the older hardcore CDs, or bootlegs like the 'Where are those ... Crazy Times' series, but for the most part, you'll never hear the real limited release stuff, which is usually the most interesting (white labels, dubplates, side releases from major groups that never got officially dropped). If you're just getting into pirate radio tapes, 808 State has a phenomenal archive up of nearly every show they did from 1988 onwards here. I recommend starting around 1989-90, where they were playing a lot of their own unreleased tracks and were popular enough to be getting a terrific amount of white labels & etc. They were also quite good at radio, which is rare among pirate DJs since they were primarily live DJs just trying to get their name out there rather than maintain a public image or something like that.

Anyway, this tape is actually part of a countdown of DJ Tat's favorite tracks from 1991. It features a mix of some amazing classics and some truly mental bits of hardcore from way way back. Still trying to figure out what some of them are, if anyone can provide a tracklist in the comments I'd be terrifically grateful.

Find it here.

Gear Change: XoXBox

2011-04-17T23:00:00.007-05:00

If you're at all into synths and house music (and, really, why else would you still be reading this blog?) you'll have heard of the XoXBox. I pronounce it "zox-box", please inform in comments if you've heard another way of saying it. It's always interesting to hear people's takes on something that exists, essentially, as a wholly internet-based phenomenon.

The XoX is the apotheosis in a long line of TB-303 emulators, starting with the rackmount bass monosynths of the 90's like the Novation BassStation and the FreeBass FB33 (the latter the more explicit 303 emulator, the former more generic and closer to an SH-101). A friend of mine recently bought an old Roland Alpha Juno 2 from an old skool Brooklyn techno producer (greets to 8-bit, need to get a round and hear more stories one of these days). The Juno 2 has enough proper hoover stabs in memory to back up the claim that it is the original Alpha Juno which Beltram sampled for Mentasm, and the pics he pulled up when I mentioned that I had a XoX (on 8-bit's site, sadly down for maintenance this week) were very interesting. Apparently, there was an earlier attempt at a XoX-style 303 emulator in the early 90s, which was hand-built and almost entirely transistor-based synthesis (think Jupiter 4). The builder passed one over to a brooklyn producer friend who didn't quite know what to make of it, and it languished in his collection for a few years until someone realized what it was. The story ends there, since I, like a fool, never followed up, and dude's site is down. EDIT: hold on a minute, Check This Out.

The XoX itself, however, is effectively the be-all, end-all TB-303 emulator. The design requires the original chips from a 303 or NOS of the same^[1], and the sequencer is designed to act similarly to the original 303 sequencer, though slightly better in the basic version. The arduino(?)-based OS/sequencer can be upgraded via a USB connection built into the basic design of the XoX, which also includes MIDI I/O/T as well as independent DINSYNC, switchable in/out, and CV + Gate outputs. This utterly outclasses the Acidlab Bassline 1 I owned a few years ago, which had severe difficulty syncing via MIDI to my TR-707 and would only work when synced via DIN, and I won't even mention the hilariously terrible programming method (hint: it involved two knobs and an INPUT button). The XoX drops in beautifuly with a MIDI setup, and performs like a dream. Compared with the TB-303, it's a bit like getting an East German BMW from the 60s vs getting a newly produced BMW today. The old one looks nicer, but the new one performs just as you'd like it to.

The configurability of the XoX with new firmware is fairly impressive, although hampered by the original design of it. There are OS upgrades which allow arpeggiation and various other sequencer-oriented re-purposing mods, check this thread on SOKKos (the oldest and most advanced) for more info. There are also several hardware mods which mirror the basic modifications which were often added by 303 users in the 90s, such as the overdrive knob and the filter expanders. However, in a 303 emulator, the most important issue is the accuracy of the sound.

XoXBoxes are known for their variation in sound, just as the original 303s were (though, if you bought a 303, you usually wouldn't question the variation quite so much as with those who buy a XoX). Some of the XoXen have a sound which is very mild even compared to other unmodified XoXes, so you should keep that in mind when shopping for one. There's no way of knowing what the XoX you buy will sound like, no matter who builds it. My XoX was built by a Taiwanese hobbyist who no longer sells them, but it sounded the closest to a vanilla 303 of any XoX I've ever heard. The pop in the filter-envelope reaction to the accents was the most beautiful I've ever heard from anything approximating a 303. The knobs on my XoX were, unfortunately, a bit too slow for my taste. Ideally, they should be like the original 303 knobs, and fast spins shouldn't feel any resistance. Luckily, the standard design of the XoX requires that the circuit boards be fitted well, so the varying button or knob resistance doesn't mean an increased level of wear to the top interface circuit board, and barring truly homebuilt versions, should stand up to a reasonable amount of live performance wear-and-tear as well as whatever you may throw at it in the studio.

One interesting issue I ran into with my XoX lies within my recording setup, which is MIDI-based and relies on a Roland MC-50 hardware sequencer and a Yamaha MJC-8 MIDI router: On two different tracks where I attempted to record the MIDI output of the X0X to the MC-50, there was a strange sense of lag, possibly introduced through lag from the MJC-8 (though I doubt this). The X0X syncs perfectly to a MIDI clock input for it's internal sequencer, which is more than capable of providing for 303-type sync usage. That is, when syncing the internal sequencer in tandem with a MIDI setup, it is bang on to the timing of the track. However, when I recorded the XoX sequence into my MC-50 and set the XoX to MIDI Play, it would drop notes in a strange (but highly usable) way. I think this might have more to do with the firmware than with the ability of the XoX to comprehend MIDI messages when played with an external keyboard. Mine was never upgraded after I got it two years ago, nor did I upload any second party OS to it, so your mileage may vary. Like I said, though, this strange issue of slightly mistimed sequencer messages can be very usable in certain situations, especially when the recorded XoX sequence is sent to another synth with a 303-ish patch.

Though I've sold my XoX recently (for reasons which have nothing to do with the sound/hardware), I'm hopeful of future projects with the same mindset as the XoXBox team had, such as the MB-808. It's a phenomenal approximation of the 303, and no other emulations have come so close to not simply reproducing the sound of the 303, but the interface as well. Drums are another story though, and I think that the next review I'll write up will be on the Korg DDD-1 plus some thoughts on the add-on cards available to it, both the old ones and the newer models which should place it heads and shoulders above the other similarly 12-bit generic drum machines.

[1] I have a theory that at least one plant in China has devoted a few lines to stamping out limited new chips, backed up by the fact that several of the original chips were literally the faulty versions of chips intended for more professional Roland synthesizers (18db filters? really? I've read several sources over the years claiming that either they are all faulty 24db filters or were based on the faulty versions, but given the short production life of the 303 that seems unnecessary) and thus can't possibly be that hard or expensive for an aging through-hole chip factory to replicate on the side.

Further note: The demonstration tracks I've included are my own music, and I'd be happy to describe the synths accompanying the XoXBox for any of them for those who are curious or confused.

Gear Change: Roland DJ-70mkII

2011-04-10T21:29:00.006-05:00

This is one of my current keyboards, alongside the CTS-2000. The Roland DJ-70mkII is the final product of the Roland S-series line of samplers, aimed at the strange 90s DJ-consumer market. It consists of the last of the proper S sampler line, the S-760, placed in a high-quality 3-octave keyboard with an enlarged version of the S-760 interface, as well as 8 buttons which can be assigned to samples, a fairly useless phrase sequencer, the usual Roland pitchbender/lfo combination, and a somewhat novel "DJ wheel" which allows you to do a sort of rudimentary scratching on the samples. In reality, the result is a strange combination of the S-760, minus the extra outputs and the video interface, with an Akai S-20, along with the 3-octave keyboard and the DJ wheel.

The keyboard is wonderful, though either as a matter of reaction to the total package or simply due to psychosomatic reaction it feels a little cheap. The interface is, from what I know of the S-760, essentially the same minus the output options (caveat: I've never used an S-760, but I've read a bit). It's extremely easy to create a basic sample, but somewhat odd for a former low-level Akai user such as myself to deal with the structure of patch creation. You can read up on it more on the various sites that explain the S-760, since it seems to be the same to me, and I just haven't had the inclination to explore it properly yet. For a Roland user, this keyboard would undoubtedly be a dream (if it had the outputs and the video interface).

The buttons up top seem superfluous given the keyboard, and the ability to assign any sample to a given key or span of keys, but I guess for the working DJ he may not want to have to worry about hitting the right key (even with gaffer tape?) at the right velocity in the heat of the moment, and would want to simply press a button to play a loop.

The DJ wheel seems to have been based on the ribbon controller on the Yamaha SU10 from a year or two prior to the release of the DJ-70mk1. The SU10 was one of the line of Yamaha MIDI music machines which included the MU5 and the well-received QY10 (and the rest of the QY series), with which it shared a form factor. It boasted a 47 second sampler (much less at higher bitrates/in stereo) in a piece of gear which was about the size of a VHS cassette and included a 4-track phrase sequencer as well as twelve non-velocity pads. It also featured the easiest sampling interface I have ever used, from Akai to Ensoniq to Roland or anyone else, though that may have been made easier by the limited memory space. The relevant side feature, though, was the ability to 'scratch' samples with the built-in ribbon sensor (only one I know of which transmits MIDI, I have to recc this thing again), which essentially chopped up the given sample into audibly small increments and allowed the user to 'scratch' them similar to how one would scratch a record, but in a horrid digital way.

This is what the DJ-70 DJ Wheel aimed to reproduce. The wheel is weighted, though not so much that it feels like the Technics deck which I imagine they were trying to emulate, and this doesn't affect the sound at all apparently, so the effect of weight feels cumbersome given the intent/implementation. Where in the Yamaha SU10 the scratch function was a novelty, the DJ70's wheel is a strangely cumbersome and useless feature which is only novel if one wishes to throw a sample out and listen to it spin down from high velocity. Even a non-weighted but better-implemented algorithm wheel function would have made this a desirable synthesizer. Which brings me to the reason why there are Mark I DJ-70s and Mark II Dj-70s.

When the DJ-70 was originally released in '96 or so, it was aimed at the DJ market with the hope that it would serve as a convenient replacement for the samplers which famously helped house & techno DJs as early as Park & Pickering at the Hacienda and would be priced well enough for current small-time DJs to afford it. The keyboard had 2MB RAM and no SCSI interface, so there was no way for buyers to expand the amount of time they had available in memory for samples beyond a few minutes, and no way of loading in samples aside from a floppy disk drive. It had the editing facilities of the superb S-760, but none of the expandability. Essentially, it was a completely useless product of a company which, I presume, was struggling with a leftover internal bureaucracy in order to find a way to approach the new music which their products had created. Akai had several similar products (the S01, as well as the S-20), as did Yamaha (SU10 among many others) and several other companies. Korg, rejuvenated by their failure in the mid-80s and the continuing success of their alterations to their M01 line, wound up creating the Electribe line with brilliant prescience. I'm digressing.

Roland realized that the DJ-70mkI was completely outdated even by their W30 from 1989, so they updated it as the DJ-70mkII. The mark II included all the features of the mark I, plus a SCSI interface, standard, as well as standard SIMM expansion slots for up to 32MB RAM (it turns off the internal RAM when there is a full 32MB installed). At the time, this still wasn't worth the $1800 pricetag for the DJ-70mkII alone, not to mention the $300 or so it would have cost to max out the RAM and another $250 on top of that for a Zip drive or some Magneto-Optical alternative. Especially not when the S-760 cost about $2200 with the video/digital IO expansion, full RAM, and the standard SCSI & extra four individual outputs. The cost of a cheap second-hand 5-octave MIDI keyboard and a SCSI device unquestionably made the S-760 the better deal as an all-in-one home studio sampler at the time.

At the time, that is. Now, a fully expanded S-760 will usually fetch prices above $250, and the added cost of a MIDI controller plus a mixer and all the stuff you'd normally have had to buy with it in the 90s will set you back at least another $300 in order to use it with a modern PC-based Logic studio. The DJ-70mkII goes for around $125, and the cost of a Zip drive + disks and 2 sticks of 16MB SIMM RAM (if it's even necessary) will bring that up to around $160. Add in a cheap stereo USB Audio interface for another $35 and a USB/MIDI cable for $15, and you've got a hardware sampler plus a MIDI controller which easily outclasses most of the similarly priced 3-octave USB MIDI controller keyboards. Use Logic for sequencing and mixing and the DJ-70mkII becomes a very attractive option for anyone looking to add a bit of hardware to their studio, or add an inexpensive yet extremely powerful sampler to their existent studio.

I've taken to using mine as the sole piece of audio equipment (plus a hardware sequencer) at live performances, since it can handle dozens of samples in memory, and the process of switching between songs becomes as easy as hitting the +1 button on the performance edit menu and hitting play on the sequencer. Anyone who has had to deal with the nightmare of setting up several MIDI keyboards in between bands (or god forbid, CV/gate), the prospect of a single keyboard which will do everything you need and takes about five or ten minutes to set up and go becomes very attractive.

Another point in favor of the DJ-70 series in general is that it has the same spectacular filters sported by the Roland S-series from the S-50 onwards. They're a sort of digital emulation of traditional analog filtering (IE not hard to grasp for anyone who knows Subtractive synths), but they rip. They're nearly capable of self-oscillating resonance, but the sweeps are really where they shine. Literally, they tend to be very bright, but at the same time Roland's samplers have always been known for their unparalleled bass reproduction. The filters are HPF/BPF/LPF switchable, so you can use the HPF with high resonance to give bass hits some real boom, or do the big LPF breakbeat sweeps to do builds and breakdowns, and it can all be automated and controlled via MIDI.

The feature which struck me as most interesting, and the only one I've yet to figure out, is the ability to beatmatch samples to MIDI clock. In theory, this should allow you to sample in a looped beat, and then match it with the internal timestretch to MIDI clock in real time, which was essentially the only major feature of the DJ-70 series that actually made it seem like a fairly good product for a DJ to buy in retrospect. You wouldn't have to worry about matching your sample loops with the track you're spinning, you'd just match the click track off a MIDI sequencer or tap tempo input, and you could create live remixes from your own sample library while mixing in and out of other records/CDs. I haven't quite gotten a handle on it yet, but given the 600+ second maximum sample time of a fully expanded mkII, plus a SCSI sample library and a basic hardware sequencer with half a dozen pre-recorded multi-timbral sequences, you could theoretically run an entire DJ set off of this sampler alone.

The DJ-70mkII is certainly worth a look, but it's best suited to someone with a laptop-based sequencing setup due to the incredible automation possibilities and the output limitations as compared to the S-760. Give the mkI a pass, but if you spot a mkII in good shape for under $150 and you'd like a small keyboard version of the S-50 with a much better interface, it's certainly worth a buy.

Gear Change: Siel DK-70

2011-04-01T21:03:00.008-05:00

Before I move on from Siel products, I've got to talk about a synth I truly adore, and am sadly parting with. The Siel DK-70 is an 8-voice DCO analog polysynth in the vein of the Korg Poly-800. It has a built-in two track polyphonic sequencer (real time key-presses only, though it does apparently output MIDI) and a wonderful, though strangely implemented, chord memory function. It runs on 6 D-cell batteries (or C? It's been too long since I used batteries), and has guitar-strap pegs on each end. These are the only part of the construction which are actually made from metal, the case itself being manufactured plastic of a quality similar to a Roland SH-101.

The programming interface on the DK-70 is, again, similar to the Korg Poly-800. The parameters are listed on the upper right of the synth (same as the later CTS-2000, except without the membrane button/menu system), and one selects the parameters to edit via the same membrane push-button phone-style pad that one uses to select a patch. The membrane buttons of the pad, I should mention, are surprisingly high quality given the obvious budget mindset of the design, and have been in good shape on both of the DK-70's I've owned. I compare this to the two Sequential Sixtraks and the Sequential Split-Eight I've had, where the membrane buttons were in absolutely abysmal condition despite the fact that the hardware appeared to have been well cared-for. Age is probably not an issue with the DK-70's interface, although this brings us to the memory issue.

The internal memory of the DK-70 was obviously designed as a consumer keyboard, with the lions share of patch save memory reliant upon a cartridge which was offered with the keyboard, which apparently nobody bought, or at least kept. The internal patch memory consists of 40 preset patches, which are very same-y, though usable if the Siel sound is something you're looking for (i.e. if you bought the thing), and 10 user patches, which are not battery backed-up internally and require that one keep the D-cell batteries in the synth, similar to the Casio CZ-101. Keeping it plugged in via the power supply does not ensure that your patches will be saved. When the 10 user patches are reset, the internal rom refills them with the remaining 10 of the 50 preset patches.

That's not so bad, since the final ten patches of the 50 are quite good with a little editing, and editing is extremely easy for anyone familiar with analog synthesizers. The built-in patches are best described as 'standard analog fare' for 1985, though they do exemplify why Siel and other Italian manufacturers were relegated to a sort of ghetto compared to their Japanese and American competitors. The quality of the piano patches on the DK-70 is horrid even in comparison with the standard synth piano patches of the Korg Polysix from four years prior to the release of the DK-70. Strings, perhaps unsurprisingly given Siel's background with the SCI Prelude, strings are where the DK-70 shines. The oscillators have a warm quality which is immediately comparable to the Korg Poly-61, but the Curtis filters paired with the unique design Siel employed give it a clarity and subdued warmth which totally destroys any possibility of comparison with the Poly-800 in terms of sound. Pair this synth with a cheap 80's reverb unit, and you can create the warmest, most enveloping wall of strings, or the most proper techno bleep bass you've ever heard (especially with the Moog Killer modification on the filter which expands the resonance and gives you knob control for that and the Cutoff).

I've owned two of these, and just sold the last one due to money issues, so let me describe some of the issues I've run into.

First, the power supply is a terrifically oversized 12v ungrounded brick, similar to the bricks which came with the Atari ST 520. It can be very noisy, but since I'm not too familiar with electronics I couldn't explain the factors which contribute to this. My building has a truly terrible electrical system, but behind a surge protector power-strip which shared power with my mixer and most of my other equipment, there was very little noise (caveat: my mixer is a first-gen Makie CR1604, which may have a noise floor above that of the DK-70, or there may be some kind of electrical equivalent of audio frequency cancellation, the correct term escapes me but it's the sort of thing that you deal with when miking a drum kit in the studio). However, when I brought the Siel into the audio studio at my university to allow my friend to use it as backing for a track we were working on, it had a terrific amount of hum. Here again, the caveat would be that I don't know how well that studio is wired and we were using it for something which they apparently never anticipated it would be used for.

Second, the keys tend to degrade over time in a fairly common but strangely unpredictable way. In most of the analog synths that I've owned, keys degrade and fail because the mechanism of the key contacts degrade a very slow rate between the contact and the conductive rubber plunger which the key presses down upon them. It can happen through frequent playing, where the rubber plunger wears down simply through overuse, or, more often, because dust accumulates on the conductive plunger and prevents full contact. However, the DK-70's keyboard is, and I state this having only used two of them, very, very cheap. There seems to be about a millimeter of space between the keys. I've only seen something similar with a quite well-worn Korg Polysix, and on that a simple cleaning of the contacts worked perfectly. With the DK-70, it seems to have been a point of the inexpensive design, possibly reusing a keyboard structure from another more expensive synth. The keys are slightly more mushy than other keyboards, probably due to the cheap feel of the keys themselves, which allows dust to act in different ways on them. A key pressed a certain way will not connect, but if massaged enough or if pressed in a different way will connect perfectly. Further caveat would be that I never bothered to try to clean the contacts, as the DK-70 responds very well to MIDI and I have been using another synth as a controller keyboard the whole time I've owned them. I don't think this problem poses any real issue, and if it does there are several cheap fixes in the case that a simple disassembly and cleaning with a q-tip doesn't work. If you have this problem with this synth or any other, look around for some Wire Glue or Conductive Paint (the former is cheaper and just as effective in my experience).

I would highly, highly recommend the DK-70 for someone in the market for a new analog synth to add to their established MIDI rig. On it's own, it provides wonderful sounds, but sampled it can provide an entire palette of analog-style patches to warp and alter which will sound like nothing which has come before.

Gear Change: Keytek CTS-2000

2011-03-31T23:36:00.007-05:00

At the recommendation of more than a few friends (and since I'm not able to upload music from any new rips I might make) I'm switching gears and will post my thoughts/reviews of music hardware that I own or have owned in the past. I've spent the last seven or eight years buying and selling synthesizers on eBay, keeping those that I liked and selling those that I either disliked, couldn't afford to hang on to, or simply needed the money to buy the next synth that caught my fancy. The first of what I hope will be many posts is dedicated to the rarest synth I've ever owned, which also happens to be my current favorite as well as the keyboard which easily wins the award for 'the synthesizer with the least information available,' the Keytek CTS-2000 (second place goes to the Elka EK-22, which has a superb write-up by legowelt and a Vintage Synth Explorer page all it's own).

Keytek was the final moniker of italian synth manufacturer Siel, who produced some of my favorite synthesizers (primarily the DK-70, a beautiful example of the sonic qualities of italian synths as well as of the poor quality which ghettoized them compared to the japanese and american offerings, but to give them their due I'll also mention the Opera 6 and the Mono). Siel was facing bankruptcy in the mid 80s, and their budget synth lines in the later DK double digit series couldn't buoy them up above the ravages of the post DX-7 synth market. Luckily for them, Gibson were looking to expand beyond the guitar markets into keyboards, so along with Oberheim the italians were purchased with an eye towards remaking their brand and exploiting their unreleased synthesizers. In much the same way as Yamaha invested in Korg in order to enable their survival prior to the release of the Wavestation and the M1, Gibson hoped that the engineering division that produced the superb DK-700 polysynth as well as several other extremely successful synths just a few years before (to this day rumors abound that Dave Smith or Bob Moog himself designed one or the other of the Siel line) would pay off.

Unfortunately, Siel's unreleased line didn't quite live up to that hope. Where Yamaha could simply license Korg their FM technology until Korg could exploit the knowledge of the engineers they hired away from Sequential Circuits after their collapse, Gibson had no familiarity with the synth market and Siel apparently had a completely fucking terrible bunch of engineers designing the interfaces for their gear. I mean, just godawful for the time. Not so terrible for us today, in certain ways, kind of.

Siel was rebranded as Keytek under Gibson, and they released a series of horrifically outdated products, with a single exception. They produced the Keytek MDP-40, which I owned for a while as the Siel MDP-40, which was a preset drum machine with poorly sampled 8-bit drum sounds and ultra-generic preset patterns, saved only for it's ability to sync with MIDI clock and ability to play each sample by the non-velocity sensitive pads as well as through MIDI notes (I should mention that I never tested this). Also in the product line was the CTS series, which consisted of the CTS-1000 preset keyboard, the CTS-2000 "Cross-Table Sampled" synth, and the CTS-5000 rackmount piano preset unit. The 1000 is reportedly a Casiotone level preset keyboard with no editability and unknown features (there's zero information about it out there), and the 5000 is a fairly respectable for 1987 electric piano unit aimed at the Roland MKS-20 market. The CTS-2000, however, is a true gem in sound and a prime example of bad design.

The architecture of the CTS-2000 is rather impressive to an analog synth aficionado: two sampled waveform oscillators (OSCs from here on), with two envelope generators (EGs) for tuning and frequency, a deliciously warm 24db Curtis Digitally Controlled (analog) Filter, with two Digitally Controlled Amplifiers and three more independent EGs for the two DCAs as well as the DCF. It also includes internal stereo mixing with level controls and eight placements across the stereo field and is capable of five part multi-timbrality along with it's eight voices. This is both a tremendous point in favor of the 2000, and an hilarious point against.

Before I get to that, I should also mention that the CTS-2000 features 6 faders (not including the volume fader) which are the primary controls of the synth settings, although there is the by-this-point standard up/down increment buttons. The programming works through a menu system on a 2X16 backlit LED, where each setting on a given menu is spelled out above the button on the right side of the keyboard, which matches to one of the 6 sliders on the right side, and to select a given function one must move the slider. Annoying, but slightly more hands on than on a Roland Alpha Juno or JX-3P, especially since everything changes in real time (that includes filter cutoff and resonance) and once you've selected the appropriate menu and placed the sliders to the setting you want, they'll match the existing setting. With the immediacy of the LED readout, it would work quite well for the analog freaks out there.

The bit of hilarity comes in here, once you've figured out how to actually do a little bit of fiddling with the internal presets. The CTS-2000 was designed with the future of MIDI in mind, and multi-timbrality was essential for any new synth in the marketplace of 1986/7. Unfortunately, the engineers of Siel/Keytek either didn't quite grasp how to make this a consumer proposition, were constrained by Sequential Circuits patents on multi-timbral analog equipment, figured that a market which bought 100,000 DX-7s wouldn't have a problem with a ridiculous interface, or were just pressed for time to put out a synth after the Gibson buyout: Either way, the CTS-2000 has one of the most ridiculously idiotic implementations of multi-timbral synthesis ever conceived.

The keyboard is five octaves. Each of the five octaves must be programmed individually. That is, each octave of the CTS-2000 acts as an individual synth which can play a different patch from the other four octaves, with the 8 shared voices able to change for each octave/note demand. It's kind of impressive for the time, if it weren't so incredibly stupid given that each octave must be programmed individually. Thankfully, there's a kind of copy-paste available, although it doesn't work quite right (it's a bit like loading a Roland sample bank on an Akai sampler or vice-versa, there's bits left out that you have to reprogram to get right). The end result, and apparent intent, was that the CTS-2000 acts as five different polysynths, each limited to a single octave and sharing eight voices among them, kind of like some digital version of the Oberheim 4-voice or Korg Mono-Poly , except you can assign each octave of the 2000 to any given octave, and each octave to any given MIDI channel. This brings me to the MIDI implementation.

In his commentary on the Elka EK-22, Legowelt mentions the MIDI implementation in particular. That is, he mentions that the thing drops MIDI notes when stressed too much. Like when you send two messages to it at once. The biggest weakness of the CTS-2000 lies here. The keyboard itself is absolutely wonderful, the action is easily the best I've ever played (and I'm comparing this to every model of the Korg Poly series, all of the Roland Junos, Kawai's K series, Sequential's Sixtrak, Split-Eight, and Prophet-600, even Akai's AX-60 and X7000), it just feels wonderful to play and the velocity response is nice and on point. I imagine this is the same thing people talk about when they say the Elka EK-22 plays like butter. I want to use this as my master keyboard, but that's where I run into problems.

When I set the CTS-2000 up as my master keyboard, I run into issues with the internal capability to keep up with MIDI messages. For example, the preset patch "JAKO-FIFTH" is absolutely going to be the foundation of a future track. The keyboard is divided so that the bottom two octaves are the JAKO solid bass patch and the upper three are a beautiful evolving analog-style fifths pad. When I try to play both patches at once, transmitting MIDI to my sequencer on two MIDI channels, the keyboard misses notes. That is, it literally misses notes that I play in real time, failing to produce sounds when keys are pressed. This explains why there is a MIDI On/Off button, as well as a MIDI Local/Remote button (I have yet to discern the difference between the two, since the MIDI Off setting should do the same thing as the MIDI Local setting does, but I'm not much of a hacker). This is a 'feature' that the CTS-2000 shares with the EK-22: the internal processor is fully capable of handling the various settings the keyboard itself was designed to allow, but nothing beyond that.

Having said all that, I'd like to move into the actual capabilities of the thing. The CTS-2000 has (according to the promo lit) 333 possible waveforms, these provide the basic sound which is processed through the analog filters and is shaped by the various envelope generators. The waveforms are divided into a series of three different sounds which are shared between the two 'oscillators'. The 'oscillators' provide a basic functionality for linking the three transitional waveforms together, a sort of attack/release for the transition between each sound. The resulting sound is comparable only with the implementation of multi-timbrality I described above. It's brilliant in it's own way, but terrible in comparison with similar synthesizers of the same period (namely the PPG and most other wavetable synths). It provides a good level of control over the transition speed between the waveforms, and what I suppose you would call the 'mixing' of the wave transitions is even and allows for very interesting pad sounds which would be impossible to reproduce on any other synthesizer. Add this in to the filtering capabilities and you've got an absolutely amazing source for pad sounds which couldn't be created any other way, even if sampled. I don't know how good the sysex implementation is, but I'd wager it's good-but-strange. If the sysex allows for external control of the waveform transitions as well as the other features (stereo placement control could be amazing), the CTS-2000 would be a monster easily surpassing the similar synths of the time.

The sampled waveforms are about what one would expect for the period, comparable to those found in the Korg DW series or the Kawai K3. Low bitrate, but when processed through the analog filters, very warm and a happy fit for mixing. The bass sounds in particular are phenomenal: the preset bass sounds are extremely usable, though they mostly suffer from being the bottom two octaves of a split with the higher three being some generic-sounding bit obviously aiming the patch towards one-man-band pub type situations (the JAKO-FIFTHS patch being the exception). However, that criticism was leveled at the 303/606 combo in it's time, so take it with a grain of salt. The bass presets are head-and-shoulders above the FM Solid Bass preset of the sought-after Detroit classic DX-100 or the Lately Bass preset of the TX-81z, and would easily hold their own against the M1 basses. The other samples tend towards same-ness, just as the Korg DW waveforms do, but the transitional nature of the design provides for a level of creative interaction which neither of the Korgs nor the Kawai K3 allow. The 'attack' of the sample transitions on the CTS can be set very fast or extremely slow, giving you the ability to provide a weird punchy bass blip or a long evolving lead.

My own taste in synth programming tends towards the moving pad chord style, and I really enjoy programming synths, so I'll advise against the CTS-2000 as a first keyboard. But for the heads? Get one of these if you can find it. I bought mine for $100, and I feel overpaid tremendously given the nonexistent market (I don't price synths based on what I feel they're 'worth', as anyone who has ever bought a synth from me will affirm, I value them based on the market price and essentially only worry about whether something is over-priced. That is, the less I pay, the better the deal, as opposed to "the less I pay, the worse the item.") The week after I bought my CTS from a seller in California, I saw a seller from Queens offering one for $200, which, I might add, sold for that price. I wouldn't pay more than $100 for one, but as I make more posts about synths in the future you will probably notice (especially in light of the above guiding rule) that I lowball prices.

Up next: Siel DK-70, Akai X7000, and possibly XoXBox.

POST PRIME

2011-03-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

There's no telling when I'll start this blog back up. Given the recent crackdowns on file hosts it seems inevitable that anything I might post will either be deleted by dint of either failure to achieve a certain number of downloads over time or some ridiculous copyright claim.

IF you find that one post or another is down, please comment on it saying as much and I will do what I can to make it available.

ALSO the following services are not worth your money (based on either personal experience or recommendation of trusted friends): Hotfile, Megavideo(Megaupload, etc seems alright but don't bother paying for the video). FileServe and FileSonic seem to work, but given the recent shift of Hotfile they may be replaced with Usershare and Uploaded: that is, they may become worthless even before you buy in. Depends on the market.

North Anglolia

2010-12-19T20:47:00.000-05:00

Automation - Espionage

2010-12-19T19:53:00.002-05:00

oh for the love of god

eevolute flavor

2010-12-10T05:28:00.002-05:00

We're still active here, and I've just found a new deck to rip vinyl from, so stay tuned here! In the meantime:

If you're still seeing this

2010-10-28T08:23:00.003-05:00

and you haven't got this: Frankie Knuckles - Ministry of Sound 1991

Update

2010-10-28T08:06:00.004-05:00

I'm still alive! Unfortunately the last few months have been very involved, between classes and music I've been making a point of treasuring my isolationary time. Posts will be, as they have been (for entirely too long now), sporadic. I'll try to make a point of throwing out the kind of thing that keeps this blog on your rss feed (or at least keeps bringing you back to check on it).

I first heard this when I was 17, which was after I'd gotten my first car. This is one of the two defining songs of the time when I drove a car. I really miss driving when I listen to this one.

DL it, pop it on cdr, tape, whatever you use to play music in your car. Flip it on on the interstate and enjoy the feeling of pressing that pedal down as far as it'll go.

floor it

Loronix

2010-09-21T03:36:00.003-05:00

I've been way busy lately, and haven't had the patience or will to rip some of my records due to both [not wanting to bother my roommates] and [my only audio input is real noisy now that i'm using a macbook pro].

Therefore, here's a link from a blog which I've loved for years, and which I fear might now be done. The proprietor was an older gentleman from Brazil who adored Brazilian popular music from about 1950 to around 2000, and facilitated the distribution of high quality rips of hard to find records from throughout that period. This is my absolute favorite post he ever made, which still seems to be up:

Paulinho Nogueira - Sambas de Ontem e Hoje (1961)

As I said, it's been about a year since he or any of the other contributors to Loronix have posted anything new. I hope that you'll download this from his blog, as it's my favorite bossanova album and easily in my top five albums ever; and i hope that you'll share my supportive sentiment for whatever he and his family might be going through, might have gone through, or indeed might need.

N-Joi - Live in Manchester

2010-08-15T21:19:00.007-05:00

N-Joi - Live in Manchester (1992)

This and an album tonight. Half-hour non-stop live set from N-Joi circa 1992, all the hits in great quality.

bonus link: jackpot!

Post 101

2010-07-26T23:25:00.000-05:00

Hey, last post was #100 and I didn't even notice. Nothing new just yet, except to remind that the twitter is (comparatively) much more active and to link up this mix I just rediscovered. Hit up this blog, maybe we can convince this guy to post up some more mixes.

DB1233 - Boogie Control

And the twitter again.

McCarthy - Banking, Violence, and the Inner Life Today

2010-07-15T20:08:00.006-05:00

McCarthy - Banking, Violence, and the Inner Life Today (1990)

Here's something out of left field for you. McCarthy is probably best known today for being the indie pop band where Tim Gane & Laetetia Sadier of Stereolab met, or something like that. It's been on my mind lately since getting that Un-Kommunity tape from NLFM blog (linked in a previous post). Perhaps my favorite indie-twee group of the late 80s era, McCarthy combined polished pop tunes with clever, biting lyrics and a heavy anti-Thatcher/pro-Labour bent. Anti-capitalism is always ++ in my book, but they also touch on gay rights, sexism, and pretty much everything else a proper young socialist ought to care about. First track on the album is my favorite:

CJ Bolland - The 4th Sign

2010-07-15T19:25:00.004-05:00

CJ Bolland - The 4th Sign (1992)

Here's CJ Bolland's debut full-length off R&S, lot of classic bits of uptempo house in the dutch post-new-beat vein (Trance before it became "Trance" and people started doing that dour face whenever anyone mentions it). This rip is off the japanese CD re-release from '95. Here's a discogs review:

The 4th Sign, CJ Bolland's full-length debut for R&S, is notably — and refreshingly — free of his previous singles successes for the label. Instead of padding out the LP with a few of the club hits he'd recorded during his four-plus years on R&S, Bolland uses the opportunity to explore new methods and construct an album of tracks that work together as well as apart. True, there's not that much different here musically; it's a nine-track course through much of the same hard techno and pummeling trance he'd been known for. But the effects programming is inventive and just a bit leftfield for the dancefloor (at least circa 1992), and Bolland ranges from sleek trance ("Aquadrive"), to hardcore ("Spring Yard"), to symphonic progressive house ("Camargue"). Though the best tracks ("Nightbreed," "Mantra," "Thrust") come with help from the Advent's Cisco Ferreira (maybe this should've been released as a Space Opera LP instead), The 4th Sign is a near-perfect debut.

and the inevitable tacky 90s techno music vid:

Snag it above.

Also, check out the legowelt site on the 12 July post for some raw 808 beats, goes great with the Willesden Dodgers post from back in January. I just wish he'd included the track BPMs. And if you haven't gotten it already, get the second hour of this Rush Hour Radio podcast for a ton of rare chi-town tracks

haha sampling an alpha juno hoover into an emulator iii. classic.

Rapidshare Issues

2010-06-30T14:45:00.003-05:00

I've got a few things I'd like to upload, but Rapidshare has gone and switched from the monthly pass setup to some kind of totally incomprehensible points-based system (while, might I add, deleting my 14000+ already useless 'rapidpoints' (fuck your mousepads)) so until I can grasp what the hell is going on here I'm just going to push a few links for the sake of a new post.

Un-kommunity - In The Shithouse (1984)
http://433rpm.blogspot.com/2010/06/un-kommunity-in-shithouse-tape-black.html

This was a tape I've been looking for for ages, ever since I got the Freedom in a Vacuum comp a few years ago. Top notch tape noise from three english students, featuring McCarthy/Stereolab guru Tim Gane in his first musical(?) outing.

Tantra - Double Album (1980)
http://retrodisco-hi-nrg.blogspot.com/2010/06/tantra-double-album-2lp-album-1980.html

Featuring two side-long proto-italo epics, one of which being the timeless Hills of Katmandu, this one gets dropped regularly by a good friend whenever he does a vinyl set out & about.

also another reminder that i'm posting up videos to the twitter on the regular now: http://twitter.com/spaceodeon

Zero-G - Datafile One (1990)

2010-06-23T13:42:00.005-05:00

Zero-G - Datafile One

Something a little different for you today, which I'd been on the lookout for for a few weeks and just found a nice little copy of to share. This is one of the very first (and one of the most important) sample cd collections ever made. 1000 samples across 100 tracks, which some kind soul has provided for us in chopped up individual sample format. Classic House, Techno and Hip-Hop breaks, basses, vocal samples, the works. Just listening through the samples will send chills down your spine, you can't go five clips without hearing a sound off a classic hit tune. Top quality as far as I can tell, but I'm downloading a full cd iso version as I type this for the sake of comparison

Two more things, an announcement and a request:
1. I've retooled my totally unused private twitter account to pair with this blog, and from now on I'll be occasionally (whenever I remember/feel like it) posting links to youtubes, blog posts, and other things of note. If you've got a twitter, follow me @spaceodeon
2. I'm having a bit of trouble getting my Akai S2000 to work, and would appreciate any help anyone might be able to give. Leave a note in the comments if you have any familiarity with the model, it's a real basic couple of questions but the manual is just crap for it and I'm used to much simpler OS setups on my samplers.

VA - Kickin Mental Detergent

2010-05-20T16:35:00.005-05:00

VA - Kickin Mental Detergent (1992)

Classic comp from my personal favorite '92 label, Kickin Records. Proper cuts of some serious breakbeat hardcore tunes here. As the cover says, 100% TECHNO.

Liner Notes:

WARNING: This record contains 11 tracks of 100% pure techno energy. This is the sound of KICKIN' RECORDS, one of the most uncompromising underground labels in the world today. The artists on this compilation are pushing the boundaries of contemporary music, creating an exciting and original new sound. Since the beginning KICKIN' has released one ground breaking track after another. Starting with THE SCIENTIST's "Exorcist", every KICKIN' single has gone top 10 in the British dance charts and five have hit number one! This amazing string of hits has earned KICKIN' a loyal following worldwide.

Mental Detergent kicks off with "Temple Of Dreams" by MESSIAH. This intoxicating song threatens to make pop stars out of the lads. Moving straight into the top 20 of the UK pop chart and number 1 on the dance chart, "Temple Of Dreams" weaves dreamy vocals with raw techno energy. Next up the chilling voodoo of "Evil Surrounds Us" by WISHDOKTA, followed by "World Famous", an unrelenting hardcore track from the Manchester duo ZERO ZERO.

THIRD MIND really start to cook with "Beans And Barley" then it's back to MESSIAH with their massive "There Is No Law". The sonic assault continues with ZERO ZERO's breakthrough US release "Zeroxed". The hypnotic "Just Makes Me" from THIRD MIND will take you over the edge just before WISHDOKTA casts his spell on you once again with "Sunrise". THE SCIENTIST slams his number one dance hit "Exorcist", followed by the ragga-acid sound of "You Think It's Over" by DEA. Finally THE SCIENTIST takes it to the limit with another number one dance track "The Bee".

Until now most of these songs have only been available as import singles from London. Finally together on one record this collection of hit singles will take you on a journey to the center of the KICKIN' sound. Get ready to get mental.

Mix #1 - Hardcore Rave Techno

2010-05-10T02:51:00.006-05:00

I've finally had time to sit down and figure out the basics of Live, here's the rough draft of my first mix. I'll replace it later if I decide to go back and patch up the rough spots, but it's nothing I'm going to be shopping around for gigs so I'll probably work on something more useful instead.

It's not contemporaneous and it's not all rave techno, but it's got some (a lot of) floor burners and I'm pretty pleased with it for a first go. If anyone wants a tracklist, drop a comment and I'll write it up.

DOWN FOR NOW until i find some host that doesn't wipe things out as quick as zshare

Patrick Cowley & Upload Issues

2010-04-25T02:05:00.005-05:00

I've had a couple albums in the queue but my connection has been awful for some reason for the last few days (three failed uploads on the first up!). It's driving me a bit crazy since I have such amazing tracks to share. In the meantime, here's a taste of that first album. If anyone has the proper mp3 of the second vid please please post it in the comments or get it to me somehow, because it's unreal. The man was brilliant, and the fact that he isn't as known as Moroder is a testament to the miserable state of the American aesthetic taste, then and now.

Wherever you are, Mr. Cowley, we love you.

434:49 minutes remaining in the upload... (See Below)

Patrick Cowley - The Ultimate Collection

2010-04-24T04:31:00.005-05:00

Finally, the first upload I've had in nearly a week that hasn't failed. Today I present you with a legendary collection of the greatest tracks by America's greatest electronic disco producer. Before his untimely death in 1982 (at age 32! so young.) Patrick Cowley did a world tour with Sylvester and started the superb hi-nrg label, Megatone records. I've re-written this post a dozen times it feels like so just check him on wikipedia if you want to know more.

Patrick Cowley - The Ultimate Collection (1991)

Theo Vaness - Back to Music

2010-04-20T22:16:00.005-05:00

Number 2 in the spacer disco series isn't from our friends at the Disco2Go blog, but discovered elsewhere online and posted as a follow up to a post ages ago of my rip of the 7" single from this album.

Theo Vaness - Back to Music (1978)

Back to Music is a 4 track 1978 disco album from Theo Vaness, but frankly tracks 2-4, though solid tunes, are just here to fill out the album. The first track is the draw, and it is epic. 16:31 side-long disco medley, kicking off with a cosmic narrative about time travel and rolling into a medley as follows:

Back To Music 7:35
I Who Have Nothing 1:15
Feelings 1:15
Yesterday :55
Brahms : Third Symphony :45
It's Now Or Never 1:30
What Did I Say :04
Blue Suede Shoes :12
Shake Rattle and Roll :12
Johnny Be Good :12
Tutti Frutti :12

~~This is the US version, I haven't found the Euro version but apparently it's considerably worse (though given the tracklist I can't really imagine that being true).~~ No, this is indeed the Euro version. My god.

This is one of those projects that results from a massive budget and a very good connection.

Vaness was better known for his gay disco anthem As Long As It's Love, unfortunately not included on this album (if it were, I would have to declare this the Gayest Disco LP Ever. As it stands, Sylvester retains that title).

I've got a few more to go, don't know that I'll get up another one tonight but we'll see how temperamental rapidshare is being. Anyway, enjoy.

Space Project - Disco from Another Galaxy

2010-04-18T20:24:00.005-05:00

Good evening spacers & runaways! I've got a few more neat bits of far-out disco for you this week, mostly mp3 encodes of lossless files provided by the wonderful Disco2Go blog (Tonight's post found lossless here). The originals even come with .cues for your burning/ripping pleasure, so hit him up if you'd like the pristine originals or you want them in another encoding format.

First up is this four-track four-on-the-floor effort from Quebec. Supposedly involves an ex-member of seminal French Synthpop/Disco group Droids, although I can't seem to track down any more info on that and discogs is being less than helpful.

Laid-back spaced vibes throughout, with one of my absolute favorite 'sounds' when it comes to disco: the TV Soundtrack. Perfect for listening, lots of analog synth twiddles and production fun on two sides featuring a dozen separate snippets that could have been in the OST for Battlestar Galactica 1980. Superb. Once I get around to ripping vinyl again I'll have to start in on my small collection of this sort of thing. The French (and Quebecois, obviously) had a good handle on it, but frankly the Italians and the Japanese were the masters. Refer to my old post of that Digital Trip synth soundtrack for a prime demonstration of Japan's direction, or my very first post of Nights of Babylon for another example of French efforts to a similar end. Anyhow, check out the youtubes below. Beyond Orion is my clear favorite, but none of them fall short of expectations. Enjoy.

Space Project - Disco from Another Galaxy (1978)

Speaking of synthy-stuff and that Digital Trip album, the lucidmedia blog reposted it along with SIX more similar albums. The Macross one is particularly good for this kind of music (Silver Moon, Red Moon on the same is a great example of this kind of this soundtrackish disco sound, as is O-G Love although both are much more 'late-80s' in style). This also has an example or two.

Supermax - Types of Skin & Meets the Almighty

2010-04-16T00:02:00.002-05:00

AGH! Crazy time of year for me. Forgot what it was like to be a student again, then tax season came along. Here's another bit I've nabbed over time, between projects and class I haven't had time to rip anything new. That said, I'll not do you wrong. Lordy.

CD rip of two albums of disco-style funk-punk-rock-whatever. Imagine the Talking Heads around this period, except not afraid either of rocking hard or laying down some proper dance shit. Like Nat Glover (Kid Creole) but freaked like Damião (pick your spelling, I've no idea) doing house. It's not P-Funk, but it could fit in the pantheon. I wouldn't be even remotely surprised if it was produced by Bill Laswell (check this though it's probably on this blog somewhere since I ripped my copy long ago).

Shit, don't take my word for it.

Supermax - Types of Skin & Meets the Almighty (1980/81)

REPOST: VA - Han-Ichi Independents

2010-04-07T02:49:00.004-05:00

Reposting this because I've just gone back and compared the version I had before I ripped this and this recording, and the other can't compare. This is the best rip of this tape you'll ever find: original copy and aside from 25 years of wear it still retains fair fidelity. If you have any interest in the japanese avant-garde of the past 50 years or interestingly original music in general, get this. The text of the original post follows.

VA - Han-Ichi Independents (1983)

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.

Number Girl - Urban Guitar Sayonara (single)

2010-04-06T02:54:00.005-05:00

Got a few things coming up. I've been adding my old mp3s to my itunes thing since I shifted over to mac after my PC finally broke, so I've had some old things come up again. Let's call it a retro phase. Track 1 on the B side of this single was the first bit I ever heard from this band, back when I was 15. I was in a (bit of a crap) punk band, and it was a bit of a revelation for me. Fell in love with the rest of Number Girl's discography not long after, but Sentimental Girl's Violent Joke remains a touchstone of my musical evolution. The first time I ever identified with something in a language I didn't understand.

And here I am, ten years later and running a rave disco world music blog. Please give it a chance. (BTW their final live DVD easily ranks among the top 5 live concert videos I've ever seen)

Number Girl - Urban Guitar Sayonara (single) (1998)

(off their prime album Sappukei: this single blew me away, that album made me a fan)

VA - United Stance of Techno

2010-03-16T02:57:00.004-05:00

Various Artists - United Stance of Techno (1993)

Probably one of the best hardcore compilations I've ever found. Picked up the tape version from a thrift store a couple of subway stops north of me, was so blown away by the tracklist that I picked up the CD for next to nothing on ebay just to share here! Energy Flash, Sesame's Treet, House is Mine, Trip II the Moon, just a grip of absolute classics from my favorite era for rave. Only complaint is that they used the c.j. bolland mix of NRG's I Need Your Lovin, when the original is much better if you ask me.

That said, get a load of this shit:

I'll never get tired of the intro to this track, rest of it's kind of crap in comparison.

I love the 909

2010-03-14T21:10:00.004-05:00

But I felt the 808 would fit my sound needs better. So I bought one. It's everything I'd dreamed it would be. The xoxbox arrives later this week.

That said, here's to the 909 I couldn't afford to go with her. the hats... the hats... oh god the hats...

Dinosaur L - Go Bang (Thank You Arthur Edit) - (First Anniversary Post)

2010-03-01T01:37:00.009-05:00

Dinosaur L - Go Bang (Thank You Arthur Edit)

I've got a big post uploading now, but since it doesn't look like it'll finish in time for me to post it tonight here's a great edit of this quintessential disco track I've had on rotation lately. Enjoy.

Hey, it's technically the first anniversary! (Though we did have a big break there for a couple of months) In celebration, here's a track I did on a lark in Reason a week or so ago. I'll try to start ripping some of the new records I've put together in the past year this month. Thanks for reading SRO! Stick around, I'm not going anywhere...

(by the way, this is amazing)

and some other tracks on the day-to-day playlist

Stephen Brooks - The Art of Indirect Suggestion

2010-03-01T00:35:00.006-05:00

Seems I was wrong about the time required.

Stephen Brooks - The Art of Indirect Suggestion pt. 1
Stephen Brooks - The Art of Indirect Suggestion pt. 2

Tonight I'm putting up a series of lectures about trance induction, hypnosis, and how to use indirect suggestion. Very long, full of possibility for sampling and throwing over some old acid tracks or just purely for entertainment value. Goes quite well with the Yoga record I posted almost a year ago now. This one comes in two parts and contains no less than 8 90~ minute tapes. It's actually a fairly interesting method to approaching language and speech, though I haven't listened to all 12 hours of it yet. Enjoy.

Billy Cancel/White Wave - Hidden House Split EP

2010-02-22T23:17:00.006-05:00

Billy Cancel - Scan Cluster Scan Scatter, Hidden House - S/t, White Wave - To The Hidden Life (2010)

This is a split/collab I was given yesterday evening by two very good friends of mine. Billy Cancel is an Anglo-to-Brooklyn transplant spoken word artist and half of the power electronics group Farms, who I'd highly recommend to anyone with a taste for Broken Flag or most of the first generation groups. White Wave is someone I've collaborated with on shows, recordings, and various other things often over the past few years (did a thing with Billy once but always a bit more of a schedule issue for us, go figure). Classically trained in viola with an interest in Deluze, Situationism, and loop-based improvisational music, the latter four tracks are densely layered lo-fidelity psychedelic minimalism done as only we of the starving Brooklyn set can do. That is, properly beautiful. The two central tracks are from their new collaborative effort, Hidden House.

This record was put together to celebrate (or at least finished at the time of) their engagement, sadly I can't seem to figure out where the hell the various other related myspace pages are so I'll have to update this at some point in the next week or two (the two Hidden House tracks are on the White Wave myspace). True shame that I haven't got my scanner anymore, as the handmade xerox art is 'legit as fuck' as you might say, and the liner notes are sweetly touched to boot. Cannot possibly recommend this highly enough, both as up-to-the-minute proof that people around north Brooklyn are still doing interesting things lo these many years and as simply excellent work by some of the most creative and interesting artists I've had the privilege to meet.

Congratulations!

Series 2: Pick & Choose

2010-02-05T23:08:00.007-05:00

Until I get my ripping setup back in action, I'm going to make a go of posting the better bits of my mp3 single rip collection. That'll mean picking through the larger batch torrent stuff I've got. To kick this little project off, here's a bunch of Altern-8 tracks you can't get on CD (and which I'm pretty sure haven't been posted anywhere else (oh look, I'm wrong.)).

Altern-8 - Overload EP, Infiltrate-202 & Activ-8 Singles (1990-91)

Comes off quite a bit closer to their more 'serious' (and lower tempo) Nexus 21 project than the more jump-up raver tracks Altern-8 were known for. Great stuff, but the mixes are much more spacey and come off almost like some bleep shit really (especially the EP). I almost like it more than the usual style they had, since they tended to fill out a mix instead of leaving a bit of headroom like these tracks do. Hell, Passion Devotion nearly hits a Chicago feel. Probably for lack of breakbeat samples. Dig the Freestyle sample on the Infiltrate 202 Vertigo edit and the chill piano house of Re Indulge off the Activ-8 single.

VA - Balearic Beats Vol. 1

2010-02-05T22:31:00.007-05:00

VA - Balearic Beats Vol. 1 (1988)

This one is courtesy of the once magnificent, now defunct audio.out blog. So much great music lost to the void (that I hadn't gotten hold of yet...) when he went offline. This is probably up someplace else, but since I've been mentioning it to friends so much and it fits SRO's style such as it does I'm tossing it up here just for simplicity's sake. Cover blurb:

balearic beats by farley

"wot shall i file this BALEARIC BEATS under?" so young joe public, y.t.s., go-getter at yo-price megastore hits his first problem in pigeon-holeing the black vinyl. now seeing that the only "MATEY" joe's "EVER GOT RIGHT ON" is the rubbery balloon type his guv'nor sells, i think we should explain this happy, happy, groove a little more.

now while it's true that the balearic beat was born in IBIZAN clubs, such as AMNESIA and PASHA, it's breeding took place in a small, sweaty, strobby, smokey south london club called ..... THE SHOOM. the hardcore original shoomers, along with another london club THE FUTURE, had discovered the JOY'S of balearic beats, during several previous "summers of love" (sic), and had brought the music and the attitude back to london with them. the kinectic style of dancing now associated with balearics ugly brother, ACID HOUSE, is pure ibizan in origin. The loudest screams at SPECTRUM are always reserved for NITZER EBB and the RESIDENTS while hearing ENZO AVITABILE booming through the smoke at JOY is an ecstatic experience one step away, (some say forward) from sex.

THE FINI TRIBE and MANDY SMITH have become anthems all over clubland, whilst my personal faves are the fast euro-rhythms of CODE 61 and the post-punk thrashing of THE WOODENTOPS. every track of this album will fill floors and put smiles on faces, Throughout the balearic underground. look, i wonder if poor joe's getting the gist of all this, for joe and the yet uninitiated, balearic is the following and much, much more.....

.....loads of hugs and kisses ... smiley t-shirts and happy faces.... feeling saucey instead of sauced......eating fruits on the dance floor....bashed up converse trainers.....lovely girls with blinding accents.....ice pops.....hedionism....sparklers at the future....indian belly dancers at the shoom....almost everyone finally realising that "only love can conquer hate"....watching the sun set at the café del mar....watching the sun rise on primrose hill....the karma collective....poncho's pony tails and body paint....dj alfredo....new friendships....loads more hugs and kisses....just let this piece of warm anglo-ibizan club culture rush over you, enjoy it mateys!!!

loves & respects to OAKEY, THE RAMPLINGS, GARY HAISMAN, JOHNNY WALKER, STEVE PROCTOR, NANCY NOISE, and to all those out there who truly "shoooom!!!"

xxx hugs and kisses xxx - farley.
BOYS OWN FANZINE

God, don't you just love that knackered proto-raver writing style. This one's even better than the Technorave thing from last month. Anyway, this comp was released by the Boy's Own crew and stands as the defining first-generation balearic collection. Toss it on the monitors and play like you're Rampling at Shoom. Check this out too, I keep forgetting to buy this damn thing and I'm sure by the time I have the spare cash around it'll be sold out and worth a few hundo on ebay or something. Grab the 44-page pdf preview, only a tenth of the full book. Epic shit.

D.D.A.A. - La Famille Des Saltimbanques

2010-02-05T21:54:00.004-05:00

D.D.A.A. - La Famille Des Saltimbanques (1984)

One of the jewels of my meager cassette collection here. Includes scans of the packaging and all that. I'll leave the rest up to this short bit off the WFMU blog.

I've raved about DDAA elsewhere on this blog, and also addressed the fact that several of their best releases were cassette-only. La Famille des Saltimbanques was released in a beautiful custom package by the Italian ADN label in 1984, and is among my personal top three DDAA recordings, along with their masterpiece, the Ronsard LP (1988) and their first full-length album, Action and Japanese Demonstration (1982). DDAA's songs have a relentlessly human quality, an emotional intensity that I find lacking in much of the post-punk avant-garde, having more in common with Can or Amon Düül than with DDAA contemporaries like Nurse With Wound and P16.D4. The two lengthy songs that make up most of Face 2 of this tape are mindbending excursions of plodding percussion and monolithic distorted guitar.

This is certainly one of the more rockist outings for DDAA, heavy on the bass and the screaming guitar. I've chopped this rip up into the songs as listed on the packaging, if you'd rather get sidelong rips or grab it from a different source, WFMU has sidelong rips and this blog has their own rips as well. Quality might be better from them, I haven't checked. Tape's a bit spotty at points on my copy, ravages of age and all (can you believe it's really been 25 years since this came out? so much more interesting than most of what's coming out now)

V-Effect - Stop Those Songs

2010-02-05T02:03:00.001-05:00

V-Effect - Stop Those Songs! (1983)

This is my personal rip from my copy, one of those 'this looks neat let me check it on the old demo turntable' thrift store buys. Mutant Sounds posted this about three years ago but took it down because some label said they were going to re-release it. Since they never did (so far as I can tell), here it is again. I'll knock it down when someone links me to a press on forced exposure or wherever.

V-Effect straddle the no-wave and downtown scenes, though I imagine they didn't see it that way. The downtown people probably didn't see it that way either, since Mori is still with that downtown set and none of the people involved with this record seem to have kept an explicit presence within the "downtown scene" (or anywhere else I can find). Background established, this is... well... likely an album unlike anything you've heard before. Somewhere between no-wave and post-punk, free jazz and actual revolutionary sentiment. Call and response, self-taught sax squeal, analog clap pads on mic stands to add to the drummers' repertoire, thoroughly DIY and anti-capitalist.

This is what w-burg hipster bullshit should be right now. Enjoy.

first your feet... then your back... then your mind... then heart attack...

Mandrill - Mandrill Is...

2010-02-04T03:58:00.004-05:00

Mandrill - Mandrill Is... (1972)

Wild funk, fucked fusion, acid soul. This record easily places among the most impressive achievements of the era, ranging from Sly-style soul-funk (Ape is High), JBs doling out the hard-edge shit (Git it All), to straight up acid narrative tracks (the eminently samplable Universal Rhythms) and psych ballads (Central Park). Hell, forget Universal Rhythms, the whole album is chock full of great breaks and instrumental compositions worthy of breaking out the old MPC. This record is certainly a production of its' time, but only more amazing for it. Honestly, best suited to headphones and a couple of rips rather than dropping at a party. There's a lot here to enjoy, give it your best attention & enjoy.

I have this LP, but as I recall this particular rip was one I found on a now defunct blog (that one with four different interconnected blogs I can't remember the name of anymore). The quality is roughly equal to my own rips, but starting in the next week or two I'll finally have myself set up once again to rip records. I've got a grip of house singles, a couple of mix records, and a few LPs. Added to that, I've spent the last few days getting my old MP3 collection transferred from my several old hard drives to my new dual 1.5tb external mirror raid setup, so I've got a few hundred tidbits to share. Stay tuned...

Myriam Makeba - Comme Une Symphone D'Amour

2010-01-26T01:05:00.006-05:00

Myriam Makeba - Comme Une Symphone D'Amour (1979/89)

Here's a change of pace from the recent spate of synth music. Myriam Makeba was, as it happens, married to the great Hugh Maskela, a few of whose albums I posted over the summer. If you liked those, you'll find this just as agreeable. Otherwise, I doubt anyone can help themselves from falling for the woman known as Mama Afrika. For some background I'll just toss out some Wikipedia.

Makeba then travelled to London where she met Harry Belafonte, who assisted her in gaining entry to and fame in the United States. She released many of her most famous hits there including "Pata Pata", "The Click Song" ("Qongqothwane" in Xhosa), and "Malaika". In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba. The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid.

She discovered that her South African passport was revoked when she tried to return there in 1960 for her mother's funeral. In 1963, after testifying against apartheid before the United Nations, her South African citizenship and her right to return to the country were revoked. She has had nine passports, [3] and was granted honorary citizenship of ten countries.[4]

Her marriage to Trinidadian civil rights activist and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result of this, the couple moved to Guinea, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife.[5] Makeba separated from Carmichael in 1973, and continued to perform primarily in Africa, South America and Europe. She was one of the African and Afro-American entertainers at the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaïre. Makeba also served as a Guinean delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986.

This is the 1989 CD re-release of this album (best of?) featuring 5 bonus tracks including "The Click Song" as mentioned above. It dips between pop, jazz, and traditional numbers in french, english, and xhosa. Wonderful album, here's some youtube vids as a preview for those unacquainted with the 'Mistress of African Song'.

African Convention (on this record)

(Fun tidbit: The Lion Cries seems to have been 'covered'/ripped-off by Paul Simon on Graceland. Guess it wasn't just Ladysmith Black Mambazo then.)

Ruth - Polaroïd/Roman/Photo

2010-01-20T03:41:00.005-05:00

Ruth - Polaroïd/Roman/Photo (1985)

Another classic minimal synth rip, delved from a long-lost backup dvd. This is the CD rerelease of Ruth - Polaroïd/Roman/Photo with all the bonus tracks. Got some terrific cuts on this one, even beyond the classic proper Roman Photo single found on my last post. Mabelle, Mots (and the 2001 remix), and the 14 minute original instrumental Roman Photo mix. This numbers among the greatest minimal synth albums ever produced, perhaps even surpassing those of Ensemble Pittoresque.

VA - So Young But So Cold

2010-01-20T03:11:00.005-05:00

Various Artists - So Young But So Cold

Well, guess who just discovered a dvd backup of mp3 rips from 3 years back? This is a (now complete) repost of the terrifically hard-to-find french minimal synth/coldwave comp put out by tigersushi back in '04 featuring some of the best tracks of the era. Don't forget to hit up Artefact's site if you like the M.A.E. track on this comp, you can download the full album from there. (recommended above all for their version of the internationale!)

CBS Top 100

2010-01-08T04:00:00.007-05:00

Nothing new from me tonight, but I wanted to point this out to anyone who follows SRO (especially anyone interested enough to be reading me now after that months-long break). The CBS Top 100 is pretty much the definitive italo/electro/house/etc recc list. If you've noticed the new IFM widget on the side, IFM is what CBS evolved into last year. Four channels of amazing music and shows from some of the best talents in the West Coast of Holland scene (perhaps the best thing going at the moment), 24 hours a day 365 days a year. They didn't do the Top 100 show the last two years due to the switchover to IFM, which is kind of a shame, but there's still three years out there to download. Obviously these aren't my original posts, just strong endorsements.

2005
2006
2007

VA - Street Buzz

2010-01-06T00:41:00.003-05:00

VA - Street Buzz (1990)

Last one for tonight. Here's the '90 acid/piano/bleep house comp mentioned previously. First half is chock full of cheese house, I'd swear I remember half of them from the yearly dance at my elementary school. Picks up quite well in the second half. I should mention that this comp is actually structured and mixed rather than just being a collection of singles, so it works pretty well all around even if the track selection isn't perfect. That Jet Lag track is killer though (still a sucker for 303), and the pianos on Mary had a little Boy are straight off of "Going Back to my Roots."

List:
1. Love's Calling - Sybil (remix)
2. Independant - Salt 'N Pepa (Brixton remix)
3. Nothing Compares 2 U - MXM (remix)
4. Simba Groove - Hi Power
5. Give In To The Fight - Ready For Reality (remix)
6. Take Back The Love - Samaria
7. Nitro - Ambassadors of Funk (London Symph Bleep House mix)
8. Falling In Love - Sybil (dub) <- picks up here
9. Kick Your Legs In The Air - Adam Ice/Poor Pocket Productions
10. You're No Good For Me - Kelly Charles (previously unreleased)
11. Get Your Thing Together - Urban Rhythm
12. Do You Want Me Baby (Dirty Love) - Lipstick/Lee Marrow
13. Mary Had A Little Boy - Stax (remix)
14. Jet Lag - Northern Lights

Can't find any album art online, but the disc can be had at amazon for about $4. ASIN B000008L7T

The Willesden Dodgers - Jive Rhythm Trax Vol. 1

2010-01-05T22:48:00.005-05:00

The Willesden Dodgers - Jive Rhythm Trax Vol. 1 (1982 - '89 CD)

This is a CD rip of this absolute classic of electro & hip-hop. The DJ lp that has at least one song that everyone recognizes, either because it's based on some older track or because it was later sampled off this. You won't get this in better quality anywhere else. Perfect for the laptop DJ or the producer looking for some new samples too.

VA - Technorave 2: Trance Atlantic

2010-01-05T22:13:00.008-05:00

VA - Technorave 2: Trance Atlantic (1992)

Found a nice stack of CDs today, 2 '92 Hardcore comps, a '90 bleep comp and an absolutely classic electro library record I'll be posting later tonight. First, though, is this Network/Next Plateau comp from '92 featuring Altern-8, Forgemasters, and 10 of the best cuts of stripped down bleep-style Hardcore from the year it peaked (and it can be had for pennies over at amazon. Chock full of Mentasm too, have you no doubt. I'll let this bit from the inside cover say the rest:

They call it rave. They call it techno. The fast forward electronic dance music that has dominated UK club culture for the past two years has been named, named and named again. What does it really matter? When the tones begin and the bass kicks, instinct tackes over and the limbs move involuntarily. This aural avalanche is the wave of the future. This post-Dusseldorf hyperactivity starts a new chapter in club culture on both sides of the Atlantic. "trance atlantic" is your passport to the future. Within the space of forty minutes your understanding of this underground phenomenon will be complete. You will then laugh as inferior bleep parodies are presented to you dressed as the real thing. All the artists featured here record for Network Records, based in Birmingham, England. Since the mid-eighties, label owners Dave Barker and Neil Rushton have encouraged the music, releasing classic early techno from Detroit and the then-fledgling English scene. Neil and Dave encouraged Detroit innovators Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson without whom this music would be very different. They set up Network in 1990 - a label with a crystal clear identity, sharp from the grooves to the sleevs - to cope with the increasing number of bedroom techno creators whose tapes often found their way to Birmingham before the London majors. Such was the reputation Network was developing, the UK's leading independent. altern 8's "frequency" available previously only as a limited edition white label pressing wastes no time in applying the pressure. You are the brick and this is the mineshaft. Altern 8's "Activ 8" was a Number Three pop hit in the UK which shows just how far things have gone. Altern 8 dresses in nuclear fallout suits and wear bright yellow dust masks. They hail from the UK's own Techno City, Stafford. They like to travel from rave to rave by hot air balloon. Sometimes the underground is a surreal place to be. nexus 21's "sychologic p.s.p." shows a more reflective side of the sound. "rhythmatix" is mathematic in its digital precision. The ghost of Kraftwerk somewhere in the new machine. The forgemasters' "stress" is the sound of Sheffield. Sheffield was once a major industrial centre. Sheffield made metal. Nobody wants metal anymore. Plastic will do. The Forgemasters make music like metal. There's respect to the past with an eye on the future. "stream" is a moment of relaxation. Can't dance forever. xon's "dissonance" fascinates with its twists and turns. In its complexity it reminds of the work of Derrick May who is in there somewhere. "turbo" and "heavyweight apply the pressure, both brutally futuristic electronic dance anthems, both hard, loud, insistent. This music isn't going away. This music is the wave of the future.

- John McCready, London, 1992

There's some seriously hard cuts on this comp, miles better than most of the hardcore I've posted in the past.

Keep an ear out for the samples and post all the lifted bits you recognize in the comments!

Graeme Park & Mike Pickering - Hacienda Live mix 08-1989

2009-12-05T04:25:00.006-05:00

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.

Park & Pickering - Hacienda pt 1 pt 2 08-89

ARTEFACT - AGIT'POP (1981)

TLR - Road To Rimini 18/10/08

2009-12-03T02:19:00.004-05:00

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.

TLR - Road To Rimini 18/10/08

Ellis Dee - EOE Set @ Fantazia NYE 12-31-92

2009-12-02T04:26:00.004-05:00

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.

Ellis Dee - End of Event Set @ Fantazia NYE 1993 (12-31-92)

Back?

2009-12-02T02:16:00.003-05:00

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.

Computer Death

2009-08-04T00:03:00.001-05:00

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.

Taureg Rock

2009-07-25T10:09:00.002-05:00

A new single track, and a stupid thing I made playing around with my new SU-10 handheld sampler with it just because. Off the Group Inerane album.

A5 - Nadan Al Kazawnin

bullshit SU-10 screw-around

it's been a long night

2009-07-24T04:54:00.002-05:00

one of many. here's something everyone should have/hear. please comment if you download or listen.

Lamont Dozier - Going Back to My Roots (1979)

Sometimes you just can't sleep.

Mahapurursh Misra - Indian Drums

2009-07-24T01:00:00.004-05:00

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?

Mahapurursh Misra - Indian Drums (1966)

(by the way, when did blogspot stop accepting image uploads? very frustrating to realize I'm leeching from other sites without realizing it)

GRABBA GRABBA TAPE - Kurt Kobaya y G.R.O.X. Man Odia Nirvana

2009-07-24T00:33:00.007-05:00

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!

GRABBA GRABBA TAPE - Kurt Kobaya y G.R.O.X. Man Odia Nirvana (2006)

Ismaël Lô - Xalat

2009-07-23T21:53:00.004-05:00

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.

Ismaël Lô - Xalat (1984)

Joey Beltram - Live Mix

2009-07-15T01:37:00.005-05:00

Title says it all, features Live Mix of Energy flash as seen here and a few other classics.

Joey Beltram - Live Mix (1997)

Hiroshi Watanabe - Genesis

2009-07-10T02:39:00.005-05:00

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.

Hiroshi Watanabe - Genesis (2006)

Kenyatta HiFi - Meditation Dub

2009-07-08T22:04:00.004-05:00

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.

Kenyatta HiFi - Meditation Dub (197?)

VA - Han-Ichi Independents

2009-07-08T12:58:00.006-05:00

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.

VA - Han-Ichi Independents (1983)

Adamski - LiveAndDirect and Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy

2009-07-06T18:58:00.002-05:00

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.

Adamski - LiveAndDirect (1989)

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.

Respect. The Bassline Changed My Life.

Adamski - Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy (1990)

Series 2: Electronic Disco

2009-07-02T22:29:00.006-05:00

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.

Just watch the video. Trust me.

Series 2 #7: Electronic Disco

One Plus One - 1+1 EP

2009-07-02T20:35:00.005-05:00

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.

One Plus One - 1+1 EP

Series 2: Italo & Latin House

2009-06-30T00:35:00.004-05:00

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.

Series 2 #6: Italo & Latin House

Cuban Gigolo

Throw 'em the Chicken

Sueno Latino (Latin Dream mix)

The Passage - Degenerates

2009-06-29T00:48:00.007-05:00

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.

The Passage - Degenerates (1982)

The Equators - Hot

2009-06-29T00:43:00.003-05:00

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.

The Equators - Hot (1981)

Series 2: Left-field House Singles

2009-06-25T01:52:00.005-05:00

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!

Series 2 #5: Left Field

MAW - Expensive Shit
Crazy Canuk - I Want To Get You (Alley Comet Mix)
Miles Davis - Rated X (Reconstruction)

Got a stack I've been itching to post, keep an eye open.

Unit Moebius - Status

2009-05-28T20:30:00.006-05:00

Unit Moebius - Status

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.

listen to that 303 scream!

Oswald Starr Dollar - Freestyle Demo

2009-05-12T23:17:00.005-05:00

Oswald Starr Dollar - Freestyle Demo (2007?)

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.

A.R. & Machines - AR IV

2009-05-08T03:53:00.004-05:00

A.R. & Machines - AR IV

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.

Hugh Masekela - Colonial Man & I Am Not Afraid

2009-05-05T22:04:00.004-05:00

Hugh Masekela - Colonial Man (1976)
Hugh Masekela - I Am Not Afraid (1974)

rip from a friend, thanks utefan69

as per-

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.

you'll want to unrar these to individual folders

ALTERN-8 IS BACK

2009-05-05T00:42:00.007-05:00

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! ->)

Asakawa Maki - Asakawa Maki No Sekai

2009-04-26T21:58:00.004-05:00

Asakawa Maki - Asakawa Maki No Sekai (1970)

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.

from a live performance in '84:

Omar Khorshid - Rhythms From The Orient

2009-04-24T13:24:00.002-05:00

Omar Khorshid - Rhythms From The Orient

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.

GAM - GAM 1976

2009-04-19T16:32:00.003-05:00

GAM - GAM 1976 (1976)

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.

TAN AS FUCK - (SARS)chasm EP

2009-04-18T01:22:00.006-05:00

TAN AS FUCK - (SARS)chasm EP (2006)

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.

Nightwatch - Looks

2009-04-18T00:00:00.006-05:00

Nightwatch - Looks (2006)

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.

Manuel Gottsching - E2E4

2009-04-12T02:26:00.009-05:00

Manuel Gottsching - E2E4 (1984, recorded 1981)
RS link

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.

Three Nipples on Her Hand - Operation Sun Flower

2009-04-12T00:20:00.004-05:00

Three Nipples on Her Hand - Operation Sun Flower (1995)

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.

Merzbow - Pornoise

2009-04-10T08:12:00.001-05:00

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.

A Penis Art Is Microphone
B Loop Fuck / Obituary
C Night Noise White
D New Karhma
E Neon Swarm
F International Velvet
G Dynamite Don Don
H De-Filement Of His Nubile Young Wife
I Toy 69
J UFO Vs British Army

DJ Scottie B - My Crew Be Unruly

2009-04-10T04:10:00.003-05:00

ok its gonna take forever to get up that surprise i had in store so in the meantime

DJ Scottie B - My Crew Be Unruly (2008)

hello ghettotech! thanks to my friend who hooked me up with this rip.

The Fall - Live 1977

2009-04-08T02:07:00.002-05:00

one more from a cd rip i did today

The Fall - Live 1977

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.

rahaan - disco not disco

2009-04-07T01:15:00.005-05:00

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)

rahaan - disco not disco

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.

VA - Universe: Mind, Body + Soul

2009-04-07T00:41:00.005-05:00

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.

CARL COX part 1
CARL COX part 2
DJ DIE
ELLIS DEE
MICKY FINN
SEDUCTION

Musicworks 23 - Music of the Inuit

2009-04-06T15:18:00.006-05:00

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.

MUSICWORKS 23 - Music of the Inuit (1983)

From the j-card:

MUSICWORKS, 1087 Queen Street West,
Toronto, Canada, M6J 1H3 (416) 533-0192

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.

enjoy.

Frankie Knuckles - Live @ Ministry of Sound 1991

2009-03-29T01:32:00.006-05:00

Frankie Knuckles - MoS '91 mix

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.

Knuckles analog classic: Your Love

also, check

Lio - Premier Album

2009-03-27T19:39:00.005-05:00

Lio - Premier Album (1980)

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.

VA - So Young but So Cold

2009-03-27T01:56:00.003-05:00

VA - So Young but So Cold (2004)

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

2009-03-27T01:37:00.013-05:00

~~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.

Aquai - Afrocaribe Beat

2009-03-27T00:31:00.005-05:00

Aquai - Afrocaribe Beat (1985)

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.

Sam Arthur Jr.
Tracy Towers
Bronx, N.Y.

Series 2: Acid Singles

2009-03-26T21:15:00.011-05:00

Well, not all acid, but for the most part.

Series 2 #4: Acid Singles

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 Baelaric Beats 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.

Series 2: WBMX Style singles

2009-03-26T20:37:00.007-05:00

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.

VA - WBMX-Style

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.

VA - The Streets of Tokyo

2009-03-18T22:03:00.007-05:00

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.

Sachin Majumdar - Yoga

2009-03-17T22:05:00.003-05:00

Sachin Majumdar - Yoga (1958)

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.

Daisuke Suzuki - D.D.D.

2009-03-15T21:40:00.004-05:00

Daisuke Suzuki - D.D.D. (2001)

Academy, couldn't pass this one up. Two sides of field recordings.

"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.

King Sunny Ade - Synchro System

2009-03-14T22:00:00.005-05:00

King Sunny Ade & his African Beats - Synchro System (1983)

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.

One off the album:

Original version of the title track:

VA - House Factor

2009-03-13T21:58:00.004-05:00

Various Artists - House Factor (1989)

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.

Series 2: Synth Singles

2009-03-13T19:07:00.009-05:00

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.

Bernthöler - Japanese Garden (1982)

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.

Bernthöler - My Suitor (1983)

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.

Section 25 - Crazy Wisdom (1985)

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.

Fokewulf 190 - Body Heat (1984)

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.

Series 2: Disco Singles

2009-03-12T00:09:00.006-05:00

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.

first, you can get/preview the funk tracks without dealing with rapidshare:
Wisdom - Nefertiti
Wisdom - What-cha-gonna-du-about-you

Now for the full set: Wisdom - Nefertiti (4:09)
Wisdom - What-cha-gonna-du-about-you (3:21)

Universal Energy - Universal Energy (5:50)
Universal Energy - Disco Energy (6:51)

Osibisa - Dance the Body Music (3:24)
Osibisa - Right Now (3:08)

Theo Vaness - It's Now or Never (3:24)
Theo Vaness - I, Who Have Nothing (3:32)

C. Niemen - Mleczna Droga (3:14)
C. Niemen - Dorozka na Kisezyc (5:17)

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.

i can put it up in one file upon request.