I had promised some more of The Advent (check older post here). So this is their second album, still as a group, though McBean was rather left out judging by the credits given.
Relentless techno and electro in the style Ferreira later explored, contains everything you'd expect from an Advent record. Personal favorites are 'C.Control' and 'Funkage'.
Don't let the cover scare you...
The Advent - 1997 New Beginnings
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
New Beginnings
Munich Machine
Headstates
A top from Soma label heads Slam.
It's actually more in the UK electronics tradition than techno-house, the style that made Soma famous. A lot of downtempo ambience and soft electro, trip-hop and even a d'n'b track, up to the detroitish 'Dark Forces'.
Might sound a bit anachronistic to some, still I think it's really really good, full of smoke haze, ideas and emotion.
Slam - 1996 Headstates
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
And despite what the discogs comment says, it's not industrial.
More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art
Across Uneven Terrain
The first FatCat CD, a compilation of tracks taken from various EPs and the split 12''s that gave the label a big part of its fame.
Contains some serious electronics and weird pop hybrids, Irdial's InSync, Funkstoerung vs Bjork and the massive Autechre remix on Torsten Proefrock aka Various Artists.
VΑ - Across Uneven Terrain
a FatCat compilation 1997-1999
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here and here.
Wickedness Rerubbed
Unitone HiFi is a group of New Zealand origin with Jamaican influences and New York connections releasing on a German label.
And that's more or less what I knew about them before this post. Anyway, I gather they're virtually unknown to anyone outside NZ and specialist fans of the Crooklyn sound or Incoming! (*) electro dub.
On the sleeve they characterize themselves Dub-Hop, which in a way sounds right cause they use some junkbeat drum loops and samples and some scratching. Still the rest are all dub as you know it, heavy and weird. Their first album here presents their style really adequately.
The remix album contains reworks by Incoming projects like Drome, etc. plus some from Muslimgauze, Rockers Hi-Fi, Manasseh, Immersion (Colin Newman & Malga Spigel) and a classic by Funki Porcini.
Unitone HIFi - 1995 Wickedness Increased
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Unitone HiFi - 1996 Rewound & Rerubbed
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Hashisheen: The End Of Law
The other night I watched a documentary (named 'Holy Warriors'...) on the Saladin/ Richard I conflict for the control of Jerusalem and the 'Holy Lands' territories. You know how the mind travels, one thing led to another and I ended up listening to this one which I decided to share. Seems a fitting couple to 'The Fire This Time'.
A Sub Rosa soundwork, focusing on the (Persian) Ismaelian sect of the Hashisheen, known to many as Assassins, and their most famous leader Hassan-i Sabbah. More info later on...
All text compiled by Peter Lamborn Wilson, soundtrack compiled by Bill Laswell, as usual with participations of narrators and artists too numerous to mention (check the info link).
Bill Laswell & VA - 1999 Hashisheen: The End Of Law
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Take a break
I have lots of things ready to post but no time to do it right, it's mayhem offline... So I'm thinking I'll just post the files and fill in some proper info later on.
I'll also be gone for about two weeks, trying to clear my head for a change, so have fun in the meantime and we'll be in touch soon.
Retro lights
Though I did a number of mixtapes in my time, this was the first mix I recorded in digital. Two turntables and a CD through a mixer directly to a borrowed audio CD burner deck (they were big at the time...). As you'll hopefully find out, at the time I was head-deep into Germanic sounds, part Clicks'n'Cuts part Koelnish techno; that still characterizes more than anything my DJ tastes, now that I think of it. Equally obvious here is my obsession with Vladislav Delay.
It was meant to be a personal thing, one take, to see if some beatless tracks worked together, etc., but it got derailed by the fourth track or so. Still it came out nice, there were even some key blends I didn't notice until later. Since at that time almost no one played that stuff here, it got some excellent response from friends and people around me and was totally ignored (=rejected) from everyone else, especially pro DJs (Athens was just discovering techno of the Bailey/Carola variety and speed that passed for cocaine). It was about the same time I was disillusioned on the matter of making a living out of music in Greece, due to certain circumstances I won't tire you with; I could move to Germany of course, but the idea of a gastarbeiter/ artist always struck me as a bit odd and also there were family issues.
I lost the 'master' CD immediately after I spread it around and hadn't heard it since then, until yesterday when I found it rolled in a hastily written tracklist, so here it is, unfortunately one track and no markers. Contains some good mixes, some awkward blends and a few of my favorite tracks. And 'Tessio', which I played almost every night back then (I think I was the one to break it here). Academic, retro or nice, you'll be the judge.
Nightlight - 2001-10-19 Deep mix
170MB, 320kbps, 1h 14' 28''
Tracklist:
01. Kid 606 - Sometimes
02. Vladislav Delay - Anima Part 1
03. Uusitalo - Notke
04. Fluxion - Oblique
05. Swayzak vs Theorem - 020100 (Swayzak mix)
06. Swayzak - Slave To The Hard Drive
07. Unai - Brave Star
08. Guns Of Venice - LA Requiem
09. SCSI-9 - Silkcome
10. D.Diggler - Lubricated
11. D.Diggler - Bongwater
12. Gabriel Ananda - Wild Cherry
13. Luomo - Tessio
(beats start on 'Oblique')
Aufschlag
Some more Berlin weirdness from the WMF camp (check here).
Mitte Karaoke are a crazy duo, experimenting somewhere in the middle between complex electro, IDM-ish programming and pop sensibilities. Yet just when you'd think you'd listen to (advanced) vocal poptronica, acidic turns with an extra jazzy spirit counter the feeling and funk-tight drums point the beat all the way back to the dancefloor.
They released in WMF and some collaborations in Inzest. Associated with the whole Berlin scene of TokTok, BPitch Control, etc. Not really well-known outside their network I suppose, still they did a lot of good work. The only reason I can think they didn't succeed commercially was that... well, they were too weird.
Mitte Karaoke - 2002 Aufschlag
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Ambient Systems: Limited Edition
An Instinct release, continuing the Instinct Ambient sub-label's Ambient Systems releases. For more info check this older post here, if you liked that one you know what to expect. In a slightly less catatonic style, I'd say. Includes unreleased tracks by all label pets and a weird collaboration between Abe Duque and Richard Dorfmeister of K&D fame. Rare and interesting.
VA - 1999 Ambient Systems: Limited Edition
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
It's incredible that I couldn't find a better cover scan than this one...
New Forms
A limited edition compilation from Raster-Noton, a special package showcasing an 1999 exhibition in an art gallery in Leipzig. The usual R-N suspects are all here, the whole label roster plus guests like Scanner, Richie Hawtin and Mego's General Magic.
Rather typical as R-N releases go, contains random ('stochastic') noise bursts, repetitive glitches, one modulated frequency track, loops, the whole package.
If art (*) is your thing then you should definitely check this. It must be good, cause it sells at about 50 euro in the discogs market. If not, there are some rather interesting moments if you're into experimental, minimal, etc. worth a couple of listens, along with some beautiful yet more 'conventional' attempts (by the guests above, mostly), a standard Brinkmann track and a haunted piano loop by Basinski.
(* in the academic sense of the word, or else as used by English critics, meaning at about 95% of the cases 'gallery products')
VA - 2000 New Forms 2CD
Contemporary Electronic Music In The Context of Art
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Kraak
This is 'Kraak', from the 'Record Of Breaks'. Two EPs containing three versions-jams by PWOG, two remixes by Plastikman , an epic paean by Mark Broom and a weird as usual reconstruction by Coil.
Though it sold mostly through the (rather weak) Plastikman remixes and thus got assorted with the Plus8 type of minimalism, it reminds me more some of the first and harder Basic Channel tracks.
This is also the point where people stopped referring to PWOG music as 'trance'.
PWOG - 1995 Kraak EP
Info here.
PWOG - 1996 Kraak Remixes EP
Info here.
Rother on Fax
Two more works of Anthony Rother, this time on Peter Khulmann's FAX +49-69/450464 label.
In touch with most of the label's releases, it's ambient-ish stuff with a lot of references to '70s kraut electronics (without the acid-induced mood changes). Two great electronic albums, less concept-driven and monochromatic than his other listening releases. Not just for Rother fans.
Anthony Rother - 2003 Elixir Of Life
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Anthony Rother - 2003 Magic Diner
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
The Sound Of Warhammer 40.000
This is the full Warhammer 40.000 CD trilogy, out in Maral Salmassi's Cologne based Art Of Perception label during 2002-2003. (*)
The three CDs compile works by many artists, first out on twelve limited thematic 12''s, each one inspired by a different warrior race from the game (six of them to be exact). Even though some tracks were not written for or don't really have a direct connection to the game's theme, it's interesting to listen to those artists who did troubled themselves with the concept, even if musically they stuck to the thing they know how to do best. The atmosphere is harsh and a bit hostile (eternal war, etc, you know) so it's no surprise that some seriously heavy techno and noisy electro-punk (especially on the 1st CD) are main ingredients of this soup, while the Cologne style and sweet futuristic electro get a big share as well.
The whole concept is well thought and put together, while certain 12''s are for any taste, incredibly good and not really uncommon even though out of print for a long time. Check them where you find them.
Salmassi's current 'Love' concept is still running..jpeg)
VA - The Sound Of Warhammer 40.000 Chapter I
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here..jpeg)
VA - The Sound Of Warhammer 40.000 Chapter II
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here..jpeg)
VA - The Sound Of Warhammer 40.000 Chapter III
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
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