First of all I'd like to wish a HAPPY NEW YEAR to every soul out there. Be happy and healthy and try for the best and take care of one another.
I sincerely cannot believe that a full decade has passed since the millennium turn. A date I was surprised to reach anyway... Well, 21th century is on its way for good. We've reached the Odyssey Two year. The future is here. Watch out for the real Big Brother.
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.
Chilling...
We're staying inside tonight, we're too close to due time for me to start dragging my lady around in dark dens of sin and depravity all night. So, I wish you lot to enjoy the occasion to the full and have a really great time. I had planned a (really) big post for tonight but during the last week my connection's coming and going all the time and nothing is uploading, so I'll give it a rest and spend the night quietly in the real world.
Blessed be.
2010. The Year We Make Contact
Volksworld
Second Steve Bug album, the last one in his own Raw Elements label. Techhouse with a lot of oldschool elements and spartan track structures; it's still house music though, deep, smooth and at times funky as hell. I really posted this one for the 'Big Cheese From Wisconsin' and the 'Rhodes Flash' tracks.
He's a good DJ for sure; not exactly my favorite producer, yet much respected and effective in club terms - I really liked some of his releases up to the 'Loverboy' era. Since then, he turned too much towards this (post-cocaine) variation of techhouse that was named 'minimal' (and really gets on my nerves, as you have established by now). The last 'Collaborative' concept sounds a bit better, still I'm not 100% convinced...
The thing I find more interesting, now that I listen to this one again after all these years, is how little his sound has changed through time. He's still playing the same stuff over and over again. He could have disguised this one as a new release, a 'going back to the roots' project, and very few people would have known. I consider it more a sign of creative stagnation, rather than a 'sticking to his sound' mentality. Still, many others of the deep house scene have followed his example and made careers out of it... Draw your own conclusions.
More Bug tracks here.
Steve Bug - 1997 Volksworld
Info here.
Music For Babies
Howie B.'s debut, jazzy trip-hop and ambient in a nice pack.
A lot of records have been promoted as 'music for babies'. Very few pass the test, actually; to be fair, this is not one of them. But it's a nice one to smoke and listen to.
Howie B. - 1996 Music For Babies
Info here.
Vibon
tbtmo is a Philadephia,PA.-based label, active for a decade or so, providing us a wide range of melodic electronics with pop references and an experimental edge (and a few sweet beat deviations). Not far from the sound of certain SF labels, actually; without the ear-bleeding elements though.
Once again, I know very little of them; their connections with Darla / Fuzzy Box might have been the only factor that made it possible for me to get to know them through a couple of CDs that slipped this way at about 8-9 years ago, when there was still a hype around here in the 'weird pop' department. Anyway, we're talking about artists like Sean O'Neal (that made an impact recently through his 'minimal'-tinted releases as Someone Else) and his Flowchart project; the brothers Mall, and Transient. Also, guest appearing in this one is Dntel as James Figurine.
I think I have a Flowchart and a Mall CD somewhere, if someone's interested let me know.
VA - 2001 Vibon CD comp
Info here.
Modulations - High Tech Soul
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For a long time I was searching for 'Modulations', Iara Lee's 1998 documentary on electronic music, in digital form (more info here). As far as I get it there was no DVD re-issue and I couldn't find a rip around the net, until now. For everyone with a decent connection, in this (new) site itechno.tv you can stream and watch it, instead of its drawbacks (focus on US stuff, absence of certain artists-catalysts, loads of drug-fueled egos, etc.) in the end it's worth the time spent. My favorite part is the whole FSOL interview.
There's also a rip from the AudioBforum guys around, though it's temporarily off. I'll try to get back to it later on.
Modulations (1998)
Stream: here on itechno.tv
P.S. The itechno site is off. I'll try to find another copy...cover.jpg)
Also posted on itechno.tv is a much more recent (and easily available to buy) docu on Motown techno, 'High Tech Soul'. Due to its more focused subject it delivers better overall, with a lot of interviews (and bitching) by famous Detroit artists and info on the city's history. A must for techno fans.
High Tech Soul (2006)
Stream: Part 1 - Part 2 on itechno.tv
Download either here (from BetterSoundsBelieving blog - zshare),
here (from TribalElectroDance blog),
or from here (RS links).
Original post: 2008-06-26.
Transporter
This is Christoph Reimann aka Transporter's first album in Source Records (*), lazy grooves and organic electronics in a jazzy trip.
Another example of this wonderful label's quality and diversity in material released, its post-jazz character might prove for some to be a bit hard to catch at first - just take your time with it. At other times it might feel like 'easy-listening' music; yet it never succumbs to easy solutions and commercial tricks, twisting where you wouldn't expect it.
If I could try a comparison, it also brings to mind the more recent Mule Musiq releases with the disco elements understated.
Transporter - 1999 st
Info here and here.
Digital Reflex
Another Instinct Records (*) compilation of deep electronics, minimalistic grooves and electro sounds by the usual NYC suspects.
Not exactly deepspace ambient like some other CDs posted here; less abstract, a bit more upbeat and full in sweet and weird frequencies, to my ears it summarizes nicely the late '90s Instinct style of forward-thinking electronics.
VA - 1998 Digital Reflex
Info here.
An invaluable collection of Instinct records can be found in EverythingOnMyIPod blog here and here. Great job guys.
Console Yourself
Weird and wonderful electronics from Payola. Martin Gretschmann aka Console, also known as Acid Pauli for his selected 12"s of schaeffel acid and as one of The Notwist, gathers his remixes (and a bonus track) for artists like the Tied & Tickled Trio, Barbara Morgenstern, ISAN and Hip Young Things aka Schneider TM. Tricky but beautiful, a combination of DSP pop, subtle beats and experimentalism. Recommended.
Console vs VA - 1999 Console Yourself
Info here.
Machine Funk Specialists
This is the CD version of the 2x12" posted here (hi, Moggieboy). UK electro from Weatherall and friends, out through Rotters Golf Club.
Some other RGC 12"s can also be found in Moggie's blog, anyway. I'll be back on the subject later on with some of the Radioactive Man CDs.
VA - 2001 RGC presents Machine Funk Specialists
Info here.
Reich Revisited
Some art pieces to get us through the holidays. Also good stuff to try on visiting relatives that demand to hear something soft, something 'classical'... I came upon these Steve Reich CDs the other day, spent some hours with them and thought they'd be interesting to post.
Start with the seminal ECM classic 'Music For 18 Musicians' back from 1978, here ripped from the 1998 Nonesuch repress - a vibrating, minimalistic, organic monster, its movements' varying moods ranging from the heavenly beautiful to the otherwordly and spooky, full of emotions and totally cerebral at the same time. A MUST HAVE, for everyone, and it'll be for the next hundred years or so.
Then, there's a compilation of remixes by various UK and US artists, reworking Reich's back catalogue. I have very mixed feelings on this one; trying to meddle with classics like these, unsurpassed in most occasions and with such an impact in the music world, can be challenging - yet really, really difficult. Being a late '90s NY project, many of the remixers characteristically moved towards the 'breaks' direction, be it post hip-hop (illbient.?.) or d'n'b. Still, the 'chill-out grooves' mood prevailed... Exceptions to the above (and the reason I'm posting this one) I consider to be the contributions by Howie B, Ken Ishii, Nobukazu Takemura, Andrea Parker and Coldcut.
To my ears, the more recent M.VonOswald & C.Craig's reworks of Ravel and Mussorgsky sound closer to the Reich spirit.
Steve Reich - 1978 Music For 18 Musicians
Info here and here.
Steve Reich - 1999 Reich Remixed
Info here and here.
P.S.
Steve Reich - 2006 Reich Remixed 2006
Info here and here.
Big thanx to Taco, go to the 'HereGoesTheRollercoaster' blog for the link.
24 Heures
That's the Oxia album I had promised, from the Goodlife vaults of course (*). This guy crosses over to the banging tribal side of techno more often than the rest of his label friends; still this album is characteristic of his more mature phase, where Detroit tech and robo electro tracks with that extra european darkish touch were obvious and well delivered.
Oxia - 2004 24 Heures
Info here.
Punished By Machines
What a title! Oldschoolish yet fresh and throat-grabbing electro released on Mikrolux, the electro oriented sublabel of Elektrolux.
MAS 2008, also known as the Electronic Corporation nowdays publish almost exclusively on their adorable label of the same name. To my ears they sound really close in attitude and style with the likes of Bolz Bolz, Kitbuilders, the C.B.S. guys or Das Drehmoment. Or with the respected Twilight 76 label, where they've released two 12''s, or others that represent the darker side of Detroit bass (without the booty factor, though). Similar to the really strong Central and Eastern Europe underground electro communities' sound, the E.C. boys combine pure electrofunk 808-style elements and the european '80s underground minimal synth sound (that had influenced the Detroit pioneers in the first place), with a light touch of circa 1989 EBM elements and the occasional trancey sweeps.
This CD represents their glossier side, production-wise (it's for Elektrolux, after all). Still, it's neat without becoming sterile and all songs come out really well. It's an album that I kept playing for some time when I bought it and from time to time I go back to it. Found it after some digging, so here it is.
MAS 2008 - 2002 Punished By Machines
Info here.
P.S.1. Check the EC compilation CD here.
P.S.2. Repost. First posted 2007-10-22.
Fresh Juice
Classy acidic electro UK-style from A1 People, funkier than their later albums. Out through Hydrogen Dukebox (*). Juicy as they say.
A1 People - 1998 Fresh Juice
Info here.
Moments In Dub
Sample-based house and a few downtempo breaks from low-profile, multi-aliased Chicago artist Jordan Fields, out in Mo'Wax (look for more info at his various HisSpace accounts). Slightly more disco and garage than dub, this album manages to grab my interest at all times without exaggerations or easy tricks. Salt-of-the-earth music for body and soul alike.
Jordan Fields - 2002 presents Moments In Dub
Info here.
Burger Industries
The chilling night breeze and the make-shift fires. The smell of the wet earth. A solitary strobo-light shaping the dust that rises from the dancers' feet.
Laughs all around me and jitters and screams.
These are a few of my favorite things.
Burger Industries - 1995 CD
Info here.
Structure's CD compilation of 1991-1993 tracks from the master.
You'll find many Structure 12"s and similar stuff in TechTech2009's blog.
Survival's Our Mission
I know a lot of people dished this one out since it didn't contained a new 'Acid Trax'-like epic. Still for me it was a sincere album, a testimony of where our music came from and where it was going (at the time).
PHuture 303 are the legendary Phuture of course, here releasing on the infamous Music Man Records. Expect relentless rhythmic, fast Chicago house tracks and techno tools with subtle 303s handled carefully to provide the appropriate hallucinogenic effect.
PHuture303 - 2001 Survival's Our Mission
Info here.
Vlad linkz dead
Some Vladislav Delay and assorted links are dead (*,*), I guess by Huume intervention. Which I consider to be fair for some, like 'Vocalcity' and 'Anima', which were re-issued after all (I had similar thoughts of my own about them). Still, The 'Naima' album is really difficult to find, so I'll re-up it separately - unless I get a direct notice from them, that is.
The old Uusitalo 'Vaapa Muurari' live and the 'Sistol' album are still there.
TRACK. Funk Electric
Quality electro funk compilation from the much respected Hydrogen Dukebox label, full of robo beats and oldschool electro UK-style.
Specials included are a Dopplereffekt-in-disguise remix for Scan X (*) , an Aux 88 (*) vs. Laurent Garnier 'Crispy Bacon', as well as a Mekon vs. Les Rythmes Digitales rework.
Label's own include Drum Club's Lol (see Girl Eats Boy), alongside A1 People (*), Metamatics, Omnivore, etc.
VA - 1998 TRACK: Funk Electric
Info here.
Mélodies en Sous-Sol
Recently around the net I came upon two or three posts of early 12"s by Miss Kittin & The Hacker, which reminded me of this one. Out in his (by 1/3) own Goodlife (*), it's the debut album of Michel Amato as The Hacker, full of Detroit influenced techno and slightly retro electro tracks.
Included here are 'Fadin Away' (*) and bangers 'Techno Sunset' and 'Other Voices' amongst others. Not an all-convincing album, I used to think - a lot of people sensed that Kittin's vocals filled the gap left in between his darkwave fixations and his dance beats. And his primitive sounds and simplistic programming sounded a bit weird, in those days where the Daft Punk-influenced, over-produced french wave of filter- and disco-house ruled all. Back then I guessed he was too lazy or too much an ex-punk to bother.
Now I consider it to be an intentional and in a way romantic approach (neo-romantic, to be exact). His later releases brought to the front his other true loves: EBM and the early hardcore rave sound. Judging by the fate of many of his contemporaries (quitting or changing their sound completely), it clearly shows that he had a vision from the start and he stayed true to it, so all we have to say is RESPECT.
The Hacker - 1999 Mélodies en Sous-Sol
Info here.
More of The Hacker here.
I'll soon post Oxia's Goodlife album as well.
Sensorama
We knew them as Acid Jesus, now as Alter Ego. Jörn Elling Wuttke and Roman Flügel need no introduction, so I won't bother. Sensorama is the name they used for their Ladomat 2000 (*) releases.
Sensorama - 1995 Welcome Insel
Info here.
Sensorama - 1996 Zu Gast Auf Der Welcome Insel
Info here.
Sensorama - 1998 Love 2LP
Info here.
Sensorama - 2000 Projektor
Info here.
Someone had asked for one of these in the comment box. I meant to post it properly, then went for the big one. 'Su Gast..' is a remix compilation on the 'Insel" album.
All rips are 192kbps, none mine - thanx to the original uppers.
P.S. Originally posted 2009-12-04. Modified thanks to Jens, who sent a link for 'Projektor' (320kbps) that helped us fill this hole. Thanx again man.
Monophace + Clubsessel
Mainly known as Misc. and Niedeflur (for their M_nus releases), they come from Cologne but worked mostly with iconic Berlin label Sender, spreading their rumbling mini-techno to the world. Although a bit repetitive ('minimal') during the last years, they maintained some side-projects from time to time; two of them are presented here. More info in their Hybrid Music Club site.
Clubsessel is a clicks'n'cuts one-off affair, cold and chilling drones mix with scarce beats. Monophase is their drum'n'bass project, although in this album they sound more than a cross-breed between click techno and two-step. (Did somebody said 'dubstep'? You shouldn't, it's only 2002 yet...) They released their debut in Kabuki's label; so there are similarities to his later sound as well as to other projects of the Combination Traffic compilations posted here. Contains spine-chilling 'The Need', which proved to be the project's swan song.
Both albums out through k2O Records (*).
Clubsessel - 2002 Clubsessel
Info here.
Monophace - 2002 Random Factor
Info here.
Scan X
This is Stéphane Dri, one of my favorite artists in F Communications, giving us some good old '90s dark electro-techno, french style. Which by now you ought to know how much I like.
From 'Lost' came also a 12" (in awful vinyl, btw) with a Dopplereffekt remix; which I remember to have also in a comp CD somewhere. Have to find it.
Scan X - 1996 Chroma
Info here.
Scan X- 1997 Lost
Info here.
Matrix Surfer
Actually a Plink Plonk record (see here), this is LA Synthesis' only album, a mix of UK techno with Detroit influences with a touch of '90s electronics.
For more check here and here.
LA Synthesis - 1997 Matrix Surfer
Info here.
The Oldschoolstreet
On the same wave with the previous post:
One of Germany's prodigies, largely ignored these days, Heiko Laux has the respect of the global techno scene for his own Kanzleramt and his funky, tough and mature productions. This is an i220 release with participations by some of his old buddies, like old warrior Johannes Heil and Anthony Rother.
Heiko Laux - 1998 The Oldschoolstreet
Info here.
Also check here and here.
Kanzleramt Five
Why would someone call his label's first showcase album 'Five' is beyond me.
Besides that, what we have here is an excellent all-stars compilation of late '90s Berlin techno, showing off all those elements that made us love Kanzleramt before they were assimilated in a defined style - deep and hard techno, pure electro, funky minimalism, druggy beats and cavernous echoes. Techno fans, don't pass it by.
VA - 1999 Kanzleramt Five
Info here.
BodyTonic. Decade in review
I was recently asked by the good people of BodytonicMusic.com to write a small summary on the last decade. Which I finally did (aided by the editing skills of Barry), so it's there for all to see. Don't go near it if you can't stand anything posted in this blog under the 'Blah Blah' label (or just skip to the 3rd page).
Do yourselves a favor and check the other reviews as well. Also the podcast and downloads section, some great stuff there.
N*A*O*M*B
Disco from Norway, out through british label Discfunction. There was also a 12" from this album, which I used to spin a lot some years ago, back-to-back with the LP version (I didn't really had that much discoid 12"s then).
Of the two partners in crime I know nothing, yet they seem to be off for quite some time now. Pity, as this is a funky, moving affair that manages on one hand to show the appropriate respect to the '70s without sounding retro at all (due to the ultra-crisp production), and on the other hand to slip in joyous feelings and party sounds without becoming cheesy. And btw, N*A*O*M*B means Nugatti All Ova Me Butty. How can you not love these guys?
Also check 'Fluffy The Vampire', a retake on a famous track for some curiously shaped clouds and stuff by ... The Bubble was it... The Ball... something round...
Olav Brekke Mathisen & Sideshow Jøgge - 2003 N*A*O*M*B
Info here.
Similar records to be posted soon.
(See, Musicus, I knew I had another one somewhere)
Further Obliq Perspectives
A compilation of tracks by Multicast and of some solo members' efforts. Summarizes the sound of Obliq (you'll find all the info you need in their site).
American darkish electronics with electroid edges, once more a k2O Records release (*).
VA - 2002 Multicast presents
Further Obliq Perspectives
Info here.
Kombination Phunk
I decided to post this low-bitrate rip I had buried in the comment's box long ago. It's the unmixed 4x12" version of an excellent compilation by The Advent (*,*,*), with a lot of crucial electro and techno tracks in exclusive edits by Ferreira.
A must for electro fans, as it contains two Dopplereffekt extended edits.
VA - 1997 Kombination Phunk 4x12''
Info here..
Better rips and/or the mix itself are of course more than welcome.
Gold!
Thomas Schumacher in full power plays hard music for the new millennium. Bastardized sample-based techno, break electro, german hip hop, pure rumble bass and repetitive dry beats mix up for maximum dancefloor effect. Only a couple of tracks give a hint of the later direction he took with Elektrochemie's (no LK) vocal-based later releases in Get Physical.
It's interesting to see how this post-rave sound (see Plantage13) was an influence to electro-house and other mainstream styles, which mercilessly copied its sounds and techniques and just softened them a bit.
Elektrochemie LK - 2001 Gold!
+ the videos
Info here.
Video clips of 'Schall' and 'When I Rock' included in the data part of the CD were posted separately. I think I forgot to include the covers in the .rar, get them from Discogs.
