One of my favorites and possibly the hardest album to be released through Soma, by owners Slam (*,*); here in their side project Pressure Funk, a perfect counterpoint to their much more well-known housier side. Pure and honest techno for technoheads. The album's title says it all.
Pressure Funk - 1999 Twisted Funk
Info here.
And btw, Soma offers a pretty cool deal for downloading most of their stuff here. Go there and take it.
Twisted Funk
Cashier Escape Route
The compilation that got me into Berlin's labels like Morr Music, Lux Nigra (and of course CCO), specializing in early-Autechre-like and post-pop electronics.
Just check the discogs' tracklist. Irresistible artists, classic tracks, excellent artwork... what more can one ask? Totally recommended.
VA - 2000 Cashier Escape Route
A City Centre Offices compilation
of supermarket music
Info here.
Related stuff already posted here: *,*,*,*,*,*
Alien Artform
You know the Delsin sound, I don't have to say much. If you don't... help yourselves and learn about it. Note that this one comes from their early era, when they focused on deep Detroitish projects; most tracks still had a kick, yet pointed more towards the couch area, compared to the recent more club-friendly phase.
Dimension 5 = D5 = John Harvey. This is his debut.
Dimension 5 - 2002 Alien Artform
Info here.
Index 01. DiN10
A compilation of Ian Boddy works and collaborations, given free with The Wire magazine, edited to showcase his DiN label (not the abysmal Hardwax-related one, as I thought when I grabbed the mag).
Oldschool UK deep electronics, smooth yet dense ambient, even loungey sounds blend together in a mix that could easily sounded kitsch; I don't know his other work, yet I believe there's something in here that demands our attention.
VA - 2001 Index 01.DiN10
Info here.
Fearsome Jewel
For fans of Pop Ambient compilations, this is one of the very few Andrew Thomas' records. Little info on him can be found around, most reliable is New Zealand's Involve site (check here).
In the Discogs review it's described as 'one of the best Kompakt releases so far'. I totally agree. A must-hear.
I guess you must have noticed I've never posted a Kompakt record before. I don't think they need the promotion - everybody knows their style - and sincerely I don't like to fuck with 'big' companies. So, this small ambient jewel will stay up only for a few days. The only reason I'm posting this is that I feel it's totally overlooked and it's a real shame.
Andrew Thomas - 2003 Fearsome Jewel
Info here.
P.S. 2010-02-01 Link removed, for the reasons explained above. One week was enough. If you liked it, go and buy it.
Clicks & Cuts links off
After a request by the Mille Plateaux label, I'll remove the Clicks & Cuts compilations posted here (*,*,*,*).
I understand their point as they plan to make a comeback in 2010, and I'll say I hope to see them do it quick.
Club Blaou. Die Hits Der Clubs
A Blaou (*) compilation, showcasing their early music tastes and revealing much about the label's later profile and the styles it moved around: pure house anthems, weird post-pop hybrids and acid. Some must tracks in here, the weirdest being Jimi Tenor's 'Take Me Baby' remix and Grungerman's take on Andreas Dorau's 'Girls In Love', plus a Whirlpool vs. Mel Torme track. As for the housey tracks, they're all stars.
Each 'hit' is correlated with a specific club, one for each city. In track order:
1) Sweet Sundays, Hamburg
2) Dockland, Muenster
3) Millenium/Partysanen, Muenchen
4) Red Dog, Stuttgart
5) Rote Liebe, Essen
6) The Box, Frankfurt A.M.
7) Distillery, Leipzig
8) Aufswhung Ost, Kassel
9) WMF, Berlin
VA - 1997 Club Blaou. Die Hits Der Clubs
Info here.
Time Machine
Another Jeff Mills album (*,*,*), this time from his short-lived Tomorrow sub-label. A rather relaxed one, alternating between soft and trippy minimal techno tracks and pure ambient atmos, bears more similarities to older Axis material than to his later releases. Recommended for all Mills fans, anyway.
I ripped it from a CD copy I made back then, I cannot seem to find the original anywhere... It's partially mixed, intros and outros crossfading all the time, so give it a try on a decent player.
Jeff Mills - 2002 Time Machine
Info here.
A Lost Era in NYC 1987-1992
Oldschool house, earth beats, hedonism, early acid experiments and Jamaican smoke meet in this subtle gem compilation of works by the man Bobby Konders, compiled by Hell for Gigolo Records. Sincerely deep NYC house music without limits.
Bobby Konders feat. Massive Sounds -
A Lost Era In NYC 1987-1992
Info here.
We Are Phuture. The Remixes
Echoman
Although as a rule I'm not a big fan of UK's nu-style disco, I just can't praise enough artists like these or records like this one.
This is Chicken Lips' debut in Kingsize, back from year 2000 (from the same period and setup that gave us 'He Not In'); a disco-dub monster of fat beats, spaced-out effects and the heaviest bass this side of Kingston Town. Their obvious '70s disco influences mix with their undeniably massive (post UK breaks) skills production-wise; enhanced by hallucinogenic dub trickery, they provide maximum effect in butt shaking and dancefloor wrecking while maintaining their cool and doing their own thing.
In some way, I feel they are more than a commercially effective group that happened to be in the right place at the right time, despite (or because of...) their scarce output during these last years. Anyway, I surely am jealous of their production skills...
Chicken Lips - 2000 Echoman
Info here.
Rhythmogenesis
Another ForceTracks (*, *) record, this is the debut of MRI, founders of the always reliable Resopal. Archetypal late '90s deep and dubby Germanic techhouse with that extra minimalistic touch.
MRI - 2000 Rhythmogenesis
Info here.
Judging from this CD's cover and other RSP releases, I thought it was really weird when they named one of their recent 12"s 'Take Kare Not Acid'. There must be a wordplay somewhere here I'm still not getting...
The Other Day. Axis Compilation
To my great surprise I recently noticed that the copy I have of this Axis compilation is the european 16-track version, instead of the more common 13-track one. I was revisiting my Jeff Mills (*,*,*) records anyway, so I thought I'd drop it here for the unlucky ones to have missed it.
Covering what in my opinion has been Mills' most creative era (in terms of fertile experimentation alongside his already tested club-ruling mentality), it's one of those albums that each and every track has something unique; lots of epic paeans in here, with or without beats. And that 'Gamma Player' track...
It's needless to point out what an impact this man had on music overall. As for myself, I'll say no more than that: I might have been into the scene since the early '90s, throwing some raves with friends, playing some chill dubby stuff myself from time to time; yet I feel that if I hadn't seen Jeff Mills DJing live, I wouldn't play techno all these years.
Jeff Mills - 1997 The Other Day. Axis Compilation
Info here.
? ? ?
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The third WP album, check the already posted last one here for more info.
This one went out through ElektroMotor, and it's the strangest one I've heard of them. A purist's hell; all influences clashing, all styles mixed; you'll never pinpoint what exactly are you listening to at a specific time (and, probably, if you really like it...). The track 'Crazymusic' says it all; and for the reason mentioned above, it's a really interesting album, as long as you don't expect anything from them. Besides originality.
Whirlpool Productions - 1998 ???
Info here.
Bitching
I was re-checking the comments on TechTech's last post - out of curiosity, to see how many people responded to his final message, etc. I just saw that someone was bitching about me for trying to pat a friendly soul on its (virtual) back.
Now, if I was a guy trying to show off, (a) I'd be doing it through Oprah's show, and (b) I'd probably already be a celebrity, considering my intelligence, good looks and gigantic male genitalia. Still, since I've seen this 'hater' kind of behavior spreading out (again) through the last months all over the share-net, I feel like clearing some things out.
When someone spends time of her/his day to rip a CD or a vinyl; to correct any pops or frequency imbalances; to scan or gather the covers and labels and whatever; to pack and post them in a premium account which s/he sustains just for the fun of sharing; to write down some shit in a language that might not be her/his mother tongue; to sum it up, when someone's blogging and posting her/his own rips he needs time to do that. I consider myself to spend an average of just less than an hour per day for posting. Considering I work about 12 hours a day and spend at least two more in the traffic, it's off my sleep time (I like to spend time with my wife now and then, you see). This hour is oh so fucking precious. And I rip CDs; I just couldn't do it if I did ripped vinyl.
Some people I know steal time from work. Others temporarily isolate themselves from their family or friends, lost in the posting vortex. We could be spending this time for recreation, fucking around with friends or playing games. But no, we're still here trying to share stuff, like so many people did before us; trying to keep certain material in the surface, not to let it be buried under the tons of crap flying around. Trying to give back some to those who we took some from. But the main point here is that everyone of us is doing it on her/his own free will. Not for money (well... most of us don't), neither for the glory. We're no 'heroes of the underground'; we need no medals, we're all in this together and egos have no place in the net. Many cannot handle this conflict between 'real' and 'internet' life; that's why they stop. Exhausting work schedules and/or unpredictable events do take their toll and demand time more and more.
Still, some leechers (most of them under-aged, I guess) seem to think everyone of us is out there just to supply them and their own bubble-world with the latest crap from the X hype label; which they'll never support anyway. Or with the 'long lost gems' from the past they've been 'searching' (= cruising around the net for twenty minutes and pressing everyone they know about it, instead of just buying the fucking record for 2 euros on discogs) 'for ages' (= since last Tuesday). So, it doesn't matter if that guy who slowed down a bit or even shut down a blog had a really serious issue, like collapsing from overworking or losing a beloved one; no, he's a fucker and they hate him for cutting off their supply, so they end up insulting him or even fucking up with his page.
As for the case that spawned this post, I only have to say to mr. 'Big Daddy Fat Ass' that I'm also going through a lot of stuff lately and feeling exactly like TechTech sometimes, as far as I can tell from the distance. But if you think I showed off or that I owe you something more than I offer, you must be really confused. You don't know me. You don't know how I live, where I live and if I'm actually 'keeping it real' or not (whatever that means). I don't, either, and I wouldn't care to know really. But I'm a human being, like all of us; a bit more than a stupid persona in the internet. And I have to say that you don't get a saying in how much I post or how often. This is not a free supermarket and I'm not your music dealer. If you don't like it, get off. The worst thing though (I would ignore you otherwise, believe me) was that you crapped on TechTech's page, where everybody tried to comfort him. Most of all, from the safety of your anonymity.
I wouldn't go so far as to ask some respect from anyone, as it is entirely up to one's culture and mental capacity to grasp this much misunderstood concept, even more to apply it to someone you don't even know and you probably never will (I might be a 60 years' old mother of three in disguise, as far as you can tell). Some politeness would be nice, though. And if you don't like someone, just leave their pages. If you don't like what you read, then just don't. Stop fucking around, people are not your toys.
(By the way, if you had given an e-mail, I'd be PMing you instead of doing this in public; that's why you see these sentences here. They'll stay up only for an short amount of time anyway, just in case you happen to see them.)
I might have over-reacted on this (and spent a lot of time I don't really have...), still I know some of you out there will understand (I even know who you are, guys). But the 'haters' issue is really troubling me, I can't even grasp why would someone spend time on something s/he doesn't like at all, and I keep seeing it all the time in other blogs. It's a kind of vampyrism, I guess
To all greedy leeches, suck these first.
The Army Of 1-0
This is the second (and last up to now) album by The Youngsters (*), also out through F Comm.
Everything I've written on their debut more or less applies here as well; a solid mix of hazy house, tough electro and deep techno, with slightly more breaks and jazz elements added. Two young Parisians daringly re-interpreting the Detroit sound, fitting it in their own city's dreams. The EBM-ish 'Place, Race & Face' stands out easily as the 'hit', still give the proper attention to the rest of the tracks; some subtle hallucinogenic gems hidden in there (see 'Confusion' or 'Mellotron', for example).
The Youngsters - 2004 The Army Of 1-0
Info here.
Short Term Memories
Weird house and techno influenced dub treatments from Rob Rives; here as Floppy Sounds in Francois K.'s Wave Music, exploring the concepts of deepness and experimentation without losing his touch with the ground (the dancefloor, in this case).
Floppy Sounds - 2001 Short Term Memories
Info here.
Anything That Doesn't Move
Swimmingpool are Michael Scheibenreiter of Phoneheads and Stefan Schwander aka Antonelli Electr. (*). A Combination release, check here for more.
More than enough info on both the project and release can be found here; I'll only say that the result of their collaboration is a cross-breed between dubby and deep house, germanic urban breaks and early '00s chill mentality. Great for dancing, listening and thinking alike.
Swimmingpool - 2003 Anything That Doesn't Move
Info here.
Electro Breakdance
Oh well... They've been playing in my headphones for some days now, so...
All late '70s-early '80s classics packed together in four CDs - a blend of hip hop, disco, electronic funk, in short what we were soon to call 'electro' (now it's just 'oldschool'). You'll possibly know most of them; if you don't, you have to listen to these. To tell the truth all sound a bit old, some even a bit kitsch, but don't be fooled; many are simply unsurpassed. For me it works as a snapshot of this era, a study in those 'primitive' (yet so effective) techniques and a recognition nod to its influence on dance music.
These are our roots, after all.
(And they make me feel like a twelve years old again...).jpeg)
VA - Electro Breakdance 1 (2002)
The Real Old School Revival
CD1 - CD2
Info here..jpeg)
VA - Electro Breakdance 2 (2002)
The Essential Old School Revival
CD1 - CD2
Info here.
Vol.2 CD 1 track #13 just wouldn't rip.
Assume Nothing
A mixed CD out through Musik, one of the few UK 'dance' mags I did read back then.
Assembled in ProTools, it was one of the mixes in the style made famous by Richie Hawtin and one year later by Scion (with Ableton Live); tracks are made of loops and edits of other tracks, in this case by Mute Records material. Lots of seminal tracks in there and more beat oriented than you'd expect from the tracklist - the mix jumps from UK house to progressive trance, from techno to acid, from synth pop to cut-up electro.
I consider it to be a solid showcase, even if I don't like all of the tracks myself. It's a pity it's under-rated, when other cut-ups (like the 2ManyDJs/Soulwax ones, for example) are worth gold.
VA - 2001 Mute: Assume Nothing
Info here.
Business & Technologies
A Müller Records compilation (first check here and here), showcasing the label's style and artists like Beroshima, the Globus crew (Jonzon, Rok, DJ Disko) and Dave DK, plus a very early Paul Davies (*).
Repetitive techno and fast-paced dirty filter house tools, acid rave echoes, electro basslines and disco samples, even deep and fast dubby stuff; this one shows its true colors from the beginning and bangs its way through the history of Berlin's underground music, making me wonder once more why Frank Müller is not as known as, say, any of the above mentioned...
If it helps, this material is weirder than Tresor and sometimes harder than early Gigolo stuff, yet fully compatible with both.
VA - 1999 Business & Technologies
Info here.
Detroit Audio (and more)
Although I've stopped downloading DJ mixes and live sets from everybody I knew (it became an addiction at a time), some names are still hard to resist to.
A lot of sites/ blogs are devoted to posting live sets; I'm not actually going that way. I just want to propose a couple of 'official' sites of Detroit and like labels with interesting sets or videos that may easily get overlooked while searching the 'illegal' sharenet.
So:
Detroit Techno Militia. Huge mix data bank here.
Kenny Larkin's Art Of Dance. Few mixes here.
Technoir Audio. Listen here, down here.
11th Hour. Here.
Bvdub mixes. Here. Press on third icon.
Bootleg DJ Cafe. DJ sets here.
Open Mind Recordings. Here.
EevoNext. Yes, the old Eevolute. Here.
Soma Records. Some videos.
Dave Angel. Mixes & videos here.
D1 Recordings & DEAFestival. Archive.
Modern Music. Tons of oldschool mixes from the States here.
The Black Dog. You know who they are. Mixes here.
NEW:
Vuistdikkeramlat. Blog of great mixes. Here.
This list will be updated sporadically (when I find new stuff, you know) and reposted.
(first post: 10th of April 2008)
Electronic Cologne
A Cologne compilation back from 1995, presenting many acts already or soon to be famous (Air Liquide, Mouse On Mars, The Bionaut, Rob Acid, Roland Casper, Mathias Schaffhäuser, BolzBolz, Kitbuilders, etc - check the links) plus some local guys less known, yet not at all lesser in quality.
The range covered is more or less every style that built the Cologne sound and made it what it is: acid, techno, early trance, quirky house, deep experimental ambient, it's all there. CD1 mostly covers the club oriented projects, while CD2 delves more into experimental territories. Despite some unfortunate efforts (especially the Trance Opera track), the level is quite high, even production wise. Quite oldschool in sound, still interesting though.
VA - 1995 Electronic Cologne
CD1 - CD2
Info here.
Highway & Landscape
Here's something to help you through the aftermath of NYE's partying, clubbing or whatever it is you did last night.
Three compilations, selected and mixed by Jean-Yves LeLoup of RadioMentale, out through Distance (check *,*,*). Chill out music that doesn't make you flinch, as rare as that can be, deep beats and soft breaks mostly. No groundbreaking experiments here, just good, good music and a lot of chill classics.
The first one has been one of my favorite after-the-comedown albums for many years now, always accessible and calming. Also works good during daytime, on a train ride or for driving, for example. I recommend it without second thought. It focuses a lot on US and UK electronics; all-star ambient techno, dubby trip hop and deep house (with 'Sueño Plutino' on top), a bit glossy at times, yet soothing for tired ears. It's mixed, thought transitions last for a minimum amount of time, just to keep the flow.
Vol.2 is more upbeat, signifying a turn towards that (by then established) french 'chill grooves' thing, deep house and the occasional breaks, sometimes with ethnic elements. OK, it's not music for expensive restaurants - yet not that far away from that. I consider it to be the weakest link in the series, despite its good moments.
On the same track but more interesting is Vol.3, that compiles on the first CD some good deep beats and on CD2 what they called 'cinematic' breaks (many Ninja Tune influences there). I bought it only yesterday and gave it a shot just now, so I have not formed an opinion yet. Up to now it sounds interesting and classy, especially CD1..jpeg)
VA - Highway & Landscape Vol.1 (1997)
CD1. Highway
CD2. Landscape
Info here..jpeg)
VA - Highway & Landscape Vol.2 (1998)
CD. Deep Beats and Chill Breaks
Info here..jpeg)
VA - Highway & Landscape Vol.3 (2000)
CD1. Deep Beats
CD2. Cinematic Breaks
Info here.
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