I had this one in some crappy mp3 form or another to listen to; until very recently, when I found a physical copy buried in a back shelf... So, it's a James Stinson production for Warp, leaning towards rather romantic directions; possibly his poppier stuff, without of course moving away from the electro norms that made Drexciya (*) so famous.
The Other People Place - 2001 Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café
Info here.
Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café
05.17.2012 01.34.28PM -04.00
From tbtmo (see the Vibon post for more), here's an album by the brothers Mall; smooth US electronics with experimental edges and a sentimental, oldschool flavor. It's been playing for a few weeks in my HPs, so I thought I'd share it.
Mall - 2001 05.17.2012 01.34.28PM -04.00
Info here.
I-Robots
A very handy compilation of italo disco tracks, selected by Gianluca Pandullo (see the I-Robots project) and released through Irma Records.
Besides the much repressed 'Dance Boy Dance' hit by A.Robotnick, included here are many early '80s synth classics from Italy (check the tracklist) notoriously unavailable at the time it was released; mostly found in bootleg 12"s, actually, mainly promoted and distributed by the Clone posse. So, nothing new here for the electro & disco connoisseur; for the rest a great introduction to this futuristic discotheque sound, that apparently influenced oh so heavily the electro revival of the early '00s (... I didn't say the '-clash' word...), as well as a big part of the currently dominating nu disco scene.
You should at least check out the 'Spacer Woman' epic, anyway. If you don't like it, you might as well quit the rest too.
VA - 2004 I-Robots.
Italo Electro Disco Underground Classics
Info here.
Maschinelle Strategeme
Extremely abstract clicky and drony electronics compilation from Ritornell, Force Inc.' s weirder than weird sub. For fans of Mille Plateaux and Raster-Noton, all the usual suspects are here doing their stuff.
Not for everyone, I should point out.
VA - 2000 Maschinelle Strategeme
Info here.
Intuition. Remixes
The project of Jürgen Kühn and Antye Greie-Fuchs or AGF, here in a compilation of remixes where various respectable members of the electronic community (see Pole, Coldcut, Rechenzentrum, M.Schaffhauser, Phoneheads, Gonzales) contribute their interpretations of the experimental, post-pop sound of Laub and Kitty-Yo.
Not so arty as AGF's later solo attempts, I'd say.
Laub - 1999 Intuition. Remixes
Info here.
Live At The Liquid Room,Tokyo
The second part in a series of five mixed sets (see Mix-Up Vol.1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), this is a poor sounding yet undeniably strong testimony of Jeff Mills' skills and mid '90s manic disposition when in the booth.
The mix itself is presented in three segments; for track spotting you'll have to use the discogs page (good luck...). Since this one's ripped from the React repress, I used that cover instead of the original.
Jeff Mills - 1996 Live At The Liquid Room, Tokyo
Info here.
More of him here.
Ajustes Estructurales
Another Mille Plateaux record (and one of the weirdest ones), this was my first contact with the L.A. based Ultra-Red, also mentioned here. I consider them unique, both for their urban soundscapes (mostly processed location recordings) and for their subtly aggressive polemics; honestly, I feel I miss a lot in this one since I don't get all the (mostly distorted) words. Sounds great though; highly experimental collages of found sounds, disembodied voices and DSP effects.
Anyway, there's more than enough sound and text to satisfy you on their various sites, so go there and check them out. As music lovers, you might start with 'Writing Ambient Music', for example.
Ultra-Red - 2000 Structural Adjustments
Info here.
Interference. Live at Love Parade '94
Compiled by Dr.Motte and with an impressive tracklist, this compilation of live recorded tracks contains mostly experimental ambient excursions with the compulsory acid twists of the time.
I realize now I might had a rather skewed image on what the infamous Love Parade meant in the past. I've mostly considered it to be all about dreadful euro-trance and commercial hyped stuff. The depiction of the small freaked bunch of early '90s ravers in 'We Call It Techno' didn't changed much my opinion - I bet it wasn't like that later on. But this one always troubled me; if it really mirrors the old Love Parades' spirit, then all Berliners were lucky and I'm really sorry I missed those days.
VA - 1995 Interference. Live at Love Parade '94
CD1 - CD2
Info here.
Musique Legère
Trance Groove are a groovy band from Cologne's oldschool underground; band as in the old sense of the word (guitars, drums, etc). Here is a compilation of remixes by many well- and less-known artists from more or less the same scene like The Bionaut (*), Kreidler, M.Schaffhäuser (*), etc. Chilled daytime organic music.
Trance Groove - 1999 Musique Legère
Info here.
I remember to have an LP in mp3 form somewhere, with an excellent remake of Nico's 'Im Reich der Träume'; if anyone's interested let me know.
More humans!
I haven't been posting or updating much lately; my free time was really scarce due to work problems and a really tight schedule.
I have received a number of demos from new artists to be posted here for their promotion; I was planning a massive post for this but never found the time to do it. I haven't forgotten them; I actually liked much of that stuff, so I'll just ask them to forgive me on not posting it (yet).
Now our baby daughter has finally arrived (I'm so happydad right now), so I'll guess I'll have even less time - the same will to continue nevertheless. This blog will keep going as long as my fingers can move and I still have lots of stuff to share. On the other hand, it definitely has to go slower, at least for the next months. And will probably become even more laconic.
Checking here once or twice per week will be enough; more than that rather unnecessary. You can always check the older posts if you like, or start roaming through the links to the right, or whatever. Blessed be.
In Time
The last couple of years have thankfully brought me in touch with the vast amount of pure quality music coming from Japan, mostly through Mule Musiq and assorted labels' releases (and thanks to Kompakt's distribution); a vast field left unexplored to most of the rest of the world until recently. And what a shame that was, since it seems that over there we might trace all creativity that somehow seems to have become rare in the more traditionally active scenes of Europe, UK, etc. And I'm really happy that those guys have finally been recognized for their high quality productions, their deep knowledge of music history and excellent artistic sense. I only have to name Kuniyuki Takahashi, Tokyo Black Star or the mighty Force Of Nature as examples. And surely Kaoru Inoue, here as Chari Chari. He recently became very well-known through the Todd Terje disco remix of 'The Secret Field'; this is from 2002, but his discography goes much further back.
So few info I've found around the web on this one that it makes you wonder (it's not even mentioned in his personal site). But it's a wonderful, wonderful album, on occasion deep and tranquil / organic and beautiful / weird and mysterious. With excellent artwork I should add, a well-printed booklet and everything; such a pity all I found was this tiny pic.
Even though certain tracks would fit perfectly in such a set, it's not just another nu-disco record. It could be hastily classified as 'lounge music', but its multitude of influences referenced, the complex instrumentation and impeccability of performance and production set it far apart from the multitude of homogenized, ethno-sampling crappy 'music for restaurants' CDs that flooded the market at about the same time it came out (which might be a perfect reason why this rather excellent album went so unnoticed).
For similar stuff, I'd recommend the Mule showcases 'I'm Starting To Feel OK' and 'The Definitive Japanese Scene Vol.1', as well as Innervisions' 'Muting The Noise 01' compilation. Don't miss this one.
Kaoru Inoue presents Chari Chari - 2002 In Time
Info here.
P.S.1 Courtesy of jasl, Chari Chari's 'Spring To Summer' album here (MediaFire link). Thanx again man.
P.S.2 Original post 2010-03-05.
Abuse Your Illusions
A classic 2CD compilation by Cologne's finest Air Liquide through legendary Harvest. Respect.
Air Liquide - 1995 Abuse Your Illusions
CD1 - CD2
Info here.
Miscellaneous
Downtempo breaks and dubby ambient electronics in a showcase compilation of Language material - a Crammed Discs sub.
Dopey and relaxed trip hop at first, occasionally ethnic-tinted; then some more kinetic tracks, then some more abstract trips; mostly british stuff, as you might have already guessed. Includes contributions by Ian Pooley (the reason I bought it in the first place), David Toop, Endemic Void, Circadian Rhythms and a host of (even...) less known producers. Sounds a bit aged, still it has its good moments.
VA - 1995 Miscellaneous
Info here.
System Express
Post-hippy overproduced UK techno and some melodic d'n'b by ex-Gong members Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, also known as System 7 (or just 777, for some time).
Featuring various of their collaborations with the likes of Derrick May, Laurent Garnier and of course The Orb, here remixed and reworked by themselves, Plastikman (tip!), Marshall Jefferson, Doc Scott and Jacob's Optical Stairway (see 4Hero).
System 7 - 1996 System Express
Info here.
P.S. Gong re-united ?!?!?
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