Dromed

And here's the first Drome album on Kiff SM. Not so experimental and weird as other Friedmann records, still they're interesting and classy as very few artists can be.

Drome - 1995 Dromed
Info here.

More on Drome here.

The Final Corporate Remix Of The Unconscious

This is the remix version of an album posted earlier here, all remixes by Drome themselves. Just got it so no opinion yet, the first tracks sound great though.

Drome - 1993 The Final Corporate Remix Of The Unconscious
Info here.

More of Burnt Friedmann here.

Populär Serie. Teil 1 Und 2

Weird and sweet electronics from this rather obscure Munich- based label, of which I know nothing - I've actually encountered a CD only once, while recently I dug up a post (here) in the sickness-abounds blog.

These two CDs compile two vinyl LPs, parts 1 and 2 of (what was to be) the six parts Populär Serie. Names like N.U.F. (*), Hecker , Move D, Solvent and Hans Platzgumer (of H.P.Zinker and Queen Of Japan) should be enough to draw attention and help the label to sell. Still, it looks like this was their swan song - and a pity it is, as the game here seems to be originality, a lost concept to most. In the process, wonderful (and mostly accessible) weirdness has infiltrated most of the tracks while forms and styles dissolve and merge freely. Rather under-produced and away from the norms and hypes of the time, it went largely unnoticed - at least here (I checked it just because I was deep into Friedmann at the time). Part experimental electronics, part weird breaks, part US electro pop a la Ghostly Int. (a few years before them), it provides a slightly incoherent yet uncompromisingly attractive proposition. You might listen to it and ignore most of it at a time, only to re-discover certain tracks a couple of years later, pitying yourself for the time you lost.

'Tell Me The Truth' by the Electric Sheep is one of the electro-pop anthems in my brain, and 'Archer' by Move D is a favorite for reasons best left unexplained. All Source fans should pay attention to this one, by the way.

A good trick is to start with the second CD, turning the volume up.

VA - Heimelektro Ulm Populär Serie
Teil 1 Und 2 . 2000-2001
CD1 - CD2
Info 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.

The Final Corporate Colonization Of The Unconscious

As mentioned before, Drome are Burnt Friedmann and Frank Hernandez. They play a weird electronic dub-like something, influenced by anything. This is their second record (I don't have the first one) out in Wigwam, sub of Toxikk, in which labels they released most of their stuff before moving on to Kiff and then Friedmann went his way (check also the previous Pole post).

The music resembles a lot the 'Nuf Said' material although in a bit unshaped yet kind of way, with oldschool-ish electronica drum sounds and some breakbeats, although the subtly delivered extremities of the future to come are already obvious. An opera voice flows over metallic dub, field recordings and references to John Cage give their place to beat tracks, sounds float from around the world, Kassel meets Melbourne through Texas. And remember, this was recorded on 1992.
A remix album was subsequently released. The original was later re-released in Ninja Tune.

And once more, what a great title for an album..

Drome - 1993,
The Final Corporate Colonization Of The Unconscious
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Nuf Said

This is one of the few records I've been lucky to listen to since 1995 and I still enjoy it the same and even more.
It was released by Incoming!, a totally weird label who released a lot of avant-garde, really far ahead of its time electronic dub and drum'n'bass stuff, alongside with 8-bit synth reggae and almost cheesy chill-out sentimental stuff. NUF., Unitone Hi-Fi and Cee-Mix were its most frequent contributors, but I believe the real strength of Incoming! were its 'Serenity Dub' compilation series, breeding ground for a lot of young artists and outlet for experimental stuff by the more famous ones.

For those who don't know him, Bernd Friedmann is a really talented artist releasing music since the early '90s. He's worked together with guys like Uwe Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit (the drummer from Can) and David Sylvian/Steve Jansen and he's remixed a lot more. His groups are Drome (with Frank Hernandez) and The Nu Dub Players (with his laptop). He has released mostly in Ninja Tune and N-tone, Incoming! and ~scape, while in the last decade he's publishing and re-releasing older stuff on his own Nonplace label.

Still I haven't seen this one reprinted yet and it's a pity. It's impossible to pin it down in the mid'90s, it sounds like it was released yesterday. Music-wise it could be described as electronic music with dub techniques, yet in there you'll encounter kinky spooky house, a disco dub marathon, weed jazz excursions in hip hop, Carribean samples and space FX, all those in a cocoon of weird ambience. Intro-outro track 'Chilled' was, is and will be for a long long time in my personal top ten of electronic tracks.

Nonplace Urban Field - 1995 Nuf Said
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Friedmann discography here and info here.

Incoming! seems to be totally obscure to (or ignored by) the people on the share-net. I'll try to post some more.