Not much to say about this. Abstract Thought is another moniker of Drexciya, an one-off project released in Kombination Records (home of The Advent) in 2002.
Interestingly, it's a mostly 4/4 techno beat driven album, fully compatible with other releases of the Kombination label (though slower). Drexciyan electro funk is also included of course, all the custom fat sounds are here with an extra melodic, almost pop touch.
Yet it was not released in vinyl. I never understood that. Because of that it didn't got the support or recognition it deserved. (P.S. Correction here.)
Corresponding to each track a number of Hypothetical Situations are noted in the booklet. I'll transfer them here, along with the playlist. Consider this:
1. Bermuda Triangle
(What if the triangle pivoted over the island of Jamaica, what would become of the population?)
2. Synchronized Dimensions
(What if we existed within three planes of reality simultaneously?)
3. Me Want Woman's Punani
(What if for one week, male sex organs became petrified, how much punani could the average man consume?)
4. Consequences Of Cloning
(What if they cloned a perfect human specimen, but did they clone the perfect god given spirit for this specimen?)
5. Solar Pulse
(What if a solar flare ten thousands time larger than the average flare were emitted, how would this electromagnetic wave effect electrical and communication systems on earth?)
6. Galactic Rotation
(What if the galaxy were thrown off its normal cycle due to dark energy emissions from black holes?)
Abstract Thought - 2002 Hypothetical Situations
Info here.
Abstract Thoughts
Pop Artificielle
This CD it's just CLASSIC. If you like electronic listening music and you've never heard this please do now, you won't regret it. A work of Uwe Schmidt aka Atom Heart aka a million other names (LB stands for his older Lassigue Bendthaus moniker), it was released through KK Records (at first) in 1998.
It's a tribute record, mostly. A number of pop/rock/funk classics are surgically dissected, pieced together and electrobolted back to life by Mr. Schmidt, yet with (some) respect for the originals. And far far away from the nowdays concept for an easy cover track, which constitutes of dropping everything but the beats and the bass, adding some 'dubby' echoes and the currently 'modern' production tricks and cashing on the dancefloor.
The production must have took ages to come to an end. Full of ultra-detailed programming, full of hand-made glitches and clicks and drones and noises before the Clicks 'n' Cuts compilations, it's a digital poem shining like a diamond through a mist of noise. And it shines because of the vocals. It's customary to say (it says so on the booklet) that they were produced by Raw(TM), some self-developed voice-emulator synthesis software, although curiously I couldn't trace anywhere a single line on this elusive source of fractured, vocoderized voices. Once you hear it though the result is very difficult to forget, especially in 'Angie' or 'Silence is Golden', real voices or not.
It's interesting that this album precedes the Senor Coconut's 'El Baile Aleman' as a cover album. The Senor Coconut facade had already been functional, yet 'El Gran Baile' is an electronic avant-guard album with excursions into Latin rhythmology, not an attempt to play or cover pop songs (I'll post it soon). Anyway, I think that later on he decided to have some more fun at the time he was paying tribute to the Robots.
LB - 1998 Pop Artificielle
Info here.
Generic info on Atom here and here.
Record Of Breaks
I promised on an earlier post I'll upload this. Check the 18 min. long 'Some Kind Of Prayer' which is exactly what it says to be, the techno classic 'Kraak' and the occasional weirdness of the 'Revelations' (the sound of their computer breaking down, if I remember correctly). 'True' and 'Sheap?' are for those moody Sunday afternoon hours.
PWOG - 1995 Record Of Breaks
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here
Bob
I finally managed to order the 'Maybe Logic' DVD, a documentary about Robert Anton Wilson, as well as the video recording (in DVD, again) of RAW's almost-a-musical 'Wilhelm Reich in Hell', both by Lance Bauscher for Deepleaf Productions Inc. I totally urge you to buy them, they're good, cheap and were delivered really fast. His Wiki biography you can find here. More you will find at his official website (check my links).
RAW, though a person known to me only through his books, tapes and (later) the net, had HUGE influence on me and defined my mindset in many ways almost as strongly as my family or friends did. First I read the 'Illuminatus' trilogy (which I think that everyone should check sometime) and later all fiction and non-fiction I could find, but it was the 2nd Cosmic Trigger book 'Down To Earth' that really got to me. I've read some autobiographies, but never one so simple and powerful and touching and almost unbiased at the same time. I knew he had post-polio syndrome for a long time, but in January when I heard of his death (age 75) I was sad for a week or so and actually then it did click, how important for me he had been.
I actually prefer to remember him from these last days photos, with the grandfather look and his mind still sharp as a knife, despite of his illness doing all he can to get along without money, to soften the blow of his coming death for his children and friends, to keep everyone happy and make them a little smarter and better.
It's my small memorial, I guess. I have lots of recorded audio and video of RAW, some of them you'll find here: RAWilson Fans. If someone wants anything more than that, just leave a comment.
Pony says hello!
Yep, it's another classic from the Hamburg area (with total support by Kompakt distribution, as always). Formed by Cosmic DJ, Erobique and DJ Koze, they were hailed as a 'supergroup' from the beginning. They deserved it, in my opinion, and you can easily find out why in this record.
With a heavy background on hip hop, funk and listening electronics, International Pony add a touch of dancefloor rush, play live a lot of instruments, balance tho lo-fi elements with a decent production and some great programming. It's a complex album, always shifting and twisting around pop themes, presented in a variety of styles ranging from r'n'b and funk to electro punk, with house and techno peaks and abstract interludes. Humor plays a certain role as well. And jingles. Mostly though the thing that makes this record stand out is that it's an Album, not just some recordings thrown together and re-packaged for promotion. It has a motif, an attitude that keeps everything together, no matter how diverse the prime materials are.
Of course, the First Album of most bands usually has this 'advantage'. It represents a whole era of in-band dynamics building up in order to overcome the obstacles in the beginning. I'm talking about some years of putting the songs together, practicing, ego-clashing, performing live, finding (or founding) a label, recording, up to the date of release of the album, when at last it's off your hands and out in the world. Because of the diversity of the various situations and events experienced, creativity manifests in various ways and even has some time to develop itself into fresh forms that yet fit easily within a certain picture. At the same time, during this incubating period (two or three or five or ten years) a LOT of songs are tried, so it's easier to pick some out of them for release.
Usually after a successful album follow big tours which leave the group exhausted, yet eager to record again. Second Albums tend to be more focused, concept-oriented or with a heavy eye in the market, especially if the 1st one did good sales.
Some perfect examples of worthy dance First Albums are The Orb's 'Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld', The Prodigy's 'Experience' and Daft Punk's 'Homework'. In a few years I think I'll add this one too in the list.
International Pony - 2002 We love Music
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here
By the way, does anyone have this?
P.S. Koze compilation found, here.
Hamburg greyscapes
Another Hamburg release, in the year 2000. Peter Kersten, mostly known as Lawrence or Sten had just released 'Teaser' 12'' on Kompakt and some 12"s on his own Dial label. This is (to my knowledge) his first LongPlay release, establishing his trademark sound (mostly dark strings over soft beats under grey skies). Which has not changed a lot through the years, just got refined and more crispy and occasionally bordering on happier, even euphoric feelings. Still, Melancholy seems to be the key-word to his work.
Released on both Dial and Ladomat2000 (I have the latter edition), with no track names or much other info in an artwork of hazy monochromatic urban photos, this release represents fairly good Lawrence 's early period. I also noticed that it's not very common to find on CD or in the net (most of the Dial releases aren't actually), so here it is:
Lawrence - 2000, selftitled [Ladomat 2137-2]
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here
The Golden Age
Another compilation, this time from those deep vaults of weirdness and beauty called L'Age d'Or or Ladomat2000, LadoMusic, Enduro, the old Hamburg family with friends from all over Germany.
WiR is a truly crossover compilation, extremely difficult to pin down in terms of music styles, artists' locality, or anything actually, and a very good mirror of what Lado is about. If you're looking for a tag, then Pop Music might be the most applicable answer. From vocal indie pop songs to Cologne techno, from disco and punk to dark ambient through electro hybrids too complex too be described, the Popular Art aesthetics collide with the 'indie' experimentalist mindset of the artists. This is pure and simple Music.
For reference reasons, Ladomat2000 is more oriented to danceable music, Enduro thrives on the electro 8bit pop punk side, while the parent label acts like a big umbrella for all kinds of indie pop acts. Actually, L'Age d'Or supported 'guitars 'n' drums' acts long before the French electro-rock hype, even long before DFA records. Anyway, though it might not be obvious at first sight, if you check every group name in the Discogs info link below you''ll find some very well known artist either incognito or in collaboration with members of other bands.
Mostly though the difference between Lado and a typical record label is that it kickstarted and later supported artists that later boomed on, but were considered too weird for beginners (Ascii.Disko comes to mind, Whirlpool Productions much earlier). On the other hand it provides a platform for experimentation to many established names, who are allowed to go a little crazy even if (or just because) the result won't fit in the stylistic definitions of their own labels.
P.S. Egoexpress RULE.
VA - WiR (l'age d'or - Ladomat compilation)
CD1 - Part 1 - Part 2
CD2 - Part 1 - Part 2
Info here
