Saturday, May 31, 2008

Sundaze (34)

Hello, up for some more Sundaze ? Just the two today but to pick a winner here would be hard, both excellent albums, electronics with emotion and contemplation. DNTEL was an unexpected stunner when it came out 6 years ago...secondly
Kettel 's open, involving, beautiful electronic music. As i said both great Sundaze albums.

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Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities (01 ^131mb)

Housed behind an entirely appropriate title, Life Is Full Of Possibilities is a gorgeous, mostly ambient journey into moody, poetic electronic sounds. Dntel (aka Jimmy Tamborello) produces music that merges the worlds of indie rock and electronica. Tamborello was formerly a guitarist in the emocore group Strictly Ballroom and also a member of techno-poppers Figurine. In addition, he has done time in the SoCal groups Further and the Tyde. Tamborello originally started working as Dntel in 1994. Tracks he produced between 1995-1997 were released on the Phthalo label in 1999 as Early Works for Me If It Works for You. This was followed by the 2000 release of an EP that had been recorded back in 1994 called Something Always Goes Wrong. The melancholy, often haunting, and electronica-heavy effort Life Is Full of Possibilities arrived in 2002 on Plug Research Records. It featured contributions from Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks, ex-Strictly Ballroom), Rachel Haden (that dog.), and Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), among others.

The debut album of Dntel (aka Jimmy Tamborello) is a gorgeous, mostly ambient journey into moody, poetic electronic sounds. Though Life Is Full of Possibilities is centered on clicks & cuts, textured sound washes, and cut-and-paste electronic dynamics, Dntel's music contains such pristine melodies and is so effective in its stimulation of one's emotions that it makes for a refreshing, fascinating hour of music. Brittle, subtle, full of surprises, and disarming in its ability to set moods.

Jimmy Tamborello has been releasing under different monikers with others, he moved to Sub Pop -- also home of his other very successful project, the Postal Service -- for Dntel's 2007 album Dumb Luck, which featured Gibbard, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst, and many other indie stars.



01 - Umbrella (4:43)
02 - Anywhere Anyone (4:37)
03 - Pillowcase (3:30)
04 - Fear Of Corners (5:26)
05 - Suddenly Is Sooner Than You Think (5:43)
06 - Life Is Full Of Possibilities (6:30)
07 - Why I'm So Unhappy (7:00)
08 - Fireworks (6:48)
09 - (This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan (5:44)
10 - Last Songs (4:42)

lite
Dntel - Life Is Full Of Possibilities (* 99mb)

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Kettel - Volleyed Iron (04 ^99mb)

Kettel is Reimer Eising (born 1982), a self-described "elixir-brewing, camping-loving and musicmaking sorcerer-to-be." He is well-known for his playful, spontaneous melodies and organic folk sounds similar to Aphex Twin and Plaid. His tools just a pc with soundcard, keyboard, MIDI-keyboard and controller, a turntable and a mic. What comes out is a combination of downtempo beats , hovering synthesizers and acoustic instruments turned into little melodies. Kettel's releases on the Planet Mu-label ( Mike Paradinas µ-Ziq, Kid Spatula , Aphex Twin) and the Kracfive label(US) has build him some international fame. He has also collaborated on several projects of various remixes and compilations. Kettel frequently performs in the Netherlands and abroad, the Japananese seem to have taken a particular liking to his work.

"Volleyed Iron" finds Reimer piecing together easily his finest release to date, a glowing warm ambient album .Piecing together shards of found sounds and field recordings, the organic textures that underlay these pieces, display incredible warmth and sheer beauty Open, involving, beautiful electronic music with slivers of violin, piano and broken and dusty old samples. He's released several albums Dreim, Cenny Crush, Smiling Little Cow (2002), Look at this (2003), Volleyed Iron (2004), Through Friendly Waters (2005) My Dogon (2006) , Whisper Me Wishes (2007) and Myam James Part 1(2008) in short, plenty to follow up on if you like his music.



01 - A French Composer (4:37)
02 - America Video (5:54)
03 - Did We Orient? (2:50)
04 - Electrician And Adventurer (1:34)
05 - Four Eyes At A Gate (2:33)
06 - Sorry, But We Don't Hear You (3:59)
07 - Teeth, Wait (3:57)
08 - Clock.exe (2:37)
09 - Ureterp, July (2:12)
10 - Hondsvot (1:40)
11 - Machine Planet (8:00)
12 - Wim Hoffman (8:44)
13 - Little Duck, When Is Our Day? (4:11)
14 - Tomorrow? (4:32)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Photos

I'm traveling, so here are a few photos (all cellphone camera) from the last couple months.

George Ayala (whom I hadn't seen in over 10 years, I think) and Pato Hebert at their panel discussion, Race Sex Power Conference, Chicago

Street performer, Michigan Avenue, Chicago

Southern Illinois sunset

Leaving Saint Louis (again)

Chicago skyline, blurry style

Geese on the university's lagoon

Gas in Chicago (another reason not to drive)

A flyer from a recent panel I participated on, with three very dazzlingly brilliant people, Daphne Brooks of Princeton, and my university colleagues Barnor Hesse and Alex Weheliye

The Chicago River, from Wacker Drive, Memorial Day weekend

Friday, May 30, 2008

Rhotation (34) Into BPM

Hello, it's the 34th Rhotation this week Into BPM starts off the week with Richie Hawtin at the helm . His third soloalbum under the moniker Plastikman ; Consumed was an exploration of the idea of sonic space....Next a classic mixalbum, Decks, EFX & 909 and last Ibiza finshing the season with Sven Väth with The Sound Of The Third Season in the Cocoon that is..

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While original Detroit technocrats like Juan Atkins and Derrick May were changing the face of electronic music in the mid-'80s, Richie Hawtin was growing up across the river in Windsor, Ontario. A British native born in 1970, he moved to Canada with his family at the age of nine. Introduced to '70s electronic/minimalist pioneers Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream by his father (who was a robotics engineer for General Motors), Hawtin began DJing at the age of 17 -- as DJ Richie Rich -- and soon landed gigs at Detroit hot-spots like the Shelter and the famed Music Institute, home to all-night club sessions by May and Kevin Saunderson.

His style formed by a fusion of the barest acid house and straitjacket-tight Detroit techno, Richie Hawtin became one of the most influential artists in the world of techno during the 1990s, even while sticking to out-of-date synth dinosaurs like the Roland TB-303 and TR-808. Hawtin combined lean percussion and equally spare acid lines into haunting techno anthems that kicked with more than enough power for the dancefloor while diverting headphone listeners as well. While even his early recordings were quite minimalistic, he streamlined the sound increasingly over the course of his recording career; from the early '90s to the end of the decade, Hawtin's material moved from the verge of the techno mainstream into a yawning abyss of dubbed-out echo-chamber isolationism, often jettisoning any semblance of a bass line or steady beat. Hawtin released material on his own +8 Records under several aliases -- some in tandem with co-founder John Acquaviva -- and made the label one of the best styled in Detroit techno of the 1990s. He earned his pedigrees from worldwide fans of techno for his best-known releases, as Plastikman (for NovaMute) and F.U.S.E. (for Warp/TVT).




The Plastikman project debuted in 1993 with two releases for +8: the seminal "Spastik" single and an album, Sheet One. Hawtin's first wide release, however, came with the alter-ego F.U.S.E. (short for Further Underground Subsonic Experiments). A more varied and melodic project than Plastikman (but not by much), F.U.S.E. released the album Dimension Intrusion for the British Warp Records in late 1993. As part of the label's Artificial Intelligence series, Dimension Intrusion was also licensed to Wax Trax!/TVT for release in America. (Hawtin joined such ambient-techno heroes as the Aphex Twin, Black Dog, Autechre and B12, all receiving their wide-issue debuts.) Later, NovaMute signed an agreement with +8 and another Hawtin-founded label, Probe; Sheet One was reissued in 1994, followed by the second Plastikman LP, Musik. Much more restrained than Sheet One, the album fit in well with the growing ambient-techno movement. All told, Hawtin was responsible for the release of three albums and a good-sized EP in the span of just one year.

That impressive schedule was shattered in 1995, when Hawtin was entangled in a silly U.S.labor law that denied him access with his tools.Refused entrance for more than a year, he lost his inspirational grounding with the Detroit scene and found it difficult to continue recording for his third Plastikman album, Klinik. While he waited for re-entry, Hawtin spent time setting up the sub-label Definitive, and continued to DJ around the world. Though he recorded scattered singles for +8 and related imprints, his only full-length release that year was a killer entry in the Mixmag Live! series, taken from a DJ set recorded at the Building in Windsor. By the time he was able to return to America, he had changed his musical direction and eventually abandoned the Klinik album.

In early 1998, he released his third Plastikman LP, Consumed, which proved to be just as brutally shadowed as the Concept 1 material. The continued experimentalist direction showed Hawtin coming full circle, back to his position on the leading edge of intelligent techno. In May 2000, Hawtin performed at the first Detroit Electronic Festival alongside Derrick May, Juan Atkins and other techno masterminds. More than 200,000 people attended from all over the world.

He spent part of 2002 and 2003 living in New York City, and has since moved to Berlin, Germany.. Hawtin collaborated with choreographer Enzo Cosimi to create a composition called "9.20" for the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. In 2007, Slices DVD magazine launched a series of biographies called "Pioneers of Electronic Music", with the first issue being a roughly 60 minute documentary dedicated to the life of Richie Hawtin. The film follows his career from his early days crossing the border to Detroit to his current life in Berlin, interviewing many colleagues and family members.

Hawtin has recorded music under the aliases Plastikman, F.U.S.E, Concept 1, Circuit Breaker, The Hard Brothers, Hard Trax, Jack Master, and UP!. He also recorded and performed, in combination with other artists, under group names such as 0733, Cybersonik, Final Exposure, Spawn and States Of Mind.


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Plastikman - Consumed ( 98 ^ 153mb)

The third in the series of Plastikman albums produced by Richie Hawtin, Consumed is a turn away from the high-bpm, drum-machine mania that characterized much of his its two predecessors, Sheet One (1993) and Musik (1994). The album is an exploration of Plastikman's ambient side and features none of the frantic Detroit techno experiments he was chiefly renowned for at the time. According to Hawtin, 'Consumed' was designed as an exploration of the idea of sonic space, inspired by the vast expanses of Michigan's and Ontario's plains. The album is dominated by extremely sparse basslines and percussion, combined with 'spatial' sound effects, such as reverb, stereo, and delay effects. Ambient techno driven largely by deep, rumbling basslines accentuated with shimmering synth washes and almost subliminal microsound ticks --ambient dark and mysterious in tone.



01 - Contain (8:29)
02 - Consume (11:18)
03 - Passage (In) (0:54)
04 - Cor Ten (6:50)
05 - Convulse (Sic) (1:22)
06 - Ekko (3:55)
07 - Converge (4:24)
08 - Locomotion (8:49)
09 - In Side (12:37)
10 - Consumed (11:43)
11 - Passage (Out) (3:10)

Lite Consumer

Plastikman - Consumed ( * 99mb)

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Richie Hawtin - Decks, EFX & 909 ( 99 ^151mb)

Decks, EFX & 909 was the next step for Richie Hawtin after his Mixmag live album from 1995 and the increasing minimalism of his subsequent Plastikman material (Consumed ). Hawtin displays not only his talents as a mixer but also as a producer, using turntables, an effects processor, and a Roland pedal, plus a TR-909 drum machine for added beats. An extension of his live sets (though not entirely recorded live), the album employs a degree of improvisation rarely heard on mix albums. The result of Hawtin's obvious labor of love is a mix album that manages to be simultaneously intense and moody, pummeling yet restrained. The beats are clipped and precise,at times, Hawtin has four records spinning at once, and the layers of sound he adds to the show make this album a highly effective techno statement.



01 - Ratio - Early Blow (2:02)
02 - G Flame & Mr. G - Dumped (1:03)
03 - Richard Harvey - User (02) - B2 (1:11)
04 - Richard Harvey - User (04) - A2 (1:04)
05 - Richard Harvey - User (02) - A2 (1:24)
06 - Richard Harvey - User (01) - B2 (1:16)
07 - Richard Harvey - 001A - A2 (1:23)
08 - Grain - B2 (1:09)
09 - Santos Rodriguez - Road To Rio EP - B2 (0:36)
10 - Grain - B1 (1:37)
11 - Santos Rodriguez - Road To Rio EP - A2 (1:28)
12 - Grain - A1 (0:47)
13 - Richard Harvey - 002A - B1 (4:20)
14 - Jeff Mills - Call Of The Wild (1:49)
15 - Jeff Mills - L8 (0:39)
16 - Jeff Mills - Scout (0:27)
17 - Jeff Mills - L8 (0:13)
18 - Richie Hawtin - Orange/Minus 1 (2:11)
19 - Richie Hawtin - Orange/Minus 2 (1:16)
20 - Richie Hawtin - Minus/Orange 2 (0:55)
21 - Nitzer Ebb - Let Your Body Learn (2:11)
22 - Richie Hawtin - Minus/Orange 1 (0:59)
23 - Intermission - What The Hell Was That? (0:09)
24 - Rob Jarvis - Killabite (002) - A1 (2:11)
25 - Ben Sims - The Loops - A1 (2:56)
26 - Jeff Mills - Alarms (1:16)
27 - Surgeon - Force & Form (Surgeon Remake 2) (1:58)
28 - Pacou - Zen (2:07)
29 - Heiko Laux - Five (1:37)
30 - Baby Ford & Eon - Dead Eye (2:23)
31 - Savvas Ysatis - Club Soda (1:20)
32 - Stewart Walker - It's Process Not Substance (0:31)
33 - M - 5 (1:20)
34 - Vladislav Delay - Neo (2:37)
35 - Thor - Aliens Don't Boogie (2:51)
36 - Marco Carola - Question (003) - B2 (2:59)
37 - Quadrant - Kykeon (2:14)
38 - Rhythm & Sound - Never Tell You (Version) (2:41)

Lite

Richie Hawtin - Decks, EFX & 909 ( * 98mb)

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Sven Väth & Richie Hawtin - The Sound Of The Third Season (02 ^153mb)

Veteran DJs Sven Väth and Richie Hawtin commemorate their summer-long residency at Cocoon in Ibiza with The Sound of the Third Season, a relatively straightforward mix of techno with a creative twist. Since the mix is intended as a commemoration of the many Monday nights Väth and Hawtin spent together in Ibiza at Cocoon, as discussed and pictured in the liner notes, the two intersperse sampled dialogue throughout the mix as a means of better capturing the essence of the summer. Their mix is amazing, they throw down numerous great tracks and don't do anything too fancy -- just mix one kick-ass track unmercifully into the next. The heart-racing intensity doesn't subside until the last quarter of the mix, when you're at the after-party on the beach, where Väth and Hawtin open with Swayzak's soothing "Make up Your Mind (Slight Return)" and bring the mix to a lulling close.



01 - T-Bone Steak... (2:40)
02 - Reinhard Voigt - Supertiel (6:41)
03 - Tony Rohr - Baile Commigo (3:19)
04 - Dirty - Dirty (E-Dancer Remix, Re-Edit By Matthew Roberts) (6:10)
05 - Renato Cohen - Pontapé (4:16)
06 - DJ Shufflemaster - Play Back Pt.3 - Session 1 (5:09)
07 - Slam - Step Back (Smith & Selway Rmx) (1:40)
08 - No Artist - I'm Ready... (3:16)
09 - Technasia - Acid Storm (4:33)
10 - Sven Väth - Steel (Marco Carola Rmx) (4:44)
11 - Koenig Cylinders - 99.9 (John Selway Rmx) (2:26)
12 - No Artist - Amnesia Surprise... (1:36)
13 - A Number Of Names - Shari Vari (The Hacker & Vitalic Remix) (3:55)
14 - John Starlight - Blood Angels (5:47)
15 - Legowelt - Disco Rout (5:39)
16 - No Artist - Let's Continue Our Mission... (1:43)
17- Swayzak - Make Up Your Mind (Slight Return) (4:00)
18 - Wessling & Schrom - Donauwellen (3:25)
19 - Ricardo Villalobos - What You Say Is More Than I Can Say (0:16)
20 - Reinhard Voigt - Recht Erst Jetzt (3:24)
21 - No Artist - Closing Thoughts... - Sven & Rich's Post After-Hours Thoughts (0:18)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Alphabet Soup II ( G)

Hello, Alphabet Soup II has reached Gee, and this time i won't pass on an album which has been dear to me for many decades. Playing it again was a mixed thrill, as im made aware that 33 years have passed since i heard it first. This is a cd rip as my vinyl needed replacing back then (20 years ago). ....secondly Martin Gore, Depeche Mode 's main songwriter and occasinal singer, he recorded 2 soloalbums with covers of music that was dear and inspirational to him, i've joined them here..lastly a band of Canadian anarchists into postrock, Godspeed You Black Emperor ! a rather expedient post as today a treaty was made to do away with what the band described as U.X.O. unexploded ordnance(cluster bombs), as for the treaty China, Russia, USA and Israel gave it the middlefinger, they like the idea of children picking up explosives the next day.

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Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ( 74, 94min. ^ 198mb)

The New Anon got picked up by Jonathan King who helped the band secure its first record deal and baptised them Genesis, the first album flopped and the band split to attend school/university but when Charisma a new label shoed interest they got together again, Trespass, the second album didnt do much better but it opened the door for Gabriels theatricals,again the band almost dissolved but this time they got some important replacements aboard, Phil Collins and Steve Hackett. Their next album, Nursery Cryme, the music was far more exciting than most of the progressive rock of the period, the heart of the record was "The Musical Box," a song telling a Victorian-era story of children, murder, and ghostly apparitions. Their live shows started to gain recognition, as Gabriel began to make ever more extensive use of masks, makeup, and props in concert, telling the framing stories in order to set up their increasingly complicated songs. Foxtrot, released in the fall of 1972, was a turning point in Genesis' history, and not just on commercial terms. The writing, especially on "Supper's Ready" was as sophisticated as anything in progressive rock, and the lyrics were complex, serious, and clever. The group's next release, Selling England by the Pound (1973), retained the pastoral yearning for ancient or medieval England as its primary thematic material, the album focuses on traces of this past in the present.It was also their biggest seller to date.

The release in late 1974 of the ambitious double LP The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway also marked the culmination of the group's early history. A concept album with a very involved story and a cast of characters, its composition had been difficult, involving a story outlined and written (along with most of the lyrics) exclusively by Gabriel. The singer had worked separately from the rest of the group for most of the composition, and a creative split developed between him and the others, which was exacerbated by personal problems that Gabriel was going through at the time, involving his marriage. The division grew worse during the tour that followed, when the other members began to feel that his performance -- and the costumes and costume changes that he required -- began to seriously detract from the music, and worse gave the public the idea that they were Peter Gabriels backing band.

Gabriel has always been unwilling to give a precise explanation of the lyrics. And though i held this album in high regard for many decades, it's superficial explanation of the story has always bothered me, simply not good enough to have captured mine and others interest for so long. So here goes

We can assume Rael (messenger of the Elohim) is a Christ (The Lamb) figure. "The lamb lies down on Broadway" would then mean "Jesus Christ dies in New York." At the end of the story, Rael sacrifices his life for his brother John, in spite of the numerous times John had forsaken him, and he loves him anyway, a very Christian attitude. By making this final correct spiritual decision to save his brother, he allows himself to leave this purgatory into the true afterlife.

Gabriels silence and his known references about dreams has convinced me that he-Peter was a lucid dreamer and possibly an astral traveller, his descriptions of the wall that engolves him, the lifeless(dummy's) in all shapes and sizes he encouters, aswell as the crawlers looking for a way out. The 32 doors is an almost classic dream image, not being able to find his way like the others he trusts a blind woman Lilith ( a demon, after being cursed by Jahweh for not obeying that tiran) leads him thru a tunnel of light to more mystic imagery with the Lamia (half snake/half women)(defacto alien/human halfbreeds) after a pleasant sexual encounter he finds his way to the place where he meets his 'brother John', and where sexual lust is deemed a curse and so they get convinced to do away with it and be castrated. Then a raven appears and flies off with his tubed (sperm), chasing it he leaves his brother behind, when the raven drops it in the river, and he tracks it, he finds himself back on broadway again. As he wonders if this is another dream he hears the cries for help from his 'brother John' who like his tube floats down the river..he slides of the rocky embankment to rescue, when he gets hold of him, he finds that John is him(the tube) and he saves himself from going under. Understanding that it was him letting himself down all along.

In every way, it's a considerable, lasting achievement and it's little wonder that Peter Gabriel had to leave the band after this record: they had gone as far as they could go together, and could never top this extraordinary album. It's supposed to be rereleased as a SACD / DVD double-disc set (with new 5.1 and stereo mixes) in September 2008, dont hold your breath its been announced several times before.



Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ( 74 ^ 99mb)

01 - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (4:55)
02 - Fly On A Windshield (2:47)
03 - Broadway Melody Of 1974 (1:58)
04 - Cuckoo Cocoon (2:14)
05 - In The Cage (8:15)
06 - The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging (2:45)
07 - Back In N.Y.C. (5:49)
08 - Hairless Heart (2:25)
09 - Counting Out Time (3:45)
10 - The Carpet Crawlers (5:16)
11 - The Chamber Of 32 Doors (5:40)

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway ( 74 ^ 99mb)

12 - Lilywhite Lilith (2:40)
13 - The Waiting Room (5:28)
14 - Anyway (3:18)
15 - -Here Comes The Supernatural Anaesthetist (2:50)
16 - The Lamia (6:57)
17 - Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats (3:06)
18 - The Colony Of Slippermen (8:14)
------ The Arrival
------ A Visit To The Doctor
------ The Raven
19 - Ravine (2:04)
20 - The Light Dies Down On Broadway (3:32)
21 - Riding The Scree (3:55)
22 - In The Rapids (2:28)
23 - It (4:15)

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Martin L. Gore - Counterfeit 1 & 2 (89/03, 71min.^ 161mb)

Martin Gore was born in Basildon, England, on July 23, 1961. Gore left St. Nicholas's Comprehensive School in 1977 and took a job as a .bank teller. As a teen he joined French Look, a duo featuring schoolmate Vince Clarke; with the subsequent additions of keyboardist Andrew Fletcher and singer David Gahan, the group re-christened itself Depeche Mode. They were producing a slick, techno-based sound to showcase Clarke's catchy melodies. Depeche Mode's 1981 debut LP Speak and Spell was a major British hit, but following the album's release , principal songwriter Clarke abruptly exited to form Yazoo with singer Alison Moyet, leaving the group's future in grave doubt. In Clarke's absence, Gore grabbed the songwriting reins. Gore sings lead vocals on several of the band's songs, notably ballads, his tenor voice providing a contrast to David Gahan's dramatic baritone.

The songs Gore wrote for Depeche Mode's second album, A Broken Frame (1982) were different in sound and lyrical content from Clarke's offerings on Speak & Spell. Gore's writing became gradually darker and more political , his ominous songs grew more assured and sophisticated by the time of 1983's Construction Time Again. Some Great Reward, issued the following year, was Depeche Mode's artistic and commercial breakthrough. The egalitarian single "People Are People" was a major hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and typified the music's turn toward more industrial textures. 1986's atmospheric Black Celebration continued the trend towards grim melancholy, and further established the group as a major commercial force.

Counterfeit 1 was recorded during a band hiatus after recording and touring for the album Music for the Masses;Counterfeit² was released April 2003 , the album features 11 covers of songs that Martin considered influential to his own compositions for Depeche Mode. He recorded this album around the same time as David Gahan recorded his first solo album Paper Monsters, after the Exciter tour was finished

On 27 August 1994, Gore married lingerie designer Suzanne Boisvert, and has two daughters and a son with her: Viva Lee Gore (born 6 June 1991) and Ava Lee Gore (born 21 August 1995) and Calo Leon Gore (born 27 July 2002). As of January 2006, Gore has divorced from Boisvert. The song "Precious" from 2005's Playing the Angel was a product of the divorce, written as a response to the trauma it caused his children.



01 - Compulsion (5:29)
02 - In A Manner Of Speaking (4:18)
03 - Smile In The Crowd (5:01)
04 - Gone (3:29)
05 - Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth (2:57)
06 - Motherless Child (2:46)



-------Counterfeit 2
07 - In My Time Of Dying (4:24)
08 - Stardust (3:03)
09 - I Cast A Lonesome Shadow (4:49)
10 - In My Other World (3:51)
11 - Loverman (7:01)
12 - By This River (3:58)
13 - Lost In The Stars (2:54)
14 - Oh My Love (3:35)
15 - Das Lied Vom Einsamen Mädchen (5:23)
16 - Tiny Girls (3:20)
17 - Candy Says (4:41)


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Godspeed You Black Emperor ! - Yanqui U.X.O ( 02 * 112mb)

The band took its name from God Speed You! Black Emperor, a little known 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary by director Mitsuo Yanagimachi, which follows the exploits of a Japanese biker gang, the Black Emperors. The band is most commonly classified as post-rock, but they exhibit influences from a range of styles including progressive rock, punk, classical music and avant-garde.

GYBE! formed in 1994, the band's first album, F#A#(Infinity), was initially a limited-run release of 550 LPs on the Canadian label Constellation, but was picked up by Kranky and released onto CD as well. Early 1999 brought the EP Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada (released by both labels) and increased recognition for a band intent on retaining anonymity. Nevertheless, interest in GYBE! only continued to grow among new music fans, the band's participation in the Peel Session, and the group's consistently impressive live shows.. These performances generally include at least nine or more musicians and a projectionist. The instrumentation consists of three guitars, two basses, French horn, violin, viola, cello, and percussion. 2000 brought about the release of Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, pushing their diverse orchestral rock sound even further into the universe. The group is known for their film loops, which they project behind them during performances. Efrim Menuck has explained that these loops, which are commonly produced by violinist Sophie Trudeau, are an important aspect of their concerts, because they put the whole into context.

The band members have in the past been reluctant to give interviews, and have expressed their distaste for the mainstream, corporation-owned music industry. This has given them a reputation as shadowy, even unfriendly figures, and not a great deal is known about them personally. They even got arrested as suspected terrorists, when a dimwitted gas station attendent gave in to the forcefed paranoia and called the cops when a bunch of Canadian anarchists (GYBE! ) stopped for some gas. In the end it took the FBI to clear them...

Yanqui U.X.O. ( The liner notes also refer to "Yanqui" as a "multinational corporate oligarchy", while "U.X.O." stands for unexploded ordnance.) was released in 2002. The sound over these three long cuts, like all of the band's recordings, develops slowly over time and creates layers of dynamic tension that expresses itself in waves and off-kilter, shimmering flows. Surprisingly here, a more minimal and 'quiet' approach is used. There is more melody, above all, there's aching, anguished beauty created by dissonance between the instruments. The first song is named after the date on which the current Palestinian intifada began: 09-15-00, apparently Ariel Sharon incited the al-Aqsa Intifada by visiting Jerusalem's Temple Mount. This is music for a different kind of engagement that of becoming aware of tyranny and disappearance. In a way that is what they did as from 2003 onwards the band has been on hold.



01 - 09-15-00 (Part One) (16:27)
02 - 09-15-00 (Part Two) (6:16)
03 - Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls (20:42)
04 - Motherfucker = Redeemer (Part One) (21:22)
05 - Motherfucker = Redeemer (Part Two) (10:10)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Eight-X (33)

Hello, Eight-X again and i manage 3 vinyls with thusfar unseen artists here, meaning a lot of work. Oh well, plenty of coffee to go around. First up Jona Lewie, the meanest man in showbizz, the album here predates his big kitchen hit, yet it fits wonderfully well, thats why i added it here..in fact you'd have a heard time finding any of his Sonet work officially digitized....second up, Duran Duran they began their career as "a group of art school, experimental, post punk rockers", the band's quick rise to stardom, polished good looks, and embrace of the teen press, almost guaranteed disfavour from music critics. During the 1980s, Duran Duran were considered the quintessential manufactured, throw-away pop group. Well so much for the independent lemming music press. In fact the album here is proof they were much more than that, Rio is '80s, at its best. Its fusion of style and substance ensures that even 25 years after its release it remains as listenable and danceable as ever....Talk of style and substance, todays third show tried it, Paul Weller left the Jam to pursue all that, in 83 initially things went well but by the end of the decade the Style Council was no more. Here their first (mini) album contaaining their first singles, it was 25 years ago and we're at the start of another long hot summer..so be prepared...

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Jona Lewie - Gatecrasher (80 ^ 99mb)

Jona Lewie (John Lewis, 14 March 1947) he joined his first group, The Johnston City Jazz Band, while still at school in 1963, and started in the music industry as a session pianist. In 68, whilst studying sociology, he was a regular and popular face in the London's jazz and blues clubs. In 69 he joined Brett Marvin And The Thunderbolts who recorded the 'Gasolene'.album for United Artists Records In 1970 they went to Sonet, where they had their first hit 'Seaside Shuffle' under the pseudonym of Terry Dactyl and The Dinosaurs. It made No. 2 in the British charts and was a big hit across Europe, suggestions that it was a rip off from Mungo Jerry's big hit ,In The Summertime, can be layed aside as the track had been part of their reportoire before all that, in fact it's likely the other way around, as Mungo had been a backing act for the band.

In 1975 Brett Marvin And The Thunderbolts went their separate ways and Jona Lewie signed to Sonet as soloist and released a few singles. An early version of 'Hallelujah Europa' was rejected by the selection team of The Eurovision song contest. Then in 77 he was signed to Stiff records. Despite an appearance on the highly publicised "Be Stiff" tour, Jona remained largely unknown until 1980 when You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties broached the UK Top 20.

A follow-up release, Stop The Cavalry, reached Number 3 later that year when its nostalgic brass arrangement proved popular in the Christmas market. However, a subsequent album, Heart Skips A Beat, produced by Rupert Hine, failed to consolidate this success. A decade later in 93 he's released Optimistic, which went under in rave cultere, currently Jona has been busy recording a new album that will be released this year.

This compilation album released by Sonet consist of tracks recorded throughout the seventies by Jona Lewie - with Terry Dactyl and The Dinosaurs and as a solo artist - before he signed a record deal to Siff Records.



01 - The Swan (3:11)
02 - Piggyback Sue (2:38)
03 - Rockin' Yobs (2:17)
04 - Hallelujah Europa (Part 1 & 2) (9:36)
05 - Seaside Shuffle (2:29)

06 - Cherry Ring (2:18)
07 - On A Saturday Night (2:30)
08 - She Left I Died (2:54)
09 - Papa Don't Go (2:27)
10 - Come Away (Bate O Pe) (2:56)
11 - Custers Last Stand (3:16)
---Xs
12 - You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties (2:58)
13 - Yeah (0:06)

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Duran Duran - Rio (82 ^ 99mb)

John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, UK in 1978, naming the band after the villain "Dr. Durand Durand", in the science-fiction film, Barbarella. Their first singer was Stephen Duffy. Roger Taylor, Andy Taylor, and Simon Le Bon joined in the next year (Non of the 3 Taylors are related) . The group has never disbanded, but the line-up has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo from 1989 to 2001, and drummer Sterling Campbell from 1989 to 1991. The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band's fans and music media. Meanwhile Andy Taylor left the band in summer 2006, and London guitarist Dom Brown has been working with the band since.

By the end of 1980, Duran Duran had become popular within the burgeoning new romantic circuit in England and had secured a record contract with EMI. "Planet Earth," the band's first single, quickly rose to number 12 upon its spring 1981 release. Immediately, Duran Duran became the leaders of the new romantic movement, becoming media sensations in the British music and mainstream press. The girls on film video got banned but the single reached the top ten nevertheless. It launched their eponymous debut album, Duran Duran reached number three upon its release and stayed in the charts for 118 weeks.

The band quickly followed the album with Rio in the spring of 1982. Rio entered the charts at number two, and its singles -- "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer" -- became Top Ten hits. Duran Duran mania was in full swing across America, with "Is There Something I Should Know" reaching the Top Ten , they capitalized on their popularity by releasing Seven and the Ragged Tiger in time for 1983's holiday season. In November 84, Duran Duran released the non-LP single "Wild Boys," which reached number two in the U.K. and the U.S., where it was added to the live album Arena.

Early 1985 they completed the title track the Bond film A View to a Kill, subsequently the group went on hiatus. Andy and John Taylor formed the supergroup the Power Station with vocalist Robert Palmer releasing their eponymous debut album in the spring. The remaining members of Duran Duran -- Nick Rhodes, Simon LeBon, and Roger Taylor -- responded with their own side project, Arcadia, which released an album called So Red the Rose in the fall of 1985; the album launched the Top Ten hit "Election Day." Early in 1986, Roger Taylor took an extended sabbatical from the group, he never returned. Several months later, Andy Taylor also left, reducing Duran Duran to a trio.

Late in 1986, the band released Notorious, their first album in nearly three years. While it was relatively successful, going platinum in the U.S. and generating a Top Ten hit with the title track, it was noticeably less popular than their earlier records. For the remainder of the decade, Duran Duran's popularity continually declined, with 1988's Big Thing producing "I Don't Want Your Love," their last Top Ten single for five years. In 1993, the band returned from a prolonged hiatus with [The Wedding Album, a mature record that spawned Top Ten hits "Ordinary World" and "Come Undone". The record restored their commercial status, and earned them some of their best reviews of their career. The group followed the album with one of their poorest-received efforts, 1995's all-covers Thank You.John Taylor left the band to pursue a solo career, Medazzaland, the Thank You follow-up, was released in 1997 but failed to produce any major hits. 2000's Pop Trash suffered a similar fate.

In 2000, John Taylor approached Le Bon and Rhodes with a proposal to re-form Duran Duran's classic line-up. They agreed, and after completing the Pop Trash tour fired Cuccurullo by letter, to fulfill contractual obligations, Cuccurullo played three Duran Duran concerts in Japan in August 2001, ending his tenure in the band. Throughout 2001, 2002 and 2003, the band worked on writing new material. It proved difficult to find a record label willing to gamble on the band's comeback, so Duran Duran went on tour to prove the drawing power of the reunited band. The response of the fans and the media exceeded everyone’s expectations. Finally, with more than thirty-five songs completed, the band signed a four-album contract with Epic Records in June, and completed the new album, now entitled Astronaut, with producer Don Gilmore.

In early 2006, Duran Duran covered John Lennon's song "Instant Karma" for the Make Some Noise campaign sponsored by Amnesty International, and performed at two high profile events — the Nobel Prize Awards and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. October 2006, Andy Taylor parted ways with Duran Duran for the second time. Dominic Brown, who had previously toured with the band, took over guitar duties and has been performing with them since. After Taylor's departure, the band scrapped the Reportage album and wrote and recorded Red Carpet Massacre, it again displayed Duran Duran's instantly recognised blend of vulnerability and defiance, crystal pure perfection of production, skilled performance and delivery, in short it was well recieved again, after 14 years of doubt. In July, the band performed twice at the massive Wembley Stadium, at the Concert for Diana and at Live Earth concert, London. As of May 2008, they are on the US leg of their 2008 world tour.



01 - Rio (5:29)
02 - My Own Way (4:46)
03 - Lonely In Your Nightmare (3:46)
04 - Hungry Like The Wolf 3:37)
05 - Hold Back The Rain (3:54)

06 - New Religion (5:27)
07 - Last Chance On The Stairway (4:15)
08 - Save A Prayer (5:29)
09 - The Chauffeur (5:02)

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Style Council, The - Introducing (83 ^ 83mb)

Guitarist/vocalist Paul Weller broke up the Jam, the most popular British band of the early '80s, at the height of their success in 1982 because he was dissatisfied with their musical direction. Weller wanted to incorporate more elements of soul, R&B, and jazz into his songwriting, which is something he felt his punk-oriented bandmates were incapable of performing. In order to pursue this musical direction, he teamed up in 1983 with keyboardist Mick Talbot, a former member of the mod revival band the Merton Parkas. The permanent lineup grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also collaborated with the group.

The band's early singles showed a diversity of musical styles. "Speak Like a Child" (with its loud soul-influenced style), the extended funk of "Money-Go-Round", and the haunting synth-ballad "Long Hot Summer" all featured Talbot on keyboards and organ. Near the end of 1983, these singles were compiled on Introducing The Style Council, a mini-album initially released in Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States only. The Dutch version was heavily imported to the United Kingdom.

The Style Council released their first full-length album, Cafe Bleu, in March of 1984; two months later, a resequenced version of the record, retitled My Ever Changing Moods, was released in America. It was their most successful album, peaking at number five in the U.K. and number 56 in the U.S. In the summer of 1985, the Style Council had another U.K. Top Ten hit with "The Walls Come Tumbling Down." The single was taken from Our Favourite Shop, which reached number one on the U.K. charts; the record was released as Internationalists in the U.S.

In 1986, the band released a live album, Home and Abroad, and, in 1987, the album The Cost of Loving was launched, followed later in the year by the upbeat non-album single "Wanted", which reached #20 in the United Kingdom. However, by the time Confessions of a Pop Group was released a year later, the group's popularity had largely evaporated. A greatest hits album, appropriately called The Singular Adventures of The Style Council, was released internationally in 1989; it included the non-album single "Promised Land", which had reached #27 in the United Kingdom earlier that year.

The Style Council broke up in 1989, after recording a house album (Modernism: A New Decade) that was rejected by their record label, Polydor . However, the entire album was released in 1998, both independently and in a 5-CD boxset, The Complete Adventures Of The Style Council). Paul Weller and Mick Talbot officially broke up the Style Council in 1990. In 1991, Weller launched a solo career which would return him to popular and critical favor in the mid-'90s, while Talbot continued to play, both with Weller and as a solo musician.



01 - Long Hot Summer (6:57)
02 - Headstart For Happiness (2:49)
03 - Speak Like A Child (3:14)

04 - Long Hot Summer (Club Mix) (6:51)
05 - The Paris Match (3:42)
06 - Mick's Up (3:07)
07 - Money-Go-Round (Club Mix) (7:37)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Libertarians & Greens + Obama, Behavioralist + Brotha Love

This is really shaping up to be a fascinating political season. Yesterday, former Republican Congressman, Clinton impeacher and grade-A hypocrite Bob Barr gained the nomination of the Libertarian Party. Today, it appears former Democratic Congresswoman and Bush-administration critiquer Cynthia McKinney has enough support to become the Green Party's presidential candidate. (Does this mean no Nader?) In the case of Barr, it might spell danger for Republican nominee John McCain in some Southern and Western states, while McKinney is sure to draw votes away from Obama in California and the Northeast.

One question to consider will be who will siphon off more votes from the main parties' candidates, particularly in the swing states? Also, will Barr be able to push McCain further to the right to hold onto to the GOP's traditional constituencies, or will he help define him as more moderate, the narrative the media are determined to convey? I doubt McKinney will have any effect on Obama's policies, but it would be great if she could effect a more progressive approach, particularly on economic issues.

Nevertheless, there'll be two more candidates, neither of them viable, but both of whom will appeal to pockets within both of the two main parties' supporters. Then there's always the indefatigable Ralph Nader and the irrepressible Ron Paul...and maybe even Hillary Clinton (would you be surprised?)!

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Speaking of Obama's economic plans and perspective, in the most recent issue of The New York Review of Books, John Cassidy explores the presumptive Democratic nominee's links to economic behavioralism, another "third way" between (or amid) conservatism and contemporary liberalism and neo-liberalism. Two of the major theorists whose ideas underpin many of Obama's policies, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, promote an approach they call "libertarian paternalism," or "nudging" people to make better choices, since the insights of behavioral economics has undermined the rationalist orthodoxy that mainstream economics and economists have taken as a matter of faith. "Libertarian paternalism" sounds awful to my ears, and while it's a clunker of a name, it also, if accurately described by Cassidy, is too incremental and inadequate to address the array of social, political and economic problems, domestic and global, that we face. What it certainly is not is the progressive approach some have projected onto Obama. Cassidy ends his article thus:

But for what policy purposes are the masses to be mobilized? According to Obama's program, the answers include another middle-class tax cut; more tax credits for education and fuel-efficient cars; a bigger budget for the National Science Foundation; and the establishment of a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank, with an annual budget of $6 billion. At best, these proposals would represent a useful start in redressing the inequities and shortcomings produced by twenty-five years of Republican domination. If the next Democratic president wants to leave a truly lasting legacy, he or she will have to do more than nudge the country in a different direction.

It's something to consider, lest people's unreal expectations be dashed, swiftly come January, against the shoals of reality.

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On a more mundane plane, here's a tidbit about the Senator's Lefthand Man: truly a "Brotha Love." (Just hold the mayonnaise!) Don't get jealous, now....

Monday, May 26, 2008

Around The World (33)

Hello, Around the World is upping the ante from classical - to timeless treasures, which is a bit premature , considering it's 20th century music we get here. And so the first 41 min. we get three Americans in this classical series, Gershwin, Barber and Bernstein. Satie and Shostakovich show up before Orff's Camina Burana highlights brings us back to earth letting Lux Mundi lays down a heavenly gregorian groove to finish.

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George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer. He wrote most of his vocal and theatrical works in collaboration with his elder brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin. George Gershwin composed songs both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall. He also wrote popular songs with success. His parents had bought a piano for his older brother Ira Gershwin, but to his parents' surprise and Ira's relief, it was George who played it. Gershwin tried various piano teachers for two years, and then was introduced to Charles Hambitzer by Jack Miller, the pianist in the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra. Hambitzer acted as George's mentor until his death, in 1918.

At the age of fifteen, George quit school and found his first job as a performer was as a "song plugger" for Jerome H. Remick and Company, a publishing firm on New York City's Tin Pan Alley earning $15 a week. His 1917 novelty rag "Rialto Ripples" was a commercial success, and in 1919 he scored his first big national hit with his song "Swanee." In 1916, he started working for Aeolian Company and Standard Music Rolls in New York, recording and arranging piano rolls

In 1924, Gershwin composed his first major classical work, Rhapsody in Blue for orchestra and piano, which was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé and premièred with Paul Whiteman's concert band in New York. It proved to be his most popular work. Gershwin stayed in Paris for a short period, where he applied to study composition with Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger, along with several other prospective tutors like Maurice Ravel, rejected him, however, afraid rigorous study would ruin his jazz-influenced style.[9] While there, he wrote An American in Paris. This work received mixed reviews upon its first performance at Carnegie Hall on December 13, 1928 but quickly became part of the standard repertoire in Europe and the United States.

His most ambitious composition was Porgy and Bess (1935). Called by Gershwin himself a "folk opera," the piece premièred in a Broadway theater and is now widely regarded as the most important American opera of the twentieth century. Based on the novel Porgy by DuBose Heyward, the action takes place in a black neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina, and with the exception of several minor speaking roles, all of the characters are black. The music combines elements of popular music of the day, which was strongly influenced by black music, with techniques found in opera, such as recitative and leitmotifs.

Early in 1937, Gershwin began to complain of blinding headaches and a recurring impression that he was smelling burned rubber. He had developed a type of cystic malignant brain tumor known as glioblastoma multiforme. It was in Hollywood, while working on the score of The Goldwyn Follies, that he collapsed and, on July 11, 1937, died at the age of 38 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital following surgery for the tumor.

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Leonard Bernstein ( August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was the first conductor born and educated in the United States of America to receive world-wide acclaim. At a very young age, Bernstein heard a piano performance and was immediately captivated; he subsequently began learning the piano. After graduation from Boston Latin School in 1934 Bernstein attended Harvard University, where he studied music with Walter Piston. After completing his studies at Harvard he enrolled in the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he received the only "A" grade Fritz Reiner ever awarded in his class on conducting.

During his young adult years in New York City, Bernstein enjoyed an exuberant social life that included relationships with both men and women. Bernstein married Chilean actress Felicia Montealegre Cohn on September 9, 1951, reportedly in order to increase his chances of obtaining the chief conducting position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.They had three children, Jamie, Alexander, and Nina. During his married life, Bernstein tried to be as discreet as possible with his extramarital liaisons. But as he grew older, and as the Gay Liberation movement made great strides, Bernstein became more emboldened, eventually leaving Felicia to live with his lover Tom Cothran.

Bernstein was very highly regarded as a conductor, composer, and educator, and probably best known to the public as longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic, for conducting concerts by many of the world's leading orchestras, and for writing the music for West Side Story. He wrote three symphonies, two operas, five musicals, and numerous other pieces.

West Side Story is a musical based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which was based on a narrative poem by Arthur Brooke entitled The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), which was inspired by the legend of Tristan and Isolde. Set on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the musical explores the rivalry between two teenage gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The young protagonist, Anton ("Tony"), who belongs to the native Manhattan gang, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of the rival Puerto Rican gang. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theater. Bernstein's score for the musical has become extremely popular; it includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America," "Somewhere," "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "One Hand, One Heart", and "Cool".

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Carl Orff (July 10, 1895 – March 29, 1982) was born in Munich and came from a Bavarian family that was very active in the German military. Moser's Musik-Lexikon states that Orff studied at the Munich Academy of Music until 1914. He then served in the military during World War I. Afterwards, he held various positions at opera houses in Mannheim and Darmstadt, later to return to Munich to pursue further his music studies. As of 1925, and for the rest of his life, Orff was the head of a department and co-founder of the Guenther School for gymnastics, music, and dance in Munich, where he worked with musical beginners. Having constant contact with children, this is where he developed his theories in music education.

Carl Orff managed to confuse the nazi's when in 1937, a celebration of the triumph of the human spirit through sexual and holistic balance, based on thirteenth-century poetry found in a manuscript dubbed the Codex latinus monacensis, was performed for the first time, Carl Orf's Camina Burana * . Some nazi's branded it degenerate , others applauded, in any case Orff got away with it, and remained a music teacher all his life, he died 1982.

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Millenium Classics - Timeless Treasures (182mb)

01 - G.Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (14:47)
02 - S.Barber - Adagio for Strings (8:36)
03 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Prologue (4:23)
04 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Somewhere (3:48)
05 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Cha cha (1:00)
06 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Meeting scene (0:56)
07 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Cool (3:57)
08 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Finale (3:45)
09 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - I Lent et douloureux (3:50)
10 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - II Lent et triste (3:21)
11 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - LEnt et grave (3:04)
12 - D.Shostakovich - Suite for Jazz-IV Waltz (3:46)
13 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Fortuna imperatrix mundai-I O Fortuna (2:55)
14 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VI Tanz (2:00)
15 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VII Floret sila nobilis (3:31)
16 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VIII Charmer, gip die varwe mir (3:35)
17 - Carl Orff - Carmina Burana Reie, Swaz, Chume (IX) (5:12)
18 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-X Were diu werlt alle min (0:57)
19 - Lux Mundi - Masscapella, No.3 (4:59)


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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Foundation V

Hello , the Foundation saga continues with the Foundation trilogy epic, last weeks episode IV dealt with the cleaverly outmanouvered General Roise, so what happened..


"The General," tells how the Galactic Empire, now well into its collapse, launches an attack against the Foundation. They are led by General Bel Riose, a commander of supposedly unparalleled prowess. The Empire, though a mere shadow of its former self, still retains far more resources and personnel than the Foundation. Riose asks the Emperor for reinforcements, apparently more than he could possibly need, so he can guarantee victory over the Foundation. He also rejects the Foundation's offer of "You stop invading us and we'll pay you a generous amount of money." Devers, a native of the foundation intercepts a message that summarizes the General's doings, and escapes to Trantor, trying to see the emperor and show him the message. He fails and is nearly killed, but the emperor finds out anyway. In the end, the emperor decides that Riose is too dangerous (refusing bribes? Highly suspicious. Taking that many reinforcements? And he's popular enough that he could easily turn them against the Empire and carve out his own territory), and has him tried and executed....

This was the psychohistorical defense: Under a weak emperor, an upstart general would have much greater opportunities for an internal overthrow than an external conquest on the edge of the Galaxy. A weak general, of course, is no threat to the foundation, even under a strong Emperor. The strong emperor himself, in a declining empire, cannot dare to leave the central planet to make war at the fringes of the empire, because he would be soon disposed of by the competition at the court at the central planet. So, the emperor cannot play general himself, because then someone will take over while he is off conquering the Foundation. The only time there would be an actual threat to the Foundation would be when there was both a strong emperor and a strong general; the general could not overthrow the emperor, so his attention would be diverted outwards. A strong Emperor, however, is one that allows no one else to become too powerful; a strong emperor would kill a competent, strong general before he even launched an attack. So, the strong emperor would eventually become fearful of the strong general's exploits, and being a capable emperor he would get rid of a general like Riose, as happens in the story. In all cases, the Foundation is invulnerable.

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Foundation V (The Mule) (37mb)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Sundaze (33)

Hello, Sundaze 33 and some relaxing and introspective music coming up. First off, Craig Armstrong his work with Massive Attack drew the spotlights but he already build a career before that, afterwards he build strongly on the opportunities that came his way, he's an established Soundtrack composer, and even if 'As If To Nothing' is his 2nd regular album, obviously his music creates images making it a virtual soundtrack.....secondly Ullrich Schnauss, the German really come to his own with his retro-futurist second album....Finally another Muzik Mag cd, promoting their radio show , The Blue Room, Chris Coco and Rob Da Bank chill and get all mixed up....

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Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (02 ^ 154mb )

Armstrong studied musical composition, violin and piano at the Royal Academy of Music where he was awarded the Charles Lucas prize and the Harvey Lohr scholarship for composition. He was also awarded the FTCL Fellowship in composition, and won the GLAA Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 1982. During the 1980s, Armstrong's composition work included commissions from the Arts Council for various classical ensembles in Scotland, and he also served as resident composer at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow. Armstrong's production career took off in the early '90s. He composed music for several BBC and STV productions during this time, but his big break came with the Scottish pop trio Big Dish. Armstrong co-wrote three songs on the trio's Satellites album, released in 1991, and also provided string arrangements for the album. Three years later, in 1994, Armstrong worked with renowned trip-hop group Massive Attack on its genre-defining Protection album. By the end of the '90s, Armstrong had collaborated with such big-name artists as U2, Madonna, Hole, the Spice Girls, the London Suede, and Tina Turner, in addition to many other lesser-known artists.

Armstrong's solo debut, The Space Between Us, was released on Massive Attack's Melankolic label in 1998. The album didn't prove to be as popular as expected, but it nonetheless increased Armstrong's reputation as a noteworthy producer. During this same late-'90s era, Armstrong continued working on soundtrack projects, which remained his most acclaimed work. However, he worked on soundtracks for much more successful films such as Mission: Impossible (1996), Romeo + Juliet (1998), Cruel Intentions (1999), and -- perhaps his most celebrated soundtrack work -- Moulin Rouge (2001). Following the success of Moulin Rouge, and its second volume, Armstrong returned in 2002 with his second non-soundtrack full-length effort, As if to Nothing, which boasted a new version of U2's "Stay (Faraway, So Close)." In 2004, he provided the score for the Ray Charles biopic Ray, and in 2005, an anthology of his film work was released. His most recent film scores are for Richard Curtis's 2003 film Love Actually, the Academy Award winning Taylor Hackford film, Ray (for which Armstrong won a Grammy Award) and Oliver Stone's 2006 film World Trade Center.

If the lush, sweeping strings and ambient beats of The Space Between Us seemed cinematic, As if to Nothing suggests an even bolder turn toward film score territory. It's an indication of how Armstrong's stock rose after Moulin Rouge was released and after his work with Massive Attack was featured in advertisements and soundtracks around the world that so many collaborators join the fray here. Bono, Evan Dando, Mogwai, Photek, and David McAlmont all attempt star turns, and less well-known performers from Big Dish, Alpha, and Laub get in on the festivities as well. But Armstrong's string arrangements are still the focal point, to the extent that most of the collaborators are relegated to a back seat. In 2004 he released Pianoworks, containing solo piano pieces from different soundtracks played by himself. Followed by the Film Works 1995 - 2005 compilation. His latest album, Memory Takes My Hand will be released early june..



Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (90mb)

01 - Ruthless Gravity (5:50)
02 - Wake Up In New York (Voc.Evan Dando) (3:30)
03 - Miracle (Voc.Swati Natekar) (3:19)
04 - Amber (5:09)
05 - Finding Beauty (3:38)
06 - Waltz (Voc.Antye Greie-Fuchs) (5:16)
07 - Inhaler (4:55)
08 - Hymn 2 (4:49)
09 - Snow (Voc.David McAlmont) (3:52)

Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (63mb)

10 - Starless II (4:36)
11 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (Voc.Bono) (6:01)
12 - Niente (4:48)
13 - Sea Song (Voc.Wendy Stubbs) (5:54)
14 - Let It Be Love (Voc.Steven Lindsay) (3:50)
15 - Choral Ending (2:47)


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Ullrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place (04 ^ 150mb)

Ulrich Schnauss was born in northern Germany fishing port Kiel in 1977. During his formative years, he grew a love for a broad spectrum of music ranging from My Bloody Valentine to Tangerine Dream, to early bleep & breakbeat tracks. There was not much opportunity to see some of his musical heroes in Kiel, so the inevitable pull of the big city meant a move to Berlin in 1996.

By that time Ulrich's musical output had already become prolific with a variety of pseudonyms (most notably View to the Future and Ethereal 77) veering from ambient to drum and bass via electronica. These earlier works were soon catching the eye of Berlin electronica label CCO (City Centre Offices) who took up the story. Soon these submissions to CCO developed into Ulrich’s first album under his own name entitled "Far Away Trains Passing By" which as it slowly seeped into peoples' consciousness became an electronic classic. Listeners were taken with the lush instrumentation and the emotion of the elegant, simple and beautiful music.The album became a critical hit and gained more and more listeners through the next couple years as it seeped into the far East and America.

Yet nothing was to prepare his growing army of supporters for this next record A Strangely Isolated Place which slowly came together during 2003 into a record that really showed some of Ulrich's youthful indie influences. His debut album under his real name established his pedigree as an outstanding electronic composer, but somehow he managed to take it further by developing his interest in songwriting for electronic music, born of his love for such giants of the independent world as My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie.From this humble conception, comes forth a record of surprisingly rare emotional power. A Strangely Isolated Place became a genuinely word-of-mouth record slowly growing in stature. The results are an oddly retro-futurist record, which owes more to MBV's Loveless or Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack than Ulrich's computer peers.

Since the release of both albums Ulrich has been asked to work with and remix a host of artists, he has done occosional live shows and meanwhile his third album, "Goodbye", was released a year ago. Early 2007 he joined Longview as their keyboardist, maybe less surprising considering he's done many remixes of their work allready, most notably the bonus remix cd of Longview's debut album "Mercury" rereleased in 2005.



1 - Gone Forever (8:12)
2 - On My Own (6:41)
3 - A Letter From Home (6:57)
4 - Monday - Paracetamol (7:57)
5 - Clear Day (7:42)
6 - Blumenthal (6:38)
7 - In All The Wrong Places (6:53)
8 - A Strangely Isolated Place (10:49)

Ullrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place (04 * 099mb)

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VA - The Blue Room (Mixed By Chris Coco and Rob Da Bank) (02, 70min ^ 157mb)

From 2002 and until September 2006, Chris Coco and Rob da Bank were the joint presenters for BBC Radio 1's The Blue Room. Rob da Bank remains as presenter for the network's leftfield music programme. To boost their mediaprence, a month after they started the The Blue Room show, Muzik Magazine let them compile that months bonuscd. The result, 70min of lazy space grooves....forgot to include cover art, you can get it here.



01 - Neon Heights - Listen To The Music (Dub) (5:23)
02 - Mark Rae = Lobster (3:22)
03 - Abraham - Magpie (Morgan Geist Remix) (3:07)
04 - Flunk - Blue Monday (4:10)
05 - Ulrich Schnauss - Knuddelmaus (6:49)
06 - Sondre Lerche - Dead Passengers (3:28)
07 - Chris Coco - Only Dub (4:13)
08 - Asa-Chang & Junray - Hana (6:48)
09 - ISAN - Betty's Lament (4:46)
10 - Hardkandy - Big Sand (Nylon Rhythm Machine Mix) (4:37 )
11 - Banzai Republic - Love Throughout The World (6:33)
12 - Bjørn Torske - Trøbbel (4:27)
13 - Crackpot - Heavy Flowers (3:42)
14 - Lazyboy - Don't Fret George (Voc.Cathy Battistessa) (4:34)
15 - Neil Halstead - Sailing Man (3:44)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

The Clintons-Macbeths

In response to some of the recent events in the Democratic primary campaign, I sent the following quotes to a dear friend of mine, a retired married woman who lives on the East Coast and is supporting Barack Obama's candidacy. Back in the 1990s, I first jokingly raised the analogy of the Clintons and the Macbeths; I don't claim any originality for it since I would imagine Shakespearean scholars, students and enthusiasts could find analogies for almost anyone and anything in the rich trove of his collected works. Part of what motivated it was an annoyance at something the Clintons, whom I admire but also consider to be one of the most ruthless duos on the political horizon, had done, and part of it was my ongoing fascination with Shakespeare's play, whose drama, structure and language never fail to enthrall me. (I feel the same way about Othello, Hamlet, King Lear, Richard II, and a number of his other works.)

I still would argue that mapping the Shakespearean principals onto the junior Senator and her husband, the former President, is problematic, but I also think that one could very well pull all sorts of passages out of that place to describe some of their (behavior). So here goes (the act and scene are given in parentheses at the end of each quote):

Lady Macbeth:
(Speaking to Macbeth/Bill, but also speaking of her own ambition)
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be
What thou art promised: yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o' the milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great;
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it: what thou wouldst highly,
That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win: thou'ldst have, great Glamis,
That which cries 'Thus thou must do, if thou have it;
And that which rather thou dost fear to do
Than wishest should be undone.' Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear;
And chastise with the valour of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round. (1.5)

Lady Macbeth:
(Calling for the courage to carry out the drugging, so that Macbeth/Bill may do their enemies in)
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood;
Stop up the access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
The effect and it! Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature's mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry 'Hold, hold!' (1.5)

Lady Macbeth:
(After reading a letter/email from Macbeth/Bill, exciting her to visions of power)
Thy letters have transported me beyond
This ignorant present, and I feel now
The future in the instant. (1.5)

Lady Macbeth:
(Talking to Macbeth/Bill about what they'll do to poor Duncan/Obama or anyone else who ends up in their lair)
O, never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my dispatch;
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom. (1.5)

Lady Macbeth:
(Her sheer ruthlessness, laid bare)
Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear:
Leave all the rest to me. (1.5)

Macbeth:
(Her ambivalent husband, describing his feelings about the matter)
If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if the assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here,
But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
We'ld jump the life to come. But in these cases
We still have judgment here; that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips. ...
I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the other. (1.7)

Lady Macbeth:
(Speaking to Macbeth/Bill, urging him, as she will, to go on)
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. (1.7)

Lady Macbeth:
(Her general principle)
Nought's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content:
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. (3.2)

Now after reading those excerpts, don't you want to go see the play performed? Admit it!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Rhotation (33) Into BPM

Hello, It's Rhotation thirty-tree and Into BPM starts off the week with ambient house, 808 State reaches the ambient house state regularly on this album, great band, seen them live ..great night. Anyway the original 90 album was re edited and got seven more tracks to it and (re)released as Utd State 90...secondly The KLF real mavericks, it takes some attitude to burn a million dollars, musically they were on their top with White Room, what turned out to be their last album......Ambient house was still unkown and counter the flow of rave music, when this italian compilation was released mid ninety, summertime. ...

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808 State - Utd. State 90 ( 90, 73min ^ 176mb)

808 State was formed in 1988 in Bury, England by Martin Price, Graham Massey and Gerald Simpson, initially to form a hip-hop group called Hit Squad Manchester. Soon after the band shifted to an acid house sound, and recorded their debut Newbuild in 1988, naming themselves 808 State honoring the impact the Roland TR-808 drummachine had on them. The album was released on Price's own record label. Simpson left the group in 1989 to form his own solo project, A Guy Called Gerald.Martin . Graham enlisted DJs. Andrew Barker and Darren Partington to record the EP Quadrastate and their next album, Ninety, which put them right in the rave culture. In the US, Tommy Boy got its version of the 90 album almost exactly right. While the track order was drastically changed (and the 60-second concluding track, "The Fat Shadow," removed), there was no real disruption of flow, and seven bonus tracks were added to create a full CD's worth of early 808 in one easy package . The new tracks come from a variety of sources, most being earlier (or later) singles or remixes done exclusively for this release.

For 1991 Ex:el , they brought in Bernard Sumner (New Order) and ex-Sugarcubes Björk for lyrics and vocals. In 1992, Price left the group to perform solo producing, eventually forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining members released a fourth album called Gorgeous, and after that, did some remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden, and other performers, before returning with the album entitled Don Solaris in 1996. This album marked a change for the band who wanted to shake off their rave moniker and, with 'Don Solaris', they aimed to create a more beautiful, cinemascopic sound. They released a greatest-hits compilation named 808:88:98 in 1998-their last on record label ZTT and a 1998 remix of Pacific soared high in the charts. In 2000, their pioneering 1988 acid house album 'Newbuild' was re-released.In 2003 came their last release thusfar Outpost Transmission .




808 State - Utd. State 90 ( ^ 82mb)

01 - Pacific 202 (5:43)
02 - Boneyween (6:09)
03 - Ancodia (5:12)
04 - Kinky National (3:58)
05 - Cobra Bora (5:47)
06 - Cubik (3:36)
07 - Magical Dream (3:52)

808 State - Utd. State 90 2 ( ^ 92mb)

08 - 808080808 (4:20)
09 - Revenge Of The Girlie Men (4:16)
10 - Donkey Doctor (5:24)
11 - Sunrise (6:33)
12 - State To State (5:50)
13 - Pacific 212 (Rmx Justin Strauss) (6:49)
14 - Pacific 718 ( rmx musto & bones (5:46)

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KLF, The - The White Room (91 ^ 99mb)

Originally scheduled to be released in 1989 as the soundtrack to a film of the same name, the album's direction was changed after both the film and the original soundtrack LP were cancelled at the last moment. Most of the tracks on the original version of the album are present in the final release, albeit in significantly remixed form. The White Room was supposed to be followed by a darker, harder complementary album called The Black Room, but the latter was never released due to the KLF's retirement from the music business in 1992.

The White Room was conceived as the soundtrack to a road movie, also called The White Room, about the KLF's search for the mystical White Room that would enable them to be released from their contract with Eternity. Parts of the movie were filmed in the Sierra Nevada region of Spain. The soundtrack album contained pop-house versions of some of the KLF's earlier "Pure Trance" singles, as well as new songs. The film project was fraught with difficulties and setbacks, including dwindling funds. As a consequence, The White Room film project was put on hold, and the KLF abandoned the musical direction of the soundtrack and single.Neither the film nor its soundtrack were formally released, although bootleg copies of both exist.

Meanwhile, the KLF's single "What Time Is Love?", which had originally been released in 1988 and largely ignored by the public, was generating acclaim within the underground clubs of continental Europe; according to KLF Communications, "The KLF were being feted by all the 'right' DJs".This prompted Drummond and Cauty to pursue the acid house tone of their Pure Trance series. A further Pure Trance release, "Last Train to Trancentral", followed. In October 1990, the KLF launched a series of singles with an upbeat pop-house sound they dubbed "Stadium House". Songs from The White Room soundtrack were re-recorded with rap and more vocals, a sample-heavy pop-rock production, and crowd noise samples. The "Stadium House" versions of "What Time Is Love?" and "3 a.m. Eternal" were immediate hits, with "3 a.m. Eternal" becoming the KLF's only number-one release. These "Stadium House" tracks made up a large part of The White Room when it was eventually released in March 1991, substantially reworked from the original soundtrack version.

In 1993, NME staff and contributors voted the album the 81st best of all time, in 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 89 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.



01 - What Time Is Love? (LP Mix) (5:17)
02 - Make It Rain (3:36)
03 - 3 A.M. Eternal (Live At The S.S.L.) (3:35)
04 - Church Of The KLF (1:53)
05 - Last Train To Trancentral (Live From The Lost Continent) (3:41)
06 - Build A Fire (4:35)
07 - The White Room (5:15)
08 - No More Tears (6:41)
09 - Justified And Ancient (5:02)



Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis (88 ^ 34mb)

10 - Gary In The Tardis (Radio Mix) (3:28)
11 - Gary In The Tardis (Minimal Mix) (4:04)

12 - Gary Joins The J.A.M.S. (6:20)

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VA - Ambient House (90 ^ 120mb)

The ambient house movement began in the late 1980s largely due to the demand for post-rave "come-down" music. It was founded mainly by The Orb members Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. They drew from many influences including Steve Reich, Brian Eno, reggae music, and 1970s psychedelic rock, including Pink Floyd. The Orb established the genre in 1989 as DJs at The Land of Oz, based at Heaven. After a recording session with John Peel later that year, The Orb released the twenty-minute "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld" On this DFC compilation KLF and the Orb are in excellent company...



01 - Morenas - Hazme Soñar (6:13)
02 - Aqua Regia - N.Y.C. Smile On Me (5:45)
03 - KLF, The - Last Train To Trancentral (Remix) (6:00)
04 - Extreme - Trasparenza (4:44)
05 - Sueño Latino - Luxuria (4:07)
06 - Orb, The - A Huge Ever-Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules The World From The Centre Of The Ultraworld (Why Is Six Scared Of Seven?) (5:27)
07 - Sueño Latino - Sueno Latino (3:57)
08 - Morenas - Somnambulism (5:55)
09 - Aqua Regia - Aqueanosolo (3:50)
10 - Lux - Deep Down (New Age Instrumental Version Edit) (6:00)

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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Vile Bellow + Roiling Rhetoric/Obamaphobia + Manchester United Wins

I actually had to laugh at this dithyramb to one of the most overtly reactionary, yet critically praised US novels of the 20th century. Do you know which one I'm talking about? If not, it's Mr. Sammler's Planet, Saul Bellow's relentlessly grim, culturally pessimistic rant, a toxic abyss of fear, anxiety, loathing and hate whose discourse wouldn't be out of place in a volume by Spengler or Weininger, a cobbled-together brew of skewed Platonism and Niezschism, whose objects of hatred and disgust are women (naturally) and Negroes (ibid.), and whose climax involves a scene that has few peers in American literature: a tall, smartly dressed, anarchic and diabolical black thief, or, as Bellow describes him, an "African prince or great black beast . . . seeking whom he might devour," whom the helpless Mr. Sammler has been observing manipulating and robbing poor white bus riders, many of them elderly, over a series of weeks. This embodiment of the racist and sexist unrepressed corners poor Sammler and, in an apotheosis of countless repellant fantasies and nightmares, doesn't stab or shoot or bludgeon him; he flashes him with a large, black, uncut penis, before tucking it away and fleeing.

The novel, a transcript of racist, misgonyistic and classist panic and social declinism, has to be read to be believed--for a copy go to the library, please, don't patronize the Bellow estate on this one--and you may draw your own conclusions, but really, it's so over the top that whenever I read someone lauding--and this reviewer goes so far as to claim that the "black" crime wave of the 1970s and 1980s, attributable to the Enlightenment (I kid you not!), liberalism, etc., and not the particular socioeconomic and political conditions of that era, approximated the terror of the Nazi Holocaust!-- it for any reason other than the felicities of Bellow's prose and his materialist prescience, alarm bells go off concerning the reviewer. In this case, I consider the source. But I also say, if someone suggests to you that racism ended long ago or, despite the many cases studies available even in just the current presidential campaign, do point them in the direction of Magnet's review. I can think of several German publications from the late 1930s in which it would fit without much trouble, just as there are a number of "mainstream" news organs today where it wouldn't be out of place. I'm just surprised it hasn't been elevated to canonical status by the far and neocon right, but then again, I guess there's always time, especially when Obama is elected President. I doubt Magnet and his clique will worry about carrying it around in brown paper covers then.

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Speaking of similar rants, this is another gem that you might almost think was an Onion piece, though it's clearly in keeping with the widespread rhetoric on display these days. (In addition to being a homophobe, she also doesn't have a high opinion of...women!) But then, Pat Buchanan (whom I used to call "Putzi" when he was running for office some years ago and giving his Enoch Powell-esque speeches, which, as some wag once noted, were "better in the original German") is a regular "mainstream" commenter on multiple MSNBC shows, so what do I know? I mean, this is a man who, as a colleague noted, uttered the other night without shame or irony hat voters chose Hillary Clinton because she was one of "us," rather than Obama, who was one of "them." Does it get any more volkisch than that?

OBAMAPHOBIA 3.0 (Obama as "Apostate"--Again)
And we ignore this sort of smear at our peril. This is attempt no. 2. The first was in the New York Times, while this one is in the Christian Science Monitor. (This article is now linked all over the web, to blogs, right-wing sites, you name it. That's the point. Is it psy ops or white ops?) Not Fox News, not the Washington Times, not some right-wing rag. That's the point. By printing trash like this in "mainstream," "establishment" publications, no matter how utterly trash it is, the trash gets legitimated.

When the swiftboating begins in earnest, please don't say it took you by surprise. They have been laying the groundwork for over a year.

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Au revoir, Florent!

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Manchester United defeated Chelsea 1-1 on penalty kicks
in this year's European Championships. I didn't have a favorite in this contest, being an Arsenal fan. Here are some photos. From the London Times Online:

Christiano Ronaldo scores for Manchester United
Christiano Ronaldo heads the opening goal for Manchester United (Graham Hughes/The Times)
Frank Lampard scores for Chelsea
The effort from Frank Lampard hits the back of the Manchester United net (Marc Aspland/The Times)
Manchester United players mob goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after his save wins them the Champions League
Manchester United players mob goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar after his save wins them the Champions League (Graham Hughes/The Times)