Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Eight-X (48)

Hello, midweek and that means more eighties music coming up, first up Tom Tom Club..i have to admit back then i was rather taken aback by these Talking Heads members coming up with such lighthearted commercial sounding music..even harder to swallow was that they had this tongue in cheek megahit Wordy Rappinghood, therefore (being a big TH fan) i never bought the album at the time..i picked it up sec hand some years ago..oh well it isnt that bad after all...partly because of the presence on it of Adrian Belew, who almost directly went on to join King Crimson and revived the Crimson glory in what was to be a trio of high quality albums on which he sang, wrote lyrics and guitar duelled with maestro Fripp..3 years ago i made an eighty minute show of these three albums, each had a unicolor cover, Red, Blue and Yellow....btw I mixed up those covers aswell....the result should be released on CD ( i wink)...finally another band from Rotterdam , after Kiem three weeks ago, Spasmodique are somewhere between postpunk and goth and were rather popular at the time...


If you hop over to my defunct mirror blog you will find a page with all 324 Rhotations (1--36) update links in one scroll...this weekend i will post the rest of the updates there aswell ...

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Tom Tom Club - I (81 ^ 87mb)

Originally established as a side project, the Tom Tom Club comprise a loose aggregate of musicians and artists that got together to record an album. This resulted in, a collection of funky, sprightly little tunes recorded in Barbados with Weymouth's sisters, hubbie and drummer Chris Frantz, and several of the members of the Remain in Light tour group: Adrian Belew, guitar, and Steven Stanley, percussion. Ironically, hoping to toss off a fun album under the radar, the group came out with an album, the best tracks of which, "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood," became enormously influential throughout the '80s and '90s, eventually getting ripped off wholeheartedly by many artists.

The following year, the group released a follow-up, Close to the Bone, which was similar in style to its first album but didn't fare as well despite songs such as "Pleasure of Love" and "The Man With The Four Way Hips," but the former song was a minor hit on urban radio in the US. The album was released on vinyl but never reissued on CD. The original British vinyl was put out in six different colors.There was then a 4-year gap until the band's next album, the first version of Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom. On the album, the group adapted a more conventional rock style with a harder edged sound and a hint of menace in the lyrics of some songs. Whereas the previous two albums had been recorded by a loose collective of a dozen musicians, the Tom Tom Club was now reduced to the trio of Weymouth, Frantz and Weymouth's sister Laura Weymouth. There were, however, a number of prominent guest musicians on the record, including Lou Reed and Talking Heads' front man David Byrne on a cover of Reed's "Femme Fatale". The fourth member of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison, also featured on some tracks. As with Close to the Bone, the album was not a commercial success. The following year, the group and Sire decided to issue a radically altered version of the album in the US, replacing four songs with four others, one of which, "I Confess," was a total overhaul of the original album's "Mighty Teardrop." The running order of the rest of the album was shuffled while the artwork was revamped. However, the changes had little effect on the album's US commercial success.

The group's next album, The Good the Bad and the Funky, was released in 2000 and featured cover versions of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You, Baby" and Lee Perry's "Soul Fire." Among the musicians on The Good the Bad and the Funky are Jamaican singer Mystic Bowie, Pettigrew and Toots of Toots & the Maytals. The album's release was followed by one European, and several American, tours.
In 2002, Frantz and Tina Weymouth, along with their former Talking Heads bandmates, were inducted at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
In 2007, the band released a special Christmas single called "Mistletunes," containing two specially recorded Christmas songs: "Il est Ne" and "Christmas in the Club," which features Mystic Bowie and scratcher/turntableist Kid Ginseng (Weymouth and Franz's son).



01 - Wordy Rappinghood (6:27)
02 - Genius Of Love (5:34)
03 - Tom Tom Theme (1:25)
04 - L'Elephant (4:50)

05 - As Above, So Below (5:23)
06 - Lorelei (Remix Version) (6:20)
07 - On, On, On, On... (Remix Version) (3:44)
08 - Under The Boardwalk (5:44)

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King Crimson - Red, Blue & Yellow ( 81- 84 ^ 179mb)

King Crimson have typically been categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, although they incorporate diverse influences ranging from jazz, classical and experimental music to psychedelic, New Wave, hard rock, gamelan and folk music. King Crimson have garnered little radio or music video airplay, but gained a large cult following. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, is widely regarded as a landmark in progressive rock. Their later excursions into even more unconventional territory have been influential on many contemporary musical artists. Bands such as Genesis and Yes were influenced by the band's initial style of symphonic mellotron rock.Tool are widely held to have been heavily influenced by King Crimson. Nirvana are known to have been influenced by King Crimson as a result of Kurt Cobain having mentioned the importance of the Red album to him. The band Porcupine Tree is influenced by King Crimson, and as with Tool, King Crimson (in the form of ProjeKct Six) has been the support band at their shows. The angular, dissonant guitar patterns associated with Fripp’s distinctive approach are also evident in the music of Alt-Metal pioneers, Voivod, Primus is heavily influenced by the King Crimson sound, and Iron Maiden members credit the band as a reference for them....

King Crimson's membership has fluctuated considerably throughout their existence, with eighteen musicians and two lyricists passing through the ranks as full band members. Fripp, the only constant member of King Crimson, has arranged several distinct lineups, but has stated that he does not necessarily consider himself the band's leader. The new King Crimson that evolved in July 1972 (again with some personnel changes) marks a turn toward a heavier progressive sound, with experimental and fusion overtones, that climaxes mostly on their unique semi-improvisatory live performances throughout the whole 1973 with the release of Starless and Bible Black, January 1974. Most of that album was recorded from live performances with the live factor dismissed.

David Cross left and so John Wetton, Bill Bruford and Robert Fripp were left to record the new album, Red, be it with the help of musicians from previous KC albums.(David Cross - violin, Mel Collins - soprano saxophone, Ian McDonald - alto saxophone, Robin Miller - oboe, Marc Charig - cornet). Red has been described as "an impressive achievement" for a group about to disband, with "intensely dynamic" musical chemistry between the band members that resulted in a record "aggressive and loud enough to strip the wallpaper off your living room wall". Fripp, increasingly disillusioned with the music business, was turning his attention to the writings of the mystic George Gurdjieff, and did not want to tour as he felt that the "world was coming to an end". The Red line-up never toured, and two months before the album's release Fripp announced that King Crimson had "ceased to exist" and the group disbanded on September 25, 1974

Early in 1981, Fripp considered forming a new group, with no intention of reforming King Crimson. However, a step that led to this was contacting Bill Bruford to ask if he wanted to join the new band.Bruford agreed and the pair recruited Tony Levin, he brought a new sound with the use of the Chapman Stick, described as an "utterly original style" created by "one of New York City's most sought-after studio musicians". Fripp also contacted guitarist Adrian Belew, who was on tour with Talking Heads Fripp had never been in a band with another guitarist before so the decision to seek a second guitarist was indicative of Fripp's desire to create a sound unlike previous incarnations of King Crimson. Belew, who also became the band's singer and lyricist, joined following his tour with Talking Heads. The four played live in the first half of 1981 using the name Discipline.

By October 1981, the band had begun using the name King Crimson. The group released a trilogy of albums: Discipline in 1981, Beat in 1982, and Three of a Perfect Pair in 1984. Beat marked the first King Crimson album to have been recorded with the exact same band members as the album preceding it. After Three of a Perfect Pair, King Crimson disbanded for around a decade, during which time Fripp formed the record label Discipline Global Mobile for King Crimson and related projects, besides starting the Guitar Craft music school in 1985.

Ten years after (May 1994), King Crimson start rehearsing again, this time as a double trio (added to the four above, are Pat Mastelotto on percussion, and Trey Gunn on stick). It is in this time that the Discipline Global Mobile label is started, enabling for the first time Mr. Fripp and associates to release their own music by their own (high) standards. This "double trio" formation released the EP VROOOM in 1994, followed by the studio album THRAK in 1995, and the challenging avantgarde live album THRaKaTTaK in 1996. The new King Crimson sound featured elements of the interlocking guitars on Discipline and the heavy rock feel of Red

The double trio scheme will only release two full albums and various ep’s, yet it will lead to its “fractalization” to groups of three (or four), thus forming the ProjeKcts. Five such ProjeKcts will live and flourish (One, Two, Three, Four, and X), and their live and studio sessions will be released by DGM, along with numerous other recordings from all periods of King Crimson (some under the King Crimson Collector’s Club; bi-monthly releases for members only). In the hands of DGM, the King Crimson back catalogue (most late additions only on FLAC/MP3 format) grows enormously, making it one of the biggest for any rock group ever. By the time the ProjeKcts were complete, Bruford and Levin had ceased to be involved with King Crimson, Belew, Fripp, Gunn, and Mastelotto remained, releasing the studio album The ConstruKction of Light (2000), accompanied by the album Heaven and Earth released under the name ProjeKct X in the same year.

The band continued their activity throughout the decade. In 2002 the EP Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With was released,[51] and in 2003 the studio album The Power to Believe came out with the band touring in support of it. November 2003, Trey Gunn announced his departure from the band. Levin would become the active bassist of King Crimson again, with the subsequent line-up scheduled for rehearsals in 2008 and consisting of Fripp, Belew, Mastelotto, Levin plus a second drummer, Gavin Harrison of Porcupine Tree, who joined King Crimson in November 2007. They began rehearsals in March 2008.

Sourced from my vinyls Red = Discipline, Blue = Beat, Y = Three of a perfect pair, compiled with continuity and respect for maximum enjoyment of 80 minutes of King Crimson in topform. Fripp and Bruford really get fired up by new entries Adrian Belew and Tony Levin and together they delivered a stunning run of three albums winning over many new fans in the early eighties. Njoy...



01 - Elephant Talk (Red) (4:45)
02 - Frame By Frame (Red) (5:08)
03 - Lark Tongues In Aspic (Yellow) (5:21)
04 - Heartbeat (Blue) (3:54)
05 - Matte Kudasai (Red) (3:49)
06 - Man With An Open Heart (Yellow) (3:05)
07 - Neal And Jack And Me (Blue) (4:24)
08 - Thela Hun Ginjeet (Red) (6:28)
09 - Nuages (Yellow) (4:51)
10 - Model Man (Yellow) (3:45)
11 - Neurotica (Blue) (4:32)
12 - Sartori In danger (Blue) (3:35)
13 - Sheltering Sky (Red) (8:26)
14 - Three Of A Perfect Pair (Yellow) (4:15)
15 - Sleepless (Yellow) (5:18)
16 - Two Hands (Blue) (3:23)
17 - Waiting Man (Blue) (4:23)

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Spasmodique - EP + North ( 89 * 141mb)

Spasmodique was formed in 1982 by singer/guitarist Mark Ritsema, guitarist Arjo Hijmans, bassist Martin Doctors van Leeuwen and drummer Reinier Rietveld (formerly of Quando Quango). They released a self-titled five-song ep in 1986. The same year, they recorded songs for an opera that were later released on their album North. In 1987 Spasmodique released their full-length debut From the Cellar of Roses and toured with Umberto di Bosso e Compadres. The next year they released another album with three new studio tracks and five live tracks, Start to Believe/Someone's Out There to Get You. In 1989 they finally debuted a single, "The Square", and released another full-length album, North. By the end of the decade, the band had grown more popular internationally, with growing audiences in Germany and Austria.

1990 would see the birth of Spasmodique's master work, the album Haven. Upon completion of the recording sessions, Hijmans left the band. The band prompltly replaced him with Niek den Brave and Hans Brusse and released the non-album single "Spilling". The next year saw more personnel changes when the two new members were replaced by guitarist Raymond Gerrits. Spasmodique almost came to an end then, and embarked on a farewell tour, but the public's enthusiastic response convinced them to stay together. They released Who's Afraid, a compilation of demos and outtakes. In 1992 the band took a break from live performances that would stretch over a decade.
Singer /guitarist Mark Ritsema got together with multi-instrumentalist Willem Cramer of East Meets West and eventually founded Cobraz to which former Spasmodique members, Willem Cramer (gitar) and Martin Docters van Leeuwen (bass) joined and released Sato Bar where they amalgamated the western music with African/Latin music. The well recieved album produced by Jean Marie Aerts(TC Matic) launched a series of great live shows in 93/94 but somewhere the energy disappated and by 96 Cobraz was no more.

The Spasmodique members decide to get bback together in 98 and by 2000 they began work on what would become a new album Villa Delirium. It was released in 2002. That same year the book 20 Jaar Spasmodique, From the Cellar of Roses was published, detailing the band's history and discography. In 2005 singer Ritsema left the band, effectively ending Spasmodique. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Ritsema has continued to record and perform with his new band Raskolnikov.



01 - Kiss On Your Scars (3:25)
02 - The Small World (2:37)
03 - Your Boyfriend (3:48)
04 - Spirit Of A Stranger (5:01)
05 - He's On Fire ! (4:53)

06 - North (Intro) (2:16)
07 - You'll Be Mine (4:45)
08 - Marcus Was (5:23)
09 - Beating Up The Child (3:40)
10 - As You Wake Up (4:37)
11 - Retreat (In Anger) (4:22)
12 - Bloodbrothers (5:33)
13 - The Split Up (A Farce) (3:53)
14 - The Longest Day (7:17)
15 - Letter From An Asylum (4:10)
16 - Morning Dew (3:21)
17 - Town Of Failing Parties (3:20)
18 - Start To Believe (3:40)
19 - The Square (4:12)


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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 !

Monday, September 29, 2008

Around The World (48)

Hello, no bail out yet for the Wallstreet crooks, and now the jewish Haneka holiday takes precedence, by the time the congress returns a couple of additional trillion dollars may have left the virtual books. Those banksters created a real mess and to keep talking about bad morgages is an outrage, these account-with the house value not taken into account just a draction of the costs, no its these CDO's and the virtual value of these go into the tens of trillions..hot air..but good enough to get those banksters their cash bonusses. And now the cat is out of the bag, and as the wallstreet banks have deseased banks and insurance companies all over the world with their poison deals, the banks have quarantined themselves..ergo the moneyflow has been arrested.

Ok, you're here today for Around the Worldmusic, well last week we were in the desert..of sand, this week we crossed over to the snow desert of Northern Canada where Tanya Tagaq Gillis was born and her grandmother provided her the genes to become a throat singer-songwriter. She came into contact with Bjork, these two clicked and Tanya got the chance to expose her skills to the world, this resulted in world tours with Bjork and the Kronow Quartet and the recording of an award winning album..Sinaa...

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Tagaq - Sinaa ( 05 ^ 95 mb)

Animalistic grunts, growls and gasps. Earth-rumbling groans. Ethereal whispers and euphoric wails. A lot of provocative things come out of Tagaq’s mouth. But something you won’t hear escape from the Inuk throat singer’s lips is any talk of representing her native traditions. Tanya Tagaq Gillis (Tagaq) is from Cambridge Bay (Ikaluktuutiak), Nunavut, Canada, on the south coast of Victoria Island. After attending school in Cambridge Bay she went, at age 15, to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to attend high school where she first began to practice throat singing. She later studied visual arts at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University and while there developed her own solo form of Inuit throat singing, which is normally done by two women.

As Tagaq is quick to remind newcomers to the genre, Inuit throat singing is more of a competition than a musical practice. Two participants, usually women, stand face to face and produce a complex series of vocal sounds and rhythms, repeating motifs that often imitate the sounds of nature and wildlife. Each tries to trip up the other, and the game ends when one either cracks up or is out of breath. The songs that have evolved from it are some of Canada’s oldest compositions. Meanwhile, the material on Tagaq’s award-winning debut CD, Sinaa, qualifies easily as some of the freshest, featuring intense vocalizations in both English and Inuk, at times mixed with tribal beats.

Somewhat surprisingly, Tagaq’s exposure to throat singing came not in her hometown but while she was away at art school in Halifax. “When I was growing up in Cambridge Bay, it wasn’t happening,” she recalls. “Nobody spoke the language any more either.” But one day, a care package arrived at her college apartment from her mom, stuffed with “socks, Mr. Noodles and some cassette tapes and CDs of throat singing she had tucked away.” Suddenly, the girl whose first record purchase was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, who grew to love alternative rock and rave music, was grooving to a whole new sound. “I didn’t realize how homesick I was until I got those tapes,” she explains. “Those songs I had never heard, but I knew them, I understood them. It was the sound of home.”

Tagaq, whose grandmother was a singer-songwriter and who had always loved performing, was immediately inspired. She trained her singing voice, that quickly developed into a forceful tool for Tagaq to compose her own material. Eight of the 12 tracks on Sinaa are originals, improvisations based on throat-singing techniques but leaping forward into unknown territory, like the first spring step off the ice floe.

A fortuitous connection had Tagaq's singing at an art festival in Inuvik taped and land on Björk's desk. She enlisted Tagaq as part of a Northern chorus for her 2000 world tour, which brought the Canadian singer her first worldwide exposure. But the pairing may have had an even greater impact on Björk, whose 2004 disc Medulla was made (almost) entirely from vocalizations. She even brought Tagaq into the studio for back-ups, where the pair accidentally co-wrote the experimental lullaby “Ancestors.” The track appears on Sinaa, an album that was recorded in Spain over three days in 2004 and on which she attempted to produce and capture every noise she could imagine.

The disc, features txalaparta drumming by duo Ugarte Anaiak and has won three Aboriginal Music Awards, but, as Tagaq stresses, it is not traditional music. What I’m doing is following an emotion that drives me. I am not trying to represent the North. This is a completely selfish expression. I’m from Nunavut, so it’s a big part of me. But I’m also a very sexual person, I’m hedonistic, I like spicy food, hot baths, sweaty, intense sex. Her innovative, solo style of throat singing seeks to push the boundaries of emotion and to express the primitive instincts she believes still reside deep within our flesh. She describes her evolution over the past six years as a process of going deeper and deeper into her performance to the point where she virtually “leaves her body” and lets the expression take over.

In 2005, her CD entitled Sinaa (Inuktitut for "edge") was nominated for five awards at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. At the ceremony on 25 October 2005, the CD won awards for Best Producer/Engineer, Best Album Design and Tagaq herself won the Best Female Artist award. Sinaa was nominated for the 2006 Juno Awards as the Best Aboriginal Recording.

She appeared live with the Kronos quartet at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall and joined them this fall in Austria. Sadly, while she has toured across Europe and much of Canada, she rarely gets to perform in the North. Between gigs, plans for the follow-up to Sinaa are well on their way. The singer wants to take much more time with it, going “deeper in all directions” and incorporating new sounds, instruments and vocal styles along with the throat singing. Her upcoming album, Auk/Blood will feature collaborations with Mike Patton, among others.



01 - Sila (3:28)
02 - Still (3:11)
03 - Qimiruluapik (2:02)
04 - Qiujaviit (3:04)
05 - Surge (3:24)
06 - Ancestors (4:08)
07 - Uvinik (2:54)
08 - Ilunikavi (3:02)
09 - Seamless (3:01)
10 - Origin (2:42)
11- Suluk (3:50)
12 - Breather (5:27)

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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, September 28, 2008

Canadia 2056




Hello, still busy updating..looks like ill be finished with that before the end of the week, next update post, Japan Series is in comments as have been previous updates this last week. Check them out or just surf my blog...

but first.. the saga continues and i hope the number of fans will increase as the story unfolds more hilarious reasonings ..the coming 27 minutes

In the year 2056 the US has declared war on the Ipampilashians and has sent the American armada to destroy their planet. Canada has sent its only ship, The Canadia, in support of the American mission but the Canadia is not a warship. It's a maintenance ship (they change light bulbs and plunge toilets). Max Anderson is the first American ever to be stationed on the Canadia. He was put there by the American admiral (his mother) to toughen him up but keep him out of any real danger. The only thing that Max and the crew of the Canadia agree on is that no one wants him there..

Episode 7:

The Canadia receives word that their budget is being cut and the Captain has to decide what to trim. Doc Gaffney isn't happy with his decision and takes drastic action.

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Canadia 2056 - 07 (20mb)

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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, September 27, 2008

Sundaze (48)

Hello time for another Sundaze, unfortunately pages keep disappearing , why ? if i only knew. Just reposted an old Eight X (42)aswell,, as an add on to the previous day..sigh with all the re-uploading going on i can really do without this mess. Coming up some mid-nineties ambient from the creative duo behind Global Communication who set their first foot under this moniker with this remixalbum. ....Higher Intelligence Agency went north and recorded Polar Sequences in sync with nature and Biosphere ...finally a 94 compilation showing where Global Technological Innovations in electronic music went at the time....

Note in comments you'll find a listing of the Wavetrain series updates

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Global Communication - Pentamerous Metamorphosis (93 ^ 132 mb)

Time flies, it's eleven months ago i had a Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton weekend @ Rhotation 3 with Jedi Knights , their Theory of Evolution Sampler, Reload and Global Communication 
In the summer of 1994 Dedicated finally released Global Communication's 76:14 a rhythmic, warm, and spacious, with graphics and song titles that reflect Pritchard and Middleton's intent of making music that transcends language, border, and preconception. It was voted by the Guardian as the best ambient album of the nineties, and it has clearly influence a lot of musicians since its release. The months before they had used the moniker for the first time as they "retranslated from Blood Music by label mates Chapterhouse." Pentamerous was not available for some years as a true Global Communication stand-alone release, for the very reason that it was never intended to be that in the first place. Instead, this five-track effort was in fact nothing less than a complete makeover. The Global Communication remix job originally appeared as a bonus second disc with the U.K. CD version., until it got a standalone release in 1998.

 

1 - Alpha Phase (16:39)
2 - Beta Phase (10:49)
3 - Gamma Phase (11:45)
4 - Delta Phase (10:41)
5 - Epsilon Phase (11:18)

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H. I . A. & Biosphere - Polar Sequences (96 ^ 98mb)

Higher Intelligence Agency mastermind Bobby Bird started the project back in 1992 in Birmingham, England as a live experimental electronic project. Soon he and other members of the Oscillate Collective, a group of artists and musicians involved with the local club Oscillate Sound System, were taking their experimentation to unexpected musical and geographic locations. The sound falls somewhere between ambient and techno, with a healthy experimental streak running throughout. Breakbeats fall like manna from heaven as celestial melodies sky through the group's compositions. Truly a sensual, satisfying listen. 

Since releasing their first '92 single, "Ketamine Entity" (which would later appear on the genre-defining compilation Ambient Dub Volume One), The Higher Intelligence Agency has emerged as a full-fledged creative force. The group has released a half-dozen albums, and has participated in a number of collaborative ventures. (1993) Colourform, (1995) Freefloater, (1996) Polar Sequences - with Biosphere (live), (1997) S.H.A.D.O. - with Pete Namlook, (1997) Nothing, (1999) S.H.A.D.O. Vol 2 - with Pete Namlook, (1999) Birmingham Frequencies - with Biosphere (live).

Tromso, 70 degrees north, in the Arctic region, in the middle of the most active northern lights zone. In summer time, land of the midnight sun. In winter, total darkness. In October 1995, as part of the annual Polar Music Festival, Geir Jenssen of Biosphere and Bobby Bird of The Higher Intelligence Agency, were commissioned by Nor Concerts to collaborate together on a musical project to take place in Geir's home town of Tromso, Norway. The brief was for them to perform three concerts, using sounds sourced from the area as the basis of the music - the machinery of the local mountain cable lift, the snow, the ice etc...

The performances from which this recording is taken, took place on top of a mountain above Tromso, in a cabin reached by the cable car, in which the audience were transported up the mountain in turn. This is a live recording from the 1995 Polar Music Festival, in Tromø Geir Jenssen's hometown. Recorded on the top of a mountain above the town, the music uses only samples sourced locally - people speaking at the festival, the cable car which brought people to the performance, the melting snow and ice, et cetera. The result is a stunningly accomplished and balanced piece, musically, technically, emotionally. It bridges uplifting, glacial sounds with a dark moodiness without ever becoming tired and clichéd, neither natural nor electronic, but somewhere out on its own. An absolute essential for all ambient heads and discerning listeners out there.



1 - Cimmerian Shaft (13:11)
2 - Snapshot Survey (8:21)
3 - White Lightning (10:13)
4 - Countdown To Darkness (6:21)
5 - Corona (9:55)
6 - Meltwater (9:18)

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VA - Global Technological Innovations (unreleased 1) ( 94 ^ 142mb)



01 - Sandoz - Ocean Reflection (8:50)
02 - Infinity - Think Quick (Remodel) (9:45)
03 - 2000 & One - Sensitive Space (5:05)
04 - Geep, The - The Geep (Goddess Of My Soul Mix) (5:46)
05 - Clip Talk - A.M.D. (8:29)
06 - max 404 - 6am In Eindhoven (7:14)
07 - As One - Asa Nisi Masa (6:39)
08 - Quadrant - Dytiq (6:52)
09 - Underground Resistance - A Moment In Time (3:08)
10 - Underground Resistance - Mindpower (2:44)

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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 !

Signal On + Memorials + Debate #1 + Brazilian Poets in Chicago

I'm back in the Chi, classes are underway. This fall's load looks to be a little lighter than the past few years, since I'm teaching only a graduate workshop and an undergraduate honors seminar, and I'm supervising just a few undergraduates and graduates, all of whom are sharp and talented as they come, so it should be an enjoyable quarter.

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In the time since I last posted, nearly a month ago, so much has happened on many fronts out there in the wide world, but I do want to note a few things, starting with the passing of a few important people: the first is Reginald Shepherd, a poet I knew, though not well, but whose poetry and criticism I grew to appreciate a great deal. His early and untimely death still shocks me. On the CC list I wrote the following:

I remember his essay, "On Not Being White," in Joseph Beam's anthology In the Life, which annoyed me for a good while until I reread it and made an effort to understand where he was coming from.* I also remember when Reginald's first book came out and all the buzz around it, and how I excited I was to meet him for the first time back at one of the old OutWrite conferences in Boston, in the late 1990s.

He could be, to use Shakespeare's and everybody else's phrase, a piece of work, but he was certainly a brilliant poet and a lively critic. His passing is a real loss for Black, Black LGBTQ, and American poetry, but I hope he finds real peace.
His lyrical facility, the deep and relentless exploration of desire and yearning for love and acceptance that surged through his stanzas, his skill with metaphor and a particularly deft gift for the music of rhyme are all hallmarks I register when I think of his work. Without hesitation I can say that Reginald was easily one of the most important Black/gay poets to emerge over the last 25 years, and I'm very sorry that we have lost his voice. He was only 45, and leaves his partner, Robert Philen, and many family members.

Also, Edgardo Vega Yunqué, the Puerto Rican/Nuyorican author, also passed away earlier this month. I met him once, at a reading featuring some of New York's important Latino writers that I helped coordinate at one of my former jobs. I wasn't at all familiar with his work, but hearing Vega Yunqué read and talk about his life and work, he struck me as a real treasure. Original, funny, feisty, cantankerous, and like so many, deserving of greater honors and attention than he ever received. After the reading I went and found some of his work, which reminded me in many ways of Ishmael Reed, not least in its caustic humor and social criticism. Like Ishmael, Vega Yunqué was a social activist, and played a key role in building and nurturing Puerto Rican/Nuyorican/Latino letters and arts in New York; he was one of the founders of the vital arts center Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center on the Lower East Side. He was 72.

Then there was the news of the tragic death of one of the most celebrated writers of the contemporary era, David Foster Wallace. I've taught his work a few times over the years, and consider his story "The Girl With Curious Hair" to be a comic masterpiece. I'm less a fan of his novel, Infinite Jest, which I admit I advanced only about 300 pages into, but whatever my thoughts about that work, I must say that Wallace was blindingly talented and offered one of the most influential, ironic takes on our society to be found in recent literature. A huge loss.

And then yesterday I read about the passing of one of the consistently superb actors--and activists--of the last half of the 20th century, Paul Newman, at 83. Very sad.

***

I watched the debate between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain last night. My own thoughts about the contest aren't important, because it appears that Obama achieved what was most necessary: positive reviews by many in the influential establishment media, and very positive reviews by independent voters and in quick post-debate polls. While I will definitely be watching the Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and the walking disaster known as Sarah Palin, I'm not sure if I can bear another Obama-McCain talkfest, especially if Obama, however successful his tactics, refuses to challenge McCain more and if McCain's rage and contempt have him seething like an old and overheating radiator.

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One highlight of this week was the series of readings in Chicago by four noteworthy contemporary Brazilian poets, Maria Esther Maciel, Virna Teixeira, Paulo Henriques Britto, and Sérgio Medeiros. The poets, from Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza by way of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Matto Grosso do Sul via Florianópolis respectively, all appeared in the Brooklyn-based literary journal Aufgabe's issue no. 7 (2007), which featured a special section on Brazilian writing, edited by poet and translator Ray Bianchi. Ray also organized the readings, with Aufgabe editor E. Tracy Grinnell, and they took place at three different venues across Chicagoland: the university, the University of Chicago, and at Chicago's main branch Harold Washington Library in the Loop. Colleagues at the university, along with Litmus Press, the Chicago Poetry Project, and the Consulate General of Brazil in Chicago, all sponsored the events.

I attended the first reading, at the university, which my colleague, prodigious author and translator Reg Gibbons, had helped to coordinate and which he introduced. All four of the poets read either excerpts from longer work or a few short poems in Portuguese, and either they or Ray followed with English translations. One of the things that intrigued me was that two of the poets, Henriques Britto and Teixeira, both wrote in English as well as Portuguese; for Henriques Britto it resulted from his having spent part of his youth in Washington, DC, and he later told me that his first poetic language was English. Teixeira told me that she wrote in English when she was living for several years in Scotland, though now she wrote almost always in Portuguese. In the case of both poets, the English was idiomatic and lyrical, with Henriques Britto's more discursive and assured in its handling of rhyme, and Teixeira's grounded in concise and evocative imagery.

With regard to their Portuguese texts, I noted and asked about the differences during the question and answer session. Medeiros, who told me about a new language melding Portuguese, Spanish and Guaraní that was developing in southern Brazil (where he lives), read from a long poem that was both fragmentary and composed along the lines of what I would identify as the Language poetry movement's "new sentence." Maciel's briefer poems drew upon the rich homophonic, rhyming polysemous possibilities of Portuguese, which she contrasted with a few visually grounded prose poems. Teixeira's short poems moved from image to image, and, as became clear soon enough, were often inspired by works of art. The fourth poet, Henriques Britto, read poems in fixed forms: sonnets, a half-sestina, and a full villanelle. They sounded as adroit and nimble in Portuguese as in English.

When the writers spoke about influences, they listed many of the best known names in 20th century Brazilian poetry: Carlos Drummond de Andrade, João Cabral de Melo Neto, the two de Campos brothers, Augusto and Haroldo, and Cecília Meireles. They also mentioned English-language authors such as Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, and the great modernists Wallace Stevens and, from a later generation, Elizabeth Bishop. In reading the poetry in the special section, I wondered about more recent national and international trends and influences, because a number of the writers are in conversation with them. Other questions during the Q&A touched upon the contemporary literary landscape in Brazil, national vs. regional trends there today, the presence and influence of literary journals (which Ray does touch upon in his introduction to the special section), and the problem of a readership for poetry. Three of the writers, I believe, are also university professors, though I didn't gather that any of them taught creative writing per se; that is, it seems, a peculiarity thus far of the English-speaking world (mainly the US, Britain, Canada, and Australia). Teixeira mentioned that she was a medical doctor, and the precision of her work, in retrospect, bore this out.

I attended a second round today at the Harold Washington Library, and got to hear all the writers read more of their work. Maciel read one of my favorite poems from the special section, a poem consisting only of a litany of single words separated by commas, which ends with "palavra" (word). It was titled "Palavras preferidas" in Portuguese, and "Favorite Words" in English. The translator managed to capture some of the richness of the original's sonorities and playfulness, but there is nothing like hearing "ferrugem" (iron) or "ruido" (noise) or "arara" (arara!) pronounced by a native Portuguese speaker, Brazilian or from Europe or Africa. It's almost as if paper's crinkling in the mouth as a song emerges. Lovely: amável!

The event was heartening on many levels, but I also hope it's a signal that more such events will be possible in the future.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Rhotation (48) Into BPM

Hello, Im not sure what is going on, but lately pages have gone missing from my blog, 2 weeks ago it was Alphabet Soup (T) , this week Updatepage 3 and last weeks Into BPM (47). Now i dont know if these are a blogger faults or someone has found a way to attack blogs this way, and has decided this is a fulfilling mission in life. I sure hope not.

As for todays BPM post we're in Electro territory again..starting with Fischerspooner which sounds better then Spoonerfischer ..the names of the duo behind the moniker that have featured many more performers in their life shows. They're sensational shows on the New York scene became the talk of the town from which they emerged assurely and with a well recieved # 1 album....Adult took the hard touring road aswell to build a name, here's their official debut Anxiety Always.....Over the big pond we find a former gamedesigner that turned his attention to music and is meanwhile working on his fourth album in 5 years. Vector Lovers is likely a term from his old game designdays, however it's a one man show....across the channel we find a trio Sex In Dallas, not quite electropop or electroclash yet with some trashy discoid bounce, the French like to be differente...

NOTE the rest of the Rhotation updates are found in comments page Canadia - 6 as the Update (3) page itself has dissapeared..google is silent about how that is possible..my guess too much traffic...well i will be posting the updates in comments now so check them out....today you'll find the sunshine series updates in comments...tomorrow the wavetrain updates .if you see a ^ at the end of the file it means its been upgraded aswell.

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Fischerspooner - #1 (01 ^110mb)

The new wave/electro-pop troupe Fischerspooner was formed in New York City in 1998 and has come to incorporate multimedia, strange handmade costumes, dancing, and performance art. Originally a duo formed by classically trained musician Warren Fischer and video-artist and experimental theater performer Casey Spooner for an impromptu rendition of their makeshift track "Indian Cab Driver" at the Astor Place Starbucks, the group grew to over 20 performers, most of whom are dancers and guest vocalists. The group uses the stage antics of David Bowie and traditional mainstream pop vocalists, along with the campy electronics of Giorgio Moroder or Depeche Mode and vocoders of Trans Am. By the time of their 2000 eponymous debut, Fischerspooner was a certifiable sensation in downtown New York City art galleries and clubs. The single "Emerge" topped European charts, invited a six-song remix EP, and won Fischer and Spooner invitations to international fashion, art, and society happenings. Their debut album, #1, originally titled Best Album Ever, has been released on several record labels

In 2005, Odyssey, the band's second album, was released to critical acclaim. The album featured more structured songs that weren't really electroclash, but more accurately electropop. Hitmaker Linda Perry, intellectual Susan Sontag, and Madonna producer Mirwais all made appearances.The lead single, "Just Let Go", featured live drums and guitars, a very different sound than heard on their first album.



01 - Invisible (5:13)
02 - The 15th (3:56)
03 - Emerge (4:46)
04 - Fucker (4:53)
05 - Turn On (4:23)
06 - Tone Poem (4:13)
07 - Ersatz (3:55)
08 - Horizon (5:06)
09 - Natural Disaster (4:47)
xs
10 - Emerge (Adult mix) (4:52

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ADULT. - Anxiety Always (03 ^ 98mb)

ADULT. began releasing albums in 1998 under the pseudonym "Plasma Co." Initially, the band members were uncredited and not publicized, but by the time Anxiety Always was released, ADULT. was listed as husband-and-wife team Adam Lee Miller and Nicola Kuperus. Both btw have art degrees, Miller has a painting degree, and Kuperus a photography degree. Miller and Kuperus are also the founders of the Ersatz Audio record label. The two debuted their Adult. project in November 1998 with the Dispassionate Furniture EP, Entertainment, followed a year later, while their song "Lost Love" appeared on the Ersatz Audio various-artists 12" Oral-Olio a few months earlier, in June 1999. After another 12" EP, Nausea, and compilation appearance, The Forgotten Sounds of Tomorrow ("Silent Property," "Human Wreck"), both in 2000. Ersatz Audio released the debut Adult album Resuscitation, in 2001. Most of the 14 songs on Resuscitation were culled from previous releases, primarily the 12" EPs, many are versions or mixes exclusive to the CD. By this point, Adult. had become widely known and were quite renown within the techno underground. ADULT. gained popularity while touring constantly in the United States and releasing all of their material independently. They toured with Trans Am in 2002, and in May 2003, the band made its first headlining tour in the United States; gigs across Europe followed soon after.

Adult.'s first full-length of all-new material, Anxiety Always (2003), was very well recieved. Miller and Kuperus promoted Anxiety Always with tours of Europe and the U.S. throughout 2003 before withdrawing from the spotlight for much of 2004. Then, rather surprisingly, Adult. moved to the Chicago label Thrill Jockey, via which they released an EP, D.U.M.E. (2005), and full-length, Gimmie Trouble (2005). When launching their tour in support, ADULT. announced that they had become a trio with the addition of guitarist Samuel Consiglio. The trio was short-lived—Consiglio left the band at the start of 2006.

Miller and Kuperus took some time off before returning in 2007 with another Thrill Jockey release, Why Bother? Adult. returned to their original husband-and-wife membership for the noisy album, and they commenced widespread touring almost immediately
As of 2007, Miller and Kuperus have focused their attention more on recording and touring, and less on their own label; the last few ADULT. releases have been distributed by Thrill Jockey Records rather than Ersatz Audio.
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01 - The Cold Call (2:50)
02 - Shake Your Head (4:23)
03 - Glue Your Eyelids Together (4:10)
04 - Blank-Eyed, Nose Bleed (3:28)
05 - Turn Your Back (3:01)
06 - People, You Can Confuse (4:58)
07 - Nothing Of The Kind (4:38)
08 - Nervous (Wreck) (4:15)
09 - We Know How To Have Fun (5:23)
10 - Kick In The Shin (5:29)

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Vector Lovers - Vector Lovers (04 * 99mb)

Born in 69 in Reading(UK) Martin Wheeler started recording in his teens , influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk, Depeche mode and Suicide. He became a computergame designer at the age of 16 developping some 25 games for the ZX spectrum, Ataro Nintendo and Gameboy before returning to music with the release of his first single (Electrobotik Disco / Girl + Robot) as Vector Lovers in 2003. The following 7", featuring the now classic 'Tokyo Glitterati' on Static Caravan Records won support from leftfield DJs worldwide, including John Peel and Mute Records founder Daniel Miller. A self-released 12" that summer, 'Roboto Ashido Funk EP' featured on the covers of DJ magazine and Jockey Slut, prompting offers from both major and indie labels, and finally seeing Vector Lovers signing to seminal Glasgow techno label, Soma Records.

Three albums later, Vector Lovers production work has seen collaborations with artists including Tracey Thorn, Ladytron, Husky Rescue, Alex Smoke, Diefenbach, Tim Wright, The Black Dog, Slam, Funk D'void, Transparent Sound, and My Robot Friend.
Whether rocking thousands of partygoers at T in The Park or improvising a silent film soundtrack at the National Film Theatre, Vector Lovers continues to create beautifully crafted electronica, quirky techno, and emotionally resonant synth pop.Currently working on his fourth album Martin spends most of his time recording at home in Berlin, where he lives with his wife and two children.



01 - Girl + Robot (5:13)
02 - Tokyo Glitterati (4:18)
03 - Telecom Meltdown (4:32)
04 - Electrobotik Disco (4:51)
05 - Funk & Droid (5:10)
06 - Electrosuite (7:46)
07 - Yamanote Sundown (6:16)
08 - Futures In Plastic (5:02)
09 - Kissed You By The Fountain (2:35)
10 - Lake Nocturne (3:31)
11 - Metrolux Forever (4:39)
12 - Solitaire (4:17)

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Sex In Dallas - Around The War ( 04 ^ 95mb)

Sex In Dallas (Adrienne Walter, Jean Marc Soulat & Mohini Gesiweiller) are French born electro slackers. They formed in 2003 in Paris and combine elements of Punk, House, Hip Hop, Detroit Techno and turn it into a dark but fashionable electronic longplayer. Not quite electropop or electroclash, their influences come from a more refined corner of the pop globe and, despite dipping at times into a trashy discoid bounce, there are some ace moments here - like the grimey, filthy bassline driven 'Lost In LA Playa' or the Barbara Morgenstern-esque cutesy of '5 O Clock'.

Founded 2003 in Paris and driven by the idea to make a different sound compared to Daft Punk, Air, Phoenix and typical french house music that made french electronic music so popular. Following their highly recommend (John Peel, Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall, Miss Kittin to name a few) 12 inches Everybody Deserves To Be Fucked and Berlin Rocks 1 +2 here is the debut full lenth album Around the War. S.I.D. combine Punk, House, Hip Hop, Detroit Techno and turn it into a dark but groovy electronic longplayer.

A second album featuring Biladoll . Toured the world, from Turkey (Indigo Music Hall, Istanbul) to Ukrainia (Kaif Club, Kiev), from Sao Paulo (Vivo Festival) to London (The End), from Stavanger (NU Music Festival) to Bucarest. Played live in Berghain-Ostgut, Berlin. SID is although a dj team. Realized recently a dj mix for the UK mag "Dazed & Confused".



01 - Crazy Dogs (3:52)
02 - Berlin Rocks (5:42)
03 - 5 O' Clock (5:44)
04 - Around The War (2:54)
05 - Lost In La Playa (5:22)
06 - Everybody Deserves To Be Fucked (4:02)
07 - Song Of The Beach (3:27)
08 - Georgio (4:15)
09 - Golden Chains (4:04)
10 - Clerk Work (4:52)

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Rhotation (47) Into BPM reposte
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well as mentioned , the third page in 2 weeks goes missing. Google hasnt got a clue or helpdesk of use...so here's last weeks Into BPM (47) ..without covers

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The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation (94 ^ 181MB)

Howlett, the prodigy behind the group's name, was trained on the piano while growing up in Braintree, Essex. He began listening to hip-hop in the mid-'80s and later DJ'd with the British rap act Cut to Kill before moving on to acid house later in the decade. The fledgling hardcore breakbeat sound was perfect for an old hip-hop fan fluent in up-tempo dance music, and Howlett began producing tracks in his bedroom studio during 1988. The Prodigy's name was a moniker Liam had chosen as a tribute to his first analogue synthesiser, the Moog Prodigy. An initial 10-track demo by Liam Howlett, put together on a Roland W-30 sequencer keyboard. It was picked up by XL Recordings after Howlett played several tracks to XL boss Nick Halkes in a meeting, and an initial 12" pressing of "What Evil Lurks" was released in February 1991. It became a major mover on the fledgling rave scene in 1990. After Howlett met up with Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill (both Essex natives as well) in the growing British rave scene, the trio formed the Prodigy later that year.

Six months later, Howlett issued his second single "Charly," built around a sample from a children's public-service announcement. It hit number one on the British dance charts, then crossed over to the pop charts, stalling only at number three. Two additional Prodigy singles, "Everybody in the Place" and "Fire/Jericho," charted in the U.K. during late 1991 and early 1992. these were soon followed by the band's first full length album, Experience, a landmark release in the history of British rave music. Howlett released an anonymous white label, bearing only the title "Earthbound I". Its hypnotic, hard-edged sound won wide underground approval. Many former critics of the band were astounded when Howlett finally acknowledged responsibility for the record He had released the white-label single to fool image-conscious DJs who had written off the Prodigy as hopelessly commercial.

After several months of working on tracks, Howlett issued the next Prodigy single, "No Good (Start the Dance)." In 1994, the Prodigy's second album, Music for the Jilted Generation, was released entering the UK album charts at #1. album displayed a wider spectrum of musical style with heavy techno and breakbeat-based tracks complemented by the concept sequence The Narcotic Suite, and rock-oriented inclinations ("Their Law", featuring Pop Will Eat Itself). The album also continued Prodigy's allegiance to breakbeat drum'n'bass; though the style had only recently become commercially viable (after a long gestation period in the dance underground), Howlett had been incorporating it from the beginning of his career. It was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize although Howlett had reaffirmed his dedication to making The Prodigy a 'hard dance band', commercially successful but without compromise.

The Prodigy spent much of 1994 and 1995 touring around the world, and made a splashy appearance at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, proving that electronica could make it in a live venue. The group had already made a transition from the club/rave circuit to more traditional rock venues. Flint's newly emerged persona -- the consummate in-your-face punk showman and master of ceremonies for the digital-age crowd -- Meanwhile the band had augmented their line-up with guitarist Jim Davies ( later Pitchshifter)

March 1996 the Prodigy released "Firestarter" it entered the British charts at number one, the video was almost banned due to complaints about arson fixation; many Top of the Pops viewers also complained that Keith Flint had scared their children. In the middle of the electronica buzz, the Prodigy dropped their third album, The Fat of the Land. Despite rather obvious attempts to court mainstream rock fans, the album entered both British and American charts at number one, shifting several million units worldwide. The Prodigy were getting considerable airplay on rock stations with their track "Smack My Bitch Up," and were getting even more negative backlash for the song. Time-Warner, Prodigy's parent company, was feeling the heat from the National Organization for Women (NOW) over the track. To top it all a rather graphic video was produced that made it to the no1 spot as the most controversial videos ever to air on MTV..duh, meanwhile Wal-Mart and Kmart took the album of the shelves as they didnt want their female customers reminded of how they get smacked up at home..(presumably )..

1999 saw the release of The Prodigy's Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 1, a DJ mix album by Howlett, produced as an official record of a successful guest appearance on the British Radio 1.The Prodigy's fourth studio album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned was released on 23 August 2004 (14 September 2004 in the USA.) A precursory and experimental single, "Memphis Bells", was released in very limited numbers, followed by the traditional release of the single "Girls". The U.S. version of the studio album contained a bonus track; a remix of "Girls" entitled, "More Girls". Maxim and Keith Flint were still in the band but they weren't to be found on the album. Instead it featured guest spots from Oasis' Liam Gallagher, Kool Keith, Twista, and actress Juliette Lewis. Flint and Maxim did join Howlett for a worldwide tour to support the album that launched in October 2004. In 2005, the band released a compilation album, Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005, which included a remix of their 1994 single "Voodoo People". According to the band's website, the band is currently at work on their fifth album.



The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation (^ 94mb)

01 - Intro (0:46)
02 - Break & Enter (8:24)
03 - Their Law (6:41)
04 - Full Throttle (5:03)
05 - Voodoo People (6:27)
06 - Speedway (Theme From Fastlane) (8:56)
07 - The Heat (The Energy) (4:28)

The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation ( ^ 87mb)

08 - Poison (6:42)
09 - No Good (Start The Dance) (6:18)
10 - One Love (Edit) (3:53)
------The Narcotic Suite-----
11 - 3 Kilos (7:26)
12 - Skylined (5:58)
13 - Claustrophobic Sting (7:12)

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The Crystal Method - Vegas ( 97 ^ 151mb)

Although Jordan and Kirkland are both from Las Vegas, Nevada, the band was formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1993.to the early-'90s L.A. rave scene. Drawn in by its youthful idealism, Jordan and Kirkland became absorbed by L.A.'s underground club culture and began knocking out tracks inspired by their experiences. On the strength of one of their demos, Crystal Method signed to Steve Melrose and Justin King's City of Angels imprint in 1994, and their debut single, "Keep Hope Alive," appeared soon after. It became something of an anthem due to the endless barrage of remixes and alternate versions that appeared. The pair's demand to be taken seriously as a band (as opposed to the enforced anonymity of most techno acts) extended to incessant live performances. Crystal Method's increasing popularity both in the clubs and among radio jocks led to a deal with Geffen affiliate Outpost Recordings in 1996. The group's debut LP, Vegas -- an unabashed party record bathed in acid, funk, rock, and big beat hip-hop -- appeared in mid-1997 and sold very well. There was some discussion as to whether the band took their name from methamphetamine (the street name of which is "crystal meth"). In the 1999 documentary Better Living Through Circuitry, it was made clear during the interview the name was a drug reference.

The Crystal Method did most of their earlier production work in an underground shelter referred to as "The Bomb Shelter" in the front yard of a rented house they once shared as roommates. Before production began on Legion of Boom in 2004, they moved the studio into the garage of the rented house. The follow-up to Vegas, Tweekend, was released four years later, and the duo inaugurated a series of mix albums (Community Service) in 2002. In 2005, their third studio album, Legion of Boom, was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Electronic Music/Dance Album". This marked the first time the Grammys offered such an award. It was followed by their soundtrack to the film "London Landing" a year later. Meanwhile their music has appeared in several tv shows, adds and in videogames, reaking plenty of dosh i would think. In June 2006, the duo released Drive: Nike + Original Run, the mix was made to accompany any aspiring athlete's workout session . The album was only available on the iTunes Music Store until June 26, 2007, when it was given a physical release to Best Buy stores, and was re-released on CD in 2008 with four bonus tracks. Jordan and Kirkland currently host a radio show called Community Service which airs Friday nights on Los Angeles' Indie 103.1, featuring electronic music.



01 - Trip Like I Do (7:34)
02 - Busy Child (7:25)
03 - Cherry Twist (4:25)
04 - High Roller (5:29)
05 - Comin' Back (Voc.Trixie Reiss) (5:39)
06 - Keep Hope Alive (6:12)
07 - Vapor Trail (6:31)
08 - She's My Pusher (5:41)
09 - Jaded (Voc.Trixie Reiss) (7:05)
10 - Bad Stone (5:09)

diet version
The Crystal Method - Vegas ( * 99mb)

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The Youngsters - Lemonorange ( 01 ^ 158mb)

Hailing from Montpellier the dynamic, electronic duo The Youngsters consist of Gil le Gamin and Olivier M; Mr Gamin a DJ, record shop owner and founder of the G-Funk label and Olivier a passionate music composer. Gamin juggles a busy DJ schedule with his store Z'appies and his label G-Funk. As a band, perhaps they hold the world record for the shortest 'how we came to be' story which goes something like...Olivier took a demo tape in to Gil's shop and er...a fortnight later they were working together. That was way back when at the beginning of 1999. Initially releasing their music through Gamin's label before signing to Laurent Garnier's infamous F Communications imprint. With the backing of a major independent label, the duo was set share with the world their infectious techno rhythms.

Motivated by a solo maxim, 'Make people dance', The Youngsters with Lemonorange have composed an album full of authority and affection for anything that might fall into the arena of techno. Whilst the sounds on this record are familiar, it's unlikely you've heard them combined with such understanding and aplomb.Chunky, deep piano grooves on the excellent "Choose" nestle comfortably along side the rougher, more acidic cuts such as "Friperie Connection" and "Abusive Melody" in a album inspired by a love of the music from Detroit. With the likes of Laurent Garnier, Alex Kid and Aqua Bassino, the F Comm stable is rearing nothing but pedigree acts. With Lemonorange The Youngsters can feel right at home there.



01 - Slow (6:35)
02 - Illogique (7:06)
03 - Spanish Harlem (4:30)
04 - Flightcase Pour Criquets (5:54)
05 - Lost In Palavas (5:23)
06 - Choose (6:40)
07 - Anxious Boy (5:00)
08 - Doutes Et Certitudes (5:27)
09 - Friperie Connection (5:56)
10 - Abusive Melody (5:37)
11 - Dub Cham Mé (4:36)
12 - Smile (5:14)

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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, September 25, 2008

Into the Groove (47)

Hello, the weekend is ahead and that means getting into some early eighties dance grooves today. First up, a woman born on the same day, in the same small town and with the same surname as one of america's famous folksingers, Woody Guthrie, still ..no family. Gwen however was into music aswell, singing and composing. Friends Sly & Robbie are all over Padlock as is the presence of the stardance producer Larry Levan, who also appears as one of the remixers on the next vinyl, Night Dubbing. Imagination crashed on the scene, scored a series of big hits and then dissappeared again, but they left us some memorable tracks...Finally another then starproducer Jellybean he quickly went from DJíng to remixing and along the way scored some major hits for others ..and himself..though he didnt sing himself...he did have the looks...must have been a real heartbreaker, one of his flames he remixes , she sings her mainly selfpenned songs about her and their experiences..i added that album ..just for fun...

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Gwen Guthrie - Padlock (82 ^ 83mb)

Guthrie was born in Okemah, Oklahoma and raised in Newark, New Jersey. In school, she studied classical music, and her father began teaching her piano when she was eight years old. By the early 1970s, she had joined vocal groups such as the Ebonettes and the Matchmakers, meanwhile working as an elementary school teacher. When a backup singer scheduled to sing on Aretha Franklin's 1974 single "I'm in Love" fell ill, Guthrie took the vocalist's place beside Cissy Houston; thus Guthrie would happily state that her career on record began "at the top".

Guthrie soon began moonlighting as a singer of commercial jingles, sometimes with her friend Valerie Simpson (of Ashford & Simpson fame). A songwriting partnership with Patrick Grant resulted in Ben E. King's comeback single, "Supernatural Thing", and "This Time I'll Be Sweeter", covered by numerous artists. Together they wrote seven tracks on the Sister Sledge's 1975 album Circle Of Love: Guthrie continued to write with a variety of partners, and supplied backing vocals to many recording sessions. Working with Peter Tosh in the late '70s, Guthrie befriended reggae stars Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, who invited her to Nassau to record vocals for an album they were producing. Hearing her unique voice in the studio, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell inked her to a contract, and the Dunbar/Shakespeare project, assisted by David Conley of Surface, became her first solo release, a self-titled LP. . She was dubbed "The First Lady of the Paradise Garage" as several of her songs became anthems at the venue, helped by the frequent and dynamic performances she gave there. She soon teamed musically with famed Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan. Who produced her third album Padlock (85)

Guthrie is probably best known for her 1986 dance anthem "Ain't Nothin' Goin' on But the Rent", a self-written and -produced track which garnered some controversy for lyrics such as: Her single "Can't Love You Tonight" boldly addressed AIDS at a time when the disease was a taboo subject, and she was an ally to the gay community, and people with AIDS long before the masses caught up. Proceeds from the single went to the AIDS Coalition. Guthrie was more involved in the writing and production. Hot Times was Guthrie's final LP release, hitting the streets in 1990. Like the previous LP, she wrote nearly everything, except for a moving remake of Stephanie Mills' "Never Knew Love Like This Before." Guthrie died on February 4, 1999, of uterine cancer in Orange, NJ



01 - Peanut Butter Prelude (0:12)
02 - Hopscotch (8:14)
03 - Seventh Heaven (7:22)
04 - Getting Hot (4:34)
05 - Peanut Butter (6:05)
06 - Padlock (6:54)

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Imagination - Night Dubbing ( 83 ^ 96mb)

Imagination were a trio from the U.K. that put a synthesized and often clubby spin on soul groups from the '70s. In fact, a couple of '70s groups have direct ties to Imagination; Leee John and Ashley Ingram spent time during that decade playing supportive roles in the Delfonics and Chairmen of the Board, prior to Imagination's formation. Along with drummer Errol Kennedy, vocalist John and bassist Ingram formed the group in 1981. By the end of that year, they already had their first album released and a minor hit in the form of that album's title track, "Body Talk." The group's second album, 1982's In the Heat of the Night, was their most successful, spawning a trio of U.S. R&B chart hits in the form of "Just an Illusion" (number 27), "Music and Lights" (number 52), and "Changes" (number 46). Those singles were even more popular in their home country, with the first pair reaching the Top Five.

The remix collection Night Dubbing appeared the following year, as did the group's third proper album, Scandalous. Following this the success of the group in the UK waned, but they continued to perform, tour and record until the early 1990s. John went back to acting and recently re-surfaced in the reality TV show Reborn in the USA. Ingram also enjoyed success as a songwriter for Des'ree. John remained active in the entertainment industry, continuing his recording career as a solo artist and collaborator. Since the group's split, several compilations have been released.



01 - Flashback (4:47)
02 - Just An Illusion (6:34)
03 - Music & Lights (5:31)
04 - So Good, So Right (4:25)

05 - Body Talk (4:41)
06 - Heart 'N' Soul (4:00)
07 - Changes (Rmx Larry Levan) (6:23)
08 - Burnin' Up (4:53)

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Jellybean - Wotupski!?! ( 84 ^ 90mb)

John Benitez's mother emigrated from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s and settled in the South Bronx ( N Y). She raised three children as a single mother, Benitez being the second child. Born in New York City, he grew up enjoying listening to music, his sister, Debbie, nicknamed him Jellybean as his initials are J.B. and from the saying "Do you know what I mean, Jellybean?"
When he relocated to Manhattan in 1975, he became immersed in the growing disco scene and soon became one its best DJs as well as an early producer with his own reel-to-reel machine. After appearances at the clubs Experiment 4 and Xenon, Benitez moved on to such prestigious showplaces as Studio 54 and the Electric Circus. With the dawn of the '80s (and the death of disco), he continued DJing with a residency at Manhattan's Fun House (beginning in 1981), and also hosted a dance show on New York's WKTU..

Benitez started to remix singles, Stephen Bray of the group Breakfast Club went to Benitez for a remix. This led to Benitez being introduced to Bray's girlfriend and band mate at the time, Louise Ciccone. A romantic relationship developed between the two that lasted about two years. Benitez became involved with producing and remixing a bulk of the tracks on Louise Ciccone's debut album in 1983. After this fruitful partnership, both went their seperate ways, eventually Benitez remixed songs for such artists as La India, Whitney Houston, George Benson, Shalamar, Jocelyn Brown, Patti Austin, Sheena Easton, Talking Heads, James Ingram, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, The Pointer Sisters, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. In 84 he released Wotupski!!?! from his album "Sidewalk Talk" became a hit and the Bside showed the classic electro..the mexican. His 1987 debut album Just Visiting This Planet featured Jellybean in his usual production role though his name appeared on the sleeve; despite the mainly unknown guest vocalists, the single "Who Found Who" with Elisa Fiorillo became another Top 20 hit. His second album, 1988's Jellybean Rocks the House, was a much tighter affair though it featured no hits.

Benitez produced and released music under the Jellybean moniker; in total he has placed nine songs in the Top 10 of the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, including three number ones. He has employed many vocalists to sing on his productions including Madonna, Elisa Fiorillo, Steven Dante, Adele Bertei, Richard Darbyshire and Niki Haris. His 1984 cover of Babe Ruth's "The Mexican" (for which he recruited the vocals of its original singer, Janita Haan) is regarded as a pivotal moment in the electro-hip hop underground scene. He had solo hits with "The Real Thing" (UK #13 in 1987), "Who Found Who" (UK #10 in 1988), and "Just A Mirage" (UK #13 in 1988). Currently, Benitez owns Jellybean Productions, JB Recording and JB Publishing. On September 19, 2005, Benitez was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements as a DJ.



01 - Compromise (Voc. Vernon Smith) (6:30)
02 - Sidewalk Talk (Voc.Madonna) (6:07)
03 - Dancing On The Fire (Voc. Audrey Wheeler) (6:47)

04 - Was Dog A Doughnut (7:50)
05 - The Mexican (8:42)

Louise Ciccone - I

01 - Lucky Star (5:37)
02 - Borderline (5:17)
03 - Burning Up (4:48)
04 - I Know It (3:40)

05 - Holiday (6:08)
06 - Think Of Me (4:53)
07 - Physical Attraction (6:37)
08 - Everybody (4:48)

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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, September 23, 2008

Eight-X (47)

Oops, it's Eight-X again, must be midweek.Well the re-upping went smoothly today, Wavetrain looks to be all live again by thursday even a slight makeover and extending here and there..Today we start with a band from the netherlands that got off to a good start with their debut album, ran into trouble with the recordcompanies with their second and when the third only garnered critical acclaim they threw in the towel, made on a next to nothing budget Just Can't Sleep brings across the nervous consequences that can bring and its clear the guys had been exposed like their peers to the jittery first two albums of the Talking Heads .....The Jam had eighteen consecutive Top 40 singles in the UK, from their debut in 1977 to their breakup in 1982, including four number one hits need i say more..this is a 02 compilation of their sound...that's entertainment.....The rain Parade looked to be going places but then when you're from LA it's hard to stick together with everything thats going on there, so in the end it was just three albums and the live album here..Beyond The Sunset though you'd hardly notice it was live, recorded in the land of the setting sun (obviously) ....

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The Tapes - You Just Can't Sleep (79 ^ 95)

Late 77 (ex-)students Fred Hermsen (voc), Rolf Hermsen (gitar), Michiel Brandes (gitar), Igor Roovers (bass) and Dick van der Vaart (drums) founded The Tapes. After it turns out Fred ain't a singer his brother Rolf takes over and Fred concentrates on the management and writing lyrics. they get labelled as the Dutch Talking Heads, but the bands musical interests extend well beyond to funk, jazzrock and pop. In 78 they record "You Just Can't Sleep" with a minimal budget on a 8-track recorder. Despite the demo quality the album is well recieved and sells well. This gets them noticed by major label Vertigo that take over the distribution from the Plurex label.

After the support tour Dick van der Vaart quits as drummer, and returns to studying medicine. Peter Meuris takes over. That summer (79) the follow-up album "Party" is recorded under guidance of the american producer Don Willard. The assumption was that the same deal as the last album would be made but Phonogram (Vertigo parent) but the major is nolonger interested. In the months that follow The tapes try to sell the ready made album to record companies home and abroad without result. Finally the american Passport label offers them a contract. Spring 1980 Party is finally released, the sound is obviously much better, the tracks have gained more depth. 

The third album, On A Clear Day, is recorded spring 81 and produced by John Leckie (Human League, XTC, Magazine) members of the Nits are in support. The album gets a worldwide release but the despite good reviews it sinks as first hour fans no longer recognise the Tapes from the previous albums and it fails to find a niche. The On A Clear Day promotion tour sees Mathilde Santing(Eleveld) as vocal support aswell as support show. 1982 sees the end for the Tapes as they've become desillusioned from the lack of success..in a reversal of fortune bandmembers become Mathilde Santing's backing band.
 
 

01 - A Little Trick We All Know (3:37)
02 - Live Girls / Dead Girls (3:56)
03 - Scars (3:18)
04 - At The Wheel (4:49)
05 - Voices Of Time (3:53)

06 - Call Me (4:02)
07 - Who's Responsible (3:27)
08 - Dancing On A Red Carpet (3:27)
09 -You Just Can't Sleep (5:11)
10 - The Best Of My Fate (3:52)

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The Jam - The Sound Of The Jam ( ^ 188mb))

The Jam formed in Surrey, England in 1972 in Woking. The line-ups were fluid at this stage, consisting of Weller on guitar and lead vocals together with various friends, the line-up began to solidify in the mid 1970s with Weller, Foxton, guitarist Steve Brookes and drummer Rick Buckler. In their early years, their sets consisted of early American rock and roll covers. They continued in this vein until Weller became fascinated with mod music and lifestyle. They went out and bought black suits and started playing Motown, Stax and Atlantic covers. Eventually Brookes left the band, and was not replaced, inviting Weller to develop a combined lead/rhythm guitar style. 

In the following two years, The Jam gained a small following around London, becoming one of the new lights on the nascent punk scene. Though they shared an "angry young men" outlook, short hair, crushing volume and lightning-fast tempos, The Jam wore neatly tailored suits where others wore ripped clothes, played professionally where others were defiantly amateurish. They really stood out from their punk peers. They were signed to Polydor Records by Chris Parry in early 1977. On 29 April 1977, Polydor released The Jam's debut single,"In the City", which charted in the Top 40 in England. In early May, the band released their epinomous debut album. Like those of The Clash and the Sex Pistols, the album featured fast, loud and pointed songs.

After the non-LP single "All Around the World" nearly reached the UK Top 10, The Jam, having achieved a notable following in such a short time, was pressed to produce more material quickly. Their second album, This Is the Modern World, was released later in 1977. Despite displaying more stylistic variety than before, including some ventures into introspective pop, This Is The Modern World was not widely praised. However, when John Peel first heard the album, he played it in its entirety on one show

In March 1978, the band released "News of the World", a non-album single that was both written and sung by Foxton. It charted at #27 in the UK, and was the band's second biggest hit to date. The Jam released their next single, the double A-side "David Watts" b/w "'A' Bomb In Wardour Street". "David Watts" was a cover of the bouncy Kinks classic; Weller and Foxton traded lead vocals throughout the song. It wasn't until their next single, "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", that The Jam really regained their former critical acclaim. The song was a dramatic account of being mugged by thugs who "smelled of pubs and Wormwood Scrubs and too many right-wing meetings." Around this time, The Jam slimmed their team of two producers to one, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, who helped develop the group's sound with harmonised guitars and acoustic textures. The Jam released their third LP, All Mod Cons in 1978.

The Jam released "The Eton Rifles" in advance of their new album. It became their first top 10, rising to #3 on the UK charts. November of 1979 saw the release of the Setting Sons album, another massive UK hit, and their first chart entry in the U.S. The album began life as a concept album about three childhood friends, though in the end many of the songs had political overtones.
The band's first single of 1980 was intended to be "Dreams of Children," due to a labelling error, however, the a- and b-sides of the single were reversed, resulting in the more conventional "Going Underground", the single's planned flipside, getting much more airplay and attention than "Dreams of Children". As a result, only "Going Underground" was initially listed on the charts, although the single was eventually officially recognised (and listed) as a double A-side by the time the release reached #1 in the UK.

Sound Affects was released in 1980. It was influenced by current post-punk bands such as Joy Division and Wire. Paul Weller said that he was influenced by The Beatles' Revolver and Michael Jackson's Off the Wall also. Weller allegedly wrote "That's Entertainment", in around 15 minutes upon returning (under the influence) from the pub. Despite being only available as an import single, it peaked at #21 on the UK charts, an unprecedented feat. It is now arguably The Jam's most celebrated song and despite the group's lack of commercial success in America, it even made Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The album was a #2 hit in the UK and peaked at #72 on the US Billboard charts, their most successful American album. 

The 1982 release The Gift — the band's final LP — was a massive commercial success, peaking at #1 on the UK charts. It featured several soul, funk, and R&B-stylized songs; most notably the #1 hit "Town Called Malice," which boasts a Motown-style bassline somewhat reminiscent of The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love". The song included organ work by Steve Nichol, who later became well known as a member the R&B group Loose Ends. When "Town Called Malice" reached number one the group had the honour of performing both it and its double A-side, "Precious" on TOTP - the only other band to be accorded this honour being the Beatles. After the string-laden soul ballad "The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow)" peaked at #2, the band followed with their finale and another #1, "Beat Surrender". The Beat Surrender EP had success in the British charts, and both its graphic design and music resembles early Style Council releases. After a farewell tour of the UK Weller disbanded the group.

Weller, who felt he had done all he could with The Jam, then formed The Style Council with Mick Talbot of The Merton Parkas. After they split up in 1989, Weller went on to pursue a solo career.



The Jam - The Sound Of ( ^ 91mb)

01 - In The City (2:19)
02 - Away From The Numbers (4:03)
03 - The Modern World (2:31)
04 - David Watts (2:56)
05 - Down In The Tube Station At Midnight (4:01)
06 - It's Too Bad (2:37)
07 - To Be Someone (2:30)
08 - Mr. Clean (3:29)
09 - English Rose (2:50)
10 - The Butterfly Collector (3:09)
11 - The Eton Rifles (3:59)
12 - Private Hell (3:51)

The Jam - The Sound Of 2 ( ^ 97mb)

13 - Thick As Thieves (3:40)
14 - Smithers-Jones (3:01)
15 - Saturdays Kids (2:53)
16 - Going Underground (2:56)
17 - Start! (2:31)
18 - Liza Radley (2:32)
19 - Pretty Green (2:37)
20 - Boy About Town (2:00)
21 - That's Entertainment (3:34)
22 - Tales From The Riverbank (3:26)
23 - Town Called Malice (2:54)
24 - Ghosts (2:10)
25 - Carnation (3:29)
26 - Beat Surrender (3:25)

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Rain Parade - Beyond The Sunset ( 85 ^ 87mb)

Among the L.A. groups dubbed Paisley Underground (Dream Syndicate, the Bangles, Three O'Clock), Rain Parade were the closest to being the real deal for their use of psychedelic flourishes thoroughout their first album. The band was founded by college roommates Matt Piucci (guitar, vocals) and David Roback (guitar, vocals) in 1981, originally as The Sidewalks. David's brother Steven Roback (bass, vocals) joined the band shortly thereafter. David and Steven had been in a band called The Unconscious with neighbor Susanna Hoffs ( Bangles.) The band soon added Will Glenn (keyboards and violin) and later Eddie Kalwa (drums). 

Their first single, "What She's Done to Your Mind," was a certifiable hit on college radio, and the band quickly followed with their debutalbum, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip. For 1984's Explosions in the Glass Palace, the band lost David Roback to Opal, but John Thoman took over and Mark Marcum filled in for the departed Eddie Kalwa. The re-formed band recorded the live album Beyond the Sunset (1985) and Crashing Dream ( 1985). This album was supported by a European tour, underwritten by Island Records, and garnered good support in smaller club venues, yet the band would disband in 86, with Piucci forming Gone Fishin' and later joining Crazy Horse. The band reformed in 1988 to finish off a double album they had started, but it was never released. The rest of the band formed Viva Saturn. After Rainy Day, David Roback formed Opal, and later Mazzy Star.

Recorded Live at Shibuya Hall, Tokio (12-16-84)



01 - Night Shade (2:49)
02 - Prisoners (3:32)
03 - This Can't Be Today (4:00)
04 - Blue (2:32)
05 - Eyes Closed (2:37)
06 - Ain't That Nothing (4:05)

07 - Don't Feel Bad (3:21)
08 - 1,5 Hours Ago (4:10)
09 - No Easy Way Down (6:27)
10 - Cheap Wine (5:03)

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Around The World (47)

Hello, Around the Worldmusic crosses over from the desert with a crossover artist Rachid Taha, he's been on the music scene for more then 25 years now so this collection is just a small part of his oevre..a teaser....btw the Sunshine posts are all live again.
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Rachid Taha - The Collection( ^ 180mb)

Rachid taha was born in Oran, western Algeria, and spent the first ten years in the town of Sig. The war and corruption had his father decide to move the family to France in 1968. After a village adolescence Rachid moved to Lyon, where he met likeminded and formed "Carte De Séjour". In 1981, while living in Lyon, France, Taha met Mohammed and Mokhtar Amini. The three of them, Rachid, Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer would later form the band "Carte De séjour" (Green Card) and record their first album Rhorhomanie in 1984. Their second and last LP entitled Ramsa (Five) was released in 1986 and included their famous and ironic cover of Douce France, originally sung by Charles Trenet. The band dissolved in 1989.

A trip to Los Angeles has him record a demo with Don Was but it didnt get hime a recording contract. Undeterred by this setback, Rachid decided to take a break from the music scene and go back to his Algerian roots in Oran. He had not given up the idea of launching a solo career, however, and continued to work on a new demo tape - which would finally result in his debut solo album. Named after a famous immigrant area in Paris, the album "Barbès" was released in 1991. But, unfortunately for Rachid, the Gulf War broke out shortly after the release of "Barbès" and French radio stations judged his Arabic songs too 'sensitive' to play during the war with Saddam Hussein.

In spite of this second setback Rachid Taha persevered with his solo career, returning to the studio in 1993 to record a second album, entitled simply "Rachid Taha". Produced by Steve Hillage, Rachid's new album featured a fusion of African and European music and a series of lyrics which were more sharply ironic than ever. Much to everyone's surprise the dance-oriented single "Voilà Voilà", proved a major hit . Two years later Rachid flew to London to record his third solo album with his old friend Steve Hillage. Released in 1995, the new album "Olé Olé" proved to be even more of a musical cross-over than Rachid's previous album, fusing Western techno beats and electric guitars with Algerian chaâbi, Mexican mariachis and the traditional Arab zither

The following year (98) Taha returned to the studio to record a brand new album entitled "Diwan". This fascinating album, produced by Steve Hillage, was made up entirely of covers, featuring Taha's innovative new versions of Middle Eastern classics. Taha returned to the music news in October 2000 with a critically acclaimed album entitled "Made in Medina". Recorded between studios in Paris, London, Marrakech and New Orleans, Taha's new album featured an infectious mix of rock, electro, voodoo trance and Arab sounds. Taha invited his old friend, guitarist Steve Hillage, to join him in recording "Made in Medina and assembled an eclectic list of guest stars, ranging from the all-women Moroccan group B'net Marrakech to Galactic, a band from Louisiana.

The next years saw himon a world tour Taha, he managed to get back into the studio in 2004 to work on a new album, "Tékitoi?" released in September 2004. Recorded between Paris, London and Cairo, the album featured Taha’s long-term collaborator, UK producer Steve Hillage, at the studio helm. As far as lyrics go, "Tékitoi?" found the Algerian-born rocker tackling highly topical themes such as corruption, war and racism. Taha, the musician who appears to be torn between traditional and modern sounds, took another trip down memory lane on "Diwan 2", a second album featuring covers of classics from his native Maghreb. The album, released in October 2006 and sung in a mixture of French, Arabic and “Francarabe”, conjured up evocative images of smoky cafés in Barbès, Oran and Cairo. It was produced by his old friend and collaborator Steve Hillage again and featured contributions from the Cairo String Ensemble. Last year saw the release of this compilation..




Rachid Taha - The Collection ( ^ 91mb)

01 - Ya Rayah (Party) (6:17)
02 - Rock El Casbah (Rock The Casbah) (4:36)
03 - Nokta (Point) (5:13)
04 - Voila Voila (5:16)
05 - Habina (We Love) (7:28)
06 - Kelma (Thoughts) (4:50)
07 - Bent Sahra (The Girl Of The Sahara) (7:13)

Rachid Taha - The Collection 2 ( ^ 89mb)

08 - Douce France (Sweet France) (3:40)
09 - Indie (India) (4:21)
10 - Jungle Fiction (4:04)
11 - Ida (If...) (5:58)
12 - Hey Anta (Hey You) (4:32)
13 - Barbes (4:26)
14 - Barra Barra (Outside) (5:48)
15 - Menfi (The Exile) (5:05)


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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 !