Jan 31, 2008

Alphabet Soup (16)

Hello, Alphabet Soup day, alas my preferred pc is still out..got that Power supply, a dozen useless superflous cables but the geeks at Coolermaster forgot that most of their clients replace the supply on their older systems..which have a 20 pins motherboard connector. That said, the guy in the shop should have told me i needed a 24/20 connector converter, but he didn't warn me ..very frustrating stuff..

Well Rhotation reached P today and that means Primus...if you havent heard them before here's your chance to make up for that, but beware you might become a fan...Pigeonhed was a side project that seems to be put on ice 10 years ago, which is a pity because they made two great albums and a remix album. It often happens, relieved from the pressure of doing whats expected Fisk and Smith let themselves go in Pigeonhed. The eponymous album still gets a couple of spins every year, which -with my extensive and growing collection- is proof i really dig this album. Placebo has had success from the start and released some memorable singles, yet household names they are not, maybe it's their freaky side, i don't know. Here's their millenium release .

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Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese ( 91 ^ 99mb)

Primus is all about Les Claypooln not to deny guitarist Larry LaLonde or drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander any credit; no drummer could weave in and around Claypool's convoluted patterns as effortlessly as Alexander, and few guitarists would willingly push the spotlight away. Primus' songs are secondary to showcasing their instrumental prowess. Their music is willfully weird and experimental, yet it's not alienating; the band was able to turn their goofy weirdness into pop stardom. At first, the band was strictly an underground phenomenon, but in the years between their third and fourth albums, their cult grew rapidly. 1991's Sailing the Seas of Cheese went gold shortly before the release of Pork Soda. It had completely redefined the possibilities of the electric bass in rock music for those who'd never heard the group before. Slapping like a funk player, but strumming power chords and finger-tapping like a metal guitar hero, Les Claypool coaxed sounds from his instrument that had rarely if ever been made the focus of a rock band. Claypool's riffs were so full and dominant that they hardly needed to be doubled by guitarist Larry LaLonde, which freed him up on most songs to launch into dissonant, atonal solos that essentially functioned as texture, complementing Claypool's oddly whimsical sense of melody. The combination results in a weird atmosphere that could be transformed into something dark or eerie, but Claypool's thin, nasal voice and demented blue-collar persona place the record firmly in the realm of the cheerfully bizarre. The compositions are mostly riff-driven, fleshing out their heavy metal roots with prog rock tricks added with some of Zappa's sense of humor. However the willful goofiness never detracts from the band's frequently stunning musicianship

By the time of Pork Soda' s 1993 release, Primus had enough devoted fans to make Pork Soda debut in the Top Ten. After touring for a year -- including a headlining spot on Lollapalooza 1993 . In the summer of 1995, Primus released their fifth album, Tales From the Punch Bowl. It was another success, going gold before the end of the year. In the summer of 1996, Primus announced they were parting ways with their drummer, Tim Alexander. He was replaced by Brian "Brain" Mantia, who made his debut on The Brown Album, which was released in the summer of 1997. The covers EP Rhinoplasty followed in 1998, and a year later, Primus returned with Antipop. Antipop was a departure from previous Primus albums, as different producers were used on almost each track. After a supporting tour wrapped up in 2000, Mantia left the band to join Guns N' Roses. In 2003, re-united with Tim "Herb" Alexander, Claypool and LaLonde released the EP "Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People" as well as a DVD compilation featuring all of the bands videos, as well as studio footage and rare performance bootlegs, but shortly afterward announced that Primus was going on indefinite hiatus. During the ensuing break, Claypool focused on recording the debut album by his side project, Oyster Head (who also included Copeland and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio), as well as releasing his two-part solo outing, Live Frogs: Set 1 and Set 2. 2006 saw the band release another DVD; "Blame It On The Fish" featuring a live recording of the band live on their 2003 tour, as well as a greatest hits package "They Can't All Be Zingers: The Best Of Primus". In November 2006 Primus began touring again on the "The Beat A Dead Horse Tour 2006", according to sources, the band plans to return to the studio on completion of the tour and record a new album.



01 - Seas Of Cheese (0:42)
02 - Here Come The Bastards (2:54)
03 - Sgt. Baker (4:16)
04 - American Life (4:32)
05 - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver (3:10)
06 - Eleven (4:19)
07 - Is It Luck ? (3:27)
08 - Grandad's Little Ditty (0:37)
09 - Tommy The Cat (4:15)
10 - Sathington Waltz (1:42)
11 - Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers (5:19)
12 - Fish On (Fisherman Chronicles, Chapter II) (7:45)
13 - Los Bastardos (2:38)

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Pigeonhed - Pigeonhed ( 93 99mb)

The Pigeonhed project is the result of a collaboration between two of Seattle's more credified figures: Steve Fisk, a member of Pell-Mell and one of the area's best producers (Nirvana, Beat Happening, Soundgarden, Unwound, Screaming Trees); plus Shawn Smith, the vocalist for Brad and Satchel. It's not surprising that a band on Sub Pop's roster looked to the '70s for musical inspiration, but instead of the one-two Stooges/Sabbath punch of Soundgarden and Nirvana, the recordings of Pigeonhed look to Sly Stone, Al Green and Prince. With a large roster of vintage keyboards, Pigeonhed debuted in 1993 branching way out for influences and sonic textures on this eponymous debut, the pair of highly respected artists put together a detailed and evocative landscape that was praised by critics for its rich material and sweeping yet earthy sound. Smith's exceptionally soulful voice is haunting, rich, and especially effective on standouts like "Her" and "Grace," while Fisk's compositional and production chops are shown off nicely on the retro funk of "Lovely Lines" and the more modern electronic trip, "Theme From Pigeonhed." A spectacular debut from two of the Pacific Northwest's most committed artists, Pigeonhed plays like a neo-R&B joyride filtered through Pink Floyd-esque mood swings and some genuinely alternative electronics.

Four years later, the pair reunited for The Full Sentence this time combining drum machines with live drums and percussion, heavy guitar riffs (courtesy of some of Seattle's finest) and analog synth sounds of every color to anchor this remarkably consistent collection of songs. Often reminiscent of Prince's early work, this album is at is best when Smith is on target, a gospel and rock inflected throwback to the funk of yesteryear. they follewed that up with a remixalbum "Flash Bulb Emergency Overflow Cavalcade of Remixes" . Many of the alternate versions -- culled from Pigeonhed's release from the same year, The Full Sentence -- out-funk their predecessors with nifty dancefloor arrangements and well-utilized sonic bells and whistles. Highlights include the Lo Fidelity Allstars' treatment of the famous "Battle Flag," a track that LFA took to the heights of alt-radio success when they released a rendition of the song on their Columbia debut. Two versions of "Marry Me" also stand out, the space funk "Fisk-Goodmanson Prenuptial Trash Heap" remix and "Dave Ruffy's Blissed out Ambient Mix"
Since, no news from Pigeonhed as Fisk and Smith concentrate on other projects.



01 - Theme From Pigeonhed (3:31)
02 - Ain't It So (6:29)
03 - Special Way (3:22)
04 - Her (4:22)
05 - Lovely Lines (3:30)
06 - Cadillac (6:29)
07 - Trial By Sex (4:41)
08 - Salomé (7:10)
09 - Brothers (7:34)
10 - Buzz (5:51)
11 - Grace (2:42)

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Placebo - Black Market Music (00 ^ 99mb)

Placebo was formed by singer/guitarist Brian Molko (part Scottish and American, but raised in Britain) and bassist Stefan Olsdal (originally from Sweden). Briefly called Ashtray Heart and influenced by the likes of Sonic Youth, the Pixies, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana, Placebo's drum slot was filled alternately early on by Robert Schultzberg and Steve Hewitt. Placebo signed a recording contract with Caroline Records, which had issued the trio's self-titled debut in 1996. The album was a surprise hit in the U.K., as the group became the toast of the British music weeklies and supported their debut with opening for such outfits as a the reunited Sex Pistols, U2, and Weezer.

Despite their flying start, Schultzberg wasn't seeing eye to eye with the other bandmembers, who by this point were able to convince Hewitt to come back onboard full-time, prompting Schultzberg's exit from the band. Placebo switched over to the major-label division of Caroline, Virgin Records, and issued Without You I'm Nothing in November. The album was another large seller in England and initially appeared to be the group's breakthrough in the U.S. Placebo's third release, Black Market Music added hip-hop and disco elements to the band's tense rock sound. It finds Molko in such moody lust that his strangled, androgynous wailing rivals anything the band has previously flashed to the world. Whether it's the dripping, slithery punk circle of songs like "Black Eyed" or the choir-boy enthusiasm of others like "Special K" , they seem to have finally found that sweet wet spot between beauty and perversion.

In spring 2003, Placebo showcased a harder edge with the release of their fourth album, Sleeping with Ghosts. The album went Top Ten in the U.K. and sold 1.4 million copies worldwide. Australian tour dates with Elbow and U.K. shows with Har Mar Superstar followed in 2004. Placebo's singles collection, Once More with Feeling: Singles 1996-2004, was released before the year's end. Dimitri Tikovoi, who mixed select songs on Once More with Feeling, produced Placebo's fifth effort, 2006's Meds.



01 - Taste In Men (4:15)
02 - Days Before You Came (2:33)
03 - Special K (3:52)
04 - Spite & Malice (3:37)
05 - Passive Aggressive (5:24)
06 - Black-Eyed (3:48)
07 - Blue American (3:31)
08 - Slave To The Wage (4:06)
09 - Commercial For Levi (2:20)
10 - Haemoglobin (3:46)
11 - Narcoleptic (4:22)
12 - Peeping Tom (5:13)
13 - Black Market Blood (3:47)
--Xs-K special
14 - Dub Psychosis (3:39)
15 - Passive Agressive (Brothers In Rhythm Remix) (9:07)
16 - Special K (Timo Maas Remix) (7:32)
17 - Little Mo (3:03)
18 - Slave To The Wage (I Can't Believe It's A Remix) (3:31)

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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

Jan 30, 2008

Eight-X (16)

Hello, Eight-X time again, it caused me some more trouble as i had to switch computers again, the new powersupply was so noisy it made my ears ring for almost an hour afterwards, < 20 db my ass, white noise is just not my thing, anyway naturally in the current economic model shops don't do just in time they just sell no, 4 pc shops and just one decent powersupply but you guessed it much more expensive , hopefully i have a new silent power supply running tomorrow. As i don't have access to a record player with this pc i had to look out for some Eight-X cd's for source material. Mink Deville sure is a different New Yorker as he's shown his love for cajun and delta blues. However in the beginning of his career he recorded in New York before moving to New Orleans via Paris. With his third album his record label lost faith in his cashcow capabilities and Willy Deville went elsewhere, however they milked him some more and released this compilation of his Capitol years (77-80), Savoir Faire. My next band, Propaganda was treated much worse by their label, put on hold for a year after their first hit, a remix album released against their wishes, and when they finally got to reading the fine print they found out they / their work were fully owned by the label and no money would be forthcoming-ever..Exploitation at an unbelievable level, the Germans just didnt have that much grasp of legal english. Legal battles followed, turned out label Frankie GTH were screwed by ZTT aswell. It was the end for Propaganda, they never recovered the ground they had won. Hunters & Collectors were big in Australia finding a foothold in Europe or the US eluded them..the world was a lot bigger back then and reaching out to the public (their strong point) was just not possible in a world without the internet and you tube... so here's your chance beyond the great music barrier reef..


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Mink DeVille - Savoir Faire
( 81 ^ 99mb)

Willy DeVille (born William Boray in 1953), a native New Yorker who in 1971 travelled to London to form a band; unable to find compatible musicians, he worked as a solo performer before returning to the U.S. and settling in San Francisco, where he founded the first incarnation of Mink DeVille in 1974 with bassist Ruben Siguenza and drummer Tom "Manfred" Allen. After playing in Bay Area leather bars and lounges under a variety of names including Billy DeSade & the Marquis and the Lazy Eights, the trio read a music magazine feature spotlighting the Ramones; duly inspired, Mink DeVille relocated to New York, where they recruited guitarist Louie X. Erlanger. After debuting with three tracks on the Live at CBGB's compilation, the band entered the studio with legendary producer Jack Nitzsche and surfaced in 1977 with Cabretta, an energetic, soulful outing highlighted by "Spanish Stroll" .

After recording 1978's Return to Magenta, Willy DeVille dismissed his bandmates (save for Erlanger) and moved to Paris to record Le Chat Bleu, a record steeped in traditional French-Cajun romantic ballads -- complete with accordion backing -- and recorded with session luminaries including bassist Jerry Scheff, saxophonist Teenage Steve Douglas and drummer Ron Tutt. Dismayed with the results, the group's label, Capitol, delayed its American release for over a year, prompting Mink DeVille to jump to Atlantic for 1981's Coup de Grace. Despite a new, young band and a reunion with Nitzsche, the magic seems absent. Meanwhile Capitol released this -Savoir Faire- a compilation of Mink Deville's first three (Capitol) albums.

Where Angels Fear to Tread is a great comeback record of new DeVille originals, starting with the soulful and sweet "Each Word's a Beat of My Heart." This uncluttered and uncomplicated tribute to DeVille's chosen forebears — Sam Cooke, Phil Spector, the Drifters, Joe Tex, James Brown — also includes forays into Spanish Harlem and other wondrously nostalgic time warps. DeVille's songwriting and singing have returned to top strength, and the record burns with sincerity and warmth. After the release of 1985's Sportin' Life, Mink DeVille had ceased to be an actual group long before Willy stopped using the "Mink" moniker on 1987's bland and gimmicky Mark Knopfler-produced Miracle. A rootsy covers collection, Victory Mixture, provides a welcome antidote to Miracle's misguided modernity, making the most of the singer's relocation to New Orleans with backup from such local legends as Allen Toussaint, Eddie Bo and Dr. John. By contrast, the mostly self-penned Backstreets of Desire skillfully draws on DeVille's prior genre explorations to create music that's wholly contemporary.

Big Easy Fantasy, a mixture of studio tracks and New York concert recordings, is another successful exploration of New Orleans' musical heritage; the re-energized DeVille holds his own while sharing the stage and the spotlight with an even more impressive array of Crescent City luminaries. A decade later, and DeVille's still at it, growing into soul music and Delta blues. He begins Crow Jane Alley with "Chieva," a song about recovering from heroin addiction, but soon turns his attention to romance and getting it all night. Why DeVille isn't as popular in America as Europe, will always be a mystery to his fans, he suffered from drug addiction for many years, which surely stifled his career, but among musicians and songwriters, he is highly respected artist.



01 - This Must Be The Night (2:50)
02 - "A" Train Lady (3:24)
03 - Spanish Stroll (3:38)
04 - Cadillac Walk (3:16)
05 - Soul Twist (2:35)
06 - Just Your Friends (4:10)
07 - Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl (3:47)
08 - Guardian Angel (3:13)
09 - Savoir Faire (3:08)
10 - Gunslinger (2:10)
11 - One Way Street (2:50)
12 - Mazurka (2:30)
13 - I Broke That Promise (3:00)
14 - Just To Walk That Little Girl Home (3:51

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Propaganda - A Secret Wish (85 ^ 99mb)

Propaganda was formed in Germany by vocalist Claudia Brücken and drummer Michael Mertens plus keyboard players Susanne Freytag and Ralf Dorper. The quartet moved to England in 1983 and signed to ZTT Records, their first single, "Dr. Mabuse," reached the British Top 30 in early 1984, but the band's second release was more than a year in coming ZTT had no time (and money) for them. Finally, in May 1985, "Duel" trumped the debut single and found them in the spotlights again. This time their debut album A Secret Wish appeared soon after. The group (again, minus Ralf Dörper) spent the rest of the year on their "Outside World" tour, taking in Europe and America. They were joined once again by Derek Forbes on bass, his fellow ex-Simple Minds cohort Brian McGee on drums, and Kevin Armstrong on guitar, with backing tapes used for most of the keyboard parts.

In the meantime a remix album, Wishful Thinking, was compiled by Paul Morley and Bob Kraushaar, and released in November 1985. Originally intended for the American club market, the album was also released in Europe, against the wishes of the group themselves. In late 1985 their management introduced them to the London based music lawyer Brian Carr of Compton Carr, who studied both contracts Propaganda have been given to by ZTT Records and Perfect Songs, contracts which had been signed by the band members without legal advice. The lawyer explained to the group that under these contracts, the members of the group could go on making records for the rest of their lives and never make any money from them (total exploitation !). Dorper became the first original member to leave the band, and Propaganda splintered soon after, Claudia Brücken left Propaganda her postion became impossible, having married the ZTT co owner and publicist Paul Morley. She joined Thomas Leer to form Act, who in 1988 released their only album Laughter, Tears and Rage. The rest successfully sued to be released of the contract (as did Frankie Goes to Hollywood) but obviously something was broken.

In 1990, the band signed to Virgin Records and Mertens returned with a new Propaganda lineup which included vocalist Betsi Miller, and two former Simple Minds members, bassist Derek Forbes and drummer Brian McGee. The result was a new album called 1234, a good album , but the new Propaganda were not a huge success, times were changing, house was hip.
In 1998, Mertens, Brücken and Freytag reunited, and began working on new material. Several tracks were completed, even a video for one song, "No Return", was produced in Morocco late 1998. However, no album materialized, and in January 2002, Brücken announced, "The reunion was worth a try, but did not work out." Later that year, an untitled nine-track CD was leaked via file-sharing networks on the Internet. In early 2005, Propaganda, now Susanne Freytag and Michael Mertens, started to release new material on the German independent label Amontillado-Music. Meanwhile ZTT is still exploiting their
catalogue and have released A remastered Secret Wish aswell as a SACD version should this compressed version have you wanting the bigger then the real thing version.



1 - Dream Within A Dream (9:10)
2 - The Murder Of Love (5:12)
3 - Jewel (6:22)
4 - Duel (4:41)
5 - Frozen Faces (4:21)
6 - p: Machinery (3:50)
7 - Sorry For Laughing (3:27)
8 - The Chase (4:04)
9 - Dr. Mabuse (10:41)

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Hunters & Collectors - Collected Works (90 * 99mb )


The band took its name from "Hunters & Collectors", a song by the German band Can on the album Landed. As that suggests, the original band was influenced by the Krautrock genre and the productions of Conny Plank, featuring strong percussive influences, noisy guitar, and driving bass lines. The group was originally formed in post-punk 1981 in Melbourne as a collective rather than a band, an excursion into funk-rock rhythms and industrial Krautrock. Mark Seymour (guitar & vocals), John Archer (bass), and Doug Falconer (drums) met at the University of Melbourne in the late 1970s. The first version of Hunters and Collectors included Seymour, Archer, Falconer, Geoff Crosby (keyboards), Greg Perano (percussion), Ray Tosti-Gueira (guitar), and Robert Miles (their sound engineer and art director, he stayed with the band throughout their career.) Tosti-Gueira was later replaced by Martin Lubran, then by Barry Palmer.

The group's early performances are remembered as chaotic, with audience members encouraged to join in on the banging rubbish bin lids or fire extinguishers. The extended line-up included a massed horn section known as the Horns of Contempt. Inside all this was lead singer, guitarist and principal songwriter, Seymour--the older brother of bassist Nick Seymour of Crowded House--was the linchpin of the group, with an ear for a melody and a taste for lyrical poetry. The Hunters' reputation spread to Europe where a stripped-back band spent six months in 1983, recording a second album The Fireman's Curse in Germany with producer Conny Plank (Can, Kraftwerk). Pruned back to its essentials the band recorded another album with Plank, The Jaws of Life and a single-only song "Throw Your Arms Around Me" in the ""Talking to a Stranger" mould. Hunters And Collectors was at a crossroads.

Their breakthrough commercial success in Australia came in 1986, with the release of the album Human Frailty where singer Mark Seymour's deep songs about alienation and sexual politics came to the fore. It featured the single "Throw Your Arms Around Me", as well as other fan favourites such as "Say Goodbye" and "Everything's on Fire". It was at this point that the band signed a parallel deal with I.R.S. Records for North America. "Throw Your Arms Around Me" remained one of the most popular songs in Australia for years. From now until their end Hunters And Collectors would remain one of Australian rock's favourite live attractions.The next album, What's a Few Men?, was released in 1987, the American configuration of the album, was retitled Fate. Guitarist Barry Palmer (ex-Harem Scarem) joined the band in 1988. Ghost Nation was released in 1989 , Hunters & Collectors supported Midnight Oil on that band's North American tour of 1990. Although the band struggled to find success in the US and elsewhere, they maintained their status in Australia.

In 1992, Hunters & Collectors recorded the album Cut with the producer Don Gehman, it became the band's most successful album, retaining a balance between the band's artistic core and its commercial ambitions. It was marked by the anthemic single "Holy Grail", inspired by Napoleon's march to Russia in 1812. The song has since become an Australian anthem due to being broadcast at the start of Australian rules football broadcasts. Cut was followed in 1994 with Demon Flower, which was dominated by themes relating to the politics. A double live album, Living ... In Large Rooms and Lounges, was released in 1995, with one disc consisting of an acoustic set the other being a more typical pub performance. Juggernaut, their last studio album, was recorded and released in 1997. Hunters & Collectors embarked on their final tour of Australia in 1998, with the last concert being performed at one of their favourite venues from over the years, Selina's at the Coogee Bay Hotel, Sydney. This gig was recorded for posterity and released on CD and DVD as Under One Roof. Hunters & Collectors retains a reputation as one of the premier acts in Australian rock music history.



01 - Talking To A Stranger (3:51)
02 - Run Run Run (9:14)
03 - Lumps Of Lead (4:10)
04 - Wheels (3:20)
05 - Carry Me (4:11)
06 - The Slab (3:57)
07 - Say Goodbye (3:50)
08 - Everything's On Fire (4:25)
09 - Throw Your Arms Around Me (4:11)
10 - This Morning (6:43)
11 - January Rain (4:26)
12 - Faraway Man (3:08)
13 - Do You See What I See? (3:37)
14 - Blind Eye (4:29)
15 - When The River Runs Dry (5:01)

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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

Jan 29, 2008

Around The World (16)

Hello, Around The World comes from London today, where dub sound system Zion Train was formed in 1990 , since they've released albums and singles and toured around europe causing considerable global warming as their gigs tend to rise tempertures to sauna levels, yes i had my baths in them. Anyway this one is their original first album, Passage To Indica, it needed some remastering, something had not going right there.Initially as the vinylversion had basicly 2 mixed thru sides with 8 tracks, the cd master version got 3 singles and dubversion added which obviously had a diffferent original mastering output. Meanwhile the album has been rereleased , presumably corrected this time. Well book your passage...

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Zion Train - Passage To Indica ( 93 * 99mb)

Formed in North London in 1990, Zion Train was founded by Perch (live dub mixing/production), in 1990 and he was later joined by Cod (melodica/production), Tench (production), Molara (voice), Hake (trumpet), and Forkbeard (trombone). Zion Train's members initially came together as a dub sound system; their first single, the limited-edition roots 7" "Power One" (issued on their own Zion Records imprint), immediately sold out, while its follow-up "Power Two" was a major favorite at shaka dances throughout 1992. It led to the release of their debut LP, the mellow dub outing Passage to Indica. Between 2001 and 2005 Dubdadda added extra live vocals and Bigga replaced Forkbeard on trombone in 2001. The live line-up has always been very flexible, varying from Perch and a vocalist for sound-system gigs, to the full lineup for larger events. From 2006 Molara concentrated on her solo projects and Zion Train live features a variety of renowned vocalists including Dubdadda and Earl 16 alongside Marlene Johnoson, and YT.

Zion Train have been one of the planet's most prolific groups, along with a mammoth recorded output and innumerable production credits, remixes and song writing collaborations they have produced magazines, CD-ROMs, Internet sites and built sound systems. Their early releases were on their own Universal Egg label, until in 1995 they signed to China Records. They caused a furore with the publicity campaign for their 'Homegrown fantasy' album. Zion Train are one of the finest live dub acts in the world and promote the practice of dynamic onstage dub mixing which they perform alongside acoustic instruments and singers. Back on their own Universal Egg label since 1999, they have continued to release quality dub, electronica and world dance music. Their work from the past decade and a half still sounds fresh to today's discerning ears. 2005 saw the reissue of the bands seminal and long unavailable first and second albums; 'A Passage To Indica' and 'Natural Wonders Of The World In Dub' remastered and redesigned. 2006 saw the re-release of the third album 'Siren', which was thought by many to herald the birth of the dub-dance vibe that swept the globe in the 1990s. A new album entitled 'Live As One' was released in September 2007.



01 - Shining Light Steppers (4:19)
02 - Plunging into Darkness (4:21)
03 - Earthrush (3:28)
04 - Watching Deep Water (5:32 )
05 - Customs Check (6:18 )
06 - Daybreak (4:51)
07 - Arrival (7:02)
08 - Burning Indica (4:53)
09 - Power One / Dub Power (7:46)
10 - Power Two / Dub to Power (9:09 )
11 - Revival / Sending out a Positive Message (8:45)

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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

Jan 28, 2008

Don't Panic ! (16)



Hello, Don't Panic ! The HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy is still answering all the questions you can think of, even if it takes a 1,000 lifetimes. Well is Arthur Dent in need of another improbability event ? Find out in this weeks episode.

Last weeks recap:

Slartibartfast shows Ford and Arthur an Informational Illusion about the Krikkit Wars and the Wikkit Gate, and that the game of cricket on Earth is a "racial memory" of the Wars. Investigating further, they discover that the Krikkitmen, a previously peaceful people, built their first spaceship in a year, after a spaceship landed on their planet. The planet and its sun had been previously obscured in a dust cloud that left the Krikketmen unaware of the existence or even possibility of existence of stars. It is considered remarkable that they constructed a working ship in just a year. After they saw the rest of the universe existed, they decided to annihilate it. Meanwhile, on the Heart of Gold, Zaphod Beeblebrox hears the noise of thousands of people saying "Wop". He intercepts them on the bridge, where he is told they want the "Golden Bail", the ship's Infinite Improbability Drive. They take it, shoot him, and leave.

Back on Slartibartfast's ship, Ford and Arthur watch the Krikkit War Crimes Trial, presided over by Judiciary Pag. Pag's sentence is that Krikkit will be locked in an envelope of "Slo-Time", until the universe has ended, when it will be released, thus saving the universe from attack from Krikkit, and allowing Krikkit to exist in isolation after the end of the universe. However, a Krikkit ship escaped. Slartibartfast notes that parts of the key to the Wikkit Gate, sealing the envelope of Slo-Time, have been re-appearing. After a failed attempt to recover the Wooden Pillar (the Ashes), Slartibartfast plans to go to a party, to locate the Silver Bail. Ford disagrees with this objective but agrees with the concept of going to a party. They teleport from the ship. Arthur does not materialise with Ford and Slartibartfast, but elsewhere, in a gloomy room, with signs such as "DO NOT BE ALARMED. BE VERY VERY FRIGHTENED, ARTHUR DENT". The episode ends on a cliff-hanger, with the previously unintroduced character of Agrajag saying "Bet you weren't expecting to see me again."


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THHGTTG - Fit 16 (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

Jan 27, 2008

Sundaze (16)

Hello, SunDaze finalises the seventies story of Cluster and the birth of Krautrock with an album that said out a course for Moebius and Roedelius and even Kraftwerk, Neu ! was new indeed, unfortuantely the two members didnt see eye to eye anymore within a few years and bad blood prefailed for decades, fortunately they did ultimately agree on releasing one of the three remasters they made for every album they did (3), the one here is for their eponymous debut album, some say its a precursers to Kraftwerks Autobahn, well i guess you could drive that one out yourselves...Well Michael Rother was a kindred spirit with Cluster so their cooperation in Harmonia made sense and three great albums were released ( see previous Sundazes). Cluster themselves found themselves a full duo again after Eno had veered off to become a sought after producer, besides releasing his amnient series. At the end of that eventful decade they released Grosses Wasser (big body of water) produced by Tangerine Dream's Peter Baumann not unlike their previous albums. With Curiosum they tried an offbeat path, but considering they stopped working together for eight years afterwards i'd say they considered their chemistry had been used up and they went looking for inspiration elsewhere.

For now this concludes my 4 part special on Cluster and friends, 12 albums some sure made musical history and changed the way electronic music was percieved. I may come back to Cluster and show what they've been up to the years that have passed since.

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Neu! - Neu! (71 ^ 99mb)

Drummer Klaus Dinger had joined Kraftwerk midway through sessions for their eponymous debut album. Guitarist Michael Rother was then recruited to the Kraftwerk line-up on completion of the album.Kraftwerk founder Ralf Hütter left the band at this point, and for a 6 month period, Kraftwerk consisted of a trio of Rother, Dinger & Florian Schneider. Attempted recording sessions at Conny Plank's studio were unsuccessful, and Dinger and Rother parted company from Schneider and began a new project with Plank: Neu! (Schneider rejoined Hütter and the pair continued recording the second Kraftwerk album with Plank.)

Their eponymous first album sold very little by our standards today (though 30,000 records was a lot for a band of their musical nature), yet is today considered a masterpiece by many. It included the Motorik benchmark tracks "Hallogallo" and "Negativland", and bizarre "songs" like "Sonderangebot" (special sale). Dinger's mechanical, cut time drumming and Rother's two-note bass runs adorned with cleverly manipulated and dreamy guitar riffs and fills were the hallmarks of the "motorik" sound that would become the band's trademark.

Their second album, Neu! 2, features some of the earliest examples of musical remixes. The band, excited to record another album, decided to expand their limits by purchasing several instruments. With the money they had left as an advance from the record company, they could only record half an album's worth of material. To rectify the lack of material, the band filled the second side with manipulated versions of their already released single, "Neuschnee"/"Super". Dinger and Rother were both very different , and this showed on their final album of the 1970s, Neu! '75. Side One was Rother's more ambient productions which were similar to the first album, side two was acknowledged as important influence by many later involved in the UK's punk rock scene, with Dinger's sneering, unintelligible vocals searing across a distorted Motorik beat with aggressive single chord guitar poundings. Well they split afterwards..Rother had been working with Cluster in Harmonia and made another album this included Eno aswell (Harmonia 76). before going on solo.. The Neu ! falling out caused it to take 25 years before official cd remastered releases became available.



01 - Hallogallo (10:07)
02 - Sonderangerbot (4:50)
03 - Weissensee (6:42)
04 - Im Glück (6:52)
05 - Negativland (9:46)
06 - Lieber Honig (7:15)

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Cluster - Grosses Wasser ( 79 ^ 83mb )

Grosses Wasser is the seventh album by the electronic music outfit Cluster. It was co-produced by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann. Grosses Wasser marked the return to Cluster working as a duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius after two albums collaborating with Brian Eno. Grosses Wasser was recorded and released in 1979 on the Hamburg, Germany based Sky label. It featured a wide variety of styles, including some of the most avant-garde material created by Moebius and Roedelius, particularly during the middle section of the title track, which occupied all of side 2. Other tracks, including "Manchmal" and both the opening and closing sections of "Grosses Wasser" continued the gentle, melodic style of the previous three albums, while others echoed the rhythmic style of Zuckerzeit, albeit with more of an edge.



1 - Avanti (4:32)
2 - Prothese (2:10)
3 - Isodea (4:02)
4 - Breitengrad 20 (4:00)
5 - Manchmal (2:03)
6 - Grosses Wasser (18:34)

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Cluster - Curiosum (81 ^ 74mb)

Curiosum is the eigth album by the electronic music outfit Cluster. It was also the final collaboration between Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius before an eight year hiatus. Curiosum was recorded in May, 1981 at Hamet Hof in Vienna, Austria and released later that year. The album was Cluster's last release for Sky. It lives up to it's name, with the seven relatively short tracks of offbeat and unusual melodies.



01 - Oh Odessa (3:06)
02 - Proantipro (7:00)
03 - Seltsame Gegend (7:31)
04 - Helle Melange (3:36)
05 - Tristan In Der Bar (2:56)
06 - Charlic (4:20)
07 - Ufer (8:13)

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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

Jan 26, 2008

Rhotation (16) Into BPM

Hello, after the busiest week on record at Rho-Xs (almost 6,000 unique visits) INTO BPM goes dance 1990 with the Stereo MC's. Everybody knows Connected that great pick-up dance track (not too wild) , but the album they made before that remains my favourite, turns out the US got a censored version, can't get too stoned like when "motherman"Africa Bambaata rambles on about his favourite artists , anyway Supernatural provided the gateway for the following success, specially with remixes, albumwise they seem to have had too little pressures-being their own bosses and as we know smokin lots of weed keeps it in great ideas phase. Well currently they are doing a lot of Dj'íng. Deee-Lite burst on the scene with a great album a mega hit..more great ideas, media darlings, but somehow within 2 years they were yesterdays news, unsure what happened there. Adamski too suffered from the Killer hit on his album, and this when the album could well do without out it . Seal on the other hand , made and still makes tons of big mac from it. Personally i find his 'semenkilling' voice/singing one of the most irritating around, yuk ! Another british dance act that made the music headlines in 90 were the Happy Mondays, i compiled a selection from their 3 hits from their Pills and Thrills and Bellyaches album.

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Stereo MC's - Supernatural ( 90, 70min.^150mb)

Stereo MC's formed in London in 1985, when rapper Rob B. (born Rob Birch) and DJ/producer the Head (Nick Hallam) formed the Gee Street label as a means of promoting their music, with eviction money they were given to leave their London flat. Gee Street soon signed a distribution deal with the New York-based 4th & Broadway label, and a series of singles followed before they recorded the debut Stereo MCs' album 33-45-78 (1989) on a shoestring budget with DJ Cesare, drummer Owen If and backing singer, Cath Coffey.

After the departure of founding member Cesare, the group -- now consisting of Rob B., the Head, drummer Owen If (born Owen Rossiter), and vocalist Cath Coffey -- issued the 1990 single "Elevate My Mind," which became the first British rap single ever to reach the U.S. pop charts. Following the release of the album Supernatural, Stereo MC's toured with the Happy Mondays and EMF. For their live shows, they assembled a live band including singers Andrea Bedassie and Verona Davis, and were one of the few hip hop outfits to play rock music festivals at the time. These acclaimed live shows paved the way for 1992's breakthrough Connected, For their live shows, they assembled a live band including singers Andrea Bedassie and Verona Davis, and were one of the few hip hop outfits to play rock music festivals at the time. These acclaimed live shows paved the way for 1992's breakthrough Connected, a sample-free album recorded completely with live instruments , which spawned the smashes "Connected", "Step It Up", "Creation" and "Ground Level", and won them BRIT Awards for Best Group and Best Album.

Throughout several years of production and remix work, the group's long-awaited (and oft-delayed) follow-up remained unreleased. For their 2000 mix album DJ Kicks, Stereo MC's recorded three new tracks, "Rhino, Pts. 1-3," and finally in 2001 issued a new album, Deep Down & Dirty, after a long nine-year hiatus, followed by a tour, their latest album, Paradise, was released in 2005.



01 - I'm A Believer (4:35)
02 - Scene Of The Crime (4:04)
03 - Declaration (2:55)
04 - Elevate My Mind (Voc.Cath Coffey) (3:19)
05 - Watcha Gonna Do? (Voc. Afrika Baby Bambaataa) (3:55)
06 - Two Horse Town (5:11)
07 - Ain't Got Nobody (4:38)
08 - Goin' Back To The Wild (4:31)
09 - Lost In Music (4:34)
10 - Life On The Line (3:57)
11 - The Other Side (Voc.Lisette Santiago) (4:42)
12 - Set Me Loose (3:29)
13 - What's The Word (3:39)
14 - Early One Morning (3:43)
15 - Smokin' With The Motherman (Voc. Afrika Baby Bambaataa) (7:47)
16 - Relentless (4:43)

diet version
Stereo MC's - Supernatural (90 , 70min.* 99mb)
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Deee-Lite - World Clique (90 ^ 99mb)

Formed in 1986, the trio was led by vocalist Lady Miss Kier (born Kieren Kirby in Youngstown, Ohio) and fleshed out by a pair of DJs, Super DJ Dmitry (a classically-trained guitarist and Russian emigre born Dmitry Brill) and Jungle DJ Towa Towa (born Doug Wa-Chung in Tokyo, Japan). Altogether, they started to compose music using samples, drum loops and sound effects. Fusing house, techno, rap, ambient and funk music with an outrageous visual flair largely influenced by the drag-queen community (Kier's fondness for Fluevog platform shoes helped the 1970s fashion revival gather steam), Deee-Lite became hugely popular among New York club denizens, and the trio's own unique cultural make-up earned them a following which ignored racial and sexual boundaries.

In 1990, they debuted with the album World Clique, a crossover smash thanks to hits like the loping classic "Groove Is in the Heart" it defined the summer of 1990 on radio and MTV with its delicious combination of funk, modern dance sheen, and Lady Miss Kier's smart, sharp diva ways. Add in guest vocals and bass from Bootsy Collins (a pity his hilarious video cameo wasn't represented here), brass from the original Horny Horns duo of Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker, and a smooth mid-song rap from A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, and the results sounded good then and now. The rest of World Clique offers variations on the song's theme, with Kier's sweet, light vocals and DJs Dimitri and Towa Tei making it work in various ways. It's still a bit surprising that Kier didn't go on to greater fame on her own, because she definitely has not merely the pipes but the personality to carry something on her own .

With their 1992 follow-up Infinity Within, Deee-Lite's music turned overtly political as songs touched base with hot topics like the environment, safe sex and democracy. Towa Towa left the group soon after; rechristened Towa Tei, he released his solo debut Future Listening in 1995. Kier and Dmitry, meanwhile, enlisted DJ Ani for 1994's Dewdrops in the Garden, a sensual outing influenced by the growing rave culture. After the release of 1996's remix album Sampladelic Relics and Dancefloor Oddities, Deee-Lite disbanded.



01 - Deee-Lite Theme (2:09)
02 - Good Beat (4:38)
03 - Power Of Love (4:41)
04 - Try Me On...I'm Very You (5:18)
05 - Smile On (3:58)
06 - What Is Love? (3:40)
07 - World Clique (3:23)
08 - E.S.P. (3:44)
09 - Groove Is In The Heart (Voc.Q-Tip) (3:51)
10 - Who Was That? (4:36)
11 - Deep Ending (3:49)
12 - Build the Bridge (Voc.Bill Coleman) (4:31)

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Adamski - Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy (90mb, 71min. * 99mb)

Born in the late ' 60s, Adamski (born Adam Tinley) appeared to have reached the perfect age for recording twenty years later, square in the middle of Britain's acid house boom. In fact, he had made his chart debut a decade earlier with the adolescent punk band the Stupid Babies and Baby Sitters, with his five-year-old brother Dominic on vocals, even recorded a radio session for John Peel. Also a member of the post-punk hip-hop band Diskord Datkord during the mid- '80s, Tinley became interested in house music by the end of the decade. After meeting Chicagoan Jimi Polo, who learned him the basics of the sequencer , Adam Tinley adopted his stage name after the UFO enthusiast, George Adamski, and began playing live at warehouse parties and raves around London.

He signed with MCA by the end of the decade and debuted with "N-R-G," a number 12 hit in the U.K. Adamski enjoyed modest success with his first release, "Live and Direct" which was a collection of tracks recorded live at a small venue in Kentish Town, London. It contained a short, live version of his first single, "NRG" made the charts, his subsequent single, "Killer," wisely forestalled the (recognizable) samples and hit number one -- it featured the collaboration of his brother, programmer and sound engineer, Mark Tinley. "Killer" crossed over into the mainstream music charts, becoming a massive worldwide hit. It is featured on the album, Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy, with follow-up hits such "The Space Jungle" (which was Adamski singing Elvis' "All Shook Up" to a dance backing) and "Flashback Jack".

Adamski's second album was Naughty. It featured a collaboration with Nina Hagen on "Get Your Body!" and plenty of club tunes, expanding from the artist's acid house roots into the pop and rock genres. Commercially, however, this album was not a big success. His third album, Adamski's Thing, was issued in late 1998 on the ZTT Records label, the style followed the trend started with Naughty, with lots of guitars, strings, raw vocals and introspective lyrics, but maintaining a rhythmic dance sensibility. In the early 2000s, Adam Tinley decided to assume a new identity: He is now producing as Adam Sky, and has released a handful of 12" under this moniker , he set up his own label (Prostitute Records), he currently lives in Spain with his daughters, Bluebell Williams Tinley and Ariella Tinley.



01 - Flashback Jack (4:23)
02 - Eighth House (4:18)
03 - Future Freak (3:15)
04 - Squiggy Groove (4:44)
05 - Soul Kitsch Inc (5:28)
06 - Killer (Voc.Seal )(4:10)
07 - Space Jungle (3:50)
08 - Future Freak (Supernova Bossanova) (7:18)
09 - Everything Is Fine (4:19)
10 - I Want You Back (Voc.Kurtis Blow) (5:26)
11 - N.R.G. Symphony In F Minor (8:24)
12 - Pipe Groover (4:32)
13 - Space Jungle (Earthquake Mix) (6:09)
14 - Over Killer (4:54)


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Happy Mondays - P,T,B, Twelvers (90 ^ 99mb)

Late eighties/early nineties party animals Happy Mondays all but ruined Factory Records with their doped up outlook on life, no wonder then that Monday meant just the start of another party week to them, therefore the name Happy Mondays is self evident. Here are three cd singles from their Pills and Thrills and Bellyaches album, which recently has been remastered and refitted with extra tracks, a bonus disk and a dvd , all to entice you to buy it again..well consider this a teaser i omitted the Kinky Afro Radio version and mixed the 3x3 tracks into a sensible order.



01 - Step On (One Louder Mix) (6:14)
02 - Loose Fit (edit (3:55)
03 - Kinky Afro (12"mix) (5:07)
04 - Step On (Twistin My Melon Mix) (5:55)
05 - Bob's Yer Uncle (ext) (6:15)
06 - Kinky Afro (euro mix) (7:32)
07 - Step On (Stuff It In Mix) (5:54)
08 - Kinky Afro (Live) (6:36)

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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

Jan 25, 2008

Into The Groove (15)

Hello, Into The Groove takes you behind the Prince extended musical family screen today. At the time-early eighties Prince was just bubbling over with music and ideas, not everything fitted his own 'style' and so many a musician suffered the fate of being the brilliant masters mouthpiece-as it where. Now this is putting it rather sharp but Prince really had no time to argue as it where, and as he was generous in giving the songwriting credits(money) away..whats there to complain. So Apollonia (Kotero) lost out big after she gave the impression not being in on it, just the one-this album then. Sheila E however had her own skills and background and did write her own stuff, and she and Prince would have made a great duo but then there can be only one...oh well i guess Erotic City remained a Prince fantasy. Now The Family was a Prince vehicle from start to finish, a great album and afterwards the lifting off point for Sinead O'Connors career with nothing compares to u, it has to be said Sineads dramatic female voice comes across a lot more intense, though i feel Prince himself would convince, anyway he's present on the album (incognito). ( All 3 vinyl rips btw)

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Apollonia 6 - Apollonia 6 ( 84 ^ 79mb)

After a number of disputes with Prince, Denise Matthews, also known as Vanity, the lead singer of Prince-created Vanity 6, fled the Prince entourage in 1983 to pursue solo endeavors recording with Motown Records and acting in films. She left open an acting position for the role written for her by Prince in the film Purple Rain. After a frantic casting call actress and model Patricia Kotero, renamed as "Apollonia" by Prince stepped into Vanity's role, as well as in the fragmented group, Vanity 6. The other two members of Vanity 6, Brenda Bennett and Susan Moonsie, joined Apollonia and reformed the group as Apollonia 6 for the film and one album, Jill Jones and Wendy and Lisa did the backing vocals. Apollonia 6 had a top 10 pop and R&B hit with the single "Sex Shooter" in 1984. Prince had originally intended his classic tracks "Manic Monday" (The Bangles), "17 Days", and "The Glamorous Life" (Sheila E. in 1984) for the Apollonia 6 album, but he soon lost interest in the project when he became convinced that Apollonia was only there to fulfill her job's obligations and would not be continuing with his group after her contractual obligations to completing the film and one album were fulfilled. And so ended the short and sharp career of Apollonia 6, even though their one album had been a certified platinum success.



1 - Happy Birthday, Mr. Christian (7:05)
2 - Sex Shooter (3:37)
3 - Blue Limousine (6:14)
4 - A Million Miles (I Love You) (5:48)
5 - Oo She She Wa Wa (4:09)
6 - Some Kinda Lover (4:44)
7 - In A Spanish Villa (2:09)

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Sheila E. - Romance 1600 (85 ^ 95mb)

Sheila Escovedo is the daughter of percussionist Pete Escovedo, with whom she frequently performs. Sheila E's uncle is Alejandro Escovedo, formerly with Delphine Neid's first-wave punk rock group The Nuns, now with The Alejandro Escovedo Orchestra. The late Tito Puente was Sheila's godfather. Escovedo is of Mexican, African American, and Creole heritage. Coke Escovedo was also her uncle. She made her recording debut with jazz bassist Alphonso Johnson, "Yesterday's Dream" (1976). She is a drummer and percussionist and also plays violin and guitar.

Prince saw Sheila performing at a concert with her father in the early 80s and was thoroughly impressed by her talent, after the show he met her. The two would eventually join forces during the Purple Rain recording sessions, though taken under Prince's wing, she proved to be a successful artist in her own right. In 1984 she scored hits with "The Glamorous Life" and "The Belle Of St. Mark" In 1985 she scored another hit with "A Love Bizarre" . She opened for Prince on his wildly successful Purple Rain Tour in 1984–85. Sheila recorded three albums during the '80s, The Glamorous Life, Romance 1600, and Sheila E. and, she is well-known for her co-vocals with Prince on his most famous B-side single, "Erotic City" from 1984.

During the Prince's Sign 'O' the Times and the Lovesexy World Tour she served as musical director and drummer in his highly regarded backup band, dubbed the New Power Generation not long after her departure. She also served as a writer and musician on many of Prince's records, as well as on the albums of his protégées such as Madhouse. After leaving the Prince organization in 1989, Sheila recorded a few more albums, Sex Cymbal, Writes of Passage, and Heaven. However, the albums garnered little attention, i guess the music biz has no use for independent, smart, talented and (very) good looking latino women ( "role models-please no we need druggies that bend over"). Whatever, Sheila E is a musician and she still performs, occasionally backing Prince aswell, but i guess you'll have to check her website for her gigs.



1 - Sister Fate (3:52)
2 - Dear Michaelangelo (4:37)
3 - A Love Bizarre (12:08)
4 - Toy Box (5:31)
5 - Yellow (2:09)
6 - Romance 1600 (3:53)
7 - Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer (Instrumental) (2:45)
8 - Bedtime Story (3:38)

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The Family - The Family (85 ^ 85mb)

The band's origins started with the disintegration of The Time in 1984. Lead singer Morris Day had left the band to pursue a solo careeras did guitarist Jesse Johnson soon after. The Time had served as an outlet for Prince to release more music, he invited the remaining members of The Time: Jellybean Johnson, Jerome Benton and Paul Peterson to his home and presented them with his new project, with Peterson (renamed St. Paul) as the new frontman and bassist, Johnson and Benton reprised their familiar roles from The Time. To the mix, Prince added his then girlfriend Susannah Melvoin as a backing singer and keyboardist. The fifth member was Eric Leeds, the brother of Prince's tour manager Alan Leeds, who provided saxophone and flute. Guitarist Miko Weaver was credited in the album's booklet but for some reason he wasn't officially a member of the band (Prince didnt want to be credited at all.) The band's name, "The Family."

Much like The Time, the band's material was composed nearly entirely by Prince, with the exception of "River Run Dry", which was written by Revolution drummer, Bobby Z. Prince wrote and performed all the other tracks and simply overdubbed Peterson's and Melvoin's vocals and added saxophone and flute by Leeds. Indeed, on several tracks, Prince's vocals can be clearly heard. As on other associates' albums, Prince falsely gave credit to the various band members for writing credits, though he kept his name on "Nothing Compares 2 U." The tracks were all recorded in a few weeks' span, at the end of the year 1984, after Prince had finished sessions for Around The World In A Day and just before he started to record music for Sheila E.'s Romance 1600 and his own Parade. Although the band performed a single concert and released a self-titled album and a single (of which the video shows Eric Leeds playing bass because this particular track contained no saxophone!), the project turned out to be short-lived. Peterson felt constricted by Prince's control and opted to pursue his own career. Without a lead singer, Prince lost interest and absorbed most of the remaining members into the expanded Revolution.

"The Family" was a relatively important album in Prince's musical career because it allowed him to test several musical concepts that he would later fully integrate in his music. First, it was the true beginning of his long-term collaboration with Eric Leeds. Leeds co-wrote the two instrumental tracks on the album, which were Prince's first step into jazz fusion, a genre he'd later explore even more with his Madhouse side-project,it also marks Prince's first collaboration with composer and arranger Clare Fischer, as well as the first time Prince added a symphonic orchestra to his music.



1 - High Fashion (5:04)
2 - Mutiny (3:53)
3 - The Screams of Passion (5:21)
4 - Yes (4:20)
5 - River Runs Dry (3:28)
6 - Nothing Compares 2 U (4:28)
7 - Susannah's Pajamas (3:55)
8 - Desire (4:54)

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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

Jan 24, 2008

Alphabet Soup (15)

Hello, Alphabet Soup day reaching O today, hmm i had to think whether i should post the first one, i admit i got a lot of mixed feelings about Oasis as their career progressed, i was beginning to think it was all hot air spread by the UK tabloid music press, always ready for hype and scandal, that said they were the radio sound of 94, so...Beth Orton seems to have a knack for being on the right place at the right time..it certainly started of her music career, and the musicpress immediately had a sweet spot for her aswell. However, dont think her life is all rosy, far from it, but then a serious artist needs inspiration, niot that she derieves it all from her own aches , she's a well known opponent of the War on Terror, and refuses to sell her face for advertising. All of her recent releases are "carbon neutral", whereby a tree is planted in a poor area of Mexico for every 1000 (?) cdees sold. Oceansize's mission statement was to make the biggest music possible, those Mancunians sure think big, well they impressed me with their 'etheral wall of noise' .

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Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory (95 ^ 99mb)

Oasis evolved from an earlier band called The Rain, comprised of Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass guitar), Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Tony McCarroll (drums) and Chris Hutton (vocals). Unsatisfied with Hutton, Arthurs auditioned acquaintance Liam Gallagher as a replacement. After Gallagher joined the group, the band's name was changed to Oasis. Noel Gallagher, who was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets, went with the band to watch his youngest brother's band play, he began to consider his brother's group as a possible outlet for songs he had been writing for years. Noel approached the group about joining, with the provision that he would become the band's sole songwriter and leader, and that they would commit to an earnest pursuit of commercial success.
After over a year of live shows, rehearsals and even taking the time out to record a proper demo (known as the Live Demonstration tape), the band's big break came in May 1993 when they were spotted by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee. Due to problems securing an American contract, Oasis ended up signing a worldwide contract with Sony, which in turn licensed Oasis to Creation in the UK.

Oasis first single, "Supersonic", was released in April 1994, followed by "Shakermaker". Their third single, "Live Forever", was their first to enter the Top 10 of the UK charts. After troubled recording and mixing sessions, their debut album, Definitely Maybe, was released in September 1994, entering the charts at number one. Oasis had their first UK number one in April 1995 with "Some Might Say", the first single from their second album. At the same time, drummer Tony McCarroll was ousted from the band, replaced by Londoner Alan White. Oasis began recording material for their second album in May of that year during this period, the English press hyped Oasis some more and supposed rivalry between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur. Oasis' second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was a commercial success, becoming the third largest selling album of all time in the UK with over four million copies sold, despite a softer sound had led to mixed reviews. Oasis spent the end of 1996 and the first quarter of 1997 at Abbey Road Studios in London and Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey recording their third album. Be Here Now was released in August 1997.

Although early media reviews were positive, once the hype had died down, the album was criticised for being bloated and derivative with most of the critics focused on the extensive length of several songs, the heavier sound, and overproduction. The Britpop movement was over and the band failed to meet expectations with Be Here Now. After the conclusion of the disastrous Be Here Now tour, amidst huge media criticism the group decided to stay clear of each other and kept a low profile throughout 1998. In early 1999, the band began work on their fourth studio album, founding member Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs departure was announced in August. Two weeks later the departure of bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan was announced. The now three-piece Oasis chose to continue recording the album, with Noel Gallagher re-recording most of Arthurs' guitar and McGuigan's bass parts.

The first new member to be announced was new lead/rhythm guitarist Colin "Gem" Archer, formerly of Heavy Stereo, they brought in Andy Bell, as their new bassist. Bell had never played bass before and had to learn to play it, along with a handful of songs from Oasis' back catalogue, in preparation for a scheduled tour of America in December 1999. With the folding of Creation Records, Oasis formed their own label, Big Brother, which released all of Oasis' subsequent records in the UK and Ireland. Oasis' fourth album, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, was released in February 2000 to good first-week sales, but turned out their lowest selling album ever. The album, Heathen Chemistry, Oasis' first album with new members Andy Bell and Gem Archer, was released in July 2002. it reached number one in the UK and number 23 in US, despite mixed reviews. The record blended the band's sonic experiments from their last albums, but also went for a more basic rock sound, with all of the members, apart from White, penning songs.

After the album's release, the band embarked on a successful world tour that as usual again filled with incidents. Early 2004 longtime drummer Alan White, who at this time had played on nearly all of the band's material, left the band he was replaced by Zak Starkey, drummer of The Who and the son of Beatles' Ringo Starr. After much turbulence, the band's sixth album was finally recorded in Los Angeles-based Capitol Studios from October to December the same year. Spring 05 Oasis released their sixth studio album, Don't Believe the Truth, fulfilling their contract with Sony BMG, like Heathen Chemistry it was a collaborative project again, rather than a Noel-written album. The record was generally hailed as the band's best effort since (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by fans and critics alike. In May 2005, the band's new line-up, with all original core members gone, embarked on a large scale year long world tour, headlining 110 shows and playing to 1.7 million people. Surprisingly the tour passed without any major incidents. Oasis' seventh studio album has been confirmed for a 2008 release.....



01 - Hello (3:21)
02 - Roll With It (3:59)
03 - Wonderwall (4:18)
04 - Don't Look Back In Anger (4:48)
05 - Hey Now! (5:41)
06 - (the Swamp Song) (0:44)
07 - Some Might Say (5:29)
08 - Cast No Shadow (4:51)
09 - She's Electric (3:40)
10 - Morning Glory (5:08)
11 - (the Swamp Song) (0:39)
12 - Champagne Supernova (7:27)

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Beth Orton - Central Reservation (99

Orton was born in East Dereham, Norfolk, but raised on a pig farm in Norwich for her formative years, before moving to East London at age fourteen. Her mother died from cancer in 1989, when Beth was aged 19, which led to her travelling to Thailand for a short period, residing with Buddhist nuns. Orton found success as a musician relatively late, having first worked at menial jobs such as waitressing at Pizza Hut and even owning her own catering company. Her first contribution in music came when she met William Orbit at a London nightclub, when he tried to borrow a cigarette from her. Orbit's pick up line worked and a relationship came about shortly after. Before long he invited her to do some spoken word for his current Strange Cargo project, but she drunkenly decided to sing also. Shortly after, Orton and Orbit began experimenting to pull an L.P. together. "Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil" became the first track on that album, called SuperPinkyMandy, named after a rag doll which she bought at a jumble sale at the age of six, the album was released in Japan alone, in extremely limited numbers.

It was roughly at this time that she met Ed and Tom of the Chemical Brothers in a pub, and began the first in a series of collaborations, supplying vocals to the track "Alive Alone" on 1995's Exit Planet Dust. Her first solo release, what she herself considers to be her debut L.P. Trailer Park, was released October 1996. This release was well received by critics, and sold modestly well, it earned her nominations for two BRIT Awards (best British newcomer, best British female), and the Mercury Music Prize in 1997. The album was produced by Andrew Weatherall, whom she selected based on his production of one of her favourite records at the time, Primal Scream's Screamadelica. The album was far removed from her electronic roots, with a lot more pop/folk tunes present. Central Reservation, her second album, helped Orton build on the success of her debut. Although retaining the electronic edge of the former, this record showed a notably more acoustic side with several tracks consisting purely of Beth's vocal accompanied by a solitary acoustic guitar, with subject matters becoming more introspective. The album earned Orton a second Mercury Music Prize nomination and the Best Female Artist award at the 2000 BRIT Awards.

In July 2002 she released the album Daybreaker, which again blended the early electronica style, with up tempo pop songs and acoustic ballads. It featured guest appearances from musicians such as The Chemical Brothers, Emmylou Harris, it was her greatest commercial success.Orton's fourth studio album Comfort of Strangers was released in February 2006, it sees her move away from the electronica element that she is usually associated with, to a more stripped down traditional alt-folk album.



01 - Stolen Car (5:25)
02 - Sweetest Decline (5:39)
03 - Couldn't Cause Me Harm (4:48)
04 - So Much More (5:41)
05 - Pass In Time (7:17)
06 - Central Reservation (Original Version) (4:50)
07 - Stars All Seem To Weep (4:39)
08 - Love Like Laughter (3:07)
09 - Blood Red River (4:15)
10 - Devil Song (5:04)
11 - Feel To Believe (4:04)
12 - Central Reservation (The Then Again Version) (4:01)


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Oceansize - Effloresce ( 03, 75 min. ^ 175mb)

When Oceansize christened themselves back at the start of the third millennium, they didn’t just pick a name, they set themselves a challenge. Their mission statement was to make the biggest music possible, adventures on the high seas of future-rock giganticism that could never, ever stop. It also meant that every album they made would have to be even bigger, heavier, than the last one.

Formed in Manchester, England, the band featured vocalist/guitarist Mike Vennart, guitarists Gambler and Steve Durose, bassist Jon Ellis, and drummer Mark Herrin. Quickly building a local following, they issued several independent releases -- the "Saturday Morning Breakfast Show" single, the 2000 EP Amputee, the 2001 EP A Very Still Movement -- that got them named Manchester's best unsigned band. Until Beggar's Banquet signed Oceansize that year and quickly issued their first widely distributed EP, Relapse. A tour with Cave In followed, and in early 2003 Oceansize delivered another EP, One Day All This Could Be Yours, which served as a teaser for their first full-length and received much positive response from the press. That first album, Effloresce bursts forth epic, moody soundscapes with feverish punk edges and ethereal electronics for an aggressive guitar storm. Influences range from Jane's Addiction, The Verve, Swervedriver, Tool and Tortoise.to Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine.

The dark and moody ‘Everyone Into Position’ follow up album (05), proved Manchester’s kings of post-metal had succeeded squarely on their own terms. Their song Meredith was featured on the popular television drama The O.C., and Music For A Nurse became the soundtrack to an Orange advertising campaign entitled Fish during summer 2006 . Meanwhile Oceansize found themselves at a new crossroads, a change in personal circumstances led to the departure of founding bass player Jon Ellis. This in itself invoked plenty of soul-searching, since the band’s peculiar, five-brained alchemy had seen them seal an early pact where if one member was to leave, the band would split. However, Jon was insistent they should continue. The search for a new fifth member was far and wide, until they realised the answer was right on their own doorstep. Steven Hodson, who had been playing bass in Mark’s hardcore side project, Kong. A ‘wisecracking weirdo’ from a hardcore punk background.

With a revised line-up and a renewed sense of purpose came a new home. After a successful two-album relationship with Beggars Banquet, Oceansize have moved on to Superball, a new imprint created in their honour, and with a mandate to sign up like-minded bands from all over Europe. Their third sense of adventure ‘Frames’,(07) uncompromising in its heaviosity, of bonecrushing experimentation, mixing, erm, ultimate warrior wrestling music but also beautiful classical flourishes weaving magic out of unfamiliar time signatures.



01 - I Am The Morning (4:18)
02 - Catalyst (6:40)
03 - One Day All This Could Be Yours (4:19)
04 - Massive Bereavement (9:59)
05 - Rinsed (3:58)
06 - You Wish (6:00)
07 - Remember Where You Are (5:22)
08 - Amputee (5:32)
09 - Unravel (2:50)
10 - Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs (8:30)
11 - Saturday Morning Breakfast Show (9:04)
12 - Long Forgotten (8:57)

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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

Jan 23, 2008

Eight-X (15)

Hello, Eight-X ears its musical head again. One of those singer sonwriters that has been consistently putting out albums ever since his career started, when he was dubbed one of the angry young men, has been releasing albums for 32 years now, big success has eluded him, but then he kept his inspiration... And obviously an artist like that has his cult following, the album here was his third and has a strange story attached, after it all had been recorded and put to tape, it turned out the tape was rotten and they had to rerecord everything and quickly as tour obligations stood out, the result a semi live studio album, where frustration about so much incompetance from the studio, adds some venom. Alas knowledge of all this opened the door to critique on the album itself, yet i think it's a fine record by Graham Parker & The Rumour. Rupert Hine has been prominent on the background of musicscene, with his production work he scored some major accolades, his early eighties solowork is still seen as belonging to the best synth pop of the day, Immunity started off that run. EBM music came from mainland Europe, DAF laying out the path picked up by the likes of Front 242, and furthered by Nitzer Ebb who threw in some mean Killing Joke and evolved the path, here's their first album That Total Age.

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Parker, Graham - Stick to Me (77 ^ 96mb)

After spending much of his early adulthood working odd jobs, Parker began seriously pursuing a musical career in 1975. Until that time, he had played in a number of obscure pub rock groups, but it wasn't until Dave Robinson, one of the co-founders of the new independent label Stiff, heard one of Parker's demo tapes and encouraged the songwriter, helping him assemble a backing band called the Rumour. Robinson rounded up several stars of the pub rock scene -- guitarist Brinsley Schwarz and keyboardist Bob Andrews, guitarist Martin Belmont, drummer Steve Goulding, and bassist Andrew Bodnar -- to form the Rumour, and the band was soon supporting Parker on the dying pub rock scene. With the assistance of DJ Charlie Gillett, the group landed a record contract with Mercury by the end of 1975.

Graham Parker & the Rumour headed into the studio to cut their debut album with producer Nick Lowe, who gave the resulting record, Howlin' Wind, an appealingly ragged edge. Howlin' Wind was greeted with enthusiastic reviews upon its summer release, as did the similar Heat Treatment, which followed in the fall. Despite the positive press, Parker was growing frustrated with Mercury, believing that the company was not properly promoting and distributing his records. His third album, Stick to Me, had to be re-recorded quickly after the original tapes were discovered to be defective prior to its scheduled release. As a result, Stick to Me received mixed reviews upon its fall 1977 release, which derailed Parker's momentum slightly. Frustrated by his career hitting a standstill, Parker released the live double album "The Parkerilla" in the summer of 1978 in order to get out of his contract. Parker signed to Arista Records, where he released "Mercury Poisoning" -- a blistering attack on his former record label -- as the B-side of a promotional single as his first record for the label.

"Squeezing Out Sparks", Parker's first album for Arista, put a halt to that decline. Sporting a slicker, new wave-oriented production -- it was the first of his records not to have any involvement from Nick Lowe -- the album was greeted with terrific reviews and, on the strengths of radio hits like "Local Girls," it became his most successful album, selling over 200,000 copies. Parker was poised for a major breakthrough, but that didn't happen. He followed Squeezing Out Sparks in 1980 with the Jimmy Iovine-produced "The Up Escalator", which was considerably slicker than its predecessor. The Up Escalator didn't sell, and Parker decided to ditch the Rumour, who had already begun a solo career. For 1982's" Another Grey Area", he hired producer Jack Douglas and a team of session musicians, resulting in a radio-ready production that received mixed reviews, yet managed to peak at number 51. "The Real Macaw", which followed in 1983, suffered a similar fate. For 1985's "Steady Nerves", Parker moved to Elektra Records and formed a backing band called the Shot with guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, who helped him deliver his most radio-ready collection. This time, the pop move paid off.

Despite his moderate commercial success with Steady Nerves, he also ran into trouble with Elektra, leaving the label after just one record. Parker wasn't able to deliver another album until 1988, when he signed with RCA and released "The Mona Lisa's Sister" in the spring. Hailed as a comeback by several critics upon its release, instead of being the beginning of a comeback, the album turned out to be a last gasp -- " Live! Alone in America" (1989) , "Human Soul" (90), "Struck By Lightning" (91), all received good reviews but sales dissapointed, so RCA let him go-- Parker switched to Capitol and released "Burning Questions", which was ignored by all except his cult following.

Parker switched back to independent labels -- In 1994, he released the Christmas Cracker EP on Dakota Arts, and then he signed with " Razor & Tie" , where he released " 12 Haunted Episodes" in the spring. Like The Mona Lisa's Sister and Struck By Lightning before it, 12 Haunted Episodes was hailed as a comeback, and it sold in respectable numbers for an indie release. Parker followed it with two albums in 1996, " Live from New York, NY" and " Acid Bubblegum" . Parker continued to issue a steady stream of archive and live releases into the mid-2000s, and moved into singer/songwriter mode for the albums " Deepcut to Nowhere" and " Your Country" . The Figgs were back for 2005's Songs of No Consequence, an album that Parker declared "rocks like safari park chimp" , unreleased material, rare edits, and remixes were featured on "Official Art Vandelay Tapes, Vol. 2" , which appeared two weeks after Songs of No Consequence. Last year Parker released " Don't Tell Columbus " 2007.



01 - Stick to Me (3:26)
02 - I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down (3:25)
03 - Problem Child (3:24)
04 - Soul on Ice (2:58)
05 - Clear Head (2:55)
06 - The New York Shuffle (2:58)
07 - Watch the Moon Come Down (4:49)
08 - Thunder and Rain (3:15)
09 - The Heat in Harlem (6:52)
10 - The Raid (2:28)
--Xs--
11 - Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions (3:51)

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Rupert Hine - Immunity (81 ^ 99mb)

Rupert Hine earned perhaps his greatest notoriety as one of the most successful and prolific producers of the synth-pop era, he has produced over 100 albums in total, many featuring songs written for and with the artists in question. In addition, Hine has recorded eleven albums as an artist himself. Hine was founder of the 1976's band Quantum Jump, releasing two albums Quantum Jump and Barracuda. Returning to solo work with 1981's Immunity,Immunity marked a return to solo work for Rupert Hine after a few years with Quantum Jump. Early-'80s synth-pop did not age very well as a genre, but this album is the exception. The disquieting moods, oblique accompaniments, poetic lyrics, and dramatic effects hold up the album thru time. Highlights include ...each of the album's original nine tracks is a gem, full of clever ideas and daring artistic choices, with Hine handling most instruments. . For anyone interested in Hine's singer/songwriter career, Immunity is the place to start.
His breakthrough year as a producer was 1984, when he helmed Howard Jones' smash Human's Lib, as well as Tina Turner's comeback smash Private Dancer; the Power Station's self-titled debut confirmed Hine's status as one of the hottest producers around. Under the guise of Thinkman, he returned to solo work in 1986, with The Formula, Life Is A Full Time Occupation (88) and Hard Hat Zone (90) .At the same time Hine also began working with Rush, producing their LP Presto as well as its 1991 follow-up Roll the Bones. His last solo effort was the ambient Deep End (95). He now releases records sporadically, always with poetic lyrics written by his wife, but has concentrated since on production, one of those people that have been greatly influencing modern pop music, but prefers to stay out of the limelight.



01 - I Hang On To My Vertigo (4:59)
02 - Misplaced Love (Voc. Marianne Faithfull) (4:10)
03 - Samsara (5:06)
04 - Surface Tension (4:12)
05 - I Think A Man Will Hang Soon (4:09)
06 - Immunity (3:50)
07 - Another Stranger (4:31)
08 - Psycho Surrender (4:05)
09 - Make A Wish (6:15)


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Nitzer Ebb - That Total Age (87 ^ 132mb)

Nitzer Ebb began when Douglas McCarthy met Bon Harris, they shared an interest in witchcraft, talking to trees, and collecting runestones in Chesterfield and Little Baddoe, England. They found inspiration in the punk ethos of bands such as DAF, Killing Joke, and Bauhaus. In August 1983, they recorded their first demo tape, Basic Pain Procedure. They released their debut single "Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works" (85) on their own label Power Of Voice Communications, and their music soon became a fixture on the club scene. two singles followed before signing to Mute. In May 1987, they released their debut album on Mute Records, That Total Age, which spawned a hit with the pounding bass rhythms and barked vocals of "Join In the Chant" and "Let Your Body Learn". What the Douglas McCarthy/Bon Harris duo did on their first full album was to give it a distinctly English-language bent, as well as drawing on some of the further developments of EBM over time. If the resultant debut was a bit one-note as an overall release, the duo already showed a bent for making sure their concoctions were instantly memorable and undeniably thrilling.

After the release of That Total Age, Nitzer Ebb toured Europe supporting label; mates Depeche Mode, and the pop sensibilities appeared to inspire them. By the time of their second album, Belief, Gooday had disappeared (to be replaced by Julian Beeston) and Flood had taken over the producer's role from Harding, nudging Nitzer Ebb closer to the dancefloor and shearing away the militaristic bent of much of their earlier recordings. Singles like "Hearts and Minds," "Shame," and "Lightning Man" were loaded with the cold aggression of earlier recordings, working well on dancefloors as well as college radio stations; the 1990 single "Fun to Be Had" even reached number two on the dance charts. The following year's Ebbhead was released in September 1991 and showcased a new confidence in the band's songwriting and production (ably assisted by Flood and Alan Wilder). A hugely successful world tour from Autumn 1991 to Summer 1992 spanning the US, Europe and Russia hinted that the band could potentially break into the mainstream and become a bona fide 'crossover' act. Meanwhile they had consolidated their position with alternative audiences, with at least two well-known singles, "I Give to You" and "Godhead." As a whole, though, the album showed Nitzer Ebb a bit confused as to where industrial music was going.Which became apparent when the follow up album took 3 years to record and a schism between Harris and McCarthy developped, they failed to deliver the album required to 'crossover'. The Nitzer Ebb machine ground to a halt towards the end of the Big Hit tour (final dates were advertised then cancelled). Although the group never officially split, Mccarthy and Harris both went their separate ways.The compilation Body of Work 1984-1997 appeared in 2006 and was immediately followed by set of new remixes titled Body Rework.



01 - Fitness To Purpose (5:00)
02 - Violent Playground (3:46)
03 - Murderous (5:40)
04 - Smear Body (5:40)
05 - Join In The Chant (6:01)
06 - Alarm (3:55)
07 - Let Your Body Learn (2:47)
08 - Let Beauty Loose (2:24)
09 - Into The Large Air (4:08)
10 - Join In The Chant (Metal Mix) (5:13)
11 - Fitness To Purpose (Mix Two) (4:54)
12 - Murderous (Instrumental) (5:02)


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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

Jan 22, 2008

Around the World (15)

Hello, Around The World returns to reggae UK style though Ghetto Priest parents are from Jamaica , Vulture Culture is a typical ON- U release with Adrian Sherwood producing the dub groove sound constructions. Available in two vibes...

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Ghetto Priest - Vulture Culture (03 * 99mb)

Throughout the history of On-U Sound its hallmark has always been one of originality and distinctiveness. Since its inception there have been several philosophies that Adrian Sherwood has always held close to his heart. Whilst gathering a core of multi-talented singers and players around him in his continuous musical experimentation, he has always striven to help establish these artists in their own right and to nurture new talents that join his fold. Known for some time now as a member of the On-U Sound family and collective and a former football hooligan turned Rastafarian preacher, Ghetto Priest (Wilbourn ' Squidly" Cole) is one such talent. Before making the move into grown-up crime and getting arrested. In prison he turned to Rastafarianism, began writing lyrics, and after his release became part of Sherwood's African Head Charge collective and started MC-ing on the producer's live DJ sets.

As a talented singer Asian Dub Foundation invited him to take on the vocals for the opening track of their "Enemy Of The Enemy" album in 2003, and for even a bigger role on Tank (05). More or lesser known artists like the Underwolves, Sinéad O'Connor, Groove Armada, James Hardway (aka David Harrow) and Little Axe have also flavoured their releases with his guest vocals.

Calling "Vulture Culture" (ON-U LP 1003) a Ghetto Priest album is slightly misleading, as it features 8 singers and 16 players. The album takes on board reggae, ragga and dub elements with a production style that is uniquely Sherwood’s. Sly & Robbie, Jazwad, Style Scott (Dub Syndicate), Keith LeBlanc and Skip McDonald are amongst the players providing the rock solid rhythms. Carlton "Bubblers" Ogilvie and Crucial Tony were also brought back on-ship to provide a turbulent bass vibration and textured guitar patterns. Ghetto Priest takes centre stage on most of the album but there is plenty of scope for other voices to add to the mix.

There is a dizzying apocalyptic air to many of the tracks, testaments to inner city neuroses. Dub funk grooves are in abundance amongst a blend of righteous incitements and damning indictments of Babylonian establishment. It's a powerful and compelling sound in which Skip McDonald really comes into his own, adding disorienting, searing and abrasive guitar edges to the sound constructions. In short a welcome reminder that the UK roots-reggae scene has not been entirely washed away by the tide of dancehall slackness and bling-obsession.



01 - Dungeon (Voc. Prince Far I) (3:53)
02 - Masters Of Deception (Voc.Omar Perry) (5:32)
03 - Dry Bone (Voc.Simon Bogle) (3:56)
04 - Strange Cargo (5:10)
05 - Earthquake In The Heart Of Rome (4:48)
06 - System Of The Lost Cause Man (Voc.Simon Bogle) (5:03)
07 - Minds (5:03)
08 - Show Them (5:15)
09 - Boom Fire (4:42)
10 - Visionary (4:40)
11 - Come Now (5:28)
12 - Rise Up (5:54)

Ghetto Priest - Vulture Culture (03 ^ 133mb)

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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

Jan 21, 2008

Don't Panic ! (15)




Hello, it's time for The HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy again that weekly half hour of everything you always wanted to know about aliens.

As usual a recap of last weeks fit;

Arthur and Ford arrive at Lord's Cricket Ground on the sofa that they had caught in the previous episode. They have arrived in the final Test Match in the Ashes, in the middle of the field. A policeman apprehends them, and they retire to the stadium.

Watching the match, Arthur drinks some tea and glances upon a newspaper. He notices the date on the newspaper, and realises that it was from the day before the Earth was demolished. A ball lands in Arthur's bag, and when the fielder comes to collect it, Arthur decides to keep it.

With the planet about to be demolished again, they then look for another lift from the planet. They discover a spaceship, hidden by a "Somebody Else's Problem field", hidden behind a screen.

The game finishes, with England winning the Ashes, and Slartibartfast joins Arthur and Ford. Slartibartfast explains that he has arrived because "something terrible is about to happen". He walks to the centre of the cricket pitch, and asks to be given the Ashes saying that they are "vitally important for the past, present and future safety of the Galaxy".

Another spaceship arrives. Eleven white robots, carrying bats and balls, and wearing rocket pads on their shins (dressed like cricketers), come suddenly out, and start attacking the spectators and players with their grenades. They take the Ashes, say "we declare", and go back into their ship. Ford and Arthur catch a lift with Slartibartfast on his ship.

Meanwhile, Marvin is once again making conversation with a mattress. A similar ship to before arrives, and white robots get out and take Marvin's one remaining leg. After a brief while, they return and decide to take all of Marvin instead.

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THHGTTG - Fit 15 (23mb)

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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

Jan 20, 2008

Sundaze (15)

Hello SunDaze is still lingering in Clusterworld, today some solo-albums, Roedelius especially has been active and has released 30+ soloalbums over the years, here are tow of his early ones. Moebius to released some solo work, though solo..he seems more comfortable working with someone to bounce ideas off.. enjoy..

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Roedelius - Selbstportrait I (soft music) ( 79 ^ 93mb)

Selbstportrait was recorded by Roedelius during various Cluster sessions between 1973 and 1977, so the music actually predates the two previously released solo albums: Durch Die Wüste and Jardin Au Fou. Selbstportrait was recorded during the quiet hours when working with Cluster, Harmonia and Eno. All this material was spread over 3 albums, this the first "Selbstportrait" (Selfportrait) is picked by Roedelius on the basis of entertaining, commercial dare i say, as creating interest would enable the release of "Selbstportrait II & III". He used the Farfisa VIP 600 and a drum and echo tool by Excholette and recorded it all on a Revox A 77, first generation hi-end electronic tools. The music came about spontanously, impressed by the land scape , a lazy sunny afternoon, pastoral images filled with the sound of nightingales and frogs all impressed Roedelius to open up and inspire him in the quiet hours to create this musik



01 - In Liebe Dein (with love)(3:41)
02 - Girlande (3:43)
03 - Inselmoos (5:37)
04 - Fabelwein (4:58)
05 - Prinzregent (5:41)
06 - Kamee (3:34)
07 - Herold (3:54)
08 - Halmharfe (3:20)
09 - Arcona (5:01)
05 - Staunen Im Fjord (3:28)
06 - Minne (2:06)


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Roedelius - Jardin Au Fou (79 ^ 74mb)

Jardin Au Fou was recorded from April through July, 1978 at Paragon Studios in Berlin, Germany. It was produced by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann and released by the French label Egg in 1979.
A circus in the parc, Jardin Au Fou a garden of whimsy and odd delight, it is simple melodious keyboard music whose character is imbued with unexpected chord progressions that don't resolve in traditional ways, a naive rhythmic sense, and melodic lines that go where you least expect. Jardin Au Fou was the first of a series of albums where Roedelius ventured firmly into ambient music.

Note; The French record label Jardin Au Fou named themselves after this Roedelius album.



01 - Fou Fou (3:59)
02 - Toujours (2:56)
03 - Rue Fortune (2:21)
04 - Balsam (2:16)
05 - Café Central (3:34)
06 - Le Jardin (4:28)
07 - Gloria Dolores (4:11)
08 - Étoiles (3:51)
09 - Schöne Welt (4:45)
10 - Final (0:46)

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Moebius & Beerbohm - Double Cut ( 84 ^ 96mb)

From his early work with the pioneering Krautrock band Cluster to his later solo recordings, Dieter Moebius remained one of the most innovative and prolific voices in contemporary electronic music, anticipating movements from ambient to techno years before the fact. Moebius studied art in Brussels and Berlin and met there Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler (Tangerine Dream). They founded a band Kluster in 1969. After the departure of Schnitzler, they changed their name to Cluster. Later Moebius and Roedelius founded the band Harmonia with Michael Rother (Neu!), which also collaborated with Brian Eno.

Roedelius and Moebius subsequently worked with Eno on 1977's Cluster and Eno and 1979's After the Heat as well; in the wake of 1981's Curiosum, however, they dissolved Cluster, with both pursuing solo endeavors.
Moebius' first subsequent effort was 1981's Material, a second collaboration with Plank (his proper solo debut, Rastakraut Pasta, had appeared two years earlier); together, they produced some of the most experimental recordings of their respective careers, creating harsh mutant soundscapes which over time gave way to the proto-ambient textures of 1986's En Route, their final work before Plank's untimely death. Concurrently Moebius also teamed with Gerd Beerbohm for 1982's Strange Music and 1983's Double Cut, both explorations of pure noise; meanwhile, with the solo album Tonspuren (also from 1983), Moebius clearly anticipated the emergence of techno. Apart from teaming with Karl Renzeihuasen in the duo Ersatz, during the early '90s he also reunited with Roedelius to revive Cluster.



1 - Minimotion (6:58)
2 - Hydrogen (3:33)
3 - Narkose (6:37)
4 - Doppelschnitt (21:44)

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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

Jan 18, 2008

Into The Groove (14)

Hello, Into The Groove takes a dip into the jazzdance world, in fact what i have here is almost 4 hours of party music, Blue Break Beats album is an excellent warmer, it has plenty of recognition moments and elements to move the head or hips to, by the time you put on " It's Jazz Thing" dancing is almost ineveitable, 70 min later when you spin Verve remixed, the latin house of willy Bobo will keep those feet moving, but time is moving on , people get tipsy and sentimental, and when your girlfriend starts singing along with " Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby " you know it's time to chill out and thats what you get. Seriously these albums do nicely at a small party at home or as background in a bar. Whatever there's plenty to compile your own set here.. Have yourself a great friday evening/night.

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VA - Blue Break Beats (92, 79min 185mb)

The music on Blue Break Beats dates from the late '60s and early '70s, when a large portion of Blue Note's soul-jazz artists began experimenting with funk and rock, creating dense electric fusions that concentrated on rhythm, not improvisation. None of this music has ever received much critical praise from jazz purists, but in the late '80s and early '90s, scores of hip-hop and dance DJs discovered these old records and began sampling the original tracks to use in new rap and dance songs. By the early '90s, this jazz-rap-funk fusion had become hip, which led Blue Note to assemble the Blue Break Beats compilations. All of the tracks feature multi-layered percussion, organs, and guitars. The deep funky grooves should appeal to appeal to fans of contemporary funk and rap, or rock-influenced soul-jazz.



01 - Richard "Groove" Holmes - Grooving With Mr. G (4:14)
02 - Grant Green - Sookie, Sookie (11:05)
03 - Lou Donaldson - Who's Making Love (6:45)
04 - Donald Byrd - Weasil (9:01)
05 - Eddie Henderson - Kudu (6:07)
06 - Bobbi Humphrey - Harlem River Drive (7:51)
07 - Jimmy McGriff - Blue Juice (5:03)
08 - Grant Green - The Final Comedown (3:28)
09 - Lou Donaldson - Turtle Walk (7:54)
10 - Three Sounds - Your Love Is Too Much (2:43)
11 - Donald Byrd - Black Jack (6:18)
12 - Herbie Hancock - Olilloqui Valley (8:26)

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VA - It's a Jazz Thing 2 ( 93, 70min. 159mb)

As a response to the dominating acid/house dancefloor dominance, The Jazz/rare groove scene started, playing funkier material, and opening up to rappers. DJ Gilles Peterson called this funky style Acid Jazz and the jazzdance movement was revived, purists lost ground and new artists found a platform to take the music , experiment and fuse the old with new technology. This is a compilation by Graham B an english jazzdance DJ who settled in Amsterdam in the late eighties.



01 - Brecker Brothers ft. Veera - Big Idea (4:43)
02 - Guru & Donald Byrd - Loungin (Jazz not Jazz mix) (3:45)
03 - Donald Byrd - Street Lady (5:39)
04 - Cymballistic - Blues for Sarah (4:42)
05 - US3 - Cantaloop (3:41)
06 - Mangu - La Playa (Pomo short mix) (4:25)
07 - Soon(e) MC - Sur le Boulevard du Rhythm' Funky (3:59)
08 - New Concept - What's Mine and What's Yours (4:47)
09 - Ronny Jordan ft. Dana Bryant - The Jackal (7:03)
10 - Grant Green - A Walk in the Night (6:44)
11 - Greg Osby - The Gutterman (4:08)
12 - Phillip Bent - World is a Ghetto (3:17)
13 - Take 4 - First Take (4:33)
14 - Ronny Jordan - So What (5:07)
15 - Corduroy ft. Sherine - Something in my Eye (3:22)

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VA - Verve Remixed 1 (02, 69min 161mb)

Verve Remixed tackles serious classics from the canon of vocal jazz, focusing especially on female vocalists: Billie Holiday (two songs), Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Carmen McRae, and Shirley Horn. As is nearly always the case with tributes or remix albums, the results are mixed; several productions triumph in either equalling or enhancing the intent of the original, but too often a complex arrangement of a pop standard is trampled by insistence on a constant groove, whether it's of downtempo or more clubby house origin. Well that is if you know the original, which is likely not the case, and thus the best soul / jazz artists from the Verve heyday, mixed with plentiful amounts of deep house and downtempo by some of the best remixers around result in this album to chill out after the beats clubbed your ears, or just like that on a sunny afternoon .



VA - Verve Remixed 1 ( ^ 74mb)

01 - Willie Bobo - Spanish Grease (Dorfmeister Con Madrid De Los Austrias Muga Reserva Mix) (7:23)
02 - Carmen McRae - How Long Has This Been Going On? (MJ Cole Remix) (4:56)
03 - Astrud Gilberto - Who Needs Forever? (Thievery Corporation Remix) (4:11)
04 - Dinah Washington - Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby? (Rae & Christian Remix) (4:57)
05 - Nina Simone - Feelin' Good (Joe Claussell Remix) (6:03)
06 - Shirley Horn - Return To Paradise (Mark De Clive-Lowe Remix) (5:52)

VA - Verve Remixed 1 - 2 ( ^ 87mb)

07 - Ella Fitzgerald - Wait 'Till You See Him (De-Phazz Remix) (3:51)
08 - Billie Holiday - Don't Explain (dZihan And Kamien Remix) (4:49)
09 - Nina Simone - See-Line Woman (Masters At Work Remix) (10:04)
10 - Sarah Vaughan - Summertime (UFO Remix) (6:49)
11 - Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit (Tricky Remix) (3:18)
12 - Tony Scott - Hare Krishna (King Britt Funke Mix) (6:57)

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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

Jan 17, 2008

Alphabet Soup (14)

Hello, hello , hello Alphabet Soup, presents the knights that say Ni ! Ni Ni infact they stutter a little, but then it's no surprise then these guys are impressed by Ni colette and understandibly so she makes great music and with her wonderful voice she sings some great poetry aswell, bringing out her wonderful personality, so i guess those knights will never get passed Ni ! Nirvana's Kurt Cobain on the other hand collapsed under the weight of a teen spirit that raped him. Hmm, well doing heroin didnt help and having a crazy girlfriend certainly wasn't stabilizing, anyway In Utero (in the womb), may have suggested a regression to relative anonimity, but this attempt was foiled as it entered at no 1, later that year Nirvana recorded a great MTV Unplugged a few months before a shotgun answered Kurt Cobain's last question on this earth. The last band today has dropped of the radar deliberately, as they too were in danger of being overtaken by the acclaim of Neon Golden, fortunately they were working in and with several other bands and so Notwists members had plenty of modes to express their art, and even if they never release another Notwist album, with Shrink and Neon Golden they left us two timeless albums.

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Nicolette - Now Is Early (92 ^ 139mb)
Famously described as possessing a voice which sounded ‘like Billie Holiday on acid’, Nicolette was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and has lived in Nigeria, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. Nicolette’s convoluted musical journey began at an early age: picking up influences from her Nigerian father’s eclectic record collection of jazz, blues, gospel, classical and African music. Nicolette also learned the piano from childhood, but it was the late 1980s before she joined her first band, Calliope , based in Cardiff, Wales.

From here, she moved to London and in 1991, signed to the Shut Up And Dance label. Her music, although falling broadly into the field of electronica, is characterised by myriad influences, including, jazz, classical, blues, folk, and African This has resulted in a highly individualistic sound, she developed a highly sophisticated brand of breakbeat and hip-hop on “O Sinene” and “Single Minded People”. In 1992, the NOW IS EARLY was released attracting a small but devoted cult following. Produced by the renowned Shut Up And Dance crew, it was the first record to combine breakbeats with pop vocals, with a few jazzy ballads thrown in for good measure. More widespread success was foiled as the label collapsed, so the album remained unavailable until 1997 when it was reissued by K7.

Nicolette has released two more solo albums ( "Let no one live rentfree in your head" and Life Loves Us"), as well as a DJ mix album for the DJ-Kicks series, and featured on Massive Attack's 1994 Protection album. She has worked with a host of other distinguished collaborators in the electronic music field. In 1999 she set up her own record label, Early Records, to release interesting, quirky pop anthems. According to Nicolette, Early Records' music policy is: "innovative pop music." In 2007 Nicolette's cult hit "No Government" was remixed by Tocadisco and Makossa & Megablast and re-released. Currently she's in the studio working on a follow up to 2005's "Life Loves Us" album, to be released in 2008.



01 - No Government (2:02)
02 - Dove Song (4:55)
03 - Single Minded Vocal (3:09)
04 - I Woke Up... (4:46)
05 - Waking Up Remix (5:07)
06 - O Si Nene (5:56)
07 - It's Only To Be Expected (5:40)
08 - Wicked Mathematics (4:49)
09 - A Single Ring (2:09)
10 - School Of The World (5:24)
11 - Udi Egwu (6:29)
---Xs--
12 - No Government (Original Version) (5:30)
13 - Single Minded People (remix) (4:01)
14 - No Government In The Biosphere (7:53)

diet version
Nicolette - Now Is Early (92 * 98mb)


NICOLETTE:

Who am I?
I AM she to whom everything belongs.
I am she whose sexual energy flows freely and naturally and purely.
I am she who lives and breathes freely.
I am she who is utterly free.
I am she who flies at night and during the day should I so choose.
I am she who is always safe.
I am the indestructible and eternal.
I am love.
I am she who is in perfect health.
I am she who loves and enjoys being healthy.
I am she who can put her feet behind her head.
I am she who is endlessly supple.
I am she who loves endlessly and freely.
I am the uninhibited one.

These are just the first 14 lines , go over to her myspace to read the rest of what this remarkble woman shares, besides there's the accompanying music as well at Nicolette's Myspace

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Nirvana - In Utero (93 ^ 99mb)

Smells like teen spirit and all that jazz, rape me....he cried.

For 1993's In Utero, Nirvana brought in producer Steve Albini, well-known for his work on the Pixies album Surfer Rosa, bringing in Albini appeared to be a deliberate move on Nirvana's part to give the album a raw, less-polished sound. For example, one song on In Utero featuring long periods of shrill feedback noise was titled, ironically, Cobain insisted that Albini's sound was simply the one he had always wanted Nirvana to have: a "natural" recording without layers of studio trickery. The sessions with Albini were productive and notably quick, and the album was recorded and mixed in two weeks for a cost of $25,000.

Several weeks after the completion of the recording sessions, stories ran in the Chicago Tribune and Newsweek that quoted sources claiming DGC (their label) considered the album "unreleasable" .While the stories about DGC shelving the album were untrue, the band actually was unhappy with certain aspects of Albini's mixes. Specifically, they thought the bass levels were too low, and Cobain felt that "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" did not sound "perfect".[33] Longtime R.E.M. producer Scott Litt was called in to help remix those two songs, with Cobain adding additional instrumentation and backing vocals. In Utero debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in September 1993, Nirvana didn't gone mainstream, however, the album lacked another Teen Spirit and thus did not achieve the same success as Nevermind.

In November 1993, Nirvana performed an exceptional set for MTV Unplugged. Early 94 they went on an european tour where Cobain ran into trouble with his health, ultimately the tour was cancelled , back home Cobain ran into heroin troubles again, he was convinced to check into drug rehabilitation. After less than a week in rehabilitation, Cobain climbed over the wall of the facility and took a plane back to Seattle. A week later, on Friday, April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun blast to the head at his Seattle home, effectively dissolving Nirvana.



01 - Serve The Servants (3:34)
02 - Scentless Apprentice (3:47)
03 - Heart-Shaped Box (4:39)
04 - Rape Me (2:49)
05 - Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle (4:07)
06 - Dumb (2:29)
07 - Very Ape (1:55)
08 - Milk It (3:52)
09 - Pennyroyal Tea (3:36)
10 - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (4:49)
11 - Tourette's (1:33)
12 - All Apologies (3:48)
13 - Gallons Of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through The Strip (hidden) (7:33)

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The Notwist - Neon Golden (02 ^ 99mb)

Beginning in Weilheim, Germany in the early 90s as a heavy metal outfit, Markus and Micha Acher, along with drummer Martin Messerschmid, released two albums filled with pounding drums and guitar solos (The Notwist and Nook) before almost abandoning it completely. However, with Nook, things had already started to change. Interests moved away from thudding power riffs and toward the direction of complex rhythms and structures. Even so, to listen to those albums now, most people would find it difficult to believe the same band made Neon Golden.

In the mid-90s, the Notwist finally got an American distributor with 12, on the now-defunct Zero Hour label. With that, they began to explore even more textures in their sound, enlisting Martin Gretschmann (aka Console) to help with production and add his special electronic touch. Resulting in a more poppy sound for the group (some might even call it indie rock), 12's beauty is startling from beginning to end. With Martin Console now in tow as a full-time member, Shrink was a huge step into the world of electronic music and sounded almost completely unlike anything else made at the time. Mixing rock and pop with free jazz, old-timey folk, jagged minimalist beats and just about anything else you could toss in, in short way ahead of its time. >>> Shrink

A decade into their career, the Notwist created a masterpiece by pulling the same trick they pulled on Shrink: mixing things that might not seem to fit together into a beautiful, seamless whole. They have an uncanny knack for allowing their compositions room to breathe, Neon Golden is replete with lush textured sounds, drifting (and occasionally driving) pulsations, and mesmerizing hypno-rhythms. Best album of 2002 for me, but then i see a lot of trains (wink).

Apparently a little intimidated from all the accolades they recieved for Neon Golden, they concentrated on Tied and Tickled Trio and by 2004 formed a group with Themselves named 13 & God, whose eponymous debut was released in 2005. Formally there hasn't been a follow-up to Neon Golden yet. Markus Acher, in addition to his work with The Notwist , 13 & God and TTT, works with the band Lali Puna, has released two albums under the name Sharon Stoned.Mecki Messerschmidt now also plays drums for the recently reformed Schweisser.



01 - One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand (3:15)
02 - Pilot (4:28)
03 - Pick Up The Phone (3:55)
04 - Trashing Days (3:24)
05 - This Room (4:45)
06 - Solitaire (3:29)
07 - One With The Freaks (3:38)
08 - Neon Golden (5:54)
09 - Off The Rail (3:27)
10 - Consequence (5:13)
---Xs---
11 - Pilot (Console remix) (4:58)

P.S  comments

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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

Jan 16, 2008

Eight-X (14)

Hello distinguised guests, today we have another round of Eight-X. Three works from those days when we still had a curtain, today the russians are all over the place, and a ruble sounds much more funky than a dollar. Bauhaus named itself after a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts that operated from 1919 to 1933. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius, it's style became one of the most influential currents in Modernist architecture and modern design, absolutely nothing gothic about it . But then their first subject, Bela Lugosi , the man who had played Dracula and frightened the thirties public which had been into all things ' undead ' for the preceding years, specially after WO I. Vampires still sell, anyway Bauhaus' first single stayed in the indie charts for 2 years, it set them up for a short but succesful span of four albums in 4 years after which Bauhaus became undead only to be revived 14 years later. Torch Song, my second offering was another strange choice for the bands name as a torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on. Not much of that going on one their debut album Wish Thing, there 's too much emphasis on high production values for that, in fact the feel of the album is futuristic, which gets all to clear on their Star Trek..Prepare to energise....a real torch song artist likely would have lamented..beam me up scotty... Anyway my third band of today is the surprisingly unforgotten It's Immaterial, they made just two albums of which the second one flopped..undeservedly.The debut album made the idea behind the band's name clear " Life's Hard And Then You Die " This of cause was rather counter the prevailing and rising high of the late eighties, never the less they scored some hits, my favourite starts like this " everybody defines space in their own way, mostly by using barricades" great track and dry wit, well its available in two vibes.... And btw feel free to comment, the world is still a beautiful place even if so many of us forget or worse ignore it.

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Bauhaus - In The Flat Field Extended (80 , 77 min ^ 183mb)

Bauhaus formed in 1978 in Northampton, England. Guitarist/vocalist Daniel Ash, bassist/vocalist David J (born David Jay Haskins), and drummer Kevin Haskins had played together as a trio called the Craze before forming Bauhaus with vocalist Peter Murphy. Originally, the band was called Bauhaus 1919 after the German art movement; by 1979, they had dropped the 1919 from their name.

In August of 1979, the group released their debut single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead," on the independent record label Small Wonder Records. Although it did not make the pop charts, it became the de facto goth rock anthem, staying in the U.K. independent charts for years. Three months later, the group signed with Beggars Banquet's subsidiary label, 4AD. The group's second single, "Dark Entries," was released in January 1980. Following their first European tour, Bauhaus released their third single, "Terror Couple Kill Colonel," in the summer of that year, which became a hit on the indie charts.

After touring America for the first time in September, the group released a version of T. Rex's "Telegram Sam." In October, they released their debut album, In the Flat Field, which reached number one on the independent charts In October 81.
Few debut albums ever arrived so nearly perfectly formed; that In the Flat Field practically single-handedly invented what remains for many as the stereotype of goth music -- wracked, at times spindly vocals about despair and desolation of many kinds, sung over mysterious and moody music -- demonstrates the sui generis power of both the band and its work. This said, perhaps the best thing about the album isn't what it's supposed to sound like, but what it actually does -- an awesomely powerful, glam-inspired rock band firing on all fours, capable of restraint and complete overdrive both, fronted by a charismatic, storming frontman. In the Flat Field propelled Bauhaus' career with a near-perfect bang.

They released their second album, Mask, which revealed a more ambitious musical direction; the new direction, which featured elements of metal and electronic sonic textures, made the music more accessible without abandoning the dark, foreboding core of their music. Mask was a commercial success. Fall 82, the group had a hit with their version of David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust." The success of the single propelled their third album, The Sky's Gone Out on the album charts.

Murphy contracted pneumonia at the beginning of 1983, which prevented him from participating in the recording sessions for Bauhaus' fourth album, Burning From the Inside. Consequently, the record featured substantial contributions from Ash and J, who both pursued more personal and atmospheric directions. After Murphy recovered, the band toured Japan and then returned to the U.K. to promote the summer release of Burning From the Inside. The album was another hit, yet in July, Bauhaus split up.

After Bauhaus' breakup, Murphy formed Dali's Car with Japan's Mick Karn and then pursued a solo career. Ash continued with Tones on Tail, a project he began in 1981; Kevin Haskins also joined the band after Bauhaus' split. J made some solo records and joined the Jazz Butcher briefly. Ash, Haskins, and J formed Love and Rockets in 1985 after a proposed Bauhaus reunion fell apart because Peter Murphy wasn't interested in the project. More than a decade later, however, with the careers of both Love and Rockets and Peter Murphy at a standstill, Bauhaus re-formed for several live dates in Los Angeles, mounting a full-blown tour in 1998; the two-disc Gotham documented the reunited group's performance at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom.

After being together for six weeks, Bauhaus entered a studio for the first time at Beck Studios in Wellingborough to record a demo. The band recorded five songs and one of the tracks from the session, the over-nine-minute-long "Bela Lugosi's Dead", was released as the group's debut single in August 1979 on Small Wonder Records. The single stayed on the British independent charts for two years. Way to go and it certainly deserves a place on this extended Flat Field as it ' foreshadows' the preceding and following 4 AD singles of the In The Flat Field album.

Tracks 1, 15: originally released in January 1980 on 7" single AXIS 3 Dark Entries.
Tracks 2 to 10: originally released in November 1980 on LP as CAD 13 In The Flat Field.
Tracks 11, 12, 17: originally released in October 1980 on 12" Single as AD 17T Telegram Sam.
Tracks 13,14: originally released in June 1980 on 7" Single as AD 7 Terror Couple Kill Colonel.
Track 16: originally released in December 1982 as a 7" flexi-disc A God In An Alcove free with Flexipop magazine.



Bauhaus - In The Flat Field Extended (80 ^ 96mb)

00 - Bela Lugosi's Dead (9:39)
00 - Boys (3:11)
--Xs--
01 - Dark Entries (3:51)
02 - Double Dare (4
03 - In The Flat Field (4:59)
04 - God In An Alcove (4:08)
05 - Dive (2:11)
06 - Spy In The Cab (4:28)
07 - Small Talk Stinks (3:33)

Bauhaus - In The Flat Field Extended (80 ^ 87mb)

08 - St. Vitus Dance (3:29)
09 - Stigmata Martyr (3:41)
10 - Nerves (7:04)
11 - Telegram Sam (2:08)
12 - Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores (5:31)
13 - Terror Couple Kill Colonel (4:22)
14 - Scopes (1:28)
15 - Untitled (1:24)
16 - A God In An Alcove (4:08)
17 - Crowds (3:13)

Synchronicity...news just in about a new Bauhaus album

“I come with this darkness and go away white.”

‘Go Away White’ was recorded in 18 days at Zircon Skye in Ojai, with singer Peter Murphy, bassist David J, guitarist Daniel Ash, and drummer Kevin Haskins playing together as a band in one room, taking first takes as final cuts. So, a new record but apparently a final one, the band having decided to release it as a posthumous swan song.To be released on March 4th, 2008 worldwide.

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Torch Song - Wish Thing (84 ^ 96mb)

Torch Song was a British synthpop and dance band of the early 1980s consisting of William Orbit, Laurie Mayer and Grant Gilbert. In 1985, Grant left to pursue other projects and long-time friend Rico Conning officially joined the group. After the release of 'Exhibit A' in 1987, Torch Song as a group was put on the back-burner while William concentrated on solo work, he recorded several largely instrumental solo albums under the name Strange Cargo which features vocals by Beth Orton, Laurie Mayer and Joe Frank. He has also produced and remixed songs by numerous other artists. He continued to write with both Laurie and Rico and in 1995 they released the ambient 'Toward the Unknown Region.'

Wish Thing was Torch Song's first album, released, the track "Prepare to Energize" was a surprise dance-floor hit, being played in nightclubs and discos as well as appearing in the 1984 Tom Hanks movie Bachelor Party.



01 - Don't Look Now (6:45)
02 - Telepathy (4:19)
03 - Ode To Billy Joe (4:12)
04 - Another Place (4:01)
05 - Prepare To Energize (5:08)
06 - Tattered Dress (4:44)
07 - Sweet Thing (4:46)
08 - You Said You Were Coming (3:26)
09 - Water Clock Secrets (2:03)

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It's Immaterial - Life's Hard And Then You Die (86 ^ 154mb)

It's Immaterial were formed by three former members of Yachts - John Campbell, vocals, Martin Dempsey, guitar, and Henry Priestman, keyboards - in addition to Paul Barlow, drums. By 1984, the band had been reduced to a duo - Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead, guitar and keyboards, who joined in 1982.

It's Immaterial has qualities that can't be discerned from one listen, at least on the band's debut album, Life's Hard and Then You Die. Patience is really needed to let this record's oddball hooks kick in. Musically, the album is all over the place -- new wave, country, blues, folk, and synth pop. Somehow the smorgasbord of styles works, because the bandmembers aren't being eclectic just for the sake of it; they simply have a wide canvas, keeping the album fresh from beginning to end. When Campbell talks, it isn't because he can't sing; the man has a lovely voice, especially during the transcendent chorus of "Space. It's Immaterial manages to stay focused, never allowing its genre-bending to veer out of control. "Like much of Life's Hard and Then You Die, it grows on the listener. When "Festival Time" erupts into total chaos -- pulsating keyboards, brazen horns, samples of horses, operatic voices -- it sounds like a mess at first, but repeated spins reveal how well crafted it is.



01 - Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) (4:12)
02 - Happy Talk (5:29)
03 - Rope (3:38)
04 - The Better Idea (5:41)
05 - Space (3:57)
06 - The Sweet Life (4:39)
07 - Festival Time (3:52)
08 - Ed's Funky Dinner (3:09)
09 - Hang On Sleepy Town (4:20)
10 - Lullaby (6:24)
11 - Washing The Air (5:29)
12 - Ed's Funky Diner The Keinholz Caper) (5:53)
13 - Driving Away From Home (I Mean After All It's Only 'Dead Man's Curve') (6:30)

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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

Jan 15, 2008

Around The World, (14)

Hello, Around The World finds itself in southern Spain today, Andalusia to be precise, and that means flamenco, gypsy style.

Flamenco was born towards the end of the 800-year Arab rule in Spain and during the Spanish inquisition, serving as a voice of protest and hope for the populations that were being subjugated at the time, including Christians, Arabs, Jews and the Gypsies. Flamenco thrived as a cultural and emotional expression, traditionally harnessing the deep sadness and suffering of a people who had been repressed for centuries. Many of the earliest flamenco songs are said to have been dark and profound in nature, concentrating on events such as bloody encounters, violent death, love and love betrayed, displacement, incarceration, sickness and loss. The cantaores (singers) would voice these experiences through cante, concentrating on communicating and evoking the same experiences and emotions within the listener.

The cante flamenco (flamenco song) is one of the three main components within the expression of flamenco, along with toque (playing the flamenco guitar) and baile (dance). Foreigners generally mistake the flamenco dance as being the essence of flamenco, however it is the cante which actuates the soul of this complex musical and cultural tradition. Originally flamenco was composed purely of cante with the accompaniment of palmas (hand clapping) and knuckle-rapping percussion, and it was not until the 19th century that the toque had been gradually added to the cante. The Gitanos have been fundamental in maintaining this art form, but they have an oral culture. Their folk songs were passed on to new generations by repeated performances in their social community.

Flamenco is expressed through the toque -- the playing of the flamenco guitar, the cante (singing), and the baile (dancing)
The flamenco guitar (and the very similar classical guitar) is a descendent from the lute. The first guitars are thought to have originated in Spain in the 15th century. The traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish cypress and spruce, and is lighter in weight and a bit smaller than a classical guitar, to give the output a 'sharper' sound.
The heart of flamenco is the song (cante). Although to the uninitiated, flamenco seems totally extemporaneous, these cantes (songs) and bailes (dances) follow strict musical and poetic rules. The verses (coplas) of these songs often are beautiful and concise poems, and the style of the flamenco copla was often imitated by Andalucian poets
El baile flamenco is a highly-expressive solo dance, known for its emotional sweeping of the arms and rhythmic stomping of the feet. While flamenco dancers (bailaores and bailaoras) invest a considerable amount of study and practice into their art form, the dances are not choreographed, but are improvised along the palo or rhythm. In addition to the percussion provided by the heels and balls of the feet striking the floor, castanets are sometimes held in the hands and clicked together rapidly to the rhythm of the music. Sometimes, folding fans are used for visual effect.

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Fiesta Gitana da Silva - Viva Jaleo ( 92 ^ 99mb)

The jaleo is an essential and complicated element of the flamenco, consisting of hand-clapping, fingersnapping, the accentuation of the rhythm by stamping the feet clacking the tongue, tapping the guitar and crying out exclamations as accompaniments to song and dance. The communal singing of a song with the accompaniment of the above mentioned is often placed between the solo performances of the artists to intensify the mood. The jaleo is in itself an extremely diffecult art form. The hand -clapping is especially complicated and it's almost exclusively the gypsies that command the technique of the ' palmas' . These Jaleodores aren't necessarrily solo artists themselves but they are greatly appreciated in a flamenco performance.



01 - Ritmo de Fiesta Gitana
02 - Jaleo, Todo el cuadro
03 - Tientos gitanos, Cante y baile- La Gitanilla
04 - Jaleo, Todo el cuadro
05 - Fandangos del desafio, Cante- Miguel Maya, El Moro, Patro Soto
06 - Alegrias, Baile- Curro Velez, Cante- Miguel Maya
07 - Verdiales, Baile- Antonio el de Valdepenas, Coralilo de Sevilla, Isabel Romero, Antonia de Triana...
08 - Bulerias, Baile- La Gitanilla, Cante- El Moro
09 - Jaleo, Todo el cuadro
10 - Tanguillo de Triana, Baile- Antonio el de Valdepenas, Antonia de Triana
11 - Farruca, Baile- Curro Velez
12 - Terminal de Fiesta, Todo el cuadro

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Fiesta Gitana da Silva - Duende del Flamenco ( 92 * 99mb)

The meaning of duende as in tener duende (having duende) is a rarely-explained concept in Spanish art, particularly flamenco, having to do with emotion, expression and authenticity. In fact, tener duende can be loosely translated as having soul.

Where the Muse brings golden inspiration, Duende brings blood. The Muse speaks of life, yet Duende sings of death. Duende is not inspiration, Duende is a struggle, a dark force, having very little to do with outer beauty, a struggle present in the artist's soul, the struggle of knowing that death is imminent. It is this knowledge of death that awaits and the despair that stems from it that produce Duende, and Duende will then color the artist's work with gut-wrenching authenticity, painful hues and tones that produce strong, vibrant art.

01 - Seguiriyas (8:24)
02 - Tarantos (18:02)
03 - Caracoles (6:31)
04 - Soleares y La Cana ( 9:18)
05 - Saeta (3:09)
06 - Saeta Martinete (2:39)
07 - Martinete (6:53)

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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

Jan 14, 2008

Don't Panic ! , (14)



Hello, don't panic ! Here's the next episode of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy's tertiary phase, but first a recap of last weeks fit 13;

Arthur wakes up in a cave on pre-historic Earth (thus ignoring the events of the Secondary Phase), on the day, four years after he last saw Ford Prefect, that Ford arrives back. Ford carries news that he has detected disturbances in the "space-time wash", and that they might be able to escape. The disturbance turns out to be a Chesterfield sofa, which materialises in a field. They chase the sofa as it runs off, and then are transported elsewhere.

Zaphod and Trillian are on the Heart of Gold, without Marvin. Zaphod is extremely hungover, and upset that Trillian is dismissing the events of The Secondary Phase as a "psychotic episode". Trillian wishes to do something and is getting increasingly annoyed at Zaphod. After preparing a fabulous meal, and Zaphod still refusing to come out of the bathroom, she teleports away, telling the ship to "transport me the hell out of Zaphod Beeblebrox's life."

Meanwhile, Marvin is on a swamp on Squornshellous Zeta, conversing with the native life-forms, mattresses. He is circling around and around on one leg, while his artificial (i.e. replacement) leg is stuck in the swamp.

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THHGTTG - Fit 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

Jan 13, 2008

Sundaze, (14)

Hello, SunDaze presents today the third cluster of Cluster, last week i focussed on Harmonia (= Cluster+ Michael Rother). This week i have the album they made after Rother temporarily left to concentrate on Neu ! again .The results were released as the 1974 Cluster LP Zuckerzeit, a watershed of electronic pop midway between Cluster, Neu! and Kraftwerk (the latter just about to explode with their own Autobahn LP). The next year it was time for Harmonia again releasing De Luxe(75).

After the release of Deluxe Harmonia went back to the studio with a new fourth member: Brian Eno. Clearly Eno had been very impressed with both Musik von Harmonia and Zuckerzeit and had joined Harmonia on tour once, jamming with the group at The Fabrik in Hamburg. The studio album which followed, Tracks and Traces was recorded in 1976 but was not released until 1997. After Rother left again Eno continued collaboration with Moebius and Roedelius in 1977, when Sky Records released Cluster & Eno. The trio also recorded After the Heat two years later . Not even a decade yet this completes my first 3 clusters of Cluster and friends, nine great albums that set the ambient road ahead, albums where new techniques were employed and the limits of the then analog technology were explored.

Obviously this was not the end of the Cluster story, in fact 6 weeks ago -as Harmonia - they played a gig in Berlin, and inbetween 1979 and 2007 they've released a number of good (solo) albums, but as we know things never get as exiting as in those days we explore.. be it music or a lover....

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Cluster - Zuckerzeit (74 ^ 95mb)

An unexpected jump from the extended kosmische jams of Cluster 71 into uncharted territory that signaled their direction for years to come, Zuckerzeit presented a vision of electronic pop, fusing the duo's haunted melodic sense with crisp, scratchy drum programs that provided a grounded focus to all those synthesizer warbles. Oddly, the ten short tracks have separate composer credits (five each), leading to the assumption that Roedelius handled more evocative synthesizer lines ("Hollywood," "Rosa") while Moebius pushed the group into experimental ground ("Rote Riki," "Caramba").



01 - Hollywood (4:40)
02 - Caramel (3:00)
03 - Rote Riki (6:10)
04 - Rosa (4:08)
05 - Caramba (3:55)
06 - Fotschi Tong (4:15)
07 - James (3:18)
08 - Marzipan (3:15)
09 - Rotor (2:38)
10 - Heiße Lippen (2:20)

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Harmonia and Eno - Tracks and Traces (76 ^ 99mb)

Recorded in 1976 but for whatever reason not released until 20 years later, Tracks & Traces is a fascinating release not merely for Eno's participation but for the hints of music that would become mainstream in the future. Indeed, opening cut "Vamos Companeros" has an intense guitar line from Rother that in its nervous, choppy way suggests everything from Wire to Bauhaus, not to mention Eno's own noted production clients, Bowie, Talking Heads and U2. Having already created two excellent albums, the core Harmonia trio was easily placed to whip up a third, with Eno the wild-card factor who turned out to be a perfect addition. While contributing some lyrics and singing at a time when he was steering away firmly from both in his own solo work, most of the time Eno lets the band speak for themselves musically, most notably adding snaky, quietly threatening basslines. Compositions range from the lengthy to just fragments, and while it feels at points more like a collection of sessions than necessarily a complete stand-alone album conceived as such, the end results are still well-worth hearing.



1 - Vamos Companeros (4:32)
2 - By the Riverside (9:31)
3 - Luneburg Heath (4:53)
4 - Sometimes in Autumn (15:49)
5 - Weird Dream (6:39)
6 - Almost (5:28)
7 - Les Demoiselles (3:59)
8 - When Shade Was Born (1:30)
9 - Trace (1:31)

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Cluster and Eno (77 ^ 99mb)

Brian Eno's first collaboration with Cluster, the best of this album's instrumental pieces are too emotionally rich to waste as mere background music, evoking feelings of hesitancy and regret that rescue the music from mere vapid prettiness. "Wehrmut" is an ethereal synth piece with the pace slowed to a tantalizing crawl. "Steinsame" features a treated guitar playing a slow figure over a dark, almost funereal synth melody. "Schöne Hände" uses watery synth effects to highlight a shivery rhythm pattern. Other pieces dispense with moody atmospherics altogether. While not the unqualified success of their 1978 collaboration After the Heat, Cluster & Eno remains an important album. Along with Eno's 1978 Music for Films, these works helped define the depth and promise of ambient music.



1 - Ho Renomo (5:10)
2 - Schöne Hände (3:00)
3 - Steinsame (4:20)
4 - Wehrmut (5:00)
5 - Mit Simaen (1:30)
6 - Selange (3:30)
7 - Die Bunge (3:50)
8 - One (6:00)
9 - Für Luise (3:50)

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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

Jan 12, 2008

Rhotation, (14) Into BPM

Hello, Into BPM again today. Starting off the 14th Rhotation are 3 groups that found their musical footing in other succesful acts, in a way they are split offs that have become successful in their own right, no mean feat i should think. Eat Static broke away from Ozric Tentacles to persue that 303 beat hypnotising the rave scene of the day, they threw in some alien/ X-files vibe and went with it..to this day. The Aloof came forth from Sabres of Paradise, first a single here and there until the whole project solidified in 1994 with the release of their first album, Cover The Crime, it was recieved well and they released several more until 2000 afterwhich things have gotten rather quiet around them. Lastly The Grid, Dave Ball of cause was the musical brain behind Soft Cell..still is, and with the Grid he scored some more points, with the help of partner, Richard Norris, featuring on this album are friend Robert Fripp aswell as future ' Propellorhead' Alex Gifford. All features are in two bitrates, the 320k one obviously considerably larger load...well as you like it...

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Eat Static - Implant (94 ^ 166mb)

Although most often associated with the psychedelic trance genre, the band actually span almost all forms of dance music, including trance, techno, gabber, drum and bass, and breakbeat. As such they are well-compared to other hard-to-categorise children of the British rave scene, like The Prodigy, Underworld, Orbital, Aphex Twin and Leftfield.

Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton met as drummer and keyboard player (respectively) for the Ozric Tentacles, a long-standing psychedelic "space-rock" band from Somerset. Although the Ozric Tentacles incorporated elements of electronic music, Pepler and Hinton were drawn towards the rave-oriented dance music. In 1988 they collaborated on a project under the name of Wooden Baby which hinted at early rave and techno sounds as well as numerous other styles, and by 1990, the project had evolved into Eat Static. The duo toured in parallel with the Ozric Tentacles for several years until 1994, when they left the band to pursue Eat Static full-time. Pepler and Hinton are often joined in the studio by Eat Static's invisible third member Steve Everitt.

Their first album release, Abduction, immediately established the extra-terrestrial/U.F.O. obsession which is a running motif in their samples, track and album titles, and release artwork. The band's name is taken from a sample (as found on the track Eat Static) from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Implant, their second album, opens floatingly, but then the 303 rhythms and keyboards kick in , and let the progressive house unwind, quick and kicking, with vibes abound. The overall air of spacey samples and sonics at once give the band its identity fusing ambient/new age traces with sharp, slamming beats using differing drum styles and loops aiming for an almost tribal-level of experience before shooting up and out even higher halfway through.

A year later they compiled to EP's into their 3rd album Epsylon(95) , followed by , Science of the Gods(97) showing a sharper, darker techy sound compared to the more organic feel of the previous work. In 98 they released a live album B-world, a collection of various live performances recorded across the UK. Decadance (99) a round up of out takes , before releasing Crash and Burn (2000). With In The Nude (2001) Eat Static recovered some ground but the music scene was moving away from them, still they've kept going and last year they released De-classified, " dedicated to the memory of John Peel, a true maverick and a lover of all music wacky'n weird... You will be sorely missed."



1 - Survivors (7:44)
2 - Abnormal Interference (8:24)
3 - Implant (10:03)
4 - Dzhopa Dream (8:17)
5 - Panspermia (8:02)
6 - Area 51 (Nucleonic Mix) (9:24)
7 - Cydonia (9:00)
8 - Uforic Undulance (10:25)

diet ersion
Eat Static - Implant (94 * 99mb)

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The Aloof - Cover The Crime
( 94 ^ 165mb)
The Aloof were a British rock/electronica supergroup, mixing electronic and dance elements with dub influences. They formed as a strictly dance squad and only later added a vocalist and employed tighter song structures. The band began in 1990 when DJ Dean Thatcher and producer Jagz Kooner (also a member of Andrew Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise) issued the single "Never Get out of the Boat" . By the following year, the duo added vocalist Ricky Barrow and programmer Gary Burns (also with the Sabres) and recorded several singles. The Aloof got fed up with the burnt-out house scene and decided to become a true live band. Adding drummer Richard Thair (later with Red Snapper) in 1993, the expanded quintet set up their own label, Flaw Records, and released Cover the Crime in 1994. The album was well recieved, and earned the Aloof a contract with East West, which reissued the LP in 1995 and also released their second album Sinking one year later. The group played several festivals during the summer of 1996, and watched their single "One Night Stand" reach the British Top 30 late that year. The album Seeking Pleasure followed in 1998, though the group was dropped from East West after weak sales and a shake-up in the label's dance division. Kooner left soon after, and the Aloof moved to Screaming Target Records for 1999's This Constant Chase for Thrills. Not much has been heard of them since, though their myspace has 4 new tracks and lists 2007 line up: Ricky Barrow, Dean Thatcher, Richard Thaid, David Stone and Nick Avinit , i guess that means they are still out there making music.



1 - Cover The Crime (11:35)
2 - Circumstances (7:57)
3 - Society (9:21)
4 - Religion (11:54)
5 - Mind (11:24)
6 - Excursion 94 (4:37)
7 - Victim (Version) (7:10)
8 - Too High (7:43)

diet version
The Aloof - Cover The Crime (94 * 99mb)

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The Grid - Evolver (94 * 99mb)

The Grid formed after Richard Norris met Dave Ball in 1987 during the recording of 'Jack The Tab', one of the UK's first Acid House albums. The album was co-produced by Norris and Genesis P.Orridge. The Grid had their first success with the debut single, Floatation in 1990. They went on to release a string of singles and three albums ('Electric Head', '456' and 'Evolver') and a compilation ('Music For Dancing'). Their 1994 single Swamp Thing, was widely popular and sold a million copies. The Grid's 1994 album Evolver, which contained the Swamp Thing single, reached number fourteen in the UK album charts. Other hits by The Grid include Texas Cowboys, Rollercoaster and Flotation. The band took a break in 1995. Contrary to popular belief, The Grid never actually split up, they just mutually agreed to put the act "on ice" so they could both pursue individual music interests they felt would help them to expand musically & that would eventually enhance The Grid in the long term when they decided to continue with the act.

Richard Norris went away and formed The Droyds which went on to remix the likes of Perry Farrell, Black Grape. His electronic band the Droyds have remixed Ladytron, Client and Armand Van Helden amongst others. He has also just finished writing the official biography of Paul Oakenfold which wass published by Bantam Press on 24th Sept 2007. Dave Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond (another act that has never officially split up) and released a new album on Cooking Vinyl Records, Cruelty Without Beauty, to critical acclaim as well as a live version of classic Soft Cell material and new tracks. Currently he is remastering/remixing a Soft Cell compilation, "Heat" .

By 2005 the pair were back together , as it happens The Grid just released a new single in late 2007 entitled Put Your Hands Together .. A 2nd single is planned along with a new album to follow in 2008 entitled Doppelganger.



01- Wake Up (7:53)
02 - Rollercoaster ( Voc.Susannah Melvoin) (6:34)
03 - Swamp Thing (6:41)
04 - Throb (5:04)
05 - Rise ( Voc.Donna Gardier )(6:07)
06 - Shapes Of Sleep (6:44)
07 - Higher Peaks (6:11)
08 - Texas Cowboys (5:51)
09 - Spin Cycle (5:31)
10 - Golden Dawn (8:35)

The Grid - Evolver (94 ^ 147mb)

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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

Jan 11, 2008

Into The Groove, (13)

Hello, Into The Groove looks at sisters doin it for themselves in the seventies. Not withstanding their gospel background they made it into the soul/funk limelight. The Pointer Sisters were different by their own design, music, look and feel and they were respected for it. Phase II in the 80's and things went even better commercially , family wise things went less rosy. That can not be said of the Staple Singers, dad kept his girls together, though Mavis released a number of albums by herself. Ann Peebles has a great voice, not only that she wrote part of her own reportoire, with her collegue and later husband, Don Bryant, I can't stand the rain..ring a bell ? She was D Memphis soul diva, Peebles released a number of commercially successful and critically well received albums throughout the 1970s, until the rise of disco music in the late 1970s took her music out of the limelight. Here 2 of those albums, packaged as one download or seperately with a higher bitrate.

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Pointer Sisters - Live At The Opera House (74, 71:46 ^ 163mb)
As children the girls (Anita, Bonnie, June and Ruth) were encouraged to sing gospel music by their parents Reverend Elton and Mrs Sarah Pointer, but in their household they were told rock and roll and the blues were "the devil's music". After leaving school it was Bonnie who sought a show business career, and she convinced June to join her to form a duo, "Pointers, A Pair". Shortly after this, Anita quit her job to join the group. They began touring and performing and provided backing vocals. The sisters were signed to a recording deal with Atlantic Records in 1971. The resulting singles failed to win an audience but the sisters were enjoying themselves, and the temptation to join them finally overwhelmed Ruth. Before they began to record their first album, the trio had become a quartet, in which afterwards they signed with David Rubinson's Blue Thumb record label. Upon signing, they agreed that they did not want to follow the current trend of pop music, but wanted to create an original sound that combined jazz, scat and be-bop music. In searching for a visual style they used their experience to assemble a collection of vintage 1940s clothes from various thrift shops, that would comprise their costumes and give them the distinctive look they were searching for.

Their self titled first album, was released in 1973 and received positive reviews, with the group being lauded for their versatility and originality. The first single from it, a funk cover of "Yes We Can Can", reached number 11 on the pop charts, their second single was a cover of Willie Dixon's Blues stomper "Wang Dang Doodle". It reached the R&B top 40 and the group's thrift shop style began to catch on with fans.

The following year they released their second album titled That's a Plenty. It continued in the jazz and be-bop style of its predecessor but provided one exception that caused a great deal of interest. The song "Fairytale" written by Anita and Bonnie was a country song, and reached number 13 on the pop charts, and number 37 on the country charts, subsequently the group was invited to Nashville, Tennessee where they achieved the rare distinction of becoming the first black female singers to perform at the Grand Ole Opry.Their third album, and arguably best, was released in 1975. Steppin' produced their Grammy-nominated number one R&B single, "How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side)", which was later sampled by female rap icons Salt 'N' Pepa a decade later. They also scored another R&B hit from the album with "Going Down Slowly", a further Allen Toussaint cover, and in 1976 appeared in the classic blaxploitation film Car Wash.Their last album as a quartet was the Jazz/Funk album Having a Party, released in 1977. The group fell apart, Bonnie went solo the remaining three came back together a year later to start off the second and highly succesful phase of their career with a Springsteen cover, Fire.

This 1974 offering presents the multi-faceted talents of the Pointer Sisters in a live setting with a full orchestra under the direction of the ladies concertmaster and keyboardist Tom Salisbury. They were the very first pop act given permission to do their proverbial thang at the San Francisco Opera House, which they did on April 21, 1974. While the entire program provides an ample spotlight for the siblings' remarkable vocal prowess, the show commences with a lengthy (seven-plus-minute) instrumental "Overture: Prelude to Islandia." Once they hit the stage the real action begins, led off by a suitably hypersonic reading of Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts." The extended ensemble adds a further dynamic quality to the hot-steppin' bop revival. Hearing the vocalists pull off the performance with such aplomb is a treat for those familiar with the Sisters' similarly blistering take fromthe Sisters' mercurial delivery is a fast and furious ride and the quartet certainly seem to be having a good time bringing it to life. The moody "Black Coffee" is a highlight, as the emotive torch ballad is given a scintillating workout that easily outshines the studio version. The latter half of Live at the Opera House (1974) is notably grittier with a rousing cover of Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" that simmers into a churnin' hunk of burnin' blues.Saving the best for last, the Allen Toussaint classic "Yes We Can Can" is a funk free-for-all that prominently features the Sisters' usual quartet of Tom Salisbury (piano/organ/clavinet), Gaylord Birch (drums/percussion), John Neumann (bass) and Chris Michie (guitar). The jam linking to "Love in Them There Hills" climaxes with the Sisters wailing into a faultless a cappella ending. Live at the Opera House is by all accounts and measures an essential entry from the Pointer Sisters in their prime.



01 - Overture (Prelude To Islandia) (7:24)
02 - Walk-on (1:01)
03 - Salt Peanuts (4:17)
04 - Shaky Flat Blues (5:09)
05 - Fairytale (4:18)
06 - Cloudburst (2:42)
07 - Jada (5:38)
08 - Black Coffee (5:43)
09 - Let It Be Me (4:16)
10 - Hands Up / Wang Dang Doodle (5:15)
11 - Old Songs (Medley) (That's A Plenty / Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen) (6:44)
12 - Steam Heat (3:55)
13 - Yes We Can Can (5:57)
14 - Love In Them There Hills (9:27)

diet version
Pointer Sisters - Live At The Opera House (74, 71:46 * 99mb)

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The Staple Singers - Be What You Are (74 ^ 99mb)

The Staples' story goes all the way back to 1915 when patriarch Roebuck Staples entered the world. Roebuck quickly became adept as a solo blues guitarist, entertaining at local dances and picnics. He moved to Chicago in 41 and a decade later Pops Staples (as he had become known) presented two of his daughters, Cleotha and Mavis, and his one son, Pervis, in front of a church audience, and the Staple Singers were born. The Staples recorded in an older, slightly archaic, deeply Southern spiritual style , Pops and Mavis Staples shared lead vocal chores, with most records underpinned by Pops' heavily reverbed Mississippi cotton-patch guitar.

In 1968 the Staples signed with Memphis-based Stax. The first two albums, Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over, were produced by Steve Cropper and backed by Booker T. & the MG's. The Staples were now singing entirely contemporary "message" songs. In 1970 Pervis Staples left and was replaced by sister Yvonne Staples. Even more significantly, Al Bell took over production chores, and things got decidedly funky. Starting with "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)" and "I'll Take You There," the Staples counted 12 chart hits at Stax. When Stax encountered financial problems, Curtis Mayfield signed the Staples to his Curtom label and produced a number one hit in "Let's Do It Again." The Staples went on to continued chart success, albeit less spectacularly, with Warner, through 1979. One more album followed on 20th Century Fox in 1981. After a three-year hiatus, they signed a two-album deal with Private I and hit the R&B charts five more times, once with an unlikely cover of Talking Heads' "Slippery People (club)" Pops passed away on December 19, 2000, shortly after suffering a concussion due to a fall in his home



01 - Be What You Are (4:58)
02 - If You're Ready (Come Go With Me) (4:24)
03 - Love Comes In All Colors (4:37)
04 - Tellin' Lies (4:06)
05 - Touch A Hand, Make A Friend (3:45)
06 - Drown Yourself (4:34)
07 - I Ain't Raisin' No Sand (6:29)
08 - Grandma's Hands (2:39)
09 - Bridges Instead Of Walls (4:00)
10 - I'm On Your Side (3:53)
11 - That's What Friends Are For (4:05)
12 - Heaven (3:32)

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Ann Peebles - If This Is Heaven + The Handwriting Is On The Wall ( 77/79 * 97mb)

Ann Peebles (born April 27, 1947, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter best known for her popular Memphis soul albums of the 1970s on the Hi Records label.
Peebles was discovered as a talent by Gene "Bowlegs" Miller of Hi Records during a 1968 trip to sit in singing with him at a Memphis, Tennessee, nightclub. A popular local bandleader, Miller was known for also helping other musicians, such as members of the Hi Rhythm Section, get their starts in the Memphis music industry. He brought her to Hi house producer Willie Mitchell for a tryout. Mitchell, immediately offered Peebles a contract; she was still shy of her 21st birthday.

Mitchell teamed Peebles with singer and house songwriter Don Bryant, seeking a bit more seasoning in her R&B phrasing. Peebles and Bryant soon began writing together, and would also end up dating in 1972 and married in 1974. 1973's I Can't Stand the Rain, which many critics still regard as her finest work. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" was a decent-sized hit, and the brilliant title cut -- written by Peebles, Bryant, and disc jockey Bernard Miller -- became her biggest hit, peaking at number six R&B and famously becoming a favorite of John Lennon. Peebles released a number of commercially successful and critically well received albums produced by Willie Mitchell on Hi Records throughout the 1970s, until the rise of disco music in the late 1970s took her music out of the limelight.

By 1977, straight-ahead Southern soul had stopped selling in big numbers and disco had taken over the R&B market, and like many of her peers, soul diva Ann Peebles tried to make the best of matters by turning up the groove quotient on her album of that year, If This Is Heaven. Peebles, one of the best and most underrated soul songbirds of the 1970s, had already demonstrated she could work wonders with a dance-friendly track on her previous set, 1975's Tellin' It, and If This Is Heaven's first two cuts, "A Good Day for Lovin'" and the title number, find her and producer Willie Mitchell leaning toward disco while still leaving a taste of their classic-style Memphis groove in the mix, Peebles still sings her tales of love both good and bad with the passion, force, and clarity that made her a legend.

If This Is Heaven, Ann Peebles' 1977 attempt to merge her Southern soul influences with the disco grooves that were dominating the airwaves and the charts, proved to be a commercial disappointment, for her next album, Peebles and longtime producer Willie Mitchell took a grand step backwards. Released in 1979, The Handwriting Is on the Wall boasted some high-powered funk backdrops, but for the most part the album finds Peebles taking on a set of straight-ahead soul numbers in which she was usually either taking a man away from some woman who didn't know how to hold on to him, or was warning the ladies why they should stay away from her significant other. Willie Mitchell pairs Peebles up with some full-bodied soul and funk arrangements for these songs, and while unfortunately most of the great Hi Rhythm Section were unavailable for this record, the players on board do fine work, even if the groove lacks the ineffable touch of Peebles' finest work. The Handwriting Is on the Wall was Ann Peebles' last album for Hi, and the last new set she would release until 1988, but it captures one of the great R&B singers of the 1970s doing what she does best, and here she bows out on a high point.



Ann Peebles - If This Is Heaven (77 ^ 70mb)

01- If This Is Heaven (3:07)
02 - A Good Day For Lovin' (2:49)
03 - I'm So Thankful (4:01)
04 - Being Here With You (2:31)
05 - Boy I Gotta Have You (2:44)
06 - When I'm In Your Arms (3:03)
07 - You Gonna Make Me Cry (4:36)
08 - Games (2:59)
09 - Lovin' You Without Love (2:59)
10 - It Must Be Love (2:50)



Ann Peebles - The Handwriting Is On The Wall (79 ^ 74mb)

11 - Old Man With Young Ideas (3:06)
12 - Bip Bam Thank You Mam (3:09)
13 - The Handwriting Is On The Wall (3:16)
14 - I Didn't Take Your Man (3:59)
15 - You've Got The Papers (I've Got The Man) (2:49)
16 - Lookin' For A Lovin' (3:00)
17 - You're What I Need (But More Than I Can Stand) (2:59)
18 - Livin' In, Livin' Out (2:48)
19 - If I Can't See You (4:00)
20 - Let Your Love Light Shine (3:46)

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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

Jan 10, 2008

Alphabet Soup, (13) M

Hello it's Alphabet Soup day again, mmm, what to pick and then after settling on the artists which album, with Mono it was easy they just made the one. With Masters of Reality it was a bit more difficult, i have all but one and even when their first really hit home and brought them into the limelight, for me the second album Sunrise On The Sufferbus proved more of a winner, it's less agitated, more loose and assertive, the 42 min pass very quickly.. With MC 900 Ft Jesus its different, he made just 3 albums, i got all three and they are all rather different in nature, i choose the middle one as it combines the elements of his first and last and is a gem musically and textually, although MC 900ft maybe overdoing it here and there, but then his first " Hell with the lid off " is lyrically pleasently disturbed. Anyway after the success of the If i only had a brain single, someone/thing got to him (Oral Roberts devotees ?) because nothing has been heard of him since.

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Masters Of Reality - Sunrise On The Sufferbus ( 92 ^ 99mb)

Led by singer/guitarist Chris Goss, Masters of Reality were something of an anomaly on the late-'80s/early-'90s rock scene, playing a strongly Cream- and Zeppelin-influenced brand of hard rock with modern touches. Their original members included bassist Googe, guitarist Tim Harrington, and drummer Vinnie Ludovico. Goss broke up the band shortly after their well-received, self-titled debut album in 1989; he reformed the group as a trio a few years later with Googe and legendary ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

On the one hand it must have seemed like a perversely appropriate gesture on the part of Chris Goss. Having received a variety of comparisons to Cream after Masters of Reality's first album came out, thanks in large part to Goss' vocal resemblance to Jack Bruce, none other than legendary British drummer and Cream veteran Ginger Baker took over the sticks on the group's sophomore effort. Far from being mere wish-fulfillment, though, Baker's abilities help supercharge the mighty and underrated Sunrise on the Sufferbus to a higher level. Baker's lost none of his power -- indeed, arguably he hasn't sounded this good in years, showing flash and flair while never replicating, say, the drum-solo mistakes of "Toad" -- while both Goss and Googe have their instruments like men possessed. Goss' singing still has hints of Bruce, as well as Neil Young, but doesn't just replicate -- while the band's production as a whole brings out the immediacy of the songs. The emphasis on calmer efforts like the dreamy string-and-keyboard drenched "100 Years" and the enjoyable, steady lope of "Rolling Green" provide a fine contrast to the amped-up kickers.

However, Masters of Reality never quite fit into prevailing hard rock trends, and they remained a well-kept secret to most of the listening public. In hindsight, their retro obsessions and warm, spacious guitar sound set a clear precedent for the '90s stoner rock movement; while the Masters' less metallic sound wouldn't have been a perfect stylistic fit, the link was reinforced by Goss' acclaimed production work on three of the four Kyuss albums. Those records helped pave the way for a new career in production for Goss, and Masters of Reality went on hiatus for several years. Goss reunited with Googe in 1997, adding guitarist Brendan McNichol and drummer Victor Indrizzo for a series of live dates that resulted in the album How High the Moon: Live at the Viper Room. An all-new studio album titled Welcome to the Western Lodge was released in Europe in 1999, followed by Deep in the hole (2001) , a European tour live album Flak 'n Flight (2002) and a collection of more folksy left overs " Give us Barabass" (04)



01 - She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On) (2:47)
02 - J.B. Witchdance (3:37)
03 - Jody Sings (3:03)
04 - Rolling Green (3:42)
05 - Ants In The Kitchen (3:22)
06 - V.H.V. (4:22)
07 - Bicycle (0:48)
08 - 100 Years (Of Tears In The Wind) (4:06)
09 - T.U.S.A. (3:00)
10 - Tilt-A-Whirl (3:43)
11 - Rabbit One (3:33)
12 - Madonna (0:38)
13 - Gimme Water (2:23)
14 - The Moon In Your Pocket (3:29

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MC 900 Ft Jesus - Welcome To My Dream (91 ^ 99mb)

Taking the name MC 900 Ft. Jesus from an Oral Roberts'* sermon, the Dallas native Mark Griffin began recording in the late ' 80s. MC 900 Ft. Jesus' first records were bracing fusions of hip-hop, industrial, and spoken word, with hints of jazz. He became a favorite on college radio with his 1990 debut, Hell With the Lid Off, and 1991's Welcome to My Dream. Griffin seems to be able to get inside the American psyche and write these wonderful, incredibly well-observed lyrics; and then marries them to old-skool beats and layers of synth. At first listen you might believe that you're listening to hip-pop; but then you rapidly realise that everything he does is a little bit tongue-in-cheek.

Welcome To My Dream, the follow-up to Hell With the Lid Off is darker, less cartoonish, and far more influenced by funk and jazz than before (if it weren't for the slightly whiny vocals over top of the opening cut, you might mistake the backing track for something from Miles Davis' fusion period). In a lot of ways, Welcome to My Dream was a precursor to trip-hop, layering hip-hop beats over jazzy breaks and dream-like instrumentation. Tracks like "Killer Inside Me" and "Adventures in Failure" as backing tracks are killer and the delivery of the rhymes are top-notch, alas textually a bit silly, in the sense that jokes ware off after repeated listening. That's a shame because there are some great tracks here, like the arsonists confessional "The City Sleeps'" and the paranoiac nightdrive "Falling Elevators." As before on Hell With the Lid Off , DJ Zero scratches with aplomb.

After laying low for a couple years, MC 900 Ft. Jesus returned with his most popular record to date in 1994, One Step Ahead of the Spider. Featuring the hit single "If I Only Had a Brain," the record was calmer than his earlier work, incorporating more elements of jazz and funk; it was a hit on both alternative radio and MTV, nevertheless he never established much more than a cult following, and has completely disappeared from the radar since.

*Oral Roberts became a traveling faith healer after dropping out of college, he made a name for himself with a mobile big tent that sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs, and where he shouted at petitioners who did not respond to his healing. In 1977 Roberts claimed to have a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus who told him to build City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success. He founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1963, stating he was obeying a command from God. The university was chartered in 1963 and received its first students in 1965. Students were required to sign an honor code pledging not to drink, smoke, dance, party, or engage in premarital sex. Oral Roberts is retired now after a very succesful career as a televangelist. Btw the Rio Christ The Redeemer statue which made it into the seven wonders of the world list is just 130 ft, merely a seventh what the faith healer saw, well visions can be deceptive in the ' out there' .



1 - Falling Elevators (6:46)
2 - Killer Inside Me (4:08)
3 - Adventures In Failure (5:45)
4 - The City Sleeps (5:32)
5 - O-Zone (4:33)
6 - Hearing Voices In One's Head (5:54)
7 - Dali's Handgun (4:40)
8 - Dancing Barefoot (4:31)

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Mono - Formica Blues (97 ^ 99mb)

Influenced by cool jazz,' 60s pop and classic film-soundtracks, the trip-hop duo Mono formed around vocalist Siobhan De Maré and producer Martin Virgo, in mid-1996. Caught like many other mid-'90s male instrumentalist/female singer duos, Mono deftly stays clear of the trip-hop conundrum for the most part with Formica Blues. Certainly there was a certain shared sense of cinematic drama and haunting gloom that informs plenty of songs -- consider the Get Carter-sampling "Silicone," while "The Outsider" has an emotional directness Beth Gibbons would be proud of. The fact that lead single "Life in Mono" samples John Barry and works with breakbeats didn't necessarily help Mono stand out more, but then they work with a variety of English, American, and continental musical inspirations, and as such are able to find a balance between a particular style and a wide number of variations. The use of David Sylvian's "Approaching Silence" to signal the start of "Penguin Freud" works very well, however the highlight is probably "Playboys," with both a full-bodied beat and a halfway-to-industrial instrumental break to recommend it, while the combination of de Maré's voice and subtle orchestration really hits the spot.

In 1998, the use of "Life in Mono" in the soundtrack, trailers, and end credits of the film adaptation of Great Expectations (after Robert De Niro, who was working on the film, heard the song)[4] brought greater exposure for the song than ever before, they sogned a U.S. deal with Mercury Records, and went on their only concert tour, by 2000 they'd broken up. Siobhan De Maré now sings for Violet Indiana featuring Robin Guthrie of the group Cocteau Twins; Violet Indiana has released a number of singles, two albums and a singles collection. More recently, de Maré also founded Pearl Dust, a music management company.Virgo joined International Love Corporation, an unsigned rock band promoted through MySpace and CD Baby, as keyboardist.



01 - Life In Mono (4:45)
02 - Silicone (4:49)
03 - Slimcea Girl (3:50)
04 - The Outsider (5:09)
05 - Disney Town (4:08)
06 - The Blind Man (6:38)
07 - High Life (4:15)
08 - Playboys (6:40)
09 - Penguin Freud (6:19)
10 - Hello Cleveland! (6:34)

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Jan 9, 2008

Eight-X, (13)

Eight-X, yeah right more nostalgia and i start right off with a Broken Heart, big sound, love can be such a pain, seriously i enjoyed ripping this one hadnt heard it for almost 3 decades, still some great tracks on it. Last week a commenter asked for Kissing The Pink, well i would have come to it but why wait to comply with a wish for that rare Big Man Restless clubmix, anyway the band should have done better, but never really managed to really bubble up and above. Something that had come naturally to my last artist today. He had some big advantages..being tall and blond and smart, if that wasn' t enough he has a beautiful voice aswell...yes thats one part of the story, his stagefright kept him from performing and later expanded to a dislike with the marketing-music industry, after Cupid And Psyche 85, to date he released just 3 albums, but then Wales has such a beautiful countryside..

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The Babys - Broken Heart (77 ^ 92mb)

The Babys consisted of vocalist/bassist John Waite, guitarist Wally Stocker, former Spontaneous Combustion and Strider drummer Tony Brock, and keyboardist/guitarist Mike Corby, who was replaced by Jonathan Cain in 1978; bassist Ricky Phillips also joined later on. Overshadowed by the punk and new wave movement in their native U.K., the band concentrated on the American market and did score two Top 20 singles with "Isn't It Time" and "Every Time I Think of You." After a rather meager start with their second album the band found a sympathetic producer this time out in Ron Nevison.He gives the band a sharp, precise recording that fully brings out their power while balancing out the heavier elements of their sound with sophisticated orchestrations that broaden their sound into a cinematic realm. The Babys live up to this ambitious style of production by stepping up to the plate with a collection of songs that are tight, catchy, and full of rock & roll conviction. The end result is an album that is a quantum leap forward from their first album in every way. Broken Heart is undoubtedly the crown jewel in the Babys' catalog and a worthwhile listen for any fan of big-production AOR rock ( adult orientated rock ? how about those adolescent girls ?).

1978 was a difficult year of transition for the Babys: The group parted ways with founding member Michael Corby during sessions for their new album, and the remaining members finished the album only to have their record company reject it in its initial form. The final result Head First surpassed "Broken Neart" in the quality of the cover , but the album was a mish mash and rather poor compared to it's grand predecessor. After 1980's Union Jacks, the Babys' future didn't look so bright anymore and the group disbanded in 1981. A shoddy anthology was released on cd in 89 but why they havent released Broken Heart , beats me, it could do with a shiny remaster. Well you can try it here , don't be put off by that cheesy cover, im sure they would have posed naked with their dicks in a sock if the man from the record company had told them.



01 - Wrong Or Right (3:25)
02 - Give Me Your Love (3:33)
03 - Isn't It Time (4:00)
04 - And If You Could See Me Fly (2:50)
05 - The Golden Mile (4:55)
06 - Broken Heart (3:01)
07 - I'm Falling (3:53)
08 - Rescue Me (3:49)
09 - Silver Dreams (2:59)
10 - A Piece Of The Action (4:24)
--Xs--
11 - Everytime i Think Of You (4:01)

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Kissing The Pink - Naked ( 83 ^ 98mb)

Kissing the Pink was formed in 1980 at the Royal College of Music in London, England. All of the members lived together in the same house in North London. Comprised of Nick Whitecross (vocals, guitars), Jon Kingsley Hall (keyboards, vocals), Peter Barnett (bass, violin, vocals), Simon Aldridge (guitars, vocals), Stephen Cusack (drums, vocals), George Stewart (keyboards, vocals), and Josephine Wells (saxophone, vocals). Their first single was "Don't Hide in the Shadows", made with Martin Hannett, but it wasn't until they signed with Magnet Records that they began to get any airplay. They recorded their first album in AIR studios with producer Colin Thurston, Kissing the Pink had wanted Brian Eno to produce the album but Magnet thought Thurston would make a more commercial impact. Kissing the Pink released their first album, Naked, in 1983.
The album, Naked, didn't sell a lot of copies but was a favourite with the college crowd, the sheer variety of songs on the album made the album too hard to classify, and thus it was largely ignored.

The self produced and much more consistant follow-up album , What Noise, didn't make much of a splash either, so by 1986 they were at the mercy of their label. Kissing the Pink shortened their name to KTP and recorded their most successful LP, Certain Things Are Likely. More commercial than any of their previous efforts, Certain Things Are Likely was Kissing the Pink's concession to their label Magnet's demand for a chart smash. The hits never really came, except that the title track reached number one on the Billboard dance charts; moreover, the single "One Step" went to number one in Italy. In 1988, KTP became Kissing the Pink once again. The group released Sugarland in 1993. After that, the band cut their roster to Whitecross, Hall, and Stewart, doing mainly production work for other artists.



01 - The Last Film (3:24)
02 - Frightened In France (3:25)
03 - Watching Their Eyes (3:14)
04 - Love Lasts Forever (5:33)
05 - All For You (3:52)
06 - The Last Film (Hymn Version) (3:04)
07 - Big Man Restless (3:44)
08 - Desert Song (3:21)
09 - Broken Body (2:41)
10 - Maybe This Day (3:34)
11 - In Awe Of Industry (3:14)
12 - Mr. Blunt (2:55)
--Xs--
13 - Big Man Restless (club mix) (7:01) (16mb)


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Scritti Politti - Cupid and Psyche (85 ^ 99mb)

Few figures in pop music can claim Gartside's distinctive credentials: an artist who began in London's subcutaneous underground in the late '70s but ultimately rose to the top of the U.K. pop charts, a serious devotee of linguistic structuralism who can hold his own in a conversation with his friend, arch deconstructionist Jacques Derrida, and a handsome, dreamy-eyed gentleman who has, in the opinion of one critic, "a voice that's eternally 14 years old" yet nonetheless stands six foot six. Through the Young Communist League he met future Scritti Politti bassist Nial Jinks, at Leeds Art College he made the acquaintance of Scritti's future drummer, Tom Morley. In June 1978 Gartside and Morley dropped out of school and took up a flat in London, and Gartside invited Jinks to come out and join them.

At this stage, Scritti Politti's sound was scrappy, taut, and forthrightly experimental in style, utilizing abrupt changes, rhythmic displacements, and gritty and discordant harmonies tempered by Gartside's sweet vocalizing of impenetrably obscure lyrics, vaguely political in sense but temporal and abstract in meaning. Rough Trade released the 12" EP 4 A-Sides and a four-track single of Scritti Politti's second Peel Session. The band was then added to a U.K. tour featuring Gang of Four and Joy Division, but Gartside was consumed by stage fright and anxiety, leading to his first heart attack at age 23. After completing the tour, Gartside decided to take a year off from music and returned to South Wales to refresh himself.

When Gartside returned, it was a with a new Scritti Politti sound, a demo track, "The Sweetest Girl," was issued on a giveaway cassette with an issue of NME, and it soon proved extremely popular in England. While the finished single of "The Sweetest Girl" did not appear for several months, sapping some of the momentum gained by the pre-release, the follow-up album, Songs to Remember, was issued to considerable critical acclaim in September 1981. The album made it to number one on the U.K. independent album chart and number six on the main U.K. pop chart. By this time, however, the band had fallen apart, and the last original member, drummer Tom Morley, departed that November.

Gartside spent some time in New York, and met David Gamson, who in turn introduced him to the drummer from Material, Fred Maher. They began to record as Scritti Politti in 1983 in sessions produced by Nile Rodgers, but Gartside decided, rightly, that Rough Trade didn't have the kind of budget that could support the type of pop music that he was then interested in pursuing. With Gartside and Rough Trade parting ways, the Rodgers-produced sessions never saw the light of day. After negotiating with various labels, he finally settled on an offer made by Virgin. Then Gartside, Gamson, and Maher began slowly recording the group of singles that ultimately made up Cupid & Psyche 85.

Cupid & Psyche 85, released in June of 1985, was a landmark album in many respects. No prior pop album had integrated the techniques of sampling and sequencing to such a great degree, and the technology of that time was both expensive to use and barely up to the task Scritti Politti demanded of it. Gartside's typically high-flown verbiage was as evident here as anywhere, but you didn't need to understand what he sang in order to enjoy the music. Certain songs are dialogues between Gartside and a female singer; as such, "A Little Knowledge" is a rare pop song that retains the characteristics of a mini-tragedy. Likewise, the bonus track of "Flesh and Blood," featuring Jamaican rapper Ann Swinton, sounds remarkably fresh and contemporary 20 years on. But the big hits from Cupid & Psyche 85 were "Wood Beez" and "The Word Girl" in the U.K., and "The Perfect Way" in the U.S., which reached number 11 in the Billboard Hot 100 and got heavy rotation on MTV. Not many albums from smack in the middle of the "Big '80s" can be said to possess the quality of timelessness, but Cupid & Psyche 85 most certainly does.

Scritti Politti returned in 1988 with a new album, Provision, of which the intended hit, "Boom! There She Was," featured the talents of the late Roger Troutman. Provision found favor in the U.K., but had no effect whatsoever in the U.S., and worse, Gartside was personally unhappy with the album. Disgusted with music as a whole, Gartside dropped from sight again, and this time he did so for nearly a decade.
Released in 1999, Anomie & Bonhomie marked Gartside and Scritti Politti's return to music, and it shows that he had by no means lost touch with current trends, working with rappers Mos Def and Jimahl and extending the Scritti Politti compass to include a full-blown hip-hop sound. It was a fine comeback effort, but received only a lukewarm response from the public. White Bread Black Beer, recorded entirely by Gartside, followed seven years later and had the benefit of closely tailing a wave of newfound interest in his career.



01 - The Word Girl (4:24)
02 - Small Talk (3:39)
03 - Absolute (4:25)
04 - A Little Knowledge (5:01)
05 - Don't Work That Hard (3:59)
06 - Perfect Way (4:43)
07 - Lover To Fall (4:12)
08 - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) (4:48)
09 - Hypnotize (3:34)
10 - Flesh & Blood (5:35)

Scritti Politti - Cupid and Psyche(12" versions) (42mb)

11 - Absolute (Version) (6:11)
12 - Wood Beez (Version) (5:56)
13 - Hypnotize (Version) (6:35)

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Jan 8, 2008

Around The World, (13)

Hello, Around The World, finds itself on the Balkan today where those mysterious voices lend themselves to the soundtrack of a futuristic movie where the haves have fled to the Bunker Palace Hotel , where there is comfort and they can be safe, a bunker built long ago for just this kind of contingency. But a rebel spy sneaks in, and although her nature is very quickly suspected, she is left to observe the raving of the decadent power class, who keeps wondering what happened to their leader, who has failed to show up.

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Les Voix Bulgares De L'Ensemble Radio Sofia - Balkan (89 ^ 98mb)

Les Voix Bulgares is the vocal manifestation of an ancient, savage , proud and rustic tradition; an expression modelled by the women of a people oppressed for centuries, crying the loss of their men in a neverending revolt, whilst firmly voicing their resistance to the invader. Sharp piercing voices from wide open spaces, bodily and closely woven like the singers themselves who as they chant grip eachother by the waist or simply hold hands.

In 1951, the father of Bulgarian concert folk music, Philip Koutev, established the Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic. His goals was to join the rich heritage of his country's solo folk songs with harmonies and arrangements that highlighted their beautiful timbres and irregular rhythms. One year later, the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir was founded. Then as now, its members are singers from the rural regions of Bulgaria, each an informal apprentice in the folk songs of her home.

Though the choir became widely known when the trend-setting English alternative record label 4AD released a pair of anthology albums in 1986 and 1988 with the now famous title Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, their recordings date as far back as 1957. The first pressing of the Voix Bulgares album was the result of fifteen years of work by Swiss ethnomusicologist and producer Marcel Cellier and was originally released in 1975 on his small Discs Cellier label. Ivo Watts-Russell (founder of 4AD) was introduced to the choir from a third or fourth generation audio cassette lent to him by Peter Murphy, singer from the band Bauhaus. He became thoroughly entranced by the music, and tracked down and licensed the recordings from Cellier. The group has since performed extensively around the world to wide acclaim and were honored with a Grammy Award in 1989 for their second album.

In 1992, the choir formally divided into two: one for radio, one for television. Bulgarian television signed a contract with the one half, which is the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir; the other half, Les Voix Bulgares De Radio Sofia , organized itself as a collective, and now performs as "Angelite - The Bulgarian Voices."



01 - Cri Mi Zvezdi (0:40)
02 - Klara (5:50)
03 - Sofia (2:15)
04 - Holm (5:55)
05 - Dora (3:55)
06 - Ikne (3:17)
07 - Bela Sam Bela Unate (3:35)
08 - Solal (1:09)
09 - Balkan Hotel (2:50)
10 - Zabranena Pesen (2:50)
11 - Klara (O Maiko Moia) (4:05)
12 - Nikolai (0:34)
13 - Gospodi Pomiluj (5:10)
14 - Ot Dole Ide Devoitche (1:12)

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Jan 7, 2008

Don't Panic ! , (13)

Hello, first a stunning message about the popularised energy saving lamps, i too have a number around, but not for long anymore, and you all would be well advised to throw them out too, and spend some more money on the LED bulbs.



The startling alert came as health experts also warned that toxic mercury inside the bulbs can aggravate a range of problems including migraines and dizziness. And a leading dermatologist said tens of thousands of people with skin complaints will find it hard to tolerate being near the bulbs as they cause conditions such as eczema to flare up

"The mini fluorescent bulbs that are currently recommended, due to missing out of 5 components (Diode capacitors and ferrite suppressors) are prodigious source of bio and environment EMI (Electromagnetic interference)." The mini fluorescents are dangerous to human beings and are also designed to interfere with long wave radio. The electromagnetic interference harmfully affects our brain stem and jams long (and some medium) wave broadcasts.

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A recap of last weeks 12th fit and final episode of the secundairy phase;

The episode begins with a reprise of the action from Fit the Eleventh: Ford and Zaphod have discovered a derelict spaceport, including one ship, still intact, with its supply lines still connected, and still having power. Zaphod creates a stethoscope for both heads out of some pieces of tubing, and is shocked at what he hears inside. Ford asks to listen, and finally, everyone gets to hear an android stewardess making an announcement about their delayed space flight. Zaphod calculates that the ship is in fact over 900 years late. Ford and Zaphod agree to find their way into the ship to investigate further.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Lintilla finally find Lintilla's two clones on Brontitall, but they, along with Marvin, are discovered by the Footwarriors as power is restored. Arthur agrees to run down the corridor while the others lay down cover fire with "a gun of some sort", then Arthur will have them throw the gun to him, so that he can lay down cover fire while they run to meet him. As Arthur completes the first part of this task, he's met by a man named Poodoo, a priest named Varntvar, and three men named Allitnil. During this confusion, Arthur manages to get Lintilla to throw the gun down the corridor, and starts firing to cover their run to join him. While Arthur does this, Poodoo is explaining how keen he is to introduce the Allitnils to the Lintillas, for a quiet social evening, and "a priest [is] on hand in case anybody wants to get married at all. Just to round off the evening." Arthur questions his sanity.

The Lintillas finally join Arthur, and Poodoo seizes his opportunity to introduce the Allitnils to them. They are immediately overwhelmingly attracted to each other, but are warned off from kissing each other until married. The priest is then called upon to perform three weddings. As the weddings conclude and the men kiss their brides, two of the three pairs disappear in "a puff of unsmoke" as Arthur discovers that the marriage certificates are actually cloning machine company "Agreements to Cease to Be" and cries out, stopping the final couple from kissing.

At this point, we go back to Ford and Zaphod entering the very late space ship, just as the passengers are being woken from suspended animation for coffee and biscuits. Ford and Zaphod flee the scene, eventually arriving on the flight deck, where they are continually ordered by the autopilot to return to their seats. The autopilot argues with them over the statistical likelihood of another civilization delivering the lemon soaked paper napkins required by the spaceship before it can depart, and Ford and Zaphod flee again, this time to the First Class compartment. Here, a man introduces himself to Zaphod as Zarniwoop, whom Zaphod had been seeking since Fit the Seventh.

The action returns to Arthur, the remaining Lintilla, and Marvin. We learn that Arthur had killed the last Allitnil, the anti-clone, and Marvin tied up Poodoo and Varntvar, leaving them forced to listen to a cassette tape of Marvin's autobiography. As they finally exit the Dolmansaxlil building, they set out for the same spaceport that Ford and Zaphod are in, but then discover that the suspended cup is heading towards the surface, with the Heart of Gold still inside.

Meanwhile, Zarniwoop has offered Ford and Zaphod some drinks, and attempts to explain the whole situation to them. Zarniwoop starts by explaining that they had been in an artificially created universe within his office, then explains that he and Zaphod had co-conspired to discover who was really ruling the galaxy, as it was obvious it wasn't the President. Zaphod successed in his task, bringing the Heart of Gold - its improbability drive being necessary to reach the realm of the real ruler of the galaxy - to Zarniwoop's hiding place. Zarniwoop begins "dismantling" the artificial universe, and causes the cup to head to the surface outside.

After the narrator describes who might be ruling the universe, we hear the voice of an old man attempting to feed his cat a bit of fish. This old man seems to have his own unique perspective on things, but had noticed a white ship approaching. This ship, the Heart of Gold, discharges four of its passengers: Ford, Zaphod, Arthur and Zarniwoop, who approach the old man's shack. They attempt to question him about the decisions he makes about the galaxy, but he gives everything a vague answer. He does however reveal that he may have given his assent to the men who regularly seek his advice, thus giving Zaphod permission, under the pressure of the galaxy's psychiatrists, to destroy Earth before the Ultimate Question was revealed, thus securing their jobs. Arthur leaves angrily. Zarniwoop attempts further questions, but is eventually brushed off, and it's discovered that Arthur has made away with the Heart of Gold, with Lintilla and Marvin aboard. This leaves Ford, Zaphod and Zarniwoop stranded on the "Old Man in the Shack"'s planet, and here the episode ends - though open-ended with a spoken possibility of another series.(wiki)



The third 6-part radio series, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Tertiary Phase, based on Life, the Universe and Everything, ran on BBC Radio 4 fall 2004. Episodes were subtitled Fits the Thirteenth through Eighteenth. The third novel was adapted by Dirk Maggs following instructions left by Adams. Most of the original radio series cast returned, with the exception of three, due to their deaths.

Since the opening of the Tertiary Phase starts at the same place and time (prehistoric Earth) as the opening of the second radio series, the entire Secondary Phase was dismissed as one of Zaphod's "psychotic episodes" (including events that did take place in the books). Hints, however, were interspersed in the subsequent fourth and fifth series that would ultimately tie all five together.


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THHGTTG - Fit 13 (22mb)

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Jan 6, 2008

Sundaze, (13)

Hello Sundazers today another cluster of Cluster , here teaming up with Micheal Rother under the moniker of Harmonia and Eno as himself, though under the influence of Harmonia...which began as a sideline excursion for Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius of Cluster and Michael Rother of Neu!, the group became one of the most legendary in the entire Krautrock/kosmische scene .


After two studio albums recorded as Cluster, Roedelius and Moebius moved out to the German countryside to build their own studio in the village of Forst. After several disappointments in his attempt to expand Neu! into a live unit, Rother retreated to Cluster's studio for a series of relaxed, improvisational jam sessions that wedded Cluster's exploratory space music with the chugging rhythms and guitar sense of Rother. The debut Harmonia LP, Musik Von Harmonia, appeared in 1974 (with an accomplished live track, recorded in Paradiso-Amsterdam). The trio also toured and a new recording drawn from this period, Live 1974 was released on the Grönland Records and Water Records(US) recently.



Michael Rother returned to working with Klaus Dinger and an expanded Neu! lineup in order to create another Krautrock classic, Neu! '75, however Harmonia remained his focus for another LP, 1975's De Luxe. In his absence Cluster went back to work as a duo, releasing Zuckerzeit later in 1974. Rother did contribute some guitar work on this album and his influence is greatly felt. Zuckerzeit sounds different from any other Cluster album, with clearly defined melody and beat and a very rhythmic sound.

Brian Eno had proclaimed Harmonia "the world's most important rock group," and he eventually joined the proceedings for several 1976 sessions -- "Perhaps Eno's reason for praising Harmonia so highly was that their music fit the requirements of ambient rock. Its music was equally suitable for active or passive listening. The careful listener found his/her attentions rewarded by the musical activities and sounds, but Harmonia's music was also capable of setting a sonic environment." Clearly Eno had been very impressed with both Musik von Harmonia and Zukerzeit and had joined Harmonia on tour once, jamming with the group at The Fabrik in Hamburg. The studio album which followed, Tracks and Traces was recorded in 1976, Michael Rother left before the album was completed to pursue a solo career which probably resulted in the shelving of the recordings. The legendary results of which lay unreleased for over twenty years, until Rykodisc acquiesced with the release of Tracks & Traces. Though Cluster and Eno continued their collaboration during the late '70s, Rother began a solo career with 1978's Sternthaler.

Harmonia continued to influence Brian Eno's work long after its demise. Harmonia reunited in 2007 and performed live for the first time since 1976, opening the Worldtronics Festival at the at Haus der Weltkulturen in Berlin, Germany on November 27, 2007

The period from 1976 - 1979 was Cluster's most productive, with the four albums released during those four years receiving the most critical acclaim of any of Cluster's works. 1976 also marked Cluster's move to Hamburg based Sky Records. Their first release for Sky was Sowiesoso (see Sundaze 12), a highly creative album of gentler melodies recorded in just two days.

In 1977 the duo joined with Brian Eno for recording sessions at Conny Plank's studio. The first release from those sessions was the even softer Cluster & Eno. Guest musicians on the album included Can bassist Holger Czukay and Asmus Tietchens on synthesizer. The association with Eno brought Cluster a much wider audience and international attention. The second album drawn from the Cluster & Eno sessions, After the Heat, released on Sky in 1978, featured a much wider variety of styles, including three tracks with vocals by Eno. Again, it was created in collaboration with the influential "krautrock" producer, Conny Plank.The song "The Belldog" is notable for its sequenced analogue synth bassline. Holger Czukay played bass on one track, "Tzima N'arki" which featured the vocals of Eno, a reversed vocal track, part of which includes the chorus of Eno's song "King's Lead Hat" (from Before and after Science), itself an anagram of "Talking Heads", whose recordings Eno was producing during that period.


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Harmonia - Musik Von Harmonia (74 ^ 99mb)

The debut Harmonia album is at once a product of their source bands and a fine new twist on them, resulting in music that captures what for many is the Krautrock ideal, or more accurately, the motorik ideal. It's playful and murky, steady and mechanical, a supergroup of sorts who easily achieves and maintains such a seemingly overstated status by embracing a variety of approaches that work wonders. The players bring their usual multi-instrumental roles to the fore, ensuring that the end results achieve their own distinct sound -- this isn't simply Cluster with Rother's assistance or Rother trying for a solo record with Cluster's backing. For all that, there's a touch more Cluster in the end -- the spacier parts on Musik Von Harmonia have that duo's hushed chill, the electronic percussion of Rother meanwhile avoids his familiar crisp punch using real drums . "Sehr Kosmisch", a nearly 11-minute-long piece that undeniably was part of the attraction for Brian Eno in his later work with the band. A piano piece reminiscent of Eno collaborator Harold Budd drifts up and down through the mix of keyboard shimmers and electronic washes, resulting in a piece at once both meditative and gently rhythmic.



1 - Watussi (5:55)
2 - Sehr Kosmisch (10:50)
3 - Sonnenschein (3:50)
4 - Dino (3:30)
5 - Ohrwurm (5:05)
6 - Ahoi! (5:00)
7 - Veterano (3:55)
8 - Hausmusik (4:30)

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Harmonia - Deluxe (75 ^ 99mb)

More immediate and song-oriented than its predecessor, but no less enchanting and lovely to hear, De Luxe again features the trio experimenting with a variety of approaches, most particularly including vocals here and there for the first time. There's also a guest musician helping out, namely Mani Neumeier from Guru Guru, and while he's not playing all the time, where he does appear, as on the wonderful lengthy jam "Walky-Talky," it's a fine choice. His slow, subtle build throughout the song helps send it higher and higher without seeming to. The various vocals really do fit the music in a lovely way, and it's little surprise that Brian Eno might have felt even more of an affinity with the group than before, being non-musical but still affecting, like mysterious chants or barks. The motorik pulses and rhythms, however soft and subtle, still dominate the proceedings, while the glazed, warm feeling of the whole album is astounding.



1 - Deluxe (Immer Wieder) (9:45)
2 - Walky-Talky (10:35)
3 - Monza (Rauf Und Runter) (7:07)
4 - Notre Dame (4:15)
5 - Gollum (4:35)
6 - Kekse (5:35)

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Eno-Moebius-Roedelius - After The Heat ( 78 ^ 90mb)

Brian Eno's second album collaboration with Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius of Cluster consists of slow-moving instrumentals full of repeated synthesizer sound patterns and sustained guitar notes in the ambient style familiar from Eno's collaborations with Robert Fripp and albums of his own, such as Discreet Music. (One song, "Broken Head," features recited vocals by Eno, and on another, "The Belldog," he sings. On "Tzima N'Arki," he sings backwards. I haven't been able to establish by whom and why the trackorder was completely changed for the 94 and subsequent cd releases, well this here is a vinyl-rip, but as an extraservice i offer the cd-mix aswell.



01 - Oil (4:09)
02 - Foreign Affairs (3:27)
03 - Luftschloß (3:09)
04 - The Shade (3:07)
05 - Old Land (4:10)
06 - Base & Apex (4:29)
07 - Light Arms (1:29)
08 - Broken Head (5:20)
09 - The Belldog (6:11)
10 - Tzima N'arki (4:24)


Eno-Moebius-Roedelius - After The Heat ( 78 ^ 90mb) cd release mix

01 - Foreign Affairs (3:31)
02 - The Belldog (6:17)
03 - Base & Apex (4:32)
04 - Tzima N'arki (4:36)
05 - Luftschloß (3:14)
06 - Oil (4:16)
07 - Broken Head (5:27)
08 - Light Arms (1:31)
09 - The Shade (3:11)
10 - Old Land (4:15


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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

Jan 5, 2008

Rhotation, (13) Into BPM

Hello, Rhotation 13 starts with some guerilla music, a popular British progressive house label that released some great dance music in the early nineties, after which it folded. Not surprising mind you, the dj-music scene was just getting it's act together and running a company is much different then spinning disks or running rhythms thru loops. Well their first big landmark release was the Spooky album Gargantuan..present here, A compilation album , Dub House Disco, featuring their best known artists, which in itself was a problem as the rave music scene thrived on anonimity..and this medium-the internet was still in its gestations fase. The second compilation album from 93 is from a company that still excists, likely because they concentrated on just releasing quality compilation albums, hardly surprising then that you'll find several Guerilla artists on this one, early trance..or progressive house

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Spooky - Gargantuan (93 ^ 149mb)

Not to be confused with the New York DJ/producer of the same name, London-based duo Spooky consists of Duncan Forbes and Charlie May, who began recording for William Orbit's Guerilla label in the early '90s after Orbit discovered the pair in a record shop. Best known for providing one of the first big blasts in the London progressive house movement, Spooky's debut, Gargantuan, is an enduring classic of the style, fusing thick analog production with deep, melodic house phrasing and sturdy rhythms, it was the resurgence of British house in 93, together with Leftfield.

The group's reincarnation after Guerilla dissolved as an experimental techno/electro act in the Warp/GPR tradition surprised fans and detractors alike, but Spooky have been as successful with more recent releases such as "Schmoo" and their 1996 follow-up to Gargantuan, the fervently experimental Found Sound, suggesting there's more to the group than mere novelty and timing. Found Sound, for it's part, is a deliriously percussive update of '80s electro with an almost austere musique concrete foundation, indicative of Forbes and May's professed admiration for minimalist composer such as Steve Reich and Arvo Part, as well as non-Western percussion-based musical traditions such as gamelan and the Indian raga. In fact, most of the drum and melody sounds on the album were either constructed from scratch or sampled from real-world objects such as sheet metal, flowerpots, even the group's studio's heating unit.

In 1999, Charlie May collaborated with Sasha on his Xpander EP, and in 2002 he co-produced some tracks on Sasha's Airdrawndagger album. The same year saw the release of Belong, the first Spooky single on Deviant Records. A white label single, Andromeda, was released in 2003. A single entitled Strange Addiction was given a limited release in 2005 on Spooky's new self-owned label, spooky.uk.com. "Strange Addiction" featured in a trailer for the critically acclaimed The Great Global Warming Swindle.This was followed in September 2006 with the release of No Return as a download and promotional CD. Spooky later announced that they had bought back the rights to their entire back catalogue from the 5 record companies that previously owned their music, all having gone out of business.



01 - Don't Panic (7:01)
02 - Schmoo (5:37)
03 - Aqualung (5:42)
04 - Little Bullet (Part One) (6:56)
05 - Little Bullet (Part Two) (6:27)
06 - Land Of Oz (7:36)
07 - Something's Got To Give (6:51)
08 - Orange Coloured Liquid (5:11)
09 - Schmoodub (7:29)
10 - Let Go (7:26)

diet version
Spooky - Gargantuan (93 * 99mb)

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VA - Dub House Disco The Third(94, 79;13 ^ 190mb)

Guerilla Records was a popular British record label that was set up by William Orbit and Dick O'Dell in 1990 and featured progressive house from artists such as Bass-O-Matic, React2Rhythm, Spooky, Moody Boyz, Felix Da Housecat, and Billie Ray Martin. Their generic, distinctive blue camouflage sleeve was designed by graphic designer Steve Cook, known for his design and art direction of the British comic 2000 AD.



01 - Spooky - Little Bullet (High Velocity Mix) (8:10)
02 - D.O.P. - Here I Go (5:24).
03 - Matter - Underground (Sub Level One Mix) (6:40)
04 - Lemon Sol - Aquamarine (Deep Blue Mix) (7:29)
05 - Supereal - Blue Beyond Belief (Steel Blues Mix) (5:09)
06 - Billie Ray Martin & Spooky - Persuasion (Original Version) (7:34)
07 - Abfahrt - Come Into My Life (Hart Fab Mix) (7:46)
08 - Code Md - Higher (In Dub) (7:05)
09 - Chameleon Project, The - Columbia (6:11)
10 - Tenth Chapter - Prologue (Initial Dub Mix) (6:53)
11 - Shape Navigator - Solar (6:44)
12 - Billie Ray Martin & Spooky - Persuasion (Slight Return) (Chameleon Vocal Only Mix) (3:44)

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VA - Trance 2 (93, 74;50 ^ 178mb)

Progressive House, Techno, Breakbeat, Trance in short a dance rave 12" compilation of what hit the decks anno 92/93, compiled by The Rumour Mongers -could not identify them, Rumour Records btw still exists. Rumour Records if you want to have a look and order some..



VA - Trance 2 ( ^ 93mb)

01 - Leftfield - Song Of Life (4:08)
02 - Sublime - The Theme (Sublime Dub) (7:04)
03 - Supereal - One Nation (Ultra Terrestial Mix) (7:16)
04 - Sono Lakota - Ice And Acid (The Aloof Remix) (8:36)
05 - Paradise Organisation - Prayer Tower (Full Circle Mix) (7:18)
06 - Deep Piece - Bup Bup Birri Birri (Gypsy Mix) (6:09)

VA - Trance 2-2 ( ^ 77mb)

07 - Jaco - Show Some Love (Rhythm Invention Remix) (6:22)
08 - D.O.P. - Oh Yeah (The Chameleon Mix) (6:55)
09 - Eagles Prey - Tonto's Drum (Darren Emerson's Remix) (5:30)
10 - Dee Patten - Who's The Badman (4:04)
11 - Groove Corporation & Bim Sherman Need More Love In The Ghetto (Non-Reflective Supertrance Mix) (5:33)
12 - Mind Control - Life For Ever (The Perpetual Trance) (5:39)


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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

Jan 4, 2008

Into The Groove, (12)

Hello, back from a short family trip i get back to the daily rhythm and Into The Groove with Go-Go, in the comments section you'll find some recent re uploads.

Go-go is a subgenre of funk which originated in the Washington, D.C. area during the mid- to late-1970s. A handful of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but singer/guitarist Chuck Brown is credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.The most important part of the go-go beat is the bass/snare pattern, essentially the beat is characterized by a syncopated, dotted rhythm which is underscored most dramatically by the bass drum and snare drum, and the hi-hat… and is ornamented by the other percussion instruments, especially by the conga drums, timbale, and hand-held cowbells. Another important attribute in go-go is call-and-response with the crowd in concert.

Go-go is a musical movement that can largely be traced back to just one person, Chuck Brown. Brown was a fixture on the Washington music scene with his band the Soul Searchers as far back as 1966. By the mid-1970s he had developed a laid-back, rhythm-heavy style of funk, performed with one song blending into the next.In 1976, James Funk, a young DJ who spun at clubs in between Soul Searchers sets, was inspired to start a band—called Rare Essence that played the same kind of music. Experience Unlimited (a.k.a. E.U.) was a band more influenced by rock that started out in 1970. After witnessing Rare Essence in the late-1970s, they modified their style to incorporate the go-go beat. Trouble Funk had its roots in a 1960s Top 40 cover band called Trouble Band. At some point they changed their name and in the late-1970s, after seeing the light at a gig they played with Chuck Brown, they, too, adopted the go-go beat.


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Trouble Funk - Drop The Bomb (82 ^ 93mb)

Miles off the radar of popular music during the early '80s, Trouble Funk energized their D.C. home with the sound of go-go music, an uproarious blend of swinging, up-tempo '70s funk and a '60s-style horn section. The band formed in 1978, and the lineup coalesced around drummer Emmet Nixon, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothius Davis, guitarist Chester Davis, bassist Tony Fisher, trombone players Gerald and Robert Reed, trumpeter Taylor Reed, keyboard player James Avery, and saxophonist David Rudd. Trouble Funk earned a loyal fan base for their notoriously can't-miss live act, a raw, party friendly version of dance and funk with few songs but plenty of extensive jams organized around audience-friendly vocal tags and call-out hooks.

The first go-go record released outside of D.C., Trouble Funk's 1982 debut Drop the Bomb appeared on Sugar Hill, the same label then championing early hip-hop. (The two styles had very similar origins, in the breakbeat culture of urban block parties.)
Being even more inspired by '70s funk bands like Chic, Cameo, and the Gap Band than either the Sugar Hill Gang or Grandmaster Flash, Trouble Funk and other go-go acts like EU and Chuck Brown used the MC to conduct party-time call-and-response sessions. The band's nasty synth licks, up-front percussion, and sinewy funk guitar lines keep the music pumping throughout, while both the go-go/rap hybrid "Pump Me Up" and Barry White-inspired soul ballad "Don't Try to Use Me" show off the group's musical flexibility.

Though the band's second album, In Times of Trouble, appeared only on the local label D.E.T.T., Trouble Funk earned national distribution with a prescient concert record, 1985's Saturday Night (Live from Washington, D.C.), released through Island. After taking the live act nationwide and even worldwide (they played the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival), Trouble Funk returned in 1987 with the boundary breaking Trouble Over Here, Trouble Over There, featuring sympathetic heads like Bootsy Collins and Kurtis Blow. It was a bit of a stylistic misstep, however, and Island released the group from its contract. Undeterred, Trouble Funk kept on grooving around the city, playing often, even into the '90s, for nostalgic party goers as well as the musically curious.



01 - Hey Fellas (7:18)
02 - Get On Up (4:50)
03 - Let's Get Hot (4:38)
04 - Drop The Bomb (6:58)
05 - Pump Me Up (6:34)
06 - Don't Try To Use Me (6:15)

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E.U. - Livin' Large ( 88 ^ 99mb)

E.U., originally known as Experience Unlimited, is one of D.C.'s original go-go bands, but they never scored a pop hit until 1988, when "Da Butt" became a dance sensation, thanks to Spike Lee's School Daze movie. While they didn't record many great albums -- 1989's Livin' Large, which was riding on the success of "Da Butt," came the closest -- each of their records has something that would appeal to hardcore funk fans. But E.U.'s strength was never captured on vinyl -- it was their energetic, groove-oriented live shows that earned them a large following in the '80s, not their records.

But with the smash 1988 single "Da Butt," from the soundtrack of the Spike Lee movie Schoolyard, E.U. proved that go-go could cross over, and this follow-up album was crafted to drive that point home. Overseen by the usual committee of producers (including Marcus Miller), the keyboard-laden Livin' Large is just about as studio slick as go-go can get and still keep its infectious swing. There are also some pretty decent tunes inside the dressed-up arrangements; the remake of the Isley Brothers' "Shake Your Thang," featuring Salt and Pepa, was a deserving hit, and a redone "Da Butt," while slightly inferior to the original, still packs a rump-shaking wallop. Even the slow jamming "Taste of Your Love" and "Don't Turn Around," while having little to do with go-go, are surprisingly nice. After this effort failed to herald a commercial breakthrough, go-go largely went back to Washington D.C. and went about its business, but Livin' Large was a brave and, for the most part, successful attempt to widen the genre's reach.



01 - Buck WIld (4:01)
02 - Livin' Large (6:04)
03 - Shake Your Thang (4:01)
04 - Taste Of Your Love (5:55)
05 - Shaka Zulu (4:13)
06 - Come To The Go-Go (4:53)
07 - Shake It Like A White Girl (3:39)
08 - Da Butt '89 (5:28)
09 - Don't Turn Around (6:21)
10 - Express (4:19)

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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

Alphabet Soup, (L)

Hello, after a small break Rhotation returns with Alphabet Soup, down to L today. Its a very mixed bag of 3 here, the alternative rap-rock of Luscious Jackson, girls that make a point that they care a little more then just about fun. Fun that certainly doesnt describe the industrial punk music from Lard, a side project of two big names in the angry music scene, no fun then, but Jello Biafra certainly has a sense of humor. A sense of humor is all over my last deal, Lemon Jelly this british duo more then surprised the music scene with their beautifully packaged first 3 EP's that coalesced into their first album, Ky. Serious sillyness and wicked fun (in two rates).

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Luscious Jackson - Natural Ingredients (94 ^ 98mb)

The core of Luscious Jackson -- Kate Schellenbach (drums), Jill Cunniff (vocals, bass), and Gabby Glaser (vocals, guitar) -- all met as teenagers on the New York post-punk scene of the early '80s. Schellenbach was the drummer in the original hardcore punk incarnation of the Beastie Boys; she met Cunniff when she interviewed the Beasties for her fanzine,. When the members graduated from high school, they went their separate ways. Schellenbach stayed in New York, where she drummed with Hippies with Guns and attended college, while Cunniff and Glaser attended art school in San Francisco, where they both played in a punk band called Jaws; Cunniff continued to edit her fanzine.

In 1991, Cunniff and Glaser returned to New York and began writing songs. Eventually, the duo recruited Schellenbach and Jill's friend Vivian Trimble to form Luscious Jackson, taking their name from a ' 60s basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers. The following year, the group released its debut EP, In Search of Manny, on the Beastie Boys' record label, Grand Royal; it received very positive reviews and the group quickly became a hip name to drop in alternative rock circles.

Natural Ingredients, the group's first full-length album, was released in the late summer of 1994 to generally favorable reviews. "Citysong" became a minor modern rock hit in the fall of that year. Before the release of Natural Ingredients, Luscious Jackson spent the summer of 1994 on the second stage of Lollapalooza, per the request of the Beastie Boys. Following the release of Natural Ingredients, the group spent most of 1995 on the road. Natural Ingredients eventually sold almost 200,000 copies.

Early in 1996, Trimble and Cunniff released a side project under the name Kostars. At the time, Luscious Jackson was continuing work on their second album, working with producer Daniel Lanois. The result, Fever in Fever Out, was released in fall 1996. Thanks to the single "Naked Eye," the album was a steady seller, expanding the band's fan base significantly even if it failed to become a huge hit. In April 1998, Trimble left the band to pursue other projects, including a solo album, a collaboration with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins, and a band with Josephine Wiggs called Dusty Trails. Continuing on as a trio, Luscious Jackson returned in 1999 with Electric Honey before disbanding the following spring.



01 - Intro (0:05)
02 - Citysong (4:20)
03 - Deep Shag (3:32)
04 - Angel (3:19)
05 - Strongman (4:21)
06 - Energy Sucker (3:33)
07 - Here (3:33)
08 - Intermission (0:14)
09 - Find Your Mind (3:21)
10 - Pelé Merengue (2:24)
11 - Rock Freak (3:53)
12 - Rollin' (4:14)
13 - Surprise (2:46)
14 - LP Retreat (5:29)

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Lard - Power Of Lard EP (89 ^ 98mb)

Lard is a hardcore punk/Industrial band founded in 1988 as a side project by Jello Biafra (vocals), Al Jourgensen (guitar), Paul Barker (bass), and Jeff Ward (drums).Biafra is perhaps best known as the former frontman of the punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Jourgensen is the founder and only continuous member of industrial metal band Ministry, of which Barker was an official member between 1988 and 2004, and Ward was also once a touring member. Over the years, several other members of Ministry played with Lard, namely Bill Rieflin, Mike Scaccia, Louis Svitek and Rey Washam.

Like most of Biafra's work, Lard's songs are angrily political (the War on Drugs is a particularly common theme) but often have a tinge of humour. On paper, the collaboration between Jello Biafra and Ministry seems like a match made in industrial punk heaven, and the first release from Lard lives up to these expectations. Both parties seemed to have taught the other side a thing or two: Jello Biafra is more focused than usual, while Alain Jourgensen and Paul Barker from Ministry sound a lot more punky and loose. The percussion, courtesy of Bill Rieflin and the late Jeff Ward, is firmly in an industrial style, though -- all mechanized metallic thrashing, but it works just fine with the material. Lard have not officially toured and have only performed live a handful of times.

A year after this full length EP Lard released The Last Temptation of Reid (July 1990), followed by Pure Chewing Satisfaction in 1997, apparently there's still one Lard album on the cards before this side project is ended, at least according to Al Jourgensen.



1 - The Power Of Lard (7:28)
2 - Hellfudge (4:58)
3 - Time To Melt (31:59)

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Lemon Jelly - ky (00, 66:32 ^ 154mb)
Little did Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen - a.k.a Lemon Jelly - realise when they set about making music, that it would end up like this. It all started with three limited edition 10" EPs which were released on their own Impotent Fury label and swiftly became collectors items, not only for the unmistakably gorgeous Lemon Jelly sound but also for the impeccable packaging. Music to take drugs to, a fizzy chill-out for those late-night lava lamp staring sessions, downtempo for the acid generation. . These EPs were brought together for the 'Lemonjelly.ky' album, and spread the word of the Jelly further.

Upon the release of 'Lost Horizons' (2002) Lemon Jelly's message crossed the awareness threshold. They went onto sell out a successful UK tour (including 3 dates at the London Forum), hosted a kids matinee which had parents and toddlers queuing round the block, were nominated for a Brit Award, and 'Lost Horizons' was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Awards in 2003.
Three years ago they released their third and currently last album, '64-95' . Based upon cherished samples, it's suitably Jelly. It is also the first album XL have ever released that comes with an accompanying DVD version, which was lovingly created by their design cohorts, Airside. The band played their biggest UK tour to date in February and March 2005 (with an accompanying lightshow not seen since Jean-Michel Jarre last wore them white gloves) and brought much joy to festivals like Benicassim and Reading. They ve also been picked up by the media and their tunes feature regularly in ads or tunes.

Franglen produced Badly Drawn Boy's 2006 studio album Born in the U.K. and in 2007 Deakin released an eclectic three-volume mix album "The Triptych", as to when there will be a new album no news yet.



1 - In The Bath (6:41)
2 - Nervous Tension (6:41)
3 - A Tune For Jack (6:45)
4 - His Majesty King Raam (7:20)
5 - The Staunton Lick (5:22)
6 - Homage To Patagonia (9:34)
7 - Kneel Before Your God (7:21)
8 - Page One (9:12)
9 - Come (8:29)

diet version
Lemon Jelly - ky (00, 66:32 * 99mb )

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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

Jan 1, 2008

Eight - X, (12)

Eight-X, continues in the new year with an artist who's sadly no longer with us , he died 14 years ago of cancer, he left us some great music, best known the album here, Wild Places. Blancmange back in the days scored several alternative dancefloor hits, i certainly lost some sweat there. Godley + Creme created their own niche and in the end took up creating music vids, certainly after their masterpiece cry, nobody could deny their skill. Ismism is a great album, where their lyrics make up a large part of the fun listening.

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Duncan Browne - The Wild Places ( 78 ^ 91mb )

As a boy, Duncan Browne intended to join the Royal Air Force, but his poor health even as a youth precluded this as a possibility. Instead, he chose to pursue his interests as an actor -- he played the clarinet and studied music theory, but wasn't possessed to consider a career in music until, at age 17, he saw Bob Dylan in an appearance, during the American folk-rock star's first tour of the U.K. It was Dylan's guitar playing rather than his singing that served as Browne's inspiration and entryway to rock music. In response, he bought a Yamaha acoustic model and taught himself to play in a technique that was heavily classically influenced. During his three years at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,in addition to studying drama, he kept up with his guitar playing and developed a greater command of music theory.Together with a former student friend of his, David Bretton, serving as lyricist, the two composed a dozen songs together. The resulting album, Give Me Take You, a quietly dazzling work that embraced elements of folk, rock, pop, and classical, all wrapped around some surprisingly well-crafted poetry and Browne's stunning voice. Despite its many virtues, the album died a commercial death, largely as a result of its label's financial difficulties.

Browne spent the next several years as a session musician, working on a pair of albums by Colin Blunstone and one album by Tom Yates. In the mid-'70s, he moved into a full electric rock mode in collaboration with Peter Godwin, ultimately forming the power pop band Metro, whose recordings were issued on Sire Records in America. Suddenly, Browne was near the cutting edge of music again, and in addition to his work with Metro he released a pair of solo albums, The Wild Places and Streets of Fire, which were also issued on Sire in the early '80s. This was as close as Duncan Browne ever got to rock stardom, his records sought after in locales like New York's East Village and played on American college radio stations.

Despite some beautiful and surprisingly hard-rocking music that was sort of new wave melodic, however, there wasn't enough interest or activity to sustain this phase of Browne's career. By the middle of the decade, Browne had moved into the field of film and television scoring, and worked on Jonathan Miller's series Madness, among other productions. He was pleasantly surprised at the outset of the 1990s when the CD boom led to new interest in his 1960s and 1970s rock efforts -- Browne was gratified, in particular, to learn that Sony Music Special Products was preparing a CD reissue of Give Me Take You in the United States. Alas, he was stricken with cancer in the early '90s, and died in the spring of 1993. In the years since, most of his catalog, including his early-'80s solo albums, has been re-released and Browne's music may well have a larger following in now than it ever did in the 1960s and 1970s.



01 - The Wild Places (6:00)
02 - Roman Vécu (4:43)
03 - Camino Real (Parts 1, 2, 3) (8:24)
04 - Samurai (4:25)
05 - Kisarazu (7:04)
06 - The Crash (3:53)
07 - Planet Earth (6:17)

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Blancmange - Happy Families (82 ^ 135mb)
Taking their name from a type of cooked pudding, the electronic duo Blancmange interlaced the arty, exotic dance rhythms of Talking Heads with the quirky melodrama of early-'80s British synth pop. Consisting of Neil Arthur (vocals, guitar) and Stephen Luscombe (keyboards), Blancmange formed in London, England, in the late '70s. Originally called L360, Blancmange received immediate recognition when they sent the song "Sad Day" to DJ Stevo, who added it to a compilation LP of then-unsigned new wave groups including future alternative icons like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell. Drummer Laurence Stevens was a member of the band for a short while, but they eventually replaced him with a drum machine. Signed to London Records, Blancmange released their first two singles, "God's Kitchen" and "Feel Me," in 1982. Both records were moderate hits in the U.K., the latter barely missing the Top 40 charts.

Later that year, Blancmange's debut album, Happy Families, sold well on the strength of their first Top Ten hit, "Living on the Ceiling," which peaked at number seven in Britain. "Living on the Ceiling" captured Blancmange's unique take on synth pop, throwing heavy Middle-Eastern flavors into their very European style of club music. "Living on the Ceiling" was the beginning of a string of U.K. smashes; "Blind Vision" and "Don't Tell Me" both reached the Top Ten in England. Their cover of ABBA's "The Day Before You Came" was actually even more successful than the original, peaking at number 22. Blancmange's 1984 LP, Mange Tout, further established the group as one of Britain's most popular electronic artists; however, unlike many of their peers, the band weren't afraid of experimenting with real instruments, incorporating sitars, strings, woodwinds, and horns into their synthesized sound. But Blancmange's third album, 1985's Believe You Me, was a flopped and they broke up a year later. Arthur went solo while Luscombe formed the West India Company.



01 - I Can't Explain (3:58)
02 - Feel Me (5:03)
02 - I've Seen The Word (3:00)
04 - Wasted (4:13)
05 - Living On The Ceiling (4:07)
06 - Waves (4:22)
07 - Kind (3:57)
08 - Sad Day (3:54)
09 - Cruel (4:42)
10 - God's Kitchen (2:50)
--Xs--
11 - Game Above My Head (3:59)
12 - Blind Vision (3:59)
13 - Don't Tell Me (3:31)
14 - The Day Before You Came (4:25)

diet version
Blancmange - Happy Families (82 * 90mb)

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Godley + Creme - Ismism (81 ^ 99mb)

Godley and Creme met in the late 1950s and for a brief time were in a band together.The pair began their music career together proper in 1969, performing bubblegum music in Strawberry Studios at Stockport near Manchester with Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman. Their first chart success, Neanderthal Man, was as members of the short-lived Hotlegs, which evolved into 10cc in 1972. 10cc enjoyed strong chart success, most notably with their 1975 single "I'm Not in Love"

After the recording of 10cc's fourth LP, How Dare You!, Godley & Creme left the band to work on a device they called "The Gizmo", which attached to the bridge of a guitar to create a wide variety of sonic textures. The Gizmo was featured heavily on their poorly received concept album Consequences (' 77). The (meanwhile cult) album was savaged by critics, the bad press and poor sales generated by Consequences nearly destroyed the duo's career.

The duo gradually regained critical favour with a trio of innovative albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s – L, Freeze Frame and Ismism (released as Snack Attack in the United States). The single "Snack Attack" was also a minor hit, they also made the UK Top Ten with the singles "Under Your Thumb" and "Wedding Bells", both from Ismism. In 1983 they released Birds of Prey which took their music in a more electronic direction, using electronic drum machines for the entire album.

1985's The History Mix Volume 1 album celebrated 25 years of recording together, the record, co-produced by J. J. Jeczalik of Art of Noise, remixed samples of their previous recordings to a disco beat. The album also contained the single "Cry" which, much helped by the video, became their biggest US hit. Godley & Creme released their final album, Goodbye Blue Sky, in 1988. This album abandoned electronic instruments and used harmonicas, organs, and guitars to tell the story of the earth on the brink of nuclear war.The duo ended their working relationship soon after the release of Goodbye Blue Sky.

Godley & Creme directed MTV clips for the Police, Duran Duran, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood that stretched the boundaries of music video and proved that the form was capable of producing art. In 1985, Godley & Crème had their only American smash with "Cry." Not surprisingly, it had an eye-popping video with groundbreaking special effects that showed featured faces blended into each other using analog cross-fading, anticipating the digital effect of morphing, a not uncommon feature these days.
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Creme joined the band Art of Noise in 1998. Kevin Godley continued to direct music videos. In 2006 he teamed up with Graham Gouldman again, and they released four new tracks under the name GG06



01 - Snack Attack (7:16)
02 - Under Your Thumb (4:39)
03 - Joey's Camel (5:24)
04 - The Problem (4:03)
05 - Ready For Ralph (2:18)
06 - Wedding Bells (3:22)
07 - Lonnie (4:46)
08 - Sale Of The Century (4:22)
09 - The Party (7:57)

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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