Rhotation (34) Into BPM

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

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

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Hawtin became one of the most influential artists in the world of techno during the 1990s, even while sticking to out-of-date synth dinosaurs like the Roland TB-303 and TR-808.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




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

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

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

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

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


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Plastikman - Consumed ( 98 ^ 153mb)

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



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

Lite Consumer

Plastikman - Consumed ( * 99mb)

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

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



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

Lite

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

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

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



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

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

Alphabet Soup II ( G)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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

Eight-X (33)

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

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Jona Lewie - Gatecrasher (80 ^ 99mb)

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

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

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

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



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

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

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Duran Duran - Rio (82 ^ 99mb)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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Around The World (33)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Millenium Classics - Timeless Treasures (96mb)

01 - G.Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue (14:47)
02 - S.Barber - Adagio for Strings (8:36)
03 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Prologue (4:23)
04 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Somewhere (3:48)
05 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Cha cha (1:00)
06 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Meeting scene (0:56)
07 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Cool (3:57)
08 - L.Bernstein - West Side Story-Finale (3:45)

Millenium Classics - Timeless Treasures (86mb)

09 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - I Lent et douloureux (3:50)
10 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - II Lent et triste (3:21)
11 - E.Satie - Gymnopedie - LEnt et grave (3:04)
12 - D.Shostakovich - Suite for Jazz-IV Waltz (3:46)
13 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Fortuna imperatrix mundai-I O Fortuna (2:55)
14 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VI Tanz (2:00)
15 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VII Floret sila nobilis (3:31)
16 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-VIII Charmer, gip die varwe mir (3:35)
17 - Carl Orff - Carmina Burana Reie, Swaz, Chume (IX) (5:12)
18 - C.Orff - Carmina Burana-Uf dem anger-X Were diu werlt alle min (0:57)
19 - Lux Mundi - Masscapella, No.3 (4:59)


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Foundation V

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


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

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

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Foundation V (The Mule) (37mb)

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

Sundaze (33)

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

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

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

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

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



Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (90mb)

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

Craig Armstrong - As If To Nothing (63mb)

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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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



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

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

Rhotation (33) Into BPM

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

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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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

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

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

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VA - Ambient House (90 ^ 120mb)

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



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

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

Alphabet Soup (F)

Hello, Alphabet Soup II reached F, my first stop here was a remarkle band, when they recorded their first album their average age was 17. Two years later they had a worldwide hit , which to date has had 2 million airplays in the UK alone. Alright now indeed. Two years later again and the band recorded their final album, preceded by the Live ! album i present here, and a first break up. Too much , too young perhaps, anyway guitarist Paul Kossoff died of a heroin induced heart attack age 25....Free at last....Second today are The Feelies they released just 4 albums over 11 years , i've posted their brilliant debut a year ago and this here, their last, shows why they have been kept in such high regard over time....Finally a brother and a sister that proove the Carpenters were't a fluke, siblings can rock together. Their music is known to get some mixed responses, reviews ranging from 1 to 9 , which is rather unheard of in the music review scene, an aquired taste let us say...anyway Blueberry Boat is considered something of a multi layered concept album, so take your time to take the 76 min in..it comes in two sizes....

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Free - Live ! (71 ^ 97mb)

Most remarkable about the birth of Free was the young age of the band members who first came together to rehearse at the Nag's Head pub in Battersea, London, on April 19, 1968. Bass player Andy Fraser, was only 15 years old while lead singer Paul Rodgers, lead guitarist Paul Kossoff, and drummer Simon Kirke, were also still teenagers. By November of that year they had recorded their first album Tons Of Sobs for Island Records and, although it was not released until the following year, the album documents their first six months together and contains studio renditions of much of their early live set.

Free are still cited as one of the definitive bands of the British blues boom of the late 1960s with the release of Tons of Sobs in 1969, but this is the only album that can strictly be called blues-rock. The next album, Free, released in 1969, has a marked difference in the musicianship of the band as well as Paul Rodgers's voice. Unlike their previous albums Tons of Sobs and Free, Fire and Water - released in 1970 - was a huge success, largely due to the album containing the hit single "All Right Now", a top 5 hit in the UK and the U.S. On teh back of that the able sold very well too Highway was their fourth studio album, recorded extremely quickly in September of 1970. Though widely considered to be an excellent follow-up to Fire and Water, Highway sold poorly. After a grueling tour which yielded 1971's Free Live, in April 1971, due to differences between singer Paul Rodgers and bassist Andy Fraser, the drug problems of guitarist Paul Kossoff, and inconsistent record sales, the band broke up. Although Free made excellent studio records, Free "Live" is perhaps the best way to experience the band in all its glory. Led by singer-guitarist Paul Rodgers and lead guitarist Paul Kosoff, the band swings through the songs with power, clarity, and a dose of funk. Live ! is one of the great live albums of the 1970s.

Early in 1972 the band set aside their differences and reformed in an effort to save Kossoff from his growing drug addiction, and in June of the same year released Free at Last. But all was not well with the band. Bassist Andy Fraser left the band in mid-1972 due to Paul Kossoff's unreliability in being able to perform at shows or even showing up. The remaining members recruited Japanese bass player Tetsu Yamauchi to record what would be Free's final album, Heartbreaker. Free disbanded in early 1973 with Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke going on to form Bad Company that same year. With Paul Kossoff in better health again in late 1975, he was delighted that now ex-Free colleagues, Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke asked him to join them on stage for two nights. A British tour was set to begin on 25 April 1976, but again his drug addictions contributed to a drastic decline in the guitarist's health. On a flight from Los Angeles to New York on March 19th, 1976, Paul Kossoff died from drug-related heart problems at the age of 25.

Most recently Paul Rodgers has joined the remaining members of Queen (Brian May and Roger Taylor), as vocalist. Rodgers would be "featured with" as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury.



01 - All Right Now (6:30)
02 - I'm A Mover (3:40)
03 - Be My Friend (5:52)
04 - Fire And Water (3:57)

05 - Ride On A Pony (4:30)
06 - Mr Big (6:14)
07 - The Hunter (5:18)
08 - Get Where I Belong (4:14)

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Feelies, The - Time For A Witness (91 ^99mb)

The Feelies were a rock band from Haledon, New Jersey. They formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1992. The Feelies created shimmering soundscapes with multiple guitar layers that sounded unique compared to the punk/new wave atmosphere of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their name is based on Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World" where in the novel there are theaters where all of your senses are incorporated along with sight, called "the feelies."

Original band members Bill Million, Keith Clayton and Anton Fier released their first single “Fa Ce La” on Rough Trade Records in 1980. The album that followed on Stiff Records, was Crazy Rhythms, Afterwards, Fier and Clayton left the band. With the Feelies in limbo, Mercer and Million collaborated with other local New Jersey musicians, forming a band called the Trypes.

Reformed as a quintet, the Feelies recorded The Good Earth in 1985 with Peter Buck of R.E.M. as producer. They toured in support of the album as an opening band for Lou Reed as well as R.E.M. that year. In 1988 the Feelies signed to a major label and released the album Only Life on A&M Records. The new lineup featuring two guitarists, two drummers, and the bass playing of Brenda Sauter made the album a critical favorite. Their final album, Time for a Witness, was released in 1991, as a conclusion to the band's active days, it makes for a fine coda. Million and Mercer peel out some amazing frazzled solos, and the rhythm section keeps the beat steady and flowing. It's a virtuoso performance from a band that doesn't need to create pointless flash with its abilities, a fine balance all told.

The Feelies are remembered as one of the most underappreciated indie-rock bands of the 1980s and to this day have many fans throughout the world. Although the band never sold many records, they are to date considered to be still influential in the indie rock scene .



01 - Waiting (3:36)
02 - Time For A Witness (3:34)
03 - Sooner Or Later (2:33)
04 - Find A Way (7:01)
05 - Decide (4:51)
06 - Doin' It Again (2:41)
07 - Invitation (3:00)
08 - For Now (4:47)
09 - What She Said (5:38)
10 - Real Cool Time (4:23)

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Fiery Furnaces, The - Blueberry Boat (04 ^ 170mb)

The Fiery Furnaces primary members are brother and sister Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, after seperate trips abroad upon returning to their Chicago suburb, the siblings decided to make music together. Simple, poppy melodies with a dizzying array of wordplay, sounds, and influences, dashes of folk, blues, and garage rock. In 2000, they moved to Brooklyn, took day jobs, and began playing as the Fiery Furnaces late in the year. They signed with the Rough Trade music label in 2002, and recorded their debut album, Gallowsbird's Bark, the same year. Released in 2003, it was often compared in the press to The White Stripes due to the garage blues elements of the band’s sound .

Matthew is primarily responsible for the band's songwriting and studio instrumentation, while Eleanor handles the majority of the vocal duties. Drummer Andy Knowles and bassist Toshi Yano both joined the band for live performances in time for their 2004 tour. Beginning with a performance at the April 2004 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Camber Sands, England, the band's live performances took the form of hour-long, continuous sets of music featuring snippets from most of their recorded songs.

The Fiery Furnaces released their second album, Blueberry Boat, in the summer of 2004. It is also often interpreted as a multi-layered concept album. "Quay Cur," the ten minute lead track on Blueberry Boat, switches from dirty, gurgling organ to slide-guitar-fueled ditties, pulsing electronic beats to abstract lullaby within a few minutes, highlighting the Fiery Furnaces' variety in songwriting. Some critics, however, interpreted this type of material as evidence that the album is unfocused. The epic nature of the majority of the songs made them unsuitable for radio play so the band prepared "Single Again," a take on a traditional folk song as a substitute. This single, along with their previously released ones, was mostly only made available to the UK audience, so in January 2005 the band released a 41-minute compilation disc named EP it was a contrast to the epic and, according to some, inaccessible nature of Blueberry Boat.

Their following album, Rehearsing My Choir (released in October 2005), saw the band return to an experimental sound once again. A concept album featuring the Friedbergers' grandmother, Olga Sarantos, narrating stories about her life, Rehearsing My Choir was met with widely differing opinions from both the press and the band's fans, being branded "difficult" . Jason Loewenstein of Sebadoh and Bob D'Amico took over band duties for the supporting tour, replacing Toshi Yano and Andy Knowles. The band released their fifth LP, entitled Bitter Tea, in April 2006. In interviews they stated the album to be influenced by the sound of synthpop group Devo and to consist of far more conventional and accessible songs .

Matthew Friedberger released Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School in August 2006, two separate albums which were packaged as a double album. According to a press release, Winter Women is "intended to be a summer record, full of memorable, catchy, and un-ironic pop songs," while Holy Ghost Language School is like "Faust, the Residents, or the most 'out' moments of Brian Eno's solo records." Eleanor appeared on neither. In June 2007, it was announced that the band had signed with Chicago label Thrill Jockey and their album Widow City was later released on October 9, 2007. Unlike their two previous efforts, this album lacks a central concept and has a 70s album rock feel. The band toured in support of the album throughout the later months of 2007 and early 2008. A live compilation album, Remember, is scheduled to be released on August 16, 2008.



01 - Quay Cur (10:25)
02 - Straight Street (5:00)
03 - Blueberry Boat (9:09)
04 - Chris Michaels (7:53)
05 - Paw Paw Tree (4:39)
06 - My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found (3:29)
07 - Mason City (8:14)
08 - Chief Inspector Blancheflower (8:58)
09 - Spaniolated (3:21)
10 - 1917 (4:52)
11 - Birdie Brain (3:05)
12 - Turning Round (2:13)
13 - Wolf Notes (4:51)

extra lite

Fiery Furnaces, The - Blueberry Boat (04 * 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 !

Eight-X (32)

Hello, Eight-X time again, this time all female..First up, a landmark release in the New York art scene of the '80s, and quite possibly the best art rock album of the decade...Big Science. Seriously Laurie Anderson has become a remarkable artist whose drive has kept her in the frontline of the avant garde whilst never forgetting that her activities need to be more than just peer pleasing navel staring......My second lady today didn't achieve that level of success, she's written and recorded many songs, but her biggest hit which initially launched her was a cover. Not sure what happened, her active website doesn't really comment on why things didn't happen for her. However, she said: i may not have sold big numbers but i'm doing my thing and im not in a routine 9 to 5 or as a house wife..well she sure has a point there, Annabel Lamb.....Last up an all female group..with some serious lookers( in my view) that tried , but didnt get ahead with their own work, so they released a number of covers that did get them noticed, and which cleared the path for their self penned biggest hit, Sign Of The Times. Unfortunately not much chart success afterwards and so after 6 years playing together they had enough..no more Belle Stars..

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Laurie Anderson - Big Science ( 82 ^ 96mb)

Anderson was born in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where she graduated from Glenbard West High School. She attended Mills College in California, and eventually graduated from Barnard College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, studying art history. In 1972, she obtained an MFA in sculpture from Columbia University. Her first performance art piece – a symphony played on automobile horns – was performed in 1969. In the early 1970s, she worked as an art instructor, as an art critic for magazines such as Artforum, and illustrated children's books.

Laurie performed in New York through the 1970s. One of her most-cited performances, Duets on Ice, which she conducted in New York and other cities around the world, involved her playing violin along with a recording while wearing ice skates with the blades frozen into a block of ice; the performance ended only when the ice had melted away. During the late 1970s, Anderson made a number of recordings which were released either privately or included on compilations of avant garde music. She claimed to base all of her projects on the power of words and language, her work also emphasized visual imagery and cutting-edge technology, with pieces like 1980's "Born, Never Asked" written for both orchestra and electronics.

Anderson became widely known outside the art world in 1981 with the single "O Superman," originally released in a limited quantity by B. George's One Ten Records. "O Superman" reached number two on UK charts, prompted by British DJ John Peel playing the record, it led to Anderson's signing with the Warner Bros. label, which re-released the single. "O Superman" was part of a larger stage work entitled United States and was included on her following album, Big Science Prior to the release of Big Science, Anderson returned to Giorno Poetry Systems to record the album, You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With. This was followed by the back-to-back releases of her album Mister Heartbreak, her most overtly pop-oriented work, teaming with artists including Peter Gabriel and Adrian Belew, it even reached the American Top 100, and United States Live, a five-LP (and, later, 4-CD) recording of her two-evening stage show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

She next starred in and directed the 1986 concert film, Home of the Brave, and also composed the soundtracks for the Spalding Gray films Swimming to Cambodia and Monster in a Box. She also hosted the PBS series Alive from Off-Center during this time, for which she produced the short film, What You Mean We?. Next she released Strange Angels in 1989. The next several years were devoted to performance tours, including 1990's "Empty Places," 1991's "Voices from the Beyond" and 1993's "Stories from the Nerve Bible." In 1994, Anderson teamed with producer Brian Eno for Bright Red. An interval of more than half a decade followed before her next album release. During this time, she wrote a supplemental article on the cultural character of New York City for the Encyclopædia Britannica.and created a number of multimedia presentations, most notably one inspired by Moby-Dick (Songs and Stories From Moby Dick, 1999–2000). One of the central themes in Anderson's work is exploring the effects of technology on human relationships and communication.

In 2003, Anderson became NASA's first and so far only artist-in-residence, which inspired her most recent performance piece, The End of the Moon. Anderson mounted a succession of themed shows and composed a piece for Expo 2005 in Japan. Anderson was part of the team that created the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In 2005, her exhibition The Waters Reglitterized, a diary of dreams and their literal recreation as works of art. This work, created in the process of re-experiencing or re-working her dreams while awake, uses the language of dreams to investigate the dream itself. The resulting pieces include drawings, prints and high definition video. She narrated Ric Burns's Andy Warhol: The Documentary Film, which was first televised in September 2006 as part of the PBS American Masters series. Anderson also performed in Came So Far For Beauty the Leonard Cohen tribute event. Big Science, has been remastered and rereleased on Nonesuch Records last year, aswell as a DVD box set containing her short films and the concert movie Home of the Brave, a book of drawings titled Night Life, and her new album, Homeland is to be released in 2008. .



01 - From The Air (4:29)
02 - Big Science (6:17)
03 - Sweathers (2:21)
04 - Walking & Falling (2:09)
05 - Born, Never Asked (4:51)

06 - O Superman (For Massenet) (8:21)
07 - Example #22 (2:56)
08 - Let X=X - It Tango (6:46)

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Annabel Lamb - Once Bitten (83 ^ 99mb)

Annabel was exposed to all the music of that era are a very early afe: "I knew everything about the sixties and was very annoyed that when I got old enough to participate the scene was all over." From an early age she knew she wanted to be a musician. She learnt the piano, religiously copying her favourite songs note for note from the radio and her big sister's records. Since then she's been a session singer and musician for the likes of Toni Basil and Tina Charles but it's only since her marriage failed that she's been able to have the adventure she's always wanted.

Her highly acclaimed debut album, Once Bitten, behind her she assumed she was on the right road for success. However after the chart success of her cover of the Doors classic Riders on the Storm, her follow-up album , the Flame didnt score aswell. The years that followed saw her releasing 6 more albums for A&M Records, BMG/RCA, Polygram and, most recently, BMG label Red Rooster where she released her currently last album "Flow". During the writing and recording of "Flow", Annabel began a close association with cowriter and producer Dave Dix (producer of Black, Alison Moyet and Melanie Garside), and under his influence and guidance, "Flow" was produced. As well as her recording and touring career, Annabel has co-written songs with many other artists and songwriters, she also writes short stories and is working on her first novel, and performs regularly at London's prime singer songwriter venue The Kashmir Klub.



01 - Riders On The Storm (5:52)
02 - Once Bitten (3:16)
03 - Take Me In Your Arms (3:24)
04 - Heartland (3:21)
05 - Backwards Through The Looking Glass (4:21)

06 - Dividing The Spoils Of Love (5:10)
07 - Hold Fast (3:40)
08 - Snake Pliskin (2:19)
09 - Missing (4:05)
10 - No Cure (4:41)

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Belle Stars, The - The Belle Stars ( 83 ^ 93mb)

After the Bodysnatchers broke up, guitarists Stella Barker and Sarah-Jane Owen, saxophonist Miranda Joyce, keyboardist Penny Leyton, and drummer Judy Parsons decided to form a new band, recruiting bass player Lesley Shone and lead vocalist Jennie Matthias (also known as Jenny McKeown). Their first performance was on Christmas Day, 1980, before they had chosen a name. Within a short time, the group became well known around London, notably appearing on the front cover of Sounds magazine early in 1981. Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Stiff Records, then highly successful due to its star act, Madness. The band's debut single, "Hiawatha"/"Big Blonde" was released in the late spring of 1981, produced by Madness producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. The band promoted the single by playing support for ska acts The Beat and Madness. However, the single failed to chart, despite continuing media attention.

The second single failed to chart aswell, keyboard player Penny Leyton left the band for The Deltones, to be replaced by Clare Hirst. When the third single, the radio friendly "Another Latin Love Song" again failed to break into the charts, the band tried cover versions instead, with some success. "Iko Iko", a cover of The Dixie Cups' 1965 hit (later featured in the 1988 movie Rain Man), was The Belle Stars' long-hoped-for UK Singles Chart debut. The Belle Stars's next singles were remakes aswell "The Clapping Song", and then "Mockingbird".

In January 1983 the Belle Stars released what would be their signature single, "Sign Of The Times", peaking at number three, and a chart success throughout Europe. The song's music video, showing the Belle Stars in tuxedos, was also played frequently by MTV in the United States. It was followed a month later by the band's eponymous debut album, which reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. As with the band's singles, it was a mix of original songs and cover versions. However, "Sign Of The Times" proved to be the peak of the band's success. Each follow-up single was less successful than its predecessor: Despite this, the band continued to tour throughout Europe. However, the lack of success took its toll, and McKeown left the band, followed by others, until the band was down to Owen, Joyce, and Shone.

By 1984, Stiff Records was ailing, and it merged with Island Records; in July 1985 it was liquidated and bought by ZTT, the label owned by the husband and wife team of producer Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair. Under Horn's supervision, the three remaining members recorded a new Belle Stars album with the 4th & Broadway production team in New York City. However, the only tracks to be released were the single "World Domination"/"Just A Minute", a flop in Britain but a Top 5 Billboard Dancefloor chart hit in the U.S. Following this, the band broke up. However, in 1989, the Belle Stars finally had a big U.S. chart hit, when "Iko Iko" reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in March, after it was included on the soundtrack of the film Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The song had been a favourite of Hoffman's. Jennie Matthias toured the U.S. to promote the song.



01 - Sign Of The Times ( 2:52)
02 - Ci Ya Ya ( 2:40)
03 - The Clapping Song ( 3:11)
04 - Indian Summer ( 3:43)
05 - Harlem Shuffle ( 3:17)
06 - The Reason ( 3:57)

07 - Iko Iko ( 3:00)
08 - Baby I'm Yours ( 3:36)
09 - Mockingbird ( 3:22)
10 - The Snake ( 3:16)
11 - Burning ( 3:21)
12 - Needle In A Haystack (2:38)

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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 !

Around The World (32)

Hello Around the World is still covering classical treasures. Besides the introduced multi-faceted prodigy Saint-Saëns, and the to me unknown thusfar Max Bruch, there are goodies from Debussy , Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto De Aranjuez and Carl Gustav Mahler's 5th symphon. We end with the Bolero which seems to get people, specially women, into a hormonal frenzy, personally i think 13 minutes is a bit short, but then i read recently that a bolero a day keeps the divorce lawyers away...wink.

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Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, and more known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre, Samson et Dalila, and Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony).

Saint-Saëns was born in Paris, France. His father died three months after his birth. His mother, Clemence, sought the assistance of her aunt, Charlotte Masson, she moved in and introduced Saint-Saëns to the piano. One of the most talented child prodigies of his time, he possessed perfect pitch at two years of age and began piano lessons with his great-aunt at that time. He almost immediately began composing. His first composition, a little piece for the piano dated 22 March 1839, is now kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. His precociousness was not limited to music, however. He had learned to read and write by age three and mastered Latin by seven.

His first piano recital was given at age five, when he accompanied a Beethoven violin sonata. In 1842, Saint-Saëns began piano lessons with Camille-Marie Stamaty, who had his students play the piano while resting their forearms on a bar situated in front of the keyboard, so that all the pianist's power came from the hand and fingers and not the arms. At ten years of age, Saint-Saëns gave his debut public recital with a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15 , and various pieces by Handel, Kalkbrenner, Hummel, and Bach. As an encore, Saint-Saëns offered to play any one of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas by memory. Word of this incredible concert spread across Europe, and reached as far as the United States. He then studied organ and composition. Saint-Saëns won many top prizes and at the age of sixteen, Saint-Saëns wrote his first symphony; his second, published as Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, was performed in 1853 to the astonishment of many critics and fellow-composers. Hector Berlioz, who also became a good friend, famously remarked, Il sait tout, mais il manque d'inexpérience (He knows everything, but lacks inexperience). For income, Saint-Saëns worked playing the organ at various churches in Paris, his weekly improvisations stunned the Parisian public and earned Liszt's 1866 observation that Saint-Saëns was the greatest organist in the world.

Saint-Saëns was a multi-faceted intellectual. From an early age, he studied geology, archaeology, botany, and lepidoptery. He was an expert at mathematics. Later, in addition to composing, performing, and writing musical criticism, he held discussions with Europe's finest scientists and wrote scholarly articles on acoustics, occult sciences, Roman theatre decoration, and ancient instruments. He wrote a philosophical work, Problèmes et Mystères, which spoke of science and art replacing religion; Saint-Saëns's pessimistic and atheistic ideas foreshadowed Existentialism. Other literary achievements included Rimes familières, a volume of poetry, and La Crampe des écrivains, a successful farcical play.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War, despite being over in barely six months, left an indelible mark on the composer. He fled to London for several months when the Paris Commune broke out in the besieged Paris of winter 1871. After the fall of the Paris Commune, Saint-Saëns returned and became a powerful figure in shaping the future of French music. In 1875, Saint-Saëns married Marie-Laure Truffot and they had two children, André and Jean-François, who died within six weeks of each other in 1878. Saint-Saëns left his wife three years later. The two never divorced, but lived the rest of their lives apart from one another.

In 1886 Saint-Saëns debuted two of his most renowned compositions: Le Carnaval des Animaux and Symphony No. 3, dedicated to Franz Liszt, who died that year. Two years later, Saint-Saëns's mother died, driving the mourning composer away from France to the Canary Islands under the alias "Sannois". Over the next several years he travelled the world, visiting exotic locations in Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. Saint-Saëns chronicled his travels in many popular books using his nom de plume, Sannois. Saint-Saëns continued to write on musical, scientific and historical topics, travelling frequently before spending his last years in Algiers, Algeria. In recognition of his accomplishments, the government of France awarded him the Légion d'honneur. Saint-Saëns died of pneumonia on 16 December 1921 at the Hôtel de l'Oasis in Algiers. His body was repatriated to Paris, honoured by state funeral at La Madeleine, and interred at Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.

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Max Christian Friedrich Bruch (January 6, 1838 – October 2, 1920) a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, one of which is a staple of the violin repertoire. Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he received his early musical training under the composer and pianist Ferdinand Hiller. He had a long career as a teacher, conductor and composer, moving among musical posts in Germany: Mannheim (1862-1864), Koblenz (1865-1867), Sondershausen, (1867-1870) Berlin (1870-1872), Bonn, where he spent 1873 -1878 working privately. At the height of his reputation he spent three seasons as conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1880-83). He taught composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik (the Berlin Conservatoire) from 1890 until his retirement in 1910.

His conservatively structured works, in the German romantic musical tradition, placed him in the camp of Romantic classicism exemplified by Johannes Brahms, rather than the opposing "New Music" of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. In his time, he was known primarily as a choral composer. His Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 (1866) is one of the most popular Romantic violin concertos. Other pieces which are also well-known and widely played include the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra Bruch also wrote Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, a popular work for cello and orchestra.

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Millenium - Classical Treasures IV ( 99 , 73min ^ 170mb)



01 - Camille Saint-Saens - Dans Macabre, Op.40 ( 7:07)
02 - Camille Saint-Saens - Carnaval des Animaux - The Swan ( 3:12)
03 - Max Bruch - Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op. 26 - I-Allegro Moderato ( 8:13)
04 - Max Bruch - Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op. 26 - II-Adagio ( 8:41)
05 - Max Bruch - Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, Op. 26 - III-Finale (allegro Energico) ( 7:04)
06 - Archille-Claude Debussy - Clair de lune ( 4:47)
07 - Joaquin Rodrigo - Concierto De Aranjuez - II-Adagio ( 10:51)
08 - Gustav Mahler - Symphony No.5 in C sharp minor - IV-Adagietto ( 10:00)
09 - Maurice Ravel - Bolero ( 13:03)

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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 !

Foundation (IV)

Hello, had some mix ups this weekend, all rectified now... Foundation moves to the second book of the trilogy, Foundation and Empire, but first what happened last week in "The Merchant Princes"

The Foundation has expanded through the use of Scientism and economics. Three Foundation vessels have vanished near the Republic of Korell, a nation suspected of technological development. Trader Hober Mallow is sent to uncover information on their technology and hopefully find the missing ships. While at Korell, Mallow convinces Korell's leader Commdor Asper Argo to purchase Foundation technology. Mallow also discovers that Korell still maintains some relics of the Empire such as atomic hand guns. But he also notes the Republic's decrepit condition and lack of modern technology. On return to Terminus, he is considered a traitor for not spreading Scientism to Korell, although an unlikely development clears Mallow allowing him to win an election for Mayor. Years later Korell goes to war against The Foundation, Mallow as Mayor confidently severs supplies of goods that Korell's people have grown accustomed to, thus starting a revolt against their own government in favour of the Foundation.

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Foundation Trilogy, episode IV - The General (34mb)


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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 !

Sundaze (32)

Hello, Sundaze today is all about the appearance of Harold Budd on the ambient scene. I have here his early work, i tell you ripping ambient vinyl is work. As those grooves are very close together and undeep..these are very susceptible to scratches , clicks and ticks...ambient music is made for digital formats. The recording and normalising demands much more attention with ambient vinyl aswell...luckily i did buy the plateaux of mirror on cd aswell.

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Harold Budd (May 24, 1936) is an American ambient/avant-garde composer. Born in Los Angeles, California, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires. His music, a sparse and tonal wash of keyboard treatments, was inspired by a boyhood spent listening to the buzz of telephone wires near his home in the Mojave Desert town of Victorville, California (though he was born in nearby Los Angeles). Budd was 30, already married and with children of his own, by the time he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Musical Composition in 1966.

He became a respected name in the circle of minimalist and avant-garde composers based in Southern California during the late '60s, premiering his works The Candy-Apple Revision and Unspecified D-Flat Major Chord around the area. As his career progressed, his compositions became increasingly minimal. Among his more experimental works were two drone pieces, "Coeur d'Orr" and "The Oak of the Golden Dreams". "The Oak of the Golden Dreams" was based on the Balinese "Slendro" scale. After composing a long-form gong solo titled "Lirio", he felt he had reached the limits of his experiments in minimalism and the avant-garde. He retired temporarily from composition in 1970 and began a teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts.

Two years later, while still retaining his teaching career, he resurfaced as a composer. Spanning from 1972-1975 he created four individual works under the collective title The Pavilion of Dreams. The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. In 1976 he resigned from the institute and began recording his new compositions, produced by British ambient pioneer Brian Eno. Two years later Harold Budd's debut album The Pavilion of Dreams was released.Two years later, he collaborated with Eno on one of the landmark albums of the ambient style, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirrors. After recording two albums for Cantil in 1981 (The Serpent [In Quicksilver]) and 1984 (Abandoned Cities), Harold Budd again worked with Eno on 1984's The Pearl. A contract with Eno's Opal Records resulted in one of Budd's most glorious albums, The White Arcades, recorded in Edinburgh with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. Budd left Opal after 1991's By the Dawn's Early Light, and recorded two albums for Gyroscope: Music for Three Pianos (with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz) and the lauded Through the Hill, a collaboration with Andy Partridge of XTC.

In the mid-'90s, Budd recorded albums for New Albion and All Saints before signing to Atlantic. His thematic 2000 release The Room saw a return to a more minimalist approach. Budd's album Avalon Sutra from 2004 was billed as "Harold Budd's Last Recorded Work" by the record label Samadhi Sound. Their press release continued: "Avalon Sutra brings to a conclusion thirty years of sustained musical activity. Asked for his reasons, Budd says only that he feels that he has said what he has to say. With characteristic humility, he concludes, “I don’t mind disappearing!” In spite of this, Budd's soundtrack to the film Mysterious Skin (a collaboration with Robin Guthrie) and Music for 'Fragments from the Inside' (with Eraldo Bernocchi) were both released in 2005. In February 2007, David Sylvian's label Samadhisound released Perhaps, a live recording of Budd's improvised performance in tribute to his late friend, James Tenney. Recorded at CalArts in December 6, the album is only available as a digital download. Darla Records released two CDs by Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd in June 2007, After The Night Falls and Before The Day Breaks. Recorded in Spring 2006, each features 9 tracks with linked titles, e.g. "How Distant Your Heart"/"How Close Your Soul" and "I Returned Her Glance"/"And Then I Turned Away".

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Harold Budd - The Pavilion Of Dreams (78 ^ 97mb)

Harold Budd creates a series of siren songs on The Pavilion of Dreams that shimmer like light reflected on the water's surface. Billed as "an extended cycle of works begun in 1972," Budd's debut apparently took a while to see the light of day itself, having been recorded in 1976, released on the aptly titled Obscure label in 1978, and re-released in 1981 on Editions EG. The minimalist composer had gained some attention in avant-garde circles with the piece "Madrigals of the Rose Angel"; featured here, it reveals the unhurried and unfolding nature of Budd's melodies as well as his penchant for clusters of bell-like notes. "Two Songs" was written in the years that followed, adapting works from Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane with arrangements that feature only mezzo-soprano Lynda Richardson and harpist Maggie Thomas. The opening "Bismillahi 'Rhahmani 'Rrahim" is the musical equivalent of a bubble bath; led by the soulful saxophone of Marion Brown, it's initially lovely, yet the circumspect arrangement saps the piece of its spellbinding effect before long. The last piece composed here, "Juno," is also the most passionate, foreshadowing the warmth and presence that would appear on subsequent works like "The Plateaux of Mirror." As with most minimalist works, The Pavilion of Dreams requires patience and open-mindedness on the part of the listener, only more so. Harold Budd achieved an evocative and succinct style on subsequent albums, and these songs are simply the rudimentary steps that led there.



01 - Bismillahi ´Rrahman ´Rrahim (18:15)
Two Songs (Voc.Lynda Richardson)
02 - Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord (3:09)
03 - Butterfly Sunday (3:00)

Madrigals Of The Rose Angel
04 - Rossetti Noise (5:33)
05 - The Crystal Garden And A Coda (8:29)

06 - Juno (7:34)

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Harold Budd & Brian Eno - Ambient 2: The Plateaux Of Mirror ( 80 ^ 94mb)

Note ! right file linked now.

The second in Brian Eno's ambient series, The Plateaux of Mirrors fuses the fragile piano melodies of Harold Budd and the atmospheric electronics of Eno to create a lovely, evocative work. In sharp contrast to the exaggerated pieces found on his debut, The Pavilion of Dreams, this record finds Budd delivering sharp shards of piano notes pregnant with meaning and minimal in the best sense of the word. Eno's unobtrusive electronics add a resonance and atmosphere that draw from the ambient textures found on Discreet Music, Music for Films, and Evening Star.

Eno said of Budd that he indulged in "live improvisation on The Plateaux Of Mirror ... I would set up a sound, he would improvise to it, and occasionally I would add something: but it was mainly him performing in a sound-world I had created".
Speaking about how Budd discovered new ways of playing on the album simply by bouncing ideas off each other, Eno has also commented "... with him I used to set up quite complicated treatments and then he would go out and play the piano. And you would hear him discovering, as he played, how to manipulate this treatment. How to make it ring and resonate. Which notes work particularly well on it. Which register of the piano. What speed to play at, of course, because some treatments just cloud out if they have too much information in them".

The album's best moments evoke their subject matter efficaciously and effortlessly; "First Light" creates an audible early morning chill, "An Arc of Doves" employs flights of Frippertronics, "Not Yet Remembered" seesaws between sleep and consciousness, and so on. Although neither artist is a musician in the usual sense of the word -- Budd's piano playing is still somewhat limited here -- they excel as musical painters. The Plateaux of Mirrors remains a fascinating hybrid, reflecting the uniqueness of both composers in a most flattering light.



01 - First Light (6:58)
02 - Steal Away (1:25)
03 - The Plateaux Of Mirror (4:09)
04 - Above Chiangmai (2:44)
05 - An Arc Of Doves (6:22)
06 - Not Yet Remembered (3:48)
07 - The Chill Air (2:09)
08 - Among Fields Of Crystal (3:24)
09 - Wind In Lonely Fences (3:50)
10 - Failing Light (4:32)

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Harold Budd & Brian Eno - The Pearl ( 84 ^ 91mb)

In some respects the counterpart to Ambient 2, with the same sense of hushed, ethereal beauty the Budd / Eno partnership brought forth on that album, The Pearl is so ridiculously good it instantly shows up much of the mainstream new age as the gloopy schlock that it often is. The merest hints of synth and whisper play around Budd's performances, ensuring the latter takes center stage. Eno and Daniel Lanois handle the production side of things, their teamwork once again overseeing a winner. Part of the distinct charm of the album is how the song titles perfectly capture what the music sounds like -- "A Stream With Bright Fish" is almost self-defining. Another key point is how Budd truly captures what ambience in general can and does mean. "Against the Sky" is a strong example -- it can be totally concentrated upon or left to play as atmospherics and is also at once both truly beautiful and not a little haunting in a disturbing sense.



01 - Late October (4:38)
02 - A Stream With Bright Fish (3:5o)
03 - The Silver Ball (3:21)
04 - Against The Sky (4:45)
05 - Lost In The Humming Air (3:53)

06 - Dark-Eyed Sister (4:36)
07 - Their Memories (2:51)
08 - The Pearl (3:07)
09 - Foreshadowed (3:46)
10 - An Echo Of Night (2:24)
11 - Still Return (4:00)

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

Rhotation (32) Into BPM

Hello, Rhotation 32 spins off some more techno routines...I posted Orbital Diversions at Rhotation 17, however got some more to share by these brothers that have meanwhile grown apart. I tossed and upcame In Sides. It raised some eyebrows in the beginning, specially the 28 min single, The Box, (included here) and switching from the political Snivilization to a more eco themed album, not very trendy in the UK at the time, caused some headscratching, however as these things go, with hindsight In Sides turned out a classic....Apollo 440 came out of the limelight with Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dub, showing what creative sampling can accomplish. They have been very active at the remix front, however when they let other remix their single Liquid Cool the result was stunning, it needed 2 different EP's of about 40 min to comply releasing the excellent results, unfortuately i only have the 2nd one which i include with Electro Glide In Blue, their 97 landmark album.

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Orbital - In Sides (97 ^ 199mb)

The brothers Hartnoll, Phil and Paul, grew up in Dartford, Kent, listening to early-'80s punk and electro, during the mid-' 80s, Phil worked as a bricklayer while Paul played with a local band called Noddy & the Satellites. They began recording together in 1987 with a four-track, keyboards, and a drum machine, and sent their first composition, "Chime" (recorded and mastered onto a cassette tape for a total production cost of £2.50), into Jazzy M's pioneering house mix show Jackin' Zone, as a result "Chime" was released as a single in 89. The following year, ffrr Records re-released the single and signed a contract with the duo -- christened Orbital in honor of the M25, the circular London expressway which speeded thousands of club kids to the hinterlands for raves during the blissed-out Summer of Love. "Chime" hit number 17 and saw them on Top of the Pops, where the Hartnolls stared at the audience from behind their synth banks.

Orbital's untitled first LP (the "green album") was released in September 1991, consisted of all-new material -- that is, if live versions of "Chime" and the fourth single "Midnight" are considered new works. Unlike the Hartnolls' later albums, though, the debut was more of a collection of songs than a true full-length work, its cut-and-paste attitude typical of many techno LPs of the time. During 1992, Orbital continued their chart success with two EPs. The Mutations remix work -- with contributions from Meat Beat Manifesto, Moby, and Joey Beltram, Orbital returned Meat Beat's favor later that year by remixing "Edge of No Control," and later reworked songs by Queen Latifah, the Shamen, and EMF as well.

Their career took off in 1993-1994, with the release of the EPs "Lush" and "Radiccio" and their second album ,also untitled, but nicknamed the "brown" album as an alternative to the "green" debut, it unified the disjointed feel of its predecessor and hit number 28 on the British charts. The Hartnolls continued the electronic revolution that fall during their first American tour. Phil and Paul had first played live at a pub in Kent in 1989 -- before the release of "Chime" -- and had continued to make concert performance a cornerstone of their appeal during 1991-1993, featuring live projections, live musical arranging and sequencing on the fly, making their shows entertaining, improvised and truly "live". On a tour with Moby and Aphex Twin, Orbital proved to Americans that techno shows could actually be diverting for the undrugged multitudes. That summer proved to be the pinnacle of Orbital's performance ascent; an appearance at Woodstock 2 and a headlining spot at the Glastonbury Festival (both to rave reviews) confirmed the duo's status as one of the premier live acts in the field of popular music, period.

The U.S.-only albumlength Diversions EP released in March 1994 as a supplement to the second LP -- selected tracks from both the Peel Sessions and strong remixes from the album's single, "Lush." Following in August 1994, Snivilisation became Orbital's first named LP. The duo had not left political/social comment completely behind on the previous album -- "Halcyon + On + On" was in fact a response to the drug used for seven years by the Hartnolls' own mother -- but Snivilisation pushed Orbital into the much more active world of political protest. It focused on the Criminal Justice Bill of 1994, which gave police greater legal action both to break up raves and prosecute the promoters and participants. The wide variety of styles signalled that this was Orbital's most accomplished work. Snivilisation also became the duo's biggest hit, reaching number four in Great Britain's album charts.

During 1995, the brothers concerned themselves with touring, headlining the Glastonbury Festival in addition to the dance extravaganza Tribal Gathering. In May 1996, Orbital set out on quite a different tour altogether; the duo played untraditional, seated venues -- including the prestigious Royal Albert Hall -- and appeared on-stage earlier in the night, much like typical rock bands. Two months later, Phil and Paul released "The Box," a 28-minute single of orchestral proportions. It screamed of prog rock excess -- especially the inclusion of synth harpsichords -- and appeared to be the first misstep in a very studied career. The resulting In Sides, however, became their most acclaimed album, with many excellent reviews in publications that had never covered electronic music. It was over three years before the release of Orbital's next album, 1999's Middle of Nowhere. An aggressive, experimental album titled The Altogether emerged in 2001, and one year later Orbital celebrated over a decade together with the release of the retrospective Work 1989-2002. With the release of 2004's Blue Album, however, the Hartnolls announced that they were disbanding Orbital. After the split, Paul began recording music under his own name, including material for the Wipeout Pure PSP game and a solo album (The Ideal Condition), while Phil formed another duo, Long Range, with Nick Smith and released Madness and Me last year.



Orbital - In Sides (99mb)

01 - The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (10:26)
02 - P.E.T.R.O.L. (6:20)
03 - The Box (Part I) (6:28)
04 - The Box (Part II) (6:00)
05 - Dŵr Budr (9:55)
06 - Adnan's (8:41)

Orbital - In Sides (99mb)

07 - Out There Somewhere? (Part I) (10:42)
08 - Out There Somewhere? (Part II) (13:26)
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09 - The Box (Radio Edit) (4:13)
10 - The Box (Untitled Version 1) (7:46)
11 - The Box (Untitled Version 2) (8:40)
12 - The Box (Vocal Reprise) (7:36)

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Apollo 440 - Electro Glide In Blue ( 97, 107min, 199mb)

Apollo 440 (alternately known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) was formed in 1991 by Howard Gray, his brother Trevor, classically trained on the piano, and their Liverpool schoolmate Noko, formerly the guitarist in Howard Devoto's Luxuria, and James Gardner, although Gardner left after the recording of the first album. The name comes from the Greek god Apollo and the frequency of concert pitch — the A note at 440 Hz, often denoted as "A440", and the Sequential Circuits sampler/sequencer, the Studio 440. The group was initially influenced by Britain's acid-house explosion, and worked as remixers (sometimes under the name Stealthsonic Orchestra) for U2, EMF and Shabba Ranks before making the leap to actual recording. The single "Astral America" appeared on the group's own Stealth Sonic Records in 1993. After relocating to the Camden area of London, Apollo 440 recorded their debut album, Millennium Fever, and released it in 1994 on their own Stealth Sonic Recordings label.

The band had been most known for its remixes (about 50 in the nineties) until the release of Liquid Cool in the UK. However, it was not until the success of the singles Krupa and Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub that their own musical efforts were brought to international attention — particularly the latter contributed greatly to pushing Apollo 440 into the spotlight. They hit the British Top Ten in 1997 by sampling Van Halen for the single "Ain't Talkin' Bout Dub". It was followed by the release of their second album, Electro Glide in Blue, it features Charles Bukowski, Billy Mackenzie and a tribute to Gene Krupa: all three of whom had become deceased by the time of the album's release. On the day that Princess Diana died, BBC Radio One suspended its regular schedule out of respect and spent the day playing more understated music; the track Stealth Mass in F#m was played several times on this day.

The group resurfaced in early 1999 with Getting High on Your Own Supply., in 2003 they've released their thusfar last album Dude Descending a Staircase (2cd) , the title and cover refer to the famous painting Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp. Currently, the band resides in Islington, London, having once again moved its headquarters (affectionately labelled Apollo Control). In 2007, the band played a tribute gig to the late singer Billy MacKenzie and decided to go on after that. They plan for several more gigs and an album that should be out in 2008.



Apollo Four Forty - Electro Glide In Blue  (99mb)

01 - Stealth Overture (Voc.Elizabeth Gray ) (1:00)
02 - Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dub (Voc.Mary Mary) (4:31)
03 - Altamont Super-Highway Revisited (6:31)
04 - Electro Glide In Blue (Voc.E MacFarlane) (8:36)
05 - Vanishing Point (7:27)
06 - Tears Of The Gods ( Vo. C.Bukowski) (6:17)
07 - Carrera Rapida (Theme From Rapid Racer) (Voc.Mary Mary) (6:46)
08 - Krupa (6:15)
09 - White Man's Throat (Voc.Dr G.Hoxley)(4:53)

Apollo Four Forty - Electro Glide In Blue 2 (99mb)

10 - Pain In Any Language (Voc.B.MacKenzie) (8:38)
11 - Stealth Mass In F#m (6:35)
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12 - Liquid Cool (Deep Forest Trans-Afrique Life Extension Express) (6:41)
13 - Liquid Cool (Space Colonization Remix) (13:59)
14 - Liquid Cool (Ollie J's Live Dubs) (7:43)
15 - Liquid Cool (Space -320°F Biostatic Ambient Mix Part 1) (11:15)

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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 !

Alphabet Soup II (E)

Hello, Alphabet Soup dishes up E, and that means today E-lectric Lite Orchestra. Indeed that aha ! lightbulb did its work but thats not where the name originates. From 1972 to1986, ELO accumulated more combined UK and US Top 40 hit singles than any other band in the world, 46. Todays treat however was all but completely shunned on their UK hometurf. It did sell well in the Wizard of Oz mad(cover) US and mainland Europe, but the Brits didnt like the real orchestra thing or the concept story, whatever it's my favourite ELO album.....Eardrum, now thats almost the opposite spectrum, avant-rock percussion/drums, live, grooves and atmospheres manipulated in a rigorous editing process and treated electronically out of all recognition. .... Finally Echoboy, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Richard Warren's ambitious synth pop on Giraffe initially recieved a mixed response as he let go some of his more experimental side on it. At least on the surface, because he manages to twist the '70s- and '80s-inspired vibe into something new and fresh....

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Electric Light Orchestra - Eldorado (A Symphony) (74 ^ 99mb)

The group's name is an intended pun based not only on electric light but also using "electric" rock instruments combined with a "light orchestra" (orchestras with only a few cellos and violins)

In the late 1960s, Roy Wood, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter of The Move, had an idea to form a new band that would use cellos, violins, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound, taking rock music in a new direction and "picking up where The Beatles left off. Jeff Lynne, frontman with fellow Birmingham band The Idle Race, was excited by the concept. In January 1970, Lynne accepted Wood's second invitation to join the band on the condition that they focus their energy on the new project. On the 12th of July 1970, when Wood added multiple cellos to a Lynne-penned song intended to be a Move B-side, the new concept became a reality and "10538 Overture" became the first Electric Light Orchestra song.

The debut album The Electric Light Orchestra was released in 1971 (1972 in the US as No Answer) and "10538 Overture" became a UK top ten hit. However, tensions soon surfaced between Wood and Lynne, Wood left the band, taking cellist Hugh McDowell and horn player Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard. Despite predictions from the music press that the band would fold without Wood, Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bev Bevan remaining on drums, joined by Richard Tandy on the Moog synthesizer, Mike de Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards and Colin Walker adding cello and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. The band released their second album, ELO 2 in 1973, which produced their first U.S. chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic "Roll Over Beethoven". During the recording of the third album, Gibson and Walker left the band. Mik Kaminski joined as violinist, while remaining cellist Edwards finished the cello parts before McDowell returned to ELO from Wizzard. The resulting album, On the Third Day was released in late 1973, with the American version featuring the hit "Showdown."

For the band's fourth album, Eldorado, A Symphony, a concept album about dreams, Lynne was finally able to stop overdubbing strings, and hire an orchestra and choir. Louis Clark joined the band as string arranger.The first single off the album, "Can't Get It Out Of My Head," became their first U.S. Billboard charts Top 10 hit, and Eldorado, A Symphony became ELO's first gold album. The integration of the orchestra would become even more thorough on future albums, but Eldorado was notable for mixing the band and orchestra (and a choir) in ways that did no violence to the best elements of both.
Despite Electric Light Orchestra's commercial success, the band remained relatively faceless; the lineup changed constantly, with sole mainstays Lynne and Bevan preferring to let their elaborate stage shows and omnipresent spaceship imagery instead serve as the group's public persona. 1975's Face the Music went gold, generating the hits "Evil Woman" and "Strange Magic," . ELO had become successful in the United States at this point and they were a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, back in the UK they were still largely ignored until their sixth album, A New World Record, hit the top ten there in 1976. It contained the hit singles "Livin' Thing", "Telephone Line", "Rockaria!" and "Do Ya", a rerecording of a Move song, it sold five million copies internationally.

A New World Record was followed by another platinum selling album, the double-LP Out of the Blue, in 1977. It featured the singles "Turn to Stone," "Sweet Talkin' Woman," "Mr. Blue Sky," and "Wild West Hero," each becoming a hit in the United Kingdom. The band then set out on a nine-month, 92-date world tour, with an enormous set and a hugely expensive space ship stage with fog machines and a laser display. During the famous spaceship tour, The Big Night went on to become the highest-grossing live concert tour in music history up to that point (1978).The band also played at the Wembley Arena for eight straight sold-out nights during the tour as well, another record at that time. The first of these shows was recorded and televised, and later released as a CD and DVD. In 1979,the multi-platinum album Discovery (or "Disco? Very!", as fans refer to it), was released. Although the biggest hit on the album was the hard-rock song "Don't Bring Me Down", the album was criticised for its heavy disco influence. The Electric Light Orchestra finished 1979 as the biggest selling act in the United Kingdom.ELO had reached the peak of their stardom, selling millions of albums and singles.

In 1980, Jeff Lynne was asked to write for the soundtrack of the musical film Xanadu, with the other half written by John Farrar and performed by the film's star Olivia Newton-John. The movie performed poorly at the box office, but the soundtrack did exceptionally well, eventually going double platinum. In 1981, ELO's sound changed again with the science fiction concept album Time, a throwback to earlier, more progressive rock albums like Eldorado. With the string section laid off, synthesisers took a dominating role. Time topped the UK charts for two weeks and is the last ELO studio album to date to be certified platinum in the UK. Jeff Lynne wanted to follow Time with a double album, but CBS blocked his plan, claiming it would be too expensive. The new album was whittled down to a single disc and released as Secret Messages in 1983 (many of the outtakes were later released on box sets or singles). The album's release was dampened by a string of bad news - that there would be no tour to promote the LP, that drummer Bevan was to play drums for Black Sabbath, and that bassist Kelly Groucutt had left the band. By 1984, Bevan was expressing a desire to join Black Sabbath permanently, Lynne and Tandy were recording tracks for the Electric Dreams soundtrack under Jeff Lynne's name, and, with Groucutt's departure, ELO was assumed to be finished. However, Lynne was contractually obligated to make one more ELO album. Lynne, Bevan and Tandy returned to the studio in 1985 as a three-piece to record ELO's final album of the 20th century, Balance of Power, released early in 1986. Save the single "Calling America" placed in the Top 30, subsequent singles failed to chart.

However, as Electric Light Orchestra's career descended, Lynne emerged as a sought-after producer, helming well-received comebacks from George Harrison (1987's Cloud Nine) and Roy Orbison (1989's Mystery Girl) and additionally re-teaming with both rock legends as well as Bob Dylan and Tom Petty in the hit supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. Lynne made his solo debut in 1990 with Armchair Theatre but otherwise spent the decade out of the limelight, instead producing material for Joe Cocker, Tom Jones, and Paul McCartney in addition to working on the Beatles' Anthology project. Meanwhile Bevan formed his own band titled ELO Part II, initially with no other former ELO members except Clark. ELO Part II released their debut album Electric Light Orchestra Part Two in 1990. Mik Kaminski, Kelly Groucutt and Hugh McDowell joined the band for the first tour in 1991. Bevan, Groucutt, Kaminski and Clark recorded a second album in 1994 and toured extensively until 1999. Bevan retired from the lineup in 1999 and sold his share of the ELO name to Jeff Lynne in 2000. The remaining members continue to tour and record, renamed as The Orchestra.

In 2001, Zoom, ELO's first album since 1986, was released. Though billed and marketed as an ELO album, the only returning member other than Jeff Lynne was Richard Tandy. Zoom took on a more organic sound, with less emphasis on strings and electronic effects. Upon completion of the album Lynne reformed the band with completely new members including his then-girlfriend Rosie Vela and announced that ELO would tour again. Former ELO member Richard Tandy rejoined the band a short time afterwards for two television live performances, later titled Zoom Tour Live. The planned tour was cancelled and not rescheduled due to unknown factors, in mid-August 2001. Since ELO's back catalogue has been remastered and to further cash in on the success of the remasters, some ELO compilations have been released.



01 - Eldorado Overture (2:12)
02 - Can't Get It Out Of My Head (4:22)
03 - Boy Blue (5:19)
04 - Laredo Tornado (5:30)
05 - Poorboy (The Greenwood) (2:54)
06 - Mister Kingdom (5:30)
07 - Nobody's Child (3:56)
08 - Illusions In G Major (2:37)
09 - Eldorado (5:17)
10 - Eldorado - Finale (1:29)

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Eardrum - Last Light (99 * 99mb)

Eardrum are, essentially, two percussionists: Lou Ciccotelli and Richard Olatunde Baker. Over the last decade, Ciccotelli has quietly established himself as the most interesting avant-rock drummer in London, having put in time with, among others, ground breaking jazz-trance-industrialists God, Gary Smith's avant-rock power trio Mass, psycho-hiphop outfit Ice and the woefully-underrated Laika. Baker, meantime, has played with Cath Coffey, Akure Wall and sundry On-U projects.Three years after making their 1996 debut with a 12" on Soul Static Sound, Ciccotelli and Baker issued last Light on Leaf. They're joined occasionally on their debut by Nana Tsiboe (percussion and flute), bassist and electronics manipulator Gary Jeff (Ciccotelli's colleague in both Mass and God), trumpeter Matt Barge and Ike Leo on saxophone. Eardrum's m.o. is straightforward: to record, live, grooves and atmospheres - almost entirely on percussion - then in a rigorous editing process treat them electronically out of all recognition. The results have already earned Eardrum comparisons with Jon Hassell, 23 Skidoo and African Headcharge, and not unfairly. This music takes Hassell's Fourth World gauntlet very seriously indeed, creating a fetid, tropical musical Interzone from the fragments ironically recorded in London. It rocks, as well, rarely letting go of the dark grooves that underpin it.

A year later Last Night Remixes, Vol. 1 was released, a batch of reworkings from the likes of Monolake, Ashley Beedle, and the Sofa Surfers, was released in mid-2000. The duo made a full return in 2001, a year that saw the release of Side Effects, which featured contributions from renowned engineer Guy Fixsen (My Bloody Valentine, Laika), Nii Tagoe (African Head Charge), and Jason Yarde (Manu Dibango). Delving further into African-based musics, Eardrum again demonstrated a proclivity for tightly reined chaos.



01 - Swarm (6:25)
02 - Lizard (6:35)
03 - Roach (1:48)
04 - Swamp Doctor (5:21)
05 - City Collision (7:10)
06 - Nightblind (3:04)
07 - Plummet (5:02)
08 - Nightcrawler (6:14)
09 - From The Nucleus (4:13)
10 - Low Order (7:17)

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Echoboy - Giraffe (03 ^ 99mb)

Echoboy is Richard Daniel Warren who lives in Leicestershire. He was born on the 3rd June 1973 in Sutton-In-Ashfield (Nottinghamshire). Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Richard Warren is the driving force behind Echoboy, a psychedelic electronic project. The Nottingham, England native was also the singer/songwriter/guitarist for the Hybirds, who disbanded soon after their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album was released in 1998. During the group's dissolution, Warren began working on Echoboy material and even handed out copies of the first single, Flashlegs, at the Hybirds' final gigs. Later that year Warren released the debut album Echoboy on his own Point Blank imprint. After releasing a 10 inch for Earworm and a 7 inch EP for the Rough Trade shop label he played an entire album of new recorded material to Daniel Miller (label boss of Mute), so he could sign a contract with Mute Records in March 1999. His label debut was the EP "Frances Says: The Knife Is Alive".In March 2000 his first album for Mute "Volume 1" followed. Just 6 months after the release of this critically acclaimed album, the follow-up "Volume 2" was published. After 2 single releases taken from "Volume 2" you didn’t hear from Echoboy for a while – til he released "Automatic Eyes" as a preceded single for his 2003 album "Giraffe".

With Giraffe, Echoboy commits to the ambitious synth pop that he flirted with on Volume One and Volume 2. While this may disappoint fans of his more experimental work, jettisoning that side of his sound gives Giraffe a focus and decisiveness that his previous albums lacked. Actually, Echoboy's more avant leanings aren't gone so much as incorporated into the album's '70s- and '80s-inspired vibe -- What makes Giraffe a subtly and increasingly compelling album is that Echoboy takes influences like Bowie, New Order, and Giorgio Moroder in a different direction than many other acts raiding synth pop for inspiration. That year's Lately Lonely EP continued in this new direction, three singles more were published but Richard thought it would be time for a change, so he left Mute and started to work on a new album. The current album "Elektrik Soul Psymphonie" was released in June 2005 on Earworm Records - he returned to his roots.



01 - Automatic Eyes (4:35)
02 - Don't Destroy Me (6:16)
03 - Comfort Of The Hum (5:01)
04 - Summer Rhythm (5:35)
05 - High Speed In Love (5:01)
06 - Fun In You (4:36)
07 - Lately Lonely (2:58)
08 - Good On T.V. (4:55)
09 - Wasted Spaces (7:21)
10 - Nearly All The Time (4:28)

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Around the World (31)

Hello, Around the Worldmusic is a bit later today..had some car troubles and thus late from returning of mothersday..so not much text..theres a lot of Tchaikovsky again and i reported on his eventful life last week..

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Millenium - Classical treasures III (99 73min ^ 164mb)




01 - P.I.Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.6 in B minor, Op.74 'Pathetique'-I (20:33)
02 - S.Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30-III Finale (ALla breve) (13:25)
03 - A.Khachaturian - Spartacus-Adagio (Spartacus and Phrygia) (10:24)
04 - P.I.Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.35-II Canzonetta (Andante) (6:41)
05 - J.Brahms - Symphony No.3 in F major, Op.90-I Allegro con brio (10:26)
06 - P.I.Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker-Waltz of the Flowers (6:52)
07 - R.Wagner - Die Walkure-The Ride of the Valkyries (5:08)


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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 !

Foundation (III)

Hello, the Foundation saga continues..

Last weeks "The Mayors", occurs three decades after "The Encyclopedists", The Foundation's scientific understanding has given them unusual leverage over nearby planetary systems, and an artificial religion referred to as Scientism is developed. This concept allows scientific devices to be shared, while keeping its science secret. Maintenance technicians known as priests are trained on Terminus and given basic operational understanding, while being kept ignorant of scientific knowledge. This process allows the Foundation to maintain control over scientific rebellions and delocalisation of knowledge.

Mayor Salvor Hardin continues to function as Mayor of Terminus and the effective ruler of the Foundation. Prince Regent Wienis of Anacreon plans to overthrow the Foundation's power, and his plans are encouraged when he obtains an abandoned Imperial cruiser that he demands the Foundation repair. Hardin foresees Wienis's plans and arranges for the ship to be repaired his own way, incorporating some modifications. Hardin then broadcasts Wienis's attempt to the people of Anacreon under the ruse of blasphemy, leading to a revolt which results in direct control over the Four Kingdoms. Hari Seldon again confirms the actions by appearing in the "Time Vault", while also warning them that the use of Scientism is no longer necessary.

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150 years after The Foundation is established, and the powerful trading nation faces its greatest threat.

Episode 3, The Merchant Princes (57min. 35mb)


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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 !

Sundaze (31)

Hello, Sundaze today connects to yesterdays dubnology , however the BPM is reduced. One of the founders of the ambient house genre are undoubtely The Orb, after a higly acclaimed start , their work became more controversial, which i guess is expectable when a collective is at work. that and the need to develop. The British press by enlarge was critical of The Orbs output between 94 and 04. Nevertheless the rest of the world remained more enthousiastic.Here i post their acclaimed debut, Orbus Terrarum, the first album that displayed that rift and which was to The Orb a new direction..finally the return to overall acclaim with Okie Dokie (05).

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Alex Paterson began his music career in the early 1980s as a roadie for the post-punk rock band Killing Joke, for whom his childhood friend Martin "Youth" Glover played bass. After leaving Killing Joke in 1986, Paterson met future KLF member Jimmy Cauty and the duo began DJ-ing and producing music together under the name The Orb. Paterson and Cauty's first release was a 1988 acid house anthem track, "Tripping on Sunshine". Paterson and Cauty began DJ-ing in London and landed a deal for The Orb to play the chill out room at London nightclub Heaven. Resident DJ Paul Oakenfold brought in the duo specifically as ambient DJs for his "The Land of Oz" event at Heaven. Their "Chill Out Room" act grew popular over the course of their six month stay to the point that the small room was often packed with around 100 people(weary DJs and clubbers seeking solace from the loud, rhythmic music of the dancefloor).

Throughout 1989, The Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of their musical work came towards the end of the year when The Orb recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1. The track, then known as "Loving You", was largely improvisational and featured a wealth of sound effects and samples from science fiction radio plays, nature sounds, and Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You". For its release as a single on record label Big Life, The Orb changed the title to "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld".

In 1990, Paterson and Cauty held several recording sessions at Cauty's studio, Trancentral. When offered an album deal by Big Life, The Orb found themselves at a crossroads: Cauty preferred that The Orb release their music through his KLF Communications label, whereas Paterson wanted to ensure that The Orb did not become a side-project of The KLF.[Due to these issues, Cauty and Paterson split in April 1990, with Paterson keeping the name The Orb. As a result of the break-up, Cauty removed Paterson's contributions from the in-progress recordings and released the album as Space on KLF Communications. Also out of these sessions came The KLF album Chill Out, on which Paterson appeared in an uncredited role. Following the split, Paterson began working with Youth on the track "Little Fluffy Clouds". They incorporated samples from Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint and vocal clips from an interview with Rickie Lee Jones in which she recalls picturesque images from her childhood.While Reich was flattered by The Orb's use of his work, Jones pursued the issue in the legal system.

In 1991, Paterson invited energetic studio engineer Kris "Thrash" Weston to join The Orb. Steve Hillage, whom Patterson had met while DJ-ing in London, also joined as a contributing guitarist. Along with producer Thomas Fehlmann and audio engineer Andy Falconer, The Orb completed several additional tracks for their first album. The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld sold well in the UK and received praise for its balance of ambient music, house music, and sampling. In late 1991 and early 1992, Paterson and Weston wrote their next single, "Blue Room". Assisting with the recording was bassist Jah Wobble, keyboardist Miquette Giraudy, and guitarist Hillage. Despite its playing time of almost 40 minutes, "Blue Room" entered the UK charts at #12 and peaked at #8, making it the longest track to reach the UK singles chart. In July 1992, U.F.Orb was released featuring "Blue Room", it reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart to the shock of critics, who were surprised that fans had embraced what journalists, noticing Steve Hillage, considered to be progressive rock.

Disagreements with their label , Big Life, led to signing to Island where they released a life album, Live 93, which gathered highlights from The Orb's recent performances in Europe and Asia. The Orb's first studio production on Island Records was Pomme Fritz, a chaotic EP noted for its heavy use of strange samples and its lack of conventional harmonies, the critics panned it as "doodling". Soon after, Paterson, Weston, and Thomas Fehlmann joined with Robert Fripp to form the group FFWD as a side project. FFWD released a single self-titled album on Paterson's Inter-Modo label, which Fehlmann later described as "an Orb track which became so long that it became a whole album!". Following Weston's departure from The Orb, Thomas Fehlmann joined as a full-time studio member, though he would not always participate in live performances. Paterson, Hughes, and Fehlmann then finished producing the album Orbus Terrarum, on which Paterson and Weston had been working. Orbus Terrarum, released in 1995, featured more "earthbound" and "organic" sounds than their previous trippy science fiction themed music.

After a long world tour, The Orb, with Andy Hughes and Steve Hillage, settled down to produce their next album, Orblivion—the process of which saw a return to their spacy sounds. Though Orblivion was recorded in May 1996, it was not released until almost a year later, the first single, "Toxygene", was the highest charting single by The Orb, reaching #4 in the UK. Paterson and Fehlmann, wrote and produced Cydonia for a planned 1999 release. Paterson felt that this new direction of songwriting for The Orb was more similar to the experimental work of Orbus Terrarum than to the techno-pop of Orblivion. As Island Records was in a period of restructuring due to its recent purchase by Universal Music Group, Cydonia was not released until 2001. It was not well recieved, the UK press regarded them as past their prime and an "ambient dinosaur" out of place in the current dance music environment.

Paterson and Fehlmann chose to make their next releases a series of several low-key EPs for German label Kompakt in 2002.these were were well recieved and released later, slightly remixed on the 2005 Okie Dokie album . The Orb continued to use their odd synthetic sounds on 2004's Bicycles & Tricycles, to mixed reviews. Like Cydonia, Bicycles & Tricycles featured vocals, including female rapper MC Soom-T who added a hip hop twist to the album.The Orb left Island Records and released the album on Cooking Vinyl . After two more EPs on Kompakt, The Orb (now composed of only Paterson and Fehlmann) released Okie Dokie It's The Orb on Kompakt, which featured new material in addition to tweaked versions of their previous Kompakt output. In August 2006, the founders of The Orb - Paterson and Cauty - released Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God, their debut album as the Transit Kings with Guy Pratt and Pratt's associate, Dom Beken. Living had been in production since 2001, but due to members' other obligations, it was delayed for several years. The album received mix critical reactions,
soon after the album's release, Cauty left the Transit Kings on "extended leave", leaving the project in indefinite limbo.

Think, you know enough of the Orb now ? Wrong ! Here's a very extensive article on The Orb @ Wiki

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Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (91, 110min ^ 198mb )

Retrospectively, Adventures is considered ground-breaking for changing the way musicians view sampling and as a seminal work for the genres of ambient and dance music. The album's framework is of a two-hour psychedelic trip though music genres and studio electronics, pushing the threshold of live stage performance. Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld simulates a journey through the outer realms -- progressing from the soaring ambient-pop of "Little Fluffy Clouds" and the stoned "Back Side of the Moon" to "Into the Fourth Dimension" and ending (after almost two hours) with the glorious live mix of "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain.



Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld ( ^ 121mb )

01 - Little Fluffy Clouds (4:26)
02 - Earth (Gaia) (9:48)
03 - Supernova At The End Of The Universe (11:56)
04 - Back Side Of The Moon (14:15)
05 - Spanish Castles In Space (15:06)

Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld 2 ( ^ 125mb )

06 - Perpetual Dawn (9:30)
07 - Into The Fourth Dimension (9:16)
08 - Outlands (8:23)
09 - Star 6 & 7 8 9 (8:10)
10 - A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld: Live Mix Mk 10 (18:43)

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Orb - Orbus Terrarum (95 ^ 162mb)

Before leaving The Orb, member Kris Weston had begun work on Orbus Terrarum. However, when he left The Orb, German producer Thomas Fehlmann joined as a full-time studio member. The Orb, now consisting of Alex Paterson, Andy Hughes, and Fehlmann, finished producing Orbus Terrarum. Unlike previous albums by The Orb, Orbus Terrarum featured more "earthbound" and "organic" sounds instead of the trippy science fiction themed music they had previously written. The UK wasnt impressed unlike the other side of the big pond where Orbus Terrarum was recieved much better. Orbus Terrarum brings the mothership back to earth for a collision with some surprisingly harsh percussion and noisy synth. However the melodies and dub lines of previous Orb recordings are still in the mix.



1 - Valley (7:36)
2 - Plateau (12:49)
3 - Oxbow Lakes (7:28)
4 - Montagne D'Or (Der Gute Berg) (10:41)
5 - White River Junction (9:36)
6 - Occidental (13:54)
7 - Slug Dub (15:49)

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Orb - Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt (05, 61min ^ 143mb)

Okie Dokie marks the Orb's absolute absorption into Cologne's Kompakt label. It features new material in addition to tweaked versions of their previous Kompakt releases. Thomas Fehlmann on hometurf as the primary creative figure, "inhibiting Alex Paterson's impulses". It makes the album considerably more focused, and less "goofy" than Cydonia and Bicycles & Tricycles. There are no incongruous vocal appearances, silly spoken bits, or lumbering dubwise squibs. In fact, Fehlmann's trademark hypnotic loops and delays made him the center of Okie Dokie production . The Orb's assimilation into the Kompakt label is such that the best cross references aren't their albums of the recent past, but Kompakt's Pop Ambient series. Besides Paterson and Fehlmann, Okie Dokie featured Ulf Lohmann as a co-writer on a track as well as Schneider TM performing vocals for another.Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt gained them back much of their musical credibility with the press and showed that they are still with it..



01 - Komplikation (3:55)
02 - Lunik TM (5:50)
03 - Ripples (5:51)
04 - Captain Korma (4:13)
05 - Kan Kan (4:43)
06 - Rolo (2:36)
07 - Beatitude (2:43)
08 - Cool Harbour (5:11)
09 - Traumvogel (6:24)
10 - Because/Before (Sibirische Musik) (4:40)
11 - Tin Kan (4:31)
12 - Kompagna (Zandic Mix) (3:53)
13 - Falkenbrück (3:29)
14 - Snowbow (2:16)

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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 !

Rhotation (31) Into BPM

Hello Rhotation 31 this week and as always it kicks off Into BPM. Now as announced last week part 2 of the Dubnology series, again a double bill split into 3 easy to digest parts, 2,5 hours to spliff away....First came after but then this came before he released Endtroducing..which had the musicpress fall over eachother for praise as..this guy didnt play an instrument either..and he used that which those guys of the press have in abundance..records..finally here was a guy that knew what to do with them ! All they could come up with was a review for maybe one in twenty they got send. The rest ended up..well you get that picture on the cover. Indeed i have a cynical view on the musicpress..anyway you wont get Endtroducing now, but the work that preceded it..though in the album format it got released a year after..confused ? Don't be it's only music...without instruments...and even that is a matter of opinion...

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DJ Shadow - Preemptive Strike ( 97 ^ 121mb)

Davis grew up in Hayward, CA, a predominantly lower-middle-class suburb of San Francisco. The odd white suburban hip-hop fan in the hard rock-dominated early '80s, Davis gravitated toward the turntable/mixer setup of the hip-hop DJ over the guitars, bass, and drums of his peers. He worked his way through hip-hop's early years into the heyday of crews like Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MC's, and Public Enemy, groups that prominently featured DJs in their ranks.

DJ Shadow began his music career as a disc jockey for the UC Davis radio station KDVS. Through the college radio station, Shadow began releasing the Reconstructed from the Ground Up mixtapes in 1991 and pressed his 17-minute hip-hop symphony "Entropy" in 1993. His tracks spread widely through the DJ-strong hip-hop underground, eventually catching the attention of Mo' Wax. During this period he was significant in developing the experimental hip hop style associated with the California-based Solesides record label. His early singles for the label, including In Flux and Lost and Found (S.F.L.), were genre-bending works of art merging elements of funk, rock, hip hop, ambient, jazz, soul, and used-bin found records.

Although he previously released several original works (during 1991-1992 for Hollywood Records) by the time Mo' Wax's James Lavelle contacted him about releasing In/Flux on the fledgling imprint, it wasn't until his association with Mo' Wax that his sound began to mature and cohere. Mo' Wax released a longer work in 1995 -- the 40-minute single in four movements "What Does Your Soul Look Like," which topped the British indie charts -- and Davis went on to co-write, remix, and produce tracks for labelmates DJ Krush and Dr. Octagon plus the Mo' trip-hop supergroup UNKLE. He eventually formed the label Quannum Projects in 1999 out of the previous label Solesides. Shadow's first full-length work, Endtroducing....., was released in late 1996 to immense critical acclaim, in fact the music press fell over eachother like lemmings in praising Shadow. Endtroducing would make the Guinness World Records book for "First Completely Sampled Album" in 2001. The only pieces of equipment Shadow used to produce the album are the AKAI MPC60 12-bit sampling drum machine.

Given that Endtroducing was a masterpiece of subtly shifting texture, Preemptive Strike almost seems purposely incoherent, even though the tracks are sequenced chronologically. The jerky flow can make the album a little difficult to assimilate on first listen, but it soon begins to make sense, even if it never achieves the graceful flow of the album. Several of the selections on Preemptive Strike were available in different forms on Endtroducing -- parts four and one of "What Does Your Soul Look Like" are in their original forms here, presented along with one and three, and there's the "extended overhaul" of "Organ Donor." All of these are significantly different than the LP versions, and "What Does Your Soul Look Like" is necessary in its original, half-hour, four-part incarnation. But the key moments are the seminal "In/Flux," which arguably created trip-hop, and "High Noon," the dynamic, fuzz-drenched single that was his first single release since Endtroducing. Those three A-sides are reason enough for any serious fan of the debut to pick up Preemptive Strike, but the B-sides and "Camel Bobsled Race" are equally intriguing, making the package a nice summation of DJ Shadow's most important singles through the end of 1997.

Nearly six years after his debut production album, the proper follow-up, The Private Press, was released in June 2002. The following year Shadow released a mix album, Diminishing Returns, and in 2004 he released a live album and DVD, Live! In Tune and on Time. In 2006, he signed a deal with Universal Records, and released his long-awaited third solo album, The Outsider, but instead of following the blueprint he used on his past two records, Shadow enlisted help from Bay Area rappers. DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist have created three popular mixtapes entitled Brainfreeze, Product Placement, and the recent The Hard Sell. These mixes fuse jazz, funk, and soul in the framework of a cohesive concept. They toured in 2008 in support of their mixtape The Hard Sell with Kid Koala opening for them.



01 - Strike 1 (0:26)
02 - In/Flux (12:12)
03 - Hindsight (6:52)
04 - Strike 2 (0:15)
05 - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 2) (13:51)
06 - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 3) (5:12)
07 - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4) (7:12)
08 - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1) (6:21)
09 - Strike 3 (And I'm Out) (0:26)
10 - High Noon (3:57)
11- Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul) (4:26)

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Various - Dubnology, Lost In Bass ( 96, 154min ^ 297mb)

The Lost In Bass compilation is a two-disc, 24-track collection of spacy mid '90s electronic ethno dub, The utility of dubnology, lies in its ability to appeal to altered states of consciousness, as well providing some of the best chill music going, without completely going into floating mode. There's still something going on and thru out some harder breaks to keep your attention..



Various - Dubnology 2: Lost In Bass ( ^99mb)
01 - Funki Porcini - Dubble (6:35)
02 - Zion Train - Fear The Bass (4:28)
03 - Dreadzone - Skeleton At The Feast (5:39)
04 - Loop Guru - Shrine Kaya Dub (Zion Train Mix) (5:47)
05 - Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor - Eternal Feed Back (6:19)
06 - Transglobal Underground - Lookee Here (Dread At The Controls Mix) (9:20)
07 - Knights Of The Occasional Table, The - Bowl (6:14)
08 - Death In Vegas - GBH (Dub) (3:40)

Various - Dubnology 2: Lost In Bass ( ^ 99mb)

09 - Ruby - Paraffin (Richard Fearless Dub) (8:07)
10 - Dubstar - Stars (Mother Dub) (6:24)
11 - Children Of Dub - Nemesis (Bumpy Bosh Remix) (5:48)
12 - Sabres Of Paradise, The - Ysaebud (6:07)
13 - African Head Charge - Orderliness, Godliness, Discipline And Dignity (3:21)

14 - Main - VIII (6:33)
15 - Blue - Diamanda (9:07)
16 - Alien - Xyloid (6:31)

Various - Dubnology 2: Lost In Bass ( ^ 99mb)

17 - Underworld - Born Slippy (Tel Ematic) (9:39)
18 - Acacia - Hate (Nico Dark Matter Mix) (7:38)
19 - Seefeel - Gatha (5:59)
20 - Mr. Night & Mr. Day - We Are On Earth To Learn (7:17)
21 - Test Dept. - Critical Dub (5:42)
22 - Dub Syndicate - Hey Ho (Tribal Drift Mix) (4:54)
23 - Fun-Da-Mental - Mother India (Sabres At Dawn Mix) (7:59)
24 - V-Human - Viv Dogana (5:46)

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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 !

Into The Groove (30)

Hello, more soulmen at Into The Groove today, in fact the man at the root is here Sam Cooke, he was the most important soul singer in history -- he was also the inventor of soul music, and its most popular and beloved performer in both the black and white communities. Equally important, he was among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of the music business, and founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. Cooke appealed to all, and the parents of those white teenagers as well -- yet he never lost his credibility with his core black audience. His murder was a big boon for the forces of division. What to say about the next soul man he got 4,000 ! songs to his name, won every award applicable and still enjoys his days, acclaimed by Dylan and The Beatles, and ABC had a hit with "when Smokey Sings"


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Sam Cooke - A Man And His Music ( 86, 70 min ^ 156mb)

"Sam was a singer's singer who strongly influenced many male vocalists of the '50s, '60s and '70s, who was loved, respected and revered by artists in the pop and gospel field of music, as well as by his audience, as a unique and extraordinairy artist and person" Aretha Franklin

Sam Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He added an "e" onto the end of his name because he thought it added a touch of class. He was one of seven children of Annie Mae and the Reverend Charles Cook, a Baptist minister. The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cooke began his musical career as a member of a quartet with his siblings, The Singing Children, and, as a teenager, he was a member of the Highway QCs, a gospel group. In 1950, at the age of 19, he joined The Soul Stirrers and achieved significant success and fame within the gospel community. His first pop single, "Lovable" (1956), was released under the alias of "Dale Cooke" in order to not alienate his fan base; there was a considerable taboo against gospel singers performing secular music. However, the alias failed to hide Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals. No one was fooled.

In 1957, Cooke signed with Keen Records. His first release was "You Send Me", the B-side of his first Keen Single (the A-side was a reworking of George Gershwin's "Summertime".) which spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had massive mainstream success, spending three weeks at #1 on the Billboard pop chart. In addition to his success in writing his own songs and achieving mainstream fame — a truly remarkable accomplishment for an R&B singer at that time — Cooke continued to astonish the music business in the 1960s with the founding of his own label, SAR Records, which soon included The Simms Twins, The Valentinos, Bobby Womack, and Johnnie Taylor. Subsequently Cooke created a publishing imprint and management firm, then left Keen to sign with RCA Victor.

One of his first RCA singles was the hit "Chain Gang. Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts, and more on the R&B charts. In spite of this, he released a well received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically-acclaimed studio album Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964. He was known for having written many of the most popular songs of all time in the genre, and is often unaccredited for many of them by the general public .The drowning death of his infant son in mid-1963 had made it impossible for Cooke to work in the studio until the end of that year. During that time, however, with Allen Klein now managing his business affairs, Cooke did achieve the financial and creative independence that he'd wanted, including more money than any black performer had ever been advanced before, and the eventual ownership of his recordings beginning in November of 1963 -- he had achieved creative control of his recordings as well, and seemed poised for a breakthrough.

Cooke was keenly aware of the music around him, and was particularly entranced by Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind," its treatment of the plight of black Americans and other politically oppressed minorities, he sang the song himself but more importantly he felt he should write an answere to it , which became "A Change Is Gonna Come," perhaps the greatest song to come out of the civil rights struggle, and one that seemed to close and seal the gap between the two directions of Cooke's career, from gospel to pop. It was an artistic apotheosis for Cooke, one that shook him too and he has only performed live once or twice...as shortly after he was murdered.


Cooke died at the age of 33 under mysterious circumstances on December 11, 1964, in Los Angeles, California. Though the details of the case are still in dispute, the official story was that he was shot to death by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel in South Los Angeles, who claimed that he had threatened her, and that she killed him in self-defense. The verdict was justifiable homicide, though many believe that crucial details did not come out in court, or were buried afterward.

In her autobiography, Rage To Survive, singer Etta James claimed that she viewed Cooke's body in the funeral home and that the injuries she observed were well beyond what could be explained by the official account of Franklin alone having fought with Cooke. James described Cooke as having been so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose was mangled. What is known is that during an after party one Elisa Boyer dragged him off, they went to a motel and next thing Cooke knew she was off with his clothes-and money. When he came to the reception desk in an angry state dressed in his overcoat, the clerk felt threatened and shot him, meanwhile the later arrested for prostitution Boyer had phoned the police with a rape claim..to me it sounds as a rip off skam (which would include an unnamed male guard).. that went wrong, certainly for Cooke. And dare i say for the world, this obviously gifted and smart man could have beaten Obama to the White House..

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The Man and His Music is still the only comprehensive single-volume collection of the hits and highlights of Cooke's career from the mid-'50s to his last sides in 1964. What's more, it's out of print, and it is likely to be the last such compilation that we'll ever see, because in the years since its release, the ownership of Cooke's post-1963 sides (comprising his most advanced and ambitious soul recordings) shifted from RCA to ABKCO. The Man and His Music is the only Sam Cooke compilation that covers all of the major phases of his career, from his gospel work with the Soul Stirrers through all of the early pop hits and his move into soul music, culminating with his final classic soul sides.



01 - Touch The Hem Of His Garment (2:02)
02 - That's Heaven To Me (2:01)
03 - I'll Come Running Back To You (2:12)
04 - You Send Me (2:45)
05 - Win Your Love For Me (2:54)
06 - Just For You (2:21)
07 - Chain Gang (2:34)
08 - When A Boy Falls In Love (2:32)
09 - Only Sixteen (1:54)
10 - Wonderful World (2:05)
11 - Cupid (2:30)
12 - Nothing Can Change This Love (2:36)
13 - Rome Wasn't Built In A Day (2:29)
14 - Love Will Find A Way (2:15)
15 - Everybody Loves To Cha Cha Cha (2:37)
16 - Another Saturday Night (2:25)
17 - Meet Me At Mary's Place (2:41)
18 - Having A Party (2:27)
19 - Good Times (2:28)
20 - Twistin' The Night Away (2:40)
21 - Shake (2:49)
22 - Somebody Have Mercy (3:03)
23 - Sad Mood (2:29)
24 - Ain't That Good News (2:31)
25 - Bring It On Home To Me (2:42)
26 - Soothe Me (2:12)
27 - That's Where It's At (2:37)
28 - A Change Is Gonna Come (3:14)

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Smokey Robinson

Robinson was born and raised in Detroit, and when still a child was nicknamed "Smokey Joe" by an uncle because of his love of cowboy movies. In his teens, this was shortened to "Smokey". In 1955, Robinson founded a group he called the Five Chimes with his best friend Ronald White. By 1957, the group was called the Matadors and included cousins Emerson and Bobby Rogers. Later Emerson was replaced by his sister Claudette Rogers who later married Robinson, and guitarist Marv Tarplin joined the group in 1958. With Robinson as lead singer, the Matadors began touring the local Detroit venues. In 1958, Robinson met songwriter Berry Gordy, who co-wrote for them the single "Got a Job. The group renamed itself the Miracles, and issued singles on both End Records and Chess Records before Robinson suggested to Gordy that he start a label of his own. In 1959, Gordy founded Tamla Records, which he soon reincorporated as Motown. The Miracles were among the label's first signees. Gordy and Robinson had a synergistic relationship, with Robinson providing a foundation for Motown's hit-making success and Gordy acting as a mentor for the budding singer and songwriter. By 1961, Gordy had appointed Robinson vice-president of Motown Records, a title Robinson held for as long as Gordy remained with the company.

The 1960 single "Shop Around" was Motown's first number one hit on the R&B singles chart, and the first big hit for The Miracles.The song was also Motown's first million-selling hit single. They scored many more hits over the years. Besides penning hits for his own group, Robinson also wrote and produced hits and album tracks for other Motown artists. Mary Wells had a big hit with the Robinson-penned "My Guy" (1964), and Robinson served as The Temptations' primary songwriter and producer from 1963 to 1966. During the course of his 50-year career in music, Robinson has accumulated more than 4,000 songs to his credit. The Miracles remained a premier Motown act through most of the 1960s. Albums were released as "Smokey Robinson & the Miracles" after 1965. By 1969, the group's fortunes began to falter, and Robinson decided to quit The Miracles so that he could remain at home with his family and concentrate on his duties as vice president. With the surprise success of the 70 re release of "The Tears of a Clown", Robinson was convinced to remain with The Miracles for a few more years. In 1972, however, he followed through on his original plans to leave the group.

Smokey Robinson began a low-key solo career while concentrating on his duties as vice president of Motown, releasing his first solo LP, Smokey, in 1973. In 1975, Robinson's solo career went into full-drive after the success of the number one R&B hit "Baby That's Backatcha". Robinson's 1976 single "Quiet Storm" and its accompanying album typified a genre of smooth, slow R&B . During the mid-1980s, Robinson fell victim to cocaine addiction. His recording slowed, and his marriage to Claudette faltered; the two were divorced in 1986. With the help of friend Leon Kennedy, Robinson was dramatically healed of his addiction at a religious service. He eventually revitalized his career, scoring hits in 1987 with the Grammy Award-winning "Just To See Her" and "One Heartbeat". In 1988, Robinson published his autobiography, Smokey, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Upon Motown's sale to MCA in 1988, Robinson resigned from his position as vice president. After one last album for Motown, Love, Smokey (1990), Robinson departed the company. Eight years later, he returned to Motown, which by then was a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, and released Intimate (1999). The same year, Robinson received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

*****

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Going To A Go-Go (65 ^ 78mb)

Going To A Go-Go is the first album to bill the group as Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. It includes four of the Miracles' Top 20 hits: "Ooo Baby Baby", "The Tracks of My Tears", "Going to a Go-Go", and "My Girl Has Gone". Primarily produced by Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, Going to a Go-Go features compositions co-written by Miracles members Robinson, Ronald White, Bobby Rogers, Pete Moore, and Marv Tarplin. The album also features two important Miracles b-sides, "Choosey Beggar" and "A Fork in the Road". Going To A Go-Go was the only Miracles studio LP to chart within the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart, where it peaked at number-eight.



01 - The Tracks Of My Tears (2:56)
02 - Going To A Go-Go (2:48)
03 - Ooo Baby Baby (2:47)
04 - My Girl Has Gone (2:53)
05 - In Case You Need Love (2:40)
06 - Choosey Beggar (2:35)
07 - Since You Won My Heart (2:18)
08 - From Head To Toe (2:26)
09 - All That's Good (3:15)
10 - My Baby Changes Like The Weather (2:49)
11 - Let Me Have Some (3:10)
12 - A Fork In The Road (3:28)

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Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Make It Happen (67 ^ 87mb)

Make It Happen is a 1967 album by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. It featured ballads such as the singles "The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage" and "More Love", as well as the up-tempo "The Tears of a Clown" co-written by Stevie Wonder and his producer Hank Cosby. Three years after the album's release, "The Tears of a Clown" was issued as a single, and charted at number-one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. As a result, Make It Happen was reissued as The Tears of a Clown in 1970.



01 - The Soulful Shack (2:45)
02 - The Love I Saw In You Was Just A Mirage (2:58)
03 - My Love For You (2:37)
04 - I'm On The Outside (Looking In) (2:35)
05 - Don't Think It's Me (2:43)
06 - My Love Is Your Love (Forever) (2:19)
07 - More Love (2:45)
08 - After You Put Back The Pieces (I'll Still Have A Broken Heart) (2:38)
09 - It's A Good Feeling (3:09)
10 - You Must Be Love (2:31)
11 - Dancing's Alright (2:30)
12 - The Tears Of A Clown (2:59)

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

Alphabet Soup II (D)

Hello, its D Day at Alphabet Soup II no that doesnt spell out a list of D jays. First of a band who's main man got OD by his careless girlfriend and who did the same a few years later, leaving her parents with the money still generated from sales that have a dozen indiebands dont generate. Jim Morrison has been dead for almost 37 years now but Mr Mojo Risin's myth lives on. And so here today the first compilation released after his death, digitized. The Dears maybe a little pun on The Doors name wise. However, these Canadians raise their internal combustion with their moody and intense music, this musical therapy specially takes it s toll in their live shows. Hardly surprising then that A many musicians passed thru the band and B main man, Murray Lightburn ended up marrying the keyboard woman,Natalia Yanchak....Then there are Dresden Dolls, again with a The infront (that's 3D) they too share an intangible madness, rage and love with their audience, perhaps they need to be seen to be believed, but even then, it is the unseeable which makes this band magic. As for the music its hard to pigeonhole, cabaret-tinged punk, the wild twenties in Berlin..


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The origins of The Doors lay in a chance meeting between acquaintances and fellow UCLA film school alumni Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and, at Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they form a band. Robby Krieger and John Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers and knew Manzarek from yoga and meditation classes. In August, Densmore joined the group and in september Krieger did. The group never added a bass player, and their sound was dominated by Manzarek's electric organ work and Morrison's deep, sonorous voice, with which he sang and intoned his highly poetic lyrics. The group signed to Elektra Records in 1966 and released its first album, The Doors, featuring the hit "Light My Fire," in 1967.

Like "Light My Fire," the debut album was a massive hit, and endures as one of the most exciting, groundbreaking recordings of the psychedelic era. Blending blues, classical, Eastern music, and pop into sinister but beguiling melodies, the band sounded like no other. With his rich, chilling vocals and somber poetic visions, Morrison explored the depths of the darkest and most thrilling aspects of the psychedelic experience. Their first effort was so stellar, in fact, that the Doors were hard-pressed to match it, and although their next few albums Strange Days, Waiting For The Sun contained a wealth of first-rate material, the group also began running up against the limitations of their recklessly disturbing visions. The infamous Miami concert march 69, derailed the tour and saw Morrison arrested for loosing 'coherance' on stage. The next album The Soft Parade, saw the group experimenting, with mixed results. Accused (without much merit) by much of the rock underground as pop sellouts, the group charged back hard with the final two albums they recorded with Morrison, on which they drew upon stone-cold blues for much of their inspiration, especially on 1971's L.A. Woman.

From the start, the Doors' focus was the charismatic Morrison, who proved increasingly unstable over the group's brief career. In 1969, Morrison was arrested for indecent exposure during a concert in Miami, an incident that nearly derailed the band. Nevertheless, the Doors managed to turn out a series of successful albums and singles through 1971. Following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison decided to take some time off and moved to Paris with girlfriend, Pamela Courson, in March. He died there the 3rd of July, apparently of a drug overdose administered by his girlfriend. Pamela ended up enheriting his estate, three years later she died of a drug overdose. The three surviving Doors tried to carry on without him, but ultimately disbanded. Yet the Doors' music and Morrison's legend continued to fascinate succeeding generations of rock fans: In the mid-'80s, Morrison was as big a star as he'd been in the mid-'60s, and Elektra has sold numerous quantities of the Doors' original albums plus reissues and releases of live material over the years, while publishers have flooded bookstores with Doors and Morrison biographies. In 1991, director Oliver Stone made The Doors, a feature film about the group starring Val Kilmer as Morrison. They have sold over 45 million albums in the US alone, and still sell approximately 1 million annually.

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The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine ( 72, 97min ^ 198mb)

Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine contained the first album release of two B-sides, Willie Dixon's "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further," sung by Ray Manzarek, and the beautiful "Who Scared You," with Jim Morrison on vocals from a session in 1969. This compilation is a strange amalgam of their music, the LP title taken from a line in the song "The End," which concludes side two. Five of the 22 songs are from the L.A. Woman sessions, nothing from Absolutely Live is included, and surprisingly, the classic "Waiting for the Sun" is not here. The cover art pastiche by Bill Hoffman is worth the price of admission if you already have all this material, while the inside gatefold picture looks like an outtake from the first album. Bruce Harris' liner notes are truly the '60s merging with the '70s; he calls Jim Morrison "merely the index of our possibilities" and states that Morrison didn't want to be an idol "because he believed all idols were hollow."



The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine ( 99mb)

01 - Break On Through (2:23)
02 - Strange Days (3:02)
03 - Shaman's Blues (4:42)
04 - Love Street (2:46)
05 - Peace Frog / Blue Sunday (4:53)
06 - The Wasp (Texas Radio & The Big Beat) (4:07)
07 - End Of The Night (2:48)

08 - Love Her Madly (3:12)
09 - Spanish Caravan (2:53)
10 - Ship Of Fools (3:02)
11 - The Spy (4:10)
12 - The End (11:25)

The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside The Gold Mine (99mb)

13 - Take It As It Comes (2:25)
14 - Running Blue (2:23)
15 - L.A. Woman (7:42)
16 - Five To One (4:20)
17 - Who Scared You (3:48)
18 - (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further (3:35)

19 - Riders On The Storm (6:55)
20 - Maggie McGill (4:14)
21 - Horse Latitudes (1:32)
22 - When The Music's Over (10:44)

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The Dears - No Cities Left (03 ^ 154mb)

The Dears, a loose collective of Montreal-area musicians formed in 1995, are led by the charismatic Murray Lightburn. Citing Serge Gainsbourg as a major influence, the band combines cabaret-style vocals with a moody, intense brand of orchestral pop/rock. Lightburn's vision for the band is to create music out of real emotions, often giving his performances the feel of a musical therapy session. They released their debut, End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story in 2000 to critical acclaim. Their orchestral, dark pop sound and dramatic live shows cemented The Dears at the foundation of the then-pre-pubescent Canadian Indie Renaissance . In early 2001, the band entered the studio to record the follow-up, tentatively titled Deuxième Partie, but they released the EPs Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique and Protest, respectively, as well as a collection of unreleased songs, Nor the Dahlias. Then in 2003 they released their second full-length album No Cities Left in Canada, and a string of highly anticipated shows at SXSW '04 launched their international career.

After The Dears toured extensively across Canada, USA, UK, Europe, Japan and Australia supporting the international release of No Cities Left and they returned to the studio to record in 2005.That year Lightburn and longtime Dears keyboardist Natalia Yanchak were married, and in 2006 the band's Gang of Losers came out, and was well-received by the press. As of November 20, 2007, The Dears are currently working on their fourth album, as stated by Lightburn in a MySpace blog entry. The album is scheduled to be completed April, 2008.



01 - We Can Have It (5:42)
02 - Who Are You, Defenders Of The Universe (3:41)
03 - Lost In The Plot (4:48)
04 - The Second Part (5:42)
05 - Don't Lose The Faith (3:10)
06 - Expect The Worst/'Cos She's A Tourist (7:52)
07 - Pinned Together, Falling Apart (6:00)
08 - Never Destroy Us (4:27)
09 - Warm And Sunny Days (5:47)
10 - 22: The Death Of All The Romance (5:52)
11 - Postcard From Purgatory (7:53)
12 - No Cities Left (4:23)

The Dears - No Cities Left (03 * 99mb)

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The Dresden Dolls - I ( 03 ^ 99mb)

Rock bands are pigeonholed into ever-increasingly minuscule sub-categorizations, but The Dresden Dolls continue to defy explanation and classification. While some have called it theatrical rock, punk cabaret, manic-musical, neo-glam-torch,…eventually even the most clever and creative describers shrug and say: “You just have to hear it to believe it.”

The duo of The Dresden Dolls make music based around arrangements of drums (by Brian), piano and vocals (by Amanda), which they call their style of music "Brechtian Punk Cabaret". The Dolls thrive on their inherent juxtapositions. The musical-theater and New-Wave background of writer/singer/pianist Amanda Palmer mixes with drummer Brian Viglione's Heavy Metal roots to create a sonic smear of unclassifiable rock.They started in mid-2000 in Boston, Massachusetts, releasing a compilation of live tracks, then their self-titled debut album. In spring 2005, they got set up as the opening band for Nine Inch Nails', even without Reznor attending of their live shows beforehand. Dresden Dolls are dolls made from a delecate porcelain from the German city of Dresden; then there's Dresden's history of being firebombed on Churcills orders, at the end of World War II in 1945.

The Dolls’ self-titled debut has been selling strong and steady. Initially released on Palmer's own Eight Foot Records in the fall of 2003, the album was subsequently re-released upon the band's signing with Roadrunner. The release of two wildly different singles, the manic-punk “Girl Anachronism” and the cabaret-tinged and bittersweet “Coin-Operated Boy,” which debuted on KCRW via the influential DJ Nic Harcourt, swiftly went on to be the most-requested singles on a handful of stations nationwide. Both songs were showcased in wonderfully twisted videos shot and edited by Michael Pope. Airtime on MTV2 and the Internet immediately began to win the band thousands of admirers for their innovative style and “Coin-Operated Boy” received

Produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie (Radiohead, The Pixies, Hole) and recorded over several weeks at Allaire Studios, Yes, Virginia their second studioalbum is a rich tapestry that showcases the band’s road-sharpened musical chemistry and digs deep into recesses of the human heart usually considered taboo. The Dolls have not lost their sense of the absurd, however. The artwork for Yes, Virginia was culled from over 600 submissions from fans, painters and designers from around the globe. Each panel of the booklet includes original images directly inspired by the songs. It's an example of the on-going artistic collaborations between the band and their fans. Additionally, a flood of home–made films, burlesque numbers, sculptures and animations to complete plays and musicals based around the band’s songs have created a constant dialogue between band and audience. The same spirit exists at live shows, as manifested in the so-called “Brigade”, where the Dolls collaborated with hundreds of performing artists ranging from high school drama troupes to top-shelf actors and professional circus artists, including members of Montreal’s celebrated Cirque Eloize and San Fransiciso’s Vau de Vire Society. Earlier this year their third album No Virginia saw the light of day.



01 - Good Day (5:27)
02 - Girl Anachronism (2:58)
03 - Missed Me (4:51)
04 - Half Jack (5:56)
05 - 672 (1:24)
06 - Coin-Operated Boy (4:46)
07 - Gravity (4:17)
08 - Bad Habit (2:59)
09 - The Perfect Fit (5:44)
10 - The Jeep Song (4:47)
11 - Slide (4:30)
12 - Truce (8:34)

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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 !

Eight-X (30)

Hello, the weeks fly by and so another Eight-X is upon us again, the well still bubbles up music from those days that hasn't been tasted yet. Like Theatre Of Hate, a grand lttle pretentious name for their revolutionairy message admittedly the world was a bit more black and white and all that has come from it is ever more shades of ever darker grey. Paul Young seemed on his way to become one of the top eighties stars when two things happened..he got troubles with his voice and George Michael showed up..Well he got two smash albums and here's the first.....Working Week sort of targeted their audience with their name..no punk or wave associations. They came forth from Weekend that had released La Variete.. Anyway without Young Marble Alison they went on as the rest of the week... A bit latin jazz..have your cocktails ready..

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Theatre Of Hate - Westworld (82 ^ 150mb)

Theatre of Hate was one of the first and best post-punk bands in Britain in the late '70s and early '80s, making big, powerful, thumping, brave, tribal-rhythm rock. Theatre of Hate's intellectual edge and relevant sociopolitical lyrics are still amazing, now that many years have passed with few grabbing the torch Unfortunately, ToH's one true LP, 1982's Westworld, produced by the Clash's Mick Jones, is not as consistently brilliant as the singles that preceded it.

Led by singer-songwriter and ex-member of punk band The Pack, Kirk Brandon, the original group also consisted of: guitarist Steve Guthrie, bassist Stan Stammers (The Straps/Epileptics), saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Luke Rendle from Crisis/The Straps. Inspired of Antonin Artaud's book Theatre and its Double, the band takes its name from the concept of the Theatre of Cruelty: "Artaud called for the emotional involvement of the audience. Singer Kirk Brandon borrowed the thespian term because he was trying to do the same.

Theatre of Hate garnered much early attention as a live act and in 1981 made their debut with the concert LP He Who Dares Wins Live at the Warehouse Leeds. Shortly after the album's release however, Steve Guthrie left the band. Another concert recording, Live at the Lyceum followed, and in August 1981 Theatre of Hate entered the studio with producer Mick Jones of The Clash to record their first non-live album debut, Westworld, which was released on February 19th 1982 and went on to reach the UK Top 20.

Shortly after the album was recorded new guitarist Billy Duffy (formerly of The Nosebleeds) joined the band and drummer Luke Rendle was replaced by Nigel Preston. In late 1982, Theatre of Hate released another live album entitled He Who Dares Wins: Live in Berlin, and Billy Duffy was fired from the band in December 1982. In spring 1983, Theatre of Hate disbanded. Brandon went on to front Spear of Destiny with bassist Stan Stammers and guitarist Billy Duffy started Death Cult with singer Ian Astbury, which would later become successful after shortening their name to The Cult.

In 1991 Theatre of Hate reformed for the Return to 8 tour which included some of the original band members, these included Kirk Brandon, Stan Stammers and John 'Boy' Lennard, with the addition of Pete Barnacle on drums and Mark 'Gemini' Thwaite on guitar. In July/August 1994 Kirk Brandon, Stan Stammers, John McNutt and Art Smith went into Mix-O. Lydian Studio, Boonton, N.J. with Brad Morrision to record a new album under the Theatre of Hate banner.Retribution wasn't released until early 1996 in both the US and UK.To coincide with Westworld's 25th anniversary, Theatre of Hate reformed for a week-long tour culminating at the Carling Academy Islington on 29th April, 2007. Of the original line-up, only Stammers was unavailable, due to conflicting schedules and family commitments in the US where he now lives.Replacing him was Craig Adams, former bassist with The Cult, The Sisters of Mercy and The Mission, joining Brandon, Guthrie, Lennard, and Rendle for the reunion.



01 - Do You Believe In The Westworld (5:18)
02 - Judgement Hymn (5:27)
03 - 63 (2:51)
04 - Love Is A Ghost (3:35)
05 - The Wake (4:19)
06 - Conquistador (3:04)
07 - The New Trail Of Tears (2:50)
08 - Freaks (3:48)
09 - Anniversary (5:25)
10 - The Klan (6:52)

11 - Propaganda (2:50)
12 - Legion (3:38)
13 - Rebel Without A Brain (3:40)
14 - Incinerator (4:27)
15 - Nero (Remix) (7:27)

Theatre Of Hate - Westworld (82 * 99mb)

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Paul Young - No Parlez (83 ^ 99mb)

Paul was born in Luton, Bedfordshire. After school, he went to work at the Vauxhall Motors factory and in his spare time played in several bands as bass guitarist. He started his music career playing bass and guitar in several local bands, gradually working his way up to lead singer posts. Young first made a splash as frontman of new wavers the Streetband, who scored a national U.K. hit with 1978's "Toast." When they disbanded in 1979, Young and several bandmates quickly regrouped as the Q-Tips, a retro-minded soul outfit with a jones for classic Motown. With a self-titled album on Chrysalis and a relentless touring schedule, the Q-Tips generated significant interest in Young's solo potential, and in 1982 he signed with CBS, hastening the Q-Tips' breakup.Young forged a songwriting partnership with Q-Tips keyboardist Ian Kewley, who also joined Young's new backing band the Royal Family .

His debut solo single, "Iron Out the Rough Spots," was released in late 1982, and was followed by a cover of Nicky Thomas' reggae-pop hit "Love of the Common People." Neither single did particularly well on the charts, but his version of the lesser-known Marvin Gaye number "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" was a roaring success, topping the U.K. charts and pushing his debut album, No Parlez, to the same position later that year. No Parlez gave Young his first Top 40 hit in the U.S. with the Jack Lee-penned "Come Back and Stay" , and also drew attention with its left-field cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Young mounted an international tour in support of the album, which sold several million copies worldwide; afterwards, however, he suffered the first of numerous throat ailments which would pop up throughout his career.

Kept out of action for much of the latter-half of 1984, Young nonetheless made a contribution to the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single, and returned to the U.K. Top Ten with a version of Ann Peebles' "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down." The latter appeared on his sophomore album The Secret of Association, released in 1985. That year, Young scored the biggest hit of his career with "Every time You Go Away," a previously obscure Hall & Oates album track from 1980. "Every Time You Go Away" topped the pop charts in both the U.K. and U.S., ending up as far and away his biggest success in the latter. Young followed it with another U.K. Top Ten hit in the original "Everything Must Change," and watched The Secret of Association become his second U.K. chart-topping album.Young concentrated mostly on original material (co-written with Kewley) on his third album, 1986's Between Two Fires. A slicker, less soul-flavored outing, Between Two Fires sold respectably to Young's U.K. fan base, but didn't produce any major hits, and slowed his momentum somewhat. In its wake, Young took several years off from recording, chiefly for personal reasons but also to rest his voice. He didn't return until 1990, when Other Voices restored his commercial standing with a reading of the Chi-Lites' classic "Oh Girl," his only other U.S. Top Ten. He returned to the U.K. Top Five in 1991 with "Senza Una Donna (Without a Woman)," a duet with Italian pop singer Zucchero that appeared on Young's hits comp From Time to Time: The Singles Collection.

1993's The Crossing was his final album for Columbia." In late 1994, Young issued an album of soul covers called Reflections, on the smaller Vision Music label. He then disappeared for several years, giving occasional live performances but mostly resting his voice and procuring new material. Eventually, Young released an eponymously titled album in 1997, displaying a stronger country influence, the record failed to sell well even in the U.K., and Young found himself without a label again. In 1999, he mounted a small-venue tour of the U.K. that earned him solid reviews. He subsequently concentrated on Los Pacaminos, a Tex-Mex/country-rock band he'd started on an informal basis in the mid-'90s; they issued a self-titled debut album in 2002.



01 - Come Back And Stay (4:21)
02 - Love Will Tear Us Apart (4:12)
03 - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) (5:10)
04 - Ku-Ku Kurama (4:11)
05 - No Parlez (4:57)

06 - Love Of The Common People (4:51)
07 - Oh Women (3:31)
08 - Iron Out The Rough Spots (4:44)
09 - Broken Man (3:51)
10 - Tender Trap (4:26)
11 - Sex (4:45)

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Working Week - Working Nights (85 ^ 98mb )

British jazz-dance outfit Working Week was formed in 1983 by guitarist Simon Booth and saxophonist Larry Stabbins, who previously teamed in Weekend. The duo debuted the following year with "Venceremos (We Will Win)," a tribute to Chilean protest singer Victor Jara featuring vocal contributions from Robert Wyatt and Everything But the Girl's Tracey Thorn; singer Julie Tippetts assumed the spotlight on the follow-up, "Storm of Light," with the full-length Working Nights appearing in 1985.
Much of this, their first album, was recorded when the musicians had barely met, let alone formed the close liaison you would expect from listening to Working Nights.

In fact, you'd think they had been playing together for 10 years to listen to this magical collection of songs. Although they cover a wide range of tempos and styles, there's not a weak link to be seen anywhere, from the haunting opening chords of Inner City Blues onwards. Almost unfair to single any track out, but with due deference to the gorgeous voice of Julie, my favourite is the instrumental No Cure, No Pay. This is latin-jazz par excellence - the ensemble playing from the horn section is as fine as you've heard anywhere, with brilliant solos from Annie Whitehead and Harry Beckett, backed by Kim Burton's rhythm piano .

Guest singers continued revolving in and out of the Working Week lineup prior to the permanent addition of Juliet Roberts in time for 1986's Companeros; in the wake of 1987's Knocking on Your Door, however, Roberts left the group. Further guest vocalists worked with the band for their 1989 album Fire in the Mountain with vocalist Yvonne Waite as sole vocalist for 1991's Black and Gold.



01 - Inner City Blues (5:38)
02 - Sweet Nothing (3:37)
03 - Who's Fooling Who (5:02)
04 - Thought I'd Never See You Again (6:12)

05 - Autumn Boy (6:28)
06 - Solo (4:38)
07 - Venceremos (4:37)
08 - No Cure No Pay (8:19)

Working Week - Stella Marina bonus 12 " (85 ^ 49mb)

09 - Stella Marina (Main Mix) (10:54)
10 - Stella Marina (Hot Jazz Music) (8:24)


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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 !

Around The World (30)

Hello Around the Worldmusics is still classical, we have the 2001 waltz, a piece which was composed for a patriotic pageant and became the national anthem to the best racedrivers in the world, in fact F1 lovers have heard it twice lately. But todays main man is Pyotr who stepped out at a peak moment, ensuring myth to go with his body of work.....

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Tchaikovsky stood out from many of his contemporaries in his great fund of melody and quality of that melody—sweet and at times bittersweet in tone, sensuous in the undulations of the melodic line, and lush in texture, yet providing a clear periodic structure.Tchaikovsky demonstrated the Romantic ideals of color, emotional expressiveness, and dramatic intensity. Tchaikovsky was also typically Romantic in his choice of subject matter in his operas and symphonic poems. He leaned toward doomed lovers and heroines.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, a small province town. He began piano lessons at age five with a local woman. Musically precocious, he could read music as well as his teacher within three years. However, his parents' passion for his musical talent soon cooled. Feeling inferior due to their humble origins, the family sent Pyotr in 1850 to a school for the "lesser nobility" or gentry called the School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg to secure him a career as a civil servant. The minimum age for acceptance was 12. For Pyotr, this meant two years boarding at the School of Jurisprudence's preparatory school, 800 miles (1,300 km) from his family. It was to be the first of two brutally symbolic departures. The second brutal leave-taking came on June 25, 1854 with his mother's death from cholera. This was such a harsh blow that Pyotr could not inform his former governness Fanny Dürbach of it until two years later. While music was not considered a high priority at the Institite, Tchaikovsky was taken to the theater and the opera with classmates regularly.

Tchaikovsky graduated on May 25, 1859 with the rank of titular counselor, the lowest rung of the civil service ladder. On June 15, he was appointed to the Ministry of Justice. Six months later he became a junior assistant to his department; two months after that, a senior assistant. There Tchaikovsky remained for the rest of his three-year civil service career. The following year Tchaikovsky attended the new St Petersburg Conservatory, but he did not give up his civil service post until his father agreed to support him. From 1862 to 1865, he studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Zaremba. Anton Rubinstein, director and founder of the Conservatory, taught him instrumentation and composition. Aftwards he was invited to become professor of harmony, composition, and the history of music at the Moscow Conservatory.

After his favorite pupil Vladimir Shilovsky, with whom he had a close bond for a decade and was gay aswell, had married suddenly in late April 1877. This set Pyotr to look out for a woman to marry, which he found in Antonina a former student of his...... The brief time with his wife drove him to the brink of emotional ruin. He may have hoped in marrying that marriage would lend him public respectability while he continued having sex privately with other men. The brief time with his wife drove him to the brink of emotional ruin. Then Nadezhda von Meck, wealthy widow of a Russian railway tycoon and an influential patron of the arts came in his life, she became his patroness and gave him an annual subsidy of 6,000 rubels. With von Meck's patronage came a relationship that, at her insistence, was mainly epistolary. They exchanged over 1,200 letters, some of them quite lengthy, between 1877 and 1890. For both of them, these letters would become a solace and a safety valve, filled with details extraordinary for two people who would never meet. Assured of a regular income from von Meck, he wandered around Europe and rural Russia. Not staying long in any one place, he lived mainly alone, avoiding social contact whenever possible.

During 1884, Tchaikovsky began to shed his unsociability and restlessness. In 1885 Tsar Alexander III conferred upon Tchaikovsky the Order of St. Vladimir (fourth class). With it came hereditary nobility. The tsar's decoration was a visible seal of official approval that helped the composer's social rehabilitation. That year he resettled in Russia. 1885 also saw his debut as a guest conductor. Within a year, he was in considerable demand throughout Europe and Russia in appearances which helped him overcome a life-long stage fright and boosted his self-assurance. Tchaikovsky died on November 6, 1893, nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique. His death has traditionally been attributed to cholera, most probably contracted through drinking contaminated water several days earlier, but then that's just the official version. However not unlikely theories about enforced 'suicide' have persisted and infact they prove death from cholera extremely unlikely.
You decide ! There's a whole page on it here


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Millenium Treasures - Classical Treasures (99, 77min ^162mb)

Hello, forgot to include the artwork but you can get it here



01 - Johan Strauss II - An der Schonen Blauen Donau, Op.314 (9:38)
02 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Piano concerto No.1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 (20:03)
03 - Jules Massenet - Meditation de Thais (5:04))
04 - Frederic Chopin - Waltz in D flat, Op.64 No.1 (1:52)
05 - Jean Sibelius - Finlandia, Op.26 - Tone Poem (9:36)
06 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite - Scene 1, Act 2 'Swan Theme' (2:29)
07 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite - Waltz, Act 1 (5:36)
08 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite - Dance of the Cygnets, Act 2 (1:28)
09 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite - Introdcution & Second Dance of the Queen, Act 2 (6:20)
10 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Suite - Scene, Act 4 (4:20)
11 - Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18 - I-Moderato (10:46)

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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 !

Foundation II

Hello, The Foundation Saga continues but first, a recap;

The first story is set on Trantor, the capital planet of the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire. Whilst the empire gives the appearance of stability, beneath this facade it is suffering a slow decay. The main character, Hari Seldon, a mathematician, has developed psychohistory which equates all possibilities in large societies to mathematics, allowing predictable long term outcomes. Seldon discovers a horrifying truth to the Empire's decay, but his results are considered treasonable and attract attention from the Commission of Public Safety — the effective rulers of the Empire. This leads to his arrest. A young mathematician Gaal Dornick, who has just arrived on Trantor, is also arrested. On trial, Hari shares the discoveries made through psychohistory, such as the collapse of the Empire within 300 years, followed by a 30,000-year period of anarchy.

Hari proposes an alternative to this future; one that would not avert the collapse but shorten the interregnum period to a mere 1000 years. But this plan would require a large group of people to develop a compendium of all human knowledge, titled the Encyclopedia Galactica. The Commission aborts the trial and meets with Hari in secret. They offer him the choice of execution for treason or acceptance of exile with his group of 'Encyclopedists' to a remote planet Terminus. There, they will carry out the Plan under an imperial decree, while Hari would remain, barred from leaving Trantor.

The second story; "The Encyclopedist", takes place 50 years after the events of "The Psychohistorians". Terminus faces the first of many "Seldon Crises". With no mineral wealth of their own, they become cut off from outside supplies, as a result of their neighboring planet's rebellion against the "Empire" and declaration of independance. Terminus is caught in a feud between four planetary systems which have degenerated to a barbaric state and find Terminus's location a strategic advantage. The Board of Trustees of the 'Encyclopedia Galactica Foundation', composed of scientists with no political or military training, finds themselves incompetent to handle the situation as they are distracted by the completion of the Encyclopedia. But the Mayor of Terminus City Salvor Hardin perceives the threat and quickly finds a solution; to play the four kingdoms off each other. Hardin's plan is a success and then the image of Seldon appears in the "Time Vault", where he acknowledges that the "Seldon Crisis" was averted. Seldon makes it clear that the choice made was the intended one and that the Encyclopedia was just a distraction to further the overall plan.

And here's radioplay part two, The Mayors

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Foundation - Episode II, the Mayors (35mb)


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Sundaze (30)

Hello, Sundaze again, today with 2 different ambient styles, the Swedish rational coolheaded Twice A Man even go for 'classical' here, the second and third part stem from an earlier period. After on unhappy partnership with a label, they returned to Yellow Ltd with Figaro - Thorsten - Emilia........Astralasia, started off as a side project but has since overshadowed its long defunct parent band, they've released a dozen albums and as many EP's the last 18 years, and kept developping along the way. Whatever Happened To Utopia ? is their fourth album ( this one came with a bonus EP), it is rather Orb inspired andambiient tinged, obviously for a Sundaze...

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Twice A Man - Figaro - Thorsten - Emilia ( 92 ^ 99mb)

Cosmic Overdose (Karl Gasleben, Dan Söderqvist) had released two fantastic albums in Sweden, then morphed into Twice a Man. While the progression seemed logical, at the time it was a major disappointment. Gone were the hard electronic drones and electric guitars of the "space punks" (as they were called back then. What was left was this, a very light, ambient sound, somewhat in advance of everything else. I've posted their first albumTwice A Man - Music For Girls here.


Twice A Man have been around since 1981, from the start more like an ordinary musicgroup in the syntheziser genre, but has since the middle of the eighties become a projectgroup, who cooperate with artists from other fields such as film, theater and dance. During the years Twice A Man has been in existence they have made 15 CD/LP, 7 theatre productions, 3 filmmusic productions and many tours and concerts all over Europe.

Twice A Mans interest to visualize their music has been one of the characteristics of the group and they appear as pioneers in the context of using advanced technique with an artistic expression. The computer as a tool or an instrument have played a key role during the last years, except for the music, now also in graphics. Unfortunately they lacked the foresight to keep control over their work and much of it has been stalled at now defunct labels, therfore getting hold of their work is very difficult. Second hand or dumpstores likely offer the best chance to find any of their work, at least outside Sweden. No such thing for their latest release earlier this year, Clouds". Online best choice Twice A Man @ Amazon.De thats the German Amazon .



Figaro
1 - Piece #1 For Virtual Orchestra (2:44)
2 - Piece #2 For Virtual Orchestra (2:33)
3 - Piece #3 For Virtual Orchestra (0:45)
4 - Piece #4 For Virtual Orchestra (1:24)
5 - Piece #5 For Virtual Orchestra (0:38)
6 - Piece #6 For Virtual Orchestra (1:00)
7 - Piece #7 For Virtual Orchestra (1:42)
8 - Piece #8 For Virtual Orchestra (2:54)
9 - Piece #9 For Virtual Orchestra (7:07)
Emilia
10 - Ghosts / The Dance Of Emilia (2:58)
11 - Seduction In Church (3:04)
12 - Marinelli's Plot (5:34)
13 - Conspiracy (1:40)
Thorsten
14 - The Death Of Emilia (2:52)
15 - Troubled By A Fallen Leaf (4:01)

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Astralasia - Whatever Happened To Utopia ? 1 (94, 104min ^ 197mb)

Astralasia are one of the leading artists on the global trance scene and yet are relatively unknown in mainstream clubland. They are old friends of Whirl-Y-Gig and form the backbone of the Magick Eye record label. Astralasia was founded by Marc Swordfish, as an Ambient-Dub side-project to the psychedelic pop/rock group Magic Mushroom Band, with members taking part in both groups. Astralasia soon began to explore the dancefloor space as well, and while the Magic Mushroom Band has been dormant since 1995, Astralasia is still active.

After a self-titled debut album on the miniscule Fungus label, Astralasia moved to the Magick Eye label, which issued as its first release the band's follow-up, 1992's The Politics of Ecstasy. Three albums down the road, Astralasia released the compilation Astralogy, and then signed an American deal with the industrial label Cleopatra, which issued The Space Between in late 1996 and then two albums in 1997: Seven Pointed Star and Seven by Seven. One year later, Astralasia released their eighth album in as many years, White Bird. It again moved Astralasia into new teritory with a greater vocal content in much of the material, although keeping with the hard trance vibe. This was followed by a long three year silence in which no new material was released, with only handful of live appearances. In 2001, Astralasia's tenth long player, titled 'Somewhere Something', was released on Transient Records. Another long silence ensued ... and then, when we were least expecting it ... Astralasia ran 'Away with the Fairies'. New double CD out May 2006.The 2006 new line up is as follows: Giles Boulton (MC and Dub vocals), Marc Swordfish (producer, programming and arranging), Wayne Twining (partner, 303 programming), Peter Pracownik (slide/lead guitars), Stevie B (sax and percussion), and Feebe (flute , fiddle, dancer & some vocals).



(98mb)

01 - Astral Navigation (7:28)
02 - Genesis – The Spark Of Life (7:09)
03 - Seven Suns (10:16)
04 - Storm In A Bong Dowl (8:18)
05 - Utopian Biosphere (12:38)
06 - Deconstruction (1) (8:33)
07 - Ignarus (11:20)
08 - Aphasia (8:57)
bonus ep
09 - And In A Few Moments (5:44)
10 - A.N.D.E. (part 1) (8:23)
11 - A.N.D.E. (part 2) (7:14)
12 - ....And Finally (8:03)

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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 !

Rhotation (30) Into BPM

Hello, the 30th Rhotation this week starts off as usual with Into BPM, this time looking at the first part of the nineties dance and dub. The MDMA generation loved all that, but then in that state they just about loved everything and everyone. God was spinning the plates, fusing everyone into extasy. Im sure the police would have arrested Him for sabotaging the divide and rule policy of their masters.
Transglobal Underground is a band that exemplifies this fusion within the band their ethno techno even reached CocaCola's marketing department when searching music that embodied the ' world fusion' Olympics. Secondly a double bill: Dubnology, Journeys Into Outer Bass, its not about bass that much but about dub and remixing it's 94 letting it all hang out. There's some great tracks on it , compile your own mix, and next week i will post Dubnology, Lost in Bass and again you can/should exchange Bass for Space.

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Transglobal Underground - Dream Of 100 Nations ( 93 ^150 mb)

Transglobal Underground (or simply TGU) is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of music styles (sometimes labelled as "world fusion" or "ethno-techno"). They were formed in or slightly before 1990 by Tim Whelan (aka Alex Kasiek, keyboards/guitar/programming), Hamid Mantu (aka Hamilton Lee, aka Man Tu, drums/percussion/programming) and Count Dubulah (bass). Both Whelan and Mantu were founding members of the British new wave band Furniture. Although the group has always had a fairly fluid line-up (and also deliberately clouded their identities for many years with multiple pseudonyms and obscure credits), others who have been long-time members or associates include singer Natacha Atlas, dhol player Johnny Kalsi, rapper Coleridge, vocalist/percussionist TUUP, sitar player Sheema Mukherjee and percussionist Neil Sparkes. Their remix albums include mixes of their songs by Dreadzone, Lionrock and Youth and they in turn have remixed tracks for Banco de Gaia, Fun-Da-Mental, Transjoik and Pop Will Eat Itself.

The first recording by the group was the single "Temple Head" which was shopped around various labels before eventually being released by Nation Records in 1991. Although not a major hit, it was named "Single of the Week" in Melody Maker, 5 years later and Coca-Cola used it in their advertising campaign for the 1996 Olympic Games. The group was quickly signed to Deconstruction Records, for whom they recorded an album. The label, however, declined to release the album, which eventually saw the light of day on the Nation label as Dream of 100 Nations. This album marked the group debut of Natacha Atlas, formerly of Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart.

After two more albums, International Times (1994) and Psychic Karaoke(1996) Atlas left to concentrate on her solo career, with which the core TGU members were already heavily involved as producers and remixers, and Dubulah and Sparkes left to form Temple of Sound. After a period of inactivity a new TGU line-up emerged with the album Rejoice Rejoice and toured Europe supporting Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. The band subsequently left Nation Records and, after releasing the album Yes Boss Food Corner on Mondo Rhythmica (part of the Ark 21 label), set up their own Mule Satellite label for their 2004 album Impossible Broadcasting. The band remains a popular live attraction and its members also continue to work as DJs and remixers.



01 - Temple Head (5:01)
02 - Shimmer (4:20)
03 - Slowfinger (5:15)
04 - I, Voyager (6:29)
05 - La Voix Du Sang (6:11)
06 - El Hedudd (7:15)
07 - This Is The Army Of Forgotten Souls (4:53)
08 - Sirius B (4:15)
09 - Earth Tribe (6:41)
10 - Zombie'ites (6:52)
11 - Tutto Grande Discordia (5:23)
12 - Hymn To Us (5:41)

Transglobal Underground - Dream Of 100 Nations ( 93 * 99mb)

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Various - Dubnology - Journeys Into Outer Bass (95,146min ^ 297mb)

The Dubnology compilation is a two-disc, 21-track collection of spacy late-'90s electronic ethno dub, heavy on the bass, demonstrating that the music has become more techno-influenced and reliant on electronics and technology. The utility of dubnology, lies in its ability to appeal to altered states of consciousness, as well providing some of the best chillroom music going.



Various - Dubnology, Journeys I ( ^ 151 mb)

01 - Dreadzone - House Of Dread (5:05)
02 - Revolutionary Dub Warriors - Walkabout (5:39)
03 - Zion Train - Follow Like Wolves (Original 12 Mix) (5:58)
04 - Asian Dub Foundation - Nazrul Dub (5:36)
05 - System 7 - 7:7 Expansion (Conspiracy Mix By Youth) (10:01)
06 - Astralasia - Univeria Zekt (Kobaian Love Chant) (6:53)
07 - Renegade Soundwave - Brixton (Dub Mix) (7:07)
08 - Tribal Drift - Ants (8:51)
09 - SYT - School Of Thought (8:52)
10 - Timeshard - 25th Century (6:27)
11 - Black Star Liner - Fatta Connection (4:40)

Various - Dubnology - Journeys II (^ 149 mb)

12 - Eat Static - Survivors (7:46)
13 - Meat Beat Manifesto - Mindstream (Mind The Bend The Mind - Orbital Mix) (8:26)
14 - Transglobal Underground - International Times (Haunted Dancehall - Sabres Of Paradise Mix) (8:09)
15 - Woodshed, The - Bills Last Stand (6:22)
16 - Rootsman, The - Rougher Dub (Lionheart Exclusive Mix) (6:59)
17 - Knights Of The Occasional Table, The - Um Baby (6:02)
18 - Banco De Gaia - Lai Lah (v.1.00) (7:17)
19 - UVX - Shape Of Life (5:49)
20 - Loop Guru - Paradigm Shuffle (4:30)
21 - Underworld - Rez (9:56)

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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 !