Apr 5, 2014

RhoDeo 1413 Beats

Hello, Count of St. Germain (fl. 17 ?–1784), who has been variously described as a courtier, adventurer, charlatan, inventor, alchemist, pianist, violinist and amateur composer. Giacomo Casanova describes in his memoirs several meetings with the celebrated and learned impostor. "This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could merge diamonds. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me."

St. Germain is a legendary spiritual master of the ancient wisdom in the Theosophical and post-Theosophical teachings, as one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, he is credited with near god-like powers and with longevity. It is believed that Sir Francis Bacon faked his own death on Easter Sunday, 9 April 1626, attended his own funeral and made his way from England to Transylvania where he found lodging in a castle owned by the Rakóczi family. There, on 1 May 1684, Bacon, by using alchemy, became an immortal occult master and adopted the name Saint Germain and became one of the Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, a group of beings that, Theosophists believe, form a Spiritual Hierarchy of planet Earth sometimes called the Ascended Masters. Thus, according to these beliefs, St. Germain was a mysterious manifestation of the "resurrected form" (or "resurrection body") of Sir Francis Bacon.

Some write that his name St. Germain was invented by him as a French version of the Latin Sanctus Germanus, meaning "Holy Brother." In the Ascended Master Teachings (but not in traditional Theosophy), the Master R, or the Master Rakóczi, also known as the Great Divine Director (a term introduced by Guy Ballard in the 1930s) is a separate and distinct being from St. Germain – the Master Rakoczi is regarded in the Ascended Master Teachings as a name used by the Great Divine Director when he was functioning as Saint Germain's teacher in the Great White Brotherhood of Ascended Masters. Saint Germain is the central figure in the Saint Germain Series of Books published by the Saint Germain Press. There are 20 Volumes in the Saint Germain Series of Books, which are also referred to as the "Green Books." Another work of great importance, the Comte de Gabalis, is said to be from the hand of Sir Francis Bacon before he Ascended and returned as Sanctus Germanus, the "Holy Brother Herman," or Saint Germain, first printed in 1670. Yes..he lives..on and on.



These months French rule the beats and they have plenty to offer even though not that much reaches the world as  the music scene is rather dominated by the Anglo - American music industry. Meanwhile the French enjoyed themselves in their own niche so to speak, and they did rather well. Today one of the leading figures on the French electro scene, Ludovic Navarre has forged an international reputation for his cutting-edge fusions of jazz, African rhythms and dance beats. St Germain's second album, "Tourist", proved to be a phenomenal hit worldwide and helped put the "French Touch" movement firmly on the musical map. ...    N'joy

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Born in the early 70s, Ludovic Navarre, the son of an interior decorator, grew up in the chic Parisian suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Ludovic's first great passion in life was sport and the young boy spent most of his free time sailing, fun-boarding and rollerblading. However, young Ludovic's sporting career was cut short when he was involved in a serious moped crash at the age of 14. The accident left him bed-bound for two entire years and it was during his long period of convalescence that Ludovic discovered the joys of computer programming.

The teenage boy's computer skills would serve him well when he launched a career as a DJ in the early 80s. Inspired by the happening house sounds filtering over from Chicago and Detroit, Ludovic locked himself away in the studio and began mixing electronic music on his banks of computers and machines. Ludovic also went on to build up an impressive musical culture in his teenage years, listening avidly to blues and reggae, then moving on to discover soul, jazz and hip hop. His encyclopedical knowledge of music laid the foundation for the innovative fusion work he developed later in his career.

But when Ludovic launched his career as a DJ it was on the house scene that he first made his name. Locking himself away in a home studio at his mother's house in Versailles in the early 90s, the turntable whizzkid mixed up a deft fusion sound with an innovative house twist. And from 1991 onwards he began putting out his work under various pseudonyms such as Sub System and Deepside (the alias he used for the double act he formed with his friend Guy Rabiller). After that, Ludovic adopted a new series of aliases including Modus Vivendi, Soofle (a duo with Shazz) and DS. But whatever name he hid behind, his work remained the same – his electro-fusion sound always sought inspiration at the cutting-edge, soaking up ambient influences from Detroit, garage from New York and essential house beats from Chicago.

After a period of shifting from one alias to another, Ludovic finally settled on the name St Germain, releasing his first single ("French Trax") under this name in 1993. This new alias cleverly combined the name of Ludovic's hometown (St-Germain-en-Laye) with a reference to count Saint-Germain, a charismatic figure in the court of Louis XV, who was notorious for his double-crossing and lies...

St Germain confirmed his reputation on the burgeoning French electro scene by releasing his first album, "Boulevard", on Laurent Garnier's independent label F.Communications, in July 1995. The deft musical mix on this debut album caused as great a stir on the French jazz scene as it did in the electro world, blurring the boundaries between jazz and electro beats. In fact, "Boulevard" garnered rave reviews around the world, even in electro heartland in the States, and went on to sell a staggering 200,000 copies. Hailed as Best Dance Album of the Year in the U.K., "Boulevard" even found itself nominated at the U.K. Dance Music Awards.

Following his phenomenal success in the album charts, St Germain went on to make his first live appearance in December '95, performing at the famous "Transmusicales" festival in Rennes. Meanwhile, as his name gained celebrity status on the electro scene, remix invitations came flooding in from all quarters. St Germain went on to remix work by a diverse range of artists including everyone from Björk (1995) and the contemporary French composer Pierre Henry (1997) to Cape Verdean star Boy Ge Mendes (1998).

Strangely enough, as his name moved towards cult status in electro circles, St Germain was spending less and less time in the studio on his own account. Indeed, apart from his remix activities, the French mix-master went almost five years without producing a follow-up to "Boulevard". Uneasy with his new-found celebrity and restricted by his categorisation in the electro movement, Ludovic Navarre even reached the point where he considered dropping his St Germain pseudo and giving up music altogether. Then, in an abrupt about-turn, Ludovic decided what was missing in his work was the fusion element that had inspired him from the start of his career. Eager to meet other musicians and explore new musical horizons, St Germain decided to quit electro specialist label F.Com and sign to the legendary jazz label Blue Note instead. This led to him re-developing an exciting fusion edge to his work and working with real musicians such as Senegalese star Idrissa Diop and Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin.

When St Germain's second album, "Tourist", came out in April 2000 the French mix-master took the world by storm with his cutting-edge fusion of house, jazz, reggae and African rhythms. Indeed, the sales of "Tourist" proved even more successful than "Boulevard", rocketing through the roof after the success of the first single release, "Rose Rouge", and hitting the 250,000 mark in France. But this was nothing compared to world sales. "Tourist" was released on the international market in September 2000 and by the summer of 2001 sales had topped 1.5 million!

Following the phenomenal success of "Tourist", St Germain was inundated with concert requests and he spent most of the latter part of 2000 touring intensively. Kicking off an extensive European tour in London on October 20th, the turntable king completed the French leg of his tour with a triumphant performance at the Olympia in Paris on November 9th. St Germain would return to play another show at the Olympia on April 6th 2001, before setting off to conquer dancefloors in the U.S., Asia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, rave reviews from the critics continued to pour in and on February 17th 2001 St Germain found himself nominated at the "Victoires de la musique" awards - in three different categories! The fusion wizard went on to walk off with awards for "Best Jazz Newcomer of the Year", "Best Electronic Album" and "Best Live Show of the Year". St Germain kept up a hectic schedule throughout the summer of 2001, performing at some of Europe's top music events including the Nice Jazz Festival, the Paleo Festival in Switzerland, "Les Vieilles Charrues" and the Fourvière Festival in Lyons. At the end of August 2002, St Germain put an end to his impressive tour of 260 dates by performing a last concert in Hyde Park, London. In the two years following its release, his album "Tourist", which topped the 600,000 mark on the single French territory, sold more than 2 million copies around the world.

Since Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain has released the filmmusic EP, Chaos in 2002 and that's it. It looks he has taken the money and started living the good (family ?) life in the south of France..

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Picture a world where each and every French dance band was unflinchingly bad; where every Air or Cassius or even Phoenix never existed since every homegrown, starving musician looked to somebody like ATB instead of St. Germain. Luckily, this is but a piece of fiction. Because Ludovic Navarre created such a saintly pseudonym, employing deep house, tittering breaks, and down-tempo attitudes that -- in over-simplistic terms -- virtually invented the entire French house movement that has crossed over more times than a Diana Ross impersonator. The question is, does being first make you any good? Taking cues from acid jazz and its chin-stroking underground, songs like "Deep in It" or "Street Scene (4 Schazz)" seem to shyly respond, "yes." It's only the preponderance of an odd sense of a Frenchman aping American black music that starts to cause the most alarm. The loose jazz excursions such as "Sentimental Mood" carries all the emotional weight of a sewing needle and the choice of blues samples (while being years before Moby even caught onto the idea) feels contrived. A landmark album? Yes. Boulevard has been looked upon as the "essential" piece of French house fans' record collections. Ah yes the French do get carried away with art sometimes, but here..must be that name !



St. Germain - Boulevard ( 398mb)

01 Deep In It 7:18
02 Thank U Mum (4 Everything You Did) 12:35
03 Street Scene (4 Shazz) 15:45
04 Easy To Remember 9:46
05 Sentimental Mood 10:20
06 What’s New? 7:50
07 Dub Experience II 3:47
08 Forget It 8:05

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From Detroit to St. Germain shows us a little about the beginnings of Navarre's musical background. This album is more blues/house oriented, and was recorded on the heels of the techno explosion in Europe. With creative collaborations with other French DJ's on this album, we see a different side of St. Germain. The sound is less produced and funkier. Less jazz, more dance oriented. There are certainly highlights to the ablum including "Walk So Lonely", "Prelusion", "Move", and "Deep In It". Soul Salsa Soul is probably the lynch pin of the album with it's fusion of Latin jazz-rhythms and house music; it is the song (along with "Deep In It") which most closely resembles Navarre's current work. [NOTE: no other tracks from this album made it to his latest releases besides "Deep In It"]. The songs on this album which I enjoyed the most were those where Navarre collaborated with the musicians who appeared on his later releases. St. Germain fans will enjoy this album - primarily because of the straight-up house/dance music - as well as for the glimpse into the past which it provides. These 12 hard-to-find tracks recorded between 1992 and 1996 which not only highlight the man's prescient production skills but also remind us of how rapidly dance music has evolved in four years.



St. Germain - From Detroit to St Germain (flac 353mb)

01 Alabama Blues (1965 Mix) 8:27
02 Easy To Remember 9:39
03 The First Time 7:06
04 Jack On The Groove (by D.S.) 4:36
05 Dub Experience 4:24
06 IL(by.Deepside) 6:36
07 Percussion 7:00
08 Walk So Lonely 4:38
09 French (by Deepside) 5:45

St Germain - From Detroit to St Germain 2 (flac  459mb)

01 What's New 7:34
02 Move (by Nuages) 6:52
03 My Mama Said 5:24
04 Thank You Mum 12:34
05 Prélusion (by.Deepside) 7:12
06 How Do You Plead?  (by Soofle) 6:42
07 Deep In It 7:18
08 Soul Salsa Soul (Descarga Mix) 10:32
09 Modus Vivendi (Fade In Mix) (by Modus Vivendi) 9:11


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Since the advent of acid jazz in the mid-'80s, the many electronic-jazz hybrids to come down the pipe have steadily grown more mature, closer to a balanced fusion that borrows the spontaneity and emphasis on group interaction of classic jazz while still emphasizing the groove and elastic sound of electronic music. For his second album, French producer Ludovic Navarre expanded the possibilities of his template for jazzy house by recruiting a sextet of musicians to solo over his earthy productions. The opener "Rose Rouge" is an immediate highlight, as an understated Marlena Shaw vocal sample ("I want you to get together/put your hands together one time"), trance-state piano lines, and a ride-on-the-rhythm drum program frames solos by trumpeter Pascal Ohse and baritone Claudio de Qeiroz. For "Montego Bay Spleen," Navarre pairs an angular guitar solo by Ernest Ranglin with a deep-groove dub track, complete with phased effects and echoey percussion. "Land Of..." moves from a Hammond- and horn-led soul-jazz stomp into Caribbean territory, marked by more hints of dub and the expressive Latin percussion of Carneiro. Occasionally, Navarre's programming (sampled or otherwise) grows a bit repetitious -- even for dance fans, to say nothing of the jazzbo crowd attracted by the album's Blue Note tag. Though it is just another step on the way to a perfect blend of jazz and electronic, Tourist is an excellent one.



St. Germain - Tourist (flac 514mb)

01 Rose Rouge 7:02
02 Montego Bay Spleen 5:41
03 So Flute 8:29
04 Land Of... 7:50
05 Latin Note 5:57
06 Sure Thing 6:22
07 Pont Des Arts 7:25
08 La Goutte D'Or 6:17
09 What You Think About... 4:48
10 Rose Rouge (Blaze Early Shelter Mix) 6:21 11 Sure Thing (Todd Edwards Deepline Remix) 7:18 12 Rose Rouge (Spiller Rouge Mix) 8:29


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7 comments:

SAIDESTROYER said...

The links are dead. A re up would be very much appreciated. :)

Rho said...

Hello Sai, the Tourist seems available i did re-up the others Boulevard and From Detroit to St Germain...N'joy

orlando said...

hello Rho, i Know it´s just two years but back then i missed the boulevard thing, can i get a re-up please, thanks for making my life brighter

Anonymous said...

Hello Rho! I hope you're doing well today! :)

I'd like to request a reupload of 'St. Germain - From Detroit to St Germain' in FLAC, please.

Thanks for everything and I hope you have a great day!

- 313

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much!

Unai G said...

THANKS!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Rho

Any chance of a re-up of these?

Many thanks!