Feb 8, 2017

RhoDeo 1706 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artists, are discordant, elusive, and utterly hypnotic, they conjured a dark, trance-like spell that contrasted sharply with the prevailing British pop music trends of their time. Equal parts the Stooges, Can, and Hawkwind, they resurrected the concept of space rock for a new era, creating droning soundscapes of bleak beauty and harsh dissonance.........N'Joy

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Loop were formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson (vocals, guitar), with his then-girlfriend Becky Stewart on drums. Bex was later replaced by John Wills (The Servants) and Glen Ray, with James Endeacott on guitar. Initially releasing records on Jeff Barrett's Head label, their first release was 1987's '16 Dreams', with debut album Heaven's End following later that year. The band was then signed up by Chapter 22 Records.

The World in Your Eyes, a collection of singles and B-sides, appeared in 1987. After signing to the Chapter 22 label, Loop resurfaced in 1988 with the 12" Collision. In November of that same year, Loop also released their second full-length, the excellent Fade Out. Over a year passed before the band returned to action with the Arc-Lite single, now sporting not only another new label, Situation 2, but also a second guitarist, Scott Dawson. After issuing their third and finest studio LP, 1990's A Gilded Eternity, Loop disbanded. A series of posthumous releases, among them the live Dual and the BBC sessions collection Wolf Flow, soon followed. In the wake of the band's demise, its four members split into two camps -- while MacKay and Wills reunited in the Hair & Skin Trading Company, Hampson and Dawson went on to form the highly experimental Main.

The band split in 1991, with Hampson briefly joining Godflesh before forming Main with Dowson. Hampson's Main project was discontinued in 2006 and while he now releases under his own name in 2010 he announced the return of Main, albeit as a collaborative project with other sound artists. Wills and Mackay went on to form The Hair and Skin Trading Company, which last released in 1995. Wills now performs and records as Pumajaw.

Loop recorded three Peel sessions for John Peel (11 August 1987, 14 June 1988 and 21 January 1990). A collection of these sessions entitled Wolf Flow was released in 1992. Following the split Loop's official studio albums were re-released on their Reactor label. Their sound was influenced by Krautrock and No Wave influences and relied heavily on three chord riffs. Some of the records featured cover versions of Suicide, The Pop Group and Can tracks. The band played at the Reading Festival in 1989.

Loop reformed for 2013 and 2014 activities, as presented by a statement from Robert Hampson. The line-up included the original Gilded Eternity era members Robert Hampson, John Wills, Neil Mackay and Scott Dowson. In November 2013, the band played their first comeback show and also co-curated the final holiday camp edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England. Wills, wishing to focus on his own musical projects, left the band and was replaced by Wayne Maskell. Loop then played in April 2014 as headliners of the Roadburn Festival, followed by more than 20 dates in the USA, headlining the opening night of Milwaukee Psych Fest 2014 at Cactus Club on 24 April. They concluded this comeback tour with the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona in May 2014.

A post on the official Loop Facebook page from 10 June 2014, indicated the group was disbanding due to unspecified issues. The following day a new post from Hampson stated two new Loop songs had been written and that instead of disbanding, the group would continue with a new line-up. In November 2014 a new line-up emerged; still led by Hampson (vocal, guitar), the band performed with Hugo Morgan (bass) and Maskell (drums) from The Heads as well as Dan Boyd (guitar). They played at the Garage (London) and in the Netherlands, they also announced they would be playing ATP Iceland 2015

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Had Loop been present at Woodstock, they probably would have hatched a plan to obtain all the brown acid that Wavy Gravy warned spectators not to take. After hearing his declaration that "The brown acid's a bummer, man!," Robert Hampson and his droogs would have likely gone incognito as security staff, offering to rid the concert goers of the bad trips waiting to be had. They would have procedeed to ingest what they could and record something like Heaven's End, a filler-free release of warped senses and personal demons, inner-space blues, and psychotic dementia. It sounds like a vast toxic wasteland where all negativity is dumped by the soul. Simple, tense riffs repeat until a state of hypnosis and emotional emptiness remain. "Heaven's End" itself sounds like the soundtrack to a missing hallucination scene from Easy Rider; shifting and shuffling percussion and twisted vapor trails of guitar mutate into utter mush. Samples from 2001 pop up throughout the record, if the music itself wasn't enough to carry a prevailing sense of paranoia and claustrophobia. But all the late-'60s references become stifling in conveying what Loop did. Along the way, Loop gutted all the spiritual mysticism from Can, taking their repetition. They also borrow Suicide's minimal charge and early PiL's wretched anguish, making something rather unique from their influences. Though Heaven's End demonstrates a crystal clear indebtedness to Detroit's high-energy mayhem of the late ‘60s, it's actually the gunmetal gray sound of the Stooges and MC5 filtered through decades of urban decay.



Loop - Heaven's End (flac  295mb)

01 Soundhead 4:57
02 Straight To Your Heart 6:16
03 Forever 4:48
04 Heaven's End 4:06
05 Too Real To Feel 5:13
06 Fix To Fall 4:32
07 Head On 2:43
08 Carry Me 4:57
bonus
09 Rocket USA (Mix 3) 5:18

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Distinguishing one Loop album from another is nearly as tricky as doing the same for Ramones or AC/DC. Since Loop more or less stuck to one thing, remaining consistently great and gradually developing an experimentalist streak throughout their brief lifespan, the actual sound of each release is what separates one from the next. Aside from increasing control over their instruments, there isn't a great deal of actual progress made, but this is no fault. Wrecking ball riffs that remain firmly balanced between lunkheaded and complex always play a major role; simple but effective rhythms propel; Robert Hampson's vocals generally play the role of additional instrument, doing little more than expressing the subject given in the titles. Like the remainder of their discography, the song titles themselves are ideally descriptive. "This Is Where You End" and "Torched" have some of Hampson's meanest vocals, contrasting with the wasted (or, well, faded) effect provided on "Fade Out." Repetitive stutter shuffles play throughout "Vision Stain." "Pulse" and "Black Sun" offer massive howling. The guitar leads sound ear-piercingly tinny and high in the mix on occasion, perhaps to distinguish further from the droning riffs. The Rough Trade CD adds five bonuses, including covers of the Pop Group and Can. Their version of the Pop Group's "Thief of Fire" slows the mania of the original down to a near-lumpen pace, still expressing all of Mark Stewart's exasperated vocals. Can's "Mother Sky" is more true to the original, clocking in at 11 minutes and containing the same trebly guitar buzz and tumble drums that the original thrives on.



Loop - Fade Out (flac 425mb)

01 Black Sun 5:09
02 This Is Where You End 4:42
03 Fever Knife 5:09
04 Torched 4:37
05 Fade Out 6:46
06 Pulse 4:44
07 Vision Stain 4:26
08 Got To Get It Over 5:23
Bonus
09 Collision 4:59
10 Crawling Heart 4:06
11 Thief Of Fire / Thief (Motherfucker) 9:14
12 Mother Sky 10:45

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There's a pervading din throughout Loop's last record, an unsettling feeling created by their guitars that slightly disturbs the senses in the way that Sonic Youth's guitars endlessly stir on EVOL and Sister. One hates to trot out the post-apocalyptic adjective, but if there are any ten songs that deserve that label, it's the batch strung together here. Deadened toms rattle throughout "Afterglow," while densely lurching guitars prod and peel back alternately between the left and right channels. "The Nail Will Burn" features yet another punishing Loop riff, giving the image of the heads of three longhairs bobbing up and down in unison on-stage. "Breathe into Me" and a remix of "Arc-Lite" also offer caveman subtlety and deeply penetrating repetition. But rather than simply drive a point home again and again hypnotically, there's a little more imagination running through the arrangements, making the record a little less direct than the ones predating it. Also, there's some great experimentation at hand, providing a taster for what Robert Hampson would soon be doing with Main. "Shot with a Diamond" (taking its name from a line in Apocalypse Now) sounds like a pendulum counting down to death. "Blood" features unidentified noises that cycle throughout, offering none of the riffs that typify the bulk of the band's material. Taken as a whole, it's Hawkwind minus the goofiness and Spacemen 3 minus the unnecessary tangents. Hampson broke the band up after this one, and it's easy to see why. He'd taken loud guitars as far as he could, and that experimentalist streak inside of him was obviously dying to be purged. Psychotic hypnotists they were.



Loop - A Gilded Eternity (flac 366mb)

01 Vapour 6:08
02 Afterglow 5:13
03 The Nail Will Burn 4:52
04 Blood 5:35
05 Breathe Into Me 4:37
06 From Centre To Wave 6:04
07 Be Here Now 9:30
A Gilded Eternity Session
08 Shot With A Diamond 5:19
09 The Nail Will Burn (Burn Out) 4:51
10 Arc-Lite 4:08

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A compilation of the three Peel Sessions Loop recorded between 1987 and 1990, Wolf Flow presents a fine documentation or de facto "best of" for the Croydon band. As with most BBC recordings, the results are premium grade. Some might actually favor these versions over their originals, given that Robert Hampson's vocals are less mired in production techniques. From the first session, "Soundhead" and a ten-minute "Straight to Your Heart" offer a little more clarity than their Heaven's End counterparts. Drums are given further presence, especially on the former. A seering version of "Rocket USA" (which also appears on The World in Your Eyes) could possibly be the definitive Suicide cover. The second session, predating the Fade Out sessions, features previews of "Pulse" and "This Is Where You End" that were changed little before entering the recording studio. The third session features a couple selections from the band's third and final record, A Gilded Eternity, as well as a B-side from the Arc-Lite single. The disorienting throb on "From Centre to Wave" is slightly sped up, adding further doom to the already creepy atmosphere. "Afterglow" kicks the distortion up a notch over the original and adds further force to the drums. "Sunburst," which probably holds the only non-indicative song title of Loop's career, drags slightly at nine minutes. Since Loop's three proper records and singles compilations vary little in quality, it's hard to recommend a starting point. But Wolf Flow shouldn't be turned down if given the chance to purchase.



Loop - Wolf Flow (flac  342mb)

01 Soundhead 3:39
02 Straight To Your Heart 9:59
03 Rocket USA 5:06
04 Pulse 4:35
05 This Is Where You End 4:00
06 Collision 5:27
07 From Centre To Wave 7:48
08 Afterglow 5:28
09 Sunburst 9:19

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Feb 7, 2017

RhoDeo 1706 Roots

Hello,

The music of Brazil encompasses various regional music styles influenced by African, European and Amerindian forms. After 500 years of history, Brazilian music developed some unique and original styles such as samba, bossa nova, MPB, sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, choro, maracatu, embolada (coco de repente), mangue bit, funk carioca (in Brazil simply known as Funk), frevo, forró, axé, brega, lambada, and Brazilian versions of foreign musical genres, such as Brazilian rock and rap.


Today's artist became popular with the songs Se Acaso Você Chegasse, her first single, Mas Que Nada, A Carne, and other well-known samba songs. She was nominated to the Grammy Awards and was elected by the BBC London as "the singer of the millennium." In 2007, Soares was invited to sing a cappella the Brazilian National Anthem at the opening ceremony of the 2007 Panamerican Games. In 2016, she performed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she sang O Canto de Ossanha, a classic by Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes......N'Joy

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Owner of a distinctive, harsh voice (even if considering the conspicuous Armstrong mannerisms), Elza Soares is one of the most swinging samba singers. Having appeared in 1959 with the samba "Se Acaso Você Chegasse," Soares always had her artistic career complicated by her personal life, which certainly impeded her enjoyment of a more widespread popularity. Having gotten married at 12 and lost three children who died of hunger, she later became the wife of Garrincha, one of the most genial soccer players ever, and also a chronic alcoholic. The peak of her career was in the '60s, with albums like O Máximo em Samba (1967), Elza Soares & Wilson das Neves (1968), and Elza, Miltinho e Samba (a three-album series shared with Miltinho). In that decade she had several hits, among them "Boato," "Edmundo" (a version of "In the Mood"), "Beija-me," "Devagar Com a Louça," "Mulata Assanhada," "O Mundo Encantado de Monteiro Lobato," "Bahia de Todos os Deuses," "Palmas no Portão," and "Palhaçada." In the '70s, she had further success with "Salve a Mocidade" (1974) and "Malandro" (1977; this song launched Jorge Aragão as a composer). But it wasn't enough to prevent her from facing huge economical adversity, and at the same time she was being systematically turned away by recording companies. With Garrincha, Soares had a very troubled marriage and the untimely demise of their son Garrinchinha in 1986 in a car accident didn't help.

Living in extreme poverty throughout her childhood and teens, Soares had her first audition in radio at Ary Barroso's novice show when she was 16, winning first place. She was then hired as a crooner by the Orquestra Garam de Bailes (led by conductor Joaquim Naegli). She worked in the orchestra until 1954, when she became pregnant. In 1955, she was invited to star with Grande Otelo in the play Jour-Jou-Fru-Fru, which was a smash. Three years later, she toured Argentina, returning in the next year when she was hired by Rádio Vera Cruz. Also in 1959, she recorded a 78 rpm with "Se Acaso Você Chegasse" (Lupício Rodrigues/Felisberto Martins), one of her biggest hits. In 1960, she went to São Paulo where she performed regularly in the show I Festival Nacional de Bossa Nova and recorded her first LP, Se Acaso Você Chegasse. In 1962, she represented Brazil in Chile during the World Soccer Cup, where she met Garrincha.

Having recorded several albums with the hits "Só Danço Samba" (Tom Jobim/Vinícius de Moraes), "A Banca do Distinto" (Billy Blanco), "Pressentimento" (Elton Medeiros/Hermínio Bello de Carvalho), and "Princesa Isabel" (Sérgio Ricardo), she moved to Italy in 1969, where she performed at the Sistina Theater (Rome), returning to Brazil in 1972. In the same year, she opened the show Elza em Dia de Graça at the Opinião Theater (Rio) and participated in the Brasil Export Show (Canecão). Rediscovered in the '80s as a cult heroine by Os Titãs, she performed with the band in a regular show at the Madame Satã nightclub.

Trying unsuccessfully to develop a career abroad, she returned to Brazil in 1994, poor and depressed. Finally, she was rediscovered in the '80s by the younger generations of Brazilian rockers (Os Titãs, Lobão) and MPB artists like Caetano Veloso, having been awarded with a Sharp Prize award as the Best Samba Singer of 1997. Soares also recorded in duet with Caetano Veloso on his album, Velô, and with Lobão on Casa de Samba. With her Trajetória (1997), in which she was paid tribute by Zeca Pagodinho, she won the Prêmio Sharp Award as Best Samba Singer.Her life was depicted in the musical Crioula, which had several songs written specially for her by Chico Buarque, Chico César, Nei Lopes, and others.  In November 1999, Soares participated in the show Desde Que o Samba é Samba (at Royal Albert Hall, London, England), together with Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, and Virginia Rodrigues. In 2000, her life was depicted in the musical Crioula (by Stella Miranda). In 2000, she was appointed Singer of the Millennium by London's BBC. Soares continues to challenge her destiny, performing shows in every venue available.

Do Cóccix Até O Pescoço In 2002, she released the acclaimed Do Cóccix Até O Pescoço on Maianga Discos, which successfully wedded samba, bossa, and MPB with electronic sounds. Produced and recorded by Alê Siqueira, it featured an enormous cast of guest musicians under the direction of pianist Jose Miguel Wisnik, including Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Carlinhos Brown. It sold well internationally and received a Grammy nomination. Vivo Feliz followed on Tratore in 2004 and contained the singles "Rio de Janiero" and a reading of "Concordia" by Nando Reis, featuring the songwriter in a duet. Working again with Wisnik, she released the live Beba-Me Ao Vivo and a concert DVD with the same title in 2007.

Though Soares continued to perform, she took an extended break from recording. A year later she was the featured vocalist on the soundtrack of the film Chega de Saudade. She fell from the stage during a performance and required numerous spinal column surgeries. It slowed her down and forced her to perform in a chair, but she never stopped. In 2015, she re-entered the studio with with producer Guilherme Kastrup of São Paulo’s groundbreaking samba sujo scene. She didn't like his idea of recording a set of classic sambas in modern settings and instead insisted on creating entirely original new material -- a first in her long career. He hired the city's vanguard post-punk band Passo Torto (with Metá Metá's Kiko Dinucci) and several players from Bixiga 70. A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo, a collection of 11 songs (culled from over 50), focuses on the achievement of justice for women, people of color, and members of the LGBT community -- causes she had celebrated throughout her life. Issued in Brazil in October by Circus Produções Culturais, it was celebrated in the national press as the year's best album by a national artist, regardless of genre. Due to global acclaim, it was re-released internationally by Mais Um Discos in June of 2016.


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Superb samba accompaniment, melded to a slightly frantic brass band (with a too-prominent trombone and bass saxophone combo...) Her voice is, frankly, a bit grating on most of this album, but the cuica-and-pandeiro rhythmic percussion is awesome. Unfortunately, the liner notes don't say who the musicians were -- Nelsinho is listed as the arranger, but which samba crew they got to join his band is anyone's guess. At any rate, this is a pretty interesting record... The closing number, "Um samba pra ela," is perhaps the single best song on here, where all the elements -- including her voice -- work perfectly together.



Elza Soares - Elza, Miltinho e Samba, vol.3, Sambas e Mais Sambas (flac  520mb)

01 Juntinhos de novo-Não manche o meu panamá-O sorriso do Paulinho-Oito mulheres-Embrulho que eu carrego-Despacho
02 Saia do meu caminho-Nervos de aço-Por causa de você
03 Só com você
04 Julgar é missão divina
05 Vai na paz de Deus-Conceição-Aos pés da cruz-Se a saudade me apertar-Você não quer, nem eu
06 Com olhos de gata-Fita amarela-Madeira de lei
07 Samba da cor
08 Madrugada vai chegar
09 Um samba pra ela
Sambas e Mais Sambas
10 Mas, que nada
11 Recado
12 Dá-me tuas mãos
13 Vejam só
14 Pressentimento
15 Máscara da face
16 Tributo a Martin Luther King
17 Comunicação
18 Maior é Deus
19 Tributo a Dom Fuas
20 Seu José
21 Meu consolo é você
Bonus
22 Capoeira
23 Mestre-sala
24 Sei lá Mangueira
25 Folhas no ar

Elza Soares - Elza, Miltinho e Samba, vol.3 , Sambas e Mais Sambas  (ogg  209mb)

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Her bell-bottomed portrait on the album's cover heralds, to a limited degree, Soares's delving into the hippie-delic tropicalia fad. Turns out it's mostly cosmetic; she croons like Maria Bethania on a few tunes, but at heart this is an upbeat samba album, of the sort Soares excelled at. Most of the arrangements on this album are somewhat kitschy, but they also reflect an undercurrent of the bubbling-up of the Brazilian soul scene: jazz-soul pianist Dom Salvador was a pioneer of the Brazilian funk scene, and towards the album's end, he gets a good groove or two going, notably on "Amor Perfeito," which has one of the coolest bass lines early '70s MPB had to offer. Many of the composers were relatively off the beaten track, folks such as Tuze de Abreu, Joao So, Jocafi and prog-rocker Ze Rodrix (along with some of the usual suspects: Vinicius, Jorge Ben, Gonzaguinha...) I like how peppy Soares sounded, although I have to admit this disc had more than its fair share of awkward passages. Still, I'd recommend it... Lots of folks (particularly in Europe) consider it a stone-cold classic.

Sangue, Suor e Raça is a fine, funky samba album, with Elza continuing to explore new textures and modern rhythms. Singer Roberto Ribeiro, from the Imperio Serrano samba school, makes his recording debut as an able duet partner, helping ground Elza's normally dramatic vocals in a calmer, cooler, sexier mode. There are several longer "potpourri" medleys on here, a format I generally dislike, although here the melodies are all given a full, lush reading, and the musical end is quite lovely. All in all, a warm, inviting album, with pianist Dom Salvador back on board as arranger and bandleader. Lovely stuff... a few songs a bit on the staid side, but for the most part, a career highlight... Worth checking out!



Elza Soares - Elza Pede Passagem , Sangue, Suor e Raça   (flac  477mb)

01 Cheguendengo
02 Saltei de banda
03 Maria vai com as outras
04 Samba da pá
05 A-B-C da vida
06 Barão beleza
07 Rio carnaval dos carnavais
08 O gato
09 Pulo, pulo
10 Amore perfeito
11 Mais do que eu
Sangue, Suor e Raça
12 Swing negrão-Brasil pandeiro-O samba agora vai-É com esse que eu vou
13 Aurora de um sambista
14 Domingos, domingueira
15 Cicatrizes
16 Isto é papel, João-Cocórocó-Decadência
17 Recordações de um batuqueiro
18 O que vem de baixo não me atinge
19 Lenço cor-de-rosa
20 Sacrifício
21 Coisa louca-A razão dá-se a quem tem-O que se leva desta vida
Bonus
22 Bis
23 Sorris de mim
24 Água e fogo
25 Irmã da tristeza

Elza Soares - Elza Pede Passagem , Sangue, Suor e Raça    (ogg   192mb)

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Elza's last album with Odeon found her teamed up with much of the same studio talent as before -- Milton Miranda, Lyrio Panicalli, sound engineer Z. J. Merky -- and a lively, aggressive take on the new "pagode" samba style being pioneered by Clara Nunes and Beth Carvalho. Elza's approach includes nods towards her jazzy background, with Satchmo-esque snarls that anticipate the cuddly-but-tough sound of Alcione. It's a good, solid album, but like many in the genre, it starts to sound a bit monochromatic, and the hard-driving rhythm gets tiring after a while. Not a bad swan song, though, for her long run with Odeon... and a nice hint of things to come.

Her first album over at Tapecar paired Elza with pianist Ed Lincoln, who had kind of a rockin', soul-swinging past. That side of Lincoln's career isn't so much in evidence here -- Elza keeps on the path she'd started out, shifting away from gafieria and jazz-tinged sambas towards a rootsier sound -- they've even got her seated in a wicker chair and wearing one of the same sort of Afro-Bahian frocks that Clara Nunes favored at the time. The arrangements are still a bit on the overly-perky side, but she was clearly intent on giving Nunes a run for her money, and does an admirable job. Some of the slower songs are clunky -- she has a pretty hefty voice that works better when wrapped around a rhythm than trying to phrase a hushed melody, though on the other hand, she's not getting all slushy and popped-out the way Clara did when she slowed down the pace, so in some ways this sounds better. Anyway, this is really nice stuff... Worth checking out!



Elza Soares - Aquarela Brasileira, Elza Soares (flac 454mb)

01 Eu não toco berimbau
02 Busto calado
03 Pranto de poeta
04 Dia de graça
05 Maria José
06 Zelão
07 Canoa furada
08 Solidão
09 Sete linhas
10 Festa da vinda
11 Lá vou eu
12 Aquarela brasileira
Elza Soares
13 Bom-dia Portela
14 Pranto livre
15 Não é hora de tristeza
16 Meia noite já é dia
17 Desabafo
18 Partido lê-lê-lê
19 Deusa do rio Niger
20 Quem há de dizer
21 Louvei Maria
22 Xamego de crioula
23 Falso papel
24 Giringonça
Bonus
25 Salve a Mocidade

Elza Soares - Aquarela Brasileira, Elza Soares (ogg  178mb)

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Feb 6, 2017

RhoDeo 1706 Vibrations 7

Hello,

Brainwave Mind Voyages arose from a thirst for experiential wisdom and a hunger for sharing mind-expanding tools with other like-minded people such as yourself. Shower the seeds of self-empowerment with some modern audio technology, and voila! ....N'Joy

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Your brain operates much like a resonance chamber or a tuning fork. When you hold two similarly tuned tuning forks together and strike one of the them, the other will also vibrate at the same frequency. The vibrational rate or vibratory frequency determines the tone. Our brain produces waves of currents that flow throughout its neural pathways. The type of brainwave is defined by the frequency at which it is pulsing, and this particular rate of pulsation determines our respective state of mind at any given moment in time.

There are four common types of brainwave patterns, but due to the complexity of our brains there are often several patterns interacting at one time. It is the predominance of one particular brainwave frequency that determines our state of mind. For example, if you are in a beta state, there may be trace levels of alpha and theta but they would minimal compared to the dominating amount of beta present. All of these brainwave states have been scientifically studied and categorized by the subjective states that each range will produce. Below is a simple chart containing the four common types of brainwave frequencies along with their characteristic features and associated mental states. The frequencies are measures in hertz (Hz) which is roughly translated as beats per second or cycles per second.

BETA waves 13 to 30 Hz the fastest waves, most commonly found during our waking state, associated with outward awareness, engaged mind, arousal, actively perceiving and evaluating forms of data through the senses; also present with fear, anger, worry, hunger, and surprise.

ALPHA waves 7 to 13 Hz associated with non-drowsy but relaxed, tranquil state of consciousness, less engagement and arousal, pleasant inward awareness, body/mind integration, present during meditation and states of relaxation

THETA waves 3 to 7 Hz associated with increased recall, creativity, imagery and visualization , free-flowing thought, future planning, inspiration, drowsiness, present during dreaming and REM states

DELTA waves .1 to 3 Hz associated with deep dreamless sleep, deep trance state pituitary release of growth hormone, self-healing, present during deep levels of non-REM sleep.

Your brain is always producing electromagnetic brainwaves that have a measurable frequency and magnitude. The characteristics of your brainwaves at any given moment determines your mood and state of mind. The frequency range and magnitude identify whether you are aroused, alert, asleep or anywhere in between these states.

We are always expanding our knowledge of how our brainwaves can be harnessed to create peak states of consciousness. For example, the best moments of creativity, those Eureka! flashes, occur mostly when theta waves are predominant. The hypnogogic state verging between waking and sleeping is characterized by theta brainwave activity. This explains why we have such great ideas before falling asleep. It is noted in history books that this "border-zone" time period has been utilized by many scientists and other great thinkers who have had flashes of insight while experiencing this holistic state of mind.

Einstein came up with the theory of relativity in this state, and likewise, one of the Watson and Crick pair conceptualized the double helix of DNA in this highly visualistic mind state successfully cracking the illusive architecture of DNA. Time spent in this "border-zone" can be time very well spent. All this information about brainwaves is a preamble to the matter of entraining your brainwaves to specific frequencies.

You can now use the process of brainwave entrainment to tune your brainwaves to any brainwave range. You can experience theta, alpha, delta or even combinations of ranges using multi-layered frequencies that blend several brainwave ranges into one synergistic brainwave pattern like the Awakened Mind Brainwave Pattern. The breakthrough occurs when we use this principle of entrainment to synchronize our brainwaves to specific chosen frequencies. We can do this easily by using binaural beat audio technology and monophonic entrainment tones, as you will soon learn, but first some more background information.

THE TWO HEMISPHERES OF THE BRAIN

Our brains have a left and a right hemisphere. The left hemisphere is linear, logical, practical, and time orientated. The right hemisphere seems to be much more non-linear, abstract, creative, holistic, and non-logical. We tend to use one hemisphere at a time, or better said, we will favor particular hemispheres depending on what we are doing. An accountant probably uses less of his right hemisphere than an artist would during the course of his workday. If you are doing math you would be using more of your left side. If you are painting a picture, you would have more right hemispheric activity.

Obviously, it is not that simplistic because both hemispheres are constantly interacting and both can be in use at the same time. These hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum. It serves as a conduit or a bridge between both sides. This bridge can literally be exercised and strengthened until it is physically larger and more capable of transmitting data, thoughts and feedback between hemispheres. The famous clairvoyant healer Edgar Cayce was found to have an unusually large corpus callosum, but could it be that everyone else simply has not developed this hemispheric bridge?

By merging both hemispheres and allowing them to work together we can increase our mental fitness and enhance our cognitive functioning in general. It is basically like having a faster computer processor capable of working at faster speeds. Increased integration creates better performance. By using brainwave entrainment technologies, you can increase your hemispheric synchronization. By simply listening to any BMV CD, your brain naturally synchronizes to balance hemispheric activity and adjusts brainwave activity to match the embedded brainwave carrier frequencies. This audio-induced hemispheric coherence produces an optimal state of holistic whole-brain synergy.

For a more in-depth explanation of the powerful audio neuro-technologies, you can click HERE to read the BMV Technology Page.

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SERIES 7 Astral Vibrations CD Entering The Vibrational State- This Brainwave Mind Voyage CD uses brainwave entrainment technology to tune or synchronize your brainwaves to specific frequencies so you can have an out of body experience (OBE)! You can use this CD to maximize your odds of traveling out of your body like having a set of psychic training wheels! Simply listen to the CD, relax and experience non-ordinary reality. It is designed to tune your brain waves to the Body Asleep / Mind Awake brain wave state to summon the Vibrational State from which you can easily project your awareness into the non-physical realm. Boost your odds of successful out of body travel and master the art of astral projection. The trance induction relaxes you into a highly visual Theta brainwave state and includes maximum strength Beta spikes to heighten your awareness and maintain full consciousness while your physical body falls asleep. It creates the ideal environment for out of body experiences and many other forms of inner work: lucid dreaming, remote viewing, channeling, meditation, ESP psychic development or any pursuit requiring detached but alert awareness. Using a powerful induction process, you can easily slip out of your body and have fun traveling the astral world. The entire process takes 70 minutes, but if you successfully transfer your awareness you can explore the astral plane for as long as you desire. The program contains some guided vocals using professional hypnosis, but it also contains tracks with no vocals so you can explore without any verbal interruption. You can use this psychoacoustic tool as one progressive induction, or play any track in Repeat mode to see which works best for you. Several tracks are designed to trigger out of body experiences while you are sleeping. It is far easier to induce OBEs while in a dream state. Countless people have had documented out of body experiences with this CD and you can too!



Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series VII) - Astral Vibrations (flac  343mb)

01 Guided Intro
02 Relax, Release, Reengage
03 The 3 R's Revisited

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Previously

Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series I) (flac  248mb)
Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series II) (flac  342mb)
Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series III) (flac  258mb)
Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series IV) (flac  263mb)
Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series V) (flac  265mb)
Brainwave Mind Voyages (Series VI) (flac  383mb)


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Feb 5, 2017

Sundaze 1706

Hello, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, who has died aged 78, Januari 22nd is the trigger for this Sundaze. The so-called “motorik” beat, a minimalist, relentless form of rhythm practised by groups including Neu! and Kraftwerk, became one of the most distinctive trademarks of Germany’s postwar rock groups. Liebezeit, a founding member of the Cologne-based quintet Can, was also a skilled practitioner of the motorik approach, but he was much more besides. He was able to incorporate a range of moods and styles into his playing, from African and funk rhythms to violent thrashing grooves, while always maintaining meticulous rhythmic control. His playing could veer from the heavy, pulverising beat he created on You Doo Right, from Can’s debut album Monster Movie (1969), to the lithe, off-kilter feel he brought to One More Night, from Ege Bamyasi (1972). On the title track of Flow Motion (1976), Liebezeit delivered a lesson in lean, bare-bones funkiness.
So precise and unswerving was Liebezeit’s playing, which included an ability to repeat drum patterns with uncanny precision, that he was likened to a human drum machine. To this he retorted that “the difference between a machine and me is that I can listen, I can hear and I can react to the other musicians, which a machine cannot do”. His particular gift was the ability to refine his drumming down to a compact, streamlined essence, so that when he did eventually add a fresh accent or extra beat it became a musical event of startling significance.



Today's artists are a German experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. The group cycled through several lineups in subsequent years, including vocalists Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki. Drawing from backgrounds in avant-garde and jazz music, Can incorporated rock, minimalist, electronic, and world music elements into their often psychedelic and funk-inflected music.They have been widely hailed as pioneers of the German krautrock scene, exerted a considerable influence on avant-garde, experimental, underground, ambient, new wave and electronic music. ......N'Joy

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 Always at least three steps ahead of contemporary popular music, Can were the leading avant-garde rock group of the '70s. From their very beginning, their music didn't conform to any commonly held notions about rock & roll -- not even those of the countercultures. Inspired more by 20th century classical music than Chuck Berry, their closest contemporaries were Frank Zappa or possibly the Velvet Underground. Yet their music was more serious and inaccessible than either of those artists. Instead of recording tight pop songs or satire, Can experimented with noise, synthesizers, nontraditional music, cut-and-paste techniques, and, most importantly, electronic music; each album marked a significant step forward from the previous album, investigating new territories that other rock bands weren't interested in exploring.

Throughout their career, Can's lineup was fluid, featuring several different vocalists over the years; the core bandmembers remained keyboardist Irmin Schmidt, drummer Jaki Leibezeit, guitarist Michael Karoli, and bassist Holger Czukay. During the '70s, they were extremely prolific, recording as many as three albums a year at the height of their career. Apart from a surprise U.K. Top 30 hit in 1978 -- "I Want More" -- they were never much more than a cult band; even critics had a hard time appreciating their music.

Can debuted in 1969 with the primitive, bracing Monster Movie, the only full-length effort to feature American-born vocalist Malcolm Mooney. 1970's Soundtracks, a collection of film music, introduced Japanese singer Kenji "Damo" Suzuki, and featured "Mother Sky," one of the group's best-known compositions. With 1971's two-record set Tago Mago, Can hit their visionary stride, shedding the constraints of pop forms and structures to explore long improvisations, angular rhythms, and experimental textures.

1972's Ege Bamayasi refined the approach, and incorporated an increasingly jazz-like sensibility into the mix; Future Days, recorded the following year as Suzuki's swan song, traveled even further afield into minimalist, almost ambient territory. With 1974's Soon Over Babaluma, Can returned to more complicated and abrasive ground, introducing dub rhythms as well as Karoli's shrieking violin. 1976's Unlimited Edition and 1977's Saw Delight proved equally restless, and drew on a wide range of ethnic musics.

When the band split in 1978 following the success of the album Flow Motion and the hit "I Want More," they left behind a body of work that has proven surprisingly groundbreaking; echoes of Can's music can be heard in Public Image Limited, the Fall, and Einstürzende Neubauten, among others. As with much aggressive and challenging experimental music, Can's music can be difficult to appreciate, yet their albums offer some of the best experimental rock ever recorded.

Since the split, all the former members have been involved in musical projects, often as session musicians for other artists. In 1986 they briefly reformed, with original vocalist Mooney, to record Rite Time (released in 1989). There was a further reunion in 1991 by Karoli, Liebezeit, Mooney and Schmidt to record a track for the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World and in August 1999 by Karoli, Liebezeit and Schmidt with Jono Podmore to record a cover of "The Third Man Theme" for Grönland record's compilation album Pop 2000. In 1999 the four core members of Can, Karoli, Liebezeit, Schmidt and Czukay, performed live at the same show, although playing separately with their current solo projects (Sofortkontakt, Club Off Chaos, Kumo and U-She respectively). Michael Karoli died of cancer on November 17, 2001. Can have since been the subject of numerous compilations, live albums and samples. In 2004, the band began a series of Super Audio CD remasters of its back catalog, which were finished in 2006. Jaki Liebezeit died of pneumonia on January 22, 2017.

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Though Monster Movie was the first full-length album in what would become a sprawling and often genre-defining discography, Can were on a level well ahead of the curve even in their most formative days. Recorded and released in 1969, Monster Movie bears many of the trademarks that Can would explore as they went on, as well as elements that would set the scene for the burgeoning Krautrock movement. This would be the only album Can's first singer Malcolm Mooney would sing the entirety of, as he was replaced by Damo Suzuki by the time of 1970's Soundtracks, leaving the band after going through a highly unstable time. Mooney was known for his erratic ways, and some of that mania undoubtedly comes through here, with his caterwauling howls on the unexpectedly garage-influenced "Outside My Door" as well as the sung-spoken pseudo-poetry rants of album opener "Father Cannot Yell." Riding a particularly Velvet Underground vibe, "Father Cannot Yell" sounds like post-punk before punk even existed. Irmin Schmidt's brittle keyboard squalls and dissonant rhythms and Mooney's buried recitations predated the Fall, Swell Maps, the noise scene, and generations of difficult sound by years and in some cases decades. Holger Czukay's pensive basslines are also an already distinctive calling card of the band on this debut, providing a steadfast glue for the barrages of noisy tones, edits, and pulses the record offers from all angles. The 20-minute album closer "Yoo Doo Right" is an enormous highlight, cementing the locked-in hypnotic exploration Can would extrapolate on for the rest of their time and come to be known for. Mooney's raspy vocals range from whispery incantations to throaty rock & roll shouts, building with the band into an almost mantra-level meditation as the song repeats its patterns and multi-layered grooves into what feels like infinity. Legend has it that the final side-long version of the song was edited down from a six-hour recording session focusing on that tune alone. Given the level of commitment to experimentation Can would go on to show, it's not hard to believe they'd play one song for six hours to find its core, nor is it unfathomable that Monster Movie was the more accessible album they recorded after their first attempts were deemed too out there to be commercially released. Even in their earliest phases, Can were making their name by blowing away all expectations and notions that rock & roll had limits of any kind.



Can - Monster Movie  (flac  234mb)

01 Father Cannot Yell 7:01
02 Mary, Mary So Contrary 6:16
03 Outside My Door 4:06
04 Yoo Doo Right 20:20

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Soundtracks is the second album from Can but it is also made up from many movie soundtracks that the band had contributed music to as well. The album has a kind of cut and paste feeling, as many of the songs fade in and out in a rather awkward and hurried manner. However, the big improvement is in the new singer Damo Suzuki, who sings “Tango Whiskeyman” and “Deadlock” in a style that could not be more opposite than Mooney’s: hushed, intricate, solemn, but still dynamic when needing to be. The fact that he sings in a mix of three languages- English, Japanese, and German- is a mere footnote. The lyrics are improvised and SOUND like it, but this only adds to the album’s internal mechanics. Songs such as “Don’t Turn the Light On, Leave Me Alone” have a new sonic clarity to them as the busy toms of Liebezeit merge with the whispering of Suzuki and add a new dimension the band’s moody textures.

“Mother Sky” is the band’s first monumental achievement, a 14 minute work of hypnotic beauty and forward thinking that at first uses elements of drone music (pretty much done solely by Czukay’s bass) and later elements of electric guitar noise and off kilter bass and keyboard playing to form a controlled jam of intensity where it feels like anything can happen. Unfortunately, they let two of Malcom Mooney’s last songs exist on the record as well, and “Soul Desert” and “She Brings the Rain” are truly trying experiences that recall the problems of the debut. The former song is completely unnecessary to the tone and flow of the record, bringing a kind of ragged, garage album feel to an album that is completely nuanced and flavored differently, while the latter song is simply bad beatnik poetry that any Lou Reed / Bob Dylan wanna be of the era could produce. The reprise of “Deadlock” is also slightly overlong and unwelcome so early in the record. Still, most of the record succeeds and points toward a bright future for the band with Suzuki as lead vocalist. The band sounds renewed and alive on Soundtracks, as scattershot and as inconsistent as it is.



Can - Soundtracks  (flac  213mb)

01 Deadlock 3:25
02 Tango Whiskyman 4:02
03 Deadlock 1:40
04 Don't Turn The Light On, Leave Me Alone 3:42
05 Soul Desert 3:46
06 Mother Sky 14:30
07 She Brings The Rain 4:04

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With the band in full artistic flower and Damo Suzuki's sometimes moody, sometimes frenetic speak/sing/shrieking in full effect, Can released not merely one of the best Krautrock albums of all time, but one of the best albums ever, period. Tago Mago is that rarity of the early '70s, a double album without a wasted note, ranging from sweetly gentle float to full-on monster grooves. "Paperhouse" starts things brilliantly, beginning with a low-key chime and beat, before amping up into a rumbling roll in the midsection, then calming down again before one last blast. Both "Mushroom" and "Oh Yeah," the latter with Schmidt filling out the quicker pace with nicely spooky keyboards, continue the fine vibe. After that, though, come the huge highlights -- three long examples of Can at its absolute best. "Halleluwah" -- featuring the Liebezeit/Czukay rhythm section pounding out a monster trance/funk beat; Karoli's and Schmidt's always impressive fills and leads; and Suzuki's slow-building ranting above everything -- is 19 minutes of pure genius. The near-rhythmless flow of "Aumgn" is equally mind-blowing, with swaths of sound from all the members floating from speaker to speaker in an ever-evolving wash, leading up to a final jam. "Peking O" continues that same sort of feeling, but with a touch more focus, throwing in everything from Chinese-inspired melodies and jazzy piano breaks to cheap organ rhythm boxes and near babbling from Suzuki along the way. "Bring Me Coffee or Tea" wraps things up as a fine, fun little coda to a landmark record.



Can - Tago Mago  (flac  464mb)

01 Paperhouse 7:29
02 Mushroom 4:08
03 Oh Yeah 7:22
04 Halleluwah 18:32
05 Aumgn 17:22
06 Peking O 11:35
07 Bring Me Coffee Or Tea 6:47

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Can - Tago Mago Live 72 Bonus    (flac  251mb)

08 Mushroom (Live) 8:42
09 Spoon (Live) 29:55
10 Halleluwah (Live) 9:12

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Feb 4, 2017

RhoDeo 1705 Grooves

Hello,

Today's artist is an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles. He received post mortem a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.  ..... N'joy

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One of the most important progenitors of rap music, Gil Scott-Heron's aggressive, no-nonsense street poetry inspired a legion of intelligent rappers while his engaging songwriting skills placed him square in the R&B charts later in his career, backed by increasingly contemporary production courtesy of Malcolm Cecil and Nile Rodgers (of Chic). Born in Chicago but transplanted to Tennessee for his early years, Scott-Heron spent most of his high-school years in the Bronx, where he learned firsthand many of the experiences that later made up his songwriting material. He had begun writing before reaching his teenage years, however, and completed his first volume of poetry at the age of 13. Though he attended college in Pennsylvania, he dropped out after one year to concentrate on his writing career and earned plaudits for his novel, The Vulture.

Encouraged at the end of the '60s to begin recording by legendary jazz producer Bob Thiele -- who had worked with every major jazz great from Louis Armstrong to John Coltrane -- Scott-Heron released his 1970 debut, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, inspired by a volume of poetry of the same name. With Thiele's Flying Dutchman Records until the mid-'70s, he signed to Arista soon after and found success on the R&B charts. Though his jazz-based work of the early '70s was tempered by a slicker disco-inspired production, Scott-Heron's message was as clear as ever on the Top 30 single "Johannesburg" and the number 15 hit "Angel Dust." Silent for almost a decade, after the release of his 1984 single "Re-Ron," the proto-rapper returned to recording in the mid-'90s with a message for the gangsta rappers who had come in his wake; Scott-Heron's 1994 album Spirits began with "Message to the Messengers," pointed squarely at the rappers whose influence -- positive or negative -- meant much to the children of the 1990s.

In a touching bit of irony that he himself was quick to joke about, Gil Scott-Heron was born on April Fool's Day 1949 in Chicago, the son of a Jamaican professional soccer player (who spent time playing for Glasgow Celtic) and a college-graduate mother who worked as a librarian. His parents divorced early in his life, and Scott-Heron was sent to live with his grandmother in Lincoln, TN. Learning musical and literary instruction from her, Scott-Heron also learned about prejudice firsthand, as he was one of three children picked to integrate an elementary school in nearby Jackson. The abuse proved too much to bear, however, and the eighth-grader was sent to New York to live with his mother, first in the Bronx and later in the Hispanic neighborhood of Chelsea.

Though Scott-Heron's experiences in Tennessee must have been difficult, they proved to be the seed of his writing career, as his first volume of poetry was written around that time. His education in the New York City school system also proved beneficial, introducing the youth to the work of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes as well as LeRoi Jones. After publishing a novel called The Vulture in 1968, Scott-Heron applied to Pennsylvania's Lincoln University. Though he spent less than one year there, it was enough time to meet Brian Jackson, a similarly minded musician who would later become a crucial collaborator and integral part of Scott-Heron's band.

Given a bit of exposure -- mostly in magazines like Essence, which called The Vulture "a strong start for a writer with important things to say" -- Scott-Heron met up with Bob Thiele and was encouraged to begin a music career, reading selections from his book of poetry Small Talk at 125th & Lennox while Thiele recorded a collective of jazz and funk musicians, including bassist Ron Carter, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Hubert Laws on flute and alto saxophone, and percussionists Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders; Scott-Heron also recruited Jackson to play on the record as pianist. Most important on the album was "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," an aggressive polemic against the major media and white America's ignorance of increasingly deteriorating conditions in the inner cities. Scott-Heron's second LP, 1971's Pieces of a Man, expanded his range, featuring songs such as the title track and "Lady Day and John Coltrane," which offered a more straight-ahead approach to song structure (if not content).

The following year's Free Will was his last for Flying Dutchman, however; after a dispute with the label, Scott-Heron recorded Winter in America for Strata East, then moved to Arista Records in 1975. As the first artist signed to Clive Davis' new label, much was riding on Scott-Heron to deliver first-rate material with a chance at the charts. Thanks to Arista's more focused push on the charts, Scott-Heron's "Johannesburg" reached number 29 on the R&B charts in 1975. Important to Scott-Heron's success on his first two albums for Arista (First Minute of a New Day and From South Africa to South Carolina) was the influence of keyboardist and collaborator Jackson, co-billed on both LPs and the de facto leader of Scott-Heron's Midnight Band.

Jackson left by 1978, though, leaving the musical direction of Scott-Heron's career in the capable hands of producer Malcolm Cecil, a veteran producer who had midwifed the funkier direction of the Isley Brothers and Stevie Wonder earlier in the decade. The first single recorded with Cecil, "The Bottle," became Scott-Heron's biggest hit yet, peaking at number 15 on the R&B charts, though he still made no waves on the pop charts. Producer Nile Rodgers of Chic also helped on production during the 1980s, when Scott-Heron's political attack grew even more fervent with a new target, President Ronald Reagan. (Several singles, including the R&B hits "B Movie" and "Re-Ron," were specifically directed at the President's conservative policies.) By 1985, however, Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista, just after the release of The Best of Gil Scott-Heron. Though he continued to tour around the world, Scott-Heron chose to discontinue recording. He did return, however, in 1993 with a contract for TVT Records and the album Spirits.

For well over a decade, Scott-Heron was mostly inactive, held back by a series of drug possession charges. He began performing semi-regularly again in 2007, and one year later, announced that he was HIV-positive. He recorded an album, I'm New Here, released on XL in 2010. In February of 2011, Scott-Heron and Jamie xx (Jamie Smith of xx) issued a remixed version of the album, entitled We're New Here, also issued on XL. Scott-Heron died on the afternoon of May 27, 2011, at St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, after becoming ill upon returning from a European trip, consider an airline cabin is always a cocktail of virusses and bacteria which proved to be too much for the weakened by HIV elderly man.

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This Gil Scott-Heron double album, roughly two thirds of which was recorded live in Boston on July 2-4, 1976, makes the most of its Centennial-centric time frame. Between the American flag striped cover art and Heron's spoken word spiel on an 8-and-a-half minute poem/rant "Bicentennial Blues," the album loses little of its impact, regardless of how the years have mildewed once fresh political topics like Nixon, Agnew, and Watergate. Four of its songs are studio recordings ("It's Your World," "Possum Slim," "New York City," and "Sharing"), and even though they're up to Heron's usual jazz/blues/pop standards, the disc is most effective on the concert tracks. As he explains in the 2000 penned liner notes, The Midnight Band was a compelling live unit and one listen to the brisk, electrifying, 13-minute rendition of "The Bottle," one of Heron's most penetrating tracks, is all you'll need to understand why. More importantly, like the best protest music, these tunes have lost none of their lyrical edge or incisiveness throughout the years. Musically the band is taut and rehearsed down to the finest time change, yet loose enough to open up on the jams. The heavy Latin percussion/flute/piano -- but remarkably guitar-less -- sound is equal parts Santana and Mongo Santamaria with a strong jazz current throughout, especially on the John Coltrane tribute "Trane," featuring tenor hornman Bilal Sunni-Ali's fiery lead. Scott-Heron's deep, mellifluous voice is alternately soothing and cutting, infusing the music with heart and soul, while keeping the sound focused even during the longer improvisations. Only a dated '70s drum solo belies the year this was recorded. Chestnuts like "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" explode in extended live versions that become definitive readings of the tunes. Remastered for its reissue, It's Your World crackles with energy, presenting an accomplished band at their peak and placing the listener practically on stage for the live tracks with acoustics that are full, yet airy and spacious. One of Gil Scott-Heron's best albums as well as a compelling musical time capsule, the disc is proof of the artist's musical and lyrical acuity and is a moving listening experience.



Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - It's Your World      (flac  453mb)

Just Before Sundown
01 It's Your World 3:52
02 Possum Slim 6:00
03 New York City 4:45
Nightfall
04 17th Street 5:45
05 Trane 7:20
06 Must Be Something 5:20
Late Evening
07 Home Is Where The Hatred Is 12:10
08 Bicentennial Blues 8:40
Midnight And Morning
09 The Bottle 13:30
10 Sharing 5:55

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Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson, and the Midnight Band take a slightly different approach with their 1977 effort, Bridges. With less of the gaping and world-infused sound prevalent on previous albums, the songs are more concise and Scott-Heron comes into his own as a singer depending less on his spoken word vocal style. The excellent songwriting exposes Scott-Heron at the height of his powers as a literary artist. The social, political, cultural, and historical themes are presented in a tight funk meets jazz meets blues meets rock sound that is buoyed by Jackson's characteristic keyboard playing and the Midnight Band's colorful arrangements. Scott-Heron's ability to make the personal universal is evident from the opening track, "Hello Sunday! Hello Road!," all the way through to the gorgeous "95 South (All of the Places We've Been)." The most popular cut on the album, "We Almost Lost Detroit," which shares its title with the John G. Fuller book published in 1975, recounts the story of the nuclear meltdown at the Fermi Atomic Power Plant near Monroe, MI, in 1966. This song was also contributed to the No Nukes concert and album in 1980. Along with the two records that would follow in the late 70s, Bridges stands as one of Scott-Heron's most enjoyable and durable albums.



Gil Scott-Heron and B.Jackson - Bridges   (flac  208mb)

01 Hello Sunday! Hello Road! 3:37
02 Song Of The Wind 3:53
03 Racetrack In France 4:15
04 Vidgolia (Deaf, Dumb & Blind) 7:41
05 Under The Hammer 3:59
06 We Almost Lost Detroit 5:19
07 Tuskeegee #626 0:33
08 Delta Man (Where I'm Comin' From) 5:45
09 95 South (All Of The Places We've Been) 4:15

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Music sometimes serves the purpose of not just entertaining but also telling the marginal history of the times. The untold stories and feelings of the ignored and uncelebrated. And this is one of the many recordings where Gil Scott-Heron did just that. Angel Dust, the lead song, is one of those timeless grooves with a deep message. The passion and hurt is something you can't help but feel. It gives voice to the victims of the streets and the ones that they left behind. Other solid efforts as well, especially the sarcastic Madison Avenue. A must have for those that can feel the music moreso than listen to it



Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - Secrets    (flac 193mb)

01 Angel Dust 4:16
02 Madison Avenue 3:11
03 Cane 3:34
04 Third World Revolution 4:23
05 Better Days Ahead 3:30
06 Three Miles Down 4:19
07 Angola, Louisiana 5:34
08 Show Bizness 2:52
09 A Prayer For Everybody / To Be Free 6:28

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1980 can be viewed as a precursor for the venomous rants Gil Scott-Heron would unleash on the eventual Reagan-led White House. Loaded with perceptive and poignant observations on the state of America as it advanced into a new and uncertain decade, 1980 is a powerful final album of '70s for Scott-Heron and his partner Brian Jackson. Amazingly, Scott-Heron's focus at the close of the decade is strikingly similar to his focus on his 1970 debut, Small Talk at 125th and Lennox; namely that social and political change has yet to come to many Americans, despite the advancements in technology and other seemingly less significant realms. The enemies are the same: nuclear power and big business ("Shut Um Down"), oppressive governments ("Shah Mot"), and racism ("Willing"). On the title track, Scott-Heron's gaze is set on the future with an eye on the past as well. When he sings, "Boogie-Woogie's somewhere in the lost and found," he's not only speaking of the changes in music, but also in popular culture. There is a hint of resentment on his part that this musical style, like other revolutionary African-American innovations, has been progressively stolen, mined, sterilized, and eventually discarded. This is not to say that the music throughout the album is marked by regret or sorrow. The spacy synthesizers, background vocals, and use of horns, along with Jackson's always-extraordinary arrangements, give the album a quality that matches the aura of the period without forgetting past musical styles. The descriptive "Alien (Hold on to Your Dreams)" is the album's most enduring song, vividly portraying the plight of Mexican illegal aliens living in Los Angeles and offering an uplifting refrain.



Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - 1980   (flac 185mb)

01 Shut 'um Down 5:13
02 Alien (Hold On To Your Dreams) 3:25
03 Willing 4:00
04 Corners 4:50
05 1980 6:00
06 Push Comes To Shove 3:34
07 Shah Mot (The Shah Is Dead / Checkmate) 4:04
08 Late Last Night 4:25

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Feb 3, 2017

RhoDeo 1705 Re-Ups 85

Hello, plenty of requests for re-ups this week even with discounting the 'demands' of Gianni Zhivago who seems to think that asking for a re-up of 8 posts will have me jump to provide you with filler for your hard-disks, nice try but no cigar Gianni. The thing is this blog doesn't get thousands of visitors every day, in fact i estimate there's about 5,000 regular (monthly) visitors. Considering that the whole download mania of the previous decade has subsided as people have been more and more immersed into what the internet has to offer, and with connectivity speeds much higher these days, people's patience has diminished and as the pace of life has increased, it follows that going through the motions of downloading something has become less appealing, as instant gratification becomes the norm. Then there is the fear of big brother who seems to register everything (and knows nothing ), meanwhile You Tube and Facebook assimilate most free time people spend on the web. Let's face it we music lovers are a dying breed.

Usually i upload about 10 gig every week, today i post as much at re-up 85, plenty to scour then as no less then 6 posts are in flac for the first time...N joy




These days i'm making an effort to re-up, it will satisfy a small number of people which means its likely the update will  expire relatively quickly again as its interest that keeps it live. Nevertheless here's your chance ... asks for re-up in the comments section at the page where the expired link resides, or it will be discarded by me. ....requests are satisfied on a first come first go basis. ...updates will be posted here  remember to request from the page where the link died! To keep re-ups interesting to my regular visitors i will only re-up files that are at least 12 months old (the older the better as far as i am concerned), and please check the previous update request if it's less then a year old i won't re-up.

Looka here another batch of 38 ! re-ups, requests fullfilled up to January 31th.

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4x Beats Back in Flac (VA - Macro Dub Infection vol 1-1, VA - Macro Dub Infection vol 1-2, VA - Macro Dub Infection vol 2-1, VA - Macro Dub Infection vol 2-2)

3x Roots Back in Flac (Iration Steppas - Original Dub D.A.T., Kitachi - Stay of Execution, Iration Steppas - Dubz From The Higher Regions)


3x Sundaze NOW in Flac (Massive Attack - Collected B Greats, 06 Massive Attack - Protection EP, 10 Massive Attack - Angel EP)


5x Beats NOW In Flac (02 Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy EP, 03 Massive Attack - Safe From Harm EP, 07 Massive Attack - Karmacoma EP, 08 Massive Attack - Rising Son EP,  11 Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps EP)


4x Sundaze NOW in Flac (01 Massive Attack - Daydreaming EP, 04 Massive Attack - Hymn Of Big Wheel, 05 Massive Attack - Sly EP, 09 Massive Attack - Teardrop EP)


9x Aetix NOW in Flac (The Associates - The Affectionate Punch, The Associates - Perhaps, Boards of Canada - Geogaddi, Mogwai - Happy Songs, The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops, Scars - Author ! Author !, still in ogg The Fire Engines - Lubricate your living room, Skids - Best of, Skids - Joy)


3x Beats Back in Flac (VA - DJ Kicks Nicolette 1, VA - DJ Kicks Nicolette 2, VA - It's All Becoming)


2x World   NOW in Flac ( Hugh De Courson - Lux Obscura, VA - Cryptichon II )


2x Sundaze NOW in Flac (O Yuki Conjugate - Peyote,  Tenhi - Airut-Aamujen)


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Feb 1, 2017

RhoDeo 1705 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artists, out of all the late-'70s punk and post-punk bands, none were longer lived or more prolific than the Fall. Throughout their career, the band underwent a myriad lineup changes, but at the center of it all was vocalist Mark E. Smith. With his snarling, nearly incomprehensible vocals and consuming bitter cynicism, Smith became a cult legend in indie and alternative rock. The group's output is prolific—as of November 2011 they have released 29 studio albums, and more than triple that counting live albums and other releases. They have never achieved widespread public success beyond a handful of minor hit singles in the late 1980s, but have maintained a strong cult following. Over the course of their career, the band went through a number of shifts in musical style, yet the foundation of their sound was a near-cacophonous, amelodic jagged jumble of guitars, sing-speak vocals, and keyboards........N'Joy

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Prior to forming the Fall in 1977, Smith worked on the docks in Manchester, where he had auditioned and failed with a number of local heavy metal groups. Smith wasn't inspired by metal in the first place; his tastes ran more toward the experimental rock & roll of the Velvet Underground, as well as the avant-garde art rock of Can. Eventually, he found several similarly inclined musicians -- guitarist Martin Bramah, bassist Tony Friel, keyboardist Una Baines, and drummer Karl Burns -- and formed the Fall, taking the group's name from the Albert Camus novel. The band cut an EP, Bingo-Master's Break-Out!, which was funded by the Buzzcocks' label, New Hormones, but it sat unreleased for nearly a year, simply because the band couldn't find anyone who wanted to sign them. The Fall were outsiders, not fitting in with either the slick new wave and the amateurish, simple chord-bashing of punk rock. Consequently, they had a difficult time landing a record contract . After a while, the group had gained some fans, including Danny Baker, the head of the Adrenaline fanzine, who persuaded Miles Copeland to release the EP on his Step Forward independent label.

During 1978, Smith replaced bassist Friel with Marc Riley (bass, guitar, keyboards) and keyboardist Baines with Yvonne Pawlett because they wanted to make the Fall more accessible. The new lineup recorded the band's first full-length album, Live at the Witch Trials, which was released in 1979. The Fall continued to tour, playing bars and cabaret clubs, and, in the process, began to slowly build a fan base. Radio 1 DJ John Peel had become a fervent fan of the band, letting them record a number of sessions for his show, which provided the group with a great deal of exposure.

Before recording the Fall's second album, Smith changed the band's lineup, firing Pawlett, Bramah, and Burns, while hiring guitarist Craig Scanlon, bassist Steve Hanley, and drummer Mike Leigh; Riley moved to lead guitar from bass during this lineup shift. Scanlon and Hanley would become integral members of the Fall, staying with the band for great part of their career. The new lineup recorded and released Dragnet late in 1979. The following year, the Fall parted with Step Forward and signed with Rough Trade, where they released the live album Totale's Turns (It's Now or Never), the studio Grotesque (After the Gramme), and several acclaimed singles, including "Totally Wired" and "How I Wrote Elastic Man," in the course of 1980. Paul Hanley joined the group as a second drummer before the Grotesque album. Though several Fall recordings appeared in 1981, they were all archival releases with the exception of the Slates EP. After the release of Slates, drummer Karl Burns rejoined the group. In early 1982, the band released the full-length Hex Enduction Hour, which received some of the group's strongest reviews to date. Since the group was having trouble with Rough Trade, the album was released on Kamera Records, as was its follow-up, Room to Live, which also appeared in 1982. Following its release, Riley left the band.

The major turning point in the Fall's career arrived in 1983, when Smith met Brix Smith (born Laura Elise Salinger) in Chicago while the Fall were on tour. The pair married within a few months and Brix, who originally played bass, joined the group as their second guitarist, replacing Riley; her first record with the group was 1983's Perverted by Language. Brix brought a more melodic pop sense to the band, as demonstrated by 1984's The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, their first album for Beggars Banquet. By 1985, the Smiths were collaborating with each other, resulting in more structured, melodic songs like the singles "No Bulbs" and "Cruiser's Creek." Midway through 1985, Steve Hanley had to take a leave of absence and classically trained Simon Rogers joined as the temporary bassist. Once Hanley returned, Rogers moved over to keyboards. The new lineup with Rogers recorded This Nation's Saving Grace, which was released in the fall of 1985 to terrific reviews. Rogers stayed for one more album, 1986's Bend Sinister, yet he remained involved with the Fall for several years.

In 1986, the Fall unexpectedly began to have charting singles, as their cover of the Other Half's "Mr. Pharmacist" became a minor hit in the fall. Over the next few years, the group appeared in the lower reaches of the charts consistently, breaking into the Top 40 with 1987's "Hit the North" and 1988's cover of the Kinks' "Victoria," which signaled how much more accessible the band had become with the addition of Brix's arrangements. After the 1988 release of the Simon Rogers-produced The Frenz Experiment, Brix divorced Smith and she left the Fall in 1989; original guitarist Martin Bramah replaced her. The musical result of the separation was a shift back to the darker, more chaotic sound of their early albums, as shown on the first post-Brix album, 1990's Extricate. Though Extricate was well received, Smith decided to alter the lineup that recorded the album. He fired both Schofield and Bramah while the Fall was touring Australia. Featuring new keyboardist Dave Bush, Shift-Work was released in 1991, followed by Code: Selfish the next year.

In 1993, the Fall signed with Matador Records, which provided them with their first American record label in several years. Their first release for the label, The Infotainment Scam, was recorded with the returning Karl Burns, who provided drums. Neither The Infotainment Scam nor its 1994 follow-up, Middle Class Revolt, sold many records in the U.S., despite good reviews, and the Fall was again left without an American label as of 1995. Not that it mattered; they retained their devoted following in Britain, where both albums performed respectively. Brix rejoined the Fall during the supporting tour for Middle Class Revolt and appeared on 1995's Cerebral Caustic. At the beginning of 1996 keyboardist Julia Nagle had joined the band for the recording of The Light User Syndrome, an album that featured liner notes from longtime supporter and BBC DJ John Peel. The band recorded their 20th BBC session for the DJ in June, followed by the departure of Brix in October and Karl Burns in December.

By this time a steady stream of compilations and live recordings started appearing, the majority of them on the Receiver label, mostly without the band's involvement.  During an April gig in New York City at Brownie's, Smith was in rare form. The band played large parts of the set with Smith off-stage, at one point Smith said something to Karl Burns that made him jump over his drum kit and attack the singer, and Crooks and Smith were at odds the whole show, with Crooks kicking Smith and Smith flicking lit cigarettes at Crooks. Burns, Crooks, and Steve Hanley were out of the band and Smith spent a night in jail on assault charges. A new single, "Touch Sensitive," appeared in February 1999. It ended up as the soundtrack to car commercial, giving it extra exposure in the U.K., setting the stage for the April release of the new album, The Marshall Suite. Nagle was now more involved with songwriting while guitarist Neville Wilding, bassist Adam Halal, and drummer Tom Head rounded out the new Fall.

Released in December 2002, "The Fall vs. 2003" single ushered in the next great era of the band, with Poulou offering a melodic base for Smith's abrasiveness the same way Nagle and Brix had before. Jim Watts discovered he was fired when Smith held a band meeting in a bar in March 2003 and bought everyone a drink but Watts. Bassist Simon "Ding" Archer would take his place for a June-July American tour. An early version of the band's next album was leaked to the Internet, influencing Smith to re-record and add/drop some tracks. The leak was referenced in the album's new title, The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click), released in October. A Christmas single, "(We Wish You) A Protein Christmas," appeared in December.

The Sanctuary label reissued two classic albums -- Live at the Witch Trials and Dragnet -- in January of 2004 with much better sound than ever before, and some bonus tracks were added to Dragnet. A tour of America was planned, but on a visit to Newcastle, Smith slipped on some ice, breaking his leg. A bystander came to help him up, but Smith fell again, this time cracking his hip. Despite a metal rod running from his knee to hip, the Fall went ahead with the American tour, with Smith delivering his vocals while seated at a table.  2005 also saw the departure of guitarist Jim Watts, a fantastic box set that collected all the band's sessions for John Peel, and the new album Fall Heads Roll. In the summer the band toured America in support of the new album, but after a few dates, Smith fired all of the members of the band save his wife and keyboardist, Eleni Poulou. The 2007 album Reformation Post T.L.C. featured a hybrid group of U.S. and U.K. members. That same year Smith collaborated with Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner of electronica duo Mouse on Mars on the Von Südenfed project. He published his typically challenging and entertaining autobiography in 2008. In 2010 they signed with the Domino label for the album Your Future Our Clutter released on 26 April 2010. This was followed in November 2011 by the album Ersatz GB. In March 2012, the band were chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in Minehead, England. The Fall performing at Bloomberg Space in London in 2008. On 11 October 2012, The Fall played with The Undertones at EPIC-TV in Norwich (Magdalen Street), launching the John Peel Festival of New Music as part of the Norwich Sound and Vision Festival 2012, a fundraiser for the John Peel Centre of Creative Arts in Stowmarket.

The Fall, now their longest-serving line-up in the group's history, released their twenty-ninth studio album, Re-Mit, on 13 May 2013. This was followed later in the year by a six-track EP of new material, The Remainderer. 2014 saw the release of a live album Live: Uurop VIII-XII Places in Sun & Winter, Son. The group's thirtieth studio album Sub-Lingual Tablet was released on 25 May 2015 by Cherry Red. In a 2016 interview with Mojo Magazine, Mark E Smith announced that Elena had resigned from the group.

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The Fall already had a slew of brilliant records under their belt by the time Hex Enduction Hour emerged, but when it did, the result was a bona fide classic on all fronts. Honing the vicious edge of his lyrics to a new level of ability, Smith led his by-now seasoned band -- at this time sporting the double-drumming lineup of Paul Hanley and Karl Burns -- to create a literal hour's worth of entertaining bile. The Marc Riley/Craig Scanlon team had even more of a clattering, industrial edge than before, now inventing its own style of riff and melody that any number of later groups would borrow, with varying degrees of success. "Iceland" itself tips its hat toward where part of the album was recorded, and it's little surprise that the Sugarcubes and any number of contemporaneous bands from that country ended up with a deep Fall fetish. Of the many song highlights, perhaps the most notorious was the opening "The Classical," an art rock groove like no other, racketing around with heavy-duty beats and stabbing bass from Steve Hanley. Apparently, the band was on the verge of signing with Motown, at least until they heard Smith delivering the poisonous line, "Where are the obligatory niggers?/Hey there, f*ckface!" Politically correct or not, it set the tone for the misanthropic assault of the entire album, including the hilarious dressing down of "misunderstood" rock critics, "Hip Priest" ("He...is...not...ap-PRE-ciated!") and the targeting-everyone attack "Who Makes the Nazis?" Musically, all kinds of approaches are assayed and the results are a triumph throughout, from "Hip Priest" and its tense exchange between slow, dark mood and sudden guitar bursts to the motorik drone touch of "Fortress/Deer Park." As a concluding anti-anthem, "And This Day" ranks up with "The N.W.R.A.," ten minutes of ramalama genius.



The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour (flac  389mb)

01 The Classical 5:16
02 Jawbone And The Air-RIfle 3:42
03 Hip Priest 7:47
04 Fortress/Deer Park 6:40
05 Mere Pseud Mag. Ed. 2:49
06 Winter (Hostel-Maxi) 4:31
07 Winter 2 4:33
08 Just Stop S'ways 3:24
09 Who Makes The Nazis ? 4:30
10 Iceland 6:42
11 And This Day 10:19
 
 
12 I'm Into C.B. 6:34
13 Session Musician 9:17
14 Jazzed Up Punk Shit 4:13
15 I'm Into C.B. (Stars On 45 Version) 3:15
16 And This Day (live) 6:17
17 Deer Park (live) 9:38
18 And This Day (Soundcheck) 5:24


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Again working with John Leckie on production, the Fall's third Beggars album, Bend Sinister, was a distinctly down affair -- not that the Fall were ever a shiny happy band, of course, but both music and lyrics seemed like a darker corner to dwell in. Happily there was no worry that the Fall would ever go goth; one suspects Mark E. Smith would rather have his tongue removed. Still, opening track "R.O.D." makes for a distinctly lower-key start in comparison to recent leadoffs like "Lay of the Land" and "Bombast," almost sounding a bit like fellow Mancunian legends Joy Division, Smith's lyric his own depressing vision of a beast slouching toward Bethlehem. Leckie's production emphasizes space in the recording, while the band as a whole sounds generally more deliberate and understated, even Craig Scanlon's guitar not leaping quite as much to trebly life as is normally the case. Songs like "Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers" favor Steve Hanley's bass work as much as anything, while the almost industrial/hip-hop beat of "US 80's-90's" sets the tone for a glowering vision of the States from, as Smith puts it, "the big-shot original rapper." Elsewhere, there's Smith's vision of the eternal outsider comes to life once again -- "Shoulder Pads 1," a hardly disguised sneer against being surrounded by people who "can't tell Lou Reed from Doug Yule," for all that there's a slightly quirky arrangement thanks to Simon Rogers' keyboards. Still, there are certainly moments of sheer fun -- in keeping with the band's regular ear for good cover versions, this time around psych-era obscurities the Other Half get the nod with a brisk rip through the obvious drug references of "Mr. Pharmacist." Brix again shares vocal leads with Smith at various points, notably "Dktr. Faustus," a distinctly reworked version of that particular legend that turns into a frantic, audibly unhappy dance groove.



The Fall - Bend Sinister (flac 310mb)

01 R.O.D. 4:31
02 Dktr. Faustus 5:32
03 Shoulder Pads 1 2:54
04 Mr Pharmacist 2:17
05 Gross Chapel - British Grenadiers 7:20
06 Living Too Late 4:35
07 U.S. 80's-90's 4:34
08 Terry Waite Sez 1:37
09 Bournemouth Runner 6:05
10 Riddler ! 6:19
11 Shoulder Pads 2 1:56
12 Auto-Tech Pilot 4:51

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After the dark morass of Bend Sinister, the sound of 1988's Frenz Experiment comes as a bit of a shock. The arrangements are spare and broken down to the essentials, with the distorted guitars brought down low and Wolstencroft's drums high in the mix. Marcia Schofield had also joined the band to add keyboards. With most of the songs credited only to Smith himself, this could be seen as a solo album of sorts, or an indication of some rift within the group -- it certainly doesn't translate into the music. For the first time too, his vocals are loud and clear, though certainly not comprehensible; "Bremen Nacht" hints at some sort of run in with a ghost in Germany, "Athlete Cured," with its Spinal Tap-borrowed riff, tells of a "German athletic star" made ill from unusual circumstances -- the narrative turns strange, then funny until wandering off, a classic Smith tactic. Their cover of the Kinks' "Victoria" marked the Fall's first entry into the British charts, but also fit in with Smith's continuing explorations of Britain's history and how it translates into issues of class identity. The album contains their other two singles from this time -- "Hit the North" and a cover of R. Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in My House," which the group makes their own -- plus several B-sides.



The Fall - The Frenz Experiment (flac 324mb)

Crime Gene
01 Frenz 3:29
02 Carry Bag Man 4:26
03 Get A Hotel 4:38
04 Victoria 2:46
05 Athlete Cured 5:52
Experience
06 In These Times 3:26
07 The Steak Place 3:57
08 Bremen Nacht Alternative 9:19
09 Guest Informant Excerpt 0:40
10 Oswald Defence Lawyer 6:00
Bonus
11 Bremen Nacht Run Out 4:44
12 Mark'll Sink Us 4:22
 
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The last thing most Fall fans expected the group to do in 1988 was provide music for a ballet, but in fact this is what they did. Of course, it helped that the Michael Clark company of dancers were some of the most avant-garde at the time in Britain and were inspired originally by the Fall's "Hey! Luciani" single. The concept, very loosely, centers around William and Mary of Orange, and finds Smith arranging William Blake's "Jerusalem" for the band, adding his own lyrics ("It was the fault of the government," providing ironic contrast to the self-sufficiency espoused in Blake). As a cohesive Fall album it fails: The strongest tracks are those that have little to do with the ballet (and are available elsewhere). "New Big Prinz" updates their own "Hip Priest" into one of their heaviest tracks, full of threat and wonder. "Cab It Up!" features all forward momentum and jingling keyboards. For the first time tracks felt like filler, and indeed they were. The booklet contains photographs from the performance full of giant pop-art hamburgers and cans of baked beans, suggesting I Am Kurios Oranj would have been more interesting to see than hear.



The Fall - I Am Kurious Oranj (flac  347mb)

01 New Big Prinz 3:26
02 Overture from 'I Am Curious, Orange 2:48
03 Dog Is Life/Jerusalem 8:54
04 Kurious Oranj 6:19
05 Wrong Place, Right Time 2:52
06 Guide Me Soft 2:15
07 C.D. Win Fall 2088 AD 4:43
08 Yes, Oh Yes 3:24
09 Van Plague ? 4:54
10 Bad News Girl 5:20
11 Cab It Up 4:55
12 Last Nacht" (excerpt) 1:05
13 Big New Priest 3:08

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