RhoDeo 1838 Roots

Hello,


Today's artist was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. He is sometimes called "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkeley of Cocktail Music." He is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known (in retrospect) as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".  .....N'Joy

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Juan García Esquivel was born January 20, 1918 in Tampico, Tamaulipas, and his family moved to Mexico City in 1928 where he became a self-taught musician from an early age. In interviews, Esquivel's family members have stated that the young boy started playing piano when he was around 6 years old, to the amazement of older musicians who would gather around him in disbelief and to his own delight exhibiting his musical gifts. They have also stated that Esquivel continued to eschew formal musical training as he grew older, preferring to learn from books and by listening to and playing music instead.

Esquivel is considered the king of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop known today as lounge music. Esquivel's musical style was highly idiosyncratic, and although elements sound like his contemporaries, many stylistic traits distinguished his music and made it instantly recognizable, including exotic percussion, wordless vocals, virtuoso piano runs, and exaggerated dynamic shifts. He used many jazz-like elements; however, other than his piano solos, there is no improvisation, and the works are tightly, meticulously arranged by Esquivel himself, who considered himself a perfectionist as a composer, performer, and recording artist.

His orchestration tended toward the very lush, employing novel instrumental combinations, such as Chinese bells, mariachi bands, whistling, and numerous percussion instruments, blended with orchestra, mixed chorus, and his own heavily-ornamented piano style. The chorus was often called upon to sing only nonsense syllables, most famously "zu-zu" and "pow!" A survey of Esquivel's recordings reveals a fondness for glissando,[citation needed] sometimes on a half-valved trumpet, sometimes on a kettle drum, but most frequently on pitched percussion instruments and slide guitars.

Esquivel's use of stereo recording was legendary, occasionally featuring two bands recording simultaneously in separate studios, such as on his album Latin-Esque (1962). The song "Mucha Muchacha" makes particularly mind-bending use of the separation, with the chorus and brass rapidly alternating stereo sides.

He arranged many traditional Mexican songs like "Bésame Mucho", "La Bamba", "El Manisero" (Cuban/Mexican) and "La Bikina"; covered Brazilian songs like "Aquarela do Brasil" (also known simply as "Brazil") by Ary Barroso, "Surfboard" and "Agua de Beber" by Tom Jobim, and composed spicy lounge-like novelties such as "Mini Skirt", "Yeyo", "Latin-Esque", "Mucha Muchacha" and "Whatchamacallit". He was commissioned to compose the music of a Mexican children's TV show Odisea Burbujas.

The pinnacle of Esquivel's extravagant approach to stereo can be heard on "Latin-esque," his entry in RCA's great Stereo Action series. For this album, he went to the extreme of placing his musicians in two separate studios, coordinating over an closed circuit with Stanley Wilson, who conducted the second group.

In 1963, Esquivel switched from studio work to live performance, creating a stage show featuring four svelte female singers, flashing lights, and choreographed routines and playing the Vegas-Tahoe circuit. His show was a favorite among Vegas insiders, and celebrities like Frank Sinatra regularly dropped in to listen. He liked to party in the fast lane, too. "I have had many loves in my life: music, cars, women and the piano, not necessarily in that order," he once told an interviewer.

He recorded his last U.S. release in 1967 and his last RCA album was released only in Latin American markets in 1968. By then, Vegas had become the focus of his activities.

Esquivel also wrote for TV during and after his studio period. He composed theme songs and soundtracks for several TV series, including "The Bob Cummings Show," but his greatest legacy has been a huge library of incidental music written mostly for Universal Studios (under Stanley Wilson's leadership) that's been sampled on over 100 different series, from "McHale's Navy" to "Kojak." Generations of television viewers have heard Esquivel's most enduring piece of library music--the three-second bombastic fanfare that accompanies the Universal Studios emblem at the end of its productions.

He led the live band for 12 years, but by the end, his audience had begun to dwindle, and his indulgence in drink and drugs led to the end of his contract. His belongings, including many of his compositions, were hauled off when he fell in arrears on his rent. In 1979, he returned to Mexio and composed for a children's series called "Burbujas." An album of songs and instrumentals from the series sold more than a million copies.

Beginning with his interview in Incredibly Strange Music, Vol. 1 in 1993, Esquivel enjoyed a tremendous revival in the last decade of his life. Indeed, it could be argued that he was more famous after he was "rediscovered" than when he was at the height of his creativity. Several compilations of Esquivel's music were issued starting with Space Age Bachelor Pad Music in 1994. The apparent success of these releases led to reissues of several of Esquivel's albums. The first reissues were compiled by Irwin Chusid, who also produced the first CD reissues of Raymond Scott and The Langley Schools

The last recording on which Esquivel worked was Merry Xmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad in 1996, for which he did a voiceover on a track by the band Combustible Edison. This album also included several obscure tracks from his past sessions. The last CD released during his lifetime, See It In Sound, was actually recorded in 1960, but was not released at the time because the record company believed it would not be commercially successful. When released in 1998, it exhibited very unusual and introspective stylings absent from his other works, including a version of "Brazil", played as a musical soundscape of a man bar-hopping where the band plays different renditions of "Brazil" at each bar.

Confined to a wheelchair in the last years of his life and weakened by heavy hardcore partying during his time in Hollywood, Esquivel was still strong enough to marry what he claimed was his sixth wife in May, 2001. He died from the effects of a stroke on 3 January 2002. It's fitting that he lived to see the new century in, since his music was often well ahead of its time

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Other Worlds Other Sounds may be the best known Esquivel album because of its sensational jacket art portraying a red-caped woman prancing across a green planetary landscape. Its real significance is as the moment where Esquivel takes control of his production and develops his signature sound. The chorus (the Randy Van Horne Singers) begins the "zu zu zu" nonsense beloved by Esquivel fans, and the playfulness with stereophonic separation begins here. But the material is not his best. "Ballerina" and "Night and Day" are cheesy, while most of the album seem like slow song outtakes from To Love Again. It is a different mood, one that never really hits its stride until the closing track: the astounding arrangement of "It Had to Be You." This is the promise of the future.

Esquivel - Other Worlds Other Sounds   (flac  215mb)
 
01 Granada 4:10
02 Begin The Beguine 3:12
03 Night And Day 2:40
04 Poinciana 3:05
05 Playfully 2:57
06 Adios 3:08
07 That Old Black Magic 2:36
08 Nature Boy 2:42
09 Magic Is The Moonlight 2:37
10 Speak Low 2:42
11 Ballerina 3:04
12 It Had To Be You 3:10

Esquivel - Other Worlds Other Sounds (ogg  96mb)

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Exploring New Sounds in Stereo is the first of the typical Esquivel albums from which the CD compilations draw heavily. There is a lot to recommend it. "Whatchamacallit" is probably his second best-loved tune (released also as a single backed with the non-LP track, "I Feel Merely Marvelous"). The track features the ondioline, an electronic-organ-like instrument often associated with the theremin. And on Exploring New Sounds in Stereo, there is indeed theremin in Esquivel's spacy treatment of "Spellbound" (from the movie of the same name). Other highlights include the exotic "Bella Mora," the cheesy "My Number One Love," and "The 3rd Man Theme." The album also has slightly different arrangements than the monaural Exploring New Sounds in Hi-Fi.

   Esquivel - Exploring New Sounds In Hi-Fi ( flac  152mb)

01 My Blue Heaven 2:53
02 Bella Mora 2:25
03 Boulevard Of Broken Dreams 2:55
04 Lazy Bones 2:42
05 Spellbound 3:26
06 All Of Me 2:18
07 Watchamacallit 2:25
08 La Ronde 2:27
09 My Number One Love 2:53
10 The 3rd Man Theme 2:24

    (ogg   mb)

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Strings Aflame is one of the easier Esquivel records to find, no doubt because many people were turned off by the material. As with Four Corners of the World, Esquivel seems to be proving his chops (this time with arrangements of popular string pieces), rather than doing what he does best or what his fans want most. Nevertheless, it is a fine album, well worth having in stereo. "Turkish March," "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," "Gypsy Lament," "Guadalajara," and "Misirlou" all receive semi-exotic, unusual treatments. About four or so tunes feature the chorus's patented "zu zu zu" wordless vocal.

 Esquivel - Strings Aflame     (flac  215mb)

01 Guadalajara 2:36
02 Scheherazade 3:50
03 Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers 2:29
04 Andalusian Sky 2:41
05 Misirlou 3:08
06 Sun Valley Ski Run 2:14
07 Malagueña 3:12
08 Fantasy 3:13
09 Foolin' Around 2:45
10 Gypsy Lament 3:35
11 I Love Paris 3:17
12 Turkish March 3:05

Esquivel - Strings Aflame   (ogg 104mb)

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Traditionally the most sought after and highest valued Esquivel record, More of Other Sounds Other Worlds should be considered in context. First, it is not a sequel to the RCA record of three years earlier. The title only reflects Stanley Wilson's desire to record Esquivel since having heard the earlier LP. Second, the label switch is significant. Reprise, a division of Warner Bros., started out giving old masters a fresh shot (hence the name). While the dual 35mm film recording process is played up, it is more important that new people are involved after hi-fi and stereo have become old hat. (Another great, similar "Reprise" from this period is Les Baxter's return to exotica in The Primitive and the Passionate.) The album begins with "The Breeze and I (Andalucia)," a brassy bullfighting number. "Street Scene" and "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" belong to the bluesy urban crime jazz idiom. The rest of the album is typical of the style of Esquivel's later U.S. RCA work. While not his quirkiest or most sensational, it is among his best and most interesting.

 Esquivel - More of Other Worlds Other Sounds   (flac  187mb)

01 The Breeze And I (Andalucia) 2:38
02 Chant To The Night 2:35
03 Canadian Sunset 3:21
04 Street Scene 3:25
05 I Get A Kick Out Of You 2:38
06 Primavera 2:37
07 Street Of Dreams 2:13
08 La Mantilla 2:11
09 One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) 3:52
10 Dancing In The Dark 1:59
11 Snowfall 3:42
12 Travellin' 2:45

  (ogg  mb)

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The relative popularity of Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music led to a handful of additional reissues (even including a Christmas themed album. Cherry-picked from albums released by RCA between 1958 and 1967 and produced by longtime WFMU DJ and Songs in the Key of Z author Irwin Chusid (he also penned the disc’s informative notes), Space-Age’s 14 tracks stand tall not only through the bluntly oddball yet brilliantly controlled and grandly conceived nature of Esquivel’s creation, but also due to the shrewd, expert guidance of selection and sequencing.

It all opens with a truly zonked rendering of Les Brown’s big-band standard “Sentimental Journey” replete with low-register horn grumbling, dapper whistling, truly bent Hawaiian steel guitar, overblown explosions of brass, slinky and kooky vocalizing, abrupt yet non-dissonant clanks, and a complete abandonment of the standards of highbrow taste. Yes, this stuff is kitsch, but it’s built with such obvious care and delivered so deliriously that it overpowers any temptation to dismiss the music as shallow or trite.

And his original compositions display a warmly warped sensibility that matches his gift for twisted arranging, the two coming together exquisitely on “Whatchamacallit,” the cut strategically placed right at the end of side one. That tune made appearances on at least a dozen of my homemade mix-tapes (remember those?) from between ’94 and ’97, and if forced to explain the appeal of the whole exotica phenomenon through non-verbal or unwritten means it might just be the one song I’d pick for the exercise; everything I’d detail in words is there in spades.

It’s true that Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music is solidly on the “single man with a Hi-Fi” end of the exotica spectrum, with the “animal sounds and Tiki-torch ambiance” being more the specialty of one Martin Denny. And I’ll add that Bar/None didn’t screw the pooch by skimping on vinyl pressings of either this record or its follow-up, Music From a Sparkling Planet. Stereo separation is a big part of the equation with Esquivel’s work, as is a tweaked take on the lush large-band pop arranging (Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Neal Hefti) that was so commercially successful in the 1950s. So it’ll sound magnificent coming from the speakers of your deluxe system whilst hopefully snuggling with a special someone on that snazzy bearskin rug

 Esquivel! - Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music   (flac  224mb)
 
01 Ella Fue - She Was The One 3:41
02 En Orbita 4:54
03 Awake 5:22
04 Peanuts - The Peanut Vendor 4:55
05 Jubileo 6:28
06 Verao Vermelho 6:20
07 Steady - Fijo 2:47
08 Juan Pachanga 6:10

 Esquivel! - Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music (ogg  95 mb)

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RhoDeo 1838 Aetix

Hello,


Today's Artists  were from the South of the Netherlands, Nuenen, near Philips's researchlabs and headquarters (at the time) they were interested in repetitive structures, but their music was less harsh and mechanical, more fluid and danceable. Initially in 78 they sang in dutch and were called Nasmaak (after taste) They dropped the dutch and an a and so Nasmak came about. Their first record (on Plurex) Nasmak Plus Instruments/Instruments Plus Nasmak(1980), was hailed by John Peel as the best continental record of the year. ......N'Joy

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1980 in Nuenen Brabant  there's quite a lot of musical experimenting going on.  In a converted barn the members of the Nasmak band, founded in 1978 as Nasmaak, make music for hours every day.  The band was already present in 1979 on the collective LP Overdwars, from the Pop Music Foundation Netherlands and has already gained the necessary live experience, both at home and abroad.  Two things stand out: the concerts differ greatly from each other and the band knows how to surprise with the use of a squat box, played by singer Truus de Groot.  The squat box is a 'musical instrument', developed in the seventies by, among others, Michel Waisvisz from STEIM, the studio for electro-instrumental music from Amsterdam.  A wooden box with metal strips with which you can influence sound with the fingers.  The device is based on the concept that the human body, by its touch, becomes part of the electronics.

 Nasmak is in this period: Joop van Brakel (vocals / guitar), Henk Janssen (guitar), Toon Bressers (drums), Theo van Eenbergen (bass guitar) and Truus de Groot (vocals / squat box).  The band is full of creativity and the many hours in the rehearsal space lead in 1980 to the debut album Nasmak Plus Instruments / Instruments Plus Nasmak.  The album appears on Plurex and the production is in the hands of Plurex boss Wally van Middendorp.  The work on the first album side at times sound quite stubborn and original music.  New wave, but more daring than those of most contemporaries.  The voice of Truus de Groot is remarkably expressive.  The A-side of the record is still quite common, although it is soon clear that a band with a broad horizon is at work here.  On the B-side, the squat box pops up more prominently, which draws the music even further away from the mainstream and produces an idiosyncratic sound.  It is not rock, no punk, no synthesizer wave, it is Nasmak.

The debut album from Nasmak intrigues and convinces.  In OOR, Alfred Bos concludes that the record "strikes the new Siouxsie with a few lengths".  Partly thanks to the 'Instruments side' on which 'the band shows its most adventurous side'.  From England, there is even interest from BBC DJ John Peel who has found Nasmak Plus Instruments / Instruments Plus Nasmak the best record of the European mainland for ages.
 Cross the border

 With the well-known electro duo Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.) a tour is being undertaken by the Netherlands and Germany at the end of 1980. For the magazine Vinyl the band keeps a diary:

 "Only on the way to Berlin did I discover that Berlin was not on the border at all, half in West Germany and half in East Germany, but a few hundred kilometers in East Germany.  An important difference, which means that, in order to reach West Berlin, you have to cross twice an East German border crossing.  This means double checking by West German Customs and six times by the GDR Customs.  During the long wait at the border you have a view of the signs where the political creeds of the GDR stand.  Everything about Wohl des Volkes. "

 West Berlin itself evokes rather repulsion than excitement: "A big boastful cry against the omnipresent East Germany.  The largest concentration of junkies from West Germany, completely floating on foreign labor, for the eyes only focused on consumption. "

After the German tour Truus de Groot leaves for New York.  Under the name Plus Instruments, she collaborates with percussionist David Linton and guitarist Lee Ranaldo, who also performs with composer Glenn Branca and later with Sonic Youth will break through.  Truus de Groot in OOR: "I was so cheeky to go.  If you do not do it yourself, no one else will do it for you.  You just have to be brutal, otherwise you become a victim. "According to OOR, the New York - Eindhoven combination can be characterized as" DAF meets the B-52s ".  In the meantime Toon Bressers and Theo van Eenbergen have developed basic material for a second Nasmak-elpee.  Because it turns out that both Nasmak and Truus de Groot have taken interesting new paths, there is definitely a point behind the cooperation.

 Nasmak offers a look into their own kitchen through the double cassettes Indecent Exposure 1 & 2 (Music For Brass, Woodwinds, Drums & Violins) and Indecent Exposure 3 & 4 (The Smell Remains).  The tapes, which also come out on Plurex, are full of ideas, incitement, unconventional percussion and seem to be a sort of musical diary from Nasmak in the early 1980s.  The band can also be heard on the ep Vaseline Des Artistes, which is released on the leading Hamburg label ZickZack.

In the meantime, the band is also considering a possible agreement with the English Mute label from Daniel Miller.  Miller is looking for D.A.F. after the departure of his showpiece.  to Virgin a new continental band for his label.  Mute was founded in 1978 with the aim to offer a platform for innovative, electronic music.  Daniel Miller himself debuted as The Normal in October 1978 on Mute.  Not without merit, because the cold electro of Warm Leatherette / T.V.O.D.  turns out to be particularly influential later on.  After the call from Miller, Nasmak sends a cassette to England.  Show Bressers about this in Vinyl: "The strap contained only new material.  The repertoire for performances also consists exclusively of new material. "The search for a personal, fixed style is not something that Nasmak is interested in.  The band wants to keep changing.  Bressers studied political science for five years.  "I am glad that politics is not in our texts.  It is too limited and just like in music, we want to exclude limitation. "Ultimately, the collaboration with Mute does not get off the ground because Miller decides to put his energy into a new English synthesizer group.  A group that debuts on Mute in 1981 with the single Dreaming Of Me: Depeche Mode.
 4our Clicks

 Nasmak-4ourClicksAt the end of the year Nasmak starts with the recordings for a new album.  Joop van Brakel is responsible for most of the vocals.  The music develops in a different direction.  The band uses a synthesizer and emphasizes angular rhythm.  The new album, 4our Clicks, is released on Plurex in 1982 and is full of quirky and original music.  The contrarian rhythms, the creative vocal lines and the right synthesizer injections create a new kind of dance music.  Opener Pilot In Charge pops firmly with a driving bass line and cries that keep popping up the entire track.  The well-kept vocal line, in the style of David Sylvian and Brian Ferry, ensures a perfect balance.  The hypnotic I Hope I 'm Gonna Rain Today shows controlled guitar noises and on Take A Look it is not only the strong drum tempo but especially the combination bass / vocals that carries the song.

 Although somewhat transverse, monotonous and less accessible than the debut album, Nasmak delivers a great business card with 4our Clicks.  Despite the strong look of Nasmak on the stage, much attention has been paid to the design of the plate.  "Separate ideas could be realized by doing a lot yourself," Wally van Middendorp would later explain in the publication Hollandse Hoezen, from Poparchief Nederland.  Rob van Middendorp, graphic design student at the Rietveld Academy, designed the cover of 4our Clicks.  'It was a very laborious cover, with punching and blind printing.  Normally this is very expensive, but we had discovered that our record press CBS hardly charged any additional costs for such matters. "

 As far as the music on 4our Clicks is concerned, the band itself is not entirely positive, as is evident from the interview with Alfred Bos of OOR in 1982. Guitarist / singer Joop van Brakel lacks the hypnotic effect of live performances.  Nasmak is - and all band members agree - a live band.  The band does not want to repeat the album again and again because according to Joop van Brakel that is "sleep-inducing".  Then there is no longer any question of "a process".  It is therefore about the process and not about the product.  4our Clicks is actually only a snapshot.  A snapshot that, however, builds up a cult status over the years and is increasingly seen as a Dutch post-punk classic.

 Nasmak is very active at the release front in 1982 because next to 4our Clicks the band releases the third cassette album: Only This Day & 77 Others.  "Music, you are in love with that," Toon Bressers said in OOR.  "Nasmak has that infatuation, which you also encounter at Wire of Birthday Party." Other groups that Nasmak associates with are This Heat and T.C.  Matic, the latter mainly because of the open image to the public.  Later in 1982, Nasmak released the 12 inch Heartache Blowup with on the A-side the straight lines for Nasmak-concepts, a number that matches the new sound on the alternative dance floors of 1982. With this number Nasmak is definitely pioneering in the Netherlands  .

After a period of reflection, which, to the dissatisfaction of the band members, does not give any ideas but friction, the work drive returns in January 1983.  In the end, Nasmak quickly arrived with the successor of 4our Clicks: Duel.  Without Joop van Brakel, incidentally - who still worked on the record - and with newcomer Milco Bogard.

 When the test press of the new Nasmak album is finished, Vinyl moves at home with the band.  According to Toon Bressers this time the melody has been discussed more.  Furthermore, Henk Janssen indicates to be influenced by the Japanese spheres that in recent pop music have been crawled by bands such as Japan.  The Roland synthesizer that the band has recently acquired plays a useful role in all of this.

 "Performance has an immediate result," says Toon Bressers, "together you stand at the same time to create a work of art without being able to manipulate.  And if you realize that you play for people who want a night out, then you try to do a performance as well as possible. "Duel's test-press is still on the table during the interview.  Toon picks him up and says: "Actually, this is a bit of mustard after the meal, eh."

 Duel sounds somewhat more atmospheric and opener than 4our Clicks but does not strike surprising new roads.  The familiar angular and repetitive rhythm also dominates on Duel.  Because of the detail in the drum parts, the subtle noise and the small sounds that are present everywhere, Duel sounds a bit more exotic, more 'out of the stranger'.

 Nasmak-SilhouetteIllustration of Nasmak's regained working desire is that in 1983 another new album appears: Silhouette.  Again put in a nice cover, like 4our Clicks and Duel, but with a different sound.  Nasmak works less with repetition and more with song structures.  In addition, a synthesizer has been added to the instrument arsenal and background vocalists have also been used.  This, with a few exceptions, like the title track, is not always convincing.  However, the record can count on more interest from the companies.  However, this has never been the goal of Nasmak and the band members do not accept the new interest.  In fact, it is decided that it has been nice.  Toon Bressers later on KindaMuzik: "The argument internally was always:" we want to continuously create something new ".  Duel did not add much to the oeuvre of the band in 1983, despite some good songs. The changes in course on Silhouette did not provide sufficient leads either.  Nasmak undertakes a final, fifth, club tour in 1984 and in May of that year the curtain is final.



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Debut LP from a New Wave formation from Nuenen with "two interspersed plate sides." On the first, the classical guitar bass drums concept serves as a starting point, while the back mainly plays experiments with sound, with a striking role for the squat box.  The LP, which sounds like a crazy variation on The B-52s, is welcomed by a large number of insiders, and the authoritative English disc jockey John Peel even calls it the best album from the continent in years and is so enthusiastic that Nasmak is the first  Dutch band doing a John Peel session in London. "

 Nasmak - Nasmak Plus Iinstruments (flac  337mb)

01 (Song To A) Dummy 3:57
02 Notions 2:29
03 Food For Thought 2:22
04 Stratego 3:10
05 Neckermann 2:59
06 Pig Problems 3:13
07 Eyes 4:42
08 So 2:26
09 Big Man (The Soundtrack) 3:16
10 Spy 1:01
11 Special Agreement 3:46
12 Heartbeat 2:48
13 Eleven 2:46
Bonus split EP
14 Bo Dance 5L27
15 Vaseline Des Artistes (Oh, Up My Asstronomical Bankaccount) 3:21
16 Special (by –+ Instruments) 5:25
17 Things (by –+ Instruments) 3:16

Nasmak - Nasmak Plus Iinstruments     (ogg  136mb)

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Nasmak was a rhythmic bomb that did what nobody had done until then in the Netherlands.  A bit like TC Matic hit in Belgium or Gang of Four in Brittain, so knew 'Olland Nasmak. Pilot in Charge is incredibly strong and should return to every Wave Compilation!  And the song Nosedive should be shown next to the best of Remain in Light.

Very typical of the high-energy eclectism of NYC at this time. Truus de Groot is the leader Plus Instruments,and at the occasion of a trip to NYC, she was looking fro some people to work with. Two buddies came by, and it was Lee Ranaldo and David Linton. Here, in this context, we would find a Lee Ranaldo playing the guitar in a much more minimal punk way than the crazy carillon-like way he would develeopp with Sonic Youth, and also something that would become very rare with Sonic Youth, we can here him sing & shout on some of the best tracks of this short LP. In a really excellent way i assume ! All this music is fantastic minimal no-wave-electro-punk-shit with metronomic synth patterns, nasty guitars and motoric rythms. This David Linton is amazingly great here, just as a human beatbox with this crazy groove he had

Nasmak - 4our Clicks + Plus Iinstruments    (flac  379mb)
 
01 Pilot In Charge 2:49
02 Waiting Room 4:30
03 I Hope I Am Gonna Rain Today 4:03
04 Nothing But The Lyrics 3:29
05 Sade M De 3:21
06 Origins And Whereabouts 2:06
07 No Touch And Go 4:35
08 Take A Look 2:47
09 Not Your Living Doll 3:12
10 Nosedive 4:08
11 4our Clicks 0:17
Bonus Plus Instruments

12 Big Man 6:02
13 Things 3:19
14 Freundschaft 3:19
15 Rush Hour 3:28
16 Cannot 3:40
17 Vom Ertrunkenen Mädchen 3:34
18 Between The Wars 5:13
19 Manhattan 4:19



Nasmak - 4our Clicks + Plus Iinstruments     (ogg  149mb)

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By 1983, the new-wave era was practically over, yet some bands persisted with the ideal, like the Netherlands' Nasmak. Duel contained industrial cold-funk with lite oriental touches ("Plaster", "Me Rex") that recalled the Talking Heads, as well as the neo-ethnic of Japan. The most striking moment from the first-side was "Matter", based on an evolving electronic loop, minimal drums/ bass accompaniment and anthemic vocals. The result was once again reminiscent of the Talking Heads (echoes of "Once In A Lifetime").

The second side started unassumingly with the robotic-funk of "Duel With Unequal Arms", but soon things got more ambitious with the tormented minimal electro-ethnic "Sunk In Sight Of The Harbour" and the minor coldwave classic "Pride Of Soul". Again, the most striking comes at the end with "Mutal Repulsion", that arranges the instruments in such a way so that it juxtaposes them to present a riddle of an alien environment.

Nasmak - Duel (flac  201mb)

01 Plaster 3:45
02 Me Rex 4:32
03 Matter 4:56
04 This Spot 5:21
05 Duel With Unequal Arms 3:24
06 Sunk In Sight Of The Harbour 5:09
07 Pride Of Soul 3:26
08 Mutual Repulsion 3:38

Nasmak - Duel  (ogg   76mb)

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Things finally came to ahead for Nasmak’s fourth, “proper” album. Cutting loose of the members who wanted to still go down the overtly experimental end of the musical spectrum, the remaining trio tried to explore concise Pop music. For a crew that always prided itself on sounding entirely different on each album, this new and (what would in turn be) final change was unique. On Silhouette, very overt influences heard in the tonality of Japanese synth instruments and in the scales of Eastern music had started to infiltrate their creative space. Deliberately more airy and open, less dense and claustrophobic, all of the songs created by this smaller crew appeared to actually tread a wonderful new kind of minimal wave.

At times when you hear songs like “Crystal Clear” one can’t not but try to make fanciful connections. What would Japan had sounded if they tried to introduce some of that wayward Italian minimalism? Even they wouldn’t have sought to take attention away from David Sylvian’s voice with female backup vocals — but should they have tried it? That song makes its statement that there were other, alternate angles yet to be explored. The opener “Visions” somehow meets New Order at their own game, in the same year of our Lord, to comprehend the higher fun quotient in upping the “dance” of dance-punk. “Air” likewise inches gorgeous Eastern ambient pop into a harder edge that only a wayward group like Nasmak could introduce. “Believe In Woman” treads a glorious Balearic line, in a wonderfully cutting way. Imagine “Electric Avenue” laced with Interior’s heady New Age Pop, intercut with some ingenious lyricism. They had come a long way in just 6 years and after the promotour in 84 it was all over for Nasmak.

Nasmak - Silhouette (flac  216mb)

01 Visions 3:36
02 Walk Away 3:41
03 Air 4:38
04 Disturbance 3:53
05 Silhouette 3:59
06 Crystal Clear 3:46
07 Don't Be Anxious 4:08
08 Below 3:44
09 Believe In Woman 4:16
10 Womb 3:45

 Nasmak - Silhouette   (ogg   86mb)

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"This CD offers a remixed version of their second [...] album, '4our Clicks', originally released on Dutch independent Plurex in February 1982. Dissatisfied with the original mix (in which half of the recorded multi-tracks were lost), this updated version reveals '4our Clicks' as it was intended." Re-mixed by Henk Jansssen at The Tango Studio, 1988, The Netherlands

In 1988 the CD was released from this album on Eksakt Records, with 14 songs on it: First dishhunt, Roger bill iceberg and The smell remains no.1 have been added.  The songs sound quite different, in the CD-booklet it is explained that, in 1982, "half of the recording tracks were lost", and that they are now added again.  It now sounds like "as it was intended". Just before the album was released, the Exakt label ceased to exist.  The first edition of the cd was pressed, but  didn't reach the stores, nobody knows where the first print run came in. No coordinated release then it dripped into the stores in years to come. A pity, 4 our clicks remixed deserved much better.

Nasmak - 4our Clicks Remix   (flac  286mb)

01 Pilot In Charge 3:51
02 Waiting Room 5:15
03 First Dishhunt 3:26
04 I Hope I'm Gonna Rain Today 4:15
05 Nothing But The Lyrics 3:19
06 Sade, M De 3:27
07 Origins And Whereabouts 2:06
08 Roger, Bill Iceberg 6:15
09 No Touch And Go 4:28
10 Take A Look 2:56
11 Not Your Living Doll 3:22
12 Nodedive 3:37
13 The Smell Remains No. 1 1:57

Nasmak - 4our Clicks Remix (ogg  111mb)

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RhoDeo 1838 Ixtlan 6

Hello,


Essential reading for any deep thinker and open-minded person who has experienced "non-ordinary realities.".

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Journey to Ixtlan is the third book by Carlos Castaneda. The title of this book is taken from an allegory that is recounted to Castaneda by his "benefactor" who is known to Carlos as Don Genaro ( Genaro Flores ), a close friend of his teacher don Juan Matus. "Ixtlan" turns out to be a metaphorical hometown ( or Place / Position of Being ) to which the "sorcerer" or warrior or man of knowledge is drawn to return, trying to get home. After the work of "stopping", his changed perspective leaves him little in common with ordinary people, who now seem no more substantial to him than "phantoms." The point of the story is that a man of knowledge, or sorcerer, is a changed being, or a Human closer to his true state of Being, and for that reason he can never truly go "home" to his old lifestyle again.

In Journey to Ixtlan Castaneda essentially reevaluates the teachings up to that point. He discusses information that was apparently missing from the first two books regarding stopping the world which previously he had only regarded as a metaphor. He also finds that psychotropic plants, knowledge of which was a significant part of his apprenticeship to Yaqui shaman don Juan Matus, are not as important in the world view as he had previously thought. In the introduction he writes:

    My basic assumption in both books has been that the articulation points in learning to be a sorcerer were the states of nonordinary reality produced by the ingestion of psychotropic plants...    My perception of the world through the effects of those psychotropics had been so bizarre and impressive that I was forced to assume that such states were the only avenue to communicating and learning what Don Juan was attempting to teach me.

    That assumption was erroneous.

In the book don Juan takes Carlos on these various degrees of apprenticeship, in response to what he believes are signals from the phenomenological world, "The decision as to who can be a warrior and who can only be a hunter is not up to us. That decision is in the realm of the powers that guide men."

The book shows a progression between different states of learning, from hunter, to warrior, to man of knowledge or sorcerer, the difference said to be one of skill level and the type of thing hunted, "...a warrior is an impeccable hunter that hunts power. If he succeeds in his hunting he becomes a man of knowledge."

Throughout the book Castaneda portrays himself as skeptical and reserved in his explanations of the phenomena at hand, but by the end of the book Castaneda's rationalist worldview is seen to be breaking down in the face of an onslaught of experiences that he is unable to explain logically...... N Joy

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"Anything is one of a million paths. Therefore you must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life. Only then will you know that any path is only a path and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you to do. But your decision to keep on the path or to leave it must be free of fear or ambition. Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him. At that point very few men can stop to deliberate, and leave the path. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it."




Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan 6 (mp3  80mb)

14 - Journey to Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan 61:00
15 - Journey to Ixtlan The Lessons of Don Juan 45:30

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previously

Carlos Castaneda - The Teachings of Don Juan 1 (mp3  46mb)
Carlos Castaneda - The Teachings of Don Juan 2 (mp3  55mb)
Carlos Castaneda - The Teachings of Don Juan 3 (mp3  55mb)


Carlos Castaneda - A Separate Reality 1 (mp3  42mb)
Carlos Castaneda - A Separate Reality 2 (mp3  57mb)
Carlos Castaneda - A Separate Reality 3 (mp3  40mb)

Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan (mp3  58mb)
Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan 2 (mp3  59mb)
Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan 3 (mp3  51mb)
Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan 4 (mp3  58mb)
Carlos Castaneda - Journey To Ixtlan 5 (mp3  62mb)

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RhoDeo 1838 Re-Ups 156

Hello,


11 correct requests for this week and three not so comprehensive readers, it seems to be to much of an ask for some here, whatever another batch of 36 re-ups (10. gig)

These days i'm making an effort to re-up, it will satisfy a smaller 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 either.

Looka here , requests fulfilled up to September 23th... N'Joy

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3x Roots Back in Flac (Alpha & Omega ‎- Dub Magic, Alpha & Omega - Mystical Things, Alpha & Omega - Serious Joke)


3x Aetix Back In Flac (The Gun Club - Fire of Lover, The Gun Club - Miami, The Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story)


3x Aetix Back in Flac (Throwing Muses - Throwing Muses, Throwing Muses - House Tornado,  Throwing Muses - Hunkpapa)


3x Aetix Back In Flac (Martha and The Muffins - Metro +,  Martha And The Muffins - The Ice Age, Martha And The Muffins - Danseparc )


4x Sundaze Back in Flac (Virginia Astley - From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, Virginia Astley - Hope In A Darkened Heart,  Virginia Astley - All Shall Be Well , Virginia Astley - Had I The Heavens)


2x Sundaze Back In Flac ( Reload - A Collection Of Short Stories, Global Communcation - 76:14)


2x Sundaze Back in Flac (Gas - Königsforst, Gas - Pop )


3x Aetix Back in Flac (John Foxx - Metamatic bonus, John Foxx - The Garden bonus, John Foxx - The Golden Section Bonus )


3x Sundaze NOW in Flac (Orb - Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld I+II, Orb - Orbus Terrarum, Orb - Okie Dokie, The Orb On Kompakt)


4x Sundaze Back in Flac (Ash Ra Tempel - Ash Ra Tempel, AshRa Temple - Schwingungen, Ash Ra Tempel - Seven Up, Ashra Temple - Join In)



5x Sundaze Back in Flac   (Tuu - One Thousand Years, Tuu - All Our Ancestors, Tuu - Invocation-Archive, Tuu - Mesh, Tuu and Nick Parkin - Terma)



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Sundaze 1838

Hello, as we'll stay longer around Bristol here at Sundaze a word on the city....

Bristol's modern economy is built on the creative media, electronics and aerospace industries, and the city-centre docks have been redeveloped as centres of heritage and culture. The city has the largest circulating community currency in the U.K.—the Bristol pound, which is pegged to the Pound sterling. The city has two universities, the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England, and a variety of artistic and sporting organisations and venues. One of the UK's most popular tourist destinations, Bristol was selected in 2009 as one of the world's top ten cities by international travel publishers Dorling Kindersley in their Eyewitness series of travel guides. The Sunday Times named it as the best city in Britain in which to live in 2014 and 2017, and Bristol also won the EU's European Green Capital Award in 2015.

The music scene is thriving and significant. In 2010, PRS for Music announced that Bristol is the 'most musical' city in the UK, based on the number of PRS members born in Bristol relative to its population. From the late 1970s onwards it was home to a crop of cultish bands combining punk, funk, dub and political consciousness, including The Pop Group, close friends of The Cortinas, who led the City's punk scene from 1976. Bristol's premier fanzine from this time through until early 1978 was Loaded. It featured all of the Bristol bands as well as those who visited the city, some of whom were promoted by the magazine.

Bristol is home to many live music venues including the 2000-seat Colston Hall, named after Colston Street and the Colston School that once occupied the site, which can attract big names, the Trinity Centre (a community-run converted Church in the Old Market area of Bristol), the O2 Academy which is part of the national touring circuit for rock bands, the Anson Rooms (part of the University of Bristol Union), the Mothers Ruin, The Thekla, Fiddler's, the Bristol Folk House, Start the Bus, the Hatchet, the Fleece, the Croft, the Cooler and the Louisiana. Plenty to go on...


Today's Artists  are an English post-rock band. They formed in Bristol, England in 1994. Core members are Kate Wright and Rachel Brook (now Rachel Coe). Brook was also a member of Flying Saucer Attack during the first few years of the band's existence, and Wright is also currently the bass player for Crescent. Other musicians have included Matt and Sam Jones (both of Crescent), Matt Elliott (The Third Eye Foundation), Chris Cole, Florence Lovegrove, Ros Walford and Clare Ring.  .....N'Joy

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Formed in Bristol, England in 1994, Movietone displayed its quiet, sensual songs on a number of releases in the mid '90s for the Planet, Domino, and Drag City labels. Band members Florence Lovegrove, Matt Elliott, Rachel Brook, Kate Wright, and Matt Jones issued two 7"s with Planet before their self-titled full-length debut came out in 1996 -- two more 7's would follow before their Drag City debut, Day and Night, in 1997. The band then went on a three-year hiatus before producing their next full-length, The Blossom Filled Streets, in the summer of 2000. Like their previous releases, The Blossom Filled Streets is gentle and complex, with a light touch that shows how much the band has grown.

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The first Movietone album came out at the height of hype and attention for Flying Saucer Attack, but what's intriguing is how clearly Rachel Brook and her compatriots readily found their own particular approach rather than simply being an extension of said band. If not yet fully achieving the stripped-down, delicate synthesis later records demonstrated, Movietone is still well on its way, as "3AM Walking Smoking Talking," with its blend of buried drums, spoken words, soft guitar, and droning clarinet shows. Acoustic arrangements take the lead more than once, and if the effect is more fragile than late-night moody as Day & Night would show, songs like "Late July" still make for an entrancing listen. "Darkness-Blue Glow," with Matt Wright's dramatic but not overly so piano parts and a hushed, reflective atmosphere is especially wonderful, easily the album's high point. Lead singer/guitarist Kate Wright has an understated voice, sometimes very hard to catch in softer moments (on "Green Ray," Florence Lovegrove's viola eventually completely obscures it). It's not the expected gentle cooing from earlier shoegaze groups, though, but more of a restrained calm à la Moe Tucker or a deeper Alison Statton. More than once, the noise kicks in -- "Orange Zero" starts out as a quiet, folkish chime before suddenly erupting into an orgy of feedback squalling, a pattern that repeats itself for the rest of the song. "Chance Is Her Opera," meanwhile, betrays a definite Spacemen 3 influence in its steady, obsessive pace, strung-out guitar, and rough but effective drums the background. The experimental home-recording roots become readily apparent more than once, whether it's the stop-start taping of the half-spoken vocal on "Heatwave Pavement" or the clattering glass and crashes on "Mono Valley," another unsettled high point and a good showcase for all the bandmembers.

Movietone - Movietone (flac  307mb)

01 Chance Is Her Opera 4:53
02 Heatwave Pavement 3:47
03 Green Ray 1:53
04 Orange Zero 4:53
05 Late July 3:35
06 Darkness-Blue Glow 5:15
07 Mono Valley 5:05
08 Coastal Lagoon 2:03
09 Alkaline Eye 5:15
10 3AM Walking Smoking Talking 3:37
11 Three Fires 1:04
bonus
12 She Smiled Mandarine Like 2:29
13 Under The 3000ft Red Ceiling 3:14
14 Orange Zero (Single) 4:52
15 Chance Is Her Opera (Demo) 4:03

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Movietone's second full album found the band specifically set on low-key performances throughout; no sudden shifts to crushing volume here, more a continued, extended dream of darkly attractive (but not dour) full-band mood-outs. Unlike, say, Mazzy Star or Low, Movietone's interpretation of smoky post-psychedelic jams relies on a definite briskness offset by Kate Wright's cool vocals, softly husked but not drowsy, combined with subtle arrangements, tweaks, and experiments to add variety. Whether it's the sudden appearance of piano leads on the opening "Sun Drawing" or the snaky cool of the rhythm on "Night of the Acacias," calling to mind a moody '60s spy movie sequence, often the simplest addition transforms each song into more than the sum of its parts. Rachel Brook's clarinet work is often the secret touch that lends the songs a little something extra or unexpected, as counterbalance to the low-feedback hyperactivity shown on "Useless Landscape." The arrangements are sometimes as stripped down as possible -- nothing but guitar, bass, and piano appears on "Noche Marina," one of the most intensely beautiful moments on a lovely album. Electricity isn't needed to carry the flow of Day & Night or a song's individual power; a buried cymbal fill or two aside, "Blank Like Snow" consists of nothing but Kate Wright and acoustic guitar, her obsessive focus suggesting a more deliberate Nick Drake circa Pink Moon. Slow solo piano, meanwhile, stands front and center on "Summer," with viola-produced drones and Matt Jones' subtle, barely there percussion creating a most unseasonal chill before a sudden uplift of gentle activity reminiscent of Talk Talk's late-period bursts takes the fore. The longest track on Day & Night concludes it, with "The Crystallization of Salt at Night" finding all the members adding just about everything (including Jones on prepared piano) to create an involving ending for a striking, unique album.
.

Movietone - Day And Night  (flac 182mb)

01 Sun Drawing 3:57
02 Blank Like Snow 2:40
03 Useless Landscape 5:01
04 Summer 7:14
05 Night Of The Acacias 5:45
06 Noche Marina 4:47
07 The Crystallisation Of Salt At Night 9:47

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Introspective, delicate, and atmospheric, the music of Movietone envelops the listener like a warm bath. Vocalist Kate Wright's poetic lyrics offer up vignettes that twist themselves inextricably amongst the layers of sound, surfacing occasionally to bloom in honey tones. The richness of the band's composition and instrumentation make this music almost impossible to categorize. They use strings and prepared piano like art rock auteurs, cruise sonic landscapes like Bluetile Lounge or Galaxie 500, and the ends of their songs often tumble into extended improvisations that rival free jazz. It may be overly simplistic to say that a band called Movietone makes music that sounds like the soundtrack to melancholy film scenes under gaslight and stars, but they do make that music, and its filmic richness makes this album a most unique treat.

Movietone - The Blossom Filled Streets    (flac 178mb)

01 Hydra 4:56
02 Star Ruby 2:06
03 1930's Beach House 6:10
04 Year Ending 6:35
05 The Blossom Filled Streets 4:11
06 Porthcurno 4:46
07 Seagulls / Bass 1:53
08 In A Marine Light 5:40
09 Night In These Rooms 4:13

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The Sand and the Stars, the fourth full-length release by Bristol's Movietone, is literally a musical journey, taking the players from the beach to the city and finally ending up "on a coast path, illuminated by a lighthouse." Movietone continue with their intensely delicate music, but this time around the shimmering music seems to be more intimate, more organic, and closer to the listener in sonic space than the atmospherics of Day & Night and Blossom Filled Streets -- elements that may be due to the locations of recording. The production by Matt Jones is a bit more aggressive than Movietone's other works, but still captures that heart-wrenching quality of Movietone through the instrumentation and wonderful vocal work. Melancholy like all of their records, Kate Wright's wonderful vocals haunt against the acoustic instruments playing off one another. A communal, dark campfire vibe shines through on "Pale Tracks," where Sam Jones, Matt Jones, Kate Wright, and Rachel Coe all have vocal duties and sing with the swirling nature of the music. "We Rode On" and "Snow Is Falling" are Movietone at their best, using various instruments like clarinet, cello, banjo, bass saxophone, trumpet, double bass, drums, and guitar set against wave samples in the background, creating a chilling environment. "Near Marconi's Hut" rounds out the record, leaving the listener with a sadness that The Sand and the Stars is over and a longing for more from Movietone. The Sand and the Stars is another wonderful release from Movietone, keeping you in the imagery of a movie you saw a long time ago or a dream that you cannot shake from your memory.

Movietone - The Sand And The Stars (flac  188mb)

01 The Sand And The Stars 2:44
02 Ocean Song 5:03
03 In Mexico 5:01
04 Pale Tracks 4:06
05 Let Night In 3:52
06 We Rode On 3:49
07 Snow Is Falling 4:25
08 Not Even Close 1:48
09 Red Earth 4:08
10 Beach Samba 2:57
11 Near Marconi's Hut 1:25

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RhoDeo 1837 Grooves

Hello,



There are DJs and then there are selectors -- individuals whose ability to choose what records people want to hear overtakes the need for turntable skills. Just having the stamp of approval on a record is enough to qualify it as good. Often, these gifted ears find their way onto the radio, and in time get digitized.  ....N'Joy

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In what has so far been a fairly dependable series of hand-picked artists by Artists compilations, the Abstract Funk Theory baton is passed onto brothers Simon and Robin Lee who collectively make up the production unit Faze Action. True to the music that rolls out of their studio, laced with strings, afro-disco accents and soulful composition, this selection reveals directly the source of inspiration. Hence the emphasis like their own music revolves heavily around pristine productions from yesteryear, a connoisseurs range of classics, oddities and hidden treasures. Staking his 11-minute claim on the album Herb Geller is given right of way for "Sudden Senility", a sweeping vocal jazz odyssey of tight drum break, clean electric guitar, peppered horns, dashes of electronics and obligatory strings. Backing up Gellers sheer excellence is also the Beach Boys-layered "God Only Knows", another slice of production genius that needs no explanation. On top of those Pat Metheny, Azymuth, Johnny Hammond and Talking Heads are all saluted, with lesser known but equally stealthlike productions from Brain Bennett's "Solstice" and James Vincent's "Space Traveler" adding the cosmic groove rhetoric from 30 years ago. In all, this is a watertight compilation that answers the brief unanimously, unashamedly revealing the roots of their two own albums Plans and Designs and Moving Cities. This is a well put together album with a definite structure to it. The tracks are both exciting and full of talent at the same time, which results in a very splendid voyage into cosmic funk.

 VA - Abstract Funk Theory ~ Faze Action   (flac  322mb)

01 Space - Carry on, Turn Me On 8:21
02 Richard Evans - Burning Spear 5:50
03 James Vincent - Space Traveler 3:28
04 Brian Bennett - Solstice 6:21
05 Mandré - Light Years (Opus IV) 7:15
06 Creative Source - Let Me in Your Life 3:06
07 Azymuth - Dear Limmertz 4:20
08 Electric City - What's Up 3:33
09 The Undisputed Truth - Sandman 4:17
10 Johnny "Hammond" Smith - Star Borne 8:06
11 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows 2:49

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US production don Kevin Yost has made a name for himself by creating consistently beautiful and textured jazz-influenced house music. Here he takes the Abstract Funk Theory baton, presenting a more in-depth look at the music he loves to play and to make. To get a good measure of Yost's talents, there are four solo tracks on this compilation that underline his quest for diversity and his uncanny knack of producing a range of sounds and styles. Not many would be capable of making the exuberant jazz-Latino chugger "Hypnotic Progressions Part 4", the potent builder "Tease", the darker, experimental "Where Was We" and the lush, vibes-fuelled finale track "Fusion Fetish" all quite so well. Around and in-between these solo efforts are numerous other erudite flavours from friends/guests such as STP ("Busy People"), Big Sexy ("Close to My Skin") and Peter Funk ("Do You Believe in Me?", "Cotton Candy Funk", "Joy and Pain"). There are also several collaborations between Yost and these producers, which help to make this an enjoyable and colourful romp while adding another feather in an already furry Obsessive cap.

VA - Abstract Funk Theory ~  Kevin Yost   (flac  475mb)

01 Peter Funk - Do You Believe In Me? (Original Mix) 5:24
02 STP - Things Unsaid 5:52
03 Kevin Yost - Hypnotic Progressions (Part 4) 4:41
04 Peter Funk - Cotton Candy Funk 6:14
05 Peter Funk - Joy & Pain 5:08
06 Kevin Yost - Tease 4:58
07 Big Sexy - Close To My Skin 6:54
08 STP - Busy People 7:01
09 Kevin Yost - Where Were We 5:46
10 STP - An American In Paris 6:02
11 Big Sexy - Another World (Passport Remix) 6:19
12 Big Sexy - Just Like Me 4:11
13 Kevin Yost - Fusion Fetish 5:01

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The Lo-Fidelity All Stars contribution to the Abstract Funk Theory series is a great mix of true old school soul sounds, funky house beats and remixed British rhythms. Like their On The Floor At The Boutique mix disc from 2000, The Lo Fi Allstars’ AFT collection explores the diverse origins of their acid techno-rock. Similarly eclectic bands feature here, with alternative country chamber pop from Lambchop and neo-psychedelic indie from Mercury Rev snuggling up alongside the smooth urban soul of Bill Withers, funky hip hop from New Flesh, Balearic beats from AJ Scent and Detroit techno from Derrick May’s Rhythim Is Rhythim, all topped off with Al Wilson’s classic Northern Soul floor-filler, “The Snake”.The Emotion's "Blind Alley" is the finest cut, and a reminder of why the Hutchinson sisters were the best "girl band" of their day. Over a slinky Stax-style horn section, their three part harmonies are tremendous. This is a much rawer song than their later Maurice White produced work, but those glorious vocals ring through. The Lo-Fidelty's own "On The Pier" is also included, with its brilliant use of a sample from Joe Tex's "Oh Me Oh My" - it blends well with the 60's and 70's soul classics included on this mix.

VA - Abstract Funk Theory ~ Lo Fidelity Allstars (flac  415mb)

01 Mercury Rev - Holes 5:15
02 Bill Withers - Grandma's Hands (Live) 2:52
03 Lo-Fidelity Allstars - Zipp - Just Gone 5:12
04 New Flesh - Mack Facts 4:53
05 Capt. Funkaho - Bootay 1:57
06 Kid Acne - Ghosts With Teeth 2:53
07 The Jimmy Castor Bunch - Troglodyte (Caveman) 2:48
08 The Charlatans - You're So Pretty (Lo-Fi's Remix) 6:05
09 A-J-Scent - Eat Your Heart 4:25
10 Marlo - Wait Until The Morning 5:49
11 Lambchop - Up With People 5:24
12 Al Wilson - The Snake 3:30
13 The Emotions - Blind Alley 3:02
14 Lo-Fidelity Allstars - On The Pier (Ropeman Mix) 3:40
15 Rhythim Is Rhythim - Kao-tic Harmony 6:27

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RhoDeo 1837 Roots

Hello, today's artist was born in the wrong body, which seeems all the rage these days, but drinking and smoking cigars like a man (and then some) last century in Mexico, for a woman, must have caused bouts of depression, well despite this life on the edge she made it to 93, a strong woman indeed, and i strongly advice you to download the wonderful 2017 documentairy made about her life with english subtitles Chavela (mkv  793mb)


Today's artist is a Costa Rican-born Mexican singer. She was especially known for her rendition of Mexican rancheras, but she is also recognized for her contribution to other genres of popular Latin American music. Chavela Vargas has left, and left behind 93 years of intense life, of life in freedom.  The great lady of ranchera music had a very turbulent existence: wild parties, alcoholism, sexual preferences that brought her not a few problems in her youth and some serious illnesses that failed, however, to undermine a musical career full of successes. Chavela earned the respect of the public singing above any excess.  The affection was obtained simply with his way of being: speechless, funny, rebellious and passionate, until his last breath.She has been an influential interpreter in the Americas and Europe, muse to figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, hailed for her haunting performances, and called "la voz áspera de la ternura", the rough voice of tenderness. The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, presented her with a Latin Grammy Statuette in 2007 after receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of that organization. . .....N'Joy

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She was born in Costa Rica, in San Joaquín de Flores, as Isabel Vargas Lizano, daughter of Francisco Vargas and Herminia Lizano. She was baptized on 15 July 1919 with the forenames "María Isabel Anita Carmen de Jesús." She had a difficult childhood: her parents divorced and left her under the care of an uncle, and she contracted poliomyelitis. She went by Chavela, which is a pet name for Isabel. At age 17, she abandoned her native country due to lack of opportunities for a musical career, seeking refuge in Mexico, where an entertainment industry was burgeoning. There she resided for almost eight decades and obtained Mexican nationality.

For many years she sang on the streets, but in her thirties she became a professional singer,  In her youth, she dressed as a man, smoked cigars, drank heavily, carried a gun, and was known for her characteristic red jorongo, which she donned in performances until old. Vargas sang the canción ranchera, which she performed in her own peculiar style. The typical ranchera, as represented by José Alfredo Jiménez, was a masculine but emotional song about love and its mishaps, usually mediated by alcohol, since in a macho culture, the display of feelings by men is allowed only to the drunk. The ranchera is sung from a man's perspective and with a mariachi accompaniment. Chavela sang this type of song as a solo, using only guitar and voice, evoking the singing style of a drunk man. She often slowed down the tempo of melodies to draw more dramatic tension out of songs, so they could be taken as naughtily humorous.

Romance with Frida Kahlo.  In the 1940s, she made friends with Mexican culture characters such as José Alfredo, Pedro Infante, Agustín Lara, Jorge Negrete, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who for a time hosted her at home.  With Kahlo she shared a great friendship, and it is rumored that they also maintained a romance.  The painter mentioned Vargas in a letter whose authenticity has been discussed a lot.  It was addressed to the poet Carlos Pellicer and said: "Today I met Chavela Vargas, extraordinary, lesbian, it seemed more erotic to me, I do not know if she felt what I did, but I think she is a woman who is liberal enough,  ask, I would not hesitate a second to undress before her ... She, I repeat, is erotic, maybe it's a gift that heaven sends me Frida K

Towards the end of the 1950s, she became known within artistic circles, due in part to her performances in Acapulco, center of international tourism, where she sang at the Champagne Room of the restaurant La Perla. Her first album, Noche de Bohemia (Bohemian Night), was released in 1961 with the professional support of José Alfredo Jiménez, one of the foremost singer/songwriters of Mexican ranchera music. She eventually recorded more than 80 albums. Vargas was hugely successful during the 1950s, the 1960s, and the first half of the 1970s, touring in Mexico, the United States, France, and Spain and was close to many prominent artists and intellectuals of the time, including Juan Rulfo, Agustín Lara, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Dolores Olmedo and José Alfredo Jiménez.

Success raised her to stages all over the world, but she also lived two decades immersed in an alcoholism that almost killed her.  Between 1970 and 1990. "When I was drunk I never did anything bad, I just fell down in all the holes I found and with everything and car I fell ... I was disgraced, I got drunk 25 years, I did not lose them, I lived them in the canteen  and I had a lot of fun, "she said, presuming that in all her life he had taken 45,000 liters of tequila and could still donate her liver...right

In the late 1970s Vargas partially retired from performing due to a 15-year battle with alcoholism, which she described in her autobiography (Y si quieres saber de mi pasado [And if you want to know about my past], published in 2002) as "my 15 years in hell." Chavela couldn't keep on with her heavy drinking and intense lifestyle. In 1970, "submerged in an alcoholic haze" as she described it, she was taken in by an Indian family who nursed her back to health without knowing who she was. In 2003, she told The New York Times that she had not had a drink in 25 years.

Vargas returned to the stage in 1991, performing at a bohemian nightclub called "El Hábito" in Coyoacán, Mexico City. Her career started to recover international prominence, with performances in Latin America, Europe and the United States. Vargas debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2003 at age 83 at the behest and promotion of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, an admirer and friend.

At age 81, she publicly came out as a lesbian in her autobiography titled And If You Want to Know about My Past. But it wasn't really a surprise to her fans. For years Vargas refused to change the genders in her songs. In "Paloma Negra" ("Black Dove"), Vargas accuses a woman of partying all night long and breaking her heart.

Vargas is featured in many of Almodóvar's films, including La flor de mi secreto in both song and video. She said, however, that acting was not her ambition, although she had previously participated in films such as the 1967 movie La Soldadera. Vargas also appeared in Frida, singing "La Llorona" (The Weeping Woman). Her classic "Paloma Negra" (Black Dove) was also included in the soundtrack of the film. Vargas herself, as a young woman, was alleged to have had an affair with Frida Kahlo during Kahlo's marriage to muralist Diego Rivera. She appeared in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, singing "Tú me acostumbraste" ("I got used to you"), a bolero by Frank Domínguez.

On February 10, 2017, the biographical film Chavela debuted. Directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi, the film features Pedro Almodóvar, Elena Benarroch and Miguel Bosé among others. Available here


Chavela Vargas had been hospitalized for several weeks as a result of respiratory problems. She died age 93 on August 5th 2012 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. According her official Facebook page, her last words were "I leave with Mexico in my heart." .

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Chavela Vargas is to Mexican song like Edith Piaf is to French songs, or like Amalia Rodrigues is to Portuguese music, or like Nana Mouskouri is to Greek music... that is, she IS Mexican song. She is a legend.  Anybody who wants a beautiful record of Chavela Vargas, this one is superb... one of her best... Take it from somebody who knows: you will love this record.

Chavela Vargas - Le Canta a Mexico   (flac  241mb)
 
01 Macorina 2:46
02 Mi Segundo Amor 2:55
03 Noche De Ronda 3:14
04 Flor De Azalea 2:04
05 Simón Blanco 4:10
06 Cuando Vivas Conmigo 2:45
07 La Llorona 3:56
08 En El Último Trago 2:30
09 Esta Tristeza Mía 3:27
10 Que Te Vaya Bonito 3:22
11 Tú Y La Mentira 3:07
12 Vámonos 3:22
13 Macorina (encore) 2:46

Chavela Vargas - Le Canta a Mexico   (ogg  103mb)

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Following her re-emegence from retirement in 1979, this was the first full length album from the famed ranchera in many a decade. Recorded in Madrid in May 1994, "Macorina" is a gift from a woman who has the unique ability to convey a song with the wisdom gained by experience from life and have it resonate in every note from her lips. While age and hard living have taken their toll on her body, her artistry shines brighter than ever! No one can electrify an audience quite like Vargas and evoke emotions in so many people.

Chavela Vargas - Macorina   (flac  208mb)

01 Vámonos 5:17
02 Zandunga 3:48
03 Piensa En Mí 3:18
04 Por Qué Volviste A Mí 3:19
05 Las Simples Cosas 3:43
06 Que Te Vaya Bonito 3:32
07 Sus Ojos Se Cerraron 4:22
08 Cuando Vivas Conmigo 3:18
09 Corazón, Corazón 3:40
10 Si No Te Vas 4:14
11 Macorina 4:57

Chavela Vargas - Macorina (ogg  93mb)

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Chavela has the knack for making emotion break through the language barriers. She sounds so intense and profound. Despite her age she is still making albums that touch the soul. This album has some re-recordings of songs that when originally recorded by her in the 1960's evoked a sense of pain and passion. The new recordings have a different emotional feel-longing and rememberance. Paloma Negra, Fallaste Corazon, Enorme Distancia etc. are just few examples.

That's not to say that there aren't any new surprises on this album. El Preso Número Nueve offers a interesting spin on morals, religion, pride and revenge as prisoner number nine confesses his sins to the priest before being put to death. Also, Noche de Mi Amor can make you cry. Too many of us take for granted the ones we love. In a world where Vegas weddings are just as common as the divorces that follow, this song is basically about a person wanting the whole world to join in and sanction the one she loves. From the Sea, to the Sun, to a Thousand Bells Ringing- Chavela sings passionately of a love in her life that she wants to celebrate with pride just before her voice fades out at the song's end. Coming from an woman in her eighties, this means a lot!

   Chavela Vargas - Somos ( flac  225mb)

01 Somos 2:36
02 Fallaste Corazón 4:20
03 Con Mis Propias Manos 5:03
04 El Preso Número Nueve 4:47
05 Aquel Amor 2:58
06 Tú Me Acostumbraste 2:42
07 Amarga Navidad 3:54
08 La Noche De Mi Amor 3:45
09 La Enorme Distancia 3:37
10 Pobre Corazón 3:58
11 Paloma Negra 4:38
12 Amar Y Vivir 2:22

   Chavela Vargas - Somos (ogg  96mb)

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Chavela Vargas is a woman who manages to be both a Mexican institution and an iconoclast at the same time. Almost 90 at the time of this release, she has shown that ranchera and bolero can be feminine forms, and not exclusively the preserve of very macho artists like José Alfredo Jiménez. Titled for her nickname, this CD/DVD package is a remarkable piece of work about an artist who deserves wider recognition outside her homeland. The DVD is fascinating, with an excellent interview that illustrates her philosophy of life, but it's the music that's most telling, like "Las Simples Cosas," where her voices aches with passion over a spare, very Mexican sound. Even at her age there's an almost magical presence in her singing, full of lust, romance, and fate. Her take on the classic "La Llorona" is a prime example -- you can practically feel the desire dripping from her words. She's one of the most important singers ever to have come out of Mexico, and this does her proud.

 Chavela Vargas - Cupaima   (flac  267mb)

01 Un Mundo Raro 1:59
02 Piensa En Mi 3:45
03 La Llorona 7:38
04 Las Ciudades 5:12
05 La Vereda Tropical 4:40
06 Maria Tepozteka 3:15
07 Cruz De Olvido 4:24
08 Somos 2:16
09 Soledad 3:54
10 Macorina 3:28
11 Canción De Las Simples Cosas 5:06
12 La Despedida 3:19

Chavela Vargas - Cupaima (ogg  114mb)

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Released only a few months before she passed away at the age of 93, the last album from the incomparable Chavela Vargas is a moving tribute to Federico García Lorca, arguably the greatest Spanish poet of the 20th century. In this disc-plus-book release, Vargas recites 16 of Lorca's poems while guitarists Juan Carlos Allende and Miguel Peña fill the musical background with timeless melodies from the classic repertoire of Mexican ranchera and bolero that Vargas will be forever associated with ("Macorina," "Soledad," "Piensa en Mí," etc.). Two new songs complete the album, "¿Qué Hicieron con Tu Muerte?" and "Ángel Que No Vela," both inspired by Lorca's life, work, and tragic death. Luna Grande is a dignified farewell from one of the most emblematic Latin artists of the past century.

 Chavela Vargas - La Luna Grande   (flac  186mb)
 
01 Noche De Ronda (Arbolé Arbolé...)
02 Si No Te Vas (Noche Del Amor Insomne)
03 Sombras (Yo Soy La Madre De Doña Rosita...)
04 Se Me Hizo Fácil (Yo Ansío Verte Llegar...)
05 Macorina (Cabellos De Emperadora...)
06 La Llorona (El Cielo Tiene Jardines...)
07 Amar Y Vivir (El Poeta Habla Por Teléfono Con El Amor)
08 Cruz De Olvido (Amor, Amor...)
09 Nosotros (Toda Mi Vida...)
10 La Rosa (Casida VII, De La Rosa)
11 Romance De La Pena Negra
12 Mujer (Volaré Por El Hilo De Plata)
13 Santa (Ángel Que No Vela (Ch. Vargas))
14 Luz De Luna (Canción De Jinete, 1860)
15 Soledad (Gacela III, Del Amor Desesperado)
16 Piensa En Mí (¿Qué Hicieron Con Tu Muerte? (Ch. Vargas))
17 Somos (Os Doy Mi Corazón...)
18 María Tepozteca Canción De Jinete)

  (ogg   mb)

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Singer Chavela Vargas was a pioneer on many respects. Born in 1919, she became famous in the 1950s but her career was interrupted and she was forgotten two decades later to the point that many people believed her to be dead. Her comeback around the age of 70 was one of the most remarkable in the history of music, so was her presence in the public awareness, both for her music and for attitude. The film Chavela co-directed by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi with the participation of Pedro Almodóvar is part of a spectacular comeback of an artist whose life is still surrounded by mysteries six years after her death.

Chavela Vargas was a very non-conventional woman and artist who built her career and lived much of her life in a conservative country. She sang the music of the Mexican cowboys ('rancheras') and dressed unconventionally. It was only very late in her life and career that she could go public as a lesbian, but her sexual orientation as well as the alcohol addiction were the principal causes of her fall of the grace of the public at the peak of her career, despite her success and popularity. Audiences simply believed that she is no longer alive, but to everybody's surprise (including probably her own) she had the courage and power to make one of the most sensational comebacks in the history of music, enjoying again success, and becoming an international celebrity. She was older than 80 years when she made her debut in places like Carnegie Hall or Olympia, and her music was a source of inspiration for several films of Pedro Almodóvar. It is based mostly on her own interviews and on testimonies from her friends and colleagues. There is a lot of material about her private life, less about her music. As in many musical documentaries music presented on screen (with very appropriate English translation of the lyrics) speaks best about her art.

Through its lyrical structure, Chavela will take viewers on an evocative, thought-provoking journey through the iconoclastic life of game-changing artist Chavela Vargas. Centered around never before-seen interview footage of Chavela shot 20 years before her death in 2012, and guided by the stories in Chavela's songs, and the myths and tales others have told about her - as well as those she spread about herself - the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.



Chavela (mkv 793mb)

Unfortunately Google Chrome likes to exclude websites  "with this site can’t provide a secure connection", fortunately Mozilla isn't run by a multinational that likes to pretend not to be evil...

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